Matthew 7:7-8 " 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."

What a statement! I hear so many people talk about asking to get, seeking and finding your answer. Mostly what I hear is asking, and asking selfishly. What is it about this verse that makes people think of a "prosperity gospel?" I know that recently a good, solid Christian (as far as I could tell) told me that I should not let the world discourage me. I agreed with him, and I added that if for some reason things became easy for me then I would have to re-evaluate my walk with Christ. His response to this showed how prevalent this whole "bounty of God and easy blessings" thing is. He said, "Well, blessed are those who are faithful to the truth. If you put God first then he will bless you with many things." God will bless me, but I don't think it will be with an easy life or lot of things. Lets look at this section closer.

Christ's discourse on asking and seeking follows immediately after teaching us about judging and discerning. After warning us to with-hold judgment and condemnation yet holding other believers accountable to following His word, He asks us go and ask Him or the Father for something, we are to seek and search. What are we asking, seeking, and searching for?

The easy answer is God's will. We are to live in the will of God completely, just as Christ lived. Unfortunately for us we are sinful and thus unable to fully live the will of God. In the end our fallen human nature fights our new sanctified spiritual nature and we become confused and disoriented, succeeding at times to mortify the flesh and failing at other times in following Christ completely. Fortunately we are covered by the blood of Christ. Watchman Nee says "God is the One who demands that the Blood be presented, in order to satisfy His own righteousness, and it is he who says: 'When I see the blood, I shall pass over you.' The Blood of Christ wholly satisfies God....The Blood is first for God to see. We then have to accept God's valuation of it."

The harder answer is that we are to seek for discernment and guidance from God on what is judging and what is accountability. We must ask who has determined to snub God and our witness to them will be like throwing pearls before angry swine. The only way we can do any of this is to be guided and advised by Christ.

We can ask anything of the Father because we are covered by the son. Our greatest desire should be that we follow Him completely. We are asking and seeking for Christs will in all things. When we are completely in His will then He will provide everything we need or want – and our wants have become His wants for us. What door then are we knocking on? The name of this door is Pure Righteousness and Holiness and it is only through this gate which is the Cross that we can enter the Kingdom of God. Let us remember to seek first the kingdom of heaven in everything we do!

Ask what thou wilt, believing heart,
The answering time will come;
Pray and believe—that is thy part,
The answering time will come.

Matthew 7:6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.”

After having all of this plane speech, then Jesus says something like this “Don't give to dogs...” Huh? Wait a minute here, I thought we were talking about being judgmental and all that jazz! Why are you starting to talk about dogs and pigs and pearls and all of this? I know that when I ran into this verse it was like I was cruising down the highway, my cruise control was set, and I was enjoying understanding everything. Suddenly I run into the back of a parked semi-trailer! Apparently I wasn't the only one to have problems understanding this verse. I decided to do some research into this and try and find out what the people Jesus was speaking to were hearing, since it was obviously plain speech to them.

Both dogs and pigs are unclean, unrighteous, unholy animals. Dogs were not kept as pets and were not to be touched. Pigs were not to be eaten or touched either. Both dogs and pigs were wild scavengers, eating what they could find. Only the Jews, however, declared that pigs were unclean. The Romans, the Greeks, the Turks, even the Egyptians would maintain herds of domesticated swine, but the Greek here refers not to the pink porkers that we think of, but instead to wild pigs which we would call hogs or boar. While dogs would slink around and eat what they could find or scavenge, these hogs were vicious animals and would attack at the slightest provocation.

We are told in this passage to be discerning. We must be able to distinguish between people who can understand and value spiritual teachings from those who can not or will not. We are not to share that which is holy – the gospel of Jesus and His teachings – with those who had received the gospel before and who's hearts were hard towards it. Remember that the Samaritan woman said that even the dogs get crumbs from the master's table. These are the dogs which scavenge and eat refuse and have heard once the gospel, but have decided that there is sweeter, better trash elsewhere to eat from and they turn their nose up at Christ. It is not our job to teach and preach to them. Instead we need to pray for them that their hearts will change and become open, only then are we to teach again to them.

What about the pearls and the swine? Pearls were precious, more precious than other gems or precious metals. History tells us that Cleopatra's pearl was worth the value of several nations. Imagine taking something that is worth the value of Mexico or Canada or South Africa or even the United States and throwing it away to someone who doesn't appreciate it and will scorn it. That is the imagery here that Christ is using. The word for pearl in Greek is “margaritas” or “the precious thing.” However to the pigs, the pearl would at first look like an acorn. When they found that it wasn't what they wanted they would get mad. The hogs represent the people who are looking for what they want and instead of accepting something of great value, they would scorn it because it doesn't fit what they think it should be and they then would attack and abuse the person who tried to help them.

These vicious people hold everything that is not the same as what they desire in contempt and they despise those of us who accept that which they do not value, even though to us it is most precious and most holy But we must be able to perceive these people and we must pray for them too. God loves them too, just as much as He loves you or I. Christ died for them the same as He died for you and I. We must love them and we must stand in the gap for them, praying for their salvation and interceding on their behalf. Just because we cannot share God's gospel with these people does not mean that we are not to pray for them. Who are we in daily contact with that fits this verse? Let us pray for them! Let us love them! Let us be to them as Christ was to us and someday they too will be able to hear the gospel!

