Good Foundations
There is a twist in today's Gospel reading that hits us right away in the first verse.
On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.' "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell-- and great was its fall!" - Matt. 7:22-27
It is not the same thing, Jesus says, to cast out demons in His name and to be true followers of Christ, doing God's will.
Why I do what I do matters.
In Jesus's day, there were many who professed to be prophets, exorcising spirits and performing for the crowds to earn a living.
But what bothers me about this is that I remember from Mark's Gospel, Jesus saying something quite different.
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him; for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon after to speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward.
How do we reconcile these two views?
I think the answer lies in why Jesus said to let the man continue to do good works in Jesus's name.
Eventually, Jesus said, he will not be able to speak ill of Jesus if he does good works in His name.
That is consistent with the reading from Matthew. Begin with a solid foundation, in this case, starting with Jesus, and everything you do will be strong and will last.
For us Christians who struggle with how to spread the Gospel, this is good news. All we need to do is start people on the path by having them want to do God's will in Jesus's name.
There may seem like a fine line here when it comes to doing things in Jesus's name, but it is all about the reason we do these things. Are we out for ourselves, or for others?
Remember, Jesus taught us to be humble. He did not say, go and tell the world how great you are because you follow me. He said love one another.
So, for all of us who seek glory for ourselves, think twice.
We may be using Jesus for our own benefit, instead of building our foundation on Him.
More to come...