Start Loving
Matthew 7:7-12
 
Matthew 7:7-12
 
Verse 12 is the key verse, and the first part of verse 12 is the key phrase. 
 
Everything else in the rest of the passage comments and relates to that great truth. Some have called this the Mount Everest of ethics. Unquestionably, it is the supreme standard for all human relationships. We know it from childhood as expressed in terms of the Golden Rule. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
 
Did you ever think about the fact that only Christians can live an ethical life? I believe there are a lot of ethical things the world can do, and every once in a while and now and then they might even hit on this one. But the fullness of all that this ethic really means is only possible to a believer, not to an unbeliever, because there is no capacity within the life of an unbeliever to function in this manner.
 
Now, as we've been studying the Book of Matthew, we have been learning that the Christian perspective is that we are a kingdom and God is our king. We live in a monarchy. God is a reigning, ruling, sovereign king, and we are the subjects of His kingdom. But that is not the only metaphor.
 
Matthew points out the fact, and so does our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount, that we are also a family. The kingdom concept deals with rule, and the family concept deals with relationship.
And as we come to this particular section of the Sermon on the Mount we are dealing with relationship. In particular, we are dealing with relationships to people. That is the subject of chapter 7, verses 1 to 12.
 
And the setting of these relationships is family. Matthew has already informed us very clearly by the words of Jesus that God is our Heavenly Father.
And so we see, then, not only the kingdom concept in Matthew, but, within the rule and the reign and the kingdom, there is a relationship of a father to his children, and that has some very important ramifications.
 
In fact, I am convinced that the two greatest, strongest elements of Christian truth are within the framework of that relationship. I believe the two greatest realities in Christian truth are these: God is our Father, and Christians are our brothers. That, to me, is the essential truth of Christianity.
 
In fact, later in Matthew 22, Jesus said the two greatest commandments are: 1) love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And 2) love your neighbor as yourself.
 
Jesus said you can sum up all Biblical revelation, you can sum up all divine data, and you can boil it down to the reality of two things: relationship with the Father and relationship with brothers and sisters. We're a family. God is our Father. Christians are our brothers and sisters.
 
 
 
Jesus deals with the first of those in chapter 6, verses 9 and following where addresses God as Father in His prayer. 
 
And now we're coming to the second element of that great summation of all of the law, the love of one another. And by the way, the order is important, because you can't have the second unless you have the first. Unless rightly related to God, it is impossible to fulfill this ethical standard in verse 12.
 
And so here the Lord is instructing us on how we are to love our neighbor, how we are to love each other. You will note also at the end of verse 12, "for this is the law and the prophets."
 
In other words, the whole law as it relates to mankind living in this world can be summed up by, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Or, another way to say it, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." That's just another way to say the same thing. We are to love one another. Since God is our loving, caring Father, when that vertical relationship is right, the horizontal follows in its wake.
 
Now, let me add another note about the text. This particular section, verses 1 to 12, is the climax of the main theme of the whole sermon. And the main theme of the whole sermon is to present the standards for living in the kingdom.
 
He started out with the standards related to self, the standard related to the world, related to the Word, related to morality, related to religion, related to money and possessions. And now we come to the standard related to human relationships.
 
Jesus gives us a manifesto of living in His kingdom that is totally comprehensive. It deals with animate and inanimate objects. It deals with people in the family, such as here, and people outside the family, such as earlier, in the salt and light passage. It deals with how we treat other people and perceive them, not criticizing, judging and condemning. And it deals with how we treat ourselves, self-examining, humility.
 
All areas, how we treat God as a person, as a loving Father, and how we treat His Word as a revelation of His heart, all elements of the dimensions of Christian living within the kingdom are discussed in this masterpiece of a sermon. And all of them boil down to tremendous statements which are encompassing all the truth embodied in those areas, and reducing them down to these marvelous truths.
 
Now, as I told you last week, everything we need to know about human relationships , we find in these verses. We could take all Biblical data relative to human relationships and boil it back to these 12 verses, in summary fashion.
 
This is the marvel of the mind of Christ. He alone could so simplify the vast area of human relationships. And His teaching stands in stark contrast to the wisdom of the world, both then and now. 
 
