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Well, good morning. That's a lot of my usual audience, so usually I'm preaching in shorts
and a t-shirt, so this will be a new experience for all of us. But it doesn't matter if you're
in shorts and a t-shirt or in a three-piece suit, the Word of God will be made known.
As we open the Word this morning, I want us to be encouraged by the message of the Gospel,
Christ's love for us. When we look to Scripture, we see His desire for us to understand who He is
so that He may be made known. Before we jump into this morning's Scripture, I'd like to do a little
recap of what Jesus has been teaching us in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has a lot to say about
the subject of prayer, and it's crucial that we don't miss it. Already, Jesus has explained that
prayer is a commanded expectation. Prayer is something believers are required to do. We read back in
Matthew 6, 9 through 13, Jesus said, when you pray, pray then like this, our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day
our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors, and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Jesus did not say, if you pray. He said, pray then like this. In this
statement, there's an expectation, a command. Believers are to pray. Jesus has also spoken about prayer in
Matthew 6, 6, explaining our posture of prayer is important. He says, but when you pray, go into your
room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will
reward you. So prayer is a command that when done correctly will be rewarded by God. So what does this
mean? That we pray using certain words in a secret way that we will receive a reward? Let's dig into
that for a moment. Jesus wants us to understand what prayer is. When we pray, Jesus teaches us to seek
God's will. The goal of prayer is God's will to be done on earth as it is done in heaven. He has said we
should ask God for our daily bread, not store our stuff in storehouses. He says that we are to lay
our treasures in heaven and not on earth, as Bo talked about a few weeks ago. Jesus wants us to trust
in him. This is the calling for believers, to think differently than the world. The world trusts in
themselves, in their things, in what they can accumulate to feel safe or to feel secure. But this
whole Sermon on the Mount has been Jesus calling us not to trust in the things of the world, not to
trust in ourselves, but instead to trust in God. That is found in the verses that we have just read
and also in the verses that we will read in just a moment. Jesus is adjusting how we think, how we pray,
that our focus becomes his will that must be done. His kingdom is our focus and not ours.
Matthew 6 33, as Jesus is helping to adjust our views, he says this,
but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.
So when we pray, we are seeking God's will, not ours. And this is key to understanding how and when we
should pray. That we should pray for the things of God and God's will and not our own. Scripture does
not teach us that we are the main beneficiaries of prayer, but prayer is meant to benefit God's will
for his kingdom. Now we'll pick up in today's reading as we continue to learn about prayer. And here's what
Jesus is teaching us about coming to his father, God. That we should do so in certain ways with
persistence, with desperation, and with the knowledge that God will provide. Jesus, as he is speaking to
the disciples and also the large crowd that has gathered around him as he's delivering his sermon
on the mount, he explains that we have a role in prayer. And he also explains God's desired response
to that prayer. So we'll pick up in Matthew 7, 7 through 11. And we read,
"Ask it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone
who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks it will be opened. For 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 gifts to those who ask him." If this is your first time seeing this
passage, you may be surprised at its redundancy. In my studies in preparation for this week, I am again
amazed. Jesus talking to us about praying to his father explains that we can be, in fact we should be,
persistent with our prayers. And that's our first point this morning. And this may seem a little
counterculture because it seems like what we are reading is if we ask and we don't get what we want,
then we seek. And if we still don't get what we want, then we knock. We pursue when we don't get what
we want. It kind of seems like we're being told almost to be annoying with our request. Is that what
scripture is saying? I think about this in the application of other places in my life. If I want something, do I just
keep asking until someone gives in? I'm not sure about you guys, but this definitely wouldn't have worked in
my household growing up. You all know me as an adult. I'm busy. I'm moving, constantly talking. I was so
much worse as a child. I never stopped. And if you're wondering how did your parents make it, I'll tell you:
barely. I remember many times when we're in situations like this, potluck after church or at church at night,
the night, and my mom or dad start to have a conversation with somebody. And I'm standing next and I start to tug.
And I say, "Can I? Can we? Will you?" And their answer was always the same, "Hold on. Be patient."
I also remember often that my father would say to me afterwards, "Joel, this is not how we act. We don't
interrupt." I remember his desire was to help me understand that we just need to be patient. But I also
remember my desire for whatever it was that I wanted it and that I wanted it now. Is that what Jesus is
really saying in this passage? Does this apply to our lives now? Is Jesus calling us to be so persistent
that God will hear us and then answer us in the way that we desire in our wants? Not quite.
