Ask, Seek, Knock: Your Prayer at Work in the World

Introduction

You've probably noticed there's a fast way to bond with a stranger: making fun of someone else together. You're standing in line, the cashier is slow, and it only takes two or three sharp words behind the poor woman's back, and there you go, you're "friends," in the loose sense of the word. You talked, so now you're friends. It's cultural, it happens pretty much everywhere. But does that represent the best of the Christian life? Surely not. And yet, when you find yourself in that situation, what do you do? Interrupt to pray out loud for the cashier? That would break the rhythm a bit, you'd agree. It's a complicated subject. In this third installment of the "Citizen of Heaven, Feet on Earth" series, Momentum opens up Matthew 7:7-12 to find the resource you need in moments like these: an active life of prayer, anchored in the Father's love and in union with Christ.

Message Outline

1. Ask, seek, knock: Jesus' summary for your life in the world

• "Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened" (Matthew 7:7-8). This is how Jesus sums up how you're called to live in this world.
• This passage is often linked to Luke 11, where the disciples watch Jesus pray and ask him, "Teach us to pray." There, the context is clearly prayer. But in Matthew 7, it's different. We're in the discourse on the kingdom, and Jesus has just been talking about human relationships: "Don't judge, so that you won't be judged"; don't throw sacred things before those who will trample them; don't force your values, your way of living, on other people.
• After saying all this, Jesus gives the antidote: ask, seek, knock. Because there's something like a universal law built into creation: the request calls for a response. The preacher borrows an illustration from Dallas Willard: a man makes himself a nice sandwich, sits down at his computer, ready to enjoy it, and he feels his dog's head on his knees, having spotted the sandwich and silently asking for a share. That day, two creatures got fed. Both people and animals know it: you have to ask.
• Grammatically, all three verbs are in the present imperative. It's a command, not an option, but it's also a tense that expresses continuity. Not "ask if you feel like it," but keep asking and asking again, keep seeking until you find, keep knocking until the door opens. Jesus is calling you to an active life of prayer, not a one-time ritual.

2. The friend at midnight: God works in you through perseverance

• To explain what "knocking until it's opened" means, Jesus tells the story of the persistent friend in Luke 11:5-8. A man receives a cousin in the middle of the night, arriving from far away, with nothing to feed him. In the culture of the ancient Near East, it was unthinkable to send him off to an inn: that would be shameful for you and your whole family. So you go knock on your neighbor's door, at midnight.
• Except at midnight, in a small village house where everyone sleeps in the same room (children included), getting up to find three loaves of bread is no small thing. If the friend finally gets up, it's not even out of friendship anymore, it's to get rid of you so he can go back to sleep with his kids. Jesus uses this everyday scene to say: ask, seek, knock.
• Sometimes, in that search between prayer and shaped action, God does something in you. Something purifying. Especially when the answers are: "no," or "you'll find it, but not here, look further," or the door closes. In those moments, God builds a perseverance in you that's precious for your life.
• He also strips away what isn't worthy in your desires. He changes what you want. James, the Lord's brother (the one who grew up with Jesus, who watched him pray and act), says it plainly: "You ask, and don't receive, because you ask amiss, so that you may spend it for your pleasures" (James 4:3). Waiting is a school. Through this trial, through this working-out of perseverance, God does something very beautiful in your life.

3. Prayer or action? Jesus rejects the false choice

• You've probably heard this line before: "There are those who pray, and there are those who act." As if they were two separate camps. As if praying excused you from acting, or acting excused you from praying.
• Honestly, it's true that you meet people who pray a lot, let opportunities pass by, and don't really believe God answers. It's also true that there are people who pray formally and, in practice, do nothing at all.
• But that's not what Jesus is asking for. The very fact that he says "keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking" teaches the opposite: prayer and action are welded together. And maybe God actually wants to use you to show the people around you how effective prayer is. An active life of prayer builds a family-like trust with the Lord.

