“The Church and Prayer, part 2” June 16, 2013
1 Timothy 2:1-8
SI: 1 Timothy is a pastor to pastor letter about church
life.
Paul says in chapter 3 that
he has written this letter so that people will know how
to behave in the household of God, which is
the church of the living God.
Paul’s main point to Timothy is
that anything in the life and teaching of the
church that detracts from, erodes, or
contradicts the Gospel must be opposed.
And on the positive side, the
church must be organized and guided in such a way
that the Gospel is adorned and magnified.
We studied this passage last
week and focused on how we are to pray for
the salvation of all people, because God
wants all to be saved.
How as a church we must be
diligent in evangelistic prayer.
But there is another specific
instruction that we need to spend some time on—
the instruction to pray for kings and all
those in authority.
The church magnifies and
advances the Gospel by praying for all civil authorities—
for presidents and governors, congressmen,
mayors, counselors and judges.
Kings and all those in
authority.
INTRO: On night in Washington DC, a man wearing a ski mask
stuck a pistol
into the ribs of a well-dressed gentleman
and said: Give me all your money!
The well-dressed gentleman
began to sputter in anger and said:
Do you know who I am? I am a United States Congressman.
Well, in that case, said the
mugger: Give me all my money!
Politicians and public
officials are easy targets for jokes.
Think of how often they are depicted in
cartoons and how often they are
mocked in parodies and impersonations.
Saturday Night Live has made an industry of
that.
There is nothing wrong with
political satire per se.
It’s part of the way we talk about politics
and government in a free country.
Often times it puts a finger
on the truth.
There is waste and corruption and cronyism
in Washington.
It is funny to think about a
well-dressed, elected mugger
being mugged by an honest mugger who is
working for a living.
But often it goes beyond
satire,
and government leaders are objects of
disdain and hatred.
In America it seems that
there are two competing visions of what this country
should be and what constitutes a just
society—and never the twain shall meet.
Just take one of the great
dividing issues of our time—abortion.
There are some who say a good and just
society protects the life of the unborn.
And there are others who say that just
society allows them to be killed for the
good of the mother.
And on a great many issues,
there are similar divisions.
Government leaders, those in
positions of authority, become the face
of one side or the other of these competing
visions of America.
So people look at them, and
don’t see a person or even an office,
but the personification of justice or the
personification of great evil.
Based on that, they either
support them without question or disdain and hate them.
I myself have a visceral
reaction toward certain political leaders.
I will read a news story about a position
one has taken on an issue,
or I will hear a news conference or an
interview, and my blood will boil.
And I will think: This person is ruining our country.
I can’t help hoping they will very quickly
meet their political demise,
and be stripped of all power and influence.
But this passage reminds me
that no matter what my convictions morally and
politically, that I am called as a Christian
and as a pastor,
and we are called as the church to pray for
all those in authority.
No matter how we might
disagree politically, they need our prayers.
It’s easy to criticize, it’s easy to
despise. But as Christians, we don’t
look at
everything through a political lens, we look
through a spiritual lens.
In a sermon on this passage,
JC Ryle, godly, 19th century Anglican bishop said:
“We must never forget that none are so truly to be pitied, none in such spiritual danger, none
so likely to make shipwreck to all eternity, and none stand in such need of our prayers as the
kings of the world. Few out of the many who criticize their conduct seriously consider the
enormous difficulties of their position.”
Then he elaborates on what
makes their spiritual position so dangerous.
“Think of the temptations which surround them. Seldom advised, seldom contradicted,
seldom warned, they dwell in bodies like our own and have passions as we do, and are liable
to be overcome by the world, the flesh, and the devil.”
And he talks about how those
in the highest positions are “fearfully alone.”
If it is hard for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of God, how much harder a king.
The context of this passage,
as we saw last week, is God’s desire for all people
to be saved.
His love for all mankind.
When you think about those in
high positions, and how dangerous that place and
office is to their souls, and that God wants
them to be saved—
then it’s pretty straightforward.
As Christians, and as a
church,
we please God and we magnify and advance the
Gospel by praying for
our government leaders, by praying for our
president in particular.
So let’s look at this passage
under three simple headings:
1. The content of prayer for our government
leaders
2. The character of prayer for our government
leaders
3. The consequences of prayer for our government
leaders
MP#1 The
content of prayer for our government leaders
“I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,
for kings and all who are in high positions . . .”
