Our scripture lesson yesterday included Matthew 7:23.
21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter."
22 "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'
23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you.'" ...
What struck me about the passage was the reason Jesus gave for turning people away from heaven. If you had only read up to verse 22 and then asked me to fill in what I thought would be Jesus' response, why He would have rejected people, my first few guesses would have been something along the lines of "You're a sinner," "You weren't good enough," "You didn't do something well enough in you faith/religion," "You chose the wrong theology," or "You didn't accomplish enough in your life." I'm not sure I would have ever come up with "I never knew you."
The interesting thing is that I might have come up with "You never knew Me." There are many people who don't bother to get to know Christ and plenty who have never had the chance. That's the whole premise of evangelism and discipleship. That's the part at which we know, very well, that we can fail and often spend the majority of our time trying to accomplish.
But Jesus said, "I never knew you." The subject and the object have been switched.
My first response to this statement is "What do you mean You never knew me?!?! You know everything, and You created me!" Psalm 139 (You have searched me and You have known me ...) comes immediately to mind as an apt starting point for my defense. And, of course, Jesus does know us, but His response indicates that there must be another element to this knowing which is variable, and, in some way, depends on us.
Let's consider the verb "to know." The original text is in Greek, and I don't know which word was translated as know. However, I think there is still much to be learned starting with the English.
Some options for defining "to know":
1. Having a mental catalog of facts about something or someone. Perhaps more at "to know of" or "to know about."
E.g. I know Chris Caldwell. He is a 42-year old male, who graduated from UGA, and is the Budget Administrator for Athens-Clarke County. He is married to Julie Caldwell and lives in Athens, GA.
E.g. I know English.
E.g. I know Lexington, VA.
In each of these cases, I know a list of facts about someone or something, but my knowledge does not depend on any consent from or relationship with what/who I know.
2. Having an emotional, psychological, or spiritual understanding of someone or something.
E.g. I know you work with Chris, but you don't really know him like I do.
In this use of know, there is a sense of something deeper - a knowledge beyond a list of facts. The primary difference in this usage from the first, for the purpose of applying the scripture, is that this kind of knowledge depends on a relationship. There must be some willingness of the person being known to allow another to know him or her. This kind of knowledge cannot be acquired apart from communication with and connection to the person being known.
3. Having a sexual relationship with another.
E.g. Adam knew Eve, and they conceived a son.
We are all probably most familiar with this euphemism for sex from Bible references. In applying this definition (and deepest level of the verb "to know"), the crucial element is not the sexual act but union for the purpose of procreation, for fulfilling God's first command to man: "Be fruitful and multiply."
Having thought through these three possible English nuances/definitions of "to know", let's revisit the implications of Jesus' response "I never knew you" and how we may have a role in this.
I believe that for our purposes, definition 1 does not apply. This in not what Jesus is talking about.
Definition 2, however, begins to shed some light on our role. Here we must acknowledge the concept of free will. Perhaps one of the most discussed topics in theology, I bring it up only to establish a premise for our having some say in our relationship with Christ. For whatever reason, God gave us free will, and from that free will we have been given the extremely powerful capacity of choice (or perhaps we mistakenly grabbed it in the Garden of Eden). I have often heard it said that God didn't want a bunch of automatons. What pleasure would there have been receiving obedience from a people who had no capacity to do otherwise. God, instead, desired obediance born out of choice, and that choice is governed by love.
The question I ask myself and you is this: Have you allowed yourself to be known, really known, by God? Or do you maintain a professional relationship with God - cordial, polite, and appropriate, but safe?
Being known, really known, is the basis for loving and being loved.
The second question is this: Do you realize that one of God's moves in this relationship dance was the most vulnerable move He could make? He got down on our level and made a complete fool of Himself in the world's eyes to communicate His love for us to us?
I'm not sure there could be a more vulnerable move. How do you respond to that? What's your next move?
I admit, mine has often been to politely move past the jarring (not-so-socially acceptable) display and quickly try to reestablish something more normal and comfortable - something more churchy and safe. It strikes me now that my response feels to Jesus the same way it would have felt to me had I told Chris (my husband) that I loved him and wanted to spend the rest of my life with him, and then he had paused briefly over his menu at Chili's and followed up with, "So have you decided what you are going to order?"
Ouch.
To get through the second definition of know, I think we have to respond in kind to God's last move - a resounding, completely undignified, and all-encompassing YES! A barbaric yawp for God, if you will. (Cf. Dead Poet's Society, if I lost you.)
(I do want to say that this is more than uttering the sinner's prayer and/or shouting some excited words. It is an affirmation, a commitment, from the deepest level of your soul. The very strange trick of all this is that the ability to actually say YES!!! is a gift from God - not something we can muster. God has to allow our eyes to be opened in such a way that we can see Him, and then know Him, and finally love Him. A bit circular, I agree. The lesson for me is that I have had to ask Jesus to allow me to see Him so that I could genuinely love Him. If you struggle with the Jesus factor, pray for this: Open the eyes of me heart, Lord. I want to see You.)
Once we have done this, the third definition can come into play.
One of the greatest joys of God's plan for humanity is that He desires to allow us to be part of His work - to love on His behalf, to create on His behalf, to forgive on His behalf, to heal on His behalf, to correct on His behalf, to teach on His behalf, etc.
For this to happen, however, we must be known by God in the third and deepest sense. (I reiterate that the focus here is the union for the purpose of procreation.) We must give ourselves entirely to Him for the purpose of being fruitful - of bearing His fruit. We can only bear fruit that He plants/originates. As he reminds us in John 15:
1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[ so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
So the third question I ask is: Are you bearing fruit for/with God? Have you allowed Him to use you for His vessel spiritually in the same way He designed man and woman to procreate physically? Is He bearing a "family" through you?
The marriage metaphor of God's relationship to man runs throughout the Bible (if this is making you a little uncomfortable). Christ is referred to as the Bridegroom and the church as the Bride. However, it may be surprising the the term "redemption" is also a marriage term.
The word redeemed in its original Hebrew (Qal or Ga'al) was a term that could be applied to marriage. It did not start off as a theological term, though it is very hard to hear "redemption" or "redeeming love" in any other way now. However, to get a true sense of what these terms mean to us today, we first have to understand the original meaning/connotation. That understanding sheds light on why God chose that word (redeem) to explain His relationship to us. We get a better sense of what He was trying to communicate.
Qal (Heb.) - to redeem, act as kinsman-redeemer, avenge, revenge, ransom, do the part of a kinsman
1. to act as kinsman, do the part of next of kin, act as kinsman-redeemer 1a
2. by marrying brother's widow to beget a child for him, to redeem from slavery, to redeem land, to exact vengeance
In Isaiah 54, God says this:
5 For your Maker is your husband—
the LORD Almighty is his name—
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
he is called the God of all the earth.
6 The LORD will call you back
as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit—
a wife who married young,
only to be rejected," says your God.
7 "For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
8 In a surge of anger
I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness
I will have compassion on you,"
says the LORD your Redeemer.
So, what of all this "God is my husband and redeemer" talk? How am I supposed to feel about that?
I think it is easy to get stuck on definition 2 to understand God has your husband. You can ascribe warm, fuzzy, pseudo-romantic feelings to God, have some intimate devotion time with Him, get some spiritual tingles, and then go on about your life.
To continue the metaphor, that sounds more like dating God, and He's talking about marriage.
No, I think we have to focus on definition 3. If God is my husband, it has to go a lot deeper than a feeling. First of all, it is a distinct change in lifestyle (as is marriage between a man and a woman). Second, and more importantly, it will produce something new.
God says that we will bear fruit. What does that mean? What does fruit look like?
Going back to the procreation metaphor, we can learn what the fruit might and might not look like.
A child is not a clone of his or her parents. The beauty of a life is that it is its own unique being created for its own purpose. A child is not the surrogate of the parents. A child is not someone through whom parents to relive their own childhood. A child is not someone for a parent to use to experience a better childhood or correct his or her own. A child is not someone for a parent to lean on for identity or pride.
A child is, in stead, a sacred trust.
I think the fruit we bear is much the same. It is easy to want our fruit to be just like us - just like what we had in mind - a repeat of our previous experience or a fulfillment of our (or others') expectations. It is easy for use to want to use our fruit to build up our self-esteem or for our own pleasure and comfort. We have been indoctrinated into the American Dream that teaches us that hard word will lead to financial success, independence, freedom to do what we want with our time, and a life of creature comforts.
The motto is "I build my own dreams. I am the author of my destiny."
And we are completely free to mold our fruit out of clay, paint it, glaze it, fire it, and stick it in a bowl on the sideboard. No doubt, we'll have a beautiful display of fruit.
But ... two things ...
1. It won't be alive.
2. It won't have any seeds.
The other option is to allow God, the Vinedresser, to grow real fruit within us. The fruit God produces through is alive, and it lives apart from us. Moreover, it reproduces apart from us because it is sustained by God - not us.
It's out of our control, but it is under our influence.
Are you willing to let God produce this kind of fruit in you? Are you willing to give Him that much control or, rather, to give up that much control?
Are you willing to produce produce or just something that will be a pretty decoration and fool a child?
Our fruit is and does the work of God. In right relationship, we tend it on God's behalf, not ours. Our influence is applied toward the purpose and glory of God, not towards the purpose and glory of us.
Are you living - on God's behalf or yours?
Are you loving your spouse - on God's behalf or yours?
Are you loving your children - on God's behalf or yours?
Are you using your talents - on God's behalf or yours?
Are you using your finances - on God's behalf or yours?
Are you using your time - on God's behalf or yours?
All of these are part of a sacred trust given to us because God had faith in our ability to tend them. They did not originate with us, but they can be derailed by us. Our options are to be a faithful trustee or to try and steal what rightly belongs to God. (The Bible is littered with attempted robbery.) The ultimate theivery is an attempt on God's authority and sovereignty. Strangely, we all have the capacity within our own lives to hijack that from God - to our detriment, but our opportunity nonetheless - and put ourselves, in all our glorious widsom, on the throne of our lives. We can then proceed to make exceeding little out of the great potential abundance God has planted in us.
I suppose it all comes down to trust. That is no more simply illustrated than in marriage. Complete trust in each other is the only balance that allows a whole greater than the sum of the parts. The same is true in our relationship with God. Without trust we have no access to His contribution. We can just put our attempt right next to His, and never the two shall meet. But imagine the whole whose sum includes one part which is God? Can you even begin to fathom your being the other part? And you are.
God's desire is first to know about you. Then He wants to know you enough to really love you. But the greatest thing of all is that His deepest desire is to call you His Beloved.
That, my brothers and sisters, was God's proposition on the cross.
Remember, Jesus asked Peter three times, "Do you love me?" And each time he used a deeper word (in Greek) for love.
Maybe we, in turn, need to ask Jesus, "Do you know me?" "Do you know me?" "Do you know me?"
