Seek and Find

Introduction

In one episode of the The Twilight Zone an unexpected visitor went to an unexpected place. The name of the episode was “A Nice Place to Visit” and it aired April 15, 1960. In this episode, a thief named Rocky Valentine is fleeing police when he gets shot by them.

When he wakes up, he is greeted by a friendly old man name Mr. Pip who claims to be his guide to the afterlife. Rocky is not convinced and believes its a set up, but Mr. Pip reassures him that he can have whatever he wants. After shooting Mr. Pip several times with no effect, Rocky concludes he’s in heaven with Mr. Pip as his guardian angel. He asks for 1 million dollars and a beautiful woman and both requests are immediately fulfilled.

After days of living in this paradise, he begins to wonder what deeds could have gotten him into heaven. Mr. Pip takes him to the hall of records where Rocky looks over his file. No redeemable quality is mentioned.

After a few more days, he begins to grow bored of every whim being met right away. He asks Mr. Pip to be able to lose while gambling insisting it was chance that made the game so fun. Mr. Pip said he could arrange that. This idea is dismissed as Rocky knows it will all just be arranged. He says he’s going to insane in this paradise and demands Mr. Pip to send him to “the other place” which he felt he deserved anyways. Mr. Pip responds, “Heaven? Whatever gave you the idea you were in Heaven, Mr. Valentine? This is the other place!”

The ending narration is: “A scared, angry little man who never got a break. Now he has everything he’s ever wanted--and he’s going to have to live with it for eternity.”

This certainly causes us to hopefully reconsider what we think of as the “good life.” If you could have the maximum amount of whatever it is you’re after for all eternity would it be good or would it drive you insane like Rocky Valentine?

Rocky found when he had everything that he wanted that he didn’t really want it. Hopefully we don’t wait that long.

Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount has been getting us to reexamine our understanding of the “good life.”

This is why it matters where our treasure is. Matthew 6:33 “33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Matthew 7:7–11 ESV

7 “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 the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 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!

Exegesis

V. 7 contains three commands. These are followed by three reasons in v. 8. The symmetry between the verses makes it memorable. The commands, “ask, seek, knock” are probably best understood to be ongoing: “Keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking. . .” There seems to be an intensification of the commands. Asking for something is just the opening of the mouth. Seeking it requires an earnest desire for it. Then knocking is an action that takes place as a result.

V. 8 gives the result of such a person who obeys. The person who keeps on asking receives, the one who seeks will find and the one who knocks, it will be opened. V. 8 also says “Everyone who. . .” This is not a universalist statement because it is limited by the “asking.” In other words, not every single person will ask, but every single person who does ask will receive, he will find, it will be opened. . .

And yet the vagueness of the passage demands one to ask, “What will be recieved? What will be found? What will be opened?” I think Jesus does this purposefully to allow the saying to probe our very own hearts. When you hear this three fold command and promise what is the first thing your heart asks for? What is the first thing you yearn for?

As discussed in the introduction, when Rocky was faced with such a proposition, he immediately asked for money and women. Is this the sort of thing Jesus has in mind here?

Jesus goes on to give an illustration of this truth.

Matthew 7:9–10 “9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?”

The child is asking for a basic need, one that will allow him to live. What sort of father, instead of meeting that basic need, would instead give something useless and potentially harmful? The child could break his teeth on the stone and perhaps (if it were small enough) choke on it. The serpent could bite the child causing venom to surge through his veins. This story results in a lesser to greater argument.

Matthew 7:11 “11 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!”

That phrase “how much more” you can underline. Jesus frequently uses lesser to greater arguments and this is one here. We know the earthly father is lesser in some sense because he is tainted by evil. It is important to note that Jesus says, “you who are evil,” instead of “we who are evil.” Jesus is implicitly affirming his own sinlessness. But there’s more. If the evil father is devoted to give good gifts, how much more will the heavenly Father give what is good! Our whole interpretation of this passage depends on how we interpret “good things” in v. 11

An Improbable Interpretation

A casual reading of this text, especially one that removes it from the rest of the Sermon on the Mount may make it seem like a blanket promise that God will positively answer the sincere prayers of his people.

As if “God is waiting for you to ask! He has doors of opportunity, favor, and increase ready to open in your life. Don’t be afraid to pray big prayers—God wants to bless you beyond your imagination!"

Or maybe, “When you knock on heaven’s door with faith, God is obligated to answer. He is a good Father, and He delights in giving you the desires of your heart, including financial abundance!"

But is this what Jesus is trying to convince people to do? Get more money? This hopefully sounds ridiculous to us who just studied “Do not worry,” “treasure in heaven,” “eye is the lamp of the body,” “seek first the kingdom of God,” and especially, “You cannot serve God and money.” But if you ignore the rest of the passage, and the rest of the Bible, you could come away with this misinterpretation. But there are some big problems with this understanding:

Prayer is not magic

John Stott says, “It is absurd to suppose. . .

