God wants all people to be saved!
1 Timothy 2:1-7 (NIV)
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 7 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.
Canons of Dordt
Point 1 - God's Unconditional Election
Article 3 - The Preaching of the Gospel
In order that people may be brought to faith,Â
God mercifully sends messengers of this very joyful messageÂ
to the peopleÂ
and at the time He wills.Â
By this ministry people are called to repentance and faith in Christ crucified.
Summary
We noted last year when we read this passage that God wants us to pray for our civil and government leaders so that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. Today we're going to key on why it is that God wants this lifestyle for us, and it's way more than Him just wanting you to live the good life. He wants communities in which the Gospel can be proclaimed.
Notice how Paul refers to God in this passage - He is God our Savior. We often properly refer to Jesus as our Savior, since we know that He is the one mediator who stands between God and us. But as we've seen already this year, if you're going to understand your salvation properly, you must understand that God the Father planned and provided for your salvation. We'll continue to see as we go on this year that He continues to preserve you in the salvation that He planned and provided for. He truly is our Savior!
Over the coming weeks and months we're going to wrestle with the Biblical teaching that God elected those who would be saved and at the same time chose to leave other in their sin. But we need to begin by understanding what Paul writes here: God wants all people to be saved.
Dig Deeper
Paul mentions two things God our Savior wants for all people:
To be saved, and
To come to a knowledge of the truth.
Of course those two things are only really one, but the way Paul presents it here teaches an important lesson. Too many people mistakenly think that being 'saved' means praying a prayer or raising their hand in a darkened room when the preacher softly calls and 'no one else is looking.' Those sort of things may be significant chapters in many people's personal salvation story, but this passage illustrates that true and lasting salvation has a deeper element.
Salvation is the result of coming to a knowledge of the truth. This knowledge isn't complicated; many young children have already mastered it. It simply involves a basic understanding of who God is, who you are, and how it is you're reconciled to the God you've rebelled from. But Christians ought never to be content with just a simple, basic understanding; your life ought to be marked by a steady growth in your knowledge of the truth.
This means that ordinarily, salvation is conveyed didactically - that is, it is taught. It must be, as Paul refers to his own calling as one who heralded and proclaimed. This is one of the Church's biggest needs at this point in history: solid men who can preach and be faithful teachers of this wonderful gospel.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: God our Savior;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you will grow this year in your knowledge of the truth and that God will raise up preachers for His Church;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Mark 9
