Luke 16:19-31.                    Listen or you will burn in hell!!!                                      29/9/13

¹⁹ “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰ At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹ and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

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. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ 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.’
²⁵ “But 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. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
²⁷ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, ²⁸ for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
²⁹ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
³⁰ “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
³¹ “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.’”

 Here this morning we have a very sobering parable for us to ponder over. Anyone who thinks that they can quickly brush over the message here without taking it seriously will be in for a very rude shock when they die: they might not be ending up where they thought they would. The rich man here in this life was very comfortable in his existence and life; and obviously had an understanding that he was one of God’s chosen people, yet he did not end where he thought he would.

 So Jesus is making a very strong point here so that we are forced to think carefully about our spiritual lives because of the eternal consequences involved.  He doesn’t want us to go comfortably through this life without any real consideration for God and others, and then end up in hell.

 It is so easy for us to go through life without taking many things seriously, only to find that the end consequences are not good. Let me pick just one example: We today think that we can do as we please when it comes to our relationships with others. We ignore what God has to say and so we sleep around before are married; we live together with a person before we even think of marriage; we quickly get divorced when things don’t quite go the way we think they should; and we think this is all OK. Yet what do find when we look down the track; we are lonelier and more unsettled; our children have greater problems; and life for everyone gets more dysfunctional; to name just a few of the results.

 Our living our selfish, self-centred lives, without any real regard for God and his Word and the welfare of others brings untold heartache in this life: Not to mention the tragedy that we face in the next. We like the rich man in the parable can all too easily say that we are Christians, but do not listen to Christ and what he has to say, far less even try to live as he would have us. And here Jesus reminds us that this has dire consequences.

 So listen to God and his Word or you will burn in hell. So with that in mind let us look a little more closely to this parable and draws its connections with what is going on around us.

 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.  At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores  and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

 Here we have a man living very comfortably without a care in the world. Everything was going well for him in this life and he was living and doing what he wanted without any real thought of God and others. So much so that he gave no thought at all to the poor beggar who was lying at his front gate, covered in sores and longing for just a little food: Day in day out he would walk pass this man without a second thought for him and his need.  Even though he had more than enough to share with him, he did nothing.

 Now we know from further into the parable that this man considered himself a believer: As a good Jew he called Abraham his father. So as he went through life he was quite comfortable with where he was at in his spiritual life. However, even though he may have gone to church regularly, or not so, the parable makes it quite clear that he did not listen to what was being said. He did not take seriously what God was saying to him in and through that word: and he was not applying it to his life and his dealings with others and especially the poor beggar. He was not listening to what God says about what constitutes a believer:  His faith was not in God and his word but in himself and his good life. He was doing and believing what he wanted and he thought that this was good enough.

 However as the parable goes on we hear that:  “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, like will happen to all of us, both of these men died.  At this point they are taken to either heaven or hell, depending on where their faith was. So because the beggar trusted in God alone for his salvation he was taken to heaven. Whereas the rich man, who lived as if the here and now was that which was all important and his trust was in the good life that he was living, rather than in God, he is sent to Hades.

 There in hell he finds the reality of what he had not taken seriously: there is a hell and it is not a nice place at all.  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.’

There he looks to Lazarus across the chasm and now seeks for him to help him out in his time of need.  But Abraham tells him that unfortunately it is not possible.

 
“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.  And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

 He is now caught and there is no way out for him. His life is now one of eternal  torment. There is no opportunity any longer for him to change his ways and change his eternal destiny.  He is receiving the just reward for the life that he chose to live here on earth and his not listening to God when he had the chance.

 With that he then wants to see to it that his brothers and we here today do not make the same mistake.

So,  “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will 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.’”

 So here is the crux of the parable for us here today; listen and take to heart what God has to say in his Word, the Bible. Once we are dead there is no chance to make amends for our lack of taking God seriously in this life. In the Bible we have revealed to us what we need to know in order to gain eternal life in heaven.

 There is no excuse for any of us. We all have opportunity to hear and read what God wants us to know in order to live well here on earth and to gain eternal life in heaven. Sunday after Sunday he calls us into his midst so that he can give us what we need through Word and Sacrament. He gives us what need in order to recognise the futility, danger and tragedy that we bring on ourselves through our selfishness and our desire to live our own comfortable lifestyle that disregards God and what he has to say to us. He then gives us what we need in order to turn away from this focus on ourselves and to seek God‘s forgiveness and help to live in the way that God would have for us. Then he helps us to focus on God and the needs of others around us.

 To do all of this he enables us to have faith in him and all that he has done for us through Jesus Christ and his death and resurrection. So here we are reminded that he has actually sent to us one who has risen from the dead so that we can have proof that he is for real. It is interesting that in our recent bible studies we have actually looked at Jesus’ resurrection from the dead from a historical perspective, and it is unanimously held by reputable scholars, even from outside of Christianity, that it actually happened. There is strong evidence even today that this was all for real.

 Yes, as Jesus says here in this parable, there are many who will not believe even if there is proof beyond dispute. Sinful humanity will readily reject this Good News because it wants to be free to live their own selfish lives, to hang with the consequences. Sadly we see this all around us. So the self-same people will not want to listen either to everything God has to say to us or to how he would have us be concerned about others as well.

 However we have heard his message, so let us actually listen to it, and be led to trust in Jesus alone and then live accordingly toward those around about us.  Let us look to Christ and follow him as we live out our lives each day, and recognise that he alone is the one who enables us to get through this life in the way that God would have us and to gain eternal life with him in heaven. So let us not look to ourselves and our comforts in this life, but to Jesus Christ and all that he has and is doing for. For to him alone belongs all glory and honour, now and forever. Amen.

 Pastor Roger Atze

Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish