Sermon Text: 1 Timothy 2:1–7
River Community Church
25 January 2026
Introduction
In 1746, the American pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards authored a book entitled, An Humble Attempt. The full title is 29 words long, so people just use the short title.
The book called on the church in America to be united in prayer for revival around the globe and the advancement of God’s kingdom.
The book was not a success, and it failed to sell many copies.
Nearly 40 years later, across the Atlantic, a British Baptist pastor named John Sutcliff, received a bundle of books in the mail from another pastor friend. In that bundle of books was a copy of Jonathan Edwards’ Humble Attempt.
Inspired by the book, John Sutcliff decided to write a letter to the other Baptist churches in the region, encouraging them all to devote themselves to hold corporate prayer meetings for one hour on the first Monday of each month.
This becomes known as the Prayer Call of 1784.[1] For context, this was a period of religious decline among Baptist churches in England.
What did Sutcliff urge the churches to pray for? He urged them to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on their ministers and churches, the conversion of sinners, revival, and specifically for “the spread of the gospel to the most distant parts of the habitable globe.”
Within a decade, in 1792, Sutcliff and others, including the well-known William Carey (missionary to India), formed the Baptist Missionary Society, launching the modern international missions movement as we know it today.
There are a lot of lessons we might draw from this historical story:
- A historical pattern of prayer preceding revival
- One man’s faithfulness to write a book even if he didn’t see fruit in his lifetime.
As a congregation, here’s what I want us to see. River is a church that fits comfortably in this stream. We are a church that prioritizes prayer, missions, and evangelism.
Throughout the years, we’ve sent out families to reach the nations. During advent, we also recognized several of our church members who are preparing for the journeyman process with the IMB. They are serving and preparing to serve in difficult places to bring the gospel to people who have never heard the name of Jesus.
If you take a long view of history, it is no stretch to recognize that God is answering the prayers from 280 years ago. And even much farther back than that. Jesus promised that his disciples would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
Exposition
This morning, we are continuing our series preaching through 1 Timothy, and our passage is chapter 2:1–7.
Up to this point, Paul has addressed Timothy directly/personally about leadership challenges in handling false teaching within the church. Then, in chapters 2–6, the focus shifts to priorities of the church in corporate worship.
The letter answers questions like, what is the mission of the church? What are the priorities in corporate worship? How should individual members of the body of Christ conduct themselves in the life of the church? Those are the sorts of questions the rest of the book unpacks.
Our passage (1 Tim 2:1–7) shows us that A healthy church is a praying church with a heart for missions and evangelism.
Listen as I read our passage and see if you can identify where you see these priorities in the text.
2 First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2 for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, a testimony at the proper time.
7 For this I was appointed a herald, an apostle (I am telling the truth; I am not lying), and a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
The main idea of our passage is that a healthy church is a praying church with a heart for missions and evangelism.
Let’s break this down into two main points:
- The Priority of Prayer
- The Urgency of Missions/Evangelism
- The Priority of Prayer (vv. 1–2)
Paul begins his discussion of priorities in the church by highlighting the importance of prayer. In verse 1, he begins by saying, “First of all.”
This is much more than simply the first item on a list; it’s a way of signifying the degree of importance. It’s a point of emphasis.
Remember, Paul is a missionary church planter. Prayer is of first importance for his missionary work and for the churches he’s involved with. He pushes prayer to the top.
Let me speak to prayer generally. For Christians, too often prayer is treated as an afterthought. After we’ve exhausted all of our efforts, then we pray.
But this is backwards from the consistent pattern that we find throughout Scripture.
The Bible teaches us to lead with prayer, to begin with prayer. Indeed, our lives are to be marked by continual prayer (Eph 6:18). We pray, and then we get to work.
It’s not as if prayer is incompatible with our efforts. We don’t pray and then sit back and do nothing. We pray—we get to work—and then we continue to pray.
Even for Christians, prayer is viewed as an afterthought. If not in belief, certainly in practice. My guess is that Christians do not self-consciously believe prayer is actually just an afterthought and meaningless. However, I think that functionally prayer becomes something that we can just tack on.
I don’t have a full explanation for why this is so. It could be that our surrounding culture influences us in more ways than we are aware. Our secularized culture hates prayer. Christians are told to keep their thoughts and prayers to themselves.
In the wake of some tragedy or disaster, “we don’t want prayers, we want action.” This reveals what our society truly believes about prayer, namely, that it is meaningless. It’s just empty words.
But prayer is not meaningless. I can assure you, when Jesus repeatedly got up early in the morning to pray in solitude, he was not just killing time being out in nature. He was talking/communing with his Father, praying in the Spirit.
Prayer is talking to God, to the living God who hears and responds to our prayer.
God does respond to our prayers. As we seek to pray in line with God’s will, we ask him for what we want, but we trust him with what he gives.
Prayer is real work. It’s not magical or empty words. If it was just empty, Paul would not prioritize it like he does.
Why does Paul begin this section by highlighting the priority of prayer in the church?
Without prayer, it becomes too easy to depend on ourselves and to begin to trust in our own abilities, talents, resources, strategies, methods.
Prayer trains us to increase our dependence on God and deepen our trust in him.
I recognize that this might be a hard truth, but if your life is characterized by prayerlessness, then it could be a sign that you are placing too much trust in yourself, your own strength, talent, and abilities.
As an Air Force chaplain, I’ve had many discussions with people who are in difficult places. And even if they’re not Christian, I’ve never had someone refuse my offer to pray for them. When you’re vulnerable and dependent, you’ll take whatever help you can get.
If you find that your life reflects a lack of prayer, then the proper response is not to wallow in guilt. The proper response is to pray and ask God for forgiveness. You can pray something like this: Father, I need you. Please forgive me for living like I don’t need you. Help me to walk closely with you knowing that apart from you I can do nothing.
In times of deep suffering, you may find it difficult to pray. That’s okay. But even then, prayers of lament are ultimately expressions of trust in God’s good providence.
Now, the priority of prayer in our passage is on corporate/public prayer. It’s not that private prayer or individual prayer is not important—but in our passage here, Paul is talking about the corporate worship of the church.
When the church gathers, we have a responsibility to pray.
As we think about point 1. The Priority of Prayer, let’s consider three additional sub-points:
- What are the various kinds of prayers?
- Prayers for whom?
- To what end? For what purpose?
Notice in verse 1, Paul lists four different kinds of prayers: petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings.
Petitions are simply requests. You’re asking for something specific. If you sign a petition, you are adding your name to a formal request to someone in a position of authority to do something.
Petitions is followed by “prayers,” which just refers to prayer in general.
Intercession is prayer on behalf of someone else or for the sake of someone else.
Lastly, thanksgivings are prayers expressing gratitude.
I think it’s best not to press too far with the distinction between these various kinds of prayers. I think the main point of emphasis is on the abundance of prayer, not the specific type or mode of prayer.[2]
Paul’s point in prioritizing prayer is to remind us that nothing happens in our churches apart from prayer. “Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain.” (Psalm 127:1).
This is the Lord’s church. This is not Terry’s, or Rodney’s, or Jim’s, or Trace’s, or Aaron’s church. That’s no discredit to any of us––we are just servants, undershepherds of the Good Shepherd. This is the Lord’s church. Apart from God, all of our labors/efforts are in vain.
Therefore, the church is to be characterized by an abundance of prayer. This is why prayer plays a central role in our gathered worship. We begin our worship with Scripture and prayer. Often, we will have prayers of confession, prayers of thanksgiving, pastoral prayers in which we pray for the needs of people in our congregation or things of local/national importance. We pray for international missions.
The church’s worship is to be characterized by an abundance of prayer.
What or who specifically should we pray for?
Paul tells us that prayer is to “be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority.”
We are to pray for everyone, for all kinds of people. This includes kings and governing officials.
