We’ve been looking at the purpose of the Church which is to reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In past weeks we’ve been looking at what is essential to accomplish our purpose. Two weeks ago we looked at The Essential of Love - especially for the lost. Last week we looked at The Essential of Faith.- knowing Jesus and living by faith in Him. Today, we come to The Essential of Godly Men - leading in prayer.

Something we all share - as men - as humanity - is a desire for our lives to have significance - purpose. As men of God there’s a desire we men share for God to work in us and through us however He chooses. Its the purposes of God - lived out in our lives - that give purpose and meaning to our lives.

Without God - the best we can do is go along confronted with our own inadequacy - asking ourselves, “What is the purpose of this? What does my life really count for?” With God we become the men - the husbands - the fathers - that God has called us to be - making a purposeful difference in the lives of our family - the congregation - our community - our nation.

What we want to look at today - in a very practical way - is how we as men can be used by God to make a significant lasting difference in the lives of others? 1 Timothy 2:1 - first we want to look at what Paul is saying at then I’d like to share two points of application. 1 Timothy 2:1: First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

Let’s pause and understand what Paul is saying. Paul begins, “first of all” - prayer is the priority. Then, he gives us four examples of prayer - what that prayer can look like. “Entreaties” which are prayers for specific needs - like financial crisis. “Prayers” which are requests for needs that we always have - like greater wisdom. “Petitions” which are requests on behalf of others - like when someone needs a job. Fourth, “Thanksgivings” - a reminder that God listens to our prayers - that He answers our prayers and we need to thank Him.

Then Paul says that the object of our prayers are all men - specifically those in authority over us - public officials. Democrats ought to pray for Republicans. Republicans ought to pray for Democrats. Many years ago a chaplain of the Senate was asked by a visitor, “Do you pray for the senators?” He replied, “No, I look at the senators, and then I pray for the country!” (1)

We pray so that we can live a “quiet life in all godliness and dignity.” - so that we can lead lives that are unmarred by political and social disturbance - that are unmarred by inward - emotional and mental disturbances. Some times we forget that the peace of our community is directly related to the prayers of God’s people.

Going on - verse 3: This is good - all this praying and living a peaceful Godly life - is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior - isn’t that great? God wants us to live lives in tranquility and dignity - enabled to share the Gospel - its good and acceptable in the sight of God, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. 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.

This is the purpose of the Church - to reach people with the Gospel. We pray - so that we will live in the conditions necessary to be able to share the Gospel with others.

Verse 8: Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.

Therefore - because prayer is essential to accomplishing the purpose of the church, Paul writes, “I want the men” to pray. Its not an option. Its an essential. Godly men pray.

Notice two things here in verse 8 about how Godly men pray. First - Godly men pray in every place. Every place a Godly man finds himself - work - home - church - in whatever situation or circumstance - Godly men pray. Second - Godly men pray with holy hands lifted up.

The idea of “lifting up hands” sometimes makes people nervous - like if we lift up our hands we’re going to become “charismaniacs” or something. In Scripture there are a number of different examples of body postures - standing - bowing - kneeling - lying prostrate. The point is that our outward posture should reflect our inward attitude in prayer. Hands lifted up - spread open - shows a heart attitude of dependence on God - a humble expectation of receiving something from Him.

Holy hands means that our hands aren’t dirtied by sin. There’s no wrath or harbored animosity - no unresolved anger - towards others. There’s no dissension in our hearts - thoughts about how we can get back at someone for a wrong done to us. Holy hands lifted up reminds us that - coming before God in prayer - men’s hearts need to be free of sin. Confession needs to be made. Our lives need to be surrendered.

Verse 8 is Paul’s summary of his instruction to men. Godly men - men used by God to make a lasting - significant - difference in the lives of others - Godly men pray.

In thinking this through for our lives today - how this relates to us. Practically speaking - how can we be that essential Godly man?

There are two points I’d like share with you. The first concerns how essential it is that men take leadership in prayer. If you would - turn back with me to Ephesians 5.

A while back I had Labrador named Lady. Lady was a great dog - we used to take long walks together in the woods - just wandering around together enjoying being out in the trees. I also had a cat - named Deni - a pretty intelligent cat. One day when I was out walking with the dog - the cat - Deni followed us into the woods. It was kind of strange. I’d never really seen people walking their cat. But there we were - myself - Lady - and Deni.

At one point on the path there was a guy fixing his motorcycle. I wasn’t sure how the dog would react or who this guy was. So I told Lady to sit and to wait. To my amazement she sat. And the cat sat down next to her. I told Lady to stay and walked past the guy with the motorcycle - stopped about 10 feet away and told Lady to come. So the dog got up - trotted over to me and sat down. The cat just sat there - looking at me - waiting.

By this time I could tell that the guy with motorcycle was watching us out of the corner of his eye. If you know cats you that know that a cat does pretty much whatever a cat wants to do. So the cat sitting there waiting was pretty strange. I could see that this guy was getting interested to see what would happen. In fact, I was interested to see what would happen.

