Many of us are quite familiar with the Sermon on the Mount, Christ’s extended teaching on the kingdom of heaven that is recorded in Mt 5-7. We may recall that near the end of this discourse Jesus gives the terrifying revelation that there will be people on judgment day who think they are IN but are really OUT (7:21-23). I doubt if nearly enough of us have been sobered by the reality expressed in this text.
Here, to a crowd being taught by the Word of God Himself, Jesus says, “Not all of you who will cry out to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.” Some of you who think you are IN are really OUT. And when you realize this is the case, you are going to bring up your list of all the top-shelf Christian activities you were involved in – all the stuff you did in my name. How is that not enough? What is missing? Jesus will answer, “I never knew you.”
Carefully consider the phrase I left out. Jesus didn’t just say who is OUT but also who is IN – “only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” Clearly, in the context, the will of the Father is not defined by prophesying, driving out demons or doing miracles – amazing activities that real disciples of Jesus really did. This tells us that Christian activities themselves (even miraculous ones!) are not the criteria to determine who has eternal life and who doesn’t. So, what does Jesus mean when he says, “the one who does the will of my Father in heaven”?
(The question gets even MORE urgent when we back up to see that Jesus already used “many” to describe the number of people going to destruction, and “few” to describe the number of people who find life through the “narrow gate” and “difficult road” (vv.13-14)!)
Back to the criteria. Jesus does define the IN crowd by something they DO, but not in the way the pretenders wanted to define doing. Whatever “do[ing] the will of my Father” means, it must be connected with Jesus KNOWING them (v.23). The ones who are OUT are NOT KNOWN by Jesus, and that is related to not doing the will of the Father. What can that mean?
I think the end of Jesus’ sermon (vv.24-27) helps us understand what he is saying. He moves on to define the wise and foolish based on – what? – the foundation upon which they build. The house is a metaphor for life, even eternal life. As with the choices about the roads and the gates, the result of wise or foolish building is secure life or destruction. Of course, the only possible rock is Christ himself, and sand represents any other foundation. But lasting life – security in the storm of God’s judgment – is built on more than belief ABOUT Jesus, but on being known BY Jesus. This idea is expanded in the NT to mean union with Christ by faith (Rm 6:5; Eph 5:29-32).
In the strictest sense, the only “one who does the will of [the] Father in heaven” is Jesus himself. We all fall short of that criteria. But there is a way we are seen by the Father as meeting this qualification. It is by being united with Jesus through faith. This is what building on the rock foundation amounts to. This positions us as known by God. This is what defines the IN crowd. We are united with Jesus by faith in him alone as our rock foundation. We are in this way associated with Christ’s own perfect obedience to the will of the Father in heaven. We are perfectly known by the Son just as the Son is perfectly known by the Father. We have life. We gain entrance to the kingdom of heaven.
The Christian things we do are the house God builds through us. But the house is no security apart from the rock foundation. The most amazing Christian deeds do not themselves bring eternal life. That comes only by being known by God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ as we trust in him alone as our rock of salvation.
The question is, are you united with Jesus through faith? Does the Father see you as obedient to his will through Christ’s obedience? Are all your Christian activities built on Christ himself or on your own sand?
If we base our security on our activities, we do so at our own peril. If we build our activities on a real security in Christ, we have found the difficult road and the narrow gate that leads to life. Only then are we IN.
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