Sermon On The Mount: Restoring Christ's Message to the Modern Church Relating to the Father (Matt 7:7–12)

that “Knock, and it will be opened to you” is an “Open, Sesame” to every closed door without exception; and that by the waving of a prayer wand any wish will be granted and every dream will come true. The idea is ridiculous. It would turn prayer into magic, the person who prays into a magician like Aladdin, and God into our servant who appears instantly to do our bidding like Aladdin’s genie every time we rub our little prayer lamp”

This is how the pagans related to their gods. They would pick specific gods they wanted to please. Then do everything that god’s way in order to manipulate that god to give them what they want: productive crops, more children, and other success. The prosperity gospel turns Christianity into paganism, I hope you see that.

But God is not stingy or manipulated like the pagan gods.

2. We could not counsel God nor know better than Him

“

Sermon On The Mount: Restoring Christ's Message to the Modern Church Relating to the Father (Matt 7:7–12)

Stott also noted that if Jesus promised to grant every single request expressed in prayer, the wise person would never pray again because he recognizes that he lacks the insight to know what is truly best in all circumstances.

Praying for whatever comes to mind, or for money, or for success is dangerous because we presume to know better than God what we need. It would be like the child in Jesus’s illustration coming to his father and saying, “I’m hungry, give me a stone.” Obviously, a stone is not what the child needs to fulfill his hunger.

We ask for healing but are unaware of the consequences if this person is healed. We ask for our needs to be met, but are unaware that God is bringing lack into our lives on purpose. We pray for the salvation of a person, but are unaware that his unbelief leads to the salvation of 1000 others. We ask for strength, but are unaware that God is bringing weakness so we depend upon him. Does this mean we should stop praying for such things? No. The Lord’s prayer teaches us to pray for daily needs. We are taught in Timothy to pray for the well- being of our leaders. We pray in James for the apostate brother to return. Also at the end of James is a prayer for healing James 5:15 “15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” Just because we do not know all things does not prevent us for prayer.

The warning here is not to stop praying, but rather to stop praying in such a way that we know better than God. We ask and yearn for things that are in his will, but trust in him for the outcome. And so, “Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you.”

A More Likely Conclusion

One thing we see in this passage is God’s attitude towards his children. God is generous with “good.”

Before we even define what it is God is giving, we see his disposition towards us is approachable generosity. God’s attitude towards his children is not vindictive. God is not trying to get back at us nor does he seek revenge on his own.

John 3:16 “16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Romans 5:8 “8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Have you ever felt that God’s love for you would run dry? That one day his forgiveness would give out? That God would finally turn on you? Does your fear of your own inadequacy prevent you from going to God?

You know the selfie generation has generated more cosmetic surgeries than ever before in history? People are constantly videoing and taking pictures of themsleves then putting it out there to get attention. When they see a flaw in their face, they urgently seek to take care of it. They are so consumed with their imperfections that they believe no one will like them because of them.

I think sometimes we believe that same thing about God, even though its not true. We get so consumed with our sins and shortcomings that we begin to believe, “God could never accept me for who I am.” We may even look at this passage here and think, “Well, that’s great for the children of God, but I could never become a child of God.”

Let me put this in two places. First of all, if you have not yet come to Christ, you are not yet a child of God, and you feel as though you could never come to God because of your shortcomings. Let me assure you you can. The thief on the cross next to Jesus might have never done a decent thing in his life. He ended up on that cross because of his own sinfulness. And yet when he turned to Christ and said, “Remember me when you enter into your kingdom,” Jesus responded, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

“It is the most counterintuitive aspect of Christianity, that we are declared right with God not once we begin to get our act together but once we collapse into honest acknowledgment that we never will.” Dane Ortland Gentle and Lowly

But perhaps you are in Christ. You would identify as a born again Christian. You believe yourself to be a child of God, and yet you do not come to God in prayer because you are too ashamed. You live in fear that if you approach his throne all you will get is chastisement. Let me encourage you.

Hebrews 4:15–16 “15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

“He does not get flustered and frustrated when we come to him for fresh forgiveness, for renewed pardon, with distress and need and emptiness. That’s the whole point. It’s what he came to heal. He went down into the horror of death and plunged out through the other side in order to provide a limitless supply of mercy and grace to his people.” Dane Ortland Gentle and Lowly

We all need someone to sympathize with our problems and weaknesses without condemning us.  Sometimes that is enough to get us through—to know that someone else understands what we’re going through and accepts us and loves us.

I read about a boy who noticed a sign, “Puppies for sale.”  He asked, “How much do you want for the pups, mister?”

“Twenty-five dollars, son.”  The boy’s face dropped.  “Well, sir, could I see them anyway?”

The man whistled and the mother dog came around the corner, followed by four cute puppies, wagging their tails and yipping happily.  Then lagging behind, another puppy came around the corner, dragging one hind leg.

“What’s the matter with that one, sir?” the boy asked.

