The following are famous verses; you may have heard them read out often in church. But their significance, I think, is often overlooked. Paul writes to Timothy:
First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2 for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the 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, a testimony at the proper time.(1 Timothy 2:1-6 CSB)
I am not sure of this, but I sense that v2 is often misunderstood. I do not think that we ask for governors' policies to lead us to have tranquil and quiet lives, with all godliness and dignity. After all, no government policy can lead you to be godly and dignified. Rather, I think Paul is saying that if we obey v1 and pray for the government, our church communities will be living in a calm and peace-loving way. They'll be on their knees praying rather than running around throwing stones through government windows.
If you have lived in a country where insurrection or violent overthrow of the government is being countenanced, you might appreciate Paul's words a little more. In the UK, we do not expect churches to be plotting against Westminster. But in many countries, the suspicion is that churches are fundamentally seeking to bring about regime change. So, Paul's instruction, as his first remedial step for a church showing many signs of poor health, is to pray for kings, with thanksgiving- fancy that! This is a reminder that governments should not be demonised. If they are corrupt and cruel, it is not because they are fundamentally different from us, but because they are sinners like us, and may be acting with seared consciences, wreaking great destruction on their citizens - or on foreign citizens through unjust warfare. But in every case I can think of, governments, both national and local, do some good even when they are corrupt and heavy-handed.
If you have lived in a country where insurrection or violent overthrow of the government is being countenanced, you might appreciate Paul's words a little more. In the UK, we do not expect churches to be plotting against Westminster. But in many countries, the suspicion is that churches are fundamentally seeking to bring about regime change. So, Paul's instruction, as his first remedial step for a church showing many signs of poor health, is to pray for kings, with thanksgiving- fancy that! This is a reminder that governments should not be demonised. If they are corrupt and cruel, it is not because they are fundamentally different from us, but because they are sinners like us, and may be acting with seared consciences, wreaking great destruction on their citizens - or on foreign citizens through unjust warfare. But in every case I can think of, governments, both national and local, do some good even when they are corrupt and heavy-handed.
On the other hand, in some countries the regime tries to court the favour of evangelicals, seeing them as convenient allies to bolster their rule. In such contexts, evangelicals need to treat the authorities not as divine beings who are the source of all good in society. They should pray for them. And although churches generally seem to pray for the policy-making of governments, Paul actually seems to be saying we should pray for the salvation of these magistrates. This takes courage in some countries, because implicitly it is saying that a Mr President with his private jets and militias, and his impressive welfare programmes intending to 'save' the needy is in fact himself in need of saving. Notice also the command to pray for kings and all those in authority. This further undermines the cult of the 'Big Man' who likes to be seen with the army, the airport-builders and the football coach, as if he was responsible for all the nations' successes. A king is of course just one among many authorities; we should pray for those who organise refuse collections, health and safety officers and many others besides.
So, pstors, if you want to influence the government of your country, do by all means expound the texts that explicitly teach how governments should behave- Rom 13: they are to rule for our good, not personal gain, and 1 Pet 2:14, they are to "punish those who do what is evil and to praise those who do what is good"- but also make sure our churches regularly pray for those in authority. We teach a lot by how we mobilise people to pray in public.
Here is a rota you could use to make sure that different areas of government (the UK, in this case) get prayed for over the course of a year, or in one prayer meeting with eight break-out groups according to my schema. Either way, one result should be that members of your church are more aware of who the various government officials actually are!