I heard it once said about Jesus' instruction of prayer that persistence in prayer is meant to align
the believer's mind with God's promises. When we align with God's promises, again, it's our shift in
natural thinking. It means in all situations we align our thoughts and our speech with what God says,
not our own wants. It requires laying down of personal agendas, our own desires, worldly understanding,
to embrace God's plan, even when it seems unclear, even when we don't know the outcome,
even when we're in distress. It is living in confidence that God's promises are already finished
works, allowing believers to rest in celebrated victory, Christ's victory, before it even appears in our life.
It is the process of sanctification through the Holy Spirit, transforming our character into the
likeness of Jesus. So when we are praying, we are not asking for seeking or knocking for personal gain,
but we are asking, seeking, and knocking for the will of God.
As I wrestled with this in the last few weeks, trying to understand the passage,
part of the struggle I was having was just understanding what the word "asking" means.
So I found in Luke, Jesus teaches this again, but as he often does, he makes it simpler for us as he puts
it into a parable. In Luke 11:5-10, he says this: "And he said to them, 'Which of you who has a friend will
go to him at midnight and say, 'Friend, lend me three loaves?' For a friend of mine has arrived on a journey,
and I have nothing to set before him. And he will answer from within, 'Do not bother me. The door is now
shut. My children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything.' I tell you, though he will not
get up and give him anything because he's his friend, yet because of his impotence, or that is persistence,
he will rise up and give him whatever he needs. 'And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you.
Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receive,
and the one who seeks, finds, and the one who knocks, it will be opened." Another example of Jesus
saying, "Ask, seek, and knock as a command." This time he does it in a parable. Why a parable? To make
sure we get it. To make sure we understand. We see in this parable, even though the words are not
specifically used, asking, seeking, and knocking are all in there. The friend is seeking help for a
guest. He is literally knocking on the door. And when the friend finally wakes up, he is asking for what
he needs. We believe God's word is without error. But sometimes when we read it, we may think to
ourselves, it doesn't make sense. But here are two teachings where Jesus gives the example and explains
we are to come to God in prayer, and that prayer needs to be persistent. Church, how do we pray?
Do we pray with persistence? Do we pray with persistence sometimes? Do our prayers need to change at all?
Have you ever felt the need to pray like this, persistently? Maybe for you, maybe for a loved one?
To just pray and pray relentlessly? Perhaps you're feeling a state of hopelessness. You're stuck.
You're desperate. Something's got to give. Do you come to God like this? Do you pray? Do you wear God
out with your prayers? For the issues in life are struggles. What is your process of prayer today?
If we take scripture for its word, we are to be persistent in asking God for what we need.
Persistence in prayer often stems from desperation. And that is our second point this morning. Are we
praying with desperation? Now, the word desperation encompasses a lot of things. What are you desperate
for? And when you're praying in desperation, are you asking? Are you seeking? Are you knocking? Do we only
pray this way when we feel like the problem is bigger than something that we can handle? I feel like a lot of
times in my own life that's where I'm at. The persistency in prayer goes up when I realize I can't do this on my own.
But that's not what God is saying. That's not what Jesus is saying in his sermon.
Praying like this should be for all of our prayers. We see the resolve of that as we read in verse 8. He says,
for anyone who asks, receives. For anyone who seeks, finds. For anyone who knocks, it will be opened.
I don't understand why we wouldn't pray like this. If God calls us to be persistent and then says he will
answer our prayers, why wouldn't we pray always like this. This is Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount
responding to his own command. First he says, pray in this way. And then he follows it with, and here's what
will happen. Again, echoing what we read in Matthew 6:6 where Jesus says, do it this way and you will be
rewarded. We are desperate for a conclusion. Are we desperate in our prayers? Are we desperate for our
answer in our prayers? John Piper, when explaining this text, does a really good job. He says, Jesus
invites us to pray by threefold command. First we ask, then we seek, then we knock. He goes on to explain
that these are imperative verbs, meaning these words are all commands. All three verbs, he says, are in the
the present tense. And that's calling for continual action. So ask and keep on asking. Seek and keep on
seeking. That's the idea. Knock and keep on knocking. And when you are persistent in your prayer, this is the
promise that God will answer. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened.
As Piper puts it, the asker receives, the seeker finds, and the knocker gets an open door. Your father
will give you good things. Do we want this? And that's the challenge of our hearts. Are we
willing to put in the time to speak to God about our needs?
My wife, God bless her, has heard this sermon numerous times. It does not get better the more
times I say it. When I ask for feedback, she is always kind in her response. But there is always
feedback. She said, give an example of ask, seek, knock. So here we go. There are a couple truths
about me that you need to know. One, I always have candy. And whether you like it, if your kid or your
student or your young adult or sometimes your husband asks for candy, I'm going to give them candy and I'm
going to give them way more than you want me to. There's a young man in our congregation. His name
is Adam Bush and he is my example this morning. Adam knows where I keep the candy. Adam knows with
or without me he can have the candy. I don't care. But Adam's mom requires him to ask me for the candy.
She's a good mom. When Adam is hanging out with the youth group here on Sunday morning or Sunday night
or any event that we're having, and Adam is close to me, he'll look up to me and he'll say,
"Joel, can I get some candy?" because that's how we communicate. And then he runs off because I say,
"of course," and he gets handfuls. Sometimes when I'm not around, but his mom has taught him well,
he will come and find me. And then when he does, even if it's from a distance, he gives me the little,
"huh," and I do, "of course," and he runs off and fills his pockets. One time on a Sunday morning,
true story, I was leading a mission trip meeting in room 200, and he swung open the door and just kind
of tilted his head, which I believe is the international sign for "Joel, can I have some candy?"
And I gave the nod, "of course you can get some candy," and he ran off because he understands me.
He knows my goal is to give the kids as much junk food as I can possibly do.
He knows that I will have that candy. He knows that I will give him that candy, but all he needs
to do is ask, sometimes seek, sometimes knock or just fling open the door, because he knows my heart.
He knows what I want to do, and here's the correlation. Jesus is the one telling us here.
Jesus is encouraging us to plead, "My Father God wants to give you good things." He doesn't have to.
He doesn't need to. He wants to. Jesus is excited about the prospect of us asking God so that God can
provide our needs. Some Bibles may be yours. This verse is going to be in red, and the surrounding
Sermon on the Mount will also be in red, and it's important because those are the words of Jesus.
For obvious reasons, we know that this is important, but I want to bring up something that's not just
that he spoke them. While all other words in Scripture are God-breathed as well, and they are inerrant,
there's something different when we read the words of Jesus. You see, Peter lived with Jesus, and he
followed God all the days of his adult life, maybe more, and Peter wrote his epistles when he was around
50. So Peter had known Jesus for about 30 years, maybe God for more, when he wrote Scripture, and that's a long
time to know God and to know the character of God. Moses was about 80 when he encountered the burning bush,
and he wrote the first five books of the Bible from 80 to about 120. So for 40 years,
God listened to, and he learned the character of God. Jesus, well, Jesus has always been with God.
There has never been a separation. He has always known the character of God. So when Jesus tells us
to believe in what he's saying, and he tells us to ask, seek, and knock, there should be a different
feel to it. He knows his father. He knows his father's love for us. He knows so much more that
God wants to provide because he knows the character of his father. I think about the relationship with
my son. My son knows who I am. He knows how I'm going to act in most situations, and he knows it
better than most kids. Now, I've known a lot of the youth for 10 years or more, but Jacob knows what I'm
going to say, the things that I'm going to do, because he is with me so much more. He's been with me since
his birth. He knows my character, so sometimes when he speaks, he can speak on behalf knowing how I'm
going to respond. Jesus does that with God the Father, but so much more. While candy may not be what
you're desperate for, whatever you are desperate for, God has the solution. That's his promise.
Not only is that the promise, but also the promise that he wants to give it to you.
Are you asking? Are you seeking? Are you knocking? Okay, let's say you are. Will God really show up?
And that's our third point. We need to pray with the knowledge God will provide. This gets tricky.
I think this gets tricky in real-world application. If you say, Joel, I have been praying and I am
desperate, where is God? A lot of preachers much more gifted than I have done a better job of describing
that this does not mean that God will answer all your prayers immediately in the way that you want
them answered. I don't think any of us think that of the text, but I think that we should take a moment
and realize that God is not a genie that if we rub the lamp, poof, he's going to do what we want when we want.
