Reading Matthew with Missional Eyes

Having warned His followers about false teachers, Jesus moves to the subject  of  qualification. He begins by making a statement that should trouble many, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” This is perhaps the most difficult thing Jesus has ever taught. 

Those Jesus speaks of, know who Jesus is. They understand that He is Lord. They even call Him Lord. Actually, in saying it twice, they are insisting He is Lord. But Jesus says that they will not enter the kingdom of heaven. For it is not knowing who He is that saves us. It is not knowing that Jesus is Lord that saves us. It is not calling Him Lord that saves us. It is not even insisting that He is Lord that saves us. It is honouring Him as Lord that saves us. We are saved by obedience to God’s will. 

The thing about that is that you can only be about God’s will if you really do know Him. For when you meet Him, you are immediately aware of not only His holiness, but your lack of holiness. That fact fills you with the sorrow that leads to repentance. Not a sorrow for sins as regret only, but a sorrow for sins infused with a godly ambition to not repeat them. As Paul wrote, “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation.” For this reason repentance is always the first word of the Gospel. 

Jesus Himself preached this point, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Repentance is key. Without repentance you might call Jesus Lord, and even insist that He is Lord, but you will never be about God’s will. Being about the will of God means you are set entirely apart for His purpose. As Paul wrote, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification…” Only God can sanctify (set apart for Himself), and God only sanctifies those who love Him. 

Sadly, many who know His Name and know who He is do not love Him. Instead, they love what He is capable of doing for them. They love the benefits of the Kingdom of God. They might even love the church of God, with all its traditions, ceremonies, structure and art. They may well know the Word of God – even to the point of teaching it as the Pharisees did. But if they do not love Him to the point of repentance, they are going about their lives entirely on their own effort. Human effort might look like sanctification, but it is just legalism all dressed up. It is just filthy lives clothed in their Sunday finest. Such is not the will of God, but the purposes and plans of man. It is hypocrisy instead of salvation and a subtle lie instead of the honest Gospel.

The will of God is repentance for sins. It is an honest evaluation of our lives that drives us to come to God and bow before Him regularly – if not daily – in prayer, and finding Him ever faithful to wash us clean of our sins, to come to Him in thankfulness, purposing to live by His will for His will. Such a life produces joy, is centered in prayer and is verbalized in thankfulness. As Paul exhorted, “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

The disciple of God might be known in the community as upright, moral and God-fearing. But in their heart they are not marked by such things. In their hearts they are marked by personal repentance and commitment to Christ as surely as the homes of Israel were marked by the blood of lambs on the night of Passover.  Amen. 

Saving faith is permeated with repentance and repentance is permeated with faith.

Anthony A. Hoekema

APPLICATION: Intentionality

What drives you to God today? 

We all know what a detective does. The proliferation of movies and  television about  investigative police work has brought the concept into the public eye, world over. Determining to find out the truth about a matter, detectives listen carefully to what is said, as many do. But then they also look for evidence of what was actually done, something most do not. The best detectives persist in that, until they perceive the truth in looking at the gap between what was actually said and what was actually done. 

While telling us to avoid false teachers, Jesus gave us a very sound principle to judge character. He said, “By their fruit you will recognize them.” This is a spiritual principle with universal application – our character leaves something of us behind, readily visible in the trail of our lives. Some people leave a trail of disappointment and hurt, some leave a trail of ambiguity and some leave a trail of blessing. While that is a very practical point to consider when choosing to follow a teacher, the same principle can and must also be applied to our own lives. 

It’s a bit more difficult to do that of course. When considering what someone else has done and taught, you have opportunity to look with a level of objectiveness. Their past record is a matter of public history. People gain reputations, and those in their circles of influence have memories of them that can be unearthed in a simple conversation. But when considering what we ourselves been saying and leaving behind, our emotions and worldview frame us into the subjective. It becomes impossible to objectively perceive what and who we really arre. More often than not, what we remember is the intention of what we said and did, but not what we actually communicated, and not how our actions were actually perceived by others – and much are must be taken to avoid unhealthy self-absorption in trying to honestly dig down. All the same, a prayerful reflection on the fruit of our own lives can yield most helpful insights.

