In the last teaching section of the famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke of final judgment. In Matthew 7:21–23, He cautioned that not everyone who calls Him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus even said some who prophesy or confront evil or perform miracles will hear those dreaded words “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”
One might ask if prophesying or confronting evil or doing miracles in the Lord’s name is not enough to enter heaven, then what is.
Jesus answers “only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven” (v. 21).
As Baptists, our traditional understanding of doing the will of the Father relates to accepting Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior. The apostle Peter was unmistakable when he wrote, “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).
God’s will is that “all should come to repentance.” God’s will is that none perish.
That is why the Father “sent His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16–17).
God even promised in 1 John 1:9 that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
‘That all could be saved’
God’s action in sending His Son is that all could be saved. God’s promise is to forgive all who confess. That part of the will of God motivates Baptists and other Christians to share the good news of Jesus with every tongue and tribe and nation so all may know that Jesus Christ is Lord.
But to stop there is to have an incomplete understanding of what the Bible says about doing the will of God.
The apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10 that those who trust Christ as Lord and Savior are “God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus” for a purpose. The verse declares that purpose is “to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
In the two preceding verses the apostle clearly explains that works play no part in one’s salvation. Salvation is God’s gift alone. Then Paul adds that once an individual has become a new work in Christ, that individual is to do good works that evidence the new nature or character of the believer.
Good works do not produce a new nature, the apostle teaches. They reveal the new nature.
That understanding is important when one comes to the parable of the sheep and the goats recorded in Matthew 25:31–44. In this final teaching recorded by Matthew before telling the story of the crucifixion, Jesus returned to the theme of final judgment.
Those invited into God’s kingdom were those who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, sheltered the homeless, cared for the sick and visited the prisoner (vs. 35–36). Those cast out did none of those things. Evidently they ignored the needs of others.
The Greek text indicates the separation of the sheep and the goats was not an arbitrary action on the part of the king. Nor was it based on the good works of feeding the hungry or giving drink to the thirsty.
In verse 34 — “you who are blessed” — and verse 41 — “you who are cursed” — are both “perfect passive participles which express an action performed by another in the past which continues as a completed state.” In other words, something was done in the past that put them in the blessed or cursed state that continued up to the moment of judgment.
Could there be a clearer reference to God creating a new nature or character in the believer or the impact of the sinful nature in the one who rejects Jesus as Lord and Savior?
Because the sheep had a new nature, they “loved their neighbor as themselves” and cared for them in various ways. Because the highest expression of the sinful nature is selfishness, the goats ignored the needs of others. The works of each group evidenced the nature or character each brought with them to the judgment.
The parables of Jesus and the teachings of Paul both affirm that a believer has a new nature that reveals itself in good works that bring glory and honor to God. If one’s life is not marked by “good works which God prepared in advance for us to do,” then one would be wise to revisit one’s profession of faith because profession alone is not enough.
This Sunday, Oct. 12, Southern Baptists will observe World Hunger Sunday. Alabama has a serious problem with world hunger with about 1 in 6 residents and 1 in 4 children living in food insecure homes. Thankfully a growing number of churches respond to this need with food pantries and feeding programs done in cooperation with the state’s food bank network.
World Hunger Fund
The World Hunger Fund offering collected this Sunday underwrites feeding programs around the world. Eighty percent of every dollar goes to international food programs conducted by Southern Baptist representatives. Twenty percent of the offering is used for feeding programs in the United States.
In addition to direct ministry, it behooves Christian believers to work to create a society where people have the opportunity to work and earn their own way rather than becoming dependent on others. This could lead Baptists into unfamiliar territory. For example, if the 1968 minimum wage had just kept pace with inflation, today’s minimum wage would be $10.65 rather than the current $7.25.
If wages for workers had been tied to productivity increases since 1968, the minimum wage would be an astounding $18.30 according to the Economic Policy Institute’s analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics. It is no wonder that both Republicans and Democrats are talking about the growing impacts of income disparity in the United States.
Traditionally Baptists have been hesitant about entering public debate about economic issues such as minimum wage. Experts agree that America cannot “food bank” its way out of the problems created by hunger. We need all the direct service churches and others can provide and we also need some basic changes in our economic system to help enable people to support themselves and their families through work.
Could creating such an opportunity be a good work God prepared in advance for us to do?
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