How Then Shall We Live? Part 2
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We continue this morning in Matthew 25, and we will conclude our time in the Olivet Discourse together.
I think it is important to remember that this is the last full discourse of teaching that we have in Matthew before the events of Jesus’ death. The last major sermon that Jesus gave.
That puts the subject of his message into perspective, because while the message of this teaching is admittedly stark, and not naturally likable, it is of the utmost importance. It’s as if Matthew, through the Holy Spirit, is telling us as readers of this Gospel, “Before you see His death, you must understand what is at stake.”
There is great victory in these paragraphs for those who Jesus died for, those who receive his gift of salvation, but there is much to think about.
There, again, is warning for those who don’t believe, and those who run from Him and his teaching.
There is call to faithfulness and wisdom for everyone, for the weight of these things is heavy.
Some subjects are light, and can pop in and out of our minds, bringing a smile or bringing joy in a moment. But there are some subjects which demand our gaze, they demand dwelling on and greatly considering.
I was thinking along those terms this week. In the news, there was the death of a well-known pastor and Bible teacher, Tim Keller. At the same time, I attended the visiting hours for a dear local lady at Clifford funeral home.
Death is one such subject that is not light, and that demands our attention - demands our gaze. For these two that I’ve been dwelling on, there is great victory in death as they belonged to the Lord Jesus. Just as there is great victory in Jesus’ teaching here for those who follow Him.
It was Tim Keller, that pastor and bible teacher who said it this way, in light of Christ’s victory over death, “Spare not, Death! Come on. All you could do is make me better than I am now.”
And at the same time, there are so many who pass into eternity without such hope, without such confidence, without such a thriving and lively faith in a living Savior. And for this, we would like to tuck such heavy subjects as death into the back of our minds, into the last recesses of our thinking.
So it is with some of what Jesus says here today, regarding the end of all things, the Day of the Lord, the judgment. It is for the many who have no such hope in Christ that we would like to tuck it away, disregard it, even disbelieve certain things about it if we could.
But no, Jesus speaks rather clearly and forthrightly to his followers here. And while minor details may be misunderstood or disagreed upon, the major point remains.
Through parable and picture, Jesus shows his followers that right now counts for eternity.
Through parable and picture, Jesus shows his followers that right now counts for eternity.
1. A Parable of Readiness in Wisdom - Vs. 1-13
1. A Parable of Readiness in Wisdom - Vs. 1-13
If you remember last week, we saw that the main characteristic that Jesus calls for in his teaching is Readiness.
Christ could come at any time, and because he could come at any time, be ready.
Back in chapter 24, the first parable we saw at the end of the chapter was of a servant of a house who anticipated a thief. And Jesus asked, “who is that faithful and wise servant who his master has set over his household?”
And from those two characteristics we see the main points of the two parables in chapter 25. Readiness is the overall goal, and that readiness is exhibitied in faithfulness and wisdom.
We just read and briefly looked at this first parable last week, but let’s look at it again.
Read Matthew 25:1-13
There are probably elements of this parable that we cannot really relate to, because we immediately begin comparing it to our modern wedding celebrations.
The comparison is simple. There are 10 virgins here, who had been invited to the wedding. They were waiting to meet the bridegroom and accompany him to the feast to celebrate. Of course, in that day, the exacting nature of time and delay was not like ours. So they didn’t know exactly when to expect him, and on top of that, we read that there was a delay.
Now, all 10 of these young women fall asleep waiting for the bridegroom. This was not a problem, it was the natural thing to do. The problem is not with the waiting or the sleeping, the problem was with their preparedness.
The key element in this story is one thing - the oil.
They all had lamps, or torches with them. A torch, which seems likely to carry for a walk in the dark, would be dipped in oil and lit, and would burn for around 15 minutes. It would then have to be re-soaked in oil to continue burning. A lamp, of course, would be similar. A small bowl of oil with a wick secured to soak up the oil and be burned.
