Sunday LinkUp – September 21, 2025 – 1 Timothy 2:1-7

WELCOME and THANKS for joining us.

OPENING COMMENTS

• Today is the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost.
• The theme for this week is surprised by redemption.
• The Bible readings, which support the theme, are referenced below … and they offer insight into the way God’s capacity for grace often astonishes us.
  • Our call to worship, found in Psalm 79:1–9, is a lament, where the psalmist gives voice to his pain that the temple has been “profaned.”  Lament is something many people struggle with, and reading the rawness of emotions conveyed in Psalm 79 can help us understand that God does not require us to “cheer up” our thoughts, emotions, or prayers before we express them.  
  • In fact, God also conveys feeling brokenhearted in Jeremiah 8:18–9:1.  The prophet writes from God’s perspective, lamenting the way Israel turned toward idols.  “My joy is gone, grief is upon me,” God cries, and from this, we can hear God’s deep desire for a relationship of reciprocity, even though God remains loyal and steadfast regardless.   
  • Luke 16:1–13 offers a confusing parable (sometimes called the Parable of the Dishonest Manager), one where it seems that the ends justify the less-than-honest means.  A self-serving manager shrewdly decides to be charitable so that his debtors will provide for him when he is fired from his job.  This story, told by Jesus, gives us an example of expectations-based grace versus the unlimited grace God provides.  In this world with its human-made systems, “quid pro quo” or “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” seems to be the best we (or the dishonest manager) could hope for.  Jesus points out the limitations of thinking any generosity must be paid back.  We can never pay God back for the grace and goodness we’ve been shown.  God never expects that from us.   
  • Our sermon text comes from 1 Timothy 2:1–7.  In this passage, we’re encouraged to pray even when we don’t want to.  We can be surprised by God’s grace and willingness to connect with us.  

SERMON

The Peace Connection 

1 Timothy 2:1–7 NRSVUE

It can be humorous and enlightening to listen to the prayers of children.  Here are a few examples:

• • Dear God, when my mom makes leftovers, do I have to pray for the food again?
  • Dear God, I want to be just like my daddy when I grow up but without so much hair all over.
  • Dear God, thank you for the baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy.
  • Dear God, it must be super hard to love all the people in the world, especially my brother.  I don’t know how you do it.

Prayer is a spiritual discipline, and some of you may be familiar with prayer as a practice.  In fact, some might be thinking something like this: “Yeah, I’ve heard everything about prayer.  I’ve done the prayer cards, the prayer notebook, the prayer groups, the prayer meetings – I know about prayer.”

Our sermon text tackles an aspect of prayer that we’d like to skip: praying for difficult people.  Like the last kid’s prayer about loving a difficult brother, we’d rather not pray for some people if we’re honest.  We’re going to explore this topic as we consider our sermon passage in 1 Timothy 2:1–7.   Let’s read it together.

1 Timothy 2:1–7    Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, ² for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.   ³ For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all men to be saved and to come to the 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 a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, ⁷ for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle — I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying — a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.   

The context of 1 Timothy 2:1-7  

While Paul isn’t clearly confirmed to be the author of the pastoral epistles, the letters addressed to Timothy and Titus offer helpful advice to the local churches regarding what they were dealing with at the time.  The pastoral letters talk about the role of a pastor, offering encouragement about leading a local church.   Theologian N.T. Wright notes two main concerns that appear in these letters: “everyone who professes Christian faith should allow the gospel to transform the whole of their lives so that the outward signs of the faith express a living reality that comes from the deepest parts of the personality [and] … every teacher of the faith should know how to build up the community in mutual love and support” (p. 5).

Organizationally, 1 Timothy 2  begins addressing the world’s hierarchical power structure at the time (1 Timothy 2:1–7) before moving into the hierarchy of power in the home (1 Timothy 2:8–15).  Though our sermon text doesn’t include it, 1 Timothy 2:8–15 poses that men are the people who should pray, and women are to be silent (while dressed modestly, of course) because of Eve (1 Timothy 2:13–14).  However, Paul points out in Romans 5:12–21 that it was Adam’s sin, not Eve’s, which placed us in need of reconciliation.  Further, the book of Acts (specifically, Acts 2:17, 18:26, and 21:9) affirms women’s position in ministry.  Certain church practices advised in this pastoral epistle are not upheld in other parts of Scripture.  This stresses the importance of considering the entire witness of the Bible.

This passage of 1 Timothy has sometimes been titled “Prayer for the World.”  In its historical context, the Jewish Christians, under Roman rule, were required to pray for the emperor.  Wright continues, “The Romans made all their subject people pray to the emperor, invoking him as lord and saviour.  But they realized that this wouldn’t work with the Jews, who believed that there was only one God; so, they allowed them to pray to their own God on behalf of the emperor” (p.19).  This provision was referred to as the “Jewish exemption.”

Prayer for rulers and those in authority, even pagan rulers, would benefit Christians with peace and social stability.  It also was a challenge to believers to think about God’s love for the entire world, not just the faithful, bringing God’s kingdom to earth rather than blessings for the church only.  Wright suggests that prayer for difficult people, including rulers, can have a transformative effect on those who pray: “Try praying for your rulers … and watch not only what God will do in your society but also how your own attitudes will grow, change, and mature” (p.20).  Both the powerful and the average person are caught up in God’s loving embrace.

Interestingly, our sermon text begins with a “First of all,” but then there are no second or third points.  According to University of Houston Professor of Religious Studies Christian Eberhart, “first of all” could be better translated “above all” or “the most important thing is that …” as it encourages believers to continue in prayer.  Eberhart also notes that the author of 1 Timothy asks for all types of prayer for everyone: “The author employs four partially equivalent Greek words for prayer, each of which conveys a different nuance.”  One term indicates an appeal for a particular need; another is a general word for prayer that frequently occurs in petitions.  Two more terms mean an urgent and bold request and an expression of gratitude.

As we consider 1 Timothy 2:1-7 with its admonition to pray for everyone, let’s think about praying for difficult people, whether they are “rulers” or somebody who rubs us the wrong way.  What can we learn about ourselves and God from engaging in this type of prayer?   

Lament is a natural beginning, and grief may be part of what we must bring before God.  

As we consider our call to worship reading, Psalm 79, we can see that we can come before God with our concerns without editing them.  When dealing with difficult people or unjust rulers and authorities, lamenting their mistreatment of us and others may be the best place to start.  God does not expect us to praise and adore those who hurt other people.  Acknowledging the truth of our wounds is a necessary first step.  If you have ever read through Psalms, you may have noticed that some of them are quite violent (see Psalm 137:9).  These writings make us uncomfortable, not only because of their violence but because we can relate to those feelings of wanting vengeance.  Yet these songs or prayers have been collected for us, perhaps in an effort to show us how to lament.

Lament may begin with anger.  After all, “Our anger is a reasonable, legitimate response to something which is also angering to God,” writes author Sarah Bessey in her Field Notes newsletter.  She continues, “Our anger is an invitation to pray, to advocate, to learn, to become educated, to support, to protest, to push back the principalities and powers of this world our own selves instead of waiting for someone else to do something.”  As we witness the vulnerable and marginalized deprived of their human rights and due process, we should be angry.

Grief is another component we must bring to God.  As shown in our reading from Jeremiah 8, God freely expresses his disappointment and hurt due to Israel’s lack of reciprocity in the covenant relationship.  In her book, A Hole in the World: Finding Hope in Rituals of Grief and Healing, author Amanda Held Opelt writes that Christians are not taught how to grieve: “I learned to serve, to pray, to worship, to study, and to love… [but] I never learned how to grieve.  The ability to grieve deeply is a survival skill, one we’ve come close to losing as a society” (p.11).

Knowing grief and kindness are inextricably linked; you can’t have one without the other.  The poem “Kindness” by Naomi Shihab Nye connects our ability to recognize kindness and be kind to others with knowing deep sorrow first:

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,   
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.   
You must wake up with sorrow.   
You must speak to it till your voice  
catches the thread of all sorrows   
and you see the size of the cloth.  

As we pray for difficult people and rulers who may be unjust and causing harm, we must first connect with lament for ourselves and others who have been hurt (i.e., catching the thread of all sorrows and seeing the size of the cloth) and then offer our anger and grief to the God who hears all prayers and comforts us in our affliction.   Beginning here keeps our prayers authentic and true, and if we’re willing to stick with it, God creates a shift that prepares us to pray for others, especially those with whom we disagree.

There is one God, and Jesus Christ died to bring all people into relationship with the triune God.   

We read in 1 Timothy 2:5–6 that there is one God and that Jesus brought all humanity into the divine relationship, even the most difficult or downright evil people.  As followers of Christ, we’re called to pray for everyone.  This hearkens back to v.4 to remind us God “… desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4 NRSVUE).

This extravagant grace is highlighted in another of this week’s RCL readings, the parable of the dishonest manager as told by Jesus in Luke 16:1–13.  In this story, we are challenged by a God who takes our expectations and our desire for fairness and justice (except when we’re at fault) and turns them upside down.   Jesus ends up praising the manager’s less than honest behavior, and we have to wonder if our desire for fairness and justice might be missing the mark of what’s important.  Jesus suggests that if someone like this manager can come up with a clever solution to fix a situation he created through dishonesty, how much more could believers do, with God’s grace behind them?

Grace is something that continues to surprise us.  God’s generosity and love surpasses what seems logical and fair in our limited perspective.  God is always good, so stories like this one upend what we see as safe, responsible behavior.  They help to widen our perspective about what love looks like.  We struggle to love each other when our flaws and mishaps constantly scrape and scratch, despite our best efforts to look like we have it all together.  Jesus says he sees through our best efforts to look good, and he still loves us.  We are forgiven for being human and challenged to forgive ourselves and each other.  Additionally, we’re expected to share grace with others, loving them and seeking justice for everybody.  In this way, we are re-oriented to God’s values and standards.

Prayer signifies our relationship with the triune God through Jesus the Christ.  Relationships require communication, and prayer is the way we connect with God and allow ourselves to be transformed and healed.   When we nurture peace in our own hearts through prayer, we naturally wish for the same peace and goodwill for others.  We’re invited to consider our role as people who pray, inviting the God who loves all creation to transform us into peaceful connections in this world, forerunners of God’s kingdom on earth.

Call to Action:  Consider lament as a way to pray, perhaps using the psalms for support.  Acknowledge your anger and grief , if present and ask for God’s healing.  Offer prayers for difficult people in your life or unjust rulers and authorities, remembering their status as part of the created world and our interconnectedness.

Small Group Discussion Questions