Where is Lazarus

Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus, and we thank you for bringing us here, and we thank you for the place to meet and the beautiful weather and each person that's gathered, and I pray that you would help us to be like we heard last Sunday, Lord, about the tragedy that happened, but there was a forgiving spirit and lives were changed. I pray that you would help us to be that way. And Lord, if you see in us part of this Mr. Fragile, I pray that you would reveal it to us, and Lord, I pray that you would help us be open to whatever circumstances or other people that come into our lives to show us who we really are.

Thank you, Lord, for this truth from your word, that we should be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as Christ forgave us, so Lord, help us to do that. Thank you for whatever we've heard so far this morning. Thank you for the message from 1 Peter about wives and husbands, the message in the children's lesson about temptation.

I pray that you would help us not give in to temptation, not yield, because yielding is sin. So, Lord, just help us to walk circumspectly through this life. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen.

Okay, sermon number two. I picked up this book. I think I shared this last Sunday.

If you weren't here, I picked it up. It's called Where Is Lazarus? I picked it up back in Penn Valley when we were there for a retreat with the Billboard Conference phone team members, and it was written by Gary Miller. Somebody mentioned to me, I think that's his best book ever.

Well, that kind of caught my attention because he's written a lot of good books. And I was actually thinking about it last Sunday before God laid something else in my heart, just sharing some things from this book. And I think I'm going to do that now.

I'd like to share some things from this book, some things that will get our attention. There's things that grab my attention, things that I need to keep being reminded of because I feel very vulnerable in some of these areas, especially in the country that I live in. And we all live, I think most of us here live in this same country.

I feel somewhat vulnerable. Maybe this is a distraction. I'll get this out of the way, if I can do it without breaking anything.

So I'm going to read the introduction to this book, and then we're going to talk about it just a little bit. The introduction says this, North American culture teaches, both in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, that financial affluence is a key ingredient to a fulfilled life, and that be the wealthy are worthy of honor. Sustained financial growth has become the measurement of national success.

We're continually reminded of the importance of material prosperity by advertisers, neighbors, and even choices of fellow believers. Occasionally, in a feeble attempt at fighting this relentless pressure, we reiterate the statement that money can't buy happiness. Somehow, repeating this familiar mantra feels good.

But then Monday morning comes, and we head out the door to chase that elusive dream of amassing more material wealth. North Americans are globally famous for bigger, better, and faster, and for ostentatious display. The American dream is a ubiquitous term for self-focused, self-reliant, pleasurable living.

The American Constitution describes our core values, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. On Sunday morning, we drive our climate-controlled vehicles to our well-appointed church facilities, settle into our comfortable pews, and prepare to enjoy another season of worship, surrounded by peace and prosperity. And then someone has the nerve to disrupt our tranquility by reading Luke 16, the account of the rich man Lazarus.

Like a discordant note during a flawless symphony, this story jarringly reminds us that God might not be seeing things through our American glasses. Disconcerted, we shift in our pews, momentarily wrestle, reiterate the fact that poverty doesn't ensure holiness, and then we head back out the door with our faith still quietly holding on to the American dream. The rich man couldn't help but see the beggar named Lazarus lying at his gate.

But in North America, it's different. We seldom come face-to-face with extreme poverty. While in many ways this makes our lives more pleasant, it also creates a handicap.

We forget how unusual our affluence is, and that there are millions of Lazaruses in our world. How often do you brush shoulders with extreme need? How close do you get to actual poverty? In short, where's the Lazarus in your life? In this book, I want to take a closer look at the potential impact prosperity has on the church. Is it possible we're not seeing the danger of affluence the way God does? What about the rich man who found himself in hell? Why did Jesus share this account? Although this book is not intended to be an exposition of Luke 16, I believe the account of the rich man Lazarus has a message for us today.

And throughout this book, we'll occasionally refer to this story. But our primary purpose is to consider the impact of our North American culture and what it's having, the impact it's having on our Anabaptist communities. May the Lord bless you as you prayerfully consider your path in the midst of prosperity.

So I'd like to talk about this first chapter. He brings up the idea about how many people are going to die on an average day. I don't know if you know how many it is, but I'll put the number up here.

On an average day, 150,000 people are going to die. Okay, now about, I think it's around 18,000 of these people are children, like under the age of 15, and maybe even infants. So a lot of these people aren't thinking too seriously about life.

