“TRINITY 8 2024”
Saint Matthew 7: 15-23
8th Sunday after Trinity: July 21 Anno Domini 2024
Fr Jay Watson, SSP
Most urban and suburban dwellers, especially nature loving and environmental ones; children too; are glad that the North American wolf is back from the brink of extinction. Wolves are amazing creatures—loyal to pack, mating for life, smart.
But God is not talking about cute little wolf pups on some Tik Tok or YouTube video. He is talking about killers. Talk to a rancher in Wyoming about wolves. Talk to a shepherd in Palestine in the first decades of the 1st century. Talk to Amos or David.
Christ could not be more clear—physical wolves kill—in a violent and painful way. He calls them “ravening.” That a rather chilling, though accurate, adjective. But Messias is not talking about physical wolves of the four-footed kind, but biped, human wolves, who destroy the soul. They kill your soul and send you to hell. Ezekiel wrote “her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls” [Ez. 22.27]. This is serious. The stakes are eternal. So, “beware false prophets.” These prophets, “god talkers” are not talking for, and on behalf of Jesus, but on behalf of the great dragon. One can be a knowing false prophet or an unwitting false prophet. It matters not the motives of the wolf.
So, you ask, ‘why should I be concerned, I go to Augsburg, I am LCMS.’ The reason is that the attack is from Satan and in this instance (well always) he is subtile like a serpent; he uses camouflage and disguise. The false prophet comes to you the sheep in “sheep’s clothing.” But again, what about here?
“Ye shall know them by their fruits.”
As you have heard before, Christ was not talking about the vestiges of false and demonic Cananite deities or the “hanger ons” of Roman, Greek, Asian, and Nordic pantheons; nor was He prophesying about 21st century Muslims, Hindus, Mormons, or the rest of the easily identified heathen babblers. You can spot those. No, they will be wearing sheep’s clothing; they will purport and claim to be fellow Christians, or, in your case, fellow Lutherans. Do we have a lot of them in our midst. Thank the Lord, no. Do you have to be fearful and overly anxious? No, not if you attend His Church in one His parishes wherein, according to Augustana VII: “[we] teach that One Holy Church is to continue forever. The Church is the congregation of saints, in which The Gospel is rightly taught and The Sacraments are rightly administered. And to the true unity of The Church, it is enough to agree concerning the doctrine of The Gospel and the administration of The Sacraments.”
“Ye shall know them by their fruits.”
The Sacraments must be administered according to Jesus’ institution using what Jesus used. The Gospel, the rule of faith, is that you are saved (Justified) by Jesus’ pure and free Grace, through Faith, in Christ alone, and not of your works. Or in another prophetic Scriptural way—by Christ crucified for the forgiveness of your sins. If that is not what you hear being taught and preached here, then I am a ravening wolf and should be dealt with accordingly.
It has nothing to do with the pastor’s personality, foibles, or indeed, sins. Pastors, myself, and all others you have had interactions with, are sinners—just like you. Pastor’s may even lie to you about matters; they may be vain and controlling bullies. But, that does not make them wolves or false prophets so long as they teach Christ and His Words. Call them jerks or sub-par, but do not confuse their styles or “bedside manner” with being a false prophet. Again, thank The Lord, that I, and you, have probably never encountered in our communion a “false prophet.”
Another true and faithful indicator is your own confession of The Faith. If you begin believing or spouting heterodox (false teaching) doctrines and statements—even if they are only Calvinistic denials of the “Personal Union” of Christ’s two natures, Arminian nonsense about “making a decision” for Christ, or dispensational/millennial or Zionist nonsense, then you are becoming thorns rather than grapes, thistles rather than figs. And the blame should be laid at the feet of your prophet; your pastor. I am to be judged by the fruits of Augsburg—the flock. You of course are to repent, but the pastor needs to be rebuked and dismissed if he does not repent of false teaching and immediately correct himself and his ministrations. To be “in the stead and by the command” of The Lord, Jesus Christ, means the pastor is to be Christ’s under-shepherd. A shepherd’s sole goal is to protect the flock by giving Them Christ—His person and work.
The wolves must be guarded against and fought against. It is a militant activity. There will be blood and injury. Life under Christ’s cross will always be cruciform. So, in addition to being a shepherd, the pastor is also a fellow sheep in relation to The Good Shepherd. And, he is also, a sheepdog, whether like unto ‘Border Collies’ or one of the other famous protectors and herders it matters not. He is to preach the Law to you in a way that you are always gathered and pushed back to the grace and mercy of Jesus’ sheepfold. Well, where are you right now?
“Ye shall know them by their fruits.”
“Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit.”
As David wrote in the Psalter and Paul to the Romans, Christ speaks in Matthew and Mark’s Evangel “there is none good but one, that is, God” [Mk. 10.18].
Jesus the perfectly good Prophet—Prophet (God speaker) of The Trinity, is The Tree of Life—first beheld in Eden and for all eternity at the bloody crucifix. From this Tree at the center of all creation and eternity, from This Body and Blood shed for your forgiveness and peace, the good fruit is given and shed. You do the will of The Father when you hear His mercy and atoning Words, and when you eat and drink this life-giving fruit. He speaks: I have always known you by dear brothers and sisters.
By His fruits, from The Head to the Body, you know Him.
In The Name of The Father and of + The Son and of The Holy Ghost
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