2^nd Sunday after Pentecost at Epiphany on May 25, 2008

Matthew 7:15-29  “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  ¹⁶ By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?  ¹⁷ Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.  ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  ²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. ²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’  ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”  ²⁸ When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹ because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Accept no substitutes

One day, two-year-old Lisa was at home with her older brother and their dad. Lisa had just received a tea set as a gift and it was one of her favorite toys. Dad was in the living room engrossed in a baseball game and the brother was playing nearby when Lisa brought Dad a little cup of “tea,” which was just water. After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, Mom came home. Dad had her wait in the living room to watch Lisa bring him a cup of tea, because it was “just the cutest thing!” Mom waited, and sure enough, Lisa came down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy. Mom watch Dad drink it up and then said, “Did it ever occur to you that the only place that she can reach to get water is the toilet?”

We need to be attentive. We need to be alert. We need to be careful, not only about what we are putting into our bodies, but what we are putting into our souls. This was the point of Jesus telling us, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”

We live in a world of substitutes, from substitute teachers to sugar substitutes. As useful as substitutes are there is no substitute for the real thing. Saccharin doesn’t really taste like sugar. Soybeans don’t make good hamburgers. Aaron Rodgers won’t be the same as Brett Favre. And there is no substitute for the truth of God’s Word.

We are living in a time and a society that will accept anything as a substitute for definitive morality, absolute truth, and the Christian God. Examine how things have changed in American in the last 50 years. Heather didn’t have two mommies. Marriage was to last until death parts us. You had to prove infidelity to get a divorce. Abortion was illegal and immoral. Living together without marriage was called “shacking up” and was not what Christian people did. There was no such thing as a publicly gay legislator or pastor.

Today we are living in a time and place where the majority of people no longer believe in absolutes. There is no such thing as moral or immoral behavior. Everybody’s opinion is just as valid as anybody else’s. Christianity is merely one of many interesting and equally valid religious philosophies.

The United States of America had been built upon the solid rock of Christian principles, but over the last 200 years, American culture has been shifting onto quicksand. The psalmist warned, “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Ps 11:3)

It isn’t only in society, but also within the Christian church where we find absolute truth substituted for various religious philosophies and popular opinions. People visit one church and then another. They worship where they feel comfortable, no matter what they really teach. These people will say, “After all, we all worship the same God, don’t we?”

You’d never get Jesus to agree with that point of view. He said, “Because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” (John 8:45, 47)

Truth was important to Jesus. He called people who did not teach the truth heathens and hypocrites and liars. Jesus rejected any denomination, any church, any individual that did not teach the whole truth of God’s Word. Even if people were able to drive out demons and perform miracles and prophecy in Jesus’ name, yet if they did not teach God’s truth, then Jesus rejected them.

There’s another problem with lack of concern for the truth inside of churches. If all churches are equally right, aren’t they also equally wrong?

You see, truth that is flexible becomes nothing more than opinion. Opinions may be valuable, but false opinions are worthless. They may be dangerous. What may appear to be safe, but actually be deadly.

Reuters News Service carried a story of children in Amsterdam who were playing with a large metallic object in a city park. Apparently it was quite an attraction, as for months, children kicked, hit, rolled, and played with the toy. Parents and children alike enjoyed the fascinating object until someone commented: “That looks like a military shell.” Others agreed. Eventually, authorities were called to assure the questioners that things were perfectly safe.

They weren’t.

The explosive truth is this: for months the children had been having fun with a high-explosive undetonated World War II bit of munitions. The police called in a bomb squad, which detonated the shell in a protected location. Things that look safe may not always be safe.

If World War II munitions had been around at the time of the Savior, our text for today’s devotion might have read: “Beware of false prophets who come to you looking like toys, but who are really unexploded military shells.” Since there were no such weapons back then, the Savior warned, “Beware of false prophets who look like sheep, but, in reality are wolves.” The meaning is the same.

The Christ wanted us to realize Satan, the spiritual seducer, doesn’t always attack God’s people head on or face to face. Sometimes, to accomplish his purpose, the devil will put on disguises to confuse and confound. It is a method that he has found to be most effective.

Within the seemingly safe confines of the Christian church you will sadly find many dangerous and deadly false opinions about doctrines, salvation, and God Himself. There are churches with the name Lutheran who promote women pastors, ordain homosexuals, and endorse abortion. They have bartered away the Reformation teaching of justification by faith alone and publicly deny the physical resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The Vatican has just given official approval to the belief that there is life on other planets and accepted evolution as an acceptable theory for the beginning of the universe. Many Christian churches have denied the power of Baptism or Christ’s presence in the Lord’s Supper. They have instead accepted beliefs that if you say the right prayer, then Christ will enter your life or that God will give you wealth beyond your wildest dreams if you decide to accept him as your personal Savior.

You don’t play games with the truth, especially the truth about God. Jesus said that the truth will set you free. He also said that those who bear the bad fruit of falsehoods and lies will be thrown into the fires of hell. Freedom or fires. Jesus took truth seriously. So do we. Accept no substitutes.

Scripture warns us over and over again to avoid teachings, people, and even churches that can undermine the gospel and wreck our faith. We must identify those who bring unbiblical and extra-biblical teachings into the church and avoid them. We must not sit silent while the unbelieving world is heading to hell because of they follow wolves in sheep’s clothing.

We do live in a world where everything has become relative – honesty can be bought and sold, morality is whatever the individual wants it to be, scientific truth lasts only until the next scholarly article, and personal loyalty evaporates like morning mist.

One of the things I love about God is that he has not left us to guess who he is, what is right and wrong, where we have come from, what is our purpose in life, or how we are supposed to act in order to have a happy life. There are no opinions, only absolutes in God’s world. “Your Word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.” (Ps 119:105) In spite of thousands of years of change and convulsion, God’s true and steady words are here for you. They are solid rock in a world of shifting sand.

How shaky our world is today! The dollar slips and slides on the world money market. Political leaders rise and fall. Earthquakes and cyclones kill tens of thousands. Solid jobs disappear with the rapid change from an industrial to an information society. Long-term marriages break up, with shattering consequences. Long-time church members fall away from the faith. Ministers drop out of their calling. Is there no rock, no security, no firm place to stand?

David in Psalm 40 faces the same uncertainties. He writes, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.” David describes himself as being in a slimy pit. His situation is desperate. No strength to fight free from the mud and mire. Aware of his sin and the power of his enemies, he cries out to the Lord for help. Joyfully David proclaims what Jesus later taught. God is his Rock, Redeemer, and Fortress. God lifts him out of the mud and mire. Now David has security. Problems and troubles remain. Sin still afflicts him. But God brings deliverance.

All of us know firsthand about the storms of life. God’s desire, however, is that our lives and relationships survive the storms because of a strength that fills us from within. As we cry out to God from the mud and mire of our sinful lives, God rescues us as well. He has sent His Son Jesus Christ as the Rock of our salvation, the Rock upon which He builds the church. Jesus by virtue of His life, death, and resurrection stands firm and unshakable. When we build our house on this Rock, we have a firm foundation.

We don’t need slick substitutes for Christ or repulsive replacements for his salvation or evil exchanges for his teachings. God does not accept or tolerate such shams, and neither can we.

We need the message of our Savior who cared more for us than himself. Jesus didn’t come in a glamorous, attractive packaging. He came in humility and submission – born of a virgin, who came to live, suffer, and die for humanity. He offered his very body – beaten and broken – and his own soul – pierced and condemned – all for you. It isn’t enough just to buy things because they are packaged nice. We needed the best and most brilliant – no matter the cost or packaging! Christ offered himself for us. That’s what you need. You need the Gospel – the pure Word of God – untainted by human reason, opinion, or made up stories. (2 Peter 2:3)

Jesus calls attention to the folly of a man who built his house on sand. He declares: “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” (Matthew 7:27 ). During normal times both homes appear safe and livable. But when the flood comes, the house built on rock endures the torrent, while the house built on the ground collapses. The man who built his house on a rock had a foundation that could withstand the elements.

How securely are you building your life? Have you concentrated on external features like wealth, popularity, success? Or have you been building on the bedrock of Jesus Christ by regular worship, Bible study and Sunday School? As Paul writes, “No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11 ). Both spiritual houses may appear safe and livable. But when crisis situations come – sickness, family breakdown, death, loss of job – then our lives are tested. We either collapse or stand firm, depending on our foundation. When we hear Jesus’ words and put them into practice, we rest on the unshakable foundation of Jesus’ blood and righteousness.

The wood, hay, and stubble of human opinion cannot serve as a foundation for life. Only the Word of God is the abiding bedrock on which to build.

Problems and troubles remain. The world continues to wobble and totter. Sin still afflicts us. False prophets still plague the Christian church. Conditional morality and situational ethics infect our society. We will fall into these and other slimy pits. Accept no substitutes, for your God stands ready to set us again on the rock of Christ and His unfailing Word. Rejoice. Cling to the Rock. Bring others to the same sure footing. Amen.