Sermon – 1 Timothy 2:1-7 – Pray for Everyone

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – 1 Timothy 2:1-7 – Pray for Everyone

September 22, 2013

This morning I am beginning a sermon series drawn from the pastoral epistles. These are personal letters written by the Apostle Paul to a couple of young pastors serving churches, Titus and Timothy. Specifically we will be looking at the two letters to Timothy as he pastors a troubled church and needs some encouragement. These letters provide for us an important window into the practices of the early church. And Paul's advice to Timothy will help us today. We will get to all of this, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

Timothy was the product of a mixed marriage. His father was a Greek. His mother was Jewish. They lived in the city of Lystra. Paul visited Lystra early in his career as an evangelist. It was in Lystra that Paul healed a man with bad feet, lame from birth. This so impressed the people of Lystra that a huge crowd developed that thought Paul must be the god Zeus, and they wanted to sacrifice to him. But Paul told them that it was God, not himself, that did the healing. Timothy's mother and grandmother came to faith in Jesus Christ and a church was born. Presumable Timothy was in the youth group of the new church in Lystra.

A few years later Paul returned to Lystra and visited the church he had started. Timothy was now a young adult. Paul saw how faithful he was and invited him to come as a disciple on Paul's journey starting new churches. Timothy was involved in Paul's ministries in Thessalonica and Corinth. Timothy went with Paul to Jerusalem with a special offering. Later Timothy was with Paul in Rome during Paul's house arrest and helped Paul send letters to the Philippians, the Colossians, and a personal letter to Philemon.

We don't know for certain what happened to Paul and Timothy after Paul's house arrest in Rome. But we can deduce from the letters to Timothy that Paul was released and continued his travels leaving Timothy behind in Ephesus. The letters we have were written by Paul, again under arrest in Rome, to Timothy, now a young pastor serving the church in Ephesus. Timothy needs direction and encouragement, and so do we.

1 Timothy 2:1-7 ^NIV 1 Timothy 2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone-- ² for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. ³ This is good, and pleases God our Savior, ⁴ who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all men-- the testimony given in its proper time. ⁷ And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle-- I am telling the truth, I am not lying-- and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.

Paul has instructed Timothy to focus his ministry on prayer. Prayer is possible only because of the extreem good fortune we have in being able to come into the presence of God. This is not something that we should take for granted. There is nothing necessary about coming into God's presence. Rather it is a gift. God allows us to come into his presence. And this is really good news.

In the ancient world you might need for the king to do something for you. For example you might want the king to lower your taxes or settle a dispute. So you would ask for an audience with the king to explain to him what you need and ask for his help. But you would only gain an audience with the king if the king so chose. And the king wasn't about to have an audience with just anyone. So if you found yourself with the opportunity to address the king to ask him to intercede on your behalf then you would be very happy.

So too with God. When we need God to intercede on our behalf we go to him in prayer and wonder if he is listening. God only listens to us if he choose to. And we find in this letter from Paul that God chooses just that. God wants to listen to our prayers because this is part of his plan for bringing salvation to the whole world. So every time we pray, God listens to us and uses our prayers to transform a fallen world. We have the extreme good fortune of coming into the presence of God every time we engage in prayer.

But there is more to this. We know from scripture that Satan, the accuser, also has God's ear. And Satan is telling God all that we have done wrong. Satan is using our sin against us. So, we need a mediator, an attorney, on our side who will defend us against Satan's accusations. Who might this mediator be? According to Paul our mediator is none other than Jesus Christ. And so we find ourselves with the extreme good fortune of not only being able to come into God's presence. But we also have the extreme good fortune of having a mediator there when we arrive. This is what makes prayer possible. We have both access to God and the ability to communicate to him our joys and our concerns.

In ancient times, if you had the extreme good fortune of being granted an audience with the king, and if you had someone who supported you who was near the king, then you would enter into the king's presence and pray that he would intercede on your behalf. You would pray to the king. But Paul wants Timothy and church at Ephesus to pray not to the king, but to pray for the king. Our prayers must always be directed to God, but we must pray for everyone including the king.

This is especially important today when it seems that so many people are angry at the government. We may disagree with what the government is doing. We want our government to nurture a society of godliness and peace. When it fails to do this we have the God given right to change the government. But we also have the responsibility to pray for the government to God through Jesus Christ.

This is the proper role of the church in America today. The church should not be endorsing candidates or a political party. Rather we should be praying for all of our leaders that they will be filled with wisdom from the Holy Spirit which will guide them as they lead us in God's ways. So we should select leaders who know God through prayer, worship and Bible study and have developed the spiritual maturity to lead us.

The reason God allows us to come into his presence with our prayers is so that through our prayers the whole world will come to the knowledge of God and experience salvation in Jesus Christ. Sadly, not everyone will know God and be saved. We don't really know who is saved and who is not. Our job is to pray for everyone hoping that all will saved. So it is most important that we pray for those who do not come to church. By not coming to church they miss out on the extreme good fortune we have in coming into the presence of God with a mediator at our side every Sunday morning. And since they are not here to pray for themselves it is imperative that we pray for them.

And here we are in worship on the Lord's Day. We have come into God's presence. Jesus Christ is with us. We have the opportunity to ask God to intercede on our behalf. We are ready to offer up prayers for everyone. Let us pray.

 Father in heaven, we pray that you will listen to us as we express our joys and concerns. We pray for those who are not in worship today that they will experience your Spirit. We pray for the leaders of our church and of the nation that they will lead in ways of godliness and peace. This we pray in the name of our mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sermon – Psalm 139 – Known By God

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – Psalm 139 – Known By God

September 8, 2013

Prayer is central in the Christian life. It is something we must do every day because it connects us to our creator God. But before we pray there are three questions that need to be answered. The first is, “To whom do we pray?”. The second is, “How do we pray?”. And the third is, “What does prayer do?” These questions are answered in Psalm 139. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

^NIV Psalm 139:1 For the director of music. Of David. A psalm. O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. ² You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. ³ You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. ⁴ Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. ⁵ You hem me in-- behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

The psalmist tells us that the person to whom we pray is the all knowing God. God knows everything about us. God knows what we do. God knows what we say. God even knows what we think and what we feel. There is nothing about us that God does not know. And there is no way to hide anything from God. We are open books. This knowledge of us is similar to the knowledge that a husband and wife know of each other. It is similar to the way a mother knows her children. God knows us. And it is this God, who knows us intimately, to whom we pray. But there is more to this. Let's go back to the psalm.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? ⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. ⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, ¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. ¹¹ If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," ¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

The psalmist tells us that we pray to the God who is everywhere. God is with us, not only in worship on Sunday mornings, but God with us from the moment we get up in the morning to the moment we go to sleep at night. There is no place for us to hide. We may think that we can hide from God in the privacy of a bedroom with someone other than our spouse, but we can't hide. God is there. We may think that we can hide from God in the privacy of our office when we steal from our employer, but we can't hide. God is there. We may think that we can hide from God by not to church on Sunday, but we can't hide. God is everywhere. And it is this God, the one we cannot hide from, to whom we pray. Back to psalm.

¹³ For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. ¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, ¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. ¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! ¹⁸ Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.

So far the psalmist has told us that we pray to the God who is all-knowing, and know us better than we know ourselves. She also tells us that we pray to the God who is always present, and from whom we can never hide. And now the psalmist is telling us that we pray to the God who is all-powerful, so powerful in fact that every cell in our bodies, every bone, every hair, every drop of blood, was intentionally made by God. So God is all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful, not in some abstract way. Rather God is all these things in relationship to us. God knows us. God is always present to us. God is powerful as our creator. So this is the God we pray to. And this brings us to second question, “How do we pray.”

¹⁹ If only you would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty men! ²⁰ They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. ²¹ Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you? ²² I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

According to the psalmist we pray to God with complete honesty. Since God already knows us, is always present with us, and created us we cannot possibly hide anything, or exaggerate something, or spin it in some way. The only thing we can do is to pray honestly. And sometimes the honest prayers we say are not very good. The psalmist “hates” her enemies and expressed her hatred in her prayers. This teaches us that whatever joy or concern we have we can bring it to God in prayer even if our emotions are strong. The psalms are filled with prayers of faithful people who are filled with anger, hatred, and malice towards other. We too have these feelings. And when we do we can honestly take our most intense feelings to the God who created us, is always present, and knows us intimately.

And this brings us to the third and final question, “What does prayer do?” Listen to the conclusion of the psalm.

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. ²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

And so according to the psalmist the purpose of prayer is to change us. We may think that our prayers are to encourage God to change someone else. We might pray that God brings someone to church. We might pray that God heals a loved one. We might pray that God brings peace to the Middle East. We pray these things over and over. But the purpose of prayer is not to get God to do what you want. The purpose of prayer is to get close to the God who created you, who is always with you, and knows you better than anyone else. And if you get closer to this God, by honestly praying your feelings every day, then you will experience transformation. You will become more like Christ.

So, to whom do we pray? To the God who created us, knows us and is always with us. How should we pray? We should pray our feeling honestly. And what happens when we pray? God transforms us back into what we were created to be. So pray every day. So continually express your feelings honestly. And be transformed by the Holy Spirit into what you were created to be, the image of God. Let us pray.

Omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent God who knows us, is present with us and created us, we offer up our prayers. Use this to recreate us in you image. Bless us with your Spirit to continue the process of making us more like the one we follow, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sermon – Psalm 81 – Sound the Rams Horn

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon – Psalm 81 – Sound the Rams Horn

September 1, 2013

This is Labor Day Weekend, what some call the last Sunday of summer. Crowds have gathered in Ocean City to celebrate one last time before back to school and back to work. Vacations are almost over. Even though the kids have already been back to school for a week, Labor Day Weekend is a time to have fun. So enjoy the long weekend.

Today we will look at another annual festival from twenty five hundred years ago. The people were summoned to the festival by the sounding of the Ram's horn. We will see what happened, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

^NIV Psalm 81:1 For the director of music. According to gittith. Of Asaph. Sing for joy to God our strength; shout aloud to the God of Jacob! ² Begin the music, strike the tambourine, play the melodious harp and lyre. ³ Sound the ram's horn at the New Moon, and when the moon is full, on the day of our Feast; ⁴ this is a decree for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.

^{The time has come for a great celebration. A runner leaves the temple in Jerusalem and goes up the nearest mountain. He tells the horn player to sound the shofar, the Ram's horn. He blows into it and a deafening sound goes out to all surrounding villages. The horn player on the next mountain hears the sound. He blows into his shofar alerting his villages and the next mountain. The sound of the shofar is heard from mountain to mountain, and village after village is alerted. Everyone knows that it is time to come to Jerusalem for a great celebration, and the pilgrimage begins.}

^{When they arrive at the temple in Jerusalem the priests are waiting. Their purpose is to remind the people of their place in the history of God's salvation. They remind the people how God has blessed the nation in the past, and how much God was blessing them today. Here is what the priests told them.}

⁵ He established it as a statute for Joseph when he went out against Egypt, where we heard a language we did not understand. ⁶ He says, "I removed the burden from their shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket. ⁷ In your distress you called and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah

^{The people were reminded that God had freed them from slavery in Egypt and had guided them for forty years in the desert. God had provided them with food and water, and had protected them from their enemies.}

^{This is God's side of the covenant with his people. He promised to be their God and to provide them all that they need. This promise is made to us also. God promises to be our God and bless us richly. He already has blessed us. He already is our God. God has already done what he promised to do. So what is our side of the covenant? What are we to do in response to all that God has done for us? Listen in to the priests from the ancient festival.}

⁸ "Hear, O my people, and I will warn you-- if you would but listen to me, O Israel! ⁹ You shall have no foreign god among you; you shall not bow down to an alien god.

^{And so the people are reminded of the first commandment of the ten Moses had brought down from the mountain. They are told never to worship foreign gods.}

^{They worship that which they valued most intensively. We also worship that which we value most intensively. And if we put our greatest value in our money, or our house, or our job, or even our family, then we are not worshiping God. The commandment tells us that if we value anything greater than God, then that thing is a idol. And we are not to worship idols. So put God at the top of the list of things you value. Set God as the object you value the greatest. This is you obligation given the covenant you have made with God and God has made with you. God has already blessed you richly, your obligation is now to worship him as the most important thing in you life.}

^{Back at the ancient festival, a prophet proclaimed the word of God.}

¹⁰ I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it. ¹¹ "But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. ¹² So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.

^{The stain of sin had enslaved God's people. They wanted to put away their idols and worship God, but they couldn't. They wanted to obey God's commands, but they couldn't. They wanted to love God with all their hearts, souls, and minds, but they couldn't. The stain of sin had corrupted all humankind. And there was nothing they could do about.}

^{Lord knows, we try. We try to value God more than anything else, but we can't. We try to obey God's commands, but we can't. We try to love God just as God loves us, but we can't. We are stained by the same sin that stained the people of God centuries ago. It seems as if we have no hope, but we do. Listen to God.}

¹³ "If my people would but listen to me, if Israel would follow my ways, ¹⁴ how quickly would I subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes! ¹⁵ Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, and their punishment would last forever. ¹⁶ But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

If we just repent, just change directions from turning our back to God to facing him, then God will act to save us from our sin and restore us to covenant relationship with him. His promise is that he will feed us just as he fed the people in the wilderness with manna from heaven and water from a rock and brought them to a land flowing with milk and honey.

And this promise was fulfilled by God in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who we remember as we gather around this table today. God nourishes us in the bread and wine. He forgiveness our sin. And in the resurrection of Jesus Christ promises us eternal life. In joy and gratitude let us value God more than anything else. Let us uphold our end of the covenant and obey God's commands. And let us rejoice for all that God has done for us. Let us pray.

Father in heaven we thank you for all the blessings we have received. We are sorry for valuing things more than we value you. As we are nourished around this table we promise that this will change. We will worship and obey you alone. In your son's name we pray. Amen.