Matthew 7:7-12 “Keep asking, and it will be given to you; keep seeking, and you will find; keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps asking receives; he who keeps seeking finds; and to him who keeps knocking, the door will be opened. Is there anyone here who, if his son asks him for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone? or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? So if you, even though you are bad, know how to give your children gifts that are good, how much more will your Father in heaven keep giving good things to those who keep asking him! “Always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that sums up the teaching of the Torah and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:7–12, CJB)
In my opinion, it is no small coincidence that God's Son Jesus Christ made these two commands immediately after His 31st command, "Do not give what is holy to dogs...." Obviously, it is His desire that by His Grace working in us, we should develop the compassion and the habit of asking God to convert the hearts of any 'dogs' or 'swine' that we encounter. While it may not always be beneficial or timely to share gospel and biblical truths with everyone we meet, (because their hearts are hardened and unreceptive, and the listener may have clearly demonstrated that he or she is completely intent on mocking truth and wisdom), Messiah is obviously hoping that we will develop the compassion and good sense to seek for His mercy on behalf of these people.
Messiah promises that if we ask and keep asking, seek and keep seeking, knock and keep knocking, pleading for God to convert these people, they will be transformed from being unreceptive and disrespectful 'dogs' or 'swine' into more receptive and respectful listeners of the truth. In this way, you are asking God to prepare the ground, so that they will be more open and receptive the next time they hear the gospel. That way they can be saved. When we do this, we can be confident that we are praying God's will (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:4). Moreover, wouldn't you want the same thing for yourself if you were the one in their shoes?
Perceptions and Expectations
Messiah goes on to emphasize His point by using the illustration of an earthly father who blesses his children. Basically He's making the point that if earthly fathers, who are daily afflicted by sin are still able to work hard, desire, plan, and provide good things for their children, then how much more should we be prepared to ask for and expect to receive good things from God who is the ultimate and perfect Father?One of the major components of a proper relationship with God is our faith. "Abraham believed God, and God credited it to him as righteousness" (Genesis 15:6). Faith is trusting God and taking Him at His word (Hebrews 11:1,6). Remember that faith is one measure that God uses to decide whether a person is Righteous or not. (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11). God's word directly says that whatever we do not do by faith is sin (Romans 14:23b). Therefore, failing to live by faith (which is firm conviction or persuasion in a manner agreeable to God’s word) misses God’s bull’s-eye mark of excellence, and is therefore sin.
Messiah makes this awesome promise, and He compares it to the provision of a loving earthly father, because He is trying to build up our ability to expect good from God's hands. He wants us to know that we can desire, request, and expect good from the hand of Almighty God our Heavenly Father. This brings us to the biblical principle of perceptions and expectations.
How we perceive God directly impacts how we will believe and then how we will interact with God. If we perceive God as a loving compassionate heavenly Father who is eager to provide everything that is children need to be healthy and productive, then we will confidently approach God when we encounter any need that we have. If we perceive God as cruel, uncaring or distant, then naturally it will affect how we interact with God in a negative way. How we perceive God directly impacts how we believe and interact with God, (Matthew 6:22-23).
Remember that one of the ways that the serpent deceived Eve was to convince her that God did not have their best interest at heart. The serpent slyly implied to Eve that the reason God told them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was because God was trying to withhold good from them. The devil implied that God's motive was to oppress them and prevent them from reaching everything they could be as human beings. The serpent did all that to undermine Eve's trust in Almighty God. Once Eve no longer trusted God as the source of her information and decision-making, getting her to sin was easy, (See Genesis 3:1-8).
The enemy of our souls still tries to mess with our perceptions of God so that we will not be able to trust God. He does this so that we will be discouraged and will not continue asking seeking and knocking until God provides our answer. Don't fall for the lie. God always desires the very best results for you. He is infinitely trustworthy. Keep asking keep seeking and keep knocking. Keep believing. Expect good from the hand of God. You will eventually win through Jesus Christ.
The Golden Rule
Matthew 7:12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12 NKJV)Please notice in the beginning of the command we see the first word, 'Therefore.' It is always good Bible study practice whenever you see the word therefore, go backward in the text as far as required in order to find out what the therefore is there for. The word therefore basically means as a result of what God's word just finished saying, then do the following.... In other words, by going back in the text you will find and review the reason or basis for why the command was given. In this particular instance, the student only needs to go back up five verses to discover the rationale and reason that God gave this particular command:
· Since, or because God is willing to show love, do good, and provide good things to everyone who persistently asks, seeks, and knocks, then we should remember God's character and do for others what we would want for ourselves out of respect for God (Matthew 7:7-8),
· Since, or because God is willing to show love by being even more generous than the best earthly father, once again we should also remember God's character and do for others what we would desire or want done to ourselves, out of respect for God, (Matthew 7:9-11).
