June 15, 2003
Matthew 7:15-23: “Watch out for false prophets.
They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes,
or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad
tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot
bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them./Not everyone
who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he
who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that
day, ‘Lord. Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive
out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I
never knew you. Away from me you evildoers.’”
This is a disturbing passage for several reasons. It talks about people
who call themselves Christians but are not. They
are much different on the inside than what they are on the outside.
It also brings up the whole area of self-deception, that human tendency
to deceive ourselves about who we are on the inside. This is disturbing because
if we have struggled at all with our own motivations and desires, we know
that it is rather easy to deceive ourselves about why we do things.
Jesus makes two points in this first paragraph.
He talks about false prophets. These are people whom Jesus describes with
the analogy that has become a classic representation, even illustrated in
children’s cartoons, of the wolf in sheep’s clothing. Jesus speaks of these
people as ravenous inwardly. Clearly the picture is of those who pretend to
be something on the outside but on the inside are full of self-centered motives
and self-promotion. They only want to take advantage of people or manipulate
people for their own ends.
The second thing Jesus brings into the picture is that we must pay attention
to the fruit of the lives of such people in order to avoid being taken in
by them. What fruit would that be?
In the context of the whole Sermon on the Mount, we can conclude that He
is talking about character qualities that are in line with the things He has
already outlined. So we are talking about humility before God and man, about
setting aside manipulative techniques, about setting aside wrong motives in
our spiritual pursuits, such as praying or fasting so others can see us.
One thing that makes this passage so troubling is that we don’t have to
go very far to hear or experience plenty of examples of this kind of thing.
A prominent Christian leader on a national level, became uncontrollably
angry when someone questioned him about the quality of his work. The person
questioning him was the one who was chastised in the end. This is of course
the way things often go in non-Christian power structures. In another public
case, a pastor became livid at what a subordinate did during a Sunday morning
worship service. Within moments of the end of the service, the man confronted
the person in a back room and proceeded to give him an angry tongue-lashing.
He was unaware that the lapel microphone he had been wearing was on, and
so all of his words and anger were broadcast in the sanctuary, in the Sunday
school classes, and even in the parking lot. Soon thereafter, he received
the “Lord’s call” to another congregation.
I read the following account about three months ago. It was used as an illustration
of someone who was living out his Christianity in an authentic way in his
work.
Few have illustrated this better than Kirby Puckett, thirteen years the
centerfielder for the Minnesota Twins baseball team. He had a career batting
average of .318, made the All-Star team ten years in a row, won six Gold Gloves
for his defensive play. He was one of the most loved men ever to play the
game, and a well-known Christian. Dennis Martinez, pitcher for the Cleveland
Indians, once crushed the left side of Kirby’s face with a pitch. Martinez
assumed that Kirby would hate him. But when he had recovered a bit, Kirby
called Martinez "my good friend," and blamed himself for not getting out of
the way of the fastball. He was an outstanding community leader for good causes
and expressed his faith naturally in words that matched his life. Everyone
knew who Kirby was trusting and why he would not hate someone who had injured
him. He was living in God’s world and relying on it.
I read this account back in February. I don’t follow baseball very closely,
so I don’t know when the story broke on this, but I found out just a couple
of weeks ago that it has now come to light that Kirby
Puckett, for the last 20 years, has maintained an affair outside of his marriage,
has treated his wife abusively, and other things as well. I didn’t want to
read the gory details because it was so disappointing.
What is most troubling about these kinds of things is we wonder what has
been going on in the hearts of these people all along. What kind of character
formation has been going on inside of this pastor? And isn’t he really still
like that in his new position?
How could Kirby Puckett live such a completely double life for so many years?
What is his heart really like then?
Jesus talks about false prophets being inwardly wolves.
We live from the inside out.
The part of us that drives and organizes our lives is not the physical.
This remains true even if we deny it. We each have an inner composition in
us, and it has been formed. It has taken on a specific character. This is
true of everyone. This inner composition is a fundamental, inescapable aspect
of every human being; it takes on whichever character it has from the experiences
and the choices that we have lived through or made in the past.
As one person wrote so well: “Our life and how we find the world now and
in the future is, almost totally, a simple result of what we have become in
the depths of our being-in our spirit, will, or heart. From there we see our
world and interpret reality. From there we make our choices, break forth into
action, try to change our world. We live from our depths–most of which we
do not understand.”
Less than two years ago, 19 men boarded four airliners and crashed those
airliners and killed about 3,000 people, including themselves. Those 19 men
were not born with aspirations to grow up to be terrorists. They were not
born with the hatred and the desire to kill innocent people. They were not
born with the belief that certain people were worthy of death. Their hearts
were shaped that way. Over years of time, their hearts became shaped in a
certain way. The way their hearts were shaped made them into the kind of people
who wanted to give their lives in this murderous cause.
It might seem that the example of Kirby Puckett would be an example of people’s
looking at the fruit of his character and appreciating that. In other words,
they were looking at the right things and still were misled.
Jesus is giving us instruction. He is not saying that we cannot ever be
deceived if we follow His advice.
