Coming Home: Content in Christ

Key Point: When we strive after the comforts of this life, we miss the eternal fulfillment that is found in Christ.

Page 1: Trouble in the Text

The Rich Man found no contentment in wealth.

The parable introduces a rich man who dressed royally in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day. He was likely a Pharisee who justified himself before men and was esteemed for his generosity and hospitality.

Now this parable is the only parable of Jesus with a name attached.

Lying at the rich man’s gate was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed for the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. The rich man, despite knowing Lazarus by name, demonstrated continual neglect of the misery and need of Lazarus who lies at his gate. His neglect, coupled with his callous feasting, was the reason he went to Hades.

In life, the rich man chose and accepted worldly things for his happiness; this choice was described by John Wesley as a "damnable idolatry," and idolatry of the self and sensation. When he died, he was buried, but in Hades, he was in agony and torment. He learned that his situation was irreversible due to a great chasm that had been fixed, established by God.

In desperation, the rich man begged Abraham to send Lazarus back to warn his five brothers so they would not also come into that place of torment. The rich man desired Lazarus’s return from the dead to function as a sign that the message of repentance should be obeyed. However, Abraham replied that they already have “Moses and the prophets”(the Law and the Old Testament Scriptures) and should listen to them. Abraham stated definitively: “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead”. The existing message was a sufficient witness for faith.

Transition 1: From Specific Failure to Universal Temptation

The Rich Man’s downfall was not his wealth, but his hard heart that rejected God’s sufficiency and chased fleeting comfort. The desire for wealth leads us all into a trap that blinds us to truth and neglects the eternal.

Page 2: Trouble in the World

When we strive for wealth, we find no contentment.

The temptation facing the rich man—choosing worldly things as one’s good—is the same temptation that leads people into destruction. Those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. The desire for wealth banishes contentment and exposes individuals to potential ruin.

This is because “the love of money is the root (or parent) of all kinds of evil.” John Wesley said, “In their eagerness to be rich, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains and sorrows stemming from a guilty conscience and tormenting passions.”

The ultimate trouble is that unbelief and the refusal to repent are not the results of a lack of evidence (or lack of a sign) but are due to a hard heart. Those who are "morally blind and unrepentant" will not be convinced even by miracles. They are often so sure they are doing what is right that even the long dead raised again will not convince them otherwise; their pride prevents them from consulting God.

If one refuses to hear the Gospel message of God, supernatural occurrences will not work either.

Transition 2: From Hopeless Destruction to Divine Reversal

If our heart’s focus on wealth leads only to destruction, where is our hope? Here again is the great reversal, demonstrating that God is watching out for those who suffer and providing them with eternal comfort that wealth cannot hope to touch.

Page 3: Grace in the Text

Lazarus found eternal contentment in Christ.

Lazarus (whose name, from Eleazar, means "He whom God has helped") was the poor and hurting man at the gate. Although he was worn out with hunger, pain, and want of all things, when he died, he was carried by angels.

This was an "amazing change of the scene". He was carried to Abraham’s side (or bosom), which the Jews styled Paradise, the place where the souls of good men remain. He was brought to live in God's presence.

While the rich man received his "good things" in his lifetime, Lazarus received "evil things," but now he is comforted. The phrase "he is comforted," means God is comforting him. This fulfills the blessings pronounced on the poor in Luke 6:20 in the Sermon on the Plain (in the Blessings and Woes).

Transition 3: From Heavenly Comfort to Earthly Practice

Lazarus’s destiny reminds us that physical wealth is irrelevant for eternity. God grace comes to us as we, too, obtain true riches, not by seeking signs or striving for comfort, but by practicing godliness, contentment, and faith-fueled action here and now.

Page 4: Grace in the World

We find eternal fulfillment in Christ.

Since earthly comfort is transitory—we brought nothing into the world, so we can take nothing out of it—we must pursue True Riches. There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment. Contentment means being independent of external circumstances and dependent only on God (Christ-sufficiency). We must be content if we have necessities like food and clothing, and we find spiritual contentment in following after Christ.

The “man of God” (like Timothy) must contrast utterly with those who crave riches. Timothy is warned to flee greed and challenged to “follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness”. He must “fight the good fight of faith” and “lay hold on eternal life”. The goal is to orient efforts toward eternal life.

For those who already possess wealth, they are charged not to be high-minded or to trust in uncertain riches. They must trust in the living God, who freely and abundantly gives all things for us to enjoy.

God’s purpose in giving wealth is beneficent, and it entails obligation.

The wealthy must use their resources wisely:

To do good and to be rich in good deeds (to particular persons) (to join in public works of charity)

To be ready and willing to communicate the love of God.

This generosity stores up for the giver a heavenly treasure and provides a divinely good foundation. While salvation is not earned by generous giving or good works, they are solid evidence of salvation. Such unselfish behavior allows the Christian to lay hold of eternal life in the here and now, which will culminate in gloriously entering God’s presence in the life to come. This is the hope that we have in Christ, the hope of eternal contentment.

Showing other the great and generous love of God brings us eternal contentment.