1 Timothy 2:1-15                                                 15^th Sunday after Pentecost, September 22, 2019

“Pray for All People”

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people” (1 Tim. 2:1). In today’s epistle, the Apostle Paul, writing under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit, urges us to pray “for all people.” Not just our family and friends. Not just the people we like or get along with. Paul says that we – as Christians – are to pray for all people.

Does that include your co-worker who gets on your nerves?

The bully who constantly causes you grief at school?

The family you’ve been feuding with?

The person who always sings off key at church and doesn’t know it?

What about the president? What if the president has a “D” after his name? What about an “R?” When Obama was president did you pray for him – whether you voted for him or not? Or now Trump, whether you voted for him or not? Paul specifically commands us to pray “for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tim. 1:2). Although, as Americans living in this constitutional republic of ours, we haven’t had a king since 1776, we certainly do have people in high positions of authority: presidents, senators, congressmen, judges, governors, and mayors.

Jesus expects us to love and pray for more than just the people we like. He even goes so far as to say, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44). Love our enemies! Pray for those who persecute us! Who would ever do such a thing as that – besides Jesus, of course, who prayed from the cross for the very people who put him there, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34)?

Now, even if you disagree with a president’s politics, is he really your enemy? You could argue he or she doesn’t know what they’re doing (which is also true of all of us sinners at various times in our life) or like their policies. But that doesn’t get you off the hook from praying for him and his family.  “First of all, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people…”

I learned at my last pastors’ conference this past spring that there are actually a group pastors who go out to the state capital in St. Paul and pray for the various officials there. They go and actually speak with state reps and senators – and it doesn’t matter what party they belong to. Some are amazed that people would do that for them because, well, who prays for a politician?! More are taken back by the fact that they are there not asking for anything from them, which I’m sure they get a lot of. They are there simply to pray for them and the struggles they have.

Again, as Christians we are called to pray for all people. Paul likely wrote Timothy during Emperor Nero’s reign. Life wasn’t easy during the early days of the church. Nero was a tyrant, a murderous madman, and an enemy of the Church. It was under his reign that Paul would be tried and executed for his faith. Tacitus, a Roman historian who lived in the first and second centuries records, “First, then, the confessed members of the sect were arrested; next, on their disclosures, vast numbers were convicted…And derision accompanied their end: they were covered with wild beast’ skins and torn to death by dogs; or they were fastened on crosses, and when daylight failed, were burned to serve as lamps by night. Nero had offered his Gardens for the spectacle…”  Nevertheless, Paul said that Timothy and his fellow believers needed to pray even for people such as Nero. Can you imagine? And we think our government is bad.

A common accusation against early Christians was that they were disloyal to the Empire because they refused to burn incense to the emperor. Yet early Church leaders worked hard to show their support for the civil government established by God, even when their Christian faith sometimes required them not to obey for the sake of Christ (Romans 13 and Acts 5:29). Even in the second and third centuries A.D., when persecution of the church was officially the law of the land, the pastors and bishops of the early Church continued to pray for the Emperor and the army. For example, Tertullian, an early Christian writer, wrote:

“We are constantly praying for all Emperors; our prayers are that their life be abundant, that the empire be secure, that their house be safe, that the armies be strong, the Senate faithful, the people reliable, the world peaceful, and whatever other prayers there be for a man and for the Emperor.”

So how do we pray for our leaders?  Well, Paul gives us four different kinds of prayers to offer up on their behalf: supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings (1 Tim 2:1). What are supplications? Well, notice how the word “supply” is kind of a prefix there? Supplications are prayers for God to supply someone’s needs. Just as we pray for our own “daily bread” in the Lord’s Prayer, so also we pray for God to supply the needs of all people. So, what do our nation’s leaders need? Godly wisdom for good decision making, good health and physical safety, and courage to do what is right even if it is not popular. Intercessions are those special prayers that people ask you to pray on their behalf. For example, when your friend is sick and asks you to pray for her, that’s called intercession or intercessory prayer. And finally, we are called to offer up thanksgiving for our leaders.

When was the last time that you prayed for those in our government? Maybe you prayed that a particular public official not get reelected or gave thanks that their term is up. I suppose that counts. But it also important that we pray for them and their well-being and their families.

So, at the end of the day, why does the Bible tell us to pray for our leaders? There are two basic reasons: “that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tim. 2:2b); and because “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” (vv. 3-4). Basically, we pray for our leaders because (a) when God blesses our leaders and our land, there is peace for us to live our lives without fear of famine, war, or persecution – sounds like a pretty good thing, doesn’t it? (b) because God wants our leaders to believe in his Son Jesus and be saved.

Everyone’s favorite Bible verse, John 3:16, states, “For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” “God so loved the world” means that God loves everyone, including you, me, your neighbor, the president, and other world leaders. And because God loves everyone, he wants everyone to be saved. Jesus didn’t just die on the cross for you and I here. Jesus died for everyone, including President Trump, Governor Tim Walz, and all our elected and appointed officials. All the more reason to pray “for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

God loves everyone, and God wants everyone to be saved. Indeed, “Christ Jesus…gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:5-6). Jesus died as a ransom for all. That’s why we pray for all. And that’s why Jesus prays for us. The Bible says that Jesus is up in heaven, seated at God’s right hand, praying for us even as we speak. “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Rom. 8:34).

Jesus prays for us, and we pray for “all people,” and that way everyone in the world gets prayed for. How wonderfully the Lord has arranged it! Thanks be to God! In Jesus’ name. Amen.