Luke 16 Part 3 Biblical Stewardship: What truly lasts.
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Luke 16 over these previous few weeks have brought us to the topic of biblical stewardship.
The chapter began with Jesus speaking to His disciples and telling them the parable of the dishonest manager.
Through that parable Jesus showed the need for His followers to be thinking ahead with a kingdom mindset.
This dishonest man was wise enough to think ahead to provide for his physical needs in this life, yet as believers we often get caught up in only doing the same.
We fail to think and plan for eternity with the same zeal that we think and plan for tomorrow.
Jesus reminded His followers that how they use what God has given them now, is in essence a test from God.
10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
Jesus challenged His followers to examine how they were using their resources, money, possessions, and time.
Biblical stewardship means living with an eternal mindset.
As Jesus was talking, some Pharisees were listening in.
They were offended by the fact that Jesus said money was not a sign of God’s blessing in a persons life.
They had wealth and believed they also had God’s blessing because they were good at following the rules that they had bent.
They began to ridicule Jesus, so Jesus spoke directly to them and called them out for the unfaithful stewardship of God’s law.
Jesus continues his rebuke with the story that we find ourselves looking at today.
This story of a rich man and man named Lazarus is a story once again about stewardship.
Jesus had just showed the Pharisees how they had failed to be good stewards of the Law the Lord had given them.
Jesus’ point his disciples had been to underscore the link between money and spirituality.
He indicated that man must love God and use money instead of using God and loving money.
Jesus now makes a connection for his listeners (which includes us today) to show us that how we steward our money is a reflection of how we steward our souls.
19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 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.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 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.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 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.’ ”
II. The Rich Man and Lazarus: A Warning About Stewardship (vv. 19–31)
II. The Rich Man and Lazarus: A Warning About Stewardship (vv. 19–31)
There is some debate among biblical scholars whether this is a parable or a true story.
The reason for this is some of the content, it has the introduction of a parable.
There was a rich man - that is the classic form that Jesus uses.
It is the same introduction as the parable of the dishonest manager.
Where the difficulty comes is in the fact that this parable uses proper names and it is in fact the only one recorded to do so.
Parables also used things people could understand and relate to in order to tell spiritual truths.
A farmer spreading seed, the lost sheep, lost coin, prodigal sons.
That has caused some to believe this is a true story that Jesus is recounting.
I believe that is a bit of a stretch for a few reasons some of which we will see as we go.
But one significant reason being that Jesus as Paul writes in Philippians 2.
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Jesus was fully God and fully man and yet in His incarnation - coming to the earth and taking on human form - he set aside many of his aspects of Godhood to be like us, to live as we live.
That is why He can relate to us so well.
Jesus in His humanness did not look into heaven as we cannot look into heaven.
He communicated with God the Father in prayer as we communicate with Him.
He learned as we learn.
I believe based upon that alone that this is a parable, not a true story.
The reason I say this is because the view you take determines how you interpret the text.
Seeing this as a true story vs. a parable vastly changes what we do with some of the details.
The Rich Man’s Neglect of Stewardship.
The Rich Man’s Neglect of Stewardship.
So to set the stage as a parable we find a rich man once again.
He was extremely wealthy, we know this because of how Jesus says he was dressed.
Clothed in purple and fine linen.
The source of the dye was the mucus produced by predatory sea snails found in the Mediterranean Sea called the spiney murex.
First, the sea snails had to be harvested.
According to the Roman author Pliny the Elder, thousands of snails were needed to produce just one ounce of dye.
Each snail produced only a few drops of the precious secretion,some estimates are that as many as 250,000 snails were required to produce one single tablespoon of dye!
This man also wore fine linen.
Linen was not an outer garment but an inner one.
Jesus is saying that even this man’s underwear were extravagant.
More than that he feasted every day.
It was not just an average meal though, it was sumptuous, or the Greek word also carries the meaning splendid.
Think of the biggest most extravagant meal you have ever had.
Now multiply that to every meal of every day.
It took a significant number of servants to produce such a meal.
His home showed his great wealth as well in that he had a gate.
You couldn’t even get in to see him without going through a wall.
Jesus next introduces us to the second character in this parable - Lazarus.
The name Jesus gives this man I believe is another reason we ought to understand this to be a parable.
Though it is a proper name - Lazarus is the rabbinic abbreviation of the name Eleazar.
The meaning of his name is God has helped.
Or the one who God has helped.
This man Lazarus was laid at the rich man’s gate.
Laid is actually a kind way of saying it, if we look a little deeper to the meaning of the word he was cast or thrown at the rich mans gate.
He could not move under his own power so he was placed at the gate of the rich man.
The OT has numerous verses explicitly stating that the wealthy should be charitable and provide for those less fortunate; this practice was considered a key part of Jewish law and righteousness.
The Pharisees would treat that poor man the same way the rich man treated him,
which is another indictment of them; and that’s the point of this story.
The rich man is wicked, because he is so self-indulgent.
He has no love, sympathy, interest, or compassion toward this suffering man.
How religious are you if you do not love your neighbor as yourself?
Lazarus was covered with sores.
These were open - weeping wounds.
Boils or ulcers all over his body.
Lazarus was starving - he desired to eat the rich mans trash - what fell from his table which is another sign of the rich mans wealth.
There was so much food on the table that it was overflowing.
Even the dogs came and licked his sores Jesus said.
The only living creatures that appeared to care for this man were the dogs.
Each of these men, Jesus tells us die.
The poor man is carried to Abraham’s side - or if you have an older translation it will say Abraham’s bosom.
During the intertestamental period, the Jewish concept of Sheol had progressed to the stage where it was believed that Sheol had two distinct compartments, or sections.
One section was a place of torment to which the wicked went while the other was a place of conscious bliss, often called “Abraham’s bosom” or “paradise,” to which the righteous were carried by angels.
The rich man died also and was in the place of torment.
What we see in Jesus setting this story up thus far is a lack of biblical stewardship on the part of the rich man.
He had done exactly what Jesus had just told his disciples not to do in the previous parable.
He had served money, not God.
He had provided solely for himself and in doing so failed to care for those in need around him.
His selfishness and lack of compassion reveal a heart far from God.
The rich man was meant to cause the pharisees to consider their own lives, and ought to make us do so as well.
Biblical stewardship includes caring for those in need with the resources God has entrusted to us.
Lazarus was very clearly in need and yet looked over.
We must ask ourselves, who in our lives, who in our spheres of existence are in need.
Are we acting as this rich man did?
Or are we showing compassion as Jesus did?
Jesus knew the Pharisees hearts so He was telling them that it was easy to see.
It can be an identifier for us as well.
Because how we steward our resources is a reflection of how we steward our souls.
Jesus illustrates this through where each man ends up when he dies.
The Consequences of Neglect (vv. 23–26):
As we read the details of verses 23-26 we must be careful.
For one, we don’t want to downplay the reality of hell but what do we do with some of these details?
Jesus uses awful word pictures to teach us that it isn’t going to be a fun place.
He refers to it as the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt 25:30).
He cites Is 66:24, describing hell as a place “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mk 9:48).
He says that it would be better to have a millstone hung around your neck and be thrown into the sea than to go into the unquenchable fire (Mk 9:43)
The flames of hell may, like the golden streets of heaven, be symbolic.
But if so, they are a most frightening symbol to warn us that hell will be a place of awful torment.
The rich man in the parable says, “I am in agony in this flame” (Lu 16:24).
If it were a fun place, he would want his brothers to join him for the party.
But he doesn’t want them to “come to this place of torment”
Abraham’s side or bosom, the other reality is also important.
Obviously we cannot take that literally.
The righteous dead do not go and rest upon Abraham’s bosom:
There simply is not room for them all there.
But the phrase indicates that where Abraham, the father of the faithful, is, there these righteous dead are also.
Jesus makes it plain that there are two eternal destinies, heaven and hell. Heaven is pictured in the parable in the common Jewish symbolism as a Messianic banquet (Lu 13:28-29).
At a banquet in that culture, the guests reclined at the table in such a manner that you could lean back upon the chest of the one near you to engage in intimate conversation.
In the Middle East, Greece and Rome, lying down to eat was a custom which lasted for more than one thousand years.
Lazarus is pictured at the banquet next to Abraham, the father of the faith, enjoying rest, comfort, and fellowship, delivered from the trials he had known in this life.
The story Jesus tells is not meant to give us a description of heaven and hell - they are used to point us to the main point of the parable.
Can you see heaven from hell and visa versa?
Will there be opportunities for conversations between the two.
I believe it is highly unlikely- but I do know for sure is that Jesus is telling a story here.
This is a story about a rich man who thought he was going to Heaven and ended up in hell.
And tragically, this will be the common experience of many if not most of the occupants of hell who find that “Too Late” is written on the gates of Hell!
Most surveys show that the large majority of people polled think they will go to heaven when they die.
ILLUSTRATION - A dying man once gathered his four children around him. To each of the first three he simply said, “Good night.” But then he turned to his fourth child and said, “Good-bye, Son.”
The young man said, “Dad, you told the others good night. Why did you tell me good-bye?”
The dying man answered, “Because they are Christians, and I’ll see them in the morning in heaven. But you have not come to Christ, and unless you do I’ll never see you again.”
Jesus shows this rich man to be first distraught about his situation, and when he learns that it cannot be remedied, he asks for Lazarus to be sent to his brothers that they might be warned.
He’s hoping that if Lazarus could just go back and warn them that they would change.
If his brothers, who no doubt had seen Lazarus by the front gate on many occasions, would suddenly reappear they would change their ways and get right with God.
Abraham tells him that his brothers have everything they need.
They have their Bibles.
They can listen to believers who can explain the way to Heaven.
The rich man doesn’t like this answer because he knows his brothers. He knows they’ve just tuned out God and are chasing materialism just like he was.
He says if someone would come back from the dead then they would repent.
Abraham responds by saying that even a resurrection will not convince them.
They are not open to spiritual matters.
The significance of the ending of the story is quite striking for us.
Remember Jesus face is set towards Jersualem.
He knows where He is going.
He knows what is to come.
Jesus knew that even His own death and resurrection would not be enough to convince these men.
Moses and the Prophets tell sinners how to repent and be saved, and the Jews heard them read every Sabbath in the synagogue.
Though miracles can attest to the authority of the preacher, they cannot produce either conviction or conversion in the hearts of the lost.
Faith that is based solely on miracles is not saving faith
The reason people go to hell is because they do not listen to the Scripture!
Scripture alone tells us the way to Heaven.
What sends people to hell?
How they respond to Scripture.
Heaven is for those who believe the Gospel, who believe the Good News that Jesus saves repentant sinners who believe in Him.
That is why it is so important for every one of us to know the word of God
That is why it is so important to share the Word of God.
No amount of evidence alone can turn unbelief to faith.
The Word of God has the power to do so.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
This parable teaches that everyone has had sufficient revelation and sufficient evidence to make a responsible decision about his or her relationship to God and to His Son, Jesus Christ.
The rich man had been exposed to Scripture; his predicament was due to his neglect of God’s Word.
He did not steward his own soul in manner that led to everlasting life.
And everyone in this room, we have all heard enough to be held accountable.
The question Jesus is asking each of us this morning is how are we stewarding our own souls?
Imagine you were given $1,000 today but told that anything you invested wisely would multiply a hundredfold in a month.
However, anything you spent on yourself would be gone forever.
Wouldn’t you make sure to invest as much as possible?
That is exactly how our stewardship works—what we invest in God’s kingdom lasts forever, but what we selfishly spend on ourselves is lost eternally.
As we have walked through Luke 16 over these past weeks, one truth has become abundantly clear—stewardship is about far more than money.
It is about our hearts.
It is about whether we treasure God above all else or whether we, like the Pharisees and the rich man, deceive ourselves into thinking we can serve both God and wealth.
Jesus has given us a sobering warning. The dishonest manager showed us that we must be wise and forward-thinking with our resources, using them with eternity in mind.
The rich man and Lazarus made that warning personal—reminding us that how we steward what God has entrusted to us is a reflection of how we steward our very souls.
The rich man had every earthly luxury, yet he was bankrupt in what mattered most.
Lazarus had nothing in this world but was rich in what counted for eternity.
The question before us now is simple but weighty:
How are we stewarding what God has given us?
Are we using our resources, time, and influence for God’s kingdom, or are we hoarding them for ourselves?
Are we compassionate toward the poor and needy, or do we turn a blind eye to them?
Are we listening to God’s Word and obeying it, or are we, like the rich man’s brothers, waiting for some greater sign while ignoring the truth already given to us?
Jesus’ teaching demands a response. There is no neutral ground in stewardship.
Either we are faithfully using what God has given us to serve Him, or we are squandering it on ourselves.
Either we are investing in eternity, or we are wasting our lives on what will pass away.
Let us not be like the rich man, who only realized the truth when it was too late.
Instead, let us live with an eternal mindset, holding loosely to the things of this world and holding tightly to Christ.
May we be faithful stewards, not only of our resources but more importantly of our very souls,
so that when our time on this earth is done, we will find ourselves not in torment,
but at the side of our Savior, welcomed into the eternal joy of His kingdom.
This chapter has been a wonderful reminder for us of how we steward what God has given us.
As we reflect upon that I wanted to take the time specifically this morning to reflect upon just what Christ has done for each of us.
We do this by sharing in the Lord’s Supper together.
As we reflect on Jesus’ words in this passage, we are reminded that how we steward what God has given us—our resources, our time, and ultimately our very lives—
reveals the state of our hearts before Him.
This is a time for us to reorient our hearts to the Lord.
As we prepare our hearts for communion, let us remember that our greatest treasure is not in wealth or possessions, but in Christ Himself.
He gave everything—His own body and blood—so that we might receive the riches of His grace.
This meal is a reminder of His sacrifice, His love, and the eternal life He secured for us.
Let’s take this time to examine our hearts, confess our need for Him, and come to the table in faith, trusting in the One who gave everything for us.
26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
Pass
Pray
Drink
27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Pass
Pray
Eat
