Are We Ready To Go?

Happy Sabbath, everyone! It's great to see you here. Wow! What great special music! What a blessing it is to have special music like that. I understand there's a lot of talent in this congregation, so you guys must be very blessed here with special music on the Sabbath.

I want to say a big hello, or as we say, a grande-bronge-reuch from your French-speaking brethren in Bordeaux, in Narbonne, Swiss, French-speaking brethren in Geneva, and then all around the world. A lot of people don't realize we have about 12 countries around the world. About 1,000 people meet every Sabbath in French-language congregations, places like Cote d'Ivoire, Togo, Bena, Cameroon, and Congo, and a lot of places we can't find on a map. But now that's your assignment, go find those places on a map. So, very pleased to be here. You know, it's March 1st, 2025. For some of you in this room, that probably is like a date out of science fiction.

Would I be here in 2025? I don't know if you've seen that graphic that shows where we are in all the science fiction movies. You know, there's like 1999 and 2001 and 2025. You can see where we are in all those movies. Time is going by. We're aware of the passage of time in our bodies as we get older. How does that expression go? The knees are the second thing to go, but I forgot the first thing.

We kind of know it just kind of goes year by year. And if you're younger, you kind of look around and you're like, oh, they're getting kind of old. What's happening with them? And you kind of see the time going by that way, too. And here we are today, another Feast of Tabernacles sort of long ago, looking forward to another spring holiday coming up. We heard about that in the announcements, waiting for Christ's return.

On my last trip from Seattle to here for the Council of Elders meetings in December, I ended up talking to a gentleman on the plane next to me. You know how that goes. You never know how that person next to you might want to talk, or they got their headphones in, or you got your headphones in. But he shook my hand and he wanted to talk. He asked me what I did for work.

I said I was a pastor. I was on my way to a board meeting of my church. And he's like, oh, tell me more about your church. And I'm like, well, okay, sure. And I'm a retired professional in tech. I'm actually still a licensed CPA. And he works in tech. He's an entrepreneur. We had a pretty deep conversation. The kind of conversation where we're now connected on LinkedIn. It's that kind of like, we just, you know, like we really connected. And he wanted to know about my faith. And he had a lot of pointed questions. And he told me that he really, really wanted to believe in God. He really did. But he couldn't reconcile why there were so many terrible things going on in the world today. And why, if Jesus said he was going to return, why he hadn't come back already. He just couldn't get himself through that. And he really like, please tell me. Tell me how I can get through this. And so, yeah, we had a pretty deep conversation. We said we wanted to stay in touch. And I think this question is a question that many people have. And I think, frankly, many of us in the church might ask ourselves, well, God, it's been a long time. You know, I've been in the church now. And when are you going to come back? And I think there's a parable in Scripture that answers this question. And it's a parable, but I also think to some degree it's a prophecy. Now, if I asked you, what's the scariest prophecy in the Bible? You were to go through that. Maybe you could roll through in your head. What's the scariest prophecy in the Bible? One elder told me, and women shall rule over them. I hope I make it out of the building with that one. I asked if it was okay if I could tell that joke. And the person said, yeah, you can tell that joke. But seriously, seriously, what is the scariest prophecy in the Bible? I think the scariest parable or prophecy is the parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25. I'd ask you to turn with me there to Matthew 25. No other gospel writer shares this parable. It's uniquely in the book of Matthew. And it speaks to eternal consequences. Eternal consequences. Matthew 25. We're just going to read verse 1 just in this introduction, and then we'll get into the specifics of what I'd like to share with you today. Matthew 25 verse 1 says, Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

You know, after sharing prophetic details of his return in Matthew 24, Christ begins to talk about how we should respond to what he said here in Matthew 25. There was a reference in the sermonette to the parable of the Talents in Matthew 25. This is a way of responding to all of those events. Christ is telling us something important about the kingdom of God here in this parable. And what is that? What is it that these women and their lamps and meeting this bridegroom is? What is it about them that is so important to us today? And so today I'd like to examine this parable, and I want to talk about three specific things that I hope we can carry away with us today. First, the idea of a delayed return of Jesus Christ. The idea of a delayed return of Jesus Christ. Second, the consequences of this mindset of delay. And finally, where we fit into the mathematics of this parable, because there is math in this parable, and it becomes very obvious as we read it.

And when we're done, I hope that we can know why we have this time right now. This time today. March 1st, 2025. And what this means as we think about Christ's return. And I'll give you a hint. It has a lot to do with us being engaged in our personal work and the work of the church. I originally prepared this sermon for the feast in France last year. I gave it in French. I did some modifications in January. I gave it in English in Seattle for the first time.

I did some others. So if you've heard this before, please bear with me. I always make changes to these sermons as I go through. I'm sure most of you have heard a sermon on the parable of the Ten Virgins. How many of you heard a sermon on this? Yep, that's right. 99.99% of the people. Perhaps you're here for the first time, and you haven't heard a sermon on that.

I ask you, please stay with me. As one of my mentors once said, if you don't learn something from this, I'll be happy to tie your shoes. Anyway, I'm standing by. You can tell me if I need to tie your shoes at the end of the sermon or not. The title of today's message is, Are We Ready To Go? There's a little hint about what we'll be talking about. Are we ready to go?

Let's begin with my first point about this idea of a delayed return of Jesus Christ. Since we're here right here in verse 1, let's continue reading through verse 5. Matthew 25 verse 2, They all slumbered and slept. Okay, here it is. Bridegroom was delayed. Christ delays is coming, right? Bridegroom was delayed. Pretty obvious. Well, some think this parable is telling us to be prepared for a delay. In fact, you can get on the Internet and, of course, find everything you could possibly want to find there, including authors that will go as far as saying that Christ will delay His coming.

And I want to tell you the answer is no. No, no, no, no. We need to be grounded in this. Christ will not delay His coming. He will come at exactly the right time, according to our Heavenly Father's direction. Exactly the right time. One of the last things that is revealed to the Apostle John in the book of Revelation is that Christ will not delay His coming. I want you to turn over there, please. Keep your place here in Matthew 25. We will be coming back here on many occasions. But look over in Revelation 22, verse 20. Revelation 22, verse 20. He who testifies these things says, Surely I am coming quickly.

Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. In fact, Christ says three times in this final chapter, Behold, I am coming quickly. You can make that note in verse 7, verse 12, and here in verse 20. Now, some will argue this means suddenly or unexpectedly. There are different interpretations of this Greek word here that's used. And I think there's some merit to that. I think you can argue that He will come at a time we might not expect, and that could be called suddenly or unexpectedly. I think there's merit to that definition. I don't discount that. But we should be cautious about discounting also the view that the Father has in mind that His Son will come quickly and not slowly.

The issue is when Christ would return, and this topic was a concern of our spiritual ancestors as well. It's not just us that we might ask. Christ, when will you come back to put in order this craziness that we're going through? It was a concern of our first-century spiritual ancestors as well. The difficulties of everyday life, the persecution that many faced, seeing injustice not confronted. Now, these are the things that we talk about here. If you were to join me in going to Madagascar or to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, you'd be talking about actually just surviving.

Just literally just like not being killed. I've shared with people that in Cameroon, healthcare is pay-to-play. They will literally take people's dead bodies from in front of a hospital door if they don't have cash. So there you're just talking about literally just living. And our brethren there certainly pray for God's kingdom just as we do here.

And so we all wonder, when will this occur? And this was actually discussed in Hebrews 10. If you turn with me over to Hebrews 10. The author of Hebrews here makes a reference to this. I won't read Hebrews 10.32-34.

You can read that. But I think it's clear that the author of Hebrews knew that people were tired. People were fatigued. They just wanted their Savior to return and take away the troubles that they were dealing with. And frankly, I feel this. I get very fatigued. I just wonder, God, what is it that you have in mind that this keeps going? But then in verse 37, if you look at Hebrews 10, we're going to read verses 37-39. There's a reference to the prophet Habakkuk. And quoting from that prophet, this is what's written here.

