WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:04.959 Our reading this morning is Matthew chapter seven, verses seven through eleven. 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:10.080 Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find. 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:12.080 Knock and it will be opened to you. 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:19.359 For every one who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:27.679 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. 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:37.200 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? 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:38.640 The word of the Lord. 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:47.439 So let's jump into our text for this morning, which segues pretty cleanly because the text is about prayer. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:49.920 Matthew 7, verses 7 through 11. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:55.039 We've been working our way through the Sermon on the Mount, and this is the next passage in our progress. 00:00:55.759 --> 00:00:56.719 I just read it. 00:00:56.880 --> 00:01:00.000 We will work our way through it during the sermon. 00:01:00.159 --> 00:01:05.040 Our first point is this God is waiting to hear from you. 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:06.640 That's our first point. 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:07.760 Pretty simple. 00:01:07.920 --> 00:01:11.680 We can forget that, or we can feel like we're not worthy enough for that. 00:01:12.959 --> 00:01:15.840 My wife's grandparents were Nana and Granddaddy. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:16.879 Here's a picture of them. 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:21.040 And if that's not a nana and granddaddy, there's not a nana and granddaddy that exists in the world, right? 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:21.680 I mean, that is. 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:23.599 That's nana and granddaddy. 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:29.920 They were always tending their garden, always ready to welcome us and feed us. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:39.359 If you stopped by Nana and Granddaddy's house, granddaddy was, he was going to try to put a bowl of Briar's ice cream in front, always Briar's ice cream in front. 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:48.000 And every time Christy called, Nana would always pick up, and she had unlimited time to talk to Christy. 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:53.280 And every time Christy stopped by, Nana would put down her gardening tools or she was vacuuming. 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:55.680 I think she'd vacuum the whole house every single day. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:02:03.280 You know, she'd stop her daily vacuuming, and she would spend as much time as she wanted with Christy and have a Coke and Ritz crackers. 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:04.799 That's what Nana had. 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:21.520 And Christy said, and she always says, she says, all through her teen years and through college years, she really did think, she really did think that literally Nana was just waiting for her to call or show up. 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:26.960 Like that's what Nana did just wait for her. 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:33.199 And it's somewhat true because Nana treasured nothing more than her family. 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:38.479 And that image is so good for us this morning when we think about prayer. 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:42.879 Because God is actually waiting to hear from you. 00:02:43.120 --> 00:02:48.800 Even if you don't feel like it, or even you don't feel like he does hear you, he is waiting. 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:51.439 And he's not waiting because he needs to be filled in on your life. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:52.159 He already knows it. 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:53.599 He already knows what you need. 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:55.280 We've learned that before. 00:02:55.599 --> 00:02:57.039 He's all-knowing. 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:02.639 But he's waiting to hear from you because he cares for you and he treasures you. 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:06.639 And he is all about relationship with you. 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:17.280 But a question arises Why is there some part of God that waits to give until we ask? 00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:20.960 If he knows what we need, why is he waiting? 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:22.400 Why does he wait? 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:24.560 I mean, the verses actually teach this. 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:26.560 Ask and then you will receive. 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:29.120 Well, John Stott, theologian, he wrote this. 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:31.360 Good sentence for us to kind of contemplate. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:36.000 The reason has to do with us, not with him. 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:42.240 The question is not whether he is ready to give, but whether we are ready to receive. 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:49.360 Meaning God's always ready to give, but we're not always ready to receive. 00:03:50.639 --> 00:04:02.960 So back in the text in verses 9 through 11, the text places us and places prayer in a relational context, not a transactional, not a mechanical, but a relationship. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:04.159 Child to father. 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:12.080 Point number two is this prayer is based in a relationship of us as child and God as heavenly father. 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:16.959 If we want to begin to think about prayer, we think about it in relational context. 00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:20.079 We think about it as God as Father. 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:26.079 Now, Father can be hard for us to contemplate depending on how you grew up and your father as imperfect as he was. 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:28.319 TV dads can help us. 00:04:28.399 --> 00:04:32.079 So let's just look at a few TV dads and have some interaction here. 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:35.279 So can you name this TV dad? 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:35.759 Anybody? 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:37.040 Just say it out loud. 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:38.079 Phil. 