Ask, Seek, Knock 2/12/2023
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Pyramids
Pyramids
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-Today I want to give you all the opportunity to be a part of the message
-I want to read to you from Matthew chapter 7
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
-and I simply want to open it up to you all
-what do you think that verse means?
-it’s not a trick question.
-Today I want us to jump in to our Pyramids series on the Book of Exodus
-and just to bring you all up to speed in the story
-at this point God has delivered the Israelites from the hands of the Egyptians
-through the red sea
-and last week we looked at this beautiful song that they sang in praise to God
-they praised God
-they worshipped God
-they declared their faith to Him
-that he was going to lead them
-and the point of last weeks sermon was simple
-The israelites sang to God
-So we should also sing to God
-They did a good thing
-we should copy them
-That was pretty much the entire point of last weeks message
-I could have saved everyone 30 minutes and just said that
-because that was the point
-That will be the one and only time in this entire series where I tell you to copy the Israelites
-The only time
-Because from this point in the story moving forward
-from now all the way to chapter 40 we’re about to witness a train wreck
-like if the book of Exodus ended at that song
-it would be a really good story
-it would be a feel-good story about a rag-tag bunch of sheep herders who were held captive in Egypt
-and God delivered them and saved them
-and they finally learned how to have faith
-and they all lived happily ever after
-That would be a really nice ending to the story
-it would make a great hallmark movie
-but it’s not the end
-in fact where we’re going to pick up at verse 22 is just the very beginings of a dumpster fire
-so hold on to that song we read last week
-hold on to those feel-good moments and I want you to compare what we read just one page ago to what we’re about to read now
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Contentment
Contentment
Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”
-3 days
-they made it a full 3 days
-before they went right back to whining and complaining
-and maybe if you’re a savvy reader you might be thinking to yourself
-well, I don’t know, 3 days is a long time without water
-in the desert, it gets really hot
-they were probably on the verge of death
-Maybe they were so dehydrated that it was a life or death situation
-I can understand how they would be upset
-I want to tell you from the outset, they were fine
-First of all, 3 days is the original amount of time that they asked pharaoh so that they could go and worship
-that was the original plan, remember?
-they wanted a 3 days weekend to go out and do their sacrifices
-so they were prepared for 3 days
-that was the whole plan to begin with
-we’re gonna go out for a long weekend to do some sacrifices
-plan on a three day trip
-so don’t think that this story is about how God miraculously saved the israelites from the verge of death
-because it’s not
-It’s a story about a bunch of people who got a little thirsty and complained about it
-That’s what this story is about
-but in spite of their grumbling in spite of their complaining God hears them and answers them
-I want you to pay attention to how this plays out
Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink. There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test.
He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”
Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.
-Here are some of the questions that you should be asking yourself as you read this passage.
-Number 1, you should be asking yourself
-what wast the point of the whole branch thing in the bitter water
-if there was an Oasis just a little ways up the road?
what was the point of that whole miracle
-God could have just lead them to the springs and accomplished the exact same thing
-And I think in order to answer that question
-you have to answer the question
-Number 2, what does verse 26 mean?
I am the Lord who heals you
-What do they need to be healed from?
-they don’t have any diseases
-they don’t have any illnesses
-at least the bible doesn’t tell us that they did
-As is often the case, when God does things in the Bible that don’t quite make sense to us
-he’s trying to teach a lesson
-He’s trying to show them what they need to be healed of.
-We’ve already established that it wasn’t dehydration
-they weren’t on the verge of Death or anything
-so what did they need to be healed from?
Contentment
Contentment
-they were suffering from a lack of contentment
-That’s why God took the bitter water and made it sweet for them first
-he helped them with their contentment by making their situation a little bit more bearable.
-And God, out of his mercy and patience
-made their water more palatable
he made it so that it was a little bit easier to be content with that water
-Part of Ask and you shall receive is being able to recognize when God has already provided you with what you need
-you just want more
-So I think as we ask the question “what does ask and you shall receive” mean we have to think about contentment.
-one of the biggest fears that I had when I decided to become a minister was the cut in pay.
-because you have to understand, before I did this for a living
-before we sold our house and moved to nebraska,
-and I started Going to college
-and all of that stuf
-Lindsay and I were making a fairly comfortable living.
-Not rich by any means
-but I was making enough that we could afford a mortgage payement
-a car payment
-we had a pretty big back yard
-I was the foreman at a landscaping company
-and when we took the leap
-when we decided to get rid of that old life
-and devote ourselves to a new life in service to God
-one of the things that we prayed was that God would provide for us.
