Summer Sermon Series: Countdown to the Millennium St. Mark's Lutheran Church

Text: St. Matthew 25:1-13 Watertown, WI

August 8, 1999 Pastor Jensen

St. Matthew 25:1-13

"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

"At midnight the cry rang out: `Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'

"Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, `Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.'

" `No,' they replied, `there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.'

"But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

"Later the others also came. `Sir! Sir!' they said. `Open the door for us!'

"But he replied, `I tell you the truth, I don't know you.'

"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Wise or Foolish? Which One Are You?

Introduction

All summer we've been looking at what God's Word has to tell us about the end times. What we've seen is that we are living in the end times, because all the material, physical signs and all the spiritual signs have been fulfilled. Now, in our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus speaks about these end times in which we live. And He does so in the form of a parable. He says . . . "At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise."

Now, when we hear the term "the kingdom of heaven" in the Bible, it can have several different shadings of definition. It can mean heaven itself. And, it quite often can mean God working in the hearts of believers through the Gospel message. But here it seems to mean the visible church on earth. And in this parable, Jesus is the bridegroom who at some unknown time will come and take His church on earth to the glorious wedding banquet of heaven. And in this parable, the visible church on earth is pictured as ten virgins: five wise, five foolish. And we're part of that picture, because you and I are part of the visible church.

So, which one are you? Are you wise? Or are you foolish? Now, you might be saying, "What kind of a question is that?!?" After all, none of us likes to consider the possibility that we may be foolish. We all like to think that we've got our act together. We all like to think that we're reasonably intelligent. And none of us would ever want to be labeled foolish.

But, Jesus isn't talking about intelligence here. In this parable the foolish virgins were foolish, because they let the oil burn out in their lamps. The lamps that the virgins have, those are the lamps of faith. And the oil that fueled those lamps . . . that represents the Holy Spirit working through Word of God and the Sacraments to fuel our faith. It is the message of Christ and the reception of the Lord's Supper that keeps the flame of faith burning brightly.

So, by giving us this parable, Jesus is really asking us if we are being wise in our use of His Word and Sacraments or if we've been foolish with our use of His Word and Sacrament. And He's concerned, because He knows that if faith isn't continually fueled by the Word of God, it can go out. And by giving us a parable in which 50% of the virgins were foolish, Jesus is telling us that during the end times in which we live many will fail to make good use of His Word and fail to regularly receive His Sacrament. So for our own spiritual good, we've got to ask the question again: Wise or Foolish. Which one are you?

I. Wise?

Now there perhaps have been times in our lives when we can really identify with the wise virgins in the parable . . . times in our lives when we have been very caught up in God's Word . . . times when we were very excited to hear about Christ's love . . . times when God's mercy and presence in our lives were so overwhelming to us.

• •Maybe it was the day of your confirmation, when dressed in a white robe you stood before the Lord's altar and made a vow to be faithful to Him who is always faithful to you. Maybe it was then, after years of studying God's Word that you were filled with His mercy and love. And, you knew His purpose for your life. Maybe it was then that you really could identify with the wise virgins in the parable.
• 
  
  
• •Maybe it was the day of your marriage, when you and your spouse stood before the Lord so eager to hear that the two of you were not in it alone, but Christ would be with you with His love, strength and forgiveness.
• 
  
  
• •Maybe it was the time that you held your firstborn child and marveled at God's miracle of birth and how the almighty God had chosen you to take care of this little miracle. Or, perhaps you were even further amazed when you brought that child to the waters of Holy Baptism and you were just overwhelmed that God there took your child and made your child His child. Maybe it was at that time that you could identify with the wise virgins in Jesus' parable.
• 
  
  
• •Or, maybe it was you or a loved one was very ill, or at the death of a loved one. Maybe it was then that you were so very eager to be filled with God's words of peace, comfort and encouragement.

II. Foolish?

Yes, there have been times ain our lives when the Word of God means everything to us and we can't get enough of it. There have been times when we can identify with the wise virgins. Yet, in between life's milestones . . . in the middle of our daily routines . . . I fear we all too often can more closely with the foolish virgins.

Now, what made those virgins foolish. They were foolish because they let the oil run out in their lamps and didn't have any extra with which to fill their lamps. But, why? Why didn't they have extra? Why did they run out? As we consider the possible answers, we can see how we have often fallen into the same foolishness in our use of God's Word.

• •Perhaps those foolish virgins didn't think they had time to get extra oil. After all, they had busy schedules.

Do we see ourselves there? All too often we think that we are too busy to take time out to hear or read God's Word. But, when we think that way, we're fooling ourselves. We all know we can find time for the things that we consider important. The reality is that we foolishly don't find time for God's Word, because we don't consider it that important. But, it is! It is what fuels your faith and a faith that is not fueled will soon go out.

• •Perhaps those foolish virgins didn't think they needed any more oil for their lamps. Maybe they foolishly thought they had enough.
• 
  
  

How about us? Don't we often take that same attitude with God's Word? Do we think, "Oh, I already know all that stuff about Jesus. I know about His birth, life, death and resurrection. Ya, I know He's coming again some day. So I already know what I need.""

It should come as no surprise then, when we are going through a difficult time, that flame of faith begins to flicker. It flickers, because we haven't been fueling it with God's Word and the Lord's Supper.

And, don't we sometimes take the same attitude with our children, when we assume that we don't need us to share God's Word with them through Bible Lessons and home devotions, because they get that "stuff" at Sunday School, Lutheran Elementary School or Confirmation Class.

When our children leave their formal Christian education at our congregation, it should come to us as no surprise that the flame of faith begins to flicker and in many cases is extinguished. It flickers or goes out because we haven't fueled it with the message of Christ's love.

We can't fall into the false thinking that faith is merely a recitation of Biblical facts, so that when we can recite the Biblical facts then we're set for the rest of life. Faith in Christ is no a mere head knowledge. Faith is based on the Biblical facts of Christ's birth, life, death, resurrection and return, but it is a living, growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

• •Perhaps the foolish virgins didn't have extra oil, because they thought they had plenty of time to get more oil later. But, they didn't. When they didn't expect it, the cry went out and the Bridegroom arrived.
• 
  
  

We can fall into that foolish thinking with our use of God's Word. We think, "Well, I'm busy right now, but I'll have time for church and Bible study later on, when I'm older." But, you and I don't know that. None of us knows whether today is our last day or not. And, none of us knows when Christ, the Bridegroom, will return for us all.

• •Another way those five virgins were foolish was they had to do was that something other than oil in their lamps would help them. They thought that the wise virgins could give them some of their oil. Or they thought that they could just show up at the wedding banquet and then they could gain entrance, because they had been part of the group.

Many foolishly think this. They think that the faith of a spouse or parent or grandparent can help them. Or they foolishly think that some outward, visible membership in a church is going to help them. But outward connection to a congregation does not save a person. Nor can we be saved by the faith of others. It is through personal faith in Christ that we are connected to Him and His salvation.

Conclusion

So there have been times when we have been like the wise virgins and times when we have been like the foolish virgins. And, we can be thankful that Jesus forgives our foolishness and even to this day has not withdrawn His Word and Sacraments from us. But today, through this parable, Jesus wants to know how we are going to be from this point on. What are we going to do with His Word and Sacraments? Are we going to be wise, or foolish? May He grant us the strength of spirit and the grace to wise in our use of His Word and Sacraments. Because they alone make us wise unto salvation and soon the Bridegroom will return. Amen.