Sermon Tone Analysis

Prayer for All People

I want to talk about prayer this morning, specifically prayer for our leaders.

Paul, in our reading from 1 Timothy, finally gets to the body of his letter.

All of chapter one is essentially introduction and greetings, but now with chapter two Paul moves into the formal body of his letter and he says,

Prayer for All People

This is why we pray every Sunday for our leaders.

We do not have a favorite political party here at this church, and you will never see a politician on this property giving a campaign speech so long as I have anything to say about because when we are here we serve Christ and his Kingdom and I pray that continues when you walk outside those doors.

But we will pray for our leaders, whether we think think they’re doing a good job or not, because, Paul says, this is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior.

I remember when I was at All Souls, there was this sweet older woman who was scheduled to read the prayers of the people on the Sunday after President Obama had won the 2008 election.

And she walked to that lectern, read through the prayers of the people, prayed for George our President, and then said, “and … ughhh.... for Barack our President-elect.”

I’ve told that story before typically as an example of someone letting their politics influence what’s happening at church, but there’s something to be said for the fact that she still prayed for him.

I am aware that merely bringing up politics at all, much less in a sermon, is like playing with matches near a bunch of kindling.

But I think it has to be said, that whether you’re on the right or on the left, whether you’re an R or a D or something in between, our natural instinct is to pray for our guy, whoever that is.

But what Paul exhorts us to do, not just on Sunday, but every day, is to pray for our leaders, whether we like them or not.

Ironically, if we don’t like them and think they’re doing a bad job, that’s even more reason that we should be praying for them and lifting them up to God in prayer, intercessions, and thanksgiving, but instead I think our typical response is ughhh.

And remember, if we use a conservative date of the mid 60s for the writing of 1 Timothy, when Paul writes these words, Nero is emperor.

The Roman historian Suetonius says that Nero burned part of Rome to make room for his Golden House, and another Roman historian Tacitus says that when Nero needed a scapegoat for the fire, he blamed and then persecuted Christians.

He is even said to have burned them alive, and this is the guy in power in Rome when Paul says that prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings should be made for kings and all who are in high positions.

So, if Paul can exhort people to pray for Nero, then I can exhort you to pray for our current President, and the President after that, and the President after that.

But there are a few more things I want to say about this text.

First, It’s important that we notice the reason Paul exhorts us to pray for our leaders.

He says we do this so that

What we want is peace.

This is the same thing the prophet Jeremiah said to the exiles who were praying for the overthrow of Babylon:

That world welfare could be translated peace.

In its peace, you will find your peace.

There were certainly prophets who were called to speak against Babylon, and those prophets had better do their jobs, but for the rest of the people, they were to pray to Lord for Babylon for in its peace they would find peace.

So also we pray for our leaders

But notice what else Paul says:

And then in verse 7

Paul understood that when our environment is at peace, when we are able to lead peaceful and quiet lives that are godly and dignified in every day, that is the context in which the Gospel can flourish.

It is God’s desires that all people of every race, color, and nationality, hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but when the world is in turmoil, that becomes more difficult.

So we pray for peace in the empires of this world so that the empires of this world will be at peace and the Gospel of Jesus Christ can spread and all people can be saved.

But that leads me to my second additional point.

It’s subtle, but notice what Paul says in verse 3:

In Paul’s day, it was not uncommon for emperor’s to refer to themselves as savior.

So what Paul is saying is, “yes, pray for our leaders, no matter who they are, no matter if you like them or not, pray for them, but also don’t fall for their propaganda.

The world has a Savior, and he’s not Caesar.

There is a leader of the free world, but he’s not POTUS.

Kings come; kings go.

Empires rise; empires fall.

But Christ and his Kingdom, they are forever, which is why Paul says right in the middle of our reading:

Pray for our leaders, but they’re not gods, they’re not saviors, they are not our hope and they are not our salvation, no matter what they say.

Amen.