iTunes<\/a>).<\/p>\nMany questions are raised here. Are these false disciples actually \u201cex\u201d-disciples, or apostates? Can lapsed believers lose their salvation? Some controversy within Christianity exists as to whether a person can truly experience \u201csaving faith\u201d and then fall away later. I won\u2019t attempt to settle that debate here. Furthermore, that doesn\u2019t seem to be the real issue in this passage.<\/p>\n
The immediate context of this passage is the \u201cSermon on the Mount\u201d, in which Jesus has much to say about hypocrites, those who do good works for show and self-aggrandizement. They are actors with two faces. They pray loudly. They give large sums to the Lord\u2019s work, making sure that their coins rattle and clink loudly as they are poured into the collection. They make themselves look miserable during fasts, so that others don\u2019t miss the fact that they are fasting. They are narcissists within the community of faithful. This taints their good deeds. They may lay claim to being prophets, but false<\/em> prophets they are\u2013\u201cwolves in sheep\u2019s clothing.\u201d<\/p>\nIt would be tempting then to say that works are unnecessary: \u201cEmpty works are bad, so merely believe in God in your heart, and all will be well.\u201d But Jesus doesn\u2019t let people off that way. He is not contrasting deeds with non<\/em>-deeds. The passage which immediately follows the frightening disowning of many seemingly zealous followers, also clearly stresses good works. Two kinds of doers of good works are contrasted, not merely those who do works vs those who don\u2019t.<\/p>\nThe question is, on what kind of foundation are those works built? Are they built on love for God? Are they built upon love of self?<\/p>\n
Jesus praises those who hear, and then do the will of their lord. For them the word of the master sinks in, and is taken to heart. It produces a response of love that results in good works. Neither the empty works of the faithless, done for show, nor empty words of a profession of faith, devoid of works, are sufficient evidence of a heart that has been really touched by God.<\/p>\n
Jesus here connects the hearing with doing, much as James did later in his discourse on the relationship between saving <\/em>faith and works:<\/p>\nWhat good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,and one of you says to them, \u201cGo in peace, be warmed and filled,\u201d without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
\nBut someone will say, \u201cYou have faith and I have works.\u201d Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe\u2014and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, \u201cAbraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness\u201d\u2014and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
\n(James 2:14-26)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Where the heart is\u2013where our faith is\u2013there good deeds will follow. \u201cBy their fruit ye shall know them\u201d says Jesus elsewhere. As the great preacher Charles Spurgeon once stated:<\/p>\n
ONE of the best tests by which we may try many things is to ask, \u201cHow will they appear at the day of judgment?\u201d Our Lord here says, \u201cMany will say to Me in that day.\u201d He used no other word to describe that memorable period because that terse, brief expression suggests so much\u2014\u201cin that day\u201d\u2014that terrible day\u2014that last great day\u2014that day for which all other days were made\u2014that day by which all other days must be measured and judged. I pray, dear friends, that we may, each one of us, begin to set in the light of \u201cthat day\u201d the things that we most prize. The riches upon which you have set your heart, how will their value be reckoned \u201cin that day,\u201d and how much of comfort will they afford you then? As for the way in which you have been spending your wealth, will that be such as you will remember \u201cin that day\u201d with satisfaction and comfort? Value your broad acres and your noble mansions, or your more moderate possessions, according to this gauge of their real worth\u2014how will they be valued \u201cin that day\u201d? And as to the pursuits which you so eagerly follow, and which now appear so important to you that they engross the whole of your thoughts, and arouse all your faculties and energies, are they worthy of all this effort? Will they seem to be so \u201cin that day\u201d? <\/em><\/body><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many will say to me on that day, \u201cLord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?\u201d Then I will tell them plainly, \u201cI never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!\u201d (Matthew 7:21-22) \u201cLord, lord\u201d is a phrasing that doesn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[369],"tags":[890,229,1075,1074,1073,1063],"class_list":["post-2295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theological-ideas","tag-faith","tag-hypocrisy","tag-judgement-day","tag-sermon-on-the-mount","tag-spurgeon","tag-works"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2297,"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2295\/revisions\/2297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}