We’re getting towards the end of the Sermon on the Mount, and today we’re going to talk about Matthew 7:7-12. Again want to give a shout out to our fellow teacher Katie Hall, who is responsible for some of the content of this lesson.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:7-12
Prayer is our fellowship with God. Christians pray out of thankfulness to God. We come to Him humbly, acknowledging our need of Him and His provision for everything in our lives, both physical and spiritual. We are entirely dependent on God, and we need fellowship with Him. Even though God is sovereign over everything, our prayers are still effective. How can this be? Because God ordained prayer as a means by which events may come to pass! He ordains the ends, as well as the means, to all things that come to pass! Therefore, there is never reason to believe that the prayers of a Christian are ineffective.
Jesus teaches here and elsewhere in the Bible that we may fervently and persistently petition God in prayer…asking, seeking and knocking have a progressive intensity. This persistence in prayer is not us trying “overcome” or “wear-down” God so that He finally gives in. He is not like our earthly parents! The more we pray, however, does not mean that God is going to eventually give us what we are praying for. He knows what is best for us (even when it doesn’t seem like it to us). God is concerned with not only our physical needs, but also with our spiritual growth. So sometime the answer will be “no” and it will hurt. As believers, we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. The Holy Spirit will enable us to learn and understand more and more about God, and the more the more we learn about God, the more our wills become aligned with His, and our prayers will reflect things that please Him and not just ourselves.
Just as an earthly father wants to give his children good things, not bad, our Heavenly Father wants to give us good things. What are these good things? The very things He’s been describing about how life in the Kingdom should (and will someday) be; people living in righteousness, sincerity, purity, humility, and wisdom…characteristics of the children of the King, once they are perfected. And the perfecting work–sanctification, begins here on earth! The corresponding verse in Luke sums these gifts up as the gift of the Holy Spirit. As a believer’s Counselor and indwelling guide, this makes sense!
The passage ends with what is commonly referred to as “the Golden Rule”. This was actually a common idea, not unique to Jesus, that had been around for a long time. Until Jesus, it was stated in the negative “Do not do to others what you would not wish done to yourself.” Jesus, instead, turns it on it’s head and not only are we to abstain from doing bad things to others; we are now commanded to do good things for others in addition! What a glorious picture of Kingdom life!
