Has Anyone Seen Ralph?

Meditation June 17, 2020

Matthew 7

15Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

The connect between these verses and the rest of the sermon, as with other verses in Jesus concluding remarks, is not stated but easily discovered. How was all that Jesus has been teaching them to be found? Who was to show them the narrow gate and lead them in the narrow way? Many would come pretending to do so who would instead lead men astray. The Jews were familiar with false prophets. They had seen many in the days of Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel such that the Lord came to them and had them  prophesy against the false prophets .  “The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, and say to those who prophesy from their own hearts, ‘Hear the word of the LORD!’…’” (Ezek.1ff) Much of the ministry of Jesus would be to point out these false prophets. It seems wherever the gospel goes a false gospel follows. Its prophets join themselves to the church of God and wreak havoc among God’s flock *(see Eze. 36)

“Thus, Jesus warns Beware of false prophets who come in sheep's clothing” – Sheep are not the sharpest of animals. Sheep is given as an epitome of innocence and harmlessness. To come in sheep's clothing is to assume the appearance of sanctity and innocence, when the heart is evil. I had such an instructor of religion in college. He made no great pretense of being an instructor in Christianity particularly but made a great point of letting his students know he was, at least in his estimation, a very learned instructor in religion which encompassed and surpassed Christianity. Someone in class one day, very early in the year – I think it may have been the first week of class -  asked a question about something said in the Bible to which the professor replied a bit brusquely , “God would never say a thing like that.” Without realizing I was violating an established rule, I responded, “I think we should be careful about expressing what God would or would not say.” That was not a welcome addition to the class discussion. I was told in no uncertain terms in as threatening a voice as a college professor can muster, “We will not tolerate superstition in this class.” Being older by 10 or more years than the average college student, not easily intimidated and having read at some length those much wiser than I in such questions, I replied, “That was my point.” As expected, Herr professor retorted, “You will have to explain that.” And so I did: “It seems to me, I said, that if we do not accept the Bible as the absolute, which I think is what you are saying or you would not have expressed the view that God would not have said something the Bible records Him as saying, we are left only with opinions, things that are not absolute. In that case, to make absolute statements about what God would or would not say, if not superstition, must surely lead the way to superstition.” He recovered his position as learned professor nicely by saying he saw my point and had overstated his point inconsequence of having had Bible thumpers in his classes in the past. I may have been old enough to be brash but I was also old enough to know when I had pushed things far enough. I had made my point, he had made his, we let it rest and much like Sam the sheepdog and Ralph the wolf cartoon fame, we got on quite nicely for the next two years. He was careful thereafter to be clear he was offering his opinion and not divine revelation. To be sure, he made it clear his opinion was the result of years of concentrated study in religion, but that is consistent with what Jesus says here about sheep’s clothing. The professor came somewhat clothed as a believer. In truth, there was little about Jesus he believed except that at some point in history there lived a man called Jesus who was mistakenly believed by His followers to be the Son of God, nonetheless, he came as learned teacher of religion who embraced Jesus as a real historical person. In that, he was very little different from the Pharisees whom Jesus likely had in mind when he gave this warning to his disciples there on the mount.

Sadly, we have many such prophets in the church today. They proclaim Jesus as a great teacher and moral example, perhaps even one who because of His righteous life was adopted as a son of God, but as the Son of God who was born of a virgin and came back from the dead? The Bible says those things but really, does any rational modern person believe those things? Among the Jews it is said, "There are some men,  who appear to be humble, and fear God in a deceitful and hypocritical way, but inwardly lay wait: this humility our wise men call…‘wolfish humility’.'' Such are the wolves in sheep’s clothing. They look harmless and they sound harmless, they make a great display of innocence and helpfulness but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Their goal is to win you to their religion; not the religion of Jesus; not to the gospel of the Bible but to another gospel which is not good news at all. (Gal. 1:6)

To be able to identify such teachers before they do us harm is obviously to our benefit therefore Jesus tells us how we can know them. “By their fruits you will know them….” That raises the question, What the fruits of the true prophets? Some think it is a reference to their lives, the way in which they conduct themselves. I am inclined to think it is something more. Few in any age have ever conducted themselves more righteously by outward appearance than the Pharisees but surely Jesus was not directing attention to the Pharisees as true prophets or teachers. Others think the fruits are a reference to the “works meet to (matching) repentance.” (Acts 26:20)  In other words, true prophets bring forth the fruits of the Spirit which we find given in Galatians 5:22-23 which are love, joy peace etc.. I am persuaded the good fruit is the same fruit as Jesus brings. He is the vine; we are the branches; we can expect then the branches will bring forth the same fruit as the vine. One does not gather grapes from thorn bushes but each tree bears its on fruit. Jesus brought the fruits of the Spirit, Jesus brought the fruits of righteousness not merely in outward display but in “giving to them every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”(Matt. 4:4) Thus, as He is about to leave His disciples, in His high priestly prayer He says to the Father, “I have given then Your word…sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have also sent them into the world….” As you sent me into the world bearing the word of truth, I also send them into the world bearing the word of truth. How will we know the true prophets from the false prophets? “ There is a way that seems right to man…” and he may point you to it with a great display of outward religion, “…but the end is the way of death.” (Prov. 14:12)  “To the law and to the testimony and if they speak not according to this it is because there is no light in them. (Isa. 8:20)