Sermon in Minneapolis 15.11.2015

Let's begin this evening service with opening prayer.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

We are approaching the end of the church year calendar. Today is the next to the last Sunday of the church year. So one more Sunday and the church year is over. Then we begin a new one. This morning we heard this year's gospel text for this Sunday. So this evening I'll take this Sunday's gospel text from another year. And it's the words just after we heard this morning. The beginning of chapter 25 verses 1 through 13. And the words are as follows. In Jesus' name.

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

When the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Go out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, Not so. Lest there not be enough for us and you. But go rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves.

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came. And they that were ready went in with him to the marriage. And the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for you know not neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. Amen.

So, when we think of the passage of time, we can see that each one of us has a moment of birth. And at one point later on in life, there will be a moment of death, a starting point and an ending point. Likewise, it is with all of mankind and the universe.

In the story of creation and Genesis, it says, Genesis, It tells how God created the world and everything in the world, both visible and invisible, with his word. Let there be light, and there was light, and then he created everything on each of the six days. And he maintains this world with his word.

At one point in time, when God, and only God, knows that appointed time, the world will be destroyed and will come to an end, and everything in the world will burn with fervent heat. So the world has a starting point, a beginning, and also an end. And at the ending point, a final conclusion.

Likewise, our calendar begins with January 1st, and will end on December 31st. And so the church year calendar as well begins with the first Advent Sunday, which is two Sundays from today, and then concludes on judgment, which is next Sunday. And so the texts now, at this time of the year, are beginning to remind us of the end times and the end of the world.

When we read this portion that we have selected for this evening, it comes from a broader, a larger context. Here we have our chapters 24 and 25, and it goes on to be 26. Well, when the New Testament was first written, there was no division into chapters. The division into chapters and into verses came much, much later. There was just the gospel of Matthew. And so there's not a stark change or a line of demarcation between the individual chapters. One just flows into another. And that's how it was. It was one long, continuous story. And at some point in time, hundreds of years later, after the gospel was recorded, scholars then determined that this is where we will cut it into chapter 1 and chapter 2 and chapter 3 and chapter 4 and chapter 27, 28, and so on and so forth, and then broke it down into verses.

So, Jesus is now in Jerusalem the last time. This is during Passion Week. And this is right after, or right about the time, he is going to celebrate the Passover meal and then institute the Lord's Holy Supper on this, in the same week, or was it the same night? Was this Thursday night already? It was the night when he was betrayed, captured, and then brought before Pontius Pilate, Herod. Again Pontius Pilate. And then was condemned to be crucified on the cross.

So, the end of his life is now at hand. And while he's in Jerusalem, he delivers this long speech, which is recorded in the gospel according to St. Matthew. And at the beginning of chapter 24, it says that Jesus went out and departed from the temple. So he had been in the temple, now he leaves the temple. And his disciples, after he left the temple, came and told Jesus and pointed to the beautiful temple that was standing before them. And his disciples came to show him the buildings of the temple. And he used that as a starting point. And he said, you see this beautiful temple that is here standing. It will not be long when it will be completely destroyed. It will soon be a pile of rubble. And not one stone will be left upon another stone.

And so he's telling them that in the near future, the final destruction, the end of this temple, physical temple, is at hand. But also in that speech, he then continues and points not only to the year 70, a few decades from the time they were living, but then he points later on, much farther into the future, and he begins to say, and he begins to talk about the end of all times, about the second coming of our Savior.

And as we heard this morning, Jesus talked about the times of Noah, or the time preceding the time of Noah and the flood, how there was eating and drinking and marrying and giving up the marriage and so on and so forth. And then he talks about, when that moment arrives, it will be just a normal, everyday life. And the happenings of the world will just be going along its normal course.

And Jesus says there will be two out in the field, and there will be two at the mill grinding, and there will be two sleeping in their bedroom. One will be taken, one will be taken into heaven, and the other will be left. It will come suddenly.

And as we heard this morning, that if we would know when a robber would break into our house, we would be prepared. We would have already called 911, and the police would be on their way. But thieves don't work that way. They don't announce ahead of time when they will arrive. They come unexpectedly, unawares, and unannounced.

And therefore, Jesus says that only God, God in heaven, God our Heavenly Father, knows when that moment will be. He said that no human being knows that moment, even though people have tried to calculate and predict when that moment will be. But all have fallen, all predictions have fallen flat on their face. No angel in heaven knows when that moment will be.

And then Jesus goes on further to say that not even the Son of Man, not even Jesus Christ, God's only Son, knows when that moment will be. Only God in heaven knows that moment.

