Trinity 8

Good Shepherd

2004 Pass Rd, Biloxi, MS 39531

Draft – Jer 23:16–29; Rom 8:12–17; Mt 7:15–23; Ps 26; antiphon: v. 12   –     08/10/25

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Some context for our weekly readings is usually helpful for us: Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Jesus then warns against the false prophets.

Last year I quoted Luther’s sermon on this text to warn you about false teachers and encourage you to read your Bibles daily: Christ wants us as dear children to learn to be attentive hearers of the Word and always guard against false prophets. If we don’t hold onto God’s Word, it will be taken away from us eventually. Whoever won’t hear Christ and learn the way of salvation, will wind up with shame and suffer the devil’s mischief. “God’s Word teaches us the way to heaven; the devil teaches a person the way to hell. The former inculcates peace and every good; the latter, grief and misery.” (6.335) A Christian who heeds God’s Word, knows it well, and lives by it is, as Pr Stoeckhardt said, a righteous man is one who “turns green and grows like a palm tree. He is like a tree, planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” (Psalm 1:3; 314)

This year, the theme of our text remains the same: Every Christian ought to know God’s Word intimately, that he may stand strong in Christ and be able to identify false teachers.

So that you may understand clearly, here is more context for Christ’s lesson. This is what Jesus says immediately after He indicts the false prophets: Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. (Mt 7:24–27)

After warning the people about the difficulties of the way of salvation—the narrow gate; after warning the people about false prophets, and teaching us how to identify them—Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits—Jesus uses a parable to show us how it will look for those who know the Word of God, believe in Jesus, and strive to keep that Word, and how it will look for those who, though they believe in Christ, they do not heed God’s Word, and therefore do not keep it, nor, really, therefore know Christ.

The man who built his house upon the sand thinks he believes in Christ, but because he neither knows nor keeps God’s Word he does not know Christ aright, but has made up in his mind and heart his own false image of Christ. Thus when the trials of life come as rain, the difficulties of living in the world rise about him as a flood, and false teachers come along like a wind blowing their false doctrine through the windows of his ears, his weak faith collapses in a heap. Great is his fall.

The man who built his house upon the rock, however, has his faith founded upon the true Christ. We can say this because it is clear he knows God’s Word which teaches about the humanity and divinity of Christ, that Christ died for him, thus paying the debt of his sin, and also that true believers in Christ bear good fruit as a result of their receiving Jesus’ righteousness. This righteous man knows the person of Christ, the the atoning sacrifice of Christ, and he lives according to Christ’s righteousness by loving his neighbor, praying for those who persecute the Church, showing love and charity for the poor, the blind, the lame, the mute, the orphan and the widow, and keeping himself unstained by the world (Js 1:27).

The house of faith this man builds is built on the true teaching of Christ because this man knows the Word of God, he has kept Joshua’s command: This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success (1:8). Therefore, when the trials of life come as rain, the difficulties of living in the world rise about him as a flood, and false teachers come along like a wind blowing their false doctrine at the windows of his ears, Christ who is His righteousness stands firm, protects the man’s faith from these things, and leads him through the storm of the devil, the world, and the sinful flesh. Great is Christ’s standing.

The foolish man lives according to his flesh. His own thoughts and opinions predominate. Perhaps he hears the Word of God read and preached on the occasional Sunday, but he allows it to have little affect on him. He busies himself with the life in the world. Is he a Christian? Yes, for now. By God’s grace, we can hope and pray, he will continue to be so. But his peril is great. St. Peter warns us, Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Who will he devour? The one who does not wear the full armor of God. The one who doesn’t put on the belt of truth, leaves the breastplate of righteousness in the closet, forgets the shoes of the gospel of peace, barely grasps the shield of faith, doesn’t know how to wear the helmet of salvation, and has never sharpened the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:11–17), because he rarely prays and rarely, if ever, reads the Bible and so doesn’t know how to use any of them. What an easy target such a man must be for the devil and his false teacher thugs.

The wise man, on the other hand, submits his thoughts and opinions to God. He eagerly hears the Word of God read and preached whenever he can in the difficulties of work and life, and makes that Word of Christ which he hears and studies his guide and his hope. He believes, as St Peter also believed and said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the  words of eternal life (John 6:68). This righteous man busies his life working his vocation as if he was working for Christ, and he busies his life with hearing, reading, and praying God’s Word. His peril is great as well, but he has heeded St. Peter’s warning, Resist the devil, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world (1 Pt 5:9). Therefore when the devil searches for one whom he may devour he finds the wise man wearing the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness shining upon his chest, the shoes of the gospel of peace bearing him throughout the day, the shield of faith held confidently before, the helmet of salvation adorning his head like a crown, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God brandished and sharp because the wise man has studied these gifts of God. What a frightening target must such a man be to that ravening lion and his wolves.

What then of the false prophets? Walther informs us that God uses false teachers to exact his severest judgments. He may give faithful servants to a church for a while, but if the church dislikes the pure preaching, doesn’t thank God for it, thinks more of earthly treasure than the pure Word and Sacrament, if the people are ashamed of pure doctrine, and desire to do nothing to maintain the Office of the Ministry, if their hearts sleep through God’s Word and despise it, “God then allows such thankless scholars to lose the heavenly treasure. They who had despised the bread of the divine Word should now be fed with the stone of the powerless doctrine of men. Thus Paul says of the Christians of the last times, ‘…because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false’ (2 Thessalonians 2:10–11).” (2.69–70) (example of colonial churches and false pastors/prophets back then)

These two lessons are the same. The foolish men who, for all intents and purposes, despise God’s Word are asking to be sent false teachers, inviting God to allows the wolves free reign among them. Look at the state of Christianity in the US! How easy is it to stumble into a man or a woman claiming to be a pastor—the man maybe even once legitimately so—or claiming to be a prophet who water down God’s Word, deny His commandments, deny the Sacraments, deny His order of creation, and yet the people flock to such wolves? This rot and these hireling shepherds are also present in our denomination. How has this come about? The true prophet Hosea shows us why: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame (4:6–7). People, even many Lutherans, would rather hear pleasant lies than the harsh warnings of the truth, so God sometimes permits the wolves to come, sometimes He permits the devil to devour.

Pray that God would not allow our hearts to become so calloused that we deserve that. Pray that God would send His Word again to the wayward churches, in our Synod and outside, and that the people would have ears to hear it. Pray that God’s Word would burn like a fire, consuming the straw which are the works of the false teachers and preachers, breaking the hearts of stone into peaces, and so bringing back those who are deluded to the Word of truth.

As for us, heed St. Paul when he says, So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

We will all experience suffering because we are all part of the church militant. But our suffering is not in vain. You who suffer for your faith, when the rain falls, the flood rises, and the wind blows, you share in the sufferings, and therefore the glory, of Christ’s own suffering and glory. Such is the blessing of God upon those who believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, that they have forgiveness because of Christ, life in Christ, the righteousness of Christ, and the adoption into sonship of God so that you can, in your day of trial or your day of joy, cry out, Abba! Father! and God your Father hears you.

Therefore, as Walther says, “do not despise being able to hear the pure Word of God each and every Sunday. I know I do not preach to you the thoughts of my heart, but God’s counsel for your salvation. I preach what is revealed in God’s Word and repeated, explained, and confessed in the Confessions of the orthodox Church. I know that if you will take to heart and guard what I preach to you, you will be saved.” (2.69–70)

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:16–18).

Now the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen