[“O Lord, Won’t You Buy Me a Mercedes Benz” video]
The way that we pray says a lot about what we think about God. Unfortunately, Janis Joplin, and a lot of other people for that matter, view God as someone who exists to do their bidding and give them what they want – kind of like a great genie in the sky who has come out of the magic lamp to grant their three wishes. But that is not the God of the Bible – the all knowing, all seeing, sovereign God of the universe who desires to give His children what they really need.
This week we’ll wrap up Jesus’ teaching on prayer from the Sermon on the Mount and then next week we’ll go back and pick up the passages that we’ve skipped over and spend about 5 weeks looking at Jesus’ teaching on stewardship from the Sermon on the Mount as well as in the rest of Scripture.
The passage that we’ll examine this morning is another one of those passages that has been greatly misused, even within the church. But if we begin with a proper understanding of who God is and what He desires for us we can make sure that we don’t fall into that trap. So take your Bibles and turn to Matthew 7.
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are 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!
Matthew 7:7-11 (ESV)
In order to make sure we come to a proper understanding of this passage, we actually need to start at the end, because it is there that we find…
THE TRUTH ABOUT GOD:
1. God desires to give good gifts to His children
First of all, we need to remember that this entire sermon that Jesus preached is directed primarily toward His disciples. So the promises regarding receiving, finding and having the door opened don’t apply to mankind in general – they are only promises for those who are God’s children through faith in Jesus. Jesus certainly emphasizes that truth when He uses the illustration of an earthly father giving gifts to his children.
As a father I certainly enjoy giving gifts to my children – and now grandchildren. Until I became a grandfather I never quite understood why my mom was spending my entire inheritance on her grandchildren. But now I’m becoming a big proponent of the practice myself. And while I might occasionally, because as Jesus said, am evil, give a gift to my grandchildren that would annoy their parents, I would certainly never intentionally give a gift that would be harmful to them.
And even though I know my children and grandchildren well enough to have a pretty good idea what would be good for them and what would not, I am not omniscient like God, so my choice of gifts might not always be perfect. I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy giving gifts, but what I hate is trying to figure out what to give someone as a gift. Once in a while, I have a flash of brilliance and can figure out the perfect gift to give someone, but most of the time I get frustrated because I want to give the perfect gift but I just can’t figure out what it ought to be.
But because He is God, our heavenly Father always picks out the perfect gift for us. In fact, James, who was probably listening to Jesus that day on the mountain, may have very well had these words of Jesus in mind when he wrote this:
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
James 1:17 (ESV)
Not only are the gifts that God give to us good, they are absolutely perfect. They are complete and beneficial for our lives. That leads to a second observation that we have already touched on briefly:
2. Only God knows what is truly good for His children
Not only does God desire to give good gifts to His children, because He is all knowing, He understands fully exactly what we need and what will be good for us. Sometimes God’s good gifts aren’t comfortable or pleasant. God often has to be like earthly parents who make their kids eat their vegetables or hold their hand in a parking lot or make them do their homework or tell them “no” when they want to do something that would be harmful. Although some of those things may not be pleasurable for our children, we, as parents understand that they are good for our children.
So just think how much more God knows what is truly good for His children. Many of us are familiar with Romans 8:28, but we don’t really get the full sense of that verse unless we also read the following verse along with it:
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Romans 8:28-29 (ESV)
That little connecting word “for” is key here. What we find is that the “good” in verse 28 is defined in verse 29 as being conformed to the image of Jesus. And God’s promise to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose is that He will use all things in our life for the purpose of making us more and more like Jesus. So He desires to give us gifts that will accomplish that goal in our lives.
An effective prayer life begins with a proper understanding of the character of God, knowing that He desires to give us good gifts and that He alone knows what is truly good for us. Once we understand that, we are ready to move on and learn…
HOW TO PRAY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CHARACTER OF GOD
This morning, we’ll begin with the general principle we find here and then we’ll take a closer look at how to ask, seek and knock in a manner that is consistent with the character of God.
