THE TRIUMPH OF GOD IS PREPARED FOR

BY THE PEOPLE OF GOD

Matthew 25: 1-30

INTRODUCTION

I first met Fran and Tina Ploegert in the fall of 1997. One of the first things that Fran talked with me about was his dream to build a home along the Rock River. They had already purchased a piece of property along the river, northwest of town a few years before our meeting. Over the years Fran made improvements to the property. At the time, they rented a small house in Janesville and lived in cramped quarters so they could save money for the down payment and pay off the debt on the land. As time went by they began to talk about plans for the house. Fran began to collect materials that could be used in the construction of the home. Finally, in 2000, they felt it was time to build and so they contacted a builder, put together plans, and gathered more materials. They spent about a year actually building the home. They now live in the home they dreamed of building for many years. They lived through those long years in preparation for that day.

In 1991 I knew that I wanted to pastor a church. I had no idea where or when I would do so, but I knew that is what I wanted to do. So I began to prepare for that day. I enrolled in a correspondence course to learn basic Greek grammar. I took some seminary classes by extension. I eventually applied for seminary and began going in the summers. Finally, I took a leave of absence from my ministry with Campus Crusade for Christ and went full time to seminary. For fifteen months I left home in Champaign, IL every Sunday evening, drove to Deerfield, IL on the north side of Chicago where I lived by myself in a dorm room, going to class, studying and eating meals heated in the microwave. During those six years, I was still a husband, father, elder in my local church and worker for Campus Crusade for Christ but I was always preparing for that day I knew would come, when I would be a pastor of a church.

In both my case and in the case of the Ploegert’s, while much of our lives looked very much like the lives of other people, yet there were parts of our lives that were being lived in light of something we believed was going to happen in the future. If Fran and Tina would have talked through all those years about the home they were going to build but they never bought land, never saved money, never collected materials, they would never have built the home. In fact, you could tell they were going to build the home because of the many things they were doing to prepare to build. The same for me: if I would not have gone to seminary or talked with the leadership of the E.F.C. A., I would not have ended up as a pastor of this church. Everyone who knew me during those days knew that one-day I was planning to be a pastor because of how I was living then. When people are consumed by a dream or a goal for the future, they live in the present in order to obtain that future dream.

In Matthew 24 Jesus has described a future event that every human being is going to experience. The risen Lord Jesus Christ is going to come back to judge the living and the dead. The return of Jesus Christ, personally and visibly to this earth for the purpose of saving his people and punishing his enemies is the future event that every human being ought to be preparing for throughout the course of our lives. In the second half of chapter 24 and now in chapter 25 Jesus is describing the kind of life that will characterize those who are going to be welcomed into the kingdom of God when he comes. He also shows what kinds of people will not be welcomed into his eternal kingdom. He is aiming to convince us that we ought to live now as if we were going to heaven so that when he comes, we will go to heaven. In these thirty verses, there are at least four things that characterize all who plan to go to heaven. It is my hope this morning that you will leave here with a dream of one day living with Jesus Christ forever and that you will live now as if that were your goal.

MAIN POINT

The only people going to heaven are those who are going to heaven therefore…

I. You must be prepared to greet Christ at any time, no matter how long it takes (vv. 1-13)

Chapter 25 is continuing a description of what it will be like when Jesus returns to the earth that began in 24:36. The day and hour of Christ’s return are set by God but unknown to us. The circumstances surrounding his return will be like those during the days of Noah and the worldwide flood, they will be like those confronting a homeowner who knows that a thief could come at anytime but never knows what time and they will be like those confronting slaves put in charge of their master’s property while he goes on a journey and they don’t know how long he will be gone. Now he uses another metaphor or parable to describe the conditions surrounding his return and how we ought to live in light of it.

While we are not given all the details of a typical Jewish wedding of Jesus’ day, there is enough information here for us to get the main idea. A wedding is completely prepared. The wedding hall is decorated, the food is prepared, the wedding guests have assembled, there is just one thing missing: the groom. The bridegroom has not yet arrived and it’s getting late in the day. 10 young women are sent out of the wedding hall to await his arrival. The virgins take oil lamps with them. Their job is to greet the bridegroom and to return to the wedding hall as his escorts. Apparently, this sort of procession is a custom of Jewish weddings in Jesus’ day. Let’s consider for a moment all the things these young women share in common. All intend to meet the bridegroom and to escort him to the place where the festivities are to be held. All have lamps. All are expecting the bridegroom to come before another day has arrived. None of them knows at what hour he will arrive. All are looking forward to the wedding feast. All fall asleep while they wait. All are awakened at midnight by the cry that the bridegroom is coming. All trim their lamps.

But it is at this point that the thing that separates them becomes apparent. Five of these virgins are called wise, because they bring oil for their lamps. The other five women are called foolish because they did not bring any oil for their lamps. When they are startled awake at midnight by the announcement that the bridegroom is approaching, the five wise virgins fill up their lamps from the containers of oil they have with them. The five foolish virgins’ lamps begin to sputter and then one by one they go out. They plead with the wise virgins to give them some of their oil but they do not have enough for themselves and for the foolish women as well. So the five foolish virgins run off to try and buy some oil at this late hour while the five wise virgins go out to greet and light the way for the coming bridegroom. The happy party returns to the wedding hall, enter it and the door is shut. Shortly, the five foolish virgins return to the wedding hall and begin vigorously pounding on it. They cry out, “Lord! Lord! Open the door for us.” The bridegroom, from the other side of the door tells them, “I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.” They remain excluded from the wedding feast.

Let’s consider what it is that makes five of the virgins foolish and five of them wise. The wise virgins had what was necessary to greet the bridegroom when he came. The foolish virgins presumed they had all that they needed but in fact, they did not have what they needed to greet the bridegroom. When the announcement came that the bridegroom had arrived they suddenly realized they did not have what it took in order to greet him. What does the lack of oil correspond to in our lives? The main point seems to be the presumption of the foolish virgins. They presumed that because they wanted to greet the bridegroom, they were in the company of the wise virgins; they heard the cry of his approach that they would get to greet him. However, they lacked the most essential ingredient. They were unknown by the bridegroom. They did not have a true faith in Christ. They were counting on many external similarities but they were lacking the one essential thing. They were not born again by the Spirit of God and thus trusting in Christ’s death and resurrection for them.

There are not many more tragic pictures in the Bible than this picture of these five virgins, who waited through the night in the company of the five wise virgins, knocking on the shut door and crying out for entry. Yet they are excluded because they did not have the one thing necessary to greet Christ at his return. When Christ returns it will be too late to get what you need. All who have a true faith in Christ are prepared for his return and prepared to wait as long as is necessary for his return. They make sure they are trusting in Christ and do not merely presume that because they know Christ is returning and because they are hanging out with those who are waiting for his return that they are prepared. Here is the central question that all of us must be able to answer: Am I trusting in Jesus Christ or am I living in presumption? Am I known by Christ as evidenced by my growing faith in him?

The only people going to heaven are those who are going to heaven therefore…

•  You must be prepared to greet Christ at any time, no matter how long it takes

•  And therefore…

II. You must live as a manager of God’s property (vv. 14-18)

Jesus tells another parable that describes what it will be like when he comes again. This parable is more extensive than any he has previously told and so we get more information about the nature of reality from it. The first thing he tells us in this parable is that every human being stands in relation to God as a trusted slave to his master who has gone on a journey. The master goes on a journey and puts all his possessions in the hands of three of his slaves. He knows the abilities of each one of them and so he gives varying amounts of his resources to each one, depending on their ability to manage money. The amounts he gives are quite substantial. A talent of silver was worth about 20 years’ wages. If we put that in modern day terms, using the median household income of Rock County, which is $40,000, that means each talent is worth about $800,000. So the first slave was given $4 million, the second was given $1.6 million and the third was given $800,000.

