[0:00] Let's open up our scripture to the book of 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter 2, 1 Timothy chapter 2. The entire chapter will be our text. Just to be transparent with you, I got really, really close to stopping it at verse 8.
[0:14] You will see why. Some of you who have read ahead and studied ahead may know why, but hopefully by the time we get through with the message this morning, you will understand why we are reading it as one text and we can see it kind of as the church at Ephesus would have seen it when Paul was writing this letter to Timothy, sure, but he's also pastoring the church at Ephesus so it would have been shared with the church there as well.
[0:42] So our text this morning will be 1 Timothy chapter 2. We're looking at the entire chapter and if my brothers upstairs could maybe cut these down a little bit. I'm talking to myself. I don't know why.
[0:53] I keep hearing myself really good. Some of you said, well, pastor, you need to preach to yourself. I've been preaching the message to myself all week. I'd rather not hear it this morning as well. So hopefully, hey, that sounds good, brother.
[1:04] Thank you. Maybe it was just me. I don't know. We changed batteries recently and it's probably taken, some of you say, what is he talking about? Never mind. All right, let's go. 1 Timothy chapter 2. If you are physically able and desire to do so, would you join with me as we stand together and we read the word of God with one another starting in verse 1.
[1:22] The word of God says, First of all, then I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men for kings and all who are in authority so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
[1:38] 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. For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.
[1:56] 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. Therefore, I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension.
[2:11] Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly garments, but rather by means of good works as is proper for women making a claim to godliness.
[2:24] A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness, but I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet. For it was Adam who was first created and then Eve.
[2:36] And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression. But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.
[2:48] It's a good time to pray, right? Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. Thank you for the word of God. Thank you for the people of God. Thank you that we have the opportunity to come together and we hear it and we read it and we see it with one another.
[3:01] So Lord, now we come before you, the author of it, and ask that you would speak to our hearts. Ask that you would help its truth to not just enter into our minds, but it would cut to the very depths of our being.
[3:12] Lord, that that truth would have its way in our lives. It would mold us and shape us and conform us more and more to the image that you desire us to be, to walk in godliness, to walk in faithfulness.
[3:24] And we ask all these things that it would bring glory and honor to you, Lord Jesus. And we ask it all in your name. Amen. You may be seated. Some of you say, well, pastor, you should have cut that off at verse 8.
[3:37] You're opening up a can of worms by the time you get to verse 9. If you are new here and you haven't been with us an extended period of time, you know that this is a can I have opened before when we made our way through the book of 1 Corinthians.
[3:51] As a matter of fact, we opened it up just a little bit, peeked inside, and the Lord so convicted me that we came back the next week and we opened it all the way up and just dug real deep into it. So I'll go ahead and let you know on the forefront here that if you want deep, deep teaching on just that one portion of passage there from verse 9 to verse 15, then we have some great IT people who have it online and you can go back and you can look up the sermon.
[4:18] Even now, it's even easier. You can go back and click on the series of 1 Corinthians. I don't have to tell you the date. You can go look at chapters 11 and following. It's in the 11, 12, 13, I think even in the 14.
[4:29] I'm not telling you you have to listen to all of them, but you can really get into it if you want to know where I stand on a lot of these things. Because this morning you may say, well, you didn't answer all my questions as it regards that passage.
[4:40] You're right, because I serve in the context of not an itinerary ministry, but in pastoral ministry. That is, I'm always building upon what the Lord has led us to before. And we're not going to redefine the will when we've already kind of shaped the will.
[4:53] So we have that resource for you, but don't do it yet. You can do it after this morning and then you can come back and throw things at me if you want to, because this morning I want you to see it in context of where Paul has put it here.
[5:04] Okay. So we're looking at the book of 1 Timothy and Paul is writing with regard to the church. He is writing to the pastor of the church, really not the full-time pastor. He's writing to the individual, Timothy, who he has left behind to raise up elders and pastors and teachers and deacons in the church body.
[5:23] And he writes to Timothy, knowing that Timothy is going to be there on a temporary basis. When we open up the book of Acts, we know that Timothy does not live long there because he very shortly following this letter, because Paul says he wrote it when he went to Macedonia.
[5:38] So we can find that in the book of Acts. I believe it's Acts 19. We can move forward just a little bit in the account of Acts and find that Timothy is on the ship with Paul as he's sailing into Jerusalem. So we know that Timothy is not there for an extended period of time.
[5:52] That is, it's not his home church. But Timothy is left behind to help establish the church, which is telling, knowing that Paul had already spent between 18 months and two years there investing in that church.
[6:04] So just for record, it takes some time for a church to really be the church, right? So they had accepted Christ. They had received the gospel. They were holding to the tenets of the faith. They were experiencing all the turmoil that new churches were experiencing in that day.
[6:18] All the discord and people coming in saying, oh, well, that's great, but you need this, this, and this. But Timothy was left behind to raise up elders and deacons so that when he left, the church would be on a good foundation.
[6:31] Now, Paul tells us why he writes this letter in chapter 3. He writes it so that one may know how he ought to conduct himself in the local church, how he ought to behave and the things he ought to do, what it looks like to be the church.
[6:45] Now, we've seen through the first chapter that the church is comprised of a number of individuals. Those individuals are all important. But those individuals must guard the gospel.
[6:55] That is, the purity of the gospel must be preserved in the church because the church exists to be the pillar and the support of the truth. Again, 1 Timothy 3, verse 15.
[7:07] So if we do not know the gospel, we cannot hold up the truth, which is the gospel. And that is the calling of every local church. And Paul is going to give great what we have, even in our own bylaws.
[7:21] Most churches do it. Most people go by it. When I was ordained as a deacon, these passages were given to me. When I was called as a pastor and ordained as a pastor, these passages were given to me.
[7:32] When I came here in view of being the pastor of this church, this passage was given to me. And that is 1 Timothy 3, where we have what we call the qualifications of elders, pastors, and deacons.
[7:43] But before we get into that, Paul tells us one instrumental aspect of what it looks like to be the church. And it is found in the second chapter, and it is the church's call to prayer.
[7:55] The church's call to prayer. A few weeks ago, I shared with you that there are certain aspects of what we see as being the church.
[8:06] Things which the church should do together. Things which the church should follow and operate in. We see it laid out for us clearly in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 2. Some of you keep saying, man, brother, you keep, or pastor, you keep referring to the book of Acts.
[8:20] That is why the reason I refer to the book of Acts is because the book of Acts is the only God-approved, God-breathed book on church growth.
[8:31] It's the only one there that you can say that this was ordained of the Lord. He showed us what it looks like when the church was born and what it took for the church to grow. There are a lot of great church growth books out there written by men and women of God throughout church history.
[8:45] But the only sanctioned one that we have of the Lord God himself is the book of Acts. So if we want to see what the church was intended to do, let's go to the author of the church who wrote about the church.
[8:56] And we find it in the book of Acts. So there are certain aspects the church does. It dedicates itself to the apostles' teaching. That is, they have scriptural preaching and teaching. It breaks bread with one another.
[9:07] That is, it takes the Lord's Supper together. It has communion together. They fellowship. They go from house to house. So there's teaching and fellowship and communion. All these matters together. They are repenting and believing. But it also says they pray together.
[9:20] And in their prayer, it is a very important aspect. So a few weeks ago, I shared with you guys that I had come under the conviction that the majority of our time, when we count up our time in any local assembly and coming together, very little of our time was dedicated to public prayer.
[9:36] We have since had the opportunity to amend that. And I shared with Brother Jamie this morning, I have so greatly enjoyed not only the prayers of my brothers, as they have stood before you sharing scripture and prayer, but the admonition that we had of the Lord when we met together.
[9:51] We didn't want it to be a time of preaching, a time of sermon. We wanted it to be a time of, this is what the word says. Now let's pray in regard to the word. And how wonderful it is just to be still with your brothers and sisters in Christ and spend a few moments in prayer.
[10:05] It is amazing that we have the opportunity to gather together as a corporate body of believers and in any given moment, even non-believers being present with us. And we can approach the throne room of heaven.
[10:18] And I'm thankful we do announcements, we pray, and then we pray before we fellowship. Because it ought to impact our fellowship. If you have just been praying with the people beside you, it sure is hard to go during that fellowship time and say, now I have a problem with you.
[10:34] Right, you should have done that before you prayed with them. If not, then we'll work on that later. But it is prayer that is so important. Paul underlines that here in this call to prayer to the local church.
[10:46] And he gives it to Timothy. I want you to see four things as it regards to prayer in this chapter. Number one, I want you to see the church's responsibility to prayer.
[10:57] It is the church's responsibility. Look at what he says. First of all, now, those words catch me a little bit off guard because Paul is writing to a pastor of a local church.
[11:07] Now, he clearly has already defined who makes up this church. He speaks of himself and Timothy and everyone there that has accepted Christ. He has spoke of the insistence on staying true to doctrine, keeping your doctrine correct.
[11:21] He has spoken of the reality that you must guard the gospel. So these are big rock issues, right? You need to have proper doctrine. You need to have a proper understanding of the gospel. These matters are there.
[11:31] And now you're like, now let's get to the nuts and bolts. What do we need to do as a church? He's going to do that. He's going to tell him the qualifications for the men that he's going to rise up. He's going to tell him the qualifications for their lives and what it should look like.
[11:43] He's going to tell them as he continues to write these pastoral pencils, how they ought to be ready for good deeds. We get into that 2 Timothy and end in the book of Titus. He tells Titus, writing to a local church, to equip the congregation, to be ready for every good deed, to engage in good deeds.
[11:58] So he does all of that. But in this first, what we refer to as pastoral epistles, after establishing the big rocks of the doctrine, he says, first of all, that is the first calling or the first urging of the church, before you're ready for deeds, before you even need to know what the qualifications of the men who are going to lead you and serve you ought to be, you need to know what God himself has called you to do.
[12:24] So that is really important. He could have started out, said, now that you have your doctrine correct, let's find some men to teach that doctrine. He doesn't do that. He says, now that you know what your doctrine is, now that you know what the gospel is, now that you know how wonderful salvation is, let me tell you the opportunity that God has given you.
[12:42] He says, first of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgiving be made on behalf of all men. Here is the responsibility of the church to pray.
[12:54] It is the first calling of the assembly of God's people. It is the first admonition and the first urging that he gives them. When we go again to the early church, every moment that was experienced by them was met instinctively with a call to prayer.
[13:12] They were persecuted. They prayed. People were giving. They prayed. They sent the urge to go to the mission field. They prayed. They were sending people to go plant churches. They prayed. If you look at this, their first urging was to pray.
[13:26] And they knew this. But look at what it says. It's not only the responsibility to pray for one another. We have that elsewhere in passage. But this calling, this primary calling on the church is to pray for all men.
[13:38] It is not just to pray for those around us, those that we know, those that are sitting beside us. It is the responsibility of the church to pray for all men.
[13:51] Because if the church is to be the pillar and support of the truth in society, which it is, if we ought to raise up the truth, our expectation should be that people will respond to that truth.
[14:06] Now, how will they respond unless we hold it up? We have to hold up the truth. But Jesus says in the Gospel of John, John chapter 3, that the spirit blows where no man knows, right?
[14:18] That salvation is not of man, but it is of the Lord. This is his teaching to Nicodemus. So, if we hold the truth up, then we ought to, at the same moment, be crying out to the giver of the truth, the very truth himself, saying, Lord, prepare the hearts and minds of the people to receive the truth.
[14:34] It is he that we must go before. It is he that we must intercede. He says that we ought to pray for all men. And he says for kings and all who are in authority so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
[14:49] See, it is not the responsibility nor the calling of the church, now stay with me, to rebuke or correct leaders, but it is its calling to pray for them.
[15:02] I know that's challenging. I'm talking about political leaders. When you look at the church in Scripture, the only leaders we ought to challenge in Scripture are the leaders in our own local assembly.
[15:17] If there is an elder or pastor or deacon or a leader in the congregation that is sinning, then we ought to call them to account. That's called church discipline, right? Everywhere else in Scripture, we are commanded to pray for those leaders.
[15:28] Let's take it in context. Do you know who is the leader of the world, of Paul's world there, the Roman Empire, when Paul is writing this? It's Nero.
[15:39] Nero was the great Roman emperor who would take Christians and cover them in tar and tie them on top of stakes and light them on fire while they were alive to light the city. It was Nero.
[15:50] It was Nero who did such grand persecution to believers at that time. Even the city of Rome was caught on fire and he put the blame on Christians. He blamed the Christians so much so that the Christians were run out of the land.
[16:06] But it was during that time that Paul said, pray for the leaders. It was the urging and the calling and the responsibility of the church to go before the throne room of heaven and to intercede on behalf of the leaders of the land and all people.
[16:26] He says, we are to pray for all men regardless of their position in society, regardless of their race, regardless of their standing, regardless of their economic benefit to us or against us. Regardless of how they treat us, it tells us that we ought to pray for all men.
[16:40] And the last time I checked, all men means all men. I got a little word study here for you because some of you say, well, great, I'm off the hook here. I don't have to pray for ladies.
[16:51] No. In the first part of this chapter, men, there means mankind. Right? It is the word we get homo sapien from. In the Latin, it is a word that means all mankind.
[17:02] So you ought to pray for all mankind. There is a great transition in this passage. You know where it is. In verses 8 and 9, there men means man, male, and women means women, female.
[17:14] There's that great transition because don't let anybody define you. The scripture is not neutral. Scripture is very specific. And when it says to pray for all men, it says pray for all mankind.
[17:26] You just got to go back to the original words and see it there. We read it kind of gender neutral a lot of times, and I'm not trying to pick battles here, but it tells us in scripture exactly. They use very specific words because God was being clear in what he says.
[17:40] He says, We ought to pray for all mankind, of all people, of all races, of all types, of all genres, of all people. It is the church's responsibility to pray.
[17:50] We are told to pray for those in scripture that persecute us, that speak badly of us, that have things against us. We ought to pray. It is our responsibility. Look at what it says.
[18:01] He says, So that, this tells us why we should do it, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. That is, we ought to pray in such a manner that the leaders and rulers of the land would allow us to live this way, but we can take it one step further.
[18:17] By praying in this manner, we are creating the means to allow us to live this way. That is, we can live in godliness and dignity and tranquility with all sincerity and godliness when we are people of prayer.
[18:32] But when we are people of judgment, we are not. See, this is not only the avenue to godliness, this is the means of godliness. That is, as we pray for the people around us, we tend to live a better life than ourselves.
[18:47] Here's the responsibility to prayer. Number two, we notice the reassurance of prayer. There is the reassurance of prayer. Verse five says this. Well, let's back it up.
[18:58] Let's go to verse three. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. Here's the reassurance. So, we are called to pray for all people of all places and all stances and all standings, all people in the world, and it says, this is good.
[19:13] This is good and acceptable before God our Savior. Again, Paul, writing to Timothy here, uses this word choice, which is really kind of odd. In scripture, it's not God our Father, it's God our Savior.
[19:24] So, he's making salvation of the Lord. We saw that in the very introduction in the first few verses. I believe it's chapter one, verse one. But we see it here again, repeated, a reminder that salvation is of the Lord God and also through Jesus Christ.
[19:39] But we are reminded that this type of prayer, this calling, is good and acceptable. Why? Because this is the reassurance we have. We're going to do something that God agrees with, right?
[19:51] We're going to go to prayer. We're going to spend some time here. And this is something that reassures us because God wants us to do this. It says, he desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
[20:03] So, this is good and acceptable to God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. So, here's the first reassurance you have. By praying for all people, you are joining God in his work.
[20:19] Right? You are uniting in the will of God among the people of God in the creation of God. You are joining him in his work. Now, I know, you say, Pastor, you get into passages and now you're telling us that God desires all men to be saved but then there are other passages that says that God knows who will be saved.
[20:37] Sure, that's exactly what it is. We need to take Scripture as it is. God does not delight in the death of the ungodly. As a matter of fact, the only time that God says he delights in the death of anyone, it says that he delights in the death of the godly, those who are coming to him into his presence.
[20:51] God does not desire that any shall be condemned, no, not one. But God also, on the other side of that, that coin, God knows everyone that is going to respond to the gospel because if there was something God did not know, then he would not be God because he would not be omnipotent.
[21:05] There would be some matter which he was not aware of and he would be caught off guard by it so therefore he could not be God. But we are not God. So since we are not God and we do not know who will respond to the gospel or who will not respond to the gospel, it is our responsibility to pray that all may respond to the gospel, right?
[21:22] Is that clear enough for you? Since we are not God and we are not in the place of God, the one way that we can join God in the work of the salvation of the world is to pray for everyone. You say, well, pastor, not everyone's going to believe.
[21:34] Right, but everyone needs praying for. Right? Prayer doesn't hurt anyone. It doesn't hurt a soul. It may actually redeem those that we have around us. There are certain doctrines that people say, man, it kills missions.
[21:45] But if you really look into it, those doctrines, that is, the sovereignty of God has been one of the most fire-fueling matters of missions. When man knows that God is sovereign, that is, he knows who's going to be saved, but we do not, that is, the acknowledgement of God's sovereignty, then it urges us to go before him and say, Father, it could be that one or it could be this one or it might be that one or it may just be that one or it could be this one I could have never dreamed of because then we cannot play the place of God and say, well, that one's too wicked or this one's too wrong or that one's too lost or that one's went too far.
[22:16] When we understand that God is sovereign and he is over all, then we also acknowledge the reality that God can't save any. Therefore, it leads us to join him and this is the reassurance we have.
[22:28] If you pray for all people, I guarantee you somebody's going to come to Christ because you're praying for them. That is an assurance that you can have. You say, well, how do I know that? Because if you're praying for all people, that when people are coming to Christ, you have joined God in that work.
[22:42] If you're not praying for anyone, then I can promise you that nobody you're praying for is ever going to come to Jesus Christ. Right? So the more we petition the Father, the more likely we are to join him in his work and this is the assurance we have.
[22:58] God is redeeming and saving people and the reason we know he's doing it is because we're still here. I've read scripture. You know when God is through with the world? It's when he calls the church home.
[23:09] So as long as you and I are still present, he's still working, right? The fullness, if we want to get into the technical term of it, the fullness of the Gentiles has not yet come. See Romans 9 and following. But until the day of the fullness of the Gentiles, there is still eight Gentiles somewhere.
[23:24] He could be redeemed today. I don't know. He could be redeemed tomorrow. I don't know. But wouldn't it be a wonderful thing to be the one praying in the last one into the kingdom? Wouldn't that be amazing?
[23:34] They might not be American. They may be somewhere else. So we need to broaden our prayers, right? Gentile just literally means non-Jew. So that makes it a worldwide prayer ministry. Wouldn't it be an amazing thing to say, Father, I was praying when that happened and then boom, we were called home and what a glorious thing because the last one accepted Christ.
[23:52] Anyway, we're getting into eschatology. Let's get back on task. But it's an amazing calling that we have and here's the reassurance God is doing it. But here's another reassurance you have. For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
[24:07] Do you know that when you pray, you're not only praying to the God who is redeeming anyone, you are praying in the name of and to the very one who is going to stand in the gap.
[24:20] You can't stand in the gap for anyone. Job cried out in the book of Job, Oh, that I wish there was an umpire that would stand between me and God. Use the word umpire. That's why I always know that God's a baseball fan.
[24:32] I wish that there was a man who would put his hand upon the Father and his hand upon me. This is Job. This is the oldest book in Scripture. That is the heart cry of man is there needs to be someone in the gap.
[24:44] And then Job answers his own question and says, But I see him, but not yet, but I will see him one day. I will stand in the land of the living and I will see him with the eyes of my flesh. That is, Job believed in the resurrection, right? He said, I will see him and there is my Redeemer.
[24:57] That is the man who can put his hand upon God and his hand upon man. Here's the benefit we have. We don't have to cry out like Job and say, Oh, I wish that there was one. We can go to the very one who can.
[25:09] We get to go to the one who has his hand upon the throne of heaven and has come and set his hand upon the untouchables of the earth. One of the earliest sermon series I ever preached was called The Untouchables.
[25:20] Jesus touched the untouchables. Did you notice that? He would touch those who were dead and raise them. He would touch the lepers who were unclean and heal them. He would touch the woman who had a flow of blood and heal her.
[25:30] He would raise the people no one else touched, but he touched you when you were untouchable as well. We know that he touched the untouchables because I was unclean. I was impure. I didn't have any outward sign of it, but my heart was desperately wicked and in all of my filth and all of my ugliness, he touched me.
[25:47] You remember the song, right? He touched me and he touched the Father and he interceded for me. There is one mediator between God and mankind and that is the man. That's, by the way, a masculine term, the man Jesus Christ.
[25:59] And he himself is the one. And when we pray, we have the assurance that we can pray to the one who can touch them both. Friend, you cannot touch God in your flesh. You may be able to touch the people you're praying for, but you can't put your hand upon the Father and your hand upon them, but Jesus can.
[26:15] What a reassurance we have in prayer. See, we have here the responsibility to prayer. We have a reassurance of prayer. Number three, there is the requirements of prayer. There is a requirement attached to prayer.
[26:29] Now, in context, Paul is speaking of the church, right? He is speaking of when the church gathers together corporately and publicly. So, now, from these next two, stay with me.
[26:44] I'm not saying, ladies, you can't pray. That's not what I'm saying. As a matter of fact, we need the prayers of every individual, of all mankind. But we make this transition in verse eight.
[26:56] Here's the requirements. Therefore, I want the men. That's not mankind. That is male. I want the men in every place to pray.
[27:07] Here's the requirements. When the church gathers together publicly, now, stay with me. When the church gathers together publicly, it is the responsibility and it is the requirement that the men would pray.
[27:25] Okay? But they just can't throw up any prayer in any other means. The requirement attached to it, and by the way, let's just go ahead and set this as a side note.
[27:36] Some of you ladies are going to breathe a sigh of relief. Say, ooh, that's on you, honey. Don't do that. Okay? Because, this is the way I like to say it, if it is fitting that we do it inside the body called the church, then we ought to live it out there as well.
[27:49] Okay? It isn't a separation. When you walk through those beautiful doors that no longer squeak and I don't know when anybody's sneaking in. When you sneak out that door, and I don't, and you, it's not like the world changes out there that what you had to do in here, you don't have to do out there.
[28:03] You take the Savior with you, you take the church with you too, right? But I want the men, when the church gathers together publicly to pray, lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension. This is the requirement.
[28:14] That is, your life, how you have lived your life, matters in prayer. lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension.
[28:26] Not holy because you're perfect. Now listen to me, men, none of us are perfect. Holy because there's nothing in your life that you have not confessed before the Redeemer of your soul.
[28:39] Nothing in your life that you have not brought before Him and laid at His feet and repented of. It does not mean perfection. Holiness implies right standing. That you are in a right standing with the Lord your God because of the blood of Jesus Christ.
[28:55] That means there's nothing that we're holding on to. There's nothing that we're hindering. There's nothing that we're keeping back. There's no grudge. He says, without wrath. We're not angry because we cannot be angry.
[29:06] Jesus taught on this, right? We cannot be angry with our brother and cry out to our Father in Heaven. Right? We can't have wrath and dissension. That is, there must be nothing inside of us that is of divisive spirit trying to cause dissension within the body.
[29:24] So these are the requirements. How we live our life privately affects how we pray together corporately. You don't believe me? Go and open up the Bible to the book of Joshua and you see Achan looking and seeing a mantle and a little bit of silver and a little bit of gold.
[29:39] Ain't gonna hurt nobody. He's gonna take it, bury it in his tent, put it under a rug and he and his wife and his kids will be set forever. The problem is is that a bunch of people died long before Achan was figured out. What we do privately affects who we are corporately.
[29:56] Prayer is a great responsibility that comes with an awesome reassurance, but it is attached to the requirements of how we live our life. It is attached to the reality that the way we live, the decisions we make really matter.
[30:12] We ought to live. Sure, the Bible tells us in the book of Hebrews, we come boldly before the throne through the blood of the Lamb. We have bold access to the throne room of heaven through the blood of Jesus Christ.
[30:24] But friend, don't take that blood somewhere it never wanted to go. Don't come in there. The blood cleanses you, makes you white as snow, it tells us. So we come with the requirements of holiness without wrath and dissension.
[30:40] These are the requirements of those that will be in prayer. Now you ready to get to the rest of it? See, we see the responsibility of prayer, the reassurance of prayer, the requirements of prayer. Number four, the realigned practices around prayer.
[30:55] The realigned practices around prayer. Paul makes this transition in verse nine. But pay attention to the transition.
[31:05] We have a saying in our house, words matter. The longer I read scripture, the longer I study scripture, the more I preach on scripture, the more I realize words matter.
[31:18] And there's a word that we want to jump across so that we can get to the rest of the text so that maybe we can get our feathers a little ruffled and get bent out of shape. Do you see it likewise there in the passage?
[31:31] I read from the New American Standard, it says likewise. But some of you see a connective word there as well. Maybe your translation says something a little bit different. But the New American Standard says likewise.
[31:42] Now likewise connects what he's about to say with what he's already said. Am I wrong? Likewise means that what I'm saying relates also to what I have just said. So now, stay with me.