So I said, “Deni come!” The cat got up - walked over to where the dog and I were - and sat down. I could see that the guy with the motorcycle was impressed. So, rather than taking a chance on losing the impression we’d made - I quickly told Lady and Deni “Come!” and started walking like this sort of thing happened everyday. And they got up and followed me.

In Ephesians 5:22, the Apostle Paul writes, “Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” Usually, when we read that verse it really ruffles feathers. We can just feel people bracing for another “Wives submit to your husbands” type of sermon. For some there’s this idea of marriage where the husband says come - and the wife obediently just trots along at his beckon call.

But that’s really not how the Apostle Paul is describing marriage. In fact the word “submit” isn’t even in the original Greek version of the Bible. The issues here are fidelity, leadership, and respect. Paul is encouraging wives to remain faithful to their husbands and to respect their husbands and their leadership.

Which brings us to Ephesians 5:25. Paul writes, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself up for her.” Somehow people seem to read Ephesians 5:22 - the “submit” part - and forget that Paul spends 3 verses talking to wives and 9 verses instructing husbands. Verse 25 describes how a man’s Godly leadership is earned. Paul - gives men the example of what Godly leadership looks like - Jesus loving His Church.

Paul - in 1 Timothy - writing to men about prayer - Paul reminds us of Jesus’ sacrifice for us. To proclaim that Gospel - to lead in prayer - means following His example.

Consider Jesus. Jesus gave everything for the Church. He set aside all of His Godly attributes - was born in the humility of a manger - lived and experienced life like we do. Jesus - in the Garden of Gethsemane - praying with blood sweating from His pores - looking ahead to His death on our behalf. Jesus, who loved the church so much that He sacrificially gave His life for us - the mockery - the beatings - the crown of thorns - the nails - the spear in His side. How many of us as husbands are willing to sacrificially love our wives this way? Yet, that’s the example of headship - of leadership - that’s before men who desire to be Godly.

Many times we hear a testimony from someone, “If it wasn’t for the prayers of my mother I wouldn’t be here.” Many share memories of their mothers - Bibles open - each day - without fail - reading and praying. Rarely - really rarely - do we hear someone say they were following the example of their father in prayer. When we have times of prayer here at the church - overwhelmingly the attendance is women. That’s a tragedy.

As fathers we too easily abdicate this tremendous gift God has given to us to influence our children. Husbands - so many wives crave that their husbands would take spiritual leadership in the home. God has given men that opportunity. For the church to be effective in her witness - Paul writes, “First of all I want the men to pray.” It is essential that men assume the position of leadership that God has called us to - in love for our wives and families and those who need to hear the Gospel - men it is essential that we sacrifice ourselves on the altar of prayer. Godly men lead in prayer.

The second point of application has to do with how hard it is for men to take leadership in prayer.

One of the struggles we men have is that we’re driven by purpose - goals and how to achieve them. Women go shopping as an experience. Men shop because they want to buy something. We men are very linear in our thinking - going from point A to point B. Women will stop and ask for directions. Men will pretend they don’t even need a map. Its an insult to our manhood that someone should question our ability to get where we’re going. Men conquer things. Life is a challenge. We must be victorious.

Now, at this point let me remind the women that next week we’re going to look at Godly womanhood. So, be careful what you say on the way home. This is a good time to be supportive and encouraging.

Its hard for us as men to admit that we can’t always make it from point A to point B. That we struggle with issues in our lives. That we have these feelings of inadequacy. Most men feel threatened when it comes to taking leadership in prayer. Leading the family in prayer - coming together and praying in the congregation - is exposure - an openness that scares us. That vulnerability - following the example of Jesus - is hard for us. And yet, at some point we need to get past our fears and sacrifice ourselves.

In what Paul is sharing - the priority of Godly men praying - there are two elements of prayer that can encourage us. The first comes in verses 1 and 2 - where Paul is talking about all the kinds of prayers and things we should praying for. Prayer puts our humanity in perspective.

All the hassles we went through this week. Our employment - sickness - loneliness - inadequacy - what’s going on in our families. Even the struggles we went through to get here this morning. In prayer we recognize God and His world. Who we are. Who He is. What He desires to do in us and through us. And how greatly He loves us - cares for us - gives us the ability to pray. Whatever the deep issues in our lives ultimately He is the only one we are accountable to for those issues. And, He will never reject us or laugh at us or look down on us when we come openly before Him. That should embolden us.

Second - considering what Paul shares in verses 4 to 7 about God’s desire for all men to come to salvation - prayer aligns our purposes with God’s purposes. In prayer we acknowledge His power and purpose in our lives. Prayer softens our hearts to listen to Him. To be more useful to Him. It gets our hearts and eyes on God and off of us. To focus on issues greater than what others may think of us. To realize that God will do great things through us if we allow Him.

Which really is the essential core of being a Godly man - a heart open - surrendered to God - and an eagerness for the things of God. When men pray they grow in Godliness. When Godly men pray God uses them to make a significant lasting difference in the lives of others.

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1.  J. Vernon McGee, Through The Bible Commentary, vol. 5, page 436