Sermon on the Mount Part 6 - Run to the Lord!

Being a true seeker

Matthew 7:7-12

(previous sermon)

Matthew 7:12  "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

I. INTRODUCTION

Love Your Neighbor As Yourself

While Jesus usually did not get along with the Pharisees (an understatement) there was one time that He earned their favor and an interesting interchange followed.  Jesus had been challenged by the Sadducees (who did not believe in the resurrection of believers) with a stupid question about the afterlife.  He smashed their argument so succinctly and powerfully that they found themselves clapping at the response, and this conversation followed:

Mark 12:28-34 NASB

Question:  ²⁸ One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, "What commandment is the foremost of all?"

First Answer: ²⁹ Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; ³⁰ AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.'

Second Answer:  ³¹ "The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

Response:  ³² The scribe said to Him, "Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM; ³³ AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE'S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

Agreement:  ³⁴ When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions.

While this did not repair the relationship between them (they would be calling for his death in a very short time) it stands out as a moment of honest agreement between the religious leaders and Jesus because they knew it to be true.  Yet they did not do this.  In another place, Jesus answered a question from a man about how to inherit eternal life and after Jesus told him to keep these two commandments (in other words, the whole law and the reason behind it) he immediately asked “who is my neighbor?”, which Mark tells us that he did because he “wish[ed] to justify himself”.  What did Jesus do?  He told the parable of the Good Samaritan, challenging the man that “love your neighbor” included full service to an ethnic group that he would have hated and refused to deal with. 

This is the same kind of thing that He did with the ‘rich young ruler’ who asked him the same question, although in that case he challenged him to give away the wealth that he loved and trusted in and follow Him instead, which he refused to do.  This is, of course, the whole point of the exercise – to get people to where they need to be to recognize the mission that Jesus had come to do.  From the first blood sacrifices in Genesis to Isaac’s question to his father Abraham (“where is the lamb” “God will provide it”) to the Mosaic law with its priests and altars, the lamb that God would provide who would effect the ultimate propitiation of God’s wrath against our sin had been eagerly awaited. 

When John the Baptist saw Jesus and said “[John 1:29b ESV] "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” that moment had finally come.  But who would receive that lamb, of whom John wrote in his gospel “[John 1:12 ESV] But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”.  The people to whom John the Baptist made his announcement were those people who had come to him at the Jordan to be baptized in repentance from their sins.  To the self-righteous religious leaders who came to “watch” John had said [Mat 3:7b SV] "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” 

As we said last week, the gospel good news is free to anyone who realizes that they need it, and there is the rub, because self-righteousness chokes out the convicting work that the Holy Spirit does in every heart to lead us to Christ, the Lamb of God, so that our sins can be washed away and forgiven.  Who is saved?  Paul wrote it simply in Romans 10:13  “For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."”

IIA. CALL UPON THE LORD – HE WILL ANSWER  (7-8)

If we quickly remember the context here, Jesus had just warned his hearers not to judge others before they examined themselves.  Like the two men in his parable who went to the temple to pray, they were not going to be justified if they came into God’s presence boasting about how they were not as bad as that guy over there and citing their many righteous accomplishments.  Instead, we are to be as the tax collector was in the parable (that Jesus said went away justified before God) who stood far off, afraid to even lift his eyes to heaven, and begged for God to give him mercy because he was a sinner.  We must be like John Newton, the author of “Amazing Grace”,  who wrote in his old age “Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.” 

So the immediately preceding verses call on us to judge ourselves – as God sees us, decimating the excuse “God will let me into heaven because I am not a bad person – compared to those jerks over there”.  Previously in this sermon he knocked over many other excuses people use to justify themselves, including

• “I am pretty nice to people – I conform to most of our society’s rules for good behavior” (answered in the beatitudes – the “blessed are” verses that lay out a standard much different from the world for correct kingdom living),
• “I can throw out those old testament rules now that we live in a more enlightened age.  We are smart enough now to make up new moralities.” to which Jesus said that all of the law would be fulfilled down to the smallest mark.
• “I keep all of the Ten Commandments!”, to which Jesus pointed out the heart attitudes behind the sins and showed how we were all guilty sinners: hate = murder, lust = adultery, etc.
• “I am well-respected in the community.  Just ask anyone, they will vouch for my piety!”  to which Jesus said to do your religious deeds in secret, for an audience of One.  If you seek public acclaim that will be your only reward.
• “I am self-reliant and productive.  I can take care of myself.”  To which Jesus calls on us to seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness and to trust Him.  In this section Jesus starts to really point to the real solution to our problem and makes it clear that his Father knows exactly what we need and wants to provide it for us – he gives us grace for each day IF we will accept it.
• Finally Jesus warns against using judgment against others to deflect our consciences from condemning US for our sins.  He taught that self-examination and repentance, if neglected, will leave us all condemned for eternity.  While we think we are being clever by pointing out the faults in others, we are actually showing that we know all about right and wrong and we could be sent to hell just on our standards, because nobody even keeps the rules that they apply to other people!
• Finally, in verse 12 Jesus goes right to the heart of the law, and in the apex of the sermon he summarizes his entire sermon in one verse – the “Golden Rule”.  The ultimate standard of human behavior, the summary of all of the intent of the law, and the final nail in the coffin of sinning, unrepentant mankind, because it is impossible to follow.

So where does that leave us?  It leaves us (and his first-century hearers) with no excuses and with an impossible wall to climb.  But we must understand here that Jesus is NOT being cruel.  He is like a surgeon, diagnosing the illness.  Fortunately the cure is simple and easy, as Paul had said in Romans 10:13.  Jesus put it this way:

Matthew 7:7 ESV   "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

The answer is to ask.  Call upon the Lord.  Not like the Pharisee in the parable, but like the tax collector.  God will not be fooled by a good show, by our credentials, by our own self-kept list of our good deeds.  He remembers our good and bad deeds, but he is NOT keeping a balance sheet to see which way the balance leans.  As He said to Ezekiel [18:4 ESV] "Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins shall die.”  Through Paul he wrote [Rom 3:22b-23 ESV]  “²² …For there is no distinction: ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”. 

Therein lies our hope and our peril.  It seems so easy that we can easily fall into the trap of thinking that it is a trivial thing. I had loved one tell me years ago that he was going to “get around to that religion stuff” when he was old.  Fortunately he is still alive, but I am concerned for his soul – he now belongs to an organization that includes Jesus as just one way to heaven and emphasizes good works but does not preach the gospel.  Jesus has a stern warning for him in this sermon, but if he trusts in this organization and does not call upon the Lord then he could miss out.  Not from being a bad man humanly speaking but from having the same problem that Jesus’ hearers had.  So Jesus emphasizes the importance of being a true seeker with three verbs of ascending effort: ASK, SEEK, KNOCK. 

All three verbs speak of prayer, but each one is more intense and show more personal involvement.  It is one thing to make a simple request, but that can be flippant.  If we really want something we will make it our life’s work to get it.  We will LOOK for it, we will leave no stone unturned!  But more than that, we will not just ask but go to the door where it is and knock wholeheartedly.  In movies where someone is being followed by an enemy and comes to a house where they can have safety, how do they approach the door?  Do they text the owner of the house and say “maybe I would like to come to your house”?  Do they stay away from the house wishing they knew the address?  Do they timidly tap on the door for a second and give up?  Of course not!  They run to the house, aware of the danger behind them, and pound on the door, with bloody knuckles if necessary, until they are inside and the door is closed behind them.  And what movie villain or monster is worse than the wrath of God and eternal hell?   “Ask, seek and knock” pictures a soul that realizes its debt of sin and peril of judgment and comes to God, taking ahold of Him and saying “I will not go until you bless me!”  It is not the picture of someone who went to a meeting because they were invited by a friend and “prayed a prayer” with someone because of peer pressure that did not understand why they were there and did not really care about their standing before God.  We seek something because we want it – we knock because we want to get in!  We ask because we believe that the One of whom we make the request has what we need.

Fortunately we are not making our requests to someone who might refuse us or who does not care.  That possibility is demolished in verse 8:

Matthew 7:8 ESV  ^“For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

How many people does Jesus say will get a positive answer from God if they Ask, Seek, and Knock?  EVERYBODY.  That is the wonderful thing about grace – since NOBODY deserves it there can be no standard for refusing it.  If we had to be good enough for grace to get it, it wouldn’t be grace! 

It is terribly important to explain this when we speak the gospel to people.  We are completely lost in sin along with the entire human race.  But the solution is available by God’s infinite grace to everybody who will call upon the Lord.  But it IS important to take the initiative and ask, seek, and knock.  Waiting until later is not only foolish but an insult to God and his amazing grace.  “I’ll get around to God later” will definitely go down in history as the most devastating “famous last words” of all.  As Paul warned in Galatians: [Gal 6:7 ESV]  “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”  Jesus told the parable of the businessman who was busy making plans to expand his business when his number came up and God said to him “[Luke 12:20 ESV] “… 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'”   Over and over in scripture Jesus compared the news of the kingdom as more valuable than anything – the “pearl of great price” that someone found and sold all that he had to get the field that contained the pearl.  In the SOTM he previously has portrayed repentance as more important that keeping eyes or limbs.

But it is therefore even more reassuring to know that when we really seek and knock, the answer will always be YES.  To all other prayers God may do the best for us by answering yes, no, or later. But the answer for a soul who calls on the name of the Lord in repentance, asking, seeking, and knocking for salvation, will always be yes.  Have you come to Jesus, aware of your sinfulness before God and asking for salvation?  Or is it something you faked to get someone off of your back or just something that “everyone else did”?  Are you trusting in a religious feeling, or in the promises of God?  Feelings change – they are infinitely changeable and unreliable.  God’s promises are sure – Paul wrote [2 Cor 6:2b ESV] “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

Why indeed would anyone not ask, seek and knock, then?  Verse 8 implies it.  Our sinful hearts do not want to come to God.  Down deep we doubt that He is really good, or that He keeps his promises.  So Jesus continues with a beautiful illustration:

IIB. GOD IS GOOD! (Unlike us)  (9-11)

Matthew 7:9-11 ESV  ⁹ Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?  ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?  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!  

Jesus appeals to their own experience in life.  If we doubt God’s willingness to answer prayer we will grow discouraged and not ask.  Hebrews 11:6 tells us “…without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Is there anything in which this is more important than in our salvation?  Imagine standing at a window in a burning building, with an inferno behind you and a room about to collapse on you.  You look out and see many firemen standing below the window, holding a life net and yelling at us to jump to safety.  What will happen to us if we tell them “I don’t think I like the look of you guys.  How do I know you have really come to save me?  I think I’ll just stay here, thank you.”?  We will die for nothing.

In these verses Jesus asks the parents in the crowd to evaluate themselves.  If the child that they loved came to them with hunger and asked for break, would you give him a rock that looked like break but would not give him nourishment but would instead cause harm?  Of course not!  The second question is more subtle.  He is not speaking of giving the child a live snake, but instead he is talking of substituting a cooked reptile for a cooked fish, which for the Jews He was speaking would mean that the father’s actions would defile the child and make him ceremonially unclean. In Luke 11:12 there is another question given: “or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?”.  There are scorpions in the middle east which actually look like eggs when they roll themselves up to sleep.  This gift would be a really dirty trick and could cause pain and even death.  In all these cases Jesus appeals to their basic sense of decency and then he applies some theology before posing his question to them.  The steps (implicit and explicit) of the argument Jesus makes are these:

• You are fallen and sinful.  Jesus uses the term “evil” (which is applied to the entire human race here)
• God the Father, AS YOU YOURSELVES KNOW, is not evil.
• If even you (the evil ones) care for your children and do not wish to harm them, why would God do any less?

We must keep in mind that Jesus is NOT being condemning here.  The focus is not on their evil but on the assured love and goodness of God the Father!

IIC The Sermon Summarized (12)

The rest of this sermon (through the end of chapter 7) is going to tie up all of the thoughts and make a final plea for his audience to consider the state of their own souls and the goodness of God and to make sure of their eternal destiny.  He will continue to warn them about their peril and the need to be serious about our salvation. The first step is going to complete the part of the sermon that deals with our moral need for forgiveness.  Since he has defended the law, explained the law, pointed out who the law should be obeyed for, and the character of the lawgiver, he now summarizes the law in one of the most succinct, beautiful and comprehensive sentences in all of scripture!  The Golden Rule:

Matthew 7:12 ESV   "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

As you remember we started the sermon with Jesus’ summation of the law, which was to love God but also to “love your neighbor”.  Even the Pharisees agreed that this was the summation of the law.  The former is from Deuteronomy 6 and is part of the most revered central tenets of Judaism.  The latter is a quote from

Leviticus 19:17-18 ESV  ¹⁷ "You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. ¹⁸ You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

That old testament phrase exactly summarizes the interpersonal aspects of the entire law.  Paul wrote

Romans 13:8-10 ESV   ⁸ Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹ For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." ¹⁰ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Gal 5:13-14 ESV  ¹³ For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. ¹⁴ For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

James wrote (when speaking of showing partiality in church):

James 2:1-13 ESV  ⁸ If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well.

The much beloved Golden Rule given by Jesus here lays down the entire standard of the heart of the law.  If we love God and love our neighbor we will fulfill the Golden Rule exactly.  The amazing thing about the Golden Rule is its simplicity!  It does not require great spiritual insight to grasp the concepts, as evidenced by the widespread existence of similar statements and creeds.

• The Rabbi Hillel said “What is hateful to yourself do not to someone else.” He reportedly then said “That is the whole Torah.  The rest is commentary.”
• The book of Tobit (in the apocrypha) says “What thou thyself hatest, to no man do”
• Confucius taught “what you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others”
• An ancient Greek king Nicocles wrote “Do not do to others the things which make you angry when you experience them at the hands of other people”.
• The Greek philosopher Epictetus said “what you avoid suffering yourself, do not afflict on others”

One thing that you may notice is that all of these examples are negative. The say NOT to do things to others that you DON’T like to be done to you.  With very few exceptions, all versions of the Golden Rule given before Jesus spoke this command are in the negative.  But Jesus “raised the ante” with this statement.  It is not enough to be passively considerate.  Jesus turns the whole thing around and makes it positive – He commands us to be proactive.  In one fell swoop Jesus tells his listeners that the world’s standard of “not doing harm” to others falls far short of God’s standard.  Jesus is setting the bar very high indeed.

Our biggest problem in the end is selfishness.  The Golden Rule always seeks the good and happiness of others.  It is not enough to project your annoyances on others and not do those things.  This new standard calls for projecting your wants on others and SERVING THEM SELFLESSLY.  THAT, Jesus says, is the real essence of the law.

Two questions come to mind:

• Is it possible to have any higher standard than that for our relationships to our “neighbors”?
• Is it possible to fulfill this standard in our flesh or is this basically the ultimate proof of our need for salvation?

Obviously this one sentence summarizes the entire sermon up to this point.  His audience, which had probably been rendered speechless by the beatitudes at the beginning (because they were so contrary to regular human wisdom in some cases) have been alternately cajoled out of their self-righteous excuses on one hand and assured of the loving fathership of God on the other hand.  Now Jesus has presented them with the final statements: This is the full essence of the law, you cannot and have not kept up with it and you need a Savior.  But God is ready with Grace and Mercy.  Will you come to Him?  Will you trust Him?

III. Conclusion

This is the question of this sermon.  Jesus has set the tone for his entire earthly ministry in one sermon.  It is many things:

• It is a beautiful picture of what kingdom living looks like – what heaven will be like.
• It is a guide for righteous behavior, a challenge to obey.
• It is a picture of the moral heart of the law and the heart of God.
• It is a fatal challenge to self-righteousness – a proof that we all need to repent before God and seek his mercy.
• And it is the manifesto of the King of Kings.  Those who have “ears to hear” will hear it and run to Jesus, the lamb who takes away the sin of the world.  The one who came to seek and to save the lost, if the lost would just realize their lostness and throw away all of the excuses for coming.  It is a picture of the loving God reaching out and providing a great salvation to anyone who will ask for it.

• And it is a call to act NOW. 

• To Ask

• To SEEK

• And to KNOCK

Please trust the Lord.  He is better than any earthly parent – if we ask for good from Him he will give it.  I have no doubt that this is primarily about salvation.  In the Luke version Jesus is quoted this way:

Luke 11:13 ESV    If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

If you ask, he will save you.  That is his promise!

(next sermon)