-and the funny thing is
-if you just put a number on it
-if you just looked at the numbers
-we are substantially worse off now than we were before
-just looking at numbers on paper
-we have less stuff and less money and less everything
-and yet it feels like we have more
-because one of the ways God provides for us is by teaching us contentment
-come to find out, we didn’t need all of that stuff
-come to find out, we already had more than we needed
-and the difference is Christ
-having christ in your life allows you to take a bitter situation and make it sweet
—because he enables you to focus on contentment.
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As we move on in our story we’re going to have two more accounts that seem like they are basically the same story
-we’re getting the same idea repeated in different ways.
-and I want to take this opportunity to teach you something really cool about the bible
-when we read a story that has a point
-the moral of the story
-is always at the end
-in our culture that’s how we tell stories
-In the three little pigs, the pig who built his house out of bricks is at the end because the point of the story is that if you work hard it pays off
-stories in the Bible are a little different
-In hebrew culture
-they put the point of the story in the middle
-the moral of the story is always in the middle
-like 90% of the time that’s the case
-so any time you see three stories in a row, or 5 stories in a row, or 7 stories in a row, and they’re all similar
-the first thing you should do
-is zoom in on the story in the middle
-because usually that’s the one that’s gonna have the main point
-and because you and I tell stories differently it makes it tricky to write a sermon
-because in a good sermon the point is at the end
-and so to help you see the point that the Original audience would have seen I’m going to skip over this middle story and save it for the end.
-so jump over to chapter 17 with me
Exodus 17:1-3
Exodus 17:1-3
The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?” But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”
-So right off the bat you see that they did not learn the lesson about contentment
-because straight away the’re complaining about the lack of water
-we already see that they are not relying on God, they are not trusting in God
-they don’t have adequate faith in God
-But this time it starts to get to Moses
-Moses is freaking out because he’s unable to keep the people under control
-he’s unable to help them with their contentment
Exodus 17:4-6
Exodus 17:4-6
Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.” The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.
-Once again, God provides for the Israelites
-He sends moses out to strike the rock,
-and water comes out of the rock.
-What’s really fascinating, though
-is take a look at what paul said about this passage
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
-That rock was Christ
-if you offered me a million dollars to explain exactly what that means, I don’t think I could do it.
-If you said, Josh tell me what that means “the rock was Christ”
-was Christ Physically present? was it just a metaphor? Was he spiritually present
-Did the rock itself break the bounds of time and space
-I don’t know
-I don’t know what Paul meant exactly
-it’s a mystery to me
-but I know he said it
-all I know is that when Paul read Exodus 17 he read this story and said
-you know that rock right there
-that rock in the desert that provided water for the Israelites
-yeah, that was Jesus.
-and then a little bit further down in 1 corinthians he says this:
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
And then in the very next verse he says
Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.
-You ever hear the phrase
-God won’t give you anything you can’t handle
-that’s only a half truth
-the more biblically accurate saying should be
-God won’t allow you to be tempted any more than you can handle
-so that you will believe in Him.
-so that you will not fall into idolatry
-God is concerned with your physical needs
-to the extent that it strengthens your faith
-God provided for the Israelites in the Desert because he knew that’s what they needed in order to believe in Him.
-it’s because he knows that that’s what you need in that moment in order to strengthen your faith in Him.
-but the flipside is also true
-when you’re thirsty, and God chooses not to give you water
-it’s because he knows that your faith is strong enough to make it through that trial
-that temptation
-Our question
-what ask and you shall receive mean?
-The very next verse after Jesus says that, he says
-Mat 7:11
“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!
-God doesn’t always give you the gift you want
-he gives you the gift you need in order to have faith in him.
-in this particular instance the isrealites needed that to have faith
-Let’s go back and read our final passage
-the middle passage
-in exodus 16
The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
-So keep an eye on the timeline again
-On the 15th day of the second month
-remember they left egypt on the 15th day of the first month
-so we’re only a month out
-and the israelites are complaining about food
-they are grumbling against moses and aaron
-because they’re hungry
-now again
-just like the story about the water
-you might be tempted to sympatize with the israelites
-I mean after all, you can only go 3 weeks without food
-they probably ran out of all the passover bread in the first week
-I bet they were starving
-And yet again, I want to ease your mind
-they were fine
-they were not dying
-yet again this is not a story about how God saved the Israelites from starving to death
-it is yet another story of a bunch of people who wandered out in the desert, got hungry, and then whined about it.
-If you don’t believe me
-I would like you to turn back to chapter 12, and read verse 38
Many other people went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.
-Who has ever put a beef in the freezer, show of hands
-how many meals can you make from just one beef
-for family of four that’s like a year’s worth of food.
-So I hope by now I have adequately demonstrated
-that each of these stories are not stories about God saving the israelites from death
-nevertheless.
