Ask, Seek, Knock (Matthew 7:6-12)

Ask, Seek, Knock

 

Matthew 7:6-12

 

Today’s word is about prayer. Jesus invites his disciples to God’s blessings that they can access through prayers. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” After saying this, Jesus adds emphatically, “For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” This word shows one of the unique characteristics of the life of Jesus’ disciples, namely, us. It is that God is involved in the disciples’ life willingly and specifically through the medium of their prayers. This is a very important characteristic that distinguishes Jesus’ disciples from people in the world and from other “religious peoples.” Without God’s participation in the believer’s life through his prayers, a believer’s life will not be much different from that of people in the world. Therefore, it is important to understand today’s word deeply and hold unto it in heart.

 

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” This is a truly great promise that Jesus gave to his disciples. With this promise, we may not have any problem in our lives. However, it is not easy to take this promise as it is literally. As we know, what we want and seek is not given to us all the time. More often, rather, our expectations are disappointed. Sometimes we are afraid to ask something or to make a new challenge. Nevertheless, the Lord’s promise to us is clear: “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; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

 

In preparing the sermon with this word, I read a number of references and what they mentioned commonly with regard to this promise was that we should ask, seek and knock “according to God’s will.” It is somewhat disappointing that this promise has this “string” attached. It seems that most of what I am seeking are nothing to do with God’s will, and I feel not good at “praying according to God’s will.” With these thoughts, the great promise turns into “a pie in the sky” and loses its vitality like a stuffed animal. Still it is truly a blessing and life to us to pray according to God’s will. We should learn to pray in that way, and today’s passage gives some clues to that. From today’s passage, we can get three points of “praying according to God’s will.” Firstly, prayer is seeking and receiving “what is sacred.”  Secondly, prayer is seeking and receiving “what is the best.” And secondly, prayer is seeking and receiving “out of love.” The second and third points will be in the next sermon, and today, we are going to think about “what is sacred.”

 

Through prayers, we ask and receive “what is sacred” from God. Verse 6 says, “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.” Jesus warned the disciples not to give “what is sacred” and “your pearls” to dogs or pigs. What does the Bible mean by “what is sacred”? God Himself and His name are holy. God’s Word and His Spirit are also sacred. In addition to these, however, we can say that everything from God is sacred. Prayer is basically seeking what we want and receiving it from God. And what we receive through prayers are all God’s gifts. Therefore, we should value and treat carefully what we have received from God. 1Corinthians 10:3,4 says, “They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.” Here, “spiritual food” means manna that God gave to the Israelites in the wilderness, and “spiritual food” means the spring water from the rock. Apostle Paul called the food “spiritual food,” and the water “spiritual drink.” It is because God gave the food and drink to his people.

 

We give and receive gifts. In order to give a present, we wrap it with wrapping paper. one who receives the present unpacks and takes what is inside. Of course, the present itself is more important than the wrapping paper. Through prayers, we may receive various things from God. I can say, however, that these things are merely “wrapping paper.” Then, what is the true gift wrapped inside the paper? It is “God Himself.” When God provided food and drink in the wilderness, He gave only as much as they needed for each day. Gathering manna every morning, the people of Israel met “Faithful God” who was feeding them. They also met “Almighty God” when drinking fresh water flowing out of the rock. Eating manna and drinking the spring water provided by God, they were actually eating and drinking God. They were enjoying God’s faithful love, and tasting peace and joy from their Heavenly Father. Manna and the spring water were gift boxes containing and carrying “God.” In this way, the people of Israel ate spiritual food and drank spiritual drank.

 

When God gives us what we ask and seek through prayers, we must remember that God is present in the gift. And we should handle the gift preciously and reverently. Luke 17:11-19 records the story that Jesus heals 10 lepers of their disease. All of them called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Listening to their prayers, Jesus cleaned all of the 10 lepers. However, only one of them came back, glorifying God, and knelt down before Jesus and gave thanks to the Lord. For the other nine, we don’t know where they went away. They received only “the healing of the body,” but not “the Holy God” who healed their bodies. Figuratively speaking, they received a precious gift, but took only the wrapping paper and discarded the gift itself. In contrast, the leper who came back to Jesus, glorifying God and giving thanks to the Lord, met his Heavenly Father through the gift. He threw his “cleansed body” before Jesus. In this way, he treated what was sacred, which was God’s holy love, more preciously than his body. When we seek something through prayers, we are basically seeking “God Himself.” When God listens to our prayers and gives what we ask, He is giving God Himself. We should not forget this fact when we pray.

 

There is a poem that is drawing people’s attention on the Internet recently. It is lyric that an elementary school student named Lee Seul (a middle school student currently) wrote, missing her mother who had passed away of cancer.

 

 

 

 

The Most Wished Table

 

With doing nothing

With fretful complaints

The table was prepared

As a matter of course

 

The table came three times a day

In the morning, in the noon, and in the evening

Without skipping

 

The table did not require a word of thanks

Why couldn’t I know then

Why couldn’t I see then

Mom’s wrinkled hands bringing the table

 

Why didn’t I hold the hands

Why didn’t I say ‘Thank you’

 

The word I haven’t spoken until now

I just mumble alone in front of

The table I will not receive any longer

 

“Mom, I love you…”

“Mom, thank you…”

“Mom, rest in peace….”

 

What I want to get most

Mom’s table

Now I cannot get it any more

 

Now I will prepare a table for you, mom

I will set only with your favorite dishes.

 

Still I am missing mom’s table.

Now what I will not receive any longer

What I desire most in the world

My mom’s face (table)

 

In the poem, she had taken the table prepared by mom for granted, as something that comes three times a day as a matter course without exception. Now when mom had passed away, however, the young poet realized that the table brought to her everyday was actually mom’s sacrifice and love. What the young poet wants now is not “the table.” It is “mom’s face.” What the young poet wants is not “receiving a table.” It is “preparing a table for her mom.” What Lee Seul had received and eaten everyday was not “food set on the table. It was “mom.”

 

We can find a similar poem in the Bible. It is Psalm 137. The following is the first half part of the psalm.

 

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept

    when we remembered Zion.

There on the poplars

    we hung our harps,

for there our captors asked us for songs,

    our tormentors demanded songs of joy;

    they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

How can we sing the songs of the Lord

    while in a foreign land?

If I forget you, Jerusalem,

    may my right hand forget its skill.

May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth

    if I do not remember you,

if I do not consider Jerusalem

    my highest joy. (Psalm 137:1-6)

 

This poem describes the Jews exiled to Babylon, who were longing for their home Mt. Zion and Jerusalem. In the past, they dwelt in Jerusalem, the Holy City that God gave to them, and served God in the Temple. Instead of rejoicing and thanking God in the Holy Land and Temple, however, they defiled God’s Name through idol-worshipping. Now the land and the temple that God had given were not sacred anymore. Then, God punished them through Babylon. As they could not praise God with joy, they, with their harps hung on trees, sat down by the River of Babylon and missed their Lord God.

 

God gives whatever we ask and seek. But He doesn’t just give it. He gives it with “God Himself.” People calls God “Giver” and what he gives “gifts.” But this is not correct. What God really wants to give is “God Himself.” God is the greatest gift that God presents to us. When God gives us something, He cannot give it apart from “God Himself.” Often, however, we insist on getting just what we want, leaving out God who is the greatest gift. When we receive God’s gifts, we must receive together “God” present in the gifts. We should be thankful to God’s faithful love, and rather, we submit ourselves to the Lord. In this way, God and I become one. I pray that each of us grow into a holy disciple who deserves God’s “sacred gifts.”