WWUTT 582 For Kings and All in High Positions?

The Bible says that we are to pray for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way, when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. We are continuing with our study of the book of 1

Timothy. On to chapter 2, and I'll be reading verses 1 through 7. The Apostle Paul writing to his servant

Timothy. First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man

Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I am telling the truth,

I am not lying, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Now, I don't know if you were keeping track of it over the course of that reading, but how many times the word all shows up.

In this first sentence, it appears three times. First of all, I urge that prayers be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions.

We see the word come up again in the next sentence. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our

Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. We see it again in the next sentence.

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.

Now, whenever we see this word all, we must understand what is being said in context, how the word all is being used.

Why is it necessary for me to say that? You might already know this. Because there's a popular saying out there, said in a certain crowd, a certain number of churches, maybe you've even heard your own pastor say this.

And that saying goes like this, all means all, and that's all all means.

Have you ever heard that said before? The problem is, it isn't true. All has as much of a context as any other word.

Sometimes the word all can be used hyperbolically or kind of over exaggerated. For example,

I remember when in a little southwest Kansas town that I grew up in and where I went to high school, there was a rodeo there.

And I remember reading in the newspaper that weekend all of the town was there. Really?

The whole town was there at the rodeo? No, it would just look like most of the town was there, which didn't take much.

I think the town was a thousand people. So if they had a thousand people show up for the rodeo, they could probably have a pretty good case for the whole town having been there.

Now, it would have been people from our community and then also people from the surrounding communities. But when you use that word, all doesn't necessarily mean, hey, we went through and counted every single person and every person from the town was there at the rodeo.

It just means there was a great big, huge number of people there. And this happens in the Bible as well.

It's no different. Now, there are times when the word all indeed means everyone. For example, when

Peter preaches at Acts chapter two there at Pentecost, he says, let all of the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both

Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. So Peter does indeed desire that every person in Israel would know that Jesus Christ is

Lord. And then we see a little bit later on in Acts chapter 10, Jesus being proclaimed as Lord of all.

Is he Lord of everyone? Yes, he is. Whether you worship him or not, he is your

Lord. But then you have a statement made in Acts chapter 13 that's a little bit different.

Before his coming, before Christ came, and this is Peter, by the way, preaching at the house of Cornelius, he says,

John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

Is that true? Did John preach to every single person at Israel?

No, he didn't. As a matter of fact, he was even located in one particular region. He didn't travel throughout all of Israel with his message.

John the Baptist was in one place preached. Jesus showed up, traveled throughout all of Israel preaching, and then he told the disciples to even go beyond their preaching to all of the ends of the earth.

That's kind of the progression that we see from John the Baptist to Christ to Jesus commissioning his own disciples.

So when Peter says that John preached to all the people of Israel, that's hyperbole.

He didn't actually preach to every single person in Israel. But so much of Israel heard the message of John the

Baptist. You may as well say that he preached to all of Israel. So this is just an example of how all has a context.

And you have to pay attention to the context to know the totality of what is being summed up by the use of that word all.

When we read Romans 3, 23, that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

We know that means every single person. How do we know that? Because of the context.

From Romans 1, 18 through 3, 23, Paul has been laying down an apologetic to make sure that the reader understands every single person descended from Adam is born into sin and there are no exceptions.

Jew or Gentile, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That's probably the most extensive context of the word all used in scripture.

So we know all in that context means everyone. Going back to the previous letter that we just studied, a second

Thessalonians, chapter two, verse nine, the apostle Paul says, the coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders.

Does that mean that Satan has all power? No, it just means he's really powerful.

So there would be a, an example of the word all that's being used in a hyperbolic sense rather than a total sense for Satan himself does not have all power.

Rather he is only granted to do what God has allowed him to do. So all has a context.

Now, why is that necessary for us to understand as we jump into first Timothy chapter two? Well, because these verses that we're reading here where the you, the word all is used tend to be very abused.

I wasn't trying to rhyme there, but that's just how that came out anyway. So Paul says, first of all, that's kind of a throw away all because Paul is not going to give all instruction that there is to give over the course of this letter.

But in the total of the instructions he is going to give, here is the first one pertaining to godliness that flows from a teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Remember that's, that's the instruction that Paul is giving here, that which pertains to godliness.

So first of all, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people.

Every single person. Are you able to pray for every single person on planet earth? No, you're not.

But there isn't anyone that you shouldn't be praying for. So there's not a person that you're looking at going,

I'm going to withhold prayer from them. No, you should pray for them. You should lift up their needs before your

Lord. You should ask that God would intervene maybe in their sinful course so that they would turn from sin and worship

Christ. You should pray for relief, for blessing upon them, for thanksgiving for them.

These are the things that we should lift up in prayer on behalf of other people. Be made for all people.

There's no one from whom you should withhold prayer. Don't be prejudiced with your prayers.

