What Does It Mean To Say, "Lord, Lord!" - Matthew 7:21-25

 True and False Disciples

Yesterday we talked about true and false teachers, and today Jesus teaches about true and false disciples.  A disciple is a follower of Jesus and increasingly learns how to live their lives as if Jesus were them.  It is not about performance but a deeper connection with Jesus and then living in the power of the Holy Spirit, who produces fruits in our lives.  

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. 

Jesus states that it is not just those who proclaim with their lips that are his true disciples, but those whose lives match the will of the Father.  

"This warning of Jesus applies to people who speak or say things to Jesus or about Jesus, but don’t really mean it. It isn’t that they believe Jesus is a devil; they simply say the words very superficially. Their mind is elsewhere, but they believe there is value in the bare words and fulfilling some kind of religious duty with no heart, no soul, not spirit – only bare words and passing thoughts." (Guzik)

Calling Jesus "Lord" is appropriate, but just because someone utters this does not guarantee anything.  The true believer calls Jesus his Lord, and then lives their lives under his leadership.  

22 Many 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?’ 

Doing works doesn't prove one is a disciple no matter how great these works are.  There were others in Jesus' time who did works of power.  These would be the three highest works someone could do, so the person is obviously laying it on "thick".    

"It may be observed, that these men lay the whole stress of their salvation upon what they have done in Christ's name; and not on Christ himself, in whom there is salvation, and in no other: they say not a syllable of what Christ has done and suffered, but only of what they have done." Gill 

23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Here is the key to the whole passage.  Though people may claim to do lots of things FOR Jesus, if they aren't doing them IN Jesus, they are merely works of the flesh.  Despite claiming intimacy with Christ. their works are all motivatied by glorifying themselves.  This makes it clear that these are not Christians who have fallen away from the faith or committed apostasy, but these are people never knew Jesus. They never believed in him by faith or received God's grace.  

There may be a connection with the false prophets from the passage before, as he calls them evildoers.  This implies, like the false prophets, these false disciples were of ill intent.  They were calling Jesus 
"Lord, Lord" but he was anything but THEIR Lord.

Do you see any difference between Jesus calling Jesus Your Savior and calling him Lord? What is the connection of doing God's will and entering His kingdom? How does your intimacy with Jesus lead you to do the works he does?  

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