What God Wants from the Men

Today's an exciting day. Getting to celebrate communion. well, let me invite you guys to turn in your Bibles to First Timothy. Chapter 2 First Timothy.

chapter two for our time of study and the word this morning. We have no visitors other than Erin, so, But for the sake of the visitors, we're doing a verse by verse study through the book of First Timothy. And as we continue in our study this morning, we come to 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 8, and my goal this morning is to cover just verse 8, and we're not even going to be able to deal with everything I hope to be able to deal with as we go through this verse this morning. We were reaching a very interesting section.

Of the book of First Timothy, and I know for example this morning that I will have the rapt and undivided attention of every woman in this room. Because the topic of the sermon today is, if I can get this to We got a dead battery here. I was going to preach to men, but I guess we'll preach to women. There we go, what God wants from the men.

That's why I know the ladies will be paying attention. and ladies, if you want to offer your services to your husband to take notes for them. through the message, feel free to, to do that. We got to get powered up here.

What God wants from the men, I think ladies, you'll probably be happy to know that, OK, God's going to talk to my men. He's going to talk to the men who are in my life, and this is a great thing. I think you may end up being a little disappointed by how briefly he talks to the men that are in the church and in your life and then how lengthily he speaks to you. in verse 8, basically God spends one verse, speaking to the men, and then when it seems like he's just getting warmed up, he verse 9 begins to speak to the women, and he spends 7 verses speaking to the women.

One verse to the men, 7 to the women. What does that mean? I don't know, but we'll maybe figure that out as we go, this morning. But what, as, when you think about what Paul is doing in this section, I have this on the slide, but while they're working on the remote, go to chapter 3, verse 15.

Paul in verse 15 says, in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church. So what Paul is doing in this section of the letter is he's, he's, he's teaching us how to behave ourselves as members of the family of God, a family of brothers and sisters and older men and younger men and older women and younger women. There's going to be a ton of instructions on how we need to operate as a family in the culture in which God has placed ourselves.

And unfortunately there are many people who claim the name of Christ who brush over these verses, and they do not take them as seriously as they should take them, and consequently the church loses the power of its potential impact upon the society in which we find ourselves.

I was, I was moved this week in reading an editorial by Charles Coulson. where he was talking about how in his morning devotions over the last few months that he gets up in the morning, he prays first for the church, then his family, and then his country. In that order, and the editorial was all about explaining why he prays in that order, but one of the things that he says is this Listen carefully. He says, I want to put it in the plainest terms I know how this nation cannot be saved unless the church is first revived.

Renewing the church is the key to saving America. And if we're going to have the impact that God wants us to have upon the society in which He has placed us, and I think we all feel a burden to, to do that and to be that in this culture, then it's absolutely critical that we as the church are who God wants us to be, and we're living the way that God wants us to live. And what we find in this section of First Timothy is a lot of very practical instructions. that God is helping us with to show us, here's how you live.

If you're going to not only glorify me and have the church I want you to have, but also impact the kings and those in authority, and to move a nation and an empire. And as Paul begins to lay that out, it's interesting that in verse 8, the first group of people that he wants to talk to are the men. We are the as the men in this church, we need to sit up and pay attention and realize, all right, a lot of responsibility falls upon us. We are the first one that God singles out as being the subjects of something specific.

That he wants to say to us and so we will listen to what God says and we'll do whatever it is that he tells us to do. And in verse 8, essentially what the way we're going to break it down this morning is, is 5 things that God wants from the men. In the church, I would say in the church, in the home, in the workplace, 5 things that God wants from Christian men. We're going to see that actually there's one thing that he wants grammatically.

There's one thing that God wants in verse 8. However, we're going to break that one thing down into 5 parts, and we'll look at it as 5 things that God wants from the men in the church. Let's just read this verse. Look at verse 8.

Therefore, I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension. The first thing that God wants from the men in the church is he wants the men to pray. He wants the men to pray. In fact, this is basically the, the, the, the overarching thing that he says that he wants from the men.

In this passage, and that is that God wants men to pray. This is the apostle Paul, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So this is the Spirit of God speaking through Paul. And Paul is saying, I want this from the men.

And God through Paul is saying, I want this from the men, I want the men to pray. And that's basically the overarching thing he wants from the men in verse 8. Now you might look at this and let's just ponder this for a minute. Why in the world when God has the men's undivided attention, And he can tell them anything he wants to tell them.

Why is the only thing that God tells the men he wants from them is to pray. And then he moves on to talk to the women. Ladies, you may be frustrated by that. Like, God, you're talking to my husband, and you have a chance to say whatever and he's listening and, and yeah, OK, he should pray, but God, tell them the list.

Give them the list that I've been giving to you. God says just one thing. I want the men to pray, and that begs the legitimate question, why is this all that God says to the men? Just pray, men, I want you to pray.

Now, ladies, and then he speaks extensively to the ladies. Why? Why is this so? I don't know, perhaps entirely.

But let's think about this. I think we can find an answer to this question. When you look at the verb pray, it's present tense. So what he's saying is, I want the men to be habitually praying.

I want the men to be continuously praying. We're not just talking about, hey, when you guys gather in your times of assembly, once a week, I want the men to, to be praying. No, this is to be the characteristic pattern of the lives of the men. I want the men to be praying men.

God says, think about what prayer is. Prayer is coming into the presence of God, spending time in God's presence. It's living in the presence of God. And it is speaking to God.

And a man that is as the characteristic pattern of his life, speaking to God in this way is a man who is always living with his face toward God. Always with his face towards God. In worship of God, admiring who God is and expressing that through prayer, his face is always toward God and the sense of being dependent upon God. He's not looking to his own strength.

He's not looking to his own wisdom. He's not depending upon his own ingenuity, but his eyes are always upon God and habitually and continuously he prays to this God. When he sees that something is needed, he goes to God and he asks for what is needed. And also his face is toward God and gratitude.

Every good thing that this man has in his life, large and small, he sees as a gift from God. And so he turns to God and thanksgiving, and in gratitude. And he's not just feeling that gratitude in his heart, but he comes into the presence of God, both privately and in the presence of other people. And he says, God, thank you for this.

This is a grace from you. And so maybe now you get a sense of why, OK, I guess it makes sense that this is all that God would want from the men, because any man that is habitually as the pattern of his life, always in the presence of God with his face turned toward God in worship, in humble dependence, and in gratitude, is it not true that any man living like that, anything else God would want from a man would inevitably flow from that sacred center of his life. In his relationship with God.

I think God also tells the men to pray and just singles this out.

Because prayer, and I don't know if you ladies will understand this, but prayer is counterintuitive for a fallen man. And even for a Christian man who has the remnants of sin inside of him, how whenever God speaks to women, Like in Ephesians 5 and 1 Peter in Colossians, it just seems God says women submit, submit to your husbands. Is that all God wants of women? No.

But God seems to keep repeating that because that's what the number one struggle of women in a marriage relationship. I think here God says men pray because he's pinpointing an area of weakness and of struggle for men. The problem with men, and I include myself in this because being a man, is that men think pretty highly of themselves. That's natural for us to think highly of ourselves and to, to think highly of our own wisdom.

And that's why men can be lost for 30 minutes and still not look at a map, and the wife is like, Hey, read this, read this, we're lost. No, I think, I think just around this corner we're going to, we're going to get there. I think I know the right way. That's, it's just men, we have a lot of confidence in our own wisdom.

Men also have a lot of confidence. and their own strength. And if they come into a situation where a hero is needed, or a solution is needed, or wisdom is needed, man, we got that. And we think we do, and we come in as a hero, and we just go right to work and solving some problem or dealing with some crisis.

