“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 “Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 “If 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! 12 “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
In one of the commentaries I perused in coming to this portion the author observed that many cults have taught that God is the ‘universal father’ of us all, and that He will give us anything and everything we ask for.
Just the fact that proponents of this lie gain a following and even grow rich from the offerings of their victims is evidence that sin and evil are alive and well in this world and still able to deceive otherwise prudent and intelligent human beings.
It also demonstrates the utter weakness and uselessness of mankind without the Spirit of Christ, that greed is so strong and the service to self of such a high priority that men and women will swallow such obvious deception and even yield themselves and their resources as a sort of burnt offering in the pursuit of the proverbial ‘free meal’.
But we’re not here today to expose the deception of what we generally refer to as the ‘cults’. Jesus was talking about Christians, remember? So He is still talking about the Christian here in these verses.
What causes me concern and should also cause you concern is that the deceptions I was talking about a minute ago exist within the church that claims to be founded upon Christ and His gospel
Because when men and women who represent themselves as ministers called to preach God’s Word tell you and me that in the authority of the believer who has the Holy Spirit indwelling we can claim for ourselves health and wealth and comfort and prestige, are they not simply cult leaders with a blinded following? Deceived and deceiving?
The sort of teaching that implies God is interested in giving us whatever material thing our hearts desire demonstrates a profound ignorance of the very character of God; not to mention, ignorance also of His written Word.
What do these false teachers then do with James 4:3?
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
What is the wrong motive for asking God for something? Anything selfish. Anything that is entirely focused on our fleshly desires. So when we pray and continue to pray for something and there seems to be no answer, the first thing we need to do in analyzing the situation is to ask, ‘Why am I asking for this?’ ‘What is my motive?’
ASK AND IT WILL BE GIVEN
Plucked from the context of the Sermon on the Mount this passage can cause a great deal of confusion, as can many of the other statements in this sermon.
On the surface doesn’t Jesus seem to be handing out blank checks to everyone? Ask, seek, knock, receive. No apparent limitations whatsoever.
From verse 7 through verse 11 there is not one mention of a condition. Jesus is encouraging persistence and even a progression of persistence.
“Ask” is verbal. “Seek” implies action. “Knock” conjures a picture of someone standing at the door banging on it, expecting someone to open up for them.
So as I said, lifted out of the context of the sermon much damage can be done to this passage. But that also requires ignorance of other things Jesus said in other places. Let’s look at a couple.
“If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.” John 15:7
This promise is not without condition is it? “If you abide in Me…” That would be a reference to being saved in the first place, then “…and My words abide in you” would indicate that the one asking is a faithful student of God’s Word who has the words of Christ dwelling in Him richly and in a way that manifests obedience and Christ-likeness in his life.
Folks, we are sinful, silly creatures who do not know what is right and Godly.
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Proverbs 14:12
“’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways’, declares the Lord.” Isaiah 55:8
In Romans 8 verse 26 Paul tells us that the Spirit helps us pray, and we often approach that as a declaration of an available resource if we’re stuck and aren’t sure how to pray for a situation. But if you look at the wording of the verse what Paul says is that the Spirit helps us, “…for we do not know how to pray as we should…”
So the writers of the Bible, beginning with Christ Himself, give us enough confirmation of our inability to ask, seek and knock persistently after the proper things, to establish that the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:7-11 do not constitute a carte blanch ‘fill in the blank and it’s yours’ promise from God.
ASK FOR WHAT, THEN?
OK, so, we go back to our text, put it back in the context of the sermon itself, and let’s see if we can determine what Jesus is actually telling us here if it is not that we have magic mouths and can just ‘name-it ‘n claim-it’.
First, you may remember that I said in an earlier sermon that chapter 7 is about judgment. It begins with Jesus telling Christians not to judge other Christians in a condemning way.
For the Christian to cast condemnation on a brother or sister in the Lord is the zenith of sinful presumption, since God’s Word assures us that there is ‘…no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” Romans 8:1, and if God has removed judgment from us through the death of His Son, for us to judge another Christian’s sin is to declare the work of the cross insufficient.
On the other hand we’re supposed to use discerning judgment in giving the gospel to those who need it but also avoid getting into futile debates with the prideful and arrogant, trying to convince them of Kingdom truths that they are intent on mocking and rejecting.
So when we come to verse 7 and the very next thing Jesus says is to ask, seek and knock, it follows that He is promising to His children grace to be discerning and spiritual wisdom (that is, wisdom that is from the Holy Spirit) in relating to both pagans and fellow Christians alike if only they will persistently and diligently seek after that grace.
Inherent in His words is the promise of the Holy Spirit. This is confirmed in the parallel verse from Luke 11 where He said more specifically:
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Luke 11:13
When Jesus says ‘…your heavenly Father’ will give the Holy Spirit, since those without the Spirit cannot claim God as Father, we understand that He is referring to the fullness of the Spirit.
In Acts 4 Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit for a special defense of the faith before the High Priest and other rulers, and again in chapter 13 Luke tells us that Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit for the demonstration of God’s power in pronouncing judgment on Elymas the magician for his perversion of truth.
In Ephesians 5 Paul exhorts his readers to seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and since he was writing to the church, the Christians, in Ephesus, we have to conclude that he was speaking of something subsequent to the coming of the Holy Spirit at salvation.
The Christian is to ask, seek, knock; in other words exercise persistence, perseverance and insistence in his desire to daily be filled with the Holy Spirit so that his life might manifest God’s glory.
How many of us can say without blushing and hiding our faces that we are this diligent in seeking the Spirit’s enabling and empowering in our daily life? How many Christians, I wonder, seldom give thought to the third Person of the Trinity unless they are exposed to a Bible Study on that theme?
Let’s focus more intently on the wording of our text going beyond the nature in which our asking is to be demonstrated.
WE’RE ALL INCLUDED
If you are truly a believer in Jesus Christ, and by that I mean if you have the Holy Spirit in you and you have been given the life from above that Jesus promised to those who believe in His death and resurrection for their atonement, and you’re not just a churchy, religious person, then here is what He is saying to you in verse 8.
If you ask, you WILL be given. If you seek, you WILL find. If you knock, the door WILL be opened for you.
This is very definite language and as I said earlier, the only condition is the implied one; that you are a born again believer.
So fellow Christians, if we find ourselves weak and faltering and leaning toward unwise choices and feeling powerless in our personal ministry and our daily walk, we can only blame ourselves because Jesus said if we only ask we WILL be filled with His Spirit…but we DO have to ask.
Not because He likes to see us beg, but because if we have no interest in being filled with the Spirit He is not going to barge in, any more than you or I would walk into the home of someone who is merely a minor acquaintance and sit down to watch their television.
We’re all included, Christian. Think about that for just a moment. God has no favorites. It is we silly sinful folk who assign levels of honor and prestige to men.
Jesus says that if a person is a Christian and they seek the Holy Spirit’s power in their life with diligence it will be there. So if you look around at the influence of the church on our society today doesn’t that give you an idea how few Christians are asking, seeking and knocking?
Let me put that in the positive. If true believers in Jesus Christ in all of our churches determined to pause daily and diligently ask, seek and knock for God to fill them with the Holy Spirit, don’t you think that would have an amazing impact not only on the church but on society also?
“…seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” 2 Peter 1:3
WE’RE EVIL, HE IS GOOD
The other thing I want to focus on just so we don’t miss it is in verse 11. In verses 9 and 10 the meaning is pretty straightforward. Jesus is being deliberately ridiculous here for the sake of making the point. None but the very cruelest of parents would give their child something harmful when they’ve trustingly requested something helpful.
So in these verses Jesus gives us all the benefit of the doubt and calls us good parents. If your child asks for this, you wouldn’t give him that, you’d give him what is good.
Then this striking phrase in verse 11…
“If you then, being evil,…” Well, golly!
Well, we are, aren’t we? I don’t think any of us could find an experienced parent who would claim to be a perfect parent. Only the lowest of knuckle-dragging buffoons would refuse to admit that there have been times he or she has been unfair in dealing with their children, or short-sighted or harsh or something else unpleasant.
That’s because we’re evil in our nature and we can only be good by the influence of the divine nature in us. So as long as the battle rages there will be skirmishes that we will lose.
I just want to point out to you one more example of Jesus’ teaching that is unique to Him.
He said, “If you, being evil…”
I can’t say that. I have to say, “But we, being evil…” He is the only one who could say ‘you’ and not include Himself at all.
