Expect Great Things from God – Attempt Great things for God
Sermon on the Mount # 13

a sermon on Matthew 7.7-11
by David C. Mauldin
Westminster Presbyterian Church, Mobile, Alabama


With less than a week to go until college graduation, I was sitting with a few of my friends discussing old times and where the future might take us. Our mood was generally upbeat, but one guy clearly had something gnawing at him. In fact, he was depressed. “What’s wrong?” we kept asking, and finally he told us. “I can’t believe it,” he confessed. “I’m about to graduate. I’ve been here four years. I never had a date. Four years of college and not one date!” Of course we all knew he was no ladies’ man, but no date at all in four years of college puts a guy in what one might call a statistical minority.

The other guys began to console him, but a thought crossed my mind. “How many girls,” I asked suspiciously, “did you ask out in those four years?” He shook his head and confirmed my suspicion. “None,” he confessed. “Well, brother,” I replied, “I don’t feel sorry for you at all. You have not because you ask not. … Granted some girl could have asked you out somewhere along the way. Granted you might have asked out 50 girls and only 5 would have accepted. And then where would you be? You would have had 5 dates instead of 0. No, I don’t feel sorry for you at all.”

I know I must sound heartless telling the story like this, but I felt it was for his own good. You shouldn’t feel sorry for yourself if you have done nothing at all about your problems. If he had asked out even a few women and been turned down every time, I would have tried to console him. He never asked even one. “Look at it this way,” I advised him, “100% percent of the women you asked out accepted. That’s a far better rate than any of the rest of us have.”

In our passage this morning from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was talking about our prayer life, not our romances; yet I think there is a point of contact. How often do we lament that God doesn’t do this or that—or we wish we were more loving or patient or holy, or knew the Bible better, or had more fulfillment in life, or even some material need? God is not a genie in lamp who grants wishes and wants to make us wealthy (contrary to what you might hear from some TV preachers). But it is not wrong to pray for a house to live in, a new roof if yours is leaking, a car that doesn’t break down all the time, health insurance, a better job, an education or the end of educational loans, and those sorts of things. Jesus expressly tells us in the Sermon on the Mount that God knows our needs and can be trusted. Of course, God may have other plans for you. The providence of God is inscrutable, and part of trusting him is enduring hard times without giving up. Moses, Jesus, Paul, and many other heroes of the faith did not enjoy the comforts most of us take for granted. Nevertheless, there is nothing wrong with asking God for the things you need and want, provided you are prepared to take what he gives you. But I digress … how many of us sit around moping like my dateless friend when we have not humbly and passionately prayed for what we think we need? Don’t we do the same thing he did?

You want a more fulfilled life? Have you prayed, not only “Lord, give my life more meaning,” but also, “Lord, use me in some great work. Give me a ministry that will make a difference”? You want to see our church grow. Have you prayed, not only, “Lord, make our church grow, but also, “Lord, help me to reach out to others. Send someone I can care for. I am ready to listen to your call and obey”? Perhaps you are single but want to be married, have you prayed, not only “Lord, send me someone,” but also, “Lord, help me discern your calling for me, and if it includes marriage, prepare me and help me find the right person.” Or perhaps you are married but wish you marriage were better. Have you prayed, not only, “Lord, make my marriage better,” but also, “Lord, make me a better husband (or wife)”? Or—today is Father’s Day—suppose your concern is for your child, grown or not. Have you prayed, “Lord, the job of raising children is too much for me! You’re going to have to see that they turn out right!”?

I know lots of people pray, earnestly and in faith, but things do not turn out as they hoped. I’ll have something to say about this before I’m through. For now, first things first. Is the reason you have not because you have not asked, sought, and knocked?

Are you ready to take Jesus at his word? He says that if you ask, you will receive. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened. I am tired of the way this passage is preached so often—and how it is presented in many biblical commentaries. Ninety percent of the message is devoted to explaining why we ought not take Jesus at his word. And yes, I have given you a bit of that already; but don’t think I plan to dwell on it. I said God’s providence is inscrutable, and I meant it. I do not pretend to understand how and why God answers prayer the way he does. You either pray or you do not. And if you do, you either trust him or you do not. We think of Jesus in Gethsemane praying, “Let this cup pass from me,” and it doesn’t, or Paul praying three times for the thorn in his flesh to be removed, and it wasn’t. But let us not forget that when Jesus prayed “thy will be done,” it was. And Paul found the grace of God was sufficient for his needs.

