KEEP YOUR LAMPS BURNING!
Rev. Mark F. Bartels
Epistle Lesson;
2 Peter 3:3-13
Old Testament Lesson;
Isaiah 65:17-25
Sermon Text;
Matthew 25:1-13
What if the Lord came to you? And, what if He brought you an oil candle, lit it on fire for you, gave you a canister of oil and said, "I want you to keep this candle burning, until I come back on Judgment Day. If you have this candle burning, when I come back on Judgment Day, I am going to take you to be with me in Heaven. But, if this candle has gone out, when I come back, then you will be condemned for all eternity."
What if the Lord said that to us? What would you do with that candle and that flame? I can guarantee that every one of us would be concerned with keeping that flame going.
What if you knew someone, or you saw someone (maybe someone sitting next to you) whose flame was starting to go out, who was not concerned about the oil that was in his or her candle, and you knew that Jesus might come back at any moment? What if you saw their flame flickering and go out? I know, as a matter of concern to them, you would urge them to use the oil for their lamp, their candle, so it would be burning on the day Jesus came back.
Now, Jesus doesn’t tell us that He is going to light a candle for us, and that if we have that flame burning when He comes back on Judgment Day, He is going to take us to Heaven. However, today’s parable is a lesson about faith, and Jesus uses a flame, a lamp with the flame, to represent faith. When Jesus comes back on Judgment Day, He will be looking for people who believe in Jesus, as their Savior. Jesus is urging us, by this parable, to see to it that when Judgment Day comes, that flame is there, that we have faith in Jesus, as our Savior.
The oil in the lamp represents what it is that keeps our faith alive. And, what is it that keeps our faith alive? If you have been through Confirmation Class, you have learned the Third Article of the Apostle’s Creed, which says, "I believe that I cannot, by my own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him. But the Holy Ghost has called my by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith."
We believe the oil that is in the lamps, (which in this parable Jesus is talking about, with these ten virgins) is the Holy Spirit, living inside of us, who keeps us in faith in Jesus, as our Savior. And, we know from scripture that the Holy Spirit promises to work in our hearts through what we call the Means of Grace. Through Word and Sacrament, the Holy Spirit nurtures us in our faith in Jesus, as our Savior. And so, this is a call from Jesus to be faithful in our use of the Word and Sacrament, through which the Holy Spirit keeps us in our faith, until Judgment Day comes.
Now, you will notice that in this parable there are ten virgins. The virgins represent the external church, anybody who is a member, an outward member, of the church. But, there is a difference between the virgins. There are the five wise virgins and the five foolish virgins.
The five wise virgins are those who use that oil. They have a supply of oil, the Word of God and the Sacraments, that they are faithful in using.
But the foolish virgins let their supply of oil run low, to the point that their light goes out. This is a call from Jesus to make sure that we do not fall away from faithful use of Word and Sacrament.
We believe that baptism is a means of grace, because the Bible says, "Be baptized and wash away your sin and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children." There, God promises to give us the Holy Spirit through baptism, to bring us to repentance and faith in Jesus, as our Savior.
Let me give you a sad example that just tears at my heart, every time I think about it. There was a pastor who baptized a little baby boy. When that little baby boy was baptized, by a miracle, the Holy Spirit started that flame in his heart. He came to faith in Jesus, as his Savior.
Five years passed and his mom and dad never brought him to church - for five years. When he was five years old, his mom and dad had another little baby. They called up the pastor and said, "We have had another little child and we would like to have the child baptized."
The pastor said, "Well, come into the office. We need to talk."
And so, they came to church to talk about baptizing their second child. (Their little five-year old was along with them.)
The pastor looked at the couple and said, "Do you believe that your little one, who is about to be baptized, is a sinner?"
And they said, "Yes, we believe that, because scripture says, ‘All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.’ ‘I was sinful at birth.’ We believe our little one is a sinner."
Then he asked them, "Do you believe that the only way that sinners are saved is by faith in Jesus, as our Savior, because the Bible says, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.’ And it says, ‘Whoever does not believe is damned?’"
They said, "Yes, we believe that faith in Jesus is the only way of salvation."
Then the pastor asked them, "Do you believe that the Holy Spirit is going to work through the Word, in baptism, to bring this little infant to faith in Jesus, as his Savior?"
And they replied, "Yes, we believe that. We believe our little one is going to come to faith."
So, they believed in the power of baptism.
Then the pastor asked them, "Do you believe that your little one, who is going to be brought to faith today, do you believe that he could lose his faith?"
And they answered, "Yes, we suppose he could lose his faith."
Finally, the pastor asked, "Do you want that to happen to your little one?"
And they said, "No, we don’t want our little one to lose his faith."
And so the pastor asked them, "Do you know how your little one will stay in his faith, once he is brought to faith through baptism? It is through the Means of Grace. That is what the Holy Spirit promises to work through. Faith comes from hearing the message. And the message is heard through the Word. Do you understand how important it is to go to church?"
At that point they said, "Oh, we don’t really have to go to church, do we, to be Christians?"
The pastor looked at the little five-year old (now remember he had been baptized five years earlier and he had been brought to Jesus, as his Savior). The pastor looked at the little five-year old and asked him, (in front of the parents), "Do you know who Jesus is?"
The little five-year old shook his head and said, "Isn’t he somebody on TV?"
The pastor then asked the little five-year old, "Do you know what Jesus did for you?"
The little five-year old shook his head ‘no’.
That tears my heart out. There was a little one who had been brought to faith in Jesus, as his Savior. The flame of faith was going. But mom and dad neglected the Word of God in that little child’s life, and the flame went out.
He did not know Jesus.
He did not believe in Jesus.
He had lost his faith in Jesus.
And, had Judgment Day come then, that little five-year old would have been found with his lamp not burning.
The frightening thing is the pastor baptized their second child, and they never came back to church, again.
I cannot impress on us, as believers in Jesus, how important it is for all of us to use the Means of Grace in our lives. Now, I know that to some degree I may be ‘preaching to the choir’, because you are all faithful users of the Word of God, but I want you to listen to what Martin Luther says about the third Commandment. Using the Means of Grace faithfully doesn’t just mean showing up to church on Sunday morning. It doesn’t mean just going through the motions. It doesn’t mean just kneeling down here and eating some bread and wine. That, in and of itself, is not faithful use of the Means of Grace that God gives us. Listen to what Martin Luther says. "Let me tell you this. Even though you may know the Word of God perfectly, and you have already mastered everything, still you are daily under the dominion of the devil, who neither day nor night relaxes his effort to steal upon you unawares, and to kindle in your heart unbelief and wicked thoughts against all of these commandments. Therefore, you must continually keep God’s Word in your heart, on your lips, in your ears. For where the heart stands idle, and the Word is not heard, the devil breaks in and does his damage before we realize it. On the other hand, when we seriously ponder the Word, hear it, and put it to use, such is its power that it never departs without fruit. It always awakens new understanding, new pleasure, and a new spirit of devotion. And, it constantly cleanses the heart in its meditations. For these words of God are not idle or dead, but effective and living. Even if no other interest or need drove us to the Word, yet everyone should be spurred on by the realization that in this way the devil is cast out and put to flight."
Martin Luther, there, reminds us that faithful use of the Means of Grace is not just a matter of showing up to church, but as he said, "Seeing to it that we ponder the Word that we hear, that we hear it, and that we put it to use."
It is one thing, for example, to stand up and say the Confession of Sins, but did you ponder it? Did you ponder it in your heart?
When you hear the Absolution, did you ponder it in your heart? Did you consider what it meant to you, for you?
To listen to a sermon is not just to let the words flow over our heads, but it is to ponder, "What is it saying to me? What does it mean to me?"
To go to the Lord’s Supper is not just to kneel down, up here, and take some bread and wine, but also to ponder and put to use the sacrament, the Word that is being used.
When we confess our sins, and when the pastor preaches about sin, when you go up to the Lord’s Supper, which is for sinners, do you ponder the Word? Do you, as a Christian, take to heart and apply it to yourself and say, "The Word tells me that I, I, me, am a sinner. The Word tells me that I, I, have gone against the holy God. I have offended the holy God. Me! The Word tells me that I (and I shudder, when I say this) I deserve to be damned for all eternity. But, that is what the Word tells me. It speaks to me. And Hell is a long time. Hell is forever. The suffering in Hell is beyond what we can imagine, but that is what I deserve."
That is to ponder the Word. And through that, the Holy Spirit works. He works to cause us to repent of our sins. "I do not want to be condemned. I do not want that. I want to be in Heaven."
Even in scripture where Jesus said, "Whoever does not believe, shall be damned," in a way, even that is of comfort. You will notice that the Holy Spirit does not say that because of what we have done in our life, some sin we have committed, or something in the past, God is going to hold it against us. It doesn’t speak about sin. It simply says,
"Whoever does not believe, shall be damned."
There, the Holy Spirit holds out to us the way of salvation.
The way of salvation is
to believe in Jesus, as our Savior.
And so, when the words of Absolution are spoken on a Sunday morning, do you hear them, ponder them, and take them to heart? The Holy Spirit works through those. When the pastor preaches the words of forgiveness, when you go to the Lord’s Supper, do you hear and ponder that, and take it to heart?
When the pastor says, "I, by the authority of God, declare unto you the gracious forgiveness of all of your sins," there the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, individually, personally through another Christian. He wants you individually and personally to know that Jesus has not only earned salvation for all people, but for YOU. It is declared to you, your sins are forgiven. By that, the Holy Spirit works to increase our faith in Jesus, as our Savior. When the pastor preaches the words of forgiveness, do you ponder those and apply them to yourself? "Those promises are for me. The Holy Spirit is promising me that Jesus’ holy merits are mine! They are mine! I don’t deserve them, but they are mine! The Holy Spirit promises that the payment for my sins, my sins, happened on the cross. And He promises that my sins are forgiven. He promises that whoever believes in Jesus will never, ever be condemned and that is for me!" Do you ponder the Word and take it to heart?
When you go to the Lord’s Supper and Jesus there gives you the body that died on the cross, the blood that was shed on the cross, along with His words, "This is for the forgiveness of your sins," do you ponder that in your heart?
Do you apply it to yourself? "What Jesus did on the cross, He gives to me. His body is my possession. His shed blood is mine. He wants me, me, to know that what happened on the cross is mine. My sins are forgiven!"
The Holy Spirit works through that "oil," the means of Grace. That is what He promises, to keep that flame burning in our hearts,
so we cling to Jesus,
so that we avoid temptation,
so that we recognize false doctrine,
so that when the Day of Judgment comes, we are found in faith in Jesus, as our Savior.
How critical it is for all of us, to be faithful, faithful in the use of the Means of Grace, that great gift of the Holy Spirit.
As pastor, I can’t let this sermon go by without mentioning this. Do you think there could be some in our congregation who are like the foolish virgins in today’s scripture, for whom the oil supply is running low? Or, for whom the oil supply is gone, and the flame of faith is flickering, or has gone out? To me, it is always somewhat sobering to consider that in an average week, here at Holy Cross, four hundred and fifty of us are gathered around Word and Sacrament. That means 750 of us are not. Seven hundred and fifty of our brothers and sisters today are not gathered around the Means of Grace. Now, that does not mean that it is the same seven hundred fifty every Sunday, nor does it mean the same four hundred fifty are here, every Sunday. However, should that be a matter of concern to you and me? Could it be that we do have brothers and sisters, members here at our church, who are not making faithful use of the Means of Grace and could be weakening in their faith, with the possibility that the flame could go out before Jesus comes back? Could it be, that in some cases it should even cause alarm in our hearts, because we may know people who have not been here for an extended period of time, gathered around the Sacraments and the Word. And maybe that faith has died out. We don’t know.
Hebrews chapter 10, verse 25 says to us (and this is not just speaking to pastors), "Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as some are in the habit of doing. But let us encourage one another and all the more as we see the day approaching."
The "day" is coming. It is approaching. Jesus will come back. And we will be ready, or we will not be ready. And that passage tells us, "Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as some are in the habit of doing. But let us encourage one another and all the more as we see the day approaching."
This is my plea to you, my appeal to you, as fellow members of Holy Cross. If you know someone who is a member of Holy Cross, who is not faithfully using the Means of Grace, (be it a husband or a wife, a son or a daughter, a mother or a father, someone that you went to school with here, or whose children went to school with your children), I appeal to you to urge them to regular use of Word and Sacrament. And, if you want to know what to say to them, please come and talk to Pastor Tweit or me. Get out your catechism and look under the Third Commandment, which talks about use of God’s Word. And then, look under the Third Article of the Creed, which talks about how the Holy Spirit works through the Word and Sacrament. This will equip you to talk to them. Or get a copy of this sermon, and give it to them. I urge you, let us watch not only over our own souls, but let us care for the souls of our brothers and our sisters, so that when Jesus comes back, not a soul from Holy Cross will be found without faith in Jesus as Savior.
May God grant that, for Jesus’ sake.
Amen.
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