Matthew 7:3-5 “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

At work, I have been learning something about myself. There is a gentleman with whom I work who absolutely detests me. I don't have to say anything or do anything, as long as I am in the same vicinity as him, he is annoyed and peeved off at me. There are just somethings about me that he really does not like. To my mind, that is his problem, not mine. I do not try and aggravate him and instead I typically try and stay away from him. It makes work easier for both of us. There is another gentleman with whom I work who just irritates me to no end. I caught myself thinking one day that he did things just because they annoyed me. Then I was convicted. I disliked him like this other guy disliked me. It was probably not his fault that I did not like him, he was just who he was. It was my problem that I was easily irked by him. Certainly he was not trying to irritate me (at least I hope so). It was my failing, not his. I saw fault with him and when I looked again at the situation the greater fault was mine. His particle of sawdust was glaring me in one eye while with the other I could see nothing but a redwood trunk, and I had been thinking that I was the right one. He had both eyes to see while I only had one. He had depth perception while I saw in two dimensions. Until I know why and what my problem is with this guy, I can not do anything about it, and I can not help him be less irritating to some of the others at work either.

Often times we find ourselves in such a situation as this. Your details are probably different from mine, but the same state of affairs exists. We all are walking lumberyards, our sawmills grinding away and throwing dust into the air to catch in other's eyes. Before we are able to aid each other, to encourage, and to help uplift each other we must first remove our own planks of judgment. If we remain partially blinded, then by what right are we to ask others to improve themselves and to fix their sight. However, if we make the effort to clean ourselves up, to improve ourself and have our vision repaired first, then when we try and help our world then their refusal is not on our heads. We must be corrected first before we can ask others to change, and if we cannot truly see the light of Christ, how can we explain it to others?

Open my eyes, that I may see
glimpses of truth thou hast for me;
place in my hands the wonderful key
that shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for thee,
Ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!

Matthew 7:1-2 “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”

This is difficult for the believer. I am not talking about having a problem judging because everyone have a problem with being judgmental. I instead mean that we as believers have a hard time with the fine line between standing in judgment on a person and letting them know that they are in the wrong on or about something.

I was driving back to work last year after going home to eat my lunch (I had left it behind earlier). My music blaring and I was paying no attention to my surroundings. While on one lengthy back-country road, I saw a car in the ditch ahead. I slowed down and saw that it was a police car. I decided that he in no way needed my assistance and so I continued on. A bit further down the road I looked in my rear view mirror and saw the police car pull out of the ditch and speed up behind me. Then I saw blue lights. Uh oh. I pulled over to the side and the policeman pulled in behind me. He came up to my window and asked me if I knew why he pulled me over. I said that I did not and he told me that he had clocked me going 73 in a 55. Thats quite high. I probably was I had no way of knowing since I had not been paying attention. He saw my uniform and asked if I was going back to work and just coming from lunch and I told him that I was on both questions. He wrote me a warning and let me go.

This story has helped me with making the distinction between judging people and correcting them. The policeman, when he pulled me over, was not in judgment over me. His job was to keep the law. He was correcting me and letting me know that I was in the wrong because I was speeding and that is breaking the law. If I had gone to court, the judge would listen to both sides of the issue and if I was in the wrong he would pronounce judgment or what would happen to me since I broke the law. I was speeding, but the officer was polite and nice and told me to watch my speed and he let me go. He did not have to do that, he could have fined me instead. If he had, he still would not have been in judgment over me since the law states that the speed limit on that road is 55 mph and every 1 mph over that is worth so much in fines as well as a minimum fine. It is there in the law. The officer has no say over any changes. He must either charge me or warn me. He warned me.

The most quoted verse of the bible, believers and non-believers alike is Matthew 7:1 “Judge not, that you are not judged.” I know that I have been asked by people “Who are you to judge me!” To which I have had to respond “I am not judging you. I am just saying that this is wrong and needs to change. God is the judge of everyone. He determines what is sin, He determines what is right and what is wrong, and He determines punishment, not us. However, He has written extensively on the topic to let those of us who have chosen Him know His requirements, rules, and regulations. He has let us know what is right and what is wrong. We can not tell a non-Christian that they are sinning and ruining their witness, however we are expected to be frank and earnest with each other, upholding, encouraging, correcting, and holding to His standard all those who claim Him as Lord and Saviour. We are not to be harsh and crude, but loving and kind. We can all too easily fall to being in judgment over another person and we do not know the issues involved. Be careful! Be watchful! Be prayerful!

When o’er the fame of friend or foe, The shadow of disgrace shall fall; instead
Of words of blame, or fatal blow—Let something good be said.

Forget not grace, no sinner yet may fall so low but Christ can lift his head,
While cheeks of shame with tears are wet; Let something be good said.