One of you sat somewhat silent during a recent Bible Study here. I had just finished conveying the shocking revelation that the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod is composed of sinful people, and that one of the sins becoming increasingly prevalent is pastors and congregation teaching false doctrine, by words and practices, even, of all the places, within the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. You, and I love you for your question, asked me, “Well, what if we have to move? How are we going to know if a church or a pastor is … safe?” And, I tried to answer you, hemmed and hawed something, and you seemed satisfied with the answer, but I still got the impression that I had side-stepped your real question. I hadn’t given you any lists. I hadn’t given you 12 or 20 or 100 criteria for determining the minimum suitability for an acceptable church. No silver bullet answer.
Rather, I gave you an answer something like Jesus’ answer. If you can’t know a false prophet by his smile or handshake, by his cheery demeanor or the color of his clerical shirt, if a false prophet comes in sheep’s clothing so that he is hidden, then how do you know him? You will know him by his fruit. His fruit is his teaching. What does he say? What is his doctrine? What does he want you to believe? It doesn’t even matter if he says, “Lord, Lord”, or if he casts out demons in the name of Jesus or does wonders in the name of Jesus, he may still be a ravenous wolf in sheep’s clothing. And the only unmistakable way you can tell it is by listening to his teaching.
And that… that is hard work. You can’t rely on your pastor to do this for you. He is only a man. He may fail you. You have to judge the shepherd according to his preaching and teaching, and in order to do that… you have to know the Bible. There is no short cut. If the pastor preaches or teaches something contrary to the Bible, he needs to be told about it. It is for his own sake and for the sake of the everyone else. And you need to do it. It’s your responsibility as a Christian.
I say its hard work because the sinful flesh of man is always tempted toward this idea that it shouldn’t matter what you believe. What should matter is that whatever you believe, you believe is sincerely, that you mean well and that you try your hardest, that you are a basically good person and that most people like you. But, if you believe this or that, if you trust this god or that, doesn’t matter. But that is wrong.
Because, not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We need to let this truth have its way with us. The common view of Heaven is that all people, all decent people, almost every American goes to Heaven. In fact, it is so presumed that everyone simply dies and goes to a better place that what really bothers people today isn’t that – its now if they can count on seeing their cat or dog or their parakeet in Heaven. But, Heaven is not the common stockpile of all the dead, not even of most of the dead, if Jesus is to be believed. Most men in this world don’t even say “Lord, Lord” to Jesus Christ, and without Him, apart from Him, there is no way to the Father. He is the only name given by which men are to be saved. It doesn’t matter how pious or good and well-meaning a Buddhist or a Muslim or a Mormon is, Jesus Christ is the only way.
And worse, not even all those who claim to be a Christian, who say “Lord, Lord” go to Heaven, but only those who do the will of the Father in Heaven. That is, only those who repent of their own good works and sincerity and fluff and straw and trust alone in Jesus Christ go to Heaven.
You, listen, you are saved only through faith in Jesus Christ. Without Jesus Christ, without His bloody and substitutionary death, you are not good … enough. You are not pure … enough. Apart from Jesus, God is not impressed with you.
But that is just the sort of statement that you can expect your sinful flesh to fight against. For you would like to believe that you have somehow, in some measure, earned what you got. Here is what we do. We look across the street to the man two houses down the street, the man with the happy family and beautiful wife, who keeps his yard nice, who is a dedicated father and a faithful husband, who served his country in the war and who would do it all over again if he was called upon, who would never hurt anyone, who, truth be told is at least as good and honorable as we are, and we ask ourselves, “How could God ever condemn such a man? Just because He doesn’t go to church? Just because He didn’t have any pressing interest in Jesus?” And then we go on to say, “Well, I just can’t believe in a god who send so and so and such and such to Hell” but what we’re really saying, “I just can’t believe in a god who would ever send me to Hell? Because, if the guy across the street, two houses down doesn’t deserve to go to Heaven, then where does that leave me? It means I don’t deserve it. Little ol’ innocent me.”
Repent. Of course you haven’t deserved it. Neither has anyone. For your sin is not innocent. Sin is wicked beyond all explanation. It’s always rebellion against God and it always hurts and threatens you. There are no “white lies,” no “meaningless affairs,” no small vices. Lives are destroyed everyday in simple, little sins: one too many beers, one too many flirtatious jokes, one too many lies. It strikes out at ministers and laity alike, at men and women, children and adults, slave and free. All have sinned, and their sin turns them inward and fills them with anger, greed and lust. And, every sin deepens the un-crossable divide between us and happiness, between us and innocence, between us and our God. Do not expect that God will wink at you and giggle for your sins, as though they were no big deal. We have chosen these things and the obvious consequences of them, both temporal and eternal punishment, we have fully deserved.
Repent, and believe on the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins It matters what you believe. It matters what you believe precisely because it doesn’t matter how hard you’ve tried of what you’ve done. Christ died and rose again. Justice is fully met in this Jesus and no man is pleasing to the Father apart from Him. So that what defines men is not whether they are good or bad, but whether or not they believe in Jesus Christ. That is why it matters that you flee for your very life from the false prophet, who wants you to believe something different than Jesus teaches you.
So, you need to beware of the false prophet. You need to study your Bible. That is a Christian duty and you should not make up excuses to avoid it or ignore it. But, you don’t need to be afraid. It is not as though the Gospel of Jesus is complicated. You are forgiven. That’s the gospel. Only the devil would try to complicate it. You are forgiven and you are loved by God. Christ has paid your debt. He has atoned for sins great and small, left nothing left for you to do, nothing left to explain. There is no more need to be afraid in the dark and try to defend yourself. You are not guilty. Whatever may lie in your past, whatever scares you, whatever unhappiness you have brought on yourself, it doesn’t matter anymore. Jesus has died, and He is alive. Its over now. Sin is done. You are free to laugh and play and dance and love…. All for one stand-alone reason, because of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Tags: trinity
