Matthew 25
1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
This is the first of three parables in this chapter the second parable deals with the servants and what they did with their talents that the master had given them.
The third parable deals with taking care of Jesus when we take care of the least of these.
In this first story Jesus tells about the virgins that were engaged to be married. They all knew that the bridegroom was coming to get them. They knew as was the custom in that day that the bridegroom went to prepare a place for them.
Sometimes the preparation would take months even into a year or more for all the arrangements to be made for the bride. Land had to be made ready. The house had to be built and preparations to be made for the great day when he brings his bride home.
The brides had preparations that they had to make as well as far as what she needed to be comfortable in her new house. Maybe even to collecting specials spices and things that could not be found in the area of her new home.
But with all her preparations the bride had to be ready at all times to go and meet her bridegroom. He may come today because he has finished his work and is all ready for her. So he comes to claim his bride and he is excited.
The problem is that five of the virgins did not have enough oil in their lamp to go meet the bridegroom. They may have made preparations and got a lot of things done. But they missed the one important thing and that was having oil in their lamp to meet their bridegroom.
Today the church is being driven to be like the five foolish virgins. Let’s get this done and that done. Let’s be sure that we are at church and have our lesson ready.
Be sure we have our class all decorated and everything in place. But we really don’t have our heart in it. We just do what is expected and keep up with the Jones so to speak. So we become casual Christians.
We really are not ready for the bridegroom to come. We are casual in our approach to our duties as leadership and teachers. It is too easy and too common for us to rush in at the last minute and put things together.
When you really think about it we probably didn’t pray like we should this week or last week. Maybe if we thought about it we may not have worshipped in service Wednesday night like we should have worshipped. Maybe we didn’t witness at work this week like we could have or should have witnessed. The casual Christian thinks like the foolish virgin and thinks I will have more time before the bridegroom comes, to get things in order.
I am at least showing up for church or work day or Sunday School class. I gave five dollars in the offering. Then God begins to try to break through and we remember a student that is struggling or a new convert that needs to be contacted. God gives you an opportunity to change.
God tries to help you to overcome the blight of the casual Christian. He will try to guide your path if you would let Him.
Sometimes we get so casual we think that we can just show up at church and we have done our duty to God for the day or week. Then we become more casual and come dressed casual as well. It becomes a mind set with us. I can’t be used in the class or on the platform because I dressed casual today.
What we don’t realize is that when we are in that mind set we don’t listen to God as well. I have seen people that are not in tune with God because of the way they just casually show up for church make some big mistakes. I have heard them speak out of turn or say things that were casual and hurt people. They really didn’t mean harm but they just didn’t know that the brother or sister was going through a hard time and it was the straw that broke the camels back.
Don’t try to be casual with someone that you have not spent time with at the altar or over a cup of coffee or at the mall or fishing hole. For instance when I heard that Jessica was getting married I teased her and asked how much she had to pay the guy.
She laughed and said that she had to promise not to talk. Well she already had broken that promise and I told her she would have to give the ring back.
I can do that with Jessica because I have stayed in touch with her for several years. My wife and I have prayed with her and counseled her. We have rejoiced and cried with her.
It goes back to getting everything in order. The oil represents the anointing of the Holy Ghost. We need to spend time in prayer everyday. We need to be here on Tuesday night for our church prayer time or thirty minutes early for every service so God can move us together in the Spirit. We need to lay up prayer so we can be sensitive to the Spirit of God and speak the right words to someone and encourage them.
I don’t know how many times I have contacted someone and later, sometimes months later they would get back with me and thank me for encouraging them. I didn’t remember what I said, then I realized that God had given me the words to speak and I just tell them I am His servant and it wasn’t me it was Him.
Don’t fall into the trap of a casual Christian! Let’s be ready for the bridegroom to come back for us. We will hear Him say “well done thou good and faithful servant!”
Thank you for stopping by today! It is my desire to share my thoughts and ideas to be encouraging and uplifting to you. So enjoy and feel free to leave your comment!
3 comments:
Hello, Brother Kevin
This is an important post to me, for I must be reminded often to not allow my relationship with Jesus to be a casual one. The things of God and of the Spirit are of eternal importance. I cannot take them lightly. Thank you for the clear reminder.
Blessings in your services tomorrow...and always..
Shirley,
I am glad you were encouraged when reading my blog. I often think of our walk with God and this verse comes to me from Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
May the world always see Jesus in everything I do, say and even my attitude! Stop by again sometime. Blessings to you as well!
Kevin,
I just had lunch with a good friend whose wife drove him out of their home. She was totally unpredictable, volatile, self centered, and lazy. She put their son on medication that could have done serious damage because she thought he was bipolar. She had to go to several doctors before she found one that would write her a prescription.
My friend's life became so chaotic that he had to leave to preserve his sanity. Of course church folks responded with their usual platitudes. They told him to return to his home but no one was willing to help reign in his wife.
My wife had an affair when we got back from the mission field. Our son had become violent and tried to strangle her once. She blamed his problems on me because he was diagnosed with manic depression and I have manic depression. We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on medical and boarding school expenses and not one fellow believer offered to help. My Christian parents welcomed the man who was sleeping with my wife into their homes.
I caught my ex and her boyfriend walking into a movie theater hand in hand. Devastated, I went to see my pastor. He was watching the Bears play Green Bay and could only spare five minutes.
I had an emotional breakdown and lost my job. My next pastor refused to let me network in the church for employment because 'a bad match would be a poor reflection on the church.'
On our first furlough, we spent a year in a house provided by our church for furloughing missionaries. Not a single person even called, much less invited us into their home.
These are all Casual Christians and, unfortunately, they make up the vast majority of the church. I was so disillusioned and disappointed in the church that I wrote a book called, 'The Casual Christian' You can preview it at:http://amzn.to/uSOlr2. I hope you will take a look. It tells you why the church is in such a deplorable state and what can be done about it.
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