The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is studying Paul's pastoral Epistles (Letters) to his proteges, Timothy and Titus.
In Session 3 we talk about the local church defending the faith and we ask the question is worship to be "Service or Circus?" Paul instructs Timothy on how to maintain order in worship, starting with prayer. Here in Session 4 we continue the discussion of prayer in the worship service of the local church.
1 Timothy 2:1-8 NIV I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people.
The key is that prayer is to be made for all people because "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:3-4 NIV).
We should remember that God is a God of order and not confusion. Order implies a neat and logical organization of items, tasks, or people. Paul exhorted, through Timothy, the men and women in the church and reminded them of their spiritual responsibilities, to maintain order.
He starts with—Prayer
1 Timothy 2:1-8 NIV I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 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. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 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. Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.
First of all” indicates that prayer is most important in the public worship of the church
There are at least four different Greek nouns for “prayer,” used in verse 1
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions (supplications), prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—
1 Timothy 2:1 NIV
Supplication carries the idea of “offering a request for a felt need.”
Prayers is the most common term, and it emphasizes the sacredness of prayer. Prayer is an act of worship, not just an expression of our wants and needs. There should be reverence in our hearts as we pray to God.
Intercessions are next. The basic meaning is “to draw near to a person and converse confidently with him.” It suggests that we enjoy fellowship with God so that we have confidence in Him as we pray for others or for specific circumstances.
Then thanksgiving. Giving thanks is definitely a part of worship and prayer. We not only give thanks for answers to prayer, but for who God is and what He does for us in His grace. We should not simply add our thanksgiving to the end of a selfish prayer!
Psalm 103 is a prayer of thanksgiving without any request or petition just thanksgiving. We are just going to read the beginning and the end but I encourage you to read it all.
Psalms 103:1-5, 20-22 NIV Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, my soul.
Who should be the objects of our prayer when we worship together. Everybody. "All men"
1 Timothy 2:1-2 NIV I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
No person on earth is outside the influence of believing prayer This means we should pray for the unsaved and the saved, for people near us and people far away, for enemies as well as friends.
Paul urged the church to especially pray for those in authority. Remember when Paul wrote this letter godless Emperor Nero was on the throne at that time, and yet the believers were supposed to pray for him!
Even when we cannot respect men or women in authority, we must respect their offices and pray for them. In fact, it is for our own good that we do so: “that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness”
The early church was always subject to opposition and persecution, so it was wise to pray for those in authority. “Quiet” refers to circumstances around us, while “peaceful” refers to a calm attitude within us.
Paul has not named all the persons we can and should pray for, since “all men "covers everyone. We can’t pray for everybody in the world by name, but we certainly ought to pray for those we know and know about.
Why do we pray why is it so important
1 Timothy 2:3-4 NIV This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Yes, prayer is a good practice to have. It has lots of benefits but the most important thing is that it is pleasing to the Lord. The Pharisees prayed in order to be praised by men or to impress other worshippers. True Christians pray in order to please God.
Luke 18:10-14 NIV “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Praying to please God suggests that we must pray in the will of God,
1 John 5:14-15 NIV This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
It certainly does not please the Father when we pray selfishly.
James 4:2-3 NIV You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
It’s often said that the purpose of prayer is not to get man’s will done in heaven, but to get God’s will done on earth.
Matthew 6:9-10 NIV “This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
We know that it is God’s will that everyone is saved so we can pray for "All men. It is God’s will that “all men” come to the knowledge of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. God loved the world and Christ died for the whole world.
1 John 2:2 NIV He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Jesus died on the cross that He might draw “all men” to salvation.
John 12:32-33 NIV And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.
We know that everyone is not going to be saved. Salvation depends on a “knowledge of the truth” which we know that God wants to happen which is why Paul tells Timothy to tell the people to pray for all men.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 NIV This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Not everyone has heard the truth of the gospel, and many who have heard have rejected it. We do know that prayer is an important part of God’s program for reaching a lost world. We have the responsibility of praying for lost souls and making ourselves available to share the gospel with others.
The prayer of the Christian is based on the work of Jesus
1 Timothy 2:5-7 NIV 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. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 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.
Since there is only one God, there is need for only one Mediator, and that Mediator is Jesus Christ. No other person can qualify. Jesus Christ is both God and man, and therefore, can be the “umpire” between God and man. In His perfect life and substitutionary death, He met the just demands of God’s holy law. He was the “ransom for all.”
The word ransom means “a price paid to free a slave.” His death was “on behalf of all.” Though the death of Christ is efficient only for those who trust Him, it is sufficient for the sins of the whole world. Jesus said that He came “to give his life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28).
Christ died for “all men,” and God is willing for “all men to be saved.”
So how do we get the word out that Christ died for everyone?
One way is through the spiritual gifts given to the church.
Ephesians 4:11-13 NIV So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Paul was such a messenger: He was a preacher, an apostle and a teacher.
If the basis for prayer is the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ on the cross, then prayer is a very important activity in a church. Not to pray is to slight the cross! To pray only for ourselves is to deny the worldwide outreach of the cross. To ignore the lost is to ignore the cross. “All men” is the key. We pray for “all” because Christ died for “all” and it is God’s will that “all” be saved.
Let's look at
1 Timothy 2:8 NIV Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.
Paul’s emphasis in this letter is on the men praying. He was not excluding women because in his letter to the Corinthians it is clear that he knew both men and women prayed in the church
1 Corinthians 11:4-5 NIV Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved.
However here's an observation from today that may have been the case then. It is common to find women’s prayer meetings, but not often do we find men’s prayer meetings. So Paul obviously thought it was important for men to pray because as we will see later he felt that men should be leaders.
Posture when Praying
Paul says that he wanted the men to lift their hands when they prayed in church. That was probably because of his background as a Jew. It was customary for Jewish men to pray with their arms extended and their hands open to heaven.nThe important thing is not the posture of the body but the posture of the heart.
There are other prayer postures in the Bible, kneeling (Dan. 6:10); standing (Luke 18:11); sitting (2 Sam. 7:18); bowing the head (Gen. 24:26); lifting the eyes (John 17:1); falling on the ground (Gen. 17:3).
Paul gives Timothy three essentials for effective prayer. Look at verse 8 again.
1 Timothy 2:8 NIV Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.
“Holy hands.” Obviously this means a holy life. Some translations say clean hands. “Clean hands” was symbolic of a blameless life. If we have sin in our lives, we cannot pray and expect God to answer.
Psalms 66:18-20 NIV If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!
First is "holy hands" then "Without wrath (anger)” is the second essential and requires that we be on good terms with one another. A person who is constantly having trouble with other believers, who is a troublemaker rather than a peacemaker, cannot pray effectively.
Then there is to be no doubting. “Doubting” suggests that we must pray in faith, but the Greek word really means “disputing.” When we have anger in the heart, we often have open disagreements with others. Christians should learn to disagree without being disagreeable.
We Should “do all things without murmurings and disputings”
Philippians 2:3-4 NIV Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
Effective praying, then, demands that I be in a right relationship with God (“holy hands”) and with my fellow believers (“without murmurings and disputings”). Jesus taught the same truth
Mark 11:24-25 NIV Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
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