Sunday, 10th November 2013
1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, 7 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. NKJV
PRAY!
Who is speaking and to whom? Paul to Timothy and to the church at Ephesus as a whole!
Paul has just been released from prison in Rome and discover that the church leaders in Ephesus had distorted the genuine message they had first heard from him. The leaders in Ephesus have shifted their focus from Jesus Christ and have tolerated false doctrine. Paul's focus is on what true church leadership should be.
Paul tells Timothy in 1:5 "The goal of this command is love which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith"
Paul also said in 1:18-19 "This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith"
There's a truth in this passage. What is it? Our responsibility as a church concerns everybody! In the passage we've all read together, Paul is stressing a vital truth and 4 times, it is VERY EMPHASIZED.
First, pray for all
Second, God wants all people to be saved
Third, Christ Jesus gave Himself as a ransom for all men.
Fourth, Paul calls himself a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles. All nations. All people!
VERSE 1
PRAY for all people.
Verse 1
I urge, then, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people.
Paul is urging Timothy that FIRST OF ALL,
Supplication
Prayers
Intercession
Thanksgiving be made for all people.
Before anything at all. Before we even begin to look at the "nitty gritty", let's offer the above first. It's a thing that we must do. We must offer these petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving.
FOR ALL PEOPLE!
All people? Apostle Paul is read here to be encouraging and asking that Timothy do the afore-mentioned for all people. Yes! Everyone. I want to reiterate the emphasis on the phrase "For all people". Paul is not segregating. He had done that when he was a morbid persecutor, chasing and killing the believers of Jesus Christ about. Now, he is a changed man and is read here to be asking Timothy, to make sure that he prays for all people and in turn teach the Ephesian church same!
They must have stopped praying!
Let me ask a question. Who do you pray for? And why? Do you only pray for your family and close friends? Do you pray for me? Do I pray for you? Prayer is good. It shows our dependence on God. It shows we are weak and need God to intervene. Who and who are on your prayer card? Do you pray for your neighbours? Do you pray for all people?
The church in Ephesus has deviated from the gospel of Jesus Christ but Timothy is still asked to pray for them. It may sometimes be difficult to pray for all as humanly as possible.
WHAT WE SHOULD PRAY AND WHY?
Paul is not asking Timothy to only pray. He asked him to send petitions(Supplications) to God and intercede and also offer thanksgiving. Paul is asking Timothy to do FOUR MAIN THINGS:
Supplications
Pray
Intercede and
Offer thanksgiving to God on behalf of all people.
Supplications
The Greek phrase for this is "to lack so something. To be without something. So when Paul asked Timothy to make supplications to God, he wants him to ask God to meet the need of these people. The need in question is salvation. The lost have a great need for salvation.
Pray
Intercession. As believers, we must constantly intercede for others. The word comes from the root meaning "to draw near so as to speak intimately. Paul is asking Timothy to come intimately to God and ask for mercy! Believers must always intercede. For all!
Thanksgiving. Ah! This is the appreciating part. In all things, we must offer thanksgiving to God! As believers, we must always do this.
For all people:
The lost in General is the import of what Paul is driving at here. The lost. Everyone. And not just the elect. God's election is secret and we don't know. So Paul is asking that Timothy pray for all men. I ask us this morning that we must pray for all men as a church.
We must make SUPPLICATIONS. We must PRAY. We must INTERCEDE. We must also offer THANKSGIVING!
VERSE2
PRAY for kings and those in authority
Verse 2
Paul "upped the ante" by also asking Timothy to also "pray for kings and those in authority", "that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness".
I was just wondering what must have been on Timothy's mind as he opened and read Paul's letter to him. Would he have said something like "He's asking me to pray for all people, fair enough but to also pray for kings and those in authority is taking the peace". Pray for kings and those in authority? Pray for those who have milked the society dry with wrong taxes? Pray for those who have put you in prison? Recall that Paul wrote this letter after he left a Roman Prison, yet he's asking Timothy to pray for kings and those in authority, the same set of people who have unjustly put him in prison? Emperor Nero? A vicious blasphemer and persecutor of the faith?
