Eighth Sunday after Trinity

This Sunday is sometimes called “False Prophet Sunday” because the readings from the Old Testament and Gospel are both warnings against false prophets. False Prophet Sunday was the occasion for my installation and my first Sunday as your pastor. What a great way to be ushered into the ministry: “Here is your new pastor. And now, hear the word of the Lord: ‘Beware of false prophets!’ Amen.” I’m actually not being facetious. I mean it. I rejoiced to hear this text read at the beginning of my ministry. Why? Because I want to be the under-shepherd of a flock that is wary of false prophets.

False teaching is seductive. It appeals to your sinful nature. It doesn’t call you to repentance. It doesn’t show you your sin, instead it shows you the sin of everyone else. That’s why the church will so often embrace false teachers. They tell you what you might want to hear. They scratch your itch. Their tongues drip with honey, their speech is smoother than oil, but in the end they are bitter as wormwood, and their feet go down to death (Prov 5:3–5). Any pastor worth his salt rejoices to serve a congregation that is wary of false prophets.

Do not follow your pastor because you like his personality. Many believers have been led astray in this way, blindly following a beloved leader into destruction because he’s a great guy with a charismatic style. This is how many churches have turned into personality cults. But your allegiance is not to a pastor or an organization. You are a Christian. Your allegiance is to Christ. Your conscience is captive to the Word of God. Follow your pastor in so far as he follows Christ. Listen to his words because they are not his words at all, but the words of Jesus. Walk in step with your synod as long as it walks in the footsteps of Christ. And beware of false prophets, who come in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

As I studied this text during the week, I discovered something obvious that I had never seen before. Did Jesus say that false prophets will come wearing shepherd’s clothing? No, he did not. They will disguise themselves as sheep. This means that, though Jesus’ warning certainly can apply to false shepherds or pastors, we must also include those who seek to appear as members of the flock, but are, in truth, devouring wolves.

False prophets wrap themselves in the clothing of sheep. They say and do things that sheep ought to say. They may quote Scripture and seem to be in harmony with God and his Word. They may appear to live godly lives. They are modern-day Pharisees, convinced of their moral uprightness, outwardly blameless. But it’s all a disguise. Inwardly, they full of dead men’s bones and every uncleanness. Inwardly, they are ravenous wolves.

Now before we grab our pitchforks and start poking fellow sheep to see if they howl, we should consider how Jesus says we will unmask the wolves: “You will recognize them by their fruits” (Mt 7:16). But fruit is not always immediately measurable. Can you tell the difference between a good tree and a worthless tree in the early spring? Perhaps not. Jesus’ words may require us to have a certain measure of patience. But the harvest is coming, and then the hidden thoughts and motives of the heart will be revealed. Eventually, a good tree will always produce excellent fruit, and a worthless tree rotten fruit.

St. Paul tells us what rotten fruit looks like: “Now the works of the flesh are evident: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like.” This is how you can tell a wolf. Look at the fruit. Look at what follows a person. Is it outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, and envy? Or is it the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control? (Gal 5:19–23). You don’t need to have a degree from a Bible college to tell good fruit from bad. You have the Holy Spirit, and He bears witness within your heart to the truth.

Now, we’ve got to be careful here. Some people think that the Holy Spirit speaks within the heart through premonitions and feelings: “I woke up this morning and I had a bad feeling in my heart, so I knew I’d better not go to work.” That’s not the Holy Spirit. That’s probably indigestion. The Holy Spirit speak to your heart through the words of Jesus—not through feelings, not through emotions, but through words. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice. Another they will not follow.” Sheep know their shepherd. They know how he acts. They know how he sounds. How? Because they’ve been listening to his words. The more you listen, the less likely you are to be tricked by the disguise of a wolf.

All this talk of wolves within the flock might get you looking with suspicion at your neighbor. “She didn’t say hello to me this morning. I smell a wolf!” Satan would love to divide and conquer the flock in this way. Want to know where you can find a wolf? You don’t need to look any further than your own sinful heart to find the fruit that St. Paul describes: Hatred, contentions, jealousies, gossiping, selfish ambitions. Yep. The works. It’s all in there. “Wait, are you saying I’m a wolf?” I’m saying you used to be a wolf, but now you are baptized. Thank God that the old wolfish nature was drowned, and the Holy Spirit granted you new birth as a child of God, that is, a sheep within the fold of Christ.

And yet, that sinful nature still lurks within you, waiting for the opportune moment. That’s right. Within your heart is a false prophet eager to lead you astray with lies. Whereas the voice of the Holy Spirit will always lead you to faith and repentance in Christ, the false prophet will never convict you of sin. But he is happy to tell you all about the sins of other people. And the false prophet will assure you that your actions, though not in line with Scripture, were justified under the circumstances. He will tell you that you have no need of repentance, which is exactly what you might want to hear. But if you listen to this voice, you are welcoming in a ravenous wolf.

How do you know if you are listening to the right voice? Jesus says, “You will know by the fruit.” Are you regularly being convicted within your own heart of your sin? Do you cry out, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner?” Are you eagerly turning to Christ to receive his forgiveness? This is the godly fruit of repentance and faith that leads to eternal life. On the other hand, if you are consumed with recounting the sins of others, while thoroughly convinced of your own righteousness, then, yes, you are listening to the voice of the false prophet. The fruit of this tree leads to the destruction of faith and the rending of God’s flock.

Repent. Repent and return to your baptism, the miracle by which God turns wolves into sheep. Repentance shouldn’t be a huge, once in a lifetime, event. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent,” he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance. For Christians accustomed to hearing the voice of Jesus, repentance ought to be as familiar as breathing.

Jesus warns against false prophets out of love for his flock. The voices of false shepherds and false sheep lead only to destruction. But the words of Jesus, and his alone, bestow forgiveness, life, and salvation. Where these words are spoken by faithful under-shepherds, where the victory that Jesus purchased on the cross is distributed through the preached Word and Holy Sacraments, there the flock of God dwells in peace and security. Amen.