“The Bridegroom Was a Long Time in Coming” | Matthew 25:1-13

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in

practical ways. Hey everybody, good morning, and welcome to the

Bible Guys.

It's good to be here.

It is.

This has been a great week.

It has.

It started off front of podcast, it has gotten better

and better every day.

Well that's our that's our goal is to set the

bar low and then under promise and over deliver.

That's right. So this is gonna be the best one

all week.

Yes, Well you know why because well because the Bible,

that's a big part.

Yeah, but also because of Dad Joe competition.

Yeah. Well, so I do have to say for the

people who were hoping for what made Chris mad this week? Yeah,

which is which you know, what could make you mad

this week? But the fact that your segment got replaced

and now we're doing dad jokes.

But it doesn't.

It doesn't because I I like to make the rest

of us mad, Chris.

I like to think that people appreciate the break and

and and want something new.

Okay, you know if yeah, if you give them the

same thing all the time, it gets old. They get

used to it. They're not thankful, even Fila mignon unthankful people.

Even Fila mignon could be too much if you have

it every day.

I'd like to try. Yeah, I'd like to try to

make it too much.

Well, your heart may your heart may not like.

But there we go.

Here is Dad Joe competition. This is my daughter Tory's

favorite thing.

Right, are you going to go first? No, but you

go first me.

Yes.

A mummy covered in chocolate and nuts has been discovered

in Egypt. Archaeologists believe it may be Pharaoh. Rochet is

a rough one. I knew it was coming.

As soon as you said covered in chocolate, nuts and

like Egypt.

Which, by the way, those are are my favorite candies.

So my favorite can't Ferraro rochets, Reese's peanutury cups, especially

Riese's eggs, the eggs at Eastern those are my two fags.

And then hersh she's with amens.

I'm gonna do something. I'm going to do something that

we don't ever do. Right, you didn't ask for it,

I'm gonna do it. If you are a faithful listener

at Heritage Church, and you you attend Heritage Church, I

want you to flood Jeff this week. No, no, no,

with those candies that I can't pronounce, okay, and just

come up to them, give them to them.

I'm gonna see if anybody does it.

Okay, will you do it?

Will you?

Will you do it?

Listener?

Will you be the one?

Will you be the one that'd be great?

Is this like a This is like a telethon? Now

on our on our.

Right right, they're calling in candy candython. Okay, here we go.

I got my first one.

Okay, go ahead.

And by the way, I haven't even read these, so

I'm hoping I'm going to read them.

Okay.

My wife asked me to take her to one of

those restaurants where they prepare the food right in front

of you, So I took her to Subway.

Okay, that's fu yeah, yeah, all right, here we go.

In the span of seventeen years, one hundred and fourteen

people died in accidents while at the gym. In the

same seventeen years, only one man died while eating a donut.

Life is about the choices you make.

There you go, there you go.

Okay. I don't know if that's true, but it sounds

it sounds believable to me. That's right, that's great. Sounds

reasonable to me.

Okay, hell go, I needed something therapeutic to do, so

I took up gardening. After six months, forty two trips

to home depot, thirty eight blisters and throwing out my back,

I was able to eat my six hundred and thirty

two dollars salad.

That's the truth. That is the truth.

Oh my gosh, that is so funny.

So do you plant like a table garden like a bite.

No, my wife does all of that, and she has

pots and some of them have grown into big pots, right,

so she has big, big pots. But she does like

herbs and basil and thyme, and and she's growing strawberries

and tomatoes. So she does some of that. But they're

not like it's not like in the garden, you know

what I mean.

They're just in the little possible.

Well. I was so excited because this year was my year.

I started all of my plants indoors early. I planned

months in advance, I've worked out my my planting schedule,

all this kind of stuff. I got my gardens, I

got the soil just right. I finally, when my plants

all got big enough, I took them outside I planted them,

and then I had to go away. Yeah, and the

person that I asked to water my plants did not,

and almost everything died. So now I have one massive

tomato plant, I have two massive pepper plants. And then

these peas just won't quit growing, right, we're growing. And

then I have I don't know why, but like nine

basil plants. So I think we're going to be making

a bunch of pesto this summer. Yeah, tomatoes and pesto. Yeah,

you go, yeah, but it's going to be the same thing.

