When Money Becomes God: Luke’s Warning from the Rich Man and Lazarus

But we're back in the Gospel of Luke this morning, and the end of the previous

section that we studied here in the same chapter, it's begun to shift here.

And the focus this morning of Jesus' teaching from his disciples all the way

back, you know, from verse 1 of this chapter is to the Pharisees,

and they're described in verse 14, the one we open with today,

as those lovers of money, lovers of money.

They objected to everything about Jesus's ministry, from his teaching about

money in the previous passage, right, that we studied,

to his friendship with tax collectors and sinners that we studied back in chapter 15.

Jesus actually confounded them, church, by his approach to the scriptures, right?

On one hand, think about it, he seemed utterly concerned to keep their rules.

But on the other hand, he seemed to press for an even higher standard of obedience,

of righteousness for his followers.

In fact, in verses 16 through 18 of this passage,

Jesus seeks to explain to the Pharisees the ways in which his ministry is both

a break from the Old Testament covenant era and also, get this,

a continuation of it as well.

And so that's where we want to dive in this morning. We'll open up talking about

discontinuity and continuity.

In verse 16, as we see on this opening slide, Jesus says that the law and the

prophets, which is really a shorthand for the Old Testament scriptures,

right, were proclaimed until John.

Notice that. John the Baptist was actually the last messenger of the Old Covenant era.

And now that Jesus had arrived, things were going to be different.

The Law and the Prophets described a certain time and place and way of behaving

toward God, but they also saw a day coming where there would be a new covenant

and things would change fundamentally.

The arrival of Messiah actually represented the beginning of that new era.

And so the old way of doing things became defunct, if you will.

And now the good news of the kingdom is being preached and the promise of the

law and the prophets has been fulfilled.

And as we see in this first point this morning, we no longer relate to God as

Old Testament believers did.

Through faith and a yet unfulfilled promise, but we relate to him based on faith

in what he did for us through the death and resurrection of his son, Jesus.

And so now Jesus says, everyone, this is interesting here in verse 16,

he says, everyone is forcing his or her way into his kingdom.

And that phrase, as we see that, it can be understood in a number of ways.

But in context, the most likely sense, I believe, is that people are now strenuously

engaged to enter God's kingdom.

And the arrival of the fulfillment of the promises we see in this next point

is that people come to God through faith in Christ, not through the Old Testament law.

You remember, how many of you remember this? Can you keep the law?

Anybody here kept any of the Ten Commandments?

They were given to us to show us we can't keep them. Who did keep them?

Jesus, and he kept them perfectly. That's why he died in our place, right?

Because he kept the law perfectly that we could not. Can we ever do it? No, we can't.

That's why we need Jesus, y'all. We could never earn our own salvation.

If we could, we would have, and Jesus wouldn't have come, wouldn't have needed to.

So we can't keep the law. Therefore, nothing good you do will ever save you

because you cannot keep the law.

It's your righteousness as far as man's concerned, the righteousness of man,

God says in his word, is filthy rags.

And so should we understand that

Jesus came to undermine or dismantle the ministry of the Old Testament?

Jesus warns against that misunderstanding in verse 17, saying that though the

Old Testament has been supplanted by the proclamation of the good news of the

kingdom, what does he say there?

The least stroke of a pen can never drop out of the law.

Instead, Jesus understood that his arrival church signified the fulfillment of the law.

You can look in Matthew chapter 5. It talks about this, 17 and 18,

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

far from Jesus nullifying the law, Jesus was actually bringing it to its ultimate

purpose, being fulfilled through him.

You know, I love the verse that talks about the law was a schoolmaster,

Paul says, to bring him to Christ.

It showed him his need for Jesus, but Jesus alone is the one who could provide

the righteousness he needed to be saved.

And so he he here, Jesus was fulfilling the promise and meaning of the Old Testament

in his life, his teaching and his substitutionary death and resurrection.

Well, that brings us to a question this morning. Free from the law.

The natural question then is whether the follower of Christ,

that's us, those that know the Lord, if we're free from the moral obligations of the law.

The Pharisees, of course, would be very quick to spot and criticize any suggestion

from Jesus that he was relaxing God's moral strictness.

But think about this today. While the Old Testament law is no longer binding

on the believer, in other words, with its dietary restrictions and sacrificial system, if you will,

as we see in this first point, the good news of the kingdom does not mean that

God no longer cares about the holiness of his people.

God deeply cares about the holiness of his people.

In fact, we see here that just the opposite is true of not caring. He does care.

