discipleship

Preparing for the Return of the King: Matthew 25

/ Neal Embry / 2 Comments

The Lord of the Rings trilogy finished up with The Return of the King in 2003.  The final movie in the series was heralded as the best of the set, winning 11 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Peter Jackson.  The movie was highly anticipated.  I remember as a young kid who had just finished reading through the series how excited I was to see the last movie in the series.  In my astounding 12-year old wisdom, I thought Mr. Jackson had done an admirable job turning the epic novels into epic movies.  And of course I wasn’t the only one.  If my memory serves me correctly, my mom and I stood in line for at least 15 minutes to get into the theater (which feels like 5 hours to a 12-year old nerd like me).  Everyone in America it seemed was eagerly awaiting the Return of the King.

Now to make the cheesy transition that’s been evident since you read the title:

Are we as Christians prepared for the return of our King?  Jesus challenges His followers in Matthew 25, right after He’s discussed the actual event of His coming back, to see and ensure that they are doing what is befitting a disciple of Christ waiting on His return.

One of the greatest truths surrounding God’s Word is that it continues to speak to, encourage and challenge us today.  As I read Jesus’ words about being prepared for His return and what the life of the disciple should look like in Matt. 25, I was challenged to look into my life and see if I was bearing this fruit, and what steps I can take to continue to bear it.  I was brought to repentance over wasting time, over being too Neal-centered instead of being God-centered, and looking out for me instead of the least of these.  And I’m brought to a humble admission that I know that I want to honor God by obeying His commands found here, but I’m not entirely sure how exactly it looks in my life.  But I know who does.  And I’m asking Him to show me, to change me, and to help me move forward in this.  So what exactly is it that God is saying, not just to me, but to all believers, in Matt. 25?  Let’s look.

The chapter is split into two parables and one prophecy (a parable is an earthly story with heavenly meaning).  The first deals with ten virgins.  In case there’s any misunderstanding, Jesus is not condoning polygamy here.  He’s also not saying that there is any kind of sexual relationship between Christ (the bridegroom) and the church (the virgins).  The virgins represent the Church because as sex is the consummation of marriage, so the return of Christ is the consummation of the kingdom and Christ’s marriage to the church (again, sans sex).  Sex, as wonderful a gift as it is, is a foretaste of the joy we will have when Christ returns for His Bride.  Lord, let us anticipate this with faith and joy!

So, with that important background information, let’s keep going.  The virgins go to meet the bridegroom at night, to go to his home for a wedding feast, a celebration.  But five of them don’t bring enough oil for the journey, and they all (even the wise ones) fall asleep due to the groom’s delay.  But when the call for the virgins to rise and meet the bridegroom comes, those who have oil are prepared, they get up, and they go to their husband. And when the five who forgot oil ask the five who brought it, they’re told to go buy some.  In the process, the groom comes back, the five wise virgins go to the feast, and the other five, well…”Afterward, the other virgins came also, syaing, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” 

Jesus doesn’t know them.  They haven’t lost their place at the table.  They haven’t simply shown up late.  Jesus never knew them.  To put that in layman’s terms, these women were never saved in the first place.  In Matt. 7:21, another one of those terrifying verses, Jesus says to the men boasting in their works, “Depart from me, I NEVER knew you.”  He never knew them.  Ever.

So the point we need to grab first here is that perseverance, and sticking with Jesus, is necessary for salvation.  No, it doesn’t bring justification.  But if you are truly justified, you will persevere.  If you do not persevere, you do not lose your salvation–it is proven that you never had it in the first place.  And what kept those women from persevering?  They didn’t bring enough oil!  They forgot the most important thing!  That’s the equivalent of me going out to eat and forgetting my wallet, or going to the car without my keys.  First-century lamps don’t run without oil!

The lesson for us, or better put, the challenge for us: Have we “counted the cost” of following Christ?  Are we ensuring that there is nothing we need to add or take away to or from our lives to help us obey Christ until the end?  The oil here is most likely referring to continuing in the Spirit and/or faith in Christ.  And to be sure, our foundation for perseverance should be faith in the Lord who makes promises like Phil. 1:6, and in the work of the Spirit who is able to make us holy.  But we join God in His work, and the challenge from this first parable is this: Is there anything I need to add to or take away from my life to ensure that I will be faithful to obey and walk with Jesus until the end, whether in my death or His return?

The second parable is the parable of the talents.  The master gives three servants three different amounts of money.  To one, he gives five talents; to another, two; and to another, one talent.  The first two both make a return on the investment, while the other buries it and does nothing with it.  As in the first parable, this servant is thrown in hell.  Why?  Because his attitude betrayed his false profession of faith.  Make no mistake about it: While your works do not in any way justify you, the Bible is clear that your actions/works back up your claim to be justified. 

The servant was given a gift by his master, and he was selfish and prideful.  He wanted it for himself instead of giving glory to his master.  He was lazy, afraid of the man he thought “harsh, reaping where (he) did not sow, and gathering where (he) scattered no seed.”  There was a misperception of the master.  How can our misperceptions of Jesus alter our faithfulness to Him?  If we think Him the gracious, yet firm Savior and Lord that He is, we will trust and obey.  If we think Him harsh, we will not.  May God grant us the faith and the eyes to see and embrace Jesus as He is.  And may we reject the laziness of this man, afraid to take God’s gifts and go out into the world and do something for His glory with them.

The challenge: How can we use our gifts (spiritual, financial, jobs, etc.) to advance  God’s kingdom?  How can we use all that God has given us to point people to Christ for salvation and to worship God for all that He is?

The last section of Matt. 25 is Christ’s prophecy concerning final judgment.  There will be people that inherit the kingdom, and people that inherit hell, and Christ Himself will separate them.  To one group, Christ says “Come in to the kingdom,” lauding their caring for the least of these, reckoning it as service to Him directly.  They, surprised that Jesus says they served Him, ask when they saw Him in need, and He responds by saying, “‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'”  And to the group that failed to look after the least of these, He says, “‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'”  And again, they go to hell.

In this context, Jesus is speaking of caring for the least of these within the Church.  However, we know that God’s command is that we care for the least of these outside the church as well.  But there’s a special kind of love for the Church belonging to the Christian.  And this is an indicator of salvation.  Scripture is clear:  You cannot claim to be a Christian, under the Lordship of Christ, trusting His salvation, and disregard or hate the church.  You cannot.  Jesus has left no room for it.  If you do not love God’s people, you do not love God.  If you do not support the mission of the Church (so long as the mission of the Church has remained biblical), you do not support the mission of God.  So great is the union between Christ and His Bride that hatred of her is hatred of Him.  And love for her is love for Him. 

The challenge: How can we utilize our time/gifts/etc. to care for the least of these, especially in the church, and outside the church as well?

These are hard challenges.  My prayer is that you are already either doing these things, or you, like me, see some fruit of this, but a need to repent and move toward this in your life.  Our King is coming back.  This is what He has commanded we do as we wait: do whatever is necessary to follow Him fully, use all that He’s given us for His glory, and care for the least of these.

And, as I admitted before, I’m not completely sure what that looks like in my life.  I have ideas.  But I also have a Hebrew midterm on Saturday, and not a lot of uninterrupted time to get these thoughts down and think through it.  So my prayer/plan is that God would not let me waste these next few days, that He would show me what I can do immediately to start doing this, and then on Monday, when I get several hours of uninterrupted free time, that God would show me, through prayer, through worship, through His Word, how I can do these things in my life as I wait to see my Savior’s face.

How about you?  Perhaps you read this right after it’s posted, and you have a day off tomorrow.  Fast.  Seek God’s Word, seek His will and ask how these things can be done in your life, for your joy and holiness, and for God’s glory.  I encourage anyone to join me Monday as I take a break from food/TV/Internet/phones to hear from God about this.  And I encourage you to join me in trusting Christ as Savior and Lord, and looking forward to seeing His face and being with Him for all eternity, if you have never done this.  This is the first, and most important step, to honoring and obeying God in Matt. 25.

Let’s do this, Church.

Lord, may you show us how we can commit more fully to obedience and your glory in our lives.  May we seek to use all that you have given us for your glory, that you would be worshiped for all that you are.  Lord, help us persevere in faith, continuing to rely on what you’ve done for us, trusting you as Lord to finish what you started, and as we wait for your return, may we love the least of these, especially in our own family.  May we rejoice at your coming, as salvation is finished, as we leave our sinful flesh behind, as we come to complete and eternal joy in you.  May all of these things be done for our joy, for our holiness, and for your glory.

God bless,
Neal E.

What Will We Do with Jesus?–The Importance of Obedience and Dependency on God Alone

/ Neal Embry / Leave a comment

Go ahead and read Matthew 7:13-27.  I’d ask that you pray before reading on, asking God to open your eyes, your heart, and your mind.

First, and foremost, I firmly believe that you cannot lose your salvation without totally renouncing and rejecting your faith.  Once truly saved, always saved.

But what does it take to be truly saved?  I think in this passage of Scripture, and in the Bible as a whole, God makes it clear that an oral confession is not enough.  Scripture says that if you “confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”–Romans 10:9-10

So, what then, should our response be?  Obedience.  Striving, daily, to be more and more like Jesus, while realizing that our source of salvation and righteousness comes from Christ alone.  That’s hard to think about.  While there is nothing we can do to make ourselves holier, we strive to be holy, like Jesus.  Why?  Because out of our love for the Lord, we want to be more like Him, not for our own glory, but so we may better glorify Him.

Our attempts at righteousness will not get us into heaven.  They will not make us a “good” person, or a “good” Christian.  As I’ve said before, there is no such thing.  We rest in Christ’s perfection and in His work on the cross only.  Yet, because God desires us to be more like Him, we allow Him to sanctify us and we daily take up our cross and follow Him.  We are called to be set apart and to live like Jesus.  We will never be perfect, but we are to rid ourselves of anything that hinders us from our relationship with God.

Listen to Jesus 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 who is in heaven.”

That is a powerful statement, to say the least.  Jesus does not expect us to be perfect, but He expects us to, with all that we have, strive to do God’s will.  We cannot simply say to others “Oh, yeah, I believe in God,” and expect that to be enough.

It’s easy to follow Jesus on Facebook and MySpace.  It’s not hard, especially here in the Bible belt, to walk down the aisle, or to raise your hand, or to make an emotional oral confession of Christ. 

It’s hard to follow Jesus when the storms come, when all else fails, and when temptation comes your way.  When these times come, we must ask ourselves, “What will I do with Jesus?”

What will you do with the Savior?  Christ came, giving up glory in heaven, and was born of a virgin.  He lived a perfect, sinless life, thus fulfilling the law that we could not, and cannot, uphold.  He performed miracles, healed the sick, raised the dead, walked on water, and proclaimed a message from God Himself.  He died on the cross, bearing the wrath of God, to take away our sin and to offer, to those who believe, restoration and union with the Father.  He rose, on the third day, to give us hope in eternal life.  He did all of this to show the mighty power and name of God Almighty.  Scripture says that apart from Christ, there is no hope.  There is no way to heaven outside of Him.  None.

So, I ask again…what will you do with Jesus?

Will we, as Christians, daily strive to follow Him in obedience?  If we have no desire to obey all that He has commanded us, there’s a very good chance that an initial saving faith in Him is absent.  To put that more bluntly….if you do not seek to follow Christ in all that you do, you are, according to Scripture, not a believer.

For several years after I came to Christ, at the age of 8, I loved church, and I loved learning about the Lord.  But, I didn’t really understand who He is.  I never really matured, and when I got into middle school and high school, I fell into sin, and sought after worldly pleasures.  Thank goodness God never let me go.  After a period of about six years, He humbled me, and showed me that I must, once again, confess Jesus as Lord.  And while I’m still not perfect, and I still certainly struggle, I daily make war against sin, and am truly repentant in those times where I do fail.  All of these things are a result of God’s grace, and not my own works or merits.  I can feel God continuing to strengthen me and sanctify me, and I know in my heart that He will continue to make me into the man He has called me to be.

Moving on to another point….I wonder what would happen if all those who call themselves Christians in the world lost all that they had.  Their homes, their jobs, their families, their church buildings.  What if we lost our Bible?  Would we still have enough?  Would we still worship Jesus?

What would we do with Jesus if we had nothing else?  Meditate on that question for a few minutes.