There are several realities that the granting of these three different quantities of money point to. First , the point of using such vast quantities is to show us the privileged position of every human being. All of us are swimming in grace. God has been enormously generous to each one of us. We’re just slaves and yet we’ve been given so much. Second , the talents of silver do not represent our abilities and gifts. The talents are given to each one according to their abilities and gifts. Rather the talents of silver represent the length of our lives, our health, the opportunities we are given, where we live, who our parents are, our physical possessions and financial resources, in short all the circumstances of our lives. As Paul says, “God gives us life and breath and everything else.” Third , everything we have comes from God. There is nothing that we possess that we own. God owns everything, even us. We are slaves. We don’t deserve what we’ve been given and we didn’t earn it. God has graciously and sovereignly given us all things. Everything is a gift. Fourth , we are not all given the same amount of time, health, resources and opportunities. God does not distribute his possessions evenly. They are his possessions, not ours. He has a right to do with them as he pleases and he is not pleased to give all of us the same amount.

Finally, as you look at vv. 16-17, God gives us all of these things so that we will put his resources to work in order to earn a profit for him. The first two slaves went out and immediately got to work. They started businesses and used the resources they were given to increase the wealth of their master. Everything they had came from their master. None of it belonged to them and so they used all they were given in the service of their master. Their time and all the resources they were given were invested in increasing the property of their lord. Their business was their master’s business. Notice that they invested all they were given in their master’s work. They didn’t just put 10% of the time, money, etc. entrusted to them into the work and then used the rest for themselves. They put everything into the master’s businesses.

This life isn’t your life to do with as you please. The time, money, health, etc. that you’ve been given isn’t yours to do with as you please. It all belongs to God and if you do not view all that you have in this way, then you are doing exactly what the third slave did. You’re digging a hole in the ground and burying all that God has given to you. You are simply a manager of God’s life, money, time, cars, computers, children, guns, education, trees, grass, water, roads, tools, vocations and opportunities. Nothing is yours. Everything is God’s. This does not mean all of us are supposed to be missionaries. However, it does mean that every part of our life is to be viewed as belonging to God and we are to be managing it so that his purposes are accomplished, that his kingdom is advancing. The primary goal isn’t my being able to retire comfortably. The primary goal isn’t achieving a certain lifestyle. The primary goal is God’s kingdom advancing through my managing of his resources entrusted to me. I have to regularly ask, “Does the way in which I am spending my time and my money show that I am using God’s resources to build God’s kingdom or does it show I believe the American lie that life is about being comfortable here and now?

The only people going to heaven are those who are going to heaven therefore…

•  You must be prepared to greet Christ at any time, no matter how long it takes

•  You must live as a manager of God’s property

•  And therefore…

III. You must remember you will have to give an account to your master (vv. 19-30)

The bulk of this parable is taken up with what happens when the master returns and settles accounts with his three slaves. The first two slaves have achieved a 100% rate of return on their master’s investment. The first slave returns $8 million to his master, the second slave returns $3.6 million. Two things strike me in the first two slaves presentation and their master’s response. First, how excited they must have been to present the fruit of their work to their master! All of their hard work and self-denial would have been a dim memory in light of their joyful presentation to their master of the fruit of their labor. It makes me think of children who busily clean the house while their parents are away and eagerly welcome them home in order to show the sparkling results of their labor. It’s like children who build and make things for their parents at Christmas and eagerly present their misshapen packages on Christmas morning. More eager for mom to open her gift from them than to open their own gifts. It is the offering of love. The ambition to honor one greater than yourself by presenting him with something you have done for the express purpose of honoring him, of showing him your affection. These slaves do not make their presentations as employees completing a project in order to get a paycheck and a bonus. These are the fruit of labor done in order to honor the master, not to bribe him to be good to them.

