The Sermon on the Mount XVII

Subtitle:  Revealing Areas that are Pitfalls for Hypocrisy IV

Matthew 7:7-12.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on April 14, 2024.

Jesus finishes up this section by looking at our relationship with God through prayer (or lack thereof).  How can prayer become an area that is fraught with hypocrisy?  It can be so in the same way that prayer has always been a challenge to the flesh of us humans.

Are you challenged by prayer and sustaining a relationship with God through it?  Prayer is not easy on us, at least when we approach it as Jesus taught back in chapter 6.  Secret prayer is acid to our ego and our flesh.

Let’s look at our passage and get into this topic.

Hypocrisy in our prayer life (v. 7-12)

In verse seven, Jesus uses the command form of “asking, seeking and knocking” in his description of prayer.  We could say that these verbs represent different ways of describing prayer, or ways of thinking about prayer.  The command is to be doing something in the present because something else will happen in the future.  We should note that Jesus does not tell us how long that will be.  In fact, from the experience of the saints, we know that this period of time (from praying to receiving an answer to prayer) varies from an immediate answer to an answer that may be answered after our death.

Though you could infer this from verse 7, the addition of verse 8 makes clear that there is an implication of continuity in our prayers, persistence, perseverance.  Thus, we are to be asking in the present until that day in the future becomes today.  We should not confuse this with the earlier warning not to pray as if we will be heard by our many words.  That is pointing us towards simple prayers.  Whereas continuing to ask each day is not the same thing.  It is in truth continuing to have faith that God will answer.

When we feel that tendency to complain like this: “I asked God for such and such, but it didn’t happen,” we need to understand that our faith is being tested.  We need to wait upon the Lord’s answer in faith and trust, while continuing to ask. 

Now, let’s look at the same statement that is made in three different views of prayer.

The first is the idea of asking.  We come to God with a request.  Jesus essentially says for us to be asking and it will be given to you.  We may be asking for something tangible, like bread, or we may be asking for something less so, like wisdom.  Regardless Jesus emphasizes that his followers should be asking God with the expectation that they will receive from Him.

Sometimes we ask for things, but we haven’t thought through what it might look like for God to give it to us.  Wisdom is rarely given instantly as seems to be the case with Solomon (though it could be argued that it was not as immediate as people may think).  It typically comes through interactions with life and God’s help in the moment.  We then grow in wisdom as God helps us.  It doesn’t work like the futuristic movies that picture a person hooking their brain to a computer and downloading the skills to fly a military helicopter.  When we ask for wisdom, we should not expect to wake up as Solomon the next day.  However, we can be fully assured that God will help us to receive it in a multitude of many ways.

We might even ask ourselves (after asking God for something) this question.  What would be the righteous way to answer this?  What would be the good way that a loving, heavenly Father would answer this?  Asking our heaven Father for something involves maturing in our understanding of that process.  I didn’t know all of the things that my earthly parents were thinking about, but their answers and their timing helped me to grow in understanding them.  How much greater is this with God who is a perfect Father?  It is much more.

The second picture is that of seeking something from God (or even seeking deeper relationship with God).  Seeking involves not knowing where something is and trying to get to it, find it.  We may even think of prayer as seeking God’s wisdom in how we ask and how He responds.  Prayer is not about coming up to a cosmic vending machine and pushing certain buttons and putting in a certain amount of currency in order to get what you want.  In prayer, we are seeking something and our heavenly Father is just the One to help us find it in the righteous and proper way.  Thus we are commanded to be seeking and then we will find.

The third view of prayer pictures us knocking on a door.  Doors are a picture of access.  They often have locks to keep unauthorized people out.  Jesus is the door to the Father.  Thus, we pray to the Father in the name of the Son (through him).  However, there is a sense when we are asking God for something that it is much like knocking until He answers.  Am I going to get tired of knocking and walk away?  Will I be persistent, or accuse Him of being stingy?

The interesting thing is that God is pictured as a Father who is approachable and gives answer to prayer.  We see this all through the sermon on the Mount.  The essential statement underlying all of Christ’s commands is this.  “God is your heavenly Father who cares for you.  You can completely trust Him!”  In chapter 6 when he teaches us how to pray, he says to address God as a Father who is approachable and desirous to help us.  Is that how you see God?

Verse 8 quickly adds the reason why what he has said is true.  It essentially is a no-brainer statement.  However, this is what makes it so powerful.  We can grow discouraged and stop asking, seeking and knocking.  Jesus tells us that it is asking people who receive, seeking people who find, and knocking people to whom the door is opened.  It essentially undermines our tendency to quit.  Why would I quit when an essential aspect to receiving is being a asking person?  The reason is that I have lost faith in God’s care and love for me.

