How to have a God-Centered Life- Build My Life (Obeying Jesus) #2; Build your Life #28

INTRO: Take 5 seconds & write down 3 things that you are praying for- the top 3 things on your prayer list- 3 prayer requests (hold onto it).

A recent Pew Research survey (2021) asked nearly 19,000 adults across 17 different countries "what makes life meaningful?” The survey found that “family (38%), careers (25%), & material well-being (19%)” were among the most cited factors for what makes life meaningful. What do you think came at the bottom?

Only 1% of people surveyed said pets, 2% of people said spirituality, faith, & religion.In the U.S., the number was a little higher, but still only 15% of Americans mentioned spirituality, faith, & religion when describing what gives meaning to their life. What are you living for?

For several months we’ve been studying the Sermon on the Mount. We’ve talked about what it really means to be blessed (Beatitudes), how to be righteous (5:17-49), how to practice righteousness (ch. 6). Now we’ve come to the capstone section- what are we going to do with the message of Jesus? Will we build our life upon it?

Jesus wants to help us build a God-centered life. Matthew 7:7-12, Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being 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! 12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Three ways we can build a God-centered life.

1. Live with a sense of DESPERATION: TURN to God to Meet our Needs. Vss. 7-8

Jesus is talking about prayer. Prayer is how we express our needs to God.

We’ve encountered prayer a couple times already. Matthew 6:5-8, we saw prayer as a religious practice that Jesus assumes we’re going to do.

He teaches us how to not pray like a hypocrite or a heathen, but how to pray so that God will hear us. In the next few verses, Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus taught us what to say in His model prayer, aka the Lord’s Prayer.

This teaching feels like it’s more about having a spirit of prayer, i.e., 1 Thessalonians 5:17, pray without ceasing. The great prayer warrior George Mueller, who recorded over 40,000 answers to His prayers, wrote- “I live in the spirit of prayer. I pray as I walk about, when I lie down and when I rise up. And the answers are always coming. Thousands and tens of thousands of times have my prayers been answered. When once I am persuaded that a thing is right and for the glory of God, I go on praying until the answer comes.”

The three commands in vs. 7 direct our attention towards God to ASK.

· Ask- to make a request

· Seek- to look for, search for something one desires

· Knock- to rap with the knuckles to signal one’s presence

Notice how each one builds upon the other- Ask, Seek, Knock. Richard Glover illustrates it this way- consider a child, if his mother is near and visible, asks; if she is neither, he seeks; while if she is inaccessible in her room, he knocks.When God feels near, we ask. When He doesn’t, we seek Him. When we feel like we are altogether closed off from Him, we will pound the door of heaven.

In all three statements, Jesus says that God responds when His children ASK- it will be given to you, SEEK, you will find (God is still the One who allows for us to find). KNOCK on His door & He will open.

ILL: Who remembers the Bob Dylan song “Knockin on Heaven’s Door”? It was covered by Guns-N-Roses. One time Becky was in the store, me & the kids were in the car, & Axl Rose was singing “knock, knock, knockin on heaven’s door” when little Maggie spoke up & said- “he’s singing that wrong. It’s sposed to be “knock, knock, knockin on Kevin’s door.” We’re not talking about knocking on Kevin’s door, but heaven’s door, to announce our presence to God that we need Him.

E.g., In my own life, there is a matter that my wife and I have been praying about for several months.Just recently we are feeling the burden all the more, so I find myself knocking. God, are you listening? Are you there? Will you open the door to meet this need?

2. Live with a sense of EXPECTATION: TRUSTGod to Give us what we Need. Vss. 9-11

Jesus gives us an analogy for prayer, the analogy is that of a son who asks his father for bread. It would be a cruel joke for the father to give him a stone. Or, if the son asks his father for a fish, it would be a terror to give him a snake. The analogy enlightens the reality- the normal & reasonable expectation is that a father will give his son his request.

