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Appearances, Reality, and TruthPreached at St. Barnabas Church, Bellville, TX Eighth Sunday after Trinity, 2009 by The Rev. Stephen E. Stults
Matthew 7:15
“Beware
of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, There are some moments in life that “stick” with us. Something our parents said to us when a child, or something a beloved teacher may have imparted, or maybe even something a boss said to us; some moments tend to stay in our memories. We all know, and even marvel perhaps, at the wonders of the human mind and its powers to recall, usually at the oddest moments. One such moment came for me during my junior year at Sewanee. As you know, I was an English Lit. major, which is an enlightening and pleasant way to spend four years of study, even if one has grave doubts as to its ability to deliver future pecuniary rewards. The study of literature is incredibly rewarding and instructive, especially once one has figured out that pesky little problem of earning a living. Be that as it may, one such moment occurred for me during a class of 18th century literature, which remains a favorite of mine to the present day. My professor offered this sage observation when he said, “One of the most important themes in literature and in life is that of appearances vs. reality.” Truer words were never spoken. In fact, this is exactly the truth that our Lord is teaching us in today’s Gospel from Matthew 7. In the early part of that same chapter, He told about utilizing proper judgment, to “Judge not, that ye be not judged”1, and warned us about hypocrisy. He told us to treat others the way we would like to be treated. In today’s selection, He tells us to beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing.
If there is one word, one idea that comes to mind which cements these phrases together, it is the word “consistency.” Let’s explore that a bit. First of all, let us all freely acknowledge and confess that consistency is one of the most preached, yet most violated virtues of life. We are told all our lives to strive for consistency, to be uniform in the way we treat our children and our relationships. We are told to be consistent in our work and in our finances. We are told to be consistent in our relationship to the Holy Trinity. Yet, in all these things, we fail. We all fail, utterly, in some aspect or another. In fact, the Rev. Dr. John Fenwick, Bishop in the Free Church of England, our sister church in the U.K., mentioned in a lecture on Patristics that no one is totally consistent.4 Some are better than others, of course, but no one human is 100% consistent. One such person, as noted by Dr. Fenwick, was the Emperor Constantine, the great emperor-saint who legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire and who ushered in that great period of civilization known as the Byzantine Empire. Constantine, even though he himself had brought Christianity from a despised sect into a thing desired and sought after by the average citizen, knew that he could not be perfectly Christian when immersed in the politics of the Empire. Thus, this man, who came to power through a conversion experience that led to military victory, did not become baptized and receive Holy Communion until shortly before his death! Evidently, he felt this way he could enter into eternal life clean and unspotted by the world. This is simply amazing… The point is that he balanced the various real-world things that an emperor must do to cling to power and run an empire while simultaneously furthering the needs of the early Church. This is an amazing life, one filled with the conscious knowledge that one is being inconsistent, purposely, while one holds both the reins of Church and State. Not all of us can be so fortunate or so self-aware of our own inconsistency. Most of us “ordinary” folks just go along doing our best and even, perhaps, rationalizing away our own inconsistency. Yet, beloved, we are to strive for consistency in all things. Christ gives us the clearest, best example of this when he says, “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” (Matthew 7:16). This question requires an obvious, logical, reply, which Christ supplies: “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit” (Matthew 7:17-18). This is wisdom, pure and simple… It is, as used so often by our Lord, a simple agricultural analogy that reveals universal truth. Thus, He said, “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” Notice here that our Lord does not say, “You shall know them by their talk.” Nor does He say that you shall know them by their great and smooth pronouncements. No, He simply says that we will know them by their fruits, something tangible, even if that is an idea that leads to some great accomplishment. The point here is that we are to do God’s Will, not just talk about it, or as one commentator says, it is not enough to claim to “know” Jesus, but rather to do His Will.5 That leads us back to consistency. We as Christians are called to “be perfect, as our father in heaven is perfect.”6 That perfect quality for which we are to strive is ultimate consistency. Yet we know that there is only one truly consistent Being, God, the Holy Trinity. He alone is truly, completely, totally consistent. We on the other hand are not; yet Jesus exhorts us to emulate him in this respect. Consistency, of course, extends to our speech, our actions, our thoughts, and our attitudes. Christ specifically addresses this when He refers to one great class of violators, false prophets. They are indeed like wolves in sheep’s clothing who lead their various flocks astray with smooth words and pleasing concepts. Many of us come from a church body that professed peace, love, and inclusiveness while simultaneously actually engendering strife by their actions and their blatant disregard for historic Christian norms. As one commentator says, ”Some denominations that once evangelized peoples and held orthodox teachings now encompass a much wider range of moral and spiritual teaching, and many movements that remain orthodox in general nevertheless remain susceptible to dangerous winds of doctrine. We who should be challenging unjust reasoning in the world instead often find ourselves fighting a defensive battle within our own ranks. For the sake of the flock, we must exercise discernment, especially within the church.”7 And so it is. Those of us who are gathered here today come for a reason. We come to seek consistency. We come here to celebrate the ancient mysteries of the Church, to hear her ancient truth, and to revel in her eternal fellowship with God. We don’t come here just to hear an ancient liturgy, beautiful and wonderful as that may be, nor do we come to hear a particular minister (God forbid!) Instead, we come to partake of that wonderful, mysterious meal called the Lord’s Supper, or more gloriously termed, the Eucharist. Through it we seek communion with God; we in fact “re-align” ourselves with Him. What we receive when we partake is a critical bit of ultimate consistency in our lives, without which we will not be straight. Only when we reside in the Lord, both spiritually and sacramentally do we become more consistent again. Only when we trust in Him alone and seek to do His Will, will we be consistent. Then, keeping our eye single and full of light, we will both see light and do right. When our will aligns with our Father’s Will, our words will be consistent with His words. Our actions will be consistent with our Lord’s actions. Our thoughts will be pure and our attitudes unsullied with pride, envy, anger and self-conceit. Our Lord’s final statement in this selection is powerful and, as you might expect, totally consistent with His message. He tells us that many will come to Him, presumably in the final Day of Judgment and say, "Lord, Lord." They will profess to know Him and to have done many mighty works in His Name. They will profess to be consistent. Yet, only God truly knows the heart and whether it was true enough towards Him to produce fruit. Will they have done deeds of love and compassion? Will they have done things that were totally consistent with Christ? Or, will they have done deeds that have secretly brought glory to themselves, such as false prophecy or even the exorcism of demons? Both of these acts may be good and godly, or they may be marked with a tragic flaw: the desire to be seen as godly to win the praises of men. Once again, only God knows the heart. So, once again, we come back to our original query: are you consistent? We will submit to you that no one truly is, but that he who seeks the will of God daily in his life has the best chance of achieving that goal. After all, we Christians are on a journey, one day at a time, moving towards a goal, telos in the Greek. The good news is that we have eternity to get there. We are in fact only in stage one of our journey. Thus, may we seek to emulate our Lord and His consistency today so that someday we may enjoy Him for ever. Matthew 7:22-23 “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” 1 Matt. 7:1 2 Matt. 7:16 4 Fenwick, Rev. Dr. John, “Patristics”, Cranmer Theological House, Houston, TX 5 http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries, Commentary on Matthew 5:48 6 Matt 5:48 7 http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/Matt/Discern-Fruits-Not-Gifts |
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Then
He states the
wonderful truth, “Ye shall know them by their fruits.”