Good News for the Unprepared

Transcript

Heavenly Father, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable and pleasing to you. You are our strength and you are our redeemer. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. You can be seated. All right, be honest. Be honest with me. How many of you guys have wondered if it's the end times? At least two of you are honest. You know, there's just a lot of talk about the end of the world today. Sometimes it's literal. Somebody called me just this last week and said, Nathan, do you think we're in the end times?

Uh things seem over the top and crazy i believe they have probably seen that way to every generation, to be honest if we go back i think every generation has had this feeling of like man things are over the top and crazy maybe it's the end times, we're not always talking about it Literally, though, lots of times people are kind of catastrophizing either in their mind or, you know, out in the world. In other words, they're going to the worst case scenario. Do you do that in your mind sometimes when things are going on? I know I have a tendency to catastrophize, go to the worst possible scenario. You're an offender bender. You're like, oh, my gosh, I'm going to get sued.

The car is totaled. what is happening that that is kind of how i, how i am and i have to work work through that with the lord i notice uh especially in election season which we okay we're we made it through right uh but especially election season, there's a sense of catastrophizing right oh things don't go the way i want them to go, the world as we know it is going to come to an end, have you not heard that kind of rhetoric. I mean, I've heard pastors say that. I've heard pastors say that if the election, for instance, does not go a certain way, that's the end of the church in America and stuff like that.

They're afraid of the end of the world. They're afraid of the end of their world anyways, as they know it.

And I just, I'm at a point now where when people start talking about the end, I'm less interested in figuring out whether or not this is actually the end, of the world as we know it. And realizing I can just feel fine. I'm sorry, I had to do it. I'm sorry. It's a deep REM cut. Millennial pop culture at play. But I can feel fine.

Because whether or not it's the end of the actual world or just the world as I know it, The way that God has called me to live and the care that he has for me has not changed, will not change. So there's a peace that becomes possible in that. And now when somebody asks me, do you think it's the end of the world? Although it's fun to, like, you know, theorize and, you know, go through the Bible prophecies and, you know, see which president was actually the Antichrist, whatever. Um, it is, it is now I find much more productive to think, okay, I am feeling anxious. How then can I live? If that makes sense. How then can I live? And so number one thing, this is in your notes. Number one thing we have to realize in this conversation about the end is that we don't know the future. We don't know the future. Um, yeah.

Jesus in the parable today in the gospel is talking about his second coming, I think, which is the day of the Lord, the great the great judgment, all that stuff. And he is and that's going to be the end of the world as we know it. Of course, it's not going to be the end of the world, the end of this world in a sense. But we're going to have a new heavens and a new earth. It's not really the end of of us or creation or any of that stuff. But it's definitely going to be a big transition That's what he's talking about And he says You don't know the day or the hour.

So part of this is just coming to grips with this. We don't know the future. And yet, we are called to a consistent and steady way of life regardless of this. We are called to watch and to prepare for Christ's coming. I hope you were listening to the story. So you don't have time to read it again. But these 10 virgins are getting ready for this marriage celebration, right? They're waiting for the bridegroom to come. And I think that the bridesmaids represent us, the people of God, waiting and watching for the great celebration. And there are five that are wise and there are five that are foolish. The foolish bring their lamps, but they don't bring enough oil to last through the night. This is number two in your notes. When Christ comes, we will look back on certain dispositions that we have cultivated. We will look back on certain ways that we have or have not prepared.

And mainly this, I think, has to do with our attitudes and affections. We're going to look back on some of those things, and we're going to ask, were we foolish or were we wise? And we'll know if we're foolish or we're wise, because there's a warning here. The warning is really about complacency. We can think that once we're converted, once we kind of learn some doctrine, once we start going to church, that we don't really need anything else from the Lord, that we're good. Our initial lamp has been lit, and we're good to make it through the night. Now, friends, I want to suggest that the oil here in the parable symbolizes what Christ supplies to us, that we have to keep receiving what he wants to give, that there's an ongoing gift. The wise are supplied for the long haul. Both groups fall asleep. Did you notice that? Both groups fall asleep. The God's not calling us to this kind of anxious hypervigilance, if you will, but he's calling us to faithful readiness. Faithful readiness. And the task is simple. Number three in your note there, yes, the task is simple. Be a bearer of light. That's what we do. We're lighting the way.

