Last Sunday of the Church Year November 20, 2016
Last Sunday of the Church Year
Matthew 25:1-13
November 20, 2016
“Give Me Oil”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
There’s a song that many of you probably learned in Sunday School about this parable of the ten virgins. How many of you remember the song, “Give me oil in my lamp?”
Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burnin’
Give me oil in my lamp, I pray
Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burnin’
Keep me burnin’ til the break of day.
Even though it’s just a fun, little Sunday School song, it actually gets two things absolutely right. You’ll notice that that song is a prayer. Many of our hymns are specifically prayers to God. This prayer asks for two specific things. There are two things that this parable of the ten virgins tells us. Number one is “keep me burnin”. We get tired of waiting in this world for God to act and we need help to keep burning. The other thing we pray for is that God would give oil. We recognize that the oil must come from outside of us. Faith comes from hearing God’s Word.
So let’s start with “keep me burnin”. “Keep me burning, Lord.” Why do we need to pray this? Because we get tired of waiting. Who likes to wait? Nobody does. But when is waiting especially annoying? It’s especially bad when you don’t know how long you’re actually going to wait. So waiting for 2:00pm to come isn’t all that bad. But if you have a doctor appointment at 2:00pm and you’re waiting in one of his little rooms and he’s not coming, not coming, not coming—that’s especially annoying. We get tired of waiting.
So that’s what happens in this parable. Ten virgins are waiting for the groom to show up. Whenever he arrives, then they go in with him into the house for the wedding. That was the regular custom. So they wait. The problem is that they don’t know how long it will be. Five of them are wise and bring plenty of oil. Five are foolish and aren’t worried about when he’s going to come. They don’t bring enough oil. So when the groom finally shows up, five are left behind while they’re trying to find oil and the five wise go right in the wedding.
Now what’s the point for you? You and I are waiting. We are virgins waiting for our groom, Jesus Christ, to come. He will come. We’re just not sure of the day or the hour. So what happens? We get tired of waiting. And our lamps, which at one time may have burned brightly, slowly begin to dim and, in some cases, the lamps even go out.
We get tired of waiting for God to act in this world. Wars go on and on. Racism runs rampant. Poverty is an epidemic in parts of the world. Starvation. Abandonment. Drugs destroy people and families. Divorce breaks apart our families. Diseases like cancer and ALS go uncured. And we’re tired of waiting. “When, O Lord?” When will you come?
These are the thoughts of foolish virgins like us who get tired of waiting. Go back to that doctor’s office room where you’re waiting and waiting. What finally solves the problem of your waiting? The doctor comes in, right? And all of a sudden, all is well.
So it is with us. Jesus WILL come. And He will make all things right. So then what is it to be a wise virgin? It means to trust His Word that He will come. It means to keep our lamps burning because we know He could come at any moment. The book of Proverbs make it very clear what wisdom is. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Where wisdom starts for you and I is simply fearing and trusting the Lord and believing what He has said. He will always keep His promises. He will come.
“Watch,” Jesus says. Do you know that in the one, single moment that Jesus comes He will make everything right? Everything. Wars will cease. Racism will be gone. Poverty and abandonment will never be known again. And everyone’s body will be raised perfect—no diseases, no weaknesses. All will be perfect in a moment. Like that moment when the door handle turns and your doctor finally comes in. We know the time is near for Jesus. And we wait with expectation. With lamps burning bright.
‘Keep me burnin’,” is a perfect way to say it. We pray that God would keep stokin’ the fire and keep throwing more wood on there. We want to burn. We want others to see our light and give glory to God who is the Savior of all people. “Keep me burnin’, Lord. Don’t let me get weighed down by the cares of this world where my flame slowly dies out. Keep me burning as I wait for You to come and make all things right.”
Now to keep burning, then, we need oil. Because of modern electricity, we hardly use oil lamps at all anymore, right? Some of the kids in church today probably have no idea what an oil lamp is. The closest thing to an oil lamp that I had as a kid was a kerosene lantern we used when we went camping. But for any of you kids out there that have never used an oil lamp like this, I’m gonna show you how this works.
We actually have a bunch of oil lamps right here in church. This Paschal Candle is an oil lamp. There’s a long wick that soaks up the oil and burns it all until it runs out. And actually, up there is the eternal flame. That’s supposed to never go out. And it comes partly from this parable. That eternal flame is, theoretically, supposed to burn until Jesus comes again. Because so many churches can’t keep up with that oil, most eternal flames nowadays are electric. So we’ve just got to make sure we change the bulb, not the oil.
When these candles here run out of oil, we go buy some more. Where? At a church supply store. They sell big jugs of oil like this. Perfect, right? So this is what the ten virgins should’ve taken with them on that big wedding night, right? A big, 2½ gallon jug of oil. That would’ve lasted them.
That’s what Jesus wants you to have. A big jug of oil that will never run out until He comes again. What is that oil? It’s faith. Faith in Jesus Christ. He wants you to have a big supply of this oil. So where do you get it? Now we’ve come to the key point. An absolutely crucial point. Where do we get this oil? From a store. We go get it somewhere. Where do we get the oil of faith? From God’s Word. We have to get it from somewhere outside ourselves.
That’s why the song we sang earlier says, “Give me oil.” “Lord, I can’t get that oil for myself. I can’t reach down in my soul and pull up faith. You must give it to me.” And the Lord does. He gives faith in abundance if you’re at the right place—which is at His Word.
So many times we’re frustrated because our faith is weak. We wish we had more faith. Wish we had stronger faith. Wish we had a faith that wouldn’t be full of doubts. Wish we had a faith that would keep us from doing stupid, sinful things all the time. But our mistake often is simply forgetting where faith comes from.
Faith comes from hearing God’s Word. You bring your oil jug to God and say, “Give me oil in my lamp.” And that’s what His Word does. It fills up our jugs with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Let me ask you a question. Can you imagine a whole day, ever, where you wouldn’t turn on a single light anywhere? Wouldn’t every flip a switch or pull a string or push a button to turn on light? That’s really hard for us to imagine. Yet that’s what we do when we don’t pray or read God’s Word for the whole day. We’re not lighting the lamp. We’re not filling up the oil. Your daily prayer and devotions are vital to your lamp. You need that oil.
Just like the Sacrament, the Lord’s Supper, is vital to your lamp. Here the oil is Jesus’ body and blood under the bread and wine which fills us with forgiveness and faith to keep our lamps burning brightly. The whole point is that God gives the oil. You must go to Him for more. And He gladly gives it.
To be foolish is when we think we can skip church, skip Bible Study, skip devotions at home, skip prayer every day—and still keep our lamps burning. They will flicker out. And we will be left unprepared in this world of sin and death.
Finally, to close today, both the Epistle and the Gospel today leave us with final “therefore” sentences. Paul says, “Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up.” The times are hard and the time of Jesus’ return is near. So encourage each other, friends, and build each other up. Fill up your neighbor’s oil with the truth of God’s Word. Encourage each other to keep burnin’ even when we get tired of waiting.
And Jesus says, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” Watch, Jesus says. Watch diligently. He is coming. And when He comes, all will be made well. And we, with lamp full of the oil of faith, will meet Him with joy and enter into the wedding feast. In Jesus’ name. Amen.