PASSING CHRISTIANITY DOWN AN EXPOSITION OF FIRST TIMOTHY
Sermon 8
PILLARS AND PRAY-ERS
E. The Faith Practiced
1. By Praying, Growing People 2:1-8; 3:14-16
Chapter 2 begins a new section running all the way to the end of the letter. It deals with the people of the faith, God’s children, and how WE ought to behave as members of His family.
A soldier in Alexander’s army went to sleep on duty. He was brought before the Emperor, who asked him what his name was. When he said, “Alexander sir.” Alexander thundered, “Soldier, change your nature or change your name!”
A. THE FOUNDATION – WHERE WE STAND (3:14-16)
“I am writing you these instructions so if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in the household (family) of God which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great
He appeared in a body,
Was vindicated by the Spirit,
Was seen by angels
Was preached among the nations
Was believed on in the world
Was taken up in glory
Paul mixes metaphors and calls the church the PILLAR and the FOUNDATION (ground). The foundation upon which we stand is TRUTH and Jesus says, “I am the truth.” (John 14) Today, people stand mostly on their own opinions. They do not believe in absolute truth. They look upon us who say we find this in the Bible as arrogant and foolish. Paul says they call our truth “nonsense” (1 Cor. 2:14).
Doing this, they insult and belittle not only us, but Jesus himself. They make Him the most arrogant person and most foolish person who ever lived. He did not say, “I know some truth”, but “I am the truth” (Jn. 14). He never said, "I think" or "It seems to me". What He did say was, "Verily, verily I say" and "It is written" and "Scripture says", etc. The Old Testament was God's written word and Jesus was God's living word.
If Jesus is not who He says He is – God in human form – he is either a liar or a lunatic and is not to be trusted. If He is who He says He is, He is the Lord, before whom every knee will bow. (Philippians 2).
B. THE PILLARS – WHAT WE SHOW
As the PILLAR we SHOW the truth. The great Temple of Diana, in Ephesus had huge pillars, full of carvings that people came from all over the world to see. When people look at you and me, they should see people set free by the truth – free: from guilt; from the controls of sin; from racial prejudice, from gossip; from anxiety, from profanity, and from a thousand other things that make us just like them. The Jesus people outside the church know is the Jesus they see in us and the way we live every day. We are all witnesses for Jesus, the question is, what kind.
1. The Church’s MESSAGE (16).
The word mystery means something hidden that has been revealed. Paul quotes here a Christian poem or hymn which is a grand summary of the Jesus of history. He is God! The angels saw him before creation and watched Him come to earth and die. The Holy Spirit vindicated his ministry and stamped it as true by enabling Him to work miracles, defeat Satan and rise from the dead. He was taken up to glory where He reigns until He comes again. He has been preached and will be preached until that coming. And people from every nation, every tribe, and every language will believe on Him and make up the Church of heaven (Rev. 5).
2. The Church’s MESSENGERS
The word “church” does not mean a building; it means a group of people who claim to be delivered from the guilt and power of wrongdoing and who will go to heaven when they die. If the message of Jesus gets to the world, it will be through ordinary people like you and me. My wife and I told our girls; everywhere you go you have our name and you represent us. It is the same with followers of Jesus.
Lost people seldom look inside the church walls except for weddings or funerals. But they look at us every day.
“We are writing each day, a gospel to men
Take care that the writing is true
Before you reach each day’s end
Let others see Jesus in you.”
C. THE PRAY-ERS (2:1-2, 8)
1) “I urge then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercessions (communications) and thanksgivings be made for all for everyone- 2) for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness…. 8) I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.” (1:1-2, 8)
1. The Ingredients of Prayer (1-2)
To live for God in a Godless world, is not in our strength to do. We are the “light” of truth and goodness and hope to the world. But a light (today) must be “plugged in” to shine. We must connect ourselves to heavens power-source by prayer.
Prayer, more than anything we do, connects us with the Lord. In two verses the Bible shows us the ingredients of prayer. The term REQUESTS expresses the deep needs of our life and in witnessing, that need is for power. One preacher defined preaching as "Thirty Minutes to Raise the Dead".
And we must be SPECIFIC in out praying. If we pray, “forgive us for all of our sins” God wants to shake us and say, “Which ones? Name them!” A 60-year-old man’s wife turned sixty and he mumbled to himself, “God, I wish I had a wife twenty-years younger than me.” God answered his prayer and made him 8o. Be specific.