As one old preacher brother in Finland said, it's like God is in his office or in his closet, and when he decides to push the button, some secret button, and only he knows when he's going to push that button, then the end of life. The end of all times. He's at hand.

And so, at the conclusion of chapter 24, just before the beginning of 25, which was the beginning of our text, he said that, and the evil servant at that time shall say in his heart, my Lord is delaying his coming. He said he was going to come, but he still hasn't come. And we're waiting. And we're waiting. And we're waiting. And becoming impatient.

And then he shall, in the meantime, while waiting, begin to smite his fellow servant. And he'll begin to eat and drink with the drunken. He got tired of waiting, so he began to become a rabble rouser and do such things.

Then the Lord of that servant shall come, on a day, when he is not expecting him, and at an hour that he is not aware of. And he shall cut him, this foolish servant, asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. And there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So that was the end of chapter 24. And now begins the beginning of chapter 25, the start of a parable that we read for our evening text. And it begins in this way, Then, Then.

So this parable is directly linked, directly associated, with all of the events that are recorded in the previous chapter, in chapter 24, when Jesus is talking about the end of the world. So this parable is pointing toward that moment and toward that time, thus the end of the world.

Then the kingdom of heaven, shall be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet their bridegroom.

So in order to better understand this parable, it's necessary or good to understand the customs of that time, the Jewish customs of that time. And when a man and a woman, a young man and a young woman become engaged, that's step one. Then they have their engagement party. And then after the engagement party, there's a period of time, and the period of time before the wedding was often one year. That's a long time. Seldom do our engagements last that long. They may, but often the marriage is much sooner.

And it's for this reason that perhaps during those times, and when I went to Finland, I had a wedding there, I've had a wedding that I performed in Africa. I've had a wedding that I've performed, many weddings in Europe. I've had a wedding that I've performed in Asia and China. I've had a wedding that I've performed in South America. And I've had many weddings in North America. So there's two continents. Antarctica, I doubt if there'll ever be a wedding there. And Australia. So I've had weddings on five of the seven continents so far.

But when I had a wedding, I married Nicholas and his wife. It was typical in that culture, which is very similar to the Jewish culture, that in order for Nicholas to get permission to get married to the bride that he wanted to get married, he had to pay the bride to be his father dowry. Or he had to pay a sum of money. Or give a gift of significant value. And so it takes weeks and perhaps many months to earn enough money to pay that gift to your future father-in-law.

And so maybe it's for this reason that the wedding was often one year after the time of the wedding. And that was the time of engagement.

And now, the wedding customs of that time were such that after the engagement, the bride and the groom did not meet each other during that entire time of engagement. They announced their engagement. They had their engagement party. And now for the next, say it's one year, the next one year's time, the next twelve months, they do not see each other face to face until the night of the wedding.

Now, the bride is in her home, I suppose living with her parents, and the groom is in his home, perhaps still living with his parents, and they each begin wedding preparations. And the groom has his best man, and other people that are going to be standing for him at the wedding. And the bride has her witness and her bridesmaids.

And the communication happens in such a way that these bridesmaids and groom's witnesses that are standing for him, they are the ones who bring these messages back and forth, written or oral messages. From one house to another, and back to the other.

So this is kind of compared to the time that we are living, if we jump now and make a spiritual application. We are like brides.

During the Old Testament time, the entire Jewish chosen people nation of Israel was pictured as the bride of Christ, and God was the groom. But now during the New Testament time, Jesus is the groom, and the congregation, the New Testament congregation is the bride.

But then also, the bride is compared to an individual believer, a child of God. So each one of us, as believers, we can be compared to a bride of Christ. And we are engaged, we are betrothed to our bridegroom, our groom, Christ Jesus.

So we are already engaged to Christ Jesus. And we are waiting for that moment when the wedding celebration will begin. And we haven't been able to see our groom, Christ Jesus. We are waiting for that moment, when we can see him face to face, and the wedding will begin there in heaven.

So there are these messages that are being sent back and forth between us and the bridegroom, Christ Jesus, and from him back to us, the brides of Christ. And aren't these messages being sent forth by and through the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is the messenger which comforts and consoles and uplifts us and guides us on this neural way of life.

So now our parable is telling about that moment when the wedding is about to begin. And weddings often happen in the evening. In the Middle Eastern countries near the equator, the sun sets at six o'clock in the evening. So at six o'clock it's already quite dark. And so any time after six it's pitch black.

And it happened in such a way that on the night of the wedding, so the engagement had lasted one year's time, and now it was the wedding night. So what would happen is the groom would come with his best man and his other people who are going to be standing for him, witnesses at the wedding. They would leave from the groom's house. They would come in a procession, carrying torches, come to the bride's house, and then at some point in time when they reached the bride's house, a shout would be heard that the groom, the bridegroom has arrived.

And then the bride and the bride's maids would come out of the bride's house. They would join the procession, the wedding procession, and then go back into the groom's house, and go into the groom's house, and shut the door, and the wedding would begin. That's where the wedding celebration would occur.

So now we're at that moment. It's going to happen this night. The time of betrothal is over. One year has passed by. All the wedding preparations are ready. And the sun has set. And the people are waiting. And the people are waiting. And the people are waiting. The tension is building. The excitement is increasing. They're wondering, when is that shout going to be heard? It says at midnight, but it's not necessarily at midnight. That's just an arbitrary statement. It could be any time after the sun sets. It always happened after the sun set and it was dark outside. So people were on their tippy toes waiting for that shout, waiting to hear that the bridegroom has arrived. And then they would go out to meet that wedding procession.

So this is the moment we're at. And now Jesus uses all of this cultural context, which was very familiar to the Jewish people at that time. They were very, very familiar with all of these happenings. It happened all the time.

And so Jesus says, there happened to be that night, bridesmaids, ten of them, the assistant to the bride, the bridesmaids, and ten of them, there happened to be. Now when you look at them on the surface, they all look the same. All ten had white robes. All ten of them had a lamp in their hands. And all ten of them had a vessel, an oil vessel. And so on and so forth. So in that sense, all of them looked exactly the same.

So we can look at it in this way, that just because a person is registered as a member of Minneapolis Lestadian Lutheran Church, or Rockford Lestadian Lutheran Church, or Elk River Lestadian Lutheran Church, or Monticello Lestadian Lutheran Church, just because they've paid their dues and they're a registered member, they come to church on Sunday and they say God's peace and sing the songs of Zion, does that automatically mean that every one of those members are one of these wise virgins? Not necessarily. A person can fool another human being. But we cannot fool God.

Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, sends this letter to one of the angels of Asia Minor to the church of Smyrna. And it says that you have a name that you are living. Your name is in the membership records of your local church. You have a name that you are living. But actually, in my eyes, you are dead. A very sobering statement.

So the theme for today is simply, watch. Does that mean that we're supposed to look over our shoulders and watch? Is that neighbor correctly believing? Is he on the right path? Is his or her matters in order? Is that what we're supposed to do? Is that what it means to be watchful? First of all, we look into our own heart. Are my matters in order? Is my name written in the Lamb's Book of Life in Heaven? Do I have peace with God in Heaven?

So, Jesus says there were ten virgins. Five were wise and five were foolish. Now, does this mean that 50% of the members were wise and 50% were foolish? That's just an arbitrary number.

Now, this is, remember, the kingdom of God is likened unto ten virgins. It's very similar to that parable of Jesus and the dragnet. When the net was cast into the sea of the world and gathered all kinds of fish. Many fish escaped the net and some fish that had been in the net wiggled free and went to the sea. And again swam back into the ocean as free fish.

But now, eventually, this dragnet was brought to shore. And the dragnet, the net, is a picture of the kingdom of God. And now, out of this net of the kingdom, which is compared to the kingdom of God, there on the last day, the angels come, will come, and pull out fish and put them into two different buckets, pulling them out of the kingdom of God. There were some fish that were good, acceptable fish, and others that were rough, unacceptable, decaying, dead fish. A very sobering parable. Very similar to this parable that we have here before us.

So, what then is the essential difference between these two types of virgins? They all had a white robe. They all had a torch in their hand. They all had a vessel to carry oil.

Now, what is this torch? What is this lamp? Here it says, And then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. If you look at a Bible dictionary or look at a Bible encyclopedia, it often shows that a lamp was kind of like a clay vessel. It almost looks like a little teapot with a spout on it. Then they'd put oil in there and there'd be some sort of wick and then you'd light the wick and then that little lamp would burn. But this was intended to be used inside the house.

And Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount talks about that when we have our lamps lit, we're not supposed to take them and put them underneath a bushel basket, but we're supposed to put them in the candlestick so it can light up the entire room. So that was one type of lamp.

But this isn't the type of lamp that's in question here in this text, because altogether a different word is used in the original tongue in the Greek language. So these little lamps that were inside gave off very little light.

So the type of lamp in question here was something that gave off all kinds of light outside. And what it was, was actually like a club. You had a club and then at the end of the tip of the club was some sort of rag wrapped around it. And then they'd have a vessel which had oil, probably olive oil or the likes. And then they would drench that rag at the end of the club and once they light it they'd have to keep on adding oil to keep it lit.

And so these were the types of lamps, torches actually, that the people in the procession were carrying.

So when the groom came and those attendants, the groom's attendants, they were coming now toward the bride's house and when they got close to the house then a shout was heard that the groom, the bridegroom, has arrived.

And then at that point then all of the bridesmaids would go out, they'd join the procession and then they'd head back to the groom's house for the wedding celebration.

But now in the meantime, while they're waiting and waiting and waiting, it's the middle of the night and pretty slow. Soon all of them, all ten of them, became drowsy and began to kind of, their heads began to bob and they began to doze off. So all of them dozed off.

We remember when Jesus was out there in the Garden of Gethsemane, was it this exact same night? That Thursday night, the last night before he was captured. He told his disciples, stay here, just a little while here in the Garden of Gethsemane. He said, I'm just going to go over there a little ways and I'm going to pray and then when I come back, I'm going to come and pick you up, but stay awake. Don't fall asleep.

Jesus went to pray and he came back and there they were, sawing logs. He shook them awake and he said, couldn't you stay awake? And they went off to pray again and came back the second time. And again, they're all, every one of them was sleeping. Again, he shook them and woke them up and he said, I know that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

And it's just like the Old Testament prophet, Zechariah. He also became drowsy and he fell off to sleep. He began to doze. And then prophet Haggai, who was his escort, then came and woke him up and shook him and woke prophet Zechariah up and prophet Zechariah writes about this in chapter 4 in his prophetical book and he said, what did he see? And the escort prophet Haggai woke him up and he saw a candlestick, a golden candlestick, a candlestick made out of pure gold and lights that were lit on top of each of the branches of the seven golden candlesticks.

So even though he became drowsy and was about to fall asleep and when his escort in faith came to wake him up, he still saw that precious vision of the kingdom of God was lightened onto a golden candlestick.

So typically when they were waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the groom to come and the groom was lingering, they would sing songs and often they would sing songs which is now in the Old Testament in the book called The Songs of Solomon or The Song of Songs.

And if you read that book in the Old Testament it's some people may even wonder why that book is in the Bible. There's love songs, but these were probably typical wedding songs that were sung in that culture during that time.

So now here we come to this point in our text. And then all those virgins arose and they trimmed their lamps.

So what would happen typically is when a person was outside they would have this torch. But when they came to a porch they would set that torch outside leaning up against the wall or some sort of resting pole of some sort. And then they'd go inside and the torch would get left outside.

But just think if they were outside and it happened to be windy, the wind was blowing, it would consume and use up that oil very quickly. So they'd have to keep on adding oil very fast, very quickly in order to keep that torch burning. So the windier the weather was, the faster your oil would be consumed.

So now the torches were outside, leaning up against the side of the house. And they're waiting for that moment when the shout would be heard that the groom has arrived.

Now that's the moment we are in our text. And then all the virgins, so every one of them, all ten of them, they all had their white robes on, they all went out and they grabbed their club, their torch, and they grabbed their spare vessel, the vessel which had the oil to add to the torch. And they tried to trim their lamps. They tried to light their lamps. They needed a lit lamp in order that they could join into the wedding procession. That was heading back to the house where the wedding would be kept.

So if you didn't have a lamp in your hand, you couldn't join the wedding procession. You had to have a lit lamp. If you didn't have a lit lamp, then you couldn't join the procession. So that's where we are in our text.

Then all ten virgins arose, and they tried, began to trim their lamps, or to light their lamps. Then here's the point. Here's the difference now between the soul of five wise and the five foolish.

And the foolish said to the wise, give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. So the wise went out, they lit their lamps, they had their vessel carrying the oil, and they had oil, and they began to add it to the torch, and they had a burning torch.

Now, the other group, called the foolish ones, they tried to light their torch. Maybe it was still the rag at the end was a little bit damp, and it lit, but then it began to go out very quickly, and they grabbed their vessel of oil, and it was empty. And their torch went out.

And the foolish said to the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps that we tried to light quickly went out. We're out of oil.

And the wise answered, saying, No. No. If we don't, there won't be enough for us and you. But go rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

Well, this sounds kind of selfish. Now, there's been, I've heard many types of interpretations for this verse. And some interpretations say that this is the time just before a heresy, and others say that preaching the gospel is conditional, that if someone comes and asks for the gospel, that we can, you know, consider the situation and the penitence of that person. And if we consider that person not sorrowful or penitent enough, then no, I'm not going to preach the gospel. I'm not going to give them any oil.

These are some of the interpretations that I've heard over the years. But remember, this is the end of all times. When the bridegroom, when the shout is heard that the bridegroom or the groom has arrived, that's the end of all times. The time of grace has come to an end. There is no more chance or opportunity to go and purchase oil.

Death, as it has been said, does not prepare anyone for final departure. We must be ready, departure ready, and have our matters in order before our moment of death comes. Because after the moment of death, one's fate is sealed. You're either just or unjust. And there's no changing afterwards.

So, and while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage. So those that had a torch, a torch that was lit, and oil in the vessel, their spare vessel, they kept on adding the oil to the torch and the torch remained burning. And the procession proceeded back to the groom's house, went into the house, and then the door was closed, and the wedding began.

And when they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut.

Afterwards also came the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open up to us. So it's similar, just during the time of Noah, when Noah had preached for 120 years, and that a flood will come, and people just mocked and ridiculed him, and didn't pay any heed to his sermon.

But eventually when the rain started coming, and the door to the ark of Noah was shut, it was too late. God had shut the door to the ark, and there was no more opening the door to the ark.

So this is a very similar type of situation. Afterward also came the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open up to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

And now here is the main point of the text. A parable has a main point, and the main point of a parable is always, always read at the end. Verse 13, the final verse of our parable in our text.

Watch therefore, for you know not neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man will come.

So this brings us down to personal watching in faith. That would be departure ready. These are the words you know they say. I like that. The good things these are the words those of us who follow the blessed revelation for the breaking of seals the wine of and the foolish sake of the kingdom of God. Now that is gotten.

So I'm going to read you a verse that words in the Bible that says, I willander talked about all of us and our recomendance language, but I've read from commentaries and other books explaining that the word righteousness in the Swedish language literally means to be departure ready, ready to depart. Matters are in order. There's peace with God in heaven and a name written in the Lamb's Book of Life in heaven.

And so these foolish people, the difference between the wise and the foolish is the foolish didn't have oil in their lamps. Paul writes to the Romans in this that those that are led by the Spirit of God are God's own. And those that are not led by the Spirit are not his own.

So the oil in the vessel is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. So those wise virgins had oil in their lamps. And so the foolish didn't have oil in their lamps. And they had by faith the Holy Spirit. And they were being led by the Spirit of God and they are, were God's own.

And so it comes down to personal watching in faith.

There was, when Finland was in war back in the 1940s, there's a story of a man who was a boy that grew up in a believing home but had given up his faith. And he was now in the army. And, and of course, there was many other soldiers in that same battalion. And many of those soldiers were believing boys. And they would often remind this boy who grew up in a believing home that it would be important that he would make repentance and he would return to God's kingdom.

And he would return to his home. And so he would return to his home. And he would return to his home. And so he would return to his home. And he would return to his home. And he would write a chest lesion So, previous civil war Oakwood is readily accepted Ly pain. He would go livestock and give he would ride a horse down Tywhat to go back home and seek service to go out to normalize his own world and his own home. So he could take back his

So this one certain soldier said, Yes, I know it would be important, but not yet. I'll do it a little bit later.

So, one evening that we're going to have services. So the leading commanding officer allowed them to have services, which they were able to do on occasion to have services, which they were able to do on occasion now and then.

And so it's the night when they were going to services and they got into some Jeep or some sort of texto and just go out and or some sort of truck to transport this group of people going to do services in a certain building there on that compound.

And on the way, a bomb of some sort was shot and landed nearby that truck and exploded. And lo and behold, some people were wounded and injured, and they had to be transported to the local hospital.

And one of those individuals who was wounded was this boy from a believing home. And there in the hospital, now he knew that he's in critical condition. He may not have long to live. And he began to cry out, is there a believer nearby? I need to have my sins forgiven. Can someone forgive me my sins?

There was no believer nearby. Nobody there to preach the gospel. And he died. He was not departure ready.

This is a sad story where he didn't take heed of his time of grace.

So this is a sobering story, and hopefully this wouldn't happen to anyone of us or anyone that we know, but may this always be the most important matter in our life, this that we would keep faith in a good conscience. That we would have our sins forgiven. We would be departure ready. And we would be ready, lamps lit, when the shout is heard, the bridegroom has arrived.

So even this evening we can be happy and free when we can be one of God's own, a child of God, a member of God's kingdom, on our journey toward that everlasting wedding celebration. That will one day begin in heaven, but will never end.

There we will be able to see our bridegroom, Christ Jesus, that we have been waiting for to see. We can see him face to face, and that eternal wedding celebration will begin.

Have a fortunate journey all the way to that wedding festival in heaven one day. Believe even now. Our sins forgiven in Jesus' name and blood, and be of good cheer. You can believe unto peace, freedom, and joy. Can I also believe my sins forgiven? I desire to believe in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.