In today’s gospel, Christ warns us about bad religion. In
St. Matthew 7:15, He begins, “Beware of false prophets…” Then in Matt.
7:21 He concludes, “not everyone who saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter
the kingdom of heaven…."
During His earthly ministry, Jesus Christ exposed a great
deal of bad religion. Some religious people opposed Him strongly. Some others
claimed to support Him at times, but they were not really committed to Jesus. Only a minority of "religious" people actually followed Him.
The false prophets purported to be religious leaders. They
claimed to serve goodness, and they often appeared harmless (they were in
sheep’s clothing). But inwardly, they were like hungry wolves in the midst of a
flock of sheep. They were really selfish, out for themselves, and destructive.
False disciples honored Jesus and used some religious words
without meaning anything. They might give lip service to high principles, but
they were not really committed to Christ’s Gospel, and they would not produce good fruit
.
.
The problems caused by false prophets and false disciples
have not been confined to New Testament times. Bad religion has been a
recurring danger in church history, and it is a serious problem for
Christianity in our day.
One might argue that false prophets and false disciples are
the most serious threat to Christianity in our time. Of course, several outside challenges are significant and endanger many Christians,
body and soul. But fake Christians do great damage to Christian faith,
community and witness- from within. There is still a lot of bad religion making a false show of
piety. And it can come from any branch of Christianity. There are people from all Christian groups who are
selfish and insincere and use Christian labels for their own bad purposes.
Many contemporary church members are also more concerned with secular standards and political correctness than with
eternal Christian truth. There are false Christians who are more interested in
organization or denomination than in Biblical Faith. There are people more
dedicated to social respectability or worldly acceptance than to Christian
morality.
Such false Christianity sometimes manages to appear good for
a while, but in the long run, this kind of religion does not produce lasting good fruit. Such false Christianity actually tends to hinder the true
spread of the Gospel and give all religion a bad reputation.
So what do Christ’s
warnings about bad religion mean for us? Today I would briefly suggest
two points. First, we need to take Christ’s warnings seriously. We must
remain aware that all religion is not good. Some things wrapped in a Christian label do not
deserve our acceptance. Thus, we must be on our guard against false prophets
and false disciples. We must make practical judgments based on our loyalty to
the Scriptures, the Creeds and the basic commandments.
Secondly, besides warning about bad religion, our
Gospel today encourages us to grow deeper in our commitments to Jesus Christ.
Pious words can be a start, but our Lord asks for more than a few pious words.
He asks His followers for a living and true faith in Him and His message. He
wants His Gospel to permeate our whole approach to life. He asks us to care for
and cultivate the tree of faith so that it can produce much good fruit. So let
us sincerely profess and live out our loyalty to Christ and keep Him at the
center of all that we say and do.