But the other thing you will notice is that the exemplary character demonstrated,
and was so appreciated, was public character. Even Puckett’s exemplary attitude
toward Dennis Martinez was something that was done in the public eye.
But character qualities observed outside of the public eye are usually more
reliable. No doubt, there are some people who were close to Puckett who were
not surprised at the revelations. They had seen his character or gotten glimpses
of his character in unguarded moments.
The same is true of the pastor with the lapel mike. This was revealing for
the very reason that it exposed what was in his heart, and what presumably
was in his heart all along, even though his public persona was quite different.
The example of this pastor might be a bit unfair. After all, who cannot
think of a time that we overreacted, or a moment in which if people saw us
or observed us for that moment, we would look very bad indeed, possibly much
worse than what would normally be true of us? What would be more informative
would be to know those personally close to that pastor to learn if this was
uncharacteristic or if it was actually quite a common way for him to deal
with people, especially people over whom he had authority.
I had a seminary professor who used to say that when he visited the church
of a student, he was far more interested in how that pastor treated his secretary
or other people around him than how well he preached or how helpful his sermons
were to the people in the congregation.
Malcolm Forbes once wrote: “You can easily judge the character of others
by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them.”
The next paragraph of the passage is of course related but introduces another
aspect. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom
of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many
will say to me on that day, ‘Lord. Lord, did we not prophesy in your name,
and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will
tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers.’”
This goes beyond the issues of duplicity and hypocrisy, and it brings in
the area of self-deception.
The clear indication here is these people thought of themselves as Christians.
They thought of themselves as servants of Christ. But Jesus says that in the
end they will find that they were not Christians, they were not in the kingdom
of God, and He will even call them evildoers.
The words of Jesus cut deeply into our hearts. After all, if we have made
any effort at all to live as Jesus lived, we know that our own hearts are
deceptive. Jeremiah put into words the experience of us all when he said:
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand
it?”
We also know that sin is evil. We all sin. So in one sense it certainly
can be said that we are all evildoers. Although real progress can and will
be made in our lives, we will never be completely free of sin.
What would cause Jesus, the One Who accepted sinners of all kinds and magnitudes,
to finally reject a person and call him an evildoer?
Jesus is warning us here. He says these words for one reason: so we do not
end up in this deplorable condition. We are talking about the worst thing
that could ever happen to any human being. We are talking about living a
religious life, believing that we are right with God, only to find out in
the end we are not.
This is worse than cancer.
This is worse than a heart attack.
This is worse than going bankrupt.
This is worse than being in a car accident and being rendered a paraplegic.
We all know God is merciful in the extreme. We see in the pages of scriptures
mercy shown to people that is staggering. People who have done awful things,
who have lived terrible lives, only to be shown mercy by God.
There are many, many examples of people in our world who have received tremendous
mercy. People who have done terrible things or been caught in terrible addictions
of lust or hate or any number of things. And yet God has shown them mercy.
So what exactly is it that would render a religious person to be outside
the fold? What would cause a person who was doing different kinds of service
for God to in the end be rejected by God and lost? After all, these people
Jesus speaks of were prophesying in His name, and they were driving out demons
and performing miracles. And still they missed out.
I think the most helpful insight into this comes in the words of Jesus in
the moment of rejection, when He tells them plainly, “I never knew you.
Away from me, you evildoers.”
When Jesus says, “I never knew you!” what does He mean?
The word used for knowing has the connotation of really understanding
people because they have been let in.
I cannot get to know you unless you let me.
You cannot get to know me unless I let you.
I know people with whom I could spend huge amounts of time and do all kinds
of things together, yet I would still not really know them. Why not? Because
they don’t really want me to know them. They won’t let me in, or, if you like,
they won’t come out.
I call these people “plastic people” or “cardboard people.” They look like
real human beings. They can often be very pleasant people. But when you are
around them for even a short while, they seem sort of unreal. They seem plastic.
You get the feeling that what you are actually brushing up against on the
outside is not the real person at all. It is some sort of façade or
wall that the person has erected.
Frequently people’s work relationships are like this. It is not uncommon,
especially in our culture today, for people to have worked side by side for
20 years and still not know each other.
It’s a little different with God. I cannot know what makes you tick, what
is going on deep inside of you unless you let me in on it. But God knows everyone
because He can read our hearts. So in a way He knows everyone really well.
But when Jesus says, “I never knew you,” it’s a lot like saying, “You kept
me out.”
Evidently it’s entirely possible to be really taken up with things about
God without ever really allowing yourself to be known by God.
I think when Jesus says He never knew a person, this is related to what
He means when He asks us to come to Him.
Coming to Jesus is really setting aside our façades, our images,
and just looking in the face of Jesus and saying, “Here I am.”
This idea is talked about in the scriptures all of the time, with a lot
of different pictures and imagery.
One example is in Psalm 51, the famous psalm of confession that we believe
King David wrote after he came back to God after trying to cover up his sin.
He even sent a good friend to his death to facilitate that cover up.
David says this in verse: “Surely you desire truth in the inmost parts,
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.”
David was not talking about knowing true facts about God in his heart.
He was talking about letting God into the deep recesses of his heart. He
was talking about allowing God to know him in all of his sin and weakness
and strife and rebellion. He was talking about trusting God enough to come
to Him.
Remember the first time, early in the gospels, when Jesus used Peter and
his friend’s boat to speak to the crowd, and then He filled their boats with
fish. Peter somehow realized in that moment Who Jesus was. And we are told
that he waded through the water, fell at Jesus’ feet, and said to Jesus, “Depart
from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
Of course
Peter did not want Jesus to depart. Why? Because he saw something in Jesus
that he wanted. He saw life. He was compelled by Jesus and drawn to Him.
So of course Peter did not want Jesus to leave.
But Peter was also immediately aware that he was ugly on the inside. He
knew he was in the presence of the holy, and he was not holy.
Peter could have responded to that epiphany quite differently. He could
have said, “I will hide. I don’t like feeling so exposed. I am getting out
of here.”
But Peter did just the opposite. In spite of his sin, he saw something in
Jesus, a quality of mercy, that made him think that maybe there was hope for
him. So he came to Jesus just as he was.
The great hymns of the faith talk about this all the time.
Just as I am without one plea–that is what Jesus means by knowing us.
“‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.”
This is what Jesus was talking about when He said, “Blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Being poor in spirit is about coming to Jesus the way we are, trusting in
His goodness and love. The kingdom of heaven is living in interaction with
Jesus right here and right now. It’s what we get when we come to Him.
The Bible talks about the other response in different ways also. This is
the response that Jesus warns us about.
Understand this: When Jesus calls these people evildoers, He is not talking
about the sinfulness of their lives. The evil is that they would not let Jesus
in. They stonewalled Him. They rejected Him.
This is what Jesus was talking about in John 6:39-40. He said to the Pharisees
and teachers of the law, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you
think that by them you have eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify
about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”
That is why they were evil. They refused to come to Him. The only reason
anyone will be rejected by God is because they refuse to let Him into their
lives. They refuse to come to Him.
Now, that does not mean that people’s evil actions are not actually evil.
Think of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. Their refusal to come
to Jesus caused them to spend three years trying to discredit Him by cleverness
and deceit. Hate took root and grew in their hearts for three years. They
eventually bribed people to tell lies about Him, to betray Him, and finally
to murder Him. But these evils would not lead to their ultimate rejection.
I am sure that some of the very men who were so stubborn then eventually did
come to Jesus after His resurrection.
This same thing is what Jesus is talking about when He says in John 3:17-20:
“For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but
to save the world though him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but
whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed
in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come
into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light for their deeds were
evil.”
So what is the definition of evildoer to Jesus? Someone who refuses
to come to Him and who turns away from Him.
Let me add one thing here. Do you realize that coming to Jesus is what all
of our lives are about? It is what starts our life with Christ, but it is
also what continues it.
When a person comes to Jesus for the first time, he has become a Christian.
He receives Christ’s mercy and begins a life of apprenticeship to Jesus. The
rest of the Christian life is just coming to Him again and again.
There is no evil, there is no sin that can destroy us all by itself. What
can destroy us is if we allow that sin, or that evil, or that horrible thing
that happened to us, or anything else to keep us from coming to Jesus.
Stanley Hauerwas, who is a law professor and divinity professor at Duke
University, said this: “I want people to get past the idea that they understand
Christianity because they went to Sunday School. You have to learn how to
do it. You have to undergo apprenticeship. Nobody really wants to love their
neighbor.”
In other words, you have to come to Jesus. This is where it all starts.
And this is where it continues. The only real reason for Sunday school, or
anything else we do as a church, is to help us keep coming to Him. He is
the only one who has life.
I want to finish with the words of C. S. Lewis, who talked about what it
really means to come to Christ day by day by day. It alone safeguards us
from the deception that Jesus talks about here.
The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole
self–all your wished and precautions–to Christ. But it is far easier than
what we are trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is remain what
we call “ourselves,” to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life,
and yet at the same time be “good.” We are all trying to let our mind and
heart go their own way–centered on money our pleasure or ambition–and hoping,
in spite of this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And that is
exactly what Christ warned us you could not do. As He said, a thistle cannot
produce figs. If I am a field that contains nothing but grass-seed, I cannot
produce wheat. Cutting the grass may keep it short; but I shall still produce
grass and not wheat. If I want to produce wheat, the change must go deeper
than the surface. I must be plowed up and resown.
That is why the real problem of the Christian life comes where people
do not really look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning.
All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the
first job each morning consists in simply shoving them all back; in listening
to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger,
stronger, quieter life come flowing in…We can only do it for moments at first.
But from those moments the new sort of life will be spreading through our
system: because now we are letting Him work at the right part of us…
This is the whole of Christianity. There is nothing else. It is so easy
to be muddled about that. It is easy to think that the Church has a lot of
different objects–education, building, missions, worship…But…the Church exists
for nothing else but to draw men to Christ, to make them little Christs.
If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons,
even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no
other purpose.