Well, when midnight came and an alarming cry sounded that the bridegroom was here, there was a problem. 5 of those young women had been wise enough to have oil for their lamps, while 5 had their lamps going out.
They asked the other 5, give us some of your oil! Ours is running dry! Our lamps are burning out! The response was, we can’t! there isn’t enough for us and you. You’ll have to go out and buy.
So they went and tried to buy, but while they were gone, the bridegroom came and the 5 wise young women went with him to the feast. And the door was shut.
Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
The message is simple, it is given to us there in verse 13. Watch, therefore. Because you don’t know the day or the hour, watch. Be ready. Have your oil.
There are so many things here.
First, there is this idea of the marriage feast.
We read in Revelation 19, that Christ is pictured as the lamb, and his bride is one who it is granted to clothe herself in pure white, fine linen.
This is a blessed picture of redemption and salvation. The “fine linen” is the righteousness of the saints.
And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
The picture of marriage in the story of redemption is also used by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
Christ, who gave himself for the church, who by his sacrifice washes and sanctifies the church, and presents her as a beautiful, radiant, holy bride.
That bride is all those who are in Christ, and there is great hope that one day we will be presented as holy and pure in those white garments.
So this picture of a marriage is fitting with the end of the age. But in this story, again, the main picture is this lack of wisdom on the part of 5 of the young women who bring no oil.
What is this oil?
Well, one picture that we can find in scripture is that Oil represents the Holy Spirit.
In Acts 2, Peter recalls the prophecy of Joel who said that God would “pour out” his spirit.
When Christ came into the synagogue early in his ministry, he read from Isaiah 61 which says, “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me...”
Oil was used in anointing of kings, of prophets. Here, the “anointing” is spiritual, but oil was the picture.
Preparedness in wisdom requires a gift that comes from the Lord, and that is his Holy Spirit. All believers in Christ are given and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Holy spirit empowers, enlightens, strengthens, reproves, convicts, and guides Jesus’ followers.
Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot understand and apply scripture, which is where wisdom comes from.
So these 5 foolish young women lacked what they needed. The Oil, in this picture, provided light. God’s word, the Psalmist tells us, is a lamp to our feet, and a light to our path.
Preparedness for the coming of Christ requires that we be ready in wisdom by the Word of God, which is illuminated to us by the Holy Spirit.
We cannot come into his feast, into his celebration, on our own light and understanding. We cannot come into it apart from the light and power of His Spirit.
And what is more, on that final day, simply being associated with those who do have that oil, the Spirit and Wisdom, will not gain us entry.
Those 5 foolish ones asked their friends, “give us oil!” But they couldn’t. They didn’t have it to give out. What was theirs, they needed.
And so it is, dear one, with us. On that final day, your mother cannot grant you what you need because she was a believer. Your friends cannot give you their portion of Salvation. Your long-time church membership and association with the saints cannot gain you access. Each person must have for him or herself that preparedness.
2. A Parable of Readiness in Faithfulness - VS. 14-30
2. A Parable of Readiness in Faithfulness - VS. 14-30
Secondly, Christ tells a parable of readiness in faithfulness.
Read Matthew 25:14-30 a
Here, again, the message is quite simple. A man entrusts his servants with his property, and expects them to do well with it while he is gone.
What is called “talents” here are measures of gold or silver. A talent of gold or silver was a weighty sum, so even the man who only received one was entrusted with much.
Over time, the word “talent” has come to mean in our language abilities or gifts of inclination that we receive. So we might be tempted to think of it only in those terms, but the main idea here is stewardship and fruitfulness.
Jesus wants his servants to be productive with what he gives to them. We see that based on his joy when the first two servants had doubled his allotment to them.
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
We have seen already that the Kingdom of Christ is a kingdom of growth and increase.
You remember the parable of the mustard seed, how it started as the tiniest of seeds, but grew into a large tree so that the birds of the nations could find haven in it.
