He was a dear friend, sat next to me in most of my seminary courses. He happened to be very gifted academically, became a brilliant theologian, a master of Biblical languages. It didn't take long for him to rise to the top of the Christian academic world, soon, himself a seminary professor, not long to be before he was the head of his department. And then, shockingly, he forsook the faith. It seemed impossible to take in. How could it be that this man would know so much, spend so much of his time and labor in the things of the Lord and walk away?
A Friend Who Forsook the Faith
Not only did he forsake the faith, but he became philosophically anti-Christian. It seems impossible to take in. That's exactly what our passage speaks about this evening. If you would turn there again to Matthew 7, beginning with verse 15. Now we're at the end of a short series of messages from the Sermon on the Mount called, "The Kingdom of God and The City." And think of that as I'm reading these words to you. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. (ESV) Now, you won't understand this strong passage of Scripture unless you see it once more in the context of what Christ is doing on the Sermon on the Mount.
Christ is critiquing, in this sermon, the way the grand, expansive principles of the Kingdom of God have been shrunk down by the religious leaders of His day to the contours of the kingdom of self. Now I've said to you that perhaps the most important verse in the Sermon on the Mount is (Matthew) 5:20 that says, "Except your righteousness is greater than the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven." You see, the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was not true righteousness.
It was righteousness of human wisdom and human strength. And we've considered how that there's a way in which true righteousness only ever begins when you come to the end of yourself. Now what you have here in these verses is perhaps the harshest and most stinging criticism that Christ would make of the Pharisees. The Pharisees are the false prophets that He's talking about in this passage. And what an outrageous charge, what courage there is in Christ to stand and make this charge against the religious establishment of His day.
These were religious insiders, and yet the truth they proclaimed was not the truth at all, and in that way, they were dangerous. Listen, the Gospel leads to life; falsehood leads to death, and so that's why these men, deceptive as they were, appearing to be religious on the outside, were so significantly dangerous. They were like ravenous wolves. If you're a sheep, and you see a wolf, you see death! Now you're familiar with Christ's critique of the Pharisees. You're familiar with the themes in Scripture of the rebuke and the warning against false prophets.
But I think it's important for us to look at the content of Christ's critique, because in the content of Christ's critique of these false prophets is a warning for all of us, warning for all of us as we think about our own relationship with God, as we think of the claim and the call of God upon all of our lives. Look with me at verse 15 again. "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves." What's the issue there? Here's the issue: the public presentation does not match the internal reality.
The public persona, the public activity, the public participation does not, in fact, match the spiritual reality of the heart. Now think about that; is not that a warning for all of us? There is, for everyone in this room, a danger of externalism. What is externalism? Externalism is a participation in the culture and activities of Christianity, yet a Christianity that does not engage the heart. And so although somehow, some way, I'm participating in external Christianity, my heart is not owned, and ruled, and finding its motivation in the grace of Christ and the call of Christ.
Externalism in Modern Christianity
There are all kinds of externalism in modern Christianity. I love the writing of a Sri Lankan theologian, Vinoth Ramachandra. And he says this about the way that Christianity is often packaged. Listen to this: The good news is packaged and marketed as a religious product, offering peace of mind: how to get to heaven, health and prosperity, inner healing, the answer to all your problems. What is promoted as faith in God often turns out to be a means for obtaining emotional security or material blessing in this life and an insurance policy in the next.
This kind of Christianity ... [Listen to this, this is the fatal flaw] ... This kind of Christianity leaves the status quo untouched. It does not raise fundamental and disturbing questions about the assumptions upon which people build their lives. It does not threaten the false gods in whose name the creation of God has been taken over. Indeed, it actually reinforces their hold on the worshipers. This kind of Gospel is essentially escapist, the direct descendent of the pseudo-Gospels of the false prophets of the Old Testament.
It is simply a religious image of the secular consumerist culture in which modern men and women live. Listen, does your faith command every aspect of your life? Does it challenge your deepest assumptions? Does it capture your deepest motivations? Does it shape the way you live in your most private moments? Does it command your most intimate secret thoughts; or is there a way in which there is a disconnect between your public profession, your public activity, and the recesses of your everyday private life?
There is a danger in this for all of us. And I said to you Christianity can take, externalism can take a variety of forms. Maybe it's formalism. Formalism reduces Christianity down to a participation in the scheduled meetings and ministry of the church. Are those meetings and ministry important? They are very, very important, but you cannot reduce your faith down to that. Maybe it gets reduced down to legalism, where my Christianity gets reduced down to a set of rules, and I want to make sure that I have the list down, and I'm keeping the rules.
Well, does God lay claim to our life? Are there things that He calls us to do and things He calls us not to do? Surely, but you can't reduce your faith down to that. Maybe it's Biblicism. It gets reduced down to theological knowledge and Biblical literacy, and we define Christianity that way. Or perhaps it's activism, and Christianity gets defined by participation in moments of ministry and Christian causes. Important as they are, you cannot reduce Christianity down to that. Maybe it's psychologism (I just made that word up).