Our Savior will not delay, and let it be said of us that we will not draw back in this time as we wait. We may become discouraged from time to time. We may even lose hope.

But we can, and we will, work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We will preserve, persevere, and overcome. I hope we can put ourselves into this Scripture in verse 39, that we will not be part of those who draw back as we wait patiently for the return of our elder brother and soon-coming king.

Let's go over to Matthew 25 again, and let's put this reference to delay into some context. Because it does say that in verse 5, right? Let's put Matthew 25 verse 5 into some context in terms of this delay. I want to take you back to verse 1.

I actually almost skipped over this word even just now, because we tend to skip over this word. And it's the first word of Matthew 25 verse 1. Did you skip over it? Did you pay attention to that word? The word is then. Then. The first word is then. Why does Matthew record Christ beginning the parable with the word then?

Why not begin it with, The kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom? That would have been somewhat logical. You can go back to Matthew 13, and you can see Christ didn't begin those parables with the word then back in Matthew 13.

He just says, the kingdom of heaven is like a pearl of great price, or it's like a man sowing a seed or a mustard seed. He's very clear on each of those. But Matthew records here in this discourse the word then. The word in Greek is tote. It's a transition word, just as we use then in English.

The Thayer's Greek lexicon defines tote three ways. The first definition is time. That is to say, at the time when the things under consideration were taking place. And some English translations do translate this at that time. As to say, well, you know, at this time that we're speaking of right now. The second definition is when the thing under consideration has been said or is done. And historically, the reference in Thayer says, especially in Matthew, it's a way of transitioning from one thing mentioned to another thing which could not take place before it. And so most English translations use the word then to mean that there was something happening before and now there's something else that's happening. The third case refers to the future, but we're going to focus on the first two cases because that's most of the translations go to then.

And the then here is used to connect this story to a previous story that was just told. And that story is in Matthew 24 at the end of Matthew 24. I don't think we can read or understand the story of the wise and foolish virgins unless we understand the context of the wise and evil servant that was just described in the previous verses. That then makes a connection for us between that story and this story. So let's go back and read the story that I think Christ is telling us to consider as we contemplate the story of the ten virgins.

Go to just write up a few verses. Matthew 24 verse 45. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, Matthew 24 verse 45, whom his master made ruler over his household to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. So we have here a portrait of someone Christ wants us to emulate. This servant is wise and faithful, and he's doing what his master told him to do.

He's doing it all the time. You know, I think we went through the pandemic. A lot of us worked remotely. I think we know people that, you know, they were probably watching ESPN all day. And then when the time came for the meeting, they jumped in front of that Zoom call and they looked very ready to go. And you can tell they weren't quite ready for that meeting. Or maybe they were in their pajamas, this type of thing. It's somebody who is essentially not like that.

They're just, whether they're working from home, or they're working in the office, or even when they're traveling, they're always focused on what they're supposed to be doing in terms of their main work. This servant is tuned into what Christ wants him to do and what he's doing. So by contrast, then, in verse 48, we see something else.

So by contrast, the evil servant says, I got time. I got plenty of time. There's no reason for hurry. My master is delayed. And instead of doing what the master wants, he begins to meet, mistreat those he's with, and to basically go party. He's going to go party.

The delay here is not a fact. It's a perception. A perception that this servant has that there's plenty of time. Plenty of time to get the job done. He can take a longer lunch. He can come in late. He can leave work early. And he can discourage those that he's working with. Discourage as in hurt them. He can let his temper go off a little bit. He can do mean things because he's got time. He can catch up later. When we connect this story in Matthew 24 with the delay comment in Matthew 25, we can see that this delay is just what the ten virgins might have perceived as well.

