Scripture Reading: 1 Tim. 2:1-7
In the first chapter of 1 Timothy Paul lays a good foundation to speak of the church life in a positive way. In 2:1 he goes on to say, “I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men.” If we would have a proper church life, we must first have a prayer life. The leading ones, those who minister the Word in the church, should take the lead to have such a prayer life. A prayer ministry is the prerequisite for the administration and shepherding of a local church. Thus, Paul exhorts Timothy that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men. This is the first word concerning the positive aspect of the church life Paul gives after speaking of God’s economy and after charging Timothy to war the good warfare for God’s economy. Timothy had to take the lead to have a prayer life.
A prerequisite for having a proper church life in the Lord’s recovery today is to have a prayer life. A proper church is a praying church. A church that is without prayer is pitiful. Prayerlessness is a sin. All in the Lord’s recovery must be prayerful and stand against the sin of prayerlessness. The elders in the churches must take up Paul’s charge to “first of all” pray.
Of the fourteen Epistles written by Paul, ten were written to churches and four to individuals. Romans was written to all the believers in Rome, and Hebrews was written not to individuals, but to believing Hebrews addressed corporately. Ephesians, Philippians, Galatians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and 1 and 2 Thessalonians were all written to churches. However, the four Epistles of 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Philemon were written to individuals. Some may think that these Epistles are not related to us because they were written to individuals. However, we should be today’s Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. In particular, each individual saint needs to be a Timothy.
If we would be a Timothy, we must take the lead not to argue, gossip, or criticize, but to pray. Whenever we hear some news, good or bad, concerning a particular church, we should pray. Do not discuss the situation, do not gossip about it, and do not criticize. Just pray! Likewise, if you hear something about a saint or about an elder, pray for that one. The first requirement to have a proper church life is to pray. Oh, we all need to practice this! If we exercise ourselves to have a prayer life, the church will be living and uplifted. If some would be today’s Timothys to take the lead to pray, the others will follow. This can be illustrated by the way a flock of sheep follows the few who take the lead. If you, as a Timothy, take the lead to pray, the congregation in your locality will follow.
Instead of talking so much and even instead of working so much, we should pray more. Should you hear that a saint is weak or backsliding, do not talk about that person, and do not criticize him. Moreover, do not immediately go to visit him. Instead, pray for him. Whether or not you should visit him depends on the Lord’s leading. After you pray about the matter, if the Lord leads you to visit that one, simply follow the Lord and visit him. But do not do anything presumptuously. If the Lord does not lead you to visit a backsliding saint, you should not visit him on your own. It is possible that even in visiting the saints we may be presumptuous. Yes, visiting a backsliding saint is a presumptuous sin if it is done in ourselves apart from prayer and the Lord’s leading. But if through our prayer the Lord definitely leads us to visit a certain one, that visitation will be effective.
We should also pray whenever we hear of problems among the saints. We should not presume that we are experienced and qualified to solve problems. Such an attitude is not only presumptuous; it is also blasphemous, for it is to consider ourselves as God. If we learn about a problem between brothers, we should bring this matter to the Lord in our prayer.
The first thing the elders should do in caring for the church is pray. Do not make decisions without praying. Do not either criticize someone or praise him without first praying for him. Before doing anything, we need to pray. Furthermore, our prayers should not be light or superficial; they must be thorough. Only after we have prayed for a matter thoroughly should we make a decision concerning it, not by ourselves independently, but in oneness with the Lord and according to His leading. If the elders practice in this way the church life in our locality will be uplifted and proper.
Brother Nee often told us that in reading the Bible we need to touch the spirit of the writer. The Bible in black and white letters can be likened to a human body, and the writer’s spirit can be likened to the life, or to the spirit, in the body. Within the “body” of the Bible, there is the writer’s spirit. If we touch Paul’s spirit in 2:1-7, we shall sense his burden that those who take the lead in the church life must have a prayer life. In these verses Paul seems to be telling Timothy, “I have shown you a clear picture of God’s economy and how it is versus different teachings. I have also pointed out to you that, in His mercy, the Lord has made me a pattern of His economy. I have also charged you solemnly to war the good warfare on behalf of God’s economy. Now deep in my spirit is the burden to exhort you to pray. I exhort that petitions, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men. Do not think that teaching comes before prayer. No, prayer must be first, and teaching, second.”
In 2:1 Paul mentions petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings. Prayer is general, with the essence of worship and fellowship. Petitions are special and are for particular needs. The Greek word rendered “intercessions” means approach to God in a personal and confiding manner, that is, intervening, interfering, before God in others’ affairs for their benefit. In addition, we must offer thanksgiving. Often when we hear good news about certain churches, elders, or saints, we praise them instead of giving thanks to God for them. If the situation in a certain church is good, it is because of God, not because of the church. Likewise, if a particular elder or saint is doing well, it also is because of God’s grace. Therefore, instead of praising a church or a person, we should give thanks to God.
In mentioning petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings, Paul’s spirit was very burdened concerning the importance of prayer. He wanted his dear spiritual children to pray. Again and again I would emphasize the fact that we can have a proper church life only if we have a prayer life. I can testify that I have never prayed more than I have during the past several years. I can also testify that I have seen definite answers to my prayers. Recently, my activity was limited for a time so that I could rest and care for my health. When I heard about certain needs, I prayed for them. Perhaps the Lord limited me that He might impress me with the fact that prayer is more important than work. May we all learn the lesson that the way to have a good church life is to pray. This is crucial. If our talking is turned into praying, the church in our locality will be transformed.
