Matthew 7:7-11

F. THE DANGERS FACING THE WISE AND GODLY MAN

(Matthew 7:1-27; Luke 6:37-49)

3. THE DANGER OF FAILING TO RECOGNIZE GOD'S PROVISION.
TEXT: 7:7-11

7. Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you;
8. for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
9. Or what man is there of you, who, if his son shall ask him a loaf, will give him a stone;
10. or if he shall ask for a fish, will give him a serpent?
11. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

a. Why did Jesus use so many words for praying to God for something? (Ask, ,, seek.,, knock) Would not is have been much simpler merely to say: Pray, and God will answer you? What, then, is suggested by this variety of words?
b. Jesus has been talking about judging others and discerning important differences, Why did He change the subject-or did He? If He did not, what is the connection between this section and the general subject of judging?

c. What if we ask for the wrong thing, in the wrong way or for the right thing but for the wrong motive? (Matthew 7:7-11) Will God give to us, help us to find and open to us?

d. Does Jesus really mean every one in Matthew 7:8, that is, just anyone who prays? If so, how? If not, why not?

e. What is the point of comparing God to a human father? What good could be accomplished by doing that?

PARAPHRASE AND HARMONY

Keep on asking, and your prayer shall be granted. Keep on searching, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. After all, they who receive are the ones who keep asking, and they who find are the ones who keep searching, and the door is opened to him who keeps knocking. Or, if his son ask for some bread, no father among you would give him a stone, would he? Or if he ask for some fish, he would not give him a snake, would he? Or should he ask for an egg, would he give him a scorpion? No! Therefore, if you, despite your wickedness, know how to provide good gifts for your children, how much more likely it is that your heavenly Father give good things, yes, and the Holy Spirit too, to those who are asking Him!

SUMMARY

We must pray constantly, persistently and with determination; only thus will we receive what is needed. A human father would not cheat his child, because he knows what is good for him. God our heavenly Father can much more surely be trusted to provide what is god for us, if we ask Him.

NOTES

Why does Jesus bring up prayer at this point in His paragraph on judging? At first, any connection seems vague. But the connection is God-s grace, because prayer, by its very nature, admits one's dependence upon God on the basis of His continuing mercy. But he who is dependent upon God for all His gifts, especially for pardon, is hardly in a right position to be the carping critic of his peers. If so, Jesus is saying, Consider how God is dealing with you; treat your neighbor likewise.

Lenski (292) notes another close connection, that is, although Jesus has admonished us to judge ourselves, we must never doubt or mistrust our true relation to God. Although we must severely analyze our own souls, we must never question the fact that, despite all our character failures, God has made us His children and He is ever ready to bless us with all we need.

Again, this section may be the practical application of all that Jesus said (in Matthew 6:19-34) about dependence upon God. These exhortations have been put in this section instead of that because failure to trust Gad is a failure to distinguish one's true Source of blessing and supply from only apparent sources. Thus, even prayer is an evidence of the necessity for intelligent discrimination and moral judgment.

Matthew 7:7 (Cf. Luke 11:9-13) Ask. seek. knock. These three words, all of which are present imperative indicating continuing action, suggest an increasingly unrelenting insistence in prayer. Luke (Luke 11:5-8) notes how Jesus definitely connected this teaching with exhortations to keep praying. Ask is the simple prayer that indicates the dependence of the petitioner upon God, and his consciousness of his need. (Cf. Matthew 6:14-15; Matthew 18:19; Matthew 21:22; Mark 11:24; Mark 11:24; John 14:13; John 15:17; John 16:23-24; James 1:5-8; James 5:16-18; 1 John 3:22; 1 John 5:14) But those who ask for themselves, in order that they might continue to rule in their own sovereignty, will never receive from God, for they have not really acknowledged their dependence upon Him. (James 4:3-4; cf. Luke 18:9-14) Seek suggests the personal effort of the one who prays to do his part toward getting his own prayers answered. (Cf. Isaiah 55:6) It also suggests concentration, through prayer, of all of one's powers upon the realization of what is prayed. Knock savors of perseverant importunity despite difficulties and hindrances, a vital factor in effective prayer. God does not always answer our request upon the first two or three utterances of it, probably to test our seriousness, to prepare us to receive it, and to work out the combination of circumstances and of persons necessary to its answer, (Luke 11:5-13; Luke 18:1-8; Galatians 6:9) Illustrations of knocking are: Abraham (Genesis 19:22-23); Jacob (Genesis 32:26); Elijah (James 5:16-18); Jesus (Luke 22:44); the Syrophoenician woman (Matthew 15:21-28); the early Church (Acts 12:5).

Matthew 7:8 For every one that asketh receiveth. At first hearing, this phrase seems to open the channels of promised answers to prayer to anyone who would call upon God. Jesus is talking to Jews who, of course, already enjoyed a privileged relationship to God, Thus, to them and even to others, Jesus-' word becomes a great invitation to unburden their hearts before the Father. But Jesus is not committing God to honor the blasphemies of those who flout His commands and refuse His Lordship. Jesus has already qualified the kind of prayer that is acceptable (Matthew 6:5-15; also cf. James 1:6-7; James 4:3; 1 John 5:14-15). Thus, this whosoever will refers to those who are willing to commit themselves to seeking first God-s kingdom and the kind of righteousness that Jesus is preaching (Matthew 6:10; Matthew 6:33). Receiveth. ,. findeth. to him it shall be opened. God always keeps His promises (Cf. Deuteronomy 7:9; Joshua 21:45; Nehemiah 1:5; Nehemiah 9:32; Daniel 9:4) but He would have us toil in prayer to get what we desire. Blessings that would come too easy or cost us nothing would ruin our appetite, dull our sensitivity and would give us what we wanted before we had been driven to our highest longing and most noble efforts to attain them

Matthew 7:9-11 Next, Jesus asks a series of rapid-fire rhetorical questions

not only to arouse individual interest, stimulate curiosity and draw
attention to the conclusion which follows, but also to draw out of
His hearers a moral decision. Here again Jesus shows His followers
that they are constantly making moral judgments, and already have
a conscience about certain things, even in the most simple family
situations.

Matthew 7:9-10 Or what man is there of you, who if his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone; or if he shall ask for a fish, will give him a serpent? Luke (Luke 11:12) adds: or a scorpion for an egg? Each of Jesus- questions in Greek begins and me, the negative which expects a negative answer: No, he would not. A human father would not mock his children's request by giving what is useless, unclean or positively harmful. Natural parental affection requires that a father give what is needed. This is a human judgment that is deeply felt and rightly arrived at. Upon it Jesus will base His argument.

It might well be wondered whether these heart-touching questions are not echoes of Jesus-' thought when He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. (Cf. Matthew 4:2-4) Even if not, the same logic of heroic faith is in the conclusion which Jesus offers.

Matthew 7:11 Ye know how to give good gifts unto your children. This is the right conclusion to the rhetorical questions Jesus posed. If ye, being evil: in what sense does Jesus intend this to describe the audience? Probably in the relative sense, because there were undoubtedly some of the earth-s finest people present that day. But in relation to God, they were yet &ked by comparison. They were imperfect, sometimes unwise, sometimes partial, sometimes fickle toward their children. But God is always wise and helpful. Being evil is Jesus-' judgment upon us: it must humble us and it is a judgment that will keep us from pronouncing self-righteous judgments -upon others. Although Jesus calls us wicked, He would have us remember that we are, for all our unworthiness, still God's beloved children. Again, at this critical point, Jesus calls God your heavenly Father. (See notes on Matthew 5:45; Matthew 5:48; Matthew 6:1; Matthew 6:8; Matthew 6:26; Matthew 6:32) Whoever believes all that Jesus has revealed about the Father and believes that God is all that the word Father conveys, cannot but pray, knowing that his Father will be better and kinder than the most tender parents, and will give him what is truly best. How much more? is an argument from the lesser to the greater and a call for a moral judgment.

He will give good things to them that ask him. Jesus does not promise that He will always or necessarily grant the thing we ask, but what He judges to be good for us. (Cf. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; James 1:16; Psalms 84:11) Too often we are blinded by the seeming desirability of earth's treasures. How shocked we would be to learn how often we have asked God for stones, serpents and scorpions, being deceived into thinking they would contribute to our happiness! (Cf. 1 Timothy 6:9-10)

Yes, Jesus invites us to ask, to seek, to knock. He is offering us the key to God's wealth! Therefore, whose fault is it if we are poor, miserable and hungry? (James 4:2 c)

But we must be careful about reversing Jesus-' argument by deciding that our attitudes and actions toward our children automatically commit God to react the same way towards us. Too easily we forgive our children when they do wrong; too often we do not enforce our word and fail to punish in -cases where they definitely did need it. To suppose that our heavenly Father would do nothing that we parents would do is to ignore His plain declarations to the contrary. He has definitely declared that He will disinherit those who were once His children, who, as time went by, gradually drifted away into sin and died in that condition. (Cf. Matthew 13:41-42; Matthew 8:12; Matthew 22:11-13; Matthew 24:45-51; Matthew 25:30; Hebrews 2:1-3; Hebrews 3:12-14; Hebrews 4:1; Hebrews 4:11; Hebrews 6:9-12) The concept of eternal punishment for unforgiven sins, in whomever they may be found, is God's idea, and man is a fool to argue with Him about it.

What would be the result of such praying as Jesus describes here?

1. There would be no censorious judging done (Matthew 7:1-5); more humility.

2. There would be wisdom to make right judgments and be good judges of character. (Cf. James 1:5-8; Matthew 7:6, Matthew 7:15-20)

3. There would be no foolish dependence upon earthly wealth (Matthew 6:19-34)

FACT QUESTIONS

1.

What Scriptural limitations are there which restrict the seemingly unlimited character of Jesus-' promise of answer to prayer?

2.

What is meant by the three different words denoting prayer (Matthew 7:7-8),?

3.

Why would Jesus use so many expressions? Would not a simple command to pray be sufficient?

4.

Explain the connection between the possibility of a son's asking for a loaf of bread and the father's giving him a stone. And why mention a fish in connection with a serpent? What is the connection?

5.

What is the logical structure of Jesus-' argument based on the comparison between a human father and God?

6.

In what sense does Jesus intend to call His disciples evil? (Matthew 7:11)

7.

What is the contextual connection between this section and the general topic under study: judging one's fellows?

8.

What is the connection between this section and the contextual arguments of the sixth chapter of Matthew?