Donald Trump Won the Election - What Do We Do Now?

I love what we were singing. Your spirit gave me life and opened up your word to me. When we were singing that earlier, it reminded me of when I came to faith in Christ quite a few years ago. I was 20 years old and lost. I had no spiritual life. I was captive to sin and rebellion and hatred of God and everything good, but God the Holy Spirit came into my life. I was regenerated of God, born again, and immediately His word was opened up to me, and God's been opening up His word to me ever since. I hope that's your story. I hope that you can testify to that work in you. I love that song as I love everything else we sing.

Now if you would take your Bible, turn back to 1 Timothy chapter 2. We read these verses earlier in our scripture reading, but we will be in verses 1 to 5. So just have your Bible open there. We will get there a little later on. Now I will reference some other scripture, but I will call you to jot one down and study on your own a little later. That would be Romans chapter 13 verses 1 to 5 right there. Now I believe that we all know that we just had our presidential election this past week. On the Democratic ticket we had Kamala Harris running for president, along with Tim Waltz on the ticket for vice president.

Of course Kamala Harris is our current vice president, and Tim Waltz is the current governor of the state of Minnesota. Then on the Republican ticket we had Donald Trump running for president with J.D. Vance on the ticket for vice president. Donald Trump was our 45th president from January 20, 2017 until January 20, 2021. And J.D. Vance is now a senator from Ohio. And I think that we all know that Donald Trump won the election by a landslide. Now at this point many of you are wondering and even asking in your mind, why am I talking about the election and why am I talking about who won the election?

Well let me explain what I'm not doing this morning before I explain to you what I am doing this morning. I'm not going to get off into the tall grass of telling you who you should have voted for. I'm not going to get into which candidate was and is more evil either. Obviously there are things we can identify as sinful and unacceptable in both candidates. And there are certainly clear points of debate in how we view those things and how those things affect how we vote and even if we vote. Now I'm not naive either. For true Christians who hold to a biblical worldview there are certain evils that we should not condone nor vote to uphold.

As a matter of fact we should condemn those things just like God through His Word condemns those things. But when it comes to how we vote many of these things are matters of conscience. And there can be believers, mature believers, they could even view these things differently. But we must not judge one another here. And on top of that we must rejoice with one another even if we view some of these things different. This is what we see taught in Romans chapter 14, matters of conscience.

But again as Bible Christians who hold to a biblical worldview there are certainly evils that certain political figures represent and promote that we should never condone, support, or even vote to uphold. But this morning I'm not going to get into those things. You might say, "Pastor you kind of already have." I'm not going there. But I want us to ask a question and answer a question and this is much needed and very serious. Here's the question. Donald Trump won the election so what do we do now?

As believers in a church we've got to ask the question, "Donald Trump won the election so what do we do now?" And if Kamala Harris and Tim Walts had won the election I would be asking and answering this question. Kamala Harris won the election so what do we do now? Now before we get started I want us to see that what we are about to study is not up for debate. Yes, how one votes, who one can and cannot vote for, even if someone can vote at all, those things can be debated and those things can be a matter of the conscience.

But what we will study this morning is not opinion, it's not personal preference and this should not be debated among Christians and churches. So let's read our verses again, 1 Timothy 2, 1 to 5. Paul says, "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." Now before we get into these verses I want to give a very short background of these verses. Here we have what is called one of the pastoral epistles. Of all of the letters that Paul wrote, three are considered pastoral epistles, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. In those letters Paul was writing to two young men, two co-laborers in his ministry. Both Timothy and Titus were in pastoral positions in churches. Timothy there at Ephesus and Titus there on the island of Crete.

Both men were dealing with various serious problems in those churches and both were tasked with the responsibility to set all of those things straight in those churches. Of course Paul wrote to them to explain to them what was wrong, what was right and how to straighten those things out. But Timothy was a real pastor and the Ephesian church was a real church. And this letter was written by Paul to Pastor Timothy for this church and for these believers. But here in chapter 2 we can see that Paul calls Timothy and these believers in this particular church to a certain church responsibility and this is also a civic responsibility.

And this enables us to ask and answer the question, "Donald Trump won the election, so what do we do now?" Now out of these verses we will see that Paul called these believers to one big responsibility and he gave them three reasons why this is commanded by God. So let's get started in the message. Number one, I want us to see a call to prayer. Out of verse 1 Paul gives a call to prayer. Now notice this is not just a call to prayer, we need to see this is a very, very important call to prayer.

