If you would, please open the Bible to Old Habits. We're in Matthew's Gospel still, coming to Revelation soon, but today we are in Matthew chapter 25 on page 830. Matthew 25, page 830 in the Pew Bible. If you would please stand. Jesus said, Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them. But the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, here is the bridegroom, come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, saying, since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came. And those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward, the other virgins came, also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, truly I say to you, I do not know you. Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. For it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now, after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, Master, you delivered to me five talents. Here I have made five talents more. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. And he also, who had the two talents, came forward saying, Master, you delivered to me two talents. Here I have made two talents more. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. He also, who had received the one talent, came forward saying, Master, I knew you to be a hard man. reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. So I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours. But his master answered him, you wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed. then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the 10 talents. For to everyone who has will more be given and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will place the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, come you who were blessed by My Father, Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the king will answer them, truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. Then he will say to those on his left, depart from me you cursed. into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. Then they also will answer saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you? Then he will answer them saying, truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. The word of the Lord. Sovereign Father, please send your Holy Spirit upon us this morning as we open our Bibles to this important passage of the scriptures. Please give us hearts and minds truly open to your word that we might hear exactly what you want us to hear for Jesus' sake, amen, amen. Please be seated. April 15th is a date I've had on my calendar since January 1st, and I imagine you know why. April 15th is well known to all of us as Americans. It's tax day, right? So if you haven't already completed your taxes, you're like me, trying to do that in the next 72 hours, I don't know, whatever we have left before the end of April 15th. I've had it on my calendar, I've circled all year, and yet here I am, April 13th, still not ready. We're gonna be thinking a little bit about being ready. We're gonna be thinking a little bit about dates and times and how we prepare for the most important date that can't be circled on a calendar because we don't know the date, but it's the most important date in all of human history. And I'd like for us to be thinking about that this morning as we turn to Matthew chapter 25. I wish you'd have the Bible open in front of you because I'm going to be referring to it frequently. And I really want you to be sure to understand that what I'm saying is not Bill Lovell, it's God's Word to us, and that's what I'm going to be trying to preach this morning. This passage is the conclusion to what is called the Olivet Discourse. It is two chapters in Matthew's Gospel, 24 and 25. It's Mark Chapter 13 and Luke Chapter 21. They're very similar passages that come at a similar point in Jesus's ministry. And these are a statement that Jesus made at the very end of his earthly ministry as he was literally getting ready for the events of Maundy Thursday. If you look at Matthew chapter 26 it says when Jesus had finished all these things he said to his disciples you know that after two days the Passover is coming and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified. So literally chapters 24 and 25 are just days before the crucifixion of Jesus and all the drama surrounding that. It's also interestingly the last time we see the expression the kingdom of heaven This is an expression that Matthew has used many, many times in his gospel. It was a particularly important term for him. He recorded it many times. And here in Matthew chapter 25, verse one, on Jesus's lips, we have that last time when the Lord Jesus uses that precious expression to describe something that was so important to him. He's talking about it. in the last days of his life. And all of the last few chapters have been like this. But truly, this is the conclusion of all of that as he prepares to die on the cross. And what he gives us in this concluding of the two chapters is two parables and a concluding instruction. Two parables and a concluding instruction. Let's look at the two parables first. The parable of the talents the parable of the 10 virgins, that's verses 1 to 13, and the parable of the talents, verses 14 to 30. Let's look at the parable of the 10 virgins, verses 1 to 13. This is a well-known parable, or at least some of the terms are well-known. I think it's sometimes misunderstood, but it is one we've perhaps heard before. I know I've heard of this parable many times, growing up as a Christian, and it's one that is loaded with meaning. Some of it is lost of us because we're not really familiar with marriage customs in first-century Jerusalem or first-century Judea. But I was reading Leon Morris's excellent commentary on Matthew. He's helped me throughout this series on Matthew's Gospel, and Dr. Morris I had some insight into first century Jewish weddings. One thing I didn't realize it, but the weddings for virgin Jews, young virgin women who were getting married, was on Wednesdays. And the weddings for widows, those were