And the whole point is to drive people to the desperation of saying, "We are unqualified to be in God's kingdom." And when they come to that point, then they begin to respond in a right way. In other words, you have to hear the bad news before you hear the good news.
And it is after this passage, in verse 13, that He gives them the invitation. He says, "Now, I've shown you where you are. You can keep going down the broad way that leads to destruction, if you want. Or, you can enter in at the narrow gate." And that is the invitation that follows the main theme of the message.
 
So we come, then, to this area of human relationships. Last week, He says “Stop Criticizing”, now He says, “Start Loving”. The whole concept of verses 1 to 12 boils back to that one statement: "Love your neighbor as yourself. That is the law and the prophets." That's the sum of it all.
 
Now, loving somebody has two sides, a negative and a positive. Loving somebody means you don't do some things to them and on the other side, you do other things to them. It involves both sides. That's why verses 1 to 6 is the negative and verses 7 to 12 is the positive.
 
Here’s the concept: If you are to love your neighbor as yourself, if you are to love the way God wants you to love, if love is to rule our lives and love is to guide all of our human interaction, then we must realize that love does not criticize, judge, condemn and damn people who don't quite come up to our standard. That's verses 1 to 6.  
 
But love is just more than not doing something. For instance: If your wife comes to you and says, "Do you love me?" And you say to them, "Well, I never did anything bad to you, did I?", that’s a little inadequate. The absence of certain behavior doesn’t necessarily indicate love. 
Love is not only not doing some things, it is doing some other things and that's why we have the balance in verses 7 through 12.
 
Let's look first at the principle.
 
verse 12
 
It begins with "Therefore," and we'll see what the therefore's there for in a little while. I’m using KJV intentionally tonight because it uses a critical word that NKJV leaves out, and I think the word is vital to understanding the passage, and it is the little word “all”.
 
NAS and NIV both use “everything”. That’s the idea.
 
"Therefore, all things," not some, not a few, not many, not most, not almost, "all things whatever you would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." The basic positive affirmation that governs all human relationships is, as you have heard it since you were a child, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
 
And the key is that we are to do as we would have them do. It doesn't necessarily mean they did, or they will. In fact, we may know they won't. But that doesn't change what we should do. Love doesn't judge, and love doesn't criticize. And love also reaches out and does to others what it would wish to be done to itself, even though it may know that it never will be done.
 
Now, this truth is really limited to the Bible. This rule is an unmistakable “Jesus” rule.
A lot of human religions and human philosophies and human attitudes have come up with a negative concept along this line, but they never were able to turn the corner to the positive.
 
Let me show you what I mean. If you study philosophy and various and sundry teachers and teachings, you will note that there is a negative kind of Golden Rule that appears in almost all systems of ethics. For example, among the rabbinical traditions, the famous Hebrew rabbi Hillel had this negative principle. He said, "What is hateful to yourself, do not to someone else." In other words, don't do something to somebody that you wouldn't want done to you. But it's a "don't" principle. It's a withholding or a refraining from doing it.
 
The Septuagint scholars of Alexandria, who put together the Greek Old Testament, said, "As you wish that no evil befall you, but to be a partaker of all good things, so you should act on the same principle toward your subjects and offenders." In other words, you don't want any evil on you, so don't do any evil to anybody else. Again, it's a "don't do" principle. It's negative.
 
Now, you can go to the Orient and you'll find, for example, Confucius taught, "What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others." "What you do not want done to yourself, do not do." Every one so far is a "don't do" thing. It's a withholding, or a refraining.
 
There was a Greek king by the name of Nikoklis who  said, "Do not do to others the things which make you angry when you experience them at the hands of other people." Again, it's a "don't do."
The Stoics said, "What you do not want to be done to you, do not do to anyone else."
 
You say well, what’s the difference? Well,  the whole world knows how to do not do. They just don't know how to do. We can all withhold what is evil. So in a negative form, it's a very common principle. And you can find it in all kinds of systems of theology and religion and ethics. But left alone as a negative, it's really a weak principle. Why? Because it is basically,  a revelationof the selfishness of man.
 
At our core, we are selfish. Man is utterly, totally, hopelessly dominated by self. Totally. And because of that, he can come up with a principle like this. Don't do this to somebody, because if you do, what'll happen? They might do it to you.  And at its core that is selfishness; self-preservation.
 
You know, you get mad at a guy and you say to yourself, "I'd like to deck that guy." You are not restrained out of love, in most cases. You are restrained because you have a nose, too, that you'd like to hang on to. I've always said I'd pick a fight with anybody smaller than me who's had a recent illness.
 
We don't do certain things, not because we love someone and desire the best for them, but out of fear and we desire the best for us. 
 
So Jesus comes along and says Do unto others; whatever you want others to do, do that to them. That’s the way the Kingdom operates. 
 
 
 
The negative ethic is compelled by fear. The positive ethic is compelled by love. And fear is common to man because he's dominated by self-preservation. Love comes only from God.
 
And the world in its ethics can restrain itself from doing certain things because of fear, but will not find the power to do other things of a goodness nature because it doesn't have the love of God shed abroad in its heart. That demands the knowledge of Christ.
 
So if you look carefully at the principle, then, it is a principle that is monumental in its meaning and reality. The world can’t do it, but we are Christians can and should. It’s the way of the Kingdom of God. We are not to be motivated to do what we do because we’re afraid of what might happen to us. We should instead be throwing ourselves away on behalf of others.
 
And what it simply means is this: You determine in your own heart what you would want for you and do it for someone else. You say, "Well, I have some needs. I need this and I need that." If you know somebody else that needs them, too, then do it for them, not you. Do unto them what you would normally do for you.
 
Now, having established the principle, Jesus gives three reasons to obey it.
 
1. The Purpose of God Demands It.
 
Look at the end of verse 12.
 
I mean, this is the whole point of all the Scripture. This is the sum of the Old Testament.
For example, when you read in the Decalogue, in Exodus, chapter 20, starting in verse 12, that thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not covet, all of those things are simply a summation of, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." You don't want them to kill you, steal from you, covet from you, commit adultery against you, etc. You see?
 
All the Ten Commandments is is an expansion of two principles. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. Therefore, you will not have any other gods before Him. You will not take His name in vain. And you will not desecrate the Sabbath Day. Because you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
 
Second is love your neighbor as yourself. Therefore, you will not kill, you will not covet, you will not lie, you will not steal, you will not commit adultery. All that does is expand that. And then the rest of the Bible comments on those things and expands those things.
 
But it all goes back to those some basics, so that all the law and the prophets hang on loving one another so much that when I know you have a need, I will do for you what I would want done to myself.
 
And, in fact, if it comes to that and I have to choose, I'll choose to do it for you and sacrifice my own self. If I know I need a new suit and I know you need a new suit, then I'll get you a new suit, because I know that's what I would do for me. And I'll go without. That's the essence of the principle.
 
James 2:8 calls it the royal law. If you're looking for the law of the king, the law that rules in the kingdom and the relationships of the kingdom, it says, "The royal law is this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." The same thing you would do for you, do for them. That's the same principle, identical. And that's what He's calling for here.
 
The purpose of God that demands it. This is the whole reason for the whole revelation. This whole thing is wasted unless we are obedient to that.
 
The second reason we are to keep this ethic is because
 
2. The Promise of God Demands It
 
Notice the "therefore" in verse 12, so let's back up to verses 7 to 11, which lead us into the principle. The illustration comes first in this case, in order that it might be a bridge from the first six verses.
 
It says in verses 7 and 8 that whatever we ask and seek and knock for, we're going to receive.
 
Here's the heart of the matter -- we can feel free to give to others and to do for others and to sacrifice for others and to love others because we can be confident that, in giving up all we have to someone else, we have an ultimate and eternal resource to replenish our own needs.
 
He’s just told us that we are not to store up earthly treasures, but seek His Kingdom and righteousness, and we don’t have to worry about what we’ll eat and drink and wear. 
 
Therefore, when I’m being guided by God, I can give away the very things I thought I needed and God will provide when I ask, seek and knock. 
 
In fact, the promise of God to me that what I ask for and seek for and knock for will be given to me frees me up to bestow anything and everything I have on the one that has the need.
 
I can do unto others what I would do for myself without fear of having nothing left, because all I have to do is turn to my loving Father, who gives me bread for every day and takes care of me in every way, and I shall never do without that which I need.
 
Now I want to look closely at this passage because people have been confused about the order of this chapter, and they think a lot of these things are just kind of little tidbits thrown in and they don't have any connection. I don't believe that. I think there is a masterful presentation. I think the Lord eases from 6 into 7 and from 7 into 9 and 10 and then into 11 and then into 12 in a beautiful, majestic way of flowing this whole thing together.
 
Let me show you why I say that. People say, "Well, why doesn't He give the principle of verse 12 and then the illustration?" Because the illustration fits also with the first 6 verses. It's in a perfect place. Let me show you why.
 
The main principle, the negative principle of human relations in verses 1 through 5a is what? Don’t judge. Don't criticize. Don't be a gossiping, backbiting critic. Now, the danger of that is that in not wanting to criticize, we may become gullible and vulnerable.
Does that mean we're not supposed to reprove and rebuke a brother in sin? No. Does it mean we're not supposed to discriminate and discern false prophets, false teachers and apostates? No.
 
You'll notice in verse 5, it says, even though we're not to judge, we are to see clearly to cast a splinter out of our brother's eye. We have to go to fellow believers and see the sin in their life and confront it and do all we can to see them restored. And we have to be careful we don't throw holy things to dogs and we don't throw pearls to swine.
 
So how do we determine, without criticizing and condemning and being judgmental who the dogs and hogs are so we don’t make the mistake Jesus warns us about? 
 
The answer is verse 7. "Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you." Listen, who is able to discriminate? Who is able to judge? Who is able to discern?  Who is able to know when you've got somebody that you don't want to throw your pearls to? Who is able to discern when you have someone there that you don't want to give a holy thing to because you know they'll tramp it under their feet? Who is it that's able to see sin in a believer's life and lovingly go and restore that believer?
 
I'll tell you who it is. It's God and God alone who has that kind of discernment. And so if you want to have it, there's no little formula that you're going to use. There's no hip pocket rulebook. The only place you're going to have to go for that information is down on your knees.
I don't know the answer to all that. I don’t have all the facts, but I know that James 1 says, "If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberally and holds back nothing."
 
Listen: if all God wanted was for us to go through with a bunch of little formulas and a bunch of little ditties and a bunch of little rules, He'd have passed us a rule book and said, "You're on your own." But that isn't what He wants. What He wants is a relationship. And so He gives us enough truth so that we're responsible, and enough mystery so that we're dependent.
 
And ever and always in dealing with spiritual issues, we are thrown to the Word of God for the principle, and we sort of go along for a while with that principle, and we run out of gas, and we have to throw ourselves on His wisdom. And that's what keeps the relationship hot. If we had all the answers in the hip pocket, the relationship would suffer. There's more to it than that.
 
And so we have to ask and seek and knock, and He reveals to us. And I believe that's the bridge that the Spirit of God would have us see there. It helps us know how to get that splinter out of a brother's eye and how to be careful about giving holy things to dogs and casting pearls before swine.
 
And so that's how this text reaches back. But let's see how it reaches forward to our text.
 
How can we be free to give to others? By knowing that God will give back to us what we need.
 
People say, "I'd love to be able to ehlp others and I know they have real needs. But, what's going to happen in my life?" And the Lord says, "Ask and I'll give it."
 
Now, some people think verse 7 is a blank check. I'm making an offer to God. I'm saying, "Here's my blank check, Lord. It's all signed and delivered. Now unload on the bank of heaven there, and get it on down to me." And we get anything. I hear people say, "Well, the Bible says, 'Ask,' verse 8, 'for everyone that asks receives and everyone that seeks finds and to him that knocks it shall be opened.'" And they just block that little verse out, "All you've got to do is ask."
 
But they miss the fact that there are some conditions to that. And at the top of the list is
 
1. This only works if you're a child of God.
 
If there is no relationship to Him, He's not bound. First of all, you must be a child of God.
 
And secondly,
 
2. You must be living in obedience, or, as Peter says, "Your prayers will be hindered."
 
I John 3:22, "Whatever we ask, we receive of Him," listen to this, "because we keep His commandments and are doing the things that are pleasing in His sight." When you're not doing those, and you're not obeying, you're not receiving either.
 
 
Then
 
3. You’ve got to have the right motive in asking.
 
If you ask to receive for yourself, forget it. What do you mean? James 4:3, "You ask and you receive not, because you ask amiss, to consume it upon your own lusts." All you want is to fulfill your own desire.
 
So, in regard to asking, you have to be an obedient, selfless child of God to receive. 
 
And
 
4. You have to submit it all to His will.
 
I John 5:14 and 15, "In whatever we ask, we know we receive of Him if we ask according to His will."
 
That's not a blank check. In fact, it’s far from it. We do people a great disservice when we quote these verses as though God is obligated to answer. And then when they don’t meet the conditions and He doesn’t, they are disillusioned about God. 
 
