Ask And It Will Be Given To You
Sermon Title: Ask and It Will Be Given To You!
Scripture: Matthew 7:7-11
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; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. 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!
Sermon Thesis Statement: God always answers prayer with good gifts and we should pray expecting to receive such from Him.
Introduction
Our Lord Jesus encourages us to pray, to ask God for things we need and to expect Him to give them to us in Matthew 7:7-8.
Now most of us have experienced times when the Lord has not answered what we have asked Him for. There are people who even say they have tried prayer but given up because of not receiving the answer they hoped for. The reasoning is simple; I asked but did not receive. So, I don’t believe in prayer. Then we have Christians who believe that, all we have to do is ask God for things with faith and persistence, and we will get it. Claim it and you will get it – whatever it is, a Mercedes car, a 5-star bungalow, yes even an airplane.
It is important for such Christians to understand just as we ought to understand what Jesus is really teaching about prayer – so we can be encouraged to pray even more fervently. To ask, seek, and knock is both command and invitation. These words are present imperatives in the Greek which mean continuous action. Ask and keep asking. This suggests persistent effort, but more likely it means that we need to continually come to God.[1]
In these verses, Jesus is telling us, “Ask, and if it’s a good thing, God will give it to you because God only gives good things.”
In order to be encouraged in our praying; it is important for us to see who is this promise given to, and secondly what this promise is really about. Who is Jesus talking to? And what is He saying to them? Who can claim this promise and what promise can they claim?
First, who is this promise to when Jesus says; “Ask and it will be given to you…Seek and you will find” – who is the ‘you’?
I. (This is a promise for genuine children who are trying to please the Father).
A. First of all, this is a promise for those who are genuine children of God.
1. Jesus refers to “your Father in Heaven”. He is talking to those who are genuine children of God. He is talking to those who have been born again and have become sons and daughters of God. He’s talking to those who by faith in Christ have become part of God’s family. God is their Father.
2. If you have been born again through faith in Christ, this promise is for you.
B. But more specifically, this is a promise for those children who are trying to please their Father.
1. This promise occurs toward the end of a lengthy sermon (known as the ‘Sermon on the Mount’) in which Jesus has been describing the behaviors and lifestyle that pleases the Father.
2. If your desire is to obey God and please Him in whatever way you can, then this promise is for you. In Matthew 6:9-10, Jesus had already taught us about how to pray; that we should pray for God’s kingdom (or rule) to come. Then in Matthew 6:33, we are exhorted not to worry about our basic needs but to instead seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. So this promise is for those believers who are willing to obey and follow God’s will. As a matter of fact, this should call us to reflect on whether we keep praying for things only? Or do we also ask God for a pure mind? Do we keep on praying for a forgiving spirit or for the removal of an angry or critical spirit? [2]
What is this promise about? That is our second question.
II. This is a promise that God knows how to give good gifts even more than we know how to give good gifts to our children.
A. We know how to give good gifts to our children – bread, fish. We do not give stones when kids are hungry. Many of us have heard the news how over 50,000 babies in China had fallen sick from imitation milk. Four babies have even died because of the bad quality of the milk.[3] I don’t believe there is one parent who would give that milk to their children had they known beforehand about its actual content.
B. We know how to do this despite being “evil” – despite having human imperfections and limitations. We are selfish by nature. But we know how to give good things to our children.
C. Yet God, who has no imperfections or limitations, knows even more what good gifts to give us. What may appear to be good to us may not be seen that way by God. God will not give us what will harm us, and for that reason He will often answer our prayers differently from what we ask. We do not know what is for our good. But God does. He is a good Father, and longs to give good gifts to his children.[4]
D. There are times when what we ask God is indeed good but it may not necessarily correspond to His timing. God always answers prayer. Sometimes, the answer can be ‘yes’, sometimes ‘no’ and at other times, God says ‘wait’. Whatever answers God gives, it is always good.
Illustration: Adoniram Judson was a missionary who prayed to go to India but was compelled to go to Burma. He prayed for his wife’s life but he had to bury her and their two children. He prayed for release from prison but he laid there for months, chained and miserable. He prayed for converts but it took years before the first convert was made. Nevertheless, Judson affirms that God has always answered his prayers.[5]
What is even more insightful is that Luke points to “the Holy Spirit” as a reference to the “good gifts” God gives us (Luke 11:13).[6] This means that more than answers to prayer, God gives us the promise of His indwelling presence. Even when answers seem hard to come by, His presence is sufficient for us. This truth reminds us is that when we pray; we come to God not just for answers but more importantly for His comforting presence.
III. Let us come therefore, with all the spontaneity of a child, asking for what we want and expecting that if it is good for us to have it, our Father will say yes.
A child puts all doubts aside when asking for something. A child also perseveres. A child also eventually learns that when he or she does not get the thing asked for, it means his or her parents know best. The same goes for our Father in Heaven. As I began to work on this message this week, my son Jonah came up to me, looking for me to blow up his green balloon. He would not give up until I gave him my full attention. It is the kind of attention that we will get and much more than that if only we will get down on our knees and pray – knowing that God will give us only things that are good for us.
When we pray, perhaps we should persevere like children do. Dr. Helen Roseveare, a missionary who served in Zaire, told the following story. “A mother at our mission station died after giving birth to a premature baby. We tried to improvise an incubator to keep the infant alive, but the only hot water bottle we had was beyond repair. So we asked the children to pray for the baby and for her sister. One of the girls responded. ‘Dear God, please send a hot water bottle today. Tomorrow will be too late because by then the baby will be dead. And dear Lord, send a doll for the sister so she won't feel so lonely’. That afternoon a large package arrived from England. The children watched eagerly as we opened it. Much to their surprise, under some clothing was a hot water bottle! Immediately the girl who had prayed so earnestly started to dig deeper, exclaiming, ‘If God sent that, I'm sure He also sent a doll!’ And she was right! God knew in advance of that child’s sincere requests, and 5 months earlier He had led a ladies' group to include both of those specific articles.” (Source unknown).
1 John 5:14 affirms this fundamental truth: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, He hears us.”
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[1] Myron S. Augsburger and Lloyd J. Ogilvie, vol. 24, The Preacher's Commentary Series, Volume 24 : Matthew, Formerly The Communicator's Commentary, The Preacher's Commentary series (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Inc, 1982), 18.
[2] R. Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2001), 235.
[3] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7641317.stm
[4] Michael Green, The Message of Matthew: The Kingdom of Heaven (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., U.S.A.: Inter-Varsity Press, 2000, c1988), 106.
[5] T.T. Crabtree, Zondervan 2007 Pastor’s Annual, P. 190
[6] John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck and Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983-c1985), 2:34.