4. The Father in heaven gives good things : and the Holy Spirit

• "Or who is there among you, who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent? 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!" (Matthew 7:9-11).
• Why a stone, why a serpent? Because in first-century Galilee, people mainly ate small loaves (made from lightly processed wheat, which look like pebbles), and fish from the lake, some varieties of which have a serpent-like shape. Jesus speaks in everyday images. Picture this father: his child is hungry, says "dad, I'm hungry," and the father, as a joke, hands him a stone (the child breaks his teeth. Or a snake), and he gets bitten. Who would do that? No one. That would be pure abuse.
• So when Jesus says "being evil," don't get offended too quickly. Remember, you're reading a discourse he most likely delivered in one continuous sweep. If you read back through the Sermon on the Mount from the first beatitude to the last word, you feel just how far short you fall. Yes, you're "evil", because you condemn others, because you force your opinion on them, because you worry, because you judge. You know it.
• And yet, even you know how to give good things to your child. How much more your heavenly Father! He's not up there sneering while you struggle down here. It's the opposite: he watches his child persevere and he's proud. "Look," he says, "at this perseverance I'm working in him." That's your Father.
• And the parallel in Luke 11:13 spells out exactly what the Father gives to those who ask him: the Holy Spirit. Because it's the Spirit who does this work of perseverance, patience, and love in you. It's the Spirit who gives you the strength to see it through. That's what your Father gives you when you ask, because he is good, and because he wants what's best for you.

5. The golden rule: method and motivation

• "Therefore whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them; for this is the law and the prophets" (Matthew 7:12). This is the keystone of the whole passage.
• You don't want to be judged? Don't judge. You don't like it when others push their values on you? Don't do it to them. Jesus takes everything he's just said and lays it right on you, at eye level.
• The connection to Matthew 22 is direct. When Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is, he answers: love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. And he adds: "The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."
• Two sides of the same coin: the golden rule is the method; the love of God is the motivation. The love of God that you receive gives you the strength to keep the golden rule. That's how the whole law and the prophets hold together.

6. Jesus and the Samaritan woman: asking without judging, without forcing

• What does this look like in real life? Look at Jesus himself in John 4. He leaves Judea, heads up toward Galilee, passes through Samaria, and he's tired, he's thirsty. A woman comes to draw water at high noon, a strange time, because it's hot and no one goes to fetch water then.
• Jesus says to her, "Give me a drink" (John 4:7). In our translations, this can sound like a command. But it's really a request: "Please, give me a drink." He has no jar; he can't drink without one. Because Jesus respects people, he asks. Everything starts with a question.
• Then he asks a second question: "Go, call your husband, and come here" (John 4:16). He is 100% God and 100% man. In his divinity, he already knows her situation. In his humanity, he asks the question, and, "as it happens," it's the right one. The woman answers, "I have no husband." "You said well, 'I have no husband,'" Jesus replies, and the conversation keeps going.
• At no point does she feel judged. On the contrary, she's amazed that he's even speaking to her, a Samaritan. There's no condemnation. He doesn't force his opinion on her. He talks with her. And when the disciples come back (v. 25-27), they're surprised to find him deep in conversation with her. The result? An entire village is saved. Jesus doesn't judge, doesn't force, asks questions, talks. And he prays.

7. Union with Christ: the mediator of all your relationships

• You're not Jesus. But Jesus left you a very practical doctrine for living the way he lived with the Samaritan woman, the doctrine of union with Christ. It's a powerful doctrine for everyday life.
• As the phrase says: because you're in Christ, saved by Christ, he is risen, you live in him, you live in union with him in every sphere of your life.
• This first means that Christ is the mediator. You didn't die for your own sins, because you can't die for your own sins, that's called going to hell. Christ stepped in, he came, he became your mediator between you and God.
• But it doesn't stop there. Through union with Christ, Christ is also the mediator between you and every person in your life. Even before you call your friend, Christ is already the mediator between you and him. That's what stops you from judging and condemning him, because "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." That's what keeps you from forcing anything on him. That's what helps you pray for him the way you'd want him to pray for you.
• Christ is the mediator between you and your children, so that you're a father who doesn't hand out stones. Christ is the mediator between you and your boss, so that you're a worthy employee who represents Christ in the world. It works with every one of your relationships.
• That's how it all comes together. Ask, seek, knock, Jesus sums up living in the world through the beautiful reality of union with Christ. It's not that asking, seeking, and knocking is what makes you come alive: it's because Christ lives in you that you can ask, seek, and knock. And if Christ is truly your mediator, then you experience the risen Christ here, now, in your everyday life.

Key Takeaways

• In Matthew 7, "ask, seek, knock" isn't primarily a lesson about prayer (as in Luke 11): it's the inner resource of the citizen of Heaven for living out relationships without judging and without forcing.
• All three verbs are in the present imperative: keep asking and asking again, keep seeking until you find, keep knocking until it's opened. Christian prayer is an active life, not a one-time ritual.
• In the waiting, and in the "no's," God does a purifying work in you: he builds perseverance and reshapes your desires (James 4:3).
• Prayer and action aren't two opposing camps: Jesus rejects the false choice. Keep asking continually, and act at the same time.
• Your Father in heaven isn't laughing at you while you struggle: he's proud of the perseverance he's working in you. And to those who ask him, he gives the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13).
• The golden rule (Matthew 7:12) and the double commandment (Matthew 22:37-40) are two sides of the same coin: method and motivation.
• Jesus with the Samaritan woman (John 4) shows what this looks like in practice: he asks, questions, respects, doesn't judge, doesn't force, and an entire village is saved.
• The doctrine of union with Christ: Christ is your mediator not only between you and God, but also between you and every person in your life. That's where you experience the risen Christ in your everyday life.

Personal Application

1. What's your usual way of bonding with a stranger: easy mockery at someone else's expense, or a word that blesses? Where could you replace a knowing laugh with a silent prayer this week?
2. What have you been "knocking" on for a long time? Are you ready to keep going, or do you want to stop? What is God doing in you through this waiting?
3. Are you more of the person who prays but doesn't act, or the person who acts but doesn't pray? How is Jesus inviting you to bring the two together this week?
4. Who are you tempted to "hand a stone" to when they're asking you for bread: your child, your spouse, a coworker, a brother or sister in Christ?
5. Pick one specific relationship (a friend, your boss, a family member). Christ is already the mediator between you and them: what does that change, practically, in your next conversation with that person?

Scripture Referenced

• Matthew 7:7-8 · ask, seek, knock
• Matthew 7:9-11 · the Father in heaven gives good things
• Matthew 7:12 · the golden rule
• Matthew 22:37-40 · love God, love your neighbor
• Luke 11:5-8 · the persistent friend at midnight
• Luke 11:13 · the heavenly Father gives the Holy Spirit
• John 4:7-27 · Jesus and the Samaritan woman
• James 4:3 · you ask and don't receive, because you ask amiss
• Romans 8:1 · there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Jesus use the present imperative in Matthew 7:7?

Because this grammatical tense expresses a continuous action, not a one-time event. Jesus doesn't say, "ask once if you feel like it": he says keep asking and asking again, keep seeking until you find, keep knocking until the door is opened. It's a command to persevere. Christian prayer isn't a formula you recite: it's an active life that clings to the Father in heaven over the long haul. And in that long haul, God doesn't just answer: he transforms you. He builds perseverance, purifies your desires, changes what you want.

What is the difference between Matthew 7 and Luke 11 on "ask, seek, knock"?

The context isn't the same. In Luke 11, the disciples have just watched Jesus pray and ask him, "Teach us to pray." So that passage is directly about prayer. In Matthew 7, we're in the Sermon on the Mount: Jesus has just talked about not judging, not forcing your values on others, and he concludes with the golden rule (v. 12). The context is human relationships. Asking, seeking, and knocking then becomes the inner resource of the citizen of Heaven who has to live in the middle of the world, without judging the people he meets and without pushing his opinions on them.

What is the doctrine of union with Christ that the preacher talks about?

It's the idea that the Christian lives united to Christ in every sphere of life. Christ isn't only the mediator between you and God, he's also the mediator between you and every person you meet. This doctrine changes everything in your relationships: even before you call your friend, before you speak to your coworker or your boss, Christ is already there as mediator. That's what keeps you from judging, from forcing, from condemning. That's what lets you pray for the other person the way you'd want them to pray for you. And that's exactly where, in the concrete details of your relationships, you experience the risen Christ here and now.