46 Why do you call me Lord, Lord," and not do what I tell you?
Matthew 7:21-2321 Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?" 23 And then will I declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness."
- What would a master do to a slave that did not do what they were told to do?
- If you are not willing to obey Christ, why would you want to call Him "Lord"?
- Who would most likely get glory from the actions mentioned in v. 22?
- How is it possible to do outstanding, supernatural actions in Jesus' name but not be done as a servant?
- What do these passages say to you about determining who your Lord is?
What a challenging passage!! I can relate to Jesus here. Over the years I have had employees that seemed to have selective deafness. These employees seem to pick and choose what they want to do; yet they expect their paycheck. Yet I am like them. Way too often I have seen a passage in God's Word that momentarily stirred me to act, but I decided no to do it for whatever excuse or reason that worked at the moment. Perhaps the most challenging part of the passage to understand is where the people who did miracles were considered unknown by Jesus. We were studying this once in a small Bible study group and a teenager pointed out that the people were holding up as examples the glorious things they had done. In Matt. 6:1-17, Jesus criticized those who did right things for selfish reasons. Could we become unknown to Christ by consistently choosing our "spiritual" actions to be seen by men?
5 comments:
For me I find this and other passages like it scary. The words, "On that day ..." refers to the Day of Judgement. Another thing I see here is that death does not have the powewr to destroy memory. The false claimants remember things in their past life. They know him as the Lord and are trying to convince the Lord they have prophesied in his name. Because death does not destroy memory, it would be a terrible thing to spend eternity thinking, "It could have been."
I think about "false prophets" when I read this passage. Pseudo Christians who lead people astray to follow after them - not Christ. I have always thought of this in a very sobering context. I never want to be guilty of saying I am prophesying and following Jesus - all the while leading people astray or turning people away from Christianity by my conduct. Then I think about the churches today who waterdown God's message - change what the Bible teaches to what they perceive their congreation wants to hear (i.e. sex without marriage is not a sin, homosexuality is okay, etc.) and wonder if these pastors are being described in Matt. 6:1-17. Or pastors of mega churches that live a very overindulgent life while taking millions of dollars from their congreations?
What a blessing it is that our salvation is based on God's grace! Here Jesus warns us about being "lip service" Christians. He calls us to be active in our Christianity and, moreover, to keep the motivation for our activity where it belongs - bringing glory and honor to God. This is a tough task! For it's human nature to want an immediate accounting whenever we do good. It's human nature to focus the attention of our actions on ourselves. Who among us could pass this judgement if only the facts were on the table? And there will be those turned away. I have to rest my hopes in the fact that the judge in this case is also our advocate.
Great comments...
Wayne, I had not thought about the memory issue, but you are right. These people remembered and are not being shamed. Sobering is right.
Amanda, I have the same concerns. I do not want to be judge, but if they are willing to change God's Word or live obviously false spiritual lives, how can they claim Jesus is their TRUE Lord.
Stan, Amen to the wonderful gift of grace. You have stated the challenge very well.
Thanks again
Oops... I meant that "These people remembered and are now being shamed."
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