Is gonna be like a four hundred and fifty dollars

Jara pesto.

Right right, that's so good.

Okay, here's mine. My son asked me what procrastinate means,

and I said, I'll tell you later.

That was it.

That was it?

Oh was it? That was one of the worst.

Hey, I didn't write them. I'm just reading them.

That was terrible.

I'm just reading them.

Oh awful.

Let's let's hope this next one is better than that.

I went for a run but came back after two

minutes because I forgot something.

I forgot that. I'm out of shape.

I can't run for more than two minutes.

That's really good. Well, that is a good one. That

was really good. Not that of shape, but I can't

run for more than two minutes.

That's really good.

It's good. Okay. I'm terrified of elevators, so I'm taking

steps to avoid them.

Okay, wow, you you really get the bad ones.

I didn't write them all.

Right, here we go.

Police have arrested the world tongue twister champion. They said

he'll be given a tough sentence.

Nope, okay. Parallel lines have so much in common, it's

a it's a shame they'll never meet. I'm O for today, buddy.

Yeah.

Yeah, my friends bakery burned down last night and now his.

Business is toasted.

Oh no, okay, that's what you had one I had?

We were one.

Well.

I liked the subway.

I like the subway one, and I thought the salad

one was okay.

Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, you got three.

I got three, so you're three for the running was

really good.

Yeah, yeah, that was it was really good. Yeah, that's

a good one. Save that one for.

I'm tempted to call Tory, but we're sort of we're

sort of at a time.

Okay, yeah, I don't know. How we made that into

six and a half minutes, but we did. Speaking of

taking a long time, you know who else took a

long time.

The.

People, the version of the bridegroom, The bridegroom took a

long time, took a long time. Yeah, the bridegroom was

a long time in coming on purpose, on purpose. Yes.

So in Matthew chapter twenty five, in verses one through thirteen,

Jesus tells, I think a very interesting parable.

Yes, it's titled in mind the parable of the ten virgins.

What is yours?

The parable of the ten bridesmaids? Yeah, right, same thing,

same thing. Yeah. And then in that culture, then this

is in like a whole sequence of Jesus telling parables

and particularly talking about the end of time. Right, So

he starts off he's talking about the future, then he's

talking about his return and of time. Then he talks

about remaining watchful. That's all of chapter twenty four. And

in the context of remaining watchful, he comes into the

beginning here of chapter twenty five, and it says, then

the kingdom of having to be like ten bridesmaids who

took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom, five

of them were foolish and five were wise. The five

who were foolish didn't take enough oil for the lamps,

but the other five were wise enough to take along

extra oil. When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became

drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, they were roused by

the shout look the bridegroom was coming. Come out and

meet him. All the bride'smaids got up and prepared their lamps.

Then the five foolish ones asked the others, please give

us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.

But the others replied, we don't have enough for all

of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves.

But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came.

Then those who were ready went in with him to

the marriage feast, and the door was locked. Later, when

the other five bridemaids returned, they stood outside, calling Lord Lord,

open the door for us, but he called back, believe me,

I don't know you, so you too must keep watch,

for you do not know the day or the hour

of my return. Wow, yeah, there you go. Yeah, so

go for it, Chris.

So five of them were foolish and five were wise.

The foolish one took their lamps but did not take

any oil with them. The wives, whoever, took oil in

their jars along with their lamps. So really that's the key,

isn't it. So the key is to be prepared, to

be anticipating, to be ready. Right, So what they were

doing is And by the way, this payple doesn't make

a lot of sense, because no, I shouldn't say that.

I should say it doesn't relate very well because the

situation they.

Find themselves in.

We don't do that today, right, So so what would

would have what.

Would have been the tradition at that time?

Yeah, so you have to remember the weddings used to

last a week at a time, which, by.

The way, weddings in India, my brother says, because he

goes to India all the time, it's the same thing.

So it still lasts of some.

Of them last a long time.

Yeah.

Yeah, so it would last a long time. The groom

would come to the ride's families home and when he arrived,

the wedding began. That was kind of thing, you know,

for us, the wedding really begins when the bride walks

down the aisle rights, that's a highlight. But and when

she's ready, yes, when she's I just did it.

Wedding on Saturday, and the wedding was supposed start at three.