So let's subtract that, and now we have 132,000 people who are either adults or getting close to adulthood. Now the question is, of those 132,000 people that died just on an average day, what do they think is going to happen? Were they expecting to die? Probably most of them weren't. Now maybe some of them were if they're getting really old or they're terminal cancer or whatever.

But at least were old enough to think about the possibility, what it means to die, and what's going to possibly be on the other side of death. They're old enough to think those thoughts. And so what kind of thoughts did they think? Well, 32,000 of these 132 were of the Muslim religion.

And so they have their ideas about what's on the other side, life after death. 30,000 were of some Eastern religion, either Buddhism, Hinduism, some idea that maybe there's reincarnation. You know, you die as a human, and if you were bad, you come back as a lizard.

If you were good, you come back as a cow or something like that. I don't know exactly how it is, but that idea. But some sort of a continually recycling idea.

But let's just put up there Eastern religions. Okay, so now we're down to about 70,000 people left. Of those 70,000 people, 41,000 would claim some form of Christianity.

I'll just put a cross here. Some form of Christianity. And that includes all of it.

And you know, whether it's Catholic, whether it's Orthodox, whether it's Protestant, Anabaptist, whatever it is. About 41,000 of those people are some form of Christianity. And then that leaves 29,000 people who are either atheist or just not religious at all.

They just not really thought about it. They don't have any real belief, or just other. Maybe just a mismatch of various ideas, but none of these other categories.

So the question is, with all those people, and all those viewpoints, and all of them facing death, how many of them are going to get what they expect when they cross that point of death? How many of them are going to be surprised? How many of them are going to be disillusioned? How many of them are going to be shocked? How many of them are going to think they're going to die, and stay dead, and not wake up on the other side? And lo and behold, they do wake up on the other side. Think about that for a little bit. It's easy to be deceived.

Jesus said, "...Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat. But straight is the gate, narrow is the way which leads to life, and few there be that find it." Jesus made it very clear the majority are going down the wrong path. Later Jesus narrows it even further, providing even more of an alarming picture of the final judgment.

He says, "...Many will say to me on that day, Lord, haven't we prophesied in your name, cast out devils, done many wonderful works, and then I'll profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me ye that work iniquity." These are people who thought they were friends and followers of Jesus. They were, you know, some of those 41,000 right there.

Many within that category, Jesus said, are going to be disappointed. These passages should stop each of us in our tracks. Am I on the right path? Is there a chance that I will be shocked at the final judgment? We have a huge propensity for self-deception.

We like to imagine we're smarter and more capable than we really are. While others are deceived, we're confident. We see the ins and outs of the game quite clearly.

This tendency occurs in our spiritual lives as well. Though the odds are highly unlikely, we imagine that we would surely have responded to Noah's preaching and been on the ark. And if we had been one of the 12 spies who went into Canaan, we sure would have been Joshua or Caleb.

And if we had been present when Jesus was on trial, we would have seen right through the charade. We would think we're pretty savvy. It would be difficult to pull the wool over our eyes.

As we begin this book, I ask you to consider the possibility you're harboring some of this self-deception. The burden of the book is simple. I believe material prosperity has affected the Anabaptist people, myself included, more than we realize.

Being surrounded by plenty has a way of blinding us to reality, and we'll look at some of the ways affluence can alter our perspective and skew our judgment. Let's begin by considering a man who was confident he was on the right path. All right, so let's look at this story.

Jesus was lavish with stories, whether relating the parable of the sower, lost coins, account of the good Samaritan. He always had a powerful story to illustrate his point. We find this story that we're talking about.

Okay, yes, Jesus' stories, even after 2,000 years, are timeless and insightful, but the story we're focused on is more than just convicting. It's downright disturbing. And we find this story in the book of Luke, Luke 16.

He was speaking to a mixed multitude, including publicans, Pharisees, scribes, disciples, and so forth, and it comes right after the parable of the unjust steward, and some of those Pharisees, they didn't like that. It says they were covetous, they derided him, and so this is the setting, and now here we go with this story. So Jesus said there was a certain rich man who lived a very comfortable life.

