Dr. Bradford Reaves
Crossway Christian Fellowship
Hagerstown, MD
www.mycrossway.org
Introduction
We are coming into one of the teachings of Jesus that today’s pastors and churches widely ignore, but one that every person should read and study until they understand everything Jesus is conveying through this parable. Before we look at that passage, I want to take a moment and revisit my message from next week and connect the two Scriptures. I don’t have enough time to fully examine it. I would need 3 or 4 Sundays for us to break it down, but I think this passage has significance in what we’re doing today. So, after we are done examining it, I want to connect it to our mission work and the team leaving this afternoon for Guinea-Bissau.
Let me first say this: being a Christian is about self-denial. It’s not about preservation, it is not about your safety, it is not about living your best life now. Being a Christian is not about filling your life with blessings, it is not measuring your blessings as a means of measuring your relationship with God. Christianity is about denying the self on the basis that there is no hope in the constructs of this world. The paradox of the Christian life is that as a result of this self-denial, we live without fear of this life or the next. That’s an interesting thought and I need you to grasp this because we have no fear in life and no fear in death. In fact, there are 365 verses in the Bible telling us not to be afraid.
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. (John 14:27)
The world is full of fear: fear of not having enough money or possessions, fear of governments, fear of life, fear of losing our health, and fear of death. The world’s fear is the existential threat of loss of control. There is fear because there is no assurance of hope and we need hope because no one can predict the future. There is one full assurance of the future for every living person on this earth and that is death.
“And do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)
The question that cannot be answered by the world or any religion is what happens after we die. No one, no religion, nothing has the assurance of that answer except the Bible because the Author of the Bible is the Author of life and the Author of death, and there holds the answer you need and the hope you need for your eternity. I think the worse thing that can happen to anyone is to go through your entire life on the assumption that heaven awaits you when you die only to come to the realization that is not the case.
I. Send Me!
If you will allow me, I want to revisit my message with you from last week. I want to revisit it, as to preach it again, but to use it as a comparison to what I want to say this week. Last week, we visited with the Prophet Isaiah in the throne room of heaven as he described to us in Chapter 6:
1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, with the train of His robe filling the temple. 2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is Yahweh of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory.” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called out, while the house of God was filling with smoke. 5 Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of hosts.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 And he touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is atoned for.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:1–8)
This is a prophet of the Almighty God who finds himself in the throne room of heaven before God and his response was not “yippee” but “Woe is me, for I am ruined.” It is the most desperate of statements you could make. Isaiah, a prophet of God spent his life attempting to convey the messages of God now finds himself with the reality of God and it wrecks him.
I think we need to get closer to God to understand who He is. We hold God at arm’s distance because we don’t want to get wrecked. We want to be safe, but that’s exactly why Christianity is about self-denial instead of self-preservation. Until we behold God we are wretched and ruined and without Divine intervention, we will eternally remain that way.
The holiness of God refers to the absolute moral purity of God and the absolute moral distance between God and his human creatures. God is not only perfectly good; he is the very source and standard of goodness. Because God is holy, holy holy. Because of God’s holiness, we see our sinful nature. We see our depravity and black decrepit heart. Because of God’s holiness, we can see our world and community differently, we see our friends and family differently. And because of God’s holiness, we see the devastation of evil in our lives and the world and can hate everything that is evil. Until we see ourselves and the world around us against the backdrop of His holiness we are devoid of hope.
God’s holiness is the underpinning of the entire narrative arc of Scripture. His holiness means that all of the created order functions within a fixed moral order instead of a culture’s moral taste buds. The holiness of God runs right through the entirety of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. With that, we come to the realization that not only do we need a Savior but every person alive needs a Savior because without Divine intervention we are ruined. That was Isaiah’s revelation and why He said, “Here I am, send me!”
Sadly, Jesus reminds us that the world is full of people who expect heaven but will awaken in Hell.
II. Send Him!
I think that we are living in a time when society has less hope than ever before and people are exasperated more than ever before. Suicide rates are up in the last two years with Black Males and Children seeing the highest increase. But the worst thing that could happen is not to live this life without hope and end up in the next life without hope eternally.
“Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. 20 “But a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, 21 and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. 22 “Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom, and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 “And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 “And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ 25 “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things. But now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 ‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you are not able, and none may cross over from there to us.’ 27 “And he said, ‘Then I am asking you, father, that you send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 “But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ 31 “But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:19–31)
Unlike Isaiah, the Rich Man is sent to hell when he dies and it is the Rich man who is the center of this parable by Jesus. The Rich man expects to go to heaven but finds himself in the eternal judgment of hell. He was likely a religious man, but a faithless man; perhaps even a Pharisee. The Jewish theology of the Pharisees was similar to the broken theology of many in the American Church today: If you are rich and righteous, then you are good. If you are living in poverty then you are a wretched sinner. God sends good people to heaven and wretched people to hell.
That is the delusion of the self-righteous, religious people: they deserve riches here on earth and eternity in heaven. God validates their self-righteousness by making them wealthy here on earth. So it’s a shocking story that Jesus uses as a warning to the Pharisees then and to us today that when you are putting your expectations in yourself and your earthly circumstances as a validation to your eternity. Any warning like this is not judgmental, but a warning of compassion to make sure you do not get it wrong. How vital is that?
The poor man is named Lazarus, which means ‘whom the Lord has healed. The rich man remains unnamed. The poor man (ptochos, meaning extreme poverty) is covered in oozing sores and is laid (ballo -literally thrown) at the gate (a wide estate gate) of the rich man.
So the contrast in life is extreme. The rich man has family, friends, wealth, lifestyle, feasting, splendor, and honor—needs nothing; the poor man alone, rags, disabled, sores, repulsive, hungry, and humiliated. In fact, the rich man would have disdained the poor man. And that’s the implication here because he would have thought this man is what he is because he’s been cursed by God. He would have no interest in him whatsoever. In fact, he would say that “If I did anything for the man, I might be acting against the will of God who has cursed him, because he’s so wretched.” So he offers no hope, he offers no compassion, and no mercy.
And that is the whole point of this parable is found in Luke 16:25 “remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things. But now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.”
So when they both are taken to eternity, they find themselves completely reversed. Lazarus is in the comfort of heaven and the rich man is in the agony of hell. The Jewish people listening would have gasped at such a statement. They would not be able to accept the fact that a poor, wretched man like Lazarus whom they viewed as under the curse of God would stand beside Abraham the father of faith and the father of Israel. Friends this is no different than the lies of the prosperity gospel and the false teachers that continue to poison what the gospel is really about.
By the way, Jesus always talked about hell as a real, conscious place, not some sort of soul sleep or a place of annihilation. He describes it as a place of fire, darkness, torment, weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. And so now, like Isaiah in heaven, the rich man in the hell wants to go back and tell his family and friends to make sure they know. However, he can’t. Isaiah leaves the glory of heaven to come back to earth, the rich man wants to do anything he can to escape the flames. He even asks Abraham to have Lazarus come and bring him a drop of water on his finger.
The point is if we truly could understand what hell is like, we would do whatever it takes for us and everyone around us to avoid it, but Jesus says you can’t claim ignorance. Luke 16:30-31 “But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ 31 “But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.”
Sadly the world is full of people who are fully expecting to go to heaven and will only get to hell. Matthew 7:22-23 “22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’” What is the difference? Look at verse 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.” I don’t know how to make this more plain, but people who are without Christ and who refuse to follow him should be very afraid. If you are trusting in yourself then you are in peril. How do you know if you are trusting in yourself? By the fruit of your life.
Now swing over to Acts with me real quick:
III. Send Them!
Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. (Acts 13:1–3)
Paul and Barnabas are at the Church in Antioch. This is a praying, fasting, and worshiping church following the Holy Spirit. Their leadership is full of godly people who understand the mandate and urgency of preaching the gospel. And while they are worshipping, the Holy Spirit directs the church. “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” In other words, God is calling the church to be the voice of Isaiah proclaiming the Good News and the voice of the Rich Man as a voice of warning.
Prayer leads to action because who is coming soon will save you from what is coming soon. Unless we go the message cannot be preached. The Rich man wanted someone else to do what he was supposed to do. Isaiah said, ‘Here am I send me!”
“WHOEVER CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.” 14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 And how will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO PROCLAIM GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!” (Romans 10:13–15)
“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. (John 4:35)
So this morning we are sending off our mission team for another trip to Guinea-Bissau. This church is a church on a mission. It is not only over there, it is right to hear. As we are going, I want to challenge us, especially our leadership to be ready to answer the call wherever the Lord will send us.