It started at three thirty. And the bride always approaches

me as the minister, as if it's a brand new

idea and says, hey, listen, is it okay if we

start a little bit late. I just want to give

people time to get here because of whatever reason.

And I said, I have a.

Little foul on my computer. It's a little foulfolder and

you right click on it. It tells you how many

documents are inside.

So I have a file.

The fault folder says weddings. I have three hundred and

twelve documents. Oh and there's probably something I didn't forget

right or I've forgotten to put in there. So over

three hundred weddings, I said, I have literally done every

single wedding. And guess how many have started on time?

One sell always start on time.

No you don't, no, you don't.

I have never started a single wedding on time. But

it's always when the bride dictates, and they always think

it's a brand new idea, and I always say I

always assumed that it was going to start late.

I just assume it right.

Because that's whenever the bride wants to to be honest.

But in this case, it was the group because he

was traveling right right, he was doing the work of traveling.

So the I have told people as we were prepping

for weddings, Hey, just make sure you let all of

you guests know we're gonna have to start on time.

So make sure they're time. Yeah, I have to. I've

rarely ever started a wedding late. I promise you. How

many weddings have you done. I don't know, not three hundred,

but probably one hundred. Dude, I've rarely started a wedding late.

Every single It's usually part of my wedding conversation, wedding

planning conversation.

I understand understand that.

But the day of the wedding, there's a traffic problem,

there's people coming late, there's it's the one time event

of my lifetime. Could you please get than ten more

minutes of travel?

I mean, I've started some weddings late, but I would

say the majority I've started on time that late. Yeah,

I do not care when it starts yeah, I.

Just let the bride doer thing.

Man. So that's really funny, isn't that funny? I don't

tell them no. I think that's what you're thinking, is that,

in the moment they come to me and say, hey,

we have to do this, I've already preemptively said we're

starting on time, so make sure everybody's there on time.

So I've preemptively said it. If they come and ask me,

I go, yeah, sure, no problem. How long do you

think I'm not waiting three hours? Right, I'll sign you

a document that your dad do the bo Okay, I'm choking.

Since since we're spending minutes on this, the only person

in my entire career that has started on time?

Do you know it?

Was Dave Vaneps Well, I'm married, that makes sense.

Yeah, well Dave.

Actually, Dave's one of our elders at here AT's Church,

right right. I married him and Charlotte like ten years ago,

whatever it was. And I actually had told him the

day of his wedding. I said, I've done two hundred weddings, Dave,

and none of them started on time.

And he goes none.

I said what And he goes, Okay, just because you

said that I'm gonna I'm gonna ruin it.

Well he's an achiever, right, yeah, yeah, he.

Says I'm gonna ruin it. So literally he said three

two one, walk out.

And he walked out, and I was like, dang it.

So he ruined it.

Yeah, that's great. I just did a funeral recently, and

same thing in the conversation. Yes, hey, you know we're

gonna have to because it was at a funeral home.

We'll need to start pretty close to on time. Yeah,

and so it was t t tick. Funeral director pointed

at me. I stepped up. Good morning, Thank you for

joining us today. He comes, he says, dude, that was

the first one we got started on time this week.

You count on me starting on time, buddy. Anyways, for them,

it was different because the travel was so difficult. Right,

you're not flying on a plane, you're not waiting for

a bus schedule or a train schedule, you don't have

a car that you can just plan out. You didn't

have you're telling you where to turn right, and so

travel could be very difficult. The further it is, the

more difficult be and so a lot of times, you know,

even now in the developing world, in the Middle East,

in Africa, in India, time is way more relative than

it is for us. If I say, oh, let's meet

at two fifteen, I mean let's meet at two fifteen.

I really meant I want you there at two ten, Right,

That's what I meant. We just went to a ball

game the other day, told my friend, hey, let's meet

at five point thirty. We'll drive down to the stadium.

And he pulls in at five point twenty. I'm like,

this is why he's my friend. Right, So it was perfect.

But in Africa, if somebody says.

I, I'm your friend in spite of this.

Yeah, in Africa, if somebody says, hey, we're going to

leave it too, anything from two zero zero to two

five nine, it's two right, So this groom. So time

is way more relative. The journey is important, The people

are more important than time in the Middle Eastern culture.

And so this this is why it's not a surprise

that the bridegroom, or that the bridegroom shows up late.

The party's not going to start till he shows up.

The bride'smaid's jobs were to welcome him, it'd be like

the welcoming party. It'd be the cheerleaders yay.

You know.

Well, the football players are running into the stadium. It

was kind of that idea. So they're waiting outside with

their candles, their lamps. They're ready to celebrate him coming,

and he just is late, that's all. And it's okay.

This isn't a bad part of the story. That's a

normal part of the story. The problem was five of

them were prepared and five were not. Right, they were

waiting and they were prepared. They had everything in order

necessary for when the bridegroom arrives, they'd be able to

join the celebration with him. And five were not prepared.

They were distracted. They had to go out and get

some more stuff they had to. They did not make

the right plans, and then they were caught in doing

the business of life rather than being able to celebrate.

So when the gate gets shut, they don't get into

the party. They miss out on it. And Jesus said, listen,

you need to be You won't. You don't know when

I'm gonna arrive, but you need to be ready. That's

the whole point of the story. It's a really narrow

meaning to the story. Yeah, right, it's not sophisticated. He's

just saying, you don't know when I'm gonna arrive, and

you have to be ready.

Yeah, and another lesson we could learn is it's pretty

obvious the reason why the other five weren't prepared is

because it wasn't a priority. Right, So the rea the

only way that the other five were prepared is because

they thought about it. Well, what happens if you know

what happens if he comes and we.

Don't have oil?

Right, So that's priority. That's concern, isn't it. So what

we're doing is it's so important to us that we

actually think in advance and we're like, Okay, I'm gonna

do whatever I can to not miss this moment, right,

And so when we plan, that's really just another way

of saying priority. And so there are some people who

don't plan for things, some people who do. And the

only reason why some people plan is because it's an

important thing. And so you know, these other ladies. It

doesn't say why they didn't come with oil, but one

thing is clear. It certainly wasn't a priority, or else

they would have thought about it. So so yeah, I

think that I think that one of the things that

we need to remind ourselves is that you know, when

we don't make God a priority, we miss out on

God's blessings. So yeah, I mean this is this is

certainly the case when you think about the Second Coming,

right when you think about preparing and always being prepared

for and look for Jesus coming in his glory.

But it could also be applied to life.

I think you know, when you make God a priority,

then you are prepared for when an opportunity comes, when

a blessing comes your way, when God speaks and says,

do this, and then you do it. In the moment,

you realize that God had this great thing prepared.

So even in the moment.

When we're when we're actively waiting and listening and anticipating

God's voice. I mean, how many times have you been

with your wife or with a really good friend and

and they'll say, like, in the moment, I stop, I

think God wants me to say something, or I want

to pray with somebody, or you know, hey, hey, pull over,

I want to talk to this person or whatever it is,

and somebody just acts in the moment, well that's that's

that's somebody who's closely listening. They're they're anticipating, you know,

what God has for them.

And I would argue and say.

They prepared their heart, They've prepared the condition of their souls.

They've they prepared their priorities, even their priorities, they've decided

upon them in advance. Right, Hey, this is a priority

because God told me to do this. So regardless of

whether we're going to be late for the ball game,

we're going to do this, right yep.

Can I tell a quick story?

So I remember I was meeting my dad downtown with

my brothers for Detroit Lions Cleveland Brown's game. They're from Cleveland,

south of Cleveland, and so anyway, they're meeting with us,

and I was on a cast that was on an

air cast because I had twisted my ankle and so

I was too cheap to park close to the stadium.

So I had driven around forever and I had found

a play with five dollars. It had an attendant, which

I thought, okay, there's an attendant there watching the parking lot,

but it was like unbroken glass gravel, And then come

to find out it was one point three miles away

from the stadium. I'd driven around so much I thought

it was close.

But I wasn't.

So I had walked all the way to the stadium

on this air cast, only to realize I forget the

tickets in the car.

I was by myself.

By the time I got to the car, it was

almost halftime, and because I was already laid for church,

and so I was like, oh, my goodness, and I

was really frustrated, and so I went back to my car,

opened it up, grabbed the tickets, and I'm like, my

family's gonna kill me.

I told them i'd be.

