I have also mentioned earlier that these words seem to clash with things that the Lord has already said. He warned us about vain repetition in prayer, but that isn’t a prohibition against importunity in asking. And He has told us not to worry about our next meal or whether we will have a jacket to keep us warm. But it is one thing to worry, and it is another to humbly ask the Lord for these necessities. “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Would it surprise you to know that the same Greek word is used by the Lord when He says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” and when He says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you”? We should seek the kingdom of God in the same way that seek His face for our temporal needs. There seems to be a bit of a clash, but it is certainly not a contradiction.
Briefly, what are some of the obvious things that these verses teach us about prayer?
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” There are lots of synonyms, in both Greek and English, for the word “ask.” And frankly, even though they are found in my thesaurus, they are not all true equivalents. To “ask” in this verse may be “to request,” but it has nothing to do with “to interrogate” or “to demand.” I personally think that there is an implied humility involved here. Our asking involves our hands being folded together, not clinched into fists. There is an implied respect and a recognition of the great difference between the two parties in prayer. Who are those making these requests – and Who is the One who is being requested? And then along with the respectful words, there must be a respectful attitude and demeanor.
Earlier the Lord told us not to worry about food and raiment, but here the asking specifically involves food. “What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?” While condemning worry, we are hereby encouraged to humbly ask the Lord for the necessities of life. Perhaps the other two words in this prayerful trio, help to ease the apparent confusion.
“Seek” – what is it that we are to seek? We have to go back to our Lord’s earlier statement – “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” I don’t think that the Lord would mind if I paraphrase that just a bit. Our primary desire should not be for food, raiment, money, retirement funds, or anything else of a temporal nature. We are to seek the Lord above all other things. “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.” “For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live.” “Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger.” Those are quotations from three separate Old Testament prophetical books. Generally speaking, when we seek the Lord, the necessities which we have from day to day will be met by the Lord of all grace. Implied in here is a desire for the Lord’s will and glory in the process of meeting our needs. We think that there is a need, and we may have an idea of how that need should be met. But before that there is a desire for the will, the kingdom, and the glory of God. We may pray for porterhouse steak, but if we really want the Lord’s will first, we will be satisfied with bologna, if that is what He gives us. Are we as pleased with beans as we are with pasta? Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” and then patiently and humbly seek your own temporal needs.
The Lord’s third synonym for prayer is “knock.” I think that, perhaps, this reminds us of another important aspect of the nature of proper prayer. Prayer is not the key to the Lord’s abundant storehouse, as some of the books on the subject suggest. Prayer is not breaking down of a reluctant door, or even the turning of the door-knob. Prayer is a knock – of faith – upon the door which leads into the Lord’s great throne room. Faith is a major part of this knocking, the asking and the seeking. “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” What is this boldness? Is it audacity? Is it self-confidence? Is it bearing some sort of personal worth or right? No. It is the boldness of faith. This is neither a timid knock nor an aggressive one either. It is not a knock with the handle of our cane, and it doesn’t come with a command to open up. It is a knock of faith, based upon the invitation which the Lord has made to us. It is a knock based upon the authority which the Lord Jesus Himself has given us to come at this appointed hour. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”
Here is some thing else which comes out of these verses. “Every one that asked receiveth” – verse 8. The “every one” cannot refer to absolutely everyone – from Herod Agrippa, to Nero and Hitler. It means that anyone who is a child of God, no matter whether Greek, Roman, Hebrew or American – any child of God who approaches the Lord in humble faith, can expect to be blessed by God. There are no restrictions against Gentiles; there is no special invitation to descendants of Abraham. The last verse in our scripture for this evening suggests that the open invitation is to every one who are sons of God.
Undergirding this open invitation there is an implied relationship –
There is the eternal Father, the eternal Son, and you and me – children of God – the sons of God. “What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” Underneath this privilege of prayer is the fact that we are children. The Lord tells us – here is something which you should be able to understand. However, the relationship between a man and his family falls woefully short of the relationship between God the Father and those who have been adopted into His eternal family.
The differences between the human and divine are too numerous and too obvious to need much explanation. For example, as David, the Father of Absalom, Amnon, Solomon and others, once said – “I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” What he meant was that he was sinner like his parents and grandparents, and like his children and grandchildren. Those words were uttered in Psalm 51 when the conviction of the Holy Spirit lay heavily upon him, and the forcefulness of his wickedness was felt to the extreme. But the fact is – there is not a father alive who could not and should not say the same words. And here the Lord Jesus says, “You fathers, as kindly affectioned as you might be toward your children, you are still evil, wicked, sinful, selfish men.” You wouldn’t think for a moment of giving your hungry son a stone when he asks for a piece of bread. You wouldn’t give your daughter a serpent when she asks for a piece of fish. Luke 11 describes another occasion when the Lord Jesus preached a similar kind of message. And there he says, if your son “shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?” Despite our native wickedness as sons of our fathers, we wouldn’t think of being this cruel and criminal. But the point is – our Heavenly Father is of an infinitely superior character to earthly father. He is certainly not wicked, cruel or criminal at all – He is holy, righteous, merciful and gracious. If we know how to be a blessing to our children, how much more does our Father in Heaven know how to be a blessing to His children?
Another difference between human fathers and our Heavenly Father, is in their abilities. When our children come asking us for orange juice, we may have to give them water because we don’t have any orange juice. When they ask for cookie, we might have to give them a piece of bread, because that is all that we have. But our Heavenly Father is not bound to such human resources or limitations. “He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.”
A third difference, and this is important, is in the quality of what we can give to our children. We may be able, by God’s grace, to give our children bread, new shoes or a second-hand winter coat. We may be able to give our children good educations, and through discipline teach them good morals and polite behavior. But there are many things, no matter how well endowed we are, which we cannot give to them. As I said, Luke 11 gives us a summary of a message similar to that which Jesus preached on the mount. He may have used the same notes, but the audience was different and the day was different, and so some of the details were expressed differently. “I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” One of the differences between Luke 11 and Matthew 7 is a reference to the giving of the Holy Spirit. That could refer to the power of the Holy Spirit Or it might even apply to the abiding, indwelling Holy Spirit. No human father can bestow salvation on any of his children, but the Father in Heaven can and does.
Go back to Matthew 7:11 and carefully notice the language – “If ye then, being evil, know HOW to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” Earthly fathers may know how to give good gifts to their children, but that doesn’t mean that they can. But your Father which is in Heaven “shall give good things” to His children who properly ask of Him. He not only knows how to give, but he actually can. Do you suppose that the Lord, chose to compare stones with bread only because they can be similar in appearance? Jesus, with His perfect memory may have been thinking about Satan’s temptation at the beginning of His ministry. “When the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” Dad may wish that he could make stones into bread in order to feed his family, but he can’t. On the other hand Jehovah could do that with the mere thought – praise His omnipotent Name. God can create manna out of nothing and feed His children for forty years.
Please remember the title of this afternoon’s message – “The Importance of Being Children.” Perhaps it should be restated – “The Importance of being Children of our Heavenly Father.” Obviously, prayer is not the only reason that it is important to be a child of God. We could use this scripture to launch into a message on the new birth, or adoption into the family of God. This opens up an entirely new message on salvation. Perhaps we could have incorporated this scripture into this morning’s message. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” But no matter how you slice this loaf, or chisel this stone, it is good to be a child of God.