Before the Talk

I felt pretty good
I felt proud.
I felt superior
I felt certain I’d get God’s approval
I felt confident I’d win a blue ribbon for my good work.

Then I Read About TRUE DISCIPLES:

Matthew 7: 21 “Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as ‘Lord,’ but they still won’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven. 22 On judgment day many will tell me, ‘Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Go away; the things you did were unauthorized.”

Frighteningly Sobering.

Then Came the Talk

“But God … what? … I’M DOING GOOD WORKS LIKE YOU ASKED … This is fruit, right? … This is what you’re looking for, isn’t it?

• “Nope, I don’t want any part of it.”

Back-story of Conversation # 675

Mickey (a fellow radio announcer) and I often talked about how important it was for us to guard ourselves from thinking we were special, or acceptable, or safe because we said and did respectable things for a living.

We were in Christian radio. Daily, we boldly pointed people to Jesus. Who would ever question our motives or suggest we weren’t exceptional?

But (again) that was the point. It was easy to feel smug because we had a “Christian” job. This was dangerous. It was dangerous because we saw the risk of falling into religious activity and substituting that for intimacy with God.

These verses in Matthew 7 were a wake up call … These are tough love words … Jesus spoke these words to those who sincerely desired to be true disciples.

Jesus said, 21 “Not all people who sound religious are really godly. They may refer to me as ‘Lord,’ but they still won’t enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The decisive issue is whether they obey my Father in heaven. 22 On judgment day many will tell me, ‘Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Go away; the things you did were unauthorized.”

This word unauthorized terrified us.

It caused terror because we weren’t spiritually stupid. We understood that we could become religious, self-satisfied, and that this behavior would limit, maybe ruin, our professed love of Jesus.

Of course, I don’t know how you feel. But I know how I felt and I didn’t want to stand before God and hear, “The works you did were useless because they were unauthorized.”

Jesus got my attention with these words from Matthew 7 in the New Living Translation.

It’s an alarming question: Are you doing work that is unauthorized?

Here’s what I’m trying to do so that I never hear the word unauthorized. I’m trying to do away with anything that smacks of being merely religious. My goal is to have a genuine relationship with Christ.

So let me ask, Is there any unauthorized activity you need to get rid of?

Our life has meaning, God is waiting to show us this.

Does God have your attention?

God has my attention.

Song:
TobyMac Lose My Soul

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