Luke 16:14-15, 19-31 | Parables in Practice

Listen to this week’s sermon, Parables In Practice preached by Rev. Benjamin Kandt from Luke 16:14-15, 19-31.

Transcript

Welcome And Opening Prayer

Rev. Benjamin Kandt 0:06

Hello everyone. This is Pastor Benjamin. You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City, Orlando. At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's prayer. For more resources, visit our website at Newcity Orlando.com.

Scripture Reading Luke 16

Sarah Bruner 0:20

Please stand with me as we ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate our hearts to his word. Gracious Redeemer, as we hear your word, open our eyes to your glorious kingdom and bring us life through your Holy Spirit by the power that raised Christ from the dead. Amen. Today's scripture reading comes from Luke 16. The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts, for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off with Lazarus at his side. And he called out, Father, Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us. And he said, Then I beg you, Father, to send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them lest they also come into this place of torment. But Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. He said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. This is God's word.

God Or Money As Master

Two Lives At The Gate

Death Reveals What We Love

When Scripture Is Enough

Jesus Crosses The Chasm

Final Prayer And Sending

Rev. Benjamin Kandt 2:30

Yesterday I ran a half marathon with a certified financial planner. So I'm like ready to go for the sermon. I'm just gonna warn you right now. Listen, researchers estimate that public speakers have five to ten seconds to win your trust enough to where you'll listen to the rest of what I have to say today, which is right now. And this reality psychologists call thin slicing. It's the human being's ability to make quick snap judgments based on very little information of the person that they're making the judgments about. It's actually really useful. We take in little tiny amounts of information, maybe it's appearance, maybe it's tone of voice, maybe it's body language, mannerisms, and we make decisions right away about what kind of person this is that we're with. Super useful, but also can have some dangers with it. The danger is when we assign human value based on visible metrics. When we look at people and we take a few seconds and we assess them based on maybe their status, maybe their appearance, maybe their education, maybe their significance, and we make these judgments that are so quick, and then they inform the way we relate to those people. Listen, a question is how do you know if someone matters? Or maybe a better question is, is how does God evaluate a human life? In our text this morning, in verse 15, Jesus says, What is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. That's a warning to us because what it means is that an entire culture can applaud what heaven despises. Also, it's possible for someone ignored on earth to be celebrated in the kingdom of God. Both are true. And so in Luke 16, Jesus tells a parable designed to overturn how we evaluate a human life. And so if you have a Bible or a device, get Luke 16, verse 14 in front of you. And I've got some main points here. They look like this: two loves, two lives, two deaths, two ears. Two loves, lives, deaths, and ears. Let's go ahead and look at verse 14 together. Two loves. It says this the Pharisees who were lovers of money. They heard all these things and they ridiculed Jesus. Listen, just a warning: if you make fun of Jesus, you might get a parable told about you. That's what we find out on our text here. Last week, Pastor Jason preached a really great sermon on the first half of this text in Luke 16. And in there, Jesus says in verse 9, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth. So Jesus says, use money to make friends, but the Pharisees use people to make money. One commentator, Joel Green, says it like this Those who love money oppose Jesus. Pretty simple, straightforward. He's saying that because Jesus would say things like this no one can serve two masters. You will either hate the one and love the other, or you'll be devoted to the one and despise the other. Here it is, really straightforward. No one can serve God and money. Full stop. That's how Jesus talks about the love of money. So here's the two loves God or money. But here's the thing: money is never merely money. Instead, money actually functions both as a thermometer and a thermostat. What I mean by that is a thermometer tells you the temperature, it reveals, but a thermostat changes the temperature, it directs. Money does both in your own heart. To make that plain, your money flows most naturally to your God, whatever it is. So let me just go on record. Um, I live in a simple home. I wear hand-me-down clothes, but don't look at my personal library. Why is that? Well, because listen, it's not my looks, but my books that are gonna give me status with people. And I know this. Like it's intellectual mastery that's gonna give me to make me right in the sight of other people. And I know it. And so my money so naturally flows to Amazon. And so my question for you is where does your money most naturally flow? Where does it most naturally flow? Because where your treasure goes, there your heart will follow. That's a principle Jesus wants to teach us. And Jesus cares not only about what we do with our money, but also what our money does to us. But with all that said, listen, this parable is not mainly about money. So what is it about? Look with me at verse 15. And Jesus said to them, You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your heart. This is the interpretive key to the whole parable. You see, to justify means to be right in someone's sight. That's what it means to be justified. And so, how do you justify yourself? In other words, when others see you, how do you prove your worth? Or said differently, what do you rely on when others are sin-slicing