There are a number of reasons why this is referred to as: The Golden Rule. First it's easy to remember, but incredibly difficult to master. This command covers a ton of ground in one sentence. Second, we don't have to manipulate our brain really hard to try and understand whether we have truly done right in our interactions with other people. The standard contained in the rule is pretty simple. In any given interaction with another human being did I treat the person in the same manner that I would want to be treated myself? If I can honestly say yes to that question, then I treated the person correctly, if not, then I missed the mark, and I need to repent. This particular rule is definitely one to keep in the forefront of our minds because it will help us in every interaction we have with another human being.
Does Loving God and Loving My Neighbor Cancel God's Law?
Scripture is very clear that in the last days people will no longer tolerate and pursue sound doctrine, but instead people will turn to myths and fairytales instead of listening to what God actually says (2 Timothy 4:3-4). One of the most popular myths of our modern age is that, so long as, "You Love God," and "Love other people," then this means that every other requirement of Scripture is automatically set aside. That conclusion is a popular myth which is not at all supported by the weight of biblical evidence.
The truth is that from the book of Genesis through Revelation, to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength has always meant the same thing throughout the whole book of Scripture.
Loving God with all my heart means that everything in my passions and the seat of my affections is bent toward loving God, and toward learning, choosing, pursuing and delighting in what God says He desires. That's loving God with all your heart.
Loving God with all my soul means that my mind my will my emotions and desires are all bent toward desiring, seeking, choosing and doing what God says is pleasing to Him, and turning away from what doesn't Please Him.
Loving God with all my mind obviously means that I will choose to bring my thinking, my intellectual pursuits, the definitions I choose to define life and reality, and the conclusions that I draw from all my studying and contemplating into agreement with what Almighty God says is pleasing to Him. If I love God with all my mind, then I cannot accept an attitude, a mindset or a worldview that is contrary to what God says is good and true.
Loving God with all my strength means that my physical actions will line up and agree with loving God with all my heart, soul, and mind.
So I put it to you plainly how can you love God with all your mind and willfully choose to disagree with what God's mind says is good? How can you love God with all the seat of your affections, and yet seek to fulfill your own desires instead of what He says that He desires?
From the beginning to the end of the book of Scripture, believing God means to take God at His Word, and to act according to what God has said. So if we choose not to live this way, then the truth is that you do not truly believe God because if we truly believe God, then we will do what God says.
Likewise, from the beginning to the end of Scripture, the concept of loving God is repeatedly defined in Scripture as keeping His Commandments. Throughout Scripture, loving God and keeping His Commandments are synonymous. So the weight of biblical evidence clearly suggests that if we do not keep His Commandments, then we are showing that either, (a) We do not truly love God as we claim that we do, or (b) any love that we do have for God is EXTREMELY immature, and not yet producing mature ripe fruit. Over and over again throughout Scripture God clearly states that if we love Him, then we will keep His Commandments.
Just taking the 10 Commandments (which are the outline or the bullet points of the entire Law), The first four Commandments give us a description of how to love God, and the last six Commandments give us some description of how to love our neighbor as ourselves.
The truth is that every commandment of God in Scripture from Genesis to revelation does the same thing, it will either describe for us in greater detail how to love God in a practical way, or how to love our neighbor as ourselves in a more practical way of everyday life. The person who says I don't have to obey the Commandments of God because I'm under Grace is actually saying that they don't truly wish to learn how to love God or their neighbor better. They are proclaiming that they want to be their own master while they still claim to be Christians (Romans 6:16).
Think about it. If you are truly born-again, and if you are truly being controlled by the Holy Spirit, then Scripture clearly says that the Holy Spirit will guide you to carefully observe the ordinances of God and to DO them (Ezekiel 36:25-27; Philippians 2:13; 1 John 2:1-6). If that does not describe who you are, and how you choose to live your life, then you NEED to double check and triple check yourself to make certain that you are truly born-again, because according to Almighty God's Word, when the Holy Spirit of God takes up residence in our being, then we will desire to an increasingly be able to keep the Father's commands. If that's not describing who you are and how you live, then you MUST question whether or not you are TRULY born-again (2 Corinthians 13:5). The Holy Spirit of God, will never teach you to disobey God.
Prayer: Almighty God, Heavenly Father; Lord Jesus Christ Messiah; Gracious Lord and Holy Spirit, have mercy upon me according to Your unfailing love. Help me to sincerely love You with my entire being. Mercifully transform me so that I will truly love You, and truly delight in Your Instructions. Thank you that You love us so much, that you are willing to do good to everyone who persistently asks seeks and knocks. You are so good and caring. Would you help me to continually perceive and remember Your goodness so that I can confidently, faithfully and boldly approach the throne of grace to receive what I need and never give up asking seeking and knocking until you bring me to complete and total victory in my time of need. Father, I admit that I have not always remembered how good you are and have been to me. Please forgive me. I also admit that I have not always treated other people in the same way that I would desire to be treated myself. Such misbehavior on my part is not consistent with Your love and character. Please forgive me. Mercifully transform and fill my heart with Your unfailing love. Help me to always treat other people in the same manner that I would desire to be treated myself. Graciously grant that I will become better and better at fulfilling this all-important command of Christ. Amen.
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