About a month ago I overlooked something really important to me. Because I fly every summer to Europa I had enough miles to have next ticket for free.
For free- under the condition I would keep my miles not expired by paying a small fee. But I ignored the email I got from my airlines thinking it was another advertisement and that way I missed my great opportunity for a special flight. I thought I was so close, if only I opened and read that information they sent me. If only I responded. But it was too late. Well, I realized there are more important things people will overlook in their lives.
I my situation it was just a free plane ticket. But what about overlooking ' time of grace', ' time of salvation' that is now and many will ignore it?
The consequences are much more dramatic than my 'lost' ticket to Europa.
I thought about people who will miss their important opportunity of responding to Jesus why they are still alive. Just the thought that there would be too late for them, because the message about salvation was ignored- is a hard feeling. They will miss their whole eternity with God! They will have to experience the second death and will be unaware of the great things God has in store for those who love Him.
As the note in the email about my mileage said; 'expired', so will end everybody's opportunity to come to Jesus. If in this life we don't want to have anything to do with God, we can't expect He would want anything to do with us after our time on earth is finished.
"Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven." Matthew 10;32-33
The Bible is filled with many warnings about missed opportunities of reconciliation with God, ignored message about salvation,vulnerability to believe lies if people won't hold on to the truth. It gives us warnings against being 'fake' believers, apparently christian-looking people. It commends us to be watchful so that we wouldn't be disappointed at Christ' second coming. There will be no excuse if somebody will be found without Christ as his/her Lord.
There is a specific situation we - as believers-are warned, too. It relates to turning back to sinful life and ignoring the relationship with the Lord
A 'Christian' who is not enduring in the relationship with the Lord to the end. Back to sinful life.
( Matthew 24;48-51)
"But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
We can notice that the person Jesus is talking about is somebody who knew Him as His master, he knew about His coming back. We would say today that this person should definitely be a Christian. This 'Christian' doesn't take his master's coming seriously so if Christ is not coming right away, he foolishly turns back to his sinful life. He looks like the one who never understood what it meant to be a follower of Christ. He doesn't understand that 'delayed coming' of His master means opportunities for others to still get saved. He is called 'evil servant', imposingly there is no good fruit in his life, which means there is no relationship with his master.
We have to understand that Christianity is the RELATIONSHIP with the Lord! It is not a -one time in life- prayer. It is not living in sin because 'I am saved' so I can do whatever I want to. If there is no communication with our Lord, you won't know Him, and He might say one day' He doesn't know you'. Let's read what Jesus once said;
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." John 10;27. Then He also said; "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish."
It is obeying the Lord, it is listening to His voice! Then you can be sure, you will never perish.
The question is why is the 'servant' in the parable (Matthew 24;48-51) rejected at the end? We can know based on John 10;27 that if he followed the Lord and listened to His voice, he should have a grantee of being saved. So definitely that was missing in his life. Just knowing who Christ is, doesn't make us true believers, it doesn't make us saved. The question is; Is He really your Lord, are you following Him?
A 'Christian' who does works in the name of the Lord but must have never been in relationship with Jesus.
(Matthew 7;22)
"On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
If Jesus would say to these people 'I never knew you', that means these people never belonged to Him although they made all impression that they did.They were never His!
He says; "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me." John 10;14
Jesus is warning us that there will be a number of people who look like Christians, who associate with Christians, and who even think they are Christians, who will be shocked to learn that they are not saved at the return of our Lord. What a sobering thought. This text is not seeking to create uncertainty and doubt in the heart of the Christian. It is not seeking to rob the Christian of his assurance. But it is seeking to warn those who have a false assurance, but not salvation. In the last days, just as in Jesus’ time and today, there will be those who appear to be Christians, but are not:
Warning about being a 'sleeping Christian' in the parable about ten virgins; not being watchful resulting in disappointment at Christ coming;
“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of the virgins were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish ones took their lamps, they did not take extra olive oil with them. But the wise ones took flasks of olive oil with their lamps. When the bridegroom was delayed a long time, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look, the bridegroom is here! Come out to meet him.’ Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’ ‘No,’ they replied. ‘There won’t be enough for you and for us. Go instead to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ But while they had gone to buy it, the bridegroom arrived, and those who were ready went inside with him to the wedding banquet. Then the door was shut. Later, the other virgins came too, saying, ‘Lord, lord! Let us in!’ But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I do not know you!’ Therefore stay alert, because you do not know the day or the hour” (Matthew 25:1-13).
Even though the five virgins plead, “Lord, Lord … ,” they were sent away with the words, “I do not know you!”
We find it emphasized here that once our Lord returns, there is neither the time nor the opportunity for the five foolish virgins to 'fix' their relationship with the Lord. In our text, the five foolish virgins are not given the time to reverse their folly, once the groom has come. They had their opportunity, and they lost it. Now it is too late. Once again, we notice that the story refers to people who knew who the Lord was but weren't doing what He was saying. They weren't watchful, more- they surely weren't listening to His voice. They might have been people who once heard the gospel but then the worldly things took over so much that there was no time to listen to His voice and obeying Him. That way they 'overslept' their Lord's coming.
Once again, knowing who Christ is doesn't make you saved. You have to make Him Lord of your life. Give your life to Him. It is not the knowledge about the Lord that gives you life but the relationship with Him. Listen and obey what He says. That's why Jesus said ;
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Matthew 7;21
So what is the will of the Father in heaven? To believe in the One He sent and obeying Him, listening to His voice, doing what He says.
We are warned against being only listeners but not doers!
"Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” Luke 6;46-49
Our faith without works is simply nothing. If there is no fruit in our life, no love expressed toward other people, if there is no prayer at all - our relationship with the Lord might be questionable.
James 1;22-24 says; "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. "
Christianity differs from all the worldly religions that it is a relationship with the living Lord. For a very important reason -there is so much teaching in the four gospels about who is a true follower of Christ. We can make a conclusion that the true Christian loves the Lord all the time, he keeps in communication with Him, and as the result he is producing good fruit, he shows the love towards others.
" By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13;35
Warning against ' having no heart' , lacking love toward others;
{ A parable in Matthew 25;31-46}
His story about the separation of goats and sheep must have unsettled his audience. The Day of Judgement will reveal who showed true compassion and mercy toward their neighbor. As much as we might like to judge the parables, the parables, nonetheless, judge us. Jesus teaches us a very important lesson about loving our neighbor and taking responsibility for others. God will judge us not only for the wrong we have done but also for what we have failed to do. Now is the time of God’s mercy for seeking his help and grace to turn away from sin and to walk in his way of love.
We can see that as the result of our relationship with the Lord , good fruit should be produced in our Christian life.We can't impress God with our good deeds on our own. We usually produce fruit by abiding in Jesus;
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15;5
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