Its Christianity gets reduced down to the meeting of felt needs. Or maybe it gets reduced down to relationships, and my Christianity is really about just participation in the fellowship relationships of the Body of Christ. Or maybe mysticism, my Christianity lives most in episodic, emotional moments of sort of spiritual drama. Now, why do all of these things hook us? Because there's a bit of truth in all of them; there's a bit of importance in all of them, but you cannot reduce your faith down to any one of these.
Here is the danger of externalism: it leaves the heart unchallenged, and in leaving the heart unchallenged, it omits the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the Gospel, are you ready for this? Your Redeemer means to undo you and rebuild you again. That's the Gospel. When God called Jeremiah, He said, "I called you to tear down and to build, to uproot and to plant." That's how radical the Gospel is. It lays claim on my heart and laying claim on my heart, it lays claim to every aspect of my life.
I would imagine, if we are willing to be honest this evening, none of us could say we're free of externalism. Perhaps you teach a Sunday School on marriage and in ways are unkind, unkind and impatient, prickly with your wife that week. Or maybe you sing "Amazing Grace" with great joy, but are legalistic, judgmental, and condemning with your friends. Or perhaps you find great joy at one level in the sacrifice of Christ, but you're stingy with your time, and your schedule, and your energy, and your money.
Idolatry by Biblical Definition
That's externalism. Let me read a little bit further from Ramachandra, powerful words: This kind of religion, whether in Christian or other forms is idolatry by Biblical definition. For at the heart of idolatry is the attempt to manipulate God or the unseen spiritual world in order to obtain security and well-being for oneself. Biblical faith, in contrast ... [listen to this] ... Biblical faith in contrast is a radical abandonment of our whole being in grateful trust and love to the God disclosed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ so that we become willing agents in a costly confrontation with every form of evil and unjust suffering in the world.
This phase involves us in embracing the pain and confusion of others and in being willing to live with uncertainty ourselves, while moving toward a future that is already at work in us. Here's what Ramachandra is saying: when you have a Christianity that's of the heart, you can't help but minister. You are moved and motivated to move out, to see the grace of the Gospel touch more and more people. You're not content to have a faith that somehow, someway, serves the interest of self. Maybe for all of us this evening, it's worth asking: where is there a tendency toward externalism in my life?
Where is there a disconnect between my public presentation, my public confession, and the details, the schedule, the investments, the motivations, the words, the thoughts of my private life? But Christ goes on. Let me read for you, verses 16 through 18 (Matthew 7): You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
What Christ does, as he furthers His critique, is introduces us to the principle of organic consistency, the principle of organic consistency. And He uses an example that Christ uses often, a physical example, an example of a tree. It's very easy to understand. If you've heard me teach much, you've probably heard me talk about this. The easiest way, obviously, to recognize an apple tree is by apples. That doesn't take a whole lot of botany to know that. You don't look at an apple tree and say to yourself, "I wonder what kind of tree this is?"
You know instinctively that it is an apple tree, but hear this; you also know that that tree is 'appleistic' all the way down to its roots. If there wasn't 'appleism' in its roots, it would not produce apple as fruit. And that's what Christ is arguing for. There is an organic consistency between what rules my heart and what shapes my behavior and, therefore, produces the ultimate harvest, ultimate fruit of my life. What rules the heart will exercise inescapable influence over my life and my behavior.
Now, what this means is that your Lord is after your heart because your heart is the control system of your personhood. And if your heart is ruled by the Lord, then your life will produce fruit consistent with His rulership. You see, behavioral problems are never just problems of behavior. They are always problems of the heart. Bad decisions are never just bad decisions; they are always problems of the heart. Unkind, ungodly words are never just issues of vocabulary; they are always issues of the heart.
And so, these Pharisees don't have a theological problem; they have a moral problem; they have a heart problem. Falsehood is not rooted in bad doctrine. Falsehood is rooted in a heart that's not owned by the Messiah! What is the bright and golden promise of the New Covenant? It's a new heart. What is the great complaint in the Old Testament against Israel? Well it's there in Isaiah 29:13, "These people honor me with their lips ... [but what?] ... their hearts are far from me." I would ask you this evening, and I'll ask you this again, and again, and again as long as I stand in this pulpit, "Does Christ have your heart?
Does He Own Your Motivations?
Does He own your motivations? Does He own your thoughts? Has your heart been expanded beyond the borders of what you feel, and what you want, and what you need? Has your heart expanded to the borders of the glory of God, the borders of the Kingdom of God? Do you actually, in reality, live for something bigger than yourself? Do the purposes of God and the glory of God rule you at work, and rule you when you're on your computer, and rule you when you're on your cell phone, and rule you when you're in traffic, and rule you when you're holding your paycheck?
And is there a harvest of good fruit that flows out of your life because your heart is ruled by the Messiah--your heart basks in the grace of the Messiah? Now, when you're reading this passage, I don't know if you've had this reaction as I read it, you begin to ask yourself the question, "Well what exactly is this fruit that is being talked about here?" And I would like to turn you, if you would, in your Bibles to John 15. I think this is one of those important places where we need to let Scripture interpret Scripture.
And this is a very similar discussion here, and Christ makes a connection that I think is terribly important for us. I'm going to read, beginning at verse 1 of John 15. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word I've spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.
Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear much fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. (John 15:1-17, ESV) Where immediately does Christ go as He talks about abiding in the vine and producing fruit? He goes right away to love. Perhaps the epicenter of the harvest of good fruit that comes from a heart that's being transformed by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is love - intentionally redemptive, selfsacrificing, God-glorifying love.
Now, why is that? Think about this. The kingdom of self is about what? Well, the word says it - self! The kingdom of self is all about self-focus. It's what sin does to me. It turns me in on myself where my greatest reality is my reality; my greatest need is my need; my greatest want is my want; my deepest feeling is my feeling. That's the kingdom of self. What is the Kingdom of God about? The Kingdom of God is distinctly and practically about other focus. What are the two great commands of the Kingdom of God?
The two summary commands of the Kingdom of God, you find those in Matthew 22--"...Love God above all else, and love your neighbor as yourself." The Kingdom of God, at the center, is a kingdom of life-transforming love. First, the love of God for us, seen in His Son, who takes our penalty, who purchases our forgiveness and our acceptance into the family of God. And then a call to love, a life that is shaped by a deeply worshipful love of God, a love that results in an entirely different way of living.
A Life of Willing Sacrifice
Rather than setting my own rules, I submit gladly and obediently to God's plan for me because I love Him. And a life of love toward those who God has placed around me, a life of willing sacrifice, of willing patience, of willing grace, of willing gentleness, and kindness, and perseverance, and giving, and sacrifice, and energy. Now I would ask you, "Is your life characterized by that kind of love?" It is, love is, the character of the Kingdom. And it's that love that will drive you out of this room into this neighborhood to be part of what God is doing in the lives of others.
We will never be able to schedule enough programs and enough ministries to meet the spiritual needs of this city. It won't happen. It's only as God's people, hearts now owned by Christ, hearts deeply thankful for the grace of Christ, hearts deeply in love with their Father, hearts who want to see that love spread to other people and transform their lives, undo them and build them again. It's only that that will lead to changes in our city. Do you love God that much that you can't wait to be part of what He's doing in the place where He's put you?
Do you love people that much that you want all of the people around you to experience the magnificent grace that has rebuilt you? Or is your Christianity externalistic, self-righteous, condemning, judgmental, and inactive? The greatest charge, maybe, that Christ made against the Pharisees is that they were devoid of that love. And being devoid of that love, it demonstrated their lack of connection to a God of love. Christ said to the Pharisees, "You bind loads on other people that you are unwilling to bear.
You won't even lift a finger to help them." It's love; it's love; it's love. It is the single most powerful force of transformation in the universe, the love of God. Apart from that, we would have no hope, and Christ's call is, "Live a life of love. That's the fruit I want you to bear. Deeper than the fruit of theological knowledge, deeper than the fruit of episodic participation in ministry, deeper than the fruit of Biblical literacy, I want you to have all of those things so that you would grow in My love."
Well, the passage that we're looking at in Matthew 7 ends with a warning. It's a strong warning. Verse 19: "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruit." There will be a day of judgment against externalism. You see, it makes sense because I will never ever achieve acceptance with God by my own acts of righteousness. It's only when, in humility, I come to Him and say, "I cannot be what you have called me to be; I cannot do what you've called me to do; I am, in my heart, a rebel against you; I want my own way; I want my own kingdom, and oh, Lord, in Your grace, by Your sacrifice, won't You rescue me from me, and won't You forgive me, and won't You accept me into Your family of love?"
Our Lord will settle for nothing less than our hearts. Praise Him for that, because in that is our hope; in that is our rescue. In that is a motivation that will take us to our city. It would be easy this evening to point the finger at the false prophets and to say, "I'm glad I'm not like them." Perhaps, in humility, we should take a second look and say, "Lord, deliver us from anything that would move us away from Your absolute claim on our hearts." Let's Pray: Thank you, Lord, for the power of this passage of Scripture.
Thank you for the way that it is to us a mirror in which we can look, and we can see ourselves with accuracy. I would pray in this moment that You would give us humble and open hearts, able to receive Your critique, able to see ourselves with clarity, able to confess the places where there is a disconnect between public profession and what really does rule our hearts, and may we grow in being that community of God-ward and ministry-oriented, transforming love. Thank you. In Jesus's name, Amen.