you, to use a psychological term? So here, the love of money is not the disease, it's just a diagnostic. Because in our cultural moment, money is a means to justify ourselves before others. Money is exalted among men because it is public proof that you matter, that you've done things right, that you're winning at life, maybe even that you're being blessed by God. Money is a visible metric of success, war, status, competence, and security in our cultural moment. And we subtly absorb this logic into ourselves. So sometimes we feel the fear of man around the ultra-wealthy. Other times we might intrinsically admire people who are rich. Or, inverse, that we might think the poor are poor because they've made big mistakes or they have low character. You see, Jesus wants to expose how shallow human judgment can be. What he's after here is he's telling us this parable to help us to re-evaluate what we exalt. So let's look at the parable together. Two lives, verse 19. There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and who feasted sumptuously every day, and at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. You'll notice here Jesus highlights three contrasts. First, their clothing, then their food, then their dwelling. Let's look at the first one. First, the rich man is wearing fine linen under purple. My dude has a fit kit right now. Like he is fresh to death walking on the scene. Meanwhile, the poor man was clothed with sores. If you know your Bible, you might know the story of Job. Job's friends saw Job covered in sores, and they thought it was because he was being cursed by God. Said differently, if we thin slice it, to be covered in purple is to be God blessed. To be covered in sores is to be God forsaken. It's a dangerous temptation because we exalt certain things that God does not exalt. Now, second, the rich man feasted sumptuously every day. He had a full buffet every day. Meanwhile, the poor man desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. That's their food. The third thing is their dwelling. Look at verse 21. And at his gate was laid a poor man. The rich man lives in a gated community. The poor man is laid outside the gate, which means he's likely crippled or maybe even just homeless. And according to Jesus, that means that these men are not strangers. You see, the rich man would have passed the poor man daily. In Luke 10, Jesus defines your neighbor as those who are near with need. This man is not hidden, he's not far away, he's at his gate. And there's no indication that the rich man ever gave him anything. But as we read on, something surprising happens. Look again with me at verse 20. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus. You see, in all of the parables that we've studied this spring, in every other parable you have the two sons, or the shepherd, or a woman, or you know, a sower goes out to sow a seed. No one is given a proper name in any of Jesus' parables except right here, right now. Only here is a character given a personal name, Lazarus. And notice the rich man has no name, but the poor man has a name. What's going on here? Lazarus is being rehumanized. That's what's going on. In God's kingdom, the forgotten are remembered. Far from being God forsaken or God forgotten, he's named, he's known, he's loved, he's someone's child. In the kingdom of God, a nobody can become a somebody because of God's economy. You see, there was an interviewer who once interviewed Edith Schaefer, who is one of the most well-respected Christian leaders of her time. And the question was this: who is the greatest Christian woman alive today? Edith replied, We don't know her name. She's dying of cancer somewhere in a hospital in India. God knows her name. Her name is great in the kingdom of heaven. We need to remember this, because in a world of Christian celebrity, this is a live temptation for us. But notice this the rich man is identified entirely by his wealth. Three times in the text, he's simply called a rich man. He lost his name because he became defined by his money. You see, his money became his identity. Remember, this parable is not first about money. It's actually first about how we justify ourselves before others. He became known by people as simply a rich man. So listen, you might be a beautiful woman, you might be the funny guy, you might be a good mother, you might be a strong athlete. It doesn't matter if you over-identify with it, you are profoundly vulnerable. If you're only, quote, a rich man, take away your riches, and who are you? Well, that's what we see. What happens next? The third point is two deaths. Look with me at verse 22. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. Notice this death comes for both men. The rich man lived in luxury, Lazarus lived in misery, but they both die. It's been said that death is the great equalizer, but actually in this parable, death is the great reversal. The rich man had everything in this life, and as we'll see, he has nothing in the next. Lazarus had nothing in this life, but everything in the next. Look at verse 23. And in Hades, being in torment, the rich man lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. Notice Jesus says that the rich man is in torment, not being tortured. Some of us have a view of the afterlife, for some people, it's like this underground torture chamber. That's not what the text says. And the distinction matters. There's a guy named Joshua Ryan Butler who wrote a book called Skeletons in God's Closet. It's a great book on hell and judgment and some of these things. And in there he says this torment arises internally, torture is inflicted from the outside. So just zooming in on this parable, the rich man's heart is being exposed as he loses what he loves. You see, it causes him torment. It causes an inward anguish. His riches, his means of justifying himself are being melted away. And so torment begins when our idols that we trust in collapse beneath us. That's torment. That happens. Hopefully, it happens to you here and now, so you can turn from them, so it doesn't happen to you there and