The Faithful Witness

Revelation 1:5 ...Jesus Christ the faithful witness...

On judgement day, Christ acknowledges us based on one thing:

Matthew 10:32-33 32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

The Christian life we lead now is not a life of morality or 'religion'
Rather it is one of servitude, one of being slaves of the Master, sons and heirs of His household

Who cares if we are 'good people' (e.g. Rich young ruler)
Who cares if we are very religious (e.g. Pharisees)
Who cares if we consider the Lord a hard man (e.g. Parable of Talents)

The Lord wants people who love Him
The Lord wants people who will declare His name for His sake
The Lord glorifies those who glorify Him

Therefore our words matter... because they testify about Him
Indeed how can the mouth that speaks Christ also speak the waters of death?

Therefore our actions matter... we do good deeds in the sole hope that others recognise our Father in heaven
We cannot disqualify our testimony of Him by what we do - and so on this we are also judged (cf. Rom 2, etc)
Works that have no witness to our Father are utterly useless

Therefore above all, our heart matters
Because only a heart in love with God for who God is because of what God has done can and will desire to testify about Him to others for His name's sake

This is the Christian - there is no other who will be acknowledged before the Father
Everyday we deny ourselves, we go to the cross, because only cross-work will allow the revelation of our Father in heaven - as Jesus did before us