You remember the parable of the leaven, how a small dose of leaven was enough to leaven a huge lump of dough, and the spread of the Kingdom is pictured as miraculous growth.
In another place, Jesus tells the parable of the sower, who sows his seed, and while many seeds fell on bad ground, some fell on good ground and produced fruit, some 30 times, some 60 times, and some 100 times. There is great fruitfulness in Christ’s kingdom.
And so for those two servants who proved fruitful, there was great joy.
But for the one who had no fruit, but only excuses, there was no joy. Only condemnation.
You see, there is a sense in which every person on this earth has been given allotments by the master. Everything on the earth comes from the hand of the Lord, and so everything is his to claim and his to benefit from.
For those in his kingdom, those who know and serve him well, there is bounty and there is joy. There is increase in what they are able to do with his resources, and there is reward and joy. But for those, like the unfaithful servant, who in fear and selfishness simply buried and ignored the Master’s gifts, there is condemnation.
The comparison here then becomes joy versus weeping.
And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
This is the same warning, then, that Jesus has already given in the previous chapter.
and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
And along with that weeping, we see darkness. Just like the foolish young women in the first parable, who had no oil and therefore were in darkness, and the door was shut.
And by the way, in the previous chapter Jesus alluded to the flood of Noah. Of course, the many people around Noah mocked and derided him for what he was doing. But on the day when the rain came and the flood came, what happened to that ark? The door was shut.
These, then, become pictures of the righteous judgment. There will be a time when the door of Christ’s mercy is shut. There will be a time when, for those who did not come in, there is darkness, weeping, gnashing of teeth.
3. A Picture of God’s Righteous Separating - Vs. 31-46
3. A Picture of God’s Righteous Separating - Vs. 31-46
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Jesus closes this, his final sermon, with this. He gives what is not a parable, but pictures. He starts this closing section with once again referring to himself as the Son of Man.
“I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
The title “Son of Man” is a title that was a favorite for Jesus. It refers strongly to his humanity, but of course, it ties right back to the prophecies of the Messiah, including this in Daniel.
What we see then, of Jesus as the Son of Man, is that he is one who has all authority, all power, who has dominion and the only Kingdom that will not be shaken or destroyed.
The end is that all people should serve him. In essence, what he says goes.
The picture that Jesus gives in Matthew 25 is of just that kind of power, just that kind of authority, just that kind of finality.
So as we read his words, we read them from the one who, on that final day, has the final word. He has the final say.
No argument, no “If’s, and’s, or but’s” will suffice on that day.
We see a culmination here. Matthew’s theme all along has been this Kingdom, and now from Jesus’ own mouth we see the importance of not just the kingdom, but the importance of the King Himself, and the King as the all-wise, all-knowing, all-powerful judge.
Do you know and understand that Jesus Christ is the King, the one with all authority, and it is his judgment and decision that is what will be final?
The picture here is of this king as a shepherd. Of course, we know that Jesus is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.
And this shepherd does sheperdly work here in the image, he separates the sheep from the goats. He places the sheep on his right hand, a picture of favor, and the goats on the left, a picture of dishonor.
And he says, first the good news.
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
In this good news, these sheep are “blessed by the Father.”
They are entering a Kingdom that was prepared for them from the foundation of the world.
This is the grace of God pictured. A blessedness, a sovereignty, a divine love that has set these apart and loved them with an everlasting love from before the foundation of the world.
And that divine, sovereign love has had its effect too. It has had the effect of wisdom and faithfulness in the lives of these sheep, because they are described as those who had taken this love and turned it right around.
There is some confusion though, on the part of these sheep. They don’t understand, immediately, how they had ministered in such love to their Lord.
Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Yes, on that day, christ’s chosen ones, his people, his followers, will be those who are blessed and favored and Christ will say to them, “well done.” as was said to the faithful servants in that parable. And he will say to them “inherit the Kingdom prepared, for you have loved well!”
