“The Tragedy of the Delayed Decision”
Introduction:
Stephanie will be glad to tell you that I am bad about putting things off. It’s not that I mean to most of the time, I just put things off sometimes until the last minute, it is not a habit that I am proud of. Without due dates and ultimatums I would have a hard time doing certain things.
We as people are sometimes bad about waiting until the last minute on some things. There is a reason that Christmas Eve is one of the biggest shopping days of the year.
Why are there delayed decisions…
1. Because Some Have No Sense of Urgency
2. Because Some Have No Sense of Priority
3. Because Some Are Lazy
Being prepared is one of the most important things. We make all sorts of preparations in this life and preparing in advance makes things a lot easier and removes a lot of the consequences of unprepardness.
Text: Matthew 25:1-13
I. We Must Be Prepared for Christ’s Return
In typical Jewish culture after a couple got engaged, the man would go away and go to prepare a home for the couple to live in. While the bridegroom was away the bride would be making preparation to purify her body, to make herself beautiful for her groom. Not only would the bride prepare, but also so would everyone else. Everyone looked forward to the wedding day, but the one catch was that no one knew for sure when the groom would come and take his bride. Anyone who wanted to see the wedding had to be ready to go when the groom came. The groom and all the groomsmen would come in a torch lit processional to the bride’s house. Since the bride was unaware of the time of the return, the grooms coming was usually marked by shouting
I remember before Stephanie and I got married she went at great lengths to prepare everything to be beautiful for the wedding. Most brides prepare in their minds and dream for a long time of what their wedding preparations will be.
One of the most common analogies that the Scripture uses referring to the church is the Bride of Christ. Did you notice that five of the virgins came prepared to meet the groom and attend the wedding and five were not ready, they didn’t make any preparations.
1. They Thought They Had More time
The text tells us that the groom was a long time in coming and the bridesmaids fell asleep because they became drowsy. For whatever reason, the five unwise ladies didn’t bring oil for their lamps. I have never been to a ladies slumber party, and I am thankful for that, and I don’t know what goes on when you get a bunch of giggly girls together, they stay up late talking, mostly about me. These ladies became tired, maybe time got away from them, maybe they fully intended on sometime going and getting the oil they needed for their lamps. I want to tell you that good intentions do not equal good actions. There are many people in the world who have good intentions, and you know that they say road paved with good intentions leads to, don’t you? I would be willing to bet that these bridesmaids were great people, probably great friends who were excited about the wedding; they just waited until the last minute. Perhaps they thought they had more time to fix their slight problem. This is a valuable lesson that we can learn; we are not assured more time before Jesus’ return. Many people are living the way that they are because they are sure they have more time. They will change their actions later because they have plenty of time to make it right. They will be more faithful at another time; they will be more generous at some other point. Time is one thing we are not guaranteed. The real tragedy of this parable is the tragedy of being unprepared for something important.
When I was in school I had this terrible reoccurring nightmare. Have you ever had those reoccurring dreams, which you are relieved to wake up and learn it was only a dream? In this dream the semester was almost up at school, and I realize that I had forgotten all semester about one class I was supposed to attend and by the time I realized it I was too late.
We have to be prepared at all time to meet our Lord, and if we do not make those preparations we have to be willing to face the consequences of not doing what we were supposed to. The thing is that we are not left in the dark about what we are supposed to do, in fact most people know right from wrong, and know what God expects of them, but they don’t because they feel time is a luxury. Today, if you are delaying in making preparations for Jesus’ return than I want to tell you that you need to make those preparations.
I wonder what went through those five girls heads when they heard the shouting that the bridegroom has come. It probably wasn’t total thrill and excitement. It was probably a, “what are we going to do”, deer caught in the headlights moment. They realized that the time had come and they hadn’t prepared and they were not ready. It was too late; there was nothing they could do.
I want to tell you this morning that Jesus is going to come again at sometime. It could be today, it could be many years from now, but we can rest assured that we need to be prepared.
II Peter 3:3-12
What are you doing with your time? Are you making the necessary preparations to spend eternity with God? Or are you committing the tragedy of the delayed decision.
2. They Thought Their preparations were not that important
Perhaps the five unwise virgins thought that their preparation really didn’t matter. We know that they thought they could just make it by anyways even though they were unprepared.
Some people are quick to try to convince themselves that the way that they act does not really matter. They think that the things that they do have no barring on who they are or where they will spend eternity, so they make no efforts to change. God calls us to a holy standard and He does care about what things we do and do no do. The church is the bride of Christ and our objective is to be presented to Jesus as a pure bride.
