Flashback Episode — God Likes Us: Matthew 7:7-20

Our passage for this episode begins with one of Jesus’ most famous verses, and this verse is one that Christians for centuries have claimed as a promise worth holding onto. However, sometimes what we receive after we claim this promise is not what we ask for, and this often confuses us into thinking God doesn’t care, He doesn’t exist, or perhaps that He dislikes us.

However, none of these thoughts are true. God does care, He does exist, and He does love us. Let’s read the passage for this episode and unpack how we can see each of these things present. Our passage is found in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 7, and we will read it using the Contemporary English Version. Starting in verse 7, Jesus continued teaching, saying:

⁷ Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. ⁸ Everyone who asks will receive. Everyone who searches will find. And the door will be opened for everyone who knocks. ⁹ Would any of you give your hungry child a stone, if the child asked for some bread? ¹⁰ Would you give your child a snake if the child asked for a fish? ¹¹ As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give good things to people who ask.

Let’s briefly pause here to draw our attention to a contrasting set of ideas that Jesus sets up. We are quick to claim the “Ask”, “Search”, and “Knock” promises, but look a little closer how Jesus says these will be answered. Yes, we will receive when we ask, we will find when we search, and we will have a door opened when we knock, but what often confuses us is that what we receive, what we find, and the door that is opened looks different than what we wanted.

Jesus explains this in the next verses and He summarizes it by saying, “your heavenly Father is even more ready to give good things to people who ask.” (v. 11b) God answers our prayers with things that will help us from His “eternity” perspective, and they will almost always look different than what we were asking for from our “earthly” perspective. God does care for us – He wants to be with us forever!

Let’s continue our passage. In verse 13, Jesus says:

¹² Treat others as you want them to treat you. This is what the Law and the Prophets are all about.

¹³ Go in through the narrow gate. The gate to destruction is wide, and the road that leads there is easy to follow. A lot of people go through that gate. ¹⁴ But the gate to life is very narrow. The road that leads there is so hard to follow that only a few people find it.

We’ll pause here to address an idea that I see included in this portion. The metaphor of a narrow gate and a wide gate and a narrow road contrasted with a wide road are about as famous as the Ask-Seek-Knock set of promises we just read about in the previous section.

However, there is something that bothers me about this metaphor. If believing in Jesus is how we gain entrance into heaven, then it seems as though there is enough people on that path to make it less narrow and easier to find and follow.

Perhaps this is the case, but maybe Jesus is thinking a step deeper than just gaining salvation. He calls this gate the gate of life, so perhaps this gate and path have to with finding the life that God calls each of us to live. I’ve heard this interpretation alluded to, and it is contrasted with those who fall short of God’s plan for their lives.

But Jesus contrasts the “life” gate with the “destruction” gate, which makes me think that we still must look at a judgment-like context. While Christians for centuries believe that belief in Jesus is the only way of receiving a ticket into heaven, the very valid counter-argument-question is what about all those living before Jesus was alive. Is the first several thousand years or more of history doomed to destruction simply because Jesus was not alive and present?

As I look deeper into the theme and idea of Jesus’ sacrifice, I see it echo the first sacrifice that happened immediately following Adam and Eve’s exile from Eden. After being kicked out of the garden, God gives them a promise through the symbol of a sacrificed lamb, and this sets the contrast in place between a “do-it-myself” attitude, and a “let-God-help-lead-and-guide-me” attitude.

The symbol of a sacrificed lamb shows us God’s mercy while still bringing punishment. It shows us God’s mercy towards us by shifting the death we deserve onto something that did not deserve it. I think in many ways, this could have been an incredibly powerful metaphor for those living before Jesus arrived in history – and it helps us trust in God’s existence, even if we don’t always understand His methods.

Let’s continue our passage. In verse 15, Jesus says:

¹⁵ Watch out for false prophets! They dress up like sheep, but inside they are wolves who have come to attack you. ¹⁶ You can tell what they are by what they do. No one picks grapes or figs from thornbushes. ¹⁷ A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that produces bad fruit will be chopped down and burned. ²⁰ You can tell who the false prophets are by their deeds.

Many Christians will take this last section of our passage and apply it with a number of other passages to give the impression that moving forward, God will not send any more prophets. In other words, they say, Jesus was the culmination of the prophets, and there is nothing more for a prophet to predict or point forward to.

While in many ways this is true, another way to describe a prophet is by using the word messenger. The typical way of describing someone as a prophet is if they make a prediction, but if we look at the lives and ministries of the Old Testament prophets, we can see the theme running through all their ministries that they were called to share a message, or a series of messages, from God.

If we understand Jesus’ words about prophets to be forewarning us about upcoming messengers, then we can clearly understand the test Jesus gives to help us weed out the imposters. Jesus’ test is simply to look at their lives. Aside from Jesus, everyone in history has sinned, so simply seeing a sin in someone’s past should not disqualify someone from being a messenger, because then only angels could fill that role.

Instead, Jesus helps us understand that He still likes us, loves us, and wants to help us by promising to send messengers to help point us back to Him. And the easy way to tell if these messengers are from God is to look at how they live their lives. False prophets will have red flags in their actions and attitudes, while true messengers will display fruits of the Spirit and have a more Christ-like and Christ-focused character.

God cares, God exists, and God likes each of us, and our passage in this episode helps us reaffirm our faith and trust in Him.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life. Continue to place your hope, faith, and trust in Jesus, the One who gave His life to be our sacrifice.

Also, as I regularly challenge you to do, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself and keep your eyes open for examples of God’s love for His people. Through the Bible, we can learn how God has been present in the history of this world, and we can get an idea for what He is like and how we can see Him moving in the world today.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or deviate away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!