August 19, 2007 is the 12th Sunday after Pentecost. The three readings are Jeremiah 23:16-19 (False prophets’ dreams); Hebrews 11:17-40; 12:1-3 (Abraham’s faith) and Luke 12:49-56 (Division in families). Chosen to preach about this Sunday is Jeremiah 23:28, “The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has My word, let Him speak My word faithfully.”

Most of us trust our physicians when they give us a prescription for our health. And if they make a mistake and we follow their advice, we are not held accountable to God. However, that is not true in regard to our pastors. If they teach false doctrine and we listen to them, we are held to account by God according to the 23rd chapter of Jeremiah. This is emphasized in the New Testament with passages such as Acts 17:11 in which the church at Berea checked out the teaching of the apostle Paul by searching the Scriptures.

From a L&G perspective, those the false preacher teaches his dreams “according to the imagination of his own heart” (Jer. 23:17). In contrast, the teacher of truth speaks from the Word of God. Anytime you wonder whether your pastor is teaching properly, there is a simple way to find out. Ask him this question, “Where in Scripture do you find what you just said?” And then check it out!

Much of what passes for sermon preaching today can be categorized as a kind of therapeutic moralistic deism. For many, the Christian faith is only one of many religions which has as its goal the moral improvement of the people through helping them psychologically overcome their hangups and problems by calling on a god who is not around that much except in an emergency. Psychology has replaced theology which means that the “I” has become the focus of attention rather than the “Christ.”

The Law of Jeremiah 23 is that we love to hear how God appreciates us because of our spiritual works of attending worship, giving offerings and being active in our religious organization. Those were the thoughts of many in Israel when Jeremiah revealed instead that God’s wrath was coming upon them for their shallow religiosity in contrast to true faith. The Babylonians are coming!

The antidote to such idolatry of making us the center of attention is a focus instead on the cross of Christ and the centrality of His death and resurrection on our behalf when we did not deserve it. The false prophets preached peace and prosperity because they could not imagine that God would permit His precious temple to be destroyed. Little did they know of this God as they preached dreams rather than the Word of God.