He had good food, nice clothes, lived sumptuously every day, or luxuriously every day. Apparently, he had everything we long for, but outside his gate was a beggar named Lazarus, a man who lacked food, exhibited open sores, whose medical care consisted of dogs licking his wounds. He was living in abject poverty.

He seemed to be the epitome of everything we naturally loathe. His living conditions were as bad as they can get. Jesus' descriptions of these men is brief.

In just three verses, he describes two men who lived side by side, but were polar opposites of the socioeconomic scale, showing economic disparity in succinct yet graphic detail. If Jesus had stopped there, nothing would have seemed unusual. There's nothing new about rich and the poor coexisting in our world.

Jesus' listeners understood this. With both wealthy publicans and poor commoners in the crowd, Jesus' listeners would have mirrored this disparity. The disturbing portion of this account isn't how these two men lived, but the disturbing part is what happened after they died.

The Bible provides us few details about life after death. The account of the rich man Lazarus is a rare peek into the hereafter, so we should pay close attention. This entire account is only 13 verses, but we should take time to consider it carefully.

Following is the complete account given in Luke 16, so if you want to follow along here, you can certainly do that. Luke chapter 16, starting reading with verse 19, there was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day, and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.

And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeing Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom, he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest good things and Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted and thou art tormented.

And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou wouldst send unto my father's house for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come to this place of torment. Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.

And he said, Nay, Father Abraham, but if one went to them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead. That's where Jesus concludes the story.

Lazarus enjoying comfort, rich man enduring horrific torment. The only explanation given is that the rich man had good things earlier and Lazarus was getting his now. So what does this mean? Well, we're all headed for eternity, so we should be very interested in this account.

But what can we learn? People have wrestled with this question ever since Jesus told the story. A cursory reading seems to imply that having a good life now means you'll pay later. And the only way to live comfortably in the hereafter is to be miserable now.

But there's a problem with this. What's the problem with this idea? If you say only the people that have poverty now are going to be in heaven later and only the people that are rich now will be in hell later, what's the problem with that? Well, here's the problem. What was Abraham doing there? Because the Bible says Abraham had quite a bit of stuff, quite a bit of sheep and oxen and donkeys and servants.

So that was Abraham. So why was Abraham over here on the poor man's side and what's going on there? So surely, you know, they probably figured that out, people who were listening. If wealth decides our eternal fate, Abraham shouldn't have been in torment with that rich man.

So there must be something else going on here. But before we rich North Americans sigh with relief, there's a sobering truth we don't want to miss. Use of our wealth and resources in this life clearly is going to affect our final destiny.

Abraham told the rich man, son, remember that in thy lifetime thou receivest good things, likewise thou receivest evil things. In some way, how we use God's place in our care will have afterlife ramifications. We should be wary of theologians that separate faith and finances.

So we're going to take a closer look. What really is going on here? What's going on in this story that maybe isn't apparent on the first read through? I've read this account of the rich man, Lazarus, many times. Okay.

I've read this many times. Clearly, the rich man had been deceived, the result was horrendous, but how his situation might apply to my life is a little bit unclear. There's several reasons I might dismiss this account.

First, my tendency is to discount any information that disagrees with my preconceived theological bias. So whatever I think already, I'm going to kind of go with that. I have a mental image of how God operates and it doesn't fit in, this story doesn't fit into my box.

Second, the story is scant on some details I normally deem essential. Okay. So let's look at the rich man.

One detail that seems critical is, when considering future judgment, is the moral characters. It seems like, hey, that wouldn't make a difference. I mean, what kind of moral guys were they? Was the rich man... A rich man must have been a bad guy, huh? Poor man must have been a good guy.

But what ethics did this rich man live by? He recognized Abraham, calling him father. His family had access to the writings of Moses, so it seemed safe to assume he was a Jew. But was he a devout man? Jesus doesn't say.

He doesn't mention that he was a lawbreaker. The story would be a little less disturbing if we were told that he was a miser who shared with no one, but we can't even say that conclusively. As a Jew, he might have been a regular tither, a contributor to civic affairs, involved in various humanitarian endeavors.

In fact, he may have been even occasionally given Lazarus something. Surely Lazarus wouldn't have stayed at his gate if he hadn't given him anything. Since Jesus didn't elaborate on those details, we must assume that he didn't feel they were pertinent to the story.

