Little Red Riding Hood Faith
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Matthew 7:15-23
“The World’s Greatest Talk” sermon series
Rev. Brian North – Westminster Presbyterian Chehalis, WA
June 20th, 2010
This morning we’re continuing our series of messages from the Sermon on the Mount. Last week, Ralph Carr preached on the previous several verses around the theme of knowing God’s will. And in the last couple of those verses, Jesus tells us that the gate that leads to life – to real life, to true life – is small, and the road to follow on the other side of the gate is narrow. So how do we discern who’s pointing us to that small gate and leading us along that narrow path? Here in the 21st Century, and it was the same in the 1st Century, there are a lot of people and things trying to influence and shape our lives, our faith, and what we believe, and lead us down the wide road. How can we discern who to listen to and what to allow to influence us? That’s what Jesus addresses today.
He starts off with a warning. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15). Now, when we hear the word, “prophet” we oftentimes think of someone who tells the future, as in prophecy. But that wasn’t their understanding of a prophet. In Scripture, a prophet has nothing to do with predicting the future. Rather: A prophet is someone who seeks to draw people to God. A prophet helps people to find the right gate and be on the right road so as to follow God’s will in their life. Sometimes that meant words of encouragement to keep people going in the direction they were already headed…sometimes it meant really tough words of correction to call people back to the narrow road. But false prophets will lead us through a big gate and down a wide road if we’ll let them. They’re people who come to us with the appearance of truth, but in reality they are full of deceit. Probably many of you are familiar with Little Red Riding Hood, and the wolf who wants to have her for lunch. After talking with her in the forest, he gets ahead of her to grandma’s house, puts grandma in the closet (at least, that’s the nice, little kid version that we have in our home), dresses up in some of grandma’s clothes, and waits for little red riding hood. It’s a story that’s full of deception, which little red riding hood recognizes, and sees the wolf for who he is. Jesus wants us to do the same with people in our lives who seek to lead us down the wrong path. Jesus wants us to be like little red riding hood and be alert for the wolves that present themselves to us as good and holy.
The question, then, is: How do we discern the wolves in our lives? How do we discern who it is that is leading us away from Jesus Christ and down some wide road? Moving on to a different metaphor, Jesus says, “You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16-20). And so it is with the prophets in our lives, the people who seek to guide, lead, and influence us. So, Jesus is saying that we ought to observe what the people around us produce in their lives. Fruit is, essentially, the product of the tree. So: Are the people in our lives who are influencing and shaping us producing good fruit?
The other day a couple of my kids asked for an apple. So, I grabbed a good-looking apple that was sitting on the counter. I cut it so I could give it to them in a few pieces…and the apple was all dark brown and mushy inside. It was really gross. I couldn’t believe it! This apple looked just fine on the outside, but on the inside it was awful. We don’t want those kinds of apples in our lives to nourish us physically – to eat one would probably make us sick; and we don’t want people who produce those kinds of apples, metaphorically speaking, nourishing our lives in any way, either, because it leads to unhealthy lives spiritually, emotionally, relationally, and in other ways, too.
Jesus continues on to tell us more about how to discern people who bear good fruit from those who don’t, when he says, “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?” Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers’” (Matthew 7:21-23).
Like the wolf who was a greater threat when he was dressed up in grandma’s clothes, Jesus is warning us about people who claim to know God and love Jesus, but don’t show it in their lives! These are people who call him “Lord” and do lots of great things in his name, but don’t actually do the will of his heavenly Father. So it’s the prophets who come dressed in all the right garb and use all the right lingo who pose the greatest threat to leading us astray. To paraphrase one author, “More damage is done by termites on the inside than woodpeckers on the outside.”
Those people who are true prophets are those who do the will of our Father in heaven. They’re people who not only talk the talk, but walk the walk also. So an authentic prophet is someone who’s life bears fruit that lines up with God’s will revealed in the Bible, and therefore what they say lines up with what God’s will and his word as well.
Now, the false prophets in our day and age can be people. There are teachers in the Christian faith who have some unusual interpretations of Scripture, and we have to be careful about that. No preacher is above the scrutiny of the congregation – in their teaching or in their living. When you come to church, I hope you’re paying attention and if I say something that sounds like it’s contrary to Scripture, I hope someone will call me on it. Or if I’m living my life contrary to Scripture, and I’m bearing bad fruit, I hope someone will come to me and hold me accountable for it. That’s the Godly, loving thing to do. And I’ve told some of the elders in our church this before, and I’ve told our staff as well, those exact words. I mean, if I’m at a staff Christmas party, and Robin sees me smoking a joint on the back patio…I hope she calls me on it.
So false prophets can come in the form of people. But I want to suggest to you that: Many of the false prophets we should be on the look-out for are much more subtle and on the surface don’t seem to be spiritual, and aren’t even people. I’m thinking of things such as materialism, greed, power, sex, money, pride, and so forth. These kinds of things are, or can be, false prophets that we have to watch out for – along with those that might be more obvious. And the reason they’re so dangerous is because not that all those things are inherently false or contrary to Scripture. Some, in fact are good as long as engaged in a godly way. But we’ve allowed them into our lives or used them inappropriately and now they’re termites, not woodpeckers.
Let me pick on three, as examples. First, power. Power isn’t inherently evil. God is powerful. Scripture is powerful. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). There’s good fruit to be born out of proper use of power. But when mis-used, power can bear really bad fruit, and history is littered with people who did exactly that.
Or take another one: Sex. Sex in and of itself as God has given it to us isn’t bad. In fact, it’s great! There’s a false prophet about sex that we hear today which says God’s standards for sex aren’t good enough. And unfortunately, that voice is finding it’s way into the lives of Christians. God designed sex, and sex is good when used as God intended. But when sex happens outside of the will of God, such as outside of marriage or when it involves porn, or when it’s forced upon someone, then it’s a lie and a form of a false prophet. That’s a tree that bears bad fruit in our lives when we follow it.
