“Not Everyone Who Says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ Will Enter the Kingdom of Heaven”

Discussion Starter: Play a game in which students lie.

Ideas could be:

1. Two Truths and a Lie, in which people say or write down two true things about themselves and one false thing.

2. Liar (Bull) card game. Pass out all the cards in the deck. The winner is the person who gets rid of all their cards first. Starting with the first person, students must lay down in order of card sequence. So the first person has to lay down one or more Aces, the second Twos, etc. The key is that you lay cards down facedown and can lie about what you’re laying down. If you don’t have what you are supposed to lay down, you can try to fake it and say that you’re laying down the right card or cards, but you’re really laying something else down. If you have one of the right card, but want to get rid of your cards more quickly, you can add another card to it and simply say that you’re laying down two of the right card. Watch out, though, because if someone doubts your word, they can call you a liar, at which point you have to reveal what you laid down. If they’re right, you have to pick up the whole pile and play resumes with the next person. If they called you a liar and it turns out you really did put down what you said did, they have to pick up the pile.

3. Lying Interview. Have students pair up, or select one volunteer from the group. The interviewee must answer every question the partner or the group asks with a lie.

When the game is finished, ask, Why do people lie to other people?

Do people ever lie to God? How so? Why?

Bible Study: Read Matthew 7:21-23.

Jesus is talking about the time when people are judged, either when they die, or when Jesus comes back, and He’s saying that some people who call Him Lord won’t get into Heaven. Why does Jesus say they won’t get into Heaven? (Because they haven’t been doing God’s will.)

The people haven’t been doing what God wants them to do. They say they believe in God and Jesus, but they don’t follow God and Jesus by doing the things that God wants them to do. They’re lying to God. They’re saying they believe in Him, but then they don’t really live like they believe in Him. They just keep doing the same things that they want to do.

Think about it like this: If you have a girlfriend or a boyfriend, and you tell that person that you like them, what do you do to show them that you like them? (Spend time with them, hold hands, kiss, etc.)

What if you had a boyfriend or a girlfriend and you said that you liked them, but then you never spent any time with them, you never talked to them, you were never affectionate with them, would they still think that you liked them?

No, they would think that you must not have been serious when you said you liked them, because if you had been serious, you would do things that show that you like them.

It’s the same way with Jesus. We can say that we believe in Him, but if we never do anything to show Him that we believe in Him, He’s not going to believe us. He’s going to think we weren’t serious when we said we believe in Him. He’s going to think we were lying.

So here’s the point: Show Jesus you’re serious. If you say believe in Him, if you say you want to be a follower of Christ, then do what He says. Live like you believe. If you do that, then when you die, or when Jesus comes back to judge the world, you won’t have anything to worry about. Instead of Jesus saying, “Get away from Me. I don’t know you,” He’ll smile and say, “Yeah, you’re with me. C’mon.”

Show Jesus you’re serious by how you live.