on Thursdays typically. So it could very well have been a Wednesday that Jesus was telling this story. We don't know that, but it was interesting to hear his thoughts about that. That was a custom in the first century among the Jewish people. And so here Jesus is talking about a wedding. And we know from the Old Testament, as we know from many references in Jesus's teaching, that the idea of a wedding is very important to our understanding of the coming of Christ and the work of Christ. The Church is often described as the Bride of Christ. Paul uses that image several times to describe our relationship, the Church's relationship to Jesus. He is the Bridegroom and the Church is the Bride. And Paul describes the Bride being prepared for the Bridegroom and how the Church has this precious role to play in the life of Jesus. It is a metaphor to help us understand how much Jesus loves the church and how he is willing to give himself for the church. Jesus, who was himself unmarried, dips into human experience to describe this most intense relationship. And that is the relationship between Jesus and his people, his bride. And so here, there's an image of a wedding. And it's a wedding where the bridegroom is leaving. He is not going to be with them at the beginning. And it says that he was delayed in verse 5. And there are 10 virgins who are the wedding party. They're accompanying the bride. the bride. They're part of the bridal party. And there are ten of them. Five are described as wise. They bring some oil with them with the lamp that they're going to use in the wedding processional. The wedding processional was often at night according to Dr. Morrison. It made a very dramatic entrance with all these burning processional lamps. And so the five wise virgins are prepared. They have the oil they need and they're prepared to light the way for the bridegroom when he comes. The five foolish virgins bring their lamps, but they don't bring the oil they need to burn the lamps. The word foolish is actually, according to Dr. Morris, stupid. It was a really silly thing for them to do. It was a stupid thing for them to do. It was a foolish thing for them to do. Interestingly, wise and foolish are important concepts to Matthew. Apparently, according to Dr. Morris, Matthew uses the word, the Greek word for wise and the Greek word for foolish, 50% of the times that it's used in the New Testament. Wisdom and foolishness are very important categories in Matthew's thinking. that reflects his Jewishness, doesn't it? That's an important concept for Jewish people. And so here he's describing a situation where the contrast is not bad or good. It's not lazy or hardworking. The emphasis is foolish and wise. Those are the categories that Matthew emphasizes. And five of them were very foolish, five of them were wise. And so the foolish virgins come up and say to the prepared virgins, here, give us some of your oil so that we will have oil to light our lamps. And it's important to remember this is a parable, all right? It is not an allegory. It's not saying this is the way everyone should always behave about things. Jesus is using an insight from life to describe a concept which he's going to make clear. And the fact is, if the wise virgins had given their oil to the other five foolish virgins, none of the ten would have had enough oil. So they said, no, you should grow quickly and buy some oil. Apparently that was something possible for them to do. And so they set off to run and buy the oil. And while they're away, The bridegroom arrives, and the rest of the story is as you heard it. The five wise virgins accompany the bride and the bridegroom into the festival and into the wedding, and they were able to participate in the glorious wedding event that every first century Jew would have understood. It was a good thing, a happy thing, a joyful thing, a glorious thing. while the five other virgins who had been foolish were unable to attend. And in fact, it says the door was shut. Not really told why, but it was shut. And when they asked to come in, the voice said, truly, I say to you, I do not know you. So it's an episode from common life. Again, it's not saying this is how you should always behave in a situation like this one. It's just saying that in this circumstance, what we see is the category of wise versus foolish and has to do with being prepared. It has to do with understanding their job and being prepared to do their job. And Jesus gives this parable in this last chapter before he goes to the cross. His lesson is really simple. Be prepared. Be wise. Be prepared to do the important work that has been entrusted to you. And it is foolish to be unprepared. It is not a good thing to be unprepared. And there are negative implications for not being prepared. Very, very serious indeed. So the first parable is teaching this idea of Wisdom versus foolishness. It is interesting to note verse 13. Watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour. This is a echo of what he says in verse 36 back in chapter 24. And so this is a repeating theme. You don't know. It's not like April 15th. You don't know when the date is. But it's even more important to be prepared, to be prepared to do the important work entrusted to you. And so he takes this little episode from ordinary life that every first century Jew would understand, and which we can understand with a minute's thought, how important it is to be prepared for a wedding. When you're organizing a wedding and you're entrusted an important job, it's important to do what you were told to do. Isn't that right, Daniel? Daniel and Hope had a wedding here in this room, and there were important tasks assigned to people. And the expectation was you would do what you were asked to do. And Jesus is taking a simple illustration like that as a parable and helping us to understand how very, very important it is, infinitely important it is, for us to be ready to do the work that has been entrusted to us. And then there's a second parable, the parable of the talents. I've always heard and loved this parable