MPC, 8th October 2000.1 Timothy 2:1-7 - Prayer Points
Phil Campbell MPC, 8th October 2000.
If I asked you to list the top four political issues of the last few weeks, I guess different people would give different answers. Maybe you'd say it's Michael Knight resigning as Olympics minister down in NSW. Or the labor pre-selection enquiry here in Brisbane. Or you might think the biggest political issue of the week is Pauline Hanson and David Oldfield, and working out WHO locked WHO out of the One Nation office in Sydney. Maybe the biggest political issue for you is whether or not the Federal Government gets generous, and lets us have one or two cents a litre off petrol. Depending on who you are, you'll have different ideas about what's been most important.
And when it comes to talking about a Christian perspective on politics, again, you'll run into all sorts of different perspectives. They reckon at polite dinner parties there are two things you're not meant to talk about. Politics. And religion. And today we're going to break both rules pretty badly. Mind you, you've got to be careful. I heard about a minister in one church who stood up the Sunday after an election and gave thanks that HIS PARTY got back into power. Half his congregation didn't come back. So you won't get any party political announcements out of me. I'm not here to tell you Christians oughta vote democrats or Christians oughta vote labor or Christians oughta vote One Nation. In the end, that's your business. But here in 1 Timothy chapter 2, Paul gives a few important pointers. And he puts into perspective the issues that are REALLY important. He doesn't tell you who to vote for. Because back then they didn't even GET TO VOTE. But he tells you WHAT'S IMPORTANT.
And you might be surprised. Cause it's not the deficit. And it's NOT the GST. And it's not whether you'll get a tax cut on petrol.
Have a look at the first couple of verses in chapter 2 and you'll see what it is.
Read from verse 1. "I urge you then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving should be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness."
There it is. Simple as that. They didn't get to vote. But they did get to PRAY. And Paul says, when you get together, this is important. PRAY LIKE ANYTHING for people IN AUTHORITY. Pray for the people who rule you. Ask things for them. Intercede for them. Here's a new thought for Australians. GIVE THANKS FOR THEM. And most of all, he says, PRAY THAT WE'LL BE ABLE TO LIVE PEACEFUL AND QUIET LIVES IN GODLINESS AND HOLINESS.
Paul says the great ideal we should be looking for, the great ideal we should be PRAYING for, is this. He says don't bother praying too much about the economy. Don't bother about nasty party politics. He says, PRAY FOR STABILITY. PRAY FOR THE FREEDOM TO SERVE GOD. Pray for a quiet life without persecution; a quiet life without disputing and harassment. The sort of life where it's easy to promote godliness. And holiness.
You know, I heard someone talking on TV about the American Presidential elections. And I think what they said applies pretty much the same here. They said, it's going to be hard for George Bush to beat Al Gore. Because Al Gore's VICE PRESIDENT ALREADY. And the ECONOMY... is going DARN WELL.
And it's almost like these days there's only ONE issue that really counts. There. Here. The ECONOMY. A good government is a government that leaves you with more in your wallet. And so THE TREASURER gets just about as much air time as the Prime Minister. And the big questions that get asked about any issue, it's WHETHER IT'S GOOD FOR BUSINESS. Does it BOOST THE ECONOMY.
Paul says, don't pray for THAT STUFF. That's not important. Pray for this. Pray that we'll be able to GET ON WITH THE BUSINESS OF FOLLOWING JESUS. Pray we'll be able to live peaceful and quiet lives in GODLINESS AND HOLINESS.
Because in the end, being able to live godly and holy lives without being persecuted for it is the thing that really counts. Try going somewhere where you can't... and you'll see what he means.
Keep reading verse 3. He says, "Pray we can live in Godliness and Holiness. THIS IS GOOD, and pleases God our saviour, who wants all men to be SAVED and to come to a knowledge of the truth."
He says, don't pray for PROSPERITY. Pray for stability. Pray for the freedom to tell people about Jesus. Because from God's perspective, that's the single biggest issue of all.
This is good, and pleases God our saviour; who doesn't care a real lot about the deficit. What God wants, says Paul, is a situation where people can be saved. Where the truth can be freely spoken. And freely accepted.
You know, the funny thing about the USA these days, there's still the slogan on their money that says "In God we Trust." But it's ILLEGAL to pray in a school. It's ILLEGAL to have a nativity scene at Christmas in a public place. No statues of Jesus and the animals and the shepherds round the Christmas tree in a public park or in the council offices. Or any public place. It's illegal. And people have been in court over it.
Now at a guess, I'd say Jesus isn't too fussed on little nativity scene statues anyway. He never was into idols. But the fact is, in America, these days it's an offense to do anything to promote Christianity in a public place. Because they say, there are all sorts of other religions in America as well. And they figure that Jews, for example, are going to be offended if you happen to mention Jesus. Not to mention the Muslims and everyone else.
So it's still okay to celebrate Christmas. Just as long as you make sure it doesn't have anything to do with Christ. Plenty of reindeer, plenty of Santa Claus, plenty of shopping. No Jesus.
Funny thing. Ten years ago Christians were being persecuted in Russia, and America was the land of the free. And now you've almost got more freedom in Russia than you have in the USA.
