Trinity 8 July 17, 2016
Trinity 8
Matthew 7:15-23
July 17, 2016
“Genuine”
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus says in the Gospel today, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” They look good on the outside. Like cute, cuddly sheep. But inside they’re deadly.
The world is full of things like this—things that look good on the outside but aren’t the genuine article. Cheap imitations, we sometimes call them. Things like Cubic Zirconia that looks like diamonds but aren’t the genuine article. You can find all kinds of stuff like this. Cheap watches. Cheap sunglasses. Cheap clothes. Things that look really good but are worth next to nothing. Things that aren’t genuine.
So the same thing can often be said about people. And Jesus says it today. People aren’t always genuine. People will often look really good on the outside. They will be kind and flattering. And they will seem to truly care about us. But inside is a different story. They’re not genuine. Their hearts are far from us. So Jesus warns us today about two people that will often be found disingenuous. Will often be fakes. Not the genuine article. First, He warns about false teachers. And then, He warns us about ourselves.
We’re gonna start with ourselves and come back around to the teachers later. Because I know that every single one of you struggles very much in your heart with this problem—this problem of not being genuine with others. And not being genuine with God. We’re all very adept at putting on a good face. We do it all the time. We show others a side of ourselves that we want them to believe is true. But it’s not.
We act tough when we’re really scared. We act cool when we’re really nervous and full of anxiety. We act humble and nonchalant when we’re really bursting inside with pride. We act like everything’s fine when we’re really crumbling to pieces inside. We act kind and compassionate when we really don’t give a care about others. We act like we care when we truly just want to get something out of others. We’re not genuine. This is a big problem.
Now it’s one thing when we act this way with strangers. With people we don’t know. Sure, we’ve all acted friendly to strangers because that’s the nice thing to do. Maybe that doesn’t bother you that much. But it’s a lot harder to bear when we do this to the very people that we love the most. When we do it to our own family and friends.
We’ve all done this to our own parents. Acted like good, obedient, loving children while, at the same time, hiding from them our biggest sins. We’ve done it to a wife or a husband. Kept secrets from them. Hidden anger from them. Been resentful and distrusting while all the while telling them that everything’s just fine. We’ve done it to friends. Pretending to be nice while at the same time hoping that they fail or hoping that we come out better.
What’s the matter with you and me? Have you asked yourself that before? I know I have. What’s the matter with me? How can I be so disingenuous? How can I lie to others like this? How can I put on such a charade? How can I be such a fake?
Well, Jesus knows how. See, this is the other big problem for us. We’re not genuine before God. And He knows it. We like to pretend before God that we’re good Christians who don’t sin all that much. But it’s a lie. We’re just really good at hiding our sins. But God isn’t fooled by us. He knows who we really are.
Do we really think that God doesn’t know? Do you really think that God doesn’t know what you have been doing and thinking and saying? He knows. He knows exactly. And He knows all. He sees what you have been doing. He hears what you have been saying. And He hears what you’ve been thinking.
So, yeah, Jesus knows how we can be such fakes. He knows you better than you know yourself. But here’s the moment of truth for you this morning. Here’s the genuine moment. The genuine article. All pandering aside. All pretending and play-acting aside. All foolishness and deception aside. The moment of genuine truth—Jesus genuinely loves you.
In this world you will find a whole lot of things and people that aren’t genuine. But this Jesus—He’s the real deal. He’s 100% the genuine article. He means what He says and He says what He means. And what He says to you is, “Whoever believes in Me shall not die but shall have eternal life.”
Jesus doesn’t ask you to act like you’re something that you’re not. God knows you’re not genuine. He knows that much of what you and I do is done disingenuously. The only thing we can say genuinely about ourselves is that we’re genuinely sinful. But Jesus knows all of this and still genuinely loves you. He’s not pretending or playing. He genuinely loves and forgives you. And genuinely wants you to have eternal life.
God will never deceive you. He won’t pretend to love you and then all of a sudden show a darker side. No, He is 100% sincere. He proves it by giving His very life on the cross for you. You know that Jesus isn’t just empty talk. He shows His love by making the ultimate sacrifice and by rising from the dead on Easter morning. His love for you is genuine.
So it’s not like all of a sudden God is going to look at you and say, “Oh, I didn’t know who you really were. You had me fooled all this time.” No. God knows you. He knows the sinner that you are. He knows you as one who is baptized into Jesus. As one whose sins have been washed away. He knows you as one who receives Jesus’ body and blood for forgiveness. He knows you as a genuine son or a genuine daughter by faith in Jesus Christ. Just like any Mom or Dad knows their children aren’t really perfect. God knows you’re not perfect. But your Savior Jesus is. And God is genuine about all His promises in Jesus.
Now Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven…then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you.’” Those are chilling words. But those words are only for those who don’t believe in Him. It’s not for those who are sinners. That’s all of us. It’s not for those who have been disingenuous. That’s all of us. It’s not for those who have lied and been insincere. No, that’s all of us. Those words, “I never knew you,” are only for those who refuse to believe in Him.
You who believe in Him—Jesus knows you. He knows all of you. And He genuinely loves you.
Now we circle back around then to teachers who aren’t genuine. Because there is only one, truly genuine person in the world who can genuinely save us from our own sins and from death—that’s Jesus Christ your Savior—it is absolutely imperative that you only listen to prophets and preachers that tell you about—Jesus! “Beware,” says Jesus, “of false prophets.”
Many come in Jesus’ name acting like they care about you. But if they don’t tell you about Jesus, then they’re not genuine prophets. It’s really that simple. Just ask, “Am I being preached to Jesus?” Any of us can be preachy. Any of us can get on a soapbox and tell others they should be doing x, y, and z. And sometimes that needs to happen. Sometimes we need other people to be preachy and get us into line. But that’s not the job of one of God’s teachers. God’s preachers will preach you to Jesus.
They will preach you to His forgiveness. That means they’ll preach you to your Baptism. They will preach you to the Lord’s Supper. They will preach you to prayer to Jesus. They will always be leading and guiding you to the One who genuinely loves you.
“Am I being preached to Jesus?” That’s what you want to ask. You’ll recognize them by their fruits, Jesus says. In the Old Testament reading, false prophets were just putting on a good front and telling sinners, “Hey, it will be well with you. It’s all good.” And they were saying to sinners, “Nothing bad’s ever gonna happen you.” We hear those same voices preaching today. Saying, “Hey, just live and let live. It’s all good.” Saying, “Hey, who cares about all that religious stuff. Nothing’s going to happen to you.” They proclaim that we should all go on faking like everything is okay.
But it’s not. And that’s why true prophets will always preach you to Jesus. Because He’s always the answer. He’s the genuine one. The one who genuinely loves you. No pretending. No acting. No deceiving. Jesus loves you. Believe in Him and have eternal life. Amen.