In Paul’s context, “kings” could refer to the king, the Roman emperor or other governors or lower-level rulers (think of Pontius Pilate, Herod, or Felix in the NT).
What this means in our context is that praying for President Trump or Governor Kelly by name is not intrinsically partisan. The Bible instructs us to pray for our leaders, and this would include every level of government: The President, Congress, Supreme Court Justices, Governors, Military leaders, local state and city officials.
Why does Paul single out kings and those in authority?
What is the purpose of praying for governing officials?
The key is found in the second half of verse 2. Here is why you pray for them:
“so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.”
Government is instituted by God (Rom 13). One of the purposes of government is to uphold justice and peace by punishing bad conduct.
We pray that our rulers would govern in such a way so that we can live our lives as Christians peacefully and quietly. This doesn’t mean we are cloistered off in silence; rather, it means that we are free to live as Christians undisturbed by those who would seek to oppress or obstruct our ability to gather in worship.
This is a foundational passage then for the concept of religious liberty. The freedom of religion is a foundational principle in our nation’s Constitution; and this freedom of religion extends to all people—not just Christians.
Historically, it’s true that the church has grown and the gospel has spread in times of severe persecution, but clearly Paul’s desire is that the church should be able to live peacefully without fear of opposition. We are not to pray for persecution to come.
We should not be surprised when it does come, but we don’t seek it out. What Paul wants us to pray for is the ability to worship freely and live peaceably as good citizens.
In America, we can take religious liberty for granted. It’s understandable to be shocked by the news of the organized protest that disrupted a church’s worship in St. Paul last week. We don’t typically see that in America. That was a disruption of religious liberty.
Our passage is very timely. What are we to pray for with stories like that in mind? We pray for our governing officials to preserve and protect religious freedom. We pray for social and political stability so that we (and others) may lead tranquil and quiet lives in all godliness and dignity.
Now, religious liberty is not an end in itself. It serves a larger purpose.
Religious liberty is foundational to missions and evangelism.
Religious liberty is the foundation and link to our second main point.
- The Urgency of Missions and Evangelism (vv. 3–7)
When we are free to worship, it serves to advance the gospel.
We should pray that our leaders govern in such a way that we can worship freely and peacefully.
Then in verses 3–4, Paul says “this is good, and it pleases God our savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
By saying God wants everyone to be saved, Paul is not advocating for some kind of universalism, the belief that all people on the planet will come to saving faith in the end.
That clearly doesn’t fit with the rest of Scripture which speaks about God’s righteous judgment of the wicked.
In context, I think it’s clear Paul means God’s saving plan includes all kinds of people. That salvation is not something that belongs exclusively to the Jews.
Instead, God’s saving grace and forgiveness in Christ should be freely offered to as many people as possible.
Remember, the false teaching in chapter 1 had something to do with forms of Jewish exclusivism. They were likely arguing that salvation belonged to those who could trace a certain lineage.
In contrast from that, Paul tells us to pray for everyone—all people, not those of Jewish descent only. Salvation has come to Jews and Gentiles. Salvation has also come not just to a particular class of people—but also to kings and those in positions of authority.
By highlighting God’s desire for all people to be saved, Paul is bringing to our remembrance the urgency of missions and evangelism.
The purpose of religious liberty—the ability to lead a peaceful and quiet life––is not so that you can get comfortable and lose sight of the urgency and importance of making the gospel known.
Churches should never lose our zeal for evangelism and missions.
A healthy church is a praying church with a heart for missions and evangelism.
What’s the difference between missions and evangelism? They are similar.
Evangelism is just telling others about how to be reconciled to God; sharing the good news.
Missions is sending workers out, typically in cross-cultural settings, to plant or strengthen churches and to bring the gospel to people who’ve never heard the name of Jesus.
What does this look like practically to have a heart for missions and evangelism at a personal level?
The biggest thing is not to complicate it.
Begin with prayer. Pray and ask God to bring people into your life who need to hear the gospel (most of you probably already can identify who these people are). Then, you pray and ask that God would help you to be faithful with the opportunities he provides.