A third false prophet that’s found it’s way into the churches and the lives of people everywhere is the message that: Doing Christian stuff makes us Christian. This is what Jesus is getting at in the last couple verses about the people who called him Lord and had driven out demons and performed miracles, and all this stuff. Many of us think that just doing certain Christian things, especially going to church where we sing Christian songs, pray, read the Bible, and so forth…we think that stuff makes us a Christian. But that’s a false prophet. With that kind of logic, you could say that by standing in my garage I become a car. A person becomes a Christian by following Jesus Christ and doing his will. Going to church is still important, God calls us to be in corporate worship – and I hope this summer that we’ll all be in church every Sunday whether we’re here in town or on vacation – but that doesn’t make anyone a Christian. Jesus makes us Christians, and because of that, we then go to church to worship God and be edified in our faith. When we follow Jesus, we will then bear good fruit.
So there’s three that are sheep in wolves clothing. There are others which can be very seductive, but are full of lies, such as materialism, greed, drugs, other addictions, and more. And because these kinds of false prophets look good, they creep into our lives, they creep into our faith, and they creep into our churches. But those things bear bad fruit. They produce apples that are rotten to the core. And Jesus is telling us here to watch out for them. Identify them. Ask God to help us discern where we’re following those wolves in our lives, and then cut those trees down and throw them out of our lives so we don’t start producing bad fruit ourselves.
You see, too often: We don’t see the danger they pose to our faith. We think we can hold our faith in one hand and this other stuff in the other. But that’s wrong. We can’t compartmentalize our faith. Everything impacts our journey along the road with Jesus. Every relationship, every decision we make, every word we speak, every song we sing, everything purchase we make, every book we read, every website we look at….all of it has the power to either edify us in our faith in Jesus, or it tries to tear us away from him. When we try to compartmentalize our lives, these false prophets gain a foothold and gain influence in our lives, and they don’t stay in little boxes. They’ll spread like weeds. So Jesus is saying here to look at the fruit that’s produced by whoever or whatever it is that’s trying to influence us or is a part of our lives, and where there’s bad fruit, don’t allow it to hold sway in our lives. Don’t give it a foothold. Don’t pay attention. Let’s ask God to steer us clear, and evict those false prophets from our lives. Reach out to a Christian friend and ask them to help you deal with it. Turn to Scripture for words of support and encouragement. Pray for God’s leading, and God will bring to you prophets who bear good fruit to lead you away from those that bear bad fruit, and lead you to Jesus Christ.
Now so far, we’ve addressed this from the standpoint of others influencing us. But I want to take about 3 minutes and turn it around, because you know what? You and I who follow Jesus Christ are prophets, too. We may not think of ourselves as prophets in the same way that Isaiah or Jeremiah or Micah were prophets. But we all have the ability to lead people through the small gate and down the narrow road.
And it starts in our own families and radiates from there. For those of us who are dads – and moms too, but since it’s Father’s Day I’ll speak to the dads – we dads have an awesome responsibility to be prophets in the lives of our children. We have the power to plant seeds in our kids that will grow up to bear fruit – and it’s based on the fruit in our lives. Because what’s at the center of a piece of fruit? Seeds. The fruit we bear is the seeds we plant in the lives of people around us – including our kids and grandkids. And they’re watching to see the fruit we bear in our lives. Are we bearing good fruit? Do our actions line up with the message we’re giving our kids? Do we demonstrate our trust in Jesus Christ? I clearly remember sitting at the dining room table with my parents one night – “Happy Father’s Day, Dad!” – when we were going through a tough time as a family, and my dad said, “God will get us through this.” My dad might not even remember that! But it’s stuck with me for nearly 20 years now, and it was a seed planted in me that’s borne good fruit (I pray). When we dads put Jesus Christ first in our lives, and let him permeate to all aspects of our living, we will bear good fruit, and that’s the greatest gift we can give to our kids.
And this is true for all of us. Just as John the Baptist was a voice crying out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord,” so are we, whether it’s in our own lives or the lives of others. And if we follow Jesus Christ closely, and if we abide in God’s word, and if we pray regularly, and if we hold one another accountable, then the fruit of our lives will be good fruit, and our role as prophet will be effective. But it starts by following Jesus Christ. It begins when we come to him, open our lives to him and say, “Take over.” And when we do that, we’ll be living as prophets for God in a world that desperately needs them.
You know, I have had false prophets in my life and by the grace of God I’ve evicted them. And others keep knocking at the door, trying to gain footholds. I pray I don’t listen to their voices. And I pray the same for you. I don’t know each of your stories in detail. Only you do. I do know that many people look like shiny happy people on the outside, but on the inside false prophets rule the day and bear all kinds of bad fruit. Some of us have been told by false prophets that God couldn’t use us, that we’re weak, that we’re dumb, or that we aren’t pretty enough or talented enough or good enough. Some of us have given in to false prophets that say we need that alcohol, that we need that drug, we need more stuff or more money or we need that magazine or that website or that other person instead of our spouse. Don’t listen to them! Listen to the voice of God that says “I love you, I care for you, I died for you so that you would have life and life eternal! Listen to my voice!” That’s Good News! Jesus is saying to us today, “come to me and do my heavenly father’s will. Follow my voice.” Today, you can: Give yourself completely over to him and allow his voice to be the only one you listen to. Because there are lots of wolves in sheep’s clothing calling out to us. But there’s only one Good Shepherd whose voice is worth following. His name is Jesus Christ. He’s the Good Shepherd who lays his life down for his sheep, and he’s calling out to you and to me today to follow him and bear good fruit. Let’s pray…Amen.