But what about Lazarus? What was his character? Well, evidently, Lazarus had to be carried. We don't know exactly what his physical problems were. We're not told by the men who brought them there that, you know, why they didn't tend to Lazarus' needs themselves.

Maybe they didn't have the resources. But what kind of a man was Lazarus? Was he a praying man? Was he a man of faith? Jesus doesn't tell us. I would like to believe Lazarus was kind, patient, and godly, someone who was poor through no fault of his own.

That might be accurate, but it maybe doesn't describe him at all. Based on my own experience with poor people, I know poverty and piety are not synonymous. Lazarus may have been a discontented and just plain hard to get along with.

Many people who live in poverty aren't good managers. It is possible that others had tried to help him, but he made poor use of what he received. Once again, all we can do is speculate because Jesus didn't say.

So why didn't Jesus give us more details? Some specifics. After all, the message of the story affects our eternal destiny. Wouldn't He want us to have the information we need? Of course He would.

So let's start with the facts Jesus provided. So there's four basic facts. We're going to put them up here on the board.

So the fact one that we can get from this story, let me just carry this over here. The rich man was living luxuriously. So I'll just put up here luxurious.

Okay, that's one thing we know. That was clear from the account. Number two, the rich man was aware of the plight of Lazarus.

So we'll put up here the word aware. He was living luxuriously. He was aware of Lazarus and the problems he was having.

Number three, the thing that we know. How we use our surplus will affect our eternity. Surplus, I'll just put an arrow here, eternity.

That seems to be something fairly clear from this passage. And number four, God sees wealth differently than we do. I'll just put up here God and wealth.

And so we're going to go back through those things. So what are the four facts of the story? The rich man was living luxuriously. The rich man was aware of Lazarus' plight.

How we use our surplus will affect our eternity. And God sees wealth differently than we do. In our world, the wealthy are appreciated, honored, and well-known, while the poor are disparaged, despised, and of little import.

Consequently, this rich man was probably a well-known fixture in the community. But isn't it interesting that Jesus gave us Lazarus' name while leaving the rich man nameless? This must have shocked the Jewish listeners. The rich man was so used to being served that even while engulfed in flames, he was still calling for service, asking Lazarus to come and attend his needs.

As mentioned earlier, this doesn't mean material poverty is a criteria for salvation or that heaven will be populated with the materially poor. But it does tell us God's view of wealth, poverty, and economic disparity is not quite like ours. All this is clear looking back.

Yet the rich man lived his life believing his worldview was correct. How could this be? How could he live day after day believing he was right and yet end up in hell? Let's take a closer look. I think he had some excellent reasons to be confident he was on the right path.

And so, this next chapter just says everything told him that he was right. You know, every morning he would get up, he would get dressed, and he was... I'll just read a few of this. I think I'm going to skip through some of this.

I suspect the rich man enjoyed a daily routine. Every morning, he got up and entered the dining room, dressed in fine linen. A servant prepared a soft seat, and the rich man was comfortably settled for another good meal.

And there was nothing to suggest an inaccurate worldview. His life had become normal. Maybe there was a slight twinge of anxiety about too much weight gain, but other than that, life was good.

Perhaps he'd even gotten used to looking out the window and seeing Lazarus by the gate. That might have initially disturbed him, but I suspect Lazarus had become part of the landscape. Only rarely did the rich man give him much thought.

When he did, his thoughts may have gone something like this. There's Lazarus again. I wish they'd put him somewhere else.

Well, the world has always had the rich and poor, and the industrious and the lazy. If I help him too much, there'll just be a whole row of beggars out there. They might even create a riot.

After all, you can't help everyone. My, that dessert was sure good. I don't know if you've ever had thoughts like this when observing poverty, but I have.

My mind tends to cycle from being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem to just trying to justify my lack of compassion. To my shame, I've even become quite adept at this process. When Jesus shared this account, He was addressing a specific group of people for a specific purpose.

Jesus' primary reason wasn't to tell us about heaven and hell, or to enable us to sit around and speculate about life after death. No, the Bible says this lesson was given to the Pharisees, the people who were covetous and trying to justify themselves. Jesus told it to warn people who, like me, assumed their perspective was correct.

Of course, after reading this, let's talk about the rich man a little bit. After reading this, of course we know he was a fool, but if we're real honest, we probably would have to admit he had some good reasons to believe he was on the right path. His perspective was logical, so let's look at some things that might have informed and shaped him.

