Stuck in the Middle FOR You

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1Tim 2:5).

Have you ever worked hard to get something but suddenly realize you’re talking to somebody who didn’t have the power or authority to give it to you? Maybe it was a job. Maybe it was money. Maybe it was tickets. Maybe it was getting you OUT of a ticket! Somehow, someway you came to believe they held the keys and could give you what you want. At the moment of truth, they can’t deliver the goods.

Here in his first letter to Timothy, the Apostle Paul tells his spiritual son that only God can deliver salvation and there’s only one Man who can deliver your request. “For there is one god, and there is one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (v5). Don’t make the mistake of hoping anyone or anything else can come to the rescue. Don’t make the mistake of asking anyone or anything else to make it happen. Only God saves. Only Christ is in the position to help. Jesus is the God-Man in the middle.

This is a big deal because Paul has just instructed Pastor Tim to have the Ephesian megachurch pray for everyone they know using every kind of prayer imaginable (1Tim 2:1). Specifically, lift up all of the governmental leaders to the Lord (1Tim 2:2). Remember, we’re talking about praying for a ruthless dictator named Nero! So I don’t want to hear any complaints from Democrats about praying for Republicans and vice versa. There’s a two-pronged goal for these prayers. One, so we can be free to be good citizens. Two, so the Lord might save our leaders. God “desires all people to be saved” (1Tim 2:4). Amazingly, that includes politicians!

When it comes to salvation, there’s only One who can pull it off. God. Take a quick look around. Who do you see? How many of them can save you from your sin and yourself? None. Zip. Zilch. Zero. God and only God. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Dt 6:4). When it comes to creating, running, ruling, reigning, sustaining, and saving, there’s only One qualified. The list is short. God. Party of One. 

The authors of Scripture don’t want us to miss the fact that “there is one God” (v5). Don’t be fooled my imitators. Don’t fall for fakes or phonies. “The LORD is God; there is no other besides Him” (Dt 4:35). He’s the only One worthy of our worship. He wired us to worship Him. But the problem is we end up putting other stuff on the throne instead of God. For some of us, it’s a substance, a chemical, or a destructive habit. While incredibly hard to kick, it’s pretty obvious shooting black tar heroin is not exactly worshiping God. You do realize that, don’t you? Whew. 

Too often, it’s not the blatant sin that takes us down. We repeatedly make the mistake of turning the good things God gives us and making them objects of worship. Our spouse. Our kids. Our job. Our income. Our home. This is all good stuff that comes from our very good God. It’s been said that anytime we take a good thing and make it a god thing that’s a bad thing. That’s a simple explanation of idolatry. That’s why God put this in the pole position of His Top Ten. “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Ex 20:3; Dt 5:7). 

He’s the only One qualified to receive our worship. He’s the only One powerful enough to come to our rescue. God uses the prophet Isaiah to drive the point home. “I, I am the LORD, and besides Me there is no savior” (Is 43:11). “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other” (Is 46:22). “And there is no other god besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other” (Is 45:21-22). Nobody else can save you or me. Period.

There’s only one way access our one and only God. “There is one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (v5). Paul uses a Greek word here (Gr. mesites) describing an intermediary, someone who intervenes to restore peace, a friendship, or ratify a covenant. This is a communicator between two parties who are communicating. An arbitrator. A peacemaker. The term literally means someone in the middle. Someone in between. He’s the God-Man in the middle. To paraphrase Stealer’s Wheel, Jesus is stuck in the middle FOR you.

Jesus mediates our relationship by living the perfect life God demanded which we failed to live. He steps in to die the death we deserve which we should have died. He rises to a new life for us which we don’t deserve. He does for us what we could never dream of doing for ourselves. We desperately need someone to step into our situation. And that’s Jesus. He’s the God-Man in the middle.

The writer of Hebrews throws this word around as he explains the connection between the Old and New Testaments. Jesus oversees the new ministry which is WAY better “than the old as the covenant He mediates (Gr. mesites) is better, since it is enacted on better promises” (Heb 8:6). Christ is our arbitrator and “the mediator (Gr. mesites) of a new covenant” (Heb 9:15; 12:25). Jesus Himself left no doubt when He said He’s the only route to God. “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn 14:6). If you’re keeping score at home, absolutely nobody finds God the Father without going through God the Son. Goose egg.

But the radical Rabbi/Carpenter wasn’t done mediating once He headed home to heaven. At this very moment, He’s doing what He does best. Reconciling. Mediating. Paul gives a peak inside the heavenly throne room where Christ is sitting right next to His Heavenly Dad “interceding for us” (Rom 8:34). There He is again. Smack dab between you and Yahweh. Stuck in the middle FOR you.

Paul leaves no doubt about the identity of our Middle Man. “The Man Christ Jesus” (v5). As a baseball fan, it reminds me of Stan the Man Musial. But the apostle isn’t sitting in the bleachers pulling for his favorite ballplayer. Curiously, there’s no article “the” before “Man” in the original language. So a good way to read this is probably “Christ Jesus, Himself a man.” 

The big idea is to remind us that Jesus is still fully man even after His ascension. He didn’t drop off His humanity at the coat check table just before lifting off. He’s 100% God while at the same 100% man. That adds up to 100% Savior. No 50-50, but 100-100. Bad math but GREAT theology! To help wrap their heads around it, smart dudes call this the Hypostatic Union. Yeah, I don’t get it either.

By taking on humanity, the Son of God became the perfect Savior. The perfect Mediator. The perfect High Priest. According the the author of Hebrews, the God-Man in the Middle is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He resisted every kind of temptation you and I would ever face. Unlike you and me, Jesus never stumbled, never slipped, never sinned (Heb 4:15). Because of that we confidently “draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16). All because Jesus was stuck in the middle FOR you. 

The First Resort

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people” (1Tim 2:1).

You’ve heard it before. “All we can do now is pray.” Heard it before? Shoot, we’ve all said it before! You’re familiar with the situation. Things are dark and desperate. We’ve exhausted all other options. We’ve knocked on every door. We’ve tried everything else. We’ve done everything humanly possible but nothing has changed. At this point, we turn to God and plead for Him to come to the rescue. We pray as a last resort.

But Paul reminds Timothy that prayer should be at the top of our to-do list when life goes spinning out of control. ESPECIALLY when it does. The apostle writes to the Ephesian pastor, “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people” (v1). Before you do anything else, pray. Cry out to God. First and foremost. Use every kind of prayer you can think of on behalf of every person you can come up with. Pray as a first resort.

Had the Ephesian church stopped praying? Sure seems to be the case. At the very least, their prayer life was on life support. John MacArthur has a sneaking suspicion that was the fallout of the counterfeit gospel being sold by the false teachers (1Tim 1:3-7). According to their not-so-good news, we’re responsible for our own salvation. When that’s the case, we focus on ourselves and stop praying for everyone else. With Paul on divine assignment somewhere in Macedonia, he tells Tim to get believers’ knees on the floor and their eyes off themselves.

Are sure sign of trouble in your relationship with God is a nonexistent prayer life. Or maybe you pray, but it’s kinda “meh.” It’s just something you’re supposed to do. Like flossing. I write because I know. For whatever reason, I don’t pray like I know I should. For heaven’s sake, Jesus has granted me the incredible privilege of speaking directly with the Creator of the universe. Almighty God will make all the time for me at any time. What’s my response? A little prayer here. Another over there. Pray first? Some days, I’m lucky to pray at all. Like I said, I write because I know. Let’s just say the Ephesian megachurch isn’t the only one with a mega-problem with prayer. 

