Today’s scripture: Matthew 7:15-23 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Keith Phillips):
It’s an ancient philosophical question: Is our being (the person we are) the result of our doing (how we live in the world)? or, Is our doing (how we live in the world) the result of our being (the person we are)? Aristotle would have said: to be is to do. However, the Utilitarian John Stuart Mills would have said: to do is to be. Frank Sinatra (or was it Bing Crosby?) evaded the issue by singing: doo-be-doo-be-do.
Jesus seems to evade the question here at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, too. He begins with the Beatitudes, what we are like as God’s people. He continues with a new understanding of the Torah, the guidelines for living as God’s people. Now, at the very end, Jesus warns that the teachings are to be taken seriously. The daily decisions of this way of life are decisions of life or death.
At first, Jesus seems to say that it’s what we do that really matters: “You will know them by their fruits” (verse 20). But immediately afterward Jesus makes it clear that what we do is not enough. The good fruit of preaching, exorcisms, and miraculous acts of power produced by those who sincerely call Jesus “Lord” is insufficient: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (verse 21).
Neither being nor doing is sufficient, apart from God. There must be an integration of who we are in relationship with God (the Beatitudes) and how we live in obedience to God (the rest of the Sermon on the Mount). And Jesus makes clear that without that integration we’ve got a problem. He warns, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. . . . Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evil doers” (verses 19 and 23). Sounds like separation from God, or maybe even hell, to me.
Too many Christians seem unconcerned about the ultimate life-or-death nature of their daily walk, of their opportunity to grow spiritually. They seem to think, “God is love, and who cares what the Bible says.” They assume that everybody goes to heaven when we die.
As a hospice chaplain, I am regularly with those who are approaching the other side of this life. Most of us are familiar with reports of the bright light at the end of the tunnel, of encountering angels and Jesus, of the peace and harmony that’s awaiting. And I have been with those who have experienced these things, and it is an awesome thing to behold. But I have also witnessed negative near-death experiences: fearful darkness, anxiousness, forsakenness. It is not pleasant. I do not wish it for anyone. The International Association for Near-Death Studies confirms that up to 15% of near-death experiences are reported to be negative. Experientially, I believe Jesus’ warnings.
Thought for the day: Life has consequences. Our being and our doing, when integrated and guided by God, leads to life, abundant and eternal. Our being and doing, when apart from God, leads to separation from God.
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