Let us
pray, Lord Jesus Christ, You instruct we Your children with so many images in
order that we can know the difference between good and evil. But in the world that surrounds us wolves
come in sheeps clothing and even here in church they sit among us. Enable us to discern the wolves by their lack
of fruit and lead them to the truth found in and through our baptism into Your
life, death and resurrection. For You
came into this world to set all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel free
from sin, death, the devil, hell and damnation, through Jesus Christ innocent
death on Calvary for all of mankind, including all of us saints gathered here
at Emmanuel. AMEN.
In
the Trilogy of the Lord of the Rings, Gandalf the Grey upon seeing the Ring
that Bilbo leaves to Frodo goes to inquire from his old friend and fellow
wizard, Saruman the White about this ‘ring’.
Upon his arrival they are old friends and quickly rekindle their
relationship. However, as time elapses
and Gandalf reveals his purpose to aid Frodo in taking the one Ring that rules
them all to Mount Doom to destroy it, Saruman, reveals his true character,
nature and allegiance to the dark lord and the dark arts.
From
our Gospel this morning, Jesus as Son of God knows the difference between Good
and Evil. Using the image of the two
starkly different animals of sheep and wolf, Jesus in teaching the people about
‘false prophets’ wants the image to be unmistakably seen and understood. Just as we could clearly call Saruman a wolf
in sheeps clothes for Gandalf, Jesus as consummate teacher continues by using
the image of a tree bearing fruit in order to drive home the importance of
discernment.
Today,
we desperately need this skill of discernment.
With the tragedy of the midnight showing of Batman in Colorado sometimes
the wolves in sheeps clothing come among us.
Just as with previous tragedies there are stories of sacrifice that have
come out of this tragedy. But what about
discerning the wolves that surround us today?
Just
as Gandalf in going to see his old friend and fellow wizard Saruman thought he
was seeing a friend, we to in coming to church expect safety and freedom. But the fact is, even here among the four walls
of the church, where we come and confess our sins and receive the forgiveness
of sins offered by Jesus Christ in and through His precious Body and Blood,
there are still hypocrites here among us.
Can we easily label who the ‘real believers’ and the ‘hypocrites’ are
that sit in our pews? No. As the Pastor, should I be able to
distinguish between the sheep and the wolves?
Yes I should be able to, but as fallen creature I am, I with Paul would
say, I am greatest among sinners.
Yet,
Jesus Christ from our Gospel this morning provides us a means to discern the
difference between the sheep and the wolves.
“You will know them by their fruits.”
We as the body of Christ gathered here at Emmanuel Lutheran Church,
Goodland, KS are known by our fruits.
This is not a threat, but a fact of reality that Jesus wants us to
understand. We as the Body of Christ
here in Goodland have both believers and unbelievers in our midst. The believers are the sheep who follow their
master, Jesus Christ and in faith and faithful obedience produce good works,
not because they have to, but because of the Gospel message that Jesus Christ
offers freely for all of mankind. The
unbelievers are the wolves who nit pick, talk behind people’s backs or in small
groups, and do not produce good works that glorify God. These two distinct groups, believers and
unbelievers we cannot discern, that is why when we explain the third article of
the Apostle’s Creed as the visible and invisible church, discerning which group
we are a part of is left to God who knows and can see our heart. Not the heart we think we have or want people
in the church or community to know, but our true intent and desires laid bare
before our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Clearly,
we could ‘draw a line in the sand’ and say, unless we ‘do’ certain things we
are not sheep and must therefore be wolves, but this is legalism and throws
Jesus sacrifice on the Cross for all mankind into disarray and question. Jesus Christ calls us to a greater purpose,
cause and life; a life as a believer, a life as a sheep, a life where we
produce good fruits that give glory to God, and point to His life, death and
resurrection for all mankind and enable us to do good works and give God the
glory.
But
what does that look like for us today here at Emmanuel Lutheran Church,
Goodland, KS. It means we need to have patience,
purpose and passion. Rome was not built
in a day and we need to have patience with ourselves to change and become the
children of God He has made us to be.
Not only patience with people we have disagreements with, but patience
to learn what God has in store with and for us.
Since I arrived here in Goodland, we have made great strides in how God
can work through us. We have established
the “Films of Faith” series, brought back Sky Ranch VBS day camp, built a
handicapped bathroom, installed sound boards and now repainted the fellowship
hall, all ways in which we as a church are trying to reach out to the community
to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We are still are in need of
patience while we discern our purpose for Emmanuel. If our purpose is to spread the Gospel
message of Jesus Christ, what and how does that look like for us individually and
as a congregation? Is it only through
Vacation Bible School, or does it also mean all of our involvement in Sunday
School? What about Bible Study? When was the last time the Word of God was read
in the home in private devotions or a small group bible study? What about our continued involvement in the
ladies organizations in the Winter or Spring Teas? What about our involvement to minister to a
grieving family at a funeral dinner? How
about visiting Wheat Ridge or Good Samaritan with a bulletin from Sunday or
just to say we were thinking about you? What
about teaching Sunday School to shape the minds of the children we promised to
nurture in the faith when they were baptized?
Some would easily say, “I’ve done my time” whether Sunday School,
funeral dinners or visiting the shut ins, but, truthfully our time, opportunity
and calling to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not complete until we rest
in our Lord’s arms, for when we reach out and minister to people in these ways
the fruits for the kingdom of God are clearly manifest and obvious.
We
finally can have passion with all that we are involved in glorifying God. One of the best examples of having passion
for something was in the movie, “Rudy”.
The main character, Rudy, as you know played for Notre Dame football and
daily exhibited the passion for his love for the game, but also Notre Dame. We to as the children of God forgiven by the
blood of the lamb, empowered by the forgiveness offered through Jesus Christ can
have a deep and abiding passion for the spreading of the Gospel message. Our passion for this is fed by the Word made
flesh among us Jesus Christ and enabled to spread the message of hope that
Jesus Christ was sent into this world, not to condemn the world, but that the
World might be saved through Him. For
the message of salvation is clear, we cannot merit or earn our salvation by
fruits, it is a free gift of God offered to all of mankind, including all of us
saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.
AMEN.
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