“Well, son, that puppy is crippled.  The vet took an X-ray and found that it doesn’t have a hip socket.  It will never be right.”

The man was surprised when the boy said, “That’s the one I want.  Could I pay you a little each week?”

The owner replied, “But, son, you don’t seem to understand.  That pup will never be able to run or even walk right.  He’s going to be a cripple forever.  Why would you want a pup like that?”

The boy reached down and pulled up his pant leg, revealing a brace.  “I don’t walk too good, either.”  Looking down at the puppy, the boy continued, “That puppy is going to need a lot of love and understanding.  It’s not easy being crippled!”  The man said, “You can have the puppy for free.  I know you’ll take good care of him.”

Dear believer, this is the attitude of Christ for you. He knows your sin deeply, he does not ignore it or overlook it, and yet through it reaches out and lavishes mercy upon mercy.

But not only does God generously give us what is good, we must submit to his definition of good. And this is certainly the hinge of this text. Here is the thrust right at the end of v. 11, “How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

What do we see as the good life? What does God see as the good life?

A couple of reasons I believe this is not referring to basic daily needs:

The parallel passage in the Gospel of Luke refers specifically to the gift of the Holy Spirit. Luke 11:13 “13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!””

Jesus’s disciples have a different set of priorities. He says that worring about what we are to eat and wear are things that pagans do. Matthew 6:33 “33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

“Good” has moral connotation in rest of sermon on the mount except Matt. 7:11 in which Jesus is purposefully using a “lesser to greater” argument. The “Greater” from the Father is Spiritual, the “lesser” is physical.

The good life puts the kingdom of God first.

God will give us a good life, but what does that look like?

If in one unfortunate moment You took everything that I own

Everything you've given from heaven above

And everything that I've ever known

If you stripped away my ministry

My influence, my reputation

My health, my happiness

My friends, my pride and my expectation

If you caused for me to suffer

Or to suffer for the cause of the cross

If the cost of my allegiance is prison

And all my freedoms are lost

If you take the breath from my lungs

And make an end of my life

If you take the most precious part of me

And take my kids and my wife

It would crush me, it would break me

It would suffocate and cause heartache

I would taste the bitter dark providence

But you would still preserve my faith

What's concealed in the heart of having

Is revealed in the losing of things

And I can't even begin to imagine

The sting that kind of pain brings

I would never blame you for evil

Even if you caused me pain

I came into this world with nothing

And when I die it will be the same

I will praise your name

In the giving and taking away

If I have you I can lose everything

And still consider it gain

Ask, it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.

How childish is it to say that is a prayer for money. For well-being. For comfort in this life.

I saw a church service in a large church. And let me clarify, you know I have critiqued mega churches many times. I don’t really have a problem with the size of a church. The problem for me is when the mission becomes building our name, our brand. Small churches can do that too. This is why we adopted the mission statement, “building Christ’s kingdom.” Heaven forbid we ever become about building our own name.

I saw this service in a large church. Some young guy got up there and yelled out, “How’s everybody doing today?” And the crowd erupted in applause. Then he said, “Let’s pray,” and began to pray, “Daddy God, we know those who ask receive. And we just pray in faith now that we all have a good time this morning! Worship band, hit it!”

Is this what Jesus meant? To have a good time? What does that mean? To be entertained? You want to know why so many people see the church as irrelevant to their lives? It’s because so many churches have turned it as a means to be entertained. And people think, “I don’t need God to be entertained, I’ve got sports or TV or social media.”

Seek and you will find was not meant for self-fulfillment, entertainment, comfort, or an easy life! It’s a cry of desperation:

Lord, give me more of you! Give me your grace! Forgive my sins! Have mercy!

A Puritan prayer called “happiness”

O LORD,

Help me never to expect any happiness       from the world, but only in thee. Let me not think that I shall be more happy     by living to myself,   for I can only be happy if employed for thee,   and if I desire to live in this world   only to do and suffer what thou dost allot me. Teach me   that if I do not live a life that satisfies thee,     I shall not live a life that will satisfy myself. . . . Teach me that there is no greater truth than this,   that I can do nothing of myself. Lord, this is the life that no unconverted man     can live,   yet it is an end that every godly soul     presses after; Let it be then my concern to devote myself     and all to thee. Make me more fruitful and more spiritual,   for barrenness is my daily affliction and load. How precious is time, and how painful to see it fly   with little done to good purpose! I need thy help: O may my soul sensibly depend upon thee     for all sanctification,   and every accomplishment of thy purposes     for me, for the world,     and for thy kingdom.

We strive for God and for his kingdom, that is, his rule, to extend to our hearts, our homes, our church, our community. We are all about building Christ’s kingdom. And part of that mission requires devotion. How much do we depend on God? How much do we depend on him? How much do we turn to him in prayer?

Ask, and it will be given. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. What are we asking? What are we seeking? What are we knocking? His kingdom.