Well, good morning everyone.
It's really good to be back here and see all of my friends and family.
I want to invite you all to turn to Matthew 25, verses 1 through 13.
And while you turn there, I just want to say thank you to all of you.
This church has truly been a home to me over the past four or five years.
I'm really glad this is the place that I kind of got my start.
I'm sure you guys can think all the way back to my first sermon.
I remember sitting there just, I've never been more nervous in my entire life.
Just so incredibly anxious and just to be able to grow here and
I really felt like I got to do with my family.
So I just wanted to say thank you for that.
But we're gonna be in the gospel of Matthew this morning,
Matthew chapter 25, verses 1 through 13.
This is the parable of the ten virgins or the ten bridesmaids.
So, 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 of them 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.
Afterwards, the other virgins came saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
But he answered, truly I say to you, I do not know you.
Watch therefore, for you neither know the day nor the hour.
Join me in a quick word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity to hear your word.
Lord, we trust that now that your word has gone out,
that it will not return to you empty.
But that it will accomplish what it means to accomplish.
Holy Spirit, that you will use it to plant seeds into the hearts of all those who
listen, that you might gather a harvest for yourself.
Lord, give us ears to hear, hearts to listen.
And we pray this in your son's name, amen.
So church, friends, on this last Sunday of 2023,
I wanna ask a question, are you ready?
The summer after I graduated high school, my parents and
my younger siblings went off on vacation.
So they went to Maine for a week and a half.
And that wasn't a problem for me, because that meant I got to stay home and
kind of do whatever I wanted for a week.
And so how do you think I handled that freedom and
responsibility like any 18 year old, right?
I lived like a slob.
I had friends over.
We trashed the house.
We left pizza boxes and dirty clothes and dishes everywhere but
the kitchen counter, everywhere but the laundry machine.
My clothes were just strewn about the house.
There was garbage everywhere.
It was an absolute pigsty.
You kinda get the picture.
Well, I was a slob, right?
But I'm not a dummy.
So I knew they were coming back eventually and
I had these grand plans of cleaning the house before they got back.
I even had their return marked on the calendar.
And so I was planning.
The day before I was gonna spend the entire day cleaning the house, right?
So that's what I was ready to do.
And the morning before I was like, I've got time.
I'm gonna go hang out with some friends this morning.
And we went out for breakfast and I got home right around lunch ready to clean
the house and guess what I saw on our driveway?
Yep, that's right.
My parents' van.
They were back a day early and my house was disgusting.
And so you can imagine how my parents reacted.
They were absolutely furious and I'll let you imagine those consequences.
But I was not ready, right?
I was not ready for my mom to come back.
She caught me off guard.
She caught me in my mess.
My house was not in order.
And so I wanna ask again, are you ready?
And not for the return of some earthly authority like a parent, but
for the return of the bridegroom, Jesus Christ.
What if he came back tomorrow?
Would he find you in your mess?
Or would he find a house in order?
If Jesus came back tomorrow,
would you have time to go out and get more oil?
Are you ready?
And so I think this is an appropriate text for New Year's Eve.
I'm sure there's been a lot of conversations in each of your homes about
resolutions, right?
What do we wanna accomplish next year?
What do we wanna change next year?
Who do we wanna be next year?
How do we wanna grow?
At the heart of all of these resolutions is this sense of expectancy.
This is how I expect my year to go.
This is how I expect to change.
And so I wanna challenge each of us this morning to use these resolutions in
service of one idea, being ready, being prepared for
the coming of Christ, for the coming of his kingdom.
Resolve to be a more prepared person.
And hopefully we're gonna see what that looks like by the end of our journey
through this passage.
But we're working with a parable, right?
The parable of the bridesmaids.
So we kind of need to remember something about parables as teaching tools.
We've got two levels of meaning happening at the same time.
The first is kind of the obvious message in the story.
And then the second is the lesson Jesus wants his audience to learn.
In this case, the audience is the disciples.
There's also a surprise in this parable.
In most of Jesus' parables, he kind of uses the element of surprise to really
drive home his points.
Something unexpected or surprising.
So we're gonna take a look at all of that.
Now what is going on in this parable?
