Matt 7:21-23 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
This scripture makes me think of networking at work. We often get frustrated that the people who get promoted aren't always those we think are most exemplary, or the best qualified, they're often the one who has a personal relationship with the hiring manager. There's even the oft-repeated "it's not what you know, it's who you know." And in the professional workplace, this is often viewed as a flaw in the system. The best and brightest doesn't necessarily advance because he may not be personally familiar with the person doing the hiring.
In the gospel, it's the same way, apparently. Here you have a group of people who are essentially proclaiming that they have done the work, but Christ replies, "I never knew you."
Flip over to Matt 25, to the parable of the ten virgins. Five brought oil in addition to what they could hold in their lamps, and five brought no oil so that when the party approached, those who had not were compelled to run try to purchase, and when they returned, did Christ admonish them for what they had done? No. He said simply, I know you not. And wouldn't let them in to the party.
Alma touches on this theme in Mosiah 26, where he reminds us that we must know the name by which we are called, and the voice of the Good Shepherd. Those who do not know him are told, Then will I confess unto them that I never knew them; and they shall depart into everlasting fire...
The two obvious traps that I see associated with our attempts to know Christ are knowing about Christ, and believing that works can be a substitute for knowing him.
Knowing about Christ is probably the easiest to do. When Christ talked about those who had visited him in prison, fed him when they saw him hungry, clothed him when they saw him naked, he was talking to a group of people who knew about him. Those who failed to recognize him in the poor, the meek, and the lowly did so not because they didn't know about him, but because they didn't know him.
I want to be clear: learning about Christ is a good and necessary part of our spiritual development, but it is no substitute for coming to know Christ. We should be doing both.
The second challenge is somewhat harder, but Christ was quite clear that it was possible--that of performing actions that are good without knowing Christ. In the scripture that started this off, the sinners said, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? and Christ did not deny that they had indeed done many wonderful works, but he says, I never knew you. This is the failing of a hypocritical generation, and he was definitely speaking to his target audience at the time, who were known for their hypocrisy, but are we any better? As we go to church on Sunday, and perform our callings, and having family prayers, and all the myriad other things we do, are we filled with the love of God? Or are we aware that our neighbors are watching us and we want them to believe that we're good people? Are we convinced that doing our home teaching is ministering unto the Savior as he lies naked, hungry, or thirsty? Or is it something we do because it's awkward to tell the Elders' Quorum President that we haven't done it again this month?
I am not going to go through all the motivations we might have for performing acts that are motivated by the wrong reason, but it is possible.
The lucky thing about both of these flaws is that they both have a strong tendency to build you to the point where you might have started out simply learning about Jesus and end up coming to know him, and you might start out doing the works of Christ for the wrong motivations and the promise does exist that through action, you can come to know that they are of God, and your motivations can change. I have a hard time believing that one could go for long persisting in daily scripture study, daily prayer, temple attendance, and serving actively in the church without progressing past learning about Christ and rote performance of actions.
On the flipside, I also think it is possible to build a house on that foundation, and once the walls are up, through neglect of the less public portions of service and more personal obligations of study and prayer, quietly and slowly dig that foundation out from under the house while presenting to all the world a facade that slowly becomes more and more unstable.
And that, for me, is one of the most important lessons in this whole discussion: You can not look at someone and have any understanding of where they are at spiritually based on anything you can see because it is possible for someone who knows Christ intimately to give you nothing different to observe than someone who does not. The motivations are in the heart, and as Paul said, Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels...though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains...and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. All those things are possible without allowing them to create within you the saving grace that means that you know Christ. When it comes time to be judged, Christ will either know you or he will not know you, and your works and knowledge will profit you nothing if you do not know him.
