Sermon Series: Sermon on the Mount

People Matter to God

Matthew 7:7-12

PSBC 6/18/00 AM

In a nutshell: People matter to God. As God's ambassadors, when we ask, seek and knock in order to gain the help we need to "do unto others what we would have them do to us" , He promises to help us.

I. Introduction
TOP 10 THINGS YOU'LL NEVER HEAR DAD SAY

10. Well, how 'bout that? I'm lost! Looks like we'll have to stop
and ask for directions.

9. You know Pumpkin, now that you're thirteen, you'll be ready for
un-chaperoned car dates. Won't that be fun?

8. I noticed that all your friends have a certain hostile attitude.
I like that.

7. Here's a credit card and the keys to my new car. GO CRAZY!!

6. What do you mean you wanna play football? Figure skating's not
good enough for you, son?

5. Your mother and I are going away for the weekend. You might want
to consider throwing a party.

4. Well, I don't know what's wrong with your car. Probably one of
those doo-hickey thingies--ya know--that makes it run or something.
Just have it towed to a mechanic and pay whatever he asks.

3. No son of mine is going to live under this roof without an
earring. Now quit your belly-aching, and let's go to the mall.

2. Whaddya wanna go and get a job for? I make plenty of money for
you to spend.

1. What do I want for my birthday? Aahh, don't worry about that.
It's no big deal. (Okay, they might say it. But they don't mean it)

A. Unique Approach

Croft Pentz wrote a book for preachers, several years ago. It's called The Complete Book of Zingers. It's a collection of hundreds of short, pithy statements about God, Christians, the world, and our Christian faith. Here are of few of them...

-Jesus is God spelling himself out in language that all men can understand.

-The right road may be rough and steep, but the vision from the summit is worth all the effort.

-Too many people are trying to shine for Jesus without burning for him, first.

-The one thing Christianity cannot be is moderately important.

-and finally one that is of particular importance to what we're studying this morning....
We have learned the golden rule. Now it's time to put it into practice.

Story: In a magazine article a few years ago, I clipped this little story: A mother writes, "We've always tried to instill in our children God's desire that they respect and obey their parents. One morning, following an evening of explaining the Golden Rule to my preschool daughter, Katie, I quizzed her.

"What's the Golden Rule?" I asked.

With a look of exasperation she replied, "I know, I know. You're the mommy!"

Well, that's a good rule, but it's not the Golden Rule. Most everyone knows that the Golden Rule is "Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You." And that comes directly from this section of Scripture that we'll be looking at this morning from Matthew 7:7-12.

And to really understand what Jesus is trying to teach us here, you almost have to read verse 12 first, and then apply verses 7 thru 11 to help understand how we can keep such a command.
So, let's look at Matthew 7:12 first–here's the Golden Rule...

Matthew 7:12
12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

B. Transition

The bottom line to the Golden Rule is we are to care for other people, just like we care for ourselves. But this is not easy to do. In fact, caring for people is becoming more and more difficult as our society moves farther and farther away from God; values human beings less and less; and becomes more and more self-centered.

Illustration: When we lived in St. Louis, there was a story about a man who was homeless and living just across the river in Alton, IL. He was arrested because he was stopping people on the street, and saying, "Sir or Madam, could you help a poor, hungry, homeless guy who has nothing in the whole world to call his own, except this loaded 38-revolver that's in my hand?"

Wicked people are making it harder and harder for good people to care today. If you're honest with yourself, you'd probably admit that you're more cynical today, than you were 10 years ago. We're all becoming more and more cautious when it comes to helping meet the needs of individuals because, we're afraid of being taken advantage of by someone else, or scammed.

Well, the verses from Matthew 7 that we're going to look at this morning, give us God's perspective on caring and people. And as we study God's perspective this morning, we're going to see two things...

-We are first of all, going to be reminded of our relationship with God and His care for us.
-Then, from there, God is going to give us a perspective that will help us care for someone as much as we care for ourselves.

II. Relationship With God

Matthew 7:7-8
7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

A. God's Promise
The first thing that Jesus does is to help us re-think something very important. He calls our attention to the relationship we have with God. He does this through reminding us of God's promises.

One of the most important truths that we can hope to know, is the fact that if we are followers of Jesus Christ, we are the beneficiaries of the promises of God.

We are the recipients of these promises, because, as we've discovered in our Sunday evening study in Ephesians, we are adopted children into the family of God–therefore, we are a legitimate members of God's family. As family members, then, we are the recipients of any and all the privileges that go along with having God as our Father. One of the things that belongs to us, is that all of the promises of God that He has ever given, are given to us. Look at what Peter writes in...

2 Peter 1:3-4
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
4 Through (this knowledge) he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

So when, Jesus tells us that we have permission to ask, seek, and knock, He's not saying that it is the asking, seeking or knocking that are our rewards. The rewards come in the qualifying phrases that follow each of those words. He tells us...
–that if we ask, our reward is that what we ask for shall be given to us;
–if we seek, then our reward is that what we seek for, we will find
–when we come to heaven's door and knock, our reward is that the door of heaven will be opened to us.

And He doesn't just say this once. He goes on to reinforce this truth by repeating it. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.

Now, I want you to take special note of a few things. Because these verses have often been mis-applied by very well meaning people. Verses 7 and 8 are not a blank check for just anyone to ask God for anything that they want.

1. First of all, this promise is only for people who are followers of Jesus Christ. In this audience there were scribes, Pharisees and probably a large group of unbelieving people who were there just out of curiosity. But Jesus always speaks of the scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, false prophets, insincere followers and all other unbelievers in the third person in this sermon–as if none of them were the direct target of His words. Only his disciples and those truly following Him were the ones He was talking to.
2. Second, the person who claims this promise must be living in obedience to God, the Father.

1 John 3:22
22 (We)...receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.

3. Third, our motive for asking must be right.

James 4:3
3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

God doesn't obligate Himself to answer selfish, carnal, and frivolous requests from His children.

4. And finally, we can't forget the context of this promise. The context is the Golden Rule in verse 12, and our asking God to help us carry it out within the circle of influence that He has uniquely given each of us.

B. God to the Rescue!

Thinking about this, reminded me of...

Illustration: ...the Home Depot ad on TV, a couple of years ago. A cargo plane flies over a suburban neighborhood; it opens it's cargo door, and starts dropping lawn and garden equipment down on this neighborhood to help the people of the neighborhood fight their "war" with their yards and gardens. In the commercial, men and women are looking to the sky while they run all around, plucking these parachuted garden tractors, weed- whackers and hedge trimmers from the sky in order to conquer their yards.

Well, that's a good picture of the promise here. When we find ourselves lacking in ability or desire to do unto others as we would have them do to us, then God comes to the rescue. He promises to give us whatever we need to help us conquer our deficiencies when we ask, or seek, or knock at heaven's doors.

This is God's promise without qualification, to each and every one of us as we seek to follow the Golden Rule.

III. God's Perspective

Matthew 7:9-11
9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
11 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!

A. Illustration about the picture of cheese in the mouse trap

Illustration: I heard a story about a man who had a mouse in his house and his wife wanted him to catch it. His problem was that he didn't have any cheese. So he cut a picture of some cheese out of a magazine and placed it in the trap. He thought, "I'll just fool the mouse." When he went to check the trap the next morning to see if he had caught the mouse he found a great big mouse in the trap. There was only one problem. It was a picture of a mouse.

Friends, these three verses are given so we understand that what God is promising...
–is not just a picture of how He'll provide us with the ability to keep the Golden Rule...
–that He's not going to answer our prayers with some form of trickery that's done with smoke and mirrors.
–and that He's not talking about providing something that's close to what we need, but isn't quite there.

He promises to provide exactly what we need to live or act in a way that will allow us to do to others as we would have them do to us.

B. The Real picture

The word picture Jesus gives is of a loving father–that's appropriate on Father's Day. Now, even a loving father has the opportunity to give less than what his child asks for.

Example #1: Imagine a son coming to his father and asking for a small loaf of bread. Would a loving father, give his son a rock that looks like a small loaf of bread? Of course not! That kind of trickery would have no place in the mind or desire of a loving father. Trickery like that would have the potential of harming that son.

Example #2: Or what if a good Jewish boy would ask his father for a fish to eat. Would a loving father give his son an eel (that's what this word translated "snake" means), which was unclean and un-eatable for a Jew? It still came from the water! It's something like a fish, isn't it? But it's not what the boy asked for. Nor was it something he could eat. So, that man's boy would remain hungry.

No loving father, in his right mind, would do something like that.

C. Jesus' point

Jesus' point is that even though we are
–by nature, selfish people,
–less than perfect people,
–sinful people,
...we still love our children enough to give them good things and right things when they ask. We love them enough to not trick them with counterfeits or give them something bad or harmful, when they ask for their needs to be fulfilled.