The teaching is: when the conditions are right -- you're His child, you're His obedient child, you're His unselfish child, and you ask according to His will, in order that He may be glorified -- He'll do it.
 
There's one other element I would just point out to you here, and that is that these are three present imperatives. Keep on asking. Keep on seeking. Keep on knocking. They talk about a perseverance and a constancy. And they also have another little thought in them.
 
Ask is very simple. A child does that. There's no involvement in it. There's no participation in it. You just ask.
 
Seek is stronger than an asking. There's a participation in it. At least you're moving your eyes.
 
And with Knock, you're banging away. There's a greater participation. So that even though we know everything comes from the Lord, that does not assume that we are not actively, aggressively, perseveringly involved in its fulfillment.
 
So there is a sense in which we are really involved, even in our own prayers. Why? Why does God want us to persevere? Beloved, it's so simple. Not because we have to bang away to get God to act, but because the more we're involved in the process. And the greater the relationship becomes, the deeper, the richer, the more meaningful my communion with Him is.
 
God doesn't want me to carry a little book of formulas and rules. He wants me to have a vital relationship with Him. And He does the kind of things that throw me into that relationship in a wholesale fashion.
 
And why am I willing to do that? Why am I willing to live that principle out and to do unto others what I wish they would do to me?  Because I know that whatever I may give away of myself and whatever good things I may do to others, I know God will replenish my own supply.
 
 
And so I do it because the purpose of God demands it, and because the promise of God demands it,
 
And, thirdly, because
 
3. The Pattern of God Demands It.
 
If I go around the world saying I'm a child of God, then there ought to be something of me that manifests something of Him. People say our kids look like us. Tough, but true. Not only do they look like us, they are like us. And if I claim to be a child of God, there ought to be some resemblance. 
 
And so in regard to that, Jesus uses a marvelous illustration in verse 9.
 
Do you know a loving father that would do that? Here is a dependent child in loving relationship with his father, obedient, not looking to misuse it, and he comes asking, seeking , knocking, and the Father intentionally deceives that child with a rock? 
 
"Of course not."
 
Well, what about this? If he asks a fish, will he give him a serpent?
 
A fish was a clean animal, according to ceremonial law. And a fish could be eaten. God said that was all right. But an eel and a snake were unclean animals. They could not be eaten. Leviticus 11:12 says that.
 
Would a father purposely make his son violate the law of God? No. He's not going to give him eat an unclean animal. Some people think that that means a snake that would bite him.
That’s not it. The assumption is that it's cooked. Cooked snakes don't bite. The idea is the uncleanness of it.
 
A father will not purposely deceive his son. He will not purposely defile his son. And, finally, he won't purposely destroy his son, either.
 
Luke adds the fact that if his son asks for an egg, will he given him a scorpion? Scorpions in that part of the world are large, and when they tuck their legs and their claws underneath and sleep, they look exactly like an egg from the top. If the son asks his father for an egg, is his father going to give that which not only deceives him and defiles him, but destroys him? No father would do that.
 
And then, the point of it is found in verse 11. 
 
If you, then, being evil,"
 
That is a reference to our fallen nature. Even when a father is doing the best he can to take care of his  children he does not override the basic evil nature -- "If ye, then, being evil," and you are evil when you even give a good gift to your child, like bread and fish and an egg, just basic substance, but if you, with an evil, vile, fallen, corrupt and sinful nature, do that much out of a sense of parental love, "then how much more" -- there's that how much more argument that He used in chapter 6 -- "how much more shall your Father" -- instead of saying "who is good," He says, "who is in heaven," which implies His holiness, "give good things to them that ask Him."
 
And the point is this. If sinful fathers give their kids the basics of life, don't you think God'll do that? And the idea that I see here is that God is the absolute giving Father, who gives to all what they need, knowing full well they could never give back to Him anything, in kind or measure. And if that's the way He is, then isn't that the way we, His children, should be toward others? 
 
His purpose demands it. It's the whole reason for the law.
 
His promise frees us up to do it, because He will replenish everything that we do for others.
 
And here we find the majesty of this thought, His pattern is this way to us. How can we say we are His children and do less for others? "Therefore," verse 12 says, "therefore, all things, whatever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
 
Our God is a good God. We ask, He gives, and He gives what is best, and never deceives and never defiles and never destroys. And He is our pattern. And with that pattern we are to give to others, out of love.
 
Let's bow in prayer.