I came across this week a series of photographs, striking images of two worlds divided.
I think we might have them on our screen. Pictures from Mexico, pictures from South Africa,
where rich and poor live side by side, divided only by a corrugated fence or a concrete wall.
So living shoulder to shoulder, but their worlds could not be any more different.
It helped me to picture this story that Jesus paints for us, a story of extreme wealth and extreme poverty.
Two men living side by side, divided only by a gate, but their worlds could not be any more different.
Jesus, quoting from the Old Testament, once said, you will always have the poor with you.
There will always be societies made up of the haves and the have-nots.
And too often, as Jesus recognized, the haves, those who have money, turn a blind eye and even show contempt towards the poor.
And Jesus tells a story to challenge that.
I suspect I'm not alone in loving stories like that of Robin Hood.
Maybe you grew up listening to the Robin Hood story or watching some of the many film and TV variants.
You have the cold-hearted sheriff of Nottingham imposing taxation after taxation,
you know, stealing from the poor.
But then Robin Hood comes, the hero of the people.
He steals from the rich and gives to the poor, and there's a sense of justice done, and we celebrate.
We come to Jesus' story, and we find that same quality.
There's a final judgment that falls on the rich man,
the one who chose to love money, not mercy,
the one who put his own pleasure over the people around him,
the voice that he listened to was the call of money rather than the call of God's Word and God's will.
And as I said at the beginning, this story is part of a sequence,
and within that sequence there's a danger that Jesus keeps pointing towards.
And the danger is that of not listening to Jesus,
not listening to him as King, as Lord, as Son of God.
It's the danger of not listening to his message that we are saved by God's grace and not by our efforts.
And now, as he closes this series of stories, he gives us another note of urgency.
If we will not listen to Jesus, there is the prospect of future judgment.
And so we have a really important story to consider,
and we have three important themes to consider,
as Jesus asks us also to listen up and listen in.
The first theme is that of reversal.
One of the things, remarkable things about Jesus,
is the way he is able to paint a picture for us,
a story for us in so few words.
In just a few short sentences, we are given a picture of extremes in this life.
Verse 19, we meet the rich man,
dressed in purple fine linen, luxury every day,
and then the extreme poverty of the poor man,
begging for just a scrap,
out on the street,
covered in sores.
Before we go any further,
it's important to note that in Jesus' day,
as people were listening,
they had the belief that if you had wealth,
then you had God's blessing,
that you were in.
So it's really striking,
in a couple of chapters,
Luke chapter 18,
Jesus speaks of a rich man,
and he says,
verse 25,
it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for someone who's rich to enter the kingdom of God,
and the people around him are surprised.
Who then can be saved?
Their automatic assumption,
wealth and possessions,
equals God's blessing.
And so imagine,
you know,
you're tuned to think that way,
imagine how they hear this next scene,
which takes us to the next life.
Because what happens
is a complete reversal,
isn't there?
There's a reversal of position,
and a reversal of expectations.
Because now it's the poor man,
who's living in comfort,
and it's the rich man,
who's living in agony.
What's happening here,
what's happening,
is that Jesus is reminding us
that his kingdom doesn't work
the way the world works.
In the kingdom of God,
because it operates on the basis of grace,
there is reversal.
And it's really interesting,
if you read Luke's gospel,
and if you look for that theme of reversal,
you'll find it in almost every chapter
up until this one.
He really wants us to hear this.
So we have Mary,
the mother of Jesus,
when she hears that she's going to
give birth to the Savior.
She says in,
she sings, I suppose,
chapter 1, verse 52.
Speaking of God,
he has brought down rulers
from their thrones,
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry
with good things,
but has sent the rich away empty.
That's the way God's kingdom operates.
We can think about chapter 5,
where there is Levi,
the tax collector.
Everybody despised the tax collector,
but Jesus welcomed him.
Jesus shared food with him.
Indeed, Jesus shared a feast
with Levi and all his tax collector
and sinner friends,
and he was glad to be known
as a friend of sinners,
even if others were muttering.
Luke chapter 6.
Jesus delivers some teaching
that clearly connects
with this parable we just read.
Luke chapter 6, verse 20.
He says,
looking at his disciples,
he said,
blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
And then verse 24,
but woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received
your comfort.
There's that warning
in teaching form we now hear
in a parable.
If all you want is comfort
in this life,
then you're looking for too little.
So as we listen in
to Jesus and to this parable,
he helps us to discover
that grace turns things upside down.
Because God's kingdom
does not run along the lines
that we would humanly expect.
We would expect the basis of merit.
You know, you earn it.
You prove yourself.
You come with your right track record
and CV and say,
here's why you should accept me.
But that's not how Jesus operates.
And that's profoundly good news.
Rather, if we enter into this story,
we are invited by Jesus
to come like Lazarus,
the poor man,
in our sense of need and despair,
in a dreadful state
because of our sin.
We come empty-handed.
We gladly confess
Jesus has paid it all.
Jesus has done everything
for salvation.
Jesus declared on the cross,
it is finished.
God's work of salvation,
complete by Jesus,
God's Savior,
so that we enter the kingdom,
it's now by grace.
It's a gift that we receive
by faith.
And another thing,
as we listen into this story,
it reminds us,
and Jesus is always pushing
His disciples and His followers
in this way,
we need to learn to put on
the glasses of the gospel.
Because we will typically also
divide people
and imagine perhaps,
oh, these are the kind of people
that God will naturally accept,
or these are the kind of people
that will listen
to the message
of good news.
And Jesus would have us
to avoid that trap
of limiting God's grace
in any way
to say that this person
is a likely candidate,
this person is unlikely.
No, it's all gift.
It's all grace.
So when we put on
the gospel glasses,
we don't limit
who we share good news with.
We learn to celebrate
as we see God's grace
and kindness being extended
in surprising places,
and we learn to welcome people
that they might come
to know the grace
that we have come to discover.
So that's one theme,
and it's a repeating theme,
and it's here in our story.
A second theme,
one that Jesus deliberately addresses
because of his audience
is the theme of riches.
Another feature
of Jesus' storytelling,
and we get this recorded
in the Gospels,
is that as he tells stories,
he intends to provoke
a response
from his audience.
He's constantly looking
to draw people
into the story,
to think about
where am I in the story,
to challenge wrong beliefs
and behaviors
through story.
So perhaps even
as we read
this parable,
we felt sympathy
towards the poor.
We perhaps felt
a sense of anger
towards the rich
who was so callous.
Another storyteller,
Charles Dickens,
wrote the novel
A Tale of Two Cities.
And in The Tale of Two Cities,
which in part focuses
on the French Revolution,
we're introduced
to a character
called Monseigneur.
The Monseigneur,
who is just a horrible character.
Dickens had this great phrase
to describe him.
He said he was
deformed
by the leprosy
of unreality,
which is a great phrase.
Basically,
he was living
in the lap
of absolute luxury
while all of France
was starving
and suffering.
And having only,
I'm rereading
A Tale of Two Cities,
and having only been
introduced to Monseigneur,
already I've decided
I want justice to fall.
It's our heart response,
isn't it?
We see the body,
we see injustice,
and we want justice
to be done.
There is a clear audience
for Jesus
as he tells this parable,
and it's the Pharisees.
Remember,
we met them
in verse 14.
They are those
who love money
and were sneering
at Jesus.
They've rejected Jesus
as God's Savior
and King.
They're rejecting
his message
of grace.
They're rejecting
that warning
to put away
the idol of money
and to trust
and give their heart
fully to God.
We find them also
in chapter 15
in verse 2
before the trio
of lost
and found stories,
muttering again,
this man welcomes
sinners
and eats with them.
They love money,
they despise
other people,
and they despise
and reject Jesus.
And so,
they become
in part
the target
of the story.
Jesus says,
if you will not listen,
if you will not use
your money
for the sake
of others,
which is God's will,
if you'll not
show mercy
with your resources,
be warned.
Jesus sounds
a warning
to them.
This rich man
is pictured
as having it all,
living in the height
of luxury,
but he doesn't know
how to use it,
using God's good things
apart from
a right relationship
with God.
God.
Those gifts
that we receive
from God,
our money,
whatever our resources,
possessions are,
they are to be used
for the sake
of others.
For the rich man
in the story
to do that,
all he needs
to do
is open his eyes
and open the gate,
but he refuses.
And so we have
this awful scene
in verse 21
of poor Lazarus,
the beggar,
longing to eat
what fell
from the rich man's table,
and even the dogs
came and licked
his sores.
He's getting more
sympathy from
the street dogs
than he is
for the rich man.
But there's another
awful portrait
that Jesus paints,
far worse
than that
of Lazarus.
It's the portrait
of a person
who is gripped
and held
a slave
by money,
a person
whose heart
has shriveled up,
become too small,
become so focused
on self,
only serving themselves
with money,
ignoring the way
that God wants us
to show love,
the love that God seeks
is a love
that sacrifices
for other people.
That's so far
from the rich man's
thoughts.
Before we hit
the judgment scene,
let's skip to the end,
verse 27.
So we find
the rich man
in torment,
and he's begging
that Lazarus
be sent
to sound a warning.
And notice,
remember,
Jesus is telling
the story,
but he puts
these words
in the mouth
of Abraham,
they have
Moses
and the prophets.
Let them
listen to them.
What's Jesus
saying there?
He's saying
that it's really
clear
when you read
the Old Testament
how we should
treat others
and how we should
use our resources.
It is really
clear
that God
cares
for the poor,
and that how
he wants us
to worship
is to show
care to those
in poverty
and in need.
Let me give you
a couple of examples
from the writings
of Moses.
Deuteronomy 10,
this is speaking
of God.
First of all,
he, that's God,
defends the cause
of the fatherless
and the widow
and loves the
foreigner residing
among you,
giving them food
and clothing,
and in response,
you are to love
those who are
foreigners.
Now, Deuteronomy 15,
there will always
be poor people
in the land.
So, should we just
fold our hands
and arms
and just say,
well, nothing
we can do about it?
No, God says,
therefore, I command
you to be
open-handed
towards your fellow
Israelites who are
poor and needy
in your land.
To hear the same
truth in story form,
that's why Keith
read from
Jeremiah 22,
we have the
obscure king
Shalom there,
who is growing
richer and richer
as king
by injustice.
Rather than
using his position
and his wealth
to bless others,
he is taking
advantage,
and so judgment
falls.
So, the clear
message of the
Old Testament
is that riches
are to be used
to express love
for God
through the way
that we love
others who are
in need.
So, as Jesus
has invited
the Pharisees
into the story,
so he would
invite us
into the story
as well,
and he invites
us to listen
with urgency
to his teaching,
which calls us
to seek wisdom
to look inside
of ourselves
in the first place.
As John Calvin
who famously said,
our hearts
are idol-making
factories.
we can turn
anything into
an object of
worship that we
look to for hope
and security
rather than
the one true God.
Jesus, in his
teaching,
saw money as
the idol
to warn against
most often,
the one with
the greatest
capacity to rob
God of glory,
to steal our
hearts away from
him.
So, as wisdom
looks inside,
do we see
are there areas
where money
has taken a hold
in our life,
where the priorities
that we place,
the hopes that we
have,
are they rooted
in money or Christ?
How does the love
of money show itself
in our lives?
Where are those
tendencies?
How to break
that spell,
how to break
the stranglehold
becomes such a
significant question
to ask.
And when we're
thinking about
wisdom,
God's wisdom,
if we want to
break the stranglehold
of money,
then we need to
practice generosity
and to practice it
as an act of
worship,
not out of duty,
but out of joy.
And to do that,
we need first to
receive,
don't we?
We need to
receive God's
generosity towards
us,
God's grace to
us in the Lord
Jesus.
Because it's only
as that love
melts and captures
our hearts that we
then have the
capacity to love
others for God.
So wisdom looks
inside,
but wisdom also
looks outside.
So that we ask
ourselves the
question the rich
man should have
asked,
where is the
Lazarus at my
gate?
Who is the
Lazarus at your
gate?
Who is it that
God has placed
into our lives?
Where are the
opportunities that
we have to
bless and to
serve others
with our
resources?
How can we do
God's will and
show God's love
to the people
around us?
So that's the
second theme,
the theme of
riches.
And the third
theme is that
of reward and
punishment.
As we listen
in to Jesus,
the storyteller,
there is that
repeating note in
his stories,
that note of
urgency.
So remember the
story of the two
sons?
The younger son
gets to such a
dreadful point in
his life that he
realizes his
desperation, he
comes to his
senses and he
repents and he
goes back home.
Then the older
brother needs,
Jesus wants the
Pharisees to listen,
they need to see
the urgency of
their situation,
to not stand on
the outside thinking
they don't need
Jesus to save
them.
Rather they would
urgently turn and
receive the
father's welcome.
Then last week in
the beginning of
chapter 16, we
heard the story of
a manager who
knew that his
end was coming,
his job was
coming to an
end and there
was an urgency
there, an urgency
to prepare for
future welcome.
Jesus is moving
us closer and
closer towards the
climax here.
This parable speaks
about urgency in
the context of
the afterlife, the
life after this
life.
There is an
urgent need to
listen to Jesus,
to hear and to
respond to the
good news of
saving grace before
it's too late.
And so Jesus
introduces these
two destinations
and two
destinies, and
what becomes
clear is that
listening or not
listening to
Jesus, the
King, the
Savior, the
Son of God, will
determine our
destiny.
verse 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.
In Hades, where he
was in torment, he
looked up and saw
Abraham far away with
Lazarus by his
side.
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.
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.
Two destinations
described.
Heaven pictured as
being at Abraham's
side, or literally
in Abraham's bosom.
It's the place where
God's angels are.
It's the place of
comfort.
It's the place of
loving relationship.
It's the place where
we are truly human.
Notice that Lazarus
is given a name the
rich man is not.
It's a place where
the bad things of
this life have now
become a distant
memory, and he is
enjoying good things
in the presence of
God at Abraham's
side.
It's a wonderful
place of comfort.
But there's another
destination and
destiny to describe.
Jesus is talking to us
of hell.
He is spoken of as
Hades, the place of
death, the place of
torment, the place of
agony.
So, remember this is
parable, so it's a
story.
But remember, Jesus'
stories always map onto
reality.
It is a place where
the rich man finds
himself separated from
all that is good and
can do nothing about it.
It is a place of
conscious punishment.
It is a place where
there is no prospect of
escape.
where the good things
that he enjoyed in this
life have no ability to
help him in the next.
Jesus wants this
loving warning to be
sounded loud and clear to
the Pharisees of his day
and to people in every
day, that to love money
or indeed to love any
idol over loving God, to
choose the way of
self-righteousness over
the way of being saved by
Jesus is the road to
destruction and
punishment.
This story helps answer
the striking question
Jesus asked in chapter 9,
verse 25.
What good is it for
someone to gain the
whole world and yet
lose or forfeit their
very self?
This rich man gains
nothing.
No reward, only
punishment.
Misses salvation, misses
true life.
There is an urgent need
to respond to the
message of Jesus.
Now let's stop for a
moment to ask a hard
question.
Perhaps it's something
that you've wrestled with
and many of us have.
Perhaps it's a question
you've been asked.
How could, how can a
loving God send people
to hell?
This is Jesus, Son of
God, clearly teaching
heaven and hell.
Bertrand Russell, famous
British philosopher of a
previous century, said
that Jesus' belief and
Jesus' teaching on hell
was his great moral
defect.
Jesus is defective,
morally bad, because he
believed and taught about
hell.
That's one voice, and
we'll hear that in many
different forms.
There's another voice, a
chap by the name of
Miroslav Volf, who in the
early 90s was living in
Croatia, so living through
the Balkan War, so so many
atrocities between people
groups.
He says something very
different.
He says, if God were not
angry at injustice and did
not make a final end of
violence, that God would not
be worthy of worship.
Which is it?
Is it a moral defect or
justice worthy of worship?
Consider a few things with me
together.
First of all, to think about
the view of God that we have.
So perhaps the popular
belief is that God is love and
God is only love, and
therefore it seems impossible or
barbaric that a God who is only
love could send people to hell.
Is that how the Bible is
presented?
Because that's where we need to
get our ideas about God, from
His revelation, His speaking to
us of His character.
In the Bible we discover, yes, God
is love.
Absolutely God is love.
But we also discover God is
holy.
That God is just.
And it's not the case of there's
one over and against the
other is both and.
So we need to be guided, first
of all, by who God is, and not
to limit it according to our own
perhaps favorite ideas about
God.
The whole idea about hell takes
us to the idea of justice.
Think about our view of
justice.
Humanly speaking, don't we all
want justice to be done?
Whether we're reading Robin Hood
or A Tale of Two Cities, or
whether we're reading our
newspaper and we hear about war
crimes or abuse or injustice, we
would hate the idea that there
would be a court where a judge
would fold his arms and ignore
the demands of justice.
It would just sweep guilt under the
carpet.
We want justice to be done.
We feel anger rightly when awful
things happen.
We need to remember that we are
made in the image of God.
We care about justice because God
cares about justice.
We have a sense of right and wrong
because God has established right
and wrong and has placed that
reality in our hearts.
So we must allow for God to be
angry at injustice.
We must allow God to be angry at
what destroys and defaces creatures
made in His image.
Indeed, for many believers around
the world, the reality of final
justice gives them hope.
If you live in a war zone or if you
live under fear of your life because
there are hostile enemies all around
you, your longing and your prayer is
that in the end, justice will be done.
That those who oppose God, who
practice horrible deeds, will be
punished so that God and His people
might live in peace forever.
So it is important to our hope to have
a God of justice.
Perhaps when we ask the question, we
need to take a think about our view of
ourself, especially in relation to God.
I suppose it's easy for us to consider
ourselves as basically good.
The people that we speak to are basically
good.
Most of the time we're dealing with good
citizens, good parents, family members,
employees, employers.
Basically good compared to others.
But there's another standard.
It's the perfect standard of God and
His law.
And before that perfect standard, Romans 6
23 confirms what I think we already
know all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God.
God's word and God's law exposes to us
our failures.
We don't love God perfectly.
We don't love our neighbors perfectly.
We don't use our money perfectly to
show and to satisfy mercy to others.
We do break the commandments.
We do turn our back on God.
Perhaps like Lady Macbeth in
Shakespeare's play, we too find ourselves
at times haunted by a sense of guilt,
a guilt that we cannot remove.
Just like Lady Macbeth haunted by
bloodstains having killed the king.
And when we allow that there is a God
who is both loving and just,
when we think about a God who must
deal justly,
when we think about ourselves and the
reality that we break God's law,
another question begins to emerge.
Not how does God send anyone to hell,
but actually how can God receive
anyone into heaven?
If we judge ourselves honestly against
God's perfect standard, we're confronted
with that question.
And as we allow those realities about
God and about justice and about human
sin to become real to us,
then the gospel becomes wonderful for us.
The gospel becomes the only hope that we
have because it's a good news of grace.
God doesn't deal with us on the basis
of how we have performed,
which is great news because we have
not performed perfectly.
But rather, God, in the good news
presented in the gospel,
he sends his son, the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus who became poor for us,
leaving the glory of heaven,
suffering and dying,
taking on himself our sin,
bearing our guilt,
facing punishment for it,
absorbing the wrath of God that should
fall on us,
it falls on him as our substitute
before he rises from the dead in victory.
God, out of infinite kindness,
gives us the Savior that we need.
He alone secures forgiveness
and peace with God.
The Son of God,
on the cross,
experienced the realities of hell,
being punished and being cut off
from his Father.
Think about that.
So that we, by his grace,
could experience the joy of a welcome
from a loving Heavenly Father.
Salvation is a wonderful gift,
freely offered to us in the gospel,
to be received by faith,
if,
if we will listen
and if we will respond.
So as we close,
let's ask ourselves that question.
You and I,
have we listened to Jesus?
Will we listen to Jesus?
The story ends,
in many ways,
on a sad note
for those Pharisees.
Jesus knows the future.
Verse 31,
or verse 30,
they say,
No, Father Abraham,
through the words of the rich man,
if someone from the dead goes to them,
they'll repent.
He said to him,
if they do not listen to Moses
and the prophets,
they will not be convinced,
even if someone rises from the dead.
Jesus anticipates something there,
that he will die,
that he will rise
in glory and victory.
Yes,
at the moment,
we follow him
on the road to the cross,
where he will experience shame,
humiliation,
and death,
but that's not the end
of his journey
and his story.
He'll be raised,
he'll return to heaven
to be enthroned
as glorious King and Savior.
But as he speaks
to his audience,
he knows that many of them
will stay unconvinced.
The Pharisees and Jews
of the day,
many of them,
despite the evidence
for the resurrection,
they will say no to Jesus.
Despite him bringing
the kingdom
and announcing God's grace,
they will reject him,
choosing their own path.
Let's not make their mistake.
Let's not follow their path,
because we see where it ends.
We're called today
to listen and to act,
that we might know comfort
and joy and hope,
that we would listen
to be saved by grace
through faith in Jesus,
and we would show our love
for our God and our Savior
by using the things
that he gives to us
to help others,
because he has helped us
and saved us by his grace.
Let's pray together.
Lord, our God,
we thank you
for Jesus,
our Savior,
and we thank you
for the stories
that he told
that have so much truth
and power contained
within them.
We ask that,
as he called
his original hearers
to listen in,
to listen.