This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Considering the Church” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, October 16, 1994.

We begin our reading this morning in the prophecy of Isaiah. I think everyone has figured out now that they shouldn’t trust what I put in the bulletin. We are in Isaiah chapter 56, and I am reading here verses 6 through 8. This is Isaiah 56, verses 6-8, and I am reading from the New American Standard Version. Give your attention to the Word of God.

Also, the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast my covenant. Even those I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” The Lord God who gathers the dispersed of Israel declares, yet others I will gather to them, to those already gathered. And then turning over to the prophecy of Malachi, this is Malachi chapter one, and I am reading from verse six.

Malachi 1.6. A son honors his father and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is my honor? If I am a master, where is my respect? Says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise my name. But you say, how have we despised thy name? You are presenting defiled food upon my altar. But you say, how have we defiled thee? in that you say the table of the Lord is to be despised. But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? When you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor?

Would he be pleased with you, or would he receive you kindly, says the Lord of Hosts? But now will you not entreat God’s favor that he may be gracious to you with such an offering on your part Will he receive any of you kindly, says the Lord of Hosts, or that there were one among you who would shut the gates that you might not uselessly kindle fire on my altar? I am not pleased with you, says the Lord of Hosts, nor will I accept an offering from you. For from the rising of the sun, even to its setting, my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to my name, and a grain offering that is pure, for my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord of Hosts.

First of all, then, I urge that in treaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. There is one God and one mediator also between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony born at the proper time. And for this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle, I am telling the truth, I am not lying, as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. Therefore, I want men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension.

Our Father, we do ask you to help us in every bit of our worship. Yes, Lord, there is that which we seek for ourselves, that we might be fed and nourished. But there is also that which we seek for others, that they might be fed and nourished too. Therefore, O God, May we be concerned about our deportment in worship, our conduct in the assembly of your people. And help us, O Father, lest we become a source of stumbling for others. Help us, O God, so that our concentration might be an encouragement to others in their concentration. May we attend then upon your word as we have heard it this morning and as it is preached. We pray this for Jesus Christ himself by the Spirit is with us. Encourage us through him. Amen.

Now it is my intention to work towards the title that appears in the bulletin this morning, specifically, Who Shall Teach? And I think that there will be enough evidences of that as we move our way through our message this morning, although in certain respects this sermon in strict terms of that title will prove to be a disappointment. So you can be assured that more will follow. My intention this morning is to do a bit of back-filling, a bit of back-tracking.

We have been considering 1 Timothy, chapter 3. That’s why I say back-filling and back-tracking. We have been considering 1 Timothy, chapter 3, verses 14 through 16, and that in connection with our series on the Church, the subject of the Church. And our interest, specifically now, with regard to these latter verses in 1 Timothy 3, has been to set out Paul’s purpose in writing this, his first letter, to Timothy, his beloved son in the faith. Now, once more, and briefly, I will review what we have seen from those latter verses 1 Timothy 3.

Since Paul will be delayed in coming to Timothy at Ephesus, verse 14, he now writes to this young pastor so that he might know, so he says, how to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, truth’s pillar and memorial, verse 15. Verse 16 serves as a reminder to Timothy of a common point of view. By common confession, Paul says, great is the mystery of godliness. So, verse 16 here is set as a reminder to Timothy of a common point of view to be held by the Church leadership, to be sure, but that in concert with all. in the Church of Jesus Christ, and that in the strictest and in the deepest humility.”

Now, it is this dual consideration that is going to play itself out throughout the entirety of this first letter to Timothy. The dual consideration of a focus towards leadership on the one hand, and then to the congregation as a whole on the other. And these two considerations will intermingle throughout Paul’s writing.

So much do they intermingle, you might note, that when Paul comes to the end of 1 Timothy, he has a final statement to make, a benediction that is couched in the plural, not in the singular. He says, Grace be with you. And the U there is a plural pronoun, it is not a singular pronoun, so you can see that Paul all along, though addressing Timothy and not quite directly, has the Church as a whole very much in view.

But backing up now into chapter two. We are enabled here, if we look at things correctly, to see that the Apostle is actually prosecuting his case for the conclusions that he is going to arrive at in that pivotal and encapsulating statement at the end of chapter 3. He is building to that point. In other words, what Paul says in 1 Timothy 3, 14 through 16, and most particularly in that 15th verse, about conduct in the house of God is directly related to the matters that he is discussing in chapter 2. And interestingly now, in making his comments here in chapter 2, in building towards the expression of this Capsule statement in chapter 3, verse 15, about conduct in the house of God, Paul, now here in chapter 2 at its beginning, turns first of all to the subject of prayer.

