1. We’re in Matthew 7:7-11 today. It’s a pretty familiar passage where Jesus invites us, really more challenges us, to ask, seek and knock – to get persistent in our pursuit of God, to be diligent in asking for divine intervention. And if we to do that, He gives us some promises to claim. Matthew 7:7-11.
2. Alright, what 3 things does Jesus tell us to do here? Ask, seek and knock. (lit. keep on asking…)And the words he uses are probably a lot more meaning-packed than we get at first glance. The word we translate ask, is the greek word, aieteo, which means to urgently petition, almost demand. Seek is zeteo, which means to crave something or demand something from someone. Knock is krouo which means to rap repeatedly on a door. Again, demanding attention. So Jesus uses 3 different words, each w/ escalating urgency, to call us to get serious in our pursuit of God.
3. And He promises us that if we’re willing to do that, not only will we get God’s attention, but we will get a response. That’s an awesome promise. The Bible’s full of great promises, this is one of them, but as with a lot of God’s promises, it’s conditional, contingent on something. We have a part to play. And here Jesus says in order to get God’s attention, you have to ask for it. Seems simple, but we miss this.
4. You know who gets this principle? Kids! Young kids get this. They know that if you want something, you’ve got to ask. They also know that if you ask for something and you don’t get it, that you don’t stop asking, right? My kids are really good at this. They’re always asking me if I want to do something I don’t really want to do. And I’ll usually say, “not right now”. Which to me means, that’s not something I ever want to do, to them that means check back in 5 minutes. So they come back again, Dad, do you want to play now?
5. And we’ll end up going back and forth for a while, but what’s funny is that at the end of our negotiations, quite often I find myself doing something I really didn’t want to do (dolls, playing army, making blanket forts. The neighbors drive by and there’s the pastor w/ a light saber in his hand. The kids are around back, they can’t see them, just me running around w/ a light saber. I’ve learned that you just smile, wave and act like its normal. “force be with you!” My kids know how to get my attention. They ask.
6. Almost everybody wants God’s attention and response. I talk to people all the time, don’t go to church, don’t read a Bible, don’t pray, but they have expectations of God. I talked to a server recently; “I don’t know why God’s putting me through this, if He’s real, then why doesn’t He fix my problems.” You’ve heard that from somebody, and you may have said that. B/c see, we have expectations of God. Whether spoken or unspoken, realistic or unrealistic, we have expectations that we want God to meet.
7. What Jesus says is – don’t just assume He will. Communicate with him. Jesus makes it clear that God wants to take care of us, He just wants us to want Him to. To ask him to, to seek Him out, to knock on His door with our needs. Relational rule – expectation minus communication = frustration. For some of us, the simple answer to our question WHY – why isn’t God doing this, why hasn’t God done that, why does God allow that or not change this – the simple answer to that question is what James says in James 4:3 – you have not b/c you…what? Ask not. In the NIV, you do not have b/c you do not ask God.
8. While it seems like a no-brainer, most of us are, at least at some level, expecting things from God that we’re NOT asking Him for, seeking after Him for, and knocking on His door for. And without proper communication of that expectation, we’ll likely be left with frustration.
9. And I want to clarify, b/c there are some serious misinterpretations of this passage. I’ve heard a lot of “name it and claim it” Christians use this passage as kind of a carte blanche request line to God. I want something, I just rub Matthew 7:7 real hard and out pops Genie Jesus to grant me my wish. That’s not what this verse is teaching. Just looking at it in its context – a series of commands on Christian character and dependency on God – this is a connected thought where Jesus is teaching us to seek the truth. To search for God. To seek God for what we need to follow Him.
10. It is not a call to make random demands on God. To expect that prayer is like a dollar in a vending machine. Put in my prayer, out comes my request. In the same passage I quoted from earlier, James corrects this misunderstanding of prayer. James 4:3, 4. 3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 4You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
11. Any time I’m asking for something from God, I’ve got to ask myself – what’s my motivation? What’s my agenda? What’s my real desire here? Is it my will be done or His? Is this for my kingdom or His? Is this about Him or me? So often, as I’ve asked those questions, it’s changed my prayer. It’s changed what I’m asking God for. B/c so often as I’m praying, I realize that I’m asking God to bless my agenda instead of asking him to get me on board with His. While it’s important that I communicate my expectations of God, it’s even more important that I fulfill his expectations of me – esp. if I plan on getting answers to my prayers. (Blocks to prayer – unforgiveness, sin, wrong motives, unbelief)
12. (In John 15:7-8, 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. Jesus does promise that we can have whatever we ask, but look at the conditions in that promise – IF you remain in me, IF my words remain in you – for the purpose of bearing fruit for God). When we get this principle – that it’s not about us, it’s about Him. It’s not about our kingdom, it’s about His. It’s not about our will, but His will being done…when we’re living for heaven and not earth, then we can ask for whatever we need to build His kingdom and bring him glory.) If we’re truly asking God for His answers, seeking first HIS kingdom, knocking on HIS door for our needs, He’s promised to come through for us.
