Who Enters the Kingdom of God?

The question every Christian asks is, “Will I be saved?” We live our entire life defending our answer. We all think ‘we’ are going to be with God in heaven, but Christ says, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven.” There is no guarantee.

The defense make for our salvation is that we believe Jesus is Lord. You know else believes Jesus is Lord, even KNOWS He is Lord? The devil and his demons have no doubt who Jesus is, and we know where they will end up. Strictly speaking, belief isn’t enough. Not even words.

Today’s reading from the Gospel of Saint Matthew is a profound challenge to our faith and practice as Christians. If calling on the Name of the Lord won’t be enough, what is enough? We must do the will of the Father. Here’s the Gospel passage for today.

The Lord said, “Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 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 mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.'”

Matthew 7.21-23

Let’s consider this passage along with the reading from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans for today. When Saint Paul reminds us about the faith of Abraham, he isn’t talking about mere words. Abraham was willing to give God his own son ‘just because’ he loved God.

Brethren, the promise to Abraham and his descendants, that they should inherit the world, did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants — not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, for he is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations” — in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations; as he had been told, “So shall your descendants be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “reckoned to him as righteousness.” But the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Romans 4.13-25

Abraham is an example for us not because he believed in God, but because his actions reflected that belief and expressed his love for God. The devil believes but does not love nor do the will of the Father. Do our actions reflect belief or are they mere words?

This is why Christ offers us this warning today. He knows life is a challenge. He lived as one of us and knows temptation. He knows hunger. He knows thirst. He knows every reality of human life, but He never sinned. His actions were always consistent with the will of the Father.

The $Million question is, “How do I do the will of the Father?” For Abraham that meant offering God his son. For Noah that meant building an ark and rescuing his family and animals from the flood, even looking like a fool to others. Doing the will of the Father isn’t a law. It is love.

Doing the will of the Father is loving God more than anything else, even ourselves. It means loving God enough to look like fools in front of others. It means offering God our future. It means taking up our cross for Him, any time any day.

Does it mean being perfect? Only God is sinless. Only God is perfect. Doing the will of God only means doing your best to believe enough so your actions reflect your belief. God didn’t allow Abraham to lose his son. God won’t allow us to lose everything either.

If we want to be with God in His kingdom, our actions must reflect our belief. Those actions must include repentance when we get it wrong, not because we are afraid of God, but because we want to do the will of the Father.