Matthew 24, 36.
So will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Then two men will be in the field.
One will be taken and one left.
Two women will be grinding at the mill.
One will be taken and one left.
Therefore stay awake, for you do not know what day your Lord is coming.
But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming,
he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.
Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household
to give them their food at the proper time?
Blessed is that servant whom his master will find doing so when he comes.
Truly I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions.
But if that wicked servant says to himself,
My master is delayed and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with the drunkards,
the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him
and at an hour he does not know,
and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites.
In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
Five of them were foolish and five were wise.
For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,
but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.
But at midnight there was a cry,
Here is the bridegroom, come out to meet him.
Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.
And the foolish said to the wise,
Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.
But the wise answered, saying,
Since there will be not enough for us and for you,
go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.
And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came,
and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast,
and the door was shut.
Afterward the other virgins came also, saying,
Lord, Lord, open to us.
But he answered,
Truly I say to you, I do not know you.
Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
That's the word of the Lord.
Well, good morning, everyone.
Good morning.
Warm welcome to you if you're visiting this morning.
Very welcome.
Hope you stick around for a cuppa after the service
so we can get to know you better.
Why don't we pray as we come to God's word.
Father, we need all of your word to know you properly
and to know what you ask of us.
So I pray that you give us hearts that are trusting
that we need your word to us this morning.
I pray that, as always, you would give us your spirit
to understand what you are saying
and to believe and to cherish you more
and to obey you more.
And I pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, there's many important things I haven't felt ready for.
This sermon's one.
Ooh, hello.
This sermon is one of them.
I didn't feel ready to become a dad.
And I was right.
But God gives us grace, doesn't he?
I never feel ready for those difficult conversations with people.
I'm sure you can empathize.
I question my suitability for church work.
Am I really ready for that?
No doubt you HSC students could do with another week or month
to feel ready.
But again, God will give you grace.
But I am ready for Christ to come back.
Not because of me, but I am ready.
That's the most important thing.
And there's so much peace in that.
And I pray that you too might be able to confidently,
not confident in yourself,
but confidently share that same feeling of being ready.
Knowing you're ready.
Where we're up to is Jesus' private instruction to his disciples,
where he's telling them about the end of history.
We saw last week that it's going to be characterized by a lot of distress,
a lot of hard things.
Life is going to be struggle.
But we can interpret them like a woman going into labor can interpret them in hope.
Knowing that joy is just around the corner.
We saw that Jesus gives us a proper balance when we're expecting his return.
Not to be too quick when people say it's so, so close when they're reading political events and things.
But also this pulsating hope that he is at the very gates.
He is so near.
Because these signs are happening.
They have been happening for many generations now.
He could come back in my lifetime.
It could progress very quickly.
And so we're picking up where Jesus is answering the disciples' questions of when.
So verse 36, concerning that day and hour when he comes and no one will have to tell you he's come.
We're all going to see it like lightning in the sky.
It'll be obvious.
No one knows that day and hour.
Not even the angels of heaven, nor the sun, but the Father only.
So don't go claiming you've found evidence in scripture that you know.
I don't know why Christians do it.
It's claiming you've had a dream or a vision or a prophecy.
No angel can tell you that.
As one person put it, it's almost blasphemy to claim that.
The sun doesn't even know.
Only the Father knows the day or hour.
I don't think that's meant to be encouraging us to work out the week or month or year.
The day or hour is emphasizing the suddenness of it.
It could be this hour, this day.
It's calling us like Mad-Eye Moody in Harry Potter.
Constant vigilance.
That's the point of this passage, of knowing this.
But notice the Father knows.
He's not going to be reactionary.
He does know the time he has set, the moment.
He's not going to be rushed.
He knows when the sin of the world has reached its full and enough is enough.
He knows when each of the people Christ has died for has come into the fold and that's enough.
He knows.
There is a time.
But how is it that the son doesn't know?
I can't just skip over that, can I?
It's the burning question in all of our minds.
Isn't he fully God?
We need to let scripture help us understand how Jesus being fully divine and fully human works.
And there's obviously much mystery in the incarnation.
If we can, one helpful thing I've come across is if we look at Gospel of John.
The Gospel of John, out of all the four gospels, emphasizes Jesus' deity.
Like, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.
But it's the Gospel of John that emphasizes his dependence on the Father.
Every single word he speaks is what the Father has given him.
Not one miracle, not one work apart from what the Father tells him to do.
So in that one gospel you've got his deity and his dependence on the Father.
Whether he knows now that he has returned to the Father's right hand, I don't think we're told.
At least in his earthly ministry, he did not know.
How that works, I'm not claiming that has satisfied your question.
All I'm saying is let's let scripture tell us how this works.
He's dependent on the Father.
He's not bothered by not knowing.
He just leans in to what his Father has called him to do.
I think his not knowing also means that what he's saying here to his disciples means he's not manipulating us.
He's not saying, I could come at any time.
But I actually know it's, I don't know, he knows the precise.
He's not.
There's an integrity here.
He's preparing us for how to live well.
So what does he tell us?
What do we know?
Well, he says, he compares the days to Noah.
They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.
I'm going to give you a sign of Jesus coming back.
Okay, I'm going to do what I just said not to do.
Next time the toaster pops up and it startles you a bit, that could be a sign Jesus is coming back.
Because they were having brekkie when Noah, when the flood came in Noah's time.
They're eating and drinking.
Life is very ordinary.
Apart from that wacko over there who no one took seriously, no one expected the flood.
It was just ordinary.
They're selling things.
They're buying things.
They're going on holidays.
They're getting a promotion.
They're getting made redundant.
They're having a baby.
They're attending a funeral.
They're refinancing their house.
And then the flood came.
And it was too late.
Those who weren't ready were swept away in judgment.
So will be the coming of the Son of Man.
One of the things that I find, it's just so hard to believe in Jesus' second coming because life is ordinary.
It doesn't feel like it could happen any moment.
But he says it'll be like that.
Today's jobs feel the same as last week.
Two men are in the field.
Maybe a father and a son.
Two women are grinding wheat into flour.
Just getting on with life.
Two workers are in the office.
Two mums are on a play date.
Two friends are walking by Lake Macquarie and one taken and the other left.
It's going to be sudden is what he's saying.
Very ordinary and very sudden.
And so he urges us, stay awake.
You do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
Be spiritually alert.
Don't let the ordinary just lull you into, I don't know, complacency.
Don't let it be all you see.
I've got these jobs to do today.
We need to be spiritually minded.
Do you lock your doors at night when you go to bed?
I do.
I go around and check every door.
I don't know.
Anyone not?
Now, why don't we do it on the 12th of every month?
Why do we do it every night?
Well, it's pretty obvious, isn't it?
We have no idea when someone might want to just walk in.
Two doors down, someone tried to steal our neighbour's car.
Got the car keys, but I don't know, something happened and they got thwarted.
But my brother had an intruder and the family was asleep.
He was in his study and just came out and noticed things weren't quite right.
You just don't know.
That's why we lock the doors at night.
If you want to be ready for the thief, you've got to always be ready.
It's the simple point.
It's a simple point.
You must always be ready.
If you're unsure of where you stand with God, it is really, really unwise to keep saying,
one day, one day.
It's very unwise.
You don't even do that with your physical belongings.
You lock the door every night.
Why are you doing that with your soul?
Don't keep pushing it.
Down the line.
Some people say they're not afraid of death or judgment.
I don't know why.
If you're not afraid of God's judgment because you think you're a good person.
I heard this illustration.
I'll test it on you.
Imagine you had this invisible tape recorder hanging around your neck.
And it only turned on when you started a sentence like, people ought to...
I don't know.
Put their rubbish out.
I don't know.
People ought to be on time.
People...
I hate it when someone...
I would never...
People should...
If the recorder just picked up your moral rules...
And let's say God replayed that tape recorder.
Like, he takes it off your neck when you face him in judgment.
Oh, I didn't know that was there.
It's an invisible tape recorder.
And God just plays it back.
Your own moral rules.
How would you go?
You want...
I'm stuttering here.
No one would measure up.
I would not measure up to my own rules.
Let alone the Ten Commandments.
You must be ready.
Jesus said.
You don't know the day or hour.
So the question is, what does it look like to be ready?
What does it look like to be following Jesus?
Have a real relationship with Jesus and be ready?
We're given four parables until the end of chapter 25.
We're just going to cover the first two today.
These parables are spoken to his disciples.
And the consequences at the end of each of these is an eternal difference.
This is not about different rewards for Christians.
This is eternal.
It's pictures of life or death.
Jesus seems to be presuming that the visible church in the world,
people who profess Christianity,
that some prove that they have no spiritual reality,
only external appearance.
But he's telling us these things for his people who do have spiritual reality,
to know they're ready and how we are to live,
waiting for his return.
Some show that they don't know Jesus because they fail to be ready.
Others are always ready.
That's the picture we've got here in these four parables.
It's calling for self-examination.
Please don't be sitting here today going,
I really wish that person heard this sermon.
This is a self-examination section of scripture.
So what does it look like to be ready?
Well, the first picture we have is servants to a master.
It looks like a faithful servant to their master.
Verses 45 to 51.
Now, I think this section especially speaks to elders
and those in recognised spiritual leadership.
I think there is...
Not everyone should presume to be teachers.
There is a greater judgement.
So please pray for us.
Pray for your elders because we can do the church good or a lot of harm.
But I also don't see why the principles here
doesn't also speak to all believers
when you're given responsibility over other believers.
Even if that responsibility is for a brief time
and a brief opportunity.
So fathers and mothers,
your spiritual oversight of your children.
Grace Kids teachers coming into term four next term, next week.
A brother or sister who comes to you for counsel.
They're opening themselves up to your input in that moment.
Leading the church in whatever activity,
in small group, in prayer.
So I think it also applies to any responsibility,
any task being given from our master to serve our fellow servants.
If we compare the faithful servant to the wicked servant,
I think we see four characteristics of the difference.
One is being conscious of being a fellow servant.
The one put in charge in that moment
isn't comparing themselves going,
I'm superior.
They're faithful to their master.
They're just getting on with the job for his sake.
Whereas the wicked servant has forgotten
and he starts to beat his fellow servants.
He's forgotten.
He is a fellow servant.
The second characteristic is conscious of his master's return.
The wise servant is conscious he will give an account to his master.
The wicked servant presumes his master's absence.
I assume that means they're just focused on the present situation.
They're just forgetting the fact that they need to give an account.
The third characteristic is this leads to their treatment of fellow servants.
One uses each opportunity to care for the fellow servant,
are careful with the words and whatever deeds of love and decisions will build up.
I think of the wisdom of a man in church
where this younger Christian got up to pray
and his theology was shocking.
He was like, thank you, Father, for dying for me
and calling the Holy Spirit it.
He was just so nervous.
He was just fumbling his way through it.
An older saint came up to him
and he was pretty nervous at what he was about to say
and he just put his hand on his shoulder and said,
whatever you do for the Lord, I'm with you 100%.
What a wise serving word to give him in that moment.
He didn't come down heavy.
He knew what he needed.
There's a servant-hearted nature to the wise servant.
But then the wicked servant is harsh with those under their authority.
I just wonder what will Jesus say to the church leader
who uses the church's programs and their goals
and some have even called it like a bus.
We're on this bus as a church
and if you don't get on board, we're going to run you over.
Like, we're just keeping going.
What is Jesus going to say about that?
What of the Father who is modelling coming to church every week
but in private at home,
he is the law of God.
Tremble.
What's your master going to say to that?
What?
Now, obviously, I can add heaps here.
The royal commission's into the church
and there's harsh treatment among leaders even.
The wicked servant forgets he's accountable
and starts to be harsh.
Now, we all need forgiveness at points.
We all need forgiveness.
This seems to characterise the servant
over a long period of time.
A fourth characteristic
is they seem to be motivated by the master's reward
and punishment.
The wicked servant is not afraid of the final judgement
and Jesus reserves the strongest warnings
to those in authority.
These are strong words.
He's consigned a place with the hypocrites
because that is what he is in the end.
He's a visible church leader
but inside there's pride.
There's no consciousness of Christ.
There's no servant leadership following Christ.
It's a sham.
Whereas the faithful servant
fears his master's opinion more than anyone else's.
He wants his master to say,
well done, good and faithful servant.
His master's praise is so much more weighty
than any human being.
The faithful servant is given a motivation of reward here
and we need a whole other sermon
on the idea of Christian rewards
but it's helpful.
I need to keep telling myself
and I hope you tell yourself,
your reward is not here and now.
I always keep connecting my reward
with something now
and it's not now.
It's coming.
It is coming.
