Beware of Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: A Sermon for our Youth/Young Adult Service

 

Grace, peace, and mercy are yours from the Triune God. Amen.

 

The reading for tonight is a set of verses that brings to a close Matthew’s version of Jesus’s sermon on the mount. After spending all this time listening to Jesus’ teachings, the people hear some final lessons on false prophets, bad fruit, and self-deception.

 

Scot McKnight, a New Testament scholar, urges us to turn the beginning of this text back to ourselves like a mirror and ask, “Am I the false prophet of this text?” I will admit that sometimes I’m guilty of this – being patient, kind, compassionate, and all the other qualities that make me a good priest while I’m at the office, the church, or in collar…but then at other times, I can be impatient or easily angered. In these times I pray to understand why this is happening and what I can do to rectify it.

 

False prophets are found everywhere in our world; they are all over the place. Have you ever watched a baseball player hit a homerun and when he gets to home plate, he points to the sky in thanksgiving? Or how about when a natural disaster occurs and someone goes onto social media and declares that God sent the disaster to wipe out *insert any marginalized group here*? During a natural disaster a few years ago, there were claims that God created the disaster to “wipe out the gays”.

 

False prophets are often sincere, truly believing themselves to be messengers of God. However, these are people who put on two different faces – one they know or think their friends, family, or society wants to see, and the other as their true selves. These are teachers or pastors who are “in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves” who are leading believers astray. These are people who will tell you that nothing needs to be done during a crisis because God will take care of it. Pray it away! (Whatever “it” may be.) These false prophets think that every problem has a simple solution. A quick quote from the bible, some thoughts and prayers, and all will be well again.

 

But life isn’t that simple. Life is messy. Life is complicated. So, beware of false prophets who tell you that prayer alone will help. Jesus tells us that bearing good fruit, having action behind your prayers, is what will get you through this messy and complicated life.

 

This brings us to the second half of tonight’s lesson. In these verses, Matthew is telling us that simply calling out the Lord’s name won’t get you anywhere. There is no foundation to your life if you simply put God’s name in your mouth only when it benefits you. Where is your foundation if you claim disbelief in God in one breath and then call for God in times of trouble? With a solid faith foundation, you will be “like a wise man who built his house on rock.”

 

“If you think of nothing but Christ, and do not set yourselves to do his words, you but build your houses on the sand,” says George MacDonald, a Scottish Congregational minister from the 19^th century. To have God as your foundation, you must do more than just live in God’s name; you must also work in God’s name, doing the things that God wants you to do. Superficiality will get you no where with God. Using God’s name in vain will get you no where with God. It is easy to say your works are in God’s name, but it is hard to be sincere about it. If you are insincere in your work, then your foundation will be like sand, and you will sink or collapse.

 

Ask yourself this question posed by Mr. MacDonald, “What have you done this day because it was the will of Christ?” Have you fed the hungry or clothed the naked? Have you forgiven those who can’t forgive you? Have you turned back to save your enemy even though they might not have done the same for you? Simply stating that you are Christian, that you follow Jesus, that you believe in God is not enough. Yes, we have salvation by faith alone, but faith without works is dead. “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.” (James 2:26) Jesus calls for us to not only have faith, but to act on the faith, to work on being in right relationship with each other in order to have right relationship with God. Saying, “Lord, Lord” either as a cry for help or a liturgical acclamation is not enough. We must engage in doing deeds that matches the work of Jesus, or else risk hearing from him, “I never knew you.” And I’m sure none of us here want to take that risk.

 

Amen.