Thank you, Dear Reader, for joining me yet again. As a reminder for my returning readers, and a disclaimer for my guests (thank you for joining); I am neither an employee of nor a representative of any church or religious organization. I am but a student of theology, the life and ministry of Jesus Christ to whom I am wholly submitted, and of adolescent developmental psychology.
In response to my most recent work, “Marked and Sealed”, a reader had a question and asked that it be answered publicly as more may question it too. They asked, “What does it mean when Jesus says not everyone who calls me Lord will be saved?” The reader cited Matthew 7 where Jesus is warning the audience of false prophets and knowing the difference true and false teachers and believers by the fruit present in their lives.
This is one of those questions that could take a sizable theological book or even series of books to answer however, I hope to answer it a bit more concisely here in this work.
Matthew 7:21-23 is the anchor passage for this work, and it reads; “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. 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 perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.’”
The focus of this work could be summed up in a quote taken from my mentor and forever Pastor and friend, Rev. Dr. James Kelly who said; “You can know Greek and not know God! You can know Hebrew and not know Him who saves!”
This is a passage I struggled to understand as a younger Christian. I struggled to understand how someone who called on Christ could be unknown to Christ and subsequently turned away.
The crux of the passage rests on a single active word; “know”. Understanding in more detail the original meaning and context of this word will help us understand the message of this particular passage.
Let’s get ancient and foreign….
The Greek word for “know” is “ginosko” (Strong’s G1097) which goes deeper than a mere intellectual knowledge or mental awareness. The Greek word “gnosis” identifies or defines the presence of intellectual knowledge. The difference between these two words implies a personal, firsthand experience versus an intellectual knowledge of or about someone or something. It is effectively the difference between knowing who someone is, but not having a relationship with them and knowing who someone is and having a deeply connected relationship with them.
For example, the enemy of our souls has knowledge of, “gnosis”, who God is but does not know “ginosko” God, through an intimate connected relationship with God.
The Hebrew equivalent that is often translated as “know”, “yada”, (Strong’s H3045), refers to the way a woman knows a man before she conceives a child. Not regarding the physical or sexual knowledge, or knowing, but regarding the way two people are deeply connected and bound together spiritually.
In short, knowing God through Christ Jesus, is the key to a spiritual future (John 14:6), there is no other way to God. However, being known by God absolutely necessary as well. This brings Dr. Kelly’s statement into better focus. The root he was driving to was that it is not the amount of knowledge of God that one obtains that makes the difference of salvation but the intimate, relational connection that one shares with God through Christ that makes the difference!
Allow me to make the application of this more personal using myself as the example.
I was raised in a church home as a child. Church was a staple of my Granny’s life. This is where her friends were, a bit of our family, some of her co-workers, and so on. This church became the center of my younger years. It was where the pretty girls were! Terrible excuse for attending however, I was there.
At the bright age of just 7 years old, I accepted Christ and was baptized on the coattails of a “fire and brimstone” message basically teaching, accept Christ or burn forever. The preacher was not wrong however, missed the key point of God’s grace and mercy. I subsequently responded in fear. In short, I was after fire insurance from the God I believed hated me, because of my sin, more than I was about a relationship with the God who loved me, despite my sin, through Christ who saved me.
Yes, there is a difference! To quote Dr. Kelly again, “God doesn’t sell fire insurance!”
Although the relationships with the other congregants at church was good, the girls sure were pretty, the music was the same as any other church in the area and Awanas was always a surefire line to some candy; there was really nothing more to that church.
Even after salvation and baptism I did not feel connected to God as was promised. If anything, I felt more scared and hid myself even more because, although I was free, I felt shackled by a list of do’s and don’t’s.
I was attending because I had been taught to, not because I desired to know Him. I was attending out of obligation to people not out of love for God. Said another way; I knew about God and even knew a good bit of the Biblical narrative however; I did not truly know God and was most certainly not known by Him.
The idea of not being known by God while God is fully omniscient (all-knowing) can raise a few eyebrows and seem to contradict the bible for some so, let’s quickly dispel of that idea of contradiction.