It's not natural for a man. To know that he's ignorant, and to know that he's utterly weak and utterly dependent upon God. And it is so counterintuitive for a fallen man to not only see that about himself, but then to admit that in front of other people. That's why it's hard for a man to pray with his wife.

Not because he doesn't love his wife, but prayer is pleading helplessness before God, and it's hard to do that in front of your lady. This is a weak spot for men. one of my heroes in the Bible is King Jehoshaphat, and we don't have time to go into the details of this story, but read sometimes 2 Chronicles chapter 20. In a nutshell, a few different nations around Judah, got together and they came against the people of Judah to wipe them out and destroy them.

The people of Judah find out about it. King Jehoshaphat finds out about it. They freak out. They call a fast, they call an assembly.

And they don't know what to do. King Jehoshaphat does one of the most amazing things in 2 Chronicles chapter 20. This guy, who is the king, who's supposed to know what to do, who's supposed to be confident in himself, he gathers the people of Judah together and it says, then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem and he said in prayer many things among which is this. Verse 12, 0 our God, we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us, nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

Two very significant confessions there. I'm powerless. And I'm ignorant. And it's amazing that he would acknowledge that and recognize that.

It's amazing that he would acknowledge that in prayer, but there are there are men who might acknowledge that in their private prayer closet privately, and then, and then when they're amongst the people, I've got to put on a brave face. No, this guy got in front of the people. of Judah, and in front of them out loud, he said, God, I'm ignorant. I'm ignorant, and I'm powerless.

We, we don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you. And I would encourage you sometime to read the story of how God came through for that man and for the people of Judah. God loves a man who comes into his presence and says, I'm powerless and I'm ignorant. And my eyes are on you.

God moves on behalf of men like this and imagine, I don't know how many men we have in the Cornerstone family, but just imagine if, if all of us stepped up to the plate and we're, we're this man, praying these prayers with this heart. God would move on behalf of us and our families and this church. So this is an all encompassing prayer. I want God says through Paul, the men to be habitually praying.

Let me just address one other question quickly, and that is why just the men? Why does Paul only tell the men to pray? You would think that he would want everyone to pray, right, men and women in the church, and indeed he does. He makes that clear in verse one.

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be made on behalf. Of all men. So why does he just give this command to the men and not the women? Well, there are actually some commentators that look at this and they say, oh, OK, we know what's happening.

Paul is talking about corporate prayer, praying publicly in a gathered assembly, and it must mean then that God only wants the men to pray publicly and not the women. The women are not allowed to pray publicly in times of gathered assembly, and I have a quote on the screen of one commentator that actually says that well, I have a problem with that because like in 1 Corinthians 11, Paul speaks as if he approves of women praying and prophesying in the gathered assembly. We have women speaking in tongues along with the men on the day of Pentecost, which was essentially the first church service, as it were.

In the history of the church, but also we have to be careful, God wants women to listen in on what he's saying to the men and women, you would do well to follow what He's saying to the men.

You should live a life of prayer. You should be lifting up holy hands. You should be living without wrath and dissension. Don't say, OK, good, men cannot be wrathful.

And quarrelsome, but I guess that means that I can. No, you don't want to do that. In fact, men, look at verse 9. likewise I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly.

Should men look at that and say, Oh, OK, I guess I don't have to be modest. But the women do. No, there's something in the spirit of all of these that God wants all of us to take heed. to, but then that still leaves the question why would God just tell the men to pray.

and not the women. And my answer is God tells the men to pray because God in His wisdom knows that if the men in the church are praying, the women will pray. If the men are praying, The women will pray. There are many churches where the women pray, but the men don't pray.

It's not a given. It's not automatic that if the women pray, the men will pray. But Paul knows that if, if the men in the church are living this lifestyle devoted to prayer, if they're praying in this way, then it's inevitable that the women will and others in the church will live lives of prayer as well. So this is a surgical strike designed.

