Getting Ready, Part 1 (Mapperley Minister's Monday Morning Mail)

Good Morning!

Yesterday morning, we started a short series in Matthew 25, looking forwards to the day when Jesus comes back. Guy and David both did a great job of helping us to understand the passage and see how it affects us. I'm not going to go over what they said, but it's well worth a listen on the website when the talks are up.

Matthew 25 is in the few days before Jesus is killed. Conflict with the religious authorities has escalated through Matthew 21-23. In chapter 24, Jesus talks to his disciples about the future - about the destruction of the temple (which happened in AD 70; Christians got out in time because of Jesus' warning) and Jesus returning as king (which obviously hasn't happened yet).

Matthew 25:1-13, which we looked at yesterday, is a story helping us to understand what this waiting is like. Here's the story in a less familiar translation:

Jesus: Or picture the kingdom of heaven this way. It will be like ten bridesmaids who each picked up a lantern and went out to meet a certain bridegroom. Five of these women were sensible, good with details, and remembered to bring small flasks of oil for their lanterns. But five of them were flighty, too caught up in the excitement of their jaunt, and forgot to bring oil with them. The bridegroom did not turn up right away. Indeed, all the women, while waiting, found themselves falling asleep. And then in the middle of the night, they heard someone call, "The bridegroom is here, finally! Wake up and greet him!" The women got up and trimmed the wicks of their lanterns and prepared to go greet the groom. The five women who had no oil turned to their friends for help.

Ill-prepared Bridesmaids: Please give us some of your oil! Our lanterns are flickering and will go out soon.

But the five women who'd come prepared with oil said they didn't have enough.

Prepared Bridesmaids: If we give you some of our oil, we'll all run out too soon! You'd better go wake up a dealer and buy your own supply.

So the five ill-prepared women went in search of oil to buy, and while they were gone, the groom arrived. The five who stood ready with their lanterns accompanied him to the wedding party, and after they arrived, the door was shut.

Finally the rest of the women turned up at the party. They knocked on the door.

Ill-prepared Bridesmaids: Master, open up and let us in!

Bridegroom (refusing): I certainly don't know you.

So stay awake; you neither know the day nor hour [when the Son of Man will come].

What does it look like for us to be bridesmaids who are ready?

Paul answers that very question in 1 Thes 5:4-11

But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

What it looks like is that we should be living the normal Christian life. Trusting in Jesus - showing our faith, hope and love in him. As both Guy and David said, it means not just being a visible part of the church, but having God really living in us by his Spirit, and when he lives in us he changes us so that we live for him. And if we don't know the reality of God living in us just yet, it's getting more urgent every day that we ask him in!

May we live as people who are ready for Jesus this week!

God bless,

John