God’s Constitution, Pt 31: Disciples

Matthew 7:21-23                   21“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 who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Matthew 25:34-40                 34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick, and you looked after me, I was in prison, and you came to visit me.’  37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Revelation 3:14b-16              These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has been focusing on Godly principles leading to righteousness and holiness.  And after hearing such precepts, and after seeing them brought into peoples’ lives, the temptation naturally arose to go out into the world and put them into action.  It is tempting to think that all one had to do was do the things Jesus did, and one would have full acceptance into the Kingdom.  But such activity, without intimate submission to Jesus in one’s heart is ineffective and even deceptive.

Why?  Certainly, it seems spiritual power was involved.  Prophecies were made, demons driven out of people, and many miracles performed, all the while naming Jesus as the Source.  These were exactly the sorts of things Jesus was doing, so what was the problem?

The key to the answer lays in the phrase ‘it seems’, and maybe best summarized by the modern cliché, ‘His walk doesn’t match his talk’.  We all have met people seem to live two separate lives:  one when they observe that people are watching and one when they are not.  These people are living examples of why Jesus had so many harsh words for the scribes and Pharisees of his day.  Those people thought they were something special simply because they were of the house of David, they were well educated, and essentially knew all of the Torah by memory.  But they were also aloof, arrogant, and judgmental.  Remember Jesus said the Greatest Commandment was to ‘love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength’ and that the Second was like it, ‘to love your neighbor as yourself’.  Neither the ancient Pharisees of Jesus’ day, nor the modern ones of ours, followed either of these commandments.

And herein lies the problem with the false disciples described in these verses:  They had the appearance, but not the substance, of Jesus’ teachings.  They called Jesus ‘Lord, Lord’ but had no relationship with Him.  In v23 Jesus says, “I never knew you…”  In Greek, the word ‘knew’ implies relationship, understanding, and perception.  It is not knowledge gained from a book, but knowledge gained through intimate relationship.  These false disciples were those who sat at the back of the class having gotten the breadth, but not the depth, of Jesus’ teaching.  Yes, anything done in the name of Jesus will bring result, but without the intimacy of relationship with Him, no lasting connection is possible.

So what is one to do?  Again Jesus gives the answer, ‘To do the will of my Father, who is in Heaven’.  That’s a question which can have a complicated answer, but again Jesus simplifies things so we can understand.  One of the Pharisees once tried to trap Jesus by asking him,

36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40)

Doing the will of God is summarized in these verses.  Everything knowable about God contained in Scripture is contained in these two simple, yet profound, scriptures.  The greatest commandment means to love God with everything you’ve got.  It means being loving to those who are unlovable, kind to those who are crabby, generous to those who have little, and forgiving to those who have hurt you.  It means reading the Word at every opportunity, and it means creating opportunities additional opportunities.  It means praying every day and even more often.  It means asking Him to help you with your struggles and asking for Him to help you help others with theirs.  It means looking for opportunities to help others, to look outside one’s self, and to put other’s needs before one’s own.

But get this:  If in the doing of all these things, one is doing them because one is supposed to, then don’t bother making the effort.  The challenge is do these things because we love God.  In fact, we love Him so much we want to do whatever we can to please Him.  So, we read, pray, learn, love, bless, keep, and shine because it pleases God.  Eventually those things become no effort at all but are just part of our nature.  Our ultimate goal is not to avoid ‘I never knew you’, but to receive,

 21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

My friends, the joy of that day will be beyond expression!  Strive for that!