Here is the manuscript from which today's sermon, "Oil for the Lamp of
Faith," was preached to the saints at Trinity Lutheran Church of Layton,
Utah.
If you prefer to hear the sermon as it was preached from the pulpit during
the Divine Service, go to:
http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=1099.
Have a wonderful week as Christ's redeemed with the lamps of your faith full
of the oil of the Holy Spirit.
Rev. Kurt Hering
Trinity Lutheran Church
Layton, UT
"Oil for the Lamp of Faith"
TEXT:"Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took
their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise,
and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no
oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But
while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
"And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out
to meet him!'
"Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said
to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'
"But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us
and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.'
"And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready
went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
"Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!'
"But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.'
"Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son
of Man is coming.Matt 25:1_13, NKJ
Dear children of God,
Do you remember your last vacation trip? Did you just pack your gear, hop in
the car and go? No! You took the car to the shop for a check up and oil
change (or into your own garage to do it yourself). And the last thing you
do as you hit the road is usually to stop and fill up the tank with fuel.
Then you drive until you run out of gas, right? Again, No! . . . Well, some
of us like to make a little game out of it and see just how many we can
squeeze out of a tank, but generally we prefer to stop and fill up the tank
before we run out of gas on the side of the road.
Our text today is about our life's journey on the road to heaven. It is
about the life of faith. It is about the heart of every man, woman, and
child, which is faith. It is about that heart being ready for the coming of
the Lord or not. It is about whether that heart of faith is full of the oil
of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, or whether it is empty.
Yes, there are other applications of the parable that are just as valid and
helpful and perfectly within the spirit of Jesus' story.
The ten virgins are ten congregations in the Church militant working and
waiting together for the day of the Church Triumphant to dawn.
The ten virgins are ten pastors tending to the needs of the bride until the
bridegroom comes.
These are all aspects of the kingdom of heaven - all ways of looking at how
the kingdom of heaven works on earth. But boiled down to the basics, the
kingdom of heaven is a matter of the hearts of men, and whether each man's
heart of faith is filled with Christ or not.
The five foolish virgins are like those folks you see carrying red, five
gallon container and sticking out their thumbs for a ride. The five wise
virgins are the ones who, never knowing what might lie ahead, make sure to
stop when they get down to a quarter tank or so.
Notice why the five foolish virgins were left standing outside the locked
door of the wedding hall. They had no oil in their lamps when the bridegroom
came. It is not that they did not know who the bridegroom was, or that they
didn't know He would be coming sometime. It is that they had better things
to do than to fill their lamps so they would recognize and be ready for Him
when He came.
The five wise virgins, however, were brought into the wedding hall with the
Bridegroom because their lamps were full of oil. Thus filled, they were able
to light up the darkness when He came in the middle of the night so they
could recognize and follow Him to the wedding. They did not wait for their
lamps to run out of oil and the light to burn out before fill them again.
They knew they must always be ready, for the hour of the Bridegroom's coming
was not known - only that He would come.
Dear children of God. That is how our life is too. We neither know the day
of the Lord when He will come again for Judgment Day, nor the hour when our
life on earth will end.
In the beginning, God gave us a gage so that we would know when our gas
tanks were running low; when our lamps of faith needed to be filled. It is
called a calendar week. After six days of work, that is travel on the
highway of life, it is time to make a pit stop, time to fill up your tank.
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do
all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In
it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male
servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is
within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth,
the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the
LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." (Exod 20:8_11, NKJ)
Of course, your mileage may vary. You might make it another week, another
month, maybe even another year on the same tank. It's kind of exhilarating
to see how long you can run on fumes, how many miles you can squeeze out of
a tank, if you can last until the prices go down another nickle or dime.
But what if you run out? What if your tank goes dry? What if you find
yourself sputtering at the 180 mile marked when the next fuel stop is at the
200 mile mark? What if you find the Lord is calling you home before you
thought the trip was over?
Remember Little T? When he was born on June 8 of this year, who would have
known that his journey would come to a screeching halt just four months
later on Tuesday November 4, 2008 at 3:27 in the afternoon?
Thanks be to God, He filled Little T's tank just 3 days earlier on All
Saints Day - through the waters of Baptism and the holy Word of forgiveness.
You all know your birthdates. But which one of you knows your expiration
date? Which one of you knows the date of the Last Day?
Dear people of God, none of you does. But you need not fear that day, that
hour. Right now your tanks are being filled. God is here and now pouring the
oil of the Spirit, that is the Word of Christ and the forgiveness of sins,
into the lamps of your hearts so you are indeed ready for the coming of the
Lord.
But what kind of mileage are you going to get, and how far are you going to
push and stretch your fuel supply?
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. . . . How
then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall
they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear
without a preacher? (Rom 10:17, 14 NKJ)
Your faith is not self service. The Word of God has to be pumped into it
regularly to make sure it will get you where you need to go.
Like the ten virgins in waiting, the lamp of your heart needs to be filled
with the oil of the Holy Spirit so you are ready for the coming of the Lord.
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of
Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the
veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God,
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our
hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure
water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He
who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir
up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,
as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as
you see the Day approaching. (Heb 10:19_25 NKJ)
. . . for you know not when that day and hour will come. But you do know how
to be ready when it does. You do know where to have your faith fueled. And
God sends you forth from here today with a full tank and your lamps of faith
fully trimmed For like Little T and all who are baptized and hear the Word
of God, your sins are forgiven and door to the wedding feast of heaven is
now open for you ...
... in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep our hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus. Amen.
____________________________________________________________
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