the Christ, our Judge

Wednesday, September 30

Matthew 7:13-21
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

I read today's Gospel reading with thoughts about the coming Son of Man, the Messiah and Judge, which we talked about in Bible study last night, still running through my head.

For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. (Mt. 16:27)

A few further reflections on Matthew 16:27 -

We've already had some pretty strong words from Jesus with regard to our actions lining up with our words and expressing the condition of our hearts and our faith. Good trees bear good fruit. There's a narrow way, and broad way - one of which requires intentionality, focus, courage, faithfulness, and radical trust. Finally, it won't be those who say, or said, "Lord, Lord" who will enter the kingdom of God's beloved Son, but those who do the will of the Father...

Amy Yearwood shared that, though the idea of judgment was scary, she trusted the character of the Judge. Good word! He is good and merciful and just - and bore the condemnation of our judgment. We can trust him, even if with some holy fear.

Lisa also reminded us about Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 3:
Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

And in connection with this she mentioned Randy Alcorn's "Treasure Principle" (which I haven't read), but I think the idea is that what we do now is an investment in the future kingdom. What we do for the kingdom, what we do in trust and love, what we do out of our connection to Jesus (our abiding in Jesus, cf. John 15:5), will not only "survive" but be a lasting, integral, fruitful, beautiful aspect of the eternal kingdom of Christ. [Perhaps another view of this is Jesus' speaking of having treasure in heaven, that is, investing in a kingdom "bank account," through giving to those in need. We can see this some in Matthew's gospel, but most clearly in Luke's.]

I mentioned that the phrase "he will repay to each one according to what he has done" was in the singular, which I realize doesn't make sense, at least the way the ESV translates it. A more literal translation would be, "he will repay to each one according to his deed (or his action)." One implication of this may be that it is our life as a whole more than every individual action being measured against all the others ("plus 2 here, minus 3 there..."). Tom shared that it's the deed and the motive that is considered. Here's a good definition of the word "deed" (praxis) that carries that singular sense, perhaps that it's our life as a whole that's being weighed: "a function or task, implying sustained activity and/or responsibility." This gives a sense of the whole trajectory of our lives, the motive, the direction and intention - was it for the love of God and love of neighbor?

What we do matters. Life, that is, our living is not in vain. This speaks of our dignity as created in God's image, as made a little lower than the angels with the care of creation entrusted to us (Ps. 8, Genesis 1). Jesus ensured and insured the value of our lives and our living through his death and resurrection. Thanks be to God.