Last week we heard from Jesus, about His thoughts, on judging people. About judging people from, this like automatically negative place, where we assume the worst of people. With maybe the roots of this judginess, if that’s even a word, being an over inflated view of ourselves, that maybe thinks that we’re better than other people. But the fact is that we’re not, we’re not better than other people, we’re all just people from different places, and in different situations, with maybe different understanding and options right now, but all exactly, just people, under the almighty God. And so, Jesus says don’t judge people, and if you do, then however you decided to judge people is going to get judged right back onto you, and don’t ever forget that. We talked about how we need to deal with our own selves first, and then hopefully when we are in a right place, then without judging, and with a right heart, and in love, we can seek to help those around us get to the right place too. The goal was to get us all to the right place, but we’ll never get there if we start off just judging people.
So that’s where we came from last week and let’s get into our verses for today.
Read Matthew 7:7-12
We’ve really got two different things that we are going to deal with this morning. We’re going to start out by looking at verses 7-11, and then we’re going to focus specifically on verse 12. Again, I gave that brief recap of last week, where Jesus was dealing with our heart towards other people, and people judging one another, and Jesus is going to come back to that specific mindset in verse 12, but right in the middle here, He breaks away for a moment, from us considering our relationship with other people, and brings the focus to our relationship with God Himself. He does this for good reason, and so let’s break down what Jesus is saying here.
I think verse 7 here, is often very misunderstood, so let me read it again.
Read Matthew 7:7
Many times, this verse is talked about in terms of salvation, like we are asking, seeking, and knocking on the door of salvation and then the door gets opened up for us. And I’m not going to say, that the use of it, for that purpose, is always bad, but since we’re going through it right now, we need to understand what is actually being talked about here. This isn’t Jesus talking about knocking down the door of salvation, this passage is Jesus talking to us about our prayer life. This is our all the time prayer life, not just the moment of salvation. And we really need to understand that here, or else the way that Jesus is talking about these things, might not really make sense.
Jesus in this first verse, again, is talking about asking, seeking, and knocking. But the way that these statements were formed, when they were originally written, speaks of like a progression of intensity, from asking, and then to seeking, and then to knocking. But it’s not just the intensity increase that we see here, the wording here also makes it clear that this isn’t just a one-time thing, it’s keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking, all the time. And if this were about salvation, that wouldn’t make any sense, because we’re saved once. If we repent (or turn away from our sin), and believe in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection for that sin of ours, and then see Him completely as Lord and Master of our lives. Then we are saved, period, and nothing at all can ever take that away from us. The Apostle Paul told the Roman church in Romans 8:38-39:
38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jesus Himself says in John 10:28-29
28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one.”
Maybe you have come up being taught or believing that salvation can be lost, but let me assure you, based on Jesus’ own words there, that that is not the case. And I am so thankful for that truth. It’s a hard life to live thinking that we can lose our salvation, for the dumb mistakes that we make, and maybe not even make to heaven to be with the Lord, if we were to die before getting re-saved. There are many people that believe those things, but that’s not what the Bible says, and I pray that they come to understand these truths and the comfort that it brings to life knowing that nothing, even my own messed up self at times, can separate me from the love and salvation of God.
And so, all of that is a one-time deal, and so it wouldn’t actually make sense, in Matthew 7, when Jesus is talking about this increasing intensity and this regular persistence or the repeating of doing these things. When we realize that, it becomes a little clearer to see that Jesus is talking about going to God, for the all the time things of life. It’s the everyday and everything of this life, that would be better off, if we went and talked to God about it.
It’s God I need help right now, it’s God I don’t know what decision to make here, it’s God would you save my children and grow them in You, it’s God would you intervene for my family, my church, my community, it’s God would you heal this sickness. It’s everything and Jesus is teaching us that we should be going to God and asking for intervention, for input, for direction. It’s seeking to know what His specific desire and answer is for us, through prayer and by getting into His word. God isn’t really in the business if just writing on the wall anymore, which would be cool, and obviously He could, but He had this whole book written out, to fill that gap. And then it’s actively knocking on the doors of life, asking like, God is this the one that you want to open? or this one? it’s looking for Him to open or close the doors and guide us through the ones that we need to walk through.
