“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 in heaven. Matthew 7:21
Matthew 7:21-23 is a passage that I have
often spoken with Christians face to face about. It is a passage that has kept
me awake at night thinking over my own salvation. What makes this passage
terrifying is that it talks about EVERYONE who calls themselves a Christian, no
one is excluded here! Why do I say that? Look at the address Jesus is making
here in verse 21 ‘Lord, Lord’. This is someone who would happily say that they’re
a Christian. And so if Christ Himself were to come into your church and
announce “not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of
heaven” I guarantee that everyone would be hanging onto the edge of their seat
in knowing EXACTLY what his next words are. Likewise, we should treat this
passage with the same care since Christ Himself spoke this powerful authoritative
word into existence.
On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord,
Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do
many miracles in Your name?’ 23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’
(Matthew 7:22-23)
Why is Christ announcing this kind of people
to depart from Him? It’s their defence for starters; no merit of anyone’s
behalf is enough to open the doors of heaven but only Christ’s blood. Anyone
who says “I did this in your name, I did that in your name” cancels out the
greatest achievement Christ did! He DIED and therefore any good work done by a
Christian is not a means for a Christian to open the doors to heaven, but
rather that they themselves KNOW that it is fruit done by the Holy Spirit in
accordance with the new life Christ establishes in that person. So that a true
Christian will have no bragging rights, any act of good deed done by the Holy
Spirit is reason for that person to say “it is only by Christ that I have the
strength to do a good work!”
Jesus goes on explaining what is said in
verse 21 from verses 24-27: “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine
and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. 25 The
rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it
didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. 26 But
everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a
foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, the rivers rose,
the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was
great!”
Christ establishes a category of two people
before Himself. Both hear His words and both are actively building. However,
there’s a great difference! One is sensible to check the foundation prior to
building, one makes certain that the foundation is in fact rock that they are
building on. Anyone building on sand would be careless, they would care nothing
for the foundations. The house might look impressive but what survives the test
of God’s wrath is the one who has built on the rock.
Christ is the rock! And so as we read God’s
word when Christ has given us a command to go and make disciples we should do
this, not out of selfish gain or our way into heaven. But that we should do this
out of obedience because we were once dead and made alive in Christ! Likewise
when we battle the flesh (Romans 8:13) we should do so with the strength of the
Lord. Trying to battle temptation on your own is like taking a pin to the front
line of a full scale war and expecting to win. All things must be done by the strength
of Christ! We are to be a people that resembles the fact that we have truly surrendered
to our Lord and master Jesus Christ. Let us be a people who check the
foundation, let us be a people who encourage one another in building on the
right foundation. Let us be a people of prayer and daily surrender to Him who
has given His everything for us. Let us exalt God with our lives since He has
established the path of salvation!
No comments:
Post a Comment