Matthew 25: 1-13

Theme: Salvation

Series: Parables of the Kingdom

Living in South Louisiana, we can identify with cockroach problems. But, rarely do we go though such extremes to get rid of them. A woman nearly died when she sprayed pesticide in her mouth to kill a cockroach that had flown in. The poison burned her mouth and left her hospitalized. "I just did not think," the 20-year-old admitted.

That’s kind of an embarrassing thing to find its way into the news. All of us have done moronic things in our lives. We can live with a few embarrassing moments if we can learn from our mistakes. What none of us want to do is be a fool. None of us really want to be a fool when it comes to the things of God.

As we have seen in the last few weeks, Jesus was most concerned that his listeners understood the nature of the kingdom of God. He often told stories about the kingdom. And when Jesus began a story with "The Kingdom of heaven is like" then we know we better listen. This is exactly the situation here. The kingdom of heaven is like ten bridesmaids. Five of them were wise or prudent while five of them were foolish. The word for foolish in Greek is the word moros which means "dull, stupid, or foolish," and it is the word from which we get the word "moron." As we read this parable, who do you identify with, the wise or the morons?

In Matthew 24, the disciples asked Jesus some questions about the end of the age. He warmed that one day he would return at a time when we least expect him. And when he returns, there will be no mistake about what is happening. With that in mind, how are we to prepare for that day?

Jesus told a parable to explain the coming of his kingdom. The 10 bridesmaids go out to wait for the groom. In the custom of that day, the bride waited in her father's house until the groom came to take her to his house and to the wedding feast. His timing was up to him. He might come in the day or the evening or in the late night. It might even take a day or two. It was unpredictable and it totally up to the groom. The bride was to be prepared and waiting. The bridesmaids were to be her lookouts. They were to wait along the road so that when the groom arrived the bride would be ready. Of course the kingdom of God is like this, the Groom may be delayed for whatever reason. The Bride is to stand at the ready for his return.

As they waited night fell and they lit their lamps. The lamps were torches which consisted of long poles with wicks wrapped around them and then soaked in oil and set ablaze. The darkness deepened and hours passed and the maids fell asleep, their lamps still burning. They entered a deep sleep and the lamps went out. Suddenly the sound of the trumpet blared and shouts of joy and laughter rang out. It was the groom, he had come for his bride. The ten maids awoke and quickly trimmed the wicks of their lamps, filled them with oil and relit them. It was then that five of the maids discovered that they were not prepared for the coming of the groom. They were out of oil. They could not see, they could not be a part of the processional as the bride and the groom went into the wedding feast.

Please give us some of your oil! But we cannot, we only have enough for ourselves. Go and buy oil from the merchants. They went away and aroused some poor shop keeper and managed to buy some oil.

The maids returned, lamps full, but it was too late. The feast had started, the sounds of laughter and music and joy, unspeakable joy could be heard through the walls. But the door was shut, locked and bolted. The five maids knocked on the door and cried, "lord, open up for us, let us in." Through the door came those stinging, blinding, sad words, "I don't know you." The Greek is written in such a way that it means, I do not know you now and I have not known you.

The lack of preparation of the maids was an insult to the bride and the groom. Weddings were one of the most important events in Jewish society. It is said that even rabbis would stop teaching when a wedding processional passed by to honor the couple. Their lack of preparation was insulting and they were excluded from the wedding.

Throughout the Bible the wedding is the symbol of the end of the age, the day Jesus returns. The picture is Jesus as the groom who comes for his bride, the church.

In the parable there are two kinds of people. There are some who have fooled themselves into thinking that they are ready and there are those who truly are ready. There are so many people today who maintain that they can believe anything, do anything, act any way and still believe that they are Christians. It a sad deceit. It is spiritual blindness. The command is, follow Jesus. Often people say well, I believe in God, I believe in most of the precepts of the Bible. I am a pretty good person. I must be ok, why do I need to make a life changing commitment of faith? The reason is the radical nature of sin and a radical condition requires a radical solution. If you want to be prepared for the Second Coming of Christ, we must be willing to follow his plan. In fact, if you will not follow the plan that God has given us, you have no hope, you will never be prepared.

There are others who have made preparations, but nevertheless, do not live as if they are ready. I was talking to a young adult the other day. He lamented that some of our leaders act so well at church, yet, curse and use the "N" word out in the community. They look unprepared to the naked eye. It is just as bad to appear foolish as to be a fool. Today’s young adults can’t be deceived. They have seen more in their short years then most of us have seen all our lives and they can spot a fake. They are looking for integrity and authenticity in Christians and particularly in Christian leaders. What untold damage we do when we behave like the world

God’s radical plan requires us to die to ourselves and to become new creatures in Christ. We have been called, literally, to a new life. We need to understand that our condition is so bad that if God did not intervene in our lives through His Holy Spirit, then we could never be saved. Salvation is the work of God in your life.

God’s plan involves three things. First, God’s Holy Spirit causes us to understand that we are sinners. The Spirit convicts us of our sin and calls us unto Jesus. The Spirit makes it clear that because of our sin we are judged by God. John 3: 18 says that if we do not believe in Jesus we are judged already. It is our sin that separates us from God.

Judgment is the first step God took to free us from sin. Without judgment we would not know the seriousness of our sin. But God went much farther than judgment. God became flesh and lived among us and then he died on the cross for us as our substitute. He paid our penalty on the cross.

The second thing that we must do is repent. Repentance means that we turn from our sin and turn to God. We turn from all of the trash and hatred and misplaced desire and we turn to God with empty hands, admitting our sinfulness and waiting for his cleansing. We don't offer anything to God, we have nothing to offer. We turn to him and receive.

The third thing is we must come to God by placing our faith in Jesus as Lord. At the heart of all sin is rebellion against God's right to rule in our lives. We either serve our fallen, sinful self or serve God. Salvation demands that we give ourselves to God, that we accept him as our Boss, our Dictator, the one who now dictates our attitudes, our desires, our very life itself.

Salvation is a costly gift from God to us. It is the wise person who comes to Christ and waits for his return. These three steps are the broad outline of how we become a Christian. To do anything less than these three things is to be like the five foolish bridesmaids, knocking on the door, begging to be let in. But the door is closed.

So, I have to ask you, are you wise or are you a moron?