The Danger of Mighty Works

Matthew 7:21-23

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. 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 workers of lawlessness.”

Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone (Vol. 1)

The choice is spelled out at last, and there’s no avoiding it, no softening the hard line. Choices matter; actions and motives matter. Learning to follow Jesus and to know God as father matters. Eternal issues are at stake. . . . And as soon as you hear a little voice saying “maybe Jesus didn’t mean it – surely he can’t have been that strict – maybe it’ll all come right in the end no matter what we do,” you need the next warning.

Some it seems will have done remarkable things “in Jesus’ same” but without knowing him personally. Mighty deeds are not a final indication of whether someone really belongs to Jesus or not. . . . What counts will be knowing Jesus – or rather, being known by him (76-78).

A. Orendorff

To the list of “mighty works” in v. 22, those of us in Christian ministry would be wise to add (with sobriety and perhaps a shudder), “Did we not preach powerful sermons in your name, did we not sing beautiful songs in your name, did we not teach educational Sunday School’s in your name, did we not build great worship halls in your name, did we not organize meaningful retreats in your name, did we not work many long hours in your name?”

We are tempted (perennially tempted actually) to justify ourselves by our works—whether by what we do and who we are—and if, when we read the closing verses of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, all we hear is one more exhortation to, “Do more. Try harder. Be better,” then we have not heard Jesus at all. What matters, Jesus says, is knowing Him, or rather, as Wright and countless others have pointed out, being known by him. This does not release us from the demands of Jesus. Obedience matters as well, not, however, in order to gain God’s merited favor or to receive his earned blessing but because, in Christ, we have already gained God’s unmerited favor and received his free, gracious blessing.

These verses ought to make us shiver, but in doing so we dare not turn to more and greater “mighty works.” Instead, with humility and trust we must return again to this Jesus, who is Himself the narrow gate and straight way.