When Christians Are Reckless With The Word And Sacraments
Text: Matthew 25:1-13
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
You can see it on people’s faces. It is in their eyes. We call it many things. For example, we say,
“His head is in the clouds.”
Or we say,
“They are really distracted or
daydreaming today.”
And perhaps a bit more crass way of saying it,
“They are an airhead. They are out to lunch.”
Now, what I am describing is mindlessness – becoming
unconscious to reality. What I am
describing is how we can become ignorant, dull, dense, careless, and unmindful
to the bigger picture of life.
What happens is that we have this tendency to slip into
auto-pilot or cruise control in life.
The grind of life has a way of working on us - pulling us into droning
mindlessness. Work, consuming goods, and
the day-to-day affairs of life can suck us into a monotony where we don’t
realize the master plan that we are part of.
This mindlessness doesn’t always necessarily mean that we
walk around looking dazed and confused – paralyzed from life. It can also look like us being carried along
in life by meaningless entertainment and things. You know what I am talking about, this mindlessness
is when we tune everything else out and are pulled along by movies, video
games, hunting, social clubs, projects, and sports. It happens when we jump from thing to thing
to thing – looking for the next fun event or project without realizing reality
around us.
We hear about this mindlessness in a story from Jesus in today’s
reading from the Gospel of Matthew.
In the Gospel reading, Jesus tells us a story (parable) of
some virgins getting ready for a wedding banquet. (Think of these virgins as bridesmaids). Now, here is the point that we must specifically
notice. Five of the bridesmaids were
aware and mindful. They were thoughtful
and present in the moment. They had
plenty of oil for their lamps and were ready for the wedding banquet. However, the other five bridesmaids? Well, the other five other bridesmaids were
blockheaded, dull, stupid, and foolish.
They had no oil for their lamps and therefore were not prepared for the
wedding banquet.
And so, tragically and as can be expected, when the time
came to go to the wedding banquet, the five mindless bridesmaids were not ready
and were shut out of the wedding banquet.
Now, it would be very easy for us – as Christians – to point
the finger away from ourselves and apply this parable to everyone outside of
the walls of the church. It would be
easy to say,
“Look at those mindless
pagans! They are functioning just like
those five bridesmaids without oil!”
But dear friends, these five bridesmaids do not represent
people outside of the church but people attached to the church. Keep in mind with respect to this parable
that there were no outward differences between the ten bridesmaids. All ten of
them were ready with their lamps. They were all dressed for the party with
decorations and ornaments. They all knew that the Groom would come for the
bride and the bridesmaids to take them to the great banquet. Yes, according to
all outward appearances, these bridesmaids were all the same; they dressed the
same and looked the same. They all appeared to be ready for the great banquet;
however, as we heard, five of them did not make it to the great wedding banquet
because they did not have any oil.
Why did they not have oil though? It is quite simple; they were blockheaded,
dull, stupid, foolish, and mindless – they failed to realize that their lamps
were empty.
And so, the meaning of the parable is quite clear. The oil for the lamps is the Lord’s Word and
Sacraments, for where you find the Word and Sacraments, you find the Holy
Spirit. And where you find the Holy
Spirit, you find the Word and Sacraments – oil for your lamps.
Furthermore, the meaning of the parable is that not
everyone who attaches themselves to the church has oil for their lamps, just
like those five foolish bridesmaids. You
see, many who are attached to the church hear God’s Word but do not hear. Many get bored with the Word and
Sacraments. Many shrug their shoulders
and flippantly go through the emotions with the church, but deep down have no
use for the Word and Sacraments. Many
come to church and sit in the pews week after week after week but do so with
dull, mindless, and dense hearts.
Dear friends, “Christ is returning for His Church. But not everyone who is attached outwardly to
Christ’s Church is really a member of her.
The foolish belong to the Church, but they don’t. They are baptized. Baptism saves. But they aren’t saved. They hear the absolution. The absolution gives them forgiveness of
their sins. But they don’t have
forgiveness of their sins. They eat, and
they drink the body and blood of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper. This body and blood give the forgiveness of
sins, eternal life, and salvation... But
they don’t have forgiveness, life, or salvation. [They are surrounded by these
precious gifts but are unsaved. But why?]
How can this be?”[1] The answer, they are like those
foolish-mindless-bridesmaids. The Word goes
in one ear and out of the other ear.
There is no faith to receive God’s gifts, but God’s Word and Sacraments are
met with blockheaded, dull, and mindless unbelief.
Dear friends, the danger that you and I face as Christians is
mindless unbelief. Mindless unbelief has
a way of putting our heads in the clouds, not realizing the master plan – the
main thing. And what is the master plan,
the main thing? It is this, you are being prepared for death in Christ’s
Church. Yes, dear friends, the main job
of your pastor is not to be a friend, a comedian, a guide, an entertainer, or a
spiritual inspiration, but to prepare you for death. Furthermore, the purpose of Christ’s Church is
not to entertain you, be a service club, be a modern monastery, or be a place
where the who’s who of society hang out to socialize, but instead, be the place
where the Lord keeps you safe until your death. Simply stated, Christ snatched
you from the devil and places you into the ark of the church until you fall
asleep in Jesus and are tucked into your grave for the resurrection.
However, as you know, there is so much religious
foolishness in the American Church that can occupy our minds that it is no
wonder why it is so easy to drift into mindless unbelief. The church is so often pressured into ministry
programs, marketing promotions, capital improvement campaigns, committee
projects, mission statement, vision statements, purpose statements, core value
statements, yada, yada, yada, that we can get sucked into mindless religious
foolishness resulting in us forgetting to receive oil for our lamps.
Dear friends, the point of Jesus’ parable is rather simple. Wake up!
Do not drift into mindless-blockheaded-dull-foolish-unbelief like the
five bridesmaids. Be in the moment.
Understand that ‘now’ is the time to hear the Gospel. ‘Now’ is the time to remember your
baptisms. ‘Now’ is the time to hear the
absolution of your sins. ‘Now’ is the
time to receive the body and blood of Jesus in His Holy Sacrament. ‘Now’ is the time to have your lamps filled
with oil – the Word and Sacraments.
Repent of your mindlessness, and hear the Gospel – your
sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake.
Repent of your blockheadedness, and remember your Baptisms
– you are baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Repent of your unbelief, and receive the Supper – take and
eat, take and drink for the forgiveness of your sins!
Baptized Saints, it only becomes complicated when we as
Christians and as a Church fail to keep the main thing the main thing, or when
we get pulled into worthless monotonous things – silly myths and chatter that
have nothing to do with Christ and Him crucified.
We do not know the last day of our life when we will be
tucked into our graves. And we do not
know the last day when Jesus will return to us to take us home. But we do know that oil – the Word and
Sacraments – are here for us today. And
they will be here for us tomorrow and the day after that and the day after
that.
As Christ’s Church, this is a place where we are given oil
– the Word and Sacraments – week after week after week. May God protect us from not caring to hear
his voice. May God protect us from
drifting into unbelief, like those foolish five bridesmaids. May God preserve us and keep us full of His
forgiveness, until that day when He awakes us and takes us to that great
wedding banquet.
In the
name of Jesus. Amen.
[1]
Rolf D. Preus, A Year of Law & Gospel
Preaching: Postil of Sermons on the One-Year Lectionary (Cheyenne, Wyoming;
Steadfast Lutherans, 2019), 215.
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