Jesus said, “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Mt. 21:22). And the apostle says, “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight” (1 Jn. 3:22).
These are verses that make Reformed Christians a bit nervous. We do not believe in some kind of health and wealth gospel. We do not believe that God is a cosmic vending machine, that we should expect God to deliver whatever comes into our minds.
James anticipated this: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (Js. 4:3). And James says that is what causes many fights and wars: lust and envy and worldliness. God is not interested in feeding our lusts or helping us compete with worldly standards of success.
But Jesus still presses the point: what man of you, if his son asks for bread, will he give him a stone? How much more will your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask (Mk. 7:9-11). So there it is again: God wants His people to ask for good things, and He wants to give His people good things – good things like buildings to worship in. We have been asking God for a building for decades, and our Father has not given us a stone. Thanks be to God.
And as if to make the point even more emphatic, Jesus gave us this meal. Here, not only does He give us bread, but He gives us the bread of life. He gives us Himself, by Whom all things exist. He’s giving us this living bread, in this glorious place, with these precious saints. “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:31-32)
So come and welcome to Jesus Christ.
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