I had a funeral last Sunday; Gordon E. Kelly. Another Pastor from a different church called and asked if I could do the funeral. I stood up and said that I didn’t know the man and had never met him. I found out that Gordon E. Kelly was the man with the paten on the first television tube with RCA and the first cable box with Zenith! As the family shared his story, I discovered a man who was a recovering alcoholic with three children before sobriety. He then married a woman with ten children in 1975. They married on October 31st, Reformation Day, the day we remember the change in the faith story. Now you know the rest of his story.
Jesus has just completed the Sermon on the Mount, calling the people to a deeper obedience that they have had before. “You have heard it was said… you shall not murder; hate your enemies; … but I say even if you get angry, pray for those who persecute you, love your enemies…” This calling is one that requires a deeper obedience that to just the law but to the LAW OF LOVE; to an obedience of Knowing! Jesus said, 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. 22On 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 deeds of power in your name?’ 23Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.”
In 2005, the BTK Killer was arrested. They discovered that he was a member of an ELCA church called Christ Lutheran Church of Wichita, KS. The pastor said, I didn’t know. Of course at the time I asked our council president, “is there anything I need to know” Did you know that in 1894, the average length of marriage was only six years because woman often died in childbirth. Like Paul Harvey, now you know the rest of the Story.
We gather to be known and to know God before that day when we stand before God, everyone one of us. What a disappointment it would be to hear these words when our lives are over and we stand before God. Not that any of us should be concerned about hearing such words because we believe! When we stand before God and declare all the great things we have done in the name of Jesus and think that will save us, just because we have made a claim to the name of Jesus. Jesus stands there and will say, “I NEVER KNEW YOU”. Some have confessed in Jesus as Lord and that’s it. Just because we have made a confession of faith in Jesus as Lord it doesn’t mean that is where it ends for this call is not a privilege or special claim to Jesus! We can’t hide behind the religious accomplishments of our faith. We can’t hide behind our well structured theological doctrines!
We also remember that 1 Corinthians says you may have all these gifts but have not LOVE you are just a noisy gong. Jesus was concerned about telling us what it means to follow and then in chapter eight of Matthew he did the will of God through miracles! God only know that words and actions go together – that equals obedience! USING THE NAME OF JESUS - Jesus talk but not Jesus walk; Proof of love is obedience; Faith without practice; words without deeds; But they actually did many. DOES GOD NOT KNOW US?? This all knowing God has somehow missed out on noticing you or I in the classroom? God knows our stubbornness, our pride, and our weakness! God also knows our gifts and talents; our relationships that need strengthening!
Yet we hear Jesus saying, “I NEVER KNEW YOU” – “understood against the background of the Old Testament where “know” can express the most intimate of human relationship.”[i] God knows us but wants to know us deeply in a relationship! The Word KNOW is translated from the Greek word ginosko. It is the same Greek word translated into knew in Matthew 1:25. "Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angle of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS." (Matthew 1:24-25)
When people KNOW one another, the doors of communication are open. They have a desire to know what the other is thinking, needing or wants to do. They will learn to know their hopes and dreams. They long to be in each other’s presence. They never work independently but see themselves as a part of a relational connection. Yesterday, my wife and I attended a wedding in
God wants to know us more that we may share the story of God’s grace and mercy to others, that the whole world might know the grace of Christ. Let us pray: Gracious God, lead us in knowing your word that we might be known by your love, in Christ we pray. Amen!
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