1 TIMOTHY 2:1-15: TEXT: v3-8 [SERIES 8]
I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
The richness of any Bible study on the subject of prayer will be apparent even from the first verse of this chapter
Paul does not merely employ one verb in his exhortation but uses
several: supplicating/praying/interceding and giving/thanks
While they are all obviously related, yet they bring a different light to bear upon what is a very important subject/Christian
Some of the commentators take time to expound the subtle differences in the meanings of the different words.
I admire the honesty of John Calvin who not only wrote:
“I own that I do not thoroughly understand”
but who also put distance between himself and Augustine:
The view given by Augustine, who
twists Paul’s words so as to denote ceremonial observances
customary at that time, is quite childish.
Calvin continues:
A simpler exposition is given by
those who think that “requests” are when we ask to be
delivered from what is evil; “prayers,” when we desire to
obtain something profitable; and “supplications,” when we
deplore before God injuries which we have endured. Yet for my own part,
I do not draw the difference so ingeniously; or, at least, I prefer
another way of distinguishing them.
Having exhorted us to pray and mentioned especially those who are in
authority over us and then supplied several arguments that should be
employed i.e. the will of God that all men be saved, the sufficiency of
Christ’s sacrifice and the fact that God sends preachers into the
world to preach the gospel, Paul returns to this subject/prayer again
(text) so as to round of the paragraph
This verse yields us 4 main thoughts:
1) PRAYER IS THE PRIVILEGE OF ALL CHRISTIANS EVERYWHERE:
I will therefore that men pray everywhere…
A/ Those who say that it is “men” everywhere as opposed to
“Christians” everywhere may have a point, but it is limited
As we will soon see, the words “holy hands” must limit the exhortation to those who are holy in the sight/God
That limits the application here to Christians and no other
This is not to say that the unsaved cannot pray
I think further that I would be putting my neck out to say that God does not mercifully answer their prayers
But I can say this: That the best and most urgent prayer that the unsaved should offer: God be merciful to me the sinner
This is a life changing prayer if offered in repentance/faith
No doubt Saul/Tarsus offered many prayers/Pharisee
Our Lord gave a vivid description of the praying Pharisee:
Which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation. (Mark 12:40)
But the greatest prayer that Saul offered was in Acts 9 when he came as a sinner/Jesus and said: What wilt thou have me to do?
We say: Let the sinner who wants to pray, make sure that he gets his priorities right and seek the Lord in salvation
What an insult is carried right to the very gates/Heaven when the greed
driven and sin loving child/Devil prays that the Lord will bring up his
5 numbers + the bonus number in the Lottery!
B/ But Christians everywhere are encouraged here to pray
The word men is generic and includes all believers of all ages
Young Christians may pray – weak Christians may pray
Despised-by-the-world Christians may pray
It is the blood bought right of every Christian to pray:
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19)
C/ This lifting up/hands in prayer was a distinctly Jewish thing
[i] C/f Moses when the COI fought the Amalakites (Exodus 17)
When he held his hands up…the COI prevailed in the battle
When he let his hands down with weariness, the enemy prevailed
Therefore Aaron and Hur helped him physically keep his hands up
[ii] When Solomon prayed at the dedication/temple… we read that he fell upon his knees and lifted up his hands in prayer
But here, Paul acknowledges the right/Gentiles also to pray
Christian church (for spiritual purposes) sees no borders
What God has cleansed, we are not to reckon as common
D/ I think it indicates something of the greatness/God that the invitation can go so wide – “Men everywhere”
Hymn writer catches the mood when he wrote:
As o’er each continent and island - The dawn leads on, another day,
The voice of prayer is never silent, Nor dies the strain of praise away
What a great and Almighty God we worship who can listen to and answer perfectly in the most wise fashion those prayers
There is no overloading of the system when we all pray at once!
Human systems – even the best – have their limits and fail
But God can happily exhort us to pray without ceasing!
2) PRAYER IS THE LIFTING UP OF HOLY HANDS UNTO GOD:
A/ Already emphasised the idea of praying for the Christian
The sinner has other serious business to sort out with God first
What king, going to make war against
another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able
with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty
thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he
sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. (Luke
14:31-32)
B/ But even the Christian (accepted/complete in Christ) must not assume
to come into God’s presence and simply get what he wants
Many who profess to be God’s people are living in open sin
Their hands are not holy hands but stained/this world’s pollution
Bible is very clear about this kind of thing…most notably:
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: (Psalms 66:18)
Established Bible principle: Sin hinders the blessing/God
We see it so many times in the Bible:
Achan – the whole camp was affected
David (Bathsheba incident) – his whole family was affected
C/ This verse isn’t teaching that we need to be sinlessly perfect before God will deign to answer our prayers
If this was the case…where would there be any blessing?
