Luke 16:19-31

When in Ug, privilege of meeting Prime minister.  
In my mind, meeting PM would be like this…
Thought: HELP!  Find a suit!

In reality it was like this…

Didn’t care 2 hoots wt I was wearing, he was only interested in my piano playing!
The things I thought would matter when meeting PM didn’t at all.

What will really count when we meet God?
Will it be the things we expect it to be?

Look at Luke 16, 19-31 READ

Before I get going, detour for a moment – look @ wt it’s not about
Easy to read wrong meanings into parable,
Danger of reading too much in, reading things that were never intended:
Last wk: We should abuse positions of responsibility, lie + cheat
Lk18: G is unjust judge who doesn’t care re anyone but himself 

Here are things we should b careful of reading into this parable:		
•	penalty for being rich and reward for being poor
o	doesn’t spell out cause and effect in that way
•	penalty for not helping poor (part of it, cf Amos, but not nugget!)
o	Doesn’t spell out how RM treated L – 
Suggestion that RM could have done more (v21 longing to eat what fell from the RM’s table), 
however, commentators say that word doesn’t imply, as it does in eng, that L’s longing was always unfulfilled.  
We don’t know – point is, RM’s treatment of L is not pertinent to wt J is saying.
Also interesting that RM knew L’s name
•	The nature of heaven and hell.
o	J using concepts of H+H with which his listeners were familiar.

So wt is it about?  Key to understanding parables is 2-fold:
•	Generally illustrating 1 straightforward point, even if story is elaborate
•	Often passage context is crucial to defining the point

On that basis, I believe it’s about a simple choice we all face every day: 
What are we going to live for:  What the world values or wt G values?  
I believe it is telling us to chase after the things G values, because it is a wise investment, and the logical response to wt we know about G.

Basis?  Context:  follows on from q TG left us w last wk:  
Who are you serving?   v13: No servant can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money.
For the time this was more radical than you might imagine.  
Wealth was seen as a sign of G’s blessing, and it was greatly admired.   
But J didn’t view it that way: v14: G knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in G's sight.
It is with this background that J tells this story.
I think therefore it would be safe to assume that he intends us to view RM as a servant of everything the world holds dear.  

So J raising goal posts – J doesn’t just want to be more important than your money, he wants to come before everything that the world defines as valuable.  
Make your choice: Wt are you going to live for:  
Value in eyes of world, or value in the eyes of God.  

If you’re not Xian this morn, then this is most pertinent q you will ever answer.  
If you ARE a Xian this morn, you can sit back + listen v carefully:  
‘cos if you think you’ve got this all sown up, then you’re fooling yourself.  
This is daily struggle for each of us, and it sits right at the centre of the Xian life.
Take a moment now to think: wt are the areas of my life where I’m tempted to put wt world values above wt G values?

You have choice to make, and J is saying, this is a no-brainer.  Choose wt is highly valued by G, ‘cos it is the wisest investment.  
Let’s work through consequences of both choices.

Wt will the things of this world really count for when we meet God?
J answers this with a resounding “ZERO!”
RM’s standing in society didn’t help him at all when he stood before G. 
It simply vanished into thin air.  
L was a complete nobody – v19ff:  There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.   At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.  
BUT READ ON: The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. 
He is given the place of greatest honour

Imagine:  LHR, standing outside.  Homeless woman by door, let’s call her Sarah, not yet moved on by police, but they’re walking purposefully down the pavement.  Melee of people, Richard Branson walks into the terminal surrounded by body guards, just as J is walking out.  J doesn’t even give RB the time of day, but when he sees Sarah, his face lights up. “Sarah!  How’s it going?  really lovely to see you!”  

This stuff simply doesn’t matter to G.

We can go further than that – Going after the things the world values has eternal consequences.  See there in 2nd ½ v22: The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment…  J seems to mention it in passing, as if to presume it, thereby adding punch to it  [mimic]

Not a nice subject.  Talk of hell conjures up pictures of over-zealous, hypocritical, uncompassionate preachers shouting angrily…
Man @ Oxford Circus…
New here – we don’t bang on and on about hellfire…  
However, neither must we shy away from its reality.  If RM longs for anything in response to his predicament, it is that those he loves get a chance to hear about the reality of hell.  
Look @ v27: He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'
Out of respect for those who don’t know J, we have to stare passages like this in the face, and allow them to stare back at us in all their reality.  
We have to say that wrong choices in this life have real consequences.  
Terrible consequences.  
Consequences from which there is no return, no relief, v 26: a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.

So G isn’t interested in our standing in the world’s eyes.  It is of no consequence, and we can’t take it with us.  
Worse than that, if we give it centre-stage in our lives, ultimately  hell.

Once RM sees his predicament, what is it that he longs to happen for his family?  See there @ end of v30?  He longs for their repentance.  
Another nasty word, reminds me of chap @ Oxford Circus.  It conjures up images of filthy sinners prostrate before an angry, unmerciful G.  
But actually, it simply means turn around and go in the other direction.  
Stop chasing after the things that the world values, and chase after the things that G values, because it results in the joy and comfort of heaven.  

The things of G go beyond physical death, and into eternity.  They are unchangeable: between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.
They cannot be lost. So.. “Provide purses for yourselves which do not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”

So chose wt is valued by G, because it will last longer.  It is wisest investment.

Secondly, chose it because it is logical response to wt we know about G.

G has given us sufficient revelation of himself to warrant our belief.  
1st way he’s done this – through the scriptures:  Look@ v27 The RM answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send L to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' A replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'

M + prophets is essentially a way of saying scriptures.  
And if he could say that to them who only had OT, how much more true must it be for us, who have complete cannon of scripture.
Don’t want to be flippant here, and don’t want to suggest that any of us should come to Xian faith without thinking it through, without asking the difficult Q’s, and even without having doubts.  
I struggle w doubts about my faith from time-to-time.  I guess it’s part of my personality type.  But I don’t think that’s necessarily wrong.  
The key thing is that once we’ve weighed up the evidence, we’re willing to take a step of faith  J. 

To give you some idea of reasonableness of taking bible seriously, look @ this:

Ancient history taught as fact in school purely on the basis of mss like these
Cf to Mss evidence for bible

Side note:  J saying that basis for belief is here [HOLD UP BIBLE]
I wonder if we’re sometimes a bit too apologetic re getting bible out when we’re doing evangelism.
Not saying we should start preaching @ people, but when used correctly, there is the power in these words to bring people to faith.
This is wt G has given us – let’s use it!

Either way, RM isn’t quite so convinced.  
Reckons something more dramatic is required: v30 -  'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'

We can relate to this, can’t we?  I often find myself asking, “if only G would make himself more obvious…”  I have friends for whom this is the main barrier to them trusting in J.  
But actually, I think A’s response is true, 31: He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'

We explain away the dramatic – the evidence for Christianity is there.  
If we won’t believe wt’s there, why would we believe a miracle?  
I know that when I hear suggestion that something miraculous has happened,  I will settle for a fairly elaborate and shaky solution before I’ll concede that such a thing happened.

Here’s 1st obvious confirmation of wt J is saying – he has raised people from dead!  He’s even raised someone called L from the dead in John 11, 
you have to wonder why J names the beggar here, especially given that he doesn’t name RM, if he isn’t alluding to fact that L did indeed rise, 
and that the Pharisees’ response was not belief, but plotting to kill him!

Here’s 2nd, more important confirmation of what J is saying:  J himself rose from dead, and even then many of Pharisees refused to heed warning.

To close, remember the thing you thought of @ start:  What are you going to face this week where you’ll be tempted to allow the values of this world override the things G values?

Take a moment to decide to invest in eternity, because it is the wise and reasonable choice.
 
SILENCE       PRAYER