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

Jump Start # 497 

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.”

  Our passage today comes from the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Powerful insights and pictures into what happens after we die. There seems to be some controversy as to whether this really happened or if this is a parable—either way, Christ is giving us a postcard of words into the next world. This is the most descriptive account of what happens to the soul when a person dies.

  I’ve been thinking about this lately, I guess because I might be preaching on this soon. The rich man was in torment not because he was rich but because he was selfish. Poor Lazarus was laid at the rich man’s gates. The only way in and out was through the gates. The rich man did nothing. He never sent for help, he never even gave a cup of cold water to Lazarus. They both died. Lazarus most likely dumped into a pauper’s grave and the rich man probably had a grand send off. Opposites in life. Opposites in death.

  In death, both men had a conscience presence about them, they had memory, feelings and identity. They existed. The journey doesn’t end at the cemetery. It ends with God.

  There are two simple thoughts I want to share from our verse today.

  First, the rich man lived as a practical atheist. That’s the worst kind. From the text it is apparent that he is a Jew. He recognized what Moses and the prophets meant—the law of God. He knew that. When he wanted word sent back to his family, the request was denied. He was told that they have Moses and the prophets. The same thing that the rich man had. He knew. Moses and the prophets had made no impression nor impact in his life. God’s law taught about caring for the poor. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandments, He said the second one was to love your neighbor as yourself. He got that from Moses and the prophets. Practical atheism is to live void of God. Each day is the pursuit of things here and now with no thought about God or the eternal. We call this “practical” atheism, because most don’t realize that they live like God doesn’t exist. They would never openly deny God. In fact, many continue to go to church, but in everyday life, there are no prayers going Heavenward, there is no thought to the law of God and the ways of Heaven have left no impression upon the hearts. So like the rich man, folks life for themselves. Selfish, material, greedy and close their eyes to the needs of those about them. The rich man may have been able to save Lazarus’ life. He could have tried. He did nothing. He realized, too late, what a terrible life he had lived. He also knew that his brothers were marching step in step right behind him. Could it be that we are no different? Could it be that the hymns we sing, the Scriptures we read have not reached our hearts and made a significant change? We must consider that.

  Second, I’ve often wonder what the rich man would do if he was granted one more day to live. What if he was allowed to return from the dead for one day and only one day, what would be different. I doubt that he would go to work and spend ten hours at his desk making one more day of profit. I doubt he would spend the day spending his wealth. Knowing what he had just experienced, I’d expect him to dash to each of his brother’s houses, with the Bible tucked under his arm and talk seriously about God and where they were heading. He would tell them that all their “riches” don’t matter in the next world. He would preach, beg and plead for them to bend their hearts to the God of Heaven. It was too late for him, but his brothers had opportunity. I think we could all see him doing something like that.

  Here’s the interesting thing. All we are given is one day—TODAY. We are not promised tomorrow, next week nor another twenty-five years. Only today is what we have. But I find too often that we live like we have all the time in the world. So we spend the day living like practical atheists, ignoring the immediate and the most important, for the trivial that doesn’t matter. Now if you and I knew that today was our last day, we do things differently. I’d expect we’d go the day without TV  – it really doesn’t matter. All the texting, emailing, social networking would probably not be touched if we knew this was our last day. We’d think more about the Lord. We’d surround ourselves with our family. We’d pray like we have never prayed. We’d read Scripture, probably our story from Luke 16.

  Today is all that we have. Someday, today will be our last day. There is a good chance that we won’t know it is our last day. Sickness and disease may indicate that it’s getting close, but even then, most do not know it’s their last day. Today is all that we have. Today is it.

• Pray more—because today is all that we have
• Make meaningful conversation—touch lives, impact others, make a difference
• Think about the Lord and what He wants you to do
• End the day well. Make it productive. Make it good. If you are given another day tomorrow, use it wisely. Live it godly.

  The rich man never realized that each day, he was one day closer to the end. We live with one foot in Heaven. We live knowing that today we are one day closer to Heaven.

Roger