Jesus actually makes the point in verse 18 here of chapter 16 of Luke,

where he actually presents a moral obligation for his people.

Specifically what? That they should not pursue divorce in order to marry somebody else.

To do so, even though it might technically be within the bounds of the Old Testament law,

would amount to adultery, he said, for it represents a fundamental unfaithfulness

to the original marriage vows.

While there are cases where divorce and remarriage are permissible,

such as where there's unfaithfulness, it talks about in Matthew chapter 19,

Matthew 19:9

verse 9, or abandonment, 1 Corinthians 7, verse 15,

1 Corinthians 7:15

the general principle stands remarriage after divorce is normally forbidden.

Jesus' words here represent, y'all, more rigorous ethical standard,

if you will, think about it, than that which is contained in the Old Testament law even.

The law contained regulations, if you remember, for how divorce should be handled

so that the woman who was the more vulnerable party in the proceedings would

not be destroyed in the process.

And this next point shows us, but here Jesus actually presses on his followers

the expectation that they will seek to what?

To go beyond the law and comply with God's original intent for marriage.

You know what it was back in Genesis?

One man, one woman for life.

The arrival of the kingdom does not nullify the law, but it transforms the hearts

of its citizens so that they will long to obey God's will.

Wow. Talk about that heart change, right? That new heart, the heart of flesh.

Well, and then we come to an interesting parable here, the parable of the rich

man and Lazarus. I bet everyone here, this is so familiar with it.

Initially, the parable in Luke 16, verses 19 through 31 that takes us through

Luke 16:19–31

the chapter seems to have little connection when you first look at it to what comes before it.

But the phrase here, if you notice there in verse 19, there was a rich man.

Ah, there's the connection. It parallels the introduction of the previous parable

and the unexpected introduction of Moses and the prophets into the story even.

It indicates that we're meant y'all to understand this

story that he's presenting here in the larger context

of the chapter because y'all know jesus the

master storyteller he introduces really it's like a series of contrast if you

will between the two main characters it sets the scene in a quick and dramatic

fashion first of all we see the first man was what rich as we see in this first point He was rich.

He enjoyed all the luxuries that worldly wealth could provide, it tells us in verse 19.

And then we see in this second point that the second man, Lazarus, was what?

A poor beggar. He was actually laid.

Literally, it says in the text there in Greek, was thrown outside the rich man's

gate where he could beg for food and money.

His life, y'all, was one of suffering and longing.

The fact that he was laid, as it says in the original language,

outside the gate and was unable to protect himself even from the indignity,

if you notice in the scripture,

of having his sores licked by wild, disease-ridden dogs in verse 21.

And it really seems to indicate, church, that he was in some way an invalid.

In a world with no organized social relief programs, people in Lazarus' position

here, they were dependent on what?

On the generosity of people like the rich man.

A generosity, by the way, on which the Old Testament law insisted on.

You see, the rich man was clearly aware of Lazarus' presence at his gate and

also his extreme need because he knew the beggar's name, didn't he?

Without being told in verse 24, but there's no indication that he ever did anything

to address the poor man's longing and suffering.

The rich man never points here in the text to any of the kindness on his part

that might have actually mitigated his guilt, you know, like lessened it a little bit.

These men could not have been more different, y'all. As we see in this next

point, one was rich, the other was poor.

One feasted while the other starved. Do you see the contrast?

One was clothed in purple, the other was covered in sores.

The nameless rich man was unconcerned to keep the law of God because he had

enough money, didn't he, to meet all of his needs.

The other man had nothing except a name. What was his name again?

Lazarus. Which means, by the way, Lazarus, you know what it means? God helps.

What a name. God helps. But they did have one thing in common. Did you notice it?

The one thing that all human beings have in common, verse 22, they died.

They died. The wages of sin is death, right? They both died.

Their radically different lives came to an identical conclusion at the end.

And as we see in this next slide, in this first point, they died and went to

meet their eternal fate.

And in those eternal fates, we see that the inequality of their lives on earth

is carried into the afterlife.

And as we see in this next point, but surprisingly, y'all, this should be a shocker, right?

It was in this day when he was telling it in this culture as well.

Jesus' audience here are shocked because their fortunes are reversed. Did you notice it?

It's reversed fortunes. Their lives still could not be more different. But now what happens?

Now Lazarus is living the good life while the rich man suffers. Do you see it in the text?

After his death, what does it say? Angels carry the beggar to Abraham's side.

It's a way of speaking of the welcome that the faithful will receive in heaven.

