Are you for real? (follow-up to message)

This is the title to a message I brought April 6, 2008 and this is a follow up to that message. We saw in Acts 8 a picture of a guy named Simon who had it all wrong related to salvation. [I am posting this on the eve of the message in order to have this available immediately after the services on the 6th.]

In the parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13), Jesus warned us there would be those who look like Christians on the outside, who go through the motions of church membership and baptism, but who will not spend eternity in Heaven. This is not the only place Jesus signals this warning. Matthew 7 is another place He warned us of this same danger.

In Matthew 7 He is speaking to the religious crowd. He told them the gate is narrow and the road is difficult that leads to life … “and few find it” (Mt. 7:14). This specific post is targeted to those who want to know, “How can I know?”

One place we look is in this same passage (Matthew 7). Jesus tells them one way to know if you are truly a follower of Christ is that your life will produce fruit. 20 So you’ll recognize them by their fruit. Matt 7:20 (HCSB).

Does your life produce the fruit of the Spirit we see in Galatians 5? Does your life exude the righteousness of Christ?

The second characteristic of a true follower of Christ is a life of obedience. This does not mean we don’t stumble from time to time. We all do. But the pattern of your life … the dominant characteristic should be obedience. In Matthew 7:24-27 Jesus tells the parable of two houses … one built on sand and the other built on a rock. The solid foundation (the rock) is obedience to God’s Word. Jesus says the same thing in John 15:14 when He said, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.” In other words, we demonstrate our relationship to Christ through our obedience.

We are saved through faith in Christ (see Ephesians 2:8). Scripture also teaches that this faith WILL lead to a life of obedience (works). 14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can his faith save him? James 2:14 (HCSB). You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. James 2:24 (HCSB). Clearly, if the faith you claim to have does not lead to a life of obedience, you do not have the faith that will save you.

Western Christianity has become something of a formula of easy-believism. “Are you looking for a way to fix all your problems? Pray this prayer and all your marriage / finance / family / etc. problems will go away. Don’t you want that?”

“Well of course.”

“Good. Pray this simple prayer and you're in."

I know that is a bit exaggerated. But not much. Somehow, we leave out the parts about “difficult road” … narrow gate … obedience … sanctification (salvation is a process as much as it is a crisis).

21 “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. 22 On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ 23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’ Matt 7:21-23 (HCSB)

This is the religious crowd. They thought they were “safe”. They even did a lot of religious work. Even miracles! But Jesus said, He never knew them. Paul tells us to examine ourselves to see that we are in the faith. We come to Christ by faith ... the kind of faith that leads to a life sold out to following Christ ... that leads to repentance ... the kind of faith that results in a life of obedience.