The second thing I want you to note is the response of the master to the first two slaves. He is delighted with what they have done and with them. He sees their labor as the expression of affection and the money as the symbol of their love. He is pleased with them, “Well done!” he exclaims. This is the language of mutual love, not the language of economic reciprocity. This isn’t a business arrangement but the language of relationship. “Enter into the joy of your master”, is not something that the boss says to the faithful employee. But note also the comparison that the master makes between what they have done and what they will receive. They have managed very large sums of money and yet the master says that what they have done is be faithful over a few things . How can he call managing $4 million a small thing? He does so in light of the comparison with what these two slaves are going to be in charge of in the future. Our capacities for displaying the glory of God and for advancing the reputation of God on earth are infinitesimally small when compared to the capacities we will enjoy in his eternal kingdom.

I want you to understand how these two things fit together: “I will put you in charge of many things” and “Enter into the joy of your master.” It is as if the master is saying, “You have enjoyed honoring me in this small way here on earth, now I am going to give you opportunities and resources that will enable you to express your delight in me and love for me that are far beyond anything that you have ever experienced. You are excited to be able to honor me with this small thing, I am going to enable you now to experience an infinitely superior joy by giving you greater resources and opportunities to express your joy in me.” Again, the analogy is very much like the small child who delights to honor his mother by drawing a stick figure picture. He loves to draw it for her and to present it to her. However, how much greater is his joy when his skill is developed and he is able to work with watercolors and he presents her with a masterpiece production.

This is the connection between earth and heaven. We deny ourselves pleasures on earth and spend our time and money here to advance God’s purposes and to display his glory. This is what gives us joy. Then at the final judgment we will present the fruit of our labors in the lives of those we have influenced. This is what Paul means in 1 Thess. 2: 19 when he says, “For what is our hope, our joy or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed you are our glory, our joy.” We will delight in honoring God and expressing our affection for him by presenting to him the lives of those we have influenced. We will do it as an expression of our delight in God and our desire to honor him. Then the reward of heaven is God giving us greater opportunities to express our joy in him forever. We will be given greater resources, more time, and more skill to be able to express more joy in God.

This is the dream that ought to fill your heart and mind with desire. This is the end for which you ought to be living. If you will gladly invest your life here in promoting the glory and worth of God, you will be given infinite opportunities to do so in heaven. However, there is also a nightmare here that you ought to fear. All three slaves are called upon to give an account of how they have used what they have been given. The third slave, who dug a hole and buried the master’s money, must also answer for what he has not done . In a moment we are going to talk about why each of these slaves did what they did. For now I want you to simply see what the third slave did and the response of the master to him. Rather than using his ability to invest the resources of the master in order to increase his wealth, he buried his master’s resources and used his ability to pursue his own agenda while the master was away. His joy was in pleasing himself, not pleasing his master. Like the child who delights in watching TV rather than delights in finishing her chores to please her mother, he squandered his life on himself. The master justly condemns him for his faithlessness and takes away the resources he was given and banishes him into the outer darkness where there is eternal torment, expressed in the grinding of teeth and the wailing of despair. Rather than entering the joy of his master, he is thrown outside, into the darkness of torment and despair. Everyone sitting in this room is going to give an account for how they invested all that the Lord has given them. You will be judged by what you have done with your time, money and opportunities. Your destiny will be determined by what you believed would make you happy, pleasing God or pleasing yourself. This leads us to our final point.