because it was the basis for a very famous poem. John Milton, who is my favorite poet, wrote a hymn called On His Blindness that's literally based on Matthew chapter 25. verse 14 and following. It was the parable of the talents. And again, it's a story from human experience. It's not a allegory. We can't just move the pieces around and say this is Jesus, this is the Holy Spirit, this is us, this is the devil. It doesn't work that way. It's an insight from ordinary human life and it's this. A man's going away And this is a recurring theme in these two chapters. If you'll notice, it's someone has left and someone is coming back. That's the repeated setting, the context. The context is someone is coming back. And in this parable, a man is going on a journey. He calls his servants. Apparently, he's very wealthy. He entrusted them his property. And he gave five talents. The interesting thing, a talent is not an amount of money, it's a weight. So they were given five talents of something, meant five pounds or five tons, and actually they're not 100% sure, scholars aren't 100% sure exactly how much a talent was in this context, according to Dr. Morris. But the idea was, apparently it was significant, but apparently it was only a small proportion of what the man had. he calls it later on, a little. But the story suggests that what they have is significant, and they're each entrusted a different number of talents, a different weight of these valuables that the master entrusted to his servants. One gets five talents, another gets two talents, and one gets just one talent. And when the man goes away, he leaves his servants to tend to his property. And the man who had been given five talents goes out and he invested and works with it and does what he does and was able to give five more talents. So he was able to present his master with 10 talents. And the second servant who received two talents, portions of the valuables that the master left. He did what he was supposed to do. He worked, he invested, he did whatever it was he did, and he was able to produce two additional talents. So he could bring four talents to present to his master. One servant took the talent that he was given dug a hole in the earth. There's a very earthy, very gritty picture. He digs a hole. And he put the one talent in the hole, covers it up, and waits for the master's return. So when the master returns, he goes to the hole, digs it up, I hope cleans off some of the dirt, and brings and presents the same one talent. And as I say, the story goes as you read, the master was displeased. of the servant who did not do what he was told. He did not invest. He did not act to further the work of his master and to produce a harvest for his master, a bountiful product for his master. The one who presented five, who presented 10, who had been given five, he was honored. The master says, well done, good and faithful servant. Aren't those words you would be delighted to hear on your job performance? Well done, good and faithful servant, well done. And that's meant to be the idea, that this servant was thanked and congratulated, recognized for what he had done. And the same with the man who had been given two talents. When he presented the four talents that he was able to present to his master, the master said exactly the same words. He did not say, well, the other one did a little bit better than you. He simply said, well done, good and faithful servant. Aren't those the words you'd love to hear from your employer at the end of the day? Well done. Well, imagine those words on the lips of Jesus. Well done, good and faithful servant. Well done for having taken what I gave you and entrusted to you, and you sought to work with it and to do the work that I have given to you to do, and you were able to produce this bountiful harvest, whether it was double, or a double ten, or a double four. It didn't really matter. And so Jesus is giving this second parable. Again, the categories aren't here wise versus foolish. The categories are engaged versus disengaged. Doing the work versus not doing the work. Being aware of the work but not doing the work. And that's kind of the category here. And Jesus uses very strong language to describe the Master's response. Take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents, verse 28. For to everyone who has will more be given and he will have an abundance but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away, and cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness." So he's making it very plain in this parable, not an allegory, but in this parable he's making it very plain how important it is to be engaged in the work that the master gives his servants to do. I think part of what's very revealing is how we understand the master. I think it's possible to read this story and have in our heads a very brutal master. And apparently the third servant sort of thought that himself. The language the third servant uses, it's very interesting. I look at what he says. Master, I knew you to be a hard man. See, the third servant's revealing, he's showing a lot what he thought about the Master. You are a hard man. You're tough to deal with. You're a hard man. He says, he says, You're a hard man and you are difficult to deal with. You reap where you did not sow. You gather where you scattered no seed. And this man's appraisal, his master, well, he sounds like a scoundrel. He's difficult. He's hard. He's not easy to work with. And he just takes, takes, takes. He doesn't sow. He isn't about working himself, he just takes. And you get this picture of a really brutal employer. Apparently that's the way the third man viewed the master. So there's no wonder that he was frightened. I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours. I think a lot of us have an image of God that he's hard to deal with. He's brutal. He's in charge of everything and doesn't really care very much. He's all about taking, taking, taking. I think a lot of us have embedded in our heads an image of God that's like that, like this third man. And