May 16, 2021
Morning Service

Love was our central theme of the message last week as we detoured slightly from our “Fishers of Men” teaching series.  As Jesus followers we must go the extra mile to express love to a world that is lacking in it.  It is up to us to be the bridge builders in relationships that express God’s love.  If not us, then who?  Don’t give up on this crazy world yet, Jesus hasn’t.  Be the salt and light that makes life better for those around you pointing them to Jesus your Savior and best friend.  In our study a couple of weeks ago Jesus instructed us to “Judge not that you be not judged.”  He instructed us to always look in the mirror first before judging our brother and get that 2x4 out of our own eye first before beginning to work on our brother’s splinter.  Today we will return to Jesus teaching us the things that we need to be doing to become a faithful follower and a fisher of men.

Mat 7:7-11 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  (8)  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  (9)  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  (10)  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  (11)  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

            This can easily be tied back into Jesus speaking about worry about the things that we need in our lives such as food, clothing, health and shelter.  If there are needs in those areas, ask, seek and knock at His door and He will hear you and make a way; nothing is too big or too small.  He knows the need, but wants us to ask Him to fill that need and trust Him to do so.  He will hear your cry and answer you.  Today I want to spin this back to the same solution Jesus gave us at the end of that discourse on worry.

 

Mat 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

            Many of us are quick to ask, seek, and knock about our physical needs and often our desires here on earth, but are we really missing the foundational point to this promise?  Jesus is offering to us much more than an avenue to have our physical needs met; He is offering us an avenue to have our spiritual needs met as well.  Our physical needs are but for a moment, but our spiritual needs are eternal.  I challenge you this morning to apply this promise that if you ask you will receive, seek you shall find, and knock and it shall be opened more to your spiritual life.  Ask, seek, and knock to be given the things that are more internal than external.  Things like Paul called the “fruits of the spirit.”

 

Gal 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.  (24)  And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  (25)  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

            To seek after God first is to seek after these qualities in our lives.  These are the things that bring forth true happiness and contentment in this life.  In front of your spiritual mirrors I am again going to ask you to be honest with yourself and ask are these things my end goal?  Am I really asking, seeking and knocking to receive these “fruits of the spirit” into my life more than I am my physical needs and even my desires?  Am I praying more for financial help than for spiritual help?  What we must grow into understanding in our walk with our Lord, is that IF we seek these things first, He will take care of everything else!  Worry and stress often come from us placing priorities on the other things rather than putting God first in our efforts.  In our passage Jesus said a father would not give his child a snake if he asked for a fish.  “How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” Jesus is revealing to us the heart of God in this promise.  God is not selfish, stingy, or begrudging and we don’t have to beg and plead as we come before Him with our requests.  He is our loving Father who understands, cares and comforts. When we ask Him for peace, love and joy in our lives that please Him greatly!  Think about that for a moment.  If we are honestly asking God for any of these “fruits of the spirit” will He not grant them to us?  Jesus commands us to actively ask, seek, and knock and promises that we will receive, find and it will be opened.  If you feel your spiritual life is not where it should be, then look in the mirror and ask is that what I am seeking?  Am I really seeking a closer walk with Jesus or am I seeking my life be made easier and more enjoyable here on the earth?  Is it about Him or about me?  As Paul stated in our passage from Galatians, “If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit.”  Let us begin to think and focus more on the spiritual realm than the physical.  Seeking a closer walk more than a new car in the garage.  That is the road to true happiness and contentment, not the things of this world which can consume us if we allow it to.  Jesus now points us to the attitude we should take when dealing with others.

 

Mat 7:12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

            We all know this as the “Golden Rule” and Jesus again makes this very easy for us to understand.  This is a foundation to stand upon displaying an attitude of goodness and mercy to all those around us; reflecting exactly how God is loving us.  If a difficult situation arises, think about how you wish the other person would handle it from your viewpoint and then enact that to them.  Everyone likes to be treated with respect, so don’t ever disrespect anyone else.  Everyone loves it when someone jumps in to help at their time of need, look for a need you can help with and jump in!  In living like this we are “better together” and we are being obedient to the call the Lord has laid upon our heart to “Follow Me.”  It takes effort to follow Jesus obediently and He reveals that to us now.

 

  Mat 7:13-14 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  (14)  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

            To take the uphill trail that no one else is taking is always a hard decision to make, but it is one that we are called to follow.  The world is moving quickly along the downhill road that leads to destruction and it is easy to just “go with the flow” and float along with the current with everyone else.  But we have been called to “not conform to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.”  We march to a different drummer and choose to take a different path.  It is a fact that Jesus reveals to us here that the road will not be easy but it that in reality “difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”  To follow Jesus means we are seeking and striving to walk along the narrow path.  To faithfully follow it is going to take commitment, stamina, and determination to stay on that path.  Our enemy will use the alluring things of this world to try to detour us off course.  He is good at his job and he knows our weaknesses and will seek to expose them.  Always be on guard against the temptation of sin.  Set up guard rails which include church attendance, Bible study, a consistent prayer life, and someone you are spiritually accountable to.  Without these things we all tend to drift along with the current and float towards the wide gate that leads us to allowing sin in our lives.

            Another of the revealing facts in this passage about the narrow gate is that “few there be that find it.”  Not everyone will be saved, only a chosen few who truly accept that gift.  The effort to stay on the straight and narrow path is NOT to earn your salvation.  Your salvation was sealed with your hearing and receiving of the gospel message, your repentance from you sins and your baptism.  That work is paid for in full finished and completed by Jesus with His DBR; all we had to do was confess Him with our mouth and believe with our heart to accept it.  This effort to stay on the narrow path is about becoming “fishers of men;” a faithful follower of our Savior whom He can use to further His kingdom to this dark and dying world.  We are surrendering ourselves to Him and allowing the Spirit to transform us into something new and exciting.  Our goal is no longer to “be like everyone else” but to be an odd, peculiar people who desire to follow our Savior even when the road is narrow and difficult because our ultimate goal is to reach what is at the end of the narrow path.  Today Jesus has shown us how to get there by asking, seeking and knocking at His door for things spiritual in our lives.  I challenge you again today to be sure you are on the narrow path and not the wide one.

 

Heavenly Father, open the eyes of our heart to see the path that we are on.  Please grant us the courage and desire to be on the narrow, difficult path that leads to You.