Daily Devotional For Sunday, November 10, 2024

Today is Sunday. This is my favorite day because we get to come together as disciples of Jesus and worship Him corporately together. I pray you do that today. If you have been reading these devotionals, you know we are making our way through the best and most famous sermon ever – Jesus’ Sermon On The Mount. You can read the whole sermon in Matthew chapters 5, 6, & 7. Today, we begin taking on and breaking down another substantial section found in Matthew 7:7-12:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (8) For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (9) Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? (10) Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? (11) 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! (12) “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (NASB).

As Jesus wraps up His sermon, He gives some awesome biblical principles for disciples to follow. Jesus, having given the standards related to issues such as self, to morality, to religion, and to money and possessions. Here Jesus concludes giving the standards related to human relationships which He began in verses 1–6. As we have previously seen, to love others as God desires, we have to crucify our self-righteousness and our arrogance that we are fit to judge and condemn others. Love is a choice, not an emotion. Love creates emotions, but love is a choice, otherwise, God would not command us to love. 

What are the characteristics our love towards others should exhibit? Look at 1 Corinthians 13:4-7:

“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, (5) does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, (6) does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; (7) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (NASB).

The key expression of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is seen in Matthew 7:12, what we call today “The Golden Rule.” New Testament scholar William Barclay writes this about verse 12:

“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” (Source: William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series, “Matthew,” p. 314-215).

There is no equivalent found in any other religion that compares to Jesus’ “The Golden Rule.” Beginning today, we are going to look at three reasons for obeying “The Golden Rule” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” pp. 442-448). The first reason is that God’s promise to His children demands it. Look again at Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (8) For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (NASB). To those of us who are His children, His disciples, this is one of the most comprehensive promises to us. Do you realize what this promise does for us? It frees us up to love others freely and fully with sacrifice because God our Father has already set the example in His own generosity to us.

We can do for others what we would want done to us without fear holding us back, fearing we might run out of resources. Verses 7-11 build a bridge to cover the gap between negative teaching about critical spirit and the positive teaching of “The Golden Rule.” Even when we have been cleansed of our own sin—had the “log” removed from our eye—we need divine wisdom to know how to help a brother remove the “speck” from his eye (v. 5). And without God’s help we cannot be sure of who are “dogs” or “swine”— who are the false prophets and apostates to whom we should not offer the holy and precious things of God’s Word (v. 6). These considerations drive us to call on the Lord.

This is why we ask, seek and knock. We need God’s wisdom, not our own. God’s wisdom is one of our greatest needs as a disciple. Without it, we cannot discern nor discriminate from conflicting and internal questions we might have. James reminds us of this in James 1:5, “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (NASB). Many of the biblical principles God gives us in His Word, do not come with specific one, two, or threes. If God gave us specific rules for every circumstance, we could not carry a Bible. It would be too huge. The Bible would not be one book of 27 small books, but volumes of books. But the Bible is a limitless source of truths for us to obey and follow. No matter how much we studied it – even if it was 24/7 365 days a year, we could never exhaust it. It is that deep and rich.

When we read verses 7-8, some have erroneously interpreted these verses to imply that Jesus is giving us a kind of “blank check” for any need we bring to God. Several things we need to remember about verses 7-8. 

1. First, these verses are only for believers and disciples. On that mount that day as Jesus preached were unbelievers, antagonistic and confrontational religious leaders, etc. So, in verse 8, “everyone” refers to everyone who is a believer, a disciple of Jesus. Those who are not His children cannot come to God as their Father. Matthew’s Gospel emphasizes two relationships: God’s kingdom and God’s family. The kingdom concept deals with rules and biblical principles we are to apply to our lives. The family concept deals with relationships and how we are to treat one another. There are two great realities that the Bible teaches to disciples. God is our Father and Christians are our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are part of the family of God. 
2. Second, the person who claims this promise must be living in obedience to the Father. John emphasizes this in 1 John 3:22, “”And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight” (NASB). 
3. Third, when we ask, our motive must be right. Look at James 4:3, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (NASB).
4. Fourth, we must submit to our Father’s will. We see this in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” (NASB). We see this in James 1:7-8, “For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, (8) being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (NASB). We see this in 1 John 5:14, “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (NASB).

In order for us to ask, seek and knock, requires perseverance, as indicated in the Greek verbal syntax and grammar. It is the idea of persistently asking, seeking and knocking. And we also see an intensity in the three verbs from the simple asking to the aggressive seeking and to the more aggressive knocking. If you have ever raised young children, you know how persistent they can be to ask, seek and “knock.” 

The progression in intensity also suggests that our sincere requests to the Lord are not to be passive. Whatever of His will we know to do we should be doing. If we are asking the Lord to help us find a job, we should be looking for a job ourselves while we await His guidance and provision. If we are out of food, we should be trying to earn money to buy it if we can. If we want help in confronting a brother about a sin, we should be trying to find out all we can about him and his situation and all we can about what God’s Word says on the subject involved. It is not faith but presumption to ask the Lord to provide more when we are not faithfully using what He has already given.

Pastor and author Chuck Swindoll writes this:

“In this context, Jesus was talking about being consistent and persistent in prayer. If we genuinely seek the Lord’s will and earnestly pursue His intervention on our behalf, we will receive what we ask for, find what we’re looking for, and gain access to the places we want to go. But we must stay at it, keep it up, and press on. If the situation worsens, we need to intensify our prayers. If our need persists, we need to return to our knees and petition God all the more. Does this mean that God will give us anything we ask for, that we’ll find whatever we’re seeking, and that He’ll open any doors we want? Not quite” (Source: Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary, “Matthew 1-15,” Vol. 1A, p. 128).

Questions To Consider

1. Do you consistently live out “The Golden Rule?” Why or why not?
2. When it comes to prayer, are you consistently persistent and aggressive to keep asking, to keep seeking and to keep knocking? Why or why not?
3. To live out “The Golden Rule,” our love must have the characteristics of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Does this describe your love for others, especially your “enemies?” Why or why not?
4. What is an answer to prayer you’re still waiting on God to answer?
5. God is not a genie in the bottle who gives us what we ask, seek or knock for in our prayers. So, why pray then?

Scripture To Meditate On: James 4:3, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (NASB).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, constantly asking, seeking and knocking is something I am deficient in doing. To be consistent to ask, seek and knock, especially when the answer does not come or does not come the way I want, is a challenge for me. Lord, I know I should pray but I get busy and distracted. I let other things prey on me rather than me praying to You. Lord, please help me to become a consistent prayer warrior who is relentless to keep asking, seeking and knocking. I love You Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly