Scripture Reading:

Matthew 25

Please comment below with your conversation with God and/or insights from today’s Scriptures.

You can answer the following:

1. What are your overall thoughts about the chapter?

2. Which parable resonated with you most and why?

3. What is your prayer to God brought on by this chapter?

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Chapter Notables:

1. Parable of the 10 Virgins - verses 1-13

2. Parable of the Talents (Bags of Gold) - verses 14-30

3. The separation of the sheep and the goats - verses 31-33

4. What you’ve done for the least of these, you’ve done it unto Me - verses 34-46

Prepared To Go | Lemuel Ayudtud

Preparing to move is as important as the move itself. Learning how to discard unused things is critical. Most would agree with the best thing you can do for yourself when going from one place to another is getting rid of unused items. Junk. The worst thing that you can do is bring unused, unwanted items, things you haven’t used in years, into your new place. Often times when we see old things we remember why we bought them or how we used them. We consider whether or not we should take them along to the next place for nostalgia’ sake; but a realization sets in and we recognize that we hadn’t used it for years therefore there’s no need for it now.

Jesus, in this chapter, shares with us a few parables concerning preparation. In the previous chapter we are told about the end of age, in this chapter we are taught how to prepare for that time. Jesus will be returning to take His Bride, the Church, home with Him; this chapter shows to us what he is looking for at His return.

When reviewing the chapter you can see his teaching in sequential order.

1. The Parable of the Virgins - the need for preparation.

2. The Parable of the Talents - the need to use what you have.

3. The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats - the act of separation.

4. ”To the least of these” - deciding what’s most valuable.

Before we can really go in and discuss this chapter, we have to establish first that Jesus will be returning in a not so distant future for His Church. In fact the New Testament church was built on the teaching and promise of Jesus to bring us home with Him in heaven. Every believer should recognize that this world is not our home. At least not our eternal home.

Our home is in heaven where Jesus is King. Though we may live in this earth for 70, 80, or shorter or longer years, we are just passing through this life. One of the core tenets of Christianity is of the resurrection of the dead and eternal life with Jesus or separation from him, which is eternal death. This doctrine teaches us to always be prepared to meet Jesus.

When discussing salvation we are actually talking about what happens after we die. Sin separates men from God, but faith in Christ Jesus brings us reconciliation to God. Paul writes that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus. In this statement, Paul is letting us know that our hope for eternal life is found in Jesus. The Bible teaches us that after death there is judgment—we either stand on our own goodness, which is imperfect, or stand in faith in the work of Jesus at the cross. In that judgment day we will be judged not according to our goodness or wickedness but according to the righteousness of God. When we consider that, then we should come to the conclusion that compared to God‘s righteousness, our goodness is but filthy rags. Our only hope is really found in putting our faith in Jesus Who is the reflection of God’s perfection.

When we put our hope and faith in the work that Jesus did at Calvary, then our own works are not the ones that will be judged, it will be the work of Jesus. At the end, it will be the perfection of Jesus that will take our place. We can say right now that salvation is not of works truly because salvation is through Jesus. What then is our responsibility while we’re here? That’s where preparation comes into play.

THE OIL OF GOD

In the first parable, the Parable of the Virgins, the young women were already set for marriage. The issue was that half of those that were set to be married were not prepared. What were they lacking? Oil for the fire. Now, that may mean different things to different people, but when we consider that oil set on fire will keep the fire aflame and keep darkness away, as well as bring light to the pathway, having oil can be said as having the love and the Presence of God in our lives continually. Not that it’s ours to produce, yet having the Spirit of God constantly “entertained”, or desiring to have the Spirit of God in our lives daily, should be our habit. Those who are aloof to the Presence of God, who do not seek to have God‘s light or oil in their lives, will miss out on the time that it is needed when Christ comes back for His Church.

Before the return of Jesus, there will be incredible darkness in the world. People will be lovers of themselves more than lovers of God, they will be high minded, heady. There will be blasphemers, lovers of pleasure, calling evil good, without natural affection, having a form of godliness, among other mindsets and behaviors that will distance themselves from God. (Read Paul’s admonition here.) In that time of darkness, the oil of God is most needed. The Church would need the light of God in that time; and only the Presence of God or the oil of the Spirit will set it aflame.

In that time you can’t borrow somebody else’s passion for God. In those dark moments, you can’t be led by somebody else’s desire for God. You’d have to have your own. And when Jesus comes, it’s not that He will distance Himself from those that do not have it, it’s that those that do not have it won’t even know that the moment has come.

The journey is going to be long. That season of darkness is going to be some time. We may even be in it right now. And if you don’t have the light of God, you won’t even see that it’s darkness already. We can get caught up in whatever is happening in the world and not even realize that we are without oil. Soon enough, and it just may be around the bend, the Bridegroom will come, that’s Jesus our Lord, and if we don’t have His oil, we won’t be ready to meet Him.

ESSENTIAL FAITH

Now let’s consider the talents. In the Parable of the talents, Jesus shows to us that we are given gifts or talents. We are not squarely told what to do with it, but it is ours. When reading about what these three servants did with their set of talents or bags of gold, we can see that some multiplied what they were given while one did not do anything with what he had.

While we are waiting for the return of Jesus we are called to produce or maybe, even reproduce, what He has gifted us. What we do with them is up to us, but ultimately the result of it will be judged. When we look at the teachings of Jesus prior to this chapter, we can see that there is a calling for us to reach our potentials or maximize what He has instilled in us. Fear may prevent us from moving forward, so God is telling us not to operate in fear; but rather to go out and share the talents that we have to affect others. Because the truth is, if we are faithful in a little bit then God can trust us with a lot. But if we are operating in fear of loss, then we cannot be trusted with the celebration of gain.

The judgment for that dude that did not use what he was given was dire. The dude is tossed out and whatever he had was given to somebody else. Once again we go back to the teaching of Jesus about the potentials in small things. It’s really an expression of faith.

The parable of the talents is a declaration of our need to live by faith. We must learn to walk by faith and not by sight. We cannot be dictated by fear or the feelings that we have on the inside. We have got to embrace the courage that the Holy Spirit gives us to walk on forward. No matter what may be the end result, we understand and know that faith is actually its own result. God is not so concerned about the outcome, it’s what we put in that truly matters.

God wants us to live by faith. God wants us to demonstrate our faith in Him—that no matter how small we may feel, we understand that God is greater than our feelings. (And since God is greater than our feelings, then we should not be led by feelings but by faith.) Paul writes, heralding the prophet of old, that the just shall live by faith; and if any man does not live by faith, God will have nothing to do with him. (Wow! Read that again.) Why is that? Salvation is only through faith. That’s it. We can only be saved through faith in Christ Jesus; therefore if you don’t have any faith, then you can’t be saved.

OBEDIENT LIFE

Finally, the separation of sheep and goat. This parable kind of speaks for itself. But just to kind of give us a preface, or an understanding: sheep are led while goats have a mind of their own. Sheep are prodded to go a certain way, goats have to be dragged or beaten. What’s the gist? you want to be sheep.

In our current society being a “sheep” has a bad connotation. It means you’re blind and just following on without questioning; but throughout the Scripture, God’s people have always been known as sheep and He, the Shepherd. What is it really talking about? It’s talking about the heart of God’s people to obey His voice and to follow His lead. Rather than having the spirit that says, “I will do whatever it is I want to do,” God’s people have the spirit of “I will go where the Master leads me.”

The parable shows to us what will happen at the end. There will be a separation between those that will live by faith, through obedience; apart from those who will live by feeling, expressing their own, personal mandates. This “sheep mentality,” when it comes to God, is of incredible value in our preparation before Jesus returns. Since it will be darkness during the season prior to His coming, and since He called for us to walk by faith and not by sight, being able to say yes to Jesus, or to the Spirit of God, is of great importance.

THE MAIN THING

The chapter closes with Jesus declaring, yet again, the main thing. Again we are shone that all the spiritual things He has been talking about in regards to the parables are about people. The “least of these” is what Jesus talking about. Our preparation is not about Him, it’s about what we do towards other people.

The oil, the talent, even the separation, is about the “least of these”. Who are they? They are brothers and sisters in the faith and those that are without. Jesus teaches that whatever we do to them we’re doing it onto Him. So if you’ve done bad or good, it’s done to Him. If we clothed them, if we’ve housed them, if we’ve fed them, then we have done the same to Him. Likewise, if we have neglected, deprived, derided, or deplored the least of these; we’ve also done it to Him. The point is this: whatever we do in word or deed we have to do it as unto the Lord. Jesus, at the end of this chapter, when all His teachings about the parables were done, shows us that the spiritual things are expressed in the physical world by how we treat others.

In our days of preparation, before His return, even right now, we have to be mindful that whatever our hand finds to do, or whatever work it is that we are engaging in, His return should be always in our hearts and in our minds. Every aspect of our lives is an expression of our faith of His coming. We have to lay aside all the junk that we have carried up to this point, toss them away, embracing the new life through the new perspective that God has given us. Every day is closer to the coming of Jesus than the day before. We must be prepared to go at any given notice. But as we are thinking ahead, we have to be grounded in the now. Now is the time to show the power of Jesus in our lives to others. We are shown not to wait until He comes to be ready, we should be doing right now; reminding ourselves daily that who we are is what we will do.

Lord, I know you have prepared me to be prepared. I’m ready to meet You because You are inside of me. Today help me to surrender to Your leading. Today help me to be a light in the world. Today help me to be excited about Your work in this season. Help me to embrace Your calling for me to be who You are in this world. Let me not be motivated by fear or doubt; let me operate by faith in celebration of Your soon return. In Your name, Jesus, I pray, amen.