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.
It is a story not unlike the parable which Jesus told about the foolish bridesmaids forgetting to bring something very important and necessary. He was not ready. He was unprepared. It would do no good to try and borrow a parachute of someone else on their way to meet the ground. He could not go back to the plane to retrieve it. He was not prepared and he passed the point of no return.
There are a few relevant points that this parable makes. The first is: You must be spiritually ready. If there is one thing that Jesus consistently and continually preached it was that we need to be ready. Over and over again we hear him say, “So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (Matthew 24:44).
We in this culture try to live for today as though there is no tomorrow. Our finances reflect this. The way we eat and treat our bodies reflect this. And certainly the moral lives of Americans reflect this. One of my great concerns for our country, and even within the church, is the great moral disconnect between personal faith and ethical /moral behavior. Many people within the church, as well as outside of it, seem to have lost their conscience, or the ability to respond to it. The whole message of Jesus’ warnings to be ready had to do with doing the right things. Being ready meant actively living in faithfulness to God. It is more than just calling yourself a Christian. It’s more than a name.
Dennis was a guy from Katy, Texas who had an emergency and needed his suit dry cleaned before he left on a trip. He remembered one store with a huge sign, “One-Hour Dry Cleaners.” It was on the other side of town, so he drove out of his way to drop off his suit. After the clerk filled out the necessary information, he told her, “I have some errands to run and I’ll be back in an hour to pick it up.” She said, “I can’t get this back to you until Thursday.” “I thought you did dry cleaning in an hour,” he said. “Oh, no,” she replied, “That’s just the name of the store, we don’t actually do that.” There are many folks today who wear a sign saying they are a Christian, but they fail to deliver the goods. There are many churches who do not deliver on what the sign out front says either.
If there is one thing I could get across to Christians here in America it would be this: Spiritual readiness, preparation and growth does not just happen. It comes as a result of intentional habits built into one’s life. You cannot depend on a Sunday morning service to provide all your spiritual needs. You cannot depend on Christian fellowship to provide you with spiritual development. It comes through routine habits and attention to ordinary spiritual disciplines — making sure you have enough oil: spiritual fuel. It comes by taking time for prayer and being alone with God; reading God’s Word; acts of service to others; moral faithfulness and loving obedience. It comes through spending time with other Christians for mutual prayer, study and encouragement. These are the things which enable a person to grow in Christ and be prepared for Christ’s coming, as well as the normal difficulties of life. Without these things you will not be prepared. It cannot be hit and miss. It cannot be postponed. You cannot procrastinate or it may be too late. You need to develop some holy habits in your life which take precedence over other interests and claims on your life. As these habits become developed, they cease to be a struggle and begin to be a source of strength and blessing. They make your life powerful against the onslaught of the world.
I recently read some excerpts from actual performance reviews for British Navy and Marine officers. One supervisor wrote this evaluation of a candidate: “He works well under constant supervision and when cornered like a rat in a trap.” Another wrote: “This young lady has delusions of adequacy. She sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them.” Those people did not get very far in the Royal Navy, or in life, and they will have even less success in the Kingdom of God. Because being a Christian is like anything else — the harder you work at it, the better it becomes. It does not just happen.
It is interesting that in the parable the bridesmaids all appeared to be alike. They all thought of themselves as bridesmaids who were acquainted with the groom. They all dressed alike. They were all expecting the bridegroom. When the bridegroom was delayed they all fell asleep. They all had lamps. All of them trimmed their lamps. They all wanted to be a part of the wedding feast. But not all of them were prepared, some of them failed to bring oil for their lamps — as unimaginable as that seems. This is a warning from the parable: Be sure that you are truly prepared, because it is possible to look just like everyone else, talk like everyone else, carry a Bible and desire to go to heaven, go to church, think of yourself as a Christian, yet ultimately be unprepared. It is possible to know about Christ and not know Christ. It is possible to know the Bible and not be living for the God of the Bible, and not doing what the Bible says. It is possible to be a nice person and know all the right doctrine, yet have no relationship with God. It is possible to look like everyone else, and have your Christianity on the surface, while never allowing it to penetrate who you are and change the way you live.
All of the bridesmaids slept, and there is nothing wrong with that. Normal life goes on while we wait for the bridegroom. We work, we wait and we sleep. Hospitals need to keep functioning. Babies are born and need to be fed. Stores need to be open. Roads still need repaired. Cars need to be maintained. Ball games will be played and the rivalries will continue. The routine of life just keeps rolling on as we await the time when we will stand before the King of the universe. Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:37-39).