So, what do you think the rich man, what do you think about him when he, you know, if you look at his character and stuff? You know, he's probably a good manager. He was a good businessman. What do they know? They know that choices matter, don't they? They understand the material world needs those who work hard, and spend sparingly, invest wisely.

They believe in cause and effect. Therefore, when he looked at his riches, it was a consolation to him, it was a confirmation of his business sense. He had made good choices.

He could look around and see examples of men who had failed in business because of their own choices. He may have pointed to his children, son, I can hear him say this is why Proverbs teaches us to consider the end and be wise. With a mindset like this, his riches had become a comfort.

It was proof he had made good decisions. And then there was his culture. In Proverbs we read, wealth makes many friends, but the poor separates from the neighbor.

The truth is, this is easy to see. We tend to admire individuals who can make the material world work for them. These people often become influential in their communities.

They make things happen. They have good ideas when they speak. People listen.

So even though we don't know much about the rich man, we can assume he was highly esteemed. His money earned him respect and this would have been more assurance he was on the right path. Okay, so we're looking at things that would have given him comfort.

So his business sense is one, his culture is another, thirdly is his religious community. When the ancient Israelites entered the Promised Land, God was clear. If they'd be faithful, He would bless the fruit of their land.

Conversely, there was also a warning. He said, you're going to be cursed in the city, cursed in the field if you don't obey me. And while I believe these promises are more national than individual, it would be easy to listen to the writings of Moses in the synagogue every Sabbath and think God favors the wealthy.

I'm not trying to get the man off the hook. There are plenty of teachings in the Old Testament regarding God's heart for the poor, including His direct commands to share with the less fortunate. Still, it would have been easy to conclude that God wants His people to be wealthy.

That prosperity is a sign of God's approval. With all this going for him, I suspect the rich man lived in confidence. When he finally found himself in torment, he couldn't imagine how his five brothers could avoid this same destiny.

Knowing them well, he knew how difficult it would be for them to see how wrong they were. He knew their business instincts, the people around them, even their own religious lives gave them confidence they were on the right track. He understood this because not long ago he had enjoyed that same confidence.

He thought he was on the right path until he died. Chapter five is why. Why did this happen? What's the reason? Jesus' summary is succinct.

Son, remember in your lifetime you had good things, Lazarus evil, now he's comforted, you're tormented. We assume he hadn't heard Jesus' teachings. So how did he know God's heart, His mind regarding the poor? So let's just go through the Old Testament.

The Old Testament is clear about what he should have known. Remember, Jesus told him Moses and the prophets would have told you this. Okay, so let's just talk about some things.

God cares about the fatherless, widows, and strangers. God identifies with the poor. God loves equity.

These things are all through the Old Testament. And so yes, the rich man had been warned. He should have known God will judge those who have the opportunity, but ignore the plight of the destitute.

We also know these truths, yet as we see in the next chapter, sometimes we don't like to be reminded of this reality. We're much like the people of Jesus' day. When he described how his kingdom would operate, the message was received with mixed enthusiasm.

For many of Jesus' listeners, it was not good news. Sometimes people, individuals want to bless us, but their message is not good news. I remember a trip I took to Romania.

Through most of the 20th century, Christians in Romania endured persecution. There are still believers in Eastern Europe who tell incredible stories of endurance and steadfastness during these dark times. To record their stories while these aged believers were still alive, a few of us decided to interview them.

We went from house to house, met many inspiring people, heard many incredible accounts. We also ate some amazing food. I can still picture sitting down to tables laden with savory soups, tasty fried chicken, and various desserts designed to entice, but there was a problem.

Trying to cram in as many interviews as possible, we visited six or seven homes every day, and every family seemed intent on feeding us more than the one before. Our visits began at mid-morning, and the first table we sat around to was a delight. Everything tasted wonderful.

Although we tried to limit our intake, we thoroughly enjoyed the meal. But as the day progressed, the invitation to sit at the table had less and less appeal. We could only eat so much.

Despite the delicious meal each Romanian housewife had spent hours preparing, finally we began to dread the invitation to come and eat. The same words that sounded so inviting in the morning were more like a dreadful summons by late afternoon. The invitation had lost its appeal, and the message was no longer good news.

