Depart from Me

"Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?”And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity (Luke 13:23-27).’"

There was a time when someone close to me said, "I go to church because I feel that when I do my week will go better." I understand how attending a church service on a consistent, if not weekly, basis can make somebody feel better. The benefits of being around like-minded individuals and hearing a message about Jesus and the Bible are too many to count. However, a statement like this can also make it seem like God is obligated to deliver a "good" week to you because you have fulfilled your part of the "bargain" by attending a church service. While the individual may not have intended that by their statement, it does give insight into the reasons why some people go to church. Those reasons may not be what one would suspect. In the book of Acts we see that members of the early Church, "devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer (Acts 2:42)." Many Christians assume that everybody who is in church is there for similar reasons like those of the early church; to fellowship with other Christians and be equipped for the work of ministry by hearing a Bible-based message. However, some people may be there simply to try and ensure that they have a "good" week. What defines a "good" week? Usually, it is the individual who defines a good week and not the Lord. This would usually revolve around obtaining blessings of the flesh of some kind; health, wellness, financial gain, etc. It is like putting God under our law. Instead of God defining what the rules are for us to follow, we tell Him what rules to follow; I go to church, You pay out! Rarely, would someone admit that is what they are doing, but in essence it is pretty plain to see. Some people will go to church to find a spouse. There are families that will look for a church that has a good program for their children. Others attend churches because they like the sense of "community" they find there. Finding business contacts is a another reason for going to church. While all of these, and more, may be byproducts for going to church, they shouldn't be the main reason for attending. However, many churches market to these people in hopes of capitalizing on their desires to increase membership. As one church puts it, "Whether your skills, gifts and talents are in the field of the arts, business, media, education, family, government, science, agriculture or church ministry, you fit into the mission." There is nothing wrong with having outreach programs like these. However, can we honestly say that all those people who are drawn to these things know the Lord and are there as a byproduct of having come to faith in Jesus Christ?

In Luke 13, Jesus was asked, "are there few who are saved?" In the midst of giving His answer, He said something quite telling. Jesus said that many people will try to enter Heaven, but will not be able to. When these people question Him about their inability to enter Heaven, in their defense, they say, "We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets." However, despite this Jesus says He doesn't know them and then says, "Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity." He says these people are workers of iniquity. This means that there behavior was sinful and immoral. But, what is more interesting is that these people ate and drank with Jesus and were present when He taught in their streets. This doesn't appear to be any different than what we might see in our churches today. If you see people who are coming to church regularly, listening to the messages, who seem to fellowship with each other and even get involved in ministry, it doesn't mean they are Christian and are there for the reasons you may believe. Now, I am not saying all of this so we can start pointing a suspicious eye at each other, but so we will be aware that not all motivations for attending church are the same. Think about it. When Paul wrote to Timothy, he warned him, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs (1 Timothy 6:10)." Paul warned the church in Philippi about enemies of the cross of Christ whose, "destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame (Philippians 3:19)." James was chastising the motives of those who ask God for things by saying, "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures (James 4:3)." In just these three examples you see the authors of scripture talking about people in the church who, in short, are seeking to gratify their own desires through the means and opportunities provided by it. There is a high probability that these people are not saved, but just in the church to advance their own agendas. Will we know who these people are? Probably not. Is it our job to find them and out them? Not necessarily. After all, it is Jesus who said, when referring to separating the wheat from the weeds, "Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn (Matthew 13:30)." This is why there will be people that the Lord doesn't know and whom will be told to depart from Him despite having been in His presence and heard Him preach. They used what He provided for personal gain. And that is why He calls them workers of iniquity who have no place in His Kingdom.