Be A Son, Not A Dog - Matthew 7:7-11 Series

Matthew 7:7-12 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! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Receptivity of the children (v.7)

What do you suppose the purpose of verse 8 is? Why verse 8? Does it add anything that is not already there in verse 7? Or is Jesus just repeating Himself for emphasis?

Context – The Unreceptive (dogs/pigs) and the Receptive (askers/seekers/knockers)

I would like to suggest that verse 8 actually begins a new point. As I see this text, there are two main points Jesus is making. Verse 7 is point one, and verses 8-11 are point 2. And I want to show you from the context why I say that. Commentators are all over the map in trying to figure out Jesus’ flow of thought in this section. Some just say there is no connection whatsoever to what precedes. Jesus just abruptly changes the subject from talking about pigs and dogs to the completely new and unrelated topic of prayer. Others have said, “No, it’s not unrelated. Jesus suddenly brings up prayer because when it comes to pigs and dogs you need wisdom, and so we need to stop and pray for wisdom. I am all for praying for wisdom, but I do not see anything in the text about wisdom. And there are various other suggestions, but honestly I do not find any of them convincing. Let me show you what I think the connection is and you can decide if you think I am on the right track.

The first five verses of the chapter are about removing the sin from your own heart first and then helping your brother tackle the problem of his sin. Then verse 6 tells us what to do if your brother is not receptive to your generous offer to help him with his sin. You offer Him the truth of God’s Word and he rejects it – tramples it underfoot, so Jesus says, “Stop giving him holy things, because it dishonors God to throw holy things to the dogs.” It dishonors God to take His precious, priceless, holy pearls, and throw them to those who trample them underfoot. And so we get this shocking, frightening principle that if you are not sufficiently interested, God’s good gifts will be withheld from you. God’s kingdom is free, but it is available only to those who want it more than anything else in the world. So we do not give the truth of God’s Word to the unreceptive. And the connection between all that and this section about ask, seek, and knock is this: The part about the pigs and dogs is all about what happens when people are unreceptive to God’s good gifts; and the words about asking, seeking, and knocking are all about what happens when people are receptive. If you are not receptive you get cut off, but if you are receptive – asking and seeking and knocking, God’s good gifts will be given to you freely.

Why are we not to throw what is holy to dogs? Because it is holy, and throwing it to the dogs would dishonor God. But if it dishonors God when we are unreceptive to His gifts, it honors God when we are receptive and we do appreciate His good gifts and treat them as holy and priceless.

Not just prayer – eagerness

And the more eager we are the more we honor Him, and the more disposed He is to give them to us. You see, what Jesus is doing in verse 7 is showing us what the opposite of verse 6 looks like, and this is very important, because Jesus goes way beyond the way a lot of people define receptiveness. The opposite of what the pigs and dogs do is not just saying, “OK, OK, I guess I’ll accept the pearls.” The opposite of the pigs and dogs are eager, enthusiastic askers and seekers and people knocking on the door.

Usually we think of this passage as being all about prayer. But I think it is broader than that. I do not think asking, seeking, and knocking are just three metaphors for prayer. They are expressions of eagerness and desire. You ask for something because you desire it. You look for something because you want to acquire it. You knock on a door because you want to gain entry. Receptivity is much more than a mere willingness to accept holy things. Receptivity is an insistent, unrelenting, desire for holy things. So the connection between verses 6 and 7 is this: “Be a son, not a dog.” A son seeks good things from his father. A wild dog bites you when you feed it.