We all have gaps. There is what we say – about what we believe, about what we value, about what we hold dear. Then there is what we actually do. What we actually spend our time on. What we actually spend our money on. What we actually spend time thinking about. Often there is a significant gap between the two that the Lord sees plainly, even when we do not and even if we’ve come across as ambiguous to our close friends. That means that the Lord truly can give us objective feedback. If we ask for it. 

Better yet, God is for us and not against us – so we can know He will not use the opportunity for feedback to gaslight us. And, as “the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God,” It is a very easy thing and natural thing for Him to search us. The reader of Scripture then can know that all we need to do is ask the Spirit of God to shine His light into our souls, and show us what we’ve left behind as we ponder each ‘season’ of our lives. Even if we cannot readily see how we’ve blessed or mistreated others, He can show us how we truly are. His feedback then allows us to see both the fruitfulness and the thorns. 

Of course, that takes time and intention. One has to be in a particular frame of mind and have a place and space to spend extended time in deeply personal prayer. Yet when we do, we find that He opens our eyes to who we really are with grace and love and tenderheartedness. Those things we’ve been doing well he encourages, and those thing we need to change become clearer. 

We must search our souls about the things that trigger our prayers. What values shape our requests? Are our motives honoring to Christ? To what degree are “earthly treasures” and the “god of mammon” infecting our prayer life? Amid all our worries about our health, finances, family, job, education, and ministry concerns, are we seeking first His kingdom and not our own?

Daniel Henderson & Jim Cymbala

APPLICATION: Intentionality

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Does our past demonstrate that?

Trees play an important role in the Scripture. From the tree of the  knowledge  of good and evil in Genesis, to the palm trees of Elim, the cedars of Lebanon, and the rows of the tree of life in Revelation – trees are majestic living parts of creation – past, present and future. From Scripture we learn that trees are meant to be God-given useful blessings to God’s children. And in Scripture, they are also sometimes used as metaphors – because like people, a tree has both life and purpose. 

Both Assyria and Egypt are likened to trees in Ezekiel 31. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, is seen as a tree in Daniel 4. Israel is an olive tree in Hosea 14. The righteous anointed are olive trees in Zechariah 4. In Psalm 1, the godly man is likened to a fruitful tree, “He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” Scripture notes that Godly people are a blessing to all who encounter them, just as a good fruitful tree is to all those who come across it. 

Of course, not all trees produce fruit that is helpful to others. Some produce fruit that has poisonous seeds. Some produce fruit that is inedible altogether. Every tree is useful, but not every tree is useful for food. From a distance it is very hard to tell if a particular tree will be helpful to you in your present need. It is only as you get closer that you can recognize if it’ll be useful to you for food or not. 

Some are not helpful for food, but are helpful for shade. Some are helpful for neither, but yet produce wood that is long lasting and particularly useful for structures or furniture. Yet others are covered in thorns, and some are largely useless for anything other than firewood. Jesus used the metaphor of such trees to warn His followers about following false prophets, “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”

Those who study trees can tell them apart just by looking at their shape from afar. The rest of us have to get a bit closer to see what kind of tree it is, but even the most uneducated child can tell the difference between a thornbush and a grapevine, and even those of us who’ve never seen a fig tree can know that it is a fig tree when we see figs on it. 

So it is with people. This is a spiritual truth that cannot be avoided. People can be recognized by their fruit. Those who are given over to selfishness and unkindness leave a trail of hurt behind them. People who are given over to God’s love and His purposes leave a trail of blessing behind them. The godly can say with David, “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.” The ungodly cannot say that – the fruit that they’ve produced is unkind, foul and reeks of uncleanness. Any who get close can perceive these things, and determine what kind of person they are dealing with. 

Jesus means to teach His followers this highly practical truth. Those who purpose to follow anyone – political leaders, business leaders, social influencers and especially teachers of God’s Word – do well to look into whom they are following. Look at the fruit they’ve left behind. Listen to those who sat under their teaching in the past. Consider the long term reputation they’ve gained for themselves among others in their field. Are they about blessing those who come to them, or are they about taking from those who come to them? Those who’ve consistently yielded good fruit may not be the biggest or the most impressive  when viewed from a distance, but they are worth following. Those who’ve consistently yielded bad fruit must be avoided, even if large crowds follow them. 

A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

Solomon (from Proverbs 11:25)

APPLICATION: Intentionality

What does the trail you’ve left behind you look like? Is it full of goodness and blessing, or  have you left something else as a legacy?

Jesus defined Himself as the good shepherd, and His people as His sheep. A  good  shepherd is most concerned with those under His care. In fact, in John 10 we read Jesus expressing just how far he’ll go to care for His own, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Having such care, and knowing He would not walk with them in the flesh for long, Jesus gives His sheep a warning, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”

Jesus gives this warning after a lengthy discourse on a right understanding and application of the Law – a discourse where He redefined how the Law ought to be taught. 

Taken in context, what Jesus is now warning His followers about is not limited to those who stand up and say, “Thus says the Lord…” After all, prophesy is not only fore-telling. It is also forth-telling. When a preacher gets up to expound on the Word of God, they are disseminating the Word of God for God’s people. Such must only be done after the preacher has first heard from the Lord. To preach the Word without first hearing from God about and through the Word of God is to put on display one’s own cleverness and wit. That may be very engaging and educational to the spiritually immature, but if it isn’t what God has for that group on that occasion, then it is unhelpful at best. It may grow one’s reputation as a great speaker, but how will it grow His church? It may even grow a large congregation, but how does it further the Name of the Lord, if it isn’t His work? The preacher must be diligent to study the written Word (aka the Law) and to dialogue with God through prayer before daring to get up in front of His people to share what God has for them! To do otherwise is to lead people down the broad road of destruction instead of the narrow road to life, and it is certain to lead to the Lord’s wrath for having misspoke in His Name.

All the same, the responsibility to avoid the wrong path does not rest solely on the shoulders of those who preach and those who shepherd. In telling us to “watch out”, Jesus is saying that congregants also have a role in ensuring they are not being misled. God’s people must be sure to do due diligence. Due diligence before calling an individual to shepherd them, and due diligence to ensure that the shepherd they have over them is not taking speaking pretentiously. For false prophets will come to them in disguise, looking to capitalize on the innocence and willingness of the sheep to follow.

Jesus likens false prophets to a wolf in sheep’s clothing – a monstrous beast pretending to fit in among the innocent. Today that phrase is so commonplace that we tend to overlook the danger it conveys. False prophets are not mere inconveniences or adolescent troublemakers.  They are monsters in disguise. Truly the devil’s handiwork, for “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.” Like the devil, their inward thoughts and character are not consistent with how they present themselves. They are the very epitome of dishonesty, void of integrity and overflowing with selfishness. Such people are not true shepherds, for they see the sheep only as a means to better themselves. Like wolves among sheep, they will destroy other’s lives to further their own careers and prosperity. Indeed, they do so gleefully, as a wolf is glad to rip apart and consume the unwitting and helpless sheep. 

To that point the wise among the sheep must “watch out”. We must practice wisdom by carefully observing those in spiritual positions over us. This is the hope we have, that Christ allows us a way to spot such wolves before it is too late.

Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between right and wrong; rather it is telling the difference between right and almost right.

Charles Spurgeon

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Who are you following? We sharpen our skill in observation and in discernment the same way we sharpen our skills in any discipline; learning from those who are wiser in these matters than us, and by careful and consistent practice.

Jesus had begun His discussion of the Law by warning His followers not to   look to the Pharisees and teachers of the Law as examples of how to enter heaven, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” He then taught the better application of the Law of God as being instructive of God’s character. Those listening to Him found the Law is not so much a rule-book to be legalistically applied as a revelation of God’s character to be embraced by those who would identify themselves as God’s people. 

