Sermon OTM – Matthew 7:7-11

Podcast

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened Matthew 7:7-8

Intro: Before we explore what God has for us in these verses,

We need to address a misconception about what Jesus is promising
– reading these verses closely, something piqued my curiosity
• in verse 7 Jesus encourages us to ask, seek, and knock
• then verse 8 is a virtual repetition of verse 7, only it’s more like a guarantee
◦ is is as though Jesus is saying, “Do this! You’ll see that it works”
– then–as if that were not enough–Jesus adds an illustration
• we’ll come to that in a moment, but the point is we can count on God’s favorable response
• why does Jesus make this effort to convince us to go to the Father to ask, seek, and knock?

I’m only guessing here, but perhaps his prompting is because
– he knows his promise will sound unbelievable to us
• after so many prayers that weren’t answered as we wanted, so many disappointments
◦ he knows we’ll naturally resist his instructions
• but he wants us to return to a childlike confidence in him and in our heavenly Father
– anyone who has walked with God for a few years, knows that they’ve prayed legitimate prayers,
that were denied
• a better job, rent before the end of the month, a child’s healing, or an end to famine or war
• we prayed so many failed prayers that we stopped believing – stopped asking for things
◦ and this in spite of the parable Jesus taught us that we should always pray and not lose heart (Lk. 18:1-8)

If we stick with prayer, in time we discover there are rules

If John had not told us, we would have figured it out anyway
“. . . this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” (1 Jn. 5:14-15)
– of course we learned this already from Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, “Not my will, but yours be done”
• naturally, God will not to do just anything for us or give us anything contrary to his will
– so what I’m poking at here, is the possibility,
• Jesus is trying to get around our disappointments, our discouragement, and our giving up on prayer
• here he’s not thinking of prayer in general (like the “Lord’s Prayer”)
◦ but prayer with a specific goal or concern
◦ and he’s telling us, there are prayers God is always willing to answer

What did we learn last week about chapter 7, its main subject?

Jesus is teaching us how to deal with the challenge of other people
– after we get through today’s passage, Jesus next statement begins with “So” or “therefore”
• today’s lesson leads into the next one–and what is that?
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (v. 12)
◦ as I said last week, this is “ground control” for whole chapter
• this is the context Jesus creates for “ask,” “seek,” “knock”
◦ God will definitely give us this kind of help when we go to him for it
◦ he’ll show us how to reach and respond to other people

Every person you will ever meet is a mystery

Even someone you’ve known for years can surprise you
– and we haven’t a clue what to expect from people we don’t know
• perhaps that’s why we refer to them as “strangers”
◦ their behavior, at first, looks “strange” to us – until we get to know them
• we must look just as strange to people who don’t know us
– some of you remember Tim Eba
• he was everybody’s friend
◦ even if you were unsure of him at your first encounter, he would soon win you over
• very few of us are like that
◦ I think the majority of us form friendships with specific types of people
◦ we stay with a circle that is familiar and closed
Clique: “a small group of people, with shared interests or other features in common, who spend time together and do not readily allow others to join them”

Jesus has already told us that our love has to cross boundaries

“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” (Mt. 5:46-47)
– we can get charged up on challenges like this,
• but as soon as we walk into a coffee shop, we clam up
• other people are just too different
◦ we don’t know how to read them or what to make of them
◦ but, still, people need to hear and to know
. . . in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect (1 Pe. 3:15)

I’m going to back-up for a moment
– some people are dangerous
• if they do not pose a physical threat,
• they may still not be safe and should not be trusted
– Jesus began this section with “Judge not”
• that doesn’t mean we can’t recognize when a person’s done wrong
• what it means is we can’t stop caring about them or praying for them
◦ that we can’t write them off or give up hope for them
◦ it also means we can avoid them or set boundaries if necessary

But when it comes to others who are safe,
– how do we relate to them if they have walls up?
• what about the person who’s closed off?
◦ who is always angry and irritated?
◦ who only wants to argue and not to listen?
• what about all those we love who don’t know God?
◦ who could really use God’s love and help
◦ whose lives could be so much more if they knew and trusted him?

Ask God for his help in establishing a rapport with them
– to walk you into a conversation that will build a bridge
• or create trust and form a bond
• begin with prayer – for the person and for yourself
Seek the wisdom God is willing to share with you
– I think of Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman at the well
• she was at first sarcastic – then offended and shut off
• but Jesus worked his way through all that and found her heart
– earlier, Jesus told us to seek the kingdom of God
• we can seek God’s kingdom in every conversation
• I found his kingdom this week in two remarkable conversations
Knock at God’s door before knocking on any other door
– Jesus promises that God will open to you
• sometimes, what God does for you is this:
◦ he uses someone else or something else–like a dream–to speak to you
• or God works in the other person’s heart to bring them to you

Just in case we need more encouragement . . .
“Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Matthew 7:9-11

In this example, when Jesus refers to us as evil, he is using hyperbole
– that is to say, he is exaggerating the case to make a point
• we’re not perfect, but we know what to give our kids when they ask for something to eat
• a few weeks ago I explained a rabbinical form of argument
◦ from the lesser to the greater–“how much more”
◦ Jesus used it again here
“How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him”
– can you see that Jesus is really earnest in wanting us to know that God will give us the help we need?
• the Greek text does not have “good things” –simply “good”
◦ God gives us the good, whatever that might be, when we ask
• in Luke’s gospel where Jesus makes the same statement, he says,
“how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Lk. 11:13)

Conclusion: To get to know other people and how to help them,

We don’t have to become psychologists
What we need is to have open hearts;
open to God and open to others
God already knows everyone – and what everyone needs
Our part, yours and mine, is to trust him, be available to him,
and to ask and to seek and to knock