God is starting to show me that everything else in this world can, and usually does, fail.  Over the past few months, at times, it does feel like I’m losing everything, although I’m not.  But what I’m finding is that Jesus is enough.  When there is nothing left to do, nothing left to be said, when I feel like I’m at the end of my rope…spending time with the Lord and praising Him for the salvation I have in Jesus is enough.  And it gets me through the day.

I would say it’s even easy for me to sit here and follow Jesus on this blog.  I can talk all I want about Him, yet if my daily life does not glorify God, I’m failing, and I’m a hypocrite.  To be honest….that scares me.  To be even more honest….that happens more often than I would like it too.  I know that I may look great on the outside, but on the inside, I’m just a sinner, saved by grace, doing my best at following Jesus.

I’m learning along the way that I must remain humble and teachable, and God continues to show me the areas He would have me improve on, and shows me the fruit that I have produced through my obedience to Him.

Is that worth it to us as believers?  Is the work of God in our lives worth everything?  Let’s look at another part of that passage, Matthew 7:24-27.

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

When the floods come, who do you trust in?  Do you trust in your hands?  Do you trust the company that built your house?  Or do you trust that, no matter what, God is still God, and you will yet praise Him?

To be totally obedient to God, we must first be totally dependent on God.

I’ll ask a question that a lot of people have probably heard before.  If heaven had everything else but Christ….would we still go?  If you could go to heaven, and spend eternity with no pain, no sickness, and no sin, and you could see all of your family and friends and loved ones, and never leave them again, would you go, even if God wasn’t there?

The first thing I’d point out is rather obvious….we won’t have those things, and don’t have those things, without God, so a “heaven,” in the truest sense of the word, wouldn’t exist without Him.  But, for the sake of argument, let’s say it could.  So the next question is, do we desire the gifts of God over God Himself?

I think so many times, people come to Christianity because they want heaven and to avoid hell.  That’s not a totally bad thing, for I want heaven as much as anyone else, and certainly do not want to go to hell.  But do we want heaven more than we want God?  I believe, as we disciple and teach the new generations about God, that we should lead them to Christ, not because they want just to go to heaven, but because they realize how much God loves them, and because they want to live a life that glorifies His name, because they want a relationship with God on high.

The greatest gift God ever gave the world was not us.  It was not creation.  It was not our mortal lives.  It was not our friends, our families, our loved ones, or our jobs.  The greatest gift God ever gave this world was Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ.  Without Him, we have nothing.  Without Christ, all is meaningless, and our lives mean nothing in the grand scheme of things.  Without Christ, even the most tear-jerking heartfelt story of families persevering through hard times, or a man impacting the community around him for the better good, means nothing.  If Christ is not at the heart of everything we do, then we have wasted it.  A friend once told me that if “God isn’t about it, we don’t want to be about it.”  May we have that same attitude as it applies to our daily lives.

The truth is, there are people in this world that literally have nothing.  No clothes, no shoes, no family, no friends, no job….nothing.  And yet they are far richer than we will ever be, because they realize that all we need is God.

When it comes down to it, when we surround ourselves with stuff, we diminish the importance of God in our lives.  And we set ourselves up for traps that will have us disobeying God, and obeying our fleshly impulses.  Obedience is required in the life of a true believer.  Why?  Because Christ is required in the life of a true believer.

When we come to that point where we realize that all we need is Christ, our whole lives will change.  We will no longer just put a nice little saying on our Facebook religious views, or go to church on Sunday.  Our love for Him, and our dependence on Him will transform us by the power of the Holy Spirit into obedient sons and daughters of the Almighty Creator.

Look again with me at God’s Word.  Matthew 7:17-20.

“So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.  A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”

While this passage speaks directly to false prophets, this whole passage of Scripture as a whole is Jesus teaching believers what is required of them.  The fire that Jesus speaks of above is hell.  If we do not have a saving faith in Christ that produces obedience and fruit, we are condemned to hell.