Friends, we need to be praying that the same thing doesn't happen here. Because we've got an incredible amount of freedom that we just seem to take for granted, don't we. And it's almost like for us it's no longer much of an issue. We're more worried about the economy than about whether or not we're free to talk about Jesus.
Paul says "the thing God wants is for all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth." And they do that by hearing about Jesus. He spells it out in the very next verse.
See, it's true. In America these days there are a lot of religions. But there's still only one true one. It's true that people have all got different beliefs. But there's still only one truth.
Look at the way Paul spells it out. Verse 5. "For there is only ONE GOD," he says, "and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a RANSOM for all men - the testimony given in its proper time."
Doesn't matter how many IDEAS of God people have got; it doesn't change anything. God is God. And it doesn't matter how many ways people THINK they can reach him, doesn't matter how many ways people think they can bridge the gap - there's only ONE WAY. There's only one bridge. One mediator. And that's Jesus Christ. The Son of God. Who became a man. What you've got to pray for is the FREEDOM to talk about him. And the freedom to live for him.
There was a philosopher back a couple of hundred years ago. His name was David Hume. And David Hume was a depressed sort of bloke who had one very clear insight. Philosophers have always tried to figure out how they could PROVE one way or another whether God was there or not. And David Hume said this. He said, if there is a God, if there is a spiritual world, it's right out of our reach. We can't see it. We can't touch it. We can't measure it. So it's impossible. If there is a God, God is unknowable.
And you know what? Except for one detail that he missed, David Hume was absolutely right. There's a huge gap between us and God. And maybe you're aware of it in your own experience. We can't know God. Except for one thing. He sent his Son as a mediator. A middle man. A peacemaker. To bring us back together.
And so the fact is, YOU CAN GET TO KNOW GOD. The detail David Hume missed was the most important thing in the world. That there is one God... AND ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MEN... the man Jesus Christ.
And he's not only the mediator. He's a ransom. He stepped across the gap between God and man. And then he gave up his life on the cross as a payment for everything that's on our account. And the price he paid was enough for EVERYONE. It's a ransom for ALL MEN. Which is exactly why we need to be telling people the good news. Turn back to God and you'll be forgiven.
Paul says, that's the whole reason I'm here. Verse 7, he says for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle - I'm telling the truth, he says, I'm not lying - and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.
He's going everywhere he can. To every ONE he can. To tell all the people he can reach. To announce it like a town crier. There's a mediator between God and man - Jesus Christ, who gave up his life as a ransom.
CONCLUSION
So let me ask you, as Christians, what do we want our politicians to do? What should we be praying for?
Now some Christians seem to become extremists at this point. And they seem to be pushing for something that goes a lot further than what the bible says. I know of Christians - and I'm not talking about Geoff Wilson - who want to TAKE OVER GOVERNMENT. Because they say it's our RESPONSIBILITY AS CHRISTIANS to tell everyone else what to do. And we should lobby and set up pressure groups so that the whole nation is ruled like the nation of Israel used to be. Which is missing the point.
And even guys like Fred Nile. In a way he's doing the same sort of thing, isn't he? Trying to legislate Christian standards for the whole community. Who aren't Christians at all. Now I've got nothing against Christian standards. They're terrific. But the fact is, we're not told to ram them down non-believers throats.
But here's what we ARE told to do. Paul says to pray for our rulers and people in authority so WE'LL BE FREE... TO LIVE GODLY AND HOLY LIVES. So we'll be free to tell people about Jesus. Which is a very different thing to forcing rules and regulations down their throats.
See, God goes about his business through the gospel; though changing people from the inside as they get to know Jesus.
So we need to be praying for that sort of stability. And the sort of peace that gives us the freedom to talk openly about Jesus. It's as simple as that.
And we should be praying for Christians in positions of authority, shouldn't we, like Geoff. And other Christians you might know in parliament. Committed Christian men like John Anderson in Federal Parliament, who's very PUBLIC about the fact he's an evangelical Christian.
We need to pray for people like that. But Paul wants us to go further than that. And pray for EVERYONE IN AUTHORITY. Because he doesn't want ANYTHING to get in the way of the gospel. So if you're a signed up National Party member, start praying for the Labor Party. If you're a signed up Labor member, pray for John Howard. Can you see, OUR AGENDA AS CHRISTIANS is WAY BIGGER than politics or parties. Because we're under a HIGHER AUTHORITY. And we PROCLAIM CHRIST.
One final word. I reckon we should be giving thanks to God for the freedom we've got here in Australia. Funny if we're PRAYING FOR THAT SORT OF FREEDOM... and we don't do anything to use it.
I mean, in the US they can't even MENTION Jesus in a school. We can send in CHAPLAINS. Teaching kids about Jesus every day of the week, as part of the school staff. Except hardly anyone can be bothered raising the funds or being on the committees.
More than that. Each of us personally. Under NO THREAT AT ALL FOR TALKING ABOUT JESUS. And yet I'd just about guarantee you that there are MORE CHRISTIANS sharing their faith in the countries where it's illegal... that there are here. More Christians professing their faith UNDER FIRE... than we are here. In peace.
Paul says PRAY FOR THAT SORT OF FREEDOM. Give THANKS for that sort of freedom. What a tragedy if you're not ever USING THE FREEDOM you've GOT.