Continuing with the discussion of Matthew 7, leading up to the Builders on the Rock parable, we find one of the more disturbing passages from Jesus found in the Bible.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
In this sermon of Jesus, if there was any doubt that the common theme is putting your faith and belief into practice, this passage should alleviate it. The reason this passage makes people nervous is because we like simple, safe, equations - pray a prayer and you get into heaven. As we've discussed in the ditch metaphor, this kind of either/or, black/white kind of thinking can cause us to error.
Jesus says that many will come to Him, having done religious activities and professing that He is their Lord and will be turned away. Does this contradict Romans 10:9?
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Most people are familiar with the idea of confessing Jesus as Lord. I think the meat the passage is the next phrase. You have to believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. First, many declare that Jesus is their Lord, but they don't believe it in their heart - as evidenced by the way they live. Surrendering lordship means you give up the control of your life. Second, I think there is significance that we are believe that God raised him from the dead. Why is that so important? There's the element that He paid for our sins - that we accept the sacrifice. It's also that the resurrection proved that Jesus was who He said He was. Those are all crucial things to believe. The key to this passage - what make is mesh with Jesus' words in Matthew 7 - is that because God raised Him from the dead... he isn't dead.
That may not seem like revelation, but think about it in practice. Many people confess Him as Lord, but then live like their Lord is dead. You can't have relationship with a dead person; it would be ridiculous to call a live person 'Lord' and have no interaction or relationship with him. How can you assign someone the control over your life and submit to their authority if you don't even know the person?
One thing that stuck out to me in my study of this passage is the last sentence. “Away from me, you evildoers”. We've already discussed the importance of having a relationship with Christ. This is absolutely essential. Without the relationship none of the rest is possible. However, it’s interesting that these people that were doing churchy, religious things are sent away for not knowing Christ, and for being evil doers. I think that there’s a connection to be made between knowing Christ and the corresponding actions that show up in your life. In other words, you can pray and read the bible, but if it’s not having any effect on the way you live, are you in relationship with Christ?
Next post will conclude the study of the Builders on the Rock parable. Having firmly established the need to put the Word into practice, we'll then dive into what, specifically, we're to put into practice.