The English Standard reads, "First of all then I urge that supplications." The Legacy Standard Bible that some of you use, it reads, "First of all then I exhort that petitions, prayers and requests and thanksgivings be made for all men." Now there are two things that show us the importance of this calling. This phrase first of all, this means first in time or first in place and this speaks of that which is first in importance. In this word translated urge or exhort, this comes from a word in the original that means to call or to summon but with a sense of urgency. So Paul was urgently calling them to something of first importance, prayer.

And notice then that Paul names or describes several different types of prayer. We are basically synonymous but with different shades of meaning and then the last is quite different. But first he calls them to offer petitions. The English Standard uses the word supplications. Here Paul uses a word for prayer that speaks of a need to be without or to be in want. Simply this is a prayer of petition that comes out of and based on a deep need or a desire. Then he calls them second to offer prayers. Here Paul uses a word for prayer that simply means prayer. That's why all of our English translations use the same word.

Simply this speaks of a prayer to God and it is seen as a general prayer to God. And then third he calls them to offer intercessions. The legacy standard uses the word requests. But here Paul uses a word for prayer that is a rare word in scripture. It is only used here and in chapter 4 verse 5. But this means to fall in or with someone to come together with someone. Simply this prayer is seen as intercession or praying on behalf of another. Now a form of this word is used in scripture to speak of Christ and the spirit's intercession for believers. We see that in Romans 8. But then fourth Paul calls them to offer thanksgiving.

Here Paul uses a word for prayer that simply means thanksgiving. That is why all the translations use the word thanksgiving. So simply this is a prayer of thanksgiving to God. So notice this prayer and the kinds of prayer that Paul was urgently calling these believers in this church to prioritize in their lives. These things were to be of first importance. Occasionally I'll reference the amplified but listen to the amplified that I've tweaked a little bit. Paul says of first importance I urge that specific prayer requests, prayers and prayers for and on behalf of others and prayers of thanksgiving be offered.

So we see Paul's urgent call to prayer and really every type of prayer this was to be of first importance. Without a question or two we need to answer here. Real basic. How is your prayer life? How is our prayer life? Is our prayer life of first importance as it should be? Now I'm not talking about specifically how it applies to what we're going to study. I'm speaking generally. How is our prayer life? How is your prayer life? Is it of first importance or does our prayer life really only exist when we have a need?

But as we will see the prayer and the prayer life that Paul has in mind here is not what we would see as the normal Christian prayer life but it should be and I pray that it would be and it will be. But then number two we have a call to pray for government leaders. Number two Paul calls us to pray for government leaders. We see this at the end of verse 1 and verse 2. Now before we see the call to pray for government leaders the English standard says kings and those in high positions we need to see that Paul had to first get their eyes off themselves. Let me explain what I mean. Notice that at the end of verse 1 he mentions all people.

Listen again to the English standard version. First of all then I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people. Now this phrase all people simply means all people are all mankind and what Paul was doing here is simple. He was calling the Ephesian believers to make sure that they did not have their eyes on themselves. One scholar that I read this week pointed out that the false Jewish teachers that were a problem in so many of these early churches those false teachers could have limited the concerns of the Ephesians to a certain group not the people of the world.

So Paul was calling them to think of others literally to get their minds and their hearts away from themselves beyond themselves into others. Now a question for us here. Is our prayer life limited? Is our prayer life limited? Is our prayer life limited to our needs, the needs of just our family and the needs to just a few in the life of the church? It may be that our eyes need to be gotten off of ourselves and off of just a few others that are around us.

Like what John MacArthur says here, he says and I'm quoting, "Our prayers are all too often narrowly confined to personal needs and wants and rarely extend beyond those of our immediate circle of friends and family." Is that you? Is that me? Is that us? But let me show you a trap here and I've seen people fall into this trap. We can fall into the trap of feeling like we must pray for all. Some hear a verse like this and a sermon like this and they feel like that they have to pray for all humanity. Well that's not possible. I mean as a matter of fact if you do that you're going to go crazy when you get into that trap.

But what Paul means here is this. We must get our eyes off of ourselves. We must not have any favoritism or exclusivism in us. We are to pray for any and all people that God puts in our minds and in our lives. Now one area of our prayer lives that we must get better at is praying for our Anchored in Truth missionaries. I mean we're a part of an organization, Anchored in Truth Ministries. We are a network of churches that plant other missionaries and pastors. It's about churches helping other churches. And we need to get better at getting our eyes off of ourselves and on those that we are partnered with.

