If you focus on multitudes, you will keep waiting for big opportunities and won’t even reach one. If you focus on one, you have a chance of reaching the multitudes thru that one.
The Great Exchange
Luke 16:19-31 English Standard
Version (ESV)
The
Rich Man and Lazarus
19 “There was a rich man who was clothed
in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And
at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who
desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even
the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man
died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.[a] The rich man also
died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in
torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at
his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father
Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in
water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But
Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your
good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted
here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all
this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who
would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to
us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to
send him to my father's house— 28 for I have five
brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of
torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They
have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And
he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead,
they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do
not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if
someone should rise from the dead.’”
3) 19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine
linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And
at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who
desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even
the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man
died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.[a] The rich man also died and was buried,
NOW BOTH THE MEN HAVE DIED, LET’S SEE WHAT HAPPENS
NEXT.
Now Lazarus, the unimpressive man who did nothing in
this story was carried by angels to heaven but the rich man who knew the
scripture and got a proper burial went to hell.
v The separation of the rich and poor that had been so much part of their life continued into the
afterlife, but with a great reversal of the circumstances.
Now the rich man will spend
his eternity in hell.
What did Jesus describe Hell as?Can you imagine the intensity and weight of this verse?
So
Jesus describes Hell as a place of
Torment.
· Place of No mercy
· Place of No water
· Place of Fire
· Place of Anguish
In
hell the rich man’s senses were all active, He was conscious, He could see,
feel, touch, talk, and also remember.
Vs 26 says And besides all this, between us and you
a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to
you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.
Life in heaven or hell begins the
instant we die. It does not wait for a burial (Lazarus
was not buried) nor is there a middle place that some believe is
purgatory.
From this passage,we see
there are only 2 places that we go to after we die, heaven or hell. There is a great chasm that separates the two
which means that no good deeds, offering or prayer will create an escape nor
return. Life in heaven or hell is
permanent and eternal. .
Q) Do you think this story teaches that rich people go to hell and
poor people go to heaven? NO
There’s
a reason why Jesus told this story and the context of this passage was that
Jesus was addressing the love of money to the Pharisees and he was mocked by
them.
Abraham
was a rich man, so this story clearly isn’t teaching that wealth is evil and
poverty is good.
Q) Who was the Rich man? Why did he end up in hell?
The
fact that the rich man calls him “Father Abraham” is a sign that this man was a
Jew and so Jesus was likening him to the Pharisees. His parents raised him and
his brothers to go to synagogue every week. They would have heard the words of
Moses and the prophets saying things like:
Deuteronomy 15:7-8 (ESV)
7 “If among you, one
of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that
the Lord your
God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand
against your poor brother, 8 but you
shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it
maybe.
There is no indication in this passage that the rich man was rude
or bad to the poor man, neither did he mistreat him, abuse him or drive him out from the
gate. He didn’t move with compassion when he saw Lazarus at his gate.
Although the Rich Man knew the scriptures, and the prophets he
didn’t allow his heart and life to be transformed by the Word of God.
We
have the gospel and the Word and we got to let it transform our lives.
Q)
What is the gospel?
Ephesians 2:1-10 English Standard
Version (ESV)
We
were all enemies of God and the “wages of our sin was death” but God
demonstrated his love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us. So Jesus lived full of grace and truth and led a perfect, sinless life so
that he could pay the price of all our sin past, present and future by dying on
the cross and accepting the punishment of our sin which gave us the gift of
eternal life.
On
the third day Jesus rose from the grave and there he defeated sin and death and
to those who believe in him and confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord –
they will be saved.
The
key to Heaven is believing in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.
So what does this story mean for us? There are 3 calls that I
would like to highlight today.
1) The call to respond to
the Gospel.
2) The call to preach the
Gospel.
3) The call to care for our
community
The call to respond to
the Gospel
The reason why the rich man was in hell is
that he didn’t repent. He knew that his family needed repentance, which
implies that he didn’t do the same that’s why he landed up in hell.
Q)
What is repentance?
Seeking
forgiveness for your sins and making conscious decision to do what is right.
This
transformation does not happen overnight but for the rest of our lives as we
allow the word to marinate our heart and minds, the transformation takes place.
This is a process we will go through for the rest of our time on Earth. Knowledge
of the Word alone won’t save us.
This
brings me to the second call.
The call to preach the
Gospel.
We
saw earlier how life in Hell is eternal and full of agony. There is no escape
from it.
There
was a genuine concern from the rich man for his family. Lazarus and the Rich
Man’s family are not here. But we are and our friends, family and community
are still here. We know the reality of what life after death looks like and
we got to preach the Gospel and tell them the Good News.
Our responsibility is to only tell them the Gospel and it is their
responsibility to accept or reject it
Lastly,
the third call is to
Care for our community
The
rich man neglected, ignored and showed no compassion towards Lazarus. He didn’t
bother to offer him even crumbs. Like Lazarus there are many people in our
lives. We need to identify who they are.
The
‘Lazarus’ may not be a person physically sitting at your gate and caring for
our community is not necessarily always giving money or things.
It
can mean acknowledging and appreciating the security guards or watchmen who
open the gate for you to enter your society. No matter the weather conditions
they get up each time to let you exit or enter and keep your society safe.
It
can mean being kind to the person who daily picks your garbage. Offering thanks
or a cup of tea or water or even having a quick conversation.
Caring for our community can be done in many different ways.
Ø
If
you focus on multitudes, you will keep waiting for big opportunities and won’t
even reach one. If you focus on one, you have a chance of reaching the multitudes
thru that one.
So today’s takeaway is:
The
rich man had all the wealth, knowledge, scripture and proper burial but it
wasn’t enough. We’ve got to be people who respond to the gospel, preach the
gospel and care for our community.
Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again), Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.