Why is Paul asking Timothy to pray for kings and those in authority? Hear Paul's reason "that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in godliness and holiness.
Paul is asking Timothy to pray for kings and those in authority. The same people who slammed Paul in prison for preaching Jesus' gospel? The same church leaders in position of authority who have distorted the gospel and given to immorality? Paul is asking Timothy to pray for these people?
Paul didn't just ask Timothy to pray for these people. He specifically ask that when Timothy pray for them, peace and quietness will remain and we will all live in godliness and holiness.
When we pray for those in authority over us, God will hear our prayers and those who have prayed will enjoy peace wherever we are. Also, as Paul asked Timothy to pray for the church leaders in Ephesus, godliness and holiness will return and immorality will have no place. It's a simple arithmetic.
Let's bring this home.
Her Majesty, The Queen
His Right Honourable, Prime Minister David Cameron
The Coalition Government
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson
Our local MP
Our Council Head
The Councillors
The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon
The European Assembly in Stratbourg.
The list is endless..........
Sometimes because these leaders are so powerful and highly influential and sometimes do wrong stuff, they are often the target of gross bitterness and animosity from their subjects but Paul is still asking Timothy and in general terms asking that we continue to pray for them even when they churn out bad policies. Even when they rule like despots. We must pray for them.
BUT and this is a big BUT. How would you pray for a personality such as Emperor Nero? Let's come home a bit. How would pray for a particular tribe which massacred a "lesser tribe" and killed 800, 000 in less than 1 year. I am talking about the massacre in Kigali, Rwanda in 1994.
When we don't pray for these people. Immorality pervades. When we pray for them. God intervenes! Godliness and holiness comes in and they have a changed life. Also, we who have prayed as believers will enjoy peace and quiet life. Paul in this letter is not asking for excuses. He's asking that Timothy and then the church should pray. Pray for kings and those in authority.
Let's touch on THREE KEY POINTS which are the benefits when we pray for those in authority and kings:
Godliness
Holiness
Peace and Quiet lives
Godliness is the need to call back people to holy living who have been negatively affected by false doctrine. We must endeavour to have the proper attitude and conduct before God in everything we do. We must pray for this.
Holiness is moral dignity. It's also very important that we pray for all and kings and those in authority to have moral dignity. It's obvious that a converse of this breeds what happened in Ephesus. Deviation from the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Peace and Quiet lives. When the church pray for those in authority and kings, the bible says we will experience peace and quite lives. Who don't want to experience this? When we pray for them, God will direct them in the right direction. When we pray for these set of people, the church may experience certain level of religious freedom. Amen!
VERSE3
PRAY because this is good and pleases God.
Verse 3
This is good, and pleases God our Savior
Paul continued in this very personal letter to Timothy and state in verse 3 "this is good and it pleases God".
What's good? And what pleases God? What's Paul writing about here?
1. When Timothy pray to God for these people.
2. When Timothy makes requests to God on these peoples behalf, it is a good thing to do and it pleases God.
3. When Timothy after all said and done, offer thanksgiving on behalf of these people to God!
These leaders in Ephesus have made a complete detour. They've gone off tangent. They've missed Jesus' gospel. They've become immoral. So when we pray to God on their behalf. It is a good thing to do. We have a responsibility as believers to pray for all people. God is by nature a "saving God" and also "the source" of our salvation which has been planned from ages past.
VERSE 4
PRAY because God wants the truth to be known.
Verse 4
who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Paul went further to point Timothy to the very fact that the reason why "this is good and it pleases God" as we've read in Verse 3 is "God wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth". What a mighty God we serve!
"What a mighty God we serve/2x
heaven and earth adore him,
angels bow before Him
what a mighty God we serve"
Let's pause here a bit and do some digging:
The scripture very well teaches divine election both in the OT and NT. The truth of divine election which is God's sovereignty must never be expressed in such a way as to deny the complementary truth that God wants all people to be saved.
Divine election is a reminder that the credit for our salvation belongs to God alone!
Divine election reminds us that God's love will never let us go!
Divine election does not give us an excuse not to evangelise or pray for all people.
VERSES 5 & 6
PRAY because God saved us.
Verse 5 & 6
For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself as a ransom for all people.
Paul went further to buttress his letter to Timothy. Tell these people. Tell them that there's only ONE GOD. Tell them. Pls, do! Tell them, Timothy! Tell them! His name is Yaweh! His name is Jehovah! The God I am writing to you about and that which I want you to tell these people is THE CAPITAL G GOD! Every other god is a small letter g god! Tell them pls.
The church in Ephesus have gone astray. They've missed the link. Pray so that they can return to the true and real gospel. If it's not the Almighty God, it can never be the same as the Almighty God!
There's no other way of salvation. It is ONLY through Jesus Christ! So, Paul encourages Timothy and us in this present time to pray for people to see and acknowledge this One and Only God. We can see further evidence of this ONE TRUE GOD in 1Cor 8:4b-6
Tell them also, that there's only one mediator between this God and mankind and His name is Jesus Christ. The one who gave Himself as ransom for all people. Paul want the Ephesian church to fed the truth. He want them to be fed Jesus Christ. In culinary terms, JESUS CHRIST IS A BALANCED DIET. OTHER THINGS ARE JUNK! Indeed!
John 10:10
The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy but I have come to give life and give it abundantly. Jesus is the ONLY way!
I draw your attention to the Cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ laid down His life.
The resurrection is real. It's an undisputed fact!
He paid the ransom for our transgression.
He stood in the gap as the mediator!
and that's what Paul is writing here. He draws these Ephesian leaders back to the truth which is Jesus Christ.
A songwriter says
"Great is the gospel of our glorious God
where mercy met the anger of God's rod
A penalty was paid and pardon bought
And sinners lost at last to Him were brought
O let the praises of my heart be thine
for Christ has died that I may call Him mine
that I may sing with those who dwell above
adoring, praising Jesus, King of love!"
Let's take a look at the ransom for all people.
Mathew 20:28b says "Jesus gave His life as a ransom for many". To become a ransom is to substitute something for another thing. Fact! So how is Christ's death a ransom for all people as read in this great passage of Paul to Timothy?
The word "Ransom" simply implies that we were in bondage to sin and judgement and unable to save ourselves and the price paid for these was Jesus' death in our place.
The ALL is qualified by the MANY.
Jesus' death was sufficient to cover the sins of all people yet the ransom (which is the substitutionary aspect of his death is unlimited in all it's sufficiency but it's limited in its application).
God in his sovereignty can offer it to all. Yet only the elect will be saved according to to His eternal purpose!
VERSE 7
PRAY so that we can be faithful to evangelism.
Verse 7
And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.
Paul concludes this part of the passage by writing "and for this purpose I was appointed a herald and apostle. What purpose is Paul talking about here? Here's a list of what Paul meant:
I have been appointed as a herald and apostle to:
Pray for all people
Pray for kings and those in authority.
Share the good news of Jesus Christ and preach the good news to all people with faithfulness to the text.
It is my duty as Paul as well as yours, Timothy to do this. And we must carry out this JOB DESCRIPTION with utmost diligence and flair. The application of the last verse to us as 2013 believers and beyond is to faithfully preach God's word and pray for all.
Paul went further to write, saying "Timothy, pls also tell them that the above I have written is the truth and I will never lie. I am a true and faithful teacher.
The TRUTH. What is the truth? It is the GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST which brings SALVATION!
That songwriter says:
We praise Thee O God
For the Son of thy love
For Jesus who died
And is now gone above
Hallelujah, Thine the glory
Hallelujah, Amen
Hallelujah, Thine the glory
Revive us again!
So, what is the general application for us as a church?
Those serving in various church ministries MUST realise that prayer is the foundation of everything
WAKE UP CLARION.
Wake up from the slumber of prayerlessness
I state boldly that you can't be effective at ministering in your groups if you are not spending time praying for your group, the church as a body and the people, generally.
Also, the gospel of Jesus spreads with prayer. That's the import of Paul's letter to Timothy.
Amen!
