Living in the Kingdom 19
Scripture: Matthew 7:7-12; First John 5:14-15; James 1:5-7
This morning in the continuation of my series “Living in the Kingdom,” we will be examining what Jesus said about asking and receiving. As we read these verses I want to remind you that Jesus was teaching a kingdom principle about our relationship with the Father. This is what He said in Matthew 7:7-12: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! 12In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
When I was a child, I knew that there were certain things that fell within my parents’ realm of responsibility. I knew, without a doubt, that if I was hungry, needed clothes or something for school that I could go and ask and they would do their best to provide what I needed. I never had to beg them to fulfill their responsibilities relating to my care. All I had to do was make my needs known to them. Their response was always one of a caring parent – but their care came with an understanding. You see, they understood that what I thought I needed might not be a need at all. They understood that because I wanted something badly did not necessarily mean that I needed it. They understood something that I didn’t. I thought everything that I wanted was a need so if I wanted it I really needed it. It was their responsibility in their years of wisdom to decipher if my wants were actually needs. Through their wisdom I learned to differentiate between a need and a want and I knew without a doubt that when I came to them with a need they would do their best to take care of it. I wanted to open with that story because this is the point that Jesus is making in the verses we just read when He said we should ask, seek and knock.
The first word in these verses is “ask.” It comes from the Greek word “aiteo.” This word frequently suggests the attitude of the one doing the asking as being in a lesser position than the one who is being asked, as in the case of men asking something from God. However, with that being said, the use of this Greek word translated as “ask” eliminates any religious suggestion that we are “lowly worms” who have absolutely no right to come into the presence of God to make a request. It also destroys the picture that some paint where we must come to God begging and pleading for the things we need. In the Greek, and as used in these verses, the word aiteo means to be adamant in requesting and even demanding assistance in meeting tangible needs, such as food, shelter, money and so forth. Now I am not saying that we should be disrespectful or rude when we pray, but the opposite. We should come to God as a child comes to their parent who has the responsibility and resources to meet their needs. A child does not have to beg a good parent to provide for their needs – it’s part of the parent’s responsibility. Because this word suggests an attitude of the one making the request as being in an inferior position to the one they are making the request to, being respectful would automatically be a part of the request. The Greek word aiteo also describes a person who speaks out and prays boldly and authoritatively. We can pray and make requests with authority when we know that our requests are in line with what God has promised to do for us. This is the picture John paints when he wrote, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” (First John 5:14-15) John tells us that if we ask anything according to His will, God hears us. Then he writes that “…if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” This is the knowledge that we should walk in when we make our request known to God – He hears us and will answer our prayers.
This Greek word for “ask” is also the same word that Paul used in Ephesians 3:20 when he wrote, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think….” and in Colossians 1:9 when he wrote “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.” James also used this four times in his letter. In the very first chapter the following is recorded in verse five: “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5) Finally the Apostle John wrote, “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.” (First John 3:22) Jesus said we are to “ask” which is to demand something that is due one because of family and or redemptive rights. He said we are to “ask, seek, and knock.” Just as an FYI, the first letters of each of these three words spell “ask.” It is God’s will that we ask and actually get what we ask for because our requests are in line with His will and when we receive it He gets the glory. Now if this is God’s will then we must spend time with Him to understand what falls within “His” will otherwise we will spend a lifetime making requests and being disappointed because what we are seeking is not within God’s will for our lives.
As I said at the beginning, Jesus was teaching a kingdom principle about our relationship with the Father. As a parent, we all know what our responsibilities are to our children and our children learn that pretty quickly. Our children have no issues coming to us with their requests. If you think back on it, sometimes they came to us knowing that their request will be fulfilled because they knew it was our responsibility to meet their needs. However, there were other times when they came to us hesitantly because they did not know if our response to their request would be a “yes” or “no” and they knew that they were probably pushing the envelope a little too far! In those situations they were unsure since our “responsibility” might not apply to their request. An example would be when a teenager comes to their parent to ask them to purchase their first car. They know their parents are obligated to get them to where they need to go, but that does not mean they are obligated to purchase them a car in order to do that. Can you say “push the envelope”? ? If we understand that our relationship with God is one of a parent and child, then we would also understand that there some are responsibilities that God has for us because we are His children. Jesus aids our understanding when He said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
Asking is simply using our voice; seeking requires a motion of our body to find something while knocking is an effort to open and pass through obstacles. These three were not used without a purpose as they represent three different ways of seeking the things which we need from God. Asking implies that we ask for those things which are consistent with God’s will for our lives, that is, things which He has promised to give us that are best for us and His kingdom. This is what John was talking about when he said that God hears us when we pray and because He does hear us we can have confidence that our prayers will be answered. Next, Jesus said we should seek. This phrase signifies that we should pursue with earnestness, diligence, and perseverance. The promise is that what we seek will be given to us. Again, it is implied that we seek with a proper spirit of humility, sincerity, and perseverance because we recognize that God is willing to forgive our sins, save our souls, provide for us, be a friend in trials and is able to comfort us when we need it. Jesus promised that God will provide an answer to those who ask, seek, and knock and He does this by giving an example of the relationship between a child and their parent. He says, “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”
