This week’s reading: Matthew 25:1-30
Hi Friends,
As we move to the next chapter of our reading in the Gospel of Matthew, we will take the next couple of weeks to discuss three parables that speak about the End of Times, as Jesus continues with this theme. While chapter 24 was all about the signs that will take place leading up to the End of Times, here Jesus speaks about 1- who will enter the Eternal Wedding Feast at the End of Times and why, 2- what the heart of those saved people should look like and 3- the acts of service they will perform as displays that their hearts do, indeed, belong to Jesus. These parables seem to follow what I have learned about the “Three Calls of God” to humanity. Let’s talk about the first two parables here as we read Matthew 25, verses 1 through 30. Then we will take our time with the third parable next week. Now listen to these important words:
“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See I have gained five more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your masters happiness!’” Mt 25:19-21 NIV
The Parable of the Ten Virgins. (Mt 25:1-13) First, let’s point out some of the symbolism in this important parable. The ten virgins symbolize those who have “claimed” to belong to Jesus, Who of course is the Bridegroom of the Church. The five wise maidens are those who have sincerely surrendered themselves to the Bridegroom, and the five foolish ones are those who “say” they are His, but who continue to live life on their own, for themselves. How do we know this? Well, the oil is symbolic for the Holy Spirit Who brings the Grace of God into the lives of those who are born again. The wise five, not only have their lamps, but also a jar filled with oil, whereas the foolish five only bring their lamp, but no oil. The lamps here can be seen as our heart. Both the wise and the foolish go out to wait for the Bridegroom, but as Jesus said last week, no one knows the hour or day that He will return, so to attempt to “go out” and live this life apart from the anointing power of Grace in the Holy Spirit is extremely foolish. We do not truly know how to live apart from His guidance, insight, comfort, counsel and so on. But these foolish five do not value the “oil,” that is the Holy Spirit, because they think that, somehow they will get in to Heaven apart from His indwelling Presence and Power. The wise five know enough to make sure they bring the “oil,” that is the Holy Spirit, with them wherever they go. It is interesting that both sets, wise and foolish, “became drowsy and fell asleep.” (Mt 25:5) This is symbolic for the time between claiming to be His, and His eventual return. Both those who are sincerely born again and those who are still living for themselves, will continue to struggle with sin. This is why we are always desperate to have the Holy Spirit by our side. Sadly, way too often, there appears to be no difference between believers and non-believers, so we cannot judge whose heart belongs to God and who is merely a pretender. There remains a large part of those who attend church services regularly who are either not aware they must become New in Christ, or only are there for their own Prideful reasons. This last group offers God lots of lip service, but their hearts are far from God. (see Mt 15:8) People are talented actors and so we are never to judge who is who, that is above our pay grade, but we must understand that in any congregation, there are some who are sold out for Jesus, and some who are not there for His sake. Again some have never been told they must give up their lives for Jesus, just like He gave up His Life for us. Some however, have no interest in ever surrendering because, their life, will always be theirs. Do we see why Jesus calls some wise and some foolish? In the End of Times, there will be many deceived humans who think they are good enough, but who have missed the only ONE requirement for entering Heaven: The Oil. If you do not have your jar of oil, don’t wait until it is too late. Bring your lamp to Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit today.
Why both sets are called Virgins? Jesus is talking about the Church here, not so much the entire world. We know this because both sets, wise and foolish, are called virgins, suggesting the purity of the Church, and both sets do go out to await the Bridegroom’s return. So with both sets, there is some kind of understanding about Christ, yet as with any congregation, there are some who participate in church and others who merely attend church. This is a big way to know where our heart truly lie. I have talked about this before but will emphasize it here once more, because it is such an important issue. We are not to only “go” to church, my Friends, we are to BE the Church! This means we get involved with the other members of this community because they should be our Forever Family. This means we seek ways to invite others who may not yet be a part of this Forever Family too. This means reaching out into our communities for the glory of God. If we are sincerely surrendered to Jesus as Lord and Savior, then we are New Creations who live for God’s Heavenly Kingdom, and no longer just for our own existence. This means we live for Him, by loving God with all we’ve got and loving our neighbor as ourselves. Per Jesus, these are the two greatest commandments that we can fulfill as we lean on the Holy Spirit and learn to be an active part of our congregation. Every person in a family has their unique part to play, and it is vital that every person of that family does their part. Think body here. The ear cannot do what the eye does. The eye cannot do what the foot does. Each part must be where they belong and doing what they alone can do in order for the whole body to function in a healthy way, right? It is the same with the Church, my Friends. Even taking into consideration those who have other obligations, like mothers with young children or caregivers of elderly parents, everyone is still supposed to do that which God placed them in the group to do. As Jesus said, one of the struggles of being on mission for the Church is that, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.” (Mt 9:37) If you do have your jar filled with oil, then won’t you find your place in this Body of Christ and begin to do what God created you to do for His Glory? The darker this world gets, the more it is desperate for believers to shine their light. Bring your lamp to Jesus, receive the Holy Spirit and BE an active participant of His Pure Church today.
