Text for the Week: The Proper Foundation

Scripture: Matthew 7:21-29

²¹ “Not everybody who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will get into the kingdom of heaven. Only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. ²² On the Judgment Day, many people will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name and expel demons in your name and do lots of miracles in your name?’ ²³ Then I’ll tell them, ‘I’ve never known you. Get away from me, you people who do wrong.’

²⁴ “Everybody who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise builder who built a house on bedrock. ²⁵ The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. It didn’t fall because it was firmly set on bedrock. ²⁶ But everybody who hears these words of mine and doesn’t put them into practice will be like a fool who built a house on sand. ²⁷ The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat against that house. It fell and was completely destroyed.”

²⁸ When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were amazed at his teaching ²⁹ because he was teaching them like someone with authority and not like their

Questions

1. What does it mean for a person to say “Lord, Lord” as in verse 21?
2. Are the people described as people Jesus did not know the same as the false prophets in the preceding verses or do these verses include others?
3. How are people able to do miracles in Jesus’ name and not know Jesus?
4. What are the words that we need to hear to build on the rock rather than the sand?
5. Do verses 24-27 refer to the final judgment the way verses 21-23 do or are they talking about the storms of life?

Background

Related Scriptures: Deuteronomy 28; Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 6:46-49; James 1:22-25

The use of the word Lord here probably would have asserted Jesus was both God and king and in the next chapter we begin to see people using this title for Jesus as a way of showing some level of dependence on him.

Verse 21 is the first time Jesus uses the phrase “my father” which creates a unique link between himself and God. God is elsewhere “the” or “our” father to show humanity’s universal connection to God.

Jesus does not provide a reason why the people who did miracles and exorcisms in his name are left out of the kingdom but presumably it ties to the fruit of the preceding paragraph. These individuals did wondrous works but with the wrong motives or without helping others and so are left out.

Reflection

I find the prospect of Jesus saying, “I’ve never known you. Get away from me” unsettling. As I have talked with people about these verses over the years, it seems that many are also unsettled, and primarily because Jesus seems to be against people who have done great works and does not provide a reason why. I have often sat with people who have said, “how can I know Jesus won’t reject me when I’ve never done miracles or thrown out demons or prophesied, and these people have.” This is in some ways a very valid concern, Jesus never explicitly explains his criteria for judgment and the people told to leave in this teaching have done some very impressive things. This is often a valid fear because society has taught us to compare ourselves based on our achievements and resumes, but we need to ask if that is the way Jesus is approaching judgment.

It is easy to fall into the temptation of thinking, “I might not be good enough”, or “I don’t meet Jesus’ expectations” based on this passage. However, that is not what Jesus is saying here. What he says here is similar to his condemnation of the hypocrites in chapter 6. You can be doing great things but if you are doing them for the wrong reasons he will not know you. I recognize some like to use this passage to create fear in others, with message like “do you know your saved”, “have you truly repented”, or other comparable concepts. But that is not what Jesus is getting at, he makes no mention of believing in him (if anything he undermines that idea since the people dismissed identify him as Lord), rather Jesus seems to emphasize how we live, not what we do or what we say we believe

What, then, is Jesus pointing out as the problem with the people he never knew? That they are preforming miracles for the show, the want to do great things but not to bring God’s kingdom into the world but to bring glory and publicity which will elevate their own prestige. These are the false prophets Jesus has previously warned about, the people who are trying to show how religious they are, the hypocrites from chapter 6. Jesus is not concerned one way or the other with the works they do, he is highlighting these because they are spectacular, and the emphasis is that we can do even the greatest presentations of faith but if we do them from the wrong motives we will not know Jesus and he will not know us. Jesus makes a similar point in Matthew 25 where those entering life are the ones who met the needs of those around them, while those who are in judgment did not. Judgment in that passage is based on how people cared for others who were in need., and it seems that there is reason to read that into this passage as well. Jesus judges people not on what they say the believe (those rejected call Jesus Lord), nor what spectacles they can do in Jesus’ name but in how well they upheld the ideas in the Sermon on the Mount.

This is further evidenced by the fact that Jesus goes from a picture of judgment to a parable of building, this parable is meant to elaborate on why the people rejected in verse 23 were rejected, because they built on the wrong foundation. And since this parable ends the sermon we are meant to understand that the proper foundation is the Sermon on the Mount. It is in internalizing the Sermon and living out the teachings of allowing our for and devotion to God flow into our concern for the world around us that determines whether or not we have built on a strong foundation. Just like his warning about the narrow gate, Jesus is expressing that the only way to enter God’s kingdom is to orient your life toward God. Doing this is not simply about prayer, fasting, and other spiritual disciplines. Though these are important as evident by their place at the center of the sermon. Spiritual disciplines are important as they ground our lives in God, but it is also important to live in the world the way God does. This has been the theme from the outset, that the kingdom of God is made up of those people who reflect God’s character into the world. Now as Jesus ends the sermon he again returns to that theme, when the storm approaches we must have a sure foundation. The storm he seems to be a metaphor for the final judgment and the foundation is a life that reflects God’s character.

Thus, it is not surprising that those who do miracles, or exorcisms might be excluded any more than it is surprising that false prophets will be excluded. Anyone looking to capitalize on the success and power of Jesus is not living out the character Jesus calls us to exercise. But we who are faithful in the little things, who live our lives trying to be a blessing to others because that is a reflection of God in this world are not in the danger of which Jesus warns. We are those that at the beginning of the Sermon receive the blessing that he has promised, the blessing of God’s presence and life.