The only people going to heaven are those who are going to heaven therefore…

•  You must be prepared to greet Christ at any time, no matter how long it takes

•  You must live as a manager of God’s property

•  You must remember you will have to give an account to your master

•  And therefore…

IV. You must live by faith (vv. 24-27)

I want to end today by looking at why the evil, lazy slave did what he did and why the good and faithful slaves did what they did. I want to do this by looking primarily at how the third slave thought, felt and acted. In v. 24 we discover how the third slave thought about his master. His view of his master was that he was an unjust despot, who could not be trusted. He believed that his master was like the worst of human dictators. He believed that his master would require a harvest from those to whom he did not supply seed and that he would expect a return from those to whom he never gave any money. In short, he doesn’t trust the master. He doesn’t love him. He doesn’t view the resources he has been given and the responsibility with which he has been entrusted as a gift. He believes that any effort he made to please his master would not be duly rewarded. Serving the master was a fruitless endeavor and would gain him nothing, but only expose him to undeserved punishment. The question is, was this a correct view of his master? Absolutely not! His master had proven himself generous and kind in the distribution of his resources to his slaves. He had shown himself to be just and gracious in his dealings with the other slaves. His view of the master is even worse than what he says. Notice that the master says that if you really believed I was such a hard man, then why didn’t you at least put my money in the bank so it would at least have gained interest? His problem is much deeper than what he says. He simply doesn’t believe his master has any right to rule over him and he has no affection for his master.

Notice that these wrong ideas about his master produced emotions. Because he thought wrongly and believed wrongly, he felt wrongly. You know that how you think affects how you feel, don’t you? Not a day, hardly an hour goes by that what you think about doesn’t produce emotions. Any parent can create panic in himself by imagining that his toddler has been abducted in a store or his teenager has been in a car accident. Thinking that you will not be able to pay the bills this month will create fear in your heart. All of us live in the same reality. Our experiences of pleasure and pain, sickness and health, successes and failures while differing in the details, are essentially the same. However, what makes us different from one another is how we think about the facts of our lives. What do these pleasures and pains mean? How is God working in the midst of these facts? What is the ultimate reality that stands behind this reality? How you answer these questions determines how you feel and then how you will behave. As the noted theologian, J.I. Packer says, “What you think about God is the most important thing about you.” This slave believed a lie and therefore he lived in error and deception, though he believed he was living correctly.

This slave viewed his master, God, as a tyrant, therefore he was afraid and refused to invest all that he had been given to increase the glory and honor of the master. How could he find joy in increasing the glory of someone he believed to be a despot, whom he feared? No one can naturally work for the good of a person they view as their enemy. Al Gore is not going to campaign for George Bush. It would give no pleasure to Saddam Hussein to increase the honor of Colin Powell, our Secretary of State. No one is going to deny themselves worldly pleasures in order to work for the kingdom of God if they do not believe having God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” is the best thing that could ever happen to them. The only people who believe that are those who love God and trust him. If you do not love God and trust him, you will not spend the time and money God gave you to build his kingdom.

This is what motivated the good and faithful servants through the long years of toil. They were so eager to be able to present to their master the fruit of their labor in order to honor him. They yearned to have him say “well done”. It is this vision, this dream that is to motivate you to get out of bed a half hour early so you can read the Bible. This goal is to stimulate you to turn off the TV, read the Bible with your children, and memorize the catechism question. It is this idea that is to drive you to forgo the new car in order to give more money to missions or to the church building. It is this ambition that inspires you to work hard at your job, not the dream of retiring early. It is this dream that prompts you to take the risk to call up another Christian in order to meet for the purpose of encouraging one another. It is this hope that propels you to share the gospel with your neighbor, or to take a meal over to a family that is in crisis or to go to a small group Bible study. How you actually live now shows what you really believe about God and the nature of the reality that you are living in. A true faith in the true God always produces people who are eager to do good, as Paul says in Titus 2. If you never use your time or take advantage of the opportunities God gives you to build his kingdom, you cannot expect to have him greet you with “well done good and faithful servant… enter into the joy of your master.” You can only expect “throw him out into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The only people going to heaven are those who are going to heaven therefore…

•  You must be prepared to greet Christ at any time, no matter how long it takes

•  You must live as a manager of God’s property

•  You must remember you will have to give an account to your master

•  You must live by faith