2006-04-02 Communion Dedication – Baldwin Christian Church
Matthew 7:21-23
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
When it comes to the things concerning salvation, I really do not want to take chances. Jesus states plainly that He will be my Judge, and my salvation is conditional. There will be many who argue with His judgment, saying, “Lord, Lord, didn’t I sit in a pew on Sundays? Didn’t I give money to the church? Didn’t I deliver communion messages?”
The most difficult part of Christian life today is setting aside our own ideas about what it means to be a Christian. When we stand before the Judge on judgment day, the only opinion that will matter is His opinion. In the meantime, we walk around in this world full of men’s opinions and interpretations about salvation, eternity, and religion.
When it comes to the things concerning eternity, it would be nice if we could count on our good works to help us earn a mansion in heaven. It would be great to know that once we make our public profession of faith in Jesus, nothing, not even our own sin could pluck us out of His hand and kill us spiritually. It would be so easy if we could just find someone who teaches in a way that sounds good to us, and thereafter trust that person concerning the things of our salvation.
Jesus didn’t just decide to throw in these scary verses at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Back at the beginning, in verses 19 and 20 of chapter 5, He said…
Matthew 5:19-20 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
This is a shot of reality in the face of all the traditions and deceptions of men. In no way could my righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. Whenever we think someone is righteous based on appearances, or because of their wonderful works, we set ourselves up for a great deception. Jesus called the fallout of our works “fruit” for a good reason; it takes time for fruit to ripen, time for the blight and worms to do their damage, and so it takes time for the fallout, the corruption of false teachings to become visible.
In the verses before these, Jesus warned us about false prophets. The problem with false prophets is that they can be very convincing. People will listen to them, believe them, follow them, and do what they say to do. The “Lord, Lord” people waited until judgment day before asking, “Have we not done these things in your name”, when they should have lived their whole lives asking, “Am I doing Your will or mine, Father?” Jesus didn’t argue with them about whether or not they did those great works (1 Samuel 19:20-24). It was obvious from the way they posed the question that they depended on those things to declare their righteousness (“Haven’t we done this, haven’t we done that?”); they substituted those wonderful works for what was truly righteous in God’s eyes. That should cause us to sit up and pay attention.
Are we substituting a loving, obedient relationship with the Father for our own ideas about righteousness, or what someone else tells us about righteousness? If our worship ever becomes mechanical, we will lose sight of Jesus, and we will begin to trust in our own ideas about Christianity. The real question is, “Did we do the will of the Father?”
I don’t think anyone here today would say that they already do enough for Jesus, but the temptation to believe that way is always there. There is always a temptation to let our “religious” activities on Sunday take the place of doing the will of God during the rest of the week.
In these verses, Jesus is warning us that we need to get to know Him, and we can do that by doing the will of the Father. Whenever I profess to believe in Jesus, but don’t act like it, that makes me a false believer. The “Lord, Lord” people apparently did some amazing things in their lives, but they didn’t know Jesus; that’s what Jesus meant when He said, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity”. Let’s accept no substitute for His will today.