The Kingdom of Heaven – Part 11
Obedience is required to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers! – Matthew 7:21-23
One would think that someone that is able to perform miracles ‘in the name of Jesus’ will have open doors in the Kingdom of Heaven, but this bible verse shows us that it is not necessarily like that. This is not about our knowledge of the bible, religion, or miracles. This is about obedience. Those mentioned in these verses were denied entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven. Why? Maybe they were not called to do miracles, but to serve. Maybe they were called to do miracles, but were not obedient in other areas. One thing is for sure: they were not doing the will of God.
We are required to confess Jesus as our Lord, but this is meaningless until we submit to his will in obedience.
Some definitions for obedience are:
- The act of obeying, or the state of being obedient; compliance with that which is required by authority; subjection to rightful restraint or control.
- dutiful or submissive behavior with respect to another person
If we really want to accept Jesus as our Lord we must comply with his authority and act in submissive behavior to him.
The requirement of obedience is included in the prayer that Jesus gave us as a model.
your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. – Matthew 6:10
When we pray “your will be done” we are praying for God’s will to be done on earth, including our lives. In fact, this shall begin with us.
Our love for him is demonstrated by our obedience.
If you love me, you will obey what I command. – John 14:15
Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. – John 14:21
If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. – John 15:10
We are considered his friends when we obey his commands.
You are my friends if you do what I command. John 15: 14
It is not enough to listen; we are required to follow him
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me – John 10:27
What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Matthew 21:28-31
This parable is similar to little kids that say ‘yes’ when their parents ask them to do something but in their hearts never had the intention of doing it. We shall be careful to be found doing like them.
It would be a shame to be rejected by God after thinking that we have been serving him during our lives. Let’s analyze ourselves to make sure that we are confessing Jesus as Lord with our mouths while we are submitted in obedience to his will with our lives.
If you would like to begin a discussion on this teaching please do so by accesing the topic about the Kingdom of Heaven our forum site http://forum.forachangeonline.org/
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