Paul had left Timothy
in Ephesus to sort out matters threatening the existence of the church
(1:3-11). Being
a young pastor in challenging circumstances is not for the fainthearted. Young
pastors (Timothy) need older pastors (Paul) who can guide them
by experience and by godly wisdom, older men who can say
to younger men in their distress, “…well, I have
seen this kind of problem before,
and it’s not going to destroy the church,
because I know that the mercy,
grace and peace (1:2) of the Lord Jesus Christ will keep the church”. And so we find Paul writing this letter to help his younger colleague with respect to shepherding the church
through its various challenges.
As we progress through
this letter, we find today Paul’s
counsel to Timothy concerning the
importance of public prayer in worship. Today,
we are reminded from the Scriptures that
prayer, and especially public prayer
is no side issue in the church.
It ought to be a core activity in the
life of the Christian church. Whatever we fail to do as a
church, we cannot fail in being faithful in prayer, and particularly in
public prayer.
Vv.1-2
Paul says: “FIRST OF ALL then
(or therefore), I urge that supplications (requests), prayers, intercessions
and thanksgiving be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high
positions, that we may lead a peaceful and a quiet life , godly and dignified
in every way.”
(i) “First of all…”
here means, as a matter of first priority,
indicating that prayer is no arbitrary matter.
(ii) The little word “then” (or ‘therefore’) connects Paul’s
thoughts with the preceding
context in 1:18–20 and gives us a
reason why prayer
is significant. There Paul
exhorted Timothy to "wage the good warfare, holding faith
and a good conscience"[1]. He reminds Timothy that by rejecting faith and a good conscience, one may run
the risk of making shipwreck of
one’s faith. This had been the
sad case
of men like Hymenaeus and Alexander[2]
(1:20)[3].
We had seen earlier
that the church at Ephesus
was being undermined by people who were teaching a different doctrine (1:3),
and Paul exhorted Timothy that he needed
to bring the church back to the
true gospel.
Clearly, the
church is at war, and very often the war
comes right into the church, bringing with it inevitable casualties (see 1:6,20). Pastors themselves are always at risk in such
situations, for they too can become casualties if they do not hold tightly
on to the gospel of the Lord Jesus with
faith and a good conscience. The church needs faithful and conscientious soldiers
who are not ashamed of the gospel of
Jesus. The church was empowered
by the Lord Jesus after His ascension and at Pentecost to spearhead the advance of the gospel in a fallen
world. She is the
agent by which the gates of hell are pushed back, and therefore she is Satan’s sworn enemy. It is
against this background that Paul reminds
Timothy concerning the
importance of prayer. Paul’s actual
letter to the Ephesians in 6:
18-20 reveals that prayer is a significant tool in this spiritual war. The church
gains ground in the world when she prays. Conversely, she loses ground
when she doesn’t pray!
(iii) I urge[4]
(Gr. parakaleō ; to exhort , beseech)…
indicating again that this is a priority. Paul urges Timothy that
he must lead the church in prayer for all
kinds of people. Think about that for a few moments. This congregation of Jewish and Gentile Christians
is found in an hostile environment. Nero is the emperor, and the
Roman authorities who crucified
Jesus are not friendly to Christians. In
addition, the Jewish community in Rome
is antagonistic to Christians. Paul is saying to these Christians, “put your
requests, or supplications forward to God for all kinds of people; pray for all kinds of people; intercede for all
kinds of people, and where applicable give
thanks for all kinds of people, even
for the government under which you
live.” This is a
remarkable exhortation, given
the fact that Christians lived
under precarious circumstances in the
Roman world.
(iv) “… that we may
lead a peaceful and a quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.” One of
the goals of prayer is seen here :
By prayer we ask God to enter
into the hearts and minds of all kinds
of people in our society, especially
kings and all those who are in high positions, who potentially have so much power to disrupt our lives by causing us not to live in peace and in quiet and with dignity. Part
of our public prayer is therefore to
pray for our country, our politicians and our churches so that
we may life in peace and quiet and with dignity. This is the essential
foundation for the spread of the gospel. Christians desire an ordered society
for the sake of all its citizens, but especially because then we can fulfill our
God-given responsibilities without hindrance.
Therefore we read
next…
Vv. 3-4 This (prayer) is
good and pleasing in the sight of
God our Saviour , who desires all people
to be saved and to come to the knowledge
of the truth. Here are some further goals of prayer. Paul says that
such prayer which seeks the face of God, is good. God is
pleased to hear such prayer, and so we as a church need to hear this ,
understand this, and do this, because
(this is another goal in prayer) this sort of prayer underlies effective biblical evangelism of our community. Therefore in prayer (and especially public
prayer) we make requests of God; we pray;
we intercede; we give thanks
where it is appropriate and remember that the goal of our public prayer is the salvation of all kinds of people. Here Paul encourages Timothy
to lead the church in prayer that
all kinds of people would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus
Christ. In this prayer there is a promise for us. If God expects us to pray, and
if such prayer is good and pleasing to God then we can
confidently say that prayer is a public means of grace. That means that we can expect that God
will answer such prayers because they
are good and pleasing to Him. They are in accordance with God’s goals that the
whole world would hear His Word. And so,
Paul was saying to Timothy, “Make sure
that among the other
elements of worship on the Lord’s day,
you lead the Ephesian church in prayer for all kinds of people, including
kings and all in authority.”
In this regard , the wise words of
Bishop John Charles Ryle come to mind:
“It is easy to
criticise and find fault with the conduct of kings, and write furious articles
against them in newspapers, or make violent speeches about them on platforms.
Any fool can rip and rend a costly garment, but not every man can cut out and
make one. To expect perfection in kings, prime ministers, or rulers of any
kind, is senseless and unreasonable. We should exhibit more wisdom if we prayed
for them more, and criticised less” [5].
And now take
notice concerning the extent of this
prayer : … “pray for all people…” (2:1)…
God, our Saviour, who desires all
people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”(2:4). All people! What are we to understand
here? Are we to literally expect all people on earth to be saved as a result
of our prayer? As desirable as we may
find this thought, it is not likely that this was what Paul had in mind when he wrote this. What Paul had in mind was based
on an Old Testament hope, namely that
one day “the earth would be filled
with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea”[6],
namely that all the nations would be united in the worship of the One True God.
It is thus not so much every person that is in mind here (although we
should always work and pray as if everyone
could be saved), but the big
thought here is that all kinds
of people and from all kinds of nations are envisaged here. Is this not what we are
seeing today? Haven’t the nations everywhere become aware of the Lord Jesus? Is this not what we are publicly
praying for every Sunday night as we systematically pray for the countries of our world?
Vv.5 &6 “For
there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.“ The reason why we are praying for the whole world is because of these words. There is not one God for the Muslim world and many gods
for the Hindu world. NO! Why should we
pray for all people? Because there is only one true God. There is only one true Saviour. He alone is the one hope of all humanity, and if He
is the only hope, then it follows that if we don't pray for the world, what
hope does the world have? And if this is
God’s desire for the world then this must move us as Christians to pray for all kinds of people.
V.7 “ For this I was appointed as a
preacher and an apostle ( I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of
the gentiles in faith and truth .”
Paul includes himself in the mission of God. He tells
us here that
God's desire for the world is what propelled him into the ministry. The proof of the power
of Paul's ministry to the Gentiles is
we who are gathered here in this auditorium today! You and I would not be here today if God not appointed Paul to take
this message not just to the Jew, but also to the Gentiles.
CONCLUSION :
Paul is outlining the basis of world missions through the church. The primary means by which God does this is
by prayer, praying first, that
the people of a nation, including their rulers would be favourably
disposed, if not converted to the gospel. This makes gospel preaching easier. It is not easy or
possible to preach the gospel in the war
torn Middle East.
It is surely God’s desire that the nations should receive the
gospel. There is no other Saviour, no other Name given by which man can be saved. This is why we are
here this morning to make sure that God’s Word is widely spread
in our city, country, continent
and world by prayer and the Word. This is the old and proven apostolic method (Acts 6:4).
Thank God, that Paul and Timothy bore this conviction,
and because of their faithfulness in preaching the gospel to the gentiles we are here this morning to also celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
Jesus died for all those that would be brokenhearted over their sin, and who would look to Him for the answer to that sin, and who come to Him.
Amen
[1]
See also 1:5
[2]
Alexander is also mentioned in 2 Tim
4:14
[3] throughout
this epistle, Paul talks about
those who have
wandered away from the faith see
also 1:6 ; 6:10,21
[4]
Gr. parakaleo – to exhort see also 1:3
[5]
J.C. Ryle : The Upper Room , Chapter 21
“For Kings”, p.264
[6] Num,.
14:21; Ps 57:5,11; 72:19 ; Isa 11:9 ; Hab. 2:14
No comments:
Post a Comment