Stay Alert
Notes
Transcript
What is the worst way to wake up in the middle of the night? I’ve been awakened quite suddenly by sick children and that is pretty bad. I can also remember word for word what the fire alarm in my dorm room would scream at us when someone pulled it at 3 am. However, I think one of the worst ways to be woken up is the loud, periodic, chirp of a smoke detector whose battery is almost dead. Why? First, you cannot sleep through it, but it also takes several chirps to find it. Secondly, if you pull the battery you are now compromising your safety. Third, inevitably you do not have a 9V battery sitting around and of course there are no stores open. One time we had one malfunction and since it was tied into the house and had a built in battery I just threw it outside and called the landlord in the morning.
Of course, if you are prepared it is not as big of a deal. Two weeks ago the lights in our house started to flicker because of the high winds and we sprung into action. We turned on two of our battery powered candles just in case the power went out, and then we found our Battery Daddy and pulled it out so that if the power went out and the batteries died in the candles or flashlights we would be able to replace them easily.
Being prepared is important. I know people who have an entire room of supplies in case of an emergency. How about you? In what areas do you always make sure you are prepared?
Let’s turn today to Matthew chapter 25.
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom.
Five of them were foolish and five were wise.
When the foolish took their lamps, they didn’t take oil with them;
but the wise ones took oil in their flasks with their lamps.
When the groom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
“In the middle of the night there was a shout: ‘Here’s the groom! Come out to meet him.’
“Then all the virgins got up and trimmed their lamps.
The foolish ones said to the wise ones, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’
“The wise ones answered, ‘No, there won’t be enough for us and for you. Go instead to those who sell oil, and buy some for yourselves.’
“When they had gone to buy some, the groom arrived, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.
Later the rest of the virgins also came and said, ‘Master, master, open up for us!’
“He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you!’
“Therefore be alert, because you don’t know either the day or the hour.
A few things to note about this parable. First, it is a parable. To often we spend a lot of time trying to understand why the characters behave as they do when reality is that if Jesus did not tell us why, it was not important. The scene is a familiar one to Jesus’ audience, but again we do not have enough information to know the ins and outs of a first century AD Jewish wedding. Instead, let’s concentrate on what we are told.
First, there are 10 young women who have some role in the wedding celebration waiting for the groom. From the context of the story we can assume that their job in that moment was to accompany the bridegroom to the wedding banquet at night, helping light the way. This would have been an unpredictable trip. Timeliness was not a cultural value and so as we see in the story itself, the times for the events of the evening were quite fluid. Also note that both groups of young women fell asleep. This will become important in interpreting the meaning of the parable.
So what happens? Someone shouts that the bridegroom is coming, waking the ladies from their sleep. At this point the 5 foolish ones realize they do not have enough oil to guarantee that their lamps, or more likely torches, will not go out. To understand this think about Indiana Jones or National Treasure or any other historical adventure movie you have seen. When they come across a torch it is a stick with an oil soaked rag wrapped around the top. When the oil runs out the torch stops burning brightly. The wise ones prepared for this. They had spare oil to dip the torch in and then light it. To have a torch without oil would be like us having flashlights but no batteries! Of course, since there was no way of knowing how long the walk would take they felt that they could not share their oil. After all if all the torches went out it would be a travesty. So the wise ones tell the foolish women to go buy more oil. Should they have shared? It doesn’t matter! This is Jesus’ parable and he can tell it as he wants to. :)
While the foolish ladies are buying oil the groom comes, and the wise women go with the groom to the wedding banquet. When the unwise ladies make it to the banquet the groom tells them to go away saying “I don’t know you!” Again, this seems at odds with the culture. Weddings were celebrations where often the entire village would be invited. Punctuality was not a cultural value and so people would keep coming in as they could throughout a feast. The closing of the door would be jarring to the original hearer and even more so the stinging rebuke from the groom. Because they were not prepared they were excluded.
In the last verse the “be alert” is not a commentary on the young ladies falling asleep. After all, all 10 fell asleep. Rather, it might better be rendered “be prepared.” The whole context is what the Kingdom of Heaven will be like, in other words, what will it be like when Jesus returns. All 10 were invited. All 10 knew the bridegroom was coming. Only 5 prepared for his coming. The other 5 tried to get in on the preparation of others. What can we learn from this?
Jesus is coming back.
We are assured of his return. We do not know when but we must be prepared whenever it happens.
2. We must be prepared
Our preparation begins with trusting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. It is not enough to simply know that Jesus died on a cross for our sins. It is not enough to intellectually know that Jesus rose from the dead. It is not enough to go to church, sing His praise, listen the Bible being preached, and take communion. We can read the Bible. We can pray. We can do all sorts of religious things but if we never confess our sin and ask God to forgive us our sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus we are not prepared! Salvation by God’s grace through our faith in Jesus is the only way to be part of the kingdom of heaven! I would argue though that our preparation does not stop with that choice. While I believe that our salvation is secured in that moment I also believe that a genuine faith will produce fruit and that anyone who is not producing the fruit of a follower of Jesus needs to examine themselves to see if they have actually asked Jesus to forgiven them and chosen to follow him. Part of our preparation is being obedient to what Jesus commands us to do.
3. We cannot get in on someone else’s preparations.
It does not matter if your parents, spouse, or children are followers of Jesus. They cannot get a favor and help you in when the kingdom of heaven arrives. Now is the time for you to personally prepare.
According to God’s grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one is to be careful how he builds on it.
For no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ.
If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw,
each one’s work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work.
If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward.
If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved—but only as through fire.
4. We must not be satisfied with just getting in
Paul in talking to the Corinthian church is speaking about how important our obedience is once we have had the foundation of faith in Jesus laid. It should not be enough for us to simply get into heaven. As we are obedient to the Bible and what the Holy Spirit tells us to do we are laying up treasure in heaven.
I want us to ponder a few questions. First, Are we prepared?
Is everyone we know prepared?
What will I do this week to prepare or help someone else prepare?