Untitled Sermon
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Main Point: The Foundation of our Lives must be a Personal Relationship with God/ Our Creator!
Main Point: The Foundation of our Lives must be a Personal Relationship with God/ Our Creator!
Body
Body
As we start looking at Matthew 7:7-12 Jesus starts with a few statements.
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Jesus gives us three statements here.
Each one of these statements starts with an imperative- it’s a verb- so there’s action- and it tells us to do something.
Here are the three imperatives:
Ask!
Seek!
Knock!
Let’s look at these statements.
Ask, and it will be given to you!
Seek, and you will find!
Knock, and the door will be opened to you!
WHAT IS JESUS GETTING AT? WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THESE THREE STATEMENTS?
Listen, that’s the big question for verse 7. So let’s establish this together.
Let’s consider these statements like this:
If I am looking for someone, I might ask someone else, “Hey, have you SEEN THIS PERSON?”
If I am SEEKING that person, then I START TO LOOK IN ADDITION TO THAT!
And finally, if I am knocking on a door, either I have found that person, or I am DESPERATELY TRYING TO DO ANYTHING TO GET IN TOUCH WITH THEM!
There’s a BUILDING INTENSITY IN THESE VERBS!
The imperatives show us this!
So if there’s a building imperative, then we probably need to ask- WHAT ARE WE ASKING FOR? WHAT ARE WE SEEKING? AND WHAT DOOR ARE WE KNOCKING ON?
There’s two applications that I want to give us for this.
First, this mirrors how we come to KNOW GOD!
First, we ask God! We wrestle with what is true or not- we see that GOD WILL GIVE US WHAT WE ASK FOR!
Romans 1:19-20 shows us how GOD REVEALS HIMSELF TO US! So as we wrestle with this question of WHO GOD IS, we can REST, knowing that GOD IS GOING TO REVEAL HIMSELF!
19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.
Second, we SEEK GOD! WE realize that there is a problem- maybe we cry out and say, “whatever is out there, show us who you are” and now you are here at church- you are SEEKING God!
And verse 8 promises that AS WE SEEK, WE WILL FIND!
Matthew 6:33 talks about SEEKING! AND WHAT ARE WE TO SEEK?
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.
We seek THE KINGDOM OF GOD!
And with this, we are promised by Jesus that when we seek, WE WILL FIND!
WE WILL FIND THE KINGDOM OF GOD!
And that perfectly ties in with the last imperative statement.
KNOCK, AND THE DOOR WILL BE OPENED TO YOU!
In Revelation 3, we see Jesus use this same wording to talk about how He approaches us!
20 See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
But we also read passages like Romans 10:13…
13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Romans 10:13 reminds us that WE CALL OUT TO GOD!
WE CALL ON THE NAME OF GOD! WE KNOCK AND WE WILL BE SAVED! It’s a PROMISE!
What about the second way this applies to us?
Well, it applies to our PRAYER LIVES!
And I have to make a note here- it’s really important to pay attention to how OFTEN Jesus talks about prayer.
Sometimes in American culture prayer is reduced in role, but PRAYER IS ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL.
This week I was reading a book for my doctoral class and it was about discipleship. Over 186 pages, do you know how many times it mentioned the importance of PRAYING in disciplemaking?
NOT A SINGLE TIME! 186 pages! A full chapter on budgeting for disciplemaking and on staffing for disciplemaking. A chapter on the state of discipleship in America, a chapter claiming the solution and not a SINGLE MENTION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF PRAYER!
See, prayer is a societal thing that we overlook. I honestly believe- and I know this firsthand- I lived in Wyoming; the home of the Wild West and manifest destiny- that as Americans we have a strong self-reliant streak.
And prayer requires that we HUMBLE OURSELVES FROM THAT! PRAYER IS US SAYING, “GOD I NEED YOU! I DON’T HAVE IT ALL TOGETHER!”
But friends, I want to fight that TODAY, RIGHT NOW! Listen, it is a GOOD THING that we reach out to God and that we CRY OUT FOR HELP!
That’s why Jesus keeps TEACHING ABOUT PRAYER!
As we consider how these three statements teach us about prayer we could look at it like this:
We ASK for our requests
We SEEK GOD’S WILL at all times
We KNOCK ON THE DOOR OF OUR FATHER’S HOUSE IN FULL CONFIDENCE KNOWING THAT OUR FATHER HEARS OUR REQUESTS!
And remember what Jesus promised!
Everyone who asks receives, the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks will have the door opened!
Here’s what Jesus is reminding us of- GOD WILL ANSWER OUR PRAYERS!
God hears our prayers and God is at work at all times- it’s why I can say with confidence- YOU ARE HERE FOR A REASON TODAY!
Even when God doesn’t answer our prayers how WE WANT GOD TO, God is still at work!