How have they loved well? How have they showed their love for the master, for the Savior and Lord?
Very simply
By loving and serving his people well.
Yes, a mark of a true disciple, a true follower, a citizen of the Kingdom and one who is blessed by God the Father is that he loves his brothers and sisters.
John 13:34–35 (ESV)
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Yes, the law of Christ is love for one another. This is what he displayed, this is what he demands, and this is what he gives. When his people are changed, they are changed in terms of love.
and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
God’s divine, sovereign love has been poured into the hearts of his people, and that love then flows through and out of them, and they fulfill Christ’s command in that love.
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
That love is most clearly seen and truly fulfilled in care for one another. And love and care for one another becomes to us a litmus test, a visible assurance of the Holy Spirit’s work in us.
The selfless, self-giving, love-dispensing savior does not produce selfish, self-serving, self-seeking disciples.
And on that final day, those who are blessed by the father, and have a kingdom prepared for them from all eternity, with that eternal divine love poured out in them will have grown in that love for their brothers, and in so doing, will truly be loving Christ.
The opposite, then, is also true. And the warning is severe.
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
We have seen the picture of darkness, we have seen the picture of weeping and gnashing of teeth, and now we see the picture of fire.
Perhaps in any charicature of the final judgment, we imagine as if a cartoon a red, smiling devil with a spear as a tail as sort of a Lord over the fires of hell, as if hell and judgment belong to Him and heaven belongs to God.
But we see here, that not only is Hell not the devil’s hell, but it was prepared for him as a place of judgment for the age to come.
Make no caricature of judgment that lessens the impart. Make no jokes about you and your buddies carrying on for eternity like you did down here.
In fact, make no light of the judgment at all. We say in frustration and anger over petty little things here on earth, “go to hell!” But do we really consider our words?
Are the flames of this fire real flames? Is this just a picture?
I tend to think it is a picture, for if the devil and his angels, who are spiritual beings, are to be sent here, it is something beyond our imagination and physical comprehension. We know of the heat and destruction of fire as excruciating and awful, and Jesus knows the power of comparison. But comparison can do no justice to the finality, the eternity, the lasting nature of being ultimately separated and sent away by God.
There is much teaching about the final judgment. Are there differing severities of it? Probably, for Jesus seems to speak that way when he says “it will be better for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you.”
What is its duration?
Well, its duration is whatever the duration of eternal life is.
And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
There is a 1-1 comparison here, and Jesus does not want us to miss the impact. His Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom. The Live he gives is an everlasting Life.
And on the other hand, the judgment that he metes out on those who reject him is everlasting also.
Jesus speaks quite simply, of this age and the age to come. In the age to come, which we speak of as eternity, what has taken place in this life matters.
You might say, “How can my little sins on this earth add up to judgment in the age to come?”
Revelation 21:8 (ESV)
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
You see, before you say “Hitler deserves this judgment, but I do not.” Remember that it is not Hitler’s life that you have to be concerned about before the righteous judge, it is yours.
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Before you say, “it is only the worst of the worst that deserve such judgment!” Remember, it is not a matter of comparison, for we all stand level in our guilt. And remember, it is your “little sins” that required Christ’s death just as much as whatever “big sins” you might comfort yourself for not having commited.
It is no coincidence that this is the last teaching, the last warning Jesus gives before the events of his death. For you might ask, “where is the hope? Where is the good news?” And if we ask that, then all we have to do is read on to the end of this book.
For christ suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.
That, dear one, is the hope. The hope is that there is one way to be “blessed by the father” and hear those words, “well done.” And that is the way that is through Christ alone.
He calls us out of this kingdom of darkness, and into his own kingdom of light. He warns sternly and lovingly of the finality of judgment, and at the same time offers hope of eternal life.
Application for unbelievers: consider, be ready, faithful and wise.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Application for believers: press on and encourage one another.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.