The bridegroom will come, though, at exactly the right time, but it was just a little later than they thought. It's just a perception on the part of the servant and of the virgins. And as they waited, they rested and they slept. Now, no detail is given here on the spiritual significance of them sleeping. Now, we have in the past made a connection with some kind of spiritual lethargy or, you know, sort of not paying attention.

And I think that could be true. I respect those who brought that forward. I think there's times when the church has needed to wake up. And unfortunately, that terminology has now been hijacked, so we don't talk about that in the same way that we used to. But I think that there's a reasonable position for that. But this parable does not actually correct the ten virgins for sleeping.

It just says they slept. That's all it says. Alternatively, I think of this as when I'm getting ready for a trip. Maybe you're getting ready to go to the feast and you've got a lot to do. And the weeks kind of go by and you're like, I'm not getting to those things and getting to those things. And then the night before, you finally get to it. And you end up, you know, kind of like it's like midnight or one o'clock.

You've got to get up at four. You've got to get on the road or whatever. And you're just like, okay, I think I'm ready. And then you kind of do your best and you kind of rest. And then, you know, the alarm clock goes off and you're ready to go. So, you know, that's another way of thinking about this. And I certainly have been through that in a lot of ways. So you can – I'll leave it to you to determine what you think the significance of the sleep is here.

And I'll let somebody else focus on that in another message. What I want to focus on is what the differences between these two groups. Because sleeping wasn't one of the differences. What is the difference between these two groups? Well, one group, as part of their preparation, had made the effort to secure oil, both for their lamps, and a little bit extra just in case. The other group had not made that effort. It isn't even clear that it had any oil at all. If the foolish virgin had wanted to be ready, she would have made the effort to go get oil for her lamp.

You know, like, you're preparing for a trip. Did you remember this? Oh, I forgot that. And then you get on the trip and it's like, Oh, I – you know, my passport is at home. I'm – this is my flight. Well, you should have put your passport in there, right? You should have gotten ready. Check these kinds of things. So instead, she skipped that step.

She went too fast. Maybe she got a little lazy. Maybe she got a little distracted. You know, she didn't have oil. She perhaps thought she would have more time to get oil later, or she could borrow some oil from someone else, or maybe she could run out at the last minute, you know, and get it. There's a lack of seriousness about the preparation. And maybe you've been with somebody. You know, maybe you have roommates and you're all going to go, and you're like, that person is not with the program. We are leaving tomorrow, and, you know, they are not even packed, right?

So you know the people that might, you know, kind of leave things to the last minute. The wise virgins are like the wise servants, though. They're ready. They're serious. They're working. And the foolish virgins, to some degree, are like the evil servant, distracted, actually doing some damage, potentially. Now we know that oil is a symbol of God's Spirit. I think that's a very deep analogy in Scripture. And so we could also consider whether we are stirring up the Spirit to make sure God is developing His character in us, His agape love in us, because that's how the groom will recognize those who are coming.

So I think the key message here, if we look at these verses, is whether we're going to be found doing and ready, and whether we're taking the time now to be serious. So many of us can look at what's going on around us in the world, and frankly we can become upset, and we can become indignant. How can this be going on? But how many of us look at ourselves and become upset and indignant?

How can I be doing this? What kind of person am I? Why did I say that? You know, I came across an interview with Dr. Kristin Rosen, who's a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. She recently wrote a book entitled, The Extinction of Experience, Being Human in a Disembodied World. And her premise is that we live so much of our lives online that we are becoming more and more disembodied. We're basically just in our heads. We're just heads in front of a screen.

And this is essentially contributing to a whole host of societal problems today in the United States. We are, for example, in her words, more likely to know the names of online influencers than the names of our neighbors. Because we don't interact much with our neighbors, but we do interact with a lot of people online. In the Church, we can fall prey to this, and I think we can become disconnected from the human experience, the connectedness that we need to be lights in this world, the salt of the earth that we are called to be. Even my conversation on the plane, so often people just put their headphones on and we drift away.