The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
-Real quick, this is an important tool to understand when you’re reading the bible
-Everything in God’s word is true
-That does not mean that everyONE in God’s word is truthful
-that’s important
-because if you confuse those two concepts
-then you might be tempted to think that the Israelites are the good guys here
-you might be tempted to say
“we should have faith like the Israelietes”
-because the israelites left Egypt where they had pots of meat
-they left the comfort and safety of having pots of meat to sit around
-they left a life of security where they got to sit around eating whatever they want
-after all, the Bible says that’s what happened.
-but read it closesly
-and understand that just because everything in the bible is true
-that doesn’t mean that everyone in God’s word is truthful
-It’s true that they said it
-but I propose to you that what they said was not true.
-instead of focusing on what God had provided for them
-instead of having faith in God
-instead of relying on God
-they fell into the trap of comparison
Comparison
Comparison
-how often have you fallen into the trap of comparing your life to something else?
-of looking at your situation and thinking to yourself
-you know if only I had that, my life would be better off
-if only things were like they were in the good ol days I wouldn’t be in this situation
-if only I had a little bit more
-if only God would grant me this
-if only if only if only
-but the thing that baffle’s me the most about this passage
-is the fact that in spite of their attitude
-in spite of their comparison and complaining
-God still provides for them.
In verse 9 we read
Exodus 16:9-12
Exodus 16:9-12
Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’ ” While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud. The Lord said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’ ”
-and God provides them with quail
-and he provides them with manna from heaven
-and part of his providing was a lesson to teach them obedience
-and a lesson to teach them to rely on God
-he gave them instructions about the sabbath
-he gave them instructions to gatther as much bread as they could eat
-and he gave them instructions to not gather bread on the sabbath
-as an act of trusting God
-But I want to zoom in on that phrase in verse 12
“I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’ ”
-in his infinite wisdom, God knew that even though they probably didn’t deserve to have bread
-even though they were being stinkers
-and the logical thing to do would be to say
-tough cookies israel,
-go slaughter a cows and eat that
-he knew that in that moment what they needed was to be provided for so that they would know that He was God
-Why does God choose to give when he gives and not give when he chooses to not give?
-at the end of the day the answer is simple
-so that you will know that He is god
-do you ever wonder why Jesus performed so many miracles?
-do you ever wonder why he healed so many people?
-because that wasn’t the reason he came
-The reason he came was to destroy satan
-to forgive the sins of the world
-Jesus’ miracles played no part in that.
-what I mean by that is
-Jesus could have come and lived a quiet life
-never healed anyone
-never performed a miracle
-never fed anyone
-lived a sinless life
-and his sacrifice on the cross would have been just as valid
-the reason he healed so many people, the reason he performed so many miracles was so that people would know that he is God
-Here in exodus
-God’s purpose was not to feed the israelites
-his purpose was to create a nation
-to give them the law
-to create the nation of israel
-he could have done that without feeding them.
-the 10 commandments would have been just as valid if he would have skipped all of the miracles
-but he did it so that they would BELIEVE
-so that they would know that he is God
-and what’s interesting is, as we look at our pyramid
-as we look at that second layer of the pyramid
-the fingerprints layer
-that layer that points us to Jesus
-Jesus Himself tells us in the Gospel that ultimately this passage is about Him
In Mark 6 Jesus gathers his disciples together in a boat
-and they go to a remote place
-and a crowd of people follow them
When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
-He has compassion on them
-he cares about them
-he sees that they are lost without him
-and as he’s teaching it gets dark and they get hungry and Jesus miraculously feeds 5000 people bread and fish.
-but what’s fascinating is when we look at how John tells us the story
-John gives us a detail that mark leaves out
-John tells us what happened next
He gets done feeding the people
-He goes back to the other side of the lake
-and they chase him down and he says to them
Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.” Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
-Here’s where I want to bring it home
-when we try to understand the verse Ask and you shall receive, knock and it will be opened
-We need to be mindful of our contentment
-we need to be mindful of comparing what we have or don’t have
-both of those things are true
-But ultimatley
-when we go to God in prayer and ask him for things
-we should be asking him for what we really need
-We should ask for what he tells us to ask for
Give us today our daily bread.
-And if we’re the israelites we’re asking for physical bread
-we’re asking for food in the desert
-and maybe that’s what you need right now
-maybe you need bread
-And if that’s what you need, then ask for it
-But as we grow in Christ
-we start to understand that the bread he’s talking about is not physical bread
-it’s Christ
-we should be asking for the kind of bread that says whoever comes to this bread will never be hungry
-whoever comes to this water will never be thirsty
-Ask and you shall receive
-what kind of bread are you asking for?