I Never Knew You

These are harsh words. They are spoken by the Prince of Peace, the Savior of the world.

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. (Matthew 7:21-23)

“I never knew you.” This is spoken by the one who is born unto us from eternity. He says this of those who have called upon His name and have done what appear to be mighty and good things in His name. In fact, He does not even discount their claims. It seems, from what Jesus says, that they are correct in what they say, that they did indeed do all of these mighty works. They preached and prophesied and cast out devils according to the power of the name of Jesus. Yet He says to them in the day of judgment that they are workers of iniquity whom He has never known as His own workers and disciples.

Occasionally I visit the web site of the congregation in which I grew up. I was baptized at the fount in this congregation. I was confirmed there. I was ordained there. I preached there. But as I see what is happening, as I have watched the congregation change from what I knew to what it now is, as I see what is on the opening page of their web site, I wonder whether I ever knew them.

This is what I found today on their home page of:

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I see this and I wonder who these people are. For nearly 20 years I warned my family and friends of the erosion of the true faith and the theft of the preaching of the pure Gospel and of the pure administration of the sacraments that was occurring there and within the LC-MS. Many of the people I once knew have left this world, hopefully while the Gospel was still their true hope. But the congregation is in turmoil. My family has disintegrated and splintered. Finally, my mother has stopped attending there, though she still clings to the dead church body.

I find myself realizing that perhaps the church that I thought that I knew never existed, or at least, as it now is, it has become something entirely foreign to me, something that I never knew.