I think, actually, she mentions, Dr. Rosen mentions, that the Apple Earpod is probably one of the greatest destructive things that have occurred in our society. Everybody just puts them in and on they go. And you're like, well, don't bother that person. They're listening to music. Hello? Hello? Everybody's just disconnected. So, my first point was, is there a delay? And my answer is no. There is no delay. Only time for God's will and God's work to be done. And we'll talk about God's work, because a lot of times we think about God's work as something out there, but God's work is with us, too, individually.

So, let's go on to our second point. What are the consequences of this mindset of delay? And let's see what the result is here in verse 6. So, we know we have these 10 virgins. Five have oil and five do not. And at verse 6 it says, And at midnight a cry was heard. Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him. And then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.

But the wise answered, saying, No, lest there should not be enough for us and you. But go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were not ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut.

Isn't it a little selfish that these five wise virgins didn't want to share any of their oil?

That's not very kind. If somebody came up to you and asked for something, you're like, Well, sure. I don't have much here, but I'll share that with you.

Why would Christ support such a lack of love on the part of these five women who had oil? I say lack of love, kind of, in quotations. Well, in fact, there is an important lesson here. Christ gave us this example, and the previous example in the previous chapter, when he talked about how two men would be in the field, one would be taken, and one would be left. Two women would be grinding, one taken, and one left.

Christ said, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. There's an individual experience here that we have with our Creator. God calls us, and he seeks a personal relationship with us, individually. You know, this came to mind last night over dinner.

I remember talking to a man who had been in the church for many, many years, and I think we were on a call, or we were together in some way, and he said, You know, I just don't believe the Bible's true anymore. I said, Really? You know, I've seen this man in years.

He explained his reason why that was. I won't go into those details, but I said to him, But, you know, have you had an opportunity to really... I mean, have you had a moment in your life where you just know God is there for you?

You know, like God was there. You had that connection, that He was there for you at a difficult time, or He led you in a certain way. And he thought, and he thought, and he said, I don't think so. Man had been in the church for more than 20 years. He knew all the doctrines, right? But he didn't have a relationship with God. He didn't have a relationship with our older brother Jesus Christ. Without that relationship, all these things we do, they kind of become less important. When I'm traveling in the French-speaking areas in Africa, what we often call Francophone Africa, I often meet with groups of people.

In January, I was with a group of 30 people in Ivory Coast near the border with Liberia. And they're all excited about becoming part of the United Church of God. I mean, they're just the energy. You'd be like, wow, these people are just so excited about being here. And when I talk with them, I talk about a relationship that each one of them individually has to have with God the Father and Jesus Christ.

And that just because so-and-so over here wants to get baptized doesn't mean that everybody's going to get baptized, each of you. And they're kind of surprised. I want to talk individually with each one of them. I don't want to just kind of have the conversation. Where are you at individually?

And you know, it's pretty exhausting. I had nine baptismal counseling back-to-back on a Saturday afternoon, a Sabbath afternoon. You know, talking to nine people back-to-back, you know, but you're pretty tired. But that's what's involved because you just can't sort of look at these people as a group. We are part of the body of Christ, but only if we have the oil, only if God's holy righteous character is found in us. It's not enough to be at the right place at the right time. It's not a time when the arising tide lifts all boats, you know?

In Seattle, we have a reasonably sized congregation, maybe 80 people on a regular basis, so very blessed in that area. But many people live in places where church congregations are more like 30. Probably many of you have been in those 25, 30-ish kind of groups. In Bordeaux, we have about 15. 15 people meeting every week. Others are isolated. Maybe there's just a few people that get together for a Bible study. You know, what I've noticed is in a larger congregation, it's easier to get lost in the crowd.

It's a lot easier to get lost in that crowd. You sort of just kind of go along with things and so forth. But when you are in a small group, when you're in a small group, or maybe you have no congregation, you have to make a very concerted, conscious effort to participate and contribute.