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:39.519 Phil Dumpy, right? 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:41.040 Now a more classic dad. 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:42.959 Let's move into some difficulty. 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:45.279 Anybody? 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:47.680 Ward, yeah. 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:48.959 Ward Cleaver. 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:49.360 Very good. 00:04:49.439 --> 00:04:51.199 Let's move into difficulty. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:54.079 Anyone? 00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:54.959 George Bluth. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:56.319 Yeah, George Bluth. 00:04:56.399 --> 00:04:57.839 Now, this is one of my favorites. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:04:58.480 This was mine. 00:04:58.639 --> 00:04:59.519 This was young. 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:01.600 Can anybody name him? 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:04.079 Close? 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:07.839 Jason Seavert, right? 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:11.839 The dad, I mean, what a dad, the 80s TV dad, Jason Seaver. 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:15.519 I mean, all right, so none of these dads, as good as they're, even Jason Seaver. 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:18.079 Jason Seaver's the best out of the whole bunch there, to me at least. 00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:20.480 I mean, he was he was insightful and listening. 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:21.759 He's like, he worked out of his house. 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:24.639 He's always like coming around to solve the family's problems. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:27.680 I mean, that's what Jason Sievert did. 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:32.639 But this TV dad, I think, tops them all, at least for me growing up. 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:34.560 Right, Mike Brady. 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:36.720 I mean, I loved Mike Brady. 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:38.160 And you know the story. 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:40.160 He was busy with three boys of his own. 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:48.079 They were four men living all together, yet they were all alone till one day when this lady met this fella, right? 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:48.720 You know the story. 00:05:48.800 --> 00:05:50.079 We don't have to do the whole song. 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:51.759 He was a successful architect. 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:52.639 He had three boys. 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:54.560 He meets Carol, they marry. 00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:58.959 He embraces and accepts in these three girls, right? 00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:00.560 And you've seen the show. 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:07.040 I watched it every afternoon as a kid, TBS, after school, all the time, right? 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:11.279 And Mike is always, always the ever-present dad. 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:16.399 I don't know how he earned that much money and was still so present in the home. 00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:22.079 He was always providing, always present, always teaching. 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:25.199 He was always listening, always patient. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:27.040 And that's what we need. 00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:30.480 We don't need Mike Brady as God, right? 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:35.600 We need God as perfection of our idea of Father. 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:40.319 This is the picture Jesus is trying to paint for us over and over and over again. 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:50.160 He paints it here again in this text to empower our prayer of God as Heavenly Father, treasuring us, caring for us. 00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:54.000 There's a story in Mark chapter 14. 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:56.800 There's a plot to kill Jesus. 00:06:57.120 --> 00:06:59.680 A friend of Jesus' has betrayed him. 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:03.680 Jesus is headed toward a very painful death. 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:07.759 Jesus goes into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:09.519 Here's what Jesus prays. 00:07:09.839 --> 00:07:11.040 Here's what Jesus prays. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:12.639 Mark 14, 36. 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:16.959 Abba Father, all things are possible for you. 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:19.759 Remove this cup from me. 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:25.279 Yet, not what I will, but what you will. 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:28.959 So first the term Father, we've said this before. 00:07:29.040 --> 00:07:30.160 I say it repeatedly. 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:38.480 About 15 times in the Old Testament, the idea of Father is communicated, and then in the New Testament, 245 times. 00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:51.439 So God is progressively revealing Himself through the scriptures for us to understand Him not just as creator, judge, and King, but as a heavenly Father. 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:59.439 Three points from Jesus' prayer there in Gethsemane that jumped out to me this week as I just stared at that verse for a while. 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:04.480 Jesus prays from an understanding of God as the heavenly Papa who cares for him. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:07.120 He's bringing his anguish. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:10.240 Bringing his anguish, voicing it. 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:14.240 Number two, Jesus sincerely asks for his heart's concern. 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:15.600 Take this cup from me. 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:17.839 So he asks the thing he wants. 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:19.439 He voices it. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:26.959 But point number three, yet, yet, even in that, Jesus prays with surrender to the sovereign God. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:35.840 So he prays his full concern to the loving Father, and yet, even praying the full concern, he's like, yet, God, yet, God, I surrender. 00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:37.279 Maybe you know more. 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:38.799 Maybe you know more. 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:42.879 So the implications could possibly be this. 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:47.759 Number one, I get to relate with God as a child to a heavenly Papa who cares for me. 00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:49.120 What a privilege. 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:50.639 What a privilege. 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:54.399 Number two, I get to pray my heart's concerns. 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:59.039 Those concerns can be incredibly limited in sight. 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:02.399 They could even be selfish, but we get to voice those to God. 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:07.919 Number three, see, yet, this is where like, yet your will. 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:15.279 Yet I'm relieved of the burden to figure everything out and trying to use prayer to control my world. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:17.840 That's not what I have to use prayer for. 00:09:18.639 --> 00:09:26.399 And I'm freed into a relationship with a loving Papa who knows best, whether I am in comfort or suffering. 00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:30.320 Now maybe you're here and you would say, great. 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:31.279 Like, right. 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:33.840 Like I prayed once. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:39.279 Or like I prayed for like a season, or I prayed for years, and then like that thing happened, right? 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:40.879 The thing happened. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:47.919 The event, the trauma, the woundedness, the opportunity didn't happen, you wanted it to happen, didn't work out. 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:50.720 And you had you prayed for it. 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:56.480 Well, the text implies that we won't get everything we asked for. 00:09:56.639 --> 00:09:58.399 I mean, the text is saying that. 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:01.600 So we just make it up that we're actually gonna get everything. 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:03.679 Like, that's not in the Bible. 00:10:05.279 --> 00:10:08.000 Matthew 7, 9 and 10, it says it right here. 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:13.360 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone, or if he asks him for a fish, we'll give him a serpent. 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:15.440 I mean, it's just saying, like, you're not gonna get everything he asked for. 00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:16.559 You don't even know. 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:17.919 You can't even know. 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:19.759 How could you possibly know? 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:21.519 How could you possibly know? 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:27.360 How many prayers have you prayed that later you go, wow, glad that one didn't work out? 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:27.840 Right? 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:29.440 It happens all the time. 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:35.840 I love this quote by Mark Galley, used to be editor of Christianity today. 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:44.320 He says this here's the lesson I have learned from Jesus, a lesson reinforced by four decades of failed prayers. 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:48.399 It doesn't matter how I feel when the worst seems certain. 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:51.519 Jesus didn't say ask when you feel hopeful. 00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:56.159 He just said ask, and he said, It will be given. 00:10:56.399 --> 00:11:00.480 Once we announce our desire to God, it's his job to deal with it. 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:13.360 Prayer is not manipulating heaven to fulfill our desires, it's putting what we desire into the hands of a loving, if inscrutable, God and letting him fulfill it in his time, in his way. 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:21.279 Prayer is inside the relationship of us surrendering to him, voicing our concerns. 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:26.080 Some of those things just work out exactly as we ask, and we love those moments, don't we? 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:30.799 And then sometimes we're the ones that are changed, and sometimes our prayers are that which change. 00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:32.720 That's how prayer is freeing. 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:39.840 Point number three, as God's beloved child, we get to pray without concern of getting our way. 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:42.960 That gets removed as part of the process. 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:48.879 We voice our prayers because we're in relationship with God, and it's good for us to voice our prayers. 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:55.840 And prayer is much bigger than just like a mechanical or transaction, like I asked for this, I get this, I asked for this, I get this. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:01.360 No, no, no, it's surrender, it's stillness, it's peace, it's transformation. 00:12:02.559 --> 00:12:08.639 It's inclusive of God moving inside of us even as we ask for that which we'll never get. 00:12:09.759 --> 00:12:10.879 It's relational. 00:12:11.120 --> 00:12:22.799 Point number four is this as we come alive to God as sovereign Abba, our prayers are transformed by trying to control God to communing with God. 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:35.200 Prayer for me has just moved less from about praying lists of things I think should happen into a lot more surrender about those very things. 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:43.360 It's more about the fact that I need to pray these things because they're inside of my heart and my being. 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:45.360 I need to release more control. 00:12:47.039 --> 00:12:49.200 And I don't have to control everything. 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:51.600 I get to release those things. 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:58.000 Now, to our Atlanta Braves, our beloved Atlanta Braves. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:01.200 You knew I was gonna get there, because you know I'm a big fan, right? 