We hear no more about Lazarus in this parable, do we? Except that he's viewed

from below at Abraham's side.

His life of torment is over. For him, eternity will be filled with comfort.

It talks about in verse 25, and unimaginable pleasures.

His name seemed like a sick joke in this life, but it's perfectly fitting God

helps in light of his eternity. Do you see it?

God helps. God saves us, right? We put our faith and trust in him.

But the rich man, however, he goes where?

To Hades, right? The realm of the dead, where he is in torment,

it says in verse 23, and he's in agony, verse 25.

His life, y'all, of wealth and power has conditioned him to being in charge.

And so in his pride, what does he do? He attempts to boss people around, even in Hades.

It's amazing, right? When he appeals to Abraham as his spiritual father in verse

24 and 27, his request actually meets the same fate as so many of Lazarus' pleas

during his earthly life of the two men.

He might call Abraham father and Abraham might formally speak to him as son

in verse 25, but the rich man never cared. I want y'all to get this today, Eastwood.

He never cared to act much like a son of Abraham by keeping the law during his life, so to speak.

And so now in death he finds

himself alone in any event there there's what what does scripture say there's

a chasm fixed between heaven and hell that would prevent Lazarus from traveling

between the two places even if Abraham were inclined to send him.

It talks about that in verse 26. So as we look at this passage in this way,

Jesus passes home the great spiritual danger.

Don't miss this because it all ties in the great spiritual danger of loving money.

Money is not the root of all evil. What is? The love of money.

Remember that Jesus is actually speaking to the Pharisees who he describes them

as those who what? Love money.

And he's just told them that what people value

highly look at verse 15 read it what people value highly is what to god detestable

in his sight you see it verse 15 you see that y'all i think a lot of the things

that we strive for in this life that are temporary we so easily lose our focus.

We so easily lose our focus on kingdom values. What we value as humans,

as people, highly is detestable in God's sight.

You see, when we, just like this rich man, when we begin to love money or look

to money as our source of salvation or provision, and we look to it as our source

instead of God as our source,

then we have the same problem that the Pharisees did.

People like the rich man value wealth and comfort over everything.

Do you see it? Over everything.

We might be tempted to think that wealth is a sign of God's favor and approval,

but it turns out that what we value is not what God values.

As we see in this next slide, you know what he values? He treasures the one

who trusts in him and who obeys him. Now, we know from Scripture,

God does expect us to be wise with money, to plan, to do those things we need to do.

But you've got to be careful to never let money be your master,

as we've already seen here in the Gospel of Luke.

Because when it becomes your master, it's a poor master.

And the love of money destroys many lives.

It will rob you of your life. It will rob you of God's purpose for your life.

When it's all about money and how much money I can make and the love of it,

we lose our focus and our trust in the things he really values.

And he treasures the one who trusts in him and obeys him.

The one who trusts in him and obeys him.

And so this parable invites us to examine our relationship with our money and possessions, church.

Does our generosity toward those in need reflect a heart that loves God and his ways?

Or are our hearts so fixed on our wealth that we're receiving all of our good things in this life?

You see, it's great that we give or that we show generosity,

but also you can look on the other extreme here if you love the money, right?

If that's your God, so to speak, you can be as generous as you want,

But if you're missing out on trusting in your Savior and obeying him and what

he's called you to do, why are we here, church? Is it to make money and build great houses?

No, now we do. We do have to have money to survive. And yes,

we do need to plan for the future. Those things.

I've said all that. But that's not why we're here.

We're here to fulfill the great commission, Eastwood.

I mean, that's what we're here for. Otherwise, I mean, God could just say,

boom, we go straight to heaven, right? I mean, this world is,

when we look out at this world today, church, this is what life is like without God.

We've got to be careful, y'all. We need to do as it says here.

Listen, as we see in this next slide.

Listen. Hearing that he will not receive any relief from his suffering,

the formerly rich man, because remember I said formerly, because guess what?

You can't take it with you when you go.

What's going to happen to your money? It's going to perish, isn't it?

It's going to fade away just like us. We're going to go back to dust.

That formerly rich man, he's not rich any longer. he gives up pleading his own

lost cause and asks for a word of warning to be extended to who?

To his five brothers. What does he say so that they might avoid this fate? Look at verse 27 and 28.

And that leads us to our first point here because Abraham's response in verse

29 is really an echo of 16 and 17.

He presses home the sufficiency y'all and the

importance of God's word you see

the five brothers they don't need a special

visitors do they they have already received

a supernatural revelation of god's will where is it found god's word moses and

the prophet again a shorthand for the whole of the old testament scriptures

here speak to them about everything they need to know in order to avoid the brother's fate.

