On Wednesday nights we’ve been examining the Life of Christ. We are approaching the end of the Sermon on the Mount as we just started Matthew 7. While the chapter is rich with many important teachings of Christ, one verse stands out to me. In Matthew 7:21, Jesus says: “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.” Ever since I first heard this verse in a sermon I was convicted of it’s message. The message being that simply calling Jesus Lord is not enough to enter the kingdom of heaven. You must do God’s will.
The children of Israel had this problem as illustrated by Hosea 8:2-3, “2 Israel will cry to Me, ‘My God, we know You!’ 3 Israel has rejected the good; The enemy will pursue him.” This was Israel’s condition that led to their enslavement by Assyria (722 BC) and eventually Babylon (586 BC). Their exile lasted 70 years (Jeremiah 29:10). During Israel’s captivity so many wondered why God had forsaken them. God had not forsaken Israel, Israel had forsaken God by giving “lip service” to God. Many of the Israelites had merely said they followed God, but there heart was not in their worship or their service. They had not done the will of the Father.
Sadly, people claiming to know the Lord in the early days of the church also brought about serious consequences for not doing the will of the Father. There’s the example of Ananias and Sapphira from Acts 5:1-11 and how they wanted to impress everyone with their example of faith by their gift of benevolence. Unfortunately, Ananias and Sapphira were not honest or sincere with their gift and were struck dead. They called Jesus Lord, but did not do His will.
There’s also the example of the seven sons of Sceva in Acts 19:13-16. Here is what Luke records for us, “13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” 16 Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.” The problem here is that they did not truly know Jesus as Lord, but were only claiming to know Him as Lord through someone else! The results were devastating and demoralizing.
Both of these examples highlight different aspects of not sincerely recognizing Jesus as Lord. In the example of the seven sons of Sceva, they really didn’t know Jesus as Lord. They only knew of Jesus, but they didn’t truly know Him, so calling Him Lord was superficial and insincere. On the other hand, Ananias and Sapphira, knew Jesus and called Him Lord, but did not obey His will. For them to call Jesus Lord was devious and deceitful.
When Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:21, “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” He is telling His audience to be aware of false teachers. There are many claiming to proclaim Jesus as Lord, but their motives are often far from legitimate. Jesus tells us that we can identify false teachers by their actions. In other words: do their actions match their words?
No matter the point in history, the question God really wants people to be able to answer is “Do you call Him Lord?” If you do, do you do His will?
