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May 25, 2008
Pentecost 2
Matthew 7:13-29
Pastor Joel Zank

Christian, Keep the Faith!

(Matthew 7:13-29)  "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. {14} But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. {15} "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.

In Christ Jesus who words are life, dear fellow redeemed,

Today we tune in to a portion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, a sermon that Jesus first preached to a group of Christians, people who were already his followers. In other words, when Jesus says, “Enter through the narrow gate,” he’s not talking to and teaching unbelievers how to be saved.  He’s not urging heathens to make a decision to follow him. No unbeliever can do such a thing. For elsewhere Jesus plainly says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you...” (John 15:16). That’s how it works. In nothing but undeserved love, Jesus chooses sin-dead rebels to be his people. His word alone brings spiritual corpses to life, giving us faith to believe his promises, faith that makes us his forever, unless of course, we who have received his grace decide to throw it away or trade it in for spiritual garbage. Jesus doesn’t want that to happen; he doesn’t want to lose us. So today he speaks to us in powerful word pictures to drive home his point – the same point we confessed just a week ago in the words of the Athanasian Creed when we said, “Whoever wishes to be saved must, above all else, hold to the true Christian faith. Whoever does not keep this faith pure in all points will certainly perish forever.”Not wanting any of us to perish Jesus, in effect, says to each of us:  “Christian, Keep the Faith!” And how should we do this? First, watch out for false prophets; and second, live by Christ’s promises.

A false prophet is anyone who tries to find salvation in someone or something other than Jesus. Can you imagine how many false prophets there are in the world? Jesus doesn’t give out numbers, but he does tell us, “...wide is the gate and broad in the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it” (Matthew 7:13). Here Jesus debunks for us the all too popular notion that “might makes right.” Our sinful nature wants to think that when millions, if not billions of people believe something, even something contrary to the Scripture, it must be ok to believe it; all those people can’t be wrong; they can’t all be going to hell. But Jesus says that is exactly where they are going; they are headed for eternal destruction.

It gives our Lord no pleasure to say such a thing, but he says it for our benefit, so that we don’t excuse ourselves from speaking his law and gospel to our family and friends who need to hear them. Given the eternal horrors that await them, these people can’t afford to have us thinking that somehow the lies they cling to are every bit as sound as the saving truth that God has entrusted to us. There is no comparison. The gospel of Christ is the only word that saves. All other teachings are spiritual poison, which is why Jesus warns us, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matthew 7:15). 

False prophets come in all different shapes and forms – all of which might seem innocent enough. The false prophet might be the well-dressed, bible-pounding evangelist you like to watch on TV, or the two women who knock at your door with some religious tracts for you to read. It could be your neighbor who insists that you can get closer to God by living a better life; or your teacher who tells you that your church is all messed up because it rejects evolution. The false prophet might be the family member who really wants you to try out his church because his pastor never talks about sin. It might be a coworker who assures you that if you just had a stronger faith you’d get rid of your health problems and your financial woes too.

These people don’t look like wolves, but their teachings could easily tear through your faith in no time at all. So how can you spot these people for what they really are? Jesus says in verse 16, “By their fruit you will recognize them.” When Jesus talks about fruit here, he’s not talking about actions or deeds. The fact is, sometimes these false teachers do powerful things in the name of Jesus – they prophesy and do miracles and drive out demons. They look every bit the Christian; they even call Jesus, “Lord,” but he calls them “evildoers” because in spite of their looks they are still false prophets. No, rather than deeds, their fruit are their creeds, their teachings or the lack thereof. As a Lutheran Christian, you believe that the Bible is God’s inspired Word - true in all it says. That means you can take what others say and fail to say and hold it all up to the teachings of the Bible. If the two don’t match up, you have your wolf, and it’s not God.

So is there any good thing we can take away from these false teachers? Jesus wants to know why we would try. He asks: “Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” (Matthew 7:17). Why would we risk breaking our spiritual neck looking for good fruit on a bad tree? It doesn’t make sense, does it? Think about that the next time you pick up a Christian book to read or listen to Christian radio. Know what kind of spiritual fruit you’re eating. Know where it comes from. Just because it’s called Christian doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Now, I’m not suggesting one glance at false teaching and you’re hell-bound. Jesus doesn’t say that, but he does say this: “...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” (Matthew 7:26-27). False teaching is always dangerous. Some false teaching has the power to destroy our faith in an instant. For example, the false teaching that our own good works help save us is a lie that can kill off all spiritual life within us. Anyone who dies believing this lie will perish in hell forever. Other false teachings may not rob us of our faith all at once, but they can eat away at it over time.  First we doubt this teaching of Scripture, then we reject that one and before you know it, you and I are the very fool Jesus is talking about, the one whose spiritual house is built on nothing but the shifting sands of error and falsehood. Such a house may look all right on the surface, but when troubles flood our lives and the winds of adversity beat against us, we have no foundation left to stand on. Our lives fall apart with a great crash.

That’s a frightening thought, isn’t it? Who of us has not doubted some teaching of Scripture? Who of us, at one time or another, hasn’t counted on our good works to earn us God’s favor now and on the Day of Judgment? Too many times we’ve bought into the damning lies of Satan. So many times in fact that now we may wonder: Is it too late for us? Is there any hope left for us?  First of all, as long as there is breath in our body it is never too late to repent of our sin. And that’s what we’re talking about here, sin - sinful pride that puts our own thoughts and opinions above the wisdom and will of our God. No, it’s not too late for us to bow the knee before him today to confess our arrogance and to plead for his mercy. In fact this is the reason Jesus tells us these things so that we might flee from our sin and foolishness into his waiting arms where there is always full and free forgiveness. Jesus speaks hard words to us today to help us keep the faith he’s given us. He wants us to watch out for and flee from every false prophet, even the one, or should I say, especially the one that lives within our own hearts and minds. It’s not too late to flee from them, in fact for us Christians this is what daily repentance is all about – spotting the enemy within and running from him or her to the safety of Jesus. There we will find all the help we need to keep the faith, for it is there at his side that we live by Christ’s promises.

And what powerful promises they are. Jesus says to us, “Enter through the narrow gate.” Jesus is talking about the gate to heaven. You realize, of course, there should be no gate at all, not for us who are born the enemies of God - not for us who have rejected his will for our lives and have put our thoughts above his thoughts. Heaven should be “off limits” to us for all eternity. But in his grace God has made a gate to heaven - a narrow one, no wider than the person of his own Son, our Savior Jesus who says in John 10:9: “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.”

But how do we find this gate? Christian you have already found it, through no searching of your own. God’s grace has drawn you to and brought you through this gate the very moment he worked faith in your heart, faith that embraces Jesus, calling him “Savior” and “Lord.” But we heard Jesus say today that not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter his kingdom–not even some who did powerful things in his name. Why, then, should we expect to enter heaven? Once again, it all comes back to God’s gift of faith. The one who has faith is the one who does the will of God the Father. Listen to Jesus explain it in John 6:40, “...my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” God’s will isn’t about “doing;” it’s about “believing!”

The Father’s will is that you and I believe that Jesus Christ has done everything that needs to be done to earn us heaven. It’s God will that we find all our comfort in the Bible’s promise that when Jesus suffered the anguish of hell on Calvary’s cross, he was serving as our Substitute, enduring our punishment, paying for our sins – all of them, even our sins of doubt and disbelief, even our sins of pride and arrogance. It is our Father’s will that we see ourselves as he always sees us, covered with the holiness that Jesus earned for us with his perfect life, the holiness he credits to us without cost through faith, faith which is no work of ours but another gracious gift from our Father in heaven. As St. Paul says in Philippians 2:13, “...it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”