| Sermon | ||
|---|---|---|
| Service | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||
To download this video, press here to go to the download page. You may need to scroll down to see the download button. |
Download Service Folder | Download Bulletin | |
Sermon for Trinity 8
Romans 8:12-17 + Matthew 7:15-23
You know that the title “pastor” means “shepherd,” and that every pastor is charged with imitating the shepherding of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. That includes feeding the sheep and the lambs, tending to wounds, guiding the way through the desert, seeking the lost and bringing them into the sheepfold. All that is done simply through preaching, teaching, and applying the Word of God. As the apostle Paul commanded Pastor Timothy, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
The shepherd has another task, though, and it’s just as important. The shepherd protects the sheep from the wolves that prowl around and seek to capture and devour them. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, did that in a very direct way by confronting the devil and laying down His life for the sheep as the sacrifice for their sins. That, no pastor can imitate. But we also see the Good Shepherd guarding His sheep against the wolves in today’s Gospel in another way, preparing His sheep for the ongoing attacks they’ll face in this life, equipping them with the skills they need to steer clear of danger. It’s one of the God-given tasks that pastors are to keep carrying out. But that means there is also a God-given task for the sheep to carry out. The pastor, for his part, is to warn his flock about false prophets. And the sheep, for their part, are to take those warnings to heart, so that they can do as Jesus commands them: Watch out for false prophets.
What is a prophet? A prophet is, or claims to be, a spokesman for God, one who interprets Scripture for other people. The Scriptures are full of warnings about the teachers, the pastors, the ministers who claim to be speaking for God but who, in reality, teach things that lead the sheep away from the Good Shepherd, away from the truth, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
Now, there is a difference between a teacher and the taught, between the deceiver and the deceived. The deceiver receives a harsher judgment, though neither is entirely safe. Eve allowed Satan to become her teacher in the Garden of Eden and was deceived by the great Deceiver. And although it went worse for Satan, it still went poorly for her. Why? Because she had all the things she needed not to allow herself to be deceived. But she didn’t use the resources at her disposal—the word of God, the rational mind she was given, the husband by her side. Likewise, there are many Christians who have ready access to the Bible and who are able to read and study it in order to shield themselves against the wolves, if they cared to take the time. But many don’t, and so they end up being among the deceived. Because they don’t take Jesus’ command seriously. Watch out for false prophets.
It’s not that these false prophets are easy to spot. It does take effort. It does take time and a willingness to examine them. Because, as Jesus says, they come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. They claim to come in the name of Christ, as good Christians. They claim to be correct interpreters of the Scriptures, and will quote the Scriptures. They are often popular and successful, having large followings. They may have charisma and charm, and be genuinely sincere. They may even perform miracles. But you can’t use any of those things to identify the wolves underneath. Why? Because those aren’t the marks of a true prophet, of a true interpreter and preacher of God’s Word.
Jesus says that plainly at the end of today’s Gospel. Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, in your name did we not prophesy? And in your name did we not cast out demons? And in your name did we not perform many miracles?’ And then I will confess to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!’” You see, many who prophesy in Jesus’ name will be damned. Many who perform miracles and even cast out demons will be damned. As for quoting the Scriptures, Satan himself can do that, as he did with Jesus in the wilderness, twisting their true meaning in order to deceive. And false prophets are often depicted in Scripture as having large followings and great popularity, and wealth, and are usually dripping with charm and charisma. Whereas the true prophets of God often lack all those things.
No, not by their charm, or popularity, or wealth, or fame, not by their quoting of Scripture, or by their nice-sounding words, or by their miracles, will you know them. By their fruits you will know them. Do people gather grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Even so every good tree bears good fruit; but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
The fruits of a preacher, the things that people seek to pick from the tree and consume from preachers, is their teaching. Of course, we teach both with our words and with our actions. If a prophet speaks the truth but sets a poor example for the flock with his life, he ends up leading them astray by the false teaching of his life. Likewise, if a prophet speaks lies but lives uprightly, he still ends up leading the flock astray by the false teaching of his mouth.
So, how do you go about analyzing the fruits of a prophet? First and foremost, you seek out a grapevine, not a thorn bush. You seek out a fig tree, not a patch of thistles. Why would you go looking for God’s saving truth from a random person on Facebook, or on a podcast? Why would you look for God’s truth from any woman who claims to be a pastor, knowing that, just by calling herself a pastor, she has twisted God’s Word? Why would you go looking for God’s truth from a denomination or synod that has already shown itself to embrace or tolerate false teaching? No, if you’re looking for good spiritual fruit to eat, begin with a man who has a legitimate call from God, through the Church, to interpret the Scriptures for others, to preach and teach and administer the Sacraments, and who isn’t already teaching against the truth by his communion with false teachers.
And then, you test the prophet’s teaching. Test the spirits, says the apostle John, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. You see, the false teaching that was beginning to spread in the Church in John’s time, at the end of the first century, was the teaching that Jesus only appeared to be a man, but that He was not true man, that He had no real flesh and blood, because everything material is evil, they said. And so John directs his readers to test the prophets, whether they preached a Christ who was true God and true man, or not. Because a Christ who is not true man could not truly die in man’s place, could not be the Offspring of Eve, or of Abraham, or of David, the promised Savior of mankind.
In our time, the number of false teachings has multiplied beyond measure—teachings that attack the authority and the dependability of the Bible; the Person of Christ; the work of Christ; justification by faith alone; the work of the Holy Spirit; the regenerative, saving power of Baptism; the real presence of Jesus’ body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar; the office of the ministry; the roles of men and women; sexuality and marriage; the proper role of government; and on and on and on. How! How can the present-day followers of Jesus possibly discern who is speaking the whole truth, and who is spreading falsehoods in Jesus’ name?
The Lord Jesus would not and has not left you helpless. The Helper, the Holy Spirit, remains in and with every believer. The Word of God is at your fingertips, all the time, and so is the reliable testimony of the Holy Christian Church in its Creeds and Confessions, which you here have come to acknowledge as faithful and true. I can’t emphasize strongly enough how vital it is for every Christian who is able to read, who is able to listen, and who still has a mind with which to think and reason, to use the resources at your disposal to guard against the wolf.
So read your Bible. Let me say it again. Read your Bible, regularly. Come to Bible class. Use the ministry by which Christ seeks to guard His precious flock. Read and learn the Small Catechism. Read the Confessions of the Church in the Book of Concord. Pray for the Spirit’s enlightenment. Ask your pastor questions—and test his answers by the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions. And along with all of that, you must have a willingness to do as Jesus says, to actually apply it to your life, to keep on watching out for false prophets, and to use the tools at your disposal to criticize and analyze everything you hear. And the Lord will be with you, even to the end of the age, to help you sort out the good from the bad, so that you aren’t tossed back and forth by every wind of doctrine, but are fully equipped and ready to escape from the wolves and to cling only the word of your Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