General principle: Be persistent
In this passage, the verbs ask, seek and knock are in the imperative mood, which means that they are commands, not suggestions. And they are also in the present tense, which means that they are describing actions that are to be a lifestyle and not just a one time thing. We could accurately translate the passage like this: Keep on asking…keep on seeking…keep on knocking. So just the verbs themselves show that we are to be persistent in prayer.
But there is also a progression in these three actions that further emphasizes this principle of persistence. With each command, there is an increasing intensity in the action and more effort is required in order to carry out that action.
Let me illustrate. Let’s suppose you want to ask your boss for a raise. So one day you’re out to lunch together and you ask the boss, “Hey boss, can I have a raise?” That’s asking. But let’s say that your boss actually works at a different location and you haven’t seen him in a while. So in that case you have to take it to the next level and seek him out so you can ask for a raise. And let’s also say that when you finally locate your boss, he’s in his office with the door closed. So then you have to take it to the next level once again and knock on his door before you can ask for the raise. Obviously in order to proceed from one level to the next, you have to be more and more persistent.
Later in His ministry Jesus emphasizes this same principle with the parable of the persistent widow that we find in Luke 18, a parable that is prefaced with these words:
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.
Luke 18:1 (ESV)
As we’ve looked at Jesus’ teaching on prayer here in the Sermon on the Mount we’ve also observed that other New Testament writers like Paul confirm the need to be persistent in prayer. But what is to be the focus of that persistence. For what are we to ask, seek and knock? In order to answer that question, we have to start with the context of Jesus’ words here and then we can also bring in some other relevant passages that will shed some additional light on the answer to that question. So with that in mind, let’s spend a few minutes looking at each of the three actions that Jesus commands.
1. We are to ASK for those things that advance the kingdom of heaven
Since the entire Sermon on the Mount deals with the kingdom of heaven, then the things we are to ask for must also be those things that will lead to the advancement of that kingdom.
Earlier I mentioned that it is likely that James, Jesus’ half brother, was present there on the mountainside as Jesus delivered this sermon. But even if he wasn’t, he certainly was aware of Jesus’ words. A careful examination of James’ epistle shows that his writing is built around the principles we find in the Sermon on the Mount. So it’s not surprising that James offers a relevant commentary on Jesus’ command to ask and His promise that the one who asks will receive:
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
James 4:1-4 (ESV)
James addresses two reasons that the people were not receiving what they needed. First of all they weren’t asking. That clearly violates the command of Jesus here in Matthew 7. But when they did ask, they were asking with wrong motives. Like Janis Joplin, they were asking for those things that would satisfy their own passions.
James’ word here completely refutes what has come to be known as the “name it and claim it”, “word of faith” or “prosperity gospel” that teaches that if we just have enough faith, we can ask God to give us anything we want and He is somehow obligated to give it to us. The titles of the writings that come from some of the adherents of this movement give us a pretty good idea of their teachings: "How to Write Your Own Ticket with God," "Godliness is Profitable," "The Laws of Prosperity," "God's Creative Power Will Work for You," "Releasing the Ability of God Through Prayer," "God's Formula for Success and Prosperity," "God's Master Key to Prosperity," and "Living in Divine Prosperity”
You’ll notice that all the focus there is on man’s own desires and getting what we want from God. But James isn’t the only one who shows us that the focus of Jesus’ words here is on asking for those things that advance the kingdom of heaven. Throughout his ministry, Jesus also made it clear that our asking is to be in accordance with God’s desires for our lives and not our own desires. Let’s look at a couple of examples:
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
John 14:12-14 (ESV)
In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
John 16:23-24 (ESV)
When Jesus speaks about asking in His name, He doesn’t mean that we can just say “In Jesus’ name” at the end of our prayers and that God is then obligated to give us whatever we ask for. As we’ve discussed often before, names in the Bible are more than merely a moniker by which we identify a person. A person’s name was a representation of all that they were, including their character.
So when Jesus speaks of asking in His name, He means that we need to ask according to who He is and what He desires for our lives – in other words, those things that are consistent with the character of the citizens of the kingdom of heaven that He described earlier in the Sermon on the Mount. So that means we should be asking to be poor in spirit and to hunger and thirst for righteousness and to mourn over our sin and to be merciful and pure in heart and to be peacemakers. Those are things that God delights in giving to His children because they are indeed good and perfect gifts.