This point is not a guarantee that you will get exactly what you pray for, like an order at a fast food joint.  Rather, he is pointing out the silliness of not continuing to prayer.  Only those who continue in prayer will see answers.

We should also note here that we are not talking about the general grace of God.  Everyday God gives a certain amount of grace to everyone.  We all have oxygen.  When it rains, we all receive it (in that area).  The sun shines on us all alike.  We live in a world that is fit for us to survive.  However, in prayer, we are talking about special grace that comes in the form of an answer to our requests.  God in His sovereignty has provided a certain level of care for all.  However, He leaves room for us to take the initiative in order to make requests of Him.

Perhaps you “tried” being an asking person and “felt” like it “didn’t work.”  I will come back to some of the words in that last sentence.  But, let me just say that God isn’t something that you try.

Prayer has a level of discovery to it.  We pray for things, but we also want God’s wisdom and will (remember the Lord’s prayer).  My prayer about a situation, or for a particular thing, may change over time as I wrestle with God over it in prayer.  However, even then, the same point made by Jesus applies.  Only those who keep looking will discover what God has for them to learn and receive.  Prayer takes faith, not in prayer itself (as a mechanism), but in the God to whom we pray.  He is the heavenly Father who loves us.  Think of the wonder of this.  God has carved out certain areas of His will that will not happen unless we have the gumption to ask for it, seek for it, and knock on His door for it.

It is interesting that all three of these pictures of prayer are referred to in different ways throughout the sermon on the mount.  In the area of asking, giving and receiving, Jesus has mentioned several things.

• Matthew 5:42, “Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.”  This is important to remember that, when you ask God for things, He has been watching your response to others who have asked you for things.
• Matthew 6:8, “Your Father knows what you have need of before you ask.”  This may cause some to question praying at all.  However, Jesus goes the opposite direction.  The fact that God knows what we need (i.e., He is intimately aware of your needs) is reason for continuing to pray, not to quit.  Thus our present praying is not informing God of the what of our request.  Rather, it is demonstrating the depth of our faith in Him and His purposes (or not).
• Matthew 6:11, “Give this day our daily bread.”  All of these together shows us that God wants us to ask Him for things, and He wants to give us things.  However, we need to ask in a right way.  How can I ask God to be a giver to me when I refuse to image His giving nature to others?

The area of seeking and finding is also mentioned.

• Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you.”  This actually tells us what we should be seeking from God.  You cannot separate God from His Kingdom, so it is also a seeking for nearness to God.
• Matthew 7:14, “difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”  This one is in the next section.  Still, Jesus points to two different roads we can take in life.  The things you are seeking may take you down the wrong road.  If my life is all about the things of me and this life, and not about the things of God in this life, I will have difficulty finding the way which leads to life.

The area of knocking, opening (a door), is also mentioned.

• Matthew 5:2, “Jesus opened up his mouth and taught them.”  This may seem to be a stretch, but you cannot deny that Jesus is presented in the gospels as the door, the gate, the way for us.  So, when it says that he opened up his mouth and taught them, we can see the wisdom of God the “way of the Lord” being explained to the people so that they can know how to live, i.e., what way to go.
• Matthew 6:6, here we see that there is a door to the secret place that we can go through, shut, and be alone with God in prayer.  Yes, I will ask God for things, but the biggest thing that needs to happen is for me to be changed through relationship with God in the secret place.

In all of this, we should notice that parents wrestle with the requests of their kids and use their wisdom to determine whether it should be outright given, or if it should be mitigated in some way.  A kid may want ice cream for every meal.  No good parent would give such a request.  However, they will also see the desire of their kid and once and a while treat them to some ice cream.

Our asking, seeking and knocking needs to be informed by all of the wisdom of Jesus.  Prayer is learning to align my life with the Kingdom of God (His purpose and will).

Jesus then gives two examples of giving by human fathers and compares them to God the Father (verses 8-11).  These are simple illustrations that challenge our ability to give up on God in different ways, all of which lack trust in Him.  The first is a son asking for bread.  What father would give him a stone?  This rhetorical question would be understood by all in the crowd.  None of them would do that to their son.  Similarly, in the second question, the son asks for fish.  What father would give him a serpent?  This is parallel to the first question, but also intensive.  A stone is inanimate and is only unable to help the son.  Perhaps, we could see in it a mockery.  However, a serpent has an evil connotation to it that the stone doesn’t.  Still, the obvious answer is that none of them would think to give their kid a serpent when they were asking for fish, that is, food.

Notice that Jesus has begun to bring our prayers back to the concept of a heavenly Father who cares for us better than the best of parents.  This is the same as he did back in chapter 6 and the Lord’s Prayer.  Even the best of parents are fallen beings when compared to God.  They are not perfect and don’t always respond to the needs of their children like they should.  But, God is absolute righteousness and absolute love.

