Ask, Seek, Knock

Ask, Seek, Knock

Intro: In elementary school, we sold catalog items and the cool thing, at least to a third grader, was they gave each of us a cardboard suitcase. Inside the suitcase was a host of samples. I don’t remember all the trinkets in the box, but after lugging the box around for four or five blocks, It got heavy, the handle started to break and then I had to carry it by the sides.

But I did all of that because I was hopeful that people would buy something. I trusted that I could go door to door and people would support the school and me.

Big Idea: God is Generous with his Grace and we can trust Him to give us with what we need

I. Go to the Door (7-8)

Ask, Seek, and knock. It is a simple formula. “All three verbs are present imperatives and indicate the persistence with which we should make our requests known to God.”

“The commands of vv. 7–8 are in the present tense, suggesting persistent prayer over a period of time.”

He has already taught about prayer in chapter 6 in what we know as the Lord’s prayer and so he brings the instruction back to prayer, but from a slightly different angle.

And in verse 8 Jesus says for every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

So does this mean we just have to name it and claim it and we get it?

Not really. Why? Because ss other scriptures say likeJames 4:2-3 says “You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”

Prayer is always about being in the correct mindset.

The Apostle James tells us that the prophet Elijah was a man “subject to like passions as we are.” I am thankful that those men and women who were so mighty in prayer were just like ourselves. We are apt to think that those prophets and mighty men and women of old time were different from what we are. To be sure they lived in a much darker age, but they were of like passions with ourselves.

We read that on another occasion Elijah brought down fire on Mount Carmel. The prophets of Baal cried long and loud, but no answer came. The God of Elijah heard and answered his prayer. Let us remember that the God of Elijah still lives. The prophet was translated and went up to heaven, but his God still lives, and we have the same access to Him that Elijah had. We have the same warrant to go to God and ask the fire from heaven to come down and consume our lusts and passions—to burn up our dross, and let Christ shine through us.

Elisha prayed, and life came back to a dead child. Many of our children are dead in trespasses and sins. Let us do as Elisha did; let us entreat God to raise them up in answer to our prayers.

Samuel’s Mother Prayed for a baby and she prayed so much that she promised to dedicate Samuel to the Lord and have him become a priest.

Why do these men and women pray to God? Why did they continue to ask?

Application: Because they Trusted God to follow through and answer their prayers.

Author and theologian EM Bounds, wrote several books on prayer and in the book, the Necessity of Prayer, he says “Trust is firm belief; it is faith in full flower.”

It is one thing to say you have faith, and it is another thing entirely to exercise that faith by trusting God and living that faith in the real world.

Prayer by itself is nothing more than empty words or just prattling on about your wishes and your wants. Prayer goes hand in hand with trust.

Bounds ones on to say that trust grows nowhere more readily and richly, than in the prayer chamber.

Trust is the exercise you perform to develop your faith.

And we put God our trust not in the word of God, but we are actually putting our trust and faith in The person of God.

When we pray in persistence,we do so because we think God will fulfill the prayers.

II. Give Good Gifts (10-11)

In this next section, Jesus mentions two items in these verses: bread and fish.

(Matthew (NAC): 9 “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

A loaf of bread can look like a stone and a fish, can look like a serpent depending on what kind of fish it is. So it is

In chapter six, when Jesus is instructing the disciples how to pray, he includes the statement that we should ask for our daily bread. And here in chapter 7, He brings up the same concept. We are the children asking the father for daily bread and we can expect that he would not give us a stone.

Bread and fish are staples in the 1st century, especially in the region of Galilee. I’m not sure if it is foreshadowing on Jesus’ part or Matthew looking backwards, we know that the fish and loaves Jesus feeds thousands of people.

If we are capable, as sinful people, to give good gifts to our children,then how much better can the one and mighty perfect God give to his children.

Manasseh, the king, was a wicked man, and had done everything he could against the God of his father; yet in Babylon, when he cried to God, his cry was heard, and he was taken out of prison and put on the throne at Jerusalem.

Surely if God gave heed to the prayer of wicked Manasseh, He will hear ours in the time of our distress. Is not this a time of distress with a great number of our fellow-men? Are there not many among us whose hearts are burdened? As we go to the throne of grace, let us remember that God answers prayer.

Application: God will provide you with the items or opportunities to fulfill His will.

Remember, that this is really one sermon.I’m not sure how long it took for Jesus to give his teaching, but all of these chapters are really sections and so it is ice a one day class that builds on the previous sections or lessons.

Jesus is counting on the people who will become believers are the ones who make the connections from each section.

III. Reciprocal Generosity (12)

Verse 12 is the end of this half of chapter 7. We talked about this in the sermon about judging, when we look at treating people like we want to be treated.

And so when Jesus gives us the golden rule, which couples itself nicely with the idea of reciprocal generosity and we know this because he uses the word therefore in the King James and The New American and Christian Standard Bible, or the So Whatever in the ESV. If it was not intended to be connected he would just make the statement.

So we should not judge people unless we are prepared to be judged.

We should also give people who ask us for things because we want to receive the things we ask for.

We should treat people like we want to be treated.

Application: One commentator puts it like this “As God is good to his children, so do the same to your neighbours.”

We are going to not always treat our neighbor as good as God treat his children. For those of us that are married, our spouse is our closest neighbor, along with our kids

When we treat others like we want to be treated, we start to exercise empathy. We put ourselves in someone else’s shoes in a situation that we may find ourselves in. This is powerful because it makes us think. It makes us humble ourselves and nothing about our needs, but what someone else’s needs.

And God had the ultimate empathy by stepping down onto the Earth and becoming a man. He knew that we can never earn our way back to righteousness to Him, so he made the way for us. He took our place on the cross and withstood God’s wrath that is otherwise reserved for the end times.

Conclusion

Asking, seeking, and knocking are not just synonyms for the same process, but instead, the three words indicate a journey. On a journey, you change. You are onto the same when you begin. All three words are verbs, meaning that this is an active process on our part. These are actions we must do on a regular basis.

And what we should be asking, seeking, and knocking for is the Kingdom of God and God's will.

We exercise that faith in our actions by trusting God will give us the good gifts we need and then we reciprocate that with our actions toward others while we are here on earth.

So the question this week, especially in these turbulent times we find ourselves in, is how are you treating others when they are also dealing with long lines, lack of resources and unknowns of the weeks to come.