And I need to get better at that honestly. But that's not the kind of prayer that Paul is dealing with here. So let's move on. But notice how Paul moves from the general to the specific. He moves from all people to kings and all who are in high positions. The Legacy Standard Bible says authorities. And this is where Paul has been headed all along in these verses. But first notice he calls them to pray for kings. Here Paul uses a word that speaks of a leader, of people. And this was understood to be someone like a king or a prince or a commander or a lord of the land.

And in their day this king would have been understood as the emperor of Rome. And this term, those in high positions, would have been seen as those lesser rulers within the Roman Empire. Now at this point we need to really make sure we see what this meant for these Ephesian believers and this church right here. Remember this was a real church. When Paul wrote this letter, the king these believers were under was the demonic monster Nero who later on put Paul and Peter to death. And secular history and church history tells us that Nero was the cruelest, most vicious blasphemer and persecutor of Christians in the church.

And then second he calls them to pray for those who were in high positions. Here Paul is speaking of all authorities, any authorities. And it is obvious that he was speaking of government, rulers and authorities. So notice Paul was urgently calling these believers to make prayer, this kind of prayer their first priority. And he called them to pray for Nero and any of those lesser governing officials. And let's just pause and think about this. Nero and those governing authorities were persecuting them and killing them.

And instead of harboring bitterness, animosity and even hatred, Paul called them to develop a prayer life for Nero and for those governing authorities. Now it is important for us to see these were real people. This was a real church. Maybe some of them in the life of that church were like you or me. Maybe when this was read in that church some of them stepped up and said, "Time out pastor. I don't think I can do that." But notice Paul does not call them to protest. Paul does not call them to rebel. Paul does not even call them to pray that he would be removed. But as we will see, Paul does give a specific prayer.

He has a specific prayer in mind and we are going to get there. Now at this point I want us to see that God through Paul is urgently commanding us to develop a prayer life for all people and people beyond us in our immediate needs and our immediate circle. And more specifically, God through Paul is urgently commanding us to develop a prayer life for government officials who are over us. And this is supposed to be a first priority. This is easy. I mean all we have to do is a similar list. We start with president elect. We start with our president now, Joe Biden. We start with them and we work our way down.

Local officials, state officials, local officials. We should be doing this on Wednesday nights. We should have particular times in the life of the church where we emphasize this kind of prayer. We should be doing this in our homes and we should be leading our children to pray in this way. But before we get too deep here, let's move on to the second part of verse 2. Verse 3, we see a call to pray for government leaders so that we may lead peaceful lives. Here we see why they were to develop this kind of prayer in prayer life. Verse 2 says that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. Now notice how this unfolds.

We can easily overlook these things, but they are beautiful and powerful. First, Paul called them to pray in this way so that they could lead peaceful lives. This word peaceful, the legacy standard uses the word tranquil. This means quiet and peaceful and it carries with it the idea of restfulness without being disturbed. And then second, so that they would lead a quiet life. Now this word in the original is a different word than the previous word, but this word means quiet and peaceful and it carries with it the idea of stillness along with restfulness in contrast to noise and activity.

Oh, but there's one thing that one Bible commentator points out that is gold here. Vincent comments on these two words that are obviously very similar in meaning. He says that the first speaks of a quiet from outward disturbance and the second speaks of a quiet from within, inward disturbance. But then third, this is so that they could lead a godly and dignified life. Here this godly speaks of godliness and it means reverence. And this phrase dignified life speaks of that which is serious and respectful.

So Paul here urgently, he was urgently calling these Ephesian believers to develop this kind of a prayer life for their emperor and other ruling officials and to do this as a first priority. Why? So that. So that they could enjoy peace and peaceful lives. So that they could lead reverent and respectful lives in all godliness. Now notice how these very general things, now notice how these are very general things, but within these things we definitely see some specifics. If they were free from persecution, that certainly would lead to peace from without and peace from within.

If their rulers were not antagonistic towards Christianity in the church, that would certainly lead to all kinds of peace in their minds, in their hearts, in their families, in their marriages with their children in everyday life. And if they were able to live reverent, respectful lives and what they saw as godly lives, that would have enabled them to live every aspect of their lives according to God's word and how God led them to live out their lives in what they saw as a godly way. But then notice, Paul gives three reasons why God commanded these things.

And here we see what is at the heart of this prayer life and what must be at the heart of this prayer life. This is where Paul has been going all along. Number one, he says this is good. Verse 3 says, "This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior." Now this is simple. Here Paul is saying that this kind of prayer life that God was calling them to and calling them to develop and maintain it was good. By nature it was good and it was pleasing to God. And notice what this was for them, motivation.

