2006-03-12 Communion Dedication – Baldwin Christian Church

Matthew 7:7-12

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.  Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?  Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

When you read the Bible, and you come across a passage like this (when Jesus calls us evil), it causes a gut reaction.  Most people will defend themselves and say, “I am not evil”.  Some will say, “I give to the poor and needy, I don’t rob and kill, so I am not evil”.  Others will say, “I was saved on such-and-such date.  I am a child of God, and I am not evil”.

Whenever I have a negative reaction to something, I won’t hear much of what’s said after that;  it didn’t “itch” my ears.  Conversely, when my gut reaction is positive, I will all too easily believe every word.

For the past nine months, each time we’ve prepared to sit at the Lord’s Table, we have examined ourselves in the light of this “Sermon on the Mount”.  We do not look very pretty in that light, and we don’t measure up very well to the bar that Jesus sets in this sermon.  In these verses today, He finally pulls the gloves off and calls us evil.  If we trust in our gut reaction, we will miss the gift of hope embedded in His words.

We are evil!  About the condition of man’s heart, the LORD says, “The imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21), and “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9).

With this in mind, why should I even try to be a “good” person?  Because of hope.  Even from my earliest days, my heart has been lying to me, wanting me to believe that I’m good.  Jesus says here that even though we are evil beings, we have a heavenly Father who loves us and gives us good things if we keep seeking and asking of Him.  Hope.

Jesus gave us hope in so many ways.  He denied Himself and lived a life without sin, which He offered as payment for our transgressions.  Today He tells us that we are evil, but our all-powerful Father loves and forgives repentant children, and today He tells us that He gives good things to patient, persistent children.

When your birthday is approaching, you hope your parents will get you what you want for your birthday, and they do that sometimes, but oftentimes they get you what you need instead.  You Father in heaven sees a lot better than they do, and there’s nothing He can’t afford.  We wouldn’t give our children any gift that we thought would hurt them, so let’s keep this in mind whenever we feel tempted to think our prayers aren’t being answered.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Our Father never misses the mark when He gives a gift.  On that Passover so long ago, He gave Himself that we might be free from the bondage of gut reactions, that we might begin living this life not for ourselves, but for each other, and for Him.