A Window and a Mirror

Narcissism is a personality trait that is driven from the belief that you deserve only good things.

Everyone else is wrong, you are right, whenever you make a wrong choice, it’s just because it’s what you had to do because of someone else, and is typically related to a really high (but very fragile) ego. Narcissists think that they are better than everyone else, and when they don’t, they get angry and aggressive to prove their dominance.

And, there are career paths that naturally attract people with narcissistic tendencies!

CEO’s

Politicians

Pilots

Lawyers

Athletes/trainers

Doctors

Influencers

Motivational Speakers

PASTORS!

And, while seeing pastors on that list might feel kind of weird, it is also a normal experience now to open the news and see some new pastor or ministry leader that had an affair or committed fraud or lied or did something bad. This can lead us to ask some big questions!

We’ve also seen people leave the faith because people in power have taken advantage of or been a bad example of faith to people who are learning.

And this hides a bigger question in my mind, which is, what about us?

We should be asking is my faith real? Do I have a strong faith, or am I just like those people that are on the news, but without a platform?

All of these questions are really good, and Jesus helps us to understand these questions well.

Matthew 7:15-20

So, from this sermon, I want to see two things: I want us to become careful about false prophets, and for us to be more contemplative of our own faith.

We see here two ways of looking at people, wolves and trees. And this text acts as both a window and a mirror: It allows us to look at others critically, while also helping us to look at ourselves.

The Window: False Prophets

Matthew 7:15 ESV

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

We start out here with Jesus talking about false prophets, who He calls wolves in sheep’s clothing.

What is a false prophet?

A false prophet is anyone who preaches a gospel that is not true, or who teach from selfish motives or ambitions.

So, if someone tells you that if you believe in Jesus, that you’re going to happy for the rest of your life and you’ll make a ton of money, or if someone says that if you give them/their ministry money that you will be rewarded, etc… they are false prophets.

It’s the person that preaches or teaches so that you will like them or give them money rather than out of a love for God and for others.

So, for instance, there is a preacher in America who has a fleet of private jets that he claims that he needs because if he flies commercial that he’ll interact with demons.

“You can’t manage that today, in this dope-filled world, get in a long tube with a bunch of demons.” - because, you know, humans are demons.

This guy paid for that jet from the church that he’s a pastor over. So, he asked a bunch of people to donate a lot of money to his church so that he could afford a private jet because he needed it to avoid talking with us poor people in commercial airlines.

That dude is a false prophet! He’s taking advantage of the kindness and generosity of others to get richer and richer.

So, Jesus gives us a metric for how we are to measure if someone is a false prophet or not.

Look at the fruit.

Matthew 7:16–18 ESV

You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.

What do you think the “fruit” is when we are looking at false prophets?

The fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

It’s not wealth, it’s not followers, it’s not instagram likes, it’s not a checkmark on your social media. All of those things happen to people whether or not they believe in Jesus. It’s simply a life that is reflective of the Spirit in all circumstances and a humility that points only to Jesus.

So, when you interact with someone who’s like this: don’t listen to them, don’t give them your money, and don’t base your salvation on what they have to say. Pray for them and keep your distance!

But, why does this matter?

It’s easy for us to say, “I’m just not going to follow after any pastors who have private jets!” but there are people all over who are false prophets that aren’t wealthy because they aren’t as good as the famous ones.

You will graduate out of youth ministry. If it’s not this year, it will come soon, and we, by the grace of God, have a really good team of men and women who love you and can keep me in check from being a huge tool. But you will go out on your own, and maybe you’ll join a college group that promises a little too much if you just start being better or a church that talks a lot more about money than you remember or you start watching an influencer pastor who’s life just looks perfect and if you just do what they did, you can finally be happy!

It’s too easy for us to fall into the trap of wolves in sheep’s clothing if we’re not super careful!

Don’t become a follower of a person, become a follower of Jesus!

When we give ourselves over to following after some dude on instagram and put our faith completely in him; when he messes up (and he will!) our faith can be crushed. But when our faith is firmly planted in Christ, we can have confidence because He is the One who gave all for us.

The Mirror: Dead Trees

It can be easy to focus this on other people too.

I can talk for hours about all the false prophets that I know, but what about me? It’s a little easier to look out the window at all the people I don’t like than in the mirror at my own faith.

This discussion that Jesus has isn’t just for others, it’s for us as well.

Matthew 7:18–20 ESV

A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

That’s a scary thought, that every tree that is bad is cut down and thrown into the fire! you and I are the trees! How do we know if we are actually people who love Jesus

Look at the fruit.

It’s the same thing we talked about with false prophets! We need to look at the fruit of our lives and see if we are becoming more like Jesus or not.

This isn’t saying that you need to be perfect, but that we need to be growing in the fruit of the Spirit. That is what followers of Jesus do!

v. 19 says that if we aren’t growing, then it indicates that there was no real life in us in the first place and that we will be cut down and burned.

If you are not a follower of Jesus, then you are not a “good tree” and that the sin or brokenness that you have in your life is keeping you from a relationship with God. Without Him, you and I have no hope.

But, by the gift of Jesus dying on the cross for our sin, we can have forgiveness! Our brokenness can be healed, or rebellion can be forgiven, but it is only through Jesus.

And when we give ourselves over to Him, we will see growth.

It won’t be instant, it won’t grow at the same rate all of the time, but there will be growth.

Are you growing?

This isn’t a question that I can answer for you. This isn’t something that we can ask in small groups, because it is simply a question between you and God. Do you have a saving faith? Is your life given over to Jesus, or are you busy with dead trees and bad fruits?

I want you to think on that for a few minutes. You don’t have to tell someone else, but maybe if you do want to you can tell one of your leaders or tell your small group after this, but this is the biggest question you can ask of yourself.

Are you alive in Christ or dead in sin?

Questions.

If you had to move to another country, what would it be and why?

What is a false prophet?

How is ‘having good fruit’ different from being saved because you worked hard?

How can you look at the fruit in other’s life? What about yours?