Good morning, Edge Church. We are so glad that you're joining us this morning on Facebook Live. We are continuing in our summer series called The Parables. As we specifically focus on the parables of Jesus that are related to what the kingdom of heaven is like. Today, we're going to talk about a parable that I believe is one of the most important stories. Now, before you tell me, “The whole Bible is important,” let me just say this; of course, I agree with that, but I'm going to share with you why I think this one is so essential for us to understand.
In Matthew 24, Jesus shared with his followers that one day all hell was going to break loose on earth and what a horrible time that was going to be, and that soon after Jesus was going to return to earth, but that when he arrives it will surprise every person alive at that time. Today, we're diving into the very next chapter, Matthew 25: 1-13. As Jesus gives his audience a picture of what that time is going to look like, and the wisdom that we can all glean from it today.
Matthew 25: 1-13
The Parable of the Ten Virgins
1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
Now I'll be honest, this parable tends to make me feel pretty unsettled and I think that's because I really like to view God as giving humanity unlimited second chances. That's not to say God isn't gracious — historically in scripture and in my life, and most likely in yours, you have experienced grace from God that you can identify. But we have to look at this parable and know that even though it is a story, it speaks a really difficult biblical truth to our hearts.
It's the reality that one day we will all stand before our maker and he will decide if we are spending eternity in heaven or if we will spend eternity in hell. And some people will hear these words, “Away from me. I never knew you.” I can only imagine how those words will echo in their minds forever.
So in the parable, Jesus gives this picture of a common type of first century wedding. Now, maybe you're wondering, why a wedding? What's that all about? Because Jesus likens his relationship with all believers in him to the relationship of a marriage on earth between a husband and wife. We get to see a great futuristic banquet — this wedding ceremony that will take place between all believers and the Lord — in Revelation 19.
Now we could talk for a long time about what each symbol means in the story, because trust me, there is a lot of debate about it. But I really think that debate best fits a seminary class. I think that God has something that's far more important for us today to challenge us all with.
Let's take a minute to walk through the basics of the story, for the sake of context. I think it's obvious — the bridegroom is Jesus. We have this idea that is all through the New Testament — all through the Old as well — that Jesus is going to return. We know that as the second coming because he already lived on earth for 33 years. We also know from the story that we might perceive him to be late to his own wedding.
People all throughout the ages have thought that their generation was the very last and maybe you've heard people say that today. But God is patient and he wants all of us to come to repentance. That means that we put aside our ways and we turn to him. But the story tells us that he will show up.
Now the bridesmaids represent all of humanity and five are called wise and five are called foolish. Why are five wise and five foolish? Well, the basis of being called wise or foolish in this story is based on whether they had oil for their lamps or not. So what does this mean for us in 2020? I believe that God wants to make the issue of salvation very clear for all of us. So we're going to focus only on that today. That leads us to our first idea from the story — there is a literal heaven and there is a literal hell. The question that you have to answer and that I have to answer is, are we represented in the parable by the wise or the foolish bridesmaids?
Remember in the story the only thing that separates the two is their preparation level for the wedding. It all came down to having oil for their lamps. Maybe you're like me and you ask questions, like why oil? What's that all about? Is it significant? Well, I think it's very significant because throughout the Bible oil often represents the blessing of God. It also represents the presence of the Holy Spirit.
I don't think it's any accident at all that Jesus says that wise people have the Holy spirit and the foolish don't, but they look the same. That means that there are people that sit together in church and serve at homeless shelters and teach Sunday school — they look the same, but one has the spirit of God living in them and one might not.
They're all dressed up for the wedding. All 10 were dressed for the wedding and all 10 have lamps, but it became obvious who was in and who wasn't when it got dark because only five had oil for their lamps. Now what's the difference between believers in Jesus and those who don't believe?
Let's ask some real questions. Do Christians always act better than non-Christians? Not in my experience. Are non-Christians less moral people than Christians? No, I don't think that's true either. If I'm being real, sometimes that makes Christianity a little bit confusing and sometimes disappointing. I get discouraged when I look at other Christians and I see them do terrible things that hurt other people and it gets embarrassing sometimes. But then if I'm being real with myself, I know that I do things that are wrong still and I get mad at myself and embarrassed by things that I can do, sometimes things that I think about.
There are times that I wonder, what is the deal with all this? Does it really make a difference in our lives today, if we're Christians or if we're not? And then I sort of get brought back to this biblical worldview that the apostle Paul shares in Romans 5: 6-8.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
You know what that means? That means that Jesus didn't die for anyone who was already good. What does that even mean? Are there good people? Well, there are a lot of people who think they're good. Sometimes we think we're good, too, don't we? We look at the outside though. We look at this image that people present. We present images, too, and we sometimes see these images that are shiny and dressed up and really put together — they're perfectly curated, Instagram pictures and people want them to go viral. They're just versions of ourselves that we want to present and they want to present.
Jesus said he didn't come for those who are well. Now we know that no one's actually well, but some people act like they are. He didn't come for those people. He came for those who know that they're messed up. They know that they've fallen short. They know that life isn't working on their own terms. He came to restore the outwardly sinful, but he also came for yours and mine — our well-covered, sanitized appearing sinfulness.
Sometimes I find it hard when someone says, “The Bible clearly says this or that.” There actually are all sorts of interpretations for that particular passage but in this case, the Bible is abundantly clear.
