Coffee With The Lord

A contradiction in the Bible?

A person might think there is a contradiction between the teaching of Jesus between Matthew 7:7-11 and what He taught in Matthew 6:7-8.  However, I am convinced that is NOT the case!

Here is what Jesus warned about in Matthew 6:7-8…

“When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

These verses address the issue of prayer as a mantra, as incantation… the mindless repetition of phrases over and over with the belief that piling up those phrases will eventually capture God’s attention!  (In fact, I can almost see the yawns of the person praying as he or she struggles to stay awake as they “put in time!”)

Matthew 7:7-11 however, encourages “engaged, faith-filled persistence” in prayer!   

“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.  Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?  If you then, who are 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!”

The imperatives in these verses – “ask, seek and knock” are continuous in the original language… “ask, and keep on asking … seek, and keep on seeking … knock and keep on knocking!”  …THE HEAVENLY FATHER PROMISES “GOOD GIFTS” TO THOSE WHO PERSIST IN ENGAGED FAITH-FILLED PRAYER! 

Hey… engaged, faith-filled persistence pays off!  Know anyone who has persisted and was rewarded?  Com’on, keep on asking, seeking and knocking!  I’m going to!!!

I’m always blown away by the incredible, immeasurable, grace of God. 

In the natural I have a tendency to think of some people as “savable” and secretly categorize others as beyond the saving grace of God.  Every time I do that God surprises me (and I must admit shames me as well) by “saving” and transforming a life that I have shelved as beyond the reach of God’s grace.  LORD HELP ME!  WHEN WILL I LEARN MY LESSON!

This morning I read the following during my Bible reading during “coffee with the Lord”…

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.  For the Scripture says, ‘EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME.’  FOR THERE IS NO DISTINCTION … THE SAME LORD IS LORD OF ALL, BESTOWING HIS RICHES ON ALL WHO CALL ON HIM.  FOR ‘EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’  Romans 10:9–13 (ESV)

I mean, Apostle Paul should know, right?  He said, “Formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.  THE SAYING IS TRUSTWORTHY AND DESERVING OF FULL ACCEPTANCE, THAT CHRIST JESUS CAME INTO THE WORLD TO SAVE SINNERS, OF WHOM I AM THE FOREMOST.  But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.  To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen!!” (1 Timothy 1:12–17)

Wow!!  Paul (Saul of Tarsus) the Christ-hater, the Christian killer, the persecutor of the Church, an apostle, writer of a fair share of our New Testament!  Oh the grace of God!  Who would have imagined it!  Others come to mind: Manasseh in the Old Testament, vile and wicked king of Judah (read 2 Chronicles 33); and several years ago, Jeffrey Dahmer (serial killer, sex predator, labeled the Milwaukee Cannibal) who I understand came to Christ and was baptized before he was executed.

Reminds me of something else Apostle Paul write to the Corinthians…

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  AND SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU. BUT YOU WERE WASHED, YOU WERE SANCTIFIED, YOU WERE JUSTIFIED IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND BY THE SPIRIT OF OUR GOD.” (1 Corinthians 6:9–11)

OH THE MARVELOUS GRACE OF GOD!  LORD HELP ME!  WHEN WILL I LEARN MY LESSON!

I was in Honduras involved in training church leaders and pastors shortly after hurricane Mitch devastated the country a number of years ago.  One pastor in Tegucigalpa had watched as his church and the homes of his entire congregation (as well as his own) were swept down the mountainside and engulfed in a ugly pile of mud and debris.  They didn’t have much before the hurricane … after it passed through, they had nothing!  I watched church leaders at the conference I spoke at, arrive in beat up pickups, bicycles, or simply walking in shoe-leather we would have thrown out in the garbage. But when they worshipped, they put most of us to shame!  Heavenly smiles filled their upturned faces!  An abandon in the Lord’s presence characterized their praise!  Song and shouts of joy and thanksgiving filled the air!  They were, I think, some of the ones James was talking about when he said, “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” (James 2.5)

I reflected on all of that as I read these words of caution and perspective from Matthew 6 this morning during my time of “coffee with the Lord”…

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also… No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money”  (Matthew 6.19-24)

The lesson I learned in Honduras (and other places I have ministered in the world)?  There are more important things than money and possessions!  Lord help me keep the “true riches” as the object of my affection and pursuit!