Here comes the Bridegroom. So the whole Church, filled with sincere believers/followers, as well as deceived attendees, are claiming to wait for the return of Jesus. In the meantime they are living life, still struggling with the pull of sin. The Holy Spirit though makes Grace real in the life of the believer. Our sinful nature is transformed from death to Life and all our sins- past, present and future- are forgiven by this Grace. The five wise are those who have this Grace active in their lives, so even though we may continue to fall into temptation, we have that “jar filled with oil” to keep our little light burning brightly. The five foolish, again, do not have the Holy Spirit…in this parable, when the Bridegroom returns, they realize they need the oil and demand that the five wise share their oil with them. Here’s the thing though: each individual human must choose to belong to God. I cannot allow my Faith to fall on you- it will not save you, because I cannot even save myself. Only Jesus through the Holy Spirit can save us. We must each choose to receive this Grace, this jar of oil, this Holy Spirit into our hearts and lives, or we just won’t have Grace. Praise God that He is good to all humans here in this world, but the problem is, unless you have the Holy Spirit, you will not be able to go into the next world. God is good to all of us because He does, or allows, whatever He must to move our hearts to come to Him…yet each human must decide whether to come, or not. Here the five wise, who are far from perfect, do have this Grace upon them, and so, are prepared when the Bridegroom returns. But the foolish five, those who have attended church, but never surrendered to Jesus, and so, do not have the Holy Spirit within, nor the Grace God gives to forgive their sinful nature and sins…sadly, listen to what the Bridegroom tells them, “I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.” (Mt 25:12) When Jesus comes back, we will all awaken from our drowsy attitudes, but only those of us IN Christ will go to the Eternal Wedding Feast. My Friends, if you never have, won’t you make sure you have this Grace on and in your life? Bring your lamp to Jesus, receive the Holy Spirit, BE an active participant of His Pure Church and you WILL be prepared for His return and never have to hear those awful words spoken to you.
The Parable of the Talents. (Mt 25:14-30) I will go into this with more detail next week, but in case you did not see it, I believe that first parable is all about receiving the first and most important Call of God, the Call to Salvation. Nothing else matters if you are not sincerely surrendered to Jesus. If you have not received the Holy Spirit, if you are not saved by Grace through Faith, then you remain your own person, with your sinful nature ruling over you…and we just read what happens to those five foolish maidens, didn’t we? It is an awful thing to be locked out of the Eternal Wedding Feast! (see Mt 10:28; Heb 10:31) But if you have become born again then don’t stop there. This next parable talks about the next Call of God, the Call to Sanctification. Here we begin to grow in Christ. We begin to leave our old ways behind and begin to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus. (see 2Co 3:18) From glory to glory, from level to spiritual level, the Holy Spirit grows our spirit and then our spirit begins to get control of our soul. Our thoughts become more and more like the thoughts of God. Our emotions begin to fall under the control of this New Creation person we now are. Our will begins to align itself with whatever God Wills for our lives. Then we grow and begin to show this growth in the way we interact with those around us. We take the talents God has given us and we begin to multiply them with the help of the Holy Spirit…or we don’t. In this Parable, which you can also read a similar version in Luke 19:12-27 (the Parable of the Ten Minas), we also have “a man of noble birth” who goes away for some time and no one is aware of when he will return. Before he goes though, he “entrusts his property” to some servants, “each according to his ability” and expects them to “put this money to work,” while he is gone. (see Mt 25:14-15 and Lk 19:13) The noble man, as well as our Noble Jesus, desires for humans to “be fruitful and multiply.” Let me pause a moment here in case that phrase did not strike you. Be fruitful and multiply. This is one of the commands of God to His original humans, wasn’t it? (see Gen 1:28) On one level, yes, God was telling Adam and Eve to increase the population of the earth. To fill it with children that will be like God their Creator and live a full life of love. Of course, we know what happened two chapters later, right? The Downfall mutated our hearts, and thus our characters, so that we went from being saints to becoming sinners. Again saints are not perfect humans, but they are humans that are united with God and perfectly loved by Him. Sinners, on the other hand, are separated from God and the influence of His Love and Grace; they have no relationship with God and remain His enemies. (see Ro 5:10) This is not to say that God does not Love them, He does, but they cannot sense the fullness of this Love and so, they rely on MMI and live “their” lives apart from God. It is only when we allow God to move our hearts as He draws us to Himself, then surrender to this Love, that we become His beloved, holy children. And one way we show that He has changed us is by growing in our spirit so that we are responsible with the gifts He has granted us. This is where we see the next level of “be fruitful and multiply.” Our time, talents and treasures all belong to God, yet He has given them to us, each according to our ability, so that we may glorify Him and point others towards His Saving Grace too. While we can, and should, get pleasure out of all the gifts of God, they are not ONLY for OUR pleasure. We are to multiply them by sharing them. I love this saying, “A joy shared is a joy doubled.” As we use whatever talents or minas that our Noble God has granted us to bless others, then we are pointing others to God and He is blessed too. The sad truth is, unless there is some kind of natural disaster, we might not normally look out for our neighbors as we ought to. But it is when you and I choose to do so, especially when there hasn’t been a hurricane or fire or whatever, others take note. And if they know we are believers, and see us following what we claim to believe, then they are drawn in to Christ themselves. This Sanctification process is simply us becoming different humans than the world around us, as well as different than who we used to be. We begin to magnify God’s greatness and display the changes He is making in us. As we work with the Holy Spirit, He multiplies our influence with others so we can influence them for God. Since we have brought our lamp to Jesus, since we have been united with the Holy Spirit, we can grow in Christ to multiply the blessing of Salvation by living it out, displaying how He is sanctifying us.
