Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Greetings…

v

Be Prepared

The Ten Virgins.

From this parable of the “Ten Virgins” we learn several things of importance but first what is this parable about?

In the parable Jesus tells of ten virgins who went to meet the bridegroom.

Five of them were considered wise and five foolish.

The foolish virgins took their lamps (long poles with cloth covered in oil) but took no extra oil.

The wise virgins took their lamps but also took enough oil for themselves if there was a delay by the bridegroom.

As you and I know the bridegroom was indeed delayed and by the time the shout came of his soon arrival (midnight) the foolish virgins oil had basically run out.

They begged the wise for oil but they only had enough for them and recommended going and trying to buy more oil.

While the foolish virgins were buying oil the bridegroom came and the wise virgins entered into the wedding feast with him but the doors were shut by the time the foolish got their and they were turned away.

So, what is…

The Lesson.

There are several important lessons to be learned from this but all of them have to do with “Being Prepared” for the return of the coming Christ.

This of course is a reality as we are all preparing for our eternity, either with God or without God.

So what can we learn about being prepared from this parable?

First, it was customary for the bridegrooms to keep the time of the arrival secret and so it is with with Christ will return to the clouds in the sky and take his faithful home.

No one knows the day or hour of our Lord’s return but the Father only.

Secondly, we are responsible for our own preparedness.

There is no doubt that we will be judged on whether or not we tried to get other people to prepare themselves for the coming of Christ.

However, this doesn’t mean that we, on the day of judgment, will be able to make the case that “someone else didn’t prepare us.”

If we didn’t prepare in this life for the next that is on us and we will be judged based on that.

We have prepare in this life for the next.

That is an everyday, 24/7, endeavor.

Each waking hour is an opportunity to sow the seed of salvation in our lives so that we may reap the bounty of an eternity in heaven.

Summary

Jesus, with teaching the parable of the Ten Virgins, reminds us of how important it is to prepare in this life.

And that we will be responsible for our preparedness in this life and will not be able to blame others later.

Jesus then turns around and tells another parable.

The parable of the Talents which is about how we must…

Be Faithful

The Talents.

In this parable we find a wealthy man going away for a time and leaving his property in the charge of his servants.

This would be a common reality as sometimes people would travel long distances and would be gone a considerable amount of time.

Take those in Acts 2 as an illustration of this.

It would have taken some there over four months to make the round trip to Jerusalem for the Passover and back.

To one servant he gave 5 talents (talent being about 3 months wage) to another servant 2 talents, and to the last 1 talent of money.

Now you and I know how this one goes, the first two doubled their master’s money and were blessed by their master while the last one simply buried the money given him and then returned it for which he was condemned for not even do the bare minimum of investing it and gaining interest.

So considering this what is…

The Lesson.

Again I think there are two important and valuable lessons being given here, though we could easily find and discuss more.

The two lessons are that we all are given “according to our ability” and we will be judged based on how hard we work to mature those gifts.

First, we learn from this parable that God supplies each of us abilities or gifts to help us in the faith.

It is without question that God knows us and has thus created within us each certain natural tenancies.

Some people are naturally more nurturing than others.

Some people are naturally more outgoing than others.

Some people are naturally better encouragers than others.

Some people are naturally better speakers, singers, leaders, etc…

The scriptures are full of this reality.

This parable reminds us that God has gifted us each abilities to serve him in the faith and we must “know” our strengths in these given areas.

Second, though we have these naturally given abilities and gifts we must not simply be satisfied with where we are with them.

In the parable God was only please when effort was made to “increase” the value of the given talents.

Even with the “wicked and slothful” servant God told him that if he had just tried a “little” God could have work with him with that.

The point is God expects us to increase or mature the gifts we have been given.

There is no spiritual gift, no spiritual talent, no spiritual ability we have that we cannot mature, grow, and develop better and better.

Now the beauty of this is that God knows we are to work on this and has provided others to helps grow and develop as we should.

This parable reminds us that to be faithful we must “increase” our abilities given us by him.

Thirdly, we learn that God does not expect more from us than we can offer.

It is easy to look around and see so many great and faithful men and women of the bible.

To look around and see so many “in this congregation” that are strong faithful children of God and then try and compare yourself to them.

We learn from this parable that God doesn’t want us to “be another Noah, David, or Abraham” he wants us to be the best spiritual “us.”

The wicked and slothful servant wasn’t wicked and slothful because he didn’t turn his talent into 5 or 2 but because he did “nothing” to increase it at all.

Had he simply put it in the bank to grow interest he would have been called “good and faithful” but he didn’t even do that.

Not everyone is going to be able to be like a Landon or Paul.

Not everyone is going to be like a Mark or Riley or Rebecca or Carol but everyone can and should be all “they” can be.

If you are doing you best to “love the Lord your God with your all” (Luke 10:27) that is all God can or will ask of you.

Summary

In order to be prepared for the coming of Christ we must seek to develop the naturally God given abilities he has entrusted to us.

This isn’t to say that we cannot “develop” and “grow” other abilities, because God expects us to do just that where we are lacking in our Christian character.

If we are not naturally good and encouraging others we need to work at that.

If we are not naturally good and visiting other we must work on that.

If we are not naturally good at teach the lost we must work at that.

The last part of this chapter Jesus dives into one of the few large swaths of information on what will happen on the Judgment Day.

And the main take away I think we should get from this is that we should…

Be Excited

God Knows Your Works.

In this break down given the disciples about the coming judgment Jesus makes it abundantly clear that “he knows what we are doing for him.”

Let’s read Matthew 25:32-40.

We, God’s children, were created into a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17) for the purpose of do the “good works” of God (Ephesians 2:10).

And Jesus makes it abundantly clear here that no “hidden” act of righteousness goes unnoticed.

Sometimes, it can “feel” like all the hard work we are putting in to doing the right thing is not noticed by anyone, but that is not true, God knows what you are doing.

Satan can make preachers doubt their worth if they are not on all the “gospel meetings and lectureships.”

However, our text here reminds us that if a preacher is doing his part and living for God popularity with man is irrelevant.

Satan can make elders, preachers, and members doubt the work they are doing if the congregation is growing numerically.

However, our text here reminds us that if we are doing “our part” and living for God as “he wants us to” the size of the congregation is irrelevant.

Summary

There will be times when God alone knows our works and that is ok.

Don’t get me wrong people need to see us “bear the fruit of righteousness” but as far as “popularity” goes that has no value to God.

Conclusion

Jesus’ teachings here in Matthew 25 has a great deal to teach us.

We must be preparing for the next life in this life.

We must do that by being faithful and working hard for God.

We must stay excited about meeting Christ in the sky one day because he knows us and he knows the work we are putting in on his behalf.

With that in mind, as Christians, we must not keep all this information to ourselves.

Yes, Jesus engaged in benevolence but this was not his purpose, his purpose was to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10).

As our text points out it’s good to be benevolent but the end is to help them prepare for eternity like you are striving to do; to help lost be saved.

Invitation