Sermon Tone Analysis

In our last two weeks of studying 1 Timothy, we have been establishing some foundation for what is to come.

God has been charging us, through Paul’s words to Timothy, to join in the good fight of the faith.

So far, we have seen that the fight will involve fighting against wrong teaching and ideas and fighting for the truth, keeping the message of the Gospel rooted in our hearts.

Although there have been some practical helps along the way, this morning, we are shifting into a new section of the letter.

So far, it would be easy for us to walk away and think that we are all in this fight on our own.

In fact, that is often how we act in church, isn’t it?

We teach a truth from the pulpit or in a classroom or a small group, and then it seems like it is up to you to live it out on your own.

We get back together on Sunday and do it again.

That isn’t how God designed it to be, as we will see over the next few weeks.

In fact, as we reach the end of chapter 3, we see that God intends for this group, the church, to be the group that enters the battle together.

You and I need each other to keep us in the fight, which is why God is going to help us see how we need to act as a church and operate as a church.

He is going to give us some clear guidelines for the character of leaders in the church, and how we as a church are supposed to respond to various groups of people.

He doesn’t tell us everything we would want to know about how churches should be structured, but we still can draw a great deal of help from these passages.

I hope you will see clearly that you cannot fight the fight on your own.

You can only fight for truth within the context of a local expression of the Body of Christ, by joining up with other believers in a local church to grow and fight and defend the truth.

So, how do we actually go about fighting the good fight?

Read with me .

Does that verse surprise you?

It surprises me.

If I were coming up with the strategy on how to fight the good fight, push back the darkness, and uphold the truth, I wouldn’t likely start with prayer.

The instruction to pray isn’t just the first item in the list of things we are to do to fight the good fight.

Paul assigns it primary importance with the phrase “first of all”.

I would start with teaching and preaching God’s Word, because that is more of where my natural bent is.

I love to study, and I love to teach, but this text clearly tells us that the most important thing we can do is pray!

That isn’t God’s agenda, though, is it?

Paul starts off by saying, “First of all...”

The instruction to pray isn’t just the first item in the list of things we are to do to fight the good fight.

Paul assigns it primary importance with the phrase “first of all”.

If I were coming up with the strategy, it would start with teaching and preaching God’s Word, because that is more of where my natural bent is.

I love to study, and I love to teach, but this text clearly tells us that the most important thing we can do is pray!

So, if you catch nothing else today, I would challenge you fight the good fight this way: pray every way, for everyone, because God desires to save anyone.

We are going to spend the rest of the message unpacking that sentence.

The centrality of prayer makes a lot of sense if we stop long enough to realize what prayer is.

Prayer is acknowledged helplessness.

It is me crying out to God and saying, “God, I can’t do this on my own.

I can’t fight against false teaching.

I can’t keep the Gospel central in my heart, and I can’t bring anyone to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

I need you to do what only you can to move on my heart and the hearts of others.”

Notice that Paul stacks up synonyms in verse 1.

Although he wasn’t drawing sharp distinctions between the different words he used here, one commentator summed it up this way:

the initial prayer term distinguishes the element of insufficiency by the requester, the second highlights devotion by the seeker, and the third underscores the childlike confidence of the petitioner

Look back at the terms again in verse 1 with that in mind:

When I bring a “petition”, I am acknowledging that I need God to do something I can’t.

When I offer a “prayer”, it is an act of worship to the God who hears.

When I make “intercession” for someone, I am acknowledging that I think God is both able to do what I am asking and good enough to do it.

Finally, he says that these are to be offered with “thanksgiving,” showing that we are grateful to God for hearing and answering our petitions, prayers, and intercessions.

Let’s go ahead and go back to verse 1-7.

He gives us four reasons why we are supposed to

With the text in front of us, let’s look at what it means to fight the fight through prayer.

First, we must...

1) Pray every way...

Go back to verse 1.

As I mentioned a minute ago, it seems kinda odd to start with something that feels as passive as prayer.

At first glance, it doesn’t seem like something so mystical or unusual should be our main weapon in our fight for the truth in our hearts and against false teachers.

Prayer is incredibly active.

If we stop long enough to realize what prayer is, though, prayer as the primary weapon actually makes a lot of sense.

The centrality of prayer makes a lot of sense if we stop long enough to realize what prayer is.

We know that, at its core, prayer is a conversation between me and God.

However, it is much more than just talking about the weather or the latest game, although you can pray about those things.

To an extent, you can think that prayer is acknowledged helplessness.

It is me crying out to God and saying, “God, I can’t do this on my own.

I can’t fight against false teaching.

I can’t keep the Gospel central in my heart, and I can’t bring anyone to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

I need you to do what only you can to move on my heart and the hearts of others.”

It is me seeking God’s presence, power, and wisdom because I know that I desperately need everything him to move if I am going to stand up to the fight.

A right attitude in prayer causes us to surrender our hopes and dreams so that we can come in line with what God wants.

Praying creates an expectation in our hearts so we watch for what only God can do.

That is the primary tool in our arsenal, because without praying, we are going to attempt to fight in our strength.

We aren’t going to be watching for God to move, because we think we have it under control.

We desperately need God’s strength and guidance, and we cannot fight the fight without it.

We need him to give us the words he wants to use to soften the hearts of people who are far from him.

I don’t care how persuasive you are, you cannot make someone alive spiritually.

That is something only God can do.

You cannot convict hearts; only God can do that.

You cannot transform lives; only God can do that.

Sometimes, we seem to understand that we can’t do it, and we know we should pray, but it is hard because it doesn’t seem like God answers when we do.

That’s why it makes sense that prayer is so foundational.

Well, is there a specific kind of way to pray in the fight?

What does the Bible say?

Notice that Paul stacks up synonyms in verse 1.

Although he wasn’t drawing sharp distinctions between the different words he used here, one commentator summed it up this way:

the initial prayer term distinguishes the element of insufficiency by the requester, the second highlights devotion by the seeker, and the third underscores the childlike confidence of the petitioner

Look back at the terms again in verse 1 with that in mind:

When I bring a “petition”, I am acknowledging that I need God to do something I can’t.

Let’s slow down for just a minute and realize something: it is good to ask God for things.

I have been reading a small book called Fervent Prayer by Craig Hazen.

He is focusing on this verse:

It is hard for us to believe this verse sometimes.

Sometimes we think that God won’t answer because we aren’t good enough.

We may not ask because we have seen people abuse this, acting like we can twist God’s arms and make him give us whatever we want.

Maybe we don’t ask because we don’t want to bother him.

However, he clearly tells us that we are supposed to bring our petitions before him.

We are supposed to ask him to work and move and do what only he can.

We see that in the second word.

When I offer a “prayer”, it is an act of worship to the God who hears.

When I make “intercession” for someone, I am acknowledging that I think God is both able to do what I am asking and good enough to do it.

Finally, he says that these are to be offered with “thanksgiving,” showing that we are grateful to God for hearing and answering our petitions, prayers, and intercessions.

When we pray that way, we

So, then, the way we pray in this fight is to make requests based off our insufficiency, out of hearts devoted to God, believing that he will work in the lives of those around us to help them come to a saving knowledge of Jesus.

All the while, we are thanking God for hearing us, for responding, for being who he is.