Instead, let's look to Philippians 4:19 where it says,
"And my God will supply every need according to his glory and riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
In this statement, it is a powerful declaration of God's abundant provision for believers in him.
We may not have everything we want, but God has blessed us with everything we need.
So if he said he will provide all of our needs, our question has to be, can we trust him?
Can we trust that God will be there when we are persistent and we are desperate? Will he show up?
Again, we look to scriptures. Numbers 23:19 to answer the question, "Will God show up when we pray?"
It says this, "God is not man that he should lie, or the son of man that he should change his mind.
Has he said and will he not do it? Or has he spoken and will he not fulfill it?
Our heavenly Father is to be trusted that he will supply our needs.
That we have his only Son telling us, "This is how you ask. Come to my Father like this,
in persistence, with determination, knowing that he will provide when you ask, when you seek, and when you knock."
This should be simple, but I think sometimes prayer can be hard.
It can be hard because our side, God's side is always going to be consistent. He will provide.
Our side is that we need to come to him. We must come to him.
Sometimes I feel like this is a little bit out of character of how we think when we think about God.
We want something, so we just ask. Like God will just answer our requests.
So again, we go to scripture and Jesus uses this word, "ask," and it's the same word we find in the Old
Testament in Ezekiel 36-37. It says, "This is what the Sovereign Lord says. Once again, I will yield to
Israel's plea and do this for them. I will make their people as numerous as sheep." Israel's plea,
or in other words, Israel's asking for God to do something. This is Israel's prayer.
And you see how God responds. You see, Jesus wants us to ask, but more than ask, he's telling us to
plead. So how do we plead for the will of God to be done in our prayers so that our prayers will be
answered? We'll get there in just a minute. I want to consider two things about prayer before we get
into answering that question. Number one, we need to remember how God has already answered our prayers.
We can sometimes be a people that forgets so quickly what God has just done for us that we may not trust
that he will provide in the future. My friend Mike Bott encouraged me to keep a journal and write down
my prayers. Now, folks, I've never been a journaler. I think that's the right word. But I trust Mike,
so I gave it a shot. He said, "When you do this, then you can look back at what you've written and you can see
how God is working through your prayers, answering your prayers. If you don't do it, you should try."
As you see him work, you will trust more in God and who he is. This will give you the desire to give
him more. Build that deeper relationship with him, trusting him more as you go. It's a positive cycle.
You pray, he answers, you see it, you trust more, you pray more, and it just goes up.
Our dependence on God, our reliance on God, our desire to give God all the things in our lives.
So for almost a year I've journaled, and I have seen God move, and I have seen God answer prayers.
The second thing we need to remember is that prayer is part of a two-way conversation.
We are not just asking, seeking, and knocking. That's our side. But we are also reading scriptures,
bringing that to us. We are listening to hear God. We are not just asking, we are thanking.
We are worshiping, we are honoring God, and we are obeying God. We are deepening our relationship
through our obedience as we serve, as we tithe, as we pray, as we learn together as part of a community.
These are not options. All of these things are commands from God. We must do them.
This is our response to God, our side of that conversation. You see, when Jesus is pushing
us to pray, that is what he's expecting us to do, to take time alone with God, to share with God who
we are, to develop that relationship, just like we would with anyone else in our lives.
Jesus describes this as a wonderful thing, that prayer should not be difficult.
But sometimes I think prayer is difficult. Why can it be hard to pray? I mean, some of us would say the
obvious answer is not. So why don't we do it? Why don't we ask God for what we need?
Sometimes I feel inadequate to pray. And I don't know if that's anybody else's struggle.
We don't feel worthy to pray. We may not know the right words to say, or we feel like we've done so
much wrong in our life, or in the month, or even in the week, or even in the day, that when we come to
God, all we're doing is confessing our sins and asking for forgiveness and not having time to ask for our
needs. Maybe it's because the world or our sin nature has conditioned us to believe we cannot ask for
something we did not earn on our own. And these are real thoughts that I have. I think these are real
thoughts that we all have. That I'm not good enough. That my issues may not be presentable to God.
