KILLED BY CRUMBS
TEXT: Luke 16:19-22
Luke 16:19-22 KJV There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: [20] And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, [21] And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. [22] And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
I. INTRODUCTION -- PAT’S RESTAURANT
Pat’s Restaurant was a big deal in Niceville, Florida in the mid ‘70’s. There weren’t very many places to eat in Niceville. There was a Diary Queen and an A&W Root-beer stand where I ate my first pizza and wasn’t terribly overwhelmed by it. But when you really wanted to eat big you went to Pat’s. More than one Sunday after church when Brother Dennis would finish preaching it seemed as if the entire church would get into a mad rush to go to Pat’s.
Pat was a short little lady I thought was old but as time passes I realize how young she really was. They had home-cooked meals that seemed to focus on a couple of specialties. First was the fried chicken and secondly there was the roast beef. Add a choice of about four or five vegetables, some cornbread, and the famous banana pudding and you were in for a real treat. I can’t remember the price, but I think all of it was about $3 or so.
But if the top two choices were the fried chicken and roast beef, it was not long before I discovered something that would become a favorite. The left-over fried chicken would be taken and dumped into a large pan of BBQ sauce and would have an overnight wait before being served the next day. The next day, the whole pan would be heated up and you could enjoy some of the finest eating known to man with this BBQ chicken. In time, it become so that this is all that I wanted to get when I went to Pat’s.
Pat became known for her fried and BBQ chicken as time passed but what is really important was that she found a way to make her leftovers profitable for her business. While we probably applaud her for being a frugal business owner, it is very hard to get most people excited about eating leftovers. In fact most restaurants these days toss the leftovers into the garbage or give it away to homeless shelters in their area.
II. LUKE 16
-Locked up in this story in Luke 16 we find two worlds at odds:
• The soul of a sinner and the soul of a saint.
• The path of a sinner and the path of a saint.
• The dilemma of riches and the hope of something higher.
• The commerce of Hell and the investment of Heaven.
• The greatest loss of all—a man’s soul and the greatest gain of all—Heaven.
Mark 8:36 KJV For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
-This is one of the greatest lessons in life.
• What are you going to give your soul for?
• What pushes you?
• What gets you up every morning to face the day?
• What are the final thoughts in your mind before you sleep?
• What are you trading your soul for?
-The greatest discovery in life that a man can make is to understand that his possessions are not the most crucial thing. It is not the possessions that make the man but rather what possesses that man. Every man whether he is willing to admit it or not. . . something possesses him. What has you by the heart?
-It struck me a few days ago that in this passage that Lazarus died from the leftovers. Although they were probably given out of benevolence the fact remains that as sick as Lazarus was the leftovers could not sustain him.
-Then I began to contemplate the fate of the rich man and came to the conclusion that he too died from his own leftovers. He was killed by his own crumbs.
III. SOME THOUGHTS ON CRUMBS
A. Crumbs of Self-Righteousness Can Kill
-Crumbs have a way of killing those who give as well as those who receive them. The terrible thing about crumbs is that it can give us a faulty sense of righteousness. The deadly dilemma of self-righteousness.
-Men feel good about what they are doing for society. Sometimes they can feel good about what they are doing for the Church. Self-righteousness wears a respectable coat and does not have an evil reputation.
• Not a thief, he respects the property of others.
• Not an unjust man, he respects the rights of others.
• Not an adulterer, he respects the sanctity of marriage.
• Not out of control, his appetites are on the leash and self-control is applauded.
• Not a robber, he pays his tithes and supports all the things required of him.
• Not a lazy man, he works diligently at his job.
-All-in-all a good man but somewhere along the way, his spiritual drives and passions have sank to an all time low and he is dying from the crumbs of past experience. He supports two or three missionaries and he shows up when things are asked of him but to hunger for the deeper things and the higher level of commitment necessary, it is too much to ask.
-Here is Dives (as tradition names him) who is affluent, involved, churchy, fulfilled, but his own complacence has caused him to feed others the crumbs while he lives on them himself.
-What a man must understand about his relationship with God is that fellowship with God depends much on spiritual aspirations. Dives got satisfied with just passing out crumbs and lost his soul. What a horror to really grasp is that we may die from the leftovers in the past.
-If Dives were to be able to stumble into our presence tonight, I have a feeling that he would reach for God with far more passion than any of us have to this point.
B. Crumbs of Half-heartedness Are Sent
-If crumbs of self-righteousness may kill us, there is a second lurking danger. The second way to die is to determine to just send the crumbs of half-heartedness.
-Crumbs come from the hands and not the heart. The man who gives his crumbs is one who is motivated only by what his hands can provide. His heart never gets involved with the cause. . . . just his hands.
-The less of heart that is involved the more prone that failure will be embraced.
-The rich man never met the beggar, he just sent his crumbs. Institutions, causes, programs, men and even churches die when we give them the leftovers. How many times in life has God received the leftovers?
• Leftover time for prayer.
• Leftover time for going to the house of God.
• Leftover energy that leaves little creativity for the class we teach.
• Leftover inspiration for a little “thought” that is a poor sermon.
• Leftover devotion that has little effort toward evangelism.
• Leftover talent that is spent on the world that God never gets.
-The mentality exists that if we will just show up that it will all work itself out. But the fact of the matter is that if our godly callings are not developed little will come from them. Few in this world believe that talent alone is good enough to get the job down. At some point, a man has to get off the couch and do something instead of sending his crumbs.
-Dives could have accomplished so much more than what he did with Lazarus. But that would have called for self-discipline and an earnestness of heart that he did not or would not allow himself to give.
-Crumbs are enough. . . . Leftovers will be good enough down here but I have a feeling that in the judgment there will be masses of people that discover they killed themselves with crumbs!
-I am certain that for Dives to have been as successful as he was, he was a man who was motivated to collect what belonged to him. He stood in the gates, he worked in the streets, he labored in his business, he stayed up late, and got up early all for one demand he made to others—Pay!
-What he squeezed out of others and horded to himself. But he was only willing to only give Lazarus the leftovers of his life. When this mentality takes over your life—there is a doom that sets in.
-Over the years, I have noted a lot of people who gave their children, their families, their marriages, and their God the leftovers of life. They became a study in half-heartedness. But in time the tables were turned because Dives always changes places with Lazarus.
• Lazarus becomes what Dives was and Dives becomes what Lazarus was.
• Lazarus asked for crumbs and now Dives is asking for just a drop of water.
• Lazarus now enjoys abundance and Dives is living in misery.
-Just like fear, hope, love, and conscience, memory has a large place in our heart. There will come the day that those who are lost will remember the leftovers they cast in the direction of God and the Church.
-Crumbs come from the hands and not the heart. The man who gives his crumbs is one who is motivated only by what his hands can provide. His heart never gets involved with the cause. . . . just his hands.
C. Crumbs of Self-Deception Can Be Comforting
-If crumbs of self-righteousness may kill us and if the crumbs of half-heartedness can destroy us, then the crumbs of self-deception can send us in the wrong direction.
Proverbs 14:12 KJV There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Matthew 7:13-14 KJV Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: [14] Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
-We are always faced with two choices: Right and Wrong or the Broad and Narrow Ways. The choice belongs to you! One the reasons that Dives went to Hell was his refusal to really embrace the truth about his own direction.
-He had allowed the trap of self-deception to snap shut on his life. He did not want to hear any dissenting voices. There were no voices of reason in his life. There were no elements of authority that he responded to in his life.
Thomas Watson on Self-Deception -- He who takes copper instead of gold, wrongs himself; the most counterfeit saint deceives others while he lives, but deceives himself when he dies. To pretend to holiness when there is none is a vain thing. What were the foolish virgins better for their blazing lamps, when they wanted oil? Will painted gold enrich or painted wine refresh him that is thirsty or painted holiness be a treat at the hour of death?
-There is a tendency for a man who is passing out leftovers in life to deceive himself. Men cling to pet sins and nurse secrets in the heart all the while deceiving their heart by passing out their crumbs to those whom they perceive as in worse condition than they are.
-Often it is literally the instinct of a man to deceive his own heart. Nature bears out this fact:
A hen will sit on a rounded doorknob with great tenacity thinking it is an egg.
A hamster will break the wings of both dead birds and live ones before he eats them.
A fly will lay its eggs on certain flowers that give off odors that mimic something dead deceived by the smell.
A spider deprived of its egg-bag will cling to a small pellet of cotton that it thinks has eggs in it.
-This is the nature of being killed by crumbs.
IV. CONCLUSION -- CARAVAGGIO’S SAD END
One of the most celebrated of Italian painters was a man who went by the name of Caravaggio. He was actually born under the surname of Michelangelo Merisi on September 28, 1573. He was orphaned at the age of 11 and he was sent to work under Simone Peterzano of Milan for four years. While he was there, he began to hone his skills as a prolific painter. But at some point during the years of 1588 to 1592 he went to Rome and worked as an apprentice to some painters with much lesser skill than his own.
Around 1595 he began to sell his paintings through a dealer. The dealer recognized great talent in this young painter and introduced him to Cardinal Francesco del Monte. Through this relationship, Caravaggio’s directions as a painter began to change. He focused in on painting biblical scenes with incredible detail. In fact, so skilled are his paintings that you can look at them and almost feel as if you are part of the scene before your eyes.
He started with the life of Matthew and such were the power of his paintings that the public lauded him as a hero. The paintings are very realistic and dramatic in their composure that the public realized that a genius had entered their midst.
Out of all of his paintings, one the most striking (and all of them are) is the one titled “Supper at Emmaus” (1595-1596). The image is of the resurrected Lord and He is looking down on the simple meal at a small wooden table. There is a servant hovering in the background while at the table are the incredulous disciples. One of the disciples sitting to the Lord’s left has both arms outstretched and a delighted expression on his face. The other disciple is sitting across the table from the Lord and although his face is not fully visible, his body language says it all. He is leaning forward almost tensed as if to leap to his feet.
The Scripture tells us in Luke 24 that these disciples had hearts that burned within them because of the great exposure to the Truth. At the table, Caravaggio, in his painting appears to have caught the very moment when these disciples discover the revelation that this is Jesus who is breaking the bread for them to eat. It is a powerful painting that was received with much acclaim.
But all were not pleased with his success and his rivals begin to work to destroy the young painter. Their envy took on poor ends when they started physically attacking him on the streets. Through this, Caravaggio, the very gifted painter-artist, allowed his soul to decline and he became a violent man. He was put in jail for several vicious assaults on his enemies and finally was imprisoned for killing an opponent in a disputed game of tennis.
As you look at his paintings, something curious is at hand. The paintings in his early years were full of light with the backgrounds being very bright. Seemingly as his trouble progresses, the paintings even though of biblical scenes progressively become darker and darker. It is almost as if his soul is deteriorating, so dark and urgent are his paintings they appear to be a mirror of his inner world. Sadly he was killing himself with crumbs. While serving the Church with the paintings, his own life was drowning in violence.
He would be locked up in prison once more. Although he received a pardon from the pope because of his art contributions, shortly after his release from prison he died from a fever. . . killed by crumbs. . . .
Philip Harrelson
barnabas14@yahoo.com
