“Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ "But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ "Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ "But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out,”
Luke 13:25-28 NIV.
“I don’t know you…,” are the most feared and dread-filled words of God. We do not want to hear these words. Yet, some of us who sit in church might indeed hear them.
Folks that participate in the festivities yet have no communion or personal relationship with God are to be most pitied. We think and believe we are saved, but many are not. Participating in the ritual doesn’t guarantee a seat at the table. Why should the Host invite me to the table if I don’t even know Him? I might know OF Him, but would I recognize His voice if He called to me?
Our goal is to know Jesus intimately. It's a gift from God being able to hear His voice as our Shepherd. If we can't quite hear it, we need to continue to seek Him until we do. We need to "keep on knocking" to show our tenacious resolve in pursuing God. It’s important. This is why we examine ourselves: to ask the tough questions in order to make sure we are where He wants us--in a healthy relationship with Him.
I just cut open an apple. It looked great on the outside - skin smooth, firm, good color, ready to eat. But when I cut it open, part of it was rotten. If I had let that apple sit in my fruit bowl longer, the shoddy part would have spread. Soon the whole apple would have been inedible. Yet, since I caught it in time, I could cut out the bad section, salvaging the rest.
When we examine ourselves, we are asking the Holy Spirit to remove anything that might be festering and to take away that which may cause future decay. His voice gets louder as we willingly ask God to search us and know our hearts in preparation to obey Him. This shows we have an understanding of who we are and who God is. This prayer of "search me" (Psalm 139:23) is a prayer of surrender like the one Jesus prayed, "Not my will, but Yours be done." (Luke 22:42). These prayers show the desire of our hearts which is to obey God as His children with earnest surrender of ourselves. If we are sitting at church (or anywhere) with the mindset of "God first," we are being transformed by the Holy Spirit Himself.
When we surrender like this, we actually have humbled ourselves before God, and He promises to draw near to us. It's the difference between showing up to a party as a plus one or as the original invitee. It’s like arriving at God's banquet hall in Luke 13. You either know the Host intimately as the invited, or you only know OF Him as the guest, the plus one. As the guest, you don't know God, and He doesn't know you as His child.
If you’re examining your heart wanting to have the Holy Spirit make you Holy, more than likely you are an invitee. You know God, because you want Him to examine you, and you don’t want anything festering.
But some of us don’t see the need to examine or even the need to know God. We are content just showing up weekly. We are satisfied just learning about Him and doing good deeds without ever offering our surrender to Him.
Yet, Christianity is not just serving and sitting in church seats. It’s the surrender of all that we have to gain all that He is. It’s the privilege that God Himself has given us - to know Him. This is our chance, right here, right now, on earth, to hear His voice.
When was the last time you examined your heart? When was the last time you said, "Search me, O God, and know my heart," and meant it?
Father,
Help us pursue You until the very end of time. Teach us to see You with both eyes, not with one on You and one on ourselves. Help us to understand surrender. Help us to hold lightly to that which has been given to us, and help us to use it for Your glory, in the building up of Your kingdom.
Show us if our relationship with You has only been from a distance, like in a crowd during a festival. Are we just showing up? Are we engaged with who You are? Do we know Your name and hear Your voice?
We desire to hear, “Well done.” Not, “I never knew you.”
Do we know You now, so we will know You then?
Forgive us for the days, weeks and even years we have played church and forgotten to be the church—Your people living Your way. Show us, teach us, and help us to know You. We don’t want to gnash our teeth at the end and realize we missed our opportunity to get to know You—our creator God, our Savior, our King.
Oh, how we need You, oh how we want to know You,
Amen.
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