CHRISTIANS ARE ABNORMAL IN HOW THEY VIEW THE FUTURE Matthew 7:7-11
We would like to say “thank you” this morning to all of you dads. It’s not always easy being a Dad. Man, it’s a great thing. It’s an exciting thing, but it is also a trying thing.
Recognize Dads and pray for them.
- Matthew 7:7-12
This is great promise. This a great encouragement to Christ-followers and God-trusters everywhere. To know that God hears us when we pray, to know that He not only hears, but that He also answers our prayers.
God is a good God. He is a faithful God. He is the all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present God, and He knows and loves you, and knowing that makes the future not quite so uncertain, dark, nor frightening.
It was that knowledge that allowed Abraham to leave everything, and almost everything he knew and to head off to a land he didn’t know.
Abraham went out, not knowing where he was going, but he knew with Whom he was going. He knew his “Traveling Companion”.
Our Lord does not promise to change life for us; He does not promise to remove difficulties and trials, and problems, and tribulations. He does not say that He is going to cut out all the thorns and leave only the roses. No, He says that no matter what happens, we need not be frightened because He is with us.
And gentlemen, I would like you to notice the great privilege God gives you. He allows you to be His representative, His stand in, His ambassador, in your home and family.
Already in Matthew, Jesus has referred to God as Father 15 times. Now He talks about a man and his son and uses that as a representation of God and His children.
Gentlemen, do you realize that the type of Dad you are can twist, or skew your children’s perception of what God is like? Oh, how many people I’ve talked to who have been afraid of, or who have had no interest in a Heavenly Father, because of how sorry their earthly father was.
Gentlemen, model for your children and for the children in your neighborhood, what a true, a godly, a heavenly Father is like. Be loving. Set and maintain standards. Be consistent. Be just. Show grace and mercy. Demonstrate that you have priorities in your life other than how many planes you can shoot on your video game. Show your children that they are important to you, that you love them; but that God is the most important thing to you.
Paul says that men are to love their lives as Christ loved the church. Men, let your children see how much you love their mother and how important she is to you. Let them see you sacrificing some of your wants, hobbies or time for their mama.
Show them what a Heavenly Father is like.
Now, as we look at this passage, it says that we know how to give our children good gifts and that our Heavenly Father does an even better job. That means that this passage is not a blank check with God promising to give us whatever it is that we keep asking for. It may not be good for us. We may not be ready for it.
My brother Dusty gave me a 38 police special, some time back. Since I already have several pistols, Drew keeps asking me for that one and refers to it as his.
Now, the day may come when I give him that gun. And before you get all upset about a preacher talking about guns, go read the passage where Jesus tells His disciples that after He left they were to sell their cloaks and buy swords if they didn’t have one.
Guns don’t kill people, people kill people; just like they did before the invention of gunpowder.
Now, the day may come when I give that pistol to Drew, but being a Dad who knows how to give good gifts, I know he’s not ready for it, so I don’t give it to him.
The same is true of our Heavenly Father. I prayed for a long time for a wife and I was 31 before God gave me Gladys. I had almost given up hope. There were a number of other women I had prayed about, but God knew He had a special lady picked out for me who would be a great preacher’s wife, so He made me wait for the good gift He had selected for me.
If God had given me a wife before He did, I never would have appreciated the great gift He gave me. So, don’t wave these verses in God’s direction, believing He is promising to give you whatever you ask for a lot.
If that is the case, then what are these verses promising? To answer we must think about where these verses are located. One of the sad things we Christians often do, is to pull verses out of context and believe we can apply them anyway we want.
Now, where are these verses located? Chapter 7 begins by warning us about judging. Jesus then warns us to examine ourselves and see the beams in our own eyes.
We are driven to the mirror of scripture and there we see our tremendous need for grace. We feel helpless and hopeless. How can anyone live up to the standards held out in the SOTM? We need help and we need grace. Where do we find it? Here’s the answer … Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
These promises apply only to those who:
1. Realize their need – Sadly, there are many today who try to claim the promises of the Bible without ever realizing that they have a need.
a) Awfulness of sin -
My word, how many are there today who claim to be followers of Jesus and children of the King, but who have never really realized the need they have for a Heavenly Father.
My friend, the Bible says that apart from Jesus Christ we are sinners. We are dead in our trespasses and sin. We are blind to the seriousness of our condition. We are blind to the foulness of our sin.
The Bible says that the best we can do is like filthy rags in the eyes of Jesus.
Well brother Gene, I’m not really all that bad. You know I grew up in the church. I’ve tried to live a good life all of my life. I’ve never intentionally hurt anyone. You know I read my Bible regularly and am involved in several Bible studies.
My friend, I pray for you. Who is going to keep asking and seeking and knocking, that doesn’t first realize their need and the awfulness of their sin.
*** Flag Day this past week. Memorial Day before that. Angered at people who have no respect for our country, the blessings we have, and the sacrifices that have been made.
God says that our sin is open rebellion against Him. Do you think He takes that lightly?
And Dads, part of helping your children admit that they are wrong, or that they have sinned, is being willing to admit that you are wrong to them.
One of the toughest things I ever did, was to have to go I and tell Drew I was wrong for punishing him for someone else’s perception of an event.
Don’t be so bull-headed and stubborn that you never admit your faults, or you’ll raise children who are never able to admit their’s.
b. The greatness of God’s grace through Jesus Christ –
The great sacrifice made for us.
2. Realize God is our Father –
This is not in the universal, generic sense. God is not everyone’s Father.
> You do the work of your father the Devil.
> John 1:11-12 He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. 12 But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name,
> Romans 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
3. Our Father will never give us anything that is evil.
4. Our Father wants us to have increasingly good gifts –
> Luke 11:13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”
> Ephesians 5:18 And don’t get drunk with wine, which [leads to] reckless actions, but be filled with the Spirit:
How do you do that? Persistence. Asking, seeking, knocking.
Dads, don’t be on-again, off-again for Jesus. Show your children a consistent, passionate walk with the Father.
Well, it was a typical scenario of young boys debating whose father was the best. This discussion highlighted who their fathers knew. The first boy started the debate by claiming his father knew the mayor. He was soon topped by the second boy who said, "That’s nothing. My dad knows the governor." The stakes were getting pretty high, and the eavesdropping father wondered what his young son would say about him. The little boy shot back, "So what! My dad knows God!" Would your son say the same thing? May our children always be able to say, "My dad knows God!"
