The Sermon on the Mount 21 - Matt 7:21-29

Jesus continues, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”  This can be confusing because it implies that we are going to be the ones begging Jesus to let us into heaven, saying that we’ll change our ways but just want to be with him. Brad Wilcox makes an excellent point in his devotional entitled, “His Grace is Sufficient,” saying, “The older I get, and the more I understand this wonderful plan of redemption, the more I realize that in the final judgment it will not be the unrepentant sinner begging Jesus, ‘Let me stay.’ No, he will probably be saying, ‘Get me out of here!’ Knowing Christ’s character, I believe that if anyone is going to be begging on that occasion, it would probably be Jesus begging the unrepentant sinner, ‘Please, choose to stay. Please, use my atonement- not just to be cleansed but to be changed so that you want to stay.’ The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can go home but that- miraculously- we can feel at home there.” I saw a quote by Pope Francis saying, “If you don’t want to go to mass, then why would you want to go to heaven.” Learning this lesson was pivotal in my understanding of Christ’s character. He always says that he will never turn anyone away. He always says that he tells no one to leave him. In fact, all he ever says is “Come unto me.” If that is our message in this life, then that will be our message in the nest life. God is unchanging, and when we get to heaven we will all go where we want to go, not where God forces us to go.”

 

The IM quotes Elder Dallin H. Oaks as teaching, “The conversion (Jesus) required for those who would enter the kingdom of heaven was far more than just being converted to testify to the truthfulness of the gospel. To testify is to know and to declare. The gospel challenges us to be ‘converted,’ which requires us to do and to become. If any of us relies solely upon our knowledge and testimony of the gospel, we are in the same position as the blessed but still unfinished Apostles whom Jesus challenged to be ‘converted.’” I read a book or an article or something that talks about the difference between believing in Christ and believing Christ. We can believe in Him, we can believe that he is the Son of God, we can believe that he restored his gospel and that that’s the way that we are saved. We can believe all the doctrine and listen to every thing he says, but that’s all superficial. I believe a lot of things, that’s the “knowledge” part of the equation. But do I really believe Christ, do I believe that he will do what he says he will do? Do I believe that by obeying his commandments I can be happier, that I can be saved and have eternal life? If I believe that it’s possible, that’s believing in Christ. But if I do it, then I’m believing Christ because I’m allowing Him to work in my life, I not only believe that he will do what he says, but I work to make it happen. There’s a knowledge part of it and an action part of it. When these people say “Lord, Lord,” they are recognizing that they believe in Him. But Jesus says that to enter the kingdom of heaven, you have to “doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” It’s not an abstraction familiarity with the gospel that will save us, it is living the gospel that allows us to become Christ-like so that we can enter his presence.

 

He says that even those who say “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works?” This reminds me of Joseph Smith’s experience right after the first vision, he went to the local church leaders and told them his story. It would make sense that someone who professed to know and love God and dedicated their whole lives to his service would be ecstatic that God appeared to someone. He thought that way too, until he went to the leaders and they mocked him, tormented him, and discouraged him. Why would someone who has apparently made God their life, reject another person who says God spoke to them? It would be one thing to say, “hmmm… that’s interesting, I’ll have to pray on it.” But they didn’t do that, they scorned him and tried to destroy what work he was going to do. If he recognized JS’s account as being possible, then that took power away from the preacher and gave it to a boy. The preacher would lose his influence over many people, he would lose his status as an important community pillar. He could lose his livelihood, if that’s how he made his money. So what really was the big hold up? Why were they really resistant? Was it because they loved the truth and God and wanted to make sure that this boy made a valid claim before introducing it to their people if it was in fact God’s will? No. Were they protecting God’s majesty and truth from the wiles of Satan? No, they could have prayed about it for an answer, they could have done as Jesus suggested and let JS’s fruits speak for whether or not this was of God. If they were really trying to protect people, they could have done a number of things because finally coming to the conclusion that JS was telling the truth. No one would blame any of them at all for being cautious with JS’s account, for vetting it, for wanting to be sure for themselves before embracing it. But that wasn’t the intentions of the local preachers, they weren’t cautious so that they could protect the truth, they were destructive to God’s message because of what they would personally lose. That’s what Jesus means when he says that people will come to him and say that they have done so many amazing things, but he will answer them, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

 

This is another statement that I feel conveys the wrong message about the Savior’s desire for all to return to Him. The JST makes an important distinction as taught in the IM, saying, “The Joseph Smith Translation changed ‘I never knew you’ to ‘Ye never knew me.’ Similarly, the Joseph Smith Translation changed ‘I know you not’ to ‘Ye know me not.’ We might ask ourselves, ‘is it possible to be active in Church programs but not have the gospel active in our hearts?”