Trinity 8, 2023
Summer Vicar Ezekiel Grabay
Trinity 8, 2023
Text: Matthew 7:15–23
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Where can you get reliable news? After I finished college, but before I started my first year at the seminary, I worked as a paraprofessional in a high school. I had a few seniors who were taking a Government class and the teacher asked this question. Where can you get reliable news? His point was that not all news sources are created equal. You’ve probably heard the term fake news before, perhaps a little too often, but the reality is that much of the media is spreading misinformation. And its not because journalists are evil or the truth is subjective. It is because the news outlets know that more people will listen if they report what people want to hear. Presenting the facts to agree with a demographic’s political views is more profitable than presenting the truth. And since the whole point is that this kind of news appeals to us, we have trouble telling true news from fake news.
We face that same problem with those who claim to proclaim God’s Word. There are many who claim to be prophets of God who reveal the truth to us. Yet most of them are preaching only what people want to hear. In our Gospel reading today, Jesus tells us to be wary of such false prophets because they are like ravenous wolves who snatch sheep away from the flock. So we who belong to the flock of Christ must ask,
HOW DO WE KNOW FALSE PROPHETS FROM A TRUE ONE?
I. We do not know false prophets from their clothing (15).
a. Jesus begins his warning against false prophets by pointing out that false prophets can not be identified by their outward appearance. He says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” Of course we know that we can not tell an honest person from a dishonest person just by looking at him. What Jesus is talking about is actually much deeper.
b. Jesus is warning us that false prophets will not come from outside the church, but inside. False prophets will come with all the appearance of a Christian preacher. They will appear to be one of the sheep who know the shepherd’s voice and follow Him, but actually have come to steal and destroy.
c. We are quick to be fooled by such appearances. We assume that if a pastor has a kind disposition, does what we expect a pastor to do, and comes from the right seminary then he is an orthodox preacher. Experience shows that this is not always the case. People can say kind words, but behave and believe totally differently. Someone can fit all our expectations while only acting to impress and befriend us. And yes, even attending a good theological institution is no guarantee that a pastor will be good.
d. Not only does experience demonstrate that we can not know false prophets by their clothing, Scripture testifies to this. Elijah and John the Baptist show us that God’s prophets do not dress in fine clothes, but in camel skins. Like Isaiah and Jeremiah, they preach what no one wants to hear, confounding hopes and expectations. Like Paul and Moses, they come with questionable backgrounds.
II. We do not know false prophets from whom they call Lord (21–22).
a. If we can not know false prophets by their clothing, perhaps we can know them by what they confess. Surely a pastor who calls Jesus Christ Lord and Savior can be trusted? Unfortunately Jesus has another word to say, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.”
b. Many call Jesus Christ Lord. Indeed, Paul tells us in Philippians 2:11 that every tongue will confess Jesus Christ is Lord on the Last Day. Not all however confess him rightly. In his epistle John is more specific, “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God” (1 John 4:2). It is not enough to confess Jesus Christ as Lord, we must confess Him as the Son of God come in the flesh to save the world by his death and resurrection.
c. The problem with false prophets is that they do not confess Jesus Christ, but their own version of Christ who fits their purposes. Notice what Jesus says about such people, “Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” These people are purposefully evasive. All that they did, they claim to have done in the name of Jesus. But did they prophesy nothing but Christ crucified? Did they cast out demons to make way for the Holy Spirit, as we do in Baptism, or did they clean the house only for seven more worse than the first to come along? Did they do wonders so that people may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God or did they do such miracles for their own gain?
d. John would have us know that such who do not confess Jesus rightly come from the spirit of the Antichrist (1 John 4:3). They snatch souls away from the truth and lead them into lies. They are such as the Pharisees whom Jesus accuses of shutting up the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces, barring them from entering, making their converts twice as fit for Hell as they themselves are (Matthew 23:13–15). This is the danger of false prophets, but how do we know false prophets from a true one?
III. We know false prophets from their fruits which work lawlessness (16–20, 23).
a. Jesus gives us the answer clearly, “You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes 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 not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”
b. John the Baptist preached likewise to the Pharisees telling them that they must bear fruit in keeping with repentance and that every tree that does not bear fruit will be thrown into the fire (Matthew 3:8, 10). Thus we see that the good fruit that a true prophet ought to bear is preaching that leads to repentance. The Pharisees however laid the burdens of the law upon the people, burdens they would not move with a finger, telling them that they must achieve these things to enter the kingdom of God. In doing so they mimicked the behavior of the false prophets of Jeremiah’s day.
c. In our Old Testament reading, God declares his wrath upon false prophets through his true prophet Jeremiah. Such prophets were reassuring the nation of Judah that they were safe and secure even as Jeremiah warned that the people’s idolatry would lead them into captivity and ruin. By preaching peace when the wrath of God was imminent, these false prophets became those who “practice lawlessness.” They were antinomians who assured the people that the Law did not matter any more. The Pharisees achieved the same lawlessness by assuring the people that the Law could be fulfilled.
d. But we can not achieve the requirements of the law on our own. We are corrupted trees and poisoned wells that produce nothing good. We have been so from our birth for we were brought forth in iniquity and conceived in sin. This holds true even for our pastors. So who then is the true prophet?
IV. The true prophet does the will of His Father and produces good fruit (21b).
a. No one other than Jesus Christ. For Christ is the “one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” He fulfilled the will of God by dying on the cross. He took upon himself our corruption and curse by hanging on the tree of Calvary. And from the fruit of that tree, from the blood and water flowing from his pierced side, our corruption is washed away.
b. Therefore we only call our pastors good because they preach Christ crucified and confess that He has come in the flesh to save us from our corrupted nature. Thanks be to God you and I have been blessed with such a preacher.
Conclusion: The reality of our world is that reliable news is hard to come by. Thanks be to God we have a prophet in Jesus Christ who shows us the truth. It is this same truth that we proclaim.
In the name of Jesus.