So, "If you then, you being evil, (or to use another phrase, less than God,) know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to you when you ask Him for help!" This is one of those "DUH!" statements in scripture–of course God will give you what you need!

IV. God's Challenge

Matthew 7:12
12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Now comes the challenge. It combines the promises of God to us; and the demands of Kingdom living that we're required to do. The Golden Rule simply states that you must treat others as you want them to treat you. And as Croft Pentz said, "Now it's time to put it into practice."

In reality, what we are being asked to do here, is about as profound and difficult a challenge that's given to followers of Jesus Christ.

Do you realize that if the world would live by this rule, just about every problem that people have, could be resolved. And the fact that we don't live by the this rule is evident everywhere in society.

Joseph Parker, an English Congregationalist pastor in the mid 1800's, said, (front of bulletin.) "The Golden Rule would reconcile capital and labor, all political contention and uproar, all selfishness and greed."

Illustration: An old Delaware Indian chief sat with a Christian friend by a campfire, talking of the events of the day and what they'd be doing tomorrow. After a long silence the Christian friend said: "Chief, did you ever hear of the rule called the golden rule, given to men by Christ who gave us our religion?" "Stop," said the chief. "Don't praise it. Just tell me what it is and let me think for myself."

When told that it was for each one to do to others as he would have others do to him, the chief hastily replied, "That is impossible; it cannot be done." And an uncomfortable silence followed between the two men.

After about fifteen minutes the old chief spoke: "Brother, I have been thoughtful of what you told me, and this is what I think. If the Great Spirit who made man would give him a new heart, he could do as you say, but not else."

Well friends, the fact is... Jesus has given us a new heart.

Galatians 2:20
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Christ living in us gives us the desire to love others as we love ourselves. The ability comes when we
--ask for... and
--seek after... and
--knock to open God's storehouse doors
...to receive the real help we need to live and act like God's representatives to a hurting world.

IV. Conclusion

Illustration: A man fell into a pit and couldn't get himself out.-

A SUBJECTIVE person came along and said: "I FEEL for you, down there."
An OBJECTIVE person came along and said: "It's logical that someone would fall, down there."
A CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST came along: "You only THINK that you are in a pit."
A PHARISEE said: "Only BAD people fall into a pit."
A MATHEMATICIAN calculated HOW he fell into the pit.
A NEWS REPORTER wanted the exclusive story on the pit.
An unforgiving Christian said: "You DESERVE your pit."
CONFUCIUS said; "If you would have listened to me, you would not be in that pit."
BUDDHA said: "Your pit is only a state of mind."
A REALIST said: "That's a PIT."
A SCIENTIST calculated the pressure necessary (lbs./sq. in.) to get him out of the pit.
A GEOLOGIST told him to appreciate the rock strata in the pit.
AN EVOLUTIONIST said: "You are a rejected mutant destined to be removed from the evolutionary cycle." In other words, he is going to DIE in the pit, so that he cannot produce any "pit-falling offspring."
The COUNTY INSPECTOR asked if he had a permit to dig a pit.
The COUNTY TAX ASSESSOR came along and figured the taxes he owed on the pit.
A PROFESSOR gave him a lecture on: "The Elementary Principles of the Pit."
An EVASIVE person came along and avoided the subject of his pit altogether
A SELF-PITYING person said: "You haven't seen anything until you've seen MY PIT!!"
A HEALTH AND WEALTH PREACHER said: "Just BELIEVE AND REPEAT these words, ‘I'm not in a pit."
An OPTIMIST said: "Things COULD be worse."
A PESSIMIST said: "Things WILL GET worse!!"
But JESUS, seeing the man, took him by the hand and LIFTED HIM OUT of the pit.

Friends, listen... We have the power, we have the methods, and we have the abilities to be Jesus' hands and feet–at our schools, or in the neighborhood, or at work, or at the club, or on the golf course, or in the restaurant, or at the beauty salon. Jesus tells us exactly how He wants us to do it–we do it by asking God to take up residence in us–so our actions towards others is exactly as if He were doing them Himself. Do to others what you would have them do to you...

My prayer is that your eyes will be opened and your hearts will be softened so you see the people in your unique circle of influence, as importantly as God does. Because people matter to God. In fact, people matter more than anything else to God–Because He sent His Son to die for people. And because God cares for people, He wants us–His followers–to care for them, as well.
Amen.