Skip to main content

104. Ask, Seek and Knock


Matthew 7:7-12, Luke 11:9-13
Key Verse: "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!"
Matthew 7:11

For what, exactly, are you asking? Are you reading these passages and seeing an opportunity to get God to give you what you want? Is what you want really good for you? If it is what God wants to give you, then, believe me, it is. If it is not good, and He says no, it is out of His love for you that He refuses your request.

As I see it, there are two obstacles to understanding here. First of all, for those of us who did not have good fathers, this passage does not necessarily do much to help us build trust in our Heavenly Father. We do tend to see God the way that we experienced our earthly fathers. Some of you may actually have an earthly father who would have given you a stone if you were to ask for bread, if he was around at all.

The first hurdle is learning to accept the fact that God is not like that. God is involved and interested in your welfare.  You can trust that no matter how human relationships have failed you. Remember, God is not human, He is Holy. He is "Other." He is not like us. He is set apart. He is above our pettiness and He died for your benefit. To overcome this obstacle, if it is yours, is to pray that the Lord will help you to trust Him more fully, as He deserves to be trusted.

The second obstacle, as I see it, is in getting our eyes off of ourselves and our selfish, physical desires, on to the unseen, where, even now, Jesus is calling us to focus. In Luke, the "good," that God wishes to give, is, "the Holy Spirit." (Luke 11:11-13) In Psalm 37:4, we are told, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." That doesn't mean a better car or new home. If you are delighting in the Lord, you want more of Him and He delights in giving you more of that heart's desire when you ask, seek and knock for it. It is here that we need to prayerfully revisit the issue of who is our master, and ask God to help us refocus on the unseen and not on what is seen.

But then, why, in Matthew 7:12, does Jesus tack on that golden rule? "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the law and the prophets." In truth, Jesus is summarizing what all of His teaching has been about: treat others the way you want to be treated, and the way you want to be treated by God, because it is the way God treats us! "Forgive, for we forgive," "Do not judge, or you will be judged," "Be generous, to receive blessing."

Just as God expects the best from us, His children, so He wants us to expect the best from Him. Remember that Jesus is the original law giver. He is the one who put the words in the prophets' mouths. All through the Old Testament, this simple rule is what God the Father and God the Son, tried to teach His people. While these sermons are a re-teaching of everything that went before, in this one verse, Jesus is purifying His teaching down to one main point: "it's about relationship." And, if we ask, seek and try to enter the life that He has called us to live, we will not be refused. With His help, we can live out His call.

Hymn: "More Holiness Give Me"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

211. The Sons of Thunder's Request

Matthew 20:20-28 , Mark 10:35-45 , Key verse: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." Mark 10:43B-44 In our readings for yesterday, in which Jesus outlined what was about to happen to Him, for His disciples, the passage in Luke ends: "The disciples did not understand any of this. It's meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what He was talking about." ( Luke 18:34 ) Now, we see just how truly clueless they were. Jesus had laid out a plan before them of pain and suffering and death and now James and John are focused on a promotion. The disconnect is so obvious. It's really not important to know whether James and john came up with this request on their own or if their mother put them up to it. The request was made and James and John thought that they could handle the responsibility that would come with it. What is that saying, "Fools rush in where angels fe...
Post a Comment
Read more

These Boots are Made for Walking

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-15 These Boots are Made for Walking. Of course, I picked that title because it has a reference to popular culture, and it connects with our text today about “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” I was tempted to play the video of that song, but it’s really not amenable to worship. If you remember that old song, it was quite confrontational. The singer had a righteous complaint against a boyfriend or spouse who was cheating on her. She’s not going to put up with that, and the song goes on to say, “One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you!” And that “take a stand” bravado made her a hero! It was a #1 hit in 1966. I mention it because it has one interesting parallel and one major contrast with the message of grace and forgiveness. That parallel is this. God has a righteous complaint against the entire human race for cheating Him out of the loving relationship He desires with us. As the God who created us, he h...
Post a Comment
Read more

201. All for God's Glory

John 9 & 2 Corinthians 12:7-12 Key Verse: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." John 9:3 In this event John records my personal favorite from all four gospels. I love it for its detail. I love it because it demonstrates so much of our human frailty. It shows us how powerful our fears can be in the midst of God's amazing grace and glory. First, we have the disciples who are suffering under the misconception that sickness and unfortunate circumstances are the result of sin only. They are thinking like Job and his friends. If you obey you will always be blessed and if you sin, God will punish you for it. They couldn't imagine that God could have possibly designed this man, blind, for His own glorious purposes. Then we have the neighbors who are all amazed, but then what? What do you do when the mold has been broken? This man was blind and now he...
Post a Comment
Read more