Jesus uses the example of a child coming to their parent asking for food when they are hungry. Absolutely no good parent will turn away his child when they come to them asking for food. I would dare say that no good parent would turn away other people’s children who are hungry and asking for food. A good parent would not give their child a stone when they are hungry and asking for bread. Likewise they would not give them a serpent instead of a fish. Now if a good parent (who has a tendency for evil) is willing to do what is best for theirs and other people’s children how much better and kinder is God in whom there is no darkness? As God is much more tenderhearted than earthly parents, we should have the confidence, as His children, to come and ask for what we need! Jesus said parents are evil; that is, are imperfect, often partial, and blind to the needs of others but God is free from all this, and therefore is ready and willing to help us – all the time! The Bible tells us that everyone who asks in faith shall receive. However, we must remember that God, just as a good parent would, does not always give us the very thing we ask for, but He gives us what is best for us. As a parent, if our child asks for something that we know is harmful to them will we not deny their request and give them what we believe is best for them? This is what our heavenly Father does also. Remember when Paul asked that the thorn in his flesh be removed? Jesus did not literally grant the request, but told him, “….My grace is sufficient for you: for My strength is made perfect in weakness...” (Second Corinthians 12:9). Jesus did not answer Paul’s by removing or resolving the issue, but He did answer Paul in a way that was “best” for Paul!
So if Jesus said that our prayers would be answers then there must be a reason as to why some of our prayers are not being answered. Well there is and the main culprit is our unbelief and lack of faith. Romans 10:17 which says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The Bible says that faith comes by hearing! If you are not hearing (or studying) the Word how can you hope to have enough faith for your prayers to be answered? Remember what we read earlier from James chapter one when he spoke of our asking God for wisdom? Well in verses six and seven he said, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.” When we come to God we must believe and have faith. We cannot waver! So if we are asking and we are not receiving we must ask ourselves are we asking in faith without wavering. Then we have to ask if we are praying according to God’s will. James also tells us in James 4:3, “You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it upon your lusts.” James says that although we ask our requests are denied because we wish to make God the provider of our lusts. People have absolutely no boundaries as to what they will pray and ask God for believing wrongly that God will give them their every heart’s desire. In this there appears to be no reverence for God, no fear of Him, and no regard for Him, especially when we come to Him with selfish requests that would violate our own conscience if someone made the request of us. It is only when we seek God first that we begin to make requests that are based on His word and sure to be received.
Lastly Jesus says, “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” This verse is known as the “Golden Rule.” It says that we are to treat others as we desire to be treated. It is a lesson that parents teach their children early on in life. Now this verse does not imply that we are to always do to others what they would like us to do, but what we would like to have done to ourselves if we were placed in their condition and they in ours. What Jesus said in this verse has been similarly quoted by Socrates among the Greeks (What stirs you to anger when done to you by others, that do not to others); Buddha and Confucius, among other Orientals (What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others) and Hillel among the Jews (Do not do to thy neighbor what is hateful to thyself.) But when you study what the other teachers said you see that they do not come up to Christ’s standard. Their sayings are negative and passive. They said: “Do not do to others what you would not have done to you.” Theirs is a rule of not doing, rather than of doing. Jesus said “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you…”
Jesus ended this verse by saying, “….for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Our Lord and Savior does not say that this is the only point of doctrine laid down in the law and the prophets, but that all the precepts which they contain about charity, and all the laws and exhortations found in them about maintaining justice, have a reference to this object. Remember what is recorded in Mark 12:30-31? It says, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: this is the first commandment. 31And the second is like, namely this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” We are commanded to love God first; with everything within us we love Him first and foremost. Then the second table of the law is fulfilled when every man treats others as he would like to be treated. If we are willing to do this simple task proactively, there would be no need for endless debates about how we are to live within our communities. The whole of the law and the prophets is to love God above ourselves, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” Are you asking and having your requests fulfilled? Are you seeking and finding what you are looking for? Are you knocking and having the door opened to you? If the answer to these questions is a resounding “No” then I encourage you to go back and spend some time with your heavenly Father. Spend some extra time in His word. Treat God like you would your parent when they initially turned down your request. When that happened you ask them to explain their reasons for rejecting your request and sometimes their reasons made perfect sense. Other times they told you what they would be willing to do base on your request. And sometimes they didn’t give you a reason. If we are asking, seeking and knocking and nothing is being received, found or opened, we need to find out why. What is hindering us? What do we need to change in order to walk in that relationship with God where we know we are being heard and our requests are within His will?
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
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