In the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5-7, we discover the most complete description in the New Testament of genuine Christian culture. Therefore, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Jesus invests time in His sermon to deal with relationships. I came across this quote on relationships from an unknown source. “Love is spending the rest of your life with someone you want to kill but not doing it because you’d miss them.” That’s not funny…but it does draw attention to how messy relationships can be, yet how important they are for each of us. God has created each of us to be in relationship with Him and with one another.
In Matthew 7:1-12, we discover how we are to relate to fellow Christians and our heavenly Father. How are we to relate to fellow believers? Jesus begins in Matthew 7:1-5 with some words that are well known but often misunderstood and misrepresented. Jesus prohibits judging. Some have looked at this passage as a prohibition of all judging. This is not the case. Jesus does not condemn making moral judgments. He is forbidding a harsh, judgmental spirit. Believers are not to be fault-finders who are negative and destructive towards other people; enjoying actively seeking out the failings of others.
Why Shouldn’t we harshly judge others? First, God will judge you the same way you judge others. Second, you should be more concerned about judging yourself. After all, you know your own sin better than anyone else’s (v. 3). Also, it is hypocritical to care about other’s sins more than your own (v. 4). Lastly, you can’t help others with their sin unless you’ve first addressed your own (v. 5a). Therefore, God calls believers to help others rather than harshly judge them (v. 5b).
Jesus continues in Matthew 7:6 using straightforward language as he describes an exceptional situation where individuals belligerently reject the gospel and correction. He answers the question, What about those who refuse to be helped? It is essential to realize that you cannot force the gospel on people. We are not to engage those who treat the gospel with contempt. We are to understand the supreme value of following Jesus and God’s Word. Jesus is not telling us to act impatiently or unloving towards people. Indeed, we need to give people a repeated opportunity to respond to the gospel and correction. Jesus is sharing an exceptional situation where a person has been given plenty of opportunities to respond, and they stubbornly turn their backs on Christ; we are to move on and trust God to do what’s best. Nothing is more deprived than to mistake God’s precious pearl for a thing of no worth and actually tread it into the mud.
Now, Jesus moves from how we are to relate to fellow believers to how we are to relate to God, our heavenly Father? Jesus teaches in Matthew 7:7-8 God’s promise to answer prayer. The believer is to “ask,” “seek,” and “knock.” For every believer who “asks,” “receives,” “seeks,” “finds,” and “knocks,” the door is “open.”
Then, Jesus continues in Matthew 7:9-11 to share God’s principle in answering prayer. First, we must understand that even human father gives good gifts to their children. Then, how much more will God give to those who ask. Jesus uses a couple of illustrations to point out that although fallible and fallen (sinful), human fathers give good gifts. God is perfect, loving, righteous, and our heavenly Father, so we can trust Him to do good. In truth, believers’ prayers are transformed when they remember that they are praying to their infinitely kind and loving heavenly Father.
However, it is crucial to understand this promise in context to seeking, desiring, and asking for God’s will while trusting in God’s love and wisdom. The biblical condition of answered prayer is that believers “ask,” “seek,” and “knock” in confidence, knowing that God will answer their prayers in the best way for them. It is a blessing that God’s answering of our prayers is conditional to what He knows is best for us – He gives us only “good gifts,” meant to glorify Him and benefit us and others.
Then, Jesus shares God’s positive rule for living, the Golden Rule in Matthew 7:12. This is a summary of sorts of the love our neighbor taught in Matthew 5:1-7:ll and a capstone statement of this section of Christ’s teachings dealing with relationships. We are to do for others all the things we want them to do for us. Loving others in this way is possible due to God’s gift of His grace given to us, which allows us to show His grace to others. Such love fulfills the true meaning of the “Law and the Prophets.” A person who lives by the Golden Rule will relate to others rightly, in dependence on God. Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone)!