Having finished teaching His followers, Jesus moves on to a series of admonishments to ensure that they are not led astray anymore. He begins, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

When Jesus talks here about entering, He is talking about entering the Kingdom of Heaven. Everyone wants that, but the problem is that there are two paths that people thread on in attempts to get there. There is a broad road that leads to elsewhere and a narrow road that leads to life. The broad road is the way many are on. For most are choosing to be their own standard of righteousness. They are following the ways of the Pharisees and teachers of the law in trying to earn their way into heaven through ritual and legalistic application of God’s law. Confident in the self-righteousness they so accumulate, they see the way to God’s presence as self-attainable. In their minds it depends entirely on what they’ve done and what they’re doing. Yet as all flesh does, they eventually come to a point of no return. Then they find that beyond is not life, but utter waste and destruction, for those who go the wide way of the world find nothing more past the point of no return than the limitation, fault, sin and brokenness of themselves.

The narrow road that few are on also leads past a point of no return. The original language wording Jesus uses indicates that the narrow road is a path of some difficulty. For this path is a way of righteousness that far exceeds that of the most diligent practitioner of legalistic ritual. It is a righteousness that we cannot earn, no matter the personal sacrifice we make or the time we spend. Few grasp it. But having it, going beyond the point of no return we find exuberant vitality, abundance, joy and a fullness of life we can hardly envision.

Jesus is encouraging us to consider the path we’re on BEFORE we get to our point of no return. For all can pause and consider the road they are while they walk it, but we do not get to choose our destination once we pass the point of no return. To some that point comes suddenly. To some it comes slowly. All must go beyond it. What horror to get just past that point and realize that you walked on the wrong path, and arrived at the wrong gate! Yet we can know which is the right gate. For Jesus later said, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.” 

We can be saved from destruction. We can be saved to eternal life. This we can be sure of. He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” 

This is truth. Those who go the narrow way of Jesus find their destination is not so much a place as a person. Just as Jesus is the way, the destination is God our Father. Those who go through the gate of Jesus find God’s Kingdom of heaven, and there they find eternal, abundant, life!

You cannot enter the strait and narrow gate in a crowd, borne in by others, but you must come in separately and distinctly yourself.

Charles Spurgeon

APPLICATION: Intentionality

We cannot push others through the narrow gate. But we can call them off the wide path by pointing to the Way, the Truth and the Life.

The disciple of God cannot help but notice that way back in the beginning of  His Sermon  on the Mount, Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Now concluding His teaching, Jesus says, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” The entire section between these two statements – from chapter 5 verse 17 to chapter 7 verse 12, is about a right interpretation of the Law and a right application of the Law. His final summary on the matter – what we call the “Golden Rule” is an easily memorized practical application point of the whole. 

The importance of that fact must not be lost. Barclay wrote, “This is probably the most universally famous thing that Jesus ever said. With this commandment, the Sermon on the Mount reaches its summit. This saying of Jesus has been called ‘the capstone of the whole discourse’. It is the topmost peak of social ethics, and the Everest of all ethical teaching.” Likewise, Warren Wiersbe wrote of the wide reaching application of this truth, “This great truth is a principle that ought to govern our attitudes toward others.[…] It must be practiced in every area of life. The person who practices the Golden Rule refuses to say or do anything that would harm himself or others. If our judging of others is not governed by this principle, we will become proud and critical, and our own spiritual character will degenerate.” 

Yet the application is broader still. AW Pink said “In the practice of this golden rule Christians are to consider not only how they would be dealt with by men, but by God Himself, thereby elevating the precept high above the ethics of the heathen. Whatever usage we expect to meet with at the hands of God, the same in our measure must we dispense to others. How can we expect God to be merciful to us if we be merciless unto our neighbour? How can we expect Him to deal liberally with us if we are eaten up with selfishness? Let us not forget that whatever need others have of us, the same need have we of God. According as we sow sparingly or bountifully, so will our reaping be (2 Cor. 9:6). I am therefore to consider how God will deal with me if I am rigid, severe, and demand the uttermost farthing from those in my power.”

