hope

Good Gifts from a Good Father: Matt. 7:7-11

/ Neal Embry / Leave a comment

Today, we continue the discussion of Jesus’ words in Matthew 5-7.  There’s just a few posts remaining, and I hope and pray this series has been edifying and uplifting to all who have stuck with me through it.

“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 the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.  Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?  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 commands His disciples to pray.  We’ve already discussed the Lord’s Prayer, and if we look at the life of Jesus, we see a man who, though He was God incarnate, found it absolutely necessary to break away from ministry to spend time with the Father in prayer.  So, needless to say, prayer is vital in the Christian life.

But what do we do in prayer?  Going back to the Lord’s Prayer, we can break it down to three main acts: adoration, petition and confession.  We praise God, ask God, and confess our sin to God.  In this passage, Jesus discusses the second of these acts: petition.

I don’t have children, but I have several years of experience working with children.  Among the many things I’ve learned over the years about children is this: they aren’t shy when they’re trying to get something they want.  “Please, Mr. Neal, can we play that game one more time?”  “Please don’t tell my mom I hit that kid.”  “Please, I really want more (insert favorite unhealthy snack here).”

Kids know what they want, and they’re willing to go to great lengths to get it.  I remember, like any other kid, always asking my mom for candy in the checkout line at the grocery store.  I also remember, like any other kid, the painful word, “No.”

Kids are persistent.  While they sometimes lack respect and understanding, they don’t lack for the persistent attitude Jesus describes here and in other passages (Luke 18:1-8).  Do we have this attitude in prayer?  Asking, knocking, going to the door, expecting that God will answer?  To be sure, we cannot separate this text from the rest of Scripture that commands us to pray according to God’s will (Matt. 6:10; 26:39), and this text should not be used to promote some form of the prosperity gospel that allows us to expect that if we “just have enough faith,” God will richly bless us materially.

However, we ought not run to the other extreme and throw away all forms of petition to God.  Jesus has promised that for those who trust in Him as Lord and Savior, they have now been adopted as children of God and have access to the God of the universe in prayer, and we ought to take advantage of that and ask for good gifts from a good Father.

Let’s marvel at the simple fact that we can, through faith in Christ, even talk to God, much less know Him as our Father who gives us good gifts for His glory and our joy.  We were dead, condemned sinners.  And then, 2,000 years ago, God the Father sent His Son to live perfectly in our place, to die our death on the cross, and to rise again from the grave, defeating death for all who trust in Him.  And in His glorious grace, He has given us faith to respond to the gospel, to turn away from our sin and rebellion, and to trust in Christ as Lord and Savior.  He is making us new and helping us to live out the righteousness we’ve been given.  One day, we’ll be just like Jesus, we’ll worship Him forever, and we will love Him more than we can even imagine right now.  This is the greatest gift God has given: Himself, through Jesus Christ.  If you haven’t received that gift, I urge you to consider Christ, consider what He’s done for you, and trust Him.

Jesus tells the people listening to Him that even though they are evil, they know how to give good gifts to their children.  He uses extreme analogies, such as a son asking for a fish and receiving a serpent.  His point is that while we are totally sinful and unable to save ourselves, God, in His grace, has kept us from being as evil as we could be, and one of the ways we see that is in our ability to give great gifts to our children.  Non-Christians know how to give kick-butt presents, too.  This is God’s common grace, allowing us to retain bits and pieces of the image of God we were created to reflect.

How much more then, He argues, can the Father, who is perfect, give good gifts to His children?  How much more can a good God who has redeemed us, give us what we need in order to love and obey Him?  Jesus encourages His followers to pray, not because it’s a good, religious thing to do, but because praying in faith leads to receiving good gifts from a good Father.  Pray because God longs to give you good gifts.

Praying often comes at a price.  We must quiet ourselves, lay aside everything that would keep us from communion with God, confront our sin and humble ourselves at the cross.  We must recognize that God is God, that we are not, and commit ourselves to Him.  But the reward of knowing God and receiving good gifts from Him far outweighs the price of laying aside all other things to pursue Him.

As stated before, the greatest gift we receive from God is God Himself.  But in our walking with Him in this life, God longs to bless us with good gifts.  Because God is holy, it follows that any gifts God gives will be holy.  That is, praying for God to do something or give something He has ruled unholy would be foolish.  But for those who love God and desire to love Him more and obey Him in faith, there is a world of gifts waiting for us in prayer.

Struggling with sin?  Pray to the Father for a gift of grace to kill sin and grow in holiness, becoming the man or woman God has called you to be in Christ.

Feeling like a failure in ministry, or struggling to understand God’s Word?  Your heavenly Father, who has called you to ministry, will no doubt give grace and strength to accomplish what He’s called you to do.  The author of His Word desires that all should know Him, and we can pray for understanding in faith that our Father will help us know His Word for His glory.

God blesses us with faithful friends, jobs, vacations, financial stability, etc.  God, in His common grace, blesses unbelievers with these things as well, but for the child of God, we see them not as something we’ve earned, but as an amazing gift of grace from our great God and Father, and it leads us to worship.

Take time today to reflect on all the gifts God has already given you.  Thank Him for them, and take time to consider what you need, what you most want God to grant you in your walk with Him.  And pray for it, trusting that your good, perfect, heavenly Father “will give good gifts to those who ask.”

