And we do need the Lord in every hour of life, don't we? It's probably been too long for most of us to remember what it was like to go to church for the first time. To recall the strange feeling that we had, the fear that we might not know when to stand up or when to sit down or when to sing or when to be quiet. Every church has its own traditions and maybe we should call them rituals. And so as we went to church we wondered what we're supposed to do when.
Maybe there was even some confusion over the language that was used. Although the church in Ephesus had existed for 12 to 14 years by the time Paul wrote 1 Timothy, there were still some questions apparently as to how things ought to be done in the church. And so the apostle writes the pastor of the church to explain these things. I invite you to open your Bible of 1 Timothy chapter 2.
Paul says to Timothy, I am writing these things so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God which is the church of the living God. So this book is a manual as it were to tell us how to do church. In chapter 1 we learned that if we're going to be a church in the biblical sense of that word, we must stay on course with our message.
The message of the grace of God that through faith in the crucified risen Christ we can find forgiveness with God and have eternal life as a gift. We must stay on course with that message if we're going to be a church, if we're going to do church. Now in chapters 2 and 3 we're going to learn that a congregation must also order its ministry in certain ways.
With respect to prayer, this priority, with respect to the roles for men and women, and with respect to its leadership, if it's really going to do church as God wants it done. As we go through these two chapters it's going to be important for us to keep in mind that the primary focus of Paul's thinking is on the gathering of God's people for worship. He is thinking about us assembled, not separated, not out in our own homes or even in Bible studies or in classrooms.
But what he is saying here, why would he have some application out in those settings, is primarily for the church gathered to worship, to be taught, and to be prepared for its mission. He is talking about the way things ought to be done in order in our public services, would be one way to say it. The gathering of believers is to be noted preeminently for prayer. That means that all of us as believer priests should make prayer a priority in our lives.
Then prayer will be a priority in our church. I'm going to say this later but I'll say it up front. A church is a praying church because it's composed of praying people. A church is a praying church because it's composed of praying people. It's not a praying church because it has certain programs. It's not a praying church because it has a Wednesday night prayer meeting. A church is a praying church because it reflects the prayer of its people, the prayer life of its people.
The prayer he's talking about here, in this context, is the prayer of us together. Now it has some application to us individually but it's especially to us unitedly as we come together to be taught and to worship God. He says, first of all then, I urge that in treaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men for kings and all who are in authority in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Notice with me first the priority of prayer as we gather together as a group of believers. Paul is prioritizing his subjects here and in doing so he gives some instruction to us regarding the preeminence of prayer. He says, first of all, I urge that you pray. In other words, when we gather together there are certain things that we're going to do.
We're going to worship God and we do that by our singing, by our hearts meditation and reflection. We do it by our clapping our hands sometimes. There are various things that we do to worship God. We're going to listen as someone sings or as the choir ministers to us. We're going to be ministered to as we have opportunity to share with one another. We'll be ministered to as the word of God is preached as we are right now.
But one of the things we must not overlook because it is a priority in the church is that we must pray together. Paul says, I urge you to do this. You cannot command people to pray, can you? You can't command somebody to love you either. Paul says, I urge you to pray. The word pictures a coach coming alongside his player or his team and urging, beseeching, encouraging them on.
The apostle appeals to us here in light of all that we have experienced in Christ, in light of all that we know about him, to pray. It's the same word is used in Romans 12.1. I urge you to present your bodies a living sacrifice. He doesn't command it, but he urges it in light of all the blessing of God that comes to us through Jesus. Prayer cannot be forced on anybody by command. You can't do that in a public school classroom. You can't do it in a religious school classroom.
You cannot command people to pray. All you can do is allow it, to urge it, to appeal to people to do it in light of their heart convictions and motivations. And that's what Paul does here. And he says as a body of people, we're to make prayer a preeminent opportunity, let's use that word, to remember in our gathering together. Now just as we're to do that as a whole, we're to do it individually, of course. But we're to make prayer a priority in our lives.
And as it is, it will be a priority in our church. We'll be a praying church. Secondly, he talks about the particulars of prayer, again in verse 1. There are four terms elaborate upon this idea. He uses the word entreaties. The word means a request for a particular specific need that is urgent. That is something that is sort of time sensitive. There is an agitation in the heart. There is this crushing upon it. There is this need for speaking. And so we come to God and we deliver that quickly.
He says that we are to come to him as to a great king and bring with us petitions that are fit for him. These are entreaties. In fact, the verb form of this noun, this word entreaties, means to have an audience with the king. And as part of that, to bring your request to him. So he tells us that we are to bring our entreaties. And then we're to bring our prayers. This is a broad and general word for praying, but in this context it seems more restrictive.
He is talking about here petitions for things that are always needed. Not those things that are time sensitive necessarily, but those things that we always need. God's guidance, God's wisdom, God's mercies among us. There is in this word the implication of a reverential approach to God. We're to come to him with hearts humbled and come to him with great respect as we would come to a sovereign, a king. Then as a congregation, as we pray, we are to bring petitions or intercessions.
This word is unusual. It is found only twice in the whole New Testament, both of them in this book. Literally it means to plead on behalf of others as well as oneself. It's got that idea. The verb form means to draw near so as to be intimate with someone else. You cannot say to your wife from the other end of the house, I love you. I mean you can, and there may be times when that's appropriate, but you actually get nearer and you whisper in the ear, I love you.
There's closeness, there's intimacy. You see, that's what this term is. We're to get close to God, and we can do that because of Christ's sacrifice. We're invited to come near to God, so close that we can whisper to him in intimate terms and even call him Abba, daddy. God is a great king. He is above all, and yet he invites us to come as it were to sit on his lap and to whisper in his ear our petitions. And then finally he says, thanksgivings should be brought to God.
Thanksgivings for the blessings that come from him. This is the only kind of prayer, by the way, that's found in heaven. Thanksgivings and praise to God. Petitions are beyond the veil at that point. They're on this side of heaven. In heaven it's praise to the Lord. And praise, thanksgiving, is to be like incense that fills a room. Just as incense gives fragrance to the atmosphere of a room, so thanksgivings should give the fragrance to all of our praying as is offered to God.
The particulars of prayer. But then he goes on to talk about the practice of prayer in verse one. He says that prayer is to be made. I want you to notice that. Prayer is to be made. It's in the present tense. It means continually made as a habit of life. It is to be a repeated practice of the assembled church to pray, let prayer be made. We do too much talking about prayer, too much discussing about prayer, too much reading about prayer and not enough praying.
So he says, I urge that prayer actually be carried out. One of the great sins of today's church is failure to do this. We make time and have time for many things, but often little time for praying, which is a priority. Now again, he's talking about us as we come together. We're to make prayer a priority in our public services. Whether that prayer be directed and led from the front or it be small prayer groups as we're going to do for a while tonight, prayer is to be a priority.
And it will be if we make prayer a priority in our personal lives. It will carry over to the church. Prayer and the service is not a time to write out the check for the offering. Hopefully we've given thought to that ahead of time and we've come prepared to give. Prayer is not a time for us to catch a few extra winks because we didn't get enough sleep on Saturday night.
Prayer is a time for us to enter into whatever is being said, whatever that other person in our prayer group is praying at the moment. It's a time when our minds, our spirits are to be active praying. He says, let prayer be made, let it be practiced in the church. And then he points to the parameters of prayer. Now prayer is a very broad thing, but here he gives two parameters. He says, we're to pray for all men. That means all humans, not all male men. He's talking about all human beings.
Unsaved humanity, not just the church. We're to pray without distinction of race, nationality, or any social class. We're not to allow any of those kinds of divisions to keep us from praying for somebody else. There is not a place in our praying for discrimination or bias or bigotry. In fact, there's no place for that in our lives at all. He says we are to pray for all men. This counters the tendency that we all have to become narrow in our praying.
So that I pray for my friends, my family, my church, my denomination, my country. We're to pray for all men. Now we can't do that for all individuals, obviously. But he's talking here about all groups of people. Jew or Gentile. We're to pray for all people. Black or white or yellow or red or brown. We're to pray for all people. Those that we like, those that we dislike. Those toward whom we have a drawing and a natural affinity and those that we would rather never see again.
We're to pray for all people. That's one parameter. The other is that he says we're to pray for kings and all in authority. A church's responsibility is to pray for human authority. In doing so, we support order in our society. By praying for the powers that exist, we are upholding the rightness of human government. Now there is an implied truth in doing this. It is that God has placed the authorities that are over us where they are. They are in their places by divine purpose.
It is not accidental. Now whether they be there for blessing, for us as a people, or for judgment on our nation is up to God. But it is his sovereign plan that has placed every leader in the place where he or she is. Recognizing this, we are to pray for them. We're to pray for them. When we pray, we're to ask God to give them wisdom, to help them to think clearly. There are all kinds of ways we can pray. He doesn't tell us how to pray for them, but we are to lift them up.
He gives us the purpose for this. It's very clear. He says we're to pray this way that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. When he talks about leading a tranquil life, he's talking about a life that is free from outward disturbance. Now this is us as a congregation. We're to pray for this. And as a result of our praying, God will give us this. A tranquil life. He's talking about freedom from outward intervention.
Now you can imagine what this means to a church in Ephesus under the thumb of Rome. Or a church in any situation where it's being attacked or persecuted. He says here that our prayers have this result in mind that we may lead a tranquil life, that we may be spared outward intervention to disrupt us. But also the result of our praying is that we may have a quiet life. The word here is internal. That we may be free from internal distress and agitation.
Now why is he praying that we may lead this kind of a life? Why should we be concerned about this kind of an environment? It is this. This sort of an environment advances the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is not in the midst of war and terror and upset and agitation that there is great advance in the gospel. It is when there is a peace that is present. Now sometimes war or disturbance or upset in a country can prepare the way for later evangelism.
But it is in that sense of order where there is not outward pressure or inner agitation that the church can be about its business of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. And we're to do that in godliness with devotion to God that is. And we're to do it with dignity or gravity as the King James puts it. And it means we're to do it with seriousness about life, with an earnestness to it. What he is saying here is that our praying together as a congregation makes a difference.
A difference in the political and national affairs of our country. Right now a lot of us are praying because we're heading up toward an election. But I want to tell you something. The problems with America will not be solved at the ballot box next month. The problems with America are problems of the heart. They can only be satisfied and solved when there is a nation of people who come to the altar of God in repentance.
Let us not be deceived with thinking that somehow any political party has all the answers. Depending upon your persuasions you may be greatly anticipating the changes next month or dreading what's going to happen. The point I'm making this morning is that the power is not the ballot box. The power is in prayer. That's where the direction of nations is determined. Warren Worsby writes, The most vital ministry of the local church, according to Paul, is prayer.
Prayer moves the hand that governs the world. We must pray for government leaders that the doors of ministry will be kept open and souls will be one to Christ. Because God's people do not pray for people in authority, wars close mission fields. Officials do not grant needed visas and the work of the Lord suffers. The reason that we pray together for kings and for those in authorities is that the gospel may be advanced. That's our mission. That's why we're in the world.
God uses our prayers to accomplish that. The answer to the troubling problems in our society, our inner cities, our suburbs, is prayer. Now that sounds simplistic to people in our world today, but it is absolutely the truth. The answer is not more money poured into more social programs. It's not more education about more subjects. You see, the problems that are plaguing America today are problems that will only be solved by prayer. And that's why we're to make prayer a priority in our church.
Because it is prayer that moves the hand of God and then the hearts of men respond. Prayer makes a difference. There's a premise in verse 3. He tells us that this is good that we do this. That's the premise. Why should we pray? Because it's good to do so. There's something intrinsically good about a congregation of people praying regularly, habitually when they come together. But also, he says, it is acceptable to God. That is, it is most welcome to God. God loves it when his people pray.
He delights in our learning to pray together and in doing so in the way that he tells us to. That's the premise of prayer. It's a good thing to do and God loves it when we pray. Now the point of prayer, finally, in verse 4, is very clear. He says that God uses our praying together in the way that he has described to advance his own desires and purposes, which, boiled down to the simplest, is this. The salvation of people from every quarter of humanity.
God desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. Why are prayers important in this? It is because salvation involves a knowledge. Being lost involves an ignorance. It's not having knowledge. Being lost means not having knowledge and not acting upon it, therefore. Being lost means that one's mind is darkened and one's will is hostile toward God. What do people need? They need to know.
