Ask, Seek, Knock
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
As we near the end of Jesus’ sermon we see the potential for pride if it is misapplied
Last week – pride of judgmentalness
This week – pride of self-reliance
From Adam and Eve in the garden to today, mankind longs to see himself standing in God’s place
This is even seen in our “righteousness” which is often the battleground of pride
In a sermon so focused on the heart, we should expect God’s greatest gifts to be applied in the place of greatest need – our heart
26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 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!
Jesus offers a simple solution to this self-righteousness – dependent prayer
Attitudes this protects from:
Self-righteousness
Despair
Pray with persistence
Pray with persistence
Jesus uses three words to demonstrate the intensity of our prayer life
These three words go beyond simple request and include an idea of persistence and dilligence
cf. Lk 18 persistent widow
If God controls everything why should we pray
God controls both the ends and the means
Prayer directs our heart towards faith-filled dependence
Prayer is an act of worship which exalts God for his good providence
God's providence is his almighty and ever present power, whereby, as with his hand, he still upholds heaven and earth and all creatures, and so governs them that leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, indeed, all things, come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand. (H27)
Pray with confidence in God’s generosity
Pray with confidence in God’s generosity
As creator God gives gifts to all (Mt 5:45), but he has a special fatherly relationship with some
This passage gives us a command to pray, but motivates by promise rather than condemnation
Telling a child to buy himself a candy bar
Pray with trust in God’s wisdom
Pray with trust in God’s wisdom
Just like God will not give us a snake whew we ask for a fish, he won’t give us a snake when we ask for a snake.
Grayson drinking a whole Powerade while golfing
Reasons God doesn’t answer prayer
Our prayers are motivated by sinful passions
James 4:3 “3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
We pray for something that is bad for us
This doesn’t necessarily need to be something sinful
We pray for something that glorifies God less than his plan
God’s timing is not ours