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INJ
St Matthew 7:15-23
'True and False Teachers'
Divine Service
The 8th Sunday after Trinity Sunday | August 2nd, 2009
Dear Saints,
“Beware!” That's what Jesus says to His disciples and to His church, to us, “Beware! Watch out! Be on your guard!” “No problem,” we respond, “We are a careful sort of people, we know how to look out for things. We are wary of someone trying to cheat us. We lock our cars and our houses, being wary of thieves trying to break in and steal. We teach our children to beware of strangers. We don't stand too close to the edge, we smell the milk before we drink it, we test the temperature before we jump in, we wash our hands before we eat, we're pretty good at being wary.” What do you want us to beware of, Jesus?”
And this is where the text gets to us, Jesus' answer, “Beware of false prophets.” “Oh,” we might respond, “false prophets. Jesus, I thought you were going to tell me something dangerous, something that could hurt me or make me sick. But false prophets, false teachers, I don't need to worry about them.” We seem much more troubled about being wary of the things that could hurt our body, or our family, or our stuff, than we are about those things which could hurt our faith. We have locks on our doors but leave our ears wide open for anyone to enter.
It is easy to worry and trouble about the state of our earthly affairs and let the business of heaven take care of itself. We don't want to take the teaching in the church too seriously anyhow. “Don't all churches believe the same thing anyway?” Taking too much time or effort to make sure that the teaching in the church is correct and right and that all false teaching is not found in our midst seems old fashioned, or worse, prideful. “Who are we to say what is right and what is wrong?” With such questions the business of being wary of false prophets is pushed to the side or completely ignored. In these gray and latter days, it seems like the Lord's church has grown weary of the good work of being wary of false prophets and false teachers, of looking out for false teaching and guarding against it.
But here stands the command of Jesus to rebuke, correct and instruct us. “Beware of false prophets.” There is nothing more dangerous in this world, nothing more deadly, nothing to be avoided more seriously than a false prophet and the false teaching that they bring. Do you realize that? It is true. There is nothing more poisonous or deadly than false teaching, the false words of the false prophets. These who “come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” [7:15]
The false prophets are not just ordinary wolves (which would be bad enough). These are “ravenous wolves”, hungry, greedy, snatching and grasping wolves, and this is bad news for any sheep. Such false prophets are the destruction of a flock, they come to kill and steal and destroy, they tear apart the sheep, limb by limb, and when the wolf is through all that is left are its blood-stained chops.
This is the image that Jesus is holding before us. “Beware. The teaching of the truth and the avoiding of falsehood is no laughing matter, but of the utmost importance. False prophets kill.” Our Lord Jesus puts doctrinal discernment at the top of our priorities because He knows that the result of false doctrine is eternal death.
False doctrine is poison. And there's no such thing as “half poison”. If someone hands you a glass, and you ask, “Is this water or poison?” (Now I hope it never happens to you that you have to ask if you're being handed poison, but if you were, and you asked if it is poison), and they respond, “Mostly water”, you're in trouble. So it is when we ask, “Is this teaching true or false?” and the answer comes back, “Mostly true”, we're in trouble.
It is not acceptable to say, “Let’s just all love Jesus and not worry about doctrine,” for the false teachings that gush from the rotten mouths of the false prophets are not to be accepted, or tolerated, or even considered. Our Lord has commanded it; we are to beware of false prophets, to be ever on guard against those who speak words that are contrary to God’s word. We are to be fearless to call these seeming sheep what they are, wolves who would devour the precious lambs of God by causing us to forget the name of the Lord [Jeremiah 23:27] and deny the Lord Jesus who bought us [2 Peter 2:1], and these “impious teachers are to be deserted,” [Apology of the Augsburg Confession VII.76].
This warning from Jesus echoes throughout the Scriptures. When warning us about the last days of the earth before His Second Coming, Jesus says, “Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many... false christs and false prophets will rise up and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” [Matthew 24:11,24]
St Peter says, “There were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them.” [2 Peter 2:1] Or the words of St John, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” [1 John 4:1]
This is hard work. There is no short-cut. I wanted to put together a five-point questionnaire by which you could determine if a teaching is false, but it doesn't exist. If you are to keep this command and test the spirits (that is, the teaching) then you have to know the Bible, and this means studying it, reading it, poring over it, meditating on it. It means knowing the Scriptures, and this is a lifetime's work. And you can't depend on me to do this, you have to be listening to what I say and comparing it with the Bible, so that if I err and preach false doctrine you know it to tell me.
So we are to ever be on guard, looking out for false prophets and false teachers with their false teaching.
But, the trouble with false prophets is that they never look like a false prophet; they don't come with a warning label. The wolf is clothed like a sheep, the false prophet is dressed in piety and good works. We will not be able to recognize a false prophet from the outside. How, then, do we judge? How do we know which prophet is true and which is false, which teacher is true and which is false?
Jesus tells us, “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?” [7:15] Trees yield fruit according to its kind [Genesis 1:12]. So Jesus teaches:
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. [7:17,18]
Where the trees cannot be differentiated, the fruit will be the judge. A true prophet will preach the pure word of God, the false prophet preaches that which is contrary to God’s word, or mixes God’s holy word with his own thoughts and “vain dreams.” The fruit of the prophet is his word, his preaching, his doctrine, his confession.
Jesus explains to the Pharisees later in the Gospel, “The tree is known by his fruit. O brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” [St Matthew 13:33-34] This is how we know the difference, how we judge the fruit, how we test the spirits and find the false teacher: we listen and we compare what they are saying with the Scriptures. When we hear a preacher preaching we ask, “Is he telling me about Jesus, about how Jesus died for my sins? Or is he telling me all the things that I have to do to be pleasing to God?”
The false prophet will never speak the pure Gospel, but will always be mixing it with the law, adding the things that I have to do to be pleasing to God. There is no true comfort in the preaching of the false prophets, they would send us before the face of God with our own goodness and works.
But the true prophet is sent from God to speak His comforting words of Gospel, the good news that Jesus has won the forgiveness of all of our sins by His death on the cross. Yes, the true prophet also speaks the law, the hard truth of God's judgment on sin, but this is always in the service of the Gospel, that we would know that we are sinners, sinners whom Jesus has come to save. The true prophet speaks the promises of God, the victory of the cross, the blessings of Jesus' life and death and resurrection for us.
Thus instead of bringing death the true prophet brings the word of eternal life, the word of salvation, the word of Jesus, the word of forgiveness, for these are the words that Jesus wants us to hear. If the words of the false prophet are poison, the words of the Lord are medicine, the medicine of immortality. If the words of the false prophet bring death, the word of the Lord brings life and salvation.
“Beware of false prophets.” That is the word of Jesus, but He did not say to be afraid of them, for the Lord Jesus has overcome the world with all her false prophets and false teachers, overcome them with the truth of His death. He is the true Prophet and the true Teacher; He is the Good Pastor, and He now stands and shepherds His flock, calling us by name in our baptism, speaking to us of His great love for us, and feeding us, feeding us even His own body and blood for the forgiveness of all our sins.
This is the Good Fruit that is born of the Good Tree, the cross of our Lord Jesus. May He grant us His Holy Spirit, that we would eat and have life, never being deceived by the false prophets, but that we would remain in the true faith, even to life everlasting. Lord, Keep us steadfast in Thy Word. Amen.
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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO