Pentecost 19 October 7, 2007

“Set Your Hearts on Things Above”

Luke 16:14,15,19-31

14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. 15 He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.

19 There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ 25 But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things; but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

27 He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment. 29 Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

30 ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 He said to them, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’

“If only I had more money, then I’d be happy.” We’ve all thought that; we’ve all been lying to ourselves. Today Jesus will hit us between the eyes as he teaches us to set our hearts on things above, not on money. Listen as I read a parable he told from Luke 16. (read v.14,15,19-23)

Take a minute to think about how opposite the rich man Lazarus are as opposite as can be.

• First of all, Lazarus has a name – but the rich man is only anonymous. The name Lazarus means “God is my help.” But we never hear what the rich man’s name was...apparently it doesn’t matter. Which of those two would be anonymous to man? Which of those two would have a well-known name?

• There are lots of other differences too. The rich man decided where he would live; Lazarus had to live wherever others decided to lay him down. He had no choice.

• The rich man decided to buy his clothes at high-end Galleria stores; Lazarus had to wear whatever rags other people decided to put on him. He had no choice.

• The rich man decided to eat food that was the caliber of a five-star restaurant. Perhaps he even had his own personal chef. But Lazarus longed to eat scraps from the rich man’s table, and get this! His desire, even for that, went mostly unfulfilled. We hear that he longed for the scraps, but we never hear that he got to eat them. He could only eat what others gave to him; he had no choice.

• The rich man lived in luxury every day; but for Lazarus luxury was the dogs licking excruciating sores that covered his body. He had no choice.

• When it was all over, the rich man was buried. Funerals for the ancients were very impressive. We never hear of Lazarus being buried. Did anyone care?

• In summary, during his life, the rich man made lots of choices…whatever he wanted, he got. But Lazarus never made any choices…other people decided where he would go, what he would wear, when he would eat, how he would live. The one time he longed to make a choice – eating the scraps from the table – it didn’t happen.

But now, in the realm of eternity, things change. Lazarus died, and for one last time someone carries him somewhere – this time the angels carry him to the place of honor in the eternal banquet! The rich man died too. During his life, he had made lots of choices…but now things were out of his control. Not even the finest funeral procession that money can buy can atone for an empty life without God. His fine linens disintegrated; the five-star dining stopped; being honored by his peers ended as well. The rich man was sent directly to hell and was in unspeakable agony. It is here that we begin to discover what Jesus meant when he said, “What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.” Listen to this. (read v. 24-31)

While in the agony of hell, the rich man made three requests. All his life, people did what he said. But now all of his requests are denied.

“Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue” he begged. “SEND!” he said. This is an emergency! But the most important request he ever had made was denied. Lazarus would NOT come and cool his tongue. And even if Lazarus would have dipped the tip of his finger in water and would have showed up to cool the tongue…it wouldn’t have done any good anyway. Would he have really felt better? Hell is so terrible, nothing will help. There is no relief. There never will be any relief.

People going through a hard time might say, “My life is a living hell” but they are wrong. Real hell is worse than anything you can find on this earth. Who was worse off – Lazarus on earth or the rich man in hell? You get the point.

“Send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.” Like the first request, the second one was also denied. Like the first request, even if it was granted it wouldn’t have done any good. A miracle of someone rising from the dead and telling someone else how to avoid hell would not make people listen. Only God’s Word can do that. Only the means of grace – God’s Word, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper – are sufficient for avoiding eternal doom.

Isn’t it inspiring to know that what we have right here, right now, in front of us today – that this is more useful than if someone rose from the dead to tell us how to avoid hell? But that wasn’t a good enough answer for the rich man. You can see that the rich man had no use for God’s Word, and he was sure that his relatives wouldn’t either.

‘No, father Abraham…if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ One final plea from this rich man – if not Lazarus, send anyone from the dead! Anything but the means of grace, for I know my family won’t listen to that. Once again, his request is denied. Once again, even if the request was granted, it would not have done any good. There was nothing the rich man could do. There was nothing he could change. He was totally helpless, even more helpless than Lazarus had been on earth. One aspect of hell we don’t think about very often is that it is the essence of alienation and frustration. Hell is not only a place of weeping and of pain, it also is the place of the gnashing of teeth.

It is valuable to know that the Scripture for today can be easily misunderstood. The point of this parable is not, “Rich people go to hell; poor people go to heaven.” Many beggars have followed arrogant rich men into hell; many rich people have gone into glory with beggars. The factor that determines where you will spend eternity is not your bottom line, but your bottom line with Jesus. The point of the parable is, “Have confidence in Jesus, not in riches.”

There are not many sections of Scripture that are as vivid in describing hell as this. I’m not advocating that you spend every waking moment thinking about how terrible hell would be, but it’s valuable to ponder it from time to time. The pain… the fire…the frustration…the isolation… the helpless feeling…the fact it’s eternal. And that is what we deserve. It’s what we have coming to us. If you have ever thought, ‘If only I had more money – then I’d be happy’ God has more than enough evidence to throw you into hell. And how often have we thought that? Probably at least once per day.

Here’s another way to think about it. If you lost everything you owned – if your home went up in flames, your vehicles both threw a rod, if a financial advisor took your nest egg down the drain, if your job disintegrated, if there was no insurance and no court in which to appeal…if you lost everything you had…would you be OK? All that could happen to you and you’d still have more than Lazarus in the story had. If you would lose everything and not be content, God should say, “Why are you secure when you have riches, but you are not secure when all you have is me?”

“Go to hell.”

What a blessing that Jesus gives us the full counsel of his Word to bail us out of our greed! Even when life is tough, all we need is Moses and the Prophets. No matter how bad things get, we still have the Word. There we hear about forgiveness in Christ. There we are assured of peace with God. There we are content because God has provided everything we needed to avoid eternal doom.

And the Word doesn’t just lift us up when we are in bad times. It also keeps us centered when we are in a good time. When we are rich, when our stocks go up, when we get a raise, when life is sailing along, when we are more like the rich man and not so much like Lazarus – that’s when greed is really knocking on our door. That’s when the Word is all the more important, that we enjoy riches while we avoid being like the rich man. Focused on Jesus and how he will spare us from torment, pondering how angels will one day to carry us to heaven…now we are able to prioritize and use our riches for Him. It’s not hard, it’s easy. It’s fun. When we think of choices we have in using our money, we first think “To live is Christ, to die is gain. Jesus needs this money more than I do.” And when we enjoy some luxuries of the bountiful blessings God has given, we don’t pat ourselves on the back for being wise. We give God full credit.

Do you know when you understand that the best? When you’re on your death bed. I have been with about a half-dozen people on their death beds. I have heard them say, “I just wanna go and see Jesus.” I have heard them confess sins that were locked up for a long time, and rejoice in Christ’s forgiveness that covers all. I have heard them talk about how good the Lord had been to them, how he was with them through thick and thin. But I have never heard someone on their death bed say...

“If only I had more money, then I’d be happy.”

Let’s not wait until our death bed to get there. “If only I had more money, then I’d be happy?” No. “If only I had more confidence in Jesus, then I’d be happy.” Now you’re talking. Amen.