The term PRAYERS is the general word for devotion, worship, and reverence in the presence of God. We don’t just SAY our prayers, we ARE our prayers. We don’t as much GO into the presence of God as we LIVE in the presence of God. First Thessalonians five says, “Pray without ceasing." The poem says,
Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire
Uttered or unexpressed
The motion of a hidden fire
That lies beneath the breast.”
INTERCESSION here, is not the usual word for praying for someone else. It carries the idea of CONVERSATION. Prayer should sometimes be formal, as when Jesus addressed God as, “Holy Father” (John 17:11). And we never need to get flippant or casual, but we can and should be able to talk with God like we talk with our family members and friends. To do this, don’t do all the talking. Give God a chance to get into the conversation. He speaks through Scripture, and this is why broad Bible knowledge is so important in prayer. All of us have known the joy of wrestling with something in God's presence and having a certain verse come into our minds. These little “touches from heaven” make our prayer time personal and powerful.
When I went to a growing church, full of conflicts and anger, as a young preacher, it didn't take me long to realize I was in over my head. I wanted to go back to a small country church but before I started looking, I came upon Peter's words to "Cast (throw) our cares" up to God. I wrote down every problem and every problem person I could think of and one at a time, threw each one up in the air to God and said, "God, this is your problem now. Just show me what You want me to do." I stayed 31 years and it grew into a strong, ministering group of people who loved each other and God.
THANKSGIVING is the heart and soul of prayer. This is why it is NOT included in “The Lord’s Prayer” (Mt. 6). Jesus assumed it. To “tell” a child of God to be thankful is like telling him to breathe. And did you know - this is the only kind of prayer there will be in heaven- praise and thanksgiving to the God on the throne and to the Lamb of God who saved us and set us free from Satan (Rev. 5).
In closing, as we think of thanksgiving in heaven, will there be anyone who comes up to us and says, “Thank you. I’m a Christian because of you. I’m here because of you.”
2. The Individuals in Prayer (1- 8)
Time alone with God should produce God-like people who characterized by GODLINESS and HOLINESSs (2,8) This includes:
1) A Concerned Life (1b-2a)
We are to pray for everyone, and the person in authority then was heartless Nero. We should care about every human being, even those who use and abuse us.
2) A Godly Life.
This pictures the person who lives by God’s standards. Psalm 1 pictures the person who does not LISTEN to the world to “walk” - to order his life, “in the counsel of the wicked”. He knows if he does he will "sit in the seat of mockers” (1:1) His “delight is in the Law of the Lord”, the Bible. When the Bible says go right, the godly man goes right, when the Bible says go left the godly man goes left, when the Bible says stop, the godly man stops.
3) A Holy, Devout Life.
The word holy (NIV), translated dignified, serious, etc., points to the actions of the person who lives in the very presence of God. His life is a testimony of the power of God to change and direct a life. He or she is serious about morals and ethics and faith and ministry because they want to bring honor (glory) to God.
4) A Peacemaking Life (v8a)
Paul said he wanted the men of the churches to pray with “hands unstained by anger and dissention” (Williams, 8a) There seems to have been a lot of theological wrangling and fussing going on in Ephesus because of false teachers, and teachers of trivial matters they held dear.
We need to quit taking theological sides across battle lines unless they are absolutely necessary. We need to be patient with those who hold strange or false views and try to teach them before we throw verbal punches at them. A battling church will never be attractive to the people of the world who have battles with their families, battles at work and battles with the government.
5) A Growing Life
None of us are “good” at prayer, or “good enough” to get answers from God. But we grow in praying. Prayer in the anvil upon which we are tested and made strong. How to pray, was the only thing we know of that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them (Luke 11). Fosdick wrote, “If you can’t pray as you ought, pray as you can.”
A perfect example of this is John Knox, the Scottish preacher who took John Calvin’s teachings and more than anyone help found the Presbyterian Church. He resisted the call God made to him through his church because he felt he was too weak to be a preacher. He fought against doubts all his life and wrote,
“I know the grudging and murmuring complaints of the flesh. I know the anger…it conceives against God, calling all his promises in doubt, and being ready every hour to fall from God.”
On his deathbed he was tempted to doubt, but he answered the Call, did his duty and went to heaven as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. During his lifetime it was said that Queen “Bloody” Mary of England feared the prayers of John Knox far more than she feared all the armies of Scotland.
