Not being Workers of Lawlessness but Obedient to the Father’s Will in Serving God

In Matthew 7 the Lord Jesus rebuked those who did works in His name, calling them workers of lawlessness, for they did these not out of obedience to the Father’s will, and they did not do the will of the Father; may the Lord preserve our service in the principle of submission to God’s authority and the Father’s will.

Amen, Lord, we give You our daily living and our service before You. We love You, Lord, we care for Your economy, and we want to serve You. May we not serve in the principle of rebellion. May we not serve You according to what we think we should do. Oh Lord, preserve our service in the principle of submission to God’s authority! May we do the Father’s will in all things. Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to You and we remain in the fellowship in the Body to serve You as You desire, even to do the Father’s will! Amen!

This week, the last week in our prayerful consideration of the crucial points in chapters five through seven in the book of Matthew, we want to see what it means to do the will of the Father.

We need to be those who do the will of the Father so that we may enter into His kingdom on “that day”, which is the day of the judgment seat of Christ.

God has a purpose, a heart’s desire; He wants to do something, and He has purposed somethingin His heart.

All things are created for His will, and all things exist for His purpose. We can see a revelation of God’s purpose in spirit.

What is God’s will? According to the New Testament, God’s will is concentrated in Christ and is for Christ, for Christ is everything in the will of God. He wants His Christ to be enjoyed and experienced by us.

God’s will is to have the church as the Body of Christ; when we enjoy and experience Christ, we will simply realise we’re members of the Body, we will honour the Head, and we will live in the Body and for the Body.

When we see the will of God, when we realise that His will is the same from eternity to eternity, and His will shall be done, we will join ourselves to Him to do the will of the Father.

We will realise, however, that many work for the Lord and in the name of the Lord, but not all do the will of the Father.

On that day, the day of judgment, the Lord will tell many who did great works in His name, who prophesied in His name, and who cast out demons in His name, that He does not know them, for they are workers of lawlessness.

Today we look around us in Christianity and we see many great works being done for God, many giving out money to the poor, and all kinds of good things happening in the name of God.

But who does the will of the Father? Who cares for the will of the Father? May we be such ones today, those who care for the will of the Father in our service toward God.

Not being Workers of Lawlessness who do Great Works in God’s Name but not out of Obedience to God’s Will

In Matthew 7:22-23 we see the Lord Jesus rebuking those who prophesied, cast out demons, and did many works of power in His name because as “workers of lawlessness,” they did these things out of themselves, not out of obedience to God’s will.

He gave us a sneak peek of what will happen on that day at the judgment seat, where the believers in Christ will be judged before the Lord concerning what they have done in the body while on the earth.

None of the believers will suffer eternal perdition, but whether or not they will reign and feast with Christ in the next age of one thousand years depends on whether or not they did the will of the Father.

Many will say to the Lord on that day, Lord, was it not in Your name that we prophesied, cast out demons, and did works of power?

Wow, on the day of judgment, some will try to argue with the Lord, even before the judgment seat. The Lord’s answer to these will be, I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.

This “knew” in Greek means, I never approved you. I never even had an acquaintance with you. I was not even aware of you. You did all these things, but I was not aware of you.

Wow, many can do great works in God’s name, receive some blessing, and gain a following and even bring many to the Lord, but the Lord may say, I never knew you, I never approved you, I never acknowledged you, because you did not do the will of the Father! Oh Lord Jesus!

May we realise that, as 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, we all must be manifested on that day before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one will receive the things done through the body according to what he has practiced, whether good or bad.

We should not judge others or their work before the time until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the heart (1 Cor. 4:5).

Then, there will be praise to each one from God. We should not care for man’s praise today; we are longing to have praise and acceptance on that day from God.

The work of each one will be manifested, for the day of the Lord’s judgment will declare it, because it is revealed by fire (1 Cor. 3:13-15).

The fire itself will prove each one’s work, of what sort it is.

If we have built upon the foundation something of the eternal elements of the Triune God, our work will remain, and we will receive a reward; however, if our work is consumed, we will still be saved, but there will be a loss, a dispensational punishment. Oh Lord Jesus!

We may lose the reward in the next age; we will never lose our salvation, but we may lose the reward.

The salvation we received in Christ is not by our works and is eternal, unchangeable in nature. God’s salvation as a free gift to all believers is for eternity; however, the Lord’s reward to those whose work is approved by Him is for the kingdom age.

