Jesus encouraged people to seek God and find Him.
Please read Matthew 7:7-12 in your Bible. I used the NIV (1984) to prepare these remarks.
Last Christmas a little boy did not get what he wanted. He decided to negotiate with Santa and wrote the following:
“Deer Santa, I am riting this on the day after X-mas and I am very sad. I only received 1 of the 2 presents I asked for. Sense you ate my cookies I will asoom that my missing gift was a miss take. I will give you 1 week too fix this. Jeremy.” (Spelling errors are his.)
His parents saw this as an opportunity to teach their son a lesson and composed a very professional-looking “reply” from Santa: “Dear Jeremy, I’m sorry you are disappointed with your presents. You asked for two very expensive presents and Santa can only do so much. You need to learn to be grateful for what you have, not upset about what you don’t. If you continue to complain I will have no choice but to add you to the naughty list next year. Santa.”
Jeremy fired back with another note to Santa: “Deer Fatty, your threats don’t scare me. I played your game and you did not deliver. This is not O.K. I will give you 1 week and then you will pay. Jeremy. P.S. I don’t know why you care that it is expensive when you have elf slaves to make things for you. I think you are naughty for having slaves.”
What would you do next? Jeremy’s parents decided another reply from Santa was needed: “Dear Jeremy, You are being a very bad little boy. Because you cannot be happy with what you have, I have talked to your parents and told them to take away your Wii U. Now you have nothing. Once you learn to be grateful, perhaps you can have it back. I am very disappointed in you, Jeremy. You will need to be an extra good boy this year if you want to make it back on the nice list. Santa.”
Jeremy is one unforgiving kid. He wrote a third letter; “Deer Santa, I do not like that stunt you pulled with my parents. You are on my naughty list. Be afraid. You look slow and easy to kill. Enjoy your cookys next year because the will be poison. I hope you die. Jeremy.” (Emphasis his.)
(You can see these notes for yourself at https://thoughtcatalog.com/callie-byrnes/2017/12/this-boy-didnt-get-everything-he-wanted-for-christmas-so-he-decided-to-get-back-at-santa-with-these-hilarious-letters/.)
I wonder what Jeremy’s Christmas will be like this year?!! This is a sad and ridiculous example of how disappointment can overtake a person’s better judgment, resulting in toxic words and deeds.
Sadly, sometimes people have this kind of feeling toward God when His answers to their prayers don’t match up. I know a very intelligent man who remains an unbeliever because his childhood prayers were not answered as he wanted.
Today, we hope to encourage you to pray by proving, with Jesus’ own words, that prayers to God are always heard, always answered, and always make a difference, even if the difference is limited to our own attitude.
1. Be encouraged: God hears & answers seekers (7-8)
Three verbs appear twice: ASK, SEEK, KNOCK. There is an ascending level of commitment/ involvement. Each requires more of you. The verbs are repeated for emphasis and to model persistence in prayer.
The tense of the verbs is called “infinitive,” which describes a constant, ongoing activity. We are to keep on asking, never cease seeking, and keep on knocking on heaven’s gate. Persevere in prayer until you receive a clear answer from God or He changes your mind.
As God knows what I need better than I do, and as He will do what He wills, why should I pray? There are at least four excellent reasons to PRAY CONTINUALLY, as 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says.
The first is the most obvious: God commands prayer. Be obedient and pray.
The second is that God designed prayer for our sake, not His. Let’s be clear; God is not waiting for any of us to pray to “activate” His will. He does not depend on us for anything. Instead, He commands prayer because communication is key to all relationships and loving communication promotes loving relationships. God commands prayer to deepen our spiritual maturity.
James 1:5-8 gives specifics on what our attitude should be when praying: IF ANY OF YOU LACKS WISDOM, HE SHOULD ASK GOD, WHO GIVES GENEROUSLY TO ALL WITHOUT FINDING FAULT, AND IT WILL BE GIVEN TO HIM. BUT WHEN HE ASKS, HE MUST BELIEVE AND NOT DOUBT, BECAUSE HE WHO DOUBTS IS LIKE A WAVE OF THE SEA, BLOWN AND TOSSED BY THE WIND. THAT MAN SHOULD NOT THINK HE WILL RECEIVE ANYTHING FROM THE LORD; HE IS A DOUBLE-MINDED MAN, UNSTABLE IN ALL THAT HE DOES.
Third, we should pray because Jesus’ promises regarding prayer are unconditional. For example, in this passage EVERYONE’s prayer is answered. When people talk about “unanswered prayer” they really mean is “God said ‘no’ or ‘wait,’ or said ‘yes’ to something they didn’t want.”
Fourth, the Bible clearly promises that prayer changes things; it has an effect on our world. As James 5:16b says, THE PRAYER OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN IS POWERFUL AND EFFECTIVE.
2. Be encouraged: God’s answer is always what’s best for you (9-11).
More than any earthly parent, God knows our needs. He will not tease or do evil to us. Nor is He a child-centered parent who will indulge our wants. Jesus used humor to make this point:
BREAD versus STONE = Some loaves of bread are baked so hard they become stone-like, some stones take on an appearance similar to bread.
FISH versus SNAKE = Both fishes and snakes have scales, some snakes swim and eels look like snakes.
The point is, if our earthly parents (YOU WHO ARE EVIL) can be trusted to tell the difference and not give us something bad, we can trust God (who is good) to do even better.
Whether God’s answer is what we want or not is not important; it is not the basis for evaluating prayer. Rest assured God’s answers are always GOOD GIFTS. Our theology of prayer is not to be centered on us. God’s answer to prayer reflects His nature and His will. It is never about our sincerity, posture, gesture, or choice of words. Anyone who tells you otherwise is false. Prayer is designed by God to be humbling and focused on Him, because self-focus is hardly ever healthy or helpful.
Full disclosure: it gripes me when people preach negatively about prayer: “Don’t do this or that.” They reveal their ignorance of Scripture and the true purpose of prayer. The best prayers are like tears: they flow from a heart overrun with either happiness or sorrow. Prayer is the inner self expressing itself to God; every other consideration is secondary at best.
3. Be encouraged: life with God is simple (12).
There is a big difference between simple and easy. Following Jesus is not easy in the sense that it is a lifelong commitment to change and growth; hardships will be faced, expectations raised, persecution endured.
But living for God is not complicated. Jesus reduced our ethical life to two commands, both to love, and one simple rule on how to treat others: just the way we want to be treated.
In guiding people’s behavior, you can take two approaches. The Legalistic approach is to try to anticipate every kind of wrongdoing and write a law to cover it. Congress is an example of this approach of multiplying the rules.
The Principled approach is to advocate for what is good by setting forth principles. Everything else is evil. As an example of reducing the rules is our work on constitution review. One of our goals is to streamline the current constitution.
The Golden Rule - like the board game “Othello” - “takes a moment to learn, a lifetime to master.” Using this rule requires us to embrace the principle of the preciousness of others. Paul explained this principle: Philippians 2:3 = DO NOTHING OUT OF SELFISH AMBITION OR VAIN CONCEIT, BUT IN HUMILITY CONSIDER OTHERS BETTER THAN YOURSELF. See also Romans 13:10 = LOVE DOES NO HARM TO ITS NEIGHBOR. THEREFORE LOVE IS THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW.
We will always learn new ways and be confronted with new situation in which we can apply this principle, because Jesus said we were to apply it IN EVERYTHING. Motivation to use the Golden Rule is also quite simple: it comes from a love for self. To the degree that we have a healthy self-image and take care of ourselves, it makes it easier for us to treat others in the same way. It may sound backward to say it this way, but a sensitivity to others is founded on knowledge of self; particularly what makes me feel loved.
Interestingly, a variation of the Golden Rule appears in all the world’s major religions. However, Jesus is the only one who expressed the principle positively. All others said it negatively; “Don’t do to others what you don’t want done to you.” In this, Jesus sets an example of positivity that we should seek to follow. His positive version embraces both sides of goodness: it is actively doing good works as well as avoiding evil ones. Jesus’ version can be applied more broadly.
4. How to help another seeker find God.
A = Active Listening (withhold your own opinions, suspend judgment for the moment).
B = Begin Where You Meet Them (match the need(s) they express with biblical teaching & church ministry).
C = Consider Their Experience (avoid using terms or making references that they don’t know).
D = Develop Your Own Story (stress points of your own experience common to all and/or similar to theirs).
E = Engage in Dialogue (your goal should be to do about half the talking and half the listening).
F = Find a Time to Continue the Conversation (initial encounters should be brief, later ones lengthier).
G = Get to an Application (an invitation to church is the place to start, invite a decision as the Spirit leads you).
Jesus encouraged people to seek God and find Him.
Earlier in Matthew’s version of these teachings, Jesus taught His disciples to avoid praying out of a hypocritical motive (to earn the praise of others). In this section, He clarified what our motive for prayer should be. Then He told us how to live out the godly life that goes into our prayers.
Teaching about our relationship with God and our relationships with one another should go hand in hand, because people who love God will love others. The Bible teaches a lack of love for neighbor betrays a false love for God.
This is one reason I felt lead to express some “ABCs” of how we can have conversations about God even when we have just met the other person. We do all we can on Sundays and Wednesdays to present the word of God truthfully and compellingly. But the living out of that word is something we all must do as much outside the church walls as we do within.
During this season, many of us will spend more time out in the public than we normally do, as we search for Christmas gifts. (After all, you don’t want to let Jeremy down again!!) Part of our ambition for the remaining days before the Christmas Holy Day must be to use these public moments to tell others about Jesus. It is wise for us to make best use of the public’s general affinity for Christmas to make Jesus Christ more widely known.
The first step is to not be in such a hurry. Linger in public places, make time for conversations. Then start some! Make an invitation to church. We will have Christmas Eve at 6 pm. Do someone an act of kindness and explain why you did it. Start somewhere!
RESOURCES:
Sermon #929
The Story of God Commentary: Sermon on the Mount, Scot McKnight