The Wise and the Foolish Virgins

by Dave Wilkinson

Matthew 25:1-13, Matthew 7:15-24

November 11, 2001

It is obvious both from the title and the scripture that the sermon for this morning is on Jesus' Parable of The Wise and the Foolish Virgins."

I do not approach this parable with complete confidence. I am aware of the experience of the a man named Dr. Eiselen who was the former president of Garrett Theological Seminary in the 1920's. Eiselen preached on this parable to his students during chapel. And as he started down the home stretch he earnestly asked the question: "Young men, would you rather be in the light with wise virgins -- or in the dark with the foolish virgins?"

The young men of the Roaring '20s made their choice known and chapel was quickly dismissed.

But whatever the pitfalls that await us, let us press on with this parable and see what it has to teach us.

Jesus says that the situation of the wise and the foolish virgins Is comparable to the relationship of women and men to the kingdom of God at the time of His second coming. He tells this parable in the context of His words about the end times and the final judgement.

This is a very hard parable to preach and to understand. I've wrestled with it. But I also know that there's a message here that we need to hear. I hope to do my best to communicate the message and I trust the Holy Spirit to bring the truth and apply the truth to your individual lives just as He has brought it and applied it to my life this week.

Jesus says that ten virgins take lamps and go out to meet the bridegroom. All ten fall asleep while waiting for the bridegroom to arrive.

Jesus Christ is the bridegroom. He is referred to as the bridegroom many times in scripture. The Bridegroom's delay refers to the delay of the second coming which the early church expected in its own lifetime.

The focus of the parable is the ten maids or virgins.

In many ways, they are similar. All ten are invited to the banquet. All ten consciously respond to the invitation. All ten share the excitement of the event. All ten fall asleep while waiting for the bridegroom to appear. A casual observer would not notice any difference between them.

Jesus wants us to see these bridesmaids as people who are, at least apparently, a part of his church. They are all up for the party. They all intend to accompany the groom and his bride to their new home -- lighting the way with their lamps.

In the parable, there is only one difference between the wise and the foolish. Only the wise think to bring flasks of oil with which to refill their small lamps -- lamps that are just a bit bigger than this one -- when the time for the procession comes.

When the bridegroom arrives, the foolish discover their need. They have run out of oil. They beg the others for some but are told: "No, there will not be enough for us and for you too. Go instead to The dealers and buy some for yourselves."

Jesus tells us that they go off to buy some oil. I guess they have an all night oil shop in that town. But by the time They return, the door is already closed and they are not able to get inside. They cry, "Lord, Lord, open up for us." But the Lord answers, "Truly I say to you, I do not know you." This is a strong statement

because Jesus makes it very clear that He knows His own and calls them by name.

The interpretation of the oil, which is the only variable, is the key to the parable. One group has the oil that it takes to get into the party and the other group does not. So what's the oil?

During the history of the church, there have been many, many attempts to interpret the meaning of this oil. We're not the first believers to wrestle with this parable.

There is no end to the interpretations. But when all else fails, read the context. And I believe that the key passage for understanding this hard parable is the closing portion of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:15-23, that was read earlier in the service. For in Matthew 7:19, as in the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, we hear people who cry to Jesus, "Lord, Lord," who are turned away with the words, "I do not know you."

Jesus says in Matthew 7:21: "Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father in heaven."

Then, in verses 22 and 23, He becomes very clear about the identity of these "Lord-Lord" sayers, and the oil that they lack. And I believe that these words have tremendous implications for the church of Jesus Christ in America today.

The "Lord-Lord" sayers in Matthew 7 have two credentials that would qualify them as Christian superstars in many churches. First, they are vocally obedient to Jesus Christ. They call him Lord -- over and over. Second, they are conspicuously effective in ministry. They have the credentials of prophecy, many exorcisms, and numerous miracles. They are the kind of Lord-Lord saying, charismatic wonder workers you could build a television ministry around. And if its true that "by their fruits you will know them," these people have fruit of a certain kind in abundance.

The only problem is that it isn't the fruit Jesus is looking for. The fruit Jesus commands in the Sermon on the Mount is much less sensational and much more simple -- honoring the commands of scripture and applying them to your own life, casting out one's own anger, the miracles of sexual purity and marital fidelity, and the heart that extends itself even to persecutors and enemies.

These Lord-Lord sayers in Matthew 7 are very impressed with their own resumes. They show Jesus their press clippings.

But are any of the beatitudes present in their attitudes? Is there any hungering and thirsting after righteousness? Is there any mercy? Is there purity of heart? Or is there the hidden lust that has marred so many powerful ministries? Is there peacemaking? Or is there the desire to climb to the top over the backs of others -- to get ahead and get even and get known?

Apparently obedience is lacking. For Jesus dismisses them as workers of lawlessness. They have a show of ministry but a heart of self-glorification and personal power.

Now we have no reason to doubt that these Lord-Lord sayers did the things they claimed -- which tells us something about the relative value of miracles. But Jesus disowns them. "Get away from me."

They own Jesus and Jesus disowns them. They honor him and he dishonors them. They publicly work for Him and he separates Himself from them. What can this mean?

We learn from this that it is possible to work for Jesus and yet not to work under him. We can be enamored with the power of Jesus Christ but be indifferent or even hostile to his hard commands when they crowd us. We can chose to do things our own way -- with the blind assumption that Jesus will overlook our lapses and "errors in judgement" because we're so darn successful for Him. Then we hear Jesus say to them: "I never knew you. Get away from me you workers of lawlessness." For Jesus wants to be Lord not only of our message but of our morality. Ministries without moral life are ministries that disgust Jesus.

Remember Jim Bakker? If you don’t remember Jim you certainly remember Tammy. He took his working of lawlessness to an extreme -- even as he cried "Lord, Lord." Baker and a co-worker had sexual relations with Jessica Hahn in the dressing room and then walked out in front of the t.v. cameras and smirked at each other about how the "Lord had just ministered to them".

Do you know how the Lord felt about that? Bakker was a hard core candidate for Matthew 7 style rejection - - a full-fledged "Lord-Lord saying worker of lawlessness." And the best thing that ever happened to him was when he was broken in his pride so he could come to know the Lord and be known by Him.

In a televised interview after his book I Was Wrong came out, Bakker said it very plainly: he was wrong about a lot of things, including his theology. He told a bit of the journey that God had taken him on, that went down to the absolute depths of the pit before it began to come back up. He lost everything -- his wife and family, all the money and piles of "stuff," his dignity, his integrity. And there, at the bottom of the pit, he got to know Jesus in a way that he never had. That interview showed a changed man. He was honest. "I have sinned." He was humble. "I was wrong. God has forgiven me, and I hope that His people will, too."

The interview showed a man who had been totally and completely broken, and then reassembled, renewed, and restored by the hand of God.

We need that. Commentator Dale Bruner writes: "There is a coming to Christ 'Just as I am without one plea' that is right -- when there is a sincere trust in him. There is also a coming 'just as I am without one plea' that is wrong -- when it is careless disbelief masquerading as faith. 'Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.' Yes. But the cross is a powerful tree and will produce in those who truly cling to it the fruit of the Christian life. This is what James means when he writes that "faith without works is dead."

Yes, we are saved by grace through faith. Yes, the Lord is able to make us stand when we fall. Yes, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. But the Bible says that true saving faith will produce fruit in our lives.

I'm not talking about the fruit of miraculous signs. Spiritual gifts say nothing about Christian maturity. The true fruit -- the important fruit -- is the fruit of changed relationships and priorities in daily life. What Jesus looks for in us are the qualities that Paul, in Galatians 5, calls the fruit of the spirit -- the qualities of love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self control.

So, on the basis of this Matthew 7 context, we see that the oil in the parable is faith which is made clear in an obedient life. And in this parable, Jesus warns us that a claim of an experience with Him that is not accompanied by a move toward obedient discipleship will not do the job. In the Southern version of the Bible, "that dog just won't hunt."

It's not enough to be receive the invitation in the mail, show up in your best dress, and bring your lamp. You need the oil as well. Jesus says "not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord" will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father in heaven."

Jesus tells us that the Christian life is not just the initial thrill of a conversion experience, nor is it the just the series of thrills in large praise services or oratorios with their wonderful music. The Christian life is sometimes an unglamourous service to others, day in and day out, with or without ecstasy. It is the determination to be faithful stewards in tithing of our income to the Lord's work and being faithful in meeting the pledges we make. It is the decision to show up regularly at worship because we believe God has something for us and wants to meet us here to touch us. It is the simple determination to give faithful service to others with the Biblical awareness that one day we will give an account of this service to the Lord.

One of the most important principles of Christian faith is that "Truth is in order to goodness." What this means is that any true understanding of Christian faith must result in you being a better person or it is no more than spiritual gymnastics. As you look at your Christian life, as I have looked at my life in prayer this week, ask yourself: "What is the impact of what I profess to believe on who I am? Who have I now forgiven? Who am I now serving? How am I now working for the peace and unity of the church of Jesus Christ?

When the wise virgins refuse the foolish virgins request to share their oil by saying; "No, go buy your own oil," they are not being Unchristian. They are simply stating a fact. When Christ, the Bridegroom, comes, there is no more looking to the sustaining fellowship of the church. In the words of Dale Bruner, "everything becomes terrifyingly individual.

If the life changing grace of God were something we could package and distribute, we would have to stamp each carton in bold letters with the word "non-transferable". This is because the Christian life is an individual thing which no one can purchase or receive and turn over to another person. Each person must appropriate the grace of God into his or her own life through his or her own obedient faith. We cannot have our Christian faith in someone else's name. We cannot depend on the faith of the church universal, the faith of the local congregation, or the faith of our parents, children, wives or husbands to enable us to somehow slip through.

This is not an easy sermon to preach or to listen to. No one today wants to be a 'hell-fire preacher' -- especially when I fry my own fingers. It is easier to avoid these texts. But it is not love to avoid giving the warning that can turn a person from death to life or from marginal Christianity to the kind of discipleship that brings us to the abundant life God wants for us. Jesus tells us this parable for a reason.

The difference between the condition of the wise and that of the foolish is revealed by the coming of the Bridegroom. It reveals itself in the crisis. During the days before the wedding or the night leading up to the start of the feast few would have noticed that five women have adequately prepared for the Bridegroom's coming and five have not. But suddenly the Bridegroom comes, and the distinction is immediately apparent. The same will happen when the Lord Jesus Christ returns.

Outwardly the women were alike. The crucial and determining difference was within.

How are you to know which group you are in? To answer that question, I would like to make a suggestion that is not found in the Parable itself but flows from it. In the parable, it is the crisis of the Lord's return and the final judgement associated with it that will bring out the real condition of those who claim to know Jesus. But our true heart condition can also be revealed by smaller but very real crisis experiences now. I believe that you can look at your own heart through the eyes of Jesus by the way you handle crisis in the here and now. When everything falls in on you -- when unemployment threatens, when your children are ill, when your hopes are shattered, when you lose a loved one, when there is a national tragedy, where do you go? Do you rely only on your own cleverness? Do you throw up your hands in despair? Are you pushed to the wall? Or are you pushed closer to the Lord? As a man named Andrew Fuller remarked, "A man has only as much religion as he can command in trial." Is your obedience only there when you're singing songs in worship? Or is it also there leading you to the humble service that no one but the Lord will ever applaud.

This is an end time parable. Jesus says that he will come without warning. That may or may not happen in our lifetime. But that doesn't change the imperative to be ready. For Jesus will also come without warning on the day of your death, which amounts to the same thing.

So, at the risk of being misunderstood, I ask the question: "Would you rather be in the light with wise virgins or in the dark with the foolish virgins?" It's an important question, because it's really what this parable is all about -- an imperative for each of us in the church of Christ to check the supply of obedient discipleship we are personally bringing to the celebration.