Indeed. How else shall we expect God to respond to us? Matthew Henry noted long ago, “Fitly is the law of justice subjoined to the law of prayer, for unless we be honest in our conversation, God will not hear our prayers […]. We cannot expect to receive good things from God, if we do not fair things, and that which is honest, and lovely, and of good report among men. We must not only be devout, but honest, else our devotion is but hypocrisy.”

So it is. To expect to be treated by God differently and better than the way we have treated others is ultimately the most unfair and unjust thing we could expect from Him. Doing so is not unlike the dishonest manager expecting to be rewarded for holding the post of manager, knowing that their dishonesty has been exposed. Further, to be treated by God as we have treated others is perhaps the fairest and most just thing we could expect from Him. Though He will certainly treat us according to His character and not according to ours, to expect better than we have done is to presume much, for it was not without reason that the Lord said, “If you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” The Christ-follower therefore understands that treating others better is not merely a nice option, but ultimately part of what it means to be a Christ-follower. Ultimately, we must treat others the same way God has treated us.

We are to be mirrors of grace to others, reflecting what we have received ourselves.

R.C. Sproul

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Think back over the past week. How have you treated others? Let us repent of doing anything less than treating them as Christ would treat them.

Jesus has told us that God’s character is such that He always gives to those who ask, always reveals to those who seek, and always opens His door to those who knock. These truths are awe-inspiring revelations of God’s grace and care for His children. They speak to His kindness. They speak to His compassion. They speak to His mercy. To His long-suffering nature and His love for that which He made. These truths are a revelation of Him, as all Scripture is. 

And as does all Scripture, that revelation of Himself and His character as good to us likewise has a purpose! A practical application that Jesus does not want us to miss, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”  Jesus statement in this verse is called the “Golden Rule”. An even more succinct version of this statement is Luke’s Gospel account of the same verse, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” 

The Golden Rule must never be taken as a prescription for subjective relativism. Our world takes Christ’s statement out of context and twists it to mean we can do as we want. But Jesus is not advising us to act as we see fit by and of ourselves. Taken with the prior verses in mind, we understand Jesus to mean that our Father is ever mindful and always responds to our limitations, faulty worldviews and brokenness out of His love and grace. Consequently – as our Father does, so we His children ought to do. 

This was not a new thought to the disciple of God. Long ago, Moses heard God’s Voice and wrote down the same directive, “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” Moreover, “Parallels to this saying abound in the ancient world, in both Jewish and other sources. One of the best known formulations is the response allegedly given by Jesus’ contemporary, Hillel, when asked to summarize the Torah while standing on one foot: “Whatever is displeasing to you, do not do to your neighbor; that is the entire Law, and everything else is interpretation.” Of course, Hillel’s version is a negative expression of the same thought, whereas Jesus speaks to the positive. But the concept is the same. 

“The commonness of this principle should not surprise us because one of the most natural rules of ethics is that a person extrapolates from his or her own worth to that of others, and hence values others as oneself […]; thus every person is morally responsible to recognize how he or she ought to treat every other person.” 

That is true of even those with a secular worldview. The disciple of God recognizes that God has considered them, and loved them, and forgiven them and taught them. So the disciple recognizes both their own worth before God, and the worth of Almighty God whom they represent. With such value in mind, how can we view another – who is also made in His image – as being any less so? Therefore, we are to treat others with the greatest of care, as we ourselves have been treated! 

As God’s people, we are given guidelines throughout Scripture for how to treat others, how to use our words, and how to control our thoughts. Yet we do not do this on our own. God’s Spirit now dwells in us—we are His temple (2 Cor 6:16). And He performs this work in us so that we may live as disciples at all times and in all places.

