Sermon, Sunday June 1 2008
Third Sunday after Pentecost
Brothers and sisters
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus says to us this morning in the Gospel lesson that not everyone who says to Him "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven. He says some will say to Him "…did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in you name?" And Jesus says that He will respond to them by declaring that He never knew them and commanding them to depart from Him calling them workers of lawlessness.
Well those are bold words. These certainly don’t seem very fitting with the tender-hearted, hippie image of Jesus that our culture has come to embrace. Some might even say that Jesus was being offensive here. Certainly He doesn’t seem to be being very inclusive. Let’s face it, in our Gospel lesson our Lord Jesus comes to us preaching straight-up fire and brimstone.
So what is this about? What is Jesus getting at here? What is Jesus warning us against here? Well about six verses before the Gospel lesson for this morning starts, Jesus warns against false teaching by warning against false prophets. He actually describes false prophets as coming to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are actually ravenous wolves. That is how seriously Jesus takes false teaching and false doctrine, that He refers to those who would spread false doctrine and false teaching as ravenous wolves.
Is Jesus just being arrogant here? Is He just being narrow-minded here? I mean really as long as we love each other and are nice to each other and do good things for other people then do things like doctrine and theology and teaching really matter all that much? Why is Jesus so concerned about false teaching here? Why would Jesus go to the extreme of calling false teachers ravenous wolves? Well for one thing in His eternal nature He has seen just how dangerous false prophecy and false teaching can be. He has seen how the false prophets of the Old Testament, the false prophets of Baal misled the children of Israel into godlessness and sin and were thus destroyed.
So Jesus tells us that there is a way that we can spot them. He tells us that there is in fact a way that we can see these false teachers. Jesus tells us that we will know them by their fruits. You will know the false prophets and false teachers by their fruits. Well what does that mean? Well we know that Jesus is not talking about good works or lack of good works here because included among those whom Jesus says He will declare that He never knew and whom He will cast out are some who did mighty works in His name, and yet still Jesus says He never knew them. Indeed there are plenty of people who do good works; included among them are atheists, agnostics and false teachers.
Again, Jesus is talking about doctrine here. He is talking about what they believe, teach and confess. And we also know that He is not just talking about a generic belief in God here or even a generic belief in Jesus here because all of these mighty works that were done by those whom Jesus says He never knew, they were all done in Jesus’ name. And yet still Jesus says He never knew them.
And so where is it that some who will say to Jesus "Lord, Lord.." and do mighty works in His name, fall short? Where do we fall short? Jesus gives us the answer once again through a parable. He says that those who hear the words of Him and do them will be like a wise man who built his house upon a rock, And because of the solid foundation of this house built upon a rock, the house will be able to withstand rain and floods and winds.
The house is our faith. It is the very faith that we receive in baptism. And of course the Rock is Christ Jesus, the Rock of our salvation.
Recognizing false teachers is not just about recognizing whether or not they talk about God or even recognizing whether or not they talk about Christ Jesus. It is recognizing what they believe, teach and confess about Christ Jesus. Do they teach that He is the perfect, sinless Son of God who lived the perfect life, death, and resurrection for you as we read in all four of the Gospels? Dot they teach that it is the will of the Father that those who look upon the Son and believe should have eternal life as it says in John 6?
Do they teach that He is the only Savior and the only way to salvation as we read in John 14? Do they teach that His Word of truth is the only truth and that all other truth claims should be measured in light of the Gospel, for as our Lord Jesus tells us in John 5, all scripture testifies of Him? Do they teach that without Him we are all doomed? If not they are false teachers.
And as fire and brimstoney or non-inclusive as that might be to some, we need to hear it. We need to hear it because as Paul reminds us in the lesson from Romans, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Indeed we are all sinners.
We need to hear this because what Jesus is talking about is the righteousness of God. And the lesson from Romans today tells us that the righteous will live by faith. And through faith we receive the very righteousness of God, apart from the law. We receive righteousness by grace through faith. What our Lord demands of us and what those whom Jesus referred to in the Gospel lesson who called on Him saying Lord, Lord and did those mighty acts of the Lord, and yet still Jesus said He never knew them; what they were lacking, what they fell short of, what we all fall short of without faith built upon the solid rock of Christ, is the perfect righteousness that our Lord demands of us.
Rick Warren, author of the best-selling book, The Purpose-Driven life recently predicted that the next reformation will be about "deeds not creeds." Well with all due respect to Mr Warren all I can say is "Good Lord I hope not." In fact I pray that is not true. Because if that is true then what we will have is reformation built on sand. We will have reformation built upon works. Not that works in service of the Lord are bad. Quite to the contrary they are wonderful. But they should come as a joyful response to receiving the righteousness that comes to us from outside of us, that comes to us first from our Lord Jesus.
