An eternal perspective for your earthly life

Sermon for Trinity 1

1 John 4:16-21  +  Luke 16:19-31

Last week we celebrated Trinity Sunday and thus stepped into the longest season of the Church Year, lasting half a year. In the festival half of the year, we focused on the major events in the life of Christ. In this non-festival half, the focus is still on Christ Jesus, but specifically, it’s on how Christ rules His Church from the right hand of God and what it means to live in the world as a part of His dear Church, as disciples of our Master Teacher.

Today the high stakes of discipleship are placed before us and we’re given the proper perspective as we begin our walk through this half of the Church Year. You’re not here on earth to get rich. And if you’re poor, it doesn’t matter at all. What matters is where you will spend eternity, the life after this life, because that one isn’t as short as 80 or 90-some years. That life goes on forever. That’s the perspective Jesus gives us in today’s Gospel. You’re rich. You’re poor. So what? Where will you spend eternity? And how will the answer to that question affect your life on earth?

The rich man in Jesus’ parable had what most people would consider to be the perfect life—all the riches anyone could ever want, no financial worries at all. He dressed well. He ate well, every day. He was the envy of the town. He had it all—so it seemed.

The poor man, Lazarus, had nothing at all, not even his health. He had a miserable life—extreme poverty, hunger, sores on his body, and no hope for anything better for the remainder of his earthly life. Who would envy such a man? Who would want his life? No one.

But then the earthly life of both men was over. They died, as all men do since Adam and Eve rebelled against God and gave up the earthly Paradise that should have been theirs and their children’s. And then we see a very different picture. The poor man’s soul was reverently carried by the angels to the heavenly Paradise, to Abraham’s bosom, while the rich man’s soul was tormented in the infernal flames. Now the roles are reversed. The man who was poor on earth has riches in heaven, and the man who had riches on earth is miserable in hell.

Now, some unbeliever might say, “Yeah, well, but to have a really good life on earth, it’ll be worth it!” But that’s not how the rich man saw it, is it? He longed for the smallest bit of comfort, which he couldn’t receive, and he begged Father Abraham to send Lazarus back to earth to warn his brothers, “It isn’t worth it! You need to change your ways, even if it means giving up the life of luxury you have on earth! You must avoid this agony at all costs!” But even that wish couldn’t be granted.

We learn some important lessons from this parable. We learn, first, that Lazarus was a godly man, a believer in the true God who promised to send a Savior into the world, who promised Abraham a Seed, an Offspring through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed, a Redeemer who would save sinners from their sins by the shedding of His own blood. Lazarus believed that promise. He relied on it with all his heart. He was a child of God and an heir of the promise made to Abraham already in this life. How do we know that? Because poverty doesn’t get you into heaven. Having a miserable life on earth doesn’t atone for sins or buy you a place next to Abraham at the heavenly banquet. Only faith in Christ gives anyone a place in Paradise.

But understanding that, we also learn that the godly, the believers in Christ, do not always prosper on earth. God, for His own reasons, sometimes allows His children to suffer, and not just for a little while. Poverty, chronic sickness, and loneliness are experienced by God’s children, too. They aren’t signs that a person has fallen out of favor with God. They’re the consequences of living in fallen world, consequences which every sinner may face, including the sinners who are also saints by faith in Christ Jesus.

Likewise, the unbelievers of the world often prosper on earth. They often seem to have it all. Their prosperity is not a sign that they are in good standing with God. It’s clear from today’s Gospel that the rich man was such an unbeliever. Why? Because he was rich? Because he didn’t help Lazarus? No, not necessarily. We only know for sure that he was an unbeliever because of where he ended up, and because of the words he spoke to Abraham from hell. You notice, he didn’t once mention God? He didn’t once express remorse for his sins or faith in the merciful Father in whom Abraham had believed. And he didn’t have any faith in Moses or the prophets, but was convinced that the Word of God was worthless, that only the miracle of a man raised from the dead would convince his brothers to repent.

So, again, having it all here on earth, or having a miserable life here on earth—in the end, it’s meaningless. Being saved from your well-deserved and eternal torment in hell, being received into eternal life with God—that’s what matters. And there is only One who can save: Christ Jesus, who gave Himself into death for your sins and for the sins of all, who calls on sinners to recognize and mourn over their sins, who graciously invites sinners to trust in Him for the forgiveness of sins and for free entrance into eternal life when this earthly life is over.

And the only way for any sinner to come to repentance is to hear the Moses and the Prophets, the Word of God, telling us the truth about God’s commandments and His expectations of complete obedience and His wrath against those who break His commandments. And, to hear the Word of God inviting us to believe in Christ Jesus, to receive the Sacrament of Holy Baptism where sins are washed away, to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion, where the Holy Spirit applies to us the atoning work of Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

So, instead of feeling sorry for yourself because of how miserable your life on earth may be, take heart! God’s favor is still held out to you in your misery, which you may still have to endure for a time. But there will come an end to the misery, and it won’t be more than God will help you to bear while it lasts. Until that end comes, you have the treasure of God’s Word and Sacraments in abundance, no matter what other things you may lack. Run to them! Use them! God will help you by them.

Likewise, it’s useless to spend your life trying to get rich or trying to get happiness or living it up while you can. I know it’s appealing. I know the world runs after all these things and tries to get you to run along with it. But it’s meaningless. An eternal perspective reveals that. And it can also be very dangerous. Because even a Christian’s appreciation for God’s love can be replaced by an appreciation for the good life. Even a Christian’s love for God and for our neighbor can be replaced by a love for the things of this world, so that we don’t even notice the beggar lying at our gate, or if we do notice, we close our heart to him.

I’ll give you an example of all this. You know I just returned from visiting our little church in Colombia. In some ways, these Colombian Christians are like Lazarus