For me, two of my running buddies are a Catholic and an agnostic. We often will talk about religious or theological issues and questions on our runs. I just tell them about my life, and I’m not afraid to disagree with them. So, you weave evangelism into what you’re already doing.
You can also learn how to use a gospel-sharing tool. Trace does a great job training Christian Challenge students with Two Ways to Live.
You can pick up those little booklets out in the lobby if you want to learn and practice yourself. Don’t turn your nose up at tracts and things like that.
My favorite thing at Luke’s ordination service was the framed napkin of Trace’s drawing of Two Ways to Live. Trace used that to share the gospel with Luke on a napkin, and Luke was converted.
Several years ago, I went on a trip to Central Asia to do evangelism with an unreached people group. God convicted me on that trip because I was skeptical of cold-turkey evangelism. I just thought—that doesn’t really work in America, and I was skeptical. It was a lack of faith.
But then I saw people receive the Bible. They were captivated by it. They heard the gospel, and I saw people become born again.
How do you not lose your heart for evangelism? The church trains, and equips, and encourages you do it.
The same is true for missions. This is why as a church we really value sending our youth on missions trips and college students through One Link.
Often, these trips are formative experiences in helping people discern God’s calling in their life (That’s true of Asher and April).
These trips give us a taste of God’s heart for the lost—we see the depth of brokenness and emptiness of sin, the lack of hope that people have apart from Christ. These trips can fill us with a deep sense of the urgency of bringing the gospel to the nations.
One image sticks in my mind from my first One Link Trip with Trace in China. Our hotel room overlooked a large mosque in the city, and I remember being struck by the image of hundreds of men who gathered to pray. It highlighted for me the urgency of the gospel.
These trips also help keep missions central in the life of the church. Christ has called us to go and make disciples of all the nations (Matt 28:19). As a church, even if we are not the ones physically going, we partner and take joy in financially supporting those who do.
To bring this back to our passage. God wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. So churches should never lose their zeal for evangelism and missions.
God wants to see all kinds of people rescued from sin by understanding the truth of the gospel.
And that’s what Paul unpacks in verses 5-7.
In verse 7, Paul says that he was appointed as an apostle and herald (a messenger) to proclaim and teach the gospel.
Verses 5–6 clearly articulate the central message of the gospel and how people are to be reconciled to God.
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, a testimony at the proper time.”
There is one true and living God who is holy, righteous, loving, infinitely perfect. He desires covenant relationship with us.
The problem is we’ve rebelled against God and broken his commandments. The Bible calls this sin. Sin produced death in God’s creation and it separates and alienates us from enjoying relationship with him.
So, we need a mediator. A mediator is a go-between. We need someone who can truly represent God and humanity. Because Jesus is fully God and fully man, he fulfills God’s righteousness and he is able to represent us and stand in our place.
He gave his life as a ransom for us. On the cross, Jesus died in our place as our substitute, satisfying God’s wrath, and thereby granting us cleansing and forgiveness through his blood, releasing us from the bondage and slavery to sin.
By his powerful resurrection, he destroyed death forever. He promises to all those who repent (turn from sin) and believe that they will never taste death but will rise with him to enjoy eternal life.
When you turn from your sin and believe in Jesus, God fills you with his Holy Spirit to help you walk in obedience and newness of life.
If you’re not a believer in Jesus, know that there is nobody who cannot be saved by Christ. There is no sin you can commit beyond Christ’s power to save. The promise of grace, mercy, and forgiveness is for anyone who believes.
If you’re a Christian, this is the gospel that gave you hope and new life. So, remember the gospel and pray that God use you to make his gospel known.
[1] Michael A. G. Haykin, “John Sutcliff and the Concert of Prayer,” Reformation and Revival Journal (Volume 1, No. 3, 1992), 65–88.
[2] Robert W. Yarbrough, The Letters to Timothy and Titus, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018), 147.