To change the church, and he goes to the men and calls upon them to set the example, to set the tone, a tone of prayer. I think he also singles out the men because he wants the men to lead in prayer, not to be the only ones to pray, but to lead in, in prayer in a gathered assembly, Paul would be offended if only the women are praying, and he would say, Where are the men? Men pray when you gather together. And also part of what he's saying is it ought to be, listen to this carefully, men, it ought to be the men who are the first ones to say, Hey, we need to pray.

We need to pray. When you're dealing with some difficulty, some Crisis. Often it's the women that say we need to pray, because the women see their helplessness in, in a situation that they're dealing with. And that's a wisdom that God has given to them.

And women feel free to speak up and call, say, hey, I think we need to pray in this, please keep doing that. But Paul would say, man, You ought to be the first ones to say that. Set aside your confidence in your own wisdom and your own strength and be the first to acknowledge your weakness, and your ignorance and need for God's intervention. Be the first to call to prayer.

So the first thing that God through Paul indicates that he wants from the men in the church is to pray. Now the next 4 are going to go more quickly, alright? I don't want you to think, good night, we spent this long on number 1 and, we got a long way to go. No, we're going to pick up the pace here.

There's a second thing that God wants from the men in the church, and that is that God wants the men to be motivated by the gospel to pray. God wants the men to be motivated by the gospel to pray. I want you to see the grammar of the passage here in chapter 2. He tells us in verse 3, 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.

Verse 5, there is one God, there is one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who 1 gave himself as a ransom for all, and number 2, he gave himself as a witness to. Paul, of the love of God for all men. Those are gospel truths that Paul is rehearsing and teaching there. And he says, I know that Christ gave himself as a ransom for all, verse 7, because he actually appointed me to be a preacher and an apostle to the Gentiles, or in other words, to the nations, not just to the Jews, but to all peoples everywhere to deliver this news.

Verse 8, therefore, In light of these gospel truths that God is desiring all to be saved, that Christ gave Himself as a ransom for all, and he is our mediator. He gave himself as a testimony, as a witness of God's love for man. Therefore, I want the men to pray. We should not be motivated by guilt to pray, and I hope this sermon does not heap guilt on you.

We should be motivated by the grace of the gospel to pray. Paul would say, look what Jesus has done for you. He donated himself. He gave Himself as a ransom for all, and that includes you.

He gave himself and death as a witness of God's love for you and for those whom you would ever pray for. Can you see the largeheartedness of this God who's already donated an infinite donation to your eternal salvation? Therefore, come to this God and talk to him all the time and ask Him for things and give thanks to Him. This is a God who will delight to answer, and we know this because of the gospel.

We should be motivated. By the gospel to pray, even seeing the kindness in God's heart towards the lost, we should be motivated to pray to this God on their behalf. There's a third thing that God wants from the men, and that is that he wants the men to pray in every place. He wants the men to pray in every Place.

Now there are some writers who take the expression in every place, and they simply take that to mean in every place of worship, in other words, in every gathered assembly. So every time the church is gathered together in every place that they're gathered together, I want the men to pray. Certainly that is involved in what he is saying, but we should not limit it to that. What he's saying is I want the men.

And every place, and every place I think means every place, every place you find yourself to pray. This is another way of saying pray without ceasing, but it's more focusing on location. So wherever you find yourself, men, if you're at church, pray. When you're in the home, pray.

When you're, when you're in a tough circumstance, pray. When you're on the freeway, pray. When you're in the workplace, pray, live your life in utter dependence upon this God. And again, see the heart of God here.

God, I'm sure has many things to do. and we might think that why would he want to be, so attentive to us, but he says to the men, men, everywhere you go, I want you talking to me. He's saying, I want to be your companion. I, I want to be your help.

I want to bless you in every place, so in every place, come and ask me for favors that will bless you and enrich your ability to be a blessing to other people at whatever post you are at. Pray. If you don't like your job, you don't want to be there, you'd rather be somewhere else. When you go into that place of employment, pray, make that an outpost of prayer.

when I got out of high school, I started working at a place that was really the only place that, that was immediately available. And after the Lord got a hold of me and I, I knew that I was going into the ministry, I knew that was years ahead and it's like the ministry looks so exciting at that time and then being a silkscreen printer, working in a plant that was just, just reeked of lacquer fumes. And and the people that I had to work with and the music that just filled that place that was not glorifying to God, the profanity and And I so did not want to be there.

