The Rich man and Lazarus

Scripture

Exodus 33:12–23 NKJV

12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ 13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” 14 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” 17 So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” 18 And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” 19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. 23 Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”

Prayer

O Lord, Our Lord, How excellent is thy name in all the earth! We see your impress on the leaves of the trees and the birds of the air.

We see your signature in every sunset and every cloud in the sky. Everywhere we look we see your revelation. Your goodness passes before us, and your word declares to us the Name of the Lord.

But Father, we confess to you that we often do not rejoice as we ought. We are afraid of so many things, and we suffer so many things, and when we suffer we are quick to forget that you are our God and that you love us.

You are the rock of our salvation. You have redeemed us from our sin and misery and have grafted us into the vine – our Lord Jesus. You have betrothed us to Christ, our husband that we might also be prophets and priests and kings before you.

So father, we beseech you – fill us with your Spirit as you poured out your Spirit on Christ. Create in us clean hearts so that we might fulfill our office and calling as faithfully as the angels do in heaven.

Grant that we might rightly confess your name – not only to the men and women we come in contact with, but also to ourselves. Help us worship you aright as we bow before you in our hearts.

Help us as we hallow, magnify and praise your name. We pray, Father, that you would enlighten us, teach us, shine the light on our ignorance. Humble our hearts that you might lift us up again and give us true knowledge that we might be good witnesses of our savior.

Give us a new heart each day, so that each morning we might offer our morning sacrifices of thanksgiving, as it is written, “Present your bodies as living sacrifices of thanksgiving.”

So father, we present our bodies to you again this morning.

Take these hands and make them instruments of righteousness. Take these lips and fill them with songs of praise. Take these feet and make them swift in your service. Take these ears and cause them to be quick to hear. And cleanse our tongues that the words of our mouths might be acceptable in your sight.

And father, as kings before you we pray that you would strengthen us in this battle against the world, the flesh and the devil. We are under assault daily. Our bodies are under attack and we need your strength to overcome.

Give us renewed vigor, fresh faith, glorious hope, steadfast patience in the race you have set before us.

Give health to those who are ill for you are the good physician. You will heal us of all our diseases, and we pray that you will give us a taste of that healing in the land of the living. Give healing to Kim and wisdom to her doctors. Heal Steve’s eye and expedite his surgery.

Give courage to the fearful; give rest to the restless; deliver the oppressed from the oppressor; and give justice to those without strength.

And Father, in this spiritual warfare, give us all courage and patience, to wait for you. We know that the day will come for the revelation of the sons of God, when we will all be changed in the twinkling of the eye, where we will put off this corruptible flesh and put on incorruptible and forever reign on the throne with our Lord Jesus

Until that day, keep us steadfast and firm. Strengthen our faith. Renew in us a right spirit.

We pray for our community – that you would grant us light and hope, give us the right words to say and draw your people into your congregation.

We pray for our state. Give wisdom to those protecting the streets. Give justice and righteousness to our rulers. Send rain, we pray. Give wisdom to those who manage the water.

And bless our churches. Tear down wolves and false prophets, and raise up faithful shepherds who will feed the sheep with the pure word of God.

Bless the preaching of your word today wherever it takes place, and gather, defend and preserve for yourself a chosen communion, as you have promised.

And together:

Psalm 19:14 NKJV

14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

Amen

Text:

Luke 16:19–31 NKJV

19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ 27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ”

Sermon

The glory of God

The scripture says that we are to do all to the glory of God.

Hebrews tells us that before Christ came into the world, God revealed himself in various ways to his people.

So lets go back to the book where God reveals himself to his people. God led Israel out of bondage with a visible pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. We don’t know what that would have looked like, but it was a visible representation of God’s power, protection, love and provision over Israel. Where God went, they went. And when the pillar stopped, the people stopped and set up camp.

But the people rebelled against God continually. They wanted a visible reminder of God’s presence that they could control. So they built their own images - golden calves. They were controllable and predictable and didn’t require a change of heart. They danced around them and said, “These are the gods that led us out of Egypt.”

God tells Moses that he is going to destroy them all. Moses makes intercession.

God relents and says, I will not destroy them. I will bring them into the land and make them a nation, but my presence will not go with them.

Moses again makes intercession. If God’s presence isn’t with us, what is the point of anything? What is the point of security, safety, flocks, herds, orchards, vineyards…we eat and make merry and then we die.

And so God makes provision for the continued presence of the glory of the Lord - the tabernacle was built, which would give way to Solomon’s temple 480 years later. When all the sacrifices and cleansing rituals were done, God’s presence filled the temple.

After God promised that he would not take his presence away, Moses asked to see God’s glory.

The glory of God is the visible manifestation of who he is - his power, his provision, his love, his protection - It is where God condescends to show himself to mankind. We of course know that God in his essence is invisible - not available to any of man’s senses. But if God did not reveal himself TO our senses, we would know nothing of him.