Now, you might note the emphasis. For as you run down through the verses there, it is obvious, is it not, that first of all, the consideration is prayer in the widest and most common expression. That is to say, Paul here speaks about prayer as a primary activity of not just a few or even of the ordained, but of all, even though he’s going to come back to that subject of leadership. and he will even subordinate what he has to say here to that issue of leadership before he is done.

The sound that is to come from God’s people In the language of 1 Timothy 3.15, the conduct of the first order by which they are to be known is prayer. The sound that is to come from the people of God, the conduct of the first order by which they are to be known, is not to be the hubbub of an infinite number of social enterprises and activities It is not to be the hubbub of bazaars, or rummage sales, or other social events held in the basement of a church.

Nor is it to be the cries and the screams of elation that come from people engaged in recreation. Least of all, bingo games. It is not to be the rumble of the multi-level mass program for the youth, for the middle-aged, and even for the moderately senile. It is not even in the first place to be the clanging of silverware, the clinking of china and glassware at the church supper, as important and as enjoyable as that supper might be. Now, the sound that is to come from the people of God, the conduct of the first order by which they are to be marked, is prayer.

But in looking at Paul’s appeals for prayer in 1 Timothy 2, verses 1 through 8, we must not allow ourselves to slip off into a world of silly mindlessness that has become the habit of too many in expressing what they consider to be Christian piety in our times.

The Apostle has grounded his exhortations. He has based his urgings in the purposes of God and in God’s accomplishment in establishing for himself a new house, a new temple, his church, truth, pillar, and memorial through the work and person of Jesus Christ. In other words, Paul’s appeal now here for prayer is quintessentially redemptive, historical, doctrinal, and theological in the highest order. We are dealing with substantive matters. not mindless sentiment. Now, in order to understand exactly how the Apostle Paul works off of this redemptive historical background and pushes forward his doctrinal and theological interest, we need to look at these verses First of all, grouping 1 through 7, and then verse 8 by itself. You will note how Paul, in dealing with verses 1 through 7, sets before us the universal scope of God’s redemptive purpose.

And he’s not here apologizing for his language. Yes, I believe that Paul is thoroughly Augustinian and Calvinistic. But he is not apologizing for his language at this point, and you will note the universal scope of that language and interest of the Apostle.

All the nations are being gathered into God’s new house, into his new temple. Think of it. The privilege of a few has now become the privilege of the many. And it is a privilege into which you have been introduced by grace. All the nations are being gathered now into God’s new house, into His new temple. The prophets themselves saw this day coming. a time when the nations would stream up into the house of the Lord.

That’s why I read for you this morning Isaiah chapter 56, verses 6 through 8. You may want to look at those verses again. In verse 6, aliens and strangers—Gentiles—unite themselves to the Lord. These who are unclean and outsiders are described as if they are ministers themselves to the Lord in His sanctuary. They keep the Sabbath, and they celebrate the sacraments.

In verse 7 of Isaiah 56, God says that He will bring them, that is, the nations, to His holy mountain, to joyous celebration in His house of prayer. and to a position in which they will offer acceptable sacrifices to him. For my house, says the Lord, will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

Now that text may well sound very familiar to you, because you are acquainted with the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and his cleansing of the temple. You might check out in this respect Mark 11, verse 17, where Jesus quotes this Isaian text to indicate that the day envisioned by the prophet has dawned in him and in his wife. Paul’s appeal then for prayer is based upon His knowledge of the fulfillment of this Isaian text. Prayers with thanksgiving must be made for all men now, for rulers and for governments, given God’s universal intention and His desire to save all sorts of people through the mediation of the one man Christ Jesus, the man who paid himself a ransom, yes, for his own, but his own being drawn now from all of the tribes of the earth.”

But with Isaiah 56, together with Jesus’ closure of that text, in his cleansing of the temple, lying behind Paul’s appeal now for prayer, as he speaks to Timothy here, the opening of his second chapter in the first letter to his beloved son in the faith, Paul then goes on to deepen his appeal by what he has to say in verse 8. It is here that Paul alludes to the second passage that we read this morning. It is here that he alludes to Malachi chapter 1, verse 11. The Lord, in this Malachi text, has been making his case against his people Israel, who have doubted his love, but specifically, at the point in which we began to read, those priests who defile his altar with mutilated, inferior, and deformed offerings, verses 6-9.

Therefore, the Lord no longer accepts their offerings, and in a truly ominous text, and that’s why I read to you this morning from the New American Standard Version, In a truly ominous text, the Lord Himself anticipates and even longs for the closing of the temple gates in Jerusalem. Verse 10. Can you imagine the closing of those gates? The Lord Himself wishing for nothing less than that. But then the Lord proceeds, through his prophet, in a verse as glorious as the previous one was ominous, to declare that his name will be great among the nations. From morning to evening, in every place, prayers will be offered in his name.

Verse 11. It is that phrase, in every place, that finds perfect match in 1 Timothy 2 verse 8. Paul is lifting it right out of that Malachi text. Notice now how Paul’s use of the Malachi allusion in verse 8 complements his use of Isaiah 56 in verses 1 through 7 in 1 Timothy 2.

Isaiah, you will recall, sees all the nations gathering into one place. unto the Lord’s holy house of prayer. Malachi, on the other hand, sees the nations in every place offering acceptable praise and prayer. The beauty and the power of Paul’s appeal in 1 Timothy 2 is that both Isaiah and Malachi in his writing then converge.

In the New House, in the New Testament, The church, the one through God, dwells with his people whom he gathers for prayer from over the face of the entire world by the mediation of the final priest, Christ Jesus. But while gathered, these who are gathered remain those who in every place offer service in prayer.” Verse 8, “…in one place, yet in every place, through the one man for all men.”

And we all are the privileged. to live in the reality of what the prophets foresaw. This, then, motivates the Apostle all the more to write as he does, calling the Church to prayer. We have been welcomed into God’s new house in prayer. We offer acceptable sacrifices. Indeed, when it comes to our conduct in the house of God, Of great importance is prayer, since in this day of the gospel the Lord has opened access for all the nations to enter into the one place from every place.” Now, there are many things that I could say to you about this matter of prayer and its importance to the people of God. But I will draw from my experience of twenty-two years in the ministry to set before you this consideration.

Those who pray well die well. Those who pray well die well. I have watched many people age in my 22 years of service, and I have watched a number of even professing Christians go into old age filled with bitterness. And I dare say that those are precisely the people who have never learned the lessons of First Timothy two. As we get older, there may be questions about how we fill up our day, what we do with our But the person who has given himself or herself to prayer has no question about what they should be about.

I can encourage you then, on this very practical note, as you move on in life, as your own end draws nearer, that you give yourself to prayer. But still, as I promised earlier in the message, there is a further consideration. It is true that Paul speaks here in these verses about a universal privilege and duty that falls to God’s people as a whole. However, there is a specific interest of this epistle as it concerns the matter of leadership. And even here, as he speaks about prayer, that matter of leadership is coming into play. He is writing to Timothy. even though others are addressed through Timothy by the letter itself.

Timothy is a leader in the church at Ephesus presently. Also, as is obvious from what appears here in this letter, Timothy is facing the threat of both women and men who wish to lead, but for various reasons cannot and even must not. Also, there are obvious defections from among the leaders. If you look at the end of chapter one, you can see the names of a couple of defectors. Paul’s ministry, his leadership itself, is under attack.

And before he is done, he will speak specifically, directly, about the matter of bishops and deacons in chapter three. So, leadership, yes. is very much to the point, and serves to narrow our concern. You understand, then, what the Apostle is doing as he rushes to the common activity of prayer, but has in the back of his mind how this is going to play itself out in terms of leadership. By taking prayer and even the common practice of it, Paul has set before leaders—he has set before Timothy, he has set before supposed leaders, he has set before leaders who want to be leaders—the most fundamental of criteria. Leaders must rise out of the wild world of common prayer. Leaders must rise out of the wide world of common prayer.

Leaders must be men humbled and proved in their sincerity, because they have given themselves to this fundamental, vital, and glorious enterprise. And if they don’t understand that, they don’t understand anything. To put it very bluntly, if you’re not given the prayer, you aren’t fit to lead. Amen. Let’s pray.

How we love you, O God. And how our love is trained increasingly by the depths that we discover in your word. That we have been welcomed now into the new house of the Lord, into your temple, the new temple. and made to behold wonder, and even through faith, your glorious presence. How our consciences have been quieted through the blood of Christ, our medium. But how now, Lord, we are congregated, and as the incense rose morning and evening from the altar in the temple. So our prayers rise presently. And this, Lord, in order that our communion with you may be enjoyed all the more and the covenantal bond that is between us, realized in us all the more.

Help us, Lord, we who are not leaders in the Church, to give ourselves to prayer, that all of us, Lord, who would lead May we rise from this common expression and experience of prayer. Thus, Lord, may we be commended by you in the presence of all because we are men of prayer. Help us, Lord, and bless your church with congregations that are filled with prayer and leaders who love to pray.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.