(Luke 6:43–46)
15“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. You do not gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles, do you? 17So then, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. 19Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20So then, by their fruit you will recognize them. 21Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and drive out demons in your name and perform many miracles in your name?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’
Watch Out for False Prophets
The 2007 movie “There Will Be Blood” is a study in greed. The main character, Daniel Plainview, is an oilman. He’ll do whatever it takes to build his oil business empire. His main rival in the story isn’t another businessman. It’s a self-made preacher, named Eli Sunday. But just because he’s a preacher, it doesn’t mean that Eli is so different from Daniel. Neither character is someone the audience really roots for. They’re both driven by greed in their own ways.
Stories like this tend to spark conversation on religion. On the one hand, you have those who claim that all religion is the same. It’s all a grift. It’s all a bunch of lies. It’s a tool for manipulating people. Maybe it’s even worse than greedy businessmen, because at least they’re honest about their pursuit of wealth. On the other hand you’ll have the reactionaries. “The real problem is this story,” they’ll say, “Christians should stay away from things that paint religious people in a bad light.”
For me, though, this story made me think of Jesus’ words, “Watch out for false prophets.” Eli Sunday may be a fictional preacher, but Jesus told us that there will be people like him. When people look at a story like this one and cynically say that this is what all religion is like it might be because they themselves were deceived at some point? Could it happen to us? Could we be the ones who are deceived? Could we be the ones who are doing the deceiving? God help us! Eternal souls are at stake. So let us heed Jesus’ words and watch out for false prophets.
Our sermon text for today comes close to the end of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 7. Jesus has taught the people many things. And so it’s appropriate near the end here, as the people are considering those teachings that they have heard from Jesus and the teachings they might have heard elsewhere or will hear elsewhere, that Jesus warns them. He said, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”
The concept of false prophets, of course, wasn’t new to the people at the time when Jesus was preaching this. False teachers go back all the way to the fall into sin. Satan is the original false teacher, the Father of Lies. In the Garden of Eden he came contradicting what God had said. “Did God really say…?” He asked Eve. And then when she clarified what it was that God had said, he told her it was all wrong. “God is the one who is being greedy here,” he argued. “God knows that if you eat that fruit you’ll be like him, knowing good and evil. If he really loved you he’d want you to have that, but he doesn’t really love you. He wants that power, that knowledge, for himself.”
When Jesus warns about false prophets we can certainly include people who promote idolatry and false religions and anyone who openly opposes the Word of God. But Jesus especially has in mind the kind of false prophet who is not so easily identified. I can’t think of even one Christian that I have known personally who has converted to Islam or to Hinduism. The biggest danger to Christians are the false prophets who claim to be one of us, one of Jesus’ flock of sheep, but who are actually wolves in sheep’s clothing.
This figure of speech from Jesus is one that is so well-known that it gets used even outside of the church. A wolf in sheep’s clothing is someone who looks innocent on the outside, but inside there is something totally different. Hidden deep down there is danger. Hunger, greed, viciousness. There were many false prophets of this sort in the history of Israel. At the time of King Ahab there were prophets who were quick to tell the king whatever he wanted to hear. At the time of Jeremiah and Ezekiel there were prophets who gave the people false hope. They claimed that their message was from God, but God condemned them. “They say peace, peace, when there is no peace.” There wasn’t peace because there wasn’t repentance. God wanted them to repent and be saved.
Today there are also many of these wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing prophets. Some of them might be like Eli Sunday in the movie, someone who is outwardly pious but is actually driven by greed and doesn’t really believe anything he’s saying. Even more common though, I think, are those who are entirely sincere. They wear their sheep’s clothing so well that even they have forgotten what they are inside. Their sincerity, however, does not change Jesus’ warning. If anything, it makes it even more urgent. Watch out!
How are we supposed to know? Clearly we can’t judge by their appearance. They’re wearing sheep’s clothing, remember. Anybody can dress up nice. Suits and ties are available anywhere. Even a clerical collar you can buy on Amazon. Of course Jesus is talking about more than clothes. There is no outward mark that we can reliably count on that distinguishes a false prophet from a true one.
So should we give up entirely? Stay away from church with all its greedy, lying false prophets? Trust in no one but ourselves? Say “I’m spiritual, just not religious.” or “I can read the Bible just fine on my own?”
Not at all. We can know. Jesus says,
By their fruit you will recognize them. You do not gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles, do you? 17So then, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. 19Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20So then, by their fruit you will recognize them.
Here is a second metaphor that Jesus uses, that of a tree and it’s fruit. I don’t know about you, but I’m not very good at telling trees apart. I know some of them. Pine trees have long needles and spruce needles are short. Oak trees have leaves with lobes on them and maple leaves have points. But the easiest way, even for tree experts, to tell what a tree is is to look at its fruit. Jesus broadens the picture even beyond trees. You don’t gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles. On my parents’ farm in Wisconsin the thistles grow as tall as a man. They have beautiful purple flowers. But they don’t produce any fruit.
Sometimes with this analogy in Scripture we explain good fruit as good works. It’s a wonderful picture for that, because many people erroneously believe that they need to do good works in order to make themselves righteous before God. That would be like a thistle saying, “If I just produce some figs, then I’ll be a good tree.” It doesn’t work that way. We need God to change us first. Jesus came to take our sins on himself and pay for them on the cross. In our baptism we receive the gift of his righteousness. We are made new people so that we can walk in a new life. And then, because God, in his grace by his almighty Word, has declared us to be good trees—then we can bear good fruit.
Here though the picture is a little different. The fruit isn’t just their works. It’s everything that comes from them, everything they produce, especially their teaching. Their teaching must be fruit that is in accord with the Word of God.
People look for a lot of different things when they go to a church. Are the people there nice people? Is the service something I’m comfortable with? Do I like the hymns they sing? Those are things that matter, yes, but far above them all is the question, “Is this place truly teaching what God’s Word says?”
And the reason that this is so important is that this is the means of your salvation. This is God speaking to you. This is God teaching you. This is God declaring to you the wonderful works he has done: how he sent his Son to die, how he forgives your sins daily, how he strengthens you in temptation and hardship, and how he has promised to you an eternal inheritance in heaven.
Nobody ever thinks he’s the one described at the end of this text. Jesus said,
21Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and drive out demons in your name and perform many miracles in your name?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’
Nobody ever says, “That’s me. I’m the one who will get there, all the way to the doors of paradise, just to be sent away.” It’s hard to think of anything more horrible. And these aren’t even just people who say they believe in Jesus. These are people who are performing miracles in his name, people who outwardly might seem like the most pious Christians.
So how do I know that’s not me? I can’t judge myself by my works. I can’t judge myself by the pure piety of my heart. Those things deserve all God’s wrath and judgment. What can I do? I can cling to Jesus. Jesus is not hidden. He’s not far away. He’s not hard to understand. He has come to you. He has made himself yours in Word and Sacrament. He has given you the church with its pastors and teachers and its brotherhood of believers. He has sent the Holy Spirit into your heart so that you grow in faith and godly living.
These warnings from Jesus then are not so that you live in constant terror of the Day of Judgment. They are so that you build your confidence on him. He is the great Prophet, he himself, who has gone into death and rose again, who has broken down the gates of hell, who has crushed the serpent’s head, and who proclaims to you not worldly peace but peace with God.
Listen to your Savior. Build your hope on him. Stand sure in his Word, in his promise of salvation. Amen.
— Pastor Seth Georgson