Prayer and Practice

Matthew 7:7-12

December 1, 2002

 

Our day bears witness to excessive misunderstanding about what it means to be a Christian. So much called "Christian" lacks resemblance to the explanations given by Jesus Christ and the Apostles. Jesus warned of those whose level of Christian confession would be so shallow that whatever joy appeared at first would vanish when the intensity of the gospel brought on affliction or persecution. Others, Jesus warned, would try accompanying their Christian confession with desire for the world's approval and the heaping up of material things, only to see the gospel never bear fruit of true conversion in their lives. Yet most of them continue to consider themselves Christians in spite of our Lord's statements to the contrary (see Matthew 13).

 

I am concerned that we understand this because it is so easy to presume that most that make a Christian confession are indeed Christians. According to pollsters, three-fourths of our population call themselves Christian. But where are they? Where is the influence upon the morals of our society? Where is the transformation in governmental and judicial practices? Where is the Christian work ethic in the workplace or integrity in business practices? Where is the mind that rejects worldliness, and is characterized by profound generosity and service toward others? I think you get the point. While we rejoice in the believers that are making a difference in moral and political issues, and that are diligent and honest in the workplace, and that live with a passion for generosity and service, we also know that proportionately there's not much of this in our nation. 

 

We cannot ignore what Jesus is doing in the Sermon on the Mount. He is not giving nice suggestions for how to live, but instead, He sets forth the character and practice of kingdom citizens. He does not describe an optional lifestyle. Rather, Jesus Christ draws a bold line between mere profession and kingdom citizenship.

 

I am not suggesting that following the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount are easy or even automatic. Any honest interpretation of the Sermon admits to be - apart from God's grace - the most difficult demands in the Word of God. But our Lord does not hesitate to set forth the highest standards for kingdom citizens. What is impossible for those outside of Christ, He demands for kingdom citizens. And there is one clear reason why He does make such demands. Kingdom citizens are given grace to live as those who know the King. That is the difference between those of the world, those that merely make Christian confessions, and those that are born of God - kingdom citizens. It is not that kingdom citizens are better than others or more intelligent or possess greater willpower. Instead, it is a matter of grace alone. How is the grace of God displayed in kingdom citizens? Consider the way our Lord narrows this down to prayer and practice in our text. Without prayer as our Lord explains it, and without the kind of practice that He demands, the Sermon on the Mount will be the most frustrating teaching to us in all of Scripture. But if we see what Jesus explains in our text, and look to the grace of God, we will have the foundation for kingdom living.

 

I. Prayer: looking persistently toward the Father

 

Prayer is not a new subject in the Sermon on the Mount. We have already considered Christ's instructions on secret prayer instead of praying to be noticed by men, and the practice of relational prayer instead of meaningless repetition. We also looked at the pattern that Christ gave us in the Lord's Prayer. There we are taught to set as priority in our praying the honor of our God and His rule to be extended to the ends of the earth. We are also told to express our dependence upon the Lord for daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance from temptation.

 

With all of that instruction on prayer why is there the seeming intrusion in the middle of an explanation of judgment about prayer? I would suggest that our text is a summation of the kingdom righteousness already explained in 5:20-7:6. We considered in earlier studies that this rather large section is a parenthetical explanation of kingdom righteousness - a concise description of the character, ambition, and behavior of those in covenant with God through Christ. Now Christ brings this to a point of application. How do you live like a kingdom citizen? He commands that we ask, seek, and knock - i.e., that we look persistently to the Father for grace in every demand upon our lives as kingdom citizens. And in relationship to others, He explains that the essence of the teaching of the Law and the Prophets is treating others in the same gracious and earnest way you desire to be treated as a kingdom citizen. 

 

Let us first focus upon the call to prayer or what we might describe as looking persistently to the Father to supply the grace needed to live like kingdom citizens.

 

1. Persistence in prayer

 

How often have we heard the command of verse 7 to be a carte blanche confirmation to ask God for anything we desire? It seems that this is most often the application of the well-known asking, seeking, knocking command of prayer. But I would insist that this is an improper use of this prayer. In this Sermon we do not have a string of random thoughts and sayings of Jesus collated by Matthew into a single literary format - which would legitimize carte blanche use of this command. Instead we have a consistent picture of the character and demands upon kingdom citizens. The command to pray in verse 7 has everything to do with fulfilling kingdom demands.