So you know when you're hungry, food is good news. When you're stuffed full, it's not so good news. Well the word gospel means what? Anybody know? Good news.

Okay. In our day, it's become to mean the death and resurrection of Christ, and brings hope. But we also use the word gospel to describe Jesus' teaching.

So Jesus went throughout all the country teaching, and it was gospel, it was supposed to be good news. Well, the people, the Jewish people, they were under persecution. So when the gospel came, they said, we're going to be set free.

This is good news. I believe the part of the gospel Jesus and his disciples were preaching was desperately needed message of hope. But notice it wasn't good news to the ruling Romans.

Herod didn't think it was good news. Matthew said he was troubled. And you know, a lot of the rich people didn't see that it was coming.

But Jesus' message was a message of reversal. Things were going to change when Jesus came. A reversal in situation, a reversal in values, a reversal of perspective.

Just like the rich man and Lazarus. He said, Jesus said, the poor are going to be blessed, the mourners are going to be comforted, the hungry are filled, and so forth. So is it good news? Maybe, but to who? Several years ago, I was in a restricted country and heard a Christian brother talk about the Sermon on the Mount.

He had been disowned by his family and was persecuted by his neighbors. He lived with his wife and children in a setting of extreme poverty. They were under constant threat of persecution for their faith, and had few material possessions.

As he talked about the beauty of the gospel, it suddenly occurred to me he was drawing great comfort from some of the same verses that I struggled with. Blessed are you who are poor. Blessed are you that weep.

Blessed are you that hunger now. These were all promises he was latching onto. Even the story of the rich man and Lazarus did not make him afraid.

There's a great change coming, and he's looking forward to it. To the poor, the gospel is good news. When John the Baptist sent his disciples, he asked them what he was preaching.

Jesus said, the poor have the gospel preached to them. It's easy to read this passage and assume Jesus was only preaching to poor people, and he had a preference for the Lazaruses, but I don't believe either of these is the case. In addition to the poor, sick, and those with no political status, Jesus preached to the rich, healthy, and those holding places of prominence.

It was the same message, but to some it was good news, some it wasn't. And so, which is it to us? Is Jesus' message, is it good news or is it bad news? The rich man in Jesus' parable finally came to his senses. Tormented by flames and longing for water, with relief in sight but out of reach, he finally had a solid grasp of reality.

Drained his lifetime while enjoying good things, good times, good clothes, and good meals, he failed to grasp what life was all about. But now, he gained a proper perspective. Something had eluded him all those years of sumptuous living.

Life wasn't about him after all, and it was serious. Choices matter. His mind must have painfully reviewed the many opportunities he had all those times he could have helped the Lazaruses in the world.

He had possessed much more than he needed, and if he could go back, he would certainly do things differently. But it was too late. Then he remembered his five brothers.

Isn't it astounding? Now he begins to think about other people? Incredible! You'd think while tormented by flames it would have been impossible to concentrate anything besides his own pain. But now, though too late, he was finally intent on helping others. And he says, please send Lazarus back to my father's house.

Warn those five brothers. Let's suppose Lazarus had come back from the dead, knocked on the five brothers' door and delivered a message from their dead brother. What would that message have been? Remember, the rich man didn't know about Jesus, death on the cross, the resurrection, the forgiveness of sins through his blood.

Jesus' account doesn't tell us, but three things seem to have been weighing on the rich man's mind. He wants to say three things to his five brothers. What do you think they were? Number one, death isn't the end.

Number two, earthly prosperity doesn't ensure future bliss. And number three, God really cares about the poor, the materially poor. There's another lesson in this account we dare not miss.

So far we've focused on the drastic and immediate worldview transformation the rich man experienced. But there's another reality, this story that those of us living in affluent North America should find alarming. Abraham's utter confidence that further warning was useless.

And that's quite something. Those five brothers, Abraham said, they wouldn't change their mind even if somebody rose from the dead. Think about it.

Think about something you know who, well, who passed away. I wonder who would be in this community right here, who died recently. So we attend his funeral.

We see him lowered into the grave. And suddenly he rings your doorbell. You open the door and there he stands with a message for you.

He informs you that the next life is different than you think. Would you believe him? I'd like to think I'd at least consider his message. But Abraham was completely confident that Lazarus rising from the dead would be an act of futility.