Aubry Smith

APPLICATION: Intentionality

How will you act as you encounter your next waitress/waiter? When you encounter your next gas station attendant? The cashier at the grocery store? These are all opportunities for them to see Christ in you, and you in Christ. 

Jesus has just taught His followers a principle of prayer: Those who ask  receive, those who seek, find – and those who knock, find the door opened. While the principle speaks to our action in both prayer and attitude, it speaks much more to the character of God. “Receiving stresses gaining a gift; finding focuses on a discovery, as coming upon a bonanza of gold; having a door opened looks at a welcome, or hospitality as when a host extends cordiality to a guest.” God is gracious. He gives of Himself, He allows Himself to be found, He opens His door to all who wish to commune with Him. Such fact in and of itself is wonderful, because such is God. 

Christ now speaks of a deeper and perhaps even more wonderful thing. It is not only that God is so gracious to answer. It is that God is keenly aware of us, and that He loves us and literally treats us as His own sons, “Which of you, if his 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!” 

It is routine to hear of stories over the holidays of shoppers fighting to buy a children’s toy. Some parents would rather break the law, sacrifice their dignity and injure their neighbor than miss an opportunity to appease their child. Such a parent may have good intentions, but their actions clearly identify them as evil. Even evil people purpose to bless those they love. But then how much more so does God bless those He loves, when God is the polar opposite of evil? 

This is the most fundamental and yet most easily disregarded aspect of prayer. God is good, gracious, kind and loving. God is aware of us and sees us as His own children. How is it that we could think that God would hear of one of His children asking, or seeking, or knocking, and instead turn a deaf ear? Shall He see their need for a basic resource like bread, and show them only stones? Shall He know their hunger and instead purpose to send them a painful horror? Obviously not, and with such a certainty we must recognize that God answers prayer. Indeed, God’s character is such that those who ask always find Him giving, and such that those who seek Him always discover, and such that He opens His door to all who knock for Him.

To this point the child of God must know that when we are on praying ground (that is,  we have repented of known sin and are seeking to honor Him), and we ask God for that which we truly need or something more of Himself – there are only two possible reasons why God does not answer and more hardship or silence ensues instead. Either God has something better in mind, or we are in the midst of a spiritual war and His answer is merely and temporarily delayed.

When Daniel sought God, he heard nothing for three weeks. Then the angel appeared to him and said, “Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days.” 

The prayer of the righteous child of God is always heard, and always responded to. Amen.

No one can tell you how good God is. You have to experience him for yourself.

Richard & Henry Blackaby

APPLICATION: Thankfulness

God is good, and we know this by our experience of Him. Today, be thankful for His character and your experience of His goodness as His child.

Jesus has already spoken once about seeking God. Speaking about our need   for food, drink and clothes, He said, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” In Matthew 7:7-8, He widens and reiterates that promise. It is not only food and drink and clothing that the disciple of God should expect Him to provide, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Resources such as the basic necessities are only the start of the abundant life in Christ. They are not the goal. To believe that the point of the abundant life is mere supply is to believe that God’s Kingdom is nothing more than a vending machine, and God no more than a parcel delivery service. No one limits their care for their child to strictly material supply and believes they have done well. Children need care, attention and love to mature, not just material things. If we know this, how much more does God know it? 

It is not mere supply when we look to God for more of His Kingdom on earth and more of His will being done in our lives and our community. It is His presence and power when we look for His Spirit’s anointing in the work we do for Him. We need His grace and patience and lovingkindness for others, and much more besides. Yet much of that is not given by edict when we simply ask. He designs instead that we should go far beyond asking. Wanting to see us exercise faith more and more, He purposes that we should seek, and seek diligently! The late AW Pink wrote, “Prayer must not be allowed to induce lethargy in other directions or become a lazy substitute for the putting forth of our energies in other duties. We are called upon to watch as well as pray, to deny self, strive against sin, take unto us the whole armour of God, and fight the good fight of faith.” Indeed, if we limit our prayers to asking, we stunt our growth. The Christ-follower must actively seek, and if that seeking leads to a door, the obedient disciple must not conclude that no further response is forthcoming. To do so is to camp outside and wail at your misfortune, when inside is the party to which you yourself are the guest of honor! 

