True Prophet
The 7th Sunday after Trinity – 7/21/2024
Jeremiah 23:16-29
Rev. Christopher W. Brademeyer
That portion from God’s holy Word for consideration this morning is our Old Testament lesson from the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah in the twenty third chapter with special emphasis on verse sixteen which reads as follows:
“This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds,
not from the mouth of the Lord.”
Thus far the Scriptures.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
How do you know if your pastor is telling you the truth? This is something that you may or may not have pondered about. To put this more precisely, many people take it for granted that the pastor knows what he is doing. In a related matter, sometimes people will react to what a pastor is saying from various places: feelings, cultural convictions, reason, etc. To further complicate things, pastors sometimes disagree with each other. There are differences concerning a number of things in the Christian Church. Some of these differences are slight, such as wording of prayers, or the translation of the Bible preferred in a church. Others are more substantial relating to basic Christian teachings on various matters. And this complicated mess is what we find ourselves in. It would be nice if this world operated by having those places which teach the truth have big flashing neon signs to make sure we know where to find it. Unfortunately, this is not the case and so we have a number of related things before us this morning. Firstly, we must learn how to identify that which is truly from God and that which is not. Secondly, we must then learn how to discern true and false preaching. Finally we must also learn how to discern whether a pastor is a qualified and God-sent preacher of the Gospel or not.
Now before we get into this topic, it is important for us all to understand that God does not like untruths spoken in His Name. He does not desire for us to be in error or ignorant of Who He is or what He has done and promise to do. In other words, it is God’s great desire, His will, that His truth be known so that we might dwell in the certainty that knowing the truth of Him and His ways brings. And why does God desire this? His great love and mercy toward us bid Him to reveal those things about Himself that He does in order to give us saving knowledge of Himself. From this comes security and certainty concerning our place before God in eternity and the place we have in the final and ultimate things. Namely, the self-revelation, the self-revealing of God is centered on the death of Christ and the holy Scriptures which record this blessed event. God’s love for truth concerning Himself is nothing less than His love being visited on us in a way we can know and understand. Without truth, we would be left with, at best, confusion and, at worst, ignorance of God and His love and mercy toward us sinners.
This is why God has a very dim view of false teaching and preaching, as seen in our reading today. He does not like false teaching and preaching concerning Himself because no good will come of it! There is nothing to be gained by misleading people concerning God. There is no good that will come by obscuring the Author of Goodness. God does not tolerate false teaching because He loves and cares for us and does not want to see us deprived of His truth and the comfort and peace that come from it.
So, then, how do we make sure that we are hearing true doctrine? The Bible tells to test the spirits[1] and to use right judgement rather than judging by appearances.[2] To put it simply, in order to make this determination, we cannot use mere appearance. We must have an objective basis for our judgements in these matters. This is why it is so important to know the Bible. The Bible, as we all remember, is where we learn of God and are taught the doctrines, the teachings, that God wants us to know. Without this solid basis to make these determinations, we would be left to decide the matter of true or false teaching on the basis of something else, such as our feelings, our cultural situation, or just plain old guesswork. This is to say something very simple: all Christians are to hold their pastors accountable to the teaching of the Bible and in order that this happen, every Christian must be in his or her Bible each day in order to know enough to determine the truthfulness of a pastor’s teaching or preaching. Secondly, if you are confused about something I or any pastor says or do not think that what was said was true, it is perfectly appropriate to meet with me or any pastor and ask us to show you the receipts, as they say. That is, we should be able to demonstrate where our teaching comes from in the Bible if we are asked about it and, again, it is perfectly permissible for a Christian to make such a request.
From this solid foundation we may use other clues to help key us in to whether the truth or falsity is being taught. A good teacher of the sacred Scriptures goes out of his way to make the thing about Christ, not himself. This is, by the way, part of the logic of the way our sanctuary furniture is laid out. The pulpit here is not in the center so that the central focus is on the cross and altar, both of which remind us of Christ, who is our real and true focus. This is also why I wear a clerical collar, so that there is less of a temptation to focus on me as an individual and instead to see me as an interchangeable servant of the Lord. The same logic applies to why Lutheran pastors wear vestments and use a set order of service out of the hymnal. Whenever human agency shows up in a church service there is always the potential that the temptation to make oneself the center of attention will be realized in practice. A basic question can be asked to tip us off to whether we should be on alert or not concerning a preacher: does he point to Christ constantly, or is he trying to make Himself the center of attention?
Another useful litmus test is to look at the person of the one preaching. We can ask two things of our preachers. Firstly, is this person preaching in a valid matter? That is to say, does he have a proper, public call? Does his life comport with the qualities of a pastor listed in Scripture?[3] If the pastor is a rank hypocrite who does not live as a pastor should, we should be on alert. If the pastor is self-appointed and does not have a public call to preach, we should be on alert. Why? Because if he is willing to compromise the truth of the Bible concerning himself, he will likely do so again elsewhere.
God wants us to know the truth, namely, the truth of Christ and Him crucified for our salvation. So that we might know this God sends us preachers and bids them to preach His Word and truth and nothing else. In order that pastors be held accountable to God and His Word, the Lord gives all Christians the office of judging the truthfulness of teaching and preaching by the Holy Scriptures. And in the Bible God gives us a description of the life and conduct and manner in which men are to be preachers so that we would be able to trust and know that the pastor we have is speaking the truth. And, in the event that something sounds funny or makes you concerned, you are not only free, but encouraged, to come talk to me about the teaching in question and where it comes from in the Bible. God wants you to have no doubts or uncertainty about His salvation and work. Christ has indeed died for you and this gospel truth is so important that God condemns all false teaching and, instead, gives the pure Word of God for you, your comfort, and your salvation.
In the holy Name of + Jesus. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1] 1 John 4:1-6
[2] John 7:24
[3] 1 Timothy 3:1-7
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