Real Faith

Immediately following a discussion about the timing of the end of time, Jesus tells three stories about the church in Matthew 25.

1. The first story is about 10 virgins that are waiting for the bridegroom. They all had oil lamps for light. Five had enough oil to last through the unexpected delay. The other five begged for oil from the first five when the signs of the bridegroom's arrival were clear. The second five were denied the needed oil from the first five.

The message is that the oil, (Holy Spirit), cannot be gained from another person. It is personally obtained. You cannot have mine and I cannot have yours.

2. The second story is about three individuals that were given talents from the King to use while the King is away. One gets five, one gets two and the third gets one. The first puts his talent to use and gains five more, the second does the same and earns two more. The third hides the talent entrusted to him and has nothing more to show the King upon His return.

It appears that Jesus uses some tell-tale wording in his story about the third individual. He talks about the King's reputation rather than a personal relationship with Him.

The postulation seems to be that a personal relationship with the King drives us to risk putting His resources to work.

3. The third story is about a time when all humanity comes before the King and He separates them into groups. One group is commended for giving food, drink, clothing and visits to the King. Upon their surprised inquiry of when this might have happened, the King replies that whenever they did it for the least of all individuals, they did it as if to the King Himself. The people in this group were extended an invitation into the kingdom of life.

Another group gets the exact opposite report. They withheld food, drink, clothing and visits to the King. They reply in surprise as the first group did, asking when they would ever have been so rude to the King. His reply is that when they withheld from even the least of all people in need, they withheld from Him. These were turned away into eternal punishment.

Those who were the righteous were the ones who naturally gave what they had to those in need. Those who did not give were the ones who turned out to be the unrighteous.

A careful read of these three stories show us that we are expected to be active in our faith. We are to focus on being full of God, (oil), we are expected to put our talents to use so as to mature, (earn more), and it turns out that if we are those that don't help the needy, we are the unrighteous. Like James said in chapter 2, verse 26, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead."

Lift up your head.

Last week I read something about the Apostle Paul that struck a cord in my spirit. Here is the idea: When Paul was being troubled by the Jewish leadership of his day, God told Paul not to be troubled, and that He, (God) was going to get Paul to Rome. In the following days, weeks and years, Paul went through some very incredible events. He stood trial before Felix, Festus and Agrippa; they were men of Roman rulership. He was not afraid; he was going to Rome. After standing trial before King Agrippa, he was sent off to Rome under a Roman guard. On the trip to Rome, there was some tremendous storms. Paul was not afraid, God told him that he was going to Rome. One of the storms got so bad that some of the officers were talking about killing all of the prisoners so that they couldn't escape. Paul was not alarmed, he was going to Rome. Before that storm was over the ship they were on busted apart but Paul was not alarmed, he was going to Rome. The island that they were all able to reach safely had some kind natives that built a fire for the crew and prisoners. While Paul was putting some wood on the fire and viper came out of the wood and attached itself to Paul, he shook it off as if it were a harmless insect. He was not afraid, it was a fact that he was going to Rome.

Now for you and me who are trusting God to forgive us our sins because we believe that Jesus paid the price for our offenses against God; we are told in Ephesians chapter two that we are, "seated with Christ in the heavenlies." When I look around me, it doesn't look like heaven to me. But then I realize that God has put in a reservation with our name on it. So like Paul we know that the path before us may take some turns, some up and downs, but in the end we know where we are headed.

As Paul kept his focus on Rome, keep your focus on home. Whatever trouble gets in your path, endure, keep the faith, you know where you are going.