Lord, Lord...

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'  And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'"
(Matthew 7:21-23)

Jesus draws a stark contrast between those who do the will of the Father and those that don't. If you don't obey His will, you practice lawlessness. You are a law breaker! He tells us that many of those people,  maybe many of us don't even recognize that we are spiritual criminals. We go through life doing things that make us look like we are disciples, but we are not. That should wake us up... right now! He declares that these people will not make it to heaven. That should shake us up... right now!

He draws a line of distinction between those that "do His Father's will" and those that "do religious things". We can call Him Lord, yet our lives not reflect His Lordship. He is not on the throne... something or someone else is. Jesus says that when that happens; when we say or do one thing yet our hearts indicate another, then we are law breakers. Or... we call Him Lord and give Him the reins of our lives and obey the Father. These two lives might even look the same on the outside, but where it counts (in the heart) it is dramatically different.

Every time I read these verses I get a little nervous. Some will stand before Him in the judgment and believe with all their hearts that they did many things in His name and that they are entitled to a "well done my good and faithful servant". Instead they will get, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" The difference in these two lives is one is outward action and the other is inward change. Of course the inward change produces outward action! But outward action does not necessarily produce inward change. I can hate my neighbor and still treat him properly. I can lust after my secretary and not have an affair with her.

Jesus is winding up his sermon with this conclusion... being His true disciple means that "who we are" and "whose we are" has changed. He is getting to the "heart" of the matter. Take a moment an go back and read the sermon again (beginning with chapter 5) with this view in mind. Everything He has said is richer and fuller and deeper. We can spend our lives doing many good things and still be unchanged by the Christ. Many do it... and that is tragic. May we seek the renewed mind, the changed heart, the born again nature and then serve from that position. That changes everything! May God bless you in your following Him.