then. That's what I hope happens. You see, the Greek word here for torment, it's used actually for a stone that you can use to test jewelry on. In other words, you you would take the stone, you'd take either gold or silver, and you would rub it on the touchstone, and it would reveal if that jewelry was authentic or if it was fake. You see, the touchstones were needed because some jewels look fancy on the outside, but they're fake on the inside. Come on, somebody. The rich man looked impressive on the outside. He was, he had riches and reputation and religion, but death revealed what was underneath. His God was not God, his God was his wealth. Remember what Jesus said, you justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. He sees through the facade, and now the facade is gone, and the rich man's riches have been burned up in the fire and his whole life with it. And that was his torment. Look at verse 24. And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame. Listen, even though the rich man lifts up his eyes, verse 23, he still sees Lazarus as beneath him. You see, he still thinks the poor exists to serve him. The central terror for this rich man is that he remains the same person for eternity. C. S. Lewis said it like this: every time you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you into something a little different than it was before. And taking your life as a whole with all your innumerable choices, you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature. Each of us at each moment is progressing to one state or the other. In Hades, the rich man has no regret. He has no repentance. Look what he does. It says the rich man says, Send Lazarus. Which means not only is he looking down and thinks Lazarus exists to serve him still, he knew his name. That means that what we see in the text is that he recognizes this man. In fact, his disregard was never ignorance, it was indifference. And notice he calls out Father Abraham, which means he was a religious guy. He was Jewish. And in our text, Luke 16, 15 says, You are those who justify yourselves before men. If you know some of the interactions with the Pharisees and Jesus in the gospels, you'll know that the Pharisees justify themselves, and this is one of their favorite ways to do it. In John 8, 39, they say this to Jesus Abraham is our father. They assume that belonging to Abraham's family would save them. That it's about ethnicity or religion, is enough to be on the good side. But their false confidence had to be confronted. And so in Luke 3:8, earlier in the book that we're in now, John the Baptist says this do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Let me make this plain. Now in the afterlife, he gets what he most wants. Social distance becomes eternal separation. The gate in life becomes a great chasm in the afterlife. In one sense, the afterlife is simply God giving us eternally what we insist upon repeatedly. God gave him what he chose. And after death, it's pretty clear in the text there is no second chance, there is no purgatory, there is no crossing over. The trajectory of your life becomes permanent after death. Look at verse 26. It says, A great chasm has been fixed. Why, Father Abraham? In order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us. I want you to see here the beauty of God's justice. One commentator put it like this: no longer will God let the rich man treat Lazarus like a dog. No longer will the bully rule the playground, the husband beat his family, or the superpower exploit the developing world. When God establishes his new creation, he will protect it from hell's invasion. Happy Mother's Day. Welcome to church. So glad you're here. Listen, Jesus is turning up the heat, but I promise you there's hope in the text. Look with me at the fourth and final point. Two ears. Two ears. I know that's strange. Look with me at verse 27. And he said, Then I beg you, Father, to send him. Again, Lazarus is here to do his bidding, right? Send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them lest they also come into this place of torment. Now, something that you'll notice is that people who justify themselves are often the most defensive, because you have to defend yourself. You have to defend your own self-justification. So here's the first of at least two excuses we're going to see. Excuse number one, I just didn't have enough information. Like I wasn't in the loop. Lazarus, go inform my brothers, because if I had known, I would have avoided this place of torment. But as we've seen, he does know, and his heart has not changed. His sphere of concern, even in Hades, is limited to his own kind, his brothers, right? His own interests. Verse 29, but Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. Here's the issue: Do you have ears to hear what the scriptures are saying? Jesus is always concerned with the right reading of Scripture. Now, this is astonishing. I want to slow down here, take a little sidebar, talk very briefly about our doctrine of Scripture. It's important. It's important to Jesus, it's important to us. There's a great book by Kevin. Young called Taking God at His Word. We use it in our elder training, and you'll see a slide behind me. He has this acronym, which is SCAN. Some of you in here are like not yet disciples of Jesus. You're like more like SCAM. I don't believe the Bible. Okay, just bear with us for a moment. SCAN stands for the Bible, has these attributes about it. It's sufficient, it's clear, it's authoritative, and it is necessary. Let me make that plain for a moment. The sufficiency of Scripture gives us everything we need for life and godliness in Christ. The clarity of Scripture means that Scripture's saving message is understandable to all who humbly seek it. The authority of Scripture means that it is God's final and decisive word. It stands over every other authority, tradition, reason, experience. And finally, the necessity of Scripture means that we need Scripture in order to know God to be saved and to live rightly. And so, back to the text, according to Jesus, God's