But we can neglect the preparation. We can neglect the ongoing gifts that the Lord wants to give us. And the consequences, of course, are serious because the foolish, those that assume they're good without thinking ahead, without preparing to receive, will find themselves outside of the celebration with the door shut. And Jesus gives us this warning so that those who are unprepared will wake up, and receive what he wants to give them.

The good news here for the unprepared, there's a warning for sure for the unprepared. But that is good news because it means that God desires that none should be shut out. Why do you think Jesus is sharing this? So we won't be unprepared. Yeah amen so we'll be wise so we'll be wise and so i read this parable alongside revelation's picture of a kingdom where the gates are never shut, now i read what god wants for us and what god is accomplishing in us alongside this god came to us in christ to deal with our sins to deal with All of that selfish and self-destructive attitudes, actions, and affections, those are the things that leave us unprepared to receive him. And yet he comes to deal with it. He died for us, forgiving us. He's calling us to himself. He's raised for us to give us a share in that victory over death. And listen, he sends his Holy Spirit then to empower and equip us even now. This is number four. he prepares us with the oil of his presence.

It is not surprising to me that over time, oil has come to symbolize for the church the presence of the Holy Spirit. And so when I think of this parable, and I know this is not the only probably interpretation, but as I think about it, and I think about the oil symbolism, if this is the Holy Spirit that God wants to give us, that he wants to fill us once, and then he wants to keep filling us, and are we going to be willing to receive it? This is the question that I think is before us today. So I want to encourage you to be filled with the Spirit. And I also want to encourage you that this is not complicated. If you want to be filled with the Spirit, ask for it. Luke 11, 13 says the Father is faithful to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. That's all you have to do. Ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Move forward in faith. You're good. You'll be filled. If the oil is the spirit what are the wicks on which he burns this is, something I want to suggest to you that there are probably more but I want to suggest three wicks, three areas of preparation that we can trim as we wait and watch the.

Marriage celebration attendants wake up and they trim their wicks they're getting ready for that fire how do we do that what does it mean, to be prepared in that way i want to suggest three like i say, three wicks faith hope love, First, faith. Faith is the gift of trust in the Lord. And we can cultivate this. We can receive this gift as we acknowledge all that God has done for us in prayer, in meditation, in celebration. Most of all, by returning over and over to the gospel, to the good news of what God has done for us in Jesus. St. Paul says that faith comes by hearing. And the idea is that we are hearing that gospel over and over. We're meditating on it. Faith is increased in us. Of course, it's a gift, but we have some agency as to whether or not we will receive that. So we can trim the wick of faith. Second, hope. Many of you.

May be familiar with a passage in Hebrews 11 and the first verse that says, faith is the assurance of things hoped for. We have faith and hope here, the conviction of things not seen. So faith leads us into this idea of hope what are we hoping for things that we haven't seen yet, yet we we know they're gonna happen that's the revelation vision we're confident that though we haven't seen the renewal of all things yet, that it's in progress and that it's going to be completed.

Paul says that especially when we endure losses, when we look around the world, we're going to see loss, we're going to experience loss, that we do not grieve as those who have no hope. This was in the first Thessalonians passage 4 and 13. And he says that we in verse 18, that we ought to encourage one another with these words. So how do we trim the wig of hope? By encouraging one another. Hey, things are hard now. It's not that we put our heads in the sand, but we recognize God has good things in store for you. God has good things in store for me. And we encourage each other. The Lord is going to come.

Finally, and of course, supremely, we can prepare by trimming the wick of love, making space for love to manifest in our lives now, what is love well if you've ever been to a christian wedding um you've you've heard the passage about love from paul's letter to the church at corinth, so if you're remembering that, you will may remember that it's not just It's sentimentality. But love is like kind of faith and hope in action.

Here's how Amos puts it in our passage today from Amos chapter 5. Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. I think this is love. God's justice. God working to make things as they should be for the world. And so again when we think about making space for love it's not only having warm fuzzy affectionate feelings although that's that's great that's part of it but it's also, and more foundationally true compassion true care, witnessing in our actions to things as they should be in the world. Putting expression to that faith that we have in God, to that hope that's hidden in our hearts.

At the end of 1 Corinthians 13, or that passage in 1 Corinthians 13, we read that faith, hope, and love, are what's going to remain in the end. And so I want to encourage us today to prepare by living in that light now, trimming our wicks, and being wise and prepared to receive the Lord when he comes. We do that by grace. We do it in the power of the Holy Spirit. And the good news is that if we were unprepared when we came in, we can leave now prepared to enter into the celebration that God has for us in Christ. We can enter it now and we can remain with Him forever. Amen.