Importance Of Prayer

I Timothy 2: 1-8

Paul had written this letter to Timothy after he had left him at Ephesus as the pastor of that important church to deal with false teachers who had been teaching heresy.

Now he is continuing to instruct him about his duties as pastor there.

(1) First of all, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made

The most important activity the pastor needs to lead the congregation in is prayer. There are four words used here for different kinds of prayers.

The first is deeseis, expressing the idea of a desire or need. This word is also translated as supplications and requests. We are to recognize and admit our dependence on God to meet our needs.

The next word is proseuche, a general word for prayer to God in worship, both privately and publicly. Here it is most likely oral prayer given openly during the service.

The third word enteuxis is used in the New Testament only in I Timothy here and in 4:5, and carries the idea of a conversation that presents a petition for another, intercession. We are to boldly approach the throne of God anticipating our Father's personal attention to pray for one another. Only one who genuinely communes with God in private conversation can edify others in his public prayers.

The fourth word is eucharistia, from which we get "eucharist," the Lord's Supper, or Holy Communion. This ordinance of the church is always to be partaken of in great thanksgiving for all our Lord God has done for us in giving His body and blood for our Salvation and Redemption. All of our communication with God should be in the attitude of appreciating everything He has done for us, and this thanksgiving will strengthen our faith to believe that He will continue to meet all of our needs both now and in the future.

on behalf of all men,

(2) for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

Who we are to pray for is for all men, for everybody, every living person both saved and lost; and for kings and all who are in authority, for the leaders in our government, and the movers and shakers who determine how our culture and society will function. The reason is so that we can live our lives freely in a peaceful and quiet way, expressing God's good ways in the dignity of the value and worth God has put on us as His creation.

(3) This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,

These kinds of communication with God are good, "beautiful, excellent;" and acceptable, pleasing to the Lord God who is our Savior.

(4) who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

We are to pray for people to be saved; all people, including those in authority over us who affect how we live our daily lives.

God the Father sent God the Son to be our Savior, and His sacrifice had the worth to pay off all the debt owed to the Father by sin, all sin. Everyone can be saved, but not everyone will be saved. God wants us all, but He will not interfere with our choices. He wants us to want Him, but He won't force us. He doesn't want puppets, He wants sons and daughters. (See also John 3:16; II Corinthians 5: 14-15; and II Peter 3: 9.)

(5) For there is one God, and one Mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

One God only is the basic premise of both Judaism and Christianity. Then Christianity goes on to declare that there is one only Mediator between God and men, because the Son became the man Christ Jesus, the Anointed One.

The basic meaning for the Greek word mesites is "One who intervenes between two, either in order to make or restore peace and friendship, or to form a compact, or for ratifying a covenant."

This Greek word is found only once in the LXX (the Greek translation of the Old Testament). When Job was frustrated that God was not a man with whom he could converse, he concluded that, "There is no umpire between us, who may lay his hand upon us both" (Job 9: 33). Christ is the answer to this ancient cry for help.

A bridge over a chasm or a river must be anchored on both sides. Christ has bridged the chasm between Heaven and Earth that separated man from God. As the Son of God, He is anchored in Heaven; and as the Son of Man He is now also anchored on Earth. By His death as the sacrificial Lamb of God He has restored the harmony between God and man which human sin had broken. Only He could "lay His hand upon us both"!

His body of flesh is the veil that was torn from between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place (Hebrews 10: 20), permitting for us an unfettered way to directly approach The Throne of Grace. He is our only Mediator who accomplished this.

(6) who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.

This is how He accomplished it. This Greek word for ransom is antilytron, which occurs only here in the New Testament. It means, "What is given in exchange for another as the price of his redemption," the ransom price paid to free a slave. Christ paid the ransom to free us from the slavery of sin. Now we are His possession, He owns us. Which makes Him our Judge. It also makes Him our Savior of those who accept His sacrifice on their behalf personally.

This message of the redemptive death of Christ was the distinctive apostolic witness, given at the proper time, "in its own appointed times." Christ's sacrifice for sin took place at God's appointed hour. The Twentieth Century New Testament translates the whole clause: "This is the fact to which we are to bear our testimony, as opportunities present themselves."

(7) For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Paul says that this is why God chose him, to give this witness with authority. He apparently gives this parenthetical disclaimer to answer those in Ephesus who were challenging his authority as an apostle.

To teach the true faith to the Gentiles was his special assignment from the Lord (Acts 9: 15), and the leaders of the church in Jerusalem agreed to that (Galatians 2: 9).

(8) Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension. 

Getting back to the matter of public worship, he wants all of the congregants, the people and the leaders, in every church location, to pray with holy hands, which refers to clean lives, committed to our Lord; leaving all anger and disputing and all of our differences behind us, when we pray together.

O my Father, please help us to look past whatever differences would mar our sweet communion together with You! All that really matters is that You have sent Your Son to be our Savior, and He has cleansed us and placed us into Your family. As royal children of the King, any differences we may have will mean nothing when we are Redeemed into our spirit bodies that will envelop our flesh (I Corinthians 15: 53-54).

My Father, help us to remember this, and to accept one another as brothers and sisters, letting the differences merely color our relationships, enjoying the variegated hues.

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.

Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!