Dying Well Is Better Than Living Well

Have you seen these bumper stickers around town? (Show a BLE bumper sticker.) Do you know what it means? BLE stands for “Best Life Ever.” These bumper stickers were designed in 2015 to celebrate the life of Nate Avery, a talented neurosurgeon who was born and raised in Flagstaff and who also practiced medicine here. BLE is not just a bumper sticker, it’s a non-profit group that honors Dr. Avery’s adventurous spirit and quirky nature. Dr. Avery’s favorite saying after any adventure was “That was the best day ever!” Best Life Ever Flagstaff was formed to encourage acts of kindness and philanthropy in Dr. Avery’s memory.

I’ve been told that the BLE bumper sticker is also a way for Flagstaffians to celebrate their good fortune of getting to live in such a beautiful part of the world. We have mountains, forests, canyons, red rocks, creeks and rivers at our doorstep, and even an ocean that’s only a day’s drive away. On top of that, we don’t have the oppressive heat of the valley to deal with nor do we have to put up with long and bitterly cold winters like they do in the Midwest. We’re living the Best…Life…Ever!

But are you really living the best life ever? A common refrain I hear around town is the cost of living here is difficult. I’ve met many NAU students who have fallen in love with Flagstaff and would love to stay, but they don’t know if they can find a well-paying enough job that will allow them to do so. Others may have the means to live here, but their health is starting to give out so they don’t know how much longer they can manage the altitude. And so what do you do? You put in extra hours to pay off debts. You do your best to manage your health. You keep working hard to live the best life ever.

But have you considered how the Bible teaches us that rather than living the best life ever we should be more concerned with dying the best death ever? Through our Gospel lesson today, Jesus teaches us that dying well is better than living well. Let’s find out why.

If there was anyone who should have sported a BLE bumper sticker, it was the rich man in our text. Jesus tells us that he was dressed in purple, a sign of wealth in those days, and he lived in luxury every day. Big fancy dinners weren’t just reserved for special occasions, they were everyday occurrences for this man.

Contrast the rich man with Lazarus. He was described as a beggar covered in sores who sat at the rich man’s gate. Actually, the original Greek gives the impression that he was just dumped there as if he was a bag of garbage. The rich man didn’t have anything to do with Lazarus. For while Lazarus longed to eat the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, he didn’t receive anything. Lazarus had no food. And he had no friends except the dogs who would come and lick his sores. While the rich man was living the Best Life Ever, it seemed as if Lazarus had the Worst Life Ever.

But then the great reversal happened. Lazarus died. Bad luck? A pity? Hardly! For upon death, the angels immediately carried his soul to where Abraham was in heaven. Lazarus didn’t slink in the back door to heaven. He wasn’t sitting in the bleacher seats. He was right there with one of the most famous believers of all time. And how was it that Lazarus ended up in heaven? It wasn’t because he was poor, and therefore God decided to have pity on him. It’s because he was a believer. The Apostle John makes that clear when he writes: “Then I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord…’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor…’” (Revelation 14:13) Lazarus seemed to have nothing while he was on earth, but he had faith in the God of the Bible. And that is the most precious thing that you and I have as well.

In time, the rich man also died. But where did he end up? We don’t hear of an angel-escort like Lazarus received. Instead, he ended up in hell where he was in great torment. Why did the rich man end up there? Was it because he was rich? No. Abraham himself had been a very wealthy man and yet he was in heaven with Lazarus. Whether or not we have faith in Jesus as our savior from sin determines whether or not we go to heaven or hell (cf. John 3:16, 18). And faith in Jesus doesn’t just mean acknowledging with our lips that he is Lord. It means showing that truth with our lives as we daily repent of our sins, and turn away from them. The rich man didn’t have this kind of faith. He was too busy living the best life ever so that he failed to prepare for a good death. As a result, he was suffering in a real place called hell and would do so forever.