He does so much for me already. It feels like I'm asking for nothing. I don't want to be a beggar.
But isn't that the message of the cross? We are not worthy.
We cannot be worthy. So Christ had to die for us. So that only through him, his death, his burial,
his resurrection, can we be seen as worthy to God.
Sinclair Ferguson says this idea contains beggar's logic. And I might add that it contains beggar's
privilege. He says, "Prayer is a great blessing that puts our lack in touch with his supply, our needs
in touch with his riches." What he is saying is we are not good enough to come before an awesome God
and ask for anything we alone are not. In our sinful humankind, we are not worthy to ask. But in Jesus,
we can. For the believers in here today, this morning, this message is that Jesus is our connection
in our relationship with God. A God who desires to pray, to answer our prayers. A God who desires
for us to pray so that he may answer our prayers. If you are not a believer in the room, let me tell
you what God is asking for right now. He is asking for a relationship with you and he desires that relationship.
He wants to know you and he wants you to know him. If you are struggling, our heavenly Father wants to
come alongside you, but you have to say that you want him too. And that starts that conversation.
You see, when Jesus' sacrifice, he made our prayers acceptable to God.
His sacrifice on the cross connected us relationally to God the Father. Jesus' actions allow us to be worthy
to pray, allow us to be worthy to ask. But we must ask. And Jesus doesn't say just ask. He says ask,
"And then seek, and then knock, and do this in our communication with God through our prayers."
We need to ask in repetition. We need to ask with the wholeness of our heart in desperation. And we need to ask knowing that God will provide.
So what will he provide? Again, back to scripture. He says, "Of which one of you, if his son asks him for
bread will not will give him a stone, or if he asks for fish will give him a serpent, if then you who are evil know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father who is in heaven give good gifts to
those who ask him?" God will not give you something that is harmful, even if you ask, because he loves you and he
knows what's best for you. But he wants to give you all your needs. Read again with me how he ends this verse with a
statement and an exclamation point. "How much more will the Father who is in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?"
A father would not give his son's request of bread or fish, a stone or a serpent. That would be a terrible thing.
The child is hungry. He needs food. Jesus reminds the listeners that you are evil and you still give good gifts.
But God is not evil. Imagine, as our heavenly Father, how good of a gift we can receive.
Read it like Jesus said it. "How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him?"
He wants to.
This is Jesus explaining the character of God to us and saying, "My Father wants to give you good gifts."
If we ask, if we ask, if we seek, and if we knock. I'm going to ask the band and the prayer team to come up.
And I want to ask us this question.
What is our role? What is our role? What do we do with this text that we just read in Matthew?
We know that it is a direct command to engage in persistent,
constant, confident prayer,
trusting in the goodness of God as a loving Father who delights in giving good gifts.
So, how do we do it? We engage in that conversation.
Where are you today?
Are you asking for what you need? And then, how are you asking? Does your prayer echo what Jesus teaches
us to pray? Your kingdom come, your will be done?
Or are we asking for the things that just benefit us?
We are not worthy to ask, but through Christ we can.
So, are you coming to God with persistence and desperation, knowing God will provide and that
his will will be done? I want to end with what King David said in Psalms 37:4.
He says, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart."
Church, is that where we're at? Do we see prayer as something that we just do quickly before we eat,
quickly before we go to bed? Or is it a continual relationship that we have with a loving Father
who wants nothing more than to answer our prayers? So, that's our challenge. Check your own heart today.
Are you praying as Christ commands us to pray? Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father, I just thank you for the opportunity to dig into your word.
Lord, nothing in Scripture is written by accident, but everything is written with a purpose.
Lord, I pray that we see that purpose today.
Jesus, your time on earth was short, so the things that you said had meaning.
Lord, you called us to call on God persistently, to ask, to seek, to knock.
Lord, to align ourselves with his expectations, with his word.
Lord, I pray that our hearts be challenged this morning to do just that.
Lord, that we don't just ask when there's a simple need, but we ask for everything.
Lord, that we build our side of this conversation with you.
Lord, that we respond to you the way that we need to respond.
We love you, Jesus. We pray these things in your name. Amen.
That's it for this week's message. Be sure to check back next week for a new episode.
And in the meantime, you can visit us online at willowridgechurch.org
or by searching for Willow Ridge Church on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Thanks again for listening.