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