Are you ready for winter? Have you tried on your snow boots to make sure they still fit? Have you taken your car in for a tune-up to make sure your battery and antifreeze are still good and that you have the right kind of oil for cold weather? Although it takes time to do all these things, it pays to be prepared doesn’t it? It’s better to spend an afternoon getting your car ready for winter than ending up stranded in sub-zero temperatures because your car won’t start in the cold.
If it’s a good idea to get ready for winter, it’s crucial to get ready for Judgment Day. Today Jesus urges us to tune up for Judgment Day. He says we do this by heeding the warning signs, and by checking the oil. Let’s find out what that means.
On the Tuesday of Holy Week Jesus told several parables to get his disciples ready for his return on Judgment Day. One of those parables was about ten women invited to be part of a wedding procession. The women were to meet the bride and groom at a designated place and go with them from there to the banquet hall. Since the meeting was to take place at night, the women were to bring along their lamps so they could light the way for the happy couple. Because the groom was late in coming to the meeting place, the women fell asleep as they waited for him. Finally at midnight word came that the groom was approaching. The women quickly got up to trim and light their lamps. As they waited for the procession to begin however, the lamps of five women kept sputtering and going out. The problem was they had not brought any oil for their lamps. What should they do? They asked the other women for some of their oil but were told there wouldn’t be enough for all them all if they shared. So the women with the sputtering lamps hurried off to buy oil for themselves. While they were gone, however, the groom arrived and the wedding party proceeded to the banquet hall. By the time the other women made it to the banquet hall the doors were closed and locked, shutting them out of the wedding banquet. Jesus concluded the parable by saying: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour” (Matthew 25:13).
Wouldn’t it be nice to know the day and hour of Judgment Day? Wouldn’t it be so much easier to prepare for it if we knew exactly when it was coming? Jesus tells us that it’s impossible for us to know exactly when Judgment Day will arrive. This, however, doesn’t mean we are totally clueless about its arrival. Although we don’t know exactly when the end will come, we do know that it could happen at any time. We know this because the warning signs are all around us. In the chapter before our text Jesus said that earthquakes, wars, and famines are just a few things that point to the end’s coming (Matthew 24). Don’t ignore these warning signs. Don’t think that Judgment Day is still a long way off and that you have plenty of time to learn about the Bible and put your faith in Jesus. That would be like ignoring the engine light in your car. Sure you can still drive after that light goes on, but for how long? Would you take that car on a road trip without first getting the engine checked? That would be foolish. It’s even more foolish to ignore the signs of coming judgment believing that the end won’t come just yet. How do you know it won’t? The fact is this: Christ is ready to return. Are you ready for him?
All the women in the parable thought they were ready for the groom’s arrival, but they weren’t. They had all brought lamps but five of the women had forgotten to check if there was oil in their lamps. Without oil, their lamps were useless – as useless as a smoke alarm with dead batteries (Howard Gleason, CPR V. 12:4, p. 38). It’s no wonder Jesus literally called these women “morons.”
A moron, as Jesus defines it in this parable, is not an outright unbeliever. It’s not someone who scoffs at the Second Coming. A moron is someone who believes that Jesus is coming back, just as all the women in the parable believed that the groom was coming. A moron eagerly desires to go to heaven, just as all the women in the parable wanted to go to the wedding banquet. But in spite of knowing that Jesus will return and in spite of wanting to go to heaven, a moron is someone who forgets to check whether or not he has the oil of saving faith and so ends up getting shut out of heaven when Jesus comes.
Because it’s not enough to know that Jesus is coming and to want to go to heaven to actually make it to that great place, we will want to check to see if we have the oil of faith. Have you done that lately? If not, you’ll want to because Jesus teaches us that saving faith can be lost. Just because you believed in Jesus as your savior last year, or last week, or even yesterday is no guarantee that you still believe in him today. Nor is it guaranteed that because you believe in Jesus today, you’ll believe in him tomorrow and next year. Check your oil every day. See if you still acknowledge that you are a sinner and believe that forgiveness for your sins comes only through faith in Jesus.
Jesus also teaches us that saving faith cannot be borrowed. It may have seemed unloving on the part of the women who had oil in the parable not to share with those who didn’t. But let’s change the scene a bit. If these women had been carrying flashlights, would the wise women have been able to give the foolish women one of their batteries to keep everyone’s flashlights going? No. You need two batteries to make one flashlight work. In the same way, I can’t believe for you any more than you can believe for me. Faith in Jesus is personal. So don’t rely on the faith of your parents or a sibling to get you into heaven. It doesn’t work that way.
Jesus also wants us to know that being a member of a Christian congregation, like St. Peter’s, does not necessarily mean that we have saving faith. Does having a fitness club membership guarantee you’ll stay in shape? No, not unless you actually go to the gym and work out. And so having church membership does our faith no good if we don’t come to church to hear the Word, and to partake of the Sacraments.
“Wait a minute, Pastor. Are you saying that my faith can only be strengthened by going to church?” No. Faith comes from hearing God’s Word (Romans 10:17). You can read God’s Word at home just as well as you can read it here in church. Are you? Again it’s like staying in shape. You don’t have to go to a gym to stay in shape. You can buy an exercise bike and work out at home, but would you? Let’s face it. It’s a lot harder to use exercise equipment at home when we don’t have people around us to motivate and encourage us like we would at the gym. Over time that bike just stands in the corner and we use it to hang our clothes on instead of to exercise. Isn’t that what happens when we stop coming to church on a regular basis? At first we resolve to stay grounded in the faith by doing private devotions. It doesn’t take long, however, before our Bible finds it way back to the bookshelf where it stays untouched and our faith suffers accordingly.
If I had to summarize today’s text in two words, they would be: stay focused. The end is coming so stay focused on feeding your faith in Jesus. That’s easier said than done because we’re like puppies. A puppy has a great desire to please its master and so will listen to the command to sit – for a moment or two before it is distracted by something it wants to chase or chew. Only with practice, much practice, will that puppy learn to concentrate and focus on the task at hand even when distractions abound (Howard Gleason, CPR V. 12:4, p. 39).
Christians too have a genuine desire to serve their master but are easily distracted. What’s distracting you from God’s Word and faithful worship attendance? School? Work? Hobbies? Whatever it is, it’s not worth losing your eternal salvation over. Remember, it’s enough to know that Jesus is coming. It’s not enough to want to go to heaven to actually get there. If we think that, we’re morons, says Jesus. Jesus speaks frankly to us this morning because he loves us. He warns about being distracted by school, work, money, whatever because he has invested much in winning our salvation. He gave his life so that we might live. He not only forgave us all of our sins, he gave us our faith in him – the only thing that saves. Don’t foolishly throw it away. Don’t even put it down for a second to pursue something this world has to offer because that’s the day Jesus may return. Instead remember where we are headed. We’re going to a banquet prepared for us by God in heaven. So stay focused and keep checking your oil of faith by faithfully coming to church, hearing God’s Word, and receiving the encouragement of fellow believers. The King is coming soon to take us to the heavenly banquet. Don’t miss out! Amen.