And He can say it without being unfairly condemning and judgmental because His judgments are true; they are righteous altogether. Ps 19:9
But here is the wonderful and amazing point He is making. We love our kids and they love us and they ask for things and when we can we give them. It puts joy in our hearts to see our children having their needs met and even getting the occasional something special. And we’re evil.
So if we remember that God is good and there is no evil or injustice or unfairness in Him because those things cannot exist in His presence, then how assured should we be in our heart of hearts that we can go to him every day and plead for the fresh filling of His Holy Spirit and receive what we’ve asked?
“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
And do you think His magnificent heart is filled with joy that we’ve asked and that He has given? Well if we were created in His image then the answer would have to be yes; fullness of joy that only the Omnipotent and Omniscient God can know.
GOLDEN RULE
I want to spend the last few minutes talking about verse 12. From verse 13 on Jesus will change direction slightly from the nature and character of the Christian to the necessity for examining ourselves to be sure we really are a Christian, and there are some things said there that ought to make us tremble. We’ll go there.
For now though we take a look at this verse that has been nicknamed “The Golden Rule” and end our comments there.
“In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
I want to read you a portion from the commentary of James Montgomery Boice on this verse:
“It is not at all difficult to find praiseworthy parallels to this saying in its negative form. Hillel, the renowned Jewish rabbi, once said to a follower, ‘What is hateful to yourself, do to no other; that is the whole Law, and the rest is commentary. Go and learn.” In the book of Tobit (which was probably composed in the third century before Christ) there is a section in which the hero of the book tells his young son, ‘And what thou thyself hatest, do to no man.’ There is a story in The Letter of Aristeas of a Jewish scholar who instructed an Egyptian king, ‘As you wish that no evil should befall you, but to be a partaker of all good things, so you should act on the same principle towards your subjects and offenders, and you should mildly admonish the noble and good..’
There are many other examples. William Barclay, who lists these examples among others in his commentary, also cites parallels in the teachings of Confucius, Epictetus, the Stoics, and in the Hymns of the Faith of Buddhism. They are similar. But the point is that all these sayings are negative. They say, ‘Do not do anything to anyone that you would not want them to do unto you.’ Jesus presented the same truth positively, thereby inverting the saying and, of course, changing its scope immeasurably.’ The Sermon on the Mount, an exposition by James Montgomery Boice, Zondervan, 1972, chapter 39
The point is, all of these other recorded admonitions, being put in the negative, only call for fairness. By turning it to the positive Jesus called for action.
There is no nobility or Godliness in refraining from killing my neighbor because I wouldn’t want that done to me.
On the other hand, Jesus didn’t say to treat others as we would be treated in the spirit of hoping to receive good treatment from them as a reciprocation.
What He is telling us is that as Spirit-filled believers and with the help of the Spirit we know what is right and what is harmful; what is evil and what is good.
We are to use that knowledge, which for the Christian is a sort of Holy Spirit inspired common sense, and treat others based on what we know we would receive as love and friendship.
That’s why He says, ‘…for this is the Law and the Prophets.’
Matthew 22:37-40
“And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Galatians 5:14
“For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Romans 13:8
“Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.”
I’ve heard some preacher say, “This is the Golden Rule, not the Golden Suggestion”. In calling it a rule he proved that he did not understand the admonition.
First of all, the term ‘Golden Rule’ does not describe it as an order, as we would say ‘obey the rule’, but a regulating principle; a standard of measure.
Remember the context. From the beginning Jesus has described the Christian and defined the relationship of the Christian to God, to other Christians and to the world.
So in concluding with this admonition to do as we would have done and declare that in it is the fulfilling of the Law and the Prophets, Jesus has said that only the Christian can obey the instruction, and only by the presence and enabling of the Holy Spirit can he fulfill it.
In my own conclusion then, Christians, I would just say that we have been given our marching orders, so to speak.
Because the ultimate demonstration of the kind of love that fulfills the Law and the Prophets is in the telling of the good news of Jesus to others, and living in Christ-likeness with one another, loving one another as He loved His church and gave Himself up for her, and living among men in such a way as to bring glory to the Father.
The reason I know Jesus was addressing Christians throughout this sermon is that we’re the only ones who can do those things.
We can live and love in the way that fulfills God’s perfect Law and the utterances of all the prophets which are still coming to pass, when with diligence and persistence we’ve asked, sought, knocked, hungered and thirsted for righteousness, and been filled.
Wouldn’t you like to know what God would do through our little band if we were united in that pursuit?
