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Do you want everyone to be saved? Are there certain people you don’t really want to know Christ and go to heaven? Do you regard some people as beyond the Gospel? Black people? White people? Hispanic people? Rich people? Poor people? Immoral people? Atheists? Muslims? Mormons?
If we’re honest, there are times when we do not equally desire the salvation of all kinds of people. That’s a problem because it’s contrary to God’s character and God’s will.
It was a problem for Timothy and the church he was pastoring. Perhaps because of fear, Timothy and his church were only interested in their kind of people. They only prayed for their kind of people. They only evangelized their kind of people.
In 1 Timothy 2:1-4, Paul wrote against this spiritual bigotry and basically taught, “All lives matter,” not just the lives that are like ours. Let’s see how he does this.
WE PRAY TO AN “ALL LIVES MATTER” SAVIOR
We can sum up verses 1-2 as, we are to pray “all lives matter” prayers.
Why? Because we pray to an “all lives matter” Savior. “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior” (3).
Why should God’s people pray so globally, because God’s salvation is also global. He is God our Savior, but He wants to be more than our Savior.
God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
This is a difficult and controversial verse when taken out of context. The context is key and the context is “all lives matter.”
Remember, in chapter 1, Paul urged Timothy to fight against false Jewish teachers. These were elitists, men who specialized in complicated speculative interpretations of Old Testament genealogies. They regarded themselves as a higher spiritual class. They prided themselves on secret insight and special knowledge that few others had. They spent all their days in idle and pointless debate. In other words, they were an exclusive club that few were in and no one was invited to join.
Paul is contrasting this inward-looking, introverted, selfish mindset with God’s global heart and worldview. He is contrasting their “few lives matter” approach with God’s “all lives matter” approach.
Calvin says this verse is simply saying that “no nation of the earth and no rank of society is excluded from salvation, since God wills to offer the Gospel to all without exception.”
“All lives matter” prayer is to be offered to an “all lives matter” Savior.
WE’RE TO BE AN “ALL LIVES MATTER” PEOPLE
This verse is partly about the heart and will of God, but it’s mainly about the heart and will of God’s people. It’s dealing a hammer blow to racism, nationalism, denominationalism, classism, parochialism, etc.
If all lives matter to God then all lives must be given the truth so that they can be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. Don’t hold back your prayers from anyone, don’t hold back your heart from anyone, don’t hold back the truth from anyone.
Pray “all lives matter” prayers with “all lives matter” hearts as you witness with an “all lives matter” Gospel.
LIVING THE BIBLE
Worship the “all lives matter” Savior and become an “all lives matter” people.
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