God is not unaware of His children or their needs. “To him who knocks, the door will be opened.” To come to a closed door is not always to be understood as a “No.” Sometimes it is a “Yes, if you knock.” To this point Pink continues, “The thought suggested to us by this clause is that grace is not to be come at easily. It is as though the earnest asker and diligent seeker is now confronted by a closed door. Even so, says Christ, be not discouraged and dismayed, continue your quest, “knock.” There are times when it seems as though God turns away from us, hides Himself, and we have no access to Him. This is to test our sincerity, to try our earnestness, to put us to the proof as to whether we long for His grace as much as we imagine. If we do, discouragements will only serve to redouble our efforts.” Should they not? Consider again the promise, “For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” 

Amen.

God always gives you what you would have asked for if you knew everything that He knows.

Tim Keller

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Be persistent in prayer! Ask, seek and knock.

esus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”  Effectively, Jesus is encouraging us to a three-fold approach in prayer – to ask, and to seek, and to knock. 

Each of those verbs conveys something of the nature of persistent prayer. While they all speak to the same subject, they all describe a different activity. Asking is not the same as seeking, and seeking is not the same as knocking. Asking is something we do passively. Seeking is something we do actively. Knocking is something we do when we’ve found the right place. Each verb speaks to an action on our part, because action on our part is needed in each case. 

Many can testify of a time when they could not find a needed item. They knew it was in their home, but it seemed to elude their senses. Calling out in frustration for some help, they heard instead a parent or spouse ask, “Have you looked in _______ place?” Sure enough, that is where the missing item was all the time. Likewise, often the first thing God gives in response to our asking is not what we’re asking for on a silver platter, but the ability to find what we are looking for. That is because God expects His people to act toward the answer we are praying for. Indeed, how can we not? To ask God and refuse to also seek is to expect our King and Master to become our butler, and to put ourselves as His master. Far be it from us! 

Besides which, it is of note that Jesus does not say ask OR seek OR knock. The exhortation is to do all three. Matthew Henry once noted, “We must not only ask but seek; we must second our prayers with our endeavors; we must, in the use of the appointed means, seek for that which we ask for, else we tempt God.” The Christ-follower has an obligation to go beyond merely asking. To ask and not to bother seeking is only suitable for those who simply cannot seek. The prisoner chained to the wall cannot seek the way out of the dungeon. They must ask to be released first. But the disciple who is living with freedom must do more than ask. For them, to merely ask and expect the answer to be delivered on some kind of platter is both immature and arrogant. It is fitting for the maturing disciple to learn to trust God enough to expect the answer as well as trust Him to open their eyes as they look for it. As Mr. Henry went on to say, “God gives knowledge and grace to those that search the scriptures, and wait at Wisdom’s gates; and power against sin to those that avoid the occasions of it.” 

How true that is! Those who look exclusively to themselves and others for answers will find nothing but limitation, fault and brokenness. But those who seek first God and His Kingdom find not only Him, but every good and profitable thing besides! 

That is because God is a good Father to His children. He is always faithful to be found when we seek Him and His purposes with all our hearts. In fact, Jesus is really just rewording what the prophet Jeremiah noted long before when he recorded God’s intention for His people, “I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  

Amen.

It’s easy to give up on dreams, give up on miracles, give up on promises. We lose heart, lose patience, lose faith. And like a slow leak, it often happens without us even knowing it until our prayer life gets a flat. […] The reason many of us give up too soon is that we feel like we have failed if God doesn’t answer our prayer. That isn’t failure. The only way you can fail is if you stop praying.

Mark Batterson

APPLICATION: Intentionality

What are you needing today? Have you asked God for it? Have you sought His advice about it? Have you courageously knocked on the door He showed you?