And so with all due respect to Mr. Warren, I will take a creeds-based reformation with creeds that will reveal confession and faith built upon the Rock of our salvation Christ Jesus over a deeds-based reformation any day because even if such a reformation turned every church in the world into a mega-church it would still be built on sand and so would b swept away by the rain and floods of sin and temptation and false teaching.
For there is only one way that we can receive the righteousness that Jesus is speaking of. We certainly can’t get it from ourselves because as Paul reminds us, as sinners we all fall short of the glory of God. And so God in His grace and love for us sends us His righteousness from outside of us. It comes in God’s judgment and so it is as unmovable as God Himself. He or she whom God declares righteous is righteous. The very righteousness that our Lord demands of you came to you in the waters of baptism when you received faith, forgiveness and were claimed by Christ.
And so all you can do is believe. Believe that the One who lived the perfect life, death and resurrection for you is the same One who claims you in baptism and the One who is coming to you right now through the words of my mouth reminding you that you are His, and that this same One will come to you in a few minutes in the bread and the wine of Holy Communion bringing to you once again in bread and the wine the forgiveness of your sins all the while creating, preserving, nurturing and sustaining your faith, that has been built upon the Rock of your salvation Christ Jesus.
We need to hear this because soon you will leave here and you will go out to the world where sin and the devil will assault you and try to seduce you into building you house upon the sand of works, or pluralism, or money or whatever else it can throw at you. But the foundation of Christ Jesus will not be shaken. In the midst of the assaults of sin and the devil, through our faith built upon the Rock of Christ, we are strengthened and inspired all the more to believe in Christ Jesus and what He has done for us and is doing for us; giving us the righteousness of God in the forgiveness of sins. And so in faith you have this peace, but maybe you neighbor doesn’t. And so it is all of our calling to go out into the world and share this good news so that they all might be brought into the house of faith built upon the Rock of our salvation, our Lord Jesus. There is nothing more inclusive than that.
Amen
Brothers and sisters
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus says to us this morning in the Gospel lesson that not everyone who says to Him "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven. He says some will say to Him "…did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in you name?" And Jesus says that He will respond to them by declaring that He never knew them and commanding them to depart from Him calling them workers of lawlessness.
Well those are bold words. These certainly don’t seem very fitting with the tender-hearted, hippie image of Jesus that our culture has come to embrace. Some might even say that Jesus was being offensive here. Certainly He doesn’t seem to be being very inclusive. Let’s face it, in our Gospel lesson our Lord Jesus comes to us preaching straight-up fire and brimstone.
So what is this about? What is Jesus getting at here? What is Jesus warning us against here? Well about six verses before the Gospel lesson for this morning starts, Jesus warns against false teaching by warning against false prophets. He actually describes false prophets as coming to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are actually ravenous wolves. That is how seriously Jesus takes false teaching and false doctrine, that He refers to those who would spread false doctrine and false teaching as ravenous wolves.
Is Jesus just being arrogant here? Is He just being narrow-minded here? I mean really as long as we love each other and are nice to each other and do good things for other people then do things like doctrine and theology and teaching really matter all that much? Why is Jesus so concerned about false teaching here? Why would Jesus go to the extreme of calling false teachers ravenous wolves? Well for one thing in His eternal nature He has seen just how dangerous false prophecy and false teaching can be. He has seen how the false prophets of the Old Testament, the false prophets of Baal misled the children of Israel into godlessness and sin and were thus destroyed.
So Jesus tells us that there is a way that we can spot them. He tells us that there is in fact a way that we can see these false teachers. Jesus tells us that we will know them by their fruits. You will know the false prophets and false teachers by their fruits. Well what does that mean? Well we know that Jesus is not talking about good works or lack of good works here because included among those whom Jesus says He will declare that He never knew and whom He will cast out are some who did mighty works in His name, and yet still Jesus says He never knew them. Indeed there are plenty of people who do good works; included among them are atheists, agnostics and false teachers.
Again, Jesus is talking about doctrine here. He is talking about what they believe, teach and confess. And we also know that He is not just talking about a generic belief in God here or even a generic belief in Jesus here because all of these mighty works that were done by those whom Jesus says He never knew, they were all done in Jesus’ name. And yet still Jesus says He never knew them.
And so where is it that some who will say to Jesus "Lord, Lord.." and do mighty works in His name, fall short? Where do we fall short? Jesus gives us the answer once again through a parable. He says that those who hear the words of Him and do them will be like a wise man who built his house upon a rock, And because of the solid foundation of this house built upon a rock, the house will be able to withstand rain and floods and winds.
The house is our faith. It is the very faith that we receive in baptism. And of course the Rock is Christ Jesus, the Rock of our salvation.
Recognizing false teachers is not just about recognizing whether or not they talk about God or even recognizing whether or not they talk about Christ Jesus. It is recognizing what they believe, teach and confess about Christ Jesus. Do they teach that He is the perfect, sinless Son of God who lived the perfect life, death, and resurrection for you as we read in all four of the Gospels? Dot they teach that it is the will of the Father that those who look upon the Son and believe should have eternal life as it says in John 6?
Do they teach that He is the only Savior and the only way to salvation as we read in John 14? Do they teach that His Word of truth is the only truth and that all other truth claims should be measured in light of the Gospel, for as our Lord Jesus tells us in John 5, all scripture testifies of Him? Do they teach that without Him we are all doomed? If not they are false teachers.
And as fire and brimstoney or non-inclusive as that might be to some, we need to hear it. We need to hear it because as Paul reminds us in the lesson from Romans, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Indeed we are all sinners.
We need to hear this because what Jesus is talking about is the righteousness of God. And the lesson from Romans today tells us that the righteous will live by faith. And through faith we receive the very righteousness of God, apart from the law. We receive righteousness by grace through faith. What our Lord demands of us and what those whom Jesus referred to in the Gospel lesson who called on Him saying Lord, Lord and did those mighty acts of the Lord, and yet still Jesus said He never knew them; what they were lacking, what they fell short of, what we all fall short of without faith built upon the solid rock of Christ, is the perfect righteousness that our Lord demands of us.
Rick Warren, author of the best-selling book, The Purpose-Driven life recently predicted that the next reformation will be about "deeds not creeds." Well with all due respect to Mr Warren all I can say is "Good Lord I hope not." In fact I pray that is not true. Because if that is true then what we will have is reformation built on sand. We will have reformation built upon works. Not that works in service of the Lord are bad. Quite to the contrary they are wonderful. But they should come as a joyful response to receiving the righteousness that comes to us from outside of us, that comes to us first from our Lord Jesus.
And so with all due respect to Mr. Warren, I will take a creeds-based reformation with creeds that will reveal confession and faith built upon the Rock of our salvation Christ Jesus over a deeds-based reformation any day because even if such a reformation turned every church in the world into a mega-church it would still be built on sand and so would b swept away by the rain and floods of sin and temptation and false teaching.
For there is only one way that we can receive the righteousness that Jesus is speaking of. We certainly can’t get it from ourselves because as Paul reminds us, as sinners we all fall short of the glory of God. And so God in His grace and love for us sends us His righteousness from outside of us. It comes in God’s judgment and so it is as unmovable as God Himself. He or she whom God declares righteous is righteous. The very righteousness that our Lord demands of you came to you in the waters of baptism when you received faith, forgiveness and were claimed by Christ.
And so all you can do is believe. Believe that the One who lived the perfect life, death and resurrection for you is the same One who claims you in baptism and the One who is coming to you right now through the words of my mouth reminding you that you are His, and that this same One will come to you in a few minutes in the bread and the wine of Holy Communion bringing to you once again in bread and the wine the forgiveness of your sins all the while creating, preserving, nurturing and sustaining your faith, that has been built upon the Rock of your salvation Christ Jesus.
We need to hear this because soon you will leave here and you will go out to the world where sin and the devil will assault you and try to seduce you into building you house upon the sand of works, or pluralism, or money or whatever else it can throw at you. But the foundation of Christ Jesus will not be shaken. In the midst of the assaults of sin and the devil, through our faith built upon the Rock of Christ, we are strengthened and inspired all the more to believe in Christ Jesus and what He has done for us and is doing for us; giving us the righteousness of God in the forgiveness of sins. And so in faith you have this peace, but maybe you neighbor doesn’t. And so it is all of our calling to go out into the world and share this good news so that they all might be brought into the house of faith built upon the Rock of our salvation, our Lord Jesus. There is nothing more inclusive than that.
Amen
posted by Steve at 9:41 PM
2 Comments:
Wow. This was a powerful sermon. You took it to them and hit them between the eyes. I think this might be your best use of all the texts and how they are used to illustrate the Gospel lesson.
I never thought of the Gospel like that. I may one day steal this sermon!
Of course, you wouldn't had to have written a thing, b/c you had we at this sentence:
"These certainly don’t seem very fitting with the tender-hearted, hippie image of Jesus that our culture has come to embrace."
Excellent sermon. A great corrective to the emphasis on deeds/love without a serious appreciation of and holding to sound teaching.
Deborah Lunde
Pastor, North Shore
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