Even Paul who wrote these words acknowledged his struggles with sin: Romans 7
But it does warn about the consequences of dallying with sin
It causes us to review much in our lives
We think of a strong tempter who comes our way often
So much so, than the model prayer that teaches us to ask God for our daily bread also includes the petition:
Lead us not into temptation - Deliver us from evil
When we review the temptations that often visit us, we see something of their viciousness, strength, and diabolical cunning
This cannot be denied, but we should not make it an excuse
I read this re: those same overpowering temptations:
There hath no temptation taken you
but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer
you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation
also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. (1
Corinthians 10:13)
Therefore, I blame myself completely when I sin
The penitential language of Psalm 51 is to be constantly/our lips
Not that we might be robbed of the joy/salvation, but that we might appreciate that joy even more
Where we are apt to play down sin and its consequences…
We also play down the worth/value of Christ’s salvation
It ceases to be “so great” because we have minimised the sin
D/ Ideally, we want to be lifting up these holy hands unto God
We know that we have a holy standing with God in Christ
Also a practical holiness that needs to be taken into account
This is captured in v2 where we are expected to lead lives that are characterised by godliness and honesty
[i] How do we define godliness?
I suppose the best way: Is this what the Lord Jesus would do?
Have I Scriptural warrant for this course/action?
Does my Saviour smile with approval upon me as I do this thing?
Evidently there are things were we know that He would
Does He approve when we read the Bible? Yes
Does He find it agreeable when I pray? Yes
Is it His will that I should witness for Him and serve him? Yes
Must be said: the mere actions here do not constitute godliness
Religious formalism should not be equated with godliness
Godliness is something that is in the heart
A religious hypocrite merely go through/motions is not godly
Indeed….he is displaying the worse form of ungodliness
Outside of the cup is clean, but inside full of foul stains
But nevertheless, a pure godly heart will manifest itself in pious actions that are deigned to bring glory to God
[ii] Is honesty put here in opposition to godliness?
No…if godliness relates to our conduct towards God, then honesty must relate to our conduct towards men
Really, you cannot have one without the other
Good works without godliness are but filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6)
Godliness without good works is an oxymoron
If our Christian faith does not filter down into the affairs of the street, then we are fooling no one but ourselves
This is one/reasons why James wrote his epistle
Listen to the warning of Paul to Titus:
They
profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being
abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. (1:16)
Do you really think that someone like that is going to come to God in prayer and know the smile of the Almighty?
E/ Maybe before we can attain such, then we need to be lifting up the hands/prayer to God that He would grant us such holiness
Fair enough – God never turned away the penitent cry
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (Psalms 51:17)
It is the will of God that you walk in holiness before Him
He will not deny you that which is necessary to achieve it
3) PRAYER IS OFFERED UP IN FAITH:
Lets take the second of the two excluded matters first:
We are to pray without doubting
A/ This is agreeable to James 1:6 where the man who asks in prayer for wisdom is to do so without wavering
James goes as far as to warn us of what happens to the waverer:
For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
B/ Again, … not teaching us: we must have total faith to receive
Who among us would have their prayers answered if this was so?
We are in the flesh while here on earth and it just cannot deliver
Thankfully, we have a good example of one who came to God with a weak faith – weak yet genuine
The father with the lunatick son who sought the Lord’s help:
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. (Mark 9:23)
This is what we have in our text:
Offer up your prayers for healing without doubting
Only one who truly knows his own heart can see where this man is coming from on this matter when he cried out with tears:
Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. (Mark 9:24)
C/ Obviously Paul is not going to tell us to aim for that
God may overlook us in our human failure, but He isn’t going to command us to display it
God is always for lifting us higher and higher
Therefore He commands us to pray in faith so that He might bless us even more – for another principle/bible:
According to your faith, be it unto you (Matthew 9:29)
4) PRAYER SHOULD NOT BE OFFERED UP IN ANGER:
This is the first warning/text: without wrath
A/ Paul evidently tackles a problem here in the NT church
Prayer is not a big stick with which we bash people
Prayer is a humbling of the soul before God
We come in the spirit of praise and thanksgiving and humility
We come with our various spiritual needs
We include the line, again from the model prayer:
Forgive us our sins as we forgive them that trespass against us
Having prayed like that…can we turn the privilege of prayer into
a place whereby we use it as a kind of weapon against people?
B/
Although not strictly in prayer, yet we come pretty close to it in the
case of James/John who sought the Lord’s approval upon their plan to
call down the fire of heaven upon the Samaritans
What did they get instead of an angry nod of agreement?
Answer: An angry nod of disagreement
Ye know not what spirit ye are of
C/ The Lord has told us the procedure of how to cope with serious disagreement between saints in the church (Matthew 18)
It is not bringing it into the prayer meeting (or any other) but it is to be settled amiably between the two parties
Or if needs be, with help from others
But the praying of angry and wrathful prayers, whether in private or in public, is definitely not the way to go
Bible says that we are to seek the return of the erring brother and that cannot be accomplished by fleshly praying
D/
Let these words encourage us much in this sacred matter of prayer –
they are here so that our prayers will be effectual and fervent and
such of a righteous man availeth much
THE END