Untitled Sermon (19)

I remember this segment from Sesame Street where they drew 4 circles on a board—three bigger and one smaller and they sang this little ditty:

“One of these things is not like the other...”

They did this segment often, 3 red balloons and one blue balloon. “One of these things is not like the other...”

We’re going to play that game this morning as I read this text. One of these things is not like the other…at least at first glance. Also remember a couple weeks ago when David preached out of Luke that the topic was on proper use of our resources for the glory of God. That’s still the theme that’s picked up here in verse 14. They heard his parable of the dishonest manager…they heard him say,

“No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

They heard that speech and it didn’t sit well. Listen in and see if you can hear from this section that one thing that’s not like the others.

Luke 16:14–31 ESV

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. “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void. “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery. “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 and 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 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. 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.’ ”

Did you catch the thing that doesn’t seem to be like the others? Now on Sesame Street they are able to say something like, “How’d that get in there”…and toss it to the side because it doesn’t fit. But we can’t do that with the Scriptures. This verse is here intentionally. On Sesame Street something may not fit…but in the Bible it is inspired by God and these words are here intentionally. So we have to figure out why.

And we want to figure out why because I believe God has a word for us in this passage. A life or death word for us. But I’ll tell you up front what I think is happening in this passage…I’m going to make the argument that this isn’t talking about divorce the way that we typically think this is talking about divorce—so in one sense this passage isn’t about divorce. But in another sense divorce is exactly what this passage is about.

So let’s get to work, first by doing what we ultimately shouldn’t do. Let’s take that confusing verse out and see what happens…what we find is that these are connected by a few themes.

There is money. Look at verse 14, consider all the verses prior as well. Then look at verse 19-20. Rich man. Poor man. Maybe even verse 25 “in your lifetime you received your good things...”

There is also something about the Law and the Prophets and it’s relationship to the good news. Notice verse 16…the Law and Prophets until John…then the good news is preached. Then notice in verse 31 “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.”

Spoiler alert…someone WILL rise from the dead.

So we see these two passage are connected in thought. So that leads us back to verse 18. How in the world is divorce connected to any of this?

Now as I studied this a few theories popped up. One commentator just thought Luke had material from a particular source and it came in this order in the source he was using so he just threw it in there. Nah, I don’t think that’s what is happening here.

Others think that maybe this particular sin was something that Pharisees were struggling with and so when Jesus talks about not making the Law void he mentions this particular issue because it is one they were tossing aside. I think there is some validity to this.

Others think there is a connection between their love of money and rampant divorce in their culture. Almost that they were going against the Law if it meant somebody gave them enough money. I’m not convinced.

For one, Jesus’ words here are actually stronger than they are in the other gospel accounts. Which leads some to think that verse 18 is here because Jesus is taking a contemporary debate and showing how the gospel call on their life actually supersedes the Law. Almost like what he argues in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. That his disciples righteousness needs to be greater than that of the Pharisees.

That very well could be what is going on here. But as I kept interacting with this none of those seemed to fully satisfy. So I kept asking questions. What if this little part here isn’t meant to teach us something new about divorce? Or to even really make a statement about divorce…but what if this is here for a different reason…almost as a type of illustration.

That’s not me saying that his words here aren’t true. Or that they Bible doesn’t speak about divorce and such. The truth is, if you’ve been through a divorce you know why God says he hates divorce. It’s painful. It’s breaking things that aren’t meant to be broken. The Bible DOES speak on this issue. But I’m not confident that is what we are supposed to do here.

Let’s go back to verse 14 and try to get a little bit of a flow of the passage. Pharisees are upset because Jesus said you can’t love both God and money. Luke lets us know that this is because they loved money—so they ridicule Jesus…make fun of the prophet so they can dismiss him and keep their idol. That’s what is happening here. But Jesus responds…verse 15, “they are justifying themselves before men, but God knows their hearts.”

They are talking a good game, looking good before people, maybe even doing something like giving alms with one hand and robbing a widow with the other. But God sees. He knows what is happening. And what is exalted among men…couldn’t you say that’s mammon/money (or to use our language the Almighty Dollar?) but that…prideful human righteousness, prideful accomplishments, a name for yourself on the back of others, stuff like that…this is an abomination in the sight of God.

What they are really doing is they are saying they are passionate about God’s Law but they are dismissing God’s Law…they are casting it aside…they are throwing it out and hitching themselves up with things like public opinion, power, prestige, position, possessions.

