The Work Of God

Jesus says, "Not everyone that saith, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter into heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father."

What is the will of the Father? It is that you have a relationship with Him, through the Lord Jesus Christ. How do we know that? Our text from John plainly states it, as does Matthew 7:22, "Lord, Lord, have we not done many wonderful works in thy name?"

Jesus doesn't seem to be impressed. "Yeah, but I never knew you. We had no relationship."

It seems that God is much more interested in our being something for Him than He is in our doing something for Him. God is looking for those who desire to have an ongoing relationship with Him. God is looking for those who desire to worship him.

John 4:23 states , "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him." God is primarily concerned with knowing us, and our knowing Him.

Yes, I understand the "Great Commission" as we call it, and I understand that God has chosen us as His instruments to spread the good news. We need to be doing that, but we must have the relationship first; otherwise it doesn't matter what works we do in His name, it is still in name only. How can we effectively tell others about someone whom we only know in passing? How can we effectively tell others about a Jesus with whom we are barely acquainted ourselves? How can we convincingly model a changed life in the Lord when we spend almost no time with Him?How can we hope to do anything lasting when Jesus is not in it?

These folks were casting out demons and prophesying. How do our works compare? (Regardless of what I have accomplished, I haven't cast out any demons.)

Jesus said that even these works do not take the place of His knowing us and our knowing Him. I think it is clear that Christianity has hit some bumps in the road. Setting aside all of the things that we have been told that we must do, (and believe that we must do), our first responsibility is to have a relationship with Him! No amount of doing or training takes the place of our being what a close relationship with Jesus produces in our lives.

The Bible seems to be centered around what you can be for God much more than what you can do for God. You can be so busy doing that you completely miss the essence of what it means to be a Christian!

The word Christian literally means little Christ. A little Christ is a copy of a bigger Christ. If we are not careful, we can be so busy doing, that we do not have time to have a relationship with the same Christ into whose likeness we're supposed to be conformed. How can we measure whether we have become more focused on doing than believing? It is really pretty easy if you think about it.

If you are in a close relationship with God there are certain behaviors that He will not allow. I didn't say that you might not be tempted, but I do believe that God will not allow you to act out in some manners if you are in close communication with Him.