13. But even then, we need to understand that God’s not going to grant every request and answer every prayer the way we want him to. In 2 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul, a guy that had a much better line to heaven than I feel I do, had a serious prayer request. Something that was really tearing him up…and he does exactly what Jesus says to do – he asks, he seeks, he knocks. 2 Cor. 12:7-12. Did Paul’s prayer get answered? Yes. Was it the answer he was looking for? No. If Paul couldn’t just name it and claim it, neither can we.
14. There will be times when the very thing we want the most from God is just not going to happen, no matter how much we ask. But in those times, we need to know there’s a reason. There’s a purpose. There’s a plan. It’s not b/c God doesn’t care or doesn’t hear us or doesn’t have our best interest in mind – its b/c he knows what’s best for us and he wants us to trust that. He wants us to pray specifically and diligently but he also wants us to accept whatever answer He gives us. Paul got his answer – he didn’t get the answer he wanted, but he did get an answer.
15. (When I read this passage, I think about Jaylah – God’s purpose in not answering my prayer. I’m tempted to think – maybe God doesn’t hear my prayers, maybe He doesn’t answer prayer, maybe He’s not as involved as I’d like to think. But maybe the reality is, He’s got a better plan. He’s got a bigger plan than I can see. I want a short-term solution that will make life better for me and for her, but maybe God has a better plan to bring glory to Himself through our weakness. I’m more concerned about what I want God to do for me, I’m missing what He’s trying to do in me.
16. Through Jaylah we’ve already met a lot of other kids with special needs. Grant’s testimony – I’m not a mistake, I’m a miracle and I thank God for making me just the way He did. I’m fearfully and wonderfully made. And God’s used Grant and that testimony to win a lot of people to Jesus. (Elijah’s prayer. Hard times – Dad not be discouraged. Not sure why Elijah can get it and I can’t sometimes)
17. What this passage ISN’T saying is that we can just name and claim whatever we want and God will go and fetch it. Or that we can pray away all our problems. What it is saying; be persistent and diligent in your pursuit of God. Don’t go outside of Him or around Him or take matters into your own hands, but actively wait on the lord. (timing) Blessed are the spiritual beggars. Be proactive in petitioning God for your needs but also trust Him with the answer. Know that He is your heavenly father and that He knows what you need before you ask Him and He knows what’s best for you.
18. That really is the bigger point here. (A fortiori – how much more)
19. For some of us, we don’t ask, seek and knock b/c we don’t know who God is. We all have a picture of God, who He is, how He interacts with us, but is it really the picture that Jesus paints? God as Father. For some that’s not a good picture. Abandonment, neglect, disconnected, abusive. Father may not be the best concept for a lot of us. Maybe that’s why Jesus uses a different word. Abba, Daddy. Not “Father”, but Daddy. It was the word a small child would use to address his dad. No one ever used this word to describe God or in association with prayer.
20. Our natural instinct is to believe that God is so great and powerful that we can’t approach him. He’s so cosmically intimidating that we dare not bring him our needs. (The great and powerful OZ). Jesus pulls the curtain back and says, “Guess what, here’s a little secret that the Pharisees don’t know and wouldn’t tell you if they did, but God wants to be your Daddy. He loves you like crazy and wants to spend time with you and take care of you.” Jesus breaks all religious and cultural rules and sets out to make the God that the religious leaders had painted as so unapproachable and so beyond us, the God who wants to be our Daddy.
21. And as a good Dad, He wants to give us what we really need. Not a snake or a stone – not an imitation, but the real needs of our heart. So often we’re satisfied with cheap imitations. Instead of waiting on God for true love, we settle for a codependent relationship with someone who will stay for now. We settle for lust. Instead of letting God validate us and fulfill us, we want other people’s approval and material possessions. And so often our heavenly father will refuse what we want to give us what we need.
22. He’s a good Dad. He gives us what we’re ready to receive from Him. What we’ve put ourselves in a position to expect from Him.
• If I expect God to provide for me financially, have I put my faith in him in that area? Do I ask Him for my daily bread? Does He get my first-fruits, my tithe? Do I thank him for what I do have?
• If I expect him to bless my relationships – have I put him first in that area? Am I waiting on Him to provide the right person? Am I seeking Him in my marriage? Am I knocking on His door for help as a husband, wife, parent?
• God is ready to assume responsibility for the life that is put in his hands. He’s ready to bless the person who is asking, seeking, knocking and needs Him like a little child needs his daddy.
23. In so many ways, it’s up to us. Our relationship with God as Father is up to us. We can keep Him at arm’s length and never experience the intimacy and joy that comes from dependency and child-like faith or we can nuzzle up on his lap and let Him be our Daddy. That’s really the invitation of this passage, and the entire sermon on the mount – to get to know God in a real and intimate way that allows us to trust Him with our lives.
24. Jesus not only teaches that, but He demonstrates that. In one of the most powerful scenes in the Bible, Jesus in the garden called out for his Daddy, abba. Mark 14:36. Following Jesus is about learning to trust God with our lives. That’s what Jesus taught us and that’s what he modeled as He poured out His heart to God in the Garden, but ultimately submitted His will and went to the cross.
25. As we prepare to take communion, let’s remember what it cost Jesus to make a real relationship with our Abba possible.