But Jesus lets them know that you cannot cast the Law aside like that. That’s what is happening in verse 16-17. The Law and Prophets were until John but now the good news of the kingdom is being preached…so what does the good news of the kingdom do with the Law? Does it cast it aside? Does it toss it out to the curb?

Verse 17. “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.”

The good news of Jesus doesn’t just cast the Law to the curb. Or to use the language of verse 18 the gospel doesn’t divorce from the law.

Now here is why I’m saying what I’m saying. Luke hung out with Paul. And Paul talked like this a few times. Look at Romans 7 briefly. Listen to Romans 7:1-3

Romans 7:1–3 ESV

Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

Do you hear what Paul is doing there. He is connecting the Law to issues of divorce/remarriage. He’s using this issue similarly to what I’m saying is happening here in Luke.

In Romans 7 Paul is going to make the argument that Jesus doesn’t toss the Law out…he fulfills it. Or rather we, with Christ, have died to the law so we are free to live with another. Romans 7:4-6

Romans 7:4–6 ESV

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

I’m not saying that Luke is necessarily thinking of all of that here in Luke 16. Or that he’s using Jesus’ words to make a similar point to Paul. But what I’m trying to say is that we have some warrant from the Scripture to say issues of divorce/remarriage can be used as an illustration between Law/Gospel relationship.

And look at this. What happens in a divorce? The marriage becomes “void” right? That’s the language used in verse 17. And look at verse 26 and this great chasm. Separation. You could say that there is a great divorce between where the rich man is and where Lazarus is.

So let me try to sum that all up. What is happening here is that the Pharisees are divorcing several things that shouldn’t be divorced. They are casting the Law to the curb…divorcing God’s call of righteousness in order to shack up with the Almighty Dollar.

They are throwing out the Law. Jesus is fulfilling the Law. He is fulfilling the covenant obligations of the Law and they are just casting them aside—kicking them to the curb—and then marrying another. So verse 18 is calling them on that.

It’s not saying all there is to say about divorce, not trying to give a whole robust theology of divorce, but is being used as an illustration of what the Pharisees are doing.

Let’s be specific with this. God is our creator and as such he gets to set the rules. He tells us what is good, what is righteous, what is holy, what works, what we are supposed to do…how we are supposed to live. Micah 6:8 is a good summary:

Micah 6:8 ESV

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

But we haven’t done this. The Pharisees weren’t doing this. All humanity has turned aside and decided to go our own way. Now what do you do with that? Do you just say…ahh, everybody sins. No big deal. Let’s be people of forgiveness. Let’s give each other grace.

That’s what Bonhoeffer saw with the church in Nazi Germany. They were giving grace without repentance. He called it cheap grace. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline. Communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

And we see the same thing happening in our day. The SBC was sadly in the news this past week. A 288 page document detailing years of stonewalling, working against abuse reforms as a denomination, and even some one revered leaders who was credibly accused of sexual abuse. It’s a horrible thing.

There was a video I posted last week of a situation in Indiana. It’s not a Baptist church but it very well could be. A pastor stood before the church and confessed to having committed adultery 20 years ago. But then something incredibly unusual happened—this never gets to happen—a young woman stood before the congregation and said she was the woman…and it wasn’t 20 years ago it was 27. And she was 16. It wasn’t an affair it was abuse of a minor.

What do you think happened?

There were a few who began asking questions. But that pastor took the microphone again and gave a type of confession. Never called it sexual abuse or assault…but what happened was sickening but it happens so frequently. The church stood with the abusive pastor and the victim stood alone.

That is the type of the thing that Jesus is talking about in this passage. The Pharisees were casting out the Law of God all the while saying they were upholding the law. They were getting wealthy off the backs of the people while telling them to give their resources to the temple.

But the gospel doesn’t do that. The gospel is honest about our sin. It owns our sin. It acknowledges the guilt. Real true sin. Real true guilt. No something I did a whole long time ago in the past—but things I’m guilty of today. It takes all those and owns them and stares them in the face and takes them to Jesus. And what happens in the Gospel is that Jesus takes the weight of all our guilt and shame and everything and he takes the penalty for it and he fulfills the Law with His own righteousness…he doesn’t just cast it away and offer some cheap grace. He fulfills God’s demands.

So what will that mean for you? Will you follow the path of the Pharisees and divorce the law from the gospel? Or will you bear the weight of guilt, give it to Jesus, and be cleansed? Trust in Him to do what we could not do…fulfill the righteous requirements of God’s law.

Now we’ve got a big chunk of Scripture left and there is much that can be said about it. But I want us just to mine it for a few important truths—because I think you see this is a picture of the results of that divorce that is happening with the Pharisees. You see it in story form.

