OUR MISSION (Part 3)

It’s Father’s Day. And in our world today it feels like the word father for so many carries a negative sense. Perhaps it’s because according to the U.S. census bureau 19.5 million children in the US are living without a biological, step, or adoptive father in the home. That’s more than 1 in 4.

That report goes on to say that:

Children growing up in a father-absent home are:

47% more likely to live in poverty

7x more likely to become pregnant as a teen

More likely to have behavioral problems

More likely to face abuse and neglect.

2x greater risk of infant mortality

More likely to abuse drugs and alcohol

More likely to go to prison

2 x more likely to suffer obesity

More likely to commit a crime.

2x more likely to drop out of high school.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau. (2020). Living arrangements of children under 18 years old: 1960 to present. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau.

Children growing up in these homes often have a negative view of fatherhood. It’s no wonder even in our Christian world there are many, especially women, who have difficulty describing God as Father. Many men, have not reflected God’s image very well. When we think about it, all of us fall short, and yes, this is true of men and women alike. Still, on Father’s Day - I want to challenge all men to step up and seek to be the type of man God calls them to be.

Matthew 25

We’re in our third week of our series on Matthew 25. And we’ve been going through this chapter of Matthew’s Gospel reading sections in reverse order. We started two weeks ago with Jesus’ depicting the final judgment, last week we focused on the parable of the talents, and today we’re focusing on the parable of the Ten Virgins at the beginning of the chapter.

My hope is to tie up the entire chapter by the time we’re through. So let’s hear from Jesus words in Matthew 25, beginning at verse 1 and ending at 13.

Matthew 25:1–13 ESV

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage 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.

This is the word of our Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Now, some of you are probably thinking, how in the world could this possibly tie in with Father’s day. And to be honest as I was preparing this sermon I was thinking the same thing. Until, that is, I looked at the entire context of this passage.

When we’re reading our Bibles we often forget that the chapters and verses, and even those nice titles of each section that we find in our study Bibles were not there when these words were first penned.

So, if we were to look at this line of thought that Matthew is sharing we need to look back into chapter 24 where Jesus is answering a request and question from his disciples. They asked him,

“Tell us, when these things will be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3).

And then everything from Matthew 24:4 through the end of chapter 25 is Jesus answering that question. Three parables are given saying, “be ready,” “No one knows the day nor the hour.”

It kind of reminds me of the phrase a lot of us heard when we were kids,

Wait until your father gets home.

And that really is what this whole two chapters is about. For kids growing up in the 60’s, where most of us (though not all) had a father at home we knew those words were serious. It either meant (and for many most often meant) we were in big trouble, or it meant that what we were discussing was very serious.

What Jesus is talking about here is very serious.

Matthew 25:1 ESV

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.

In the Old Testament God referred to Himself as the “husband” of Israel (Isaiah 54:4-6), so Jesus describes Himself for us here as a “bridegroom.” At the time it was customary for a Jewish marriage that the groom and his friends to leave his home and proceed to the home of the bride, where the marriage ceremony was conducted, often at night. After this, the entire wedding party returned to the groom’s home for a celebratory banquet.

This is the context that Jesus is using as He begins by speaking of the ten virgins taking their lamps to meet the bridegroom. 5 who were foolish and five who were wise. How does he differentiate them? The foolish are not prepared for what might happen, so they don’t take any oil with them; the wise take oil flasks with their lamps.

As we continue in the parable the bridegroom is delayed (v.5). And they all fall asleep. Until Midnight when they hear the cry, “Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him,” (v. 6).

The foolish weren’t prepared. They didn’t have enough oil in their lamps, but the wise did. The wise went into the feast with the bridegroom and the door was shut, but the foolish had to run to try and buy oil for their lamps in the middle of the night.

By the time the foolish virgins return and ask to be let in, the bridegroom answers,

Matthew 25:12 ESV

But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

From the beginning of our series I have said that this whole passage, this whole idea of Matthew 25 is predicated upon knowing our Lord. Not a simple knowing about.

I don’t know how the people 2000 years ago got their news, but it is evident from Jesus parable that they knew about the wedding that was to take place. They knew that the bridegroom was coming. Yet there is a difference between knowing about someone and knowing them.

We can know statistics about individuals - height, weight, hair color, where they grew up, etc. But that doesn’t mean we know them. To know someone is much deeper than that. You know about people in our neighborhoods, but we know only some of them. We know our friends. We know those we care about and are important to us.

In his book Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby suggests that to really get to know God, we look around to see what God is doing and join in.

We began our series with Matthew 25:31-46, and the final judgment as depicted at the end of Matthew 25. We spoke of being our session desiring us to be a Matthew 25 church. The idea of being a Matthew 25 church is based upon verses 35 and 36:

Matthew 25:35–36 ESV

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.’

The righteous are affirmed for doing these things. The unrighteous are cursed for not having done these things. We know that feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned are good things and things we should be doing. Here at Mission Woods we are committed to our local food bank and other ministries providing food, clothing, and supplies for the needy. We welcome the stranger, and tend to the sick.

The unrighteous knew these were good things too, but they chose NOT to do them.

We then asked the question, why do both the righteous and the unrighteous ask Jesus, “When did we see you this way?”

The answer comes back, “When you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.”

In psychology and sociology there is a thing called the the diffusion of responsibility. It means basically that the larger the group the more that people will assume that someone else will take care of it.

I like this poem to describe it:

This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done

See What God is Doing…Join in

Our Heavenly Father is compassionate and cares for everyone. “For God so loved the world...” As we draw closer to God, we cannot help but want to join in that compassion for our fellow sojourners in this world. Some have more than us, many have less. We are called to love them all.

We don’t do this because we want to earn our way to heaven, no, we do this because its the family business.

On this Father’s Day - as we honor the father’s among us and remember our father’s - let’s especially celebrate the way fathers have reflected our Heavenly Father to us. And in those areas where they have fallen short, let us be thankful to our Heavenly Father who does not fall short and continues to pour out love upon us.

In all of it, as we ourselves seek to draw closer to God, let us take heed of Jesus’ warnings:

Matthew 25:13 ESV

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

In the Name of the Father, and the Name of the Son, and the Name of the Holy Spirit, AMEN.