Before we leave this principle, let’s look at how John linked our asking to those things that advance the kingdom of heaven:
Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
1 John 3:21-22 (ESV)
John confirms what we have already learned – receiving what we ask for is conditional on asking for those things that advance God’s kingdom and His purpose and which therefore please Him. But John even takes it one step further by linking the ability to receive what we ask for to our obedience as well.
2. We are to SEEK God Himself
Again this is implied by the context itself. But not surprisingly, we find this principle illustrated consistently throughout the Scriptures. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be looking at the rest of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus will make this principle even more implicit. Since we’ll be examining that passage in more detail then, let’s look this morning at the parallel passage in Luke’s gospel account;
And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
Luke 12:29-31 (ESV)
When we move from asking to the next step of seeking, once again we are not to seek those things that we desire. In fact, Jesus carries that principle even further. He says that we are not even to seek after those things that we need like food and drink.
As we saw earlier in Jesus’ teaching on prayer, God already knows what we need before we pray. We don’t pray to inform God of our wants and needs; we pray to acknowledge our dependence on Him. Ironically, when we do that, when we seek God Himself rather than the things we want to get from Him, God provides for everything we really need and every good gift that He want to give to us.
Let’s look at both an Old Testament and a New Testament illustration of this principle.
First, we’ll look at the words of God to the prophet Jeremiah concerning what was going to occur after the end of Judah’s captivity in Babylon:
For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
Jeremiah 29:10-14 (ESV)
God promised the people that if they sought Him He would gather them and bring them back into the land He had given them and restore their fortunes. Notice that God never told them to seek to return to the land or to seek to have their fortunes restored. But if they would seek Him with their whole hearts, God would give the people the good gifts that He had in store for them.
Many of us are familiar with the account of Paul in Acts 17 where he preaches to the people of Athens, using their altar to the unknown God as the starting point for his message. He goes on to point out the need to seek God:
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
Acts 17:24-27 (ESV)
We are not to seek out God just because we expect that He might give us some good gift in return. God has created man with a desire in his heart to seek God, so when we follow that God-given desire, we are doing that which is pleasing to God. But because of His love for us, God chooses to reward those who seek Him by giving us those good and perfect gifts.
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Hebrews 11:6 (ESV)
3. We are to KNOCK so that we can have intimate fellowship with God
I can’t help but think that this command to knock must be connected in some way with the one other place in Scripture where Jesus speaks to His followers about knocking. Jesus spoke to the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3 with these familiar words:
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Revelation 3:20 (ESV)
Although that verse is often used as an invitation for people to enter into a relationship with Jesus, Jesus is actually speaking here to those who are already His followers. He is offering to come in and enter into fellowship with them by sharing a meal with them if they will just open the door.
Other than the parallel passage in Luke 11 where Jesus repeats the command to ask, seek and knock, there is only one other place in the Bible where we find a reference to knocking:
When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’
Luke 13:25 (ESV)
In this case, those knocking at the door desire to have a relationship with Jesus, but because they have not committed their lives to Jesus and have tried to enter the narrow door by some other means, they are not permitted to enter into that relationship.
So what we find is that both other references to knocking in the bible have to do with intimate fellowship with God. And that is the essence of what Jesus is teaching here. If we want to have God open the door so that we can have intimate fellowship with Him, then we need to initiate that fellowship by knocking.
Now it is certainly true that God initiated that fellowship in the first place by sending His Son Jesus to earth to die on a cross to make it possible for us to have fellowship with God. But once we have accepted the gift of salvation through faith in Jesus, the depth of intimacy that we experience in our relationship with God depends on us, not on God. God is there all the time waiting for us to knock on the door in prayer so that He can open the door and allow us into His presence. But He will never force His way into our lives.
Genuine prayer is never about getting a Mercedes Benz or a color TV or a night on the town. It is instead, all about God – about asking for those things that advance His kingdom, seeking God Himself and knocking in order to pursue an intimate relationship with Him.
God values persistence and passion when we pray like that because it shows that we care about the things that He cares about. And as a result, God delights in giving us gifts that are far better than anything we could ever imagine or ask for on our own.