If they don't hear Moses and the prophets, they're not going to be persuaded the one rose from the dead. Why wouldn't these men have listened? And then it goes on to these five flourishing fellows. I suspect he knew these five brothers were living comfortable lives, surrounded by plenty.

They weren't interested in different perspectives. Maybe they, like us, have developed a theology which prosperity is a token of God's approval. With things going well, why sacrifice pleasant life for an outcast like Lazarus? I don't know how I would have responded to a resurrected Lazarus, but any proposal that threatens my personal comfort is a hard sell.

Prosperity strongly affects how we see ourselves and others. So, why is it that we have such a hard time having compassion for the Lazarus? I've been given so much, we're flooded with statistics, we read that 800 million people suffer from undernourishment. Have you ever considered the possibility the rich man may not have thought himself as rich? He could have told you about others who had more.

There may have been someone down the road with even more land and a larger house. This is true of most of us. We tend to look up the ladder, comparing our situation to those who have more rather than those who have less.

Studies show very few Americans believe themselves to be rich. In 2019, only 13% of millionaires considered themselves wealthy. Surrounded by obesity and consumerism, I find it quite easy to imagine I am slim and frugal.

Perhaps the rich man and his five brothers did the same. Most of us realize that material riches and worldly wealth come with spiritual danger. Yet, when we hear about the rich man, we think of others who have more.

Therefore, in the next section, we'll look at some deceptive dangers we face, not necessarily from excessive wealth, but simply from being surrounded by plenty. So, I don't think we're going to, well, I know we're not going to read this whole book, but I would like to skip forward, that was Chapter 7, and go up here to Chapter 17. If anybody's taken notes and you ever get this book yourself and decide to read it, now you'll know which ones we already read.

Okay, here's a little story. Standing back at the back of the auditorium in the event center, I looked out over the crowd. I was at an event focusing on the many needs of other countries with pictures of poverty and attempts to alleviate being shared.

As I stood there, an Amish friend who lived in the area walked up and asked how my trip was going. I told him things were going well and that I was glad to see such a nice-sized crowd. That was all it took.

What do you mean a nice-sized crowd? This is ridiculous. Our people don't seem interested in helping the poor. Next week there will be a hunting and fishing show here and the crowd will be five times as large.

My friend then shared all the attempts he had made to get the word out about this event, even taking time off from work to pin up flyers in local businesses, all with little response. He was clearly frustrated by the lack of interest. He wasn't saying people shouldn't hunt or fish.

He was simply pointing out their love for pleasure seemed greater than their concern for the poor. Recreation was God's idea. In our word, recreation, it means to recreate or renew.

It was God who commanded the man to put aside one day out of seven, so recreation's good. But when Jesus said this, when Jesus told His disciples to come and rest, it was after intense ministry. The Apostle Paul told Timothy, Know also in the last times perilous times are coming.

Then he gives a bunch of characteristics. And one of them was there will be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Written 2,000 years ago, it's hard to think of a statement that better describes American culture.

But what about the church? What does it tell us when professing believers have more devotion and enthusiasm for a sportsman's show than helping the poor? Or more interest in hunting and fishing magazine than the word of God? How can we defend a church culture that publicly professes to have separated themselves to following Jesus, yet privately shows more interest in sports than in God? Hunting and fishing are exciting to men. We're drawn to these sports. But why? Picture a pond stocked with fish just outside your door.

Every time you throw in a hook, a big fish jumps on. Or picture a pen full of deer in your backyard, each with a perfect rack. All you have to do is walk out the back door and shoot one.

Kind of like my black cows out in the pasture. They are available anytime. Would this satisfy your desire as a sportsman? Would this fulfill the inner craving that gets you up in the wee hours of the morning, inspires you to stand silently for hours in the cold wind, and cause you to spend large amounts of money for the best equipment? No, more is involved than just getting meat for the family.

What is it exactly that draws us to hunting and fishing? It is the thrill of the hunt. There is a challenge involved, something that satisfies man's inner desire to overcome and conquer. The thrill of the chase compels us.

These desires have been given to men by God, and there's nothing wrong with utilizing them. But God may have another intent for these inherent yearnings, another way for these traits to be used. Peter was a fisherman.

I believe he enjoyed fishing. I think he liked the excitement of the pursuit, the challenge of the fishing, the thrill of finally netting the big one. But there was a day when Jesus told Peter, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men.

Matthew says they straightway left their nets and followed him. For the next few years we see Peter following Jesus, observing how Jesus taught, watching him care for the needs of humanity. Jesus was showing him how we are supposed to fish for men.

So when Jesus called Peter, He was saying, Peter, in the past you have diligently used your ability to catch fish. Now I want you to pour that same passion into catching people. But there also came a day when it wasn't working out.

As Peter visualized, Jesus had been killed, disciples' aspirations had been shattered, they were getting discouraged. So Peter says, I'm going to go fishing. Peter apparently gave up on following Jesus, turned back to what he enjoyed, poured his life and passion back into fishing.

Frankly, Peter did what I see many of our men doing today. There was a time when God's people were known for seeking the lost. Beginning in the book of Acts, we read of believers going at great lengths to take great risks to spread the gospel.

Later, during the advent of Baptist, we see men traveling, sharing, preaching, even though these activities meant persecution and death. Taking risks to fish for men was simply part of the package. Can't you imagine children and young men gathering around those believers when they returned and were having meetings? Youth grew up listening to these fishing stories, long before the time when they were deemed old enough to go.

But that all changed. That all has changed. Life is different now.

Prosperity is provided. Many options. We become distracted.

Fishing for men is seldom mentioned. It seems the purpose of the church has been reduced to keeping the boat from sinking. And the fish Jesus told us to seek don't seem to be biting.

In the resulting disillusionment, we sought alternatives to satisfy the growing desire to seek, to provide the thrill of the chase, and to fulfill that God-given desire to conquer and overcome. Shouldn't we be concerned? We see many of our people attempting to find fulfillment in outdoor sports while neglecting the true purpose God has for us in our time. Several years ago, I received a call from a bishop living in an area where fracking for oil was taking place.

The ground had never been the best for agriculture, sorry, had never been the best for agriculture, and years they had struggled to pay their bills, but they had survived, but with very little surplus. But recently, the energy companies had been going from house to house, offering incredible amounts of money for the right to drill for oil on these poor farms. The bishop was clearly worried.

How would this sudden surplus of wealth affect the congregation? As I hung up, I had to think about all the needs of the world and how much could be accomplished with that little congregation. Imagine how many orphans could be clothed, how many hungry fed, how many Bibles produced. The bishop should have been ecstatic.

So why wasn't he? Because he wasn't confident his people would use this money to bless others. He was afraid his congregation would become spiritually lazy, using these new resources to pursue pleasure sports and incessant recreation. I enjoy trout fishing when our family goes camping each summer.

Sitting beside a rushing stream trying to outwit the fish is very enjoyable. I believe God takes pleasure in observing mine. But while God wants us to rest and rejuvenate, I don't believe He intends for recreation to be the main dish.

And if I find I'm spending more time and more fulfillment in trout fishing than I do in reaching out to a lost humanity, I don't believe it would be right to call myself a follower of Jesus. So that's the challenge I want to leave with you. Where is your primary fulfillment coming from? Jesus said His purpose was to seek and save that which was lost.

And knowing this was the Father's will, I believe that's where Jesus found His greatest fulfillment. These were also the Apostle's motivation. The Apostle Paul told the church at Corinth that he was purposely living his life that I might by all means save some.

What would your family or co-workers say gets you excited? Is seeing lives redeemed, Lazarus is fed, and the kingdom of God expanding? Or is your primary fulfillment coming from pastimes and pleasure? Those are some good questions. There's a lot more to share in here. Let's pray.

Father, we come to You in the name of Jesus. I trust that we have heard some things that will challenge us this morning, that will make us think about what our purpose for this life is. Lord, what about eternity? What about the lost around us? What about Your kingdom, which You said to seek first? And all these things will be added to us.

Lord, we want to know what Your will is. We want to have Your heart. We want to be the people that You've called us to be and be a light that You've called us to shine, Lord.

We want to be that city set on a hill that cannot be hid. And yet, Lord, we struggle. We're not sure how to go about it.

We're not sure what the next step is. And so, Lord, in our weakness, we're crying out to You and asking You to show us. Show us, Lord, how to be channels of love and light into a world of hate and darkness.

Lord, I pray that You would just teach us what that means. I just ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.