Sermons Online ...
Sermon - Second Sunday after Pentecost (A) - 25th May 2008
St Aidan's West Epping 8:30am
Readings: Matthew 7:15-29
We live in a great age for prophets. Each time you look at late night TV there is a line up of prophets – usually false prophets – selling products and selling happiness, and peace of mind, and satisfaction. We have no trouble finding prophets today. Each time there is an election campaign, many politicians sound like prophets who will promise you almost anything in return for your vote. Sadly, false prophets are most active in the church. “Selling heaven” or “selling eternal life” is usually a quick path to riches. If you make the stakes high enough then people will pay.
Jesus’ warning is that false teachers will come. And they come with the intention of exploiting us. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They present themselves as people who can be trusted, they look like they are benign. They can look like a good friend. But the positive impression is created with the sole purpose of fooling us, of deceiving us and ultimately of exploiting us.
So how can we be on our guard against false prophets. Jesus recommends we check the fruit of their lives. A bad tree cannot produce good fruit. Rather a bad tree produces evil fruit. So Jesus wants us to be fruit inspectors. We can do this three ways. We can examine the lives of these prophets, we can examine the content of their teaching, and we can examine the impact of their teaching upon others.
So firstly, we can examine the lives of these people. This, I have found, is easier to do than you might think. Because we live in a world where there is such intense media scrutiny, bad news travels very fast. If you come into contact with a false prophet, some one with a message that seems a bit too good to be true, don’t make any quick decisions. Give yourself some time. Usually, people with dodgy schemes are found out fairly quickly. I recently heard of a property development scheme that was offering great returns. Many people invested in it before it collapsed. Later I learnt that they were offering returns of 80%. That’s just too good to be true. The people who were caught out were just greedy. No sound investment offers 80% returns. But this wild scheme only lasted a short time. If people had just waited they would have seen it was just a hoax. Over time false prophets are usually unmasked. It is difficult to protect and nurture a lie. Usually people who are trying to cheat us cannot keep up a good front for long and then the truth is revealed.
But second, we need to examine their teaching. If it seems that it departs from our creeds and the plain meaning of scripture then that should set off the alarm bells. The Bible has been rigorously studied for about 2,000 years. So if someone says they have unlicked a new secret then we have a good reason to be suspicious. If they say that their understanding is entirely new and every one else for he last 2000 years has got it wrong that is enough to make us scratch our heads and doubt they are being entirely honest with us. When Martin Luther began questioning the Church at the beginning of the Reformation he wasn’t announcing a new teaching. Rather, he was saying the Church had moved away from Scripture and had moved away from a scriptural understanding of Jesus. A guiding principal of the Reformation was a willingness to read the Bible again and conform the practices of the Church to what people read there. Our church uses a lectionary that takes us through the whole of the Bible. Reading the Bible is a significant part of our gathering together. We are saying we rust these words, we are guided by these words. It acts as a protection against those who want to teach false things about God, and false promises for our lives.
The second strategy of the false teacher is the claim that they have exclusive access to the truth. That no other teacher can be relied upon. Only they have grasped the true meaning of the Bible. Exclusive claims are dangerous claims. This is the behaviour of cults where it is only the leader who can take you to the truth. Why would God work like that. Rather, the opposite is the reality. It is amazing through history, that people that God has used. Its remarkable the way God gives his Spirit to the least likely of people. This is the way God usually operates.
The last test of the false prophet is to examine the impact of their teaching upon others. Earlier in the 20 th century the philosopher Bertrand Russell built us a large following of people in England and elsewhere. he had very relaxed views on law and morality. Though he was married he had many affairs. He believed he had good intellectual arguments that people should be free to live and that this approach would usher in a new paradise. But the result was the opposite. Among his followers there were high levels of marital breakdown and child abuse. The suicide rate among his followers was very high. Instead of a new paradise, his teaching produced its own brand of hell. We can evaluate his teaching by the impact upon his followers.
He was the one who developed the idea of the “open marriage” that even came to prominence in Australia with people like Germaine Greer. But it has been generally rejected. Russell failed to develop a new morality that could nurture and develop communities. His teaching was proven to be too destructive. False prophets can be unmasked by their fruits. Their personal lives, their teaching and their impact on others will reveal who they are and the weakness of their teaching. It will show up their bad fruit.
But Jesus has a second warning in this passage. Just as there are false prophets, there are also false disciples, false followers. We know that for three years Judas Iscariot followed Jesus. But in the end he was a betrayer. We can easily miss the impact of these events. In ancient times this was how education was usually done. The student lived with their teacher. Not only did the student learn what the teacher knew, they became more and more like their teacher. There whole lies were transformed by the process. But it seems to have had no impact on Judas. Their relationship would have been so close it would be like betraying your brother. But there have been many who have followed Judas. There are people who attach themselves to the Church. They gain positions of prominence. They do all sorts of things in the church. But they won’t enter God’s kingdom. Instead, Jesus will utter those chilling words, “I never knew you!” Those are some of the most frightening words in the Bible. They scare many people. People have come to me and asked if it might mean them. “What if Jesus says to me “I never knew you””.
How do we know we don’t fall into that category? Well Jesus gives us a test. It comes at the end of verse 27 where he says “depart from me you evil doers.” Those are the false disciples, false followers – the evil doers. They are the ones who fail to do God’s will. God’s will is easily summed up with “Love God, and love your neighbour.” Some people see that as too broad. Rather, its designed to give us great freedom. God is not calling us to live in a straight jacket.
How do we think about obeying the will of God? Some think of it as being like a tight-rope walker. You move carefully forward. And one slip and the whole thing comes tumbling down. That’s probably not the best way forward. Rather its more like travelling along a freeway with huge walls up either side. To leave it you have to use great effort to climb your way out.
We have the great advantage that God has spoken. He has made his will clear to us. We are called on to hear it, to follow it, to live by it, to obey it. And it is all to our advantage. Jesus compares it to the wise man who built his house upon a rock. When the storms come, the house stood firm. When we nurture our faith with the truth of God, we dig deep foundations. There is no guarantee that the storms won’t come. But there is the firm hope that when they pass we will be still standing. Our rock is Christ, our faith is Christ. Our hope is in Christ. Our future is guaranteed – in Christ and by Christ.