Deo Gloria
Sermon for June 14, 2020
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Matthew 7:15-23
Theme: Don’t Accept Any Substitutes!
- Regardless of the packaging
- Regardless of the promises
We live in a world of substitutes—from substitute teachers to substitute sugar. While they certainly can be useful, I’m sure we’d all agree that substitutes have their limitations. For example, soybeans don’t make very good hamburgers. Eggbeaters don’t even come close to beating farm-fresh eggs. Artificial flowers don’t quite have the same smell as real flowers. And I wouldn’t recommend buying your wife a bouquet of artificial flowers for your anniversary. For some things there just aren’t any substitutes.
That is especially true when it comes to our salvation and those who teach us the way of salvation. As much as the devil would like us to think so, there just aren’t any substitutes for real teachers of God’s Word. So when it comes to your salvation and your spiritual growth, don’t accept any substitutes, regardless of the packaging and regardless of the promises.
A number of years ago I remember buying a box of breaded fish fillets. They looked pretty good in the display case. The price was really good too—on sale. But you know the old saying: “You get what you pay for.” I got what I paid for. Instead of tasting like fresh-caught fish, they tasted more like old, shoe leather. They were tough and chewy. They were bad.
So what happened? They looked so good in the packaging in the store. The package said “Fresh Fish” right on the front, but I was fooled. The fish I got were neither good nor fresh.
Jesus gives us a similar warning in the verses of our text. No, he doesn’t tell us to be cautious about the fish we buy. Rather, he tells us to be wary of the packaging when it comes to those who proclaim his Word. “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves”(v. 15). We need to be careful of what we swallow spiritually, so that we don’t end up being swallowed ourselves. “Watch out for false prophets,” Jesus said. They may come to you in sheep’s clothing, but what kind of fruit are they producing? Is it good fruit, fruit that truly edifies and nourishes your soul? Or is it fruit that has gone sour or is full of worms? In other words, Jesus wants us to make sure that the spiritual teaching and instruction we listen to and receive is Biblical, that it is true to his Word and properly applied according to his Word, because the sad fact is there are plenty of false prophets.
And they come in all different shapes and sizes. Some may preach or teach in a large and thriving church. Some may come right to your door and offer to leave literature or invite you to a seminar. And they may seem so nice and sincere. But we need to be careful of the packaging. A false teacher may wear a clergy collar or a white gown and a cross, but that means very little. Likewise he may quote from the Bible and may claim that everything he teaches is Biblically based; but he uses God’s Word to deceive. There are many who claim to teach the Bible now days, but don’t. You can recognize such wolves by what they teach. If they teach things that are contrary to what God’s Word teaches, they are wolves and you better watch out. Is a church simply polishing up rotten apples in order to lure people in? You will know by a single bite. Don’t fall for fancy wrapping! Spit it out and walk away. False teachers often wrap their rotten, man-made teachings in sweet, buttery caramel and try to pass it off as the fruit of salvation.
Let me give you a few examples: “God loves us all and someday he will take us all to heaven.” That’s nothing more than rotten fruit in pretty wrapping! “Just do your best and strive to be a good person and you’ll make it to heaven.” A wolfish lie! “God will give you wealth beyond your wildest dreams, if you decide to accept him as your personal Savior.” Be careful what you swallow! “If you follow Jesus and pattern your life after his, you can become a God yourself someday.” Better beware!
Yet, it all seems so easy, so attractive. All you have to do is change a few bad habits, be a good person, say the right prayers, do a few good deeds and POOF! Glory and blessing are yours. The packaging may seem attractive; but in the end, it leads to destruction. You may end up being devoured and swallowed up in the process. Your faith in Christ may be snatched from you. That’s just what false teachers want. They want to rob you of your certainty in Christ, so that you will depend on them. A false teacher wants to replace the truth of God’s Word with his lies, so that he can gain the attention and the praise.
Don’t just look at the packaging. Test the contents. How does the fruit taste? Does your pastor teach you the truth of God’s Word? Does he feed you with the pure message of God’s grace and forgiveness in Christ? It is sinful to teach others that they can substitute their own good deeds and their own good works for the work of Christ. God does not accept or tolerate substitutes. We need the message of Jesus our Savior.
Jesus didn’t come in attractive packaging, did he? He came very humbly, in the form of a servant. As Isaiah says, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him”(53:2). In other words, outwardly speaking he was nothing special. Yet what he did was very special. As our Savior Jesus came to live for us, to live a righteous and godly life, the kind of life we should have lived. He came to be the obedient child we should have been. He came to be the loving and caring friend we should have been. He came to be the faithful worker, the faithful member, the faithful leader, the faithful steward, the faithful witness we should have been but weren’t. And if that wasn’t enough, he came to die for us as well, to suffer the penalty for all of the rotten fruit in our lives—all of our stinking, rotten, stomach-turning sins. He gave his life on the cross so that we might be forgiven and might enjoy the sweet and lasting fruit of eternal life in heaven. You see, it isn’t enough to buy things that are wrapped in pretty packaging. We need the real thing, someone who can truly save us from sin and death. We need Jesus. We need the message of the Gospel, the pure Word of God, untainted by human reason or ambition or half-truth.
“But how can I be sure?” you might say. “How can I be sure I have the true Gospel? After all, every church claims to teach about Jesus.” That’s true. Jesus even admits it in our text. There are lots of people who say, “Lord, Lord,” but not everyone who says that will enter the kingdom of heaven. It’s not just about the packaging. It’s also about the substance and the quality.
Remember that package of fish I bought. The package clearly read “Fresh Fish.” Some might argue that that was false advertising; but it probably wasn’t. They probably met the industry guidelines for “fresh fish,” but that doesn’t mean they were really fresh or good.
Unfortunately, the same is true when it comes to churches and teachers of God’s Word. The fact that they have Christian or even Lutheran on their label is not a guarantee of good quality. Many claim Jesus as their Lord and claim to teach the truth of God’s Word. But you have to look past the labels and the outward claims to the fruit. Remember what Jesus said? “Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit”(v. 17).
The fruit that a church or teacher produces is not apples or oranges or bananas. It’s teachings. What does this church or pastor teach about Jesus? What does he teach about salvation and how a person gets to heaven? What does he teach about God’s Word and the sacraments? A good teacher is one who believes and teaches the truth of the Gospel: that we are saved by God’s free grace through faith in Jesus Christ and not by what we do. In fact, a good teacher believes and teaches all the truths of God’s Word. He believes all of the Bible is God’s Word, not just parts of it. And he teaches it as God’s Word, not as human ideas or human opinions. A good teacher both proclaims the promises of God and clings to those promises himself.
Not too long ago I was talking to a disenchanted Lutheran. And he shared with me a conversation he had had once with his pastor. It seems they had been talking about some of the troubling things that had been going on in their church body. At one point the man said to his pastor, “Well, pastor, at least we still have the truth about God and the truth about how to get to heaven through faith in Jesus. I mean, I feel sorry for the Muslims and the Buddhists and people like that. They don’t even know the truth about how to get to heaven.” To which his pastor responded, “Well, Dave, I’m not so sure about that.” And the man said he had to pick his jaw up off the floor.
Sadly, there are far too many people like that who claim to be teachers. They may even teach and preach in churches, but they do it with the wrong motivation. They hold on to different promises. They’re more concerned about the packaging and give little regard to the content or the quality. There are preachers who promise great things and even do great things, but be careful! That does not mean they are good teachers. That does not mean they love Christ and trust in him as their Lord and Savior. Remember what Jesus said? “Many will say to me on the day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”(vv. 22-23)
It’s hard for us to imagine someone being able to cast out demons and do miracles and yet being condemned by Jesus on Judgment Day; but there are a number of examples like that in the Bible. Take Judas, for instance. More than likely, he cast out demons in Jesus’ name. He certainly went out with other disciples and preached and taught God’s Word. The Bible also mentions Caiaphas, the high priest. He didn’t believe in Jesus as his Savior. And yet, as high priest he made the following prophecy concerning Jesus: “It is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish”(John 11:50). And then there’s Balaam from the Old Testament, a heathen prophet from Moab, who was given the words and the ability to bless the people of Israel, even though he was an unbeliever. On the surface these men may have appeared to be godly and religious, but they were false teachers. Instead of faith in the Messiah, they had faith in themselves. And their fruit was rotten.
Sadly, so many people are deceived into trusting the empty promises of false teachers. They’re impressed by their charisma or their ability to speak. They’re impressed with outward success and man-made results. They’re impressed with power and prestige and the great things they promise. But false teachers make empty promises and lead people to believe their empty promises. They lead people to trust in them and not in Christ. They contradict God’s Word and cloud its clear message. They offer rotten fruit and lead people to eat rotten fruit. And in the process, they promote a false and empty faith, a faith that will not save.
Imagine thinking that you are safe. Imagine thinking that you are good enough for God and that he will accept you into his kingdom on the Last Day, and he condemns you. Imagine standing there in the crowd with Judas and Caiaphas and Balaam and hearing Jesus say those awful words to you, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” Now do you see the danger of substitutes? When it comes to your faith and in particular the content of your faith, don’t accept any substitutes. Make sure your faith is built on a solid foundation, that it rests on the sure and certain promises that God has given us in his Word. Be sure to read God’s Word and study God’s Word for yourself, so you know what it says and what it doesn’t say. Be sure your faith finds its quality, its content, in the promises of Jesus Christ.
And be sure your teacher does the same. Make sure you have a teacher who proclaims the promises of God and clings to those promises himself, a teacher who boldly and unabashedly says, “This is God’s Word, period, end of discussion.” A teacher who takes his stand on God’s Word and will not waver on what it says. Don’t accept any substitutes! Don’t base your salvation on anyone but Jesus Christ! And don’t listen to anyone who promises anything different! Amen.