But everyone should be prayed for. Not every single person. You can't do that.

That's impossible. And you also shouldn't feel a burden upon yourself to pray for everybody that you know in the sense that like you're going down the list.

Have I prayed for that person? By not praying for that person, am I somehow disobeying first Timothy two one?

You know, it's not making sure that you've got all the little boxes checked and everything on the list has been paid attention to.

That's not what we're talking about here. Just don't be biased in your prayers. Don't say, I'm going to pray for that person.

I don't really care what happens to that person. So I'm only going to pray for this one over here. You know, that's not the way that we should be when it comes to our prayers.

We pray for all people. And the context of all in verse one is actually explained as we go on in verse two for kings and all who are in high positions.

So pray for all people, kings and all who are in high position. So the context here is all kinds of people, not every single person, but everyone in any kind of position, no matter who they are, pray for them.

But in particular, Paul singles out kings and all who are in high position.

So even though this is all kinds of people that we're praying for here, he doesn't say pray for the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich.

He just singles out kings and governors, those who rule, those who lay down the law.

Why would he just single out those who are in authoritative positions?

Well, I have two explanations for that. One is conjecture and the other one is going to go to an Old Testament passage to help us better understand this.

First, let me give you the conjecture. So this is my theory. I think that whenever we look at a person in a political position or of power, we tend to think of them as a representative of that particular party or ideal.

So, like, for example, here in the United States, we have a two party system of Republicans and Democrats.

If a Republican is president in the White House, we tend to think of that person as representing all of the views of the

Republicans. So he's a conservative president. If he is a Democrat, then he's representing a

Democratic viewpoint or the viewpoint of the Democrat Party. His politics are liberal and everything that pertains to what the

Democrats defend and stand for. OK, you get what I'm saying? So then we look at that person who is in that position of leadership as kind of an object or a mascot rather than as a person.

And it's easier for us to show disdain for that person than it is to show an appreciation for that person, whether or not we agree with their values.

There's still a human being created in the image of God, and they need prayer as much as anyone.

And we probably tend to do that with political figures more than we do with any other person.

So don't just focus on that person as the object of your misery. OK, I'm not getting what

I want in this world, in the society in which I live, because this ruler who is over me is not letting me have it.

If it was just a different person that was in that spot, maybe we can change the course of things when we get around to the next election.

All right. They are not the reason why things are the way they are in your life. They are.

Well, I don't know. They might. Maybe they are. Maybe you live under a tyrant in which you are suffering by the the awful decisions that are being made by that ruler.

But anyway, point the point is that that ruler, whether that is a man or a woman, is still a human being created in the image of God.

And they need prayer. You need to pray for them also. Don't just be praying for the people around you whom you personally know, but even pray for those who are in high positions, because if if something is going well with them, it goes well with everyone.

If you've got a tyrant in a position of a king, well, everybody's going to suffer. But you have a person who is in a peaceful who is a peaceful ruler and looks out for the benefit and the welfare of those who are their subjects or their constituency or their countrymen, you know, whoever that might be.

If they're looking out for the interest of their people, then everybody benefits. So we pray for kings and all who are in high positions that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life.

And that leads me to the next explanation. So that that first explanation, that's conjecture. That's my theory that we are reminded that those people who are in high positions are human beings also.

And they need prayer. Now, let me give you the scriptural explanation. And this this is truly what ties into this particular passage.

There are a number of scholars out there who have pointed out the similarities between the apostle

Paul and the prophet Jeremiah. Now, I wouldn't be able to speak of that from my own understanding because I haven't done the whole systematic study between Jeremiah and the apostle

Paul. Based on what I've read from others, I would be able to point out a few of those similarities, like, for example, in Galatians 115,

Paul says that he was appointed to be an apostle before he was even born. And that's very similar to how

Jeremiah came into the Lord's service. When we read in Jeremiah 1 5, God said, before I formed you in the womb,

I knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated you. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

So that's one way we see similarities between Paul and Jeremiah. This passage in First Timothy, chapter two, and what we read in Jeremiah 29 is another similarity.

Now, Jeremiah 29 is a chapter that you probably you know at least one verse from.

Very famous verse. In fact, one of the most popular verses out of the Bible. Jeremiah 29 11.

For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil to give you a future and a hope.

If you've graduated from high school or college and you got a card from grandma with a verse in it, chances are that was the verse that was in the card that you received.

It is often taken out of context where a person applies it personally as some sort of a life verse.

The people that this passage was being delivered to at this particular time, they wouldn't even see what was promised come to fulfillment in their lifetime.

It would be a future generation that would see that come to fulfillment. So anyway, the point that I wanted to make was not in verse 11.

And it's actually a little bit before that, starting in verse four. This is God speaking to those who had been exiled from Judah into Babylon.

And the Jews thought, well, this is it. We're going to be destroyed. We have disobeyed God and he's turned us over to the hands of our enemies and we are going to be wiped out.

So in this address in Jeremiah 29, God is assuring his people that he's not going to destroy them.

He is, however, going to bring judgment upon the false teachers. Those who led them astray.

But he has instructions for those Jews during the time of their exile. And that's what begins here in verse four.

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom

I sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Here's what the Lord says.

Build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce, take wives and have sons and daughters, take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage that they may bear sons and daughters.

Multiply there and do not decrease, but seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the

Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name.

I did not send them, declares the Lord. And it's that instruction that we have right there through the prophet

Jeremiah to his people who are in exile that carries over into this instruction that Paul is giving in First Timothy chapter two.

He's giving the same instruction here. Remember that we, as followers of Christ, are exiles in this world.

James refers to us that way at the start of his letter. Peter calls us strangers and aliens.

This world is not our home. We are looking toward a future heavenly kingdom. Paul also addresses the

Philippians with that point as well. So with that understanding in mind that we are exiles in this world, we are to pray for kings and all who are in high positions, just as the

Lord instructed the Jews to pray for the welfare of their captors, because when their captors are prosperous, they are going to be prosperous.

So we pray for the prosperity of the nation where we are in exile, because when they're prosperous, we will prosper.

Whenever times are peaceful, then that makes it easier for us to go out with the gospel of Christ and minister.

We don't have fear of being struck down because we were ministering the gospel of Christ. So that's why we would pray for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and a quiet life.

Read that as spiritual prosperity, godly and dignified in every way.

We have an opportunity to exercise godliness again without fear of persecution from our government, living out our

Christian values and morals in a way that is godly and dignified in every way.

This is the behavior that we are to exhibit when we're reviled. We're not to revile in return.

We're supposed to be godly and dignified in every way. Verse three, this is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our

Savior, who desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

And so this is Paul saying that our responsibility is to take the gospel to everyone.

There is no one from whom we should withhold the gospel message. Everyone needs to hear the message of Jesus Christ because that is what

God has appointed us to do. And so that is what we should do. Now, when you want to get into a discussion of election or predestination or those whom

God has chosen from before the foundation of the world to be saved in Christ Jesus, that is a great and worthy discussion.

But it doesn't mean that there are people from whom we should withhold the gospel. Well, if God has already chosen who's going to be saved, then we don't have to go and preach the gospel.

No, God has told you to. He has included you in this divine work of bringing his elect to salvation.

And so you must do it. You don't get to know who the elect are. Therefore, you cannot withhold the gospel message from anyone.

You must preach it to everyone and let God do his work, fulfilling the decree that he made from before time began.

You don't know what that decree is. You only know what you have been instructed to do in the place in which you are in, and that is to preach the gospel to everyone.

And there's no one that shouldn't hear the gospel. Everyone needs to hear the lifesaving message of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the grave, that all who believe in him will not perish under the wrath and judgment of God, but will be delivered, forgiven our sins and promised an inheritance in the eternal kingdom of Christ.

So we have this promise that Jesus Christ is indeed coming again, and that could happen at any time.

As Jesus said that of that day or hour, no one knows, only the father who is appointed the times for these things in which they should happen.

So while we are in this world, we shouldn't have an attitude of, well, Jesus is probably coming back tomorrow, so there's not a reason for me to do this, that or the other.

I don't have to pay my bills. Maybe I shouldn't take a wife or for you women, a husband, or maybe

I shouldn't have children. Who wants to raise children in this crazy world? That shouldn't be our attitude.

But just as the instruction was given to the people of Israel to marry and be given in marriage, to to have sons and daughters, to give wives to our sons, to give our daughters in marriage, to pray for the welfare of our captors while we are in exile, we should do those things, live every day in obedience to the

Lord. And whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our

Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

And then we're going to go from there into verse five, which is where we'll pick up tomorrow, for there is one

God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Let us do some of that praying right now and know that our prayers are being heard by our father in heaven through our mediator,

Jesus Christ, our wonderful heavenly father. We thank you for the gifts, the gifts that you have given to us, life itself, the gift of salvation, the individual lives that we are in and the way that we live, whether we're married or we are single, we rejoice in what you have given to us.

And may we take everything that has been a blessing to us and use it to advance your kingdom, to share your gospel with other people.

And may we pray for those who are in high positions. Now, I've got listeners that are listening in from all over the world here in the

United States of America. I would be praying for the governor of my state, the president of the

United States. I pray that they would fear God and they would be surrounded with godly counselors who would guide them in the truth according to what is said in your word.

And may everyone pray for their respective leaders that that we might all lead peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified in every way.

And we pray and ask for your blessing upon us, your gentle spirit as we walk as exiles in this world, sharing the gospel of Christ.

Amen. Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find out more online at www .utt