If they loved their God and Savior and they did, then knowing that this kind of prayer life pleased God would have motivated them to this prayer life. I like what one commentator said. He said, "The knowledge that such prayer pleases God provides a throbbing incentive to prayer." Question church. If we know that a certain way of praying and a certain type of prayer and prayer life is good and pleasing God, should that motivate us? Should that burn in our hearts as an incentive? Now let me pause here before I move on.

When I mentioned praying for President-elect Trump, when I mentioned praying for our current President Joe Biden, there are some of you. You didn't like that. It wasn't motivation. Why? Why? We have to ask that question church. But let's continue. And here we're getting closer to where Paul was going. Number two, Paul says this is good because God desires all people to be saved. Look at verse four. Let me back up verse three. Let's read them together. "This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth." Now here we see what scholars call the desire of God.

Let me explain. God honestly and genuinely desires that all men be saved just like the verse reads. But we must see God's desire along with God's decree. In Ephesians 3.11 we see that according to the eternal purpose that He has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, He, that is God, He chose certain ones out of the world and He gave them to Christ Jesus, John 17.6. And in doing this, God passed over the rest of mankind leaving them to their sin and to the consequences of their very own sinful choices, Romans 1.18-32. So here we have the tension and what seems like a contradiction for us, the tension between God's desire and God's decree.

And this can be very hard for some to accept. But I want you to see the key to understanding what Paul was in his saying here is found in the word "all" in verse four. Verse four says, "Who desires all people to be saved?" When Paul says that God desires all people to be saved, he was not speaking universally. He was speaking of all people without distinction, distinction of race, religion, class, without distinction just like we see in John 3.16. In John 3.16 we see where Jesus said that God so loved the world and that He gave His Son for the world. He was not speaking universally there.

He was saying that Jesus' death on the cross was not for every person of the world. We have to remember the context and the context of Jesus' interaction with Nicodemus there in John 3.16. And Nicodemus was one of the leading religious leaders of the day. Simply Jesus was explaining to Nicodemus that God sent His Son to die for all of the different peoples of the world besides just the Jews. He wasn't speaking universally. But what is my point here? And what is the point here in verse two and verse four?

Paul was urgently calling these Ephesian believers to develop this first priority prayer life for everyone, meaning any and all besides themselves. And he was telling them that God desires to save all kinds of people in the world besides just them. Even Nero, even those Roman government officials that they would have been tempted to resent and even hate and possibly did resent and hate. Now a question. I want you to be honest with yourself. And honestly, you're going to need the Holy Spirit of God to help you in reflection and revelation and understanding these things.

Do you struggle to see and accept the fact that God desires to save all the different peoples of the world? And do you refuse to see and believe that God desires to save certain people? A certain race, a certain class of people? And do you see certain people as beyond God's desire to save? If you have any kind of thinking like that, you're in error and you do not have the mind of God. Look, church, we must see and embrace the fact that our God is an inclusive God. He equally desires to save all different races, classes, nationalities, even the most vile, blasphemous criminal and even the most vile, blasphemous government leader.

Do you see that? Remember the context. Their king was Nero. As far as government officials go, it does not get any more deranged and demonic than Nero. His secular history tells us that he was as bad as it gets. Well then number three, Paul says this is good because there is only one God and one mediator between God and men. That's verse five. Let's look at verse five. For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Now here we have before us one of the most important verses in all of scripture. And this was and is very important to what Paul was saying here.

And here I want us to see two things that Paul was saying. First, he was saying that there is one God. Now this may not seem like a very big deal for us in our day, but in their day this was radical. And that was because these believers lived in a time of nothing but polytheism or a time of many gods. I thought about a current example that might help you. Their culture was full of many gods, little gee, a lot like we see in the country of India. But Judaism and Christianity was not polytheistic. Both Judaism and Christianity are monotheistic. So Paul was debunking all of those false gods and declaring that there was only one God.

But then second, he says that there is one mediator between God and men. Now here Paul was and is declaring the exclusivity of Christ in the salvation of men and man. And he does so by showing them that Jesus is the one mediator between God and man. And here Paul uses a word that speaks of one who intervenes between two either to make or to restore peace and friendship or to form or ratify a covenant. And what this means here is this.

