Today's Reading: Jeremiah 23:16-29
Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 12:1-25; Acts 22:30-23:11
Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:16)
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. When you listen to a preacher, you need to know whether what he says is God's Word or not. That means you need to learn God's Word. Study the Catechism. Know your Bible.
The Bible is all about Jesus. When a faithful pastor preaches, he preaches God's heart, that is, that God the Father loves you by sending His Son to be your Savior. Jesus died for you and has taken away your sins. He has baptized you, absolved you, and fed you with His body and blood.
When a preacher preaches about you or himself, that's from his own heart. A preacher who wants to stand up and tell stories to entertain you or tell you how you have the power within you to succeed or that he himself is a great guy you should listen to—that kind of preacher is preaching from his own heart and not the mouth of the Lord.
The Lord saves us. He doesn't point us to ourselves. He lifts up His Son on the Cross so that all people may be drawn to Him. The true preaching of Christ strips us of any reason God should save us and gives us this one thing to cling to: His crucified and risen Son. With the Lord, there is no flattery, no self-promotion, no nonsense. With the Lord, it's all His saving work done for you.
He calls men to be faithful preachers who point you away from yourself to Christ, away from your sins, to Christ's forgiveness, and away from the self-love which brings death unto the eternal life that Jesus brings. Those false prophets make you worthless. But the faithful preaching of Christ makes and keeps you a child of God. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
Preserve, O Lord, Your honor The bold blasphemer smite; Convince, convert, enlighten The souls in error's night. Reveal Your will, dear Savior, To all who dwell below, Great light of all the living, That all Your name may know. (LSB 658:2)