So what do we do?  We obey Christ’s command to live holy, and to make God’s name known among the nations.  Missions is a biblical command, not an option.  It isn’t glamorous, in any way, shape, or form.  Serving at a beautiful camp in Virginia may seem nice, but it wasn’t a vacation.  I heard stories from kids younger than myself that would bring tears to any war veteran’s eyes, about hurt and pain in their past.  I worked hard, sweated, and put all of myself into it.  It was worth it, though, to be able to share with those kids the great love of Christ.  The work was worth it, to see it pay off, when 24 boys gave their lives to Christ for the first time.

Does that even excite us any more?  Do we get more excited about the latest Christian rock band than we do someone accepting Christ?  Do we look forward to our patriotic program more than we do every Sunday?  Do we applaud more when the church decides to build a bigger sanctuary than when someone who just got out of prison gives their life to Christ?

We must emphasize, as the universal church, as a global body of believers, that evangelism is not enough.  We must disciple those who come to Christ, both here at home and abroad.  I’ve seen firsthand the dangers in neglecting discipleship.  We must develop a love and a vision for God’s people that exceeds a love for ourselves.

As citizens of the United States, we must not just celebrate our freedom.  We must use it for the glory of God.  We get upset when the government won’t allow prayer in schools.  But are you upset that there are over 130 people groups in India, each of which number over 1 million people, who are unreached?  Do you get upset when you hear that God’s people are being murdered by the thousands in the Middle East, or are you too concerned with your safe, comfortable life here?

I mean for these questions to be convicting, and pray they are.  Not because I’m great or special or perfect, but because God has laid it on my heart.  They convict me as well.  Too often, I go about my day and forget that part of obeying Christ is reaching my world, both at home and across the world, for the gospel.  I lack a specific vision for outreach each and every day, because I don’t take time to think about it in my free time.  This must change, both in my life, and in the lives of our churches and believers across the world.

What will we, as the global church, do with Jesus as it pertains to missions?

Obedience.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ calls for obedience of the heart.  Again, it’s easy to follow Jesus on the outside, and look good, but where is your heart, and where are your eyes, when temptation comes?  Do we only seek to obey outwardly so that we get the glory, or do we truly try to keep our hearts focused on Him?

I, for one, am tired of just going through the motions on the outside.  I want every single fiber of my soul to praise God in my love for Him and my obedience to Christ’s commands.  We are not saved by our works, but we are saved from work to work, as David Platt would say.  Look at the words of Christ.  Look at Paul in Romans.  Look at James.  The Bible, from start to finish, calls us to live out our faith, both inward and outward, and if we aren’t doing that and teaching that, something is terribly wrong.

May our lives continue to be changed for the sake of the gospel.  Not for our glory, but for His.  It will be worth it one day to hear God say “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  Look, one more time, at Scripture with me.  Matthew 7:13-14 says “Enter by the narrow gate.  For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

If anyone has ever told you that life after your acceptance of Christ is easy, go back and tell them they’re a false prophet.  Seriously.  Jesus states that life will most likely be harder.  We will be treated like Jesus.  In case you didn’t know….that’s not necessarily a good thing.  The world will hate us as it did Him.  The world may kill us, as they did Him.  Our own family and friends may turn on us.  But it is worth it, because we serve the Creator of the universe.  It is worth it, because His love for us, and the hope we have in our Savior can never be taken away by anything this world can throw our way.  It will, again, be worth it to hear God say “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  Our work, and our lives here on earth, take on an eternal purpose once we surrender it all to Him.  And that should be worth it, to each and every one who believes.

May we choose the narrow gate.  May we choose to follow Christ no matter what hand He deals us, and allow God to use our lives for His eternal purpose of bringing glory to His great name.  May we, as the global body of believers, give it all up to Him, the maker of all things.  May we obey Him, and tell people of the wonderful love of Jesus.

May we have a heart filled with love and obedience to the one who was obedient to the Father, even to the point of death on a cross.  For you.  For me.  For all those who would believe.  May we seek Him in all that we do.

Maybe you’re reading this, and you’re wondering what all this is about.  Maybe you’ve never trusted in Christ as Lord and Savior before.  If you’re reading this, and want to talk about the Christian faith and how to be saved, please feel free to comment or email me.  I believe my email is on here somewhere.  If not, comment, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I possibly can.

May all these words that I have said be to the glory of God the Father and Christ our Savior, for whose return we anxiously await.

God bless,

Neal E