Ephesians 5:25-27
We are in the preparation stage for the return of our groom to take us to the home that he has prepared. I want you to know the becoming a radiant church, without stain or blemish is something that takes preparation to become. I want you to know that our preparations are to live a Godly life and they are important. It does matter how we live as we await and prepare for the coming of Christ.
3. They Thought That Their Shortcoming Would be overlooked
Perhaps the 5 unwise virgins thought they really wouldn’t be forbidden to enter the wedding just because they forgot a little oil for their lamps. Many people live their lives like that, they feel that God will overlook the sin they may be living in because it is not that big of a deal, or they may feel that they will be alright because they are good people, but it just doesn’t work that way. Did you notice what happened as a result of the virgins being unprepared. They missed the bridegroom’s coming; they were away doing what they should have already done. As they tried to enter the wedding they realized their name wasn’t on the list, their shortcomings were not overlooked. I want you to know plainly that God is in the forgiving business, God is a God of Grace that does overlook our sins and shortcomings as we live this life. There would be no way for any of us to be saved if God didn’t overlook our sin. He overlooks them though because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, and those that do not prepare to come to God through the cross will face a God who has not dealt with their sin. For those in Christ, they can rest assured that Jesus bore the wrath that God had to pour out on our sins.
Are you prepared for the coming of the bridegroom, or are you still waiting for the right time to make those preparations. If that is the case, please heed this warning and learn from this parable of the tragedy of the delayed decision.
II. No One Can Make the Preparations for You
In April, 1988 the evening news reported on a photographer who was also a skydiver. He had jumped from a plane along with several other skydivers and filmed the group as they individually dove out of the plane and opened their parachutes. As the video was being shown of each member of the crew jumping out and then pulling their rip chord so that their parachute opened to the wind, the final skydiver opened his chute and then the picture went berserk. The announcer reported that the cameraman had fallen to his death, having jumped out of the plane without a parachute. It wasn’t until he reached for the ripcord that he realized he was free falling without a parachute. Up until then, he was enjoying himself and was absorbed in what he was doing. But tragically, he was unprepared for the jump. It did not matter how many times he had done it before or what skill he had. By forgetting the parachute he made a foolish and deadly mistake. Nothing could save him, because his faith was in a parachute, which he had never taken the trouble to buckle on.
No one can wear a parachute for you and you expect to be all right. There is another thing that no one can do for us, no one can make the preparations that we need for the return of the bridegroom, Jesus Christ.
Matthew 25:8-9
The foolish ladies thought they could get the wise virgins to give them some of their oil. A lot of times people think that others can make the preparations for them, but the truth is God knows our hearts and judges us individually. No matter what your heritage is, no matter how many Sundays you have been in Church God still is going to judge individually, nobody can make the preparations that you need to make for yourself.
One of the most humbling things that I can imagine is that I must stand before God one day, and I won’t be able to pull one over on him, he knows my heart, he knows the things I have thought, he sees between the lines. I may be able to pull one over on other people. I may be able to convince others of my godliness, but God knows the hearts.
I Corinthians 4:5
Right now there are probably millions of germs around us, a lot of times germs and colds will spread rapidly when you are with people a lot. I am always worried that when I am around people I will catch something contagious. Our faith is not something that can be caught like a cold.
Perhaps today you may think that your job is to convince everyone of your faith, when in reality your heart is far away from God. I want you to know that God is the judge and no one can make the preparations that you need, but yourself. Don’t try to borrow someone else’s oil, you must be prepared yourself.
III. There is such Thing as too late
The Chicago Tribune carried a story titled “Man Electrocuted After Ignoring Warnings .” Jason Grisham shouldn’t be alive. During his attempt to scale an electrical tower, the 22-year-old man received a shock that is usually fatal. Partway up the tower, 69,000 volts of electricity coursed through his body, knocking Grisham to the ground. Despite suffering burns to his chest and having his pants explode, the newspaper said the young man was admitted to the hospital in good condition. (I’m not sure who made that assessment, or if Grisham would agree with it.) How did Grisham get into such a predicament? One thing is for sure: it was no accident. A seven-foot-tall fence, topped with barbed wire, surrounded the electrical tower. Electric company spokeswoman Angeline Protegere said the spot where Grisham climbed over the fence was bracketed by signs saying “Danger/High Voltage.”