But God tells Moses that no one can pry into the essence of God, for it is too great for us.

But God says, “I will show you a tiny portion”

So God hides him in the cleft of the rock. And the scripture says that the “goodness” of God passed before him. And God declared to him the name of the Lord.

Think about that. God’s glory is his goodness. God’s goodness is seen in the proclamation of the name of Jehovah, who works mightily in history to redeem a people to himself.

God’s eternal love and eternal goodness, enjoyed by the triune God in all eternity, overflows on man - it overflows onto our tables, our vineyards, our friendships, our countrysides, our ocean beaches - and it overflows from the rain that falls on the just and the unjust.

But we only know about it if the name of the Lord is proclaimed in words. Moses sees the goodness of Jehovah pass before him, and God declares to him his name.

Jeremiah, along the same theme, writes this:

Jeremiah 9:23–24 NKJV

23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; 24 But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord.

We glory in the Lord when we recognize and rejoice in his hand - in all of our provision, in all of history, seeing his hand in exercising lovingkindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth.

One other note - when Moses came down from the mountain, his face shone. He saw the glory of God, and his face reflected that glory. You cannot know the glory of the Lord without it affecting you. Once you see God by faith, everything you are reflects that knowledge.

This brings us to this day - the Bible teaches that Jesus was filled with God’s spirit, that his body was the temple of God, where God’s revelation was truly seen.

The old picture of God’s presence in the temple is fulfilled in Christ. After the sacrifice is completed, and the blood and water flowed from the side of Christ, cleansing his people, the Holy Spirit is poured out on the New Temple, the people of God.

John says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us”. Jesus, in the flesh, was the embodied glory of God. He was the express image of God - everything that God is, was reflected in Jesus - in his body, in his words, in his actions, and in all that he did.

The veil was pulled back for Peter, James and John so that they might see it.

But on Pentecost, that glory was poured out on the church in the upper room. Everyone who believes on the name of the Lord receives the same spirit, which is why Paul calls our bodies “Temples of the Holy Spirit.”

In other words, our bodies are where God dwells with us, just as his presence went with Israel in the temple. And just as the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire were visible images of his glory, so we - each of us - are to reflect the goodness and love of God to the world around us.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 NKJV

19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

To glorify God in our bodies and in our spirit is to shine the light of God’s goodness that we have received freely to the world around us. As we have received, we are to give. This is what it means to glorify God.

The glory of God is not meant to be seen in buildings and images and gold and silver and fine things, but in the bodies and souls of those who bear the name of Christ. This is why we are called “Christians” because we are anointed with Christ’s anointing.

Stewardship

This is the meaning of this chapter. I have already spoken of stewardship - the chapter begins with Jesus teaching us that all that we have has been given to us by another, and it will soon be all taken away from us.

So the lesson is to live with that in view, and use what we have on this earth to prepare for that day when we are received into glory.

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, ridiculed him. They thought that glory was fine apparel, rich foods, delicacies and lots of servants.

But the description of the rich man’s habits, clothing, and lifestyle showed that everything that this man had was carefully cultivated to bring glory to himself.

Just like the Pharisees - they loved that which was highly esteemed by men.

What the rich man wanted the world to see in him is how rich, wise, influential and important he was.

Purple clothes. Fine linen. Sumptuous dining. Everything was carefully arranged to make an impression on everyone around him.

Here is an important person. Listen to him. Defer to him. Respect him.

But Jesus reminds us at the end of this parable that he had “received” these good things from another. Just like the steward at the beginning of the chapter.

So his was stolen glory. He took the good things that overflowed from the goodness of God and used them to bring glory to himself. That twisted it and turned that which was in itself good into an ugly thing.

If the Pharisees had ears to hear, this would have convicted them. They spoke of “giving glory to God” constantly, but really what they did was used everything that God had given them to attract glory to themselves.

True glory, true goodness, overflows from God upon mankind. God created us to bear his image, to reflect that goodness and wisdom and love to everyone around us. It is the nature of goodness and love to overflow out, otherwise it is just self-love and self glory.

The goodness of God had a very concrete expression in how much this rich man was given. Beauty, goodness, plenty of food - but not one crumb flowed out from himself onto anyone else.

And God had placed the perfect recipient right at his doorstep, and that rich man failed miserably.

When Moses saw a glimpse of the glory of God, his face shone.

If this rich man had the tiniest glimpse of the glory of God - which is called the fear of the Lord - his life would have shone out with food and compassion on the beggar sitting on his step.

Becoming like your gods

Psalm 115 says that we are like the gods that we serve. To the proud Pharisee, their god was an arbitrary, harsh taskmaster that is ready to punish if someone steps out of line. They would have accepted the idea of compassion, but only for those who deserved it.

