Jump Start # 3599

Matthew 7:21 “Not every one who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in Heaven.”

There is a small post office in the community I live. It seems like I’m stopping by there nearly everyday. I’ve gotten to know the staff on a first name basis and they know me. This little post office is currently in search for a new postmaster. One of the people that waits on the counter applied. She really wanted the position and she has often run that post office. The other day, she told me that she was turned down for the position. She was really disappointed.

Life can be described just that way for many, disappointing. A young man really likes a girl and he asks her out for a date and she says, “no.” He’s disappointed. A college student applies for a scholarship and is denied. Disappointed. A young couple really want to have a baby, but it doesn’t work out. Disappointed. The government can disappoint us. The company you work for can disappoint you. Sadly, sometimes the congregation you are a part of disappoints you.

There were times when Jesus disappointed people. The rich young ruler walked away sadly because Jesus told him to sell what he had and follow Him. It’s not the words he was wanting to hear. The mother of James and John got disappointing news from Jesus when He would not sit her boys on the right and the left as she wanted. When Jesus no longer fed the crowds, some left disappointed. The Pharisees were disappointed when Jesus wouldn’t answer their trick questions the way they thought He would.

We can learn more about ourselves and our character during the disappoints than we do from the successes.

First, life involves so many factors, circles of people and things that are beyond us. We are not the only one. When someone is chosen over us, it disappoints. Sometimes that other person has more experience. Sometimes they are more qualified. And, sometimes, it’s just the politics of life that leans towards favorites. The farmer prays for rain for his crops, the same time a young family prays for sunshine because they want to go to the park. God answers. Often, one will be disappointed.

Second, how we handle disappoints is important. Some, blow up. They get angry. They start saying things they shouldn’t. They make threats. The make things messy, complicated and difficult for others. And, when that happens in the church, it really sets families back for a long time.

I told my friend at the post office to take the higher ground. Be noble in how you handle rejection. The quality of spirit is manifested the most during times of disappointments.

Third, often what we really wanted, wasn’t the best for us. We thought it was. Our Plan A is many times not God’s Plan A. And, it just may be that our character needs some polishing and refining and the mechanism that does that the best is disappointments. Anger, James reminds us, does not achieve the righteousness of God. Being a gracious loser, whether on the field of sports or in the arena of life, does more to open eyes and shine light than holding the trophy high above your head.

At Paul’s first Roman trial all deserted him. He was alone, but for the Lord. Don’t you think he was disappointed? Where were they? He had been there for them, why were they not now there for him? It is easy to become a disappointer when we have been disappointed. Someone lets you down, so you no longer will stand with them. You put distance between them and even speak terribly about them. Don’t do that. That dulls your influence and makes people wonder about you

I think one of the greatest disappointments in the Bible is our verse today. Here are some who thought they had made it. They thought the Lord would be pleased with them. Busy doing things, they had neglected to follow the will of God. In so doing, Jesus declared that He never knew them. They were to be cast out. They didn’t make it.

I wonder how many will be like this on that final day. They believe they are Heaven bound, only to be shocked, disappointed to find out that their choices in life took them away from God and not towards Him.

The divine disappointment…make sure you are not part of that.

Roger

Jump Start # 1220

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in Heaven will enter.”

  This evening is Halloween, trick or treating, as we always called it. It’s a time for kids to put on costumes and go from house to house getting candy. It seems that this event is getting larger and larger each year. It was a lot of fun taking my kids out and they were thrilled to survey the loot that they were given. Part of the Halloween atmosphere is horror and scaring people. Haunted houses, woods and movies are a huge piece of the Halloween scene. That’s one segment that I have never been a fan of. I don’t consider get scared out of my boots to be fun. Paying money to be frightened isn’t in my book. Many love it. I’m glad. You won’t find me there.

Our verse today is about some who were shocked. They were stunned. They couldn’t believe what was happening. It has nothing to do with Halloween, haunted houses or someone jumping out at them and frightening them. Rather, these people were shocked at Jesus. The words are found in the sermon on the mount. Jesus is painting a picture of reality. They were comfortable in serving God from a distance and superficially and causally. They didn’t take God too seriously. They did what they wanted to do. Still, in their minds, they thought that this was enough. They were confident that Heaven was theirs. How could they miss it? Smug in their beliefs, assured in their reasoning, they anticipated Jesus throwing open the gates of Heaven and proclaiming loudly, “Come on in, boys!” It didn’t happen that way. They received just the opposite. A couple of verses later Jesus revealed two very crushing statements to them.

First, I never knew you. It’s one thing to say, ‘I once knew you, but I’ve forgotten your name.’ That happens to me all the time. Too many places, too many faces—they get jumbled up in my mind. Sometimes we move away from one another and lose touch and time passes and then our paths cross. We see someone in the airport from long ago. There is some catching up to do. We do this at weddings and funerals. People show up and we haven’t seen them in years.