Because your contribution, or lack thereof, will be noticed. You know, I've said before, I don't think I haven't had a chance to preach here, but some people say we're a small church. And in fact, I like being called a small church. Small can be good. Small can mean we are closely connected. We're watching out for one another because we all know everybody's name.

Small should mean that we're flexible and we're able to adjust our plans. You know, Christ calls us a small flock. You can look that up in Luke 12.32. He calls us a small flock. I think we need to own that label. I think we need to own that label. I want to be part of the biggest small church that God can make possible at this end time. The biggest small church. Small is good. Small is connected. Because small allows us to make individual contributions in a very powerful way.

And you know, as much as I want to help others in my congregation, whether that's I'm in Bordeaux or I'm Seattle, I can't live another person's life for them. I think we know that, right? We can't solve other people's problems. We can't enable their bad behavior either. We can't take responsibility for them. You know, I performed a funeral here in January for a young man in his 20s. He died of alcohol poisoning. And my wife and my two adult children, we love this young man so deeply. We wanted him to stop. We know that he struggled with that. Substance abuse is a terrible thing for the abuser, and it's terrible for those around them.

Because we want to help. We want them to get better. We want to just shake them. But you know, that's an extreme example. But I think our spiritual journey isn't much different individually. We can't convince someone to listen to advice. To step back and consider the broader perspective of where they're going. Now, you know, I'd encourage you to read Galatians 6.1, Restore Such a One. Great section.

Won't go through it here. But you know, it's up to the other person on whether they're going to listen. So there's five wise virgins who were ready, and there were five foolish ones who were not. They didn't have oil with them. Were there conversations? We don't know in the parable. You can almost imagine, right? Women talking amongst themselves like, hey, right, who's coming? You ready? Got the oil? You ready? Oh, yeah, I got time. Each of us must look at ourselves and decide if we are ready to listen and walk this walk that God has called us to do individually.

Turn with me to Philippians. Again, keep your place here. Matthew 25. We're not done. But turn over to Philippians 2. I made reference to it, but let's read it. Philippians 2, verses 12 and 13. Such an important scripture. Philippians 2, 12 to 13.

For it is God who works in you. Philippians 2, verses 12 to 13. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and disputing. Excuse me. I started in verse 12. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now in much more of my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

Each of us has an individual responsibility before God to respond to his calling, to respond to what he's trying to tell us. God, what are you trying to tell me? I hope we ask that question a lot in our prayers. God, where are you trying to tell me? Where are you leading me? You know, a lot of times I'll pray before, especially before Sabbath.

God, show me what it is I'm supposed to do today. Because you never know who you're going to meet. You never know what they're going to say. And we've got to be ready. Sometimes I go to church and I think I am so tired. You know, I don't even... I'm not up to going to church today. I think, well, you know, there's probably something. There's probably a reason I'm supposed to be in church today. So I don't know what that is, but I'm going to go. And I'm going to be there because God has a purpose for me that day in church.

And then verse 13, For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure. What is God's good pleasure for me today? For you today? In services after church tonight. And so the wise virgins, like the wise servant at the end of chapter 24, are rewarded. Let's go back to Matthew 25.

Matthew 25, and let's continue here. They're rewarded. In this case, they came into the wedding feast. That was what we read. But look at the fate of the foolish virgins in verses 11-12.

Afterwards, the other virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. And he answered and said, Assuredly I say to you, I do not know you.

This is the frightening part. This is the scariest parable in the Bible.

The fact that they were just hanging out with good friends or being in a good friend group did not matter. They were shut out. Shut out. And the phrasing here, Lord, Lord, open to us, is interesting because they acknowledge Jesus as their Lord.

They acknowledge this just as those whom Matthew described earlier in his gospel in Matthew 7, verse 21-23. We read that fairly often, right? Lord, Lord, did we not do miracles in your name? Cast out demons in your name. Preach in your name.

We can have a form of godliness, but we may have missed the mark.

You know, years ago, my father, who left the church, it was after he left the church, he told me, You know, you don't need the church to be a good person. You don't need the church to be a good person. You know, like, you want to be a good person, but you don't need that church to do that.

Do we believe that?

Do we believe that? If we start buying into these things, we start buying into those lies, thinking that, you know, because of the years we've been in the church and the fact that we work hard and we try and be a good person, you know, we want to be in God's kingdom. You know, that's enough. That's enough.

It's not. We can't buy into that.

We need God and His Spirit, that oil, if we're going to truly understand who God is, and we're going to be part of His kingdom. And then in verse 13, Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. The risks are too great. The loss too large.

Christ says, watch. You know, I was in Madagascar. I was talking to a former soldier, and we were talking about being attentive at his duty. You know, it's like a soldier. If you're given a duty to stand, watch. You better stand, watch. You better not fall asleep. You better not get distracted. You better pay attention to what you're doing, because if the enemy comes up and the bases overrun, then everybody suffers. Everybody dies. And the context, again, is Matthew 24, 46, that we are wise servants that are found doing, because that's what the wise servant was doing. He was found doing, and the wise virgins are found watching. These are similar things. We see the connection between these things. That's why that then is so critical. So let's talk about doing, because that's what's said here in Matthew 24, 46. When he comes, we'll find so doing. We read verse 13, watch therefore. These are similar concepts. Now, the doing is not a list. It's not a list of things that we do to earn us a place in the kingdom. I think we know that. Hopefully we've been through these discussions of law and grace. It's not law or grace. It's grace and law. The doing, the doing in its simplest and purest form, is allowing God's Spirit to transform us into a new creation. That is the simplest, clearest, it's ultimately being about born again of the Spirit. God is love, and it is by this that all men shall know that we are His disciples. It is by this that all men shall know that we are His disciples. These things we do of observing the Sabbath, the Holy Days, clean and unclean meat, these are given. This is just the starting point. It's just the starting point. Of course we observe these things. The New Testament Church observed these things. We observe these things. We can see Abraham observing these things. This is actually always a trick question when I'm traveling. How many pairs of animals did Noah take on the ark? Everybody says, oh, you know, two pairs. No, they didn't. Clean. There were seven pairs of clean and just a pair of unclean. These things go way back. But this is just the beginning. Of course we do these things because we love God, and He wants us to keep His commandments. Of course we do that. It's not a question. But we've got to go beyond these things. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians 13, verse 4 to 7. This is where it gets harder. This is where it gets harder.

I'm often talking about Ephesians 4. Bear with one another. Bear with one another in love. What bear means is hard. It's hard to do these things. And work together. 1 Corinthians 13, verse 4 to 7. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself. Is not puffed up. Does not behave rudely. Does not seek its own. Is not provoked. Thinks no evil.

Does not rejoice in iniquity. But rejoices in the truth. And then verse 7. Bears all things. Believes all things. Hopes all things. Endures all things.

We'll never achieve this without God's Spirit. We can try and try and try and try. Without God's Spirit, we are never going to understand how to do this. This is the doing. These are the things that should be found in us at Christ's return. That is the doing we absolutely need from God's Holy Spirit. We are utterly incapable of becoming agape love in this way without God's oil. That's why that oil is so critical and such a differentiator between these two groups of people. If Christ sees that we are actively working on that, begging for His Spirit, asking for it every day to help us resolve our issues, our individual issues, then when Christ returns, He'll say, Hey, I know you. You look like me. I recognize you. I can see the image of the Father in you. And of course, He's talking to us in Matthew 25 because it's virgin. My wife said, Are you afraid to say the word virgin? Because you're using women. It's pure. There's a purity here. He's speaking to the church. He's talking about doctrinal prayer. He's speaking to us in the church who are called. He's not talking to other people. And that's why I think it's the scariest parable in the Bible because does it mean that only 50% of us are going to make it? Which brings me to my third point, the math, the math of the parable. How do we think about the math in this parable? The very structure makes us do it. Five wise, five foolish. Half will meet the bridegroom at the wedding feast, and the other half will be knocking on the door trying to get in. As it says in Matthew 24, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So what's the answer? What's the answer to the math problem for me and for you?

As a teenager, I listened to Herbert Armstrong give a sermon at the church headquarters at the time. The auditorium held 1,200 people. Maybe some of you were there. And he said, brethren, I don't think half of you get it. Now, there's different variations of that story. That's the one I remember because I was there.

And I think we know he was wrong because more than 50% of those people chose another way.

When my wife and I got married the day after the feast in France in 1989, we had 1,200 people at the feast in France. How many people have been to the feast in France recently? A number of you. Do we have 1,200 people there? No. We did not have 1,200 people there.

If you consider those who attend with the United Church of God and those who have remained faithful in other groups in that area, you might have a tithe of that. You might have a tithe of that.

I mentioned my dad earlier on what he told me because he was in the church and then he left. And after he left the church, he said to me, he says, you know, all my heroes left. All my heroes left.

Why are we here? Because our heroes are here?

I hope it's not because the church we attend will always treat us well because sometimes it can be difficult. That's why it says bear with one another in love. I hope it's not because we're here because we have heroes we rely on. If we go down that path, then we're part of this good friend group, right? Like the Ten Virgins. We're just part of that group.

I hope it's not because of the way we've been treated.

I don't want to give away my chance at salvation because of the behavior of somebody else.

And yet I see people deciding to retreat from God, retreat from the church, step aside from the body of Christ, stop getting involved in church because they have been hurt by somebody else in the church.

I think we know that. I think we've probably been in that situation.

And sometimes we might be the ones causing the hurt.

You know, there's something I've noticed, and that is that we grow spiritually from dealing with hurt imposed on us by imperfect members of the church of God, and that is often the source of the greatest spiritual growth we will ever go through. When we can endure that, when we can understand that God has a purpose for that, and when we begin to look at our own selves and ask ourselves, Hmm, have I ever done that before?

You know, I was a pastor in the San Francisco Bay Area for five years before I went full-time working in the Francophone areas.

And I had been a local elder. I had served there in different capacities, but it was different being a pastor.

And what I kind of came to understand is that I might make a hundred decisions a year as a pastor.

And if I make 99% of those decisions correctly, there's one decision a year that's going to be bad.

It's a legitimately a bad decision. You know, just whatever it was.

And if I'm a pastor for five years, that's five bad decisions that I made.

That means there's a person on the other end of that decision who's got a legitimate beef with me and their friend group, right?

Can you believe Mr. Pepper did that? Yeah, I can't believe he did that. What was he thinking?

So after five years, you know, you kind of accumulate all this, right?

The only answer to this is forgiveness.

The only answer to this is communication and opening up and talking about this stuff because we've all been in the church, well, in all of it.

Most of us have been in church here longer than five years. And I'm just talking about me as a pastor. You know, each of us, whether it is, we do a hundred things in a year, and one of those things was not very smart.

And we hurt somebody. And we don't even know. Or maybe somebody's trying to tell us and we're not hearing it.

There's a lot here to think about when we think about this mathematics and where we're going to be. Being a wise virgin is about personal agency and ownership of this way of life no matter what.

And I think we can leave the math to God. That's what I say. Leave the math to God.

I don't need to do the math on this parable. All I need to do is the math in my life. You know, in conclusion, sometimes we can be in a situation in our lives where it all seems hopeless, even in our local church situation.

But I hope we can remember that it's not the other person that's going to stand before Jesus Christ and give account for us. It's me.

It's me that's going to give account for me. It's you that's going to give account for you.

And we're going to have to answer for what we did and how we acted.

Let's not think that Christ is delaying His coming. There is a reason we are still here.

God's will and God's work must be done in each of us.

That once this work is done here with me in my heart and my mind, then God's greater work can be done and manifested outside as lights to the world, assault of the earth.

I hope we can be wise servants, wise virgins, that we can be ready, watching and doing.

I pray that each of us is ready to go.

Thank you.