Preserving faith for the long wait

Sermon for Last Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 27)

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11  +  Matthew 25:1-13

We’re waiting for the Last Day, as Jesus told us to do—waiting for Him to come back, although He hasn’t told us when it will be. Last week in the Gospel, Jesus pictured the Last Day for us as a day when the Lord will highlight the good works done by His people, for His people, and the lack of good works done by unbelievers for His people. But the verses of today’s Gospel actually come before those verses, and with good reason: today’s Gospel doesn’t highlight our works at all. It highlights our faith, which is where the works come from in the first place. It highlights our faith, and the necessity of preserving it all the way up until the Bridegroom’s arrival, preserving it, even if our wait for the Bridegroom is long.

Then the kingdom of heaven—Then the Christian Church—shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

The Church will be like a group of girls—probably teenage girls—whose task it is to sit out near the road and wait for the bridegroom to come by, and then to join him with the light of their lamps for the final leg of his procession to the wedding hall. It’s not a practice we’re familiar with in our culture, but it was obviously common enough at Jesus’ time for this parable to make perfect sense to the hearers. Some say that, in that culture, the bridegroom would pick up his bride along the way and that the two would go together to the wedding, accompanied by these virgins with their lamps, but Jesus’ parable doesn’t include the bride, and maybe that’s because of how confusing it would be to consider the Church, which is the Bride of Christ, separately from the individuals who make up the Church. In effect, the ten virgins in our Gospel make up the Church and are all supposed to go in with the Bridegroom, into the wedding hall, into eternal life. But not all ten end up going in with Him.

All ten are invited. The Gospel invitation has reached them. “Repent and believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, crucified and risen from the dead and coming again!” Now, we know that many who hear the Gospel invitation turn it down. They spend their lives refusing to repent of their sins, refusing to look to Christ for forgiveness. We aren’t talking about them here. We’re talking about sinners who hear the Gospel and believe it, who make a beginning within the Christian Church. They have been baptized. They walk in communion with the Holy Christian Church. And they’ve all been given a task. Watch! Watch for the coming of the Bridegroom. Be ready to greet Him when He comes. Let that be the overarching goal of your life, to watch and be ready, because He will surely come, and He’ll come at a time, at an hour, that no ones knows.

Also, we’re not talking about those who might be called “nominal Christians,” the people you meet on the street who may say, (if you ask), “I’m a Christian,” but who never darken the doorway of a Christian church. No these are the ones who actually go out to meet the Bridegroom and wait for His coming—at least for a while. They believe in Him. They believe He’s coming again. And they’re all eager to meet Him and to go in with Him. In other words, Jesus is talking about people like us in this room.

What’s the difference between the five wise and the five foolish, then? The five wise virgins think to themselves, “You know, He told us He’s coming tonight, but He didn’t tell us at what time. In fact, He told us He might be delayed. It might be late. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to bring along enough oil to last late into the night, in case He doesn’t come early, at 7 or 8? Wouldn’t it be smart to make preparations, not only for an early arrival, but also for a midnight arrival? That way, we’ll be ready, no matter when He comes.”

The five foolish virgins didn’t think, didn’t listen when the Bridegroom informed them that He might come late in the evening. They went out to wait for Him, figuring He would come soon—soon by human reckoning, soon enough that they wouldn’t need extra oil for their lamps, at least.

But what does it mean to bring along extra oil for their lamps? And what is that burning flame that they must all have in order to accompany the Bridegroom into the wedding hall? The burning flame is faith. Faith in Christ crucified and risen again, faith in Christ as the Savior from sin, faith in Christ as the sure refuge against wrath and condemnation, faith in Christ for the free-of-charge forgiveness of sins. It’s more than a knowledge of Christ. It’s a genuine reliance on Him, true confidence in Him and in Him alone, that for His sake alone, God will show mercy to you, who deserve only His wrath and punishment. Today’s Gospel gets at the heart of the matter, the source of the good works and the actual thing by which we are justified before God and so permitted to enter His kingdom: faith.