Now there are so many details here and it’s such a vivid picture. I think quite a few have used this to try to get a bit of an insight into what heaven and hell is like, or where people went when they died before Christ. Separating the place of the righteous into Abraham’s bosom and Hades Proper, things like that.

And I think it’s quite alright to do that, though I’d say be really careful getting your concrete theology on something from a parable. Often the details are hyperbolic and not meant to necessarily be taken literally. He’s telling a story and some of the details are there not necessarily to tell you the facts about something but in order to highlight a main point.

I’m not going to dip into those finer points but just get the main gist of why Jesus is telling this parable. It’s a contrast between the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus is there to be a foil for the rich man. The target here are the Pharisees.

Keep in mind what they are doing…they are pitching the law—throwing it to the curb—throwing God’s requirements out and shacking up with power, prestige, and possessions.

And what happens when you do that? Well you end up with those like Lazarus in your community. Your wealth isn’t used to cause flourishing for others but it is only for you and your tribe. So you have such a contrast here between Lazarus and the rich man..those are highlighted in the verse few verses.

A nameless rich guy clothed in fine linen and Lazarus clothed in sores. The wealthy guy eats whatever he wants and however much he wants. Lazarus not so much. He’d be happy with a few of the rich guys table scraps. He’s in such a poor spot that the dogs—the scavengers of the community are victimizing him further. These aren’t sympathetic puppy dogs licking the wounds of a master…the image here is that he’s less than human. He’s unclean. He is an outcast.

You might even say that socially there is a great chasm here which cannot be crossed. This guy cannot associate with the wealthy guy. He has a home with a gate…Lazarus is homeless.

There is, you could say, a divorce between these two men. They are separated. Lazarus cast aside. The rich man in his palace. But it shouldn’t be. That’s not what should be happening in God’s kingdom. The rich man is just like the rich guy earlier in Luke who gets bigger barns and neglects the poor. He’s throwing out God’s Law and living however he wants.

Then they both die. Lazarus we aren’t told was even buried—a final disgrace…but he was in fact carried off by the angels to Abraham’s side and then the rich man was buried and in Hades.

This is where we could get side-tracked but lets resist the urge. The point we are supposed to see here is that the rich man and Lazarus are still “divorced” there is still a great chasm between the two of them. But it’s a reversal of fortunes.

This is what Jesus is wanting the Pharisees to hear. The path that they are leading isn’t one that they want to follow. Their path is one of separation from all that is good—all the blessings of Abraham. The rich man is now separated from rest, rule, and relationship. He’s cut off from all those and Lazarus has them.

Now Jesus could just stop his parable there and he’d be making the point that the Pharisees need to repent. Now is still time for them to be stop casting the law aside and start living truly righteously…to follow Jesus in His kingdom and surrender their own.

But Jesus makes one final point. And it is, if you will, another divorce. I’m not quite sure how to word this. They are divorcing their choices today from their destiny in the future. I do mean by this that they are thinking that they are going to be okay and that heaven will be theirs and that everything is okay because they are children of Abraham but they are dead wrong. I do think that is a point here…but there is another finer point that I think is Jesus’ main point. And it’s this...

Don’t assume that you can repent tomorrow. Don’t assume that you’ll suddenly see with more information. This is what Jesus is wanting them to see. The time to respond is right now when Jesus is right in front of them…but with every rejection of truth, with every time they blind themselves to the light they are getting further away from ever being able to see.

That’s what happens in the end of this parable. The rich guy is in misery and he turns into an evangelist. But not totally. He doesn’t say, “go tell everybody, go to the highways and the byways”. This isn’t him realizing the glory of God or anything like that. This isn’t him saying, “Oh there is great treasure for Lazarus”. Nah, he’s still doing what he did for all of his life…protecting his dudes. Tell my dudes that this isn’t good…warn them.

What Jesus says here I think is the point of the whole thing. If you don’t listen to Moses and the Prophets..if you aren’t responding to the revelation of God that you HAVE received you aren’t going to respond to even more revelation. It’s not more facts that you need. It’s a heart change.

Friends, Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and this rich man’s “brothers” did not listen.

So what will we do with this word? Will we hear this warning and respond to what Jesus has given us? Will we follow Him? Will we be people of integrity? Or will we be just like the Pharisees…ripping apart things that God never intended to separate…things like holiness and justice and forgiveness and grace. Will we tear those asunder? Or will we rightly respond to Jesus with all our guilt and find all our identity in Him?