Proclaim the Wonders God Has Done - The Treasure of God's Word

Luke 16:19-31 - "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…

Over the last couple of weeks Jesus has shown us the great love that He has for the lost—not just lost sheep or coins, but lost people, lost sinners like you and me.  He has taken the time to educate His disciples about being shrewd in the way we use our gifts and blessings—gifts and blessings which come from Him.  And today, by way of a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus, Jesus applies His Word to our lives so we can proclaim the wonders God has done.

This morning I invite you to think about what it means to be rich.  What makes a person wealthy?  Is it earning a certain income level?  $250,000 a year?  $500,000 a year?  If someone on the street came and asked you, “Are you rich?”, what would you say?  Yet as I stand before you today, I can safely say that you are rich—each and every one of you.  Maybe not rich in worldly wealth—but still rich.  As we strive to proclaim the wonders God has done, I want you to know that you are rich—rich in the treasure of God’s Word. 

I.     The greatest treasure we have.

Right away Jesus introduces us to two men who couldn’t have been more different from one another.  “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day” (v. 19).  Purple dye was rare in Jesus’ day; it was made from the glands of certain species of shellfish.  Only the wealthiest people could afford it.  The finest clothes and the best food—that was the rich man’s life.  Every day was a party.  “But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table.  Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores” (v. 20-21).  All Lazarus had to wear were his open sores—a sign of sickness and malnourishment.  Instead of eating whatever he wanted, Lazarus “longed to be fed” the leftovers from the rich man’s table.  The dogs coming to lick his sores—that was Lazarus’ only relief.     

The time came for both of these men to die.  Lazarus goes to heaven!  And Jesus here paints a beautiful picture of how that happens!  “So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom” (v. 22).  The man who had nothing now has everything!   We imagine angels swooping down, catching up this poor man’s soul and carrying him home to father Abraham’s warm embrace! 

Jesus also explains what happened to the rich man:  “The rich man also died and was buried” (v. 22).  No angels.  No bosom of Abraham.  Nothing.  Nothing more to say because we know where he went—and while we want to know what it’s like to go to heaven, nobody wants to know what it’s like to go to hell.    

So what is the ultimate difference?  Why is it that Lazarus goes to heaven and the rich man goes to hell?  A clue:  it has nothing to do with being rich or poor.  Wealth is not inherently evil and poverty is not a virtue.  Jesus tells us that when the rich man lifted up his eyes in the midst of his torment, he saw Abraham and Lazarus in heaven.  So he called out and begged Abraham to send Lazarus to just dip the very tip of his finger in water and use it to cool his tongue in the midst of his anguish.  I want you to listen to Abraham’s answer:  “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” (v. 25). 

The rich man was rich in the wrong kind of treasure.  He got everything that he had wanted out of life:  the nice clothes, the fancy house, the good food.  But the rich man had pushed away the most important treasure of them all:  the treasure of God’s Word.  We can see his rejection in the way he treated Lazarus.  Every day he saw Lazarus’ miserable condition, but never came out to help him.  He refused to listen to what God’s Word said about his selfish, me-first attitude toward life.  Even worse, he also refused to consider that the promise of a Savior was something he actually needed.  And tragically, when forgiveness is something you don’t want—God doesn’t give it to you.  When you die, you’re left to stand on your own merits—and receive the verdict you deserve.      

Lazarus was rich with the right treasure.  In his life in the midst of all “the bad” stuff, Lazarus held onto the hope of life everlasting—not by his own works or by virtue of being poor, but by the undeserved love of God for sinners received through faith.  Lazarus held onto the only true treasure there is:  the Word of God!  So being rich with the right treasure in life, Lazarus was also rich in death.  When his earthly life came to an end, God saved Lazarus by sending His angels to bring him to his heavenly home! 

