11/10/2020 - Law & Gospel Tuesday: Matthew 25:1-13 Watching Faithfully

all right i know uh we're we're starting a bit late today apologies on my side i know i always say nine o'clock but uh yeah it's uh what's what time is it right now 9 25 well uh god's blessings to you this day uh this is uh pastor pastor john here at uh faith lutheran church of war park california and um you see i got my coat on so uh yeah it's it's uh i guess for californians it's uh it's getting cold but i know for everyone else they'd be like 60 degrees uh 50 degrees what what's that that's like a heat wave um yeah fort wayne where i went to seminary probably is probably in the 30s right now probably if i remember correctly but uh but still nonetheless um temperature is relative today is a great day you know why because because today is i know frosty uh godfrey one of our church members gave me this uh postmark here but um today is martin luther's birthday uh so happy birthday right 14 83 1483 you do the math of how long that was to go before 1883 november 10th uh martin luther that's right the man the myth the legend the reformation but we believe teach and confess according to scripture as luther would always say do not do not follow me but follow scripture and that is the essence of lutheranism it's not following a man per se but it's the man to which he pointed to scripture to which he himself rediscovered what this faith is all about and uh uh what a great uh you know what a great joy it is for all of us uh to to just be in scripture right um and you know it's just interesting uh before we pray i know just a side note it's it's uh a good morning carrie that's right it's interesting because i mean even in this day and time uh when we say scripture uh that could mean so many different things you know uh you know luther would say you know just you'd always point to scripture for seeing what his faith was and and i think that's i think scripture when we say scripture uh or the bible or the word of god it it help it has many meanings uh in a sense of how we see scripture uh from many yeah from for many different people if you ask them the question of the scriptures number one i mean do we know scripture number two uh do we believe what scripture says that it is uh breathed uh uh it's it's god breathed second timothy 3 16 um you know and do we submit humbly submit to the word for what it says not what we wanted to say or what we think it says or what we desire according to our false fallen eyes uh uh have said but rather what does it say now number one as i said earlier uh do we know scripture so again read your bible uh join us for bible study right that's number one and number two um um when we talk about believing scripture and what it says i think this is where uh the beatitudes came out last week for all saints day two weeks ago actually about uh blessed are those who are poor in spirit now again we the poor and spirit are those who are are living under god's word for what it says you know the the pride of old adam says uh what does this say that the pride of the old adam our fleshly sin says no i i i want to live how i want and and when we look at the law of god it definitely shows us our sin it shows us what we're really dealing with um and this is where it shows us the the piercing act the accusing crushing law uh that brings us to nothing right um and again in that nothingness uh definitely points us points us to christ right so again um and that's what we're gonna talk about today i don't know how that segued in correctly but i think it did bear with me i'm still coughing i'm fine i think um yeah i'm fine i just just residual stuff you know just kind of that ongoing thing but why don't we begin with the word of prayer why don't we begin let us pray lord god heavenly father send forth your son to lead home his bride the church that with all the company of the redeemed we may finally enter into his eternal wedding feast the same jesus christ our lord who lives and reigns with you in the holy spirit one god now and forever amen amen all right uh good morning mary uh good morning jan again uh if you need that book christ and calamity oh it's at the pulpit there uh christ in calamity uh please let me know and i will um and i apologies from last sunday i wasn't having it truly prepared it was in my office but i didn't have like the the way to which i could give it to you prepared uh please let me know and i know i have carrie on there plus two and and chris and nancy but uh if you want one uh please um they're around six or seven six or seven dollars your choice um whatever you choose a free will offering but uh but we're starting this devotion on the 18th of november which is next week uh maybe 18th maybe ninth i'll let you know sorry but uh it's a really great book and uh if you want one i can place mark one for you and i could leave it at church um on the table for you to pick up uh whatever you please but christ and calamity a great devotion video devotion we're going to go through together um and um i know the the author dr saint paul he's very um he's very excited he's actually i think an intune too which is a uh which is pressure in itself my mentor uh listening in on what i have to say about what he wrote so it's gonna be a it's gonna be a great uh it's gonna be interesting and i hope you all could be a part of that uh so if you need a book uh please let me know message me on facebook email me whatever that isn't out all place market we only have around 28 copies so um we should have enough but um i encourage you highly to to be a part of this um i can't emphasize how much uh the unity of our church uh that oneness is so important especially during this time i mean after all i miss you all i love you all and i'm always praying and just praying for you all all the time so um you know anyways uh so yeah christ and calamity pick it up let me know if you want me to reserve a copy for you um and i'll i'll put your name on one of those or two or three or four or if you want to give it to your friend or five or six or seven or eight you know i could always get more i get them at a good deal