I really didn't.

But God changed my heart and, and every day, I'd get up in the morning and I'd pray for my coworkers. I'd pray on the way to work for my coworkers for opportunities to be able to witness to them. And on many of my break times I would get off by myself and I would pray passionately for The coworkers there at that company, there were times where God would wake me up in the middle of the night to pray for particular coworkers, and what, over the length of the years that I worked there, I saw so many answers to prayer.

And now as I look back on that season of my life, it is with fondness and it's like, what, a lot of prayers were prayed and a lot of answers to prayer and people were saved.

In that location where I at first did not even want to be, wherever you find yourself, even if your circumstances are not what you would wish them to be in those circumstances, change the circumstances by you changing and you praying inside of those circumstances. God wants all people, and here he says He wants the men. To be dependent upon him in every place and to express that privately and publicly and to pray. Men, if God says to pray in every place, the place that you spend most of your life is where?

Where? Where's the location where most men spend most of their life? Work. That's like 40, 50 hours a week.

Where do we spend most of our life? Home. OK. And I thought you guys would like At home.

So do you think that's probably included in every place? Yes, so we need to be praying at home and make our home a prayer center, a place where we call upon God privately but also with our spouses and with our children together as a family. Prayer is to ascend to God. God God is to look upon our homes as a prayer center where many prayers are offered to God on a regular basis.

Men, pray, pray at home, pray with your family, worship with your family, pray with your wife. Pray at home, and don't underestimate the power of those prayers that can be prayed at home. In fact, in a book I'm going to recommend at the end of the message, Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher and orator of the 1800s. He was a godly man, not just when he was at church, but also and especially at home, and one of the things that he did with his family on a daily basis is they had family worship together.

After Charles Spurgeon died, his wife sat down and wrote down some memories that she had of her husband. That she was especially fond of, and one of those memories is that her husband prayed at home. In fact, listen to what she says as she describes the way her husband was after the meal, talking about dinner was over, an adjournment was made to the study for family worship, and it was at these seasons that my beloved's prayers were remarkable for their tender childlikeness, their spiritual pathos, and their intense devotion.

He seemed to come as near to God as a little child to a loving father, and we were often moved to tears as he talked thus face to face with his Lord.

A visitor to the Spurgeon household who was there on a number of occasions, and when he was there, they invited him to join them for family worship. And in those times of family worship, Charles Spurgeon would pray and listen to this visitor's memory of what he observed. He says then how full of tender pleading of serene confidence in God, of world embracing sympathy were his prayers. His public prayers were an inspiration and benediction, but his prayers with the family were to me more wonderful still.

Mister Spurgeon, when bowed before God in family prayer, appeared a grander man even than when holding thousands spellbound. By his oratory. Men, pray, pray at home, pray in front of your family. Pray with your family.

Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China. Tells how there were times where as a kid, not only did they have family worship, but, but there were times where as a kid he'd be outside playing with his sister and his dad would come over to him and just grab him and say, come inside for a little bit. Hudson Taylor would come inside and just as a little boy, his dad would, would kneel somewhere and he would gather. Hudson Taylor under his arms and just weep and pray for the soul of his son and for his son's future destiny of service to the Lord.

And what little Hudson Taylor just wrapped up in his dad's arms, he found his destiny in the arms of his dad and in the prayers of his dad. There's enormous power in praying men in every place, in every place, including and perhaps especially In the home, do your children see a dad who does not depend on his wisdom and on his strength, but he looks to God for those things. I hope they do, increasingly so in the days to come. There's a 4th thing that God wants from the men.

In this passage, the men in the church, and that is that God wants men to pray, lifting up holy hands. God wants the men to pray, lifting up holy hands. He says in verse 8, therefore, I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands. I want to focus on the word holy here for a minute.

God is saying, I want the men, when they lift their hands in prayer, I want those hands to be holy hands. God communicates elsewhere in Scripture that when His people come to Him in prayer and they raise their hands to Him, if those hands are not holy, God is not impressed by what he sees, no matter how enthusiastic they are, how good of worshippers they seem to be, how much they wave their hands, and how physically expressive they are. If their hands are not holy, God is actually offended by the sight.

Of their hands.

In fact, in the book of Isaiah, God speaking to His people in Isaiah 1:15 and 16 says, When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you, even though you make many prayers. So here they are praying to God with their hands raised. He says, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood.

So God does not want to see hands raised before him. He's basically saying, I don't want you coming to me and praying to me if your life And if your hands are not holy, that raises the question, how do I get holy hands? do I need to be perfect? I remember one pastor who of a non-charismatic church that I attended, and no one ever raised their hands in prayer or worship.

And it was evident this pastor never wanted anyone to do so. And I remember he was doing a series through First Timothy, and he came to this passage and we were all like, what's he going to say? Because, that's it's right there in the text. And he goes, what, I guess this passage says you're allowed to raise your hands in prayer and worship, but they better be holy.

And just, we were all like, we would never want to reveal our hands after that because he made it seem like if we ever raised our hands we're announcing that our hands are holy. And it freaked us out how passionate he was about that. What are holy hands? How do we get holy hands?

Well, let me give you three ways. First of all, through a holy lifestyle, make right choices, say no to sin, say yes to righteousness, men. Set an example in this area, renounce sin and say yes to holiness and sanctification. But what, even if you pursue that, it's inevitable that you're going to fall short of that.

Your hands are never going to be perfectly holy. When you fall short, come to God for cleansing. Ask them to wash your hands, to wash your heart, to cleanse your conscience. And so this speaks of someone whose life, the general contour of their life is in holiness and towards greater holiness.

That's what they're pursuing and when they fall short, they come to God confessing their sins to Him and receiving cleansing from Him. So when we raise our hands and Prayer and worship, we're not raising perfect hands. That's not the point. These hands are hands that have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

But also, I think primarily the idea is that we get holy hands through consecration. In other words, technically something in the Bible that is holy is something that's totally set apart to God. Even utensils that were used in the temple, they were considered holy because they could only be used for that purpose. Temple purposes, sacred purposes, holy hands are hands that have been given to God and say, God, I'm not just raising my hands in prayer while I'm worshiping you and then when I'm done, I'm going to go do with these hands what I want to do with.

hands? No, God, I worship you. I pray to you with these hands that are wholly devoted to you. I give my hands to you.

These are your hands. And when I get done praying, I will set about to doing with these hands what you want me to do with these hands. What he's saying is that he wants men. To live devoted lives that are wholly set apart unto God.

And even at that, we're going to fall short and when we do, we come to God for cleansing, and our hands are made holy through cleansing. So again, Paul is not just speaking of prayer. this is all of life. This is life encompassing, as we see.

He wants us praying with holy hands. Now, we don't have a lot of time here. I actually had 9 slides to show you, to talk about the issue of lifting hands and, and prayer. And rather than, Going through all of the verses, just, I would encourage you guys to, to study through this.

If you want this list that's on the screen afterwards, I can give it to you. but throughout the Old Testament and a number of places, we find people when they pray, lifting up their hands. and prayer, but when they're confessing sin to God, there's passages where their hands are raised when they're lamenting and weeping before God, their hands are raised. When they're petitioning God, their hands are raised, and when, when they are praising God, their hands are raised.

All of that is in the context of prayer, just like in our culture today, we tend to associate prayer with fold your hands, close your eyes. which is totally fine, but actually that's not found in the Bible anywhere. but I'm not saying that's wrong. Please understand that.