Last week I pointed out that
these four words that Paul uses to describe prayer
are in a sense all synonyms. Paul is just piling up synonyms to make a
point of
how important this is: Pray, pray, pray, pray for kings and all in authority
But there are some nuances of
meaning that give us a more complete picture.
Supplications. It’s a common word in Scripture.
It comes from a root word that means to
need, to lack, to be deprived.
And so it communicates the
idea, as a word for prayer, that we are coming to God
because there is a lack of something that is
desperately needed.
And when it comes to those in
high office, their spiritual need is magnified
because of their position.
Ryle: Because they are lifted above other people,
they are terribly alone.
They are often surrounded by yes-men and
flatterers.
That makes temptations that
are common to all people of us even more intense
and difficult for them to resist.
Prayers. This is simply the general word for prayer.
But it’s a word is that it is
only directed toward God.
So there is an element of
sacredness, an element of worship in this term.
That adds another dimension to praying for
government leaders.
Because in doing so, you are
praying for God’s glory.
You want this leader to know the truth and
govern well, because you know that
when that happens, God is glorified, Christ
is exalted.
Next, intercessions.
The nuance of this word is
that you are praying on behalf of someone.
It is a great privilege and duty for
believers to intercede for kings.
Our father Abraham gave us an
example in his prayer for Abimelek.
Finally, thanksgivings.
It means in this specific
matter of government and political power—
we thank God that he is the King of kings
and the Lord of lords,
and that Jesus Christ rules over all the
nations.
We thank him that we are part
of his eternal kingdom,
so our fortunes and hopes don’t rest on who
is in the White House.
The point is that our prayers
should be more than just: God bless the
President.
So what exactly does this
prayer look like?
Chuck Garriott is a PCA
pastor who oversees work of our denomination called
Ministry to State.
He lives in Washington and
spends his time witnessing to, counseling, teaching,
and praying with and for government
officials.
He wrote a book titled Obama Prayer: Prayers for the 44th President
The book is a tool to help the church be faithful
to this command in 1 Timothy.
Everything in the book could
be applied to any President, but Mr. Garriott probably
knew that a great many evangelical
Christians did not vote for Obama,
and might not be inclined to pray for
him.
So he didn’t just make this a
book of general instruction about praying for
Presidents in general, but a book about
praying for President Obama.
What Mr. Garriott does is he
turns to the book of Proverbs for instruction.
There is a lot in Proverbs
about kings, because it was written by a king, Solomon.
What a king needs to be a good ruler, what
dangers and temptations kings face.
What blessings come to a country with a good
king, and curses with bad one.
Now, we don’t have a king, of
course, but he applies these to our President.
And then he explains how this might motivate
us to pray for him.
He lists twelve petitions,
drawn from Proverbs, that we can bring to God on behalf
of our President. I won’t list them all, but let me mention
two.
A Chapter titled “Petition
for Words” He quotes Proverbs 16:10
The lips
of a king speak as an oracle, and his mouth should not betray justice.
Then he discusses the great significance of the
President’s words.
Even
though he is a fallible man, he is called upon to speak, and his words have
repercussions for peace or war, for prosperity or for adversity.
What a sobering position to be in, that your words
carry such weight.
With that
in mind, he gives a sample prayer for God to bless President’s words.
Another example:
Chapter title “Petition for Family”
Proverbs 31:2,3
The
sayings of King Lemuel—an oracle his mother taught him: O my son, O son of my womb, O son of my vows,
do not spend your strength on women, your vigor on those who ruin kings.
Mr. Garriott
reminds of turmoil caused during Clinton administration, his affair.
How delighted his political opponents were. Crowing over the exposure and lies.
Quick to say,
that as Christians, no place for any gloating in moral downfall.
Bad for the
Presidency and the country, bad for the man.
We of all people should see that.
So he says that this should be one of our prayers,
based on the book of Proverbs
A prayer for
the marriage and family of President Obama,
for his
faithfulness and morality.
I don’t know if this is as convicting to you as it is
to me.
I’m not inclined to think this way—But this prayer is
good and pleases God,
who wants all
men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Content of our prayers: Thoughtful, deliberate petitions for
blessings.
MP#2 The character of prayer for our government
leaders
As usual, the Word of God goes deeper than just words,
deeper than actions—
it goes to
the heart. And Paul tells us the
character, the spirit that should
animate our
prayers.
Verse 8:
I desire then that in every place the men should pray,
lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling.
Paul says that this thoughtful, deliberate prayer for
the blessing and salvation
of kings and
all those in authority should be practiced “in every place.”
That phrase “in every place” is a reference to place
of worship,
to the
gathering of the congregation.
This is to be a regular part of the corporate worship
of the Christian church—
praying for
civil authorities. We are delinquent
when we fail to do so.
Many of the
traditional liturgies of the church include this weekly.
But then Paul goes to the heart. He says that this prayer,
this lifting
holy hands, should be without anger or quarreling.
If there is one area of life that can lead to anger
and quarreling, it’s politics.
We can get so
worked up about this, there seems to be so much at stake.
And it can
easily affect our prayers.
It’s hard not to be alarmed at the rapid pace at which
civil and religious liberties
are being
undermined. It’s hard not to get angry
at our leaders.
I read a news story this week about the growing hostility in military toward
evangelical Christian service members who express their faith.
The article mentioned some high-profile
cases.
An Air Force officer was told to remove a Bible from his desk
because it might give the
impression he was endorsing a religion
A soldier received a “severe and possibly career-ending reprimand”
for posting the biblical
position on homosexuality on a personal religious blog.
A chaplain was relieved of his command over a military chapel
because,
consistent with DOMA’s
definition of marriage, he could not allow same-sex
weddings to take place in
the chapel.
There has been an amendment proposed to
the National
Defense Authorization Act
that
would protect the religious rights of men and women in the military.
It’s a very reasonable amendment.
But this opposition is coming from the
top.
And the President has come out saying he
is strongly opposed to this amendment.
In doing that, he has struck a blow against religious liberty.
That makes me angry.
Yet God’s Word says that without anger and quarreling, in every
place of worship,
we are to lift up holy
hands and to pray for the president and all in authority.
It’s always helpful to me to put things in historical perspective.
Paul wrote this letter to Timothy somewhere between the years 62
and 67 AD.
Do you know who was the
Roman emperor at that time? Nero.
Nero who wrapped Christians in tar and set them on fire as human
torches
to light up his evening
dinner parties. Paul says, pray
blessings for that king.
About 100 years after Paul, there was a church father named
Tertullian.
He lived during the reign of two Roman emperors who also
persecuted church—
Marcus Aurelius and
Septimus Severus.
He wrote a treatise defending Christians against the charge that
they were guilty
of treason against the
emperor. In that treatise he says to the
pagans who
were bringing this
accusation—come to any of our worship services,
and listen to the way we
pray for the Emperor.
“It is from the heart we supplicate. Without ceasing, for all our emperors, we
offer
prayer. We pray for life prolonged, for security to
the empire, for protection of
the imperial house, for
brave armies, a faithful senate, a virtuous people, the
world at rest, for
whatever, as man or Caesar, an emperor would wish.”
It’s an amazing list of petitions.
That the early church
would pray this way for the very man persecuting them.
Then Tertullian says something else. You critics may say that Christians pray
this way in hopes of
flattering the Emperor so he’ll let up on persecution.
You’re wrong. We do care
for him. These are genuine prayers from
heart.
Here’s the proof, look
into God’s revelations, examine our sacred books.
You will read there that
God tells us to love our enemies,
and pray for those who
persecute us.
We still enjoy enormous freedoms.
President Obama is not Nero, not even close.
But even if he was, Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ, who loved us when enemies,
has called us to love our enemies and pray
for them.
His apostle Paul has urged us to pray for kings and all in
authority—
because this pleases God
who wants all people to be saved. From
the heart.
MP#3 The
consequences of prayer for our government leaders
Pray for kings,
“that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified
in every way.”
The church is faithful in prayer for our government leaders.
God responds by pouring out his blessing on those leaders.
And that leads to conditions
in the nation and in the world that nurture
and promote the advance
of the Gospel and the growth of the church.
In other words, remembering the context of this passage—
it leads to more people
hearing the good news and being saved.
Commentators have pointed out that this phrase: “a peaceful and quiet life”
is not what it appears to
be at first glance to modern Americans.
