A right relationship with God requires that we accept His invitation to pursue Him in prayer...

At the church where I serve we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled Jesus uncut. During this series, we are spending our time together looking at perhaps the most famous sermon that Jesus ever preached, which is referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. During this series, we are going to see Jesus reveal to the crowds listening to His sermon, and to us here today, the true nature of what God demands of humanity in order to experience a right relationship with Him and what it truly means to obey the message and teachings of the letters that make up the Bible.

And during this series, as we see Jesus uncut, our hope and prayer is that God would move by the power of the Holy Spirit in a way that enables us to wrap our heads, hearts, and hands around the lifestyle that Jesus calls us to live as one who is living in a right relationship with Him.  This week I would like for us to pick up where we left off last week. And as we jump into the next section of this famous sermon that Jesus preached, called the Sermon on the Mount, which is recorded for us in a section of an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew, we are going to discover another timeless truth from Jesus uncut. So, let’s discover that timeless truth together, beginning in Matthew 7:7-8:

"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.

As Matthew continues to give us a front row seat to this famous sermon that Jesus preached, we see Jesus circle back around to the issue of prayer by commanding those listening to His sermon, and humanity throughout history, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” When Jesus uses the word ask, here, this word is an invitation to pray. When Jesus uses the word, seek here, this is an invitation to pursue God and God’s will. And when Jesus uses the word knock, this word conveys a word picture of a person entering into and experiencing the presence of God.

Jesus is basically saying to His disciples, and to followers of Jesus throughout history, that everyone who asks receives an answer to what they ask for in prayer; everyone who seeks God and His will finds an answer to what they are looking for; everyone who knocks with a desire to experience God’s presence, will receive a response to their knocking. Jesus point to the crowds listening to His sermon is that, when it comes to prayer, the issue isn’t with God; God is waiting to engage and answer those who pray.

The issue is with those who follow God, who hesitate to ask God for what they need. Jesus point is that we are invited to ask God when we have needs because God desires to respond to our prayers so as to meet our needs. You see, too often we are afraid to ask a good and loving God for what He already longs to give us. Jesus is inviting the crowds, and humanity throughout history, to ask God when we have needs because God desires to respond to our prayers so as to meet our needs. It is important to understand, however that God does not always give us what we want, but He will always give us what we need. 

Unfortunately, these verses have been used far too often by those in the prosperity gospel movement to advocate a name it and claim it mentality when it comes to prayer. In other words, the only reason that you do not have riches and material blessings in your life is because you have not been knocking hard enough with enough faith.

The problem with this distorted and false view of these verses is found both in the context of where these verses are in Jesus sermon and the very words of Jesus Himself. Let’s look at the issue of context first. If you were to back up in the Bible just seven verses, we see Jesus finishing the part of His sermon that dealt with worry. Now, I have a question for you. Was Jesus responding to the worries that His listeners had about not having a large enough house, or a second car, or a larger college fund or retirement account? No, the worries that Jesus was responding to was the crowds worry over where they were going to get their next meal.

The crowds weren’t worried about having the right clothes; the crowds were worried about having clothes. The crowd was not worried about prosperity; the crowd was worried about survival. The crowd wasn’t worried about wants; the crowd was worried about needs. Jesus was addressing the worry that came as a result of needing to have their needs met, not for their wants to be fulfilled. We see Jesus reinforce this reality with what He says next. So, let’s look together at what Jesus says next in verse 9-11:

"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!

Here we see Jesus reinforce His invitation to the crowds listening to His sermon, and humanity throughout history, to ask God when they have needs because God desires to respond to their prayers so as to meet their needs with two different word pictures. We see the first word picture in verse 9, where Jesus states that a father would not give his son a stone, if he asked for a loaf of bread. In Jesus day, a loaf of bread and a stone were very similar in appearance.

While similar in appearance, however, their value was totally different. Bread was a staple of the diet of the Jewish people who lived where this sermon was preached. By contrast, a stone was considered worthless. Jesus point is that just as an earthly Father would not deny his son something he needed to survive; God would not deny a need that we requested of Him. And just as an earthly father would not give his son something that was worthless, God would not respond to their request by giving them something that was worthless.

Then, in verse 10, Jesus paints a second word picture by stating that a father would not give his son a snake if he asked for a fish. Now in the desert climate where Jesus was speaking, a fish and a snake were somewhat similar in appearance. While similar in appearance, however, their value was totally different. A fish was a staple of the diet of the Jewish people in this region of the world. A snake, by comparison, was extremely dangerous to a child.

In the area where I live, it would be as if Jesus was saying “What father would give their son a diamondback rattlesnake, when they asked for a bratwurst”? Jesus point is that just as an earthly Father would not deny his son something he needed to survive; God would not deny a need that we requested of Him. And just as an earthly father would not give his son something that was dangerous, God would not respond to their request by giving them something that was dangerous.

Jesus then hammered His point home by stating in verse 11 that if human parents, as flawed, fallen, and broken beings who are bent toward selfishness, are able to generously meet the needs of their children when asked, then how much more would the selflessly loving Heavenly Father generously meet the needs of His children when asked. And it is here that we see Jesus reveal for us a timeless truth about the true nature of what it means to obey the message and teachings of Jesus and the true nature of a lifestyle that is living a right relationship with Jesus.

 And that timeless truth is this: A right relationship with God requires that we accept His invitation to pursue Him in prayer.  A person who is living in a genuine and growing relationship with Jesus will accept His invitation to pursue God in prayer for God to provide for them materially so as to meet the needs that they have in our lives. A person who is living in a genuine and growing relationship with Jesus will accept His invitation to pursue God in prayer for God to provide the guidance and direction that they need in their lives. And, most importantly, a person who is living in a genuine and growing relationship with Jesus will accept His invitation to pursue God in prayer for God to experience His presence in their lives.

You see, one of the common misconceptions about prayer is that prayer only involves asking things from God. But this morning, the reality is that the point of prayer is not to get answers from God. Answers to prayer are secondary. The main function of prayer is a growing and continual communion with God on the deepest possible level.

Prayer, simply put, is entering into communion and communication with God. Prayer is creating space to enter into God’s personal presence and spend time with God. Prayer was divinely designed as an opportunity to spend time with God. Prayer is divinely designed to be the vehicle by which we experience life with Jesus and life change by Jesus.

You see, to pray is to change because prayer is the central avenue that God uses to transform us. The closer we come to the heartbeat of God the more we will see our need and the more we will desire to be more like Jesus. If we are unwilling to change, we will give up on and avoid prayer, because when we pray, God reveals to us who we are and what needs to change.

Jesus addressed the issue of prayer because Jesus is concerned with our internal heart condition. Jesus is concerned with our internal heart condition because Jesus knows, and human history has shown, that eventually what is in the heart will spill out. And because of that reality, Jesus was calling the crowds listening to Him, and humanity throughout history, to accept His invitation to pursue Him in prayer for His provision, direction, and presence so that He could be at work to change us.

Jesus then concluded this section of His sermon by making a summary statement that would serve as a transition point to what He was about to address next in His sermon. Friday, we will look at that summary statement together...