Paul was declaring that Christ was and is the mediator between God and man in that by his substitutionary death on the cross he restored the possibility of harmony between God and man that had been destroyed by sin. I like how one commentator described this work. I'm loosely quoting him. He said, "Christ closed the gap between deity and humanity. He crossed the Grand Canyon so deep and wide between heaven and earth." So Paul was saying that there was and is one mediator between God and man. That is Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom on the cross to restore the possibility of harmony between God and man.

And I say possibility because this restoration is not automatic. A man must be born again so that that great gap between God and man can be established. This gap, this sin chasm between God and man cannot be restored unless a man savingly believes in Christ. So here Paul was reminding these Ephesian believers that there is one God and one mediator between God and man. But how does this apply to this prayer life that he was calling them to?

At the heart of this prayer life in praying for any and all people besides themselves and this prayer for Nero and all of those ruling authorities within the empire at the heart of this prayer was evangelism. Simply Paul was calling them to pray for their salvation. That was because Paul knew that if governing authorities came to saving faith in Christ as God's people they will certainly be able to live peaceful and quiet lives. They certainly will be able to live dignified, respected in Godly lives according to how God led them. Now church, look at how radically different this is compared to what we see in our land.

Even from evangelical voices Paul made no mention of voting. They didn't have the right to vote. If you mentioned voting in that day you lost your head. He made no mention of political activism. He made no mention of complaining or protesting or even rebelling. That was because Paul knew what Peter said in 1 Peter 2 17. 1 Peter 2 17 says honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. And Paul said in Romans 13 1 to 2 let every person be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God and those who exist have been instituted by God.

Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed and those who resist will incur judgment. Simply Paul called them to pray for the salvation of Nero's soul and for the salvation of all of those other governing authorities. This was an urgent call to evangelistic prayer. Now at this time I want to move from the verses and see what our responsibility is here and I want to give us a few points of practical teaching that apply to what we have studied here. First and foremost this kind of prayer life that God has commanded here and He has commanded us to develop in our lives and especially in the church.

What does that look like? Well we should have certain Wednesday nights dedicated to this kind of praying. We should lead our children to pray in this way. We should lead our teenagers to pray in this way. We should have certain teaching from God's Word at different times to remind us of this call and to reinforce this in our lives and in our church. So the point here is this God is urgently calling us to develop this evangelistic prayer life for our president and other governing authorities who are over us, federal, state and local. Why?

Because this kind of prayer and prayer life is good and pleasing in the sight of God and this kind of evangelistic praying is morally good because God desires that all kinds of people come to saving faith, even the most cruel, blasphemous, kings, rulers in the world. And that's why we are here too. It is a sin not to pray like this in our own lives and in our church. Look church, either God's Word, specifically these verses, either these verses in God's Word, either these things are for us today or none of it is for us today. You see? Now at this point I want to mention a few errors. I could add to this list and I probably will in time.

The first error is today, the first error, making government leaders their enemies, making government leaders their enemies. Look church, Paul had the perfect opportunity to tell the Ephesian believers that Nero was a piece of trash and their number one enemy. But he didn't do it. He did not do it. Government leaders are not our enemies. As a matter of fact, Romans 13 tells us that they are appointed by God. Now I don't know how you square that sometimes with what they do. Second, making government officials and government the church's friends.

What I mean by that is this, some in the church move to embrace government and government officials thinking that somehow embracing government officials will promote and better the work of the church. Folks, we don't see that in God's Word. And in our study of the book of Acts on Wednesday nights, we're going to see that the apostles and that first century church never ever ever did that. The third error, not praying, which leads to reacting sinfully to government officials.

Look around you in the lives of so many believers in churches because they do not pray this way because they've not developed this kind of a prayer life because they do not live what we see here. They quarrel and complain. They protest and they picket. They even rebel and they riot. Look church, according to Romans 13, we are to submit to the governing authorities who are over us because their authority is from God and to rebel against their authority is to rebel against God. Oh, but a question. Is it ever right to disobey government and government rulers? Sure. Of course.

If government and government officials call or command us to break God's law and disobey God's Word, we obey God rather than man every time. And look, in our study of the book of Acts, we're going to see that the apostles crossed that line often. Often. Many times they were commanded to stop preaching the gospel. And what they would do is this. They would look into that government official's face and they would say, "We will obey God rather than man." So Donald Trump won the election. What do we do now? Joe Biden is our president now. What do we do now? We develop a prayer plan.

We develop a prayer life for our president, our future president, and other government officials. We pray for their salvation. We pray that God would bless them and bless their families. And we pray that God would enable them to govern in such a way so that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.