To the Pharisee, God gave his gifts to the deserving as rewards; and he took those gifts away from the undeserving as punishments.

If this guy is rotting away with sores, unable to work, and starving to death - it is God’s will, and therefore he must have deserved it somehow.

I, certainly, am not going to give him a pass. How will he learn his lesson if someone is always bailing him out.

But even the dogs took compassion on the beggar. The dogs rebuke the humans and brought some measure of comfort when all of mankind failed. Compassion has fallen down in the street, and the only thing left is cruelty, rage, oppression and abuse…The end result when men seek their own glory.

Remember when the glory of God passed by Moses, and God declared to him the name of the Lord - the sermon was really short - “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion”

God’s sovereignty, God’s good pleasure, is that his goodness and love would overflow with compassion and mercy on the undeserving, simply because of the nature and good pleasure of God.

If you serve the god of the harsh taskmaster, waiting to punish mankind for infractions - you will reflect the god of the harsh taskmaster. From you will flow condemnation, ridicule, and cruelty, for you would rather watch the beggar starve than steal what is rightfully yours.

But if you serve Jehovah, the God of Moses, you face will shine with quite a different light - a light that looks like light, rather than darkness.

The gifts that have overflowed from God to you will overflow from you to those that God brings into your life - from you coworkers, to your children, to your spouse, to your boss

We are like our gods. What we worship is seen by how we act.

When there are so many today who proclaim the name of Christ and have not one ounce of compassion or mercy, or tenderness - but ridicule all of it as the “feminization” of the church, it makes me wonder which God they serve.

When compassion, mercy and pity are ridiculed, a man’s heart is revealed.

We serve a God of compassion. We preach a God of mercy. We declare a God of tenderness, calling us out of darkness to his light.

1 Thessalonians 2:6–7 NKJV

6 Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. 7 But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children.

Because this is the God we serve. All that we have comes from him, and above it all is his compassion and tenderness and gentleness.

When we seek glory from men, we steal the gifts of God and twist them into ugliness, for those gifts are not given to that we might usurp God’s place - but that our faces might shine, as his has shone on us.

The end result

The rich man, in seeking his own glory, didn’t get what he sought. He feared insignificance, failure, ridicule - he coveted all the things of the earth that he thought would bring him honor and glory - and instead, he ended in torment, without even a name. The fear of the wicked will come upon him.

But his character didn’t change at all. He still lived as if he were entitled to the service of everyone else.

He requested that Lazarus leave his rest to serve him.

And then he requested that Lazarus leave the grave to warn his brothers.

But not even the resurrection from the dead will turn the heart of stone to a heart of flesh.

We don’t know why Jesus chose the name Lazarus. Is it because he is foreshadowing what he will do right before his crucifixion?

He does indeed call Lazarus from the grave, and instead of believing, the Pharisees plotted his death - both Jesus and Lazarus had to go.

Because they would not give up their place or their nation. They would rather die in misery than view the shining face of God.

But it isn’t about doing better and working harder. It is about removing the veil and becoming who God has created us to be - and there is only one way.

Only in Christ, is the veil taken away.

2 Corinthians 3:12–18 NIV

12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

What the rich man needed was to turn to the Lord and have the veil taken away - then his life would have overflowed with praise, mercy, compassion and love.

But he persisted in his hardness of heart, and soon it was too late. His hardness and his torment continues for eternity.

But Lazarus has a different end.

We don’t read of anything that he received on this earth. The assumption is that he believed and trusted in the promises of God, but this is not Jesus’ emphasis. His emphasis is that even though Lazarus did not have any good things on this earth, God’s goodness has not failed. It was stored up for him in the next world.

The assumption is that Lazarus used what he had to make friends for himself in the world to come, as little as he had.

When we come to the story, he is dying outside a rich man’s house. But he is Lazarus - his name is the Greek form of Eliezar - God is my helper.

And as was his name, so was he. He was in pain and turmoil and he waited, for it was all he could do.

But the day came when the angels visited him. Lazarus, seemingly alone in life, was never alone - not even when he died.

In a picture of intimacy, rest and peace, he is resting in the arms of Abraham. The Jews would have understood that reference.

Lazarus, despised and left to die on this earth and insignificant, was a true seed of Abraham, and a true child of the promise.

As Paul tells us, the veil can only be lifted in Christ. He alone is the obedient, true Son of Abraham, and Son of God. He is the Son that Abraham rejoiced to see. He is the Son that Abraham worshiped and longed for.

And he is the express image of God, he is the true pillar of cloud and pillar of fire, the rock that followed them in the wilderness.

When he takes the veil away, our faces also shine. May the goodness and beauty and faithfulness of Jesus shine in all that we do.

That all of our words and all of our works reflect the nature of God - his goodness and his beauty, for we are temples of the Holy Ghost.

Galatians 6:10 NKJV

10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.