Paul then gives us a a pretty awesome inventory of the different types of prayer available to us. “Supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings” (v1). Whatever your prayer need, there’s a kind of prayer ready for you to use. Specialized tools for every kind of situation. Pretty cool, huh? Talking to God isn’t like trying to get in touch with a customer service rep for the cable company. If my call really is important to them, why am I do I have to wait 47 minutes to speak with somebody who won’t really help me in the first place? Prayer is NOTHING like that. When I pray, there’s not “press 1 for supplication, press 2 for prayer, press 3 for intercession, and 4 for thanksgiving.” You just pray. All flavors are readily available. All kinds are happily received.

So let’s take a quick look at our prayer options. First of all, there are “supplications” (v1). This Greek word (Gr de’esis) describes a plea, a request, or something asked with urgency base on a need. It comes from a term that means to lack, be deprived, or be without. We’re to ask God to meet the obvious needs in the lives of others. Because of what Jesus has done for us, we can make a beeline “to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16). God has the vast resources and is more than ready to meet “every need of yours” (Phil 4:19). When we see a need, let’s ask Jesus to meet that need. By the way, often times He uses you and me to do it!

The next tools in the prayer tool box are, not surprisingly, “prayers” (v1). The meaning of the term (Gr. proseuche) in the original language is…drum roll, please…prayer. It’s calling on God to help. In other words, talk to the Lord about the people in your life. Remember, He already knows all about them. Tell Him how much you care for them. Tell Him how much you struggle with them. Tell Him that you love them. Tell Him that you don’t. Whatever you do, pray for them. Join them in their prayers. Ask Jesus to show up in a big way in their lives. Ask Him to absolutely bless their socks off. 

Paul encourages us to make “intercessions” (v1) for folks. The idea here is actually a one-one-on meeting with a person. It’s an intimate conversation with someone in authority on behalf of another. You’ve done this before from a friend or family member. You make a quick phone call to get them some help. The apostle urges us to do the same thing but to go a little higher up the org chart. Tell God. Talk to the One who really can make a difference. Hey, you’re just doing what some other really powerful people are doing for you. Jesus is personally interceding for you with His Dad at this very moment (Rom 8:26). As a matter of fact, it’s a huge part of His mission in life (Heb 7:25).

And don’t forget to tell God just how cool it is that He’s placed these people in your life. Make sure to offer “thanksgivings” (v1) for them. What a great reminder that we’re not flying solo as we follow Jesus. The Lord surrounds us with others for a reason. We need each other. He continually uses the people in our lives to bless us, guide us, encourage us, and correct us. Remember, it’s a two-way street. They need God to use you just as much as you need them. Paul gently taps us on the shoulder to thank our Savior for others. King David even saw God using his worst enemies and biggest critics (2Sam 17:11-12). Thank Jesus for the people who surround you. Even your enemies.

How are we to use all these kinds of prayers? There must be some sort of special list of people we’re supposed to pray for. The apostle encourages us that these prayers are to “be made for all people” (v1). As someone once said, “All means ‘all’ and that’s all ‘all’ means.” Jesus doesn’t have a “no pray” list. Take a look around. Who do you see? Who do you not see? Now, pray for all of them. Every. Single. One. We’re not to limit who we pray for or about. “All people” (v1). In other words, use every kind of prayer for every kind of person. That’s what happens when the Gospel gets ahold of us. Slowly and steadily, we take on a “Me Third” attitude. God first. Others second. Me third. As a result, go to God first about the other people in your life. And here’s a little secret. Our prayers for others doesn’t so much change God’s mind about someone. He already loves them. It softens my heart for them. 

So when it comes to prayer, don’t wait until your back is against the wall. Don’t get me wrong. Pray when your between a rock and a hard place. God certainly does some of His best work just before the clock runs out. But pray early. Pray often. Pray for others. Use every club in your bag. Supplication. Prayer. Intercession. Thanksgiving. I love how the Message puts it. “The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know” (v1 The Message). Every way you know how. For everyone you know. Pray as the first resort.