 

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." To begin with, each of the imperative verbs is in the present tense, showing a call for persistency. The same is true in verse 8: "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." So the idea conveyed is "ask and keep asking, seek and keep seeking, knock and keep knocking." He is calling for a lifestyle of persistent prayer. That stands in sharp contrast to the flash-in-the-pan style of Christianity so popular in our day that calls for nothing but a profession (and maybe baptism) and lacks perseverance. Kingdom citizens persist in desiring that the character, ambitions, attitudes, and behavior that Jesus called for be shown consistently in our lives. Yet we realize how impossible this is given our weaknesses, our propensity for sin, and our lack of power to obey (we have not forgotten the first Beatitude - "blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"). So our Lord tells us to call upon the God of the impossible! In other words, what Jesus has commanded in attitude, ambition, behavior, and deed cannot be done apart from persistent, ongoing, regular, faithful prayer. You can attend dozens of seminars on Christian living, participate in discipleship groups, and read all the good books on the subject including the Puritans. But if you are not regular in praying about your own spiritual needs and development, and persistently looking to the Lord for grace to follow Christ, then you will be sorely lacking in the practice of kingdom citizenship.

 

Persistent prayer does at least three things in our lives. First, it reminds us of our weakness apart from God's grace. If we ever get away from this we are destined for a great fall. "Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall" (I Cor 10:12 - and that stated in the context of temptation). We are reminded of our inadequacies in the face of Christ's demands. We think upon the desperate condition of our hearts, and our helplessness to stand against the "schemes of the devil" that are daily aimed our way (Eph 6:11). As we are honest before the Lord we come face to face with our sinfulness, and desperate need for the gospel to be daily applied to our lives.

 

Second, it reminds us to look to God as our Father. Perhaps nothing is more lacking in our lives than this very thing. We know the confessions, creeds, and hymns that affirm that God is our Father. But do we look to Him persistently as our Father that loves and cherishes us? Martyn Lloyd-Jones commented, "If you should ask me to state in one phrase what I regard as the greatest defect in most Christian lives I would say that it is our failure to know God as our Father as we should know Him" [The Sermon on the Mount, II, 202]. And I would add, the most prominent reason for this defect is our neglect and inconsistency in prayer. In effect, by neglecting prayer, we treat God as a casual friend and not as "Our Father who is in heaven" (6:9). Yet the Father promises to "give what is good to those who ask Him!" 

 

Third, it disciplines and humbles us to receive the Father's gracious provisions so that we might live as kingdom citizens. We are affected by dispositions of heart and the influences around us. So often we think that we have the "stuff" to do whatever God commands if we make our mind up to do it. And so we get a bit cocky and arrogant, while growing in self-centeredness as the natural course of human existence. We are also influenced by what we see and hear in the world to be selfish. But prayer brings us back to reality: we are inadequate in ourselves to live the Christian life apart from God's grace. So we ask and go on asking, seek and go on seeking, and knock and go on knocking so that we might receive from the Father what we need to live like kingdom citizens. And in persistent prayer the Lord develops in us a dependency and submission to Him. 

 

2. Faith in God's promises

 

Having called for persistence in prayer, I realize that many in our day object to the need for prayer. They comment on how much better educated we are in our day than in the first century. We are not shackled by the superstitions and illiteracy of the first century. We have great abilities and boundless energy to accomplish whatever we desire; and prayer is just not needed to do this. Others would object to prayer by saying that prayer does not work or that it does not do any good - it is only the practice of the feeble and weak minded.

 

On the contrary, Jesus assures us that persistent praying will receive from God's promises. "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." The commands of asking, seeking, and knocking are synonyms that highlight the need for persistency in prayer. Rather than creating different categories of prayer, they seem to show the growing intensity that develops when kingdom citizens persist in prayer. We ask for God's provisions. We seek to discover those provisions, keeping alert to what the Father is doing in our midst. We knock to have the storehouse doors opened wide that God's rich grace might be ours in abundance for the need at hand. The promise is sure. Asking results in receiving. Seeking ends in finding. Knocking assuredly finds the way to God's provision opened.

