Leadership Lesson #2

Simple Faith and Plain Truth

"The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.

He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned: that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out. This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth.

Since prayer is at the bottom of all this, what I want mostly is for men to pray—not shaking angry fists at enemies but raising holy hands to God. And I want women to get in there with the men in humility before God, not primping before a mirror or chasing the latest fashions but doing something beautiful for God and becoming beautiful doing it.

I don’t let women take over and tell the men what to do. They should study to be quiet and obedient along with everyone else. Adam was made first, then Eve; woman was deceived first—our pioneer in sin!—with Adam right on her heels. On the other hand, her childbearing brought about salvation, reversing Eve. But this salvation only comes to those who continue in faith, love, and holiness, gathering it all into maturity. You can depend on this." 1 Timothy 2:1-15 MSG

Continuing on this series, we will take a look at chapter 2, where we will deem at least five points that Paul was reminding Timothy, the young pastor of the church in Ephesus.

1) Pray. A believer's life should be marked by prayer - constant prayer. This follows the example of Christ, and it shows dependence and connection with our heavenly Father, apart from whuch we will be able to do anything.

Pray as well for our nation's leaders so as to have the freedom to live as a believer.

2) Salvation. Keep in mind that our Father in heaven wants no one to be lost but everyone to be saved. This is why this should be the same goal of every believer. And to this end, every believer's purpose is to share the gospel.

3) Praise. As with prayer, a believer's life should also be marked with praise - praising God over and more importantly instead of being quarrelsome with people.

4) Women. These instructions will be hard to take in back in their time but will surely be harder today. Paul had many things to say to Timothy regarding women and among them:

 a) Women should not get caught up prioritizing their outside appearance over and above other more important matters, especially to the point of neglecting these other matters. They should not concern themselves with calling attention to themselves.

 b) Inside the church structure,
women as much as possible should not lord it over men, telling them what to do. This in the context of wives being under their husbands, who in turn should be under Christ - meaning a wife who is following her husband is also following Christ, like a chain of command such as in a military or corporate setting.

5) Believers (men and women) should ought to continue in humility, in peace, in patience, in love and gathering it all into full maturity of their faith and their calling. We are all called to worship God and to be a witness to others, anything less is contrary to our new nature in Christ.