Sermon for Sunday, November 8, 2026
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
1 Thessalonians 4:9-18
Matthew 25:1-13
It is getting to that time of year again where I find myself saying constantly “but it’s not even Advent yet!” I went to the shops the other day to get some bits and pieces and the Christmas decorations were up - “but it’s not even Advent yet!” There was a conversation about putting up Christmas lights on the front of the house - “but it’s not even Advent yet!”
Indeed, Advent is coming, and our readings today speak of the two major themes of that season: Christ’s return, and our repentance. So that is where we shall go. We will prepare ourselves, both as individuals in our own hearts, and as the Church in this place, for the upcoming season of Advent. So let me begin by asking a question: what of our religion? How is our spiritual life in this place? And let me anticipate your reply by pointing out that our Scripture readings give us only one of two answers: either our religion is ossified: petrified, calloused, asleep, dead; or it is aspirational: living, growing, firey.
And let me also point out something about our congregation demographic. The Anglican church is ageing. That should have an influence on which of the two options you choose. An elderly congregation; that is, a congregation of Christians who have been walking with the Lord for longer than most should, in theory, have the most lively religion of any congregation. Is that where we are in this parish? Are we aspirational, or are we ossified?
It is spring; it is almost-but-not-quite Advent. Let us perform a “Spring Clean”, both of ourselves, and our parish, in preparation for Christ. Let us listen to Joshua, and throw away our false gods. Let us listen to the Apostle, and aspire to live as people who actually believe Christ will return. Let us listen to our Lord, who ends his cryptic parable with the terrifyingly plain words “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you”, and amend our lives according to his will. Let us seek, desperately, furiously, persistently, a revival.
Listen to Joshua. He took over from Moses, and led the people of Israel through the Promised Land, clearing the way for the tribes to take their appointed places. Now they have settled, and he is about to retire, and he gives them one final charge: throw away your false gods. The people reply “we will listen to God and do what he says” – but they do not throw away their false gods. This is to their doom, and will be to ours if we follow in their footsteps. You cannot two-time God. You must follow him to the exclusion of all others. You cannot listen to him, obey him, and also have others on the side. I’ll give you just one example, and it is a topic I usually love to ignore: American politics. I would encourage you also to ignore it as much as possible, but in case you haven’t been able to, you may have noticed that they have two main contenders for power. Both of those contenders like to claim that they are on the same side as Jesus Christ. Indeed, I saw one American politician with Christ’s words printed on his pulpit! As if American politics were in line with Christ’s kingdom! They are the people to whom Joshua spoke, to throw away their false gods, but in their arrogance, they say they can keep their false gods and listen to the true God at the same time. It cannot be done. So let us begin our spring clean by seeking the false gods in our lives, and flushing them out. Sweep them out the door. Drown them in bleach. Cut them out of your heart. Listen to the Lord your God alone and no other.
In order to listen to God, you must hear him speak. If you want to hear God speak, read your Bible. Are you listening to him? Or are you too busy to read your Bible every day? Is it too hard to come to Bible study? We can be like the Israelites and say “we will listen to God” but then run off with our false gods, or we can be like Joshua: “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Revival begins when we listen to God. We must be reading our Bibles, or else we will be left with an ossified religion, calloused and dead.
Listen also to the Apostle. He is writing to the church in Thessalonica, who are going through a serious debate as regards the second coming of Christ. Indeed, it is such a big issue for them that we have two of the letters he wrote to them about this. He tells them that no, they have not missed the resurrection. Christ did not come already and leave them behind. We might laugh at this – how could you miss the resurrection! – and yet this very problem continues to dog the Church today. Have you ever heard the idea that Christ’s resurrection is not physical, literal and bodily, but rather a “spiritual resurrection”? And that by following his way of life we too may experience a “spiritual resurrection” here and now? Do not be deceived, my beloved, it is happening around us even today. I dare not try and speculate why someone would say such a thing. But it is enough that it goes against what God is teaching us in his written Word, that we must deny this so-called “spiritual resurrection” and affirm the words of Holy Scripture as it is captured plainly and clearly in our Creeds: “I believe in the resurrection of the body”. This affects our religion, because it affects how we live, and it affects whether we will see the revival we so desperately need. Listen to the Apostle: he affirms that Christ will come, and we will all be resurrected, and for those who love and obey him as Lord, they will join him in his clouds of glory.
Then he tells them how they ought to live in light of this truth: “aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands… so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependant on no-one.” Flip the command on its head and see what that looks like: “aspire to live loudly and meddle in other people’s affairs, rely on other people to support your lifestyle, and do not mind how non-Christians see you.” That is what a denial of a bodily resurrection looks like. And that is not what a revival looks like. So let us continue our spring clean, seeking God’s revival by quietly watching and waiting for our Lord’s return and the resurrection of the body.
Let us finish our spring clean by listening to the words of Jesus himself. He tells us a parable, of ten young women waiting for a wedding party to start. It starts later than they thought, so they fall asleep. But only half of them have enough oil in their lamps, and the other half run empty. When the groom appears, only those with oil in their lamps may join the party. To the others, he says “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.”
Much of this parable is clear: Christ speaks of his return: he is the groom. We are the young women, waiting for him. The groom’s arrival is the resurrection, and the women with enough oil are those who are resurrected to everlasting life, and those without to everlasting death. But what is this oil? How may we be certain that we be among those who are gathered into the wedding feast?
Our Lord helps us understand what he wants us to understand by giving us the important bit in the last line of his parables: “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour”. The fundamental purpose of his teaching us this parable is that we would be watching, ready for his return, because it could be at any time. And this is the most crucial part of our spring clean. Because, I do not have a clear answer to the question of what the oil represents. There are as many answers as there are commentaries written on this passage. But the important part is that we are watching and ready. This spring clean cannot be put off any longer. You must begin now.
Where is our Church? Where is our religion? Are we ossified, or aspirational? Are we living, or dead? It is one or the other. Christ will not wait for us to go and get more oil later; he tells us to go and do it now. We must take seriously what our Lord demands of us, lest we hear those dreadful words “I do not know you”. Get ourselves prepared now. Humble ourselves in repentance, seek his word, seek him in prayer, conform our lives to his will and not those of our false gods. And in all things, be encouraged by these words: “16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”