 

"But," someone objects, "I do not believe that God will answer my prayers; so why bother?" Instead, it is only as you pray persistently that you will believe the Father to provide what you need. You are not going to develop great faith in God's promises by your silence at the throne of grace. Pray whether you feel like it or not. Pray until you do feel like praying! The longer you persist in your own sinful self-dependence the less you will believe the Father to provide what you need to live like a kingdom citizen. Study the character of God as Father. Consider the biblical teaching of redemption and adoption. Meditate upon what it means that, "you are no longer a slave but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God" (Gal 4:7). Ponder how the witness of the Holy Spirit testifies to your own spirit that you are a child of God, and "if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ," as Paul expressed it (Rom 8:16-17). So, in light of this, ask and keep asking, seek and keep seeking, knock and keep knocking, for in so doing you will discover a welcome place before the Father whose promises are sure.

 

3. Certainty of the Father's response

 

To help us understand the certainty of the Father's response, our Lord uses a very realistic illustration comparing the lesser to the greater (the rhetorical device known as a fortiori). "Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?" As with the two previous paragraphs, our Lord uses a somewhat humorous picture to illustrate a truth. A boy goes to his father complaining that he is hungry. The father does not say, "Here's a stone that looks good enough to eat, go ahead and have this for a snack." Or "I'm fresh out of fish but I have a good snake for you to eat." The use of the negative expects a "no" answer to both questions. Then Christ gives the application. "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!"

 

Jesus affirms His own sinlessness by indicating that "you...being evil," not "we...being evil," "know how to give good gifts to your children." Even without sinlessness and perfection - even being evil, a father knows how to treat his children that are in need. He will not give a stone for bread or a snake for a fish when his child is hungry. Can we dare to think less of the heavenly Father than we do our own fathers? At the root of our being is evil yet there is enough vestige of the image of God in man that even evil men know how to give good gifts to their children. Can the Father do less than evil men? Do we think that His character is less honorable than our earthly fathers, or His powers less capable, or His resources less sufficient? So much of the problem of persistent, believing prayer is found right here: we have a low view of God as Father.

 

Again someone may object, "But God didn't give me what I wanted." Jesus tells us that the Father will "much more... give what is good to those who ask Him." Do we believe this? The fact is if you are honest about your own prayer life, there are many things that you have later been glad that God did not give you when you prayed for them! He knows how and when to give what is good for our lives. Or have we become so enamored with our selfish desires to the neglect of the "good" gifts of the kind of spiritual life described in the Sermon that we think little of God's response to our prayers? The "good" that Jesus speaks of points right back to the details of what He has demanded of kingdom citizens. Whatever we need to be faithful to Him, whether strength, wisdom, power, energy, ability, encouragement, or a thousand more things, He will give to us if we ask with the desire to live as kingdom citizens.

 

Consider the parent/child relationship. Do our own children understand us when we respond to their requests in ways they did not desire or plan? That is where the child learning to trust the wisdom, love, and experience of parents tests the relationship. How much more do we inwardly complain or become angry with God or embittered because our selfish desires have gone unfulfilled? What great problems have resulted in family relations when the child rebels against trusting his parents' wise and loving actions. I would propose to you that this is a microcosm and example of even greater problems in our relationship to God the Father. The parent/child relationship is often fertile training ground to discipline and hone our desires, attitudes, and ambitions so that we learn to trust ultimately in the heavenly Father. Do you fail to trust God as your Father? He is no ogre - He cannot be. He is no tyrant or sadist or deceiver or malicious deity - those are impossibilities.

 

Persistent praying, in essence, teaches us about ourselves - our helplessness, weakness, inadequacy, and need for dependence upon the Father. And it teaches us about God as Father - who is ever faithful, loving, caring, and compassionate toward His children, and who knows how to "give what is good to those who ask Him." So ask Him! 

 

II. Practice: living conscientiously toward others

 

Prayer leads to practice. By this I do not mean practicing prayer, but the practice of living conscientiously toward others. Much of the Sermon on the Mount is about this very matter of how kingdom citizens are to live in relationship to others. We are to pray so that we might know the supply of grace necessary to live in right relationship to others. What our Lord does in verse 12 - known as "the Golden Rule" - is to summarize everything that He has demanded of kingdom citizens in relationships into one, pithy statement, "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets." "Therefore," shows that it draws into a summary the great principles that Jesus has established for kingdom citizens.

 

1. Principle of the Golden Rule

 

In principle the Golden Rule seems so simple. Many religions have a similar command but all of them approach it from the negative point of view: don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you. That is good, common sense. But Jesus takes a different position. He is not trying to stop certain actions from taking place. He is instead commanding positive action toward others: "treat people the same way you want them to treat you." What was Jesus implying by His commands regarding anger, adultery, divorce, vows, vengeance, loving our enemies, and judging others? As a kingdom citizen, go on the offensive by treating people in the way that you want to be treated. With the same graciousness, kindness, integrity in relationship, generosity, gentleness that you want to be treated, you treat others. The Golden Rule cannot be fulfilled only by the negative refraining from bad behavior toward others. Some may congratulate themselves that they do not do bad things to others, but it demands more. It demands the sort of positive behavior that Jesus has called for in forgiving others, moral purity toward others, honesty toward others, generosity toward others, loving others, and helping others in dealing with sin only after first dealing with your own sin. 

 

2. Problem in fulfilling the Golden Rule

 

It seems quite obvious that if everyone practiced this command that literally overnight every national and international problem would be solved. There would be no fighting between relatives or nations. There would be no Internet pornography or gambling rings or terrorists or abortions or nuclear threats. Corporate greed would stop. Dishonesty in business practices would stop too. Some have recognized this so much that they have claimed the Golden Rule to be the whole essence of religion and life. They spend their time trying to get people to follow the Golden Rule. Men say, "Fine, I'm glad for you to practice the Golden Rule toward me. But I feel no obligation to do the same toward you."

 

The problem with this mentality is that the Golden Rule is not a blanket principle for the world. It is a summation of the attitude, ambition, and behavior of kingdom citizens toward everyone in the world. It is not for the world but for those that are in Christ. As a matter of fact, those outside of Christ do not have the power to follow the Golden Rule. Their hearts are still in darkness. They are self-centered, and bent on following their own desires. That is why the command to pray persistently to the Father precedes the Golden Rule; for it is only as the Father enables us that we have the grace needed to treat others in the way that we desire to be treated.

 

Maybe the Golden Rule frustrates you by your inability to practice it. Instead of it being a blessing to you it appears to be a curse, revealing your sin. As a matter of fact, you probably hate this law and despise it because the inward motive of your heart is bent on self-centered preservation of your own desires. You must have the inward change of heart that comes through faith in Christ if you are to follow this command. The cross precedes the Golden Rule in practice.

 

3. Practical issues of the Golden Rule

 

Notice that our Lord considers that the Golden Rule is applicable "in everything." In other words, it is to be a constant reminder in every setting we face, in every relationship, in every demand upon us that we are to "treat people in the same way you want them to treat you." Do you do this? Let's consider for a moment what Christ means. How do you want to be treated? Do you want people to be kind to you? Do you want them to be honest with you? Do you want them to be considerate of you? Do you want them to forgive you when you wrong them? What are the things that distress you or grieve you or disturb your thoughts? Do you want others to refrain from those actions toward you? Jesus is commanding us to consider these things, and then to take positive action to live in that very way toward others. 

 

Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment. He stated that the first great commandment is to love the Lord God with one's heart, soul, mind, and strength, and then He declared, "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF'." And then He adds, "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets," or as He put it in our text, "for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matt 22:39-40). To love God demands positive action on our part. In the same way, loving others means, "you are to be interested in your neighbour (sic), you are to love him, and to desire to help him, and to be concerned about his happiness," writes Lloyd-Jones. "The object of the law is to bring us to that" [210]. So to live like a kingdom citizen does not mean that you just avoid doing bad things to others. It means, instead, that you seek the other person's good, you seek to find ways to serve him, you seek to do those things that will bring the other person to genuine happiness, you seek to treat him just as would Christ. We live like kingdom citizens only when we do this.

 

Conclusion

 

The kind of praying and practice that Jesus calls for comes only by the grace of God shown abundantly to those that know Jesus Christ. Grace to sustain and enable us comes as we seek to be persistent in prayer and conscientious in the practice of kingdom living.

 

I want to challenge you to devote yourself to prayer everyday. Determine even now to set aside time to pray about kingdom issues and to pray about your own faithfulness as a kingdom citizen. Pray for your fellow kingdom citizens.

 

Treat people the way that you want to be treated. That is not complicated. But the biggest obstacle to doing this is becoming self-absorbed to the neglect of others. Let's repent of this, and demonstrate our love for Christ by the way we treat others. 

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