(Exodus 32:1-14)
- Do you pray?
- Recently I read a Christian writer who said something like this: “Prayer is something that marks out a Christian.”
- He’s saying, in other words, that if you’re a Christian, then you will pray.
- You might care to glance at ch. 6 v. 5. Jesus doesn’t say to Christians “If you pray, then do it like this.”
- What he said was: “And WHEN you pray….”
- And then, as he introduces the Lord’s Prayer, he says (v. 8):
“your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:”
- Our Lord Jesus makes it very plain over and over again in the Gospels that God is not only HIS Father but also OUR Father.
- Why is it true that if you’re a Christian, then you will pray?
- Because children talk to their fathers.
- And it’s the father-child relationship which provides the basis for what Jesus wants to teach us about prayer from Matthew ch. 7.
- Have you ever lodged with a local Council an objection to a Development Application? I have. You’re completely at their mercy. You feel really helpless as you wait for the process to be completed and a decision given.
- Then, if the decision goes against you, you feel even more helpless because you are not prepared (or able) to spend anywhere between$60,000 and $200,000 on an appeal in the Land and Environment Court.
- You wonder whether the other party has bribed the Council officers, or the Councillors – and you come away from the whole experience upset and dislocated.
- How different is this sort of experience from the description of Christian prayer in Matthew’s Gospel ch. 7 which we read today.
(1) Christians have the privilege of asking in prayer.
- That is the essence of intercessory prayer, isn’t it?
vv. 7-8,
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
- What’s going on when I, as a Christian, decide to ask God for something in prayer?
- I see a need, something that I would like to see happen, perhaps something that I am convinced I need, or something that I think someone else needs, so I ask my Heavenly Father to supply it.
- “Please, God, help me pass this exam.”
- “O Lord Almighty, please work in that person’s life to salvation.”
- “O God, my God, I trust you today to keep me strong in the Christian life.”
(2) Christians have the promise of a ‘Yes’ answer.
Matthew ch. 7 v. 8,
“For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
- What a stupendous promise! How many millions of Christians over the centuries have rested, trusted and rejoiced in this promise!
- And yet, you probably know some Christians who are very hesitant about intercessory prayer. For example, I know a man who won’t pray for rain.
- Why is this?
- Simple. They have had experiences where they’ve seen people pray for big things like rain, or healing, and God seems not to hear.
- How can we explain this problem?
- I think that part, at least, of the answer lies in the next few verses in Matthew ch. 7:
vv. 9-11,
“"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
(3) Our Heavenly Father answers in a similar way to
the way a good human father does.
- Verses 9-11 should bring out the best in us human fathers. We really do want the best for our children, don’t we?
- And grand parents are just the same.
- I remember very well about 30 years ago when my parents were visiting us in Gosford. My Dad took our youngest child, Cameron, for a walk down town.
- When they returned, Cameron was carrying a rubber snake which his Grandfather had bought him at the toy shop.
- My mother said to my father with a certain edge to her voice, “Wal, why did you buy him that?”
- My father answered quite plaintively, “He wanted it.”
- On the other hand, if Cameron had asked for a pocket knife at age 5, I think that my Dad would have said ‘No’.
Matthew ch. 7 v. 11, Jesus said:
“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”