Father, may we marvel that we can even talk to you.  May we not forget the blood of your Son that was spilled for us that we may not only be forgiven, but be adopted as your beloved children.  May we not be ashamed to ask you to give us good gifts, knowing that you long to bless us with all we need.  May we trust that you are a lot smarter than we are, much wiser and much more loving than we are, and trust you to give according to your will.  May you be glorified as we receive good gifts from you, our good and perfect Father.

God bless,

Neal E.

Mourn Well

/ Neal Embry / Leave a comment

Although we’ve now moved into February, today’s post finishes up a series from January talking about Godly emotions and attitudes.  We wrap up with how to mourn well as a Christian.

Mourning is a part of life.  We cry when our loved ones die.  We cry when life changes unexpectedly, and there’s seemingly nothing we can do about it.  We weep for the lost around us, those who don’t know Christ.  We weep over sin in our lives.  We mourn.  But how do we do it in such a way that God is glorified by it?

In John 11:17-44, Jesus Himself shows us how to mourn with Godly sorrow over the loss of a loved one.  In this passage, He does something we would not expect.

Jesus has learned that his friend Lazarus has died, so He goes to Martha and Mary, Lazarus’ sisters.  He comes to comfort them and be with them, but, as we also know, He’s come to raise Lazarus from the dead.  So Jesus, it would seem, would be okay.  There would be no need for Him to mourn, because He knows that this is temporary.  He even says it in verse 11, right before our passage starts: “After saying these things, he (Jesus) said to them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.'”  Jesus is fully aware that this is not the end for Lazarus.

And yet, when we get to verse 33, we find Jesus “deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.”  Jesus is literally a few minutes away from raising Lazarus from the grave, and yet, Jesus is still greatly troubled.  And then we come to verse 35, the shortest verse in all of Scripture: “Jesus wept.”

Jesus wept.  The King of all creation wept at the loss of His friend.  Here Jesus shows us that He really is fully God and fully man, as He both weeps over the death of His friend and, as God, overcomes death.

So what can we take from this?  Three things:

1) Death is not part of God’s good design.  If we go back to Eden, the punishment for sin was death.  We read in Romans 6:23 that the “wages of sin is death.”  Christ, in His weeping, understood the horror of the fall, of the death that has come to God’s creation as a result of sin–both physical death and spiritual death.  Isn’t this a beautiful image?  The God whom we have sinned against weeps over His fallen creation.  The holy God of the universe has compassion on His sinful creatures.  And in Christ, He’s done something about it.

2) Death is not final.  Jesus, in verse 43, yells inside the tomb and cries, “Lazarus, come out.”  Here we have a small picture of the victory Christ wins over death.  At the end of the book of John, we see the risen Christ, eternally conquering death for those who turn and trust in Him.  Paul describes the resurrection of the believer in 1 Corinthians 15:21-22–“For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”  If we are in Christ, that is, we are submitted to Him as Lord, trusting Him to help us follow Him, and we trust in Him for salvation, we will conquer death as well.  In Christ, there is no eternal death.  And one day, death will be no more: “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”–Rev. 21:4

3) Until that wonderful day comes, it is okay to weep, even as we trust God’s promises.  Here’s how we mourn in such a way that it honors God:  We weep while believing the promises of God.  Jesus wept, while knowing that Lazarus’ death was temporary.  He wept as He went to the cross in our place, knowing that He would be raised from the dead.  And we weep now, truly and genuinely experiencing loss, angry and broken at the fallen world around us and the sinful flesh within us that caused it.  But we are also hopeful, believing the promises of God: that for those who are in Christ Jesus, there is no eternal death.  We remain hopeful, looking forward to the day where we, the body of Christ, and the rest of the world, are finally and fully redeemed.

Christian, if Jesus wept, you are most certainly free to weep.  The hope of the gospel does not take away the legitimate pain we feel at the loss of a loved one, or at the suffering we experience in this world.  But it does give us assurance that death, sin and Satan do not have the final word.  Jesus does, and He has declared victory for everyone who trusts in Him as Lord and Savior.  That victory will not be fully realized until He comes back.  Our hope is not in having “our best life now,” but in the life that is to come, where we are with Jesus forever, where our love for Him and joy in Him is complete, where we are just like Him, and sin and suffering are gone forever.

My grandmother on my dad’s side passed away this week.  I didn’t know her all that well, but I had the joy and privilege of meeting her and spending time with her before she passed.  And while I don’t know much about her, I know that she trusted and loved Jesus Christ, and I know that she is with Him now.  So while there is great sadness over loss, and sorrow that she is gone, we rejoice in the hope of the gospel.  We mourn well, trusting God in good times and in bad.

Lord, in the hard times that this life brings, in the midst of intense suffering, whether it’s the loss of a loved one, persecution, or just tough life circumstances, may we trust in your promises.  May we find in you, Jesus, the freedom to weep, to mourn, to grieve, all the while trusting that you are still God, and that one day, we will see you, and all of our loved ones in Christ.  May we “always be ready to make a defense for the hope” that we have in you, a hope of eternal life, a hope of salvation, of perfection, that one day will be fully realized when you come back.  Hasten that day, Lord.

God bless,

Neal E.