There by the end of the first quarter from church,

and then here now it's halftime. But I had to

limp back to my truck to get these tickets. And

as I was closing the door, ready to hobble back

to the thing, the ticket attendant said, hey, I noticed

you had a Bible on your dashboard and I said yeah,

and he goes, and I'm trying to get away from him,

and he goes, how come you have a Bible on

your dashboard? And I said oh, and I just sort

of blurted out because I'm a pastor, and he goes,

you're a pastor, yeah.

And he goes, wow, So how long you've been.

A pastor, and I'm thinking, okay, I've got to go, right,

I've got to go. And then he said, hey, I

have a question, and I said yeah, and he goes,

just real quick, can you tell me how do you

get to heaven? And so at that point, I got

a choice to make, right, I got a choice to make,

and so obviously.

Yeah, right, obviously he wins.

Right, So I sit there and talked to him, and

then he has all these other questions and so then

I like, I lead him to Christ and and I'm

thinking this is hilarious in one way, you know.

And after all this, you know, effort.

So I finally hobble all the way back to the

stadium and uh and by the time I get there,

it's the end of the third quarter. Wow, right, and

my family is like, where have you been? And I'm like, hey, man,

something's are priority, you know? And I told him the

story and they're like, really, couldn't you.

Have talked to him later? I'm like the moment was then, bro.

That's right. So what you have here is Jesus is

setting up the fact that there's going to be a

day when he returns. Yes, so obviously he's the bridegroom. Yes,

in the story, remember the parables always have God, almost

always have God as the hero. In this situation, Jesus

as God is the hero. He's the bridegroom. We know

he's the bridegroom because in other places it references it.

But then, like Paul talks about in Ephesians, husbands love

your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave

himself for it. Right, and he he cleaned her up

and presented him her the church to himself as a bride.

That's spotless, right, So he's the bridegroom. Then well, yeah,

in this situation, we'd be the bridesmaids, but yeah, the

church would be the bride. Total. The bride'smaids are these

individual points, right, So five of them were foolish, they

were not his followers, and five were. So the idea

would be that he would show up at the bride's

home and then get the bride and the entire bridal

party and now bring them all to his father's house

and at his father's house because she's joining the family

at his father's houses where the party would be. So

this is how we know he's talking about his final return.

This is at the end of time when he comes, right,

some people call it the rapture of the Church or whatever,

And he would he's coming someday. And some were prepared

for when he returned, and some were not. And so

those that were prepared they were able to enter into

the party. Those that were not prepared wanted to borrow

what the others had. Oil in the Bible and in

a lot of their things hints at the Holy Spirit, right,

It's the source of the fire kind of thing, so

oil is usually the Holy Spirit. You cannot when it's

all over there, there will be a day when you

don't have another chance. So while you're breathing breath, while

you are living on this earth, before Jesus returns, before

you die, you have every opportunity. God is saying he's

not willing that any would perish, but that all would

come to pends. It's why he's being patient with you, right,

giving you more time. But there will be a day

when that it's done. You don't have any more opportunities,

and in that moment you will not be able to

borrow the faith of your mom or your dad, or

the fact that your grandpa was a preacher. Right at

that moment. Now, if it wasn't personal, and if it

wasn't intentional, you're going to be standing on the outside

looking in. That's the big picture of the story. And

so that's true for you and me and for our listeners.

But that's also true for the people we care about.

You know, I think a lot of us have people

that we want to go to heaven and we intend

if there's ever a good opportunity to have a meaningful

spiritual conversation with them leading to Jesus. The problem is

we don't know when their time is done, when Jesus

is going to come for them, right, and so in

that instance then or in that situation, we shouldn't wait.

We need to also be actively trying to make sure

that the people around us are prepared, that that they

are ready to meet Jesus at any minute. Don't wait,

don't wait for a perfect opportunity, because perfect opportunities never

come along. Just make the opportunity to share the gospel

to lead them to Jesus, because there's going to be

a time when there's no more opportunities for any of us.

And so it really creates a sense of urgency here, right.

Faith can't be borrowed. You can't go get it from

somebody else, and so that means we need to be

making sure that we're spreading it as much as possible

now while the opportunity is there.

That's great, Yeah, all right, well, hey, that is a

great place to end, and what a great passage and

a great thought. And so hopefully we will see you

as we pick up the series on Monday on The Bible. Guys,