I think when we read it, especially from the eyes of Westerners in 2023,
it can maybe be a little confusing.
We're not Middle Easterners, but that's okay.
Here's a little context.
The scene Jesus paints in this parable is actually still very common today.
In traditional village life, these weddings would take place kind of in the
summer months, so it would be warm.
People would fill the house.
They would spill out into the street.
And they would watch as the groom and several of the groom's men, several of his
best friends, would set off from the groom's house kind of having like a parade.
They would go across town, they would get the bride, they would put the bride on
the donkey or on the cart or whatever they had, and then they would parade her
through the town because the groom wanted the whole town to see his bride,
how beautiful his bride was, how wonderful his bride was.
And they would take their time, right?
They would go down every single street making all kinds of noise,
having basically a parade, right?
So that's kind of what's going on here.
And the groom in this parable, right, is a particularly enthusiastic groom.
So he's taking extra time.
And these people at, you know, the groom's house, they're waiting and waiting and
waiting and finally night falls and they're still waiting and they start to
fall asleep.
Among these, among this waiting crowd are the ten bridesmaids.
So these, this is the bride's half of the wedding party ready to assist the bride.
They're there waiting in expectation for the bride and groom to come.
And they would go out and meet the groom and attend to the bride and bring her
into the groom's house and get the wedding feast started.
And so here they're, here we see these ten women with their lamps.
And let's pause here to kind of think about these lamps.
These lamps are culturally important, particularly to young women as a form of
identification and security, especially in a time without streetlights.
So it was actually pretty dark in these towns after the sun went down.
Now it would be unthinkable for any young woman to wander the streets without her
lamp.
For a woman, especially a young woman, reputation was at stake.
So they wanted to be able to make their faces seen at all times.
For them to wander around in the dark would cause people to ask questions.
What are these young women doing and with whom?
And so these virgins were, these bridesmaids were to go out and to meet the
procession as it approached the house.
They had to be known.
They had to be able to be identified, lest they would have been mistaken for
wedding crashers or thieves or worse.
And so we know what happens here, right?
They doze off and the groom and his bride finally show up and they go in and
start the party while the foolish virgins are left scrambling for more oil for
their lamps.
And this is where we encounter the surprise in the parable.
When the foolish bridesmaids finally return with their oil, they aren't
allowed in the house.
They say, Lord, Lord, open to us, to which the groom responds, truly, I do not
know you.
But they were just there.
They were just standing in the wedding party.
What does he mean he doesn't know us?
Doesn't this seem a little harsh?
And so on a deeper level, what is Jesus saying here?
What is he getting at here?
Well, this parable is part of the Olivet Discourses.
So this is the conversation Jesus had with his disciples just a few hours, a
few days before the events of the Passion kicked off.
And so there's a sense of urgency here.
Jesus is in his endgame.
In less than two months, he would be crucified.
He would rise again from the dead and he would ascend to heaven.
And he would leave his disciples behind to start the church, the earthly kingdom
of God.
So he wants his disciples to be wise.
He wants them to be prepared.
He wants them to be ready.
Because Christ would be coming back.
And when he does, there isn't going to be time for humanity to get their affairs in
order.
There won't be time for them to go scrambling for more oil.
When the end comes, there won't be enough to even share with those who aren't ready
yet.
And so we have this kind of sense of ultimacy or this sense of finality.
And something in our text that really helps us see that is this image of a door.
This door to the kingdom of heaven.
It's open to those who are ready to enter, but it's shut firmly to those who aren't.
And once it's shut, it's not going to open again.
And so I ask, friends, are you ready for that door to shut?
As a teenager, I thought I had time to clean up my house before my parents returned.
I thought they were a long way off.
That metaphorically, I'd be able to see them coming.
I think a lot of us today kind of approach the coming of Christ similarly.
We kind of think to ourselves, we've got plenty of time.
Because the world still has to get pretty bad.
It's not as bad as it could be.
We've still got time.
Well, what does Jesus tell his disciples just a chapter earlier?
In Matthew 24, he says, but concerning the day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels
of heaven nor the sun, but the Father only.
For as it was in the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man.
For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark.
And they were unaware when the flood came and swept them all away.
So will be the coming of the Son of man.
And so that tells us that Jesus is going to come as we live our regular daily lives.
And for many, he's going to catch them off guard.
Warren Wiersbie writes, the church has known for 2000 years that Jesus is coming again.
And yet many believers have become lethargic and drowsy.
They are no longer excited about the soon coming of the Lord.
And so as a result, there is a little effective witness that the Lord is returning.
And you might say, well, if the return is imminent, why have we been waiting so long?
Of course, Christians are going to become apathetic.
So many tire of waiting and their love for God grows cold.
They wander off in pursuit of more immediate, more tangible answers.
They look to politics or social reforms or self-help ideologies.
And they cease to be a people who focus all of their praise and adoration and thanksgiving
on God, turning instead to more pragmatic things.
All of that stuff is absolutely meaningless if it's not made accountable to Christ and
used to prepare people for his kingdom.
And so I think we can look out into the Church of America today and see a lot of nominalism,
a lot of apathy.
We are the bridesmaids, right?
That's the church.
Christ seems to be suggesting that there's actually a large number of people who confess
to be Christians that aren't going to make it through the door.
There are some foolish, unprepared disciples out there.
Think of a wave approaching the shore.
As it travels, it picks up driftwood, seaweed, maybe a discarded beach ball or two.
The objects that are firmly caught in the body of the wave will make it to the shore,
but things that are kind of riding along on the edges, well, they're eventually going
to fall out.
I think it's the same with the church.
At a glance, it seems like we're all being kind of carried forward by the wave of the
kingdom, but not everyone remains firmly in this wave.
Your attendance on a Sunday, the company of believers you keep, the amount you tithe,
none of that means a thing unless you are ready.
This parable suggests that not every self-proclaimed Christian will enter heaven, for some have
not trusted Jesus sincerely.
Some have confessed with lips, but not with heart.
Jesus himself says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom
of heaven.
You've got to actually show it.
Your actions betray your heart.
And so once more, what does it look like to be ready?
Well, let's consider the answer presented in our text first.
The bridesmaids, they had enough time.
These foolish bridesmaids expected the groom to arrive rapidly while the wives were prepared
for a delay.
And so there's a subtext here.
Remember, Jesus is talking to his disciples.
They were the recipients of this message, this exhortation to be ready.
Christ was cautioning them to be prepared, to bring extra oil, because Christ was leaving
and it was going to be a while.
And there was actually some confusion here.
After the ascension, some Christ followers believed that Jesus would just be right back
within a matter of months or even years within their lifetimes.
Jesus wanted his 12 to be ready for the long haul.
He wants us to be ready for the long haul.
What would our faith look like if the apostles had only planned for the right now and not
the future?
Would Paul have gone on his many missionary journeys?
Would the gospel have spread like wildfire with such urgency?
Would the Gentiles have been brought in?
Would we be believers today?
No.
The disciples didn't hunker down to wait for the apocalypse.
They planned for the future.
Jesus wanted them to be prepared and he wanted them to help others prepare.
A chapter earlier, he cautions them that false teachers would come, that there would be competing
claims for Messiahship.
Things would start to get bad.
There would be wars.
There would be famines, political upheavals and earthquakes.
Nations would face tribulation, trial and death.
They would be hated by the nations.
Many would fall away, unable to take the pressure.
Brother would turn on brother.
Christian would stab.
Christian in the back.
Many would be led astray.
Many more would feel their hearts grow cold.
And yet the gospel of the kingdom would be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a
testimony to all the nations.
And so the lamp of the gospel carried by those who are truly ready cannot be snuffed out
no matter what the powers of hell throw at it.
And so by grace, the disciples were prepared.
And by grace, we are today blessed by their preparedness.
They brought enough oil and everyone who came after them had enough oil.
And I'd like to suggest this morning that their preparedness had everything to do with
their level of resolve.
Paul writes this to the church in Thessalonica.
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will
for you in Christ Jesus.
In Acts 5, we read that the apostles rejoiced when they were persecuted because they had
been regarded as worthy to suffer for the name of Christ.
What a thing to rejoice over.
But they knew what to expect.
They were ready.
They were resolved to this journey no matter the cost.
And so I ask again, friends, are you ready?
Do you have enough oil?
