1 Timothy 2:1-7: God Includes All Who Disagree With God

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles. - 1 Timothy 2:1-7

"...who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." 

There are a lot of "all" words in these verses. "made for all people", "all those in authority", "all people to be saved", "ransom for all people" and "mankind" (i.e. all people) Kings, leaders and Gentiles seem to be questionable, in the minds of some people. They are immoral, ignorant and headed in directions that are diametrically opposed to the way of God. There is temptation to just write people like this off, saying they get what is coming to them--that if we just ignore them, they will ultimately get what they deserve. But Paul flips this around. Rather than ignoring or isolating these people, he has been appointed to engage with them. In doing so, he is doing helping fulfill Jesus' own mission: "as ransome fo all people"

Part of that engagement is praying for the leaders in all ways: "petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving" That is, we pray for what we know or imagine are the struggles of the leaders. 

Then he goes beyond this to describe the "peaceful and quiet lives" citizens should live under these leaders. That is, our default posture is not rebellion but peace. Like Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers." because they are creating an environment where growth and health are possible, not just for themselves but also for those around them. 

Then he says that he is a true and faithful teacher. That is not a role that can be achieved from a distance. Sure, you can convince your buddies how smart you are. But Paul wasn't appointed to preach to his buddies. Rather to those who explicitly were not his buddies, the Gentiles. 

 When I read the words "all" in these verses, I am reminded how ambitious God's plan of rescue is for the world and how much he must love all the people, even those who flaunt their disobedience or apathy. Grant that we could have the same attitude, even with those we disagree with.

Psalm 79:1-9: One Hurt By My Sin

O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble. They have left the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild. They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead. We are objects of contempt to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us.

How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?

Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name; for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.

Do not hold against us the sins of past generations; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need. Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake. - Psalm 79:1-9

 "How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?"

It is interesting how the author characterizes God's motivation in allowing the fall of Jerusalem at the hands of their neighbors. He calls it "jealousy"--"how long will your jealousy" burn. Is God the spurned lover who retaliates in a rage? And, following this line of thinking, is God going to respond to my sinfulness in the same way, in being angry at me?

Jealousy is a term about relationships--the relationship between lover and the beloved. The author uses this term--jealousy--to describe how God feels. Not the emotion of a static deity, but the emotion of a God who loves his people with an incredible amount of emotion. God is angry when we follow other voices--voices "that do not acknoledge" God. Voices that we like better than the voice of God himself. On one hand, he is angry that we are so easily tempted by other voices or even the sound of our own voice. On the other hand, he has no sympathy to those who deluded us and lead us astray. Jealousy is not the word for enemies, it is the word for lovers who choose another. 

God loves us with an intensity, so intense that the God of the universe is hurt by what we do. His love is too great to let us walk away. Love that desires nothing more than a restored relationship. 

When I think of God as someone hurt by my sin rather than a list of rules that I have broken, I think I am coming closer to the truth which ought to govern my life.

Jeremiah 8:18 - 9:1: Watching a Train Wreck

You who are my Comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me. Listen to the cry of my people from a land far away: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King no longer there?”

“Why have they aroused my anger with their images, with their worthless foreign idols?”

“The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.”

Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wound of my people? Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people. - Jeremiah 8:18 - 9:1

 "The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved."

This is the tragedy of the redeemed. We rest in the solace of the fact that we are forgiven, and the urgency of repentance recedes from our consciousness. But this apathy is killing us and we idley pursue other things to fill up the emptiness inside. These things to take the place in our hearts that only God can fill are frustrating and even angering to God who cares for us. It is like the relationship between a drug user, his drug of choice and the parent who watches him gradually destroyed by his addiction. We are the addicts, chasing temporary solace while God sits by.

In these cases, what should God do to motivate us? Is he helpless in this case because of the magnitude of his mercy? No, he is not, but he knows that the solution requires bringing us to a place where we want him more than those other "gods" which we have tried to use to bring meaning, security and control in our lives. Sometimes we don't even realize that we have done this, this settling for the grace of lesser gods. Sometimes we think God is still there, to rescue us, even when things go wrong and even when we've been effectively ignoring his direction.

In these verses, God lets the other things that his people have been depending on, the land, the city, the temple all to fall away. Some of his people think that God would be upset, but not that upset. So they wait. But then God doesn't respond quickly. They fall into despair and that despair is heartbreaking to those watching this trainwreck of a nation: "Since my people are crushed, I am crushed"

Is God looking at me and watching a trainwreck of a person, slowly wasting away on a diet of insubstantial and meaningless God-substitutes? I hope not and when I slide that way, I pray he will not need to have to withdraw the same way he did to his people to get my attention.