Jump Start # 895

Matthew 7:21-23 “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. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out 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.’”

Our passage today is a conversation that takes place in the future. It takes place between those who believe that they will be in Heaven and the Lord. They actually get to speak to the Lord. What an honor that would be. This passage reflects a great disappointment. Utter shock will cripple those who think that they will be in Heaven, only to find out they won’t.

There are many things in life that disappoint us. Your team losing a game is disappointing. Not getting a job that you really wanted is disappointing. The way some treat you can be disappointing. There can be disappointments in marriage and with our kids. Here in this passage, those that are hearing these words, felt that Heaven was theirs. They were expecting to be in Heaven. This has to be the greatest disappointment of all. This is a divine disappointment. The Lord is disappointed with these people for what they did and expected and the people are disappointed because they didn’t get to go to Heaven.

Now the people in this conversation with the Lord were not living a fantasy. Everyone wants to go to Heaven, yet many are doing nothing about it. These people were not bad people. They had not even ignored the Lord. They protest because they indeed had done things for the Lord. They had prophesied, cast out demons and preformed many miracles—all in the name of the Lord. They were religious. They were good people. The Lord declared their deeds, these great religious deeds—prophesying, doing miracles, casting out demons were LAWLESSNESS.

What Jesus wants is for you and I to do the will of His Father. Do what God wants. He doesn’t want us to be cutting edge, new, innovative, progressive, never-been-done before type of stuff. He wants us to do the will of the Father. God’s will is revealed to us in the Bible. Paul told the Ephesians to ‘not be ignorant, but understand the will of God.’

These people in this conversation with Jesus must have thought that they were better than others. They were not out drinking. They were not bowing down to idols. They were not cursing the name of the Lord. They were doing things, just not the right things. Good things, if they are not the will of God are not good. I wish folks could get that.

The flavor of the month anymore is to take any word and stick the word ministry behind it and then it becomes a part of the church and a work of the church. For instance, there are bike-ministries, food-ministries, sports-ministries, entertainment-ministries, puppet-ministries, clown-ministries, pet-ministries and on and on. Churches and their leaders have been fooled into thinking that all of these are good things—and so is prophesying, casting out demons and doing miracles—yet if they are not the will of the Father they are lawlessness.

Because I like something, does not make that the will of the Father. Because there is a need, does not make it the will of the Father. Because no one else is doing it, does not make it the will of the Father. Because I have a talent in that area, does not make that the will of the Father. The will of the Father is the Bible way.

The word, “lawlessness” that Jesus uses here, means without law. It is acting as if there is no law. It is to ignore law and do what feels right to you. Religious activity that is not the will of God is lawlessness. Now, you won’t hear many sermons on that these days. Getting folks to do something, anything is what most leaders are after. Not so. Get folks committed to the will of God, that’s the key. Do what God wants, that’s the hope that Jesus wants.

That expression of Jesus, “I never knew you,” is one of the coldest statements in the Bible. These people claimed to know Jesus, but He didn’t know them. He never knew them. It was that way because they were not doing the will of God. On that day, when we are before the Lord, we certainly want Jesus to know us. We want Jesus to be our friend. We want Jesus to offer mercy for us. I never knew you…depart from Me—do you know what that means? If Jesus is in Heaven, and these people have to depart Jesus, there is only one other place—Hell.

Now we are seeing the true essence of this passage. There are those who think that they ought to be in Heaven but will be in Hell. They think they deserve Heaven for what they have done. They will be shocked, stunned, disappointed and in utter terror to find out, too late, that they never followed the will of God. Religious people lost! Folks in Hell who did things in the name of Jesus! That’s what this passage shows.

These words are a warning for us. We don’t have to be shocked and disappointed. We know who will be in Heaven—those who do the will of God. We must come to know that will. We must follow that will. We must busy ourselves pleasing God.

If you make it to Heaven it will not be because you are so cute, you have done so much, or that you are such a superstar. None of those things move God. It is because of your faith in the will of God. Your life conformed to that will and you walked where the Savior walked. Your choices reflected the will of God. His will became your will. His wants became your wants. His way became your way.

On that day…that day is coming. What you do today, whether you are in the will of God or not, is but one step toward Heaven or away from Heaven.

Roger