You have entrusted me, and see I have gained more. This is what we want to tell Jesus when He returns, isn’t it? We multiply God’s gifts as we share them with others. There is no investment more worthy of our time, talents and treasures than saving souls for Eternity. We bring them to Jesus and He takes over from there. But what if we are like that unfaithful servant? What if God has given us incredible talents and yet we hide them “in the ground”? (Mt 25:25) Every time we use our God given gifts for MMI alone, that is exactly what we are doing with His gifts. They might seem like they bless us for the moment, but nothing else of good and lasting value will come from them. It is exactly like burying these valuable resources in the ground and allowing them to rot. Do we see this? One of the things that always breaks my heart is when I hear about computer hackers who hold others for ransom with their hacking skills. Too many hospitals are increasingly being attacked this way…and I think back to when my Angel Pie was dependent on all those machines to get healthy, or sometimes just to survive, and to think that these individuals who have been given the intelligence and expertise to manipulate computer processing in ways that most of us cannot even understand…well, imagine if these folks chose to use their talents to bless others instead? Would they be able to make life more enjoyable for those with special needs? Would they be able to invest and double their talents in ways that would make this world a better place? Hiding our talents in the ground comes from not really knowing God or understanding His Immaculate Character. We see in this parable how this unfaithful servant’s concept of his master was completely wrong. Do the lost mistake God for a “hard [Master] harvesting where [He] has not sown and gathering where [He] has not scattered” too? (see Mt 25:24) You see, this unfaithful servant was afraid of the Lord, but he did not have the Fear of the Lord. There’s a huge difference. When we do not understand His loving, merciful, gracious, forgiving nature, we cower before Him, we run away from Him and we do not seek to be a blessing to Him by blessing those around us. On the other hands, Fear of the Lord is loving Him so much that we cannot keep ourselves from wanting to glorify Him. We want to grow to be more like Him. We want to invest the resources He grants us for Him. We want to tell the whole world about Him. This unfaithful servant couldn’t be bothered to even do the minimum for his master. Let us not have this faithless heart. Since we have brought our lamp to Jesus, since we have been united with the Holy Spirit, since we can grow in Christ to multiply the blessing of Salvation by living it out, and displaying how He is sanctifying us, let us run to God and not cower from Him.
Are we causing the confusion? Could it be that others see God our Holy Father as a “hard man” because we are not being as faithful a servant as we should be, Church? My Friends, I am not trying to bring on guilt, but a little conviction is good for us. We do not want to be in the position of this unfaithful servant when Jesus returns, do we? Before we point fingers at this deceived servant, we must examine ourselves first. Every single day, God gives us resources. Are we using them to be a blessing or are we hoarding them for our own pleasures? There is one thing and one thing alone that I want to hear when I see Jesus face to face, and it is certainly NOT what this deluded servant hears. Once again, Jesus Himself speaks about the reality of a place called Hell. When our time here is done, when Jesus comes to separate the sheep from the goats (more on that next week), there are only two places we will end up…and we will either spend eternity in one or in the other. One because we never humbled ourselves and surrendered to Jesus as our only Savior. The other because we allowed God to humble us and received His Grace. Since we have brought our lamp to Jesus, since we have been united with the Holy Spirit, since we can grow in Christ to multiply the blessing of Salvation by living it out, and displaying how He is sanctifying us, since we run to God and not away from Him, let’s show those around us how great is our God.
“Well done My good and faithful servant.” These are the precious seven words I long to hear my Jesus say to me when I stand before Him, face to face. And as the Lord has gently reminded me many times, my Baby Girl has already heard them. Even though she was ill through most of her life, she pointed so many to God, and still does. The incredible miracles, the peaceful expression on her lovely face through so many trials, the surviving the unsurvivable…all these and more were gifts entrusted to her which multiplied the hearts that were touched by God’s work in her. You see, you and I do not need to do big things, but we do need to obey whatever God puts on our hearts to do. Whether this is going through challenges holding on to Jesus as others watch on, whether it means supplying elderly neighbors with car rides to their doctor’s appointments, whether this looks like spending time reading godly literature to children at our local library, or even whether this requires stepping out of our comfort zone and sharing our hearts about Jesus to those who don’t know Him…whatever He leads you to do, choose to obey and know that you are investing His gifts. We might not see the ROI (return on investment) until the other side of Heaven, but my Friends, Heaven is the goal. We were not created for this fallen, corrupt world. We were created for Paradise. The more we are prepared, like the five wise maidens, the more we are choosing to use God’s gifts and multiplying them for His glory, like the good and faithful servants, the more our lives here, and then there, will be abundant and fulfilling. This continues to be my experience, want it too? Then won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
