Introduction
Let me begin with a discipleship question: will we trust and obey Jesus in the real decisions of everyday life? Christ forms us through truth received, repentance practiced, and obedience lived out.
Main Points
Faith and Obedience
if you guys got a bible open up with me to uh we'll start in matthew chapter four actually matthew chapter four and i'll do this by way of reminder for many of us who have been around throughout the summer in an for some of us who maybe have been gone for a little bit a little bit of vacation or something but um we'll start in matthew chapter 4 and we'll dive in at verse 23. kind of sets the scene for the sermon on the mount for us it says this and jesus went about all galilee teaching in their synagogues preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people then his fame went throughout all syria and they brought to him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments and those who were demon-possessed epileptics and paralytics and he healed them verse 25 says great multitudes followed him from galilee from decapolis from jerusalem judea and beyond the jordan chapter 5 verse 1 and 2 says this and seeing the multitudes he went up on a mountain and when he was seated his disciples came to him then he opened his mouth and he taught them and so the scene that is set for us is jesus is sitting on a mountain side and he is preaching a message to these people he is teaching them and i love that first section right before at the end of chapter four it kind of paints a picture for us to understand a little bit about jesus's heart and as i read through that i can't help but be reminded if you guys have been around for a while then you know the founding pastor of our church bob caldwell um a spiritual father of mine in so many ways during the last couple years as he was handing the church off as he was moving into that next season of life almost seemingly every week i felt as we gathered together as pastors and we went up to garden valley he referenced matthew chapter 9 verses 35 through 38 and as a church in our in our time of fasting and prayer each year for the last couple of years that was the passage that we settled on matthew chapter 9 verses 35-38 and it says the same thing jesus was teaching and preaching he was going about healing people as he traveled the circuit of the different cities and the villages and it says that as he was doing this he saw the multitudes and when he saw the multitudes we get a picture into the heart of god it says that he was moved with compassion for them because they were weary they were scattered they were like sheep with no shepherd they were wandering they didn't have direction they had a lot of voices in their life but there was no real shepherd to guide them to lead them to teach them they had a lot of religious leaders a lot of religious teachers who at the end of the sermon on the mount it says that jesus taught in a way that showed he had an authority that was different than all of the religious leaders of the day there was something different about jesus but he sits down on this mountainside as he sees this multitude because his heart is moved with compassion and he starts to teach them and it's the to me when i when i look at the sermon on the mount i see it as a picture of the good shepherd grabbing his sheep together and sitting before them and as people as people who desire to know who god is he's teaching them what it really looks like to love god and to love other people and so as a church i know tucker's heart for us is this summer that we got an opportunity in the midst of the world that we're living in with the weirdness and the chaos and the just the bizarre times that we're living in for us as followers of jesus the greatest thing we can do is just sit at jesus's feet and be reminded of what it means for us to love god and to love other people and very specifically the sermon on the mount has been very challenging has anybody enjoyed our time in the summer on the mountain sermon um i know tucker has referenced this but uh i've you guys know c.s lewis c.s lewis is hilarious and awesome but he was asked if he uh if he enjoyed the sermon on the mount or if he liked the passage of the sermon on the mount and his response was like who could like being hit in the face with a sledgehammer it's challenging it's very personal because it gets to the core of our life and it challenges us and how we interact with each other and how we interact with god and so if you guys want to flip with me flip to matthew chapter 7. this morning we're gonna dive in and look at uh just a couple verses i was really excited and hopeful and i thought for sure we'd get uh my goal was to get us through verse 20. and uh not because i just wanted to set a goal but i was like that seems to go together and it'd be good and then the next time we come together we can we wrap up everything after the church on the park and um i couldn't get past verse 11. and i really think the lord has something for us in these first couple verses and for many of us it's a very familiar passage it's a very familiar couple verses the sermon on the mount i've heard it said that it's the most popular and least understood sermon of jesus um and as we get here let's read verses 7 through 11.
Grace and Justification
it says this ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be opened to you for everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened or what man is there among you who if his son asks for bread will give him a stone or if he asks for fish will he give him a serpent if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to him who asks again i wanted to set the scene a little bit as jesus sits down and he looks upon the multitude his heart is moved with compassion and his longing is to teach them and to show them what it really is to love god and to love other people there's been a lot of practical stuff in here and what it looks like for us to love each other verse 12 it says therefore whatever you want men to do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets the golden rule we're familiar with that right treat other people the way you want to be treated honor people if you desire to be honored judge them condemn them if you want to be judged and condemned right last week do you guys remember that was fun um but this passage it's pointing us to what it looks like for us to love god and it's a call to prayer and it's challenging it's challenging i don't know about you guys but some of the most familiar passages for me are some of the hardest to really understand and to and then definitely for me it's some of the familiar passages or the hardest to actually teach from because i feel like there's so many different uh i guess uh we already know it seems so simple ask seek knock and you will receive it will be open to you and you will have it but what i want to do this morning is i want to dive in what does that look like because is there anyone else in this room who feels uh slightly dissatisfied in your prayer life anybody i'll confess four of us all right the rest of you guys god bless you um now would be a good time to leave i don't know about you guys but i when it when it comes to prayer there are definitely times where i sit down and i wonder like where did my words go ask my wife i could complain for hours but when it comes to me sitting in the presence of god and sharing my heart with the lord i feel like i start before i even get i finish before i even get started does anyone else understand what i'm saying it's like man and we look at jesus's life his life of prayer as we read through the gospels as we just follow his journey we see that he was missing in the morning very often because he went to a deserted place to seek the father and to pray we see i think it's luke chapter six where jesus spent all night praying and his disciples couldn't find him in the morning because he was gone all night and when they found him they're like where have you been the people have been waiting for you and he's like it's time to go to another place it's time to go to another place he got direction from time and prayer and in luke chapter 11 it says that jesus was with his disciples and as he finished praying his disciples they were standing among him praying with him i'm sure but when jesus finished praying it says that they looked at him and they said will you teach us how to pray and so as we get into this passage of prayer i don't have a whole lot to say you guys i am not an expert in regard to prayer that is for sure but i feel like we can look at jesus's life we can look at the gospels and we can see illustrations of what it means for us to ask to seek and to knock and i believe that god ultimately for us as a church as we're going through the sermon on the mount i believe he's calling us into a deeper life of prayer with him and that's challenging for me maybe the reason why i couldn't get past verse 11 is i felt so convicted i was like man i'm going to preach on prayer and it's like man i don't i feel like a child i don't even know how to proud i don't even know what it is to sit in the presence of the lord and to seek him and to be real at times and so let's dive in can we do that um i believe this passage is it's kind of like a proverb for us and how to prayer it's to be memorable it's to be a ch excuse me a challenge a reminder for us and what it looks like for us to pray and so the first thing it says it says ask and it will be given to you and i was just kind of processing what does it look like for us to ask the lord for things in prayer um is there any greek scholars in the house this morning tom there you are i've been looking for you so after the service you can ask tom but um my understanding is in i don't know greek you guys but my understanding is that in the original language this ask and seek and knock the tense that it is written in is a continual tense right tom something like that so it's ask and keep asking seek and keep seeking knock and keep knocking and while you do that is that is ultimately a picture of prayer and so i was thinking about an illustration a picture for what it looks like to ask and i believe um my daughter gave me a beautiful picture of that we had some delicious dessert a couple nights ago and i believe the lord's challenge for us in regard to what it looks like for us to ask for him ask in prayer is to ask like a child asks for dessert does that make sense and i say that and hopefully we remember it but the thought is this my daughter was not disengaged while she was asking for dessert she was invested with all of her heart she had an active will and desire to get what she was asking for it was not something that she was just passively like throwing around can i have some dessert it was with her whole heart with her whole mind engaged in that moment and my response would determine her next response is she going to be excited or is she going to be kind of disappointed and so as we ask the challenge for us is to ask in a way as if we desire to actually have what we are asking for to ask with all of our hearts with an engaged mind with an active will a passionate desire to actually receive what we're asking for it the next the next part it says ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find when we seek the lord in prayer from a couple different verses hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 jeremiah chapter 29 verse 13. luke chapter 15 i believe is a beautiful picture of these things it's ultimately when we seek as if you're looking for a treasure something of great value seek as if you've lost something of great value when you seek for the lord in prayer luke chapter 15 there's this woman who loses a coin there's a shepherd who loses a sheep um and there's ultimately the story of the prodigal son a father who has lost a son or maybe two in that process and i believe that's the picture of the lord saying seek and so when we ask with passion this is a child would ask for dessert when we seek my encouragement for us this morning is to seek with purpose as if we're going to find the thing that we're searching for um question for you guys how many of you lost your phone before there was find my iphone my first and only android that i had i bought it right before i went to school in southern california went to bible college for a minute and right before i left i flew to washington to visit some friends and while i was there so i mean i had my phone for a week and i was getting ready to head down to school i was gonna land back in boise and then move the very next day and so i bought this fancy new uh android i was going to say iphone but i bought an android and we went on this long excursion on the last day was my one of my friends birthdays and so we went on this long hike a beautiful hike and on the way back we stopped at a river about an hour outside of his uh his city for this hike and then we went swimming in this river and we got back started packing all of our stuff up getting ready for me to take off the very next morning and it's about 10 o'clock at night and i realized i haven't seen my phone in a while and we were gone for a very long time and this hike was it was a nine mile hike that included glaciers and a hidden lake and then coming back going swimming did i have it in my pocket at that time and i don't know if there's anyone else in here like me but i lose things very often all the time i lose things and to me hopefully i don't elongate this in a way that bores all of you guys but the idea of seeking is for me i needed to have my phone i thought i did but i couldn't just hit the ping on my watch to make sure i knew where it was i had no idea where my phone was and i had a friend who was like let's go find this phone let's and it's 10 o'clock at night and the place the river and the hike was an hour away from his house it was an hour drive and so him and i jump in the car and we drive and the whole time we were kind of hyping each other up like we're gonna find this we have to find this we have to find my and this is a silly i feel embarrassed now but long story short apparently i put it on the bed of the truck when we got to the river because i remembered having it coming down the mountain as we were sliding down the glaciers and then we got in the truck and then drove off and then when we got to the swimming spot i put my stuff on the bed of the truck and apparently i forgot it on the back of the truck bed and so as we drove at some point the phone had fallen off and so that's in my mind i was trying to think through as we're taking this hour-long drive okay where are we going to search for this phone where would be the first spot to look and so we went to the campground and sure enough the phone was covered in dust but there was just a lit and this is 11 o'clock at night now and it's dark outside and we pull up to this campground and the phone is covered in dust except for a little corner and we find it and i say that because when you find something you are searching for when you search with purpose to actually find it there is joy that is overwhelming and i say this hopefully i think stories sometimes help us remember things but i'm hoping that it's a picture for us in prayer do we pursue the lord do we seek for the lord again hebrews chapter 11 verse 6 says that the lord is a he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek after him when it comes to our prayer life do we diligently seek after the lord in prayer when it when it comes to our prayer life what does it look like for us to seek after him jeremiah 29 verse 13 says when we search for the lord with all of our heart he will be found by us does that is that a picture of our prayer life do we search for the lord in those types of ways again prayer if prayer could be summarized as communication between god and man and man and god um what is a marriage without communication it's non-existent right what is a friendship without communication what is any other relationship that we share with another human being if there isn't communication it's not alive correct and so again this is i believe is a picture of the good shepherd teaching us what it looks like for us to have a right relationship with god what is a lover of god without prayer without a prayer life without a prayer life that with passion asks and seeks with purpose intending to find that which we search for which is the heart of god and then it goes on to say this knock and it will be opened to you if you guys would flip with me to luke um chapter 18. ask with passion seek with purpose and knock with persistence verse 1 of luke chapter 18 it says this then jesus he spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart and then he gives a parable he says this there was a certain city there was in a certain city a judge who did not fear god nor regard man now there was a widow that came in that city and she came to him and said get justice for me from my adversary and he would not for a while but afterward he said within himself though i do not fear god nor regard man yet because this widow troubles me i will avenge her lest by her continual coming she weary me then the lord said just to kind of clarify the heart of god that he's not wearied by our persistent asking he says here did you hear what the unjust judge said this man is unjust he does not genuinely care at all and yet this woman comes persistently continually and because of that it wears him and so he says shall not god avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to him though he bears long with them i tell you that he will avenge them speedily nevertheless when the son of man comes will he really find faith on earth ask as if our concern matters to god seek as if the thing we are seeking for is something we long to actually find knock again as if our concern matters to god persistently with passion with purpose um let's look back to matthew chapter 7 because i believe the unjust judge is being compared to the judge that is god who genuinely does care but in this passage verses 9 through 11 paints a deeper picture again i believe of the god that we pray to that we communicate with verse 9 says this or what man is there among you who if he asks for bread or if his son asks for bread will he give him a stone it's ridiculous right or if he asks for a fish will he give him a serpent if you then being 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 i believe this is ultimately an encouragement for us as we pray that we would understand the heart of god the heart of god who receives our prayers who hears our prayers who hears our passion and as we seek with him with purpose and we ask persistently and continually and we bring our requests before him as we desire to communicate with him i believe this is ultimately painting a picture for us to understand the heart that god has for us as we pursue after him it's the heart of a father there's a quote by a guy named martin lloyd jones that said the greatest defect in most christian lives is our failure to know god as our father i believe the greatest defect for our prayer life is not understanding the heart of god as a father for us that the things that we bring before him do matter to him he does care for those things if my daughters only came to me i've heard this illustration and if there are any high school students in the room i'm sure they are very familiar with this but you will not have a healthy relationship with anybody if the only time you talk to them is when you're asking them to give you something or forgive you of something right but for some of us the hard reality is that summarizes our prayer life is the only time we speak to our father in heaven is when we're asking him to give us something or to forgive us of something could you imagine the heartbreak of a father or a mother if that's the only time their child were to talk to them can you give me that new thing can you give me that can i have this and then no other relationship until it's time to ask for forgiveness from something man sledgehammer to the face right the heartbreak of a father who longs to know his children and have them be known and the only time we speak is when we're asking for something or seeking with the intention to find maybe something like a genie who would give us what we want there's something more there's something more here and i believe that's the picture that jesus's life paints for us his prayer is so much deeper there's so much more richness to it yes we ask yes we seek yes we knock but for the intention of what a relationship a relationship not a one-way thing where we get what we want and we go about our business it's challenging and so to me the question comes how can we know god as our father then right if god is our father and that is how we ought to pray as the model prayer starts our father who is in heaven jesus leads with that in matthew chapter 6 as he's teaching his disciples how not to pray like the pharisees and then how to pray he says pray with the intention of there being a relationship the first thing our father in heaven so how can we know god as our father um john chapter 1 tells us that those who received christ and believe in him have been given the right to be called children of god romans chapter 8 tells us that we've been given a spirit of adoption where we can cry out to god as our father so there's not just this general fatherhood god is not a father of all of humanity he's a father of those who have submitted to him he's a father of those who are saying i'm willing to follow and i'm willing to be a child i'm willing to submit to your discipline i'm willing to submit to your guiding i'm willing to submit to your leading and so because of that then we can answer the question well does that mean if we if we pray passionately and persistently does that mean we will get everything we ask for well of course we can answer that now by understanding that no name it claim it does not function in the kingdom of god why though because he's a good father who doesn't give to us everything we ask for because up at winter camp a couple years ago gloria had this had this moment and she shared this testimony gloria was the one leading worship this morning she shared this testimony with the high school students as she's getting ready to lead worship for one of the mornings is um as you worship we get to know the heart of god as a father don't we and she said in one of these one of her quiet times she was praying and asking god continually for this thing and she felt like the lord told her like i'm your father i'm your father and so that means i won't always give you what you want and in this picture it says that how many of you would give a stone when your son asks for a piece of bread it's ridiculous right how many of you looking back on your life are thankful god didn't give to you everything you asked for because you might have been asking for a stone instead of bread you might have actually been asking for a serpent when you thought you were asking for something that would fill your stomach it would be something that would destroy you who knows the thing that we are continually and persistently asking god for might be the thing that god is intending to leave in our life because it is causing us to be conformed into the image of his son to make us look more like jesus the thorn in the flesh of paul right jesus in the g
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.