We read that and think it is referring my private life—
peace and quiet for me
and mine. Just doing my own thing.
But for the Greeks and Romans, a peaceful and quiet life was a way
of describing a good
citizen. Someone involved in the life of
the body politic
who is seeking the peace
and quiet of society.
We pray for those in authority, so that Christians can fully
participate as citizens
and have a positive effect on society.
And then these next two terms, godly and dignified in every way—
these refer to our public
religious expression.
We pray for those in authority so that we don’t have to hide and
worship in secret,
but that gatherings on
the Lord’s Day at places of worship can be seen in their
public expression.
And so that the church can do thing openly in carrying out her
ministry.
So we can build church
buildings and Christian children’s homes and
have chaplains in the
military, and any other public expression of ministry.
I’ll never forget a man who came to speak when I was in seminary.
This was in the late 80s,
early 90s when the Soviet Communist bloc was falling
apart, the fall of the
Berlin Wall.
A German pastor who had worked for decades secretly behind the
Iron Curtain,
helping churches in the
Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
He was talking about the
changes that were taking place.
A student asked an interesting question:
Doesn’t persecution make
the church strong?
Are you going to lose
some things by this new freedom?
This man took him to task, reprimanded all of us.
Christians in the West have this romantic idea persecution makes
the church strong.
Let me be clear, God
preserves the church. Gates of hell will
not prevail.
But persecution is very harmful to the church and the spread of
the Gospel.
In the Soviet Union, 70
years of persecution has made the churches ingrown,
legalistic,
ignorant. He gave one example.
For 70 years, Christians have not been allowed to pursue higher
education.
The children of the
church who want to pursue engineering or medicine aren’t
allowed to do so. Christians all given most menial jobs.
Pastors have no seminary
training and virtually no Christian books at all.
Think of what that does to the thought life of the church, how
narrowing it is.
These people are just
trying to survive.
He went on to praise God for these great changes and the new
freedoms.
There is a question that often perplexes us:
Does prayer work? Does prayer really change things?
Did the prayers of the
saints break down the Berlin Wall and give the church
in that part of the world
breathing room and greater freedom for a time?
If we pray for kings and all those in authority, will God respond
by blessing them
in such a way that the
church will enjoy liberty and protection for its mission?
There is an awesome passage in Revelation 8 that pulls back the
curtain
and shows us prayer at
work. John has a vision of heaven and he
says:
Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar.
A censer is a
device for carrying burning incense, usually on a chain.
He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints,
on the golden altar before the throne.
He comes to the altar of incense. Golden altar, charcoal burning on it.
Given incense
and mingled with it are our prayers.
Prayers of saints, church.
The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints,
went up before God from the angel’s hand.
A beautiful picture of our prayers, going up like
pleasing smoke before God.
But then
listen to what happens next. It’s
exhilarating.
Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth;
and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
He takes this golden censer, scoops up glowing coals, that are
smoking with this
aromatic incense mingled
with our prayers, fills the censer, swings it on chain,
and hurls it and when it
crashes to earth, things start to happen.
In the symbolism of Scripture, these events—
thunder and lightning,
rumbling and earthquakes are used to describe the
affairs of nations—kings
and kingdoms, empires rising and falling.
The unmistakable message is that when the church prays,
God mysteriously uses
those prayers to accomplish his purposes on earth,
even the affairs of
nations are changed by the prayers of the saints.
There are still many things that are perplexing.
Why does the Lord allow his people in some times and places to
suffer
so much for so long? Why does he subject them to hateful
governments?
Why does he allow them to
be killed by the very leaders they pray for in worship?
We don’t know why that is also part of his plan.
But here is an instruction, for the church, here is a promise—
that when we pray for
kings and all those in authority,
in God’s time, we will
lead peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity.
That the church will carry out its mission, that the Gospel will
go forth,
and that God will be
pleased, because he wants all people to be saved,
and come to a knowledge
of the truth.
If you love the kingdom of God and want the Gospel to go forth and
for men and women and
boys and girls to be saved,
then pray for President
Obama, pray for Governor Bentley,
pray that the leaders of
all nations will be protected and blessed.
Those prayers will go up as incense before God,
and before the great King
of kings, our Lord Jesus Christ,
and will be used to
accomplish his purposes.