1 Timothy Message 13

2. Conduct of the church. 1 Timothy 2:1-3:16

We have see the instructions about –

a. Prayer, and about those to be prayed for: the –
b. People

Today, we will begin to look at five things brought out in the following verses. Read –

1 Timothy 2:2-7 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.

The first thing is – “…that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life…”

c. The Purpose Why should we pray? – to carry out the commandments of God. In –

1). Peace

The Bible, the Word of God, teaches us that Peace is blessed of God –

Psalm 34:14-15 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.

And is twofold –

a). Peace from the government. “…quiet and peaceable…”

We read of three aspects of peace –

(1). The Lord prospering His people in times of peace.

Acts 9:31 Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.

The church enjoyed a time of peace when the government ignored them and the Jewish leadership waited to see what would happen next. The believers took the opportunity to grow in spirit, knowledge, and in number.

These times do not often last and we see next –

(2). The Lord’s protection upon His people in times of trouble.

Notice how Paul’s attitude of trust in the Lord and peace toward the government was blessed by God at this time in his life as a –

(a). Prisoner

Acts 27:1 And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus’ band.

As a prisoner, he submitted to God, trusting in the Lord’s placing him in the ministry, that no matter what his situation in life was, he was an Apostle and a –

(b). Preacher

As the ship sailed to its destination, Italy, they were caught up in a terrible storm which threatened to break the ship up. Following weeks of struggle in this storm, we read of Paul’s message to those on the ship –

Acts 27:22-25 And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.

Acts 27:42-43 And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape. But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land:

Because of Paul’s service unto the Lord and to those who he met along the way, the people saw him as a –

(c). Prince

Acts 28:15-16 And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii forum, and The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage. And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him.

Acts 28:30-31 And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.

Notice how God protected Paul and those with him, they escaped from the danger, all safely reaching land.

Acts 27:44 And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.

– Because they listened to the man of God –

We have no idea how many times have men been rescued from an untimely death because a child of God was in their midst.

If we can use our imaginations and picture the Apostle Paul lying on that beach, the wind still howling and the waves still pounding, wet, exhausted and thanking God for His deliverance, we may ask ourselves this question – Why the storm?
God had promised Paul that he would reach Rome and that he would testify of the Lord there. We would have expected a simple cruise across the sea and a safe march up the Italian road to Rome. Remember God’s promise in –

Acts 23:11 And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.

And also in Acts 27:24 “… Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar:”

We learn again that the Lord will bring glory to Himself by working through His children.

Because of this storm Paul went from being an ordinary prisoner to being feared and favoured. On this ship were three faithful servants of the most High God. The other 273 people – soldiers, sailors, merchants, and prisoners, people from all walks of life, listened to the preaching, heard the promises, and saw the power of God through the life of His witnesses. The truth is that –

We do not look forward to storms in our lives, but God has promised to bring us through them unto Himself. We have a sure destination – it is the journey that holds trials and tribulations. Luke, through the leadership of God, penned down this account to encourage us in our journey – to trust God in the storms, and to praise Him for the testimony we may have for Him and to pray for the peace of our generation.

And then, at times of God’s choosing and according to His will we find we will need –

(3). The Lord’s peace and strength in times of tragedy –

Sometimes the government will not remain peaceable with the believers in matters of faith in God. When this is the case, the believers need to remain quiet and peaceable to the government.

Listen to the testimony of these five Baptist believers in England in the year 1575 as they were arrested for meeting to worship and serve the Lord, and were not holding to the articles of faith of the Church of England – We have the following account written at the time -cx

“What reason you have thus to think of us we know not; nevertheless, we can assure you that we seek with our whole hearts to serve the one God, and Christ, in a good conscience, and to edify our neighbor as far as in us lies. Therefore we gladly receive what the Holy Scripture testifies, and wish to be permitted to adhere to the plainness and simplicity of the Word of God, and not to be urged farther with subtle questions, which our feeble understandings are not able to comprehend, nor by Scripture to justify.”
The prisoners transmitted to the Queen a confession of their faith, accompanied by a “supplication,” from which we take the following extract: —
“We testify before God and your Majesty, that were we in our consciences able by any means to think or understand the contrary, we would with all our hearts receive and confess it; since it were a great folly in us, not to live rather in the exercise of a right faith, than to die, perhaps in a false one. May it also please your majesty in your wisdom and innate goodness to consider, that it were not right, but hypocrisy in us to speak otherwise than with our hearts we believe, in order to escape the peril of temporal death; that it is impossible to believe otherwise than we in our consciences think; and also that it is not in our power to believe this or that, as evil-doers who do right or wrong as they please. But the true faith must be implanted in the heart of man by God; and to Him we daily pray, that he would give us His Spirit, to understand His Word and Gospel.

“Above all, it is evident to your majesty that we have not sought to stir up any rebellions or seditions against your Majesty; but much more, have daily besought the Lord for your happy reign, and the welfare both of your soul and body….”

All was in vain. The Baptists remained firm. The Queen would not relent. On the 15th of July she signed the warrant for the execution of two of them, commanding the sheriffs of London to burn them alive in Smithfield while the others were exiled from the country –

They kept to their faith in God and His Word by their actions.

We not only trust the Lord for peace with and from the government, but also –

b). Peace toward fellow men. “…in all godliness and honesty.”

(We are not to be aggressive in attitude – sometimes people witness in anger toward others – wanting to condemn them! The old nature rises up and tries to control us) –

We must remember the attitude of God –

Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

We must again remember that the Lord has commanded us to love people as He loves them! And so, live a quiet and peaceable life among them.

We have read today about praying that we might lead a quite and peaceable life…

Will you think about your prayer life this morning – Are you praying that you and all believers might live quiet and peaceable lives and be steadfast in any situation in life, trusting God in times of peace, in times of prosperity, in times of problems; in times of temptation, trials, tribulation – will we trust God in all things?

I ask you also about your salvation? Have you trusted God through his Son Jesus Christ for salvation, that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day to prove His power, providing salvation to all who will call upon Him –

As we have said so many times “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”.

We pray that you will be saved today and if you are saved, will you be steadfast unto the Lord in all things.