SAINT LUKE EV. LUTHERAN CHURCH OF WATERTOWN

Sermon delivered by Dean Matthew Crass

Pentecost 16 September 5^th and 8^th, 2002 Luke 16:19-31

Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and our great Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

“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. 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 hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 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.’

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. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, 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.’

This is God’s very word! May the Holy Spirit attend it that we may be strengthened through it!

My brothers and sisters in Christ:

Tell me about life. All the world is a stage and every person is an actor on that stage—until the final curtain call comes for them. Thus was William Shakespeare’s view of life. The materialist—known as Epicureans in the time of Christ implore, “Eat, drink and be merry. Suck up all the gusto you can out of life for tomorrow you will die.” The evolutionists tell us life is a progression from lower forms to higher forms. And thus life can’t really be defined, because life continues to change. Tell me about life after life. The world admits that is a little bit more difficult to do. But that hasn’t stopped the world from giving us its philosophies—manifold as they may be. Generally they can be summed up into four different areas. First there’s the shrug your shoulders philosophy. Nobody knows what’s after life. It’s a big question mark. Nobody’s come back to tell us. Some will espouse the idea of when you’re dead you’re dead theory. In other words this is it. You’re put into a coffin. You become fossil fuel. And this thought ties in with the Epicureans—eat, drink and be merry. Popular today—trendy today is the belief in reincarnation. That is when you die you leave to come back into somebody—something else. Even among those who espouse this tenet they are unable to determine whether or not it is an animal or a person or some other type of spiritual being. The most popular viewpoint—at least in our land today is the idea that when you die—you go to a light at the end of a tunnel and there your life flashes before your eyes. And ultimately you end up being around all your family and friends who have gone before you in basically a happy place. Except of course for those people who are truly wicked. And it will be up to us to decide whether or not they can get to that light at the end of the tunnel. Tell me about life? Tell me about life after life? The world certainly has. Thousands and thousands and tens of thousands of books have been written on those subjects so that they could fill this church thousands of times over. But today I submit to you that we can take those books and throw them in the burn pile and leave just one book. For it is in this book of Scripture—God’s revelation to us that he has revealed to us the truth about life and life after life. In this parable that Jesus has before us today he gives us a striking dramatic story about life. Please consider with me as the theme:

The Lord’s Drama On Life. And though it doesn’t follow chronologically our Lord speaks to us first about

1. Life after death—and then secondly
2. Life before death

The Lord’s drama on life—life after death. Two men take center stage as the curtain opens on Christ’s drama. Let’s set the scene for 2002. Enter one rich man. Aaah, he’s a fashion plate—dressed in fine linen. He lives in luxury—perhaps two Rolls Royces in his garage—a mansion in Beverly Hills—a yacht in the Mediterranean—a villa in the Swiss Alps. He has caviar for appetizers lobster for his main entrée—Don Perignon to wet his palate. He lives like this every day! Enter now a few stage hands carrying a man named Lazarus. They lay him outside of the rich man’s house—by his gate. Lazarus is a hapless creature. His clothes are mere threads. Our stomachs turn sour as we witness the open sores—all over his arms—his legs—and his torso. We look back inside of the rich man’s mansion and he is joined by his five brothers. And once again they just continue to live in luxury every day. And finished an elegant feast. Their waiters take out the trash. And they place the trash where Lazarus is lying there. We view Lazarus scrounging through the trash looking for some bits of leftovers. Dogs come by and lick his open sores. Act one has ended. The curtain closes.

Act two takes us perhaps several years down the road. And the curtain opens. And this time we see Lazarus being carried again. But this time not by stagehands. Lazarus is being lifted up by angels and he’s placed next to a man whom we soon discover to be the sainted patriarch Abraham. The painful sores all over his body are gone. Lazarus looks happy. He’s in Heaven. All of a sudden the stage floor opens up. Flames of fire shoot up. And cries and laments of anguish scream to our ears. It’s hell! Among the many voices down there we recognize the one voice. It’s that of the rich man. A hush comes over the set as we hear the rich man plead, “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.” Abraham responds with a stinging reply. “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received good things while Lazarus received bad things.” Abraham then replies with the most horrifying words, “Besides, between us—that’s Abraham and Lazarus up there—and you down in hell—a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you—with that drop of water--cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ It’s impossible for you to come up here—it’s impossible for Lazarus to come down there. The curtain closes. The second act has come to an end. What does the Lord’s drama about life tell us about life after death? Let’s look first at Lazarus. He landed up in Heaven. Why? Well, I suppose if this was the only inspired word that we had from Scripture we would be led to believe that Lazarus ended up in heaven because he had a pretty miserable life here on earth. However we let Scripture interpret Scripture and we look at the totality of Scripture. Jesus said whoever believes in me has eternal life. The inspired pen of Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in his first letter, God will bring with Jesus—to heaven—those who fall asleep in Jesus. So let’s rest assured that Lazarus was in Heaven because of God’s grace and his reliance and confidence in God’s grace. But what about the rich man? Why did he go to hell? Was it because of his riches? While God certainly does warn us about the dangers of riches here on earth—riches don’t damn. And true the warnings can be strong—and to a certain degree the riches played a part in the rich man’s damnation—he loved his gold more than God—he loved his silver more than his soul—he loved his shekels more than his Savior—but the riches didn’t damn him. Unbelief did. Jesus also said, “Whoever does not believe in me already stands condemned already—because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

The Lord’s drama on life tells us that there are only two places that exist after death. There is heaven and there is hell. There is no end of existence—no reincarnation—no question mark. Both are very real! And as the Lord labeled them here—one is perfect comfort—and the other one is complete agony. One is with God and the other one is totally separate from God. Both of them are everlasting. Not even the least bit of comfort—not even a drop of water can be given to those who end up in hell. And it’s forever. There is a figurative iron curtain—Jesus says--that exists between heaven and hell so that those people in hell will never get a second chance. They are doomed for eternity. The word hell is perhaps the most frightening word in all of scripture. Let’s face it today people don’t take hell very seriously. As a matter of fact only a small percentage—less than 20% of Americans believe in a literal place called hell. And people will jest about hell. And people will tell other people to go to hell—as though they are telling them to take out the trash. And some will flippantly respond by saying, “Well, I’m already there.” As though the troubles of life here on earth could even moderately begin to compare to the agonies of hell. Some people try to make themselves feel better about hell by saying well at least I’ll have a lot of company down there. Hell—a party? I think not! And the best way for people to get rid of hell is to deny hell its reality. They will say, well a merciful, loving God wouldn’t send people to hell, now, would he? Yes he would. He has. He does. And he will. Jesus said, Be afraid of the One—that meaning God—the One who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Yes indeed our God is serious about sin. Not only the world’s sin—the bad sin out there—but also your sin and my sin. And that’s why he has told us of the reality of hell.

Lets continue the Lord’s drama on life now by opening up the curtain for the third and final act where the Lord tells us about life before death. The scene is still the same. Lazarus and Abraham are in heaven and the rich man is down in hell. And so the rich man continues his dialog with Abraham. If I can’t have that drop of water—then I beg you father, send Lazarus to my father’s house for I have five brothers. Let him warn them so that they will not also come to this place of torment. We can hear in the rich man’s voice him saying—I have five brothers back home—and they are living the same life I lived—unrepentant—they love their god—and their god is gold and they couldn’t care less about the name of Jesus and they are going to join me down here in hell unless something spectacular happens. And what could be more spectacular than getting Lazarus—that old beggar—who has died and now is in heaven to come back and warn them what it’s really like here? Abraham bluntly responds—“They have Moses and the prophets; let them listen to them.” The rich man argues further—but Abraham says to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets—they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” At this time the stage floor comes together. Hell is shut up. Heaven is lifted up. The eternal destinies of the rich man and Lazarus are sealed. Yet the five brothers remain on the stage of life. The curtain hasn’t closed for them yet. We too remain on the stage of life. And what a blessing it is for us to have Moses and the prophets. For it is in the words of Moses and the prophets in the Old Testament—and Christ and the apostles of the New Testament—God offers and gives to us what Lazarus received. Perhaps our faith has been such before that at times we have said, Lord, give me a sign. Give me a sign of the reality of you or something or my salvation. Oh, maybe we haven’t asked for somebody to come back from the dead—but just—just some sort of tangible sign. The Lord tells us in his word that we don’t need to ask for one. Nor will we get one. God has decided in his wisdom that the only way he is going to come to us is through Moses and the prophets—through his Holy Word! Now the Word of God is certainly not what people are looking for.by nature. Most consider the Word of God to be boring. Many consider it to be irrelevant and unworthy of their time. The Word of God could be compared to Christ’s coming here the first time on earth. Here he is the Son of God—the King of kings—the Lord of lords—descending to earth as a baby in a barn—in Bethlehem. It wasn’t what people were looking for. Throughout his life he was despised. Many brushed him aside as being irrelevant. Not worthy of our time. In the Lord’s drama on life—the Lord tells us what the main ingredient in life is. The sum and substance of life—the most important thing is Moses and the prophets. Unspectacular as it may be—it is a living and powerful word—because in it a living and powerful God speaks to us. And this living and powerful God through his word can take cold hard lifeless stone hearts and turn them into sons and daughters of himself. On our own we stand before God no different than the rich man stood before him. We have loved the earthly more than the eternal. Our sins condemn us. And on our own we don’t want to hear the Word of God. But in his mercy and grace—God has brought that word to us and penetrated our hearts with the law. He has shown us our sins and has led us to plead as we just pled earlier—have mercy on me. But even more he has penetrated our hearts with the Gospel. And that’s the focal point of Moses and the prophets. Our Lord Jesus Christ—the babe of Bethlehem—as unspectacular as he was here on earth—took up our sins—and with Lazarus he has cured us from of all our diseases. The diseases that stained our souls forever! He shed his holy righteous blood on the cross of Calvary—there shutting the mouth of death. Taking its sting away. Opening up the gates of life eternal. Hell was defeated. Heaven was opened. And to insure us that this is true—he has given us the greatest sign that can be given. He raised his Son from the dead. Our Lord Jesus lives! Are we looking for a sign? We don’t need to look any further than that! God has taken us—stone hearted by nature—and made us into his living, breathing, believing sons and daughters of God. If the Word of God is powerful—if the Holy Spirit strengthens, establishes, works faith through the Word of God—if the Word of God alone will keep us in faith unto life everlasting—and all of those ifs are true or God is a liar—then isn’t it natural and isn’t it obvious—that we will make the Word of God our top priority in life? Tell me about life. Our Lord does. There remains a system in life that can’t be beat. The rich man died. Lazarus died. Abraham had died. The five brothers would die and though we still stand on the stage of life—we too will die. It’s a system that’s been brought to us—because of Adam and Eve’s sin. And we’re not going to get around it. Yet this dramatic parable of Christ preaches to us that the sting of death has been removed. The gates of hell have been closed! Eternal life is ours! Life after death is not a mere wish—or a possibility—or a probability—or even just a hope. It’s a reality! It’s a reality—that by God’s grace we’ve tasted of—before death. And it’s a reality that by God’s grace we will share in after death. Amen!

And may the peace of God that passes our understanding keep our hearts and minds in faith. Amen!