It's going to be glorious
but it's not now.
Now what these possessions
he's put in charge of are,
I'm not sure.
I think the idea of a bigger mansion in heaven
is a pretty rubbish idea.
Something that does seem to be in the text
is it's still his master's possessions.
He's put in more responsibility.
I think the reward is more serving.
There's your reward.
If you want to serve Christ,
you're going to get more opportunity to serve him.
I think that sounds more like the gospel.
So in this parable we've seen,
being ready looks like being faithful to the master,
conscious of him.
In verses 1 to 13 in chapter 25,
we get a second thing of what it looks like to be ready.
It's being ready for the long haul.
It's not a quick sprint,
the Christian race,
but a marathon.
Now this one,
of the ten virgins and the wedding,
we need to understand the customs
of weddings back in those days.
The groom would walk to the bride's home,
they would have some ceremonies there,
and then as they're coming back to the groom's home,
that's when friends who are invited to the wedding
would join in a procession to the groom's home.
And then at the groom's home,
that's where you've got the ceremony,
the wedding ceremony,
and that's when the party begins.
And it could go on for a week.
So these ten virgins,
they're not the bride.
Yes, the church is the bride of Christ,
but that's not the point here.
It's okay to change the metaphor.
There's a different point being said.
I don't think we're meant to read into the numbers of ten
or the percentage, five and five.
I don't think we should get hung up on that.
The tension in this parable
is the groom is taking his good old time.
He's taking a long time to come.
It's getting dark.
It's getting late.
He's taking so long, they all fall asleep.
Even the wise fall asleep.
There's no criticism of them there.
They're all woken up,
sudden cry,
bridegroom's here,
come out to meet him.
This is it.
Now how were they wise?
They were wise because they were prepared
for a lengthy delay.
They were prepared for the long haul.
The wise were prepared.
They had oil with them.
They joined the procession.
They're in.
They're in the wedding feast.
But then the door is shut.
Those not prepared,
not with oil,
it's too late.
There's no time to get some.
The door's shut.
They're banging on the door.
And they hear words
you do not want to hear
on the last day.
I do not know you.
They seem to be professing Christians.
They've got lanterns.
They're claiming
they want to go to the wedding feast.
They're expecting the groom to come.
I wonder what a boss might say
to an employee
who says they want a promotion.
But then
she never takes up
the professional development opportunities
that the boss gives her
at the company's cost.
And whenever a work colleague
asks for her help
and advice,
she's like,
well, that's your problem.
I've got too much to do.
The boss might say to her,
you claim you want a promotion,
but
you're not taking any steps
to show that you want,
you actually want this promotion.
You're not taking any steps
to show you really do want this.
What might a girl say to a guy
who says,
I want to pursue marriage.
But every weekend,
he always chooses his mates
over her.
And she says,
come meet my parents.
And he never does.
And he's making no effort
to get a job.
He's making no effort
to further his studies
to get ready to provide.
She might well say,
your words of love are empty.
You're not preparing
for a relationship at all.
I think
the effect of this parable
is
if you really wanted,
if those girls
really wanted to be
in the wedding feast,
they would have taken steps
to prepare.
I think it's another sharp
warning of this external religion
and no internal desire,
no internal reality
of wanting to be with Christ.
No friendship with the Lord.
So what does the oil represent?
I have no idea.
And I think we should be
really careful
of identifying the oil
with something in particular.
I think that might be
a dangerous misstep.
I don't think there's anything
in the text
that can tell us
what the oil represents.
The punch of the parable
comes at the end.
Jesus says,
watch therefore,
for you know neither the day
nor the hour.
Those who are ready
for his return
are preparing
for the long haul.
They're making steps
to be ready
for his return.
Like the thief in the night,
it's a mistake
not to be ready
at any time.
But it's also a mistake
not to be ready
for a long time.
Get ready
to endure.
I'm encouraged
going to elderly
Christians'
funerals
and they have
a lifetime
of endurance
that people
can testify to.
It testifies
to the reality
of grace
day in
and day out
that they endured
so much
over so many years.
So can I ask
what strategies
are you putting
in place
to endure?
What steps
are you taking?
I don't want to be
too prescriptive
here.
But are you
soaking in
God's means
of grace
each day?
Because if you
really want to endure,
if you really
want to be there,
it looks like
taking steps.
I need to get
happy in God
every single day.
I don't wake up
going,
I can't wait
to serve you
again, God.
I don't.
I need to get
happy in God
every day.
I need
his word.
I need
prayer.
I need
small group.
I need
church.
I need
friendship.
I need
someone
who I
trust
and who
knows me
and can
ask the
hard
questions.
maybe we
could ask
how are we
going to
endure as a
church as
well?
We don't
want to just
be really
busy for
one week
or one
month or
one year.
We need
to be
soaking in
the whole
counsel of
God's word
to become
mature.
We need
to be
thinking about
raising up
the next
generation,
training more
gospel workers.
so being
ready for
Christ's
return,
it looks
like a
servant
who's
faithful to
their
master for
his sake
and it
looks like
someone
preparing for
the long
haul,
taking
steps
because
we don't
know
to the
day or
hour.
It could
be soon
or it
could be
a long
time.
So it
looks like
both and
we've got
more to
learn in
the next
two
parables.
Now if
it was all
on us,
this would
be a
really scary
sermon and
we'd feel
the weight
of it.
that when
Jesus finishes
this teaching,
there's
something
that he
does know.
He knows
about a
day.
He doesn't
know the
day he's
returning,
but he
does know
another day.
He says
in the first
few verses
of chapter
26,
when Jesus
had finished
all these
sayings,
he said
to his
disciples,
you know
that after
two days
the Passover
is coming
and the
Son of
Man will
be delivered
up to
be crucified.
Then the
chief priests
and the
elders of
the people
gathered in
the palace
of the
high priest
whose name
was Caiaphas
and plotted
together in
order to
arrest Jesus
by stealth
and kill
him.
But they
said not
during the
feast,
lest there
be an
uproar
among the
people.
There was
an elders
meeting.
let's
suddenly
capture
Jesus.
He was
ready.
Not on
the
Passover.
No,
the
father
chose
the
Passover
so that
we would
understand
why he
died.
The
father
had chosen
the day
he would
give up
his son.
The fact
that he
is fully
human and
doesn't know
the day
or hour
is really
good news.
It means
that he
can stand
in our
place in
the judgment
of God.
He can
represent
us.
He can
go to
that cross
and feel
the full
weight of
hell being
shut out
from the
father.
The father
saying to
the son,
I do
not know
you.
He took
that.
We know
he is
returning
one day
to put
an end
to all
evil.
And he
chose to
go through
that day
so that
he wouldn't
have to
end you
and me
when he
comes
back.
He gets
us ready.
He's
established
our
relationship
with God
by grace.
He's
given us
his words
to prepare
us to
stay
spiritually
awake.
He even
gives us
his spirit
to empower
us to be
faithful.
He gives
us his
spirit to
persevere
for the
long haul.
He gives
us one
another in
the church.
And then
he congratulates
us for
using his
grace.
He gives
us everything.
his
word to
endure.
He took
the judgment
and then
he gives
us his
spirit.
He gives
us his
word to
endure.
So we
can be
ready for
his
return.
If his
promised
return isn't
on our
minds
regularly,
I think
that can
only mean
his cross
isn't on
our mind
regularly.
Either that
or we turn
his cross
into he
died so
that he
can give
my life
now this
comfortable
existence.
His cross
and his
return,
those two
days are
connected.
He went
through the
one to
give us
the other.
I think
that's how
we stay
spiritually
awake.
Having that
perspective,
not just
the present
but one
eye on
the cross
and one
eye on
his
return.
It
fills us
with
consciousness
that he's
here now,
that he's
my master
now,
that he's
empowering
me by
his spirit
now.
He's
made us
ready for
his return.
If he
comes back
at two
o'clock,
I'm
ready.
I really
hope you
can say
the same.
Will you
pray with
me?
Let's
pray.
Father,
we forgive
us for
being so
prone to
just filling
our minds
with the
ordinary in
life.
and not
interpreting
the ordinary
with heavenly
things,
with your
cross that
has made
us ready
for your
return and
that you
will return
and what
a day
that will
be.
Forgive us
for that.
Please fill
us as a
church with
an expectation
that you'll
return.
Please give
us grace
upon grace
so that we
might be
faithful to
you,
that we
might
endure.
For your
glory and
our good,
I pray in
his name.
Amen.
holy
Thank you.