In a world driven by “What’s in it for me?” and self-love, it is easy to begin to run everything we see, hear, and read through that filter. When our lives are centered around what I want, we see things differently and our perceptions become skewed. Jesus continues his teaching in Matthew 7 with a verse that is often misunderstood, largely for that very reason. We read this verse through the filter of “seek first my kingdom”, rather than the filter of “seek first the kingdom of God.”
“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.”
Matthew 7: 7-8
Only a few verses before this, Jesus says, “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” We ask God for all kinds of things that we want or that we think we need. Our prayer time is often more like a child’s Christmas wish list as we pray, “Thank you God for everything, now here’s all the other things I want or what I want you to do for me.” When we don’t get what we asked for, we think that God is not listening or that he does not care. Maybe we even think that God is not real. After all, the Bible says “ask and it will be given to you… for everyone who asks receives.” We read the Bible through the filter of “what’s in it for me” and have a hard time understanding why God does not listen.
“You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
James 4: 2-3
As humans, we tend to get things backwards a lot. When everything in my life is just right, then I’ll serve God. After I retire, then I’ll have time to volunteer in the community and at the church. After I get my life together, then I’ll start going to church. Proverbs says often that the most important thing is to find wisdom and understanding, and that one who searches for wisdom and understanding will be blessed. When Jesus says “ask, seek, knock”, he is talking about the search for wisdom and understanding, not the search for a new car, a bigger TV, or more income. We don’t receive because we are seeking to build the wrong kingdom.
As a father, my kids often ask me for things they want, and I very often say no to their requests. As they have gotten older, the requests have become more reasonable, but I still sometimes decline their requests. I do not tell them no because I enjoy making them suffer and do without. I don’t tell them no because I enjoy watching them get upset and be disappointed. I tell them no because it is not in their best interest. I love to give my kids things, but I love to give my kids things that will help them.
“Which of you, if your 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!”
Matthew 7: 9-11
Some of these things sound a little silly. If I ask dad for something to eat and he gives me something that can kill me, a call to child protective services might be in order. If I, as an earthly father, know how to give my children what is best for them and I love doing that for them, how much more does God, our Father in heaven, give even better gifts and delight in seeing our faces when we realize the great gift we have received.
Sometimes our bibles and their “topic” divisions, or subtitles can throw us off and we mentally separate things into a new topic. The verse just prior to this 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 turn and tear you to pieces.” (Matthew 7: 6) In my previous post, I suggested that perhaps Jesus is talking about our attention. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Do not give our allegiance or our time and energy to seeking the approval of others.
Then Jesus says, “ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find.” “How much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him.” Do not worry about the things of this world. God will provide everything we need. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Ask for wisdom and understanding, seek the kingdom of God, knock on the door to wisdom and God’s kingdom. Desire the things of God, not the things of this world. Desire to be known by God and not to fit in with the world.
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 7: 12
Here is another one of those verses that seems very random on the surface, but in the context, it fits perfectly. Again, don’t let the topic division through you off with the context of this verse. Jesus was just talking about judging others and then putting our relationship with God above all else. Now he comes back to the famous “do to others what you would have them do to you” line and then says “this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
Through the entire series on the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has brought everything back to the heart. The Law and the Prophets is not a checklist of what it takes to follow God. I did all the right things, but I still did not know God. I did not murder, but I hated people. I did not steal, but I could not get my mind off of having the next best thing. I did not cheat on my wife, but I looked at porn and thought about it a lot. I went to church and prayed and sang worship songs every Sunday, but left church and went on about my life angry at people, using language I shouldn’t, watched ungodly movies, and went in search of more stuff. God does not want us to go through our checklist and make sure we did all the right things. God wants our heart. God wants us to desire him first.
Treat people the way we want to be treated. “He hit me so he must have wanted me to hit him, too.” No, that is not quite how that works. We often get things backwards. We teach to love each other and be kind to each other above all else. We have this whole “No Bullying” campaign, but there is no foundation to it. “Be nice to people.” But why? “Because it is the right thing to do.” But why? There has to be a moral standard that teaches us that this is the right thing to do.
When we take God and biblical teaching out of our culture and relegate “religion” to a checklist, we remove any moral standard to live by. But what Jesus is teaching through this entire sermon is to love God and focus on God. When we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, the moral standard set for us by Jesus Christ, the love of God will naturally flow through us.
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. “
Matthew 6: 33
