Title: RUNNING OUT OF OIL

Focus: Jesus calls for a living faith, which reveals itself in our daily actions and in the way we relate to God and to one another.

Function: To move the people to put their faith to work.

Text: Matthew25:1-13

Christian atheists—have you ever come across such a reference before? Atheists are people who will argue that there is no God; they say that people of faith use belief in God or in any god as a “crutch” to go through tough times. Atheists consider belief in God an outmoded, old-fashioned, medieval way of living that has no place in our scientific, intellectual, rationalistic day and age.

Christians, on the other hand, will surely affirm the belief in God. They refuse to think of themselves as “godless.” “God exists,” they say, contrary to what atheists will claim.

So, what on earth then does the reference of “Christian atheists” signify? Can you be both—an atheist and a Christian? Yes, you can. The reference “Christian atheist” is not an oxymoron or contradiction of terms; rather it refers to people who claim to be Christians who say “I believe in the existence of God,” but who go through life as if God does not exist. The world is full of Christian atheists. You find Christian atheists in your neighborhood, at work, and also in the church. They are Christians in name; they think of themselves as Christians, for example, by virtue of their names being on the membership list of a church.

Some claim to be Christians because their parents long ago were members of a church, or because they were baptized as infants in a church long ago. Christian atheists will want to mark on the census form that they are from a Protestant or Roman Catholic, or non-denominational background. Christian atheists, then, will claim that there is a God—but they live their lives as if there is no God.

So tell me: where do you and I fit in? Are we atheists or Christians? Or are we Christian atheists? Today the Lord Jesus comes to us with a story that forces us to ask ourselves the question, “Where do we fit in? How does Jesus’ story apply to you and me, individually and to us, collectively? Whatever our answer, be sure of this: Jesus calls for an active faith, which reveals itself in our daily living and in the way we relate to God and our neighbors. And in telling this story, the Lord Jesus is calling us to put our faith to work.

________________________

The Setting:

Now the setting and the time element in the story are very important for us to note. For the setting and the time element enable us to enter the story and apply its message to us.

The story’s setting is very simple. People can relate to it very easily because welcoming the bridegroom to the wedding banquet and place for him to consummate his marriage is very common in Jesus’ days. The story centers on wise and foolish virgins who are waiting for and looking forward to a wedding banquet to start the moment the bridegroom enters the city to meet and unite with his bride. The bridegroom is from “out of town;” he has courted his fiancée or bride. He has pledged fidelity and he is figuring on a wedding feast.

He has invited many guests; all are welcome—they are the virgins in the story. They are to welcome the bridegroom when he comes back from making preparations for the wedding banquet. And the virgins or wedding guests may enter the joy of the bridegroom the moment he comes to town to consummate his marriage with his bride.

Now pay attention to the very beginning of the story where Jesus says: “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.” So, as we enter the story we find ourselves transported to the end of time—to the time when Jesus, the Son of God, will make all things new, raise the dead, pronounce judgment and invites all those invited and chosen to participate in the wedding banquet—which is a metaphor for eternal life with God in our midst on the restored, new heavens and earth.

The story’s setting and time element, then, lead us directly to the day of resurrection and judgment, and renewal of all things. The story points to Jesus Christ—who is the bridegroom. And the story anticipates the great moment when the bridegroom and bride—which is the church—meet up to live in covenant fidelity for ever and ever. But in order for that consummation to take place, there is a sifting moment, which will determine which virgins—that is, which Christ-believers or God-confessors—are wise and which are foolish.

Our Place:

And that leads us to our place in the story. You see, Jesus wants us to hear this story so that we can identify with either the five wise virgins or the five foolish virgins. And Jesus helps us to understand what classified these virgins as “wise” or “foolish.” Listen to the text: “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.”

Now note that all these virgins had their lamps with them. Five had produced or gathered oil for their lamps to welcome the bridegroom. Five of them did not produce or take with them any oil. They did not even run out of oil. They simply failed to show up with any oil. All they had was their lamp.

Again note from the story that all are part of the company of virgins. All are invited and called to welcome the bridegroom. All have a lamp. And the lamp identifies them as bearers of light; the lamps set them apart as virgins. These lamps point to their claim or confession that they belong to the bridegroom. They believe in the bridegroom and they like the idea of sharing in the wedding banquet and entering into the joy of the bridegroom.

All are virgins going through life with a lamp. But some are foolish and will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Why not? Because they fail to produce or take with them jars of oil. What is our place in this story? Am I a wise or foolish virgin, a light bearer with or without oil?

The Oil:

In Jesus’ days it was olive oil that qualified as fuel to shed light in the darkness. In Jesus’ story, the lamp signifies faith, which God grants us as a divine gift in our hearts through his Son, the Lord Jesus, and through the workings of his Holy Spirit. The presence of oil indicates that the lamp of faith is active, useful, fruitful. The oil is faith in action.

The absence of oil means that the lamps—though they signify faith and though it is intended to spread forth light as we welcome the bridegroom and seek to enter his wedding banquet—the absence of oil for our lamps means that our faith is dead, useless, without any fruit.

The five foolish virgins are like Christian atheists; they have a lamp; they say, “Yes, God exists. Yes, I believe in God;” but their failure to produce and bring with them oil points to their actions—the actions of an atheist who claims and lives as if God does not exist. Folks, Jesus calls for an active faith, which reveals itself in our daily living and in the way we relate to God and to our neighbor.

What does that oil look like? How can we be so sure that the lamp of faith is useless UNLESS there is oil with it? Well, listen to the Apostle James: (James 2:14) “What good is it, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?...Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about h is physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” Jesus calls for oil, for an active, living faith.

The production of oil comes in different forms. Listen to Jesus: (Matthew 5:14-16) “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Oil stands for “good deeds.”

Elsewhere Jesus refers to that “oil” as “acts of righteousness” (Matthew 6:1): “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness, before men, to be seen by them.” The acts of righteousness, we learn from Scripture, ranges from fasting, to praying, to forgiving those who wrong us, to feeding the hungry and tending to the needs of those who suffer and are poor. Doing justice and many other acts of love—all these point to oil—to a living faith, which leads to a word of welcome and an invitation to participate in the wedding banquet on the great day of resurrection and judgment.

The Great Day of Resurrection and Judgment:

Did you notice in Jesus’ story that when the bridegroom arrived all the virgins were sleeping? And did you notice that the arrival of the bridegroom was at the most unexpected time—at midnight?

So it will be with Jesus’ final coming on the great day of resurrection and judgment. He will come and the voice of the archangel will cry out: “Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!” Then all the virgins—wise and foolish will rise. Their tombs—and ours, should we have fallen asleep by the time of Jesus’ final coming—will open. And God will reconstitute our dust into glorious resurrection bodies. And then we will welcome the Lord Jesus.

Many of these virgins’ lamps will shine because they bring with them their oil—the fruit of their faith. But there will also be many whose lamps will turn out to be useless, because during their lifetime on earth, there was no gathering or production of fruit, no active, living faith.

Will we be part of the company of wise virgins or part of the group of foolish virgins? Jesus calls for an active faith, which reveals itself in our daily actions and in the way we relate to God and our neighbor.

The Point:

Jesus’ story may lead us in many different directions. But it is clear from Jesus’ words that the central point of the story is about watchfulness. Listen: (vs. 13) “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

To keep watch means that you and I live out our faith. We must walk our talk. If we claim to believe the gospel, then we must also live it out in our actions. Every day! Faith without action is a dead faith. Faith without fruit is an inauthentic faith. So, Jesus calls us in the story to keep watch, to produce or gather or take with us oil in a jar.

The Lord Jesus also warns us in this story. His coming will be unexpected. Be ready for his coming nevertheless. Remember, now is the time of salvation. Now is the time to repent; now is the time to let our light shine for Christ. Do not be fooled. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise of a wedding banquet. He will come to live with us. The Lord is patient with us, not wanting “anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” Let the oil we produce every day be the fruit of repentance. That fruit will reveal the light of Christ in this dark world.

“Keep watch,” says Jesus. He calls us and he warns us. Do not be fooled! Jesus’ coming will involve a sifting; there will be words of judgment for those who do not repent from their sin. That same bridegroom—who in his awesome love quickens within us a faith and who calls us to live out our faith actively every day—that same bridegroom who says “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest,” –-is also the one who will not hesitate to shut the door, and say “I do not know you!”

So, keep watch. Be ready. He will come. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.