And you and I are rich in that treasure too!  It is the most important treasure we have!  It’s the only thing we have by which God can come to us and convict our consciences when it comes to sin, to point out all the times and ways in which we’ve failed to love God and our neighbor, to point out that if left to ourselves the rich man’s fate would be ours too:  eternal torment in hell.  That’s what God’s Word tells us—not to drive us to despair, but to get us to listen so that we don’t just hear the bad news, but the good news too.  The fact that the Son of God set aside all the wealth of His divinity, took on a human nature and humbled Himself to be born of a virgin—all so that He could take the poverty of our sin on Himself and win the riches of God’s forgiveness for every sin along with the rich promise of everlasting life!  God’s Word is the means by which He takes hell-bound souls like ours and brings them to heaven!  That’s what the treasure of God’s Word does for us each and every time we hear it! 

II.     The greatest treasure we have to share.

And yet, what good is a treasure if it’s not used?  What good is a treasure if it’s not shared? 

Jesus’ story of the rich man and Lazarus gives us so much to think about, but hopefully this is one of the things that sticks in your mind:  both heaven and hell are real!  The suffering of hell is real.  It’s the place of everlasting fire that God created for the devil and his followers (Matt 25:41).  Some of the brave men who stormed the beaches in Normandy on D-Day refer to their experiences as a “living hell.”  And yet, I can assure you, those beaches were not hell.  Why?  Because God was still there, watching over and protecting His people, shielding them from Satan’s slings and arrows!  The real Hell is the one place God has totally forsaken.  In hell you have nothing—no protection, no mercy, no relief—nothing but the devil, nothing to keep his torments away from you.  It’s not a place we would wish on anyone. 

Don’t wait until it’s too late to think of your “five brothers” or four sisters or two old friends who need the treasure of God’s Word in their lives too.  When your life is over—and when theirs is over—it’s too late.  But today it’s not too late!  And with that in mind I’d like you think about the rest of Abraham’s conversation across the chasm with the rich man.  Since the rich man won’t find any relief for himself, he now begs Abraham to send Lazarus to his father’s house, to warn his five brothers so that they won’t wind up in hell where he is now.  He thinks that the only thing that’s going to save his brothers is if someone comes back from the dead to warn them (v. 27-28, 30).  But what does Abraham say?  “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them… If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead” (v. 29, 31). 

When Abraham talks about “Moses and the prophets,” he’s just using the familiar name that Jews had for the Bible of their time, what we call the Old Testament Scriptures.  So often we get it in our heads that winning the lost takes having the right argument or knowing exactly what to say in any given situation or we get it in our heads that the only thing that’s going to change someone is if God knocks them off their horse with some kind of miracle.  Think back to Easter—to the day when Jesus Himself rose from the dead.  Those two disciples were walking down the road to Emmaus—filled with sorrow because Jesus had been put to death, but also confused over the reports they’d heard that morning from the women who’d came upon the empty tomb and seen the risen Jesus.  They didn’t believe at all—until someone came and walked with them and showed them from the Scriptures why the Son of Man had to die and then rise again.  It was only after they heard and believed, did their mystery teacher reveal Himself to be none other than the risen Jesus. 

Miracles don’t create faith.  Apologetic arguments are useful—but they don’t create faith.  Only the Word of God—the law and the gospel—has that power to lead sinners to repent of their sins and to trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior.  And if people are not going to listen to this priceless treasure of God’s Word, nothing else will save them.     

Remember that as you think about and pray for the lost.  We get to share earthly riches to help those in earthly need—but we also get to share our spiritual riches to help those in spiritual need.  We get to share the treasure of God’s Word—at home with our families and friends.  We get to share the Word of God through the work of the church.  And we also get to share the treasure of God’s Word—we get to proclaim the wonders God has done—through the work that we do, walking together in the light of Christ as a synod too.  The Word of God is not only the greatest treasure we have—it’s also the greatest treasure we have to share! 

You and I get to share a treasure that makes people rich—not in money, but in the grace and mercy of God.  The treasure that allows us to fly on the wings of angels to the place where we are received by the warm embrace of our spiritual forefathers, to live forever in the place where there will be no more mourning or crying or pain of any kind, because it is the place where God most definitely is—where we will see Him face to face.  In that treasure, you and I are eternally rich.  Amen.