Matthew 7:7-12 The Most Generous Giver

You are listening to recast Church of Madawans podcast. Join us as we are in a sermon series entitled not your average Savior study in the book of Matthew.

Good morning. How's everybody doing? Everybody doing all right good. Welcome to recast Church. Grateful that you've taken the time to come in and join us and recognize a couple people that are checking us out for the first time.

Hope that you find what your soul has been searching for here. Hope that something from the word something from the worship something connects with you right where you live and For your week that you walk away with something here this morning.

We're going to be back in the book of Matthew. I'm last week I was out. I was gone two weeks ago at a conference and so we had a guest speaker last week. So we're jumping back into the book of Matthew for the next few weeks.

Before we launch into a series in the book of Joshua, which is going to be Coming up probably the beginning of June my goal for Matthew is to finish through the end of chapter 8. We're currently in chapter 7 so to go through the end of chapter 8 and then jump over to Joshua for the summer and probably finish up that entire book and that's going to be sometime around the beginning of June that we're going to start that a Quick review of where we've been in the Sermon on the Mount.

We've been in this sermon that Jesus spoke to his followers for several weeks now. It's a fairly long sermon it started way back in Matthew 5. Now we find ourselves in Matthew chapter 7 and it's still part of that same message that Jesus gave in at one time and yet the depth of what he says.

Makes it hard for me to preach his sermon in one sermon you get it. I mean just think about all the distance that we've covered. How overwhelming would it be for us to sit down and listen to all of this in one sitting and try to take it in?

Let me give you a synopsis of the types of things that Jesus has said To us and we would have the potential to be kind of overwhelmed by these things. He's told us that we are to be a people who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

We are to be peacemakers. We are to endure persecution. He then gave his followers the role of being salt and light to our community. He called his people to guard against anger lust false promises and divorce.

We've been told to turn the other cheek to to the one who would insult us and assault us. We've been told to love our enemies to be generous to the poor but to avoid boasting in our giving. He tells us to pray and fast and secret and keep our prayers simple he says stop being anxious about material stuff, but instead lay up treasures in heaven and.

Then the last time we were together Jesus told us that that that we have the tendency to get out of balance in our lives being too Judgmental or in turn being trampled upon and so we're supposed to balance that out in our lives.

That sound like a huge task. Sound like a lot to accomplish a lot of things and therefore Jesus is now going to turn to express How we live this out in light of the father a father who is generous. He's going to talk to us about asking and seeking and knocking.

How do we live out this life with Christ as his followers? It's not again I say this phrase often. But it's not just pulling yourself up by the bootstraps and getting your life in order and doing all of these things it is a dependency upon Christ that the father desires more than anything and so a Dependency upon him upon God and that brings us to the very important task as Jesus is wrapping up This sermon our life of following Christ is not dependent upon our striving or our working to obey laws but it's ultimately upon God and his power to work in and through us by the power of his Holy Spirit and He is not just an almighty all-powerful God.

But he's a generous God. So turn and open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7 looking at verses 7 through 12. That's page 691 in the Bible in the seat back in front of you. If you didn't don't own a Bible or didn't bring a Bible page 691.

It's easy easy way to find it. Matthew 7 7 through 12. If you do not own a Bible or do not own an English Standard Version of the Bible. We want you to take that Bible that's in the seat back in front of you with you when you leave here.

That's yours. It's a gift from us to you. We bought them and placed them there for that purpose that everyone that visits us would walk out with a Bible. So, please take advantage of that but follow along with me as I read the very words of Jesus.

Matthew 7 7 through 12. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks receives and the one who seeks finds and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Or. Which one of you if his son asks him for bread will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish will give him a serpent. If you then who are evil. Know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?

So whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets. Let's pray Father we come to a text This morning that encourages us to do the very thing that we're doing right this second and that is to pray to ask to seek to knock.

Father I ask that you would make it abundantly clear in our hearts and our minds what it is that you're trying to accomplish in This text. Is this a blank check? Is is this an opportunity for us to get whatever we want from you or is there something else working here?

I ask that you would open our eyes to your generosity to your goodness and understanding what that really implies for our day-to-day life. That we would walk out of your trusting in a generous God. Not a not a divine cosmic killjoy.

But that we would not fall over into the error of thinking that you are a genie in the lamp. That offers us as many wishes as we desire. I ask that you would help us to put this in proper balance this morning in Jesus name.

Amen. Do you think of God as generous? What do you think? I mean, we've had an opportunity to reflect on that. So maybe you're leaning more in that direction and I think the answer if we're all honest may depend on where we're at in life.

If we're honest with ourselves, doesn't the way that we answer whether or not God is generous depend on the circumstances that surround us. I'm honest. I tend towards that anyways now. I've got God's Word here that tells me something pretty solid about him.

But I can tell you that days after my mother passed away. I was 22 years old. I was engaged to Linda. We were going to be married. She passed away in June. We were married in December. I really wanted her to be at that wedding and I can tell you that days after that I might have answered this question differently than I answer it now.

Whether or not God is good. We go through dark times, don't we? Have you been there? Have you been through those dark times? And at that point you are challenged to ask this question to yourself. Is God.

Good.

Is he generous? We're fickle and if if we're honest our view of God changes with the seasons of life. That's one reason I am so grateful that we have God's Word Passages like this that push us towards an understanding that God is generous that my Dependency and my understanding of who God is isn't inside of me.

Isn't rooted in my circumstances or my emotions or my feelings or my thoughts. It's rooted outside of me in a word that has been revealed about the truth of who God is. And we're gonna see in the text This morning that God is declared generous and then we're gonna work that out and figure out how does that work in the dark times?

And in the difficult times. Jesus begins here in our text with two parallel comments. Verses 7 and 8 are basically parallel if you look at them. Asking it will be given to you seeking you will find knocking it will be open to you for everyone who asks.

Back to the same verb everyone who asks receives the one who seeks finds and the one who knocks it will be opened to you. So we can see that there's these parallel comments where Jesus is saying what I desire of you is that you ask.

That you seek and that you knock. These are commands that are given to us and they come. With what at face value appears to be a blank blank check kind of promise don't they? Look at verse 8 doesn't that look kind of like a blank check?

Go ahead and look at it. What do you think? For everyone who asks receives and the one who seeks finds and the one who knocks it will be opened to you or even yet in seven ask and it will be given to you.

I Think it's very important that we understand the structure of the English language here in the the Greek a little bit behind verse 7 because. It's a bit tricky and it's a bit hard for us to understand and put it into practice.

What this verse is saying the pronouns it. I might get a little technical for you here for a minute. But this is important the pronouns it that occur in verse 7 ask and it will be given to you. Notice that they don't include that there in seek and you will find it because we don't need that in English.

The the pronouns have been added in the English translation. There is a way to designate in Greek it and it's not there. They put it in there to make it more readable often translations will do that, but it obscures the understanding just a little bit.

It implies that if you ask. The very thing you ask for will be given to you. Doesn't it doesn't it seem to imply that ask and it will be given to you versus listen to this ask and You will receive something.

That might actually be a better translation of this verse ask and you're going to receive something. Not saying it it is a very specific word, isn't it? If you're if you're if you're asking for something and you receive it you get the very thing that you're asking for.

That is not the case. Do you see why this is important to distinguish in English in this verse? God is saying ask and you're going to receive something and now comes the point of trust. Are you going to believe that what you receive is good?

Is it coming from the hands of a generous God? And that's what we're gonna have to flesh out and and put some that's kind of the the skeleton of the passage.

Rock out.

Everybody want to sing for just a moment. That's all right. Awesome that is fabulous. I.

Don't actually heard a pastor totally ridicule somebody in that point. I actually think it's funny but Let's take a moment and explore what Jesus means by asking seeking and knocking because I think that's that's the core of the passage here.

Asking seeking and knocking. So what is that? What does that mean? It's obvious from the text hopefully obvious to you that he's talking about prayer that is that obvious to you? Okay good I don't need to get into the details of that talking about prayer, but ask you think about this.

What kind of a person asks. Think about it in general terms. What kind of a person asks for something a person in need? Absolutely. Now all of us know a mooch, right? Does that somebody get automatically in your mind?