The rich man, though, he argues that something more extraordinary is needed, right?

What did he say? If someone from the dead just spoke to him,

then they would repent, in verse 30, and presumably, you know,

show the kind of love for the poor that the law requires.

But what does Abraham do in this passage? What does he, he corrects him, doesn't he?

The problem, church, is just like us today. The problem is not that they do not know what to do.

The problem is that the brothers lack a compelling witness to the truth here,

but they have, because they have the scriptures, they have Moses and the prophets,

but the problem is that their hearts are what?

Hard. It says in verse 13 through 15, and we see that in this next point.

The problem is that their hearts are hard.

Even the appearance of someone from the dead, according to Abraham here,

would not have the power to change that fact.

You see, Luke has recorded twin warnings about the dangers of wealth and also

the necessity of responding to God's word with obedience.

Let me just say something. If our love of money is getting in the way of us

trusting and obeying God, we need to repent.

We need to let God rearrange our life. We need to have an adjustment,

let God have an adjustment in our hearts and lives because we're trusting and

building our treasures on the wrong foundation.

We're building for things that aren't gonna last for eternity.

Don't you like facing every day thinking that the things that you're doing,

whether it's through the job that God gave you or whatever, that you're somehow

using that, leveraging that to make an impact for the kingdom in some way, right?

I mean, because the things of this world are not going to last.

They're temporary. They have no eternal value.

None. But the things that last for eternity are souls that are set free from the bondage of sin.

People who are restored to a right relationship with God, who actually fulfill

the Great Commission, who actually obey God's word, who trust in him fully for his provision.

They're not trusting in their bank account. They're not trusting in their 401k

and their retirement savings. They're trusting in God.

Yeah, God may have blessed them to plan, to do this, that, and the other,

but I'll tell you what, if they start trusting and loving the riches and loving

the money more than realizing God is the one who gave it, and let me just say

this, God is the one who can take it away.

Wealth is fleeting, and it's temporary. You see, you see,

I imagine if all of us said, hey, man, those of us, maybe we got retirees in

here, but there may be some in here, it looks like, that maybe you're thinking

one day I'd like to retire.

I just hope you're not thinking about retiring from God's kingdom.

Because I'm going to tell you, our life is not.

There's more to our life than just building wealth.

There's more than just retiring at a young age or at the age we'd like to retire.

If our lives and our service for the kingdom are not leveraged in that,

in the love for God and trusting him in his word, of making an eternal impact

in this world, you know, what miserable people we are.

If all you got to live for is your riches, you are indeed most miserable.

Yeah, you may say, well, it looks like the rich man had a good time.

Yep, this is your good time, so to speak.

As much comfort and luxury as you can have in this life, here you go.

But like this rich man here, let me tell you, it's not going to do you any good in eternity.

You see, like the rich man's brothers, we all have the revelation that we need in the scriptures.

But you see in this next slide here, we're not lacking instruction about how

we ought to think about money and riches, are we? It's all through the Bible.

The only question is whether we are what?

Listening. We all love the remote, don't we?

One of my favorite buttons is sometimes is the mute button. Some people love

to press that on the pastor when he's preaching God's word.

Nope, not gonna hear it, not gonna hear it, not gonna hear it. Are you gonna listen?

Are you gonna be stubborn like the Pharisees? Are you gonna be like this rich

man who's gonna die in your sins and spend eternity in hell because you loved

the things of this world instead of falling in love with Jesus and trusting him?

Y'all, we can get so bent out of whack in our priorities in this life.

And I'm saying we can get so bent out of whack.

You know how sometimes you can call yourself back to reality?

Look at your calendar. Look at your checkbook.

It'll show you who you really love. It never, never makes a mistake.

It reveals to you who you really love.

Y'all, this is a high calling. This is a high challenge in this passage.

Is Jesus going to be the one who provides for us? Is he going to be the one

who we live for to make an eternal difference?

Or are we just like the world in the sense that we're just, all it's about is

living the American dream.

If you live the American dream without God as the center of you,

of all of it, let me just tell you, it'll be a nightmare just like this rich

man when you wake up in hell.

It'll be a nightmare. But if you live God's dream for your life and his command for us as believers,

your priorities change, your calendar change, your schedules change,

because money's no longer your God. It's no longer your ultimate goal.

Christ alone is. And if you trust him, he will provide all those things that

we have need of as we surrender to him and obey his word and trust in what he's given us. Let's pray.