The reward for the kingdom age is an incentive for our Christian work. Although many are saved, not many will be rewarded; those who do not do the will of the Father will be saved, yet so as through fire. This is a solemn warning for our Christian life and service.

What do we build with today? What kind of work do we do for the Lord? What kind of service do we offer God? What materials do we build with? Do we build with the things of the natural life? Do we use our natural skills and abilities to try to build up the church?

Or do we seek to experience the Triune God to be constituted with and build with gold, silver, and precious stones?

Many do great works in God’s name but will be rebuked by Him, for they are workers of lawlessness, not doing the will of the Father.

We need to repent before the Lord and ask Him to save us from being such ones. We need to do our work out of obedience to God’s will, doing the will of the Father today.

Lord Jesus, we love You and we want to do the will of the Father today. Oh Lord, we do not want to focus on doing great works for God or prophesying in God’s name but not out of obedience to God’s will. May we be those who obey the will of God and do the will of the Father. Oh Lord, may we live in the light of the judgment seat of Christ. May our living, our work, and our service before God be in the light of the judgment seat of Christ. May we have the realisation that we will one day appear before God’s judgment seat to be judged based on the works we have done while in the body. We praise You, Lord, that we have received eternal salvation, and we will live forever one with You! We aspire to be rewarded by You at the judgment seat, so we want to do the will of the Father today. May we build not with things from our natural man but with our enjoyment and experience of the Triune God so that our work will stand in the day of judgment. Oh Lord, we humble ourselves before You and we want to build with gold, silver, and precious stones, doing the will of the Father today! Amen!

May the Lord Preserve our Service in the Principle of Submission to God’s Authority and the Father’s Will

We believers in Christ are those who are saved by the Lord, and we are in the process of being renewed, transformed, and conformed to the image of Christ so that we may be even as He is. However, as we serve the Lord today, it is possible that we serve in the principle of lawlessness.

If we do things for the Lord or in the Lord’s name, yet we do things out of ourselves and not in the principle of submission to God’s authority and the Father’s will, we are workers of lawlessness.

The age we live in today is full of lawlessness and rebellion (1 John 3:4). Not only in the world is there rebellion but even more, in serving God there is rebellion.

To be lawless is to be without a law, and to be without the law is to sin. Satan sinned by trespassing against God’s authority, and the principle of rebellion is in us today, for Satan is embodied in our flesh and in the self.

We may be believers in Christ and we may not commit gross sins, but if we serve God and do things for God without submitting to God’s authority and without doing the Father’s will, we are in the principle of rebellion. Wow!

We need to see that there are two principles in the universe – the principle of God’s authority and the principle of Satan’s rebellion (Acts 1:7; Isa. 14:13-14).

We cannot serve God on the one hand and take the way of rebellion on the other hand. Rather, we must turn away from the principle of lawlessness and reject the way of rebellion (Matt. 28:18; Jude 11). May the Lord have mercy on us in this matter.

May we realise that serving God is directly linked to His authority. If we serve God yet do not settle the matter of authority, we will have problems in all the areas of our service.

Satan is continually fighting against God’s authority, and we as believers in Christ may join him in his rebellion whenever we do not submit to God’s authority and do not do the Father’s will.

In order for us to serve God, we have to experience authority; we need to free ourselves from lawlessness and rebellion.

We may give a message or preach the gospel, and at the same time we may take the way of rebellion. Oh Lord!

If we do not serve in the principle of submission to God’s authority and the Father’s will, we are in rebellion against God.

On one hand, our service may help others, and many will be encouraged; on the other hand, we will damage the Body of Christ by our service, and many will sense that we are not right. Oh Lord!

May we settle the matter of authority and rebellion, may we allow the Lord to shine on us to expose and deal with our rebellion, and may we serve the Lord by doing the Father’s will.

May the Lord preserve our service in the principle of submission to God’s authority and the Father’s will (Acts 1:7; Matt. 7:21; 12:50).

We serve the Lord not according to how we think we should nor according to our preference; we serve Him according to His will and desire.

What we care for is not merely prophesying, casting out demons, or works of power; we care for doing the will of our heavenly Father.

How can we know the Father’s will? It is by means of the divine life and nature within us. We need to turn to our spirit again and again, remaining in the organic union with the Lord, and allowing the Lord within us to restrict and limit us.

We are running the race and walking on the constricted way today.

We do not want to do a large quantity of work for the Lord so that we may brag about it before Him; we care for the Father’s will. We want to serve the Lord but not violate His will.

So we ask the Lord to shine on us; we ask Him to have mercy on us today and expose any principle of rebellion in us.

We want to turn from any rebellion to doing the Father’s will and serving the Lord under His authority. We want to bring everything to the Lord in our service.

In the Old Testament we see the example of Saul, the first king of Israel; before Samuel anointed David, he anointed Saul, and he was king for a long time.

However, when God told him to destroy the Amalekites completely (1 Sam. 15) – including adults, children, and even the animals – Saul thought he knew better, so he and the people spared some of them, including the king and their animals. What was worthless and despised, they utterly destroyed.

So God was very upset, even repenting that He made Saul king, for Saul disobeyed God. Samuel, being one with God, cried before the Lord the whole night. Saul even set up a monument for himself at Carmel. Wow!

We may serve the Lord, and He may ask us to deal with something, and we may have a small victory, and we may set up our own little kingdom, a monument for ourselves. We may set up a monarchy within the kingdom of God.

When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said that he fulfilled the word of Jehovah, Samuel’s God. But Samuel asked, What is this bleating of sheep that I hear, and the oxen?

So Saul excused himself that the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to Jehovah, Samuel’s God. Wow.

Many on the day of judgement will say they spared the best parts “for God” and to give to God as a sacrifice, but the Lord willl say to them, Depart from Me, workers of lawlessness.

What God wants is not sacrifice but obedience; He wants us to obey His will. He wants men after His heart who obey Him, for rebellion is like the sin of divination and insubordination is like idolatry.

Doing what is good according to our own will is actually an act of rebellion against God’s throne and His economy. Sparing the good aspects of our flesh involves us with evil spirits. Oh Lord!

May we not do anything in the kingdom of God by our flesh. In everything, we need to crucify our flesh with its passions and lusts, and we exercise our spirit faithfully to follow the Lord, who is the Spirit in our spiri,t to do all things for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, have mercy on us today. Shine on us. Expose any rebellion in us. Save us from serving You in the principle of rebellion. Save us from doing anything in the kingdom of God by our flesh. May we faithfully exercise our spirit to follow the Lord as the Spirit indwelling our spirit. May we be one with You in doing all things, and may we crucify our flesh with its passions and its lusts. Oh Lord Jesus, we want to serve You by doing the Father’s will. We exercise our spirit to live in the mingled spirit today. We want to walk on the constricted way, even within the constricting lines of the divine nature. Preserve our service, Lord, in the principle of God’s authority and the Father’s will. May we settle the matter of authority in our being before the Lord, and may we submit to God’s authority. Amen, Lord, may we serve You in spirit under Your authority, doing the will of the Father and not our own will. We turn, Lord, from the principle of lawlessness. We reject the way of rebellion. Keep us in the principle of God’s authority and the Father’s will!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 59, ch. 12, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crucial Aspects of Matthew 5 through 7 (2025 September ITERO), week 9, Doing the Will of the Father So That We May Enter into His Kingdom on “That Day,” the Day of the Judgment Seat of Christ – day 6.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – We love Thy coming, Lord! / We know not when ’twill be, / But turn from all distracting things / Thine own dear face to see. / We serve the living God / And wait His Son to see; / For this we need faith, love, and hope, / Increasing constantly. (Hymns #1306 stanzas 1-2)
  – My stubborn will at last hath yielded; / I would be Thine, and Thine alone, / And this the prayer my lips are bringing, / “Lord, let in me Thy will be done.” / Sweet will of God, still fold me closer, / Till I am wholly lost in Thee; / Sweet will of God, still fold me closer, / Till I am wholly lost in Thee. (Hymns #383 stanza 1 and chorus)
  – Oh, save me, Lord! Subdue this stubborn will; / Oh, save me, Lord! / In spite of all, Thy purposes fulfil / In me, Oh, Lord; / I yield my self, and all I have and am, / To follow Thee, Thou all redeeming Lamb! / How can I fear? Thou art so near to me; / How can I fear? / I hear Thee say, “Believe, and thou shalt see!” / How can I fear? / I now believe, and trust Thy mighty power, / To save, to heal, to keep this very hour! (Hymns #385 stanzas 4-5)