there's no wonder that sometimes people are both angry and fearful. I think the Pharisees, they had a picture of God like that. He was a hard master. He was a hard God to deal with. And they had developed ways of getting around Him. They could sort of placate Him. They could pretend. They could wear masks. They became really good because they really didn't trust this God. Just like this third servant, they were fearful of Him in a craven way. And that fearfulness, that anger, that resentment presented itself in this parable in the way it just glares at us. Milton's poem was a little bit about that. He talked about how could God demand day labor, light denied. Milton lost his eyesight and he couldn't see anymore. He was a Christian. And he imagined God who was just glaring at him, expecting hard work for him to be doing the work that God had given him to do. And so he had this attitude in his head about God judging him that way. And he, apparently at points in his life, was desperately fearful about that. And the poem shows this reconciling within Milton where he came to realize that that's not the kind of master that we serve. We do worship a master. We do serve a master who calls us to be engaged. But he's not a angry, vengeful, bitter, mean-spirited master. He is a master whom we see in Christ. It is a master who gives everything of himself. And yes, he calls us to serve him. And his call to holiness is real. But he is a merciful master. He is a merciful Lord. And in Christ, we see he is the Lord of love. The Lord who dies for his servants. Of course, literally days from this speech, this sermon, this statement from Jesus, Jesus will demonstrate this in his own flesh. He will show exactly what our master in heaven, our God is like. So Jesus, as he prepares to die on the cross, has these interesting parables that are meant to teach us about being prepared. They're meant to teach us about being engaged, about being wise. Why are these here? Why are they placed in this dramatic and important position? It's not because Jesus is an angry, vengeful Master. It's because He is a loving Master who speaks truth to us and He wants to underscore the urgency of what He is doing and what He has entrusted to His disciples and to us. It underscores the urgency, the centrality of Jesus' work that He is literally preparing to entrust to the disciples and they, over the millennia, have entrusted to the likes of you and me. I guess this is the build-up to the cross. It's explaining why the cross is so important because there is a real thing called judgment. There's a real thing called a place of darkness. There's a real thing where people experience eternal judgment. These are real things. Jesus loves us enough to tell us the truth about the reality of the universe and the reality of how God has placed all things. And these things are important for us to know. We don't necessarily want to think about them. The world doesn't like to think about it. The world gets really, really angry. when these things are mentioned. The world doesn't want to hear it. But Jesus loves his people enough to tell us exactly what is happening. So if you think about it, the last words Jesus says before he begins the active movement towards the cross in verse 48 is a loving warning about eternal punishment. The only reason he does that is out of love. And you see, this is the way it works. The Holy Spirit, whom I just asked a moment ago to help us, to teach us, this whole service is built around the idea that the Holy Spirit is here with us. The Holy Spirit will take these words on the page and on the lips of a poor preacher and will apply these words to our hearts. to make us want to be wise and make us want to be engaged in the important work our Master has entrusted to us. The Holy Spirit is doing this all the time. That's what He does. He brings Jesus to us when we gather at this table. The Holy Spirit will be making Jesus present with us in a powerful way, in a way that Jesus ordained when He created the Lord's Supper, when He instituted it. It's His presence with us. And I want to close by just drawing your attention to the final judgment, this final instruction, Jesus' instruction on the final judgment. These are the last words before He goes, before He goes on His way to the cross. And you'll notice when the Son of Man comes in His glory, again this emphasis on the coming one, the coming of the Son of Man and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. before Him will be gathered all the nations." So Jesus, He changes the setting. He takes it from the simple experiences of human life, the ten virgins and the talents and the servants. He takes it from this ordinary realm of experience and He places us at the very end of all things. when the Son of Man will come in His glory and the angels with Him. And before Him are not a few servants, not a few virgins, some wise, some foolish, but the nations. The world stands before Him. The world is presented to His glorious throne, gathered there. And there He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will place the sheep on His right but the goats on the left. Now bear in mind that the Kingdom of Heaven, which chapter 25, verse 1 references, and the coming of the Son of Man and the gathering of the nations, we have been helped to understand all through Matthew's Gospel that the key is to repent and to turn to Jesus, to walk with Jesus, to become Jesus' disciples. That's what Kingdom of Heaven means. those who have turned to him. And so here at this concluding section, he's talking about the nations being divided and the basis of the division is those who are with Jesus and those who are against Jesus. Those who have faith in Jesus, those who reject Jesus. He's made that plain many, many, many times in Matthew's gospel. But interestingly, here, that's not the way he describes it. I'm convinced that is the truth. The whole New Testament bears witness to it. We're not saved by works. We're not saved by works. We're saved by faith in Christ. But here, as Jesus is describing this climactic moment in all human history, he emphasizes the works which flow from the heart. So there are some who come to Jesus and he says, come you who are blessed by my father. Notice the blessing is on the father's part. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you. The emphasis is on God's, God's glorious initiative in Christ. That's the kingdom. And to these Disciples gather before Jesus. He underscores that. Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you. Verse 35. Then he says, for I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. And the righteous are kind of scratching their head that those blessed ones who've experienced God's preparation for them, They're looking at each other and they're thinking, Jesus, I've never done these things. These are not things that I have consciously done. And here Jesus underscores that flowing from the heart of a person who has trusted Jesus and who's sought to walk with Jesus and follow Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit will come all these wonderful outflows of love, mercy, kindness towards people. It'll just be as natural as can be. It will not be a master yelling at you, do these things, do these things or I'll squash you. It's love which bears fruit in us of love. It's His presence conforming us to His image. preparing us for that great holy day. What wonderful Westminster Confession is very, very helpful. Chapter 16 of the Westminster Confession says, good works done in obedience to God's commandments are the fruit and evidences of a true and lively faith. We cannot, by our best works, merit pardon of sin or eternal life at the hand of God. By reason of the great disproportion that is between them and the day to come and the glory to come, and the infinite distance that is between us and God. We can't be saved by good works, says the Westminster Confession, echoing the scriptures, because there is such a huge gap between us and God, because of our sinfulness, our propensity to sin, and our actual sin. It has separated us from God. So no amount of good works that I try to pile up will ever make it possible for me to be in right relationship with God. No, we're only in right relationship with God because of the atoning death of Jesus on the cross and our trusting Him. are accepting the gift that He gives us, again, which is His Spirit at work among us, drawing us to Himself. And it's the death of Jesus on the cross which we're about to celebrate, which makes it possible for sinners like you and me to bear fruit, to bear fruit which will be visible on that last and glorious day. The Westminster Confession It says we're not to be negligent, we're not to be passive because of the work of the Spirit, but actually it says we are to stir up the grace that is in us. See how this all works? It's the Lord Jesus who himself moved among us, spoke words of truth to us that were inspired in the scriptures so that Matthew wrote them down for us, and then centuries and centuries of Christians have passed them down to us so that we can interact with Jesus as they did, and the Holy Spirit gets involved, and we get involved by stirring it up and by coming to church and studying the scriptures. There is nothing we can do more intentional, more important to grow in Jesus than to study His Word, to engage with His Word. The more we engage with His Word, the more we will experience His transforming presence in our lives. Not because we've earned it, but because that's how it works in our lives, as Jesus tells us. Now, I want to just close briefly. Again, this is about preparing to come. brought my palm branch. This is the Sunday of coming, the Sunday of engaging with the Christ who has come. And brothers and sisters, what I long to see in my life and in our life together is more and more and more of the work of Jesus where we are prepared and we are engaged as we await the return of our Master. As we await His return, what do we do? We do His work. And the fruit is up to Him, whether it's 2 to 4 or 5 to 10. It's all up to Him. But the important thing that we're called to do is to be engaged in His work. And I said I was going to brag on the ladies. The ladies put together a beautiful event. It was fun. Everyone who came had a great time. You might not have noticed it, but there was this glorious evangelistic edge to it. There were guests in that room. I've heard these stories from my own family. There were guests in that room who'd been invited by a loving sister in Christ, who invited someone they loved to come along and have some tea and meet some nice friends, hear some nice music. in the hopes that the Lord, our master, would do what he has done for us, which is to draw us to himself. That is love in action. That is the engagement with Jesus's work that the church is called to do. And it's wonderfully low key. It was just a group of friends enjoying a Saturday afternoon together. and to think that that was Jesus at work among us. And there's so many examples. I'm so grateful for what God is doing here at Metrocrist. The hospitality ministry, Kristen McAnally's welcome ministry, the wonderful work of our care groups. Vianney prayed for them a moment ago. All these different ways that God is at work in our little church, moving sinners like us to be engaged in the work of our Master, to be prepared to light His way, to count the cost, to be thoughtful, to encourage each other, to, if necessary, admonish one another. Study the Bible. Pray. Let's share fellowship. Come to church. Do the things we can do to stir up that sovereign work of the Spirit. That is the glorious life and work of the Church of Jesus Christ as we await His return. And that has ever been so. It was true in the first century. It's true in the 21st century. We prepare for Jesus' return by being seriously, thoughtfully, intentionally engaged in His work. That is what I want to be doing. when He returns in glory. Whether it's later this afternoon or in 10,000 years, my prayer is that the church will be engaged in His work in the world. It's the last thing He says to us. Let's do it.