How Can I Please God on Wednesday...After Election Tuesday?

Thank you for being so kind and understanding during my family’s quarantine and also so kind and gracious in my decision to delay our return to Revelation 3 next week instead of today.

 

Today is the Sunday before Election Tuesday.  Pastors all over the country will be addressing the same issue as I am addressing today.  Others already have.  Others won’t, and that is fine.

 

Tuesday is Election Day.  I commend all of you who have already voted.  For those of you who haven’t, I implore you to make it your second priority of Tuesday after reading your bible and praying.  For those who have decided not to vote, please change your mind.  By the way, if I owned my own my home in Rains County, I would be voting to increase teacher pay for Rains ISD. 

 

How can you and I please God on Wednesday and going forward regardless of who is elected POTUS?  Regardless of who wins, my eschatology tells me that the sun will still come up on Wednesday morning, and unless you and I are with the Lord, we will be here to live in the aftermath, but what would please God?

 

If you have your Bibles, please find 1 Timothy 2.  Paul wrote a letter to Timothy as he pastored the Church in Ephesus.  Timothy probably pastored this church before John and before Polycarp as we saw in Revelation 2.

 

The occasion for 1 Timothy 2 is found in 1 Timothy 1.  There were some false teachers that were causing trouble in Ephesus and in the church, and Timothy needed counsel on how to deal with them. 

 

Verse 3-11 of chapter 1 details their actions, and in verses 19-20, Paul even named a two Fake Believers by name who had abandoned the faith.

 

19 having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, 20 of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

 

Consequently, Paul told Timothy in 2:1-6 how to please God in light of these false teachers and opposition.  Pray personally.  Live peacefully.  Evangelize passionately. 

 

I want to make sure you understand the context of today’s verses because I believe what Paul told Timothy to do and instruct the church to do has application for us this morning. 

 

Regardless of who votes for President Trump and regardless of who votes for Vice-President Biden and regardless of who wins on Tuesday, if you want to please God on Wednesday and moving forward, pray personally, live peacefully, and evangelize passionately. 

 

 

1. I can please God after Election Tuesday by praying personally, 2:1-2a.

1 Therefore, I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority,

 

I have already addressed the context and the reason for therefore.  Paul said praying is the most important act for us to do.  It’s more important than anything else.  It’s first of all.

 

Paul then used at least three, if not four, words for praying.  Essentially, there is not much difference in the three: supplications, prayers, and intercessions. 

 

I believe he is emphasizing the priority.  It would be like me saying, “I ask you, I beg you, I’m pleading with you to vote on Tuesday.”  Asking, begging, pleading have subtle differences, but the bottom line is that I am requesting of you.

 

We must pray.  It can’t be our last option or even our second option.  It, according to God, should be option number one.

 

We are to pray personally.  That means for all men…regardless if they voted like we did.  Especially, we are to pray for those in authority, and that includes our commander in chief. 

 

Don’t forget thanksgiving as you pray.  You can be thankful that you live in the greatest nation in world, and you can be thankful that you living in a country where we can vote and have more than one option. 

 

By the way, it is my opinion, that not voting is wrong and not voting for one of the two main candidates is wasteful, not sinful, but wasteful.  I know some of you will have a problem voting for Trump or Biden, but you can vote for policy and or platform.  You can find each party’s platform and read it and then read your Bible and try to understand which platform lines up most with your biblical convictions. 

 

Now allow me to be very candid.  If who wins on Tuesday will be the determining factor as to whether or not you’re going to pray, you’ve got a major problem, and it’s with God.

 

Just to remind you, when Paul wrote this letter, the Roman Emperor was Nero.  Paul probably had just gotten out of jail.  Do you know who put him there?  Nero.  Do you know who took his life?  Nero.  Do you know who took Peter’s life? Nero.  Do you know who bound Christians and sewed them up in animal skins and threw them to the lions?  Nero. Do you know who tied Christians to what we think of as wooden utility poles and set them on fire to light the night?  Nero.  So please don’t lecture me on how awful these our two options are today.

 

Yes, I can’t stand many things President Trump says and has done before he was president, and yes, I can’t stand what VP Biden said recently about transgender children and his position on same-sex marriage and abortion, but regardless of who my President is, I will pray for him as Paul prayed for Nero.

 

What will I pray?  For of all, our context is and our application is praying for our president’s salvation.  Brother Richard, you don’t think President Trump is saved?  No, and let me be clear.

 

Republican does not mean saved.  Conservative does not mean saved.  Patriotism doesn’t mean saved.  Pro-life doesn’t mean saved.  Capitalism doesn’t mean saved.  Person of faith doesn’t mean saved.  Spiritual background doesn’t mean saved.  And neither does any description that you can think of that is opposite of everything I said. 

 

Has POTUS made some decisions that a saved person would make?  Yes, but I want to hear from his mouth and Joe Biden and your mouth, “Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and the only way for anyone to have forgiveness of sin, heaven, and eternal life.” 

 

I will pray for his salvation.  I will pray for him to have wisdom and to be surrounded by godly wisdom, and I will pray for his protection and the protection of his family. 

 

If you want to please God on Wednesday, we must pray first.  We pray for whoever POTUS is.  We must pray personally.

 

 

2. I can please God after election Tuesday by living peacefully, 2:2b-3.

that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.

 

I am speaking to preacher in the mirror more than anyone else.  Regardless of who wins, the body of Christ needs to be seen more and heard less. 

 

Notice what Paul said…that we may lead a quiet and peaceable and godly and reverent life. 

 

Please don’t get me wrong.  We can’t be quiet about Jesus, but we can be quiet about our opinions and preferences. 

 

To my Red brothers and sisters, what if you were excited and enthusiastic about Jesus as you President Trump and MAGA?  What is you hated the devil as much as you hate those Democrats?  You will answer to God.

 

To my Blue brothers and sisters, what if you hated abortion and same-sex marriage and the assault on religious freedom as much as you hate President Trump?  What if you hated the devil as much as you hate the Republican Party?  You will answer to God.

 

For many of us, you need to get off of social media, and just to be clear, I had to answer to some church members for some of my social media posts, and rightfully so.

 

Notice verse 3.  Praying personally and living peacefully is pleasing to the only true and living God.  However, my sermon has one more point, and it is implicit from verses 4-6 rather than explicit like the first two.

 

 

3. I can please God after election Tuesday by evangelizing passionately, 2:4-6.

4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

 

Verse 4 says it is God’s desire for all to be saved.  There are no exceptions to all.

 

Furthermore, there is only one way to be saved, and it is through Jesus Christ.  He is the only mediator or negotiator or bridge or substitute or sacrifice.  Only He has paid the ransom for your soul through His death on the cross.

 

The time is now.  If you’re not saved, I invite you to be saved.

 

If you saved and you want to please God after Tuesday, evangelize passionately anyone who will listen that Jesus loves them and died on the cross so that if they will believe, they can have forgiveness of sins, heaven, and eternal life.

 

 

Conclusion

1. I will pray for him sincerely. 1 Timothy 2:1
2. On every occasion when I can, I will praise good things he does. Ephesians 4:29
3. I will look for the opportunity to pass over criticism of bad things he does. Philippians 2:14-15
4. Where I must criticize, I will do so with civility. James 5:9
5. I will not tell jokes that are demeaning of him, nor will I encourage others in sharing such jokes with me.
6. I will not slander him by listening to, sharing, tweeting, or posting conspiracy theories about him. Titus 3:1-2
7. Whenever I can do so without disobeying God, I will obey him. Romans 13:1-2

 

 

Ephesians 4:29

New Kings James Version

29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

 

Philippians 2:14-15

New King James Version

14 Do all things without complaining and disputing, 15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

 

James 5:9

New King James Version

9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!

 

Titus 3:1-2

New King James Version

Graces of the Heirs of Grace

3 Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.

 

Romans 13:1-2

New King James Version

13 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.