Jump Start # 1061

Luke 16:27-28 “And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house for I have five brothers– in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’”

  In our verse today, the rich man recognizes something that so many do not today. He saw what most refuse to acknowledge. He saw the reality and truth about things. His five brothers were lost. They were on the fast track to the same torment that he was now in. There was no sugar coating this. He didn’t think, “Well, no one is perfect. They are pretty good guys.” Unless they changed, unless they believed, unless they lived by faith and obeyed God, they would be where he is. The whole family was lost.

Malachi 3:18 states, “So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked; between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.”

Have you been to a funeral lately? Have you noticed that people who never darken the church, who have not opened the Bible in years, who have lived by the theory of “I do what ever I feel like,” are thought to be in Heaven when they die. Why? Because God loves? What kind of love is that for someone to ignore another, trash what they want, be selfish and rebellious and think God will still honor them by letting them go to Heaven? If that was a marriage, it would be broken, selfish and headed to the divorce court. This very shallow thinking that believes goodness gets a person into Heaven, also believes that Heaven is a fantasy island where I get to do all the fun things forever. The person who has no time for God would not like Heaven, because Heaven is about God. Heaven is not shopping, golfing, fishing. There is no verse that would support that warped, worldly concept. That view is selfish and once again perpetuates a life that ignores God. Folks want to go to Heaven so they can be left alone and fish forever. You won’t find that in the Bible. What we find is the righteous gathered around God. We find the righteous serving God. No taste for God means no taste for Heaven.

People are lost. The rich man understood that. The saved walk with Christ. The saved fixed their eyes and hope upon Jesus. The saved worship regularly. The saved obey Jesus. The saved have washed their sins away through the blood of Jesus in baptism. The saved are in fellowship with God. We CAN distinguish, as Malachi said, between the righteous and the wicked. We can see the difference between the saved and the lost.

Far too many modern churches don’t have time for this message. They are too busy preaching the gospel of happiness rather than holiness. They are interested in good times nor righteous living. The modern gospel of too many today is be a nice Mr. Roger’s type of person. No mention of sin. Nothing said of sacrifice. No cross bearing. No commitment. No obedience. Do what ever you feel like. That’s the flavor of the month.

The rich man got it. He got it too late. Too late to help himself. Too late to influence his brothers. In time, all five would join him. His five brothers were walking the same selfish, materialistic, ignoring God path that he had. His five brothers would have envied the wealth. They would have loved the gated house, the fine living, the extreme affluence. Like their brother, God didn’t fit into all of this. There was no time for God, they were making money. They had no need for God, they have everything. They lived as they wanted. They, like their brother, would ignore and even complain about the Lazarus’ in the world. The beggars are a nuisance. The beggars ought to go some where else. The beggars ought to be shipped off to work camps. What a life they were living, all five of them. Important, rich, influential, and dead LOST. They were in a fog. They couldn’t see beyond their affluence. God is real. This life is short. There is life after death. The choices you make in life determine where you will be in the next world. To ignore, disobey and avoid God is a choice. It leaves God with no choice other than granting that in eternity. If a person doesn’t want God now, He will fulfill that forever in eternity.

People are lost without Jesus Christ. Don’t ever quit following Jesus. Don’t trade your soul for a few moments of pleasure in sin. Don’t sell out what you know is right. The rich man would love to be in your shoes today. He would love to have one more day.

Can you imagine what he would do if he was given one day to come back. Just one day. He would race to his brothers and tell them the story of Jesus. He would pray, dropping to his knees, asking God to forgive him. He would be at the Temple worshipping. He would ask the priests what he could do to help. His mind, his focus would be upon God. All the things in his house that displeased God would be tossed out immediately. No questions asked. His servants would be told about Jesus. His eyes would be upon the time. He only had so much time. Forget naps. Forget sleeping. One day. One day back from the dead. That didn’t happen. It can’t happen. It won’t happen. It didn’t happen for the rich man and it won’t happen for us. This is our time. We have the same things that he has. And yet, how many are following his very footsteps. More concerned about who kissed who in Hollywood, the latest this or that, minds stuck upon the horizon, forgetting that God is who we need to be impressed with and God is the one we need to please.

The tragic story of the rich man is not just that his five brothers in time joined him but that millions have joined him. They have the message of Luke 16 but it is not read. The rich man and his family were lost. They ignored God in life and were ignored by God in death. They made their choices. Consequences followed. And now, the page is before us. Will we be any different? Will we walk the same path that they took?

The rich man was lost. Will you be the same? What are you going to do about it?

Roger