Ask, Seek, Knock

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

AGM Potluck and Meeting

Grace Community Church - Every Saturday at 1pm starting March 19th

Update - Pic Mobert

I was going to preach on worship today - but I really felt from the Spirit that I needed to talk about this instead.

STORY - When i was young, i felt like I had to work to get anything. And that I was only going to get it if I worked for it. (Thing is, I was generous - but I never applied it to myself).

Matthew 7:7–8 NIV

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

So, Jesus talks about these three kinds of responses to God - asking, seeking, and knocking.

Then pointedly, he gives 3 different lessons on true and false ways to follow God.

I think he’s trying to teach us something really important - that

We need to make sure we do this RIGHT.

It’s not enough to just get what we want - we have to come at it right.

Ask and it will be given

Matthew 7:9–12 NIV

“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 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! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

It sounds like at the end of this, Jesus goes off in a random direction. God gives good gifts, so therefor… do to others what you’d have them do to you.

There’s a simple question here:

Are we asking - or are we taking?

Jesus says, even though we’re EVIL, we know how to give good gifts. How much more we should believe that God would too!

But then, he goes right after and says - make sure you treat other people right. Because he knows our very first instinct - to take.

KIDS FIGHT OVER THINGS THEY WANT

My kids will fight over something because it’s the only one. Or because one kid has the ONE thing that my other kid wants. Whatever.

How many times do we take from others, rather than ask from God for more? And i’m sure, many of us (if not all of us!) will answer ‘never!’ to that one. But then here’s the follow up question:

How many times do we prioritize others receiving?

Jesus says, the mark of a person who knows how to ask God correctly is that they’ll freely give out to others. In every possible way. And not just financially. They will serve. They will build up. They will love. They will sacrifice. They will seek the good of others above their own.

Because this person knows - there’s plenty more where that came from. All of the good things we could ever need - they’re just an ask away.

Seek and you will find

Jesus follows that statement up with this teaching.

Matthew 7:13–20 NIV

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

I lump these two together, because they’re basically the same thing.

Destruction is easy - life takes work

Getting lost is the simplest thing in the world - just go the wrong way. Getting to your destination involves knowing the route, and being able to read the road signs.

STORY - The drive from arthur, the one crook in the road, vehicles would roll there all the time.

What are the road signs for faith? Fruit.

They aren’t events or styles. They aren’t cultural expressions. They are evidences of growth in the individual life. Signs that this person is moving more and more towards Jesus.

And we make a mistake when we interpret this verse. We assume, it’s a matter of good apples and bad apples.

But Jesus says - good trees don’t bear bad fruit. And anybody who’s spent ANY amount of time growing anything knows - every single tree has different levels of ‘fruit’. GOOD TO EAT / GOOD TO FEED TO ANIMALS / This, this we’re just throwing out.

Jesus knew that too. This isn’t about good apples vs bad. This is about

Apples vs Poisonous Berries

Sometimes, they are producing the right kind of fruit, and it’s strong and healthy.

Sometimes, it’s the right kind - but it’s a little sickly. Maybe it’s being crowded a bit, missing some core nutrients. The farmer, they prune around it, give it more chance to grow.

Sometimes, it’s the right kind - but it’s poor quality. The farmer doesn’t shame the tree, lecture it on it’s poor decisions and lack of output. They just say, ‘ok, we’ll trim this one off, and wait for the next batch’.

When we understand this all together, Jesus isn’t saying, ‘there’s only one style, one way to do this right’. He’s saying,

Work hard to make sure you stay on track - and always watch your fruit

Always watch your fruit. Are you spreading and growing gentleness? Joy? Peace? Can people look at you and say, there, that guy there, he’s kindness.

And maybe you miss the mark. Maybe you try for kindness, and come off patronizing. You try for being encouraging, or constructive, and come off judgmental.

But guess what? It’s easy to quit. Work hard. Let God prune, and learn from your mistakes. I’ve never met a human being that got to a place of consistently bearing great fruit that didn’t start off with low quality fruit, and work their way through it.

Don’t quit, keep at it.

Knock and the door will be opened

Matthew 7:21–23 NIV

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

This one is biting. The imagery here, the language that Jesus uses, it’s very similar to what Jesus says later in this parable called ‘The Parable of the 10 Virgins’. (QUICK SUMMARY).

Now, the reason this one is so hard is,

Jesus doesn’t argue their results.

It’s not like they said, ‘We prophesied? We drove out demons?’ and Jesus goes ‘nah, actually, you didn’t.’

Jesus tells them plainly - you weren’t knocking at my door. You weren’t doing MY will - you were doing yours.

STORY - Random people walking into the parsonage.

Jesus knows - there’s plenty of doors, plenty of paths. There’s paths to power - path to recognition - paths to fame. Paths that indulge our desires.

Paths that make us SEEM like we’re righteous, but we deny the fundamental, transformational power of righteousness.

On these broad paths and wide gates, we can pass and find all the things we want.

Jesus says,

Jesus will open His door - if you follow HIS Will to get there

And here’s the crazy thing about this. This conviction is so ridiculously self-denying, that it borders on insanity.

If we read between the lines here - Jesus is looking for the person who says, ‘it’s not enough that I see prophesy in my life - I need to be constantly in your will’. Driving out demon’s isn’t enough. Performing miracles isn’t enough.

STORY - I prayed for a man who was demon possesssed.

The disciples had the same experience. (SUMMARIZE)

Jesus replied,

Luke 10:20 NIV

However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Otherwise,

Don’t settle for power. Only stop when you’re with me.

The presence of the gift is not enough to do without the giver

What’s enough is that presence of God in our hearts in our lives, leading us forward. And absolutely nothing short of that.

And constantly, constantly checking in, to make sure we’re doing the right thing.

STORY - Elizabeth constantly waking up at night. Constantly bringing me things (letter under the door). Constantly embracing me. Even in the bathroom, no peace. It can be so aggravating sometimes.

Jesus said, unless we become like little children, we can’t enter the kingdom of heaven.

And I talked about how it can be so aggravating how much my daughter relies on me sometimes. But the truth is - that’s exactly how Jesus wants us to act.

In Luke 18, jesus tells this parable called ‘The Persistent Widow’. SUMMARIZE. KEY POINTS:

Widow is knocking on this guy’s door day and night

The judge caves and says,

Luke 18:4–5 NIV

“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’ ”

And this sounds like such a terrible example, but Jesus follows it right up.

Luke 18:6–8 NIV

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Will Jesus find people who have the kind of faith that nothing, nothing will stop them from constantly seeking out God in everything? Or will he find people who stopped for power? For the miraculous? For prophesy?

Will he find people who were fully satisfied with the gift? Will he find people who were willing to say, ‘This here, what I have is good enough, I don’t need anything else’.

Or will he find people who knocked on every possible door until they found Jesus. and then they took whatever was in that room with joy, because their saviour was there

And the instant that Jesus departed that room, they took what they had, dropped it, and said ‘Ok, time to move on. Because I need to be where Jesus is’.

Because, in this image of following God, there’s one last door - and that’s the kingdom of God in eternity. And when we get there, Jesus is going to ask us the question:

Did you walk here with me?

Was our goal to walk WITH Jesus? Wherever He took us?

See, in this parable, Jesus was standing at the door, and people were banging on it saying, Jesus, Jesus, we came this way, and we drove out demons, and we prophesied, and we performed miracles, SURELY we’ve followed the right path!

STORY - Argument with a guy about whether God exists. Friend says, ‘it’s like saying your wife doesn’t exist’.

See, we don’t need the flash or the power to convince us God is here. We know He’s here.

(SALVATION MESSAGE) The truth is,

God is here today, asking you to come with Him

The wonderful thing about Jesus is,

we don’t have to know what to ask for. We just have to know who to ask.

We don’t have to know where to seek - we just have to know what to seek for.

We don’t have to know where to knock - we just have to walk with One who does.

Jesus is everything we could possibly need, and all we have to do is ask.

PRAYER