One bad apple
False Doctrine – Bad Fruit
Matthew 7:15-23
August 2, 2020 anno Domini – Redeemer
False doctrine is as exciting as zucchini. The only way to make zucchini exciting is with lots of sugar a
nd chocolate. I don’t know that there is a way to make false doctrine exciting, but then Jesus doesn’t care about your excitement. He cares about your life, and false doctrine will kill you.
That is why He spends considerable time with the disciples warning them about false teachers. He uses a series of mini parables – ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing, grapes from thorn bushes, figs from thistles. Bad trees produce bad fruit so bad trees are only good for firewood.
One problem with false teachers is that they look good and what they preach feels good. You cannot judge them by appearances. The ravenous wolf comes dressed up like a sheep. The false teacher looks like a believer. The devil comes disguised as an angel of light – that is what the name “Lucifer” means – light bearer. If the devil walked into Redeemer this morning all aflame with horns, a pitchfork, and a serpent’s tongue we would recognize him and steer clear. Any word he spoke we would know to be a lie. But if he came in wearing a robe and chasuble and a black shirt with a white collar we might be all ears.
Think of how the Devil came into the garden to preach false doctrine in the ears of Eve. It’s portrayed on that panel right over there –the forbidden fruit looks like an apple because apples are so pleasing to the eye, round, red, crispy. It wasn’t an apple tree from which Eve ate, but many artists portray it that way because the Devil’s lies convinced Eve the fruit was beautiful and tasty even though it was death to her.
Jesus tells us you will recognize false prophets by their fruits. In other words you need to examine their teaching and judge their words against God’s Word.. You need to peel the sheepskin back to see the wolf and dissect the fruit of their teaching and preaching. This requires knowledge. You need to know what is true according to God’s Word and what is false.
If you are a gardener you need to have knowledge. You need to know your garden’s enemies: potato bugs, tomato blight, mold, and critters. You need to anticipate their attack. Cover your raspberries so the birds don’t get them. Fence your garden against rabbits. Keep an eye on the leaves and blossoms and young fruit. If you relied on your garden as your sole source of food, you’d better know what you’re doing because that produce is a matter of life or death. That is how Jesus would have you regard His Word and any teacher of it.
When some handsome preacher shows up on your television set with a stadium sized church he looks much better than your pastor. His message appears successful. His house is worth more than your local church. His sermons are easy listening. What must you do? You must peel back the skin and examine the fruit. Did he mention anything about Jesus? Did he preach against your sins and for Christ’s forgiveness? Does he proclaim that baptism works forgiveness, that in the Lord’s Supper you’ll find Christ’s body and blood, that hell is real, that Jesus alone is life for sinners? If he is not preaching what you learned in the catechism you’ve identified a false prophet.
The sure test of a false prophet is this, “Is his preaching good?” Good trees produce good fruit. But what is good? In our subjective age that question seems impossible to answer, but for Christians the answer is easy. Good is whatever God says. The word for good in Greek also means beautiful, honorable, excellent, healthy, attractive, lovely, and virtuous. So what is good? The 10 Commandments. If someone preaches against those – bad fruit.
God gave us His commandments so we would know our sin, but it’s not easy listening when we are confronted with our sins. You cannot judge a fruit by how pleasant it is for your ears to digest. Some lies are easy to swallow and the truth is often bitter. It is not sweet when the doctor tells you you have cancer, but it is good for your life when surgery and treatment can take it away. To know your sins creates a need for Jesus and His forgiveness.
It is good that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again three days later. Forgiveness is good. It’s beautiful. It’s healthy. If you don’t have forgiveness you don’t have life, but with forgiveness comes freedom from your sin. You are no longer bound by the curse of death. You are no longer under the prosecuting accusations of the Devil.
It is good that you realize you possess nothing, but that everything you have is from God. It is good to give generously from what the Lord has given us. It is good for a husband to sacrifice himself for his wife and it is good when a wife submits to her husband. It is good for husbands and wives to have children, to baptize them, to teach them of Jesus, and to bring them to the Lord’s house. It is good to wrestle against sin and to run to Christ for forgiveness. It is good to be in the Lord’s house on the Lord’s day. All of that (and much more) is good because God says so in His Word.
This morning I’m going to conclude my sermon with a specific example of a false prophet in our midst. Black Lives Matters is not good. I’m not judging individual members or supporters, nor the desire for all people to be treated equal. We believe, teach, and confess that every human being from the moment of conception is made in the image of God and that every human life matters. There is no place in the Christian heart or faith for prejudice, racism, or bigotry. We must continually repent of those sins, seek God’s forgiveness, and strive to do better. Black Lives Matters – the organization is not good. One of their stated purposes is to disrupt the nuclear family of western culture. They are against one man and one woman for the definition of marriage. They do not want men to lead – they believe a patriarchal society is the problem. They are outspoken advocates of transgenderism, homosexuality, and the community replacing the family. That last belief is a tenet of Marxism. While some of their goals may be worthy, their beliefs about the family are not good. They are against God’s Word. Don’t take my word for it – read their webpage.
False prophets come as wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing. The best, most popular and pleasing movement can be bad fruit for the Christian. This doesn’t mean every organization must preach Christ. That’s not their task, but it does mean that whoever speaks against what is good is feeding you rotten fruit that will kill you. God’s Word is good. So taste and see that the Lord is good. Read His Word, study it, mark it, and inwardly digest it and the Spirit will strengthen your body and soul to know what is good, healthy, lovely, beautiful, and excellent in the name of Jesus. Amen.