The Saddest Words
Well, friends, you've heard my voice enough lately, I think. And so for this week, I want to use Derek Wilson's sermon about the two saddest words in the English language: "if only."
This was preached in 2004 at Trinity Community Church in Boksburg. I was 14 and I remember the sermon, and I've got the tape where Derek was recorded preaching it. So the quality isn't great, but listen to his words this week as he reminds us from Matthew 25, the story of the bridegroom being delayed in coming, and listen to what he says. I hope it will bless you as it has blessed me.
Understanding the Parable's Context
You know, I think that in life too often we are unprepared for what life has to do and say to us, and sadly, that unpreparedness brings regret, and then those two terrible words: "if only." And really, the sole purpose of Jesus's teaching is to help us understand we need to be ready for the coming of the bridegroom, who is Jesus, obviously, in the story.
It's a story of regret. It's a story of unpreparedness. Jesus weaves the story around a wedding, and we need to understand about weddings in Jesus's day. They weren't the 40-minute in-and-out jobs that we do these days. Weddings in the time of Jesus went on for days, and at the end of this time, the bridegroom would come to the bride's house, to her home, to escort her to the final ceremony. And a friend of the groom would go ahead to warn the family of the bride that he's coming.
In this story of Jesus, the bridegroom is delayed and we don't know for how long. And that's still true - the bridegroom is delayed, but He will return. He will return. And this is significant for all of us, because folks, obviously this is a story about your life and mine. Obviously, it's a story about how we're living our lives, and the day is coming when justice will be done. Your story and mine has a beginning and an ending, and it's all involved in the return of the bridegroom.
Living Ready for His Return
In this story, there are those who have oil in their lamps when the bridegroom returns and they're ready for the celebration, and there are those who are not ready. And the moral of the story is that we need to live life in such a way that one day, when Jesus comes back and our lives are examined from God's perspective, He will see a life that has been lived well.
Make sure you're ready!
You may ask, why don't the bridesmaids with the oil to spare share it with the others? Someone once wrote, “There are some things that cannot be borrowed”. And a relationship with God cannot be borrowed. We can't borrow this relationship from our parents, from our friends, our children. We are responsible for our own lives. We cannot live our lives on someone else's coattails.
This is one of the things in life that only we can do for ourselves. A life cannot be borrowed. It can only be constructed by us.
And one day we're going to stand with our life before God. And you can't stand in the waiting room waiting for your turn and turn to the person next to you and say, "Hey, my 20s were bad years. Can I borrow yours quickly to use when I meet God in a minute?" We're going to have to just stand up and do it.
You and I are responsible for our lives, and the saddest words of all are the words that say "if only."