Prayer requires simple childlike trust. Beside that fact, we also know God, like any good parent, is not going to give us something harmful, even if we ask for it. “Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes-Benz?” the song asks. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred the answer is, “No!” We know that. Commenting on this passage, Tom Wright observes, “For most of us the problem is not that we are too eager to ask for the wrong sort of things. The problem is that we are not nearly eager enough to ask for the right things” [Matthew for Everyone, p. 72]. I think he is right. Therefore, I have given passing attention to the reasons you should take Jesus’ words soberly. From this point on, however, no more excuses. I want to tell you why you should take them seriously. None of us here has a naïve understanding of prayer. But I wonder how many of us really believe in prayer? Oh, we say we do. Ask any of us, “Does prayer work? Does God answer prayer?” The answer will always be, “Oh, yes, certainly!” What we really believe, however, can be seen not in our words but in our actions. How much time do you spend in prayer? For what things do you pray? Are you specific? Some Christians are not. They are afraid to be. “If I ask God to heal my friend,” they reason, “and he doesn’t, that might shake my faith. I’ll just pray for his will to be done, and whatever happens I will accept.” That is only half right. Always pray for God’s will. Always trust him, even if you do not understand what he is doing or even if he is doing anything at all. But do not be afraid to be specific. Pray boldly for healing. Pray passionately. Pour out your heart. Ask. Seek. Knock. Expect great things from God. I don’t think we do. I suspect we expect little things from God. We don’t really expect God to change things. We just expect him to help us cope. We have not because we ask not. We do not believe God will deliver, so we do not give him the chance.

By the way, I need to confess that I pirated the title of this sermon. I stole it from William Carey, a shoemaker turned missionary who is often credited with sparking the missionary movement of the 19th century. He felt God calling him to go to India to preach the gospel, and he went. When he was drumming up support for his venture, he famously remarked, “I will go down if you will hold the rope.” Just before leaving he preached a sermon titled, “Expect Great Things from God—Attempt Great Things for God.” You have to admit, it is a good title. I like it because the latter really does depend on the former. You will never attempt great things for God unless you expect great things from God. If all you expect from God is small things, your risks will be small and so will your deeds. What if you take Jesus at his word? What if you ask, seek, and knock, expecting God to do great things—to turn the world upside down and shake it by its heals, until upside down becomes right side up? God can do it!

When you ask, seek, and knock, you are inviting God to unleash his kingdom in our midst. That’s what the Sermon on the Mount is about, and we should not ignore the context of these words. In the previous chapter of Matthew, Jesus gave us the Lord’s prayer. He told us to pray for God’s will, for his kingdom, for our daily bread, and more. He then went on to explain how God cares for us and why we can trust him. “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Now he tells us to ask, seek, and knock. These three, by the way, were common Jewish expressions for prayer in the first century. I marvel at the scope of what Jesus tells us to pray for: spiritual things like forgiveness and the grace to forgive, physical things like bread, mundane things like clothing, and revolutionary things like the kingdom of God.

Jesus’ promise here is a timely one. Anyone who reads through the Sermon on the Mount to this point has to be a bit discouraged. On one hand, if this is what God’s kingdom looks like, we are a long way from it. On the other hand, if this is how God wants me to live, I’m not sure I’m up to it. Just as we begin to feel overwhelmed, Jesus boldly promises: Ask, seek, knock. You will receive. You will find. God will open the door.

I love the second part of this passage. It is among my favorite in all of scripture. A simple image, a simple argument, but one even a pessimistic cynic like me cannot get around. If you think based on what I have said so far that I am neither a pessimist not a cynic, you don’t know me well enough. I’m pretty crusty. See if you can get around Jesus’ logic. “Is there a man among you who, when his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for fish, will give him a snake?” The wording in Greek implies there is not. “If you then, who are evil”—notice Jesus is a pessimist about human nature too—“If you then, who are evil, know how to give goods gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

Today is Father’s Day, so this image could not be more appropriate. I’ll concede that there are a few worthless fathers so pitiful they might give the stone or the snake, but not many. Look at fathers in general. Look at the average Dad on the street. Or the fathers in this room. Jesus was talking to his disciples with others listening in. In many ways they were not so different from us. I suspect the joy and pride of fatherhood feels the same whether you are a Galilean fisherman in the first century or an American in the 21st century.

