Trinity 8
Dear friends in Christ. In today’s Gospel we just heard Jesus say: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. Our Lord packs so much into these words. In these words Jesus calls on us to judge—judge doctrine. This, of course, implies that we ourselves know His word, know the true doctrine so that we can indeed judge whether what we are hearing is, in fact, right and true and in accord with Jesus’ word and will or not. With these words our Lord is leading us into the reading, studying and pondering of His word.
This does not only mean a thorough knowledge, but also that the Lord’s word and will become such a part of us and help to form our thinking and our conscience. In this the Lord has not left us alone; He has given us His Holy Spirit to lead and guide us in it. As if that is not enough, He has also given His Church many faithful confessors of the word so that through their teaching and writing, which point us back to Jesus and Scripture, we may stand faithful with them. Think, for example, of the faithful confessors, like St. Nicholas and St. Athanasius and the hundreds of others from whom we received the Nicene Creed, which we confess today; think for example of our Lutheran fathers who confessed the pure doctrine before pope and emperor in Augsburg in 1530. Think of C.F.W. Walther and the Saxons who came to this country, where Confessional Lutheranism was all but gone, and confessed the pure faith. It’s not as if each generation, or each Christian must go and rediscover the truth of the Scripture anew for him/herself. Instead, we follow the path well worn by the faithful confessors. That’s the beauty of the communion of saints—we humbly [Jude 3] receive the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints and as St. Paul writes [1 Cor. 15.3]: I delivered to you first of all that which I also received. When it comes to Christian doctrine, it’s never “me and what I think/ feel about this passage or doctrine.” The apostle is quite clear [1 Peter 1.20]: No prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation.
Along with Jesus’ statement, Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves, is not only the fact that we are to know the true/ right teaching and are able to distinguish it from false doctrine, but the fact that there is absolute truth. In our day, to claim there is absolute truth is a holy horror. The idea/ notion of truth is rejected by so many who think “what’s true for you, is not be true for me,” or who say, “you cannot impose your morality on me.” Again—there’s no absolute standard of truth; no absolute right or wrong.
This sort of thinking is especially problematic as the Church speaks with her prophetic voice to the society around us. When the Church on the basis of Holy Scripture calls something a wrong/ sin/ evil, not only do so many disregard it because they reject the notion of truth but the Church/ Christian is branded as intolerant—the only sin among the toleration crowd. But we as the Church and we individually as Christians not only maintain that there is absolute truth but we also proclaim it. And as we do it we find ourselves in a similar situation to St. Jeremiah in our text.
1. The Lord had called him to preach a message of repentance to a people that did not want to repent; he was called to preach a message of doom and destruction to a people who not only did not want to hear, they rejected it. Why? They were listening to false prophets who were saying there was no way God would punish His people and destroy the temple and so they continued on in a life of sin, not repenting of it, but maintained and outward show of religion.
Sound familiar? Today the Christian’s call to recognize and repent of sin—her prophetic voice—is rejected by this age of tolerance, listening to the false prophets who teach there’s no truth and thus there really is no sin—except the sin of intolerance—and thus if there’s no sin, there’s no judgment; or I am my own god deciding for myself what is right and wrong.
What does St. Jeremiah say in our text: Behold, the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. As did the prophet, so too, must we continue to preach as a Church and individually to the society in which we live and also to ourselves God’s holy Law. What’s the point of these verses? God will indeed carry out His judgment. It doesn’t matter what the false prophets were saying in St. Jeremiah’s day and it doesn’t matter what the tolerant “feel good” society of today is saying. God will indeed carry out His judgment. And why? Because He is a holy God and sin is a serious matter. As a holy and righteous God, He must punish sin. It is an affront to His holiness. It cannot stand before Him. Notice how St. Jeremiah puts it in our text: Behold, the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
First, He announces/ points to the storm of the LORD. It’s here, already on the scene: Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest. Like a terrible, severe storm—it doesn’t just come on the scene. The conditions have to be right; it forms; it comes—we can watch it/ track it—and then finally it comes directly on us overhead. God’s wrath over sin has “formed”; it exists; and has gone forth, and like a storm, is on the way and will burst upon the head of the wicked. The Lord is not mocked. Where there is that unrepented sin, where people continue to thumb their noses at the Lord and His will/ way the judgment will come. The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. Not only does the world we live in need to hear this message of repentance, but we Christians need to hear this message and take it to heart.
