When You’re the Center of Your Universe
Preached by Ben Bechtel
November 15, 2020
Scripture Reading
Luke 16:19-31
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.’”
This morning we are continuing our series called All Who Are Weary in Luke 16. This teaching of Jesus likely stirs many questions in us, some which will probably be unanswered at the end of this sermon. But the key verse in this text for our time together this morning is verse 29:
But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’
Moses and the prophets is a way of referring to the Old Testament Scriptures. We are being encouraged like the rich man to listen to the word of God. There are many different truths to draw out from this story, but none is so important as this: we desperately need to hear the word of God. We are prone to ignore the voice of the living God. But this morning we need his voice to pierce through us and redirect our priorities around him.
1. Why We Ignore the Word
This story Jesus tells is a story of stark contrasts, primarily between a man who was rich, and another man named Lazarus who was poor. I think this is pretty obvious from the story, but when we hear rich and poor, we should not be thinking upper middle class and lower middle class. We should be thinking about the far opposite poles of society. The rich man is described in almost comically wealthy terms. He was clothed in purple, the finest of outer fabrics, and fine linens, which is essentially designer brand underwear. This man also feasted every day. When we think of this guy, we should think of a powerful businessman driving a Ferrari to go blow thousands of dollars partying every day on his yacht.
This man is contrasted with Lazarus, the poor man, who was laid at his gate. While the rich man was clothed in purple and fine linen, Lazarus was clothed in sores and tended to by stray dogs. Lazarus was likely a crippled beggar who was placed on the doorstep of this wealthy man to beg. Think about this for a second: the rich man had to step over Lazarus every time he left his house. When the rich man took out the trash from his nightly parties, Lazarus watched him longingly, hoping to get any sort of leftover scraps from the party. The rich man consciously denied Lazarus. His wealth, means, and status allows him to pass right by this man in desperate need sitting on his front porch.
However, everything changes when they die. Their roles are flipped. Lazarus is taken to a place of comfort while the rich man is taken to a place of torment. And yet, some things don’t change (vv. 24, 27-28):
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.’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.’
Do you see how this man has not changed? He still thinks Lazarus is at his beck and call! Lazarus is still only a pawn for him to move around to serve his own desires. Then in verses 27-28 he basically accuses Abraham, and God by consequence, of not doing enough for him to repent. He’s saying, “let my father and brothers have the chance I never had.”
The reason why the rich man doesn’t listen to the word of God, the reason why his family won’t and all of us won’t listen to the word of God even if someone were to come back from the dead and tell us the truth, is because to listen to God’s word is to take ourselves off the throne. It’s to recognize that the orbit of the world revolves around God not around me. The word of God confronts us in our selfishness and tells us to turn around. So instead, we sit as judges over God’s word, choosing which parts we will allow in and sifting other parts out which make us uncomfortable or challenge us too much. In this way we are like immature children. It’s like God is telling us it’s time to get out of the pool and we keep diving under the water, so we won’t have to recognize his authority and do what he says. Or as he’s talking, we run around the house with fingers in our ears yelling “la, la, la, la.”
And the honest truth is you and I were never made to bear the weight of being the center of our own universe. We were not created with that much gravitational force, and so when we try to live out of our own selfishness our lives fly out of orbit. Although it may appear like self-centeredness will bring a care-free life where all of your needs are met, it really brings exhaustion and destruction to yourself and those around you.
2. The Consequences of Ignoring the Word
What happens then when our selfishness causes us to be deaf to the cries of God in his word? This text gives us two results of not hearing God’s word:
a. The Poor Suffer
The first result is that the poor suffer. If you notice, verse 19 seems to just pick this story up out of nowhere in a block of Jesus’ teaching. However, if we hop back up to verses 13-15 where Jesus concludes his previous parable and introduces this next section of teaching, we get insight into this story:
13 “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.” 14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. 15 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.”
While Jesus is talking about selfishness, he is specifically going after the ways in which our selfishness manifests in the way we handle our money. Jesus is singling out as his audience for this story those whose religion is certainly public but does not seep down into their wallets. They claim to hear God’s word, but they are still the lords over their own money. We know all too well how this works. Wealth is like lighter fluid for the fire of our selfish tendencies. For those who are already drowsy with selfishness, wealth is like taking a strong sleep aid.
Notice something about this parable: although there is a contrast being portrayed, there is only one main character. Lazarus never even speaks; he is a foil to the rich man. This story is primarily about the rich man and is addressed to rich men who love money and ignore what the Scriptures say about money. Friends, we as a congregation of largely financially stable people are all too good at ignoring some of the most fundamental commands in the Bible about our money and the poor. We read Jesus say things like “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink…” and we still drive right by homeless people without a thought or even a prayer (Matt. 25:41-42). All of our sin against the poor is sin against Jesus himself. Or we read James 2 which speaks of faith without works being a dead faith, a passage which in context is about showing partiality to the rich and functionally excluding the poor from the fellowship of the church (James 2:1-17). We are great at contriving spiritually veiled excuses to resist obeying some of Scripture’s most plain commands and continue in our selfishness.
Last year my wife and I drove out to Colorado for vacation. It was a blast. But as all of you know who have made the trek out west, in order to get to Colorado you’ve got to make it through Kansas. And if you’ve never driven through Kansas, it is as bad as people say it is as far as driving scenery is concerned. That’s why these flat, midwestern states are considered fly-over states. Lazarus was a fly-over person for the rich man. Church, why do we fly over people like Lazarus? Most of the time it’s not because we actively hate them, but because we’re too busy. We’re only thinking of our schedule. We are too focused on our own world. We’re the center of our universe. But, if you are the center of your universe, you will be unable to hear the cries of God and others, these fly-over people whom the world ignores.
Who are the kinds of people that we “step over”, that our schedule says we don’t have time for, that aren’t important enough? Maybe it is the homeless man you drive by every day on your way to work? Maybe it is someone in our own church who comes from a different economic bracket than you? Maybe it is that relative who has gone off the deep end, the one that everyone in the family deems it’s okay to ignore? Who are those people for whom it’s easy to talk ourselves out of loving?
b. We Suffer
Not only does our deafness to God’s word cause us to miss the cries of the poor, it also causes us to move on a trajectory toward hell. This is a sobering point made from this story. This rich man’s selfishness on earth does not end when he gets to hell. In hell he is still trying to get Lazarus to do his bidding (v. 24). In hell he is still trying to blame God for his own refusal to heed the word of God (vv. 27-28, 30). In other words, what this passage is showing us is that hell is the trajectory of our unchecked selfishness. And as verse 26 tells us, this reality is final and ultimate.
Christian author Jared Wilson has this to say about this very reality in this text:
We see here…how frighteningly easy it is to go to hell. Like the rich man, simply mind your own business…this rich man loved himself a lot. This is very, very easy for anyone to do, and it is very, very easy to be self-involved all the way into self-destruction.[1]
If the word of God does not break through our self-consumed universe, we are getting a window into the future here of what will come of that reality in our lives. It is not pretty. In other words, our attitude towards our money and our attitude towards the poor speak something in the present about our eternal trajectory. If we say to the poor “keep warm and well fed” as the rich man did to Lazarus for all those years, should we expect to hear anything different when God comes to judge? What does your care for the poor say about your eternal destiny?
3. How We Hear the Word
Upon hearing these things, you may be feeling guilty, or fearful, or both. I know I certainly wrote these words this week like that. What Abraham says in verse 31 speaks to this reality directly:
‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”
Even if you’re someone here who isn’t familiar with church, you’ll know that the guy most famous for rising again from the dead is Jesus himself. Now, hear the ominous tone in this. Jesus is saying to these Pharisees listening who would see and hear of his own resurrection that they will not believe even when he comes back from the dead and tells them. Now, why is that? Because even a miracle is not enough to root out their selfishness. They would still have a reason to not believe. The famous preacher Charles Spurgeon says about this reality, “I declare I do not believe there would be enough evidence in all the churchyards in the world to convince [the unbeliever]. He would still cry for something more.”[2] Even a sign like resurrection cannot convince and change the selfish heart. What makes us think fear and guilt have that ability?
The only thing with a strong enough gravitational pull to rip our selfish hearts out of the center and into another orbit is the loving heart of Jesus. You see, Jesus is the promised king, the one who possesses all the riches of heaven. Yet, he comes to earth not like the rich man, but like Lazarus. Isaiah 53 says of Jesus that (verses 2b-3):
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
He comes like Lazarus, poor and plain, and he dies like a forgotten criminal. In love, he poured himself out selflessly for you, for your selfish refusal to listen to God’s word and for all the hell that your sin has unleashed. Now, as he sits resurrected on the throne of the universe, he is pleading with you today to hear him, to listen to him, to come to him. The inclusion of this story in Scripture is proof that God’s heart for you is for you to repent of your selfishness and come to Jesus. Although you are like the rich man, Jesus wants to wrap you up in his arms and comfort you. This is what has the power to change our selfish hearts! Listen to his voice today, the word of God declaring to you that there is forgiveness and comfort for your self-centered heart in the heart of the one who gave himself up for you.
4. The Consequences of Hearing the Word
Now, for those of us whose lives are pulled into orbit around Jesus, so that our lives are oriented not around us but around him, we have the ability to love with supernatural, divine love. When Jesus takes center stage, things change for the better. Things get a lot more exciting. A perfect example of this played out in life is in the story of Zacchaeus, recorded just three chapters later in Luke 19. Zacchaeus is a wealthy man, a tax-collector, who was hated because he made his wealth on the backs of hard-working Jewish citizens. His life was all about using money to promote himself. But one day Jesus shows up in his town and Zacchaeus’ life is radically changed (Luke 19:5-6, 8):
5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully… 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”
This is the hope of Jesus for a selfish, rich man. Jesus looks him in the eye and says Zacchaeus, I’m coming to your house. Zacchaeus, I’m drawing you into my orbit. Your life is about me now. And Zacchaeus receives him with joy! He sees the heart of Jesus for sinners like himself and it changes his life.
Now notice, when it comes to what Zacchaeus does with his finances, Jesus never tells him what to do, if he should give away his money, or who he should give it to. He just starts giving it away! This is amazing! The town cheat has become the town’s biggest donor. When it comes to Jesus and our money, most of us just say ok fine, tell me how I need to give to be a good Christian and I’ll give. Jesus has way more in store for you and for his kingdom than that! He’s not thinking about how little he can give to make himself look good. He is thinking about how much he can give to make Jesus look good! Like a mother bird knows to build a nest for her eggs and bring them back worms to eat, when we encounter Jesus, he gives us a set of instincts.
What might those instincts be with regards to our money and relating to the poor? Anything that makes Jesus look good and cares for people in need, go for it! Maybe you set aside money and time to start inviting people over to your house that wouldn’t normally and shower them with the grace of Jesus. Maybe you come to our elders (soon to be deacon!) and say I’d love to partner with the church to bless some people in need. Can you help me direct that money somewhere? Maybe you give of your time and money to serve our partners in the gospel here in Harrisburg working with impoverished people. Jesus wants more for us than we can imagine with regards to selflessness and generosity.
Each week before youth group we say a call to worship, that sets the terms for how we gather together. My favorite part of that liturgy goes like this: “we recognize that we are not as big of a deal as we think we are because all of our existence is about making Jesus look good.” This is the good news of having our life centered around Jesus and not ourselves. Let’s be a people quick to hear his voice and find comfort in knowing that life is all about him and not us. And may that drive us to be people like Zacchaeus who freely give in order to bring more and more people into orbit around our glorious Savior.
[1] Jared Wilson, The Story Telling God, 98.
[2] Spurgeon, “A Preacher From the Dead,” The New Park Street Pulpit, Vol. 3, 288.