I love this quote from Matthew Henry, the 17th century British Preacher (and one of my favorite preachers to read):
He said of Matthew 7:7-8:
“God is all-wise; he knows what we need, what we desire, and what is fit for us. Let us never suppose our heavenly Father would tell us to pray, and then refuse to hear, or give us what would be hurtful.”
Friends, this morning- please hear this- ASK GOD, SEEK GOD, KNOCK ON THE DOOR! FRIENDS, GOD WILL HEAR!
So we know what we start with- this double meaning passage- both calling us to KNOW GOD and also to PRAY!
Let’s see what Jesus says next.
Matthew 7:9-10
Matthew 7:9-10
9 Who among 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 snake?
Jesus asks two questions.
Jesus asks us if we would give our son a stone instead of brea, or a fish instead of a snake.
There’s a certain level of hyperbole that Jesus is using here.
I don’t have kids, but I can say this- if a hypothetical child of mine was hungry and asked for a piece of bread- or a snack, I wouldn’t walk outside, pick up a stone and say, “Try this dipped in buffalo sauce! It’s really good!”
Or if my child was really hungry and looking for some protein, I wouldn’t look at him and say, “Great! Here’s a tarantula!”
We don’t do that. Instead, WE MEET NEEDS!
We see needs and we meet needs in our family!
But it doesn’t just need to be in our family. See, Matthew 7:7-12 starts with us, then our families, and it is going to end with our neighbors!
Imagine if your neighbor came to you and asked you for help getting their mail while they were out of town. You don’t add something else to their plate, instead you see that they have a need; so WE MEET THAT NEED, WE DON’T MAKE ANOTHER NEED!
But the significance of Jesus’s examples doesn’t end there.
There’s a deeper significance to what Jesus uses as examples!
First, let’s consider the example of giving someone a stone instead of bread.
In Matthew 4, we see that Jesus goes into the wilderness. Let me read us Matthew 4:2-4
2 After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 Then the tempter approached him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 He answered, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Do you notice what happens? Satan tries to get Jesus to turn stones into bread.
Then, Jesus refuses quoting back Deuteronomy 8:3. This is a place where Jesus is teaching and is showing us a connection!
Rather than living in EVIL like satan, we should LOVE THOSE AROUND US! Rather then giving our child a stone, we should give that child BREAD!
And here’s the second example- do you know where we FIRST SEE A SNAKE IN SCRIPTURE?
It’s in Genesis 3 when satan takes on the form of a serpent and deceives Adam and Eve!
See, Jesus isn’t just talking about giving our child food, Jesus is saying, “GIVE YOUR CHILD STRONG SPIRITUAL TEACHING!”
First, we give them SPIRITUAL FOOD INSTEAD OF A STONE- instead of just random fun, we give them SPIRITUAL TRUTH and then secondly, we give them the GOSPEL- THE TRUTH, rather than teaching them to live however they want to.
And here’s the thing- our culture teaches our children that they can be whatever they want, that they can identify as anything, that they can pursue whatever THEY WANT rather than what GOD WANTS!
We need to be quick to counter that with SPIRITUAL FOOD; specifically, the GOSPEL!
Because ultimately THE FULFILLMENT OF GENESIS 3, THE DEFEAT OF SATAN IS THE GOSPEL!
So Jesus reminds us- we give good gifts- but it’s also deeper than that and Jesus is about to add another layer.
Matthew 7:11
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 in heaven give good things to those who ask him.
Jesus has given us questions and NOW Jesus gives us a contrast. Here we are- and we are evil- that isn’t hurtful, it’s just truthful- and we give good things. So, HOW MUCH MORE WILL GOD GIVE GOOD THINGS!
Let me be clear on something- Jesus is calling the crowd evil because of sin. Jesus is getting at the fact that every single human has a sin nature.
23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;
Every single day we sin- each one of us! We sin all the time and sin is simply put EVIL!
Sometimes we talk about sin and we think, “Well, sin is bad, but then there’s another level that’s EVIL!”
But in reality, sin is EVIL! SIN IS EVIL TOWARDS GOD! IT IS A DIRECT REJECTION OF OUR CREATOR!
Whether you lied, or murdered, or cheated on your spouse, it is ALL SIN!
Sin is SIN AND SIN IS EVIL!
But listen, Jesus isn’t beating us up; He’s making a point.
We give good gifts to our children; we meet them in their needs and HOW MUCH MORE DOES GOD DO THAT!
And here’s the beauty of this- yet again there are two applications to this.
First, in prayer, how much can we rest in Gods PROVISION? Remember what Matthew Henry said- “God is all-wise; he knows what we need, what we desire, and what is good for us.”
God is going to provide!
SECONDLY, can I tell you about how GOD PROVIDED FOR OUR ULTIMATE NEED?
GOSPEL (short form)
Matthew 7:12
Matthew 7:12
As we get to the last thing Jesus says in this section, we see another one of the MOST FAMOUS THINGS JESUS EVER SAYS!
But just like with Matthew 7:1, it is important that we put this in context!
12 Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Application
Application
Ask
Seek
Knock
13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