And we find ourselves in tension, right?
This return of Christ is imminent, yet it's still far off.
One theologian writes, why then should we plan?
Well, Christians must expect Jesus constantly, yet at the same time they must persevere and
plan for future ministry in case His coming is delayed.
These two duties must be held in dynamic tension if the church is to be faithful to the teaching
of its master.
The kingdom of God is at hand, but it is not yet here.
And so us too, we aren't just hunkering down.
We're picking up the lamp that's been passed from the apostles 2,000 years ago to saint
after saint after saint and carrying it forward.
Because if you're living like the kingdom of God is at hand, then you're living a very
specific kind of life.
A deep love for Christ and for His people should be blossoming within you.
You should be eagerly looking forward to His coming.
It should define your walk with Him.
All of this should be propelling you towards His great commission, making the world ready
for the coming kingdom, no matter what, no matter what highs or lows you face in life.
Are you eager to serve the kingdom of God?
Are you holding that lamp up near your face so that you can be identified as a Christian?
Are you letting this light of Christ illuminate your whole life, letting others see that there
is something different about you, something of the light?
Are you distinguishable from the world?
Or do you fit right in?
If you can go along lurking in the darkness, taking the path of least resistance, what
does that say about your place in God's kingdom?
And so at the heart of this discussion about preparedness is an important question.
Who are you serving?
Are you in service to yourself or are you in service to God?
What you resolve to do and who you resolve to be in the new year has everything to say
about who you serve.
And so back to kind of that idea of our resolutions.
Are your plans in service of God's kingdom?
Do you want to change more into Christ's likeness?
Do your resolutions involve growing in the fruits of the Spirit in love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control?
Or are you focused on yourself?
Do you want to lose weight, exercise more, be more healthy, make more money, quit smoking,
swear less?
These aren't bad things, but the sum total of our lives should be God's glory.
Yes, being prepared for God's kingdom involves living a healthier lifestyle, but pursue that
goal for God's glory, not yours.
Don't go into this new year to serve yourself or you'll end up going absolutely nowhere.
Go into the new year with a sense of anticipation.
Work towards the coming of God's kingdom.
It will allow us to weather the storms of persecution that Christ promises his people
will experience.
The saints who came before us weathered false teachings, violence, discrimination, persecution
unto death, and the temptation to simply give up, to let their love for God grow cold.
I think that last one is kind of big for Christians in the West.
Prosperity has given us a false sense of security.
There is little urgency.
What do we need to be ready for?
We have our best lives now.
And so it's no wonder many of our resolutions have to deal with handling excess, excess
food, excess entertainment, excess time.
We're preoccupied with the excesses of life.
And all the while our spiritual lamps are flickering.
They're sputtering.
They're growing cold.
What if we asked God for less?
What if we asked God for reasons to rely on him more?
What if we embraced times of hardship, times of want, times when we are down to nothing
facing loss or grief?
Can you sit here this morning and thank God for the difficulties in life?
For the way he's used them to draw you closer to himself?
Are you okay with daily bread and nothing more?
I hope so.
A heart that is able to rejoice, always pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances
is a heart that is both changed by Christ and ready for Christ.
And so if this can be said of you, I'd say you have enough oil for the long haul.
Let's bring this full circle.
If I had been a responsible teenager, if I had been truly grateful for my parents and
for the trust they placed in me, letting me stay home for a week and a half, it would
have reflected in my actions.
My house would have stayed clean out of love, out of appreciation, out of respect for them.
I would have resolved to be ready for their return.
Are you living in a similar way?
Do you have a love, appreciation, and respect for God and the coming kingdom?
Are you prepared for the future?
Teaching in the lives of those who will come after you and your children and the covenant
children of this church, the next generation, laying the groundwork for the future of the
kingdom come?
Are you teaching others to fill their lamps as we wait with loving anticipation for the
imminent arrival of the bridegroom?
Is that what you resolve your entire life to be?
The whole outcome of your life?
Will you be ready or will Christ find you in your mess?
You have a choice.
Choose to live your life for what matters now because one day there won't be enough
time to pick up the house.
There won't be enough time to get oil.
It will be too late and the door will shut and it won't open again.
So church, I ask you, are you ready?