The reality is that God’s children can expect God to give us what we need. If even evil parents know how to give good gifts to their children, then how much more will our heavenly Father give good things to His children who ask Him! James 1:17, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

Notice the difference between good gifts & good things. Good gifts (agatha domata) is two words, but good things is only one, the word things is supplied by the translators. It literally reads “your Father who is in heaven give good to those who ask Him!” What is the distinction?

E.g., if our child asks for something good, bread or fish, an apple rather than a candy bar, we’ll give them what they asked for. But if our child asks for the candy bar, or a bag of chips, sometimes we won’t give that, we may substitute it with something better- an apple, a fruit cup, whatever. The same is true for God. James 4:3, You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

ILL: Garth Brooks Unanswered Prayers, I thank God for unanswered prayers. God doesn’t leave prayers unanswered. He may say yes, no, or wait, but He answers each one. God’s delay does not mean His denial.

Sometimes we think we know what the good thing is, but we don’t know. What we don’t know, God does know. Romans 8:26–27, Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Sometimes we don’t know what, how, or even why to pray, the Holy Spirit helps us.

I’m going to read another verse, & I don’t think I’ve ever seen how these connected before. Romans 8:28, And we know that all things work together for good (agathon- good gifts, good things, good) to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. What is the purpose? Romans 8:29, For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…

The purpose of our salvation is to become like Christ. The purpose of our prayers is to be like Christ. The purpose of God’s answers to our prayers is that we become like Christ. For us to have a God-centered life is to live with this sense of purpose.

3. Live with a sense of PURPOSE: TREATothers the way Christ treats us.

Vs. 12 is really well known. It is often referred to as the Golden Rule- do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. Jesus is reformulating in a positive sense what many others have said negatively, e.g., “Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you.”

Another example- the Silver Rule, was made prominent by Rabbi Hillel before Jesus- “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn.”

Like Rabbi Hillel, Jesus interprets it the Golden Rule as a summary of the Law and the Prophets.The last time we saw “Law and Prophets” was Matthew 5:17-18, Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. The phrase “Law and Prophets” brackets the main body of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

Later in Matthew, Jesus will say in Matthew 22:37-40, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Hang with me for just a second- (1) Jesus says that treating others the way we want to be treated is the Law & the Prophets (Matt 7:12),

(2) all the Law & the Prophets hang on 2 Commandments- Love God & Love Others (Matt 22:37-40),

(3) Matt 5:17, Jesus came to fulfill all the Law & Prophets. He fills full all the commands of God- no one ever loved God or loved people like Jesus did, leading to the logical conclusion- If we are going to keep the Golden Rule, then we must Live Like Jesus.

Christlikeness is the purpose for which we have been called. The Golden Rule means treating others like Jesus treats us.

How has Jesus treated me? Jesus is the eternal Son of God who stepped out of the glories of heaven to become a man. He gave up His right to be God, to become like us so we can become like Him. To live a perfect life of obedience to God because we cannot. To die a righteous death on a cross that was not His- in our place to pay our penalty for sin. He rose from the dead for our salvation, so that if anyone believed in Him, they would receive the gift of eternal life. What has Jesus done for us? It would be better to ask- what has He NOT done for us?

Based on the kindness of Christ towards us, how can we not share that kindness with others- to treat them the way that Christ treats us.

To have a God-centered life, we live in a sense of desperation, expectation, & purpose. We turn to God to meet our needs, trust that He will give us what we need, & treat others like Christ has treated us.

TAKEAWAY: What we are praying for reveals what we are living for.

Think back to the 3 prayer requests I asked you to write down- What are you asking God for? Is it about you or is it about Him? Is it about His will, or your will? Does it have an earthly focus or a heavenly one?

When Jesus taught us to pray the Lord’s Prayer- Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread… Our needs came in a distant third to His Name & His Will. When we are praying, God’s glory trumps our good every time.

Are you living a God-centered life? Have you turned to God in desperation? Have you trusted Christ for your salvation? Are you living like Christ in relationship with others?