00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:04.720 Like you know, I have been an Atlanta Braves fan. 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:10.240 I told you last week, I have been an Atlanta Braves fan for so many days. 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:13.679 Eight games. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:15.919 Eight games I've been a fan. 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:22.000 And like most of you, Tuesday night, I watched the game while I was watching other shows. 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:27.120 I watch us bat, and then I turn the channel to watch something else. 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:29.840 Just like most of you, you won't admit it. 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:35.360 And in the seventh inning, when we had that lead, I'm so confident in Art Land of Braves. 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:38.240 I went to sleep, so confident in their capability. 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:44.639 I know many of you weren't that confident, you stayed up, but I have the confidence, that's how strong my fandom is. 00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:51.679 Is that amount of confidence in their capability that I can go to sleep when they had that lead? 00:13:51.840 --> 00:14:04.960 I went to sleep in the seventh inning, and I woke up the next morning on Wednesdays, I didn't even get out of bed, grabbed my phone, looked who won, and I was truly so happy and really refreshed from all the sleep. 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:11.440 Like I really, really, I felt refreshed from that long night's sleep and really joyful. 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:19.759 I really was joyful, and I didn't swing a bat, I didn't throw a ball, I didn't watch an entire game. 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:23.600 I don't even own a Braves like article of clothing. 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:27.440 I'm a miserable fan in this way, like really, it's really bad. 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:29.679 And I'll tune in next year. 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:33.279 Like if they make it the World Series, I'll tune in next year at that point. 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:34.480 That's when I'll tune in. 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:35.519 That's where I'm at. 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:36.879 That's where I'm at. 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:38.960 And that's just miserable. 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:41.120 Like that's a miserable fan. 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:44.000 And some of you are real fans, you're like, you are awful. 00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:45.679 You are an awful person. 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:48.320 Um, yes, I am. 00:14:48.480 --> 00:14:58.799 And then here's also what's so offensive to you is then like also just as a like a citizen of Metro Atlanta, I still get to share in the joy of the victory. 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:02.559 That's insane because I've only been a fan for eight games. 00:15:02.720 --> 00:15:08.559 Like, it's so offensive to devoted fans that I don't even own a Braves thing, and I share the joy. 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:14.480 And you can't say I don't, because Wednesday, I was more joyful all day because they won. 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:19.600 I'm still a little more joyful today than I was last week because they won. 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:21.279 And you can't steal that from me. 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:25.600 That's just true because I'm a citizen of Metro Atlanta, right? 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:37.519 They win, they win, and all of us, even the most miserable, right, are kind of caught up in the victory and in the joy. 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:40.240 What a beautiful image of imputation and love. 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:44.240 I mean, that's like a gospel economy that's going on here. 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:54.399 That we are made righteous because Christ's work on the cross forgives and deems us righteous, not because we're all put together and the most devoted, it's because of what he did and his good work. 00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:59.200 And we're caught up in that as those who follow him and surrender into him. 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:05.919 The Heavenly Father doesn't reserve his love and his righteousness and his acceptance and that welcome. 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:10.240 He doesn't reserve that for the put together or the most devoted. 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:21.200 It's even for the most miserable and half-hearted that he cares for and he died for and he forgives and deems righteous, and he desires to hear their prayers. 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:32.720 And even they, even the sinner, even you and even me, share in the joy of the God who says, Call on me. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:34.799 Call on me. 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:39.679 And when you call on me, call me Abba Father. 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:40.799 Let's pray together. 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:45.360 God, thank you that you are not just creator, judge, and king. 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:53.519 You are the Heavenly Father, and this side of Jesus, we are fully welcomed and accepted just as we are, and that you pursue us. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:58.000 Thank you for your grace that doesn't just welcome us into relationship with you. 00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:01.039 It is the way in which we have relationship with you. 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:05.680 Thank you for your care and sovereignty that is above even our suffering. 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:20.559 Help us to be able to voice even more of our concerns to you, not for transactions for answers, but because of this relationship of grace and care and welcome and acceptance. 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:30.880 That we would want to commune with you for the stillness and the peace that you grant hearts that are in relationship with you. 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:38.880 Thank you that you love us, you care for us, and you call us to a life of prayer. 00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:40.720 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:41.599 Amen.