God Hears
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Text:
Text:
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
9 He who planted the ear, shall He not hear?
He who formed the eye, shall He not see?
Lesson
Lesson
Some of the modern translations and some of the commentaries make much of the fact that these commands are present active imperatives - and therefore the emphasis is on perseverance.
It is true that our Lord teaches us to persevere in prayer and not lose heart.
For example, in the parallel passage in Luke, Jesus gives a parable
5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? 8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Just like the parable he tells in our text, the idea is this:
If a sinful man gives good things to his children, how much more will a good God who loves us deeply give good things to his children.
And as for persistent - if a tired and irritable friend will get out of bed and give you what you need because you were persistent, how much more will your loving father, who doesn’t get tired or irritable, give you everything you need when you are persistent in prayer.
The fatherhood of God
The fatherhood of God
But looking at just our text, persistence isn’t really the emphasis. The emphasis is on God’s goodness and the certainty of God hearing us.
God hears us because he is our father.
This is a recurring theme in Jesus’ teaching. It wasn’t a normal teaching in the OT - viewing the covenantal relation with God as one of a father and a son - but it was there.
But it is Jesus main teaching about our relationship with God. He is our father.
Israel failed and died because they did not view God as loving and giving. They viewed him just like any other god. Aloof, indifferent, capricious and uncaring. So their religion was a “quid pro quo” religion. If I do this, God has to do this...
And God rebuked them through the prophets over and over.
Jesus now is in the world.
When he was baptized, the voice from heaven said,
17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
The voice didn’t come because Jesus was in doubt. It came for us - that we might know that THIS was the messiah, the Christ that pleased God. He obeyed God perfectly - so not only was he of the same nature as the Father (homoousian) from all eternity - but ALSO he was the obedient son that Adam was created to be, and Israel was called to be.
They all failed. Voices didn’t come from heaven saying, “Israel is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Nor did Adam - although that was what they were designed to be.
But only Christ. By virtue of his divine nature, he is the eternal, natural Son of God.
But according to his human nature, he is the Son of God in whom God is well-pleased.
This was fitting for the moment of Jesus’ baptism - for he was filled with the Spirit.
This is the same spirit that fills his church at Pentecost, uniting us to Christ and making us partakers of all of his benefits.
Which simply means - that which belongs to Jesus, including that voice from heaven - also belongs to us. Not because we have merited it, but because Christ did and we belong to Jesus.
26 “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘You are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of the living God.”
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
We are children of God - not because we worked hard and earned it, but because of the person and work of Jesus.
This will affect how we pray and that is the point of the text.
If an earthly father, born in sin, would still give a good thing to his child, how much more will our heavenly father give us everything we ask.
So ask, seek, knock.
But what is it that we want?
But what is it that we want?
“What do you want?”
If God is our father, then he is changing our affections and opening our eyes to the reality.
I don’t like “sometimes he says no” - because it isn’t really accurate, and because scripture says that he always hears us.
Sometimes he says, “wait”.
And frequently he says, “You don’t really want that. But I will give you exactly what you truly want. Just wait.”
And throughout our lives he is adjusting OUR thoughts to conform to HIS thoughts, so that we begin to understand little by little exactly what we ARE seeking.
This is why Solomon writes
24 The fear of the wicked will come upon him,
And the desire of the righteous will be granted.
And why I don’t like “Sometimes he says “no””
Looking at the parable - if a child asks for bread, will he give him a stone?
What if the child is hungry and thinks that a stone is good food. Would the father then say, “Well, Ok. Go ahead.”
Or would he sometimes say, “I know you are hungry and I know what you are hungry for. I will give you everything you truly need - just come with me”
And this is the best way I can think of to explain why sometimes the things we ask for are not given to us by God - even though God says that our desires will be granted.
To sum it up - we long for beauty, for security, for intimacy, for food and drink, to not be cast away and left alone -
And we often cast all of these cares upon God in a haphazard and ignorant way, asking for the things we THINK will provide what we want - when God gently reminds us: you don’t know what you are asking for, but I do. I will give you your heart’s desire, dear one, because you are my child and I love you.
But I will also teach you patience and work throughout your life removing the cancer of sin so that you can truly understand, enjoy and immerse yourself in the delights that await you.
Right now we cannot fathom eternal life except in pictures.
We cannot see the face of God and live.
We cannot meet face to face with God until our cancer is removed, the scales fall from our eyes, and our eyes are taken off of the world and drawn to where he is.
We cannot even fathom what it takes to re-create these cursed bodies and bring life to this corrupted state.
But God does. And he will do it. When we ask for wisdom, he will grant it.
When we ask for a raise - he knows what we are truly seeking, and he will provide it.
When we ask for a spouse, he knows what we truly seek, and he will provide it.
And often times, the provision comes on this earth. We are often astounded at how God has answered our prayers here on this earth.
Imagine when we are finally resurrected from the dead!
“ I wish pets lived longer and life wasn’t so expensive and cake didn’t make you fat and people weren’t idiots”
What are we really longing for?
The New Heavens and the New Earth, where there is no more curse, no more longing, no more grief, no more counting calories, and at the same time no more substituting cake for love.
And no more idiots - but the first thing I have to be taught is that I am the biggest idiot of them all, and I will not fully fathom that until I am completely clothed with the righteousness of Christ and filled with HIS wisdom, for I will see him as he is.
In this sermon - Jesus has stripped away all of the excuses that we have. Our natural instinct is to pride. We think we have the commandments covered, so we don’t instinctively ask,
“Lord, forgive me and help me to be a better person today
“Lord, give me a heart of love
“Lord, give me patience with my work. Give me patience with my spouse.
Teach me to take the lower place and learn to serve joyfully.
Help me to rejoice in tribulation...
And when we are convicted by the power of the Spirit by the law - our first instinct is to try harder and work more.
But what does Jesus say?
You have a father in heaven who will give you everything you need for life and growth - if you will just ask.
“Lord, take away my anger
Lord, take away my longing for revenge and help me to rest in you.
Lord, take away my lustful heart, and help me to view people as image-bearers of God, even in swimming suit season - rather than objects to be used.
Lord, teach me to use words to edify rather than tear down...
And so on.
And how often should be pray? How long will you need things from God?
And so our whole lives are continual conversations with our father. Not periodic reminders. But continual.
And we never wear him out. We never ask too much. We never get reproach or a “you again?” or a “It’s three AM!”
This is why we study theology.
He is infinite in space and time, and he is our loving father because of Christ who became flesh.
For that reason, we can ask him to give us circumcised hearts, so that we would no longer continue to be idiots...