Our sin is a serious matter. We dare never look at the absolution, our baptism, the Blessed Sacrament as license to sin. We dare never minimize our sin and not regard them as the great evil they really are and that because of them we are worthy only of God’s judgment, wrath, and damnation. Our lives as Christians are to be lives of a constant turning away from sin. St. Paul writes in the epistle [Rm.8.12-14] appointed for today: 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.
Does the fact we are to proclaim the word of God’s holy law to the world and ourselves and that God will indeed carry out the judgment on sin mean there is no hope for us/ the world? Hardly! That’s why He sent His holy prophets, like St. Jeremiah, and His apostles and why He has entrusted the Church, you and me, to bring their message of repentance to the world. God wants there to be hope. Yes, the judgment is coming but like a tornado warning/ siren gives you a chance to get to a safe spot before it hits, so too does the proclamation “Repent!” give us time to run to the safety of repentance and Christ, to the absolution and sacraments. Holy Scripture is very clear [1 Ti 2.3-4]: God our Savior…desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Every moment of life is a moment to turn from sin and to the Lord—to His forgiveness and to safety from His wrath and judgment. St. David writes [Ps 103.8]: The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. May we not take this for granted. The time of grace, the time to repent will come to an end. The message of Law/ repentance is one the world/ we need to hear. The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his heart. In the latter days you will understand it clearly.
But precisely the graciousness of the Lord, His slowness to anger, His giving us time to repent is something that in the days of St. Jeremiah caused the false prophets to come and say that there would be peace, that God would not come with His judgement; that everything would be fine and everybody can continue on as before. Of these false prophets, the Lord says in our text: I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. False teachers mimic God. What they say sounds good/ makes sense/ gives comfort, but it is a false comfort. The false prophets were making sin less sinful. Instead of calling people to recognize their sin and to sorrow over them and to run to the Lord’s mercy, they made sin less sinful by saying that they could continue on the path they were on. By people today saying, I’m OK, you’re OK; you can’t judge me or impose your morality on me—give a false hope to those who despised and refused to believe God’s word. But the Church, in love and humility, and each Christian having first examined his/her own heart and life proclaims the Law of God to a world that desperately needs to hear it.
2. However, the holy Law of God will never convert a person. It will only make them aware of their sin and need for a Savior. It prepares the heart so that like the jailer in the city of Philippi asked St. Paul [Ac 16.30]: What must I do to be saved? It prepares the heart to make use of the time of grace the Lord gives us, to run for safety from the storm of the LORD! [His] Wrath [that] has gone forth, a whirling tempest.
That’s why the Church and every Christian, as the Lord gives us opportunity, tells His holy Gospel—of the forgiveness of sins, life, peace, and salvation that Jesus won for us on the cross and now gives us in His holy word and sacraments. This is the vital message of the Church. Although people’s conscience will accuse them of their sin, even though people instinctively know that there is a Judge to whom they must give an account, this is the Law; it cannot save anyone; it can only prepare. But when the Church comes with the Gospel she comes with a divine message and offers a divine gift of forgiveness of sin, Jesus’ perfect holiness, eternal life, peace with God and of conscience. That’s why in our text the Lord says of the false prophets: But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds. The Gospel is a divine thing, not a human thing. That’s why it’s up to the Church, to each of our Lord’s dear Christians to tell the Good News about Jesus. The false teachers of our age that offer all sorts of self-help, ways to feel good about yourself, ways to get rid of guilt, etc. aren’t offering anything divine, aren’t offering anything that can truly help. Because all that the world can offer does not come from God because, as the Lord says in our text they had [not] stood in my council and so they cannot proclaim[] my words to my people.
The message of the Church, of the true teachers, [Ac 20.21] is one that testifies of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And why? Because the Church, her dear Christians, her faithful proclaimers stand in the council of God. We have been brought into communion with Him in Holy Baptism; we associate with the Lord diligently in His Word and are fed by His holy Sacrament. His Holy Spirit is mightily at work in the word and sacraments deepening our faith and giving us wisdom and strength to speak to be true prophets, teaching God’s holy Gospel to a world so desperately in need of it. When we speak of repentance and faith in Christ to those around us, it is the most vital message which dare not be obscured for it is the only means God has to save sinners. Now is the time of grace before the judgment. Although the world is filled with all sorts of false teachers/ voices may we, together with Christ’s Church, sound God’s clear message of His holy law Behold, the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked and call all people to safety in Christ and His Church in which there is forgiveness of sin, joy and peace with God. INJ