word is needed, clear, final, and enough to lead people to repentance and thus eternal life. It's sufficient. Not miracles, not angelic visitations, not supernatural phenomena. This book. It's enough. Jesus' doctrine of scripture is so high. Is yours? He wants to correct us here. He wants to bring us in line to read this book, how he reads this book. So if that's the case, what does Moses actually say? Well, in Deuteronomy chapter 6, Moses gives the command to love God above everything, including especially your money. In a little bit later, a little bit earlier rather in Leviticus 19, Moses says to love your neighbor as yourself, especially the poor. If you think I'm reading that into it, go back, read Leviticus 19 over lunch today. It'll be a fun Mother's Day. And as you're reading it, you'll see this concern for the poor that the Lord has when we love our neighbor. Did the rich man miss this? Well, let's see. The prophets actually make it even more plain. In Amos 5, 12, it says this, I kid you not, how great are your sins, you turn aside the needy in the gate. Where was Lazarus laid? At the rich man's gate. And so listen, the rich man's indifference to Lazarus is an abomination in the sight of God. But the rich man is not used to taking no for an answer. And so he argues with Abraham himself. Look at verse 30. And he said, No, Father Abraham. But if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. That word matters. The rich man thinks, no, the Bible's not enough because he was pleasantly modern, apparently. And listen, if you justify yourself, you have to defend yourself. So excuse number one was, I didn't have enough information. Excuse number two is if I would have just seen a miracle, then I would have believed. But listen, the issue is never a lack of evidence, it's actually a condition of the heart. The rich man is right about something. There is a need for repentance. But the question is, what can produce that repentance? Does repentance come from seeing miracles? Like if your name was written in the sky by an airplane, it was like God loves Joe or whatever. Sorry, Joe, if you're here, read the Bible, it's sufficient. But like if you saw that, would that be enough for you to repent? According to Jesus, no. What has the power to change the human heart? Verse 31, Abraham said to him, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. Jesus is doing something here. Notice, he's actually intensifying things. Verse 31, the rich man says, If someone goes to them from the dead, this is like the ghost of Jacob, Jacob Marley, right? Visiting Scrooge in a Christmas carol like this. If somebody just would go back to the dead, that's something very different from what Jesus says at the end. In verse 31, Abraham replies, If someone should rise from the dead, this is resurrection language. And that line hits like thunder because someone is about to rise from the dead. You see, Jesus is speaking about himself, and still many will not believe. The issue is not whether there's enough light, the issue is whether we love darkness more. And so we need to be careful not to misunderstand this parable. Jesus is not saying rich people to go to hell and poor people go to heaven. He's not some kind of theistic Marxist. That's nonsense. In fact, Genesis 13, 2 says this Father Abraham was, quote, very rich. Lazarus is not saved because he's poor. The rich man's not condemned because he's rich. The issue is not whether you're rich or poor, but what are you trusting to justify yourself? There's a hint here in the text. The Greek name Lazarus comes from the Hebrew name Eliezer, which means God has helped. You see, a friend pointed out to me that Lazarus is always passive in this text. He's always receiving. Lazarus was laid, verse 20. Lazarus desired to be fed, verse 21. Lazarus was carried by angels, verse 22. This helpless man knew that his help was in God. He's entirely dependent upon grace. And so listen, take money as your help now and you will have torment later. Take God as your help now and you will have comfort later. That's what it means to repent, like verse 30 says. And so if you will use your two ears to be, quote, convinced, as verse 31 says, then listen to what the scriptures have to say about Jesus. You see, the rich man ignored the poor, but Jesus became poor. The rich man feasted daily, but Jesus fasted so that we could be sharing with him at his feast. The rich man lived in a gated community, but Jesus was crucified outside the gate. The rich man wears purple, but if you remember, Jesus is clothed in purple when he's being mocked before his crucifixion. The rich man asks for a drop of water and Jesus cries on the cross, I thirst. The rich man cannot cross the chasm, but Jesus crosses the ultimate chasm between a holy God and sinful people. The rich man has no name, but Jesus has been given the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee would bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So listen, would you be justified, made right in God's sight? It's not your riches, it's not your ethnicity, it's not your religion, it's Jesus. It's Jesus that's your justification. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And so listen, if you are made right in God's sight, you are free to care about the poor's plight. But if you justify yourself before people, then you will never be free to actually love people because you must use them. So someone really did rise from the dead, and the question of this parable for each and every one of us this morning is will you hear him? Let's pray. King Jesus, exalted above all things. We exalt you. There are things that are exalted among people that are an abomination before God. But we know that God our Father has exalted you above all things, and so we love you, Jesus. You are the unsearchable riches of God. We want you, Lord Jesus. We pray, Holy Spirit, that you would draw men and women and children, those who belong to you and those who are yet to belong to you. Bring them home to you as the great source of all their riches. We pray in your name. Amen.