so uh through the publisher so uh let me know this is a great book uh for those that um you would think i'm getting commission on this but i'm not i just really love the book and i think it's very applicable very applicable to what we're facing today and for your friends that let's say are are kind of wavering um this is a good book good book for them um you know if you have someone who a loved one who you think needs to hear about jesus good book for them so uh let me know um i'm here for you on that all right so today today today today uh the gospel of matthew law gospel tuesday matthew 25 1-13 and it reads this jesus said the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went to the meat went to meet the bridegroom five of them were foolish and five were wise for when the foolish took their lamps they took no oil with them but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps as the bridegroom was delayed they all became drowsy and slept but at midnight there was a cry here is a bridegroom come out to meet him then all those virgins rose and trim their lamps and the foolish said of the wise give us give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out but the wise answered saying since there will be not enough for us and for you go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves and while they were going to buy the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast and the door was shut afterward the other virgins came also saying 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 this is the gospel of the lord praise you o christ okay so uh today uh as we review the sermon uh you know i was with abe yesterday we were where uh he had a dentist appointment and as we were going home we were talking about the world and all of its dealings right now in the current events uh my son loves uh he loves politics um he's he's very uh politically minded but very interesting my son is um i love him for it that he's so uh he's so uh i know he's gonna hear this and i don't say this enough but uh he's uh very deep very deep patient thinker just thinks about things a lot um and chews on it but uh and i told him i'm not gonna tell you what our conversation politically was about but i told him that you know no matter what's going on in the world uh you know and i brought him back to the sermon on sunday was verse 13 watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour now i think about this because friends you know what we when we talk about knowing the day or the hour but we've seen it in in the false teachers of the time right calling out the the day of the lord's return i mean we've seen it right i think the last one was probably what 10 years ago i think according to the was it the mayan calendar i believe i'm not sure but we had these uh preachers calling out this is going to be the end of the world this date on this hour on this or the already all by the word of god now i think that's very important sorry my phone was ringing and it was distracting me while i was talking so um i know definitely oh it might have uh am i still here all right i think i'm still here am i still here my computer froze i think am i still here oh i am here very good very good okay so so so sorry about that my phone i should have turned that off it was ringing but when we know who we are when we know and we are faithfully prepared uh by the word of god you know i told my son we're ready to go we are all ready to go that that hour and time well that's a good point because we're already there does that make sense we are faithfully prepared and um there okay now my uh we're faithfully prepared and there in the word of the lord uh we are ready uh no matter uh what time and place well when we go to the lord or when he returns to us and i and i thought about that and i said yeah we are ready to go but how are we ready to go how are we prepared now i i looked at the sermon uh title this week and i titled it uh uh i titled it um what did i title it i titled it prepared watchfulness now i think uh i think a better sermon title would have been watching faithfully because attention in long gospel enthusiasm we see the tension in the text that so easy uh we are we are watchful for the things of this world we're prepping and i you know ironically when we went through the children's message on sunday we talked about emergency preparedness many of the people you know as we talked about it were not prepared for emergencies like earthquakes and all these things and um i was i was thinking that people would be but but i guess it makes a point here is that it's easy uh to uh to not be prepared right it's easy to even with the worldly things i went to costco last night everything's out toilet paper all the stuff right people are preparing right uh but on the flip side it's very easy to not be prepared now again what is the tension here it's um i think basically uh uh when we look at god's word with the virgins it's i have all the time in the world let me live my life the way i please and when that time comes i'll be ready see the thing is watch therefore for you know neither the date or the hour we can't be ready when we want to be because it's not on our time table it's not on our time schedule it's all according to god and his word now readiness is so important here because we see the cautionary reminder that for the virgins it was too late there was no like second chance where the door was shut and what does the uh what does the bridegroom say he says i do not know you this is the clear cold hard truth uh when it comes to the false platitudes that we rest on does that make sense it's easy to just say well you know god could wait i'm going to live as i please and even in that time uh we could tell ourselves well you know me and god are good um you know uh you know i've been i've been doing good in my life you know i have positive thinking i know i haven't heard anyone in my life i i try to do good and and i'm charitable and all these things but that is again that that is where uh that trail of well the false preparedness comes about see that's why i always tell you uh how important the word of god is now what is scripture we talked about it earlier scripture is christ when we study scripture it's always about christ what we hear preaching it's always about christ for you do you see it now when we hear it we watch it and we meditate on it and chew on it there we are a rejoice in who we are as the saints of god prepared by what the blood of the lamb jesus christ who died and rose for us this is our watchfulness to keep our eyes hebrews 12 on the author and perfecter of our faith looking to jesus how do we look to jesus by his very word and sacrament time and time again as we continue to walk in this faith it is not by our doing but it's by the word that is given to us where we uh where we reside and rest in the promise of god that redirects us back to the cross and the empty tomb the water and word of holy baptism and the body and blood uh the true body and blood of jesus for the forgiveness of our sins given in the sacrament of the altar right these are uh the gifts that god gives to us uh uh to to to to to continue uh to sustain and lead us in this one true faith the forgiveness of sins see the thing is is that when we stop hearing god's word what happens uh that redirect uh is that redirect stops and we our eyes fixate on the world and all of our preparations are about the world right all about the temporal things and for me as i was driving in today i just realized this that and what what am i looking at like what am i fixating my life upon what does this all mean um in term you know compared to uh what it means to be wise watchfully in the word of god and i think that's the tension that we face in this text the devil is like what do we say in the in the sermon watch be sober minded watch keep your eyes open be sober minded be alert because what the devil first peter 5 8 is like a roar a prowling lion ready to devour right watch and here as we continue to live out our life of faith that watching is the word right i mean i i always tell myself and i always tell my children and i always tell people at church you know to come to hear and receive god's word to come to bible study why why because there we are in all the chaos that we face and we all face chaos in so many different ways not just in the world but internally spiritually right uh the struggle is there when we hear god's word and that word is christ right we're not just preaching anywhere right we're preaching the law the gospel right the joy of what this means to be a child of god and what we are looking at this is what the word uh uh it gives to us uh is that joy and therefore uh when we hear that word yeah of course i am ready you are ready because your watchfulness is christ right not your work but as a holy spirit guides and directs and apostles creed article 3 right sanctifies you by this very word keeping you in the gospel by this very word right and trust me um when we look at this text uh um i mean when you turn this off today you me and you and i will also be distracted by the things in this world we will it's inevitable but here back in the word it redirects us back to what is wise what is true what is eternal what is faithful and that is christ's you know christ he he's always watchful he never he never he never swayed his eyes were always on the cross through all things his eyes was always on the cross for the sins of the world the forgiveness of it for the forgiveness of our sins and he continued uh to be watchful well as he faithfully died and rose for us right so again as we conclude today verse 13 you know you know are you ready and the answer is yes how do you know by the very word of god be on guard friends be vigilant because as i said earlier uh the devil doesn't stop you know he's he's working triple time you know he never clocks out the devil boom boom boom distraction detraction do you see it this is what's going on i think in each and every one of our lives do you see it i mean it manifests itself in so many different ways doesn't it uh the reprioritization of things in life the idols in our life the god can wait let me live my life first mentality or even living in false religious platitudes right um i mean all this seems like we are being wise but in fact it is foolish because when we are not centered on god's word the word that is christ there we find ourselves veering off course and being distracted majoring in minors and focusing on all of the things in this world right so be vigilant this week as you continue to dig through this word matthew 25 and uh pray that god will give you always uh the watchful and faithful heart and mind in this one true faith knowing that you're as we said in hebrews 12 looking to jesus the author and perfecter of our faith hopefully that was good today yeah um yes yes uh join us for bible study tomorrow uh wednesdays we're back to normal i'm um i can't wait to get back to the bible studies since we've been gone for three weeks due to sickness but we're back um but if you have any questions about this text please let me know um but uh uh what a great text it is why do we conclude uh with a word of prayer dear father we thank you for this day we thank you uh for your word for we know that your word sanctifies us we know that your word points us to christ bless us o lord in this one true faith lord guard us against the evil foe grant us wisdom uh to see through all things and lord in this faith lead us and bless us as you continue to give us the watchful eye of the cross the empty tomb the baptism that you give and the supper that you give bless us o lord this day and lead us in your righteousness for all these things we are thankful we pray this in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen amen all right friends uh thank you uh this day for joining me and um uh god's blessings on your week and until next time um yeah we'll see ya all right all right have a wonderful day adios and goodbye

Channel: Faith Lutheran Church

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Keywords: lutheran, christian, sermon

Id: cybvDjWVKeA

Length: 23min 7sec (1387 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 10 2020