Let’s go back to the understanding of the word “know”; to mean an intimate relational knowledge. Of course, there are a plethora of scriptural references to the knowledge of God.
God knows the plans and purposes of each of us. (Jeremiah 29:11)
God has created each of us individually with an individual purpose (Ps 139:16)
There are a bunch more yet, to the point, the relational context of being known by God differs from the omniscient nature of God.
God is omniscient, He knows all things however, leaves room for our choice to both know Him relationally and be known by Him relationally and has made a way for us to do just that through Christ Jesus.
For example, look to Revelation 3:20, which reads; “Behold, I stand at the door and knock”. This is not a forced entry, no-knock warrant service, FBI raid, burglary sort of entrance. The imagery of God standing at the door of your heart and knocking is not a demanding or forceful item but one that shows the loving and merciful nature of God.
While God knows all things, He leaves room for you and I to respond to His grace and mercy with our choosing to open our heart to Him. God is a gentleman not a robber or thief!
As my wife and I have explained it to our own children; we have the right, ability, strength and authority to open the door of their room anytime we choose for any reason however; we knock to provide or permit them autonomy.
The same is true of God in our lives! He has the right, ability, strength and authority to take control at anytime yet, He chooses to permit choice on our end thus, the knock.
Therefore, there is a distinct difference between God knowing all things and our being known intimately and relationally by God.
Ok… back to it!
You might be questioning why you should love God? You may cite that, in your experience, God is not fair because bad things have happened to you or those close to you.
In a world of a “this for that” mentality, conditional response; I love because they love, it is easy to excuse a misinformed view of God.
Allow me to be bluntly clear with this statement; God is not fair, and neither is life! You’re right! Not even the nicest, sweetest, most wonderful person you know that attends church everyday and holds their bible while they sleep deserves heaven! None of us deserve heaven! Not even my Granny and she’s the nicest human on the planet.
I bet you didn’t think I would go there… but we’re there now! God is not fair! None of us have gotten what we actually deserve! Even the idea of receiving what we deserve shows a deeper root problem of entitlement mentality.
We don’t “deserve” God and I’m sure glad I don’t get what I do deserve! I’m glad God is not fair because if He were truly “fair”, I would be on fire right now and so would you.
The Apostle Paul shows us what we truly deserve and what we would receive if God was “fair” as we understand fairness. “For the wages of sin is death, but the git of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
So, if God were “fair”; heaven would be empty! All that would be there would be angels and the Triune God. The rest of us would be in hell because we got what we earned, what we deserved!
The Apostle Paul spells out why it would be ALL of us quite clearly; “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) ALL… not just those who don’t go to church… everyone has fallen, sinned, messed up, etc.
But while God is not “fair” in our understanding of it; He is loving, just and faithful! While we chose to do what we wanted, what felt good to us, etc., God still loves us and made a way for us to come to Him.
You might question God’s love for you.
The Bible tells us that God’s love for all the world was and is His motivation to save us!
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
The entire world! Not one ethnicity, race, gender, culture, etc., ALL!
God has proven His love by acting first! He did not wait for us to come to our senses or figure it out first. God acted first! The Apostle Paul wrote to the early church in Rome; “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
Even while we were His enemies (Rom. 5:8), like Paul was Jesus’ enemy! (Acts 9:5)
Even while we were working against Him, He was and is working for us! (Romans 8:28)
It would be absurd then, to shake our fists at God demanding fairness; God is not fair, and it is to our benefit He has chosen to not give us what we deserve! Equally, it is absurd to question God’s love for us; He made a way for the “fair” and “earned” result of our sins to be removed so we could come close to and be loved by Him. What other reason would we need to respond in love?
Thus, it is the Apostle Paul, the former enemy of Jesus, who gives us the only reasonable response to all of this; “Therefore, I urge you, brother and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Romans 12:1)
“But the man who loves God is known by God.” 1 Corinthians 8:3
You have every reason to love God because of all He has done for you!
Be known by God through Christ Jesus!
Stoner's Simple Thoughts 