Already But Not Yet – The Day of the LORD
Bags of Gold
Matthew 25:14-30

Why does Jesus tell stories to illustrate his coming again that end with phrases like, “Throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” or “Truly, I tell you, I don’t know you” or “They will go away to eternal punishment.”

It seems that when Jesus tells us a story about a future Day of the Lord, he is seeking an effect/affect in the lives of his hearers in the present.  That would be true of us today as well.  Why tell us stories of what it will be like on that day with stories about Ten Virgins and the need for oil in their lamps, or Bags of Gold and what people do with them, or Sheep and Goats in the ways that they behave?  

I think Jesus is giving us a heads up.  We have a life to live.  One that is a gift from God.  One that has been redeemed by God.  One that can be lived for light or darkness.  One that serves the Master or one that serves mammon or self.  In these stories of Jesus about what it will be like when he returns, he provides an opportunity for change and direction in life for the present.  

What is God’s will for our life in the here and now?  How ought we to live today in a way where God will say on that ‘Day’, “Come to the wedding banquet.  Well done good and faithful servant, come, share in my Master’s happiness.  Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world”?

Jesus’ parables in Matthew 25, about the Day of the Lord, stimulate repentance, commitment, and faithfulness to the Father’s will in the here and now.  Sunday, we look forward, so that we may know how we ought to live now.  Sunday, the 2nd of three parables from Matthew 15:14-30, Bags of Gold.  

Come and join us as we sit at Jesus feet,

Pastor Mark