We can try to make our own way, we can try to do our own thing completely apart from God, maybe kick down some doors, pursue all the things that our flesh wants. But as Proverbs says, “there is a way that seems right to man, and that way leads to death.” whereas on the flip side, Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Our way to death, His way to life. I think there is an obvious benefit on one side of that equation. And so, Jesus is saying, come to God, come with everything, ask Him about it, seek for His answers, knock on the doors that present themselves and see what God opens and closes. And just for our mindset right now, we have to be ok with the doors that He chooses, because His doors will lead to our best life and His greatest glory. And please recognize that I didn’t say easy life, I didn’t say more stuff, I didn’t say no problems, I said best life and His glory. And those results, might not have all of those other things in the mix. Let’s look at verse 8.
Read Matthew 7:8
So, building on verse 7 into verse 8, what is Jesus teaching us? That if we come to Him seriously and regularly, if we’re persistent, that He will answer. But please know that regularly or persistently taking these things to the Lord, isn’t us, like trying to overcome God being stubborn or something. It’s not like we do this and, oh, He finally heard us, it’s that Jesus knows as we come to Him, and keep coming to Him, that it will humble us, it will grow our dependance on Him, it will help our heart get more in line with where His heart is at, and He will absolutely be glorified in all of this occurring in us. We need that growth that comes when regularly and humbly coming before our God in prayer.
But understand this, that yes, He will answer, but His answers are always in line with His will and His purpose. And there are times, I am sure, for all of us, that we have asked, sought, maybe knocked, even persistently towards something with the Lord, and maybe didn’t get the answer that we wanted or expected. God will answer, but He will always answer His way, and we have to humble ourselves and understand Who He is, and that He knows far better, than we ever will, in every single situation. So maybe we don’t get the answer we want, but we have to trust that we are getting the answer that we need. And as we have talked about in previous weeks, He cares for us, He really does, we were told how He cares for the birds and the flowers of the field and how much more He cares for us, He will give us what we need, it just might not be what we thought we needed. But please just consider Who we are talking about right now. Do I trust my understanding of the situation more then I trust the very God of this universe? Let’s go read some of Isaiah’s description of our God to get to know Him a little bit better. Let’s go to Isaiah chapter 40 and read a few parts of this.
Read Isaiah 40:12-17 and 25-31
After reading that, we should recognize that it’s time to turn over control, if we are desperately trying to hold on to it. It’s time for way more of Him and way less of me in everything. From my decision making, to my purpose in life, I need to be asking, seeking, and knocking, constantly, through every part of my life, at the very feet of, and throne, of the Almighty God.
Isaiah, talking about God, was like, who taught Him? who showed Him the way? who counseled and instructed Him? The answer is NOBODY. He is God and there is nobody else like Him. His greatness and His understanding are beyond our very comprehension, and if we in our prideful humanity ever come to the conclusion, that we know better, on something, then we’re wrong. We need to humble ourselves and see the God who measures the entirety of the heavens in the span of His hand, Who counts the nations of the Earth as a single drop in a bucket or just a bit of dust on the scale, the everlasting and eternal God, the maker of the heavens and Earth. This is the God Who answers the asker, Who helps the seeker find, Who opens the right door for the knocker. This is Him, and we need to trust Him. Trusting Him, doesn’t mean that we don’t go to Him with everything, God wants His children to come talk with Him, and so we take everything, and we put it in His hands, we start moving in His ways, and we trust the door that He opens for us.
Isaiah says that He never gets tired, that He never gets weary, so we aren’t going to overdo it with Him, or catch Him at a bad time, we are told to be persistent, 1 Thessalonians as well says, pray without ceasing. Isaiah says that He gives power to the weak, strength to those that don’t have it, people will tire out, people will fail and fall, but Isaiah says that:
“those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.”
Again, because He cares for us, and that’s exactly the next point that Jesus is making back in Matthew 7. Let’s read verses 9-11.
