Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:7-11)

Matthew 7:7–11 KJV 1900

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Jesus Disciples must possess a growing dependence on Him. 7-8

There are three actions described here in relation to our prayers to God.

Much has been written about the trio of ask, seek, knock.

Have you heard that these are all continuous actions?

We are to ask and ask again.

We are to seek tirelessly.

We are to knock and keep knocking.

Why does God tell us to do this?

Are there things that God doesn’t want to do, but will if pester Him enough?

Is it a test, like if we ask Him for something 347 days in a row, then He will do it, but not a prayer before?

Each of these options make sense to us, if we think about God like we think about people.

When we enter into a bartering or a negotiation situation with someone else, we know that we are going to have to change their minds.

We have to build a case for what we want.

We are focused on producing something in them.

This is often what we assume about God.

Ask, Seek, Knock, is not about us changing God, it’s about God changing us.

Remember, in the last chapter, Jesus said Matthew 6:32 “for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.”

We also previously stated that prayer is not about overcoming God’s reluctance.

Here we see more clearly what God God is trying to accomplish in us.

What is it that is going to cause us to go to God for something over and over and over?

I can tell you what won’t motivate us to continuously return to God in prayer; self-sufficiency.

Prayer is a means by which God seeks to change us.

The method here of coming back to God again and again is meant to produce within us a spirit of dependence upon Him.

How does ask, seek, knock produce dependence in a disciple?

One, we will only continually ask, seek, and knock, if we are convinced of our need for God.

If I can do it or get it myself, why do I need to go through God?

Why should I wait on His timing?

Why should I risk the possibility that what I want is not what He wants?

Ask, seek, knock is the result of someone that is dependent on the timing and will of God.

They consistently turn to Him in prayer.

Two, as dependence grows, so does our urgency.

Ask, seek, knock build on each other.

You can see the progression of energy required.

You can also see the commitment required.

Asking is low energy - low commitment.

Knocking is high energy - high commitment.

You can gauge your dependence on God by the energy and commitment of your prayer life.

That is a convicting self-judgment to make.

Jesus knows that we struggle with self-sufficiency.

We are used to other people failing us.

We are used to people mistreating us.

Because of this we adopt a variety of fleshly coping mechanisms.

Cynicism

Withdrawal

Distrust

Suspicion

If we aren’t careful, we, as disciples, can approach God with the same suspicion.

What do we really think about God? 9-11

Jesus tells His listeners that disciples that ask, seek, and knock will have their prayers answered.

A cynical person would say yeah but what kind of answer will I get.

Well, we have to trust that we get the best answer, even if it’s no.

Jesus then appeals to the parents in the audience.

Most of us would like to think that we are good parents.

We know we aren’t perfect.

If we were honest we would even admit that we are incredibly sinful and selfish.

And yet, we do try to be good to our children.

If you’re here this morning, then I would guess you would agree with what Jesus has to say here.

If your little child came to you and asked for a loaf of bread, would you give him a stone?

Loaves in their day were not much more than a biscuit.

It would look much like a stone.

Would you give your kid a rock and watch him try to eat it?

Not as a joke.

Just to be mean.

Youth group story (frozen snickers, mayonnaise Twinkie's)

What if your kid came to you and asked for a fish, would you give him a snake?

We would not seriously do this to our children.

If my kid is hungry, I’m going to do anything I can to get him something to eat.

I am not going to intentionally mistreat him or do something to hurt him.

I may be a sinner, but I’m love my children and want to do what’s best for them, like feed them.

Jesus’ point is that, if we do that for our kids, how much more will God do that for us?

Are we more noble than He is?

Do we love our kids more than He loves His children?

If we know how to give good gifts to our kids, God is able to surpass our sinful imitation of Him.

This truth helps us understand the way that we should depend on God.

We depend on Him the way our kids depend on us when they are little.

We go to Him for our needs consistently the way that our kids persist in asking us for the things that they need.

Like lunch.

10 AM your kid asks for lunch.

11 AP they come back to seek whether or not lunch is ready.

12 PM they are knocking on the bathroom door until you come out and give them lunch.

Were you not going to feed them?

Of course you were.

You were just waiting for the right time.

How dependent was your 2 year old on you to fix their lunch?

Totally.

That’s us with God.

What do you need to depend on God for, this morning?

Everything!

Everything at home.

Everything at work.

Everything at this church.