Romans 3:23, says:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
It doesn't say, “some of the people.” It doesn't say, “ most of the people.” It says all people. Sin is the great humbler — It's the great leveler of all humanity. It puts us all in the same place. What that practically means is that no one is good by themselves. No matter what it looks like, we all need to be saved. So are you? Are you saved?
We'll come back to that question but let's go to the other main point of the parable I think the Lord has for us today. You can't ride anyone else's coattails into heaven. In the parable when the bridesmaids were awakened by the announcement that the groom had arrived, they all prepped their candles because they knew they had to provide light for this midnight ceremony. But it only works for half of them because only half of them had prepared for the wedding. Only half of them were ready at any moment when the groom showed up, but the other half was mostly ready. They looked ready. As a matter of fact, they looked just like the others, but they left out the one thing that they needed to participate in the ceremony. And I wonder how many of us do this?
We live in a time when we tend to just live for the moment with very little attention span for the single most important event that we will collectively experience in the future. None of us gets to escape this — the moment when we will all stand before God to give an account for our lives. Now, I think we kind of placate ourselves with ideas that we had faithful grandparents or our parents were great Christians or someone we knew taught a Bible study or maybe we gave a lot to charity — certainly more so than a lot of the politicians that we see — or maybe we get lulled into this complacent life. It's out of sight out of mind and we're just dealing with the days’ responsibilities and we're not giving a whole lot of thought to the future.
Now let's be honest, having faithful relatives is a great thing, giving to charity, that's a beautiful thing, but it doesn't do anything to save you. The human condition lies to us and it tells us that we have a lot more time than we do because today we feel good. Our health seems to be pretty good today.
Just like when I was a kid, I remember thinking, I was five or six years old and I have no idea where I got this idea, but I remember thinking, one day when I die I'm going to make sure to give God a quick shout out from my deathbed. It sounds silly now, but I think sometimes we live that way and say, if God could fall for that extent of lack of sincerity, or maybe he would feel flattered enough to just let us slide into the afterlife.
The truth is none of us knows when we will go. But if we're being honest with ourselves, we know that we will. And for some of us, this is an unpleasant thought, but it's an essential piece of life that I encourage you to settle as soon as possible. By the way, don't think about name-dropping your way into heaven. Jesus knew that would be our tendency and he addressed that very subject with the religious leaders of his day — the religious leaders — the ones who were supposed to lead others to God, they tried to do the same thing.
Matthew 3: 7-9
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
There's no one that has existed that is faithful enough that you can just go in because they were good with God. Scottish theologian William Barclay said, “a man cannot borrow a relationship with God. He must possess it for himself. A man cannot borrow a character. He must be clothed with it. The time to make sure you are ready is now.”
So I want to come back to my earlier question for you. I believe it's the most consequential question of your existence, of your life, today and carrying all the way into eternity. Are you saved?
Maybe you're thinking, what do I really need to be saved from? I mean, we're not that bad or I'm not that bad. Actually, I'm way better than the person sitting next to me. Even if we're the worst person in our family, we can surely think of someone that we know or someone on TV or some politician or some ruthless dictator that could take our place. Surely, if we're better than that person, it's going to be okay. But here's the problem with that, people's behavior is not the standard. God is not only the standard maker but he's the standard upholder. So one day we will face him and that scrutiny.
Hebrews 9: 27-28
27 Just as people are destined to die once, [I mean, that’s a big promise in life] and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Maybe you're watching today and you just know that you've tried every other way but you still are wearing the guilt of your past. Or maybe, you know that you're making decisions right now and your present choices are a real disaster. I want to invite you to make the best decision of your life — one that can bring you peace of mind even in the midst of the craziest year that I’ve known in my life. 2020 has been crazy. But you can turn to the Lord today and you can know that you are safely under the eternal protection of your creator. Does that sound pretty good? I know it does to me.
Acts 3:19
19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
There's no script to pray and if you try to come up with one it's not going to be sincere. God wants your sincere heart. He wants you to sincerely turn from your ways and turn to him. So if you’re not really sure how to say that to the Lord, let me just give you an example and the only thing you have to do is be sincere with God and he will meet you there. I'm just going to pray this and make this your own if you've never prayed this before:
Lord, today I choose to turn from my sin and the decisions that I have made to walk away from you and your ways. And today I intentionally turn back to you. So I’m asking you to come to me because it's too long of a walk for me to make all on my own and bring me the refreshment that's everlasting. Thank you, Jesus.
I believe if you prayed that for the first time and you have a sincere heart and you want to know him, your life is going to start changing because we're told that when you repent and turn to God and he gives you the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is the one that is the centerpiece of this entire story. You have to have the Holy Spirit to move into heaven with God.
So we'd love to hear from you. If you've made that decision, you can email me at neil@edgeaurora.com. I would love to hear from you if you've made that choice wherever you are, and help you take some next steps so that you can stay on this path with other believers and stay connected to the Lord.
I've got a few questions for you as we wind our service down today. The first one is this, what is your main takeaway from this story? What is it that you were just feeling sort of impressed on and in your own heart as you hear this story?
The second question is, if there is a literal heaven and a literal hell, how will that change your daily priorities? I mean, surely this reality, as it's dawning on some of us in a deeper way, it should change how we live, right? So how is it going to change your daily priorities?
And the final question is, when you face God, what will you say to him to justify your entrance into heaven?
In just a moment, we're going to move into our last worship song but take a little bit of time right now to go through these questions. Whether you're in home churches, if you're by yourself, pick up the phone and call someone, just make sure that you process these questions together. These are really important issues to settle and I’m confident that God wants to do that with you soon. God bless you and have a wonderful week.