Read Matthew 7:9-11
Not everybody has a good earthly father, many have never even met their father, and that’s all the more reason to deepen the relationship with our, heavenly Father. But Jesus is making a general statement here about how even an earthly father, being a sinner, like all of the rest of us, even they, can treat their kids right and do things for them and give things to them. And again, obviously there are exceptions to this, and if this is an area of struggle for any of us, we can be in this together. The church is family too and we all have different areas that hurt and places where the struggle comes from. But the point that Jesus is making is that even earthly fathers do things for their kids and they sure aren’t perfect, and they don’t have the power and the resources that He has, and they can’t even love at the same depth that He loves, so how much more will our Father God in heaven bless those that ask Him?
He says come to Me with these things, ask, seek, knock, or pray and seek all the time, and He will answer. He’s not some vending machine where we get a bunch of candy, chips, and soda from, or all the material things, the junk food of life so to speak, the things that we don’t really need. He’s so much more than that, He’s the God who listens to His people, Who cares, and answers with what we actually need.
Ephesians 3:20-21 says:
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
That verse tells us that He is able to do, not just exceedingly, not just abundantly, but exceedingly abundantly MORE than we could ever think or even ask of Him. And to Him be the glory for His being able to do that, because we can’t, we have so many limitations that He isn’t confined by. But He’s an awesome God, and He does above and beyond, for little people like us. And that leads us to our last point in verse 12. Let me read this.
Read Matthew 7:12
Notice that this verse starts with “therefore”. Because it’s coming in light of Jesus’ last point, talking about our God in heaven, and the good things that He gives to those who ask Him. And so, He says, “Therefore”, or we could take this as “because of God’s example of listening, caring, and giving”, because of that example, then WE SHOULD do for people what we would want them to do for us.
And I really want us to recognize something here. I think a lot of people read this verse and even teach this in kind of a negative form. Which would be like, don’t do things to other people that you wouldn’t want them to do to you. But that should be common sense, I mean it should be, but perhaps it’s not, especially in this day and age. Seems like people will do and say just about anything and not expect repercussions for doing what they do, and they sure are surprised when they come. The internet is full of countless videos of people doing things to others, saying all types of crazy stuff, and then they’re really shocked when they get punched in the face. Like where did that come from? Actions have reactions and as I said that should be common sense. It’s like last week, don’t be all judgmental with people if you don’t want to be judged to the same standard. But again, that’s not what is being said here. Jesus doesn’t say, don’t do that so this doesn’t happen.
This isn’t a negative, this isn’t a don’t do, it’s exactly the opposite, Jesus says DO FOR OTHERS. This is action and it’s proactive, not reactive. It’s understanding for us that Jesus just laid out this example of God listening, caring, and giving and then He says, because of that, you should be doing for others, like He’s doing it, just like you would want other people to do for you. It’s a call to actively be doing good. It’s like the bottom-line statement of the entire sermon on the mount up to this point. Do good, like our heavenly father exemplifies, just like we would want and hope for other people to do good towards us as well.
Like I said, many people view this in the negative form of DON’T do, and it’s a lot easier and a lot less responsibility to simply not do something. It’s a completely different responsibility, when the call is to step up to the plate, and to actually, and proactively, do something for others, and that is exactly what Jesus is calling for here. The negative form of this statement has been said by many people throughout history, by philosophers, even leaders of other religions, writers, and many more, but this particular statement was uniquely Jesus’ and is uniquely intended for His people. We are supposed to be doers, not just “don’t doers”.
And so, to bring us completely through this thought process all the way from last week. We’re not supposed to be looking down on other people, we’re supposed to be looking up towards God, we’re supposed to come humbly to Him with everything that we have in prayer, asking seeking, knocking, continuing to do so as we wait on the Lord, knowing that He is able to accomplish His will in our life. Knowing that He listens, He cares, and He does good things in our life. And we take that example and instead of looking down on other people, we look for the need. We know a God that is a doer, and He does amazing things, and we’ve been called to take His example and to do good as well. So, we’re not to be those that stand back, we’re not to be those that do nothing, we’re not to be those that just don’t do, we’re to be those THAT DO, for others, for our King Jesus, for His Kingdom, and for His glory. And we begin every one of those steps, for every one of those purposes, in prayer, because we know a God Who is able to do EXCEEDINGLY, ABUNDANTLY, beyond anything, that we could ever think or ask.