Parents will rightly listen to their kids, but not give them everything they ask for.  In these cases, it has nothing to do with trying to do them harm, or being mean to them.  Parents who love their kids take in mind the desire of the child and wisely formulate the best way to answer the child.  This is where we miss it with God.  As adults, we don’t like being in the child-position with God.  We give up on our heavenly Father far to easy.

God is way better at hearing the prayers of His children and determining what we need and when we need it.  He does care for you, and He is not holding out on you.

This isn’t the only dynamic at play.  Yes, I need to learn to trust God, but there is also a spiritual enemy that seeks to tempt me away from trust in God.  If you have seen a sumo wrestling match, then you know that the goal is to resist being pushed out of the ring.  Satan knows that he will win against us if he can push us out of the ring of faith in God.  Of course, he is not literally pushing us.  In this sense, our faith can over come all of his bullying and seducing that seeks to pull us away from faith in God.

Verse 11 emphasizes that God knows much better how to give good gifts to those who ask of Him than we do as people.  I don’t ask wisely in my prayers, but God is committed to giving good gifts to me.  In fact, the Lord’s prayer teaches us how to wisely pray.

Verse 12 generally looks like Jesus is jumping to a new topic.  This is the Golden Rule.  It actually serves to remind us of a principle that he has been brushing up against all throughout the Sermon on the Mount.  Whatever you want people to do to you, do also to them.  In fact, he says that this sums up the Law and the Prophets.  This is another way of saying that this is what it is trying to teach us.  Treat people the way that you would want to be treated.

Of course, our first response is this.  “What if they don’t treat me the same way that I did them?”  That is the test of following Jesus.  Jesus is not promising that people will treat you well if you treat them well.  In fact, they may crucify you if you love them with God’s love.

This command from Christ does not have an escape clause.  There is no mechanism for letting us quit doing them good because they haven’t reciprocated good to us.  We are simply to live our life only doing to others what we would want them to do to us. 

When we approach this as a law, we are looking for  the loopholes.  However, when we see Christ on the cross, we realize that this is all about imaging God, not getting what we want.  In my flesh, I feel that I have been nice enough, but what if God did that to us?

This brings us to ask the question.  What does this have to do with prayer?  The Golden Rule reminds us that prayer in the secret place with God is intimately connected to our life with others in the public place.  A relationship with God cannot be divorced from our relationship with others because God loves them too.  We see this throughout the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 5:23-24 pictures a person offering a gift to God at the altar and then remembering that their brother has been offended by them.  He tells us to leave our gift at the altar, go make amends with our brother, and then come back and offer our gift to God. 

Matthew 5:44 tells us to pray for those who are spitefully using us, as well as learning to love our enemies.

Also, Matthew 6:14-15 we are reminded that God’s response to us takes into account our responses to others in the area of forgiveness.

How does this relate to hypocrisy?  The faith component in prayer tries and tests us.  Will I stay in relationship with God when things take longer, or don’t happen as I wanted them?  Will I blame God and walk away?  We too easily give up on God and lose faith in the difficult things of life.  When that happens, some will remain in the church and play the part of a Christian, but in their heart they no longer pray, nor believe that God is their loving, heavenly Father.  This is the very definition of a hypocrite.  In fact, the more responsibility you have in the church, the more vulnerable you are to hypocrisy because you may feel that you have too much to lose.  The religious leaders of the days of Jesus had become hypocrites, but held on to their positions of power.

Others may be disillusioned with God and “deconstruct their faith.”  They may walk away and join another religion or become an atheist.  At least they aren’t a hypocrite, right?  Maybe not.  Think about what is going on in their heart.  “I tried it, but it doesn’t work!  I don’t believe in God!”  Yet, this person is insisting that they did everything right and it was God who didn’t do the righteous thing.  They are accusing God of something that is not true and clinging to the fiction of their own righteousness.  You “tried” praying to God?  What did that look like?  And, “it didn’t work?”  What were you expecting it to do?  What do you exactly mean by “work?”  This argument that I was righteous and God failed doesn’t hold water.  This is the hypocrisy of accusation against God.

In the end, prayer is not about getting everything that I want.  Don’t go through the Bible looking for the Scriptures that promise you will get everything you pray for, nor looking for the Scriptures that show you will not get everything you pray for.  Pray is not a mechanism for getting things, though you will get things through it.  Prayer is a relationship of faith that enables us to become everything that we need to become by God’s help and grace.

Let’s not be a hypocrite, but instead, let’s turn back to God in prayer.  Let’s start believing in God and not giving up on Him because He hasn’t given up on us!

Pitfalls for Hypocrisy IV audio