Foolish Christian or just foolish?

Those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, but don't take His word serious, are they immature Christians, foolish Christians, or not Christians at all?

Consider carefully Jesus' words. 

Matt. 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! 24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

Luke's gospel expresses it this way:

Luke 6:46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? 47 Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 49 But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”

Some observations:

1.  Not all of those who call Jesus Lord will enter heaven. 

2.  There is a contradiction in calling Jesus Lord, but not doing what He says.

3.  There are those who come to Jesus, hear His words and do them, Jesus calls them "wise".

4.  There are those who hear Jesus' words but do nothing, Jesus calls them "foolish".

5.  Those who built wisely, "on the rock", will have a house which survives the storms.

6.  Those who built foolishly, "on the sand", will have their house destroyed by the storms.

7.  Surely the context of these passages demands we see what is destroyed by the storm as the eternal hope of the one who professed faith, but ignored Jesus'  words.

What can we conclude from the two passages? Those who don't seek to obey Jesus' teachings are not saved, not going to heaven and call Him Lord in vain. 

Why is this so startling? 

A tremendous quantity of those who occupy seats in church each week, as well as many others who self identify as Christians, but don't attend church, have very little idea what Jesus taught and have no desire to obey Him. 

Sometimes I don't  take obeying Jesus' words nearly as serious as I should and I would be quick to admit my foolishness in that case. But, how do we address the professing "Christian", who calls Jesus Lord and hopes in heaven, but has a lifestyle of indifference to His teachings? 

Maybe we should be more bold to point out the foolishness of their choices and tell them how Jesus would evaluate their profession that He is Lord!

We need to be careful that we don't go around calling people "fools" (Matt. 5:22). However, love dictates we make some effort to communicate the foolishness of professing faith in Christ without obeying Christ. 

Let me suggest a possible dialogue to help someone see if they are a wise or foolish builder.

To coworker, friend, stranger, etc.

Who do you think Jesus is?

Assuming an answer that suggests they think He is God/Savior etc.

How are you learning what Jesus taught and applying it to your life today?

Assuming an answer that goes something like, "I am not really into church and the Bible that much".

Can I tell you what Jesus says about how believers should respond to His word?

I could then have them read, read to them, or paraphrase the passages above if a Bible is not handy.

I might be wise at this point to acknowledge that I and all Christians are a work in progress when it comes to learning and doing Jeus' word and we are only saved by grace through faith in Jesus' works, not by how well we know or do His word. However, the passages above also offer a unique opportunity to ask if they are building on a wise or foolish foundation, based on the words of the one they claim to believe is Lord.

If they say they have been foolish in their response to Jesus' words, then I am in a great place to offer them help in learning God's word through my church, personal discipleship or both.

I know this conversation may go many ways and we can't be sure how far we will get in helping someone evaluate their foundation based on Jesus' words. However, considering the fact that many professing Christians are likely not Christians at all, I can't in good conscience be satisfied with accepting their first utterance of "Jesus is Lord" as a reason to move on to the next evangelistic opportunity.

Culturally, many would call these Christ professors who don't know or do Jesus' words "immature Christians" or maybe "foolish Christians", but we must not take this situation lightly as Jesus' evaluation is that they are actually foolish non-Christians!

"Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."