TEACHING

Don Atkin

SHEPHERDING CITIES, REGIONS AND NATIONS

My earliest recollection of reading I Timothy 2 was the practical instructions that the Holy Spirit, through Paul, directs toward men and women. The first eight verses, a call to prayer, begins with his urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men. All men.

Verse two specifies that we are to pray for all who are in authority, then explains the purpose of such praying . . . that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This lifestyle can be ours as we pray. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, over every leader, person and situation in our lives.

Can you get your mind around such a concept - entreating God, praying, petitioning and thanking Him as a lifestyle, rather than striving, stressing and competing? Wow!

Verses three and four affirm that this is good and acceptable to God, and that He desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Knowing Jesus, the Christ - who is the Truth - releases His kingdom within, among and around us! Hallelujah! How practical. Grab this strategy and run with it by faith.

Paul is then inspired to testify to who God is, what He has done, and that He appointed him to be a preacher, apostle, and teacher to the Gentiles (verses five through seven).

(Now you know what the "therefore" is there for!) While many women are great prayer warriors, prayer is not primarily the work of only women! Men of holiness and peace are also needed to stand in the gap, interceding for the kingdom of heaven to come in the earth. Verse 8 is directed specifically to men: Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.

The passage continues with specific instructions to women, in verses 9 through 15. Women are to present themselves in simplicity and modesty, and to be known for their works rather than their appearance. (That is a contrast to today’s culture!) They are to be submissive and teachable, maintaining the godly order which was established in creation.

Women are to be "covered" by their husbands (I Corinthians 11) who are to protect them from deception (unlike Adam, who failed to do so). Paul writes that women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint (verse 15).

These are simple, uncomplicated instructions from God through His servant, Paul, who is writing to his son-in-the-Lord, Timothy (who was providing apostolic leadership under Paul in Ephesus). This is the first and foundational understanding of God’s purpose in this passage. However, it doesn’t end. There is a never-ending flow of revelation - rhema - available to us through the Holy Spirit as He teaches us and leads us into all truth through the Scripture.

 

A MYSTERY (SECRET) BEGINS TO BE REVEALED!

God loves to tell us secrets. But, He only does so as we are prepared to receive them. Jesus said, I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now (John 16:12). Revelation is progressively granted to those who continue to hunger for God and His Word, those who sincerely pray: Give us this day our daily bread!

I was studying the basic instructions to husbands and wives in Ephesians 5:22-33. I came to verse 32: This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. God is revealing a secret, a great secret, to the church in Ephesus and to us, through Paul (also see Ephesians 3:1-12).

Everything that Paul has written here tells us that the marriage of a man and a woman is to be like the relationship between Christ and the church! That is the mystery revealed! Our marriages are to reflect the relationship that Christ has with the church. The man is to model Christ to the world; the woman is to model the bride of Christ to the world.

 

Insight for Men

This being so, we can apply this mystery to our text, I Timothy 2, for even greater insight. The instructions to men are to be seen in the context of modeling Christ; the instructions to women are to be understood in the context of modeling the church.

Scripture gives us a clear understanding of what to model. Jesus Christ, our high priest, always lives to make intercession for those who draw near to God through Him (Hebrews 7:25). He models the anointed life before us, that we might model that life before others. As Jesus intercedes for us, men in every place are to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.

As Jesus prays for us, we are urged that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men. This is the key to leading a quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

 

Insight for Women

There are some significant parallels between modern-day churches and modern-day women. Both churches and women have "gone public," pressed for position, dressed themselves to be attractive, and lowered the priority on childbearing.

We need a fresh revelation of the mystery, a contemporary revealing of the secrets found in I Timothy 2:9-15. Not only do women need this. The church desperately needs to return to the simplicity and purpose intended by God.

The church is to be properly clothed in modesty, discreet, and known for her good works; not because of bigger, fancier facilities tailored after the world. The church is to quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness to her Husband, and be preserved through the bearing of children - continuing in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint. Such a church can make a claim to godliness.

Women who have the internal courage from the Holy Spirit to resist the worldly ways, and hide cleavage and thighs in all godliness and modesty, are foundationally prepared to be an excellent wife, whose worth is far above jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.

You can read all about her in Proverbs 31:10-31. She is virtually unlimited in her potential to make her home, and go beyond her home in both enterprise and benevolence. Her children rise up and bless her; her husband also, and he praises her, saying: "Many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all."

The final two verses summarize the choices for both woman and the church: Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman (church) who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her the product of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

 

GOING TO ANOTHER LEVEL OF INSIGHT

There is more for us in I Timothy 2.

While it is possible to lead an inwardly tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity in the midst of external stormy circumstances, God’s desire and intent is for even the circumstances to come under His loving lordship.

Imagine what life would be like if His desire for all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth were fulfilled? Heaven and earth? Precisely! Isn’t that our prayer? Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

We begin to see a vision of the emerging kingdom as we look afresh into this passage and see the practicality of intercession. We don’t need to become spooky or mystical to participate in the grand arena of intercession. As a matter of fact, intercession is to be based upon and founded in mysteries revealed! We are to pray according to God’s revealed will as we gaze into the open heavens. Can you grasp this?

Heaven’s government comes into earth as we come into agreement with heaven regarding earth’s issues, people and situations.

 

SHEPHERDING CITIES, REGIONS AND NATIONS

We have had a myopic view of shepherding. Spiritual deadness, religion and tradition have caused us to see so dimly that we understand shepherding as something "the pastor" does for a self-centered, hedonistic culture.

Actually, shepherds (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers) are to equip the saints to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension; to make entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, until the kingdom has fully come on earth as it is in heaven.

Shepherds, elders, are to be examples to the flock of God among them, until the saints grow into shepherds themselves, and begin to impact their several spheres in the marketplaces of the world.

We, people of God, are to shepherd cities, regions and nations. And we begin to do so through intercession.

Get yourself under open heavens. Find out what’s going on in heaven. Bind what’s bound there; loose what’s loose there. Stand in the gap. Have your head in heaven and your feet on the ground. Get practical. God is practical.