[31:53] I have talked about the men, now let me talk about the ladies. But in context, what we're really talking about is prayer. Again, if you want a really deep, thorough study of the home and things of that nature, then feel free to go back and listen to it when I preached on it in 1 Corinthians.
[32:07] And I think we were very clear there and we tried to be as transparent as we could because that's what Paul was talking about. But in this setting, again, we want to take it in context. He is talking about when the church gathers together publicly and how they behave together publicly and what it looks like in public gathering of the saints.
[32:26] And he is talking about in particular in this passage the prayer of the public gathering of the church. So likewise, men ought to be holy, lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension. And I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair, gold or pearls or costly garments.
[32:42] Some of you say, you mean I can't go buy some good clothes, I can't wear any jewelry? That's not what it's saying here. Okay, take it in context and take it even in its setting. There's a lot that is really here that's implied. I'm not going to take you through all of it.
[32:53] It is not telling you you can't wear jewelry. It's not telling you you can't wear nice clothes. It's not telling you you can't wear makeup. It's not telling you you can't braid your hair. Listen, Adrian Rogers preached on this one time. He was preaching to pastors. I love Adrian Rogers.
[33:03] It's a complete side note. He said, so many people twist scripture and say that women don't need to wear makeup. Some of you love Adrian. I don't want to belittle them at all in your eyes. He leaned in. He said, listen, there's some women that need to wear makeup.
[33:16] Okay? Just saying. He said it, not me. You can go listen to it. But it's not saying that. It's not doing it. He was putting it in context. The golds and the pearls and all those things were ornamental designs of the temple prostitutes of that day.
[33:31] Right? So they were appearing like those in the world. So what he's talking about in dress, what he's talking about in appearance here, first of all, he says that the woman who's godly needs to look different than the one who is worldly.
[33:46] Godliness matters. Men, godliness means we are holy, lifting up hands without wrath and dissension. Women portray that godliness through the manner of their dress.
[33:58] That's what he's saying. He is making it very clear here because again, take it in cultural context. We understand what's going on, he says, but rather means of good works as is proper for women making a claim to godliness.
[34:11] A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man but to remain quiet. Now again, I agree with all these statements. I affirm all these statements.
[34:22] You can go. You have to agree with them. If you don't, you're disagreeing with the author of these statements, right? I didn't say it. He said it, so you must take it up before God himself. But I want you to understand why he is saying it.
[34:34] Okay, understand the passage. There's nothing here that is degrading or defaming of any individual. God is not teaching the superiority of man or the inferior position of ladies.
[34:48] He's not. But I noticed something in studying this passage. There are numerous places in the New Testament where this comes up. 1 Corinthians 11 is the first time that it is mentioned in 1 Corinthians.
[35:00] It is mentioned a second time which is where we really dove into it as a congregation. But it's mentioned the first time in 1 Corinthians 11. Do you know when it's mentioned in 1 Corinthians 11 the context of when Paul brought up this whole responsibility of men and women?
[35:15] Had to deal with the head covering. You know what he was talking about? Prayer. Pay attention. 1 Corinthians 11 he said that when the church gathers together a man who prays with anything on his head is disgracing.
[35:28] But a woman who prays without her head uncovering is stepping out of line. And he starts talking about and in context he starts talking about men and women and their roles and responsibility but he's talking about it in context of prayer.
[35:39] Here in this text before us in the second chapter he is speaking of prayer and he gets into the men and women. Now we can also go to the book of 1 Peter in case we think Paul may have had something against ladies we can go to another apostle and we can go to Peter and we can go to 1 Peter you know he's the rock right?
[35:55] You remember that? So we go to 1 Peter and we find it there in the second chapter of 1 Peter 1 Peter actually third chapter 1 Peter chapter 3 starts speaking of women in submissiveness and how they ought to now I'm not telling you to do this he's speaking of how Sarah called Abraham Lord and she walked in submissiveness and the godliness of the woman could lead to the salvation of her husband then he begins to speak of a woman living I mean of a man living in relation with his wife understanding that she is the weaker vessel and now what is he talking about there in 1 Peter chapter 3?