They need to know about Jesus Christ and that he is the mediator between God and many, as he goes on to say. Thus, having that knowledge and then placing their faith in Christ, they can be saved. This knowledge becomes more than head knowledge, then, you see. It deepens to the very heart of man. The kind of knowledge he's talking about is an experiential knowledge, where we place our faith in this truth that we have learned.
The fact that the human heart is darkened and the will is hostile is a fact of sin. In that condition, there is a spirit that is at work, the God of this world. He is seeking to keep in place that darkness. He is seeking to reinforce the hostility of the human heart against God. He is blinding the eyes of those who believe not, says the scripture. In our praying, what happens? That blindness begins to lose its power. That darkness begins to lift.
The mind begins to think more clearly and to understand. The will that is hostile toward God begins to turn and to break and to be repentant. You see, prayer accomplishes what God wants, the salvation of people. Our prayers correspond to God's sovereign purposes, then, you see. In prayer, we are not changing God's mind. We don't have to change God's mind about anything. In prayer, we are not coercing God as if we could. In prayer, we are cooperating with God.
We are understanding what God wants to do and we are praying to that end. God rules the world by the prayers of his saints. You say, well, doesn't God purpose what is going to happen and isn't it going to happen anyway? Well, yes, that is true. God has decreed certain ends that will be accomplished. But God has also decreed the means to the ends. And one of the means is prayer. And so God uses our prayers to accomplish his ends. That's the point of it all.
A praying church is a power-filled church. When I think of this kind of church, I think of the Brooklyn Tabernacle in the New York City area, where they literally have hundreds and hundreds of people who pray all night long through the week for prayers that are phoned into them from all across the nation. Miracles happen. One of the greatest miracles was that the pastor's own daughter came back to Christ after being astray for a period of time.
And one night right during the prayer meeting, God answered that prayer as she walked in and repented, as people were praying for her. When I think of this kind of a church, I think of many of the churches of Korea, where people are up at four and five and six o'clock in the morning out in quiet places praying, where churches gather for prayer meetings, where there are hundreds and even thousands of people present. But in America, if you call a prayer meeting, it kills the whole service.
Does that explain something about the powerlessness of the American church, generally speaking? I think it does. You see, prayer releases all your eternal resources. Did you get that acrostic? P-R-A-Y-E-R? Prayer releases all your eternal resources. If we don't pray, then those resources are going to be held in reserve. But when we pray, those resources are released and God's work is accomplished. And so I repeat again, a praying church is made up of praying people.
I ask this question, what does prayer mean in your life? What place does it have? What is its priority in your daily schedule? Think back through this week. When were the times that you were in that garden alone with God praying? If we're going to be a praying church, we have to be praying individuals in the church. And so I'm asking, when were you with God this week? A couple of days, five days, maybe every day? Was it five minutes, a half an hour?
We have some disciplined prayer warriors in our church who literally are before God for hours every week. I thank God for them. But all of us need to understand that prayer is a priority in our lives. And to dial up its importance by the place that we give it every day. Prayer releases all your eternal resources. May our prayer to God first be this, Lord, teach me to pray. Show me how to pray as a person, as an individual, as a child of yours.
Show me how to employ entreaties and prayers and petitions and thanksgivings in my prayer life. Lord, make me a part of a praying church. I thank God for the praying that is taking place in our church. There are those who prayed during both of our morning services now. Open the office. Whether it's two people or it's 15 people as it has been sometimes, there are people praying. I thank God for that. I thank God for those who will be there tonight at the prayer meeting of the church.
As we lift our requests to the Lord, we have some urgent things to pray about tonight. I thank God for the cell groups where there's praying going on. For the men who are meeting for prayer several times a month. For the little groups, the promise keeper type groups, where there's praying taking place. The Bible studies. There is prayer that is happening. What I'm saying today is that we need to dial it up more. We need to understand its absolute necessity. Not just to our success.
That's meaningless compared to what God wants. God gets His work done when you and I pray. Let's bow our heads. Father, I ask of you in Jesus' name that in my life and the life of every one of us, you will underscore this morning the importance of prayer. Lord, get us beyond seeing it as an obligation, a duty, to see it as a privilege, as a wonder, as a divine opportunity to sit in your lap and to speak with you as our heavenly Abba, Father.
I pray that working in our individual hearts that way, you would then make us more of a praying church than we are today. In Jesus' name, amen.