- Aug 11, 2017
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No, although fruit is very important, it can be faked. What is really important is love. Does a Christian love God? That's the really important question. There's a story Jesus told of people who meet him face-to-face at the Final Judgment to whom he says, "Depart from me, I never knew you." These same people had exorcised demons in his name, performed miracles in his name, and even prophesied in his name. But Jesus tells them he never knew them! How is this possible? Isn't casting demons out of people a good thing? Yes, it is. Isn't performing miracles in Christ's name something that is right and good? Yes, it is. Isn't prophesying in Jesus' name a good thing, too? Well, yes, it is. So, why, then, does Jesus tell them to depart from him? They were doing good. And they were doing it in his name! The answer is in what they never claimed: To love him. Why is that important? Because loving God with everything you are is where doing good, where obedience to God, starts.
Matthew 22:36-38
36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?"
37 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'
38 This is the first and great commandment.
Paul the apostle explained that anything we might do, however sacrificial, and praiseworthy, and good, apart from a motive of love, first for God, and then for others, is of no spiritual benefit. Read 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. But the majority of people claiming a faith in Christ, claiming to be Christian, have no love in their hearts for the Saviour. One day these same "Christians" who attended church for decades, and read their Bibles, and prayed, and gave money to the Church will stand before Christ and hear him say, "Depart from me, I never knew you." The thought of such a fate horrifies me!
How can such a fate be escaped? Well, the apostle John explained:
1 John 4:16
16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
When a person truly believes the love God has for them, it engenders in that person a love of God which, in turn, becomes a powerful motivation to forsake a Self-centered life for one centered upon God. Paul knew just how crucial love was to Christian living and so he prayed for the Christians at the church in Ephesus the following:
Ephesians 3:14-19
14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--
19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
The Bible says that the "love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us." (Ro. 5:5) When a person believes the love God has for them and so trusts in Christ as their Saviour, the love of God is given to them in the Person of the Holy Spirit. He is Himself the love of God, who works to transform sinners into Christlike children of God, making them holy, faithful, loving vessels in and through whom He can accomplish His will. Love for God, then, is the key difference between a false convert and a real one and a vital component of genuine salvation.
The parable of the sheep & goats is another example of those who did not do good works because they didn’t have love for others. Hence they didn’t give Him food when He was hungry, they didn’t give Him water when He was thirsty, they didn’t give Him clothes when He was naked etc.
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