After pointing out that we should pray on behalf of all men, Paul goes on to say that we should pray “on behalf of kings and all who are in high position, that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity.” A tranquil and quiet life is one that is peaceable, still, and without disturbance, not only outwardly in circumstances, but also inwardly in our heart and spirit, that we may have an enjoyable church life in godliness and gravity. Godliness is God-likeness; it is to be like God and to express Him. The Christian life should be a life which expresses God and bears God’s likeness in all things. Gravity is a qualification of human character which is worthy of utmost respect; it implies dignity and inspires and invites honor. Godliness is the expression of God; gravity is toward man. Our Christian life should express God toward man with an honorable character that invites man’s utmost respect.
Verse 3 says, “This is good and acceptable in the sight of our Savior God.” In this Epistle Paul emphasizes the Savior God. Hence, in this verse he speaks not of the God of grace, nor of the God of mercy, but of the Savior God, the God who saves us.
In verse 4 Paul says that God desires all men to be saved and come to the full knowledge of the truth. We should pray on behalf of all men because God our Savior desires all men to be saved and know the truth. Our prayer is required for the carrying out of God’s desire.
God desires all men not only to be saved, but also to have the full knowledge of the truth. Truth means reality, denoting all the real things revealed in God’s Word, which are mainly Christ as the embodiment of God and the church as the Body of Christ. Every saved person should have a full knowledge, a complete realization, of these things.
The object of the two Epistles to Timothy is to deal with the church’s decline. In the first Epistle the decline crept in subtly through differing teachings (1 Tim. 1:3), and in the second, it developed openly and became worse through the heresies (1 Tim. 2:16-18). To deal with such a decline the truth must be maintained. The first Epistle emphasizes that God desires all His saved ones to have the full knowledge of the truth and that the church is the pillar and base of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15). The second Epistle stresses that the word of the truth should be rightly unfolded (2 Tim. 2:15), and that the deviated ones should return to the truth (2 Tim. 2:25).
In 1 Tim. 2:5 Paul continues, “For there is one God and one Mediator of God and men, the Man, Christ Jesus.” In this verse Paul explicitly says that there is one God. Although God is Triune — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — He is still the one God, not three Gods, as mistakenly realized and believed by many Christians.
In this verse Paul also tells us that there is one Mediator of God and men. A mediator is a go-between. The one Mediator is the Man, Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus was God from eternity (John 1:1). In time He became a man through incarnation (John 1:14). While He was living on earth as a man, He was also God (1 Tim. 3:16). After resurrection He was still man as well as God (Acts 7:56; John 20:28). Hence, He is the only One qualified to be the Mediator, the go-between, of God and men.
Verse 6 says, “Who gave Himself a ransom on behalf of all, the testimony to be borne in its own times.” Christ gave Himself a ransom for the accomplishment of redemption for all men. This was necessary in order for Christ to be our Mediator. The Greek word for ransom means payment in recompense. He is qualified to be the Mediator between God and man, not only in His divine and human Person, but also in His redemptive work. Both His Person and work are unique.
In this verse Paul speaks of “the testimony to be borne in its own times.” This is in apposition to the preceding clause; that is, the fact that Christ gave Himself a ransom for all men becomes the testimony to be rendered in its own times. Whenever this fact is proclaimed, it is a testimony to be rendered to men in its own times. For example, when this fact was preached in Africa, that automatically became a testimony rendered to men in Africa in its own times. The preaching of the fact is always spontaneously a testimony of the fact. When Paul preached in Asia Minor, that was the testimony borne in its own times. The same was true when he received the Macedonian call and began to preach in eastern Europe. That was the proper time for the testimony to be declared there. Whenever the facts of Christ’s incarnation and death on behalf of all are proclaimed, that is the preaching, the testimony, borne in its own times.
In verse 7 Paul concludes, “For which I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I speak the truth, I do not lie), a teacher of the nations in faith and truth.” A herald is a proclaimer of the gospel of Christ, an official reporter of God’s New Testament economy; an apostle is one sent by God with a divine commission to set up churches for God, an ambassador from God to the world for the carrying out of His purpose; and a teacher is a tutor who defines, explains, and teaches the contents of God’s eternal purpose and His New Testament economy. Paul had such a triple status and commission for the nations, the Gentiles.
Paul had such a status in faith and truth. Faith here refers to the faith in Christ (Gal. 3:23-26), and truth refers to the reality of all the things revealed in the New Testament. This corresponds to 4:3, those who believe and “have fully known the truth.” It is in the sphere and element of this faith and truth, not of the law, types, and prophecies of the Old Testament, that Paul was appointed a herald, an apostle, and a teacher of the New Testament.
The title of this message is “Prayer to Carry Out God’s Desire for Man’s Salvation.” Although God has such a desire, a heart, to save people, He can fulfill His desire only through the principle of incarnation. This means that He cannot save people directly; He must do it through us. Not even the angels have been appointed by God with such a commission for the carrying out of God’s desire. This commission has been entrusted only to man. For the carrying out of this commission, we need to pray. According to Acts 10, both Peter and Cornelius were praying. Peter was praying on the housetop, and Cornelius was praying in his house. From both sides, prayer ascended to the throne of God for the carrying out of God’s desire. By means of this prayer, God could accomplish His desire to save the Gentiles. The first Gentile household to be saved was that of Cornelius. This one example shows that our prayer is crucial for the carrying out of God’s desire for man’s salvation.
