Sunday, June 1, 2008 - Matthew 7:15-29

Your education is not complete. You are not finished learning. You have not taken your last test. And I am not just talking to the two young men down in the front row. Putting God’s Word into practice; practicing what we preach; living out our Christian faith in word and deed – it is these commands of Christ that continually put us to the test. It is in doing this that we are seen to be followers of the truth and avoiders of the false prophets of our age. Not everyone who merely says, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven.

False prophets and false teachers come in all shapes and sizes. The devil uses any means he can to deceive. The New Age culture in which we live confronts us with all sorts of false teachers – all sorts of wolves in sheep’s clothing. Just look at the numerous self-help gurus. Some of the more popular ones lately offer classic Buddhism with a New Age twist.

Jesus warns his disciples, because He knows how Satan operates. Satan loves to use that which is seemingly harmless or even seems beneficial and uses that to destroy our relationship with the Lord.

The greatest example of this was how Satan deceived Adam and Eve. He convinced them that, by disobeying God’s command concerning the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they could expand their understanding and be more like God. It seemed good for them to understand evil. However, Satan’s dirty little secret is that for man to understand evil, he needs to be involved in evil and experience evil. Paul says that in regard to evil, we should be like infants. Be ignorant of it. We are better off not knowing what goes on in this world.

For the sake of learning about evil, Adam gave up the truth for a lie. He had heard God’s Word but did not put it into practice. He did not bear good fruit. But thankfully for Adam and all of his children, the Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, as Scripture says.

Concerning how Satan operates, we can learn much from God’s Word and from man’s failures of the past. Unfortunately, in the episode in the garden of Eden, Satan found a winning formula: be subtle, mix in enough truth with the lie to make it sound believable, and offer man a chance to “better” himself.

That is where we get ourselves into trouble – when we attempt to better ourselves according to the world’s standards as opposed to God’s standards. The world around us has perpetuated Satan’s lie. There are so many examples of this. Go in any bookstore and see the “self-help” section. We have to remember that apart from God, we are “self-helpless.”

But it is not just in philosophy that Satan operates. One of the more prevalent examples is how Satan tempts us to misuse our money and possessions. They are gifts from God to be used in His kingdom to further the Gospel and provide sustenance for our families.

But then Satan steps in and tells us that what we have is not enough and that our family deserves better. “Don’t you want the best for your children?” And so we work harder and longer hours. Even on Sunday mornings there is no rest and time with God, but the belief is that this is done for everyone’s betterment.

And Christ’s Church is made secondary and the family grows apart because what they really need is not more money but is time together – with their earthly family and with their spiritual family.

Another example is that we are told that in order to be a success, you must be a well-rounded individual. That sounds good. That sounds seemingly harmless, even beneficial.

And then we are told that in order to be well-rounded, in the world’s eyes, we must experience and learn many different things. Once again, it sounds harmless. After all, no man or woman walking the earth today has perfect knowledge or has the market cornered on good ideas.

But then Satan comes with his hook and tells us we must therefore evaluate all ideas and all philosophies as equal. Satan challenges our well-rounded minds and says, “Haven’t you learned a great deal from listening to all sorts of different people from different backgrounds with different ideas? Of course you have. How dare you now say that through some book written a long time ago, or through your church, which after all has a few problems of its own; how dare you now say that through these things you are the possessor of absolute truth. Are you saying that what you believe is better than what others believe?” To which we should confidently say, “Yes. And not only is it ‘better’, but everything else is false, misleading, and ultimately destructive.

Satan says, “The Jews believe in the God of Abraham; the Muslims believe in the God of Abraham; Eastern philosophies teach a high moral character that is certainly in line with many teachings of Scripture. Can’t there be more than one pathway to God?” And Satan tries to make us feel guilty for being confident.

But it is with confidence that we are to face the devil and rebuke him with Holy Scripture just as Christ rebuked him in the wilderness. Certainly, following Eastern philosophies, or adhering to the laws of the Pharisees, or the unwritten moral code of self-righteousness can make you good little boys and girls. But that is not the main thrust of what Christ is talking about when He tells His disciples to put His words into practice. As St. Paul says in his letter to the Romans, we are “justified by faith apart from works of the law.”

It is through faith created by the Holy Spirit, it is through Word and Sacrament that we receive what we need to survive in this world and the next. Your baptismal certificate is far more revealing than your high school diploma when it comes to revealing who you truly are and what potential you have for the future.

I am sure these two young men have been told in recent days how there life is an open road before them with numerous possibilities. This morning, we boldly stand up and say that there is only one path to God. “Christ is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.” And we praise God with the words of the Psalmist: “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path...and because I love your commands...I hate every wrong path.”

I believe that putting God’s Word into practice has much more to do with what Moses wrote about in Deuteronomy than in merely living an outwardly moral life and “keeping it on the straight and narrow” from the world’s perspective. God’s command through Moses was to fix God’s Word in your hearts and minds...teach it to your children, talk about it when you sit at home, when you lie down, and when you rise. That is truly putting God’s Word into practice. That is building your house upon the rock. It is through the Word that you and yours have a firm foundation that through all of Satan’s craftiness and guile remains unshaken.

And as you journey down the path on which God has placed you, remember what you received here. Put God’s Word into practice. And remember that your education is not complete. You are not finished learning. You have not taken your last test. Amen.

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