Is there a mooch there? You know, I mean by mooch, you know somebody who just is really quick to ask for things and Asks frequently and often and generally for big things. Of course every everybody knows somebody like that.

Yeah, we all know that but I think they tend to be the exception. Has that been your experience? That's been my experience is that mooch is tend to be the exception I find at least the circles that I was raised in the circles that I run in Pride is more frequent and it gets in the way of asking for things.

There's a pride that I can do this on my own. I don't need anybody's help. I don't I don't need you. I don't need anything. I can do this on my own and asking is a sign of weakness. And we're an individualistic people.

We like to do it our way our own way and thank you very much. But no, I don't need help and even when it's offered. Even when it's offered it's like no. No, thanks. I got this. I got this well and hit I've experienced this week Lynn and I have been blessed by the generosity of this church in bringing us meals and I have felt awkward every time somebody's brought us a meal or brought us something this week just because it's kind of like Feel like I should be able to fix a meal for my family.

Do you know what I'm saying? And and it's Now Linda knows Linda knows other than that so I mean I really are appreciative and to be honest our family is surviving because People and you know, we haven't burned.

I haven't burned the kitchen, you know or anything. I mean, this has been great. We really appreciate it. But you can you relate to that that sense in which somebody comes and offers and actually helps you and it's like oh This is awkward.

I'm really like that feeling. Our pride gets in the way Jesus is telling us to come to the Father and ask and that implies a coming to the end of ourselves and Recognizing that we cannot do some things on our own.

We cannot accomplish it. We need help so asking he's saying come and ask. Now an honesty check when you see this command to ask and it will be given to you. Just be just be brutally honest raise your hand if you think primarily about material stuff when that comes out.

The I do I do I did when I start started reading this it's like material stuff asking it will be given to you. Okay, I'm thinking about cars and all different kinds of things. It's my tendency to think about material stuff, but think about this.

What about asking for? Patience. What about asking for strength, you know, there's a there's an old say, you know. This this goes way back to before I was, you know, people will say don't pray for patience.

Have you ever heard that? Don't pray for patience because then God's gonna give you something in your life to be patient about no pray for patience. It is what sharpens us is what strengthens us and what God brings you through to cause you to be a patient person.

May be tough at the time, but it will yield fruit in your life that will give you wisdom and intelligence and and rooting in God. If you see that as an opportunity for growth, but patient strength endurance joy peace kindness.

Love.

Asking for those kind of things. We misunderstand this passage right from the first word ask because our minds immediately turn to the junk that we've asked for and Primarily we begin to discredit this passage because our mind doesn't just turn to stuff but it turns to stuff.

We've asked for and not received. I've been praying for a raise. I've been praying for a job. I've been praying for this this and this and I haven't received it. We turn our minds to the stuff and Say you haven't come through for me on these things.

You haven't given me a new car. We're gonna get more on that and in here in just a minute. But we need to move on to what kind of people are seeking. The kind of people that are seeking are people who know that there is something more out there.

They're looking for something more. Isn't that right? If you're seeking for something you you believe that whatever you're seeking for is out there and you're going for it. There are those who are currently following Jesus who know that there is a deeper life out there.

And they are not satisfied with the games that they have been playing and then playing these games with sin. And they're desperately seeking to know Christ more. To know Christ more, you know, it's a relationship.

It's not a list of rules. It's not a list of regulations, but it is a relationship and that requires seeking if you believe you have arrived. You know what? I mean by arrived. I mean the capital a arrived you are there with God.

Then you've misunderstood something about this being a relationship. I can tell you that if you think of it like a list of rules you can think of it like. Like a lease agreement. I'm gonna give her signed a lease agreement before.

You can pretty much understand the parameters of a lease agreement. If you take the time to read it and pour over it. You might need to look up a couple words in a dictionary or something. But you'll get it figured out right and then you know the boundaries that you are putting yourself on by signing a lease.

Am I right you pretty much figure it out, you know, whether you've crossed the line whether they've crossed the line, whatever. My relationship with my wife does not work like a lease agreement. She didn't come with a manual where I could read and understand the parameters and figure everything out.

Any of you guys relating to that any of you guys that are married figure that out yet. It's a Relationship and there is always room for me to grow and patience and love and care and concern. If I feel like I've arrived in my relationship with my wife that that relationship has begun to die.

If I feel like I'm all that I've got it figured out completely. Relationships require time and that's where seeking comes in seeking to know God better. There are some people whose alarms go off early as If that's a sign of godliness.

But their alarms go off early and God's Word is on their mind throughout the day and they meditate on it. And they're confessing their sins and they are seeking him now. There's another class of seekers who may Appears apparently are not following Christ.

They haven't given over their lives to Christ. They haven't the verdict is still out. They haven't decided to follow him yet, but they're seeking. They have felt like a spark. I may be just a just the the faintest of sparks or embers that are alive in them and they're saying I I'm curious about Christ and I want to know more.

They felt this awakening in their minds and in their hearts and Maybe some of you here are like that. You are seeking to find Christ. We welcome you. We're glad that you're here. We encourage you in that search to keep looking for him to Come to the place where you understand him and you are willing to trust him.

Part of what this message is about this morning is about painting a picture of God through the text of Scripture where Jesus is revealing that God is Trustworthy and he is generous to us. What kind of people not?

People knock when they believe they have found what they're looking for. Right you knock on a door when you believe you've arrived and you're at the place where you Have found the thing that you are looking for.

Picture this just to illustrate the way to ask seek and not can work together. And this is just my illustration. This doesn't come from the pages of Scripture per se. But picture that you're in sales.

Some of you don't have to work hard at that. Some of you are in sales. You show up to a small business and you're making A business call sales call and you arrive and it's a smaller business. You know just a handful of offices or whatever you show up and you get to the the main desk.

And they don't have all the security protocol like MPI. So they're not going to ask if you have a camera on your phone or anything like that right that I've been caught a couple times with trying to bring my camera into MPI.

It's just on my cell phone. So you ask the receptionist. You ask the receptionist where is so-and-so's office can I see them and? Because it's a small business and I can escort you back. They're just gonna say back, you know back down this hallway turn right.

Second office on the left. So now you are in the process of seeking out that office you arrive there. The door is shut. And what do you do? You're not. Right, you've asked you've sought and you've not.

That's the way that we can see these three together. You have now found the place where you have been going and. You knock on the door asking to be let in. Now Jesus didn't have a sales call to a small business in mind when he said this.

But.

Hopefully illustrates how these three tie together and points out what they what the distinction is between them. The one knocking is now found what they're looking for and recognizes that they have the need to be let in.

It's not all on them. They need to be let in. Asking seeking and knocking are all huge exercises of faith. They require faith because they are out of our control. If you ever stood at a door Knocking and known that somebody was home and they are not answering.

I mean you've been there before. I know I have been. I'm right here. How loud do you knock before it gets awkward and you have to leave? You know what I'm saying? It's out of your control though, isn't it something that's thoroughly and completely out of your control knocking?

But.

You depended on them to answer. Have you ever sought for your car keys? You're out seeking for something. What about a blackberry? You ever been looking for your lost blackberry? Sorry, I know somebody who's looking for a blackberry this week.

You're looking for something. You're seeking after it. How out of control do you feel at those moments? Does that aggravate you and frustrate you like it does me?

Yeah, oh yeah.

And you just you know, you think where did I leave this thing and you're seeking and you're seeking you're seeking you're not Out of your control. It takes trust in a spiritual sense when you are seeking.

Have you ever asked for something? You know, you're at the restaurant and you ask for the pork chops. You're just thinking about some nice juicy pork chops and they're out. It seems like whenever anybody's out of something It's always pork chops.

That's why I use that as an illustration, but Have you ever been there we're here is anybody nobody's nobody's tracking with me. All right. You agree. Okay, one person agrees with me that they're always out of pork chops.

So somebody else orders pork chops and something. Um, I Was a short order cook. That's where that comes from. We were always out of pork chops. Anyways, no. Asking for something is out of your control because it's dependent on the other person to be able to provide it.

So, do you see how these are all trust. Like highly trust statements when we ask for something. We must demonstrate trust when we seek something we demonstrate trust when we knock we're demonstrating trust.