[36:26] Prayer because he tells the husbands to live in such an understanding way so that his prayers will not be hindered so let's step back three passages 1 Corinthians 11 1 Timothy chapter 2 1 Peter chapter 3 all of them speak about men and women roles and responsibilities and all of them are speaking in context about prayer okay we ought to pay attention to that what he is saying because in each one of these by the way it is not a matter of public opinion the standing of Paul and of the authors of these texts as they are led by the Lord God himself is he takes it back to what we call the creative order to creation see what he says he says I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority why?
[37:19] why does he allow a woman to teach? why does he allow a woman to exercise authority in the public gathering of the church? why? why? that just seems unfair that just seems unfair that seems unfair and we can wag our finger but look at what it says he tells us why for it was Adam who was first created then Eve that is there was an order to creation right?
[37:38] there was an order an order matters and he goes on and it was not Adam who was deceived remember it was Eve that was deceived now who did the blame and responsibility before all you men go see I knew it was all your fault don't do that who did blame and responsibility go upon men?
[37:52] men Adam who did God go ask accountability to? Adam right? it was Adam because that's Adam's responsibility what happened? they began to walk out of order Adam was there Eve took the lead Adam was told it was his responsibility to lead Adam was told he was to direct his home Adam was told he should because by the way who was told not to take from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and eat from it?
[38:21] Adam before Eve was ever created Adam knew the truth Adam got silent because happy wife happy life all of a sudden it ain't too happy anymore because he thought it would be easier by the way to be passive as opposed to take his God given responsibility to lead and when he knew that she did wrong he took of it and ate it as well because he said I'd rather be in the wrong with her and stand in the right with God man that responsibility is on us your first allegiance man is to be holy your next allegiance is to be pure with your wife but your first allegiance is to be holy before the Lord God who created you and formed you number one I tell every pre-marriage counseling every marriage counseling every individual where do you stand before God almighty that's your first allegiance now we see here what Paul is talking about
[39:25] Eve was deceived easily deceived because that's hey listen that's not her responsibility Adam let her be deceived some of you ladies begin to bristle say no no wait a minute wait a minute she could have made she could have chosen right from wrong she didn't know but Adam did right he let her be deceived and that deception led it to fall into transgression now this whole last verse but women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity and self-restraint I'm just going to be honest with you every Bible scholar you can ever read has no idea exactly what that means there's a number of people say well the preservation came through the seed of a woman it was her seed that would ultimately redeem her who is Jesus Christ that's a pretty great interpretation other than it doesn't do justice to the original language it doesn't imply that unless you have kids you're not going to be redeemed it's not saying you have to go be fruitful multiply and you're like I got this service some people seem to imply that even in the pain of childbearing that God would preserve them though that doesn't really go too well with history that tells us a lot of women died in childbirth all we know is that God has provided a means of sanctification for the women right that's all we know but what I want you to see in context here is that if we're going to take prayer seriously and we're going to take on the responsibility of going before the creator then we must be walking in the creative order that the creator set up to begin with if any part of our life is out of line it needs to be realigned understand it it is not a matter of saying well you can't do this or you can't do that it is that he's the creator therefore he gets to define the roles and since he defines the roles it is our responsibility to adapt to those roles it is our responsibility to say okay yes you are the creator we are the creation when creation begins to walk out of step with the creator the creation cannot run to the creator and petition him on behalf of others because we're out of line it is only when we realign ourself with how he has created us to begin with then we open up the door to heaven and we can go before him in prayer these three passages we find in scripture confirm for us that how we operate our daily lives even the order of our homes impacts prayer and since this is the call of the church to pray then it is also the call of the church to make sure that we are realigning ourselves in that proper manner let's pray father we thank you so much thank you this day thank you for the gift of it we thank you that we can gather together with brothers and sisters in Christ lord even some here who may not know you father we ask that the word would do its work we do pray on behalf of all men if there's any here today who don't know you as their lord and savior today we ask that by the presence of your spirit you would draw them for we know that we cannot persuade them but lord you can draw them so we pray that you would draw them to see the savior lord for those outside of our walls it's already been prayed about this morning but the community around us the country around us the world around us that it is a dry and weary land indeed but it is also a land of grand opportunity so lord we want to lift it up to you we want to see you do grand things for the sake of the kingdom lord we ask that first of all you begin to work in our hearts and our minds and help us to stand in perfect harmony with you for your glory and our good we ask it all in jesus name amen so i asked
[43:35] so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked so i asked Thank you.
[44:30] Thank you.