But as Jesus warns in our Gospel and in the rest of Scripture, faith is not and has never been self-sustaining. The Holy Spirit kindles it in our hearts through the Word of God, brings us to trust in Jesus for entrance into His eternal kingdom. Faith comes by hearing! But if it’s then left alone, it will die out like any flame will eventually die out if it’s not given the fuel it needs to keep burning.

That fuel, the oil for the lamps, the spiritual milk that sustains and feeds our precious faith is the Word of God—the Word as it’s preached, and taught, and spoken in connection with water and bread and wine, according to Christ’s command; the Word as it’s then meditated upon and pondered.

The wise virgins are the Christians who make wise use of the Means of Grace now, while it’s available to them, as much as it’s available to them. They use the ministry of the Word regularly, and as they do, their faith sends down roots that grow deeper and deeper. Their knowledge of God and of His workings in the world and of His plan of salvation grows richer and richer. Their understanding of their enemies—the devil, the world, and their own sinful flesh—grows keener and keener. And their ability to stand in the face of hardship, trial, persecution, and opposition grows stronger and stronger. You will need all those things in order to endure the last times of this world before the Bridegroom comes. And they only come from the ministry of the Word. How much strength and knowledge and understanding and faith will you need to make it another year? Another ten years? How about 20 or 30 or 80—to make it all the way to the end, holding onto Christ by faith? The answer is, as much as possible. As much as the Lord provides. Even if you think you have a pretty strong faith now, it’s wise to make as much use of the ministry of the Word as possible, while you still can.

Just as it’s unwise not to. The foolish virgins are the Christians who think they stand firm. Who may be very excited, at first, to hear the Gospel, to have been baptized, to learn the Catechism, to receive the Lord’s Supper. They see the filthiness of the world and they’re ready for Jesus to come back. But then He doesn’t. And they keep waiting. And He doesn’t come. And so, instead of continuing steadfastly in the use of the Means of Grace, they come to church less often, and when they do come, they listen half-heartedly, or not at all.

And so plays out the tragedy. So many around the world don’t have ready access to the pure preaching of the Gospel or the right administration of the Sacraments. But many who do, take it for granted and don’t use them. They foolishly assume that what they already have in their lamps will be sufficient to keep their lamps burning when the Bridegroom comes.

But that’s not how it turns out in Jesus’ parable. The cry came at midnight, Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him! And only the five wise virgins, who had brought along extra oil, had enough left to keep their lamps lit. Only those Christians who will have used the opportunities the Lord will have provided to fortify their faith along the way will be able to meet Him and to enter eternal life with Him. The five foolish virgins found that their supply of oil was running out. It was insufficient. And it was too late to do anything about it. Those Christians may try running to those who sell oil, to the ministers of the Word who might yet preach the Gospel to them. But when Christ finally does comes down from heaven, He tells us ahead of time, that, at that time, there will be no more time, no more chances, no keeping the dying flame of faith alive, and thus no entrance into eternal life, only the bleak reality of the Lord’s answer, Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you, followed by an eternity spent in outer darkness—the same fate as all those who never believed in the first place.

Five out of ten don’t make it all the way to the wedding hall. Is that really the percentage of Christians who won’t remain in the Christian faith till the end? I don’t know. But it’s a sobering prospect, isn’t it? A sobering parable? But the fact that you’re here listening to it, if you are listening, means that it isn’t too late. Jesus sends out this warning, and sends His Spirit to bring it home for us. And by the very act of listening to it, pondering it, considering it, you are adding a little more oil to your reserves, so that you can last a little while longer as you wait for Christ to come.

Take advantage of these opportunities to add extra oil—as many opportunities as you’re given, because you don’t know how soon or how late Christ is coming, and you may need every bit of strength from His Means of Grace that’s He’s provided you with in order to make it to the end. Never take what you have for granted, because there are Christians all around the world who would give every last penny to be where you are, to have the access that you have to the ministry of the Word. Learn the Bible. Learn the Catechism. Learn the Christian Confessions contained in our Book of Concord. Learn it a little better this year than last. As Paul wrote in today’s Epistle, Let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Amen.