You agree with that? Okay, we're all on the same page there then versus seven and eight. Ironically have this promise in there that we have to deal with. There's a promise that this type of spiritual asking the spiritual seeking the spiritual knocking will be rewarded with receiving finding and open doors and.

The promise is very general as we get to the word everyone in verse 8 for everyone who asks receives everyone who seeks finds. Everyone who knocks and to and to the one who knocks it will be opened and Everyone in the Greek is a highly technical word that when translated in English means Everyone.

Everyone all who ask receive all who seek not find all who knock are permitted entrance. How does that sit with you? Confused. Is that confusing with your experience with what you have experienced with God anybody here asked for something that they didn't receive?

How does that gel. Was Jesus wrong? Was Matthew wrong in recording this. We ever sought for something without finding it. Have you ever knocked on a proverbial door and even to this very day that door is locked up shut.

Deadbolted chains across it and it's boarded up with chairs up against it. They were felt that way. Maybe that's your experience right now. Or even a further problem. What does this imply for this thing called the prosperity gospel.

How many of you are familiar with the prosperity gospel? I say that and you kind of have a notion of what that means a handful of you. Let me explain what the prosperity gospel is. You can watch this more prominently on TV than anywhere.

You're gonna find it. There are churches in our community that would ascribe to this actual False gospel. It's a false and heretical gospel that says that followers of Jesus will be blessed. With material blessings.

They will become wealthy. They will have good health if they just have enough faith in Jesus. You heard that. That God's plan for you is to be wealthy and if you're not wealthy. Maybe you don't have enough faith.

God's plan for you is to be healthy if you don't have enough health. Maybe you don't have enough faith. You encountered that. You've seen that preached it's a travesty of the modern church and even at my conference two weeks ago.

It was spoken of by a man named John MacArthur if any of you heard of John MacArthur. It was spoken of as one of the greatest challenges facing the church in America today. It is as though people in churches are operating according to this principle that God wants me to be wealthy.

This is a gospel by the way, this false gospel that can grow a church quickly. If I were to just get up and preach to you and preach to people in general that we. That God wants you wealthy. Is that a message that Americans want to hear?

Oh, yes. You probably fill this place pretty quick with that message. But I can't preach it because scripture doesn't preach it. Why how can I say that this gospel is wrong when we're sitting here looking at these verses?

Let me start by saying that many errors come into the church by taking a couple of verses and Ignoring everything else. Just take a couple verses so that I cannot say what really if I had only Matthew 7 7 through 8.

If I only had those two verses what kind of a conclusion would I come to about prayer? I would think of prayer like a magic wand. If that's the only two verses I had in scripture, I'd be like just razzle-dazzle, you know, God, I'm asking.

I'm seeking. I'm knocking now. Give me give me give me. Right, it's not as though the pastors who preach the prosperity gospel don't use scripture to support their views. It's just that they don't use all of scripture.

They choose to ignore parts of scripture. So they'll skip over where Jesus told them to pray for God's will to be done in chapter 6 just a couple chapters ago. Just a chapter ago He was talking about praying and asking for God's will to be done.

Or where in the next couple of verses Jesus is going to temper this asking and seeking and knocking by explaining.

That we will receive.

What is good and not necessarily what we asked for? Praise God that we don't always receive what we ask for or that Jesus asked they'll skip this that Jesus asked. To skip the cross. Did you know that the night before he?

Went to the cross to die for us. He went to his father and he asked Father if there is another way to save this sinful human race. Bring it on. Take any other way than the suffering and the pain that I know I'm going to endure tomorrow.

And what was his father's reply? We don't know the actual words of his reply. But we know that Jesus went to the cross and what was Jesus's words final words in that prayer not my will. But yours be done.

Somehow they missed that they skipped that that the very Son of God suffered. And they skipped that completely. I Want to show a clip at this time. I'm gonna ask Peter Whatever it takes to get that up.

I'm gonna show a clip a pastor that was at this conference. His name is John Piper. Demonstrates a clip about the prosperity gospel that I cannot speak any better than him. And I think it's only appropriate that he share this with us.

So enjoy this for just a second. I'll be convicted by this. I don't know what you feel about the.

Prosperity gospel. The health wealth and prosperity gospel, but I'll say what I feel about it.

Hey, it is not the gun.

And it's being exported from this country to Africa and Asia. Selling a bill of goods to the poorest of the poor. Believe this message. Your pigs won't die. Your wife won't have miscarriages. You have rings on your fingers and coats on your back.

That's coming out of America. People don't ought to be giving our money and our time and our lives instead selling them a bunch of crap called gospel. And here's the reason it is so horrible. When was the last time that any?

American African Asian ever said. Jesus is all satisfying because you drove a BMW.

Never they'll say you just give you that. Yeah. Well, I'll say Jesus.

That's idolatry. That's not the gospel. That's elevating gift. Above giver. I'll tell you what makes Jesus look beautiful is when you smash your car and your little girl goes flying through the windshield and lands like dead on the street and you say Through the deepest possible pain.

God is enough.

God is enough. He is good. He will take care of us. He will satisfy us. He will get us through this. He is our treasure. Whom have I in heaven, but you and on earth. There's nothing that I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart. My little girl may fail. But you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever that makes God.

As.

God not as giver of car or safety or health.

Oh.

How I pray that America would be part of the health wealth and prosperity gospel and that the Christian Church would be marked by suffering for Christ. God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him in the midst of law.

Not question. You see why I couldn't say it any better. I agree wholeheartedly With what John Piper had to say there? God is not a genie in a lamp granting us infinite wishes. So, how do we reconcile our experience in prayer asking for things with the text of Scripture here, I Think the answer is in pressing on to the rest of the paragraph to get to the root reasons.

Why Jesus is even saying these things? What is the point? He is trying to get at and verse 9 Jesus begins with an illustration. One that I can relate to because he talks about us. He talks about me. He says which one of you?

I'm talking to everyone in the room, which one of you and Jesus paints a picture. He paints this picture. He says it's like Don you come home from work. Your son Adam is already there. He's home from school and he says dad.

I'm hungry want a snack. I'm like, dude I got just the thing. Here's a rock and I throw him a rock. Hopefully he catches it, but probably not probably hits him. Here take a rock. Does he laugh about that?

Does he think I'm being funny? Only in that maybe I'm being absurd.

Right.

Hey, here's a rock or further yet in verse 10 He says if your son asks for a fish, I'm in the staple diet. So we're still talking about food here bread fish not talking about the aquarium. Don't ask for something to eat again a fish and who's gonna say to their son.

Hey, I've got one right here my backpack. Why don't you reach in and grab this fish? And he reaches in and whoa. Poisonous viper surprise. Who's gonna do that. Who's gonna do that kind of thing. That's crazy.

Now, obviously he's speaking generally of human goodwill towards Fathers to their children. Unfortunately, not every father does what is in the best interest of their children. You've fallen. So we recognize that but he's generalizing here.

And it's meant to be sarcastic. The good father we know does not give serpents to their to their child when they ask for a fish. And now the beginning of verse 11. Jesus gives these two illustrations.

And then he's gonna punch us in the face. So I want this to to sit with us. He says if you then. It's all of us. If you then me included. Who are? Evil if you then. Who are evil. Six words that have some pretty significant doctrine in them pretty serious things about us.

Two points that I want to make from these six words first Jesus assumes of all of us. That we are evil. Takes that for granted just an assumption if you then be evil. No supporting evidence is needed.

He just bases his argument on this fact that we are an evil people. The second point is that he doesn't say we are evil you see that. How arrogant would it be for him to stand in front of a crowd and say if you all being evil?

And not including himself in that if it were so he was perfect. He was sinless. He relates to us and identifies with humanity as flesh and bone. But he does not identify with us as sinners because Jesus never sinned.

He was not a sinner. He leaves himself out of the equation. But the sinfulness of humanity and the sinlessness of Christ is not his primary point here his verse 11 serves as a central point of the entire text and Here it is if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children.

How much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Can you read the implicit trust that is in this statement? How what he's driving for is for us to trust that our heavenly father is Generous he is.