What Jesus is saying is different. “Never knew you,” means we don’t have a history together. We’ve not met. We don’t have a relationship, friendship or past. There are no stories from long ago. There are no photos of us together. There’s nothing. Never knew you, implies we are strangers. Now that happens every day and just about everywhere. In a store, how many people do you pass but you don’t recognize them, know them or have a friendship with them? How many cars drive by you and it’s the same thing. In a restaurant…at the gas station…in a movie theatre…at a ballgame…at a theme park—all those people, but you don’t know any of them. Strangers. This is what Jesus is implying. They thought they had the Lord in their back pocket. They thought Heaven was all sewed up for them. Instead, Jesus tells them, we are strangers to each other. Strangers don’t get into Heaven. Heaven is for those who know the Lord, walk with the Lord, obey the Lord and love the Lord. I never knew you.

Secondly, Jesus tells them to depart from Him. Get out of here. Get out of My face. Leave Me. You are not coming in. You are not welcome. It’s hard to see Jesus saying such things. He’s always inviting. He always welcomes. Even His critics weren’t tossed out. But here, at the end, those who marched to their own drumbeat, who were insistent in doing things their own way, will find the door closed and locked.

The driving theme in these shocking verses is obeying God. Jesus tells us that we are to do the will of the Father. Doing anything else is considered “lawlessness.” Without law, rebellious, without restraints, disobedient, ignoring the will of Heaven—that’s what this word means. John uses this word to define sin. Sin is disobeying God.

Here was a group of people who were religious but on their own terms. They thought that Heaven was certain for them. It wasn’t. They were busy doing this and that but not following and obeying the will of God. Few things have changed. In the name of religion today churches do everything and anything and most cannot be found in the Bible. If it’s not from the Bible, how does one know that it’s the will of God? Put the word “ministry” behind any other word and you’ll find folks doing it and being convinced that it’s a good work and pleasing to God. Cooking ministry, bike ministry, puppet ministry, camp ministry, children’s ministry, financial ministry, sports ministry, music ministry, pet ministry, day care ministry, art ministry, and on and on it goes. Busy, busy people, finding a niche to do what they have a passion for, but is it the will of the Father? In our context, these people were prophesying, casting out demons and even doing miracles. Sounds wonderful in my book. However, in God’s book, they were not following His will.

These folks were shocked that the door to Heaven was closed to them. They were not out partying and being immoral. They were not drugging it up. They were not sought by the police for crimes they committed. No, the people that prophesy, do miracles and cast out demons are religious folks. These were good folks. Yet, they did not do the will of the Father. The door was closed because they did not do the will of the Father.

Chilling words, set to remind us that we best be doing the will of God. We can spend a lifetime being religious but miss Heaven because we did not do the will of the Father. It’s not find whatever you can do. It’s not ‘surprise me.’ It’s not ‘be original.’ It’s do the will of the Father. It’s laid out in the Bible. It’s taught and defined and explained in the Bible. Follow that. Do that. Practice that. This is what Jesus wants.

These people were stunned. They thought they had it made. They had deceived themselves and wasted a lifetime doing the wrong things.

It’s not just the “unchurched” that God is calling. He’s calling all of us. Even those of us that think Heaven is a sure thing, but we have never developed a heart like Christ, nor walked in the ways of the Savior. Being like Jesus, in heart, behavior and spirit is the will of God. Following the Bible is the will of God.

Don’t miss Heaven.

Roger

Jump Start # 285

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in Heaven will enter.”

  We continue with our look at the radical statements of Jesus. We notice from this series that there were many statements, not just one or two. Jesus wasn’t just going along with the status quo, but defining something that the first century world had not seen and that was a complete dedication to the will of God. No more pretending. No more hypocrisy. No more double standards. And no more taking advantage of people. That is what the religious landscape looked like when Jesus came. His radical statements made the disciples develop a true and genuine faith in God that would affect all areas of their life.

  Our verse today comes near the end of the sermon on the mount. It emphasizes doing what God wills as opposed to what man wants to do. Our way verses God’s way, that has long been a battle. God’s way wins, every time.

  The scene is the judgment. The following verse Jesus says, “Many will say to Me on that day…” What day? Most likely, the final day, the day of judgment. There is a sense of shock and surprise by these people. They can’t believe that they are not going to be in Heaven.  It is not that they did not know God. They acknowledge Jesus as Lord. Twice, showing their astonishment, they cry, “Lord, Lord.” They are amazed that they haven’t pleased God. They plead their case by declaring, “In your name” we prophesied, cast out demons and did many miracles. That’s their proof. Because of these things they felt that they should be in Heaven. Look what we have done. We did it for you.

  Twice Jesus declares the problem. In verse 21, it is apparent that they did not do the will of the Father. In verse 23, Jesus declared that they practiced lawlessness. Not doing what God wants is lawlessness. That word means without law. God is the law. His word is the law. They were flying through life as if God had no law, doing what they wanted to do.

  All of this presents to us a couple of powerful lessons to consider.