But the thing is, in Bible times, to raise your hands to the Lord was just synonymous with prayer. In fact, if I were talking to you and if I said, what, let's raise our hands to the Lord, you would know that I'm saying let's pray. The two were synonymous prayer and raising the hands to the Lord. And this is not only found by way of example in the text of Scripture, but it's even found by way of command in various passages in the Old Testament and then even here Paul speaking to the men.

I don't think Paul is saying, men, whenever you pray you have to have your hands lifted up the entire time. He's not legislating that. He's more speaking by way of assumption. He's assuming that men do this.

He's assuming that men lift their hands when they pray, and he's just simply saying, I want those hands to be holy. God wants those hands that are raised to him to be holy. And so from the text of Scripture we could rightly observe regarding the practice of lifting hands in worship that this is a practice that is biblically endorsed. It is assumed, it is affirmed and even desired by the apostle Paul.

And you might say, well, I think the emphasis here is the fact that the hands need to be holy. And And so forth. But yeah, that's true. But Paul doesn't just say pray and be holy.

He says pray, lifting up holy hands. This is a biblically valid posture to assume in worship and in prayer. But we also know from scripture that this is not the only posture for prayer. We have in other passages of the Bible various postures that are seen kneeling.

We have people standing when they pray, sitting when they pray, like David sat when he prayed. we love that one. bowing the head when they pray, lifting the eyes to heaven. Jesus did that when he prayed.

So he prayed with his eyes open, lifted up to heaven. and we have people falling to the ground to pray. So there's a lot of examples in scripture and various postures that we either observe by way of example or we find by way of instruction. I think a truly healthy, Christian life would incorporate all of those postures that are found in Scripture at various points in time, given the circumstances.

and so we want to be a church where, people are completely free to raise their hands in worship and in prayer to God, and there's abundant biblical validation for that. And there are some people I've actually talked to people who said, well, I don't think that's right because it makes, makes the church look charismatic. I've actually had people say that to me. And I don't care, frankly.

I don't know if that's a bad attitude. in my mind, it makes us look like what's found in the Bible. So it's, it's that simple actually. But anyway, God wants the men to lift up holy hands when they pray to Him, and there's a 5th thing that God wants from the men as we break this single desire down, and that is that God wants men to pray without wrath and without dissension.

Without wrath and without dissension. Therefore, I want the men. Now, let's connect this to the gospel. God desires all men to be saved, to come to the knowledge of the truth.

There's one God, one mediator. the man Christ Jesus, he gave himself as a ransom for everyone. He gave himself as a witness of God's love to everyone. Therefore, I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension.

In other words, these gospel truths ought to make a difference in our relationship. They ought to make a difference in our hearts to where we are not men that are given to explosions of rage and of anger, that our relationships are not characterized by wrath and by quarreling and dissension. The gospel ought to change relationships in the church, relationships in the home. It ought to change.

The gospel ought to change the hearts of men. Many men are, anger is just their biggest struggle. Some that's not true, but many it is. But what, if anger is your biggest struggle, I got great news for you.

The gospel addresses that. Just live inside the good of the gospel. And, and over time, you're going to find your heart being broken by the gospel, and you're going to have a deeper awareness of the magnitude of your sins that's gonna shatter you and even traumatize you. And then on the other side of that, you're going to see the magnitude of the grace of God.

And you're going to drink in that grace and live in the good of that grace. And then when something doesn't go your way, or someone gets in your way, cuts you off on the freeway, or your spouse does something or your children do something, or someone wrongs you in some way where they need grace from you, you got a lot of grace to give here, take this, you will just find yourself over time. being changed. He wants us to pray, and for us to pray without wrath and dissension.

Clearly, he doesn't want us to be expressing wrath and quarreling in our prayers. You ever done that? Husbands, wives, you ever pray together? And as you're praying together, you're making a few points, as you're praying in front of your spouse, or Maybe you've not done that, or you don't want to admit you've done that, but your spouse is praying, and you're like, OK, I wonder why they said that.

Oh, I know why they're saying that because I did this and, and instead of focusing on the prayer, you're, you're, you're listening to them and thinking that they're quarreling with you, essentially, and scoring some points in their prayer. Does anyone identify with that at all, remotely? OK, about 5 of you. But obviously in our prayers there should be no wrath and quarreling.

in our, in our prayer, the prayers that we pray. but again, he's speaking of all of life. He wants us to pray in a context of life and relationships, where the gospel has over time, squelched the wrath and dissension. It's changed us and changed our relationships.

And even some writers brought this out. Nonbelievers who have wronged us mightily, and are wronging us mightily, we're able to pray for them without wrath and say, God, be merciful to them. They don't understand what they're doing. Yes, they've wounded me, but I pray God that you would do a work in their heart that, and in their life that would ultimately lead to them experiencing your forgiveness.

Oh man. Richard Wormbrandt, who suffered for over a decade in communist prisons in Romania, the guy had 4 vertebrae in his back broken, broke many other bones. The communists did. They carved him in a dozen places.

They burned and cut 18 holes in his body over time. They murdered most of his family and most of his wife's family. And yet in his book Torture for Christ, he says, God amazingly gave us the ability to love our torturers and to pray for them. We learned to love them.

In fact, let me just read one quote that he shares in his book, Tortured for Christ. he says this, a minister who had been horribly beaten was thrown into my cell. He was half dead with blood streaming from his face and body. We watched him.

Some prisoners cursed the communists, but groaning, he said, Please don't curse them. Keep silent. I wish to pray for them. so, so what wrongs are you dealing with, either from the lost or maybe even inside the church from those who profess to know the Lord, or those who are genuine believers?

What, what wrongs are you dealing with that you're carrying around and, and you're so righteously indignant about that you're just withholding yourself from somebody and have an agenda against them and are so wrathful and angry about? If Richard Wormbrand can have 18 holes cut in his body and have most of his wife's and his own family murdered by the communists, and if he could find a way to love them and witness to them and actually have dinner. With the very communist guard that murdered most of his wife's family, share Christ with him and lead him to the saving knowledge of Christ and enjoy dinner with him.

If he could do that, What are you dealing with?

What do you find yourself so incapable of giving grace? in Let us pray. Let us pray, broken by the gospel and empowered by the gospel to pray without wrath and without dissension, men, God wants all people to do this, men and women, boys and girls, but he's talking to the men here and he says, men, set the example, live this way, pray this way in your times of assembly, in the home, and in every place. Let me ask you to bow your heads this morning.

We're going to take up an offering and, We encourage you to give as the Lord leads you to give. And there's a comment card that is in your, Your bulletin, I would encourage you to fill that out if you want to do so, and if there's any prayer requests, please write those down so that we can, As a staff, take those things to prayer on Tuesdays and also put them on the church family prayer sheet. And you can put that in the offering bag as it goes by in just a moment. Let's pray together, Lord, I pray for the men of this church, and I include myself in this prayer.

Help us to be men devoted to prayer, calling down the blessing of God upon our wives and upon our children and upon the people of this church and upon Our endeavors as a church in this community, may we have a world embracing sympathy to our prayers as Spurgeon did as we pray for the salvation of all, even those that wrong us mightily to pray without wrath and without dissension. May our heart become large like yours. And may we see in you, Lord, all that we need in terms of wisdom and strength to live dependently upon you.

And I take great encouragement, Lord, in knowing that as we learn in The Old Testament that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, looking for a man whose heart is right towards him.

You want to show yourself strong and mighty. And it's these men that we've talked about today in this passage, that you will show yourself strong and mighty in and through. So help us as men to live this way. And to lead the way and thereby to glorify you.

Continue, Lord, to keep our hearts open as we learn much more in the weeks to come from this precious book of your word. We just commit ourselves to you, Lord, in the name of Jesus. Amen.