The important point is that we not get caught up in the routine of the world and forget that things are not always going to continue as they are. There is a new day coming. Some of the bridesmaids slept the sleep of sloth and indifference — others the sleep of peace and security, knowing they had prepared for the bridegroom’s coming. It is not that the foolish bridesmaids did not know that they needed oil, or that they forgot, it was a matter of foolish negligence and laziness. They overlooked their responsibility. They ignored what they knew to be important. The lesson we learn is this: Don’t fail to be prepared. Don’t neglect to have oil in your lamp. Don’t ignore what you know to be important, for the closer it is to his coming the more important it is to be prepared.
The second lesson of the parable is: No one can do it for you. No one can wear a parachute in your place, and no one can loan you theirs. It doesn’t work that way. You need your own. The foolish bridesmaids saw that they did not have enough oil, and they asked their wise friends to loan them some of theirs, but that was not possible. This means that another person’s faith will not cover you. Just because you were reared in a Christian home, or you are in church with other people of faith, does not necessarily mean that you have faith. It will not rub off just by sitting next to someone who has a vital relationship with Christ. You cannot “catch” faith like you catch a cold. You cannot borrow it from your friends, and you cannot get it from your parents. God has no grandchildren, only children. Every spiritual birth comes directly from him. Your faith must be your own. It is good for us to sing “Faith of Our Fathers,” but it is also necessary to be able to sing, “Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine!” The Jews of Jesus’ day were fond of calling Abraham their father. They were the physical descendants of Abraham and assumed they were also his spiritual descendants. But one day, as Jesus saw them coming toward him, he said, “Do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham” (Matthew 3:9). You may have a great heritage, but you need to make that heritage your own personal experience.
Don’t try to borrow someone else’s oil, be sure to have your own. Character cannot be borrowed. Neither can a relationship with God be borrowed. William Barclay says, “We cannot always be living on the spiritual capital which others have amassed. There are certain things we must acquire for ourselves.” In the story, the foolish bridesmaids did not realize their need of oil until the bridegroom appeared. They were told to go out and buy oil, but they found that impossible. This means that a relationship with God cannot be bought at the last minute at any price. There are many, as Matthew Henry says, “who care not to live the [Christian] life, yet [want to] die the death of the righteous.” The Bible simply says, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ” (Romans 8:9). Jesus said, “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning” (Luke 12:35-36). The wise bridesmaids said to the others, “Go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.” God is the dispenser of oil, and you need to come to him while there is still time. Like the parachuting camera man, don’t let the moment of death to be the thing that alerts you to your own spiritual poverty. You will reach for a rip chord that is not there.
A third point of the parable is: There is a time called “Too Late.” The news carried the story of Steve Jobs’ death on October 5, 2011. He was the billionaire who founded the Apple computer company. At his memorial service, his sister reported that his last words were: “Oh wow! Oh wow! Oh wow!” I think that will be the thoughts of many who upon death see heaven opened and realize they are standing before the Judge of all the universe.
The experience of death is the great hope of the Christian and the great fear of the world — likewise the return to earth of Jesus Christ. The second coming of Christ will be with finality and power. William Willimon, in writing about this parable, said, “Jesus viewed history as a straight line with a beginning and an end. . . . Today’s contented, liberal church does not care for that view. Its members do not want to be reminded, even though they know its true, that someday there will be a reckoning, and no tomorrow.” The foolish bridesmaids cried for the door to be opened to them, but their cries were insincere, for even though they said they wanted in, they never made preparation to enter. Their preparation would have been the proof of their true desire. The most alarming words in the parable are: “And the door was shut!” We are to live in constant expectation, because there is coming a day when the future will be a thing of the past — don’t ignore the warning.
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.”
It is always amazing how we can ignore warnings and then justify our behavior, thinking that we are getting away with something. Perhaps you have heard of Cliff’s “Buffalo Theory.” It is credited to an episode of Cheers in which Cliff explains the Buffalo Theory to Norm. He says, “Well you see, Norm, it’s like this. . . A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo and when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Now, as we know, excessive drinking of alcohol kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. And that, Norm, is why you always feel smarter after a few beers.” What it doesn’t explain is why Cliff was not cut from the herd a long time ago.
You can try your best to justify, and even laugh at, your foolish and reckless behavior, but a day called “Today” will reveal that you have only fooled yourself. The problem is that when you wake up it may be too late. You will want to go in, but the door will be shut.
The Bible encourages us with these words: “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first” (Hebrews 3:12-14). God has made this promise to us: “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever” (Daniel 12:3).
Rodney J. Buchanan
November 6, 2011
Amity United Methodist Church
rodbuchanan2000@yahoo.com
