I could have called this sermon Identity Theft, or Forged Documents, or Illegal Entry, or any one of a number of buzz-words regarding one of today’s hot political topics, illegal immigration. Because this passage is about trying to get something you don’t deserve by pretending to be someone you’re not, about sneaking in through a hole in the fence and then trying to act like a native. But these are all conscious deceptions. And while I am sure that many people who call themselves Christians know that they’re faking it, most think they’re on the right track. They think that saying the right words and even doing religious things is what following Jesus is all about. But there’s more to it than that. And that’s why just calling yourself a Christian, or saying “praise Jesus!” at the appropriate moments doesn’t prove anything. Even having experienced a rush of emotion at Christian camp or during a worship service isn’t enough.
The reason false documents work in this world is because we can’t tell if the person presenting them is really the person whose name is on them. Our Homeland Security folks are just getting around to talking about biometrics, that is, having your papers tied to something that proves you’re you - like retinal imaging or fingerprints or something like that. Of course that’s because we haven’t had the technology before now. But Jesus has always known if the label matches the contents. Jesus has X-ray vision.
These words are not intended to make you doubt your faith. They are intended to make you explore your faith. This passage is for you if you have never let your faith go any farther south than your head. It has lived in your head and on your tongue, but never touched your heart or your hands.
Now, some people set this verse up as a contrast between faith and works. They point to it as evidence that Jesus doesn’t really care about what you believe, but only about what you do. But if you’ll recall what I said last week on the preceding passage about false prophets, what you do cannot be separated from what you believe.
As Jesus’ brother James said to the church in Jerusalem,
“Faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe - and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works...You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” [Jas 2:17-24]
Some people quote this passage to prove that what we do is more important than what we believe. But James doesn’t say that. He says that faith alone is not enough. In the same way, and for the same reason, actions alone are not enough.
Your actions may be perfectly splendid. Look at the list Jesus himself gives in the text: prophesying, casting out demons, doing deeds of power. Now, prophesying is speaking on God’s behalf, so preaching is included. So he’s saying that not even preaching - good preaching, preaching that lifts up the name of Christ - is enough to assure our salvation. Or what about casting our demons in Jesus’ name? According to Scripture, Jewish exorcists cast out demons, too... some probably added Jesus’ name to the ritual and thought that was enough. And miracles! Successful healing ministries draw huge crowds, as people seek a direct experience of God as well as mere physical relief. But here Jesus says that healings, and other marvels, are not enough to show oneself approved by God.
Well, we knew that, didn’t we. Doesn’t Paul say in 1 Cor 13,”If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing." [1 Cor 13-2]
So maybe it’s acts of love that count, not acts of power. Maybe caring for the widow and orphan, as James says, or feeding, clothing, and visiting the hungry, naked, and ill as Jesus commanded later on in Matthew’s gospel, are the only kind of deeds that count. My view is that these are better, closer to the mark, but still not what Jesus is talking about.
Why is it that actions are not enough? You may wonder, “Don’t my actions show what I believe?” And the answer is, as James said, yes of course. To some extent our actions do show what we believe. Your good works may show that you care about other people, that you put relationships above things. This is good. But - and this is very important - they may also show instead that you care what other people think about you, like the Pharisees who do their good deeds in public in order to be praised. Your actions may also show that you think you don’t need any help, that you can earn your way into heaven by being good, and that you think you can figure out what God wants without listening to what he has to say on the subject.
The actions might very well be the same in every case - but the thoughts are very different. And God looks on the heart. Now, that’s very attractive to our experience-oriented culture.
How often have you heard someone say “I just feel that it’s right,” or someone else say, “Just go with your heart.” There’s something to be said for going with your instincts - but only if they’re trained by long immersion in God’s word and will. And even then we need to be careful. For, as the prophet Jeremiah said so long ago, “The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse-- who can understand it?” [Jer 17:9]
Martin Lloyd-Jones points out how easy it is for us to be fooled by our own emotions. “One of the most difficult things, all Christians must surely admit, is to differentiate between a truly spiritual fervor and a carnal, animal zeal and enthusiasm. Natural animal spirits and temperament may very well make one fervent and zealous.... There is nothing of which a preacher needs to be more sure than that the zeal in his preaching is not produced by his natural tempera¬ment or [the eloquence of] his sermon, but by real belief in Christ. It is a very subtle matter.” Now you may think that this advice is just for preachers, but that isn’t the case. “Some people,” he goes on to say, “never pray in public without crying, and some tend to think that they feel more than others. But it doesn’t follow for a moment. The emotional type of person is always more liable to weep when he prays, but it does not of necessity mean that he is more spiritual.”
President Clinton was renowned for feeling everyone’s pain. His lower lip would tremble, and his eyes fill up... but if you watch the tapes of, for instance, his friend Ron Brown’s funeral, you can see that as soon as the public moment was over, the display of grief was wiped clean. Public displays of emotion don’t mean anything.... Now, I’m not saying that he faked the tears. What I am saying is that whatever was going on was shallow. And our religion can also be showy but shallow.
We may think our hearts are right, but who can know but God? Whose judgment can we rely upon but God’s? Whose standards can we turn to but God’s? That is why we must spend time in Scripture, letting the Holy Spirit show us when we are heading in the wrong direction, or operating from false motives. “Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." [Heb 4:12]
When we say, “Lord, Lord,” we must remember more than the fact that Jesus’ name is one of power. We must remember more than that his invitation is wide open to everyone who will come to him. We must also remember the third commandment, “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God.” [Ex 20:7] You may recognize it better as “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. “In vain” means “emptily” or “without meaning.”
It is wrong to make use of God’s name, or Jesus’ name, if we do not mean it. Let me suggest to you that it’s better not to mention God’s name at all than to use it wrongly. Like everything God has given us, the more powerful it is, the more damage it will do if used wrongly, or carelessly.
And a lot of people do that. A recent poll showed that about 75% of Americans consider themselves Christian. But only about half of those go to church regularly. And the divorce rate among evangelicals is just the same as it is for the general population. There are people who use Christ and the church for their own personal gain. They can even be found in the pulpit, using the ministry to feed a hunger for power, prestige, or influence. However, they are also found in the pew. They use their Christian contacts for business, political, even sexual gain. There are predators in the pews. So you see there are a lot of people who take on the name without taking it seriously. Others do so without even considering what it means, just assuming that if they were born in America but aren’t Jewish or Muslim or Buddhist then they must be Christian.
In a mystery I read not too long ago, a minor character named Eddie tried to set himself up as a free-lance hit man by representing himself as a contract employee for the local organized crime syndicate. Unfortunately for Eddie, once the word trickled upwards to the godfather - excuse me, chief executive - Eddie’s career took an abrupt and final turn for the worse.
It’s always a good idea to know what you’re getting into when you use the name of someone powerful.
Eddie thought he could borrow just a little of the power of the person whose name he was using - let’s call him Mr. Big. Just borrow it. But to use it for Eddie’s own purposes, to get something for himself. Either Eddie didn’t think Mr. Big would ever hear about it, or he didn’t think he’d mind. After all, Eddie wasn’t stealing anything, was he? Just - borrowing it. No harm done, right? It’s not like he was signing Mr. Big’s name to a check or anything.
But Eddie didn’t know much about Mr. Big. First of all, everything came back to him, eventually. You couldn’t keep secrets, in that community. And second, Mr. Big’s reputation was important to him. His reputation kept people in line even more than his enforcers did. He’d earned his reputation the old- fashioned way, by eliminating his opposition, and it was expensive to maintain. If people started thinking Mr. Big was employing a two-bit thug like Eddie, they might start thinking he was either losing his grip or lowering his standards, and lose respect. So Eddie had to go.
Now, I don’t mean to imply that God operates like Don Corleone. Far from it. In fact, the offer God makes you can refuse. But there just aren’t any other people in our world who are able to wield absolute power with so little accountability whom I could use as an illustration. Perhaps Saddam Hussein, once upon a time. Local warlords and dictators, to a limited extent. But YHWH God is far more jealous of his name, and of his reputation, than any thug. “The LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name,” is the warning at the end of the commandment. Jesus is saying that the warning still applies. ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’"
So, as we have already seen, salvation is far from being a matter of passing a particular experiential litmus test. It isn’t even just a matter of correct theology, or of good deeds, or even warm feelings. Head, and hand, and heart must all be operating together for us honestly to be able to claim the name of Christian.
The marks of a true Christian aren’t deeds of power, or even deeds of love. They include, ideally, the fruits of the Spirit: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." [Gal 5:22-23] But some kinds of temperament - or training - looks like this naturally. No, the marks of a true Christian are deeper, and more subtle.
A Christian is first of all, poor in spirit. Remember, that’s where we began in the Sermon on the Mount. A Christian is always aware that it’s God’s grace, not our own goodness, that has brought us into his family.
Second, a Christian mourns for his or her own sins, and for the sins of the world. A Christian is not happy with the way things are, and grieves over it.
Third, a Christian is meek. A Christian submits to the will and wisdom of God, doesn’t try to substitute her own desires and ambitions and agendas for what God has said in the Bible or has given him in his life. Remember, though - meek isn’t spineless, just obedient.
Fourth, a Christian hungers and thirsts after righteousness - not after fame, or power, or public recognition, or any of the other things that our natural selves hunger after.
A Christian is merciful. Having received mercy ourselves, how can we withhold it from another?
A Christian is pure in heart. We do not harbor and cherish and excuse unclean thoughts or habits, but ask God to make us clean, and keep us clean.
And finally, a real Christian will often be criticized, and sometimes even persecuted. We will be called fools, self-righteous, medieval, narrow-minded, traitors, a danger to the state. And we will not retaliate in kind.
“Help!” I hear you say. “I’m lost! I’m none of those things - or if so, only a few of them, or only occasionally, and only a little. I slip all the time, and fail all the time, and forget all the time.”
Good! That’s just what I want to hear you say. Because if that is your reaction, your cry of “Lord, Lord,” is a cry for help, not a boast of power, and his answer is, “Come unto me.” You’re on your way, walking on the hard road, leading to the narrow gate, and eternal life awaits you.
