Matthew 7:7-11 is yet another part of Christ’s sermon that when isolated, takes on an unintended meaning, but when kept within the context of the whole sermon, fits much more with the teachings of the rest of Scripture. Let’s take a moment to give the whole context:
Verses 1-6 are about judgmental people receiving judgment from God, and wraps up with the idea of judgmental, dangerous and divisive people not receiving anything precious from God or his people.
Verses 7-10 are about how God truly views us when we are humbly seeking his help and support. i.e. God doesn’t treat us like wild dogs and feral pigs.
Verses 11-13 remind us that God wants us to treat our neighbors like God treats us.
To summarize this whole section, we should approach human relationship by following the pattern of God with us: love people, graciously speak truth to dangerously unrepentant people, and be patient and forgiving with struggling people.
So, let’s look at the topic in this section: How God Loves Us
Two primary ways God shows love to us are given in this short passage:
God welcomes us into his presence.
God invites us to ask for provision.
Jesus is using descriptive family language here. He is telling the story of someone coming home to mom and dad’s house and asking "what there is to eat?". If you are a young adult or college student, or the parent of one, you can really understand the imagery here. We want to read this passage like an Amazon wish list where we throw things into the cart waiting for God to pay the bill and put in our address, but the tone of the passage is more about living life with God in such a way that we recognize His desire to be close to us and share with us. It’s a contrast to how we would live with wild dogs and feral pigs.
Presence
What does it mean to be welcomed into God’s presence? Verse 7 says:
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."
It means speaking to God with the confidence that He cares about what we are saying. Hebrews 4:16 reiterates this idea:
"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
The context of this verse is that Jesus is a High Priest Who understands. Hebrews chapters 9 and 10 give all of the descriptive covenant theology which teaches us that we have access into the Holiest Place of the temple, where God’s presence dwelled, because Jesus’s blood has made us perfectly worthy. What the high priest could only do once a year on the day of atonement, we can do anytime with confidence. Paul says in Ephesians 3:8–13,
"To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory."
Provision
What does it mean to ask God to provide fish and bread? Verses 9 and 10 say:
"Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?"
Remember, this was the provision of His miracle to feed the masses at least once, if not twice depending on wether the miracle is two miracles or one recounted differently in the Gospels. It means to be honest with God about my needs, not my greeds. When we misinterpret scripture, we tend to view prayer requests through the grid of greed. Let me give you another example. We read in Matthew 21:18–22,
"In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
Jesus was giving permission to do two things when we struggle to provide:
Stop waisting time on unfruitful trees (in other places Jesus talked about not waisting resources on unfruitful fields and unfruitful servants). What are the unfruitful trees of your life? What is taking time and resources from you and not giving a return of spiritual fruit? This was prophetic as he had just entered Jerusalem and cleansed the temple of greedy money changers. This is likely a tree He had continued to see fruitless and used it as a visible illustration of truth he had already taught. Luke 13:5–9 records Jesus' words:
“I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”
One of the most difficult problems to address in our lives is time wasting and resource waisting activities, especially in church ministry. How do I know if something is a waste of time and resources? Once again, recall Philippians 4:8-9: ponder to practice.
Ask God to help you remove obstacles. The context of this passage is that they were in Bethany, which is on the side of the mount of Olives. This is where Jesus would soon pray there for God to remove the cup of bitterness from Him. God did not remove that cup, and we know that Jesus had faith. Prayer is not a faith issue, but rather a surrender issue. This mountain is also where Jesus would later leave on a cloud to go back to heaven (Acts 1:11). The disciples stood there looking at the sky and waiting. The angel had to tell them to get going and do what Jesus had told them to do.
What do we learn from the significant moments that took place on this mountain? Prayer should motivate us to walk in the direction of obedience while we wait for God to remove the obstacle. Mountains are climbable, just not easy to climb. Worry makes a mountain out of a mole-hill. Prayer in faith makes a mole-hill out of a mountain. Obstacles could be our needs or our greeds, or our conflicts or our weaknesses, or our restlessness or whatever is hindering us from producing fruit. Unsolvable life equations have to be handed over to Jesus through prayer. These are the mountains of our lives.
Prayer
Jesus wasn’t concerned with “what” we ask, but rather “how” we ask. We read in verse 11:
"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!"
Who are the evil here? Perhaps the same people He is saying are dangerously wild dogs and feral pigs? We don’t know, but even the wolves take good care of their young. Of course God takes care of His own.
I close with three reminders of how effective prayer looks lin our lives:
Effective prayer believes in God’s listening ear.
Psalm 116:2--"Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live."
Effective prayer believes in God’s care.
1 Peter 5:6–7--"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."
Effective prayer believes in God’s power.
James 5:16--"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."
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