Instructions for Prayer

1 Timothy chapter 1 was kind of an introduction.

1 Timothy 1 · chapter mention

It was Paul letting us know that he wrote the letter and letting us know that he wrote

it to Timothy.

And Timothy is a preacher in Ephesus and Paul is getting ready to give Timothy some instruction

on things to watch out for and things to tell the people there.

And so tonight in chapter 2 kind of begins that instruction that Paul is giving to Timothy.

First Timothy chapter 2 verse 1 is where we will begin.

1 Timothy 2:1

Let's pray and we'll get started.

Father God we come to you.

We thank you for a beautiful day.

We thank you for the sunshine and we thank you for giving us the freedom to come here.

I thank you for these words dear Lord.

I pray that we would take them to heart.

I pray that you would help me to preach and teach in a way that brings glory to you.

I pray that your Holy Spirit would just guide me in the words to say that you would open

our ears and open our hearts to hear from you dear Lord.

And I pray that you give us a good night tonight.

And I ask these things in Jesus name.

Amen.

Amen.

All right.

First Timothy chapter 2 verse 1.

1 Timothy 2:1

First of all then I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for

everyone.

So here at the very beginning of his instruction first of all the first thing.

Now whether he's saying look this is of great significance is why I list it first or maybe

he's saying this is the first thing that you need to do.

This is the most important thing when you come together is pray.

It's not certain exactly what he means there but we can be sure that it is important.

What Paul is saying here is that prayer is important.

It should be important for Timothy.

It should be important for his audience.

It's important for you and I today.

And so he says first of all then I urge that petitions or some of your translations may

say supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving.

So he kind of outlines what our prayer life should look like.

So the first thing he says is petitions or supplications.

Well supplication basically means you're asking for something.

You have a need.

There's something you need.

God I need you to provide for me in this way.

And so many times our prayers probably include that.

We probably go to God often with supplications.

We're saying God there's a need.

There's something that's going on.

God please provide for me.

God please help me.

And it's good for us to pray in that way.

If we cannot seek God and ask him to provide for us then who can we seek?

Well there's no one else we can seek.

And so we pray to God for our needs because he's the only one that we can go to.

He is the only one who can meet our needs.

And God certainly does meet our needs.

And that's why Jesus said look don't worry about the things of the world.

God knows your needs and God will provide for your needs.

Now there are certainly things that we want and there are things that we need.

And sometimes we kind of blur the line between those two things.

Sometimes the things that we think we need might not be anything more than but the things

that we want.

But God does provide our needs.

And it's not to say that we'll always have an overabundance of our needs.

But God does give us what we need.

By American standards we probably think we need a lot more than we really do.

But God gives us what we need.

So Jesus says don't worry about such things.

And Paul says look pray to God for those things that you need.

God hears those prayers and God wants us to pray in that way.

So petitions are supplications.

He says prayers.

Now it's hard to know exactly what he means there when he just generalizes prayers.

Perhaps he means kind of everything else that doesn't fit into one of these categories.

Now when we look at these categories we kind of see that some of them are specific and

we understand what they mean.

But there are other things perhaps that we pray for that maybe don't fall in one of these

four categories that he mentions.

And so perhaps here when he says prayers he just means general things that we may bring

before the Lord.

And there are certainly many of those things that we have in our prayer life.

Intercessions.

Now sometimes we see intercessors in scripture.

An intercessor is someone who intercedes for another.

Now oftentimes when we see this in scripture it has to do with God's wrath.

That God is about to bring judgment on somebody.

And so there's someone else who intercedes, who steps in and pleads for them on their

behalf and says God would you show them mercy?

Would you show them grace?

Would you not do this?

We see a good example of that in Moses in the Old Testament.

God is ready to be done with the people.

He's brought them out of Egypt, they've sinned, they create the golden cow.

I mean they do all kind of stuff and God is ready to be done with them.

But Moses prays to God and he intercedes for the people.

And God says okay I'm not going to bring this punishment on them.

A better example of intercession is Jesus Christ himself.

The Bible tells us that Jesus intercedes for us.

How does Jesus intercedes for us?

Well he went to the cross for us.

He was nailed to the cross.

He suffered and bled and died and he took the punishment that you and I deserve so that

he can intercede for us.

So that we can receive God's grace and God's mercy even though we deserve the justice of

God we receive the mercy and the grace of God through the work of Jesus Christ.

So that's the most beautiful example of intercession that we see.

Perhaps sometimes we pray for intercession for something that's going on, a conflict

we see in the world or somebody that we know that's close to us.

Somebody who's not walking with the Lord.

Somebody who's rejecting the Lord and living in sin.

Perhaps we pray for them and in some way that's an intercession.

Perhaps there are other ways that we intercede maybe that don't have to do with God's judgment

even though we see those types of examples in scripture.

But we're constantly lifting people up in prayer.

We're going before God on behalf of somebody else.

God help this person.

Dear Lord this person is sick.

This person is struggling.

This person's going through this or that or the other or whatever.

And so we pray on behalf of other people and that's good.

So we pray for our own needs that God would provide for us.

We see that here.

We have kind of our general prayers that we pray, things that may be going on in our life

or whatever it may be.

The prayers of intercession where we pray for somebody else.

We plead to God on their behalf.

Maybe that God would give them mercy or maybe it would be from sin that they're walking

in that God would give them mercy and not judge them but be patient with them that they

would come to him.

Maybe we pray for God's mercy for those who are sick, who are suffering, who are struggling.

We intercede for them in some way.

And then he says here, and thanksgiving be made for everyone.

So all of these things he said are for everyone.

We need to be in prayer for people.

And the last one there is thanksgiving.

Do we thank God enough?

Maybe we do.

Maybe we're very thankful in our prayers but there are also probably times that we get

so caught up with our own needs that maybe we don't even make it past that in our prayers.

I mean after all our lives are pretty tough.

I mean we have a lot going on.

Our lives are tough.

Our jobs are tough.

Our family lives sometimes are tough.

Sometimes church is tough.

I mean there's a million things in our life that are tough and times that we struggle

and perhaps we pray, okay God I need this.

I need you.

And we're praying so much for ourselves which isn't necessarily a bad thing that maybe some

of these other things fall by the wayside.

So it's not wrong for us to ask God to help us but we don't want to forget to pray for

others and we don't want to forget to thank God.

So many times we may allow the negative things and the hard things in our life to overshadow

the good things in our life.

But there are probably more good things in your life than you realize and maybe it's

good for us to pause.

Especially when thinking about a passage like this, it's good for us to pause and reflect

and say okay God maybe there are some things in my life that I'm missing.

And maybe even write those things down and say you know what God?

I want to praise you.

I want to thank you too.

God I thank you for my job.

Now we may be praying because our job's tough or unfair but maybe we should be grateful

that we have a job.

So maybe we're praying for both of those things.

God thank you for my job but it's tough.

I need help with it.

And so sometimes maybe those things kind of interact with each other.

But there are lots of things perhaps that we can be thankful for.

That we can sit in here tonight.

That's a real blessing that I think we probably take for granted sometimes because there are

brothers and sisters in Christ around the world that long for the opportunity to sit

with other brothers and sisters in Christ and sing praises to the Lord and read God's

word together.

But yet they can't.

They can't fear persecution.

In many places there are Christians who are killed on a daily basis if they are found

with the scripture or if they are found gathering together.

They're arrested or they're killed.

This happens all over our world today.

But we don't see that so much in our country and as a result we may take it for granted.

So we need to praise God that we have this privilege that God has given us to be able

to meet.

But then as we praise God for the blessing that he gives us we also need to remember

our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We need to lift up those prayers and say look God we know there are people who are struggling.

We thank you that we can come but God we pray for those who aren't able to gather.

Those who are your children.

And so our prayer life needs to be full of thanksgiving and requests and all of these

things.

So if you don't thank God for the things that are going on in your life then I encourage

you to do that this week.

Maybe even tonight when you get home get a piece of paper out or open up your notes app

on your phone and just mark out some things.

And you might find that there are more things that you can be thankful for than you've realized.

Then he kind of shifts gears here as he's talking about praying in verse 2.

He says you know do these things.

All these things should be made for everyone.

And then he singles out a group here.

He says for kings and all those who are in authority so that we may lead a tranquil and

quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

Okay so this is good.

For kings and all those who are in authority.

He says to pray for those in leadership.

Now we see this kind of language in Romans chapter 13.

Romans 13 · chapter mention

We see this idea that God puts people into place.

That they need to be in place.

And maybe sometimes these people are for our good or perhaps sometimes God puts people

in place to get our attention.

Sometimes God may say okay I'm going to allow these things to happen.

But we need to pray for those people who are in leadership.

Now obviously in our country we don't have kings but there are other countries that do.

But we do have leaders.

We do have authorities.

We do have presidents and vice presidents.

These are the people who are making decisions.

Who are passing laws.

Either for the good or for the bad of this country.

Now when it comes to politics we're not going to open that can of worms because half of

you are going to think something's for good and half of you is going to think it's the

worst thing ever.

But nonetheless these people are in charge and God calls us to respect those who are

in authority.

And what does it say here?

What does Paul say?

He says to pray for them.

To lift these requests up for these kings and presidents that we pray for them.

That we pray that God would be with them.

That we pray that God would lead them.

That we pray that they would make good decisions.

Why?

Because the decisions that they make are going to affect Christians.

Now many times throughout the centuries you see governments that are opposed to Christianity.

Even around our world today kings and rulers that want to squash out Christianity.

That want to keep Christianity quiet.

And so it's important that there are good leaders that allow God's people to worship

him freely.

That continue to spread the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And so what does Paul say?

He says pray for those kings and those who are in authority.

And for what reason he said?

So that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

Now if our leaders do a good job then it's going to result in a good country.

It's going to result in some peace.

It's going to result in God's people being able to live in peace and worship God and

serve God and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to people.

And so he says look pray for those who are in leadership.

That's important for us today.

We look at our country today and regardless of what your political affiliation is we could

probably all agree that our country is not too good.

Our country is not in a good shape.

God is being taken out of a lot of things.

The voice of Christians is trying to be silenced in many ways.

And a lot of times there are politicians, those who have that power and authority that

are heading up the charge to kind of try to squash Christianity.

Now spoiler alert they never will.

God's word will never be squashed.

They will try their best.

But God's word will always reign supreme.

But we want there to be good leaders.

Whether they're Republican or Democrat.

We want there to be good Christian leaders who are led by the word of God.

And so we want to pray for those people.

We want to pray for the ones who are making those decisions.

He says in verse 3, this is good and it pleases God our savior.

Okay.

He says look this is what you need to do.

You need to pray.

You need to instruct people in the way to pray.

Why?

This is good.

To pray in this way.

To pray for those who are in leadership and authority.

This is a good thing.

And this pleases God.

So maybe next time we're tempted to complain about the president that's in office, whoever

that may be.

Maybe instead of complaining, maybe we should take a second and say I'm going to pray for

him instead.

Now that's probably hard to do.

It's easy for us to hear what a president says.

This president says this.

That president says that.

And boy, it's easy for us to complain.

But maybe we need to pray for him as well if we don't already.

Because this is good and it pleases God our savior who wants everyone to be saved and

to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Isn't that a beautiful passage that God wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge

of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Now sadly, not everyone is going to come to faith in Jesus Christ.

God gives us an option.

He doesn't force us to do anything.

But it's our job as Christians to go out and do the work of God.

Because why?

Because God desires for people to hear his gospel, to hear his word, and to come to faith

in Jesus Christ.

And what is the knowledge and truth of that gospel?

Well, he tells us here in the next verse.

Verse five.

For there is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, Christ Jesus himself, human,

who gave himself a ransom for all, a testimony at the proper time.

So what is the knowledge and the truth that is important that Paul wants to get out, that

Timothy needs to get out to these people?

The truth of the gospel is there is one God.

There is one God.

There are no multiple gods.

There are no multiple ways to enter into the kingdom of God, to spend eternity with God.

Now, sometimes we hear that in this world.

People will say all religions are the same.

And even though religions are a little different right here, all roads are going to lead to

the same, same eternity.

They're going to lead to the same end.

And that's not true because there are many religions that worship a God or worship something

they think is a God, but they are not worshiping God.

And there are a lot of people that are involved in a lot of religions and all they will ever

be is religious.

They will never be righteous.

And the road they are traveling will not lead them to God because there is only one God

and there is only one mediator between God and man, Paul says.

And who is that mediator?

It is Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected.

He is the mediator.

He is the intercessor.

And so this is the knowledge and the truth that people need to come to is that there

is one God and there is but one way to get to God and that is through Jesus Christ.

And all are called, all are called to come into the kingdom of God.

And Jesus has paid the price.

It says in verse six that he gave himself a ransom for all, a testimony at the proper time.

So Jesus paid it all, is our intercessor, is our mediator.

He stands between us and God and our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.

This is the knowledge and the truth of the gospel.

So Paul says, look, I'm instructing you, Timothy, this is what's important.

Prayer is important.

Praying for those in leadership is important.

These are things that please God that people will come to a knowledge and truth of God.

That there is but one God, there is but one way to God, it is Jesus Christ and Jesus has

paid it all on our behalf.

Verse seven, for this I was appointed a herald, an apostle.

I am telling the truth.

I am not lying.

And the teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

So what does Paul say?

He says, look, this is the truth of the gospel.

I just told it to you.

There's one God and there's one mediator.

There's one savior.

It's Jesus Christ.

And Paul said, I was appointed to spread this news.

Now Paul, and particularly to the Gentiles, but to anybody really that would listen.

I mean, Paul certainly would preach the gospel to a Jew should he encounter one, but he typically

went out among the Gentile people.

Now Paul says here that he's an apostle.

Now you and I are not apostles in that way.

Jesus certainly had apostles when he was alive.

And we see even here after Jesus's death and resurrection that Paul is called an apostle.

This is one of the positions that we see in the New Testament.

Now you and I here today are not apostles, but we're certainly called by God, those who

have put their faith in Jesus Christ.

God certainly wants us to serve him in some way.

And we need to be about God's work of getting the truth of this gospel out.

In whatever way we can.

It doesn't mean we all have to preach.

It doesn't mean we all have to be experts in the Bible, but we, at the very least, if

we're Christians, we understand the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And that is that we are sinners, that we are in need of a savior, and Jesus Christ is that

only savior.

And when we come to Jesus Christ, we have eternal life in him.

We understand those basics of Christianity.

If you don't understand that, then maybe you're not a Christian, but if you are a Christian,

then you have to understand that, that we have to repent, that we have to acknowledge

that we are sinners.

And so that very truth is the truth that we want our world to know.

And whatever way we can serve God, whether it's helping other people, whether it's praying

for them, whether it's telling them a scripture, if God's put something on your heart in some

way that you can reach somebody.

You know, there are ways that God calls us to serve in our families and in our jobs and

in our churches.

And we want to be about the work of God, just as Paul was.

Now, we're not missionaries and we're not apostles and we're not preachers, all of us.

But as Christians, we are all called to do the work of God.

I think we are all called to let people know the knowledge and the truth of God's word.

And what's the number one thing Paul says is to pray.

And that's the best place for us to start, is to pray, to pray that God would help strengthen

us, to pray for our needs, to pray for others, to pray that God would show us opportunities,

to pray that God would give us the strength in the words and those opportunities that

we can serve him, that we can get the knowledge and the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ

to a world that desperately needs us.

Let's pray.

Father God, we come to you, we thank you for these words.

And dear Lord, I pray that you would help us to be obedient in prayer.

Maybe we pray to you often, maybe we don't pray to you enough.

Maybe dear Lord, sometimes our prayers are kind of selfish and God, we certainly want

to pray to you and seek you for our needs because we need you dear Lord.

But I pray that we would be found faithful to intercede for others and just to lift up

other areas of prayer, dear Lord, that may come to our heart.

I pray God that we would be thankful to you.

God, I thank you for Jesus Christ tonight.

I thank you for the freedom to come into this room, to this building.

I thank you for all the ones who are here.

I thank you for this church and for being good to us, dear Lord.

I thank you for our country.

I pray for our leaders, dear Lord, as your word says and calls us to.

God, it's not always easy to do.

God, sometimes we are frustrated with those in leadership, but God, I pray that you'd

be with them, that they would make better choices, choices that would bring glory to

you, that you'd put your word in their path and you'd put your people in their path, dear

Lord, that they would do what is right for your kingdom.

God, I pray that you would help us to know the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that

we would stand on that truth and that we would do our best to live that truth in a world

that needs to see it, that they would see it in us, dear Lord, that they would not see

us, but that they would see you in us.

And I ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.