  First, not everyone who thinks they ought to be in Heaven will be. This passage shows that. Have you ever noticed that everyone wants to go to Heaven, but so few seem to be doing anything about that. You’d think that they would want to learn about Heaven by reading the Bible, or set about trying to find out how to get there, but they don’t. They just busy themselves living today as if that will never end. In Jesus’ story, the people there were not “bad people.” They were religious. They seemed to be doing good things. From this passage we see the importance of doing God’s will. Paul told the Ephesians to not be ignorant but “understand the will of God.” God has a plan for you. God has designed and described what He wants. Just being nice, neighborly isn’t the same as being righteous. It’s hard for us to image that the sweet grandma who lives down the street may not go to Heaven. That just doesn’t fit in our thinking. Why should she go? Because she is old? Because she makes cookies for the grandkids? Because she is nice? We have accepted the idea that everyone who is nice and good, will be in Heaven. It seems to me that these people in Jesus’ story were nice. They were definitely busy doing good things. Prophesying is a good thing, if God’s will directs it. Casting out demons is awesome, if God’s will leads to that. Doing many miracles is wonderful, if that’s God’s will. The apostles did all of these things. They did it because it was God’s will. These people were not following God’s will. There will be no one in Heaven who made it their own way. Sinatra’s “My way,” may have sold many records, but it doesn’t move God. Heaven is for those who follow God, God’s way.

  The second lesson here is that not all religious activity impresses God. These people were busy doing religious things. That did nothing for God. So it’s not a matter of you finding a way to serve God in the way you like, NO. It’s a matter of you following the will of God. These religious activities in Jesus’ story were considered “lawlessness.” They were wrong. They were breaking the law of God. Today, the modern church has found that if you put the word “ministry” behind something, they think it makes it right, proper and a function of the church. So a guy could have a Tree “ministry,” or a bicycle “ministry,” or a computer “ministry,” or a Prophecy “ministry,” or a demon removing “ministry,” or a miracle “ministry.” This has a religious sound to it. The church can fund it and you get to do what your talents and heart feel like. What a wonderful world. Until “THAT DAY,” when you stand before Christ and He throws all that “ministry” stuff away and asks you, “why didn’t you do the will of My Father?” Where do all of those “ministries” come from? Not the Bible. They are not in there. They are made up by people. Now, where is God’s will found? The Bible. So, here we are at the major crossroads, are you going to do what the Bible says, or are you going to strike out on your own religiously and do what is your will? God’s will or your will? God’s way or your way? Who do you think will win? We know. God.

  What we learn is that God doesn’t want you to be original, different, unique, progressive, or cutting edge. Not that way. He wants you to be faithful, dedicated, obedient, following and doing what He wants. I was in a golf shop once. A man was returning a golf club. I asked him why he didn’t like it? Thought I’d get some tips. He gave me a big one. He bought the club for his wife’s birthday. I said, ‘She didn’t like it?’ He said, ‘She doesn’t golf.’ Wow. I’m amazed she didn’t use it on him. Do you see the parallel with God? We do things for God thinking He will like it and He doesn’t. He has told us what He likes, it’s in the New Testament. Do His will.

  Radical, yes. Doable—certainly!

Roger

Jump Start # 183 

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in Heaven will enter.”

  Entering Heaven—what a wonderful thought! Can you imagine! Have you ever thought about what it will look like? Have you ever considered who you will see? Amazing. There is so much written about entering Heaven. It seems everyone has their own take on it. I tend to let the Lord say because, most of all, it is His house and He determines who will be there.

  The context of this passage continues with the next two verses. Let’s read them: “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast our demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Mt 7:22-23).

  Notice several observations here:

First: the repeated words. Twice (21, 22) the expression, “Lord, Lord.” This is used for emphasis. Actually, the people who will speak these words are stunned. They are in shock. They thought they’d be in Heaven with Jesus. The reason: look what they did. Prophesied, cast out demons, preformed miracles. That’s incredible on a resume. I don’t know anyone who could attest to that.

Also notice among the repeated words, “In Your Name.” They say that three times in verse 22. It is as if they think the Lord owes them Heaven. It is in YOUR name, not OUR name that we did all these things.

  Second observation: see the connection from verse 21 & verse 23? Not doing the will of the Father is the same as lawlessness. These were free spirits that were bent on doing things their own way. They were not bound nor conformed to any set rules, just moving and doing as their heart led them. That appeals to a lot of people. Some are tired of old ways. Some don’t want restrictions. Just let me worship and love the Lord how ever I am compelled. As wonderful as that sounds, God hates it. It is lawlessness to Him. Those free spirits and attitudes were cast out away from Heaven. It’s not about us, it’s about God. It’s about humbling ourselves and doing things the way He says it. God never says, “surprise me.” God never says, “do something original.” He wants us to follow His way. He has designed the way to be worshipped. He knows what pleases Him. What we like, obviously from this passage, is not always what He likes. He knows. Can we submit to Him? Can we bow to Him? Can we do things His way?

  Those that can’t will be cast out. Cain and Abel remind us that there is a way to worship correctly and a way that displeases God. Which will we do?

  There is another thought from this passage, but we will leave it for another day.

  Entering Heaven. How bad do you want it? So much, that you will do what the Bible says? No matter what it says? It’s not the missions overseas…it’s not the great things we do for the homeless, it’s humbling our will and doing the will of the Father. Remember, on the cross, Jesus said, “Not my will be done, but Thine.” That is what we must come to as well.

Roger