Jesus is right. He is right about us being evil. The holiest Dad among us is a sinner saved by grace. Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?” [17.9] Jeremiah didn’t know the half of it. I don’t want to labor this point, but I am convinced of it. We human beings have a fallen nature prone to sin. Our hearts are evil. Certainly we fall far short of the standard of honesty, holiness, and goodness set by God. And yet … this is the crucial part … despite this fact, we are capable of being good to our children. I am not going to be specific, but I am a sinner. I know that. But I love my son. I want nothing but the best for him. I love to do things with him and for him and to give him good things. Now, if we human fathers feel this way about our children, how must God feel about us? If we are capable of loving our children and giving them good things, how much more our Father in heaven! This is absolutely brilliant. I do not think Jesus could have convinced me in any other way. If he had tried to demonstrate that although there is a lot of bad in life, the good outweighs it, I could have argued all day. If he had tried to convince me that the bad in life isn’t really so bad if you look at it the right way, I would never concede the point. But he didn’t do anything like that. He said, “Look in your own heart. Not a pretty sight is it?” And who could argue? Then he simply says, “And yet you are capable loving your child and giving good things. Don’t you think God is holier and more loving and more resourceful than you?” And, I ask, how can you get around his logic?

Do I understand God? No. Do I understand prayer? No. Do I understand divine providence? No. Does any of this matter? No. Only one things matters: Am I willing to take Jesus at his word? Do I ask? Do I seek? Do I knock? … Do you? … If you do not, never complain about the things you lack. Perhaps you have not because you ask not.

. . . . .
There is a monastery in St. Meinrad, Indiana, that publishes little encouraging books called Elf-Help Books. They feature illustrations of cute cartoon elves and short bits of advice and encouragement. To be honest, I am not sure why these little books help so much, but somehow they do. They help me, anyway, and others have told me they help them too. One is called Prayer Therapy, and I want to share with you just a few of the suggestions it offers for prayer:
“Prayer begins in a restless heart. Listen to its stirrings.”
“If you need something, pray for it. God desires your good.”
“If you want something, ask yourself, ‘Do I want what God wants?’ God wants your true good.”
“Bring your anger to prayer. Hot metal can be molded.”
“When prayer invites you to take risks, have courage. God will uphold you.”
“If you begin to feel advanced in the ways of prayer, think again. God’s life runs deeper than your feelings and experiences.”
“If prayer makes you passive and indifferent, it isn’t prayer. True prayer will bear fruit in service and care.”

Jesus talks about prayer so much in the Sermon on the Mount because prayer is the life of kingdom people. Kingdom people yearn for God’s kingdom to come. Even before God serves up the main course, they gobble up every appetizer he serves. Prayer is the attempt to put that yearning, that hunger into words—or just opening one’s heart to God. Kingdom people expect great things from God. They ask. They seek. They knock. And they are not ultimately disappointed. They expect great things, so they attempt great things. After Pentecost, Jesus’ disciples turned the world upside down. It has never been the same. They knew God was doing great things. Every Christian who has ever done anything worthwhile for God has been the same way.

I want you to pray. I want you to pray passionately. I want you to pray expecting God to do amazing, miraculous things—things you can scarcely imagine. God can do it. He will do it. Pray for his kingdom. Pray for this church. Pray for renewal in our congregation and our denomination. At the session meeting on Tuesday I am going to present more information about having a congregational renewal weekend next spring. It would be a series of services, meals, and special events. I think God may want us to do this. We did it once in the 70s, and it bore lasting fruit. I feel we have an opportunity almost within our grasp to be better and more faithful and to attempt great things for God. It all depends on God’s work in our hearts, but we can come before him in humble expectation and create an environment conducive to his work. Or, to say that simply, we can listen to what he is saying.

Pray for our church. Pray for all the families connected in some way to our church. There is heartache, grief, and brokenness aplenty. Pray for your pastor. He has a hard job, and frankly I don’t think he’s up to it apart from the grace and power of God. Pray for your family … and yourself. Be like the boy Samuel who told God, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Or like Isaiah, who said, “Here am I; send me.”

Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God. Don’t be like my college friend. Don’t wait until opportunity has passed you by and then feel sorry for yourself because you never asked. Ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and God will open the door. This is the life of the kingdom of God. Amen.

rev_mauldin@yahoo.com
June 17, 2007