<p>6:46 <i>And why do you call me 'Lord, Lord' and not do the things which I say?</i>- In Rom. 2:13, Paul saw the &quot;Lord, Lord&quot; people as the Jews of the first century who initially responded enthusiastically to the Gospel. The contrast is between saying &quot;Lord, Lord&quot; in this life, and then in the future not entering into the Kingdom. The contrast is between merely&nbsp;<i>saying</i>&nbsp;and actually&nbsp;<i>doing</i>. The Lord repeats the idea in His mini parable of the two sons; the one who 'said' he would be obedient, and the other who 'did' the will of his father (Mt. 21:30,31). The acceptance of Christ as Lord means that we are as His servants and slaves; it is for us to 'do' His will and work. This fits with the context of the preceding verses- that if He is really our Lord, we will inevitably&nbsp;<i>do</i>&nbsp;His will, and that doing will be actual, practical and visible. It is the false prophets who merely say but don't&nbsp;<i>do</i>, just as they claim to be good trees but don't have good fruit.</p><p>As with many aspects of doctrine, it is often difficult for us to appreciate how radically revolutionary they were in the first century context; and in essence they should lose none of their radicalness with us. David Bosch observes: &ldquo;Christians confessed Jesus as Lord of all lords- the most revolutionary political demonstration imaginable in the Roman Empire&quot;. Philip Yancey likewise: &ldquo;As the church spread throughout the Roman empire, its followers took up the slogan &ldquo;Christ is Lord&quot;, a direct affront to Roman authorities who required all citizens to take the oath &lsquo;Caesar the state is Lord&rsquo;&quot; (<i>The Jesus I Never Knew</i>, p. 246). It hurt, it cost, to recognize Him as Lord. And so it should with us. Men and women died for this; and we likewise give our lives in response to that very same knowledge. There is a tendency, which the Lord Himself brought to our attention, of calling Him Lord but not doing what He says. To know Him as Lord in truth is axiomatically to be obedient to Him (Lk. 6:46). The attitude which we have to the Lord Jesus <i>now</i> will be the attitude we have to Him at the day of judgment (Mt. 7:23 cp. Lk. 6:46).</p><p>The sensation of working for the Lord can be so self-deceptive. He draws the difference between doing many wonderful works in His name, saying &ldquo;Lord, Lord&rdquo;; and <i>really</i> doing the will of the Father (Mt. 7:21,22). The parallel Lk. 6:46 has that men will say &ldquo;Lord, Lord&rdquo; but not really hear His words. To hear them is to do the will of the Father. Putting all this together, it is perfectly possible to bear His Name, call Him Lord, work hard for Him- and yet never really hear His words, and thereby never really know the will of our Father. From this parallel we can conclude that our attitude to Christ in this life (e.g. &quot;Lord, Lord&quot;) will be our attitude to Him at the judgment seat. If we think He is a hard, unreasonable Lord: that is how He will be. To the froward (in this life), He will shew Himself froward. Straight away we are met head on with a major challenge: Our attitude to Christ in this life will be our attitude to Him at the judgment seat. John's letters reason down the same line: &ldquo;If (in this life) our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence (now) toward God... this is the confidence that we have in him... abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence... before him (at the judgment) at His coming&quot; (1 Jn. 3:21; 5:14; 2:28). The confidence we have towards Christ now will be the confidence we have at judgment day. This fact should pull us up out of the spiritual indifference which characterizes so much of our lives. If we see Christ as an abstract theological necessity, a black box in our brain called 'Christ'; if we don't have a dynamic, two- way relationship with Him now- then this too is how we will regard Him then.</p><p>In 1 Cor. 13:2 Paul understands those who say &quot;Lord, Lord&quot; as saying it without really&nbsp;<i>knowing</i>&nbsp;Christ, and living without love. Thus Paul saw an association between a lack of true love and an external show of appreciation of Christ's Lordship. Not doing what Christ says is a lack of love, in Paul's mind. If we appreciate this, we will see that those who are ignorant of Christ's words cannot show true love. Biblically ignorant Christians need to think through the implications of this. Those who insincerely say &quot;Lord, Lord&quot; now, will say the same then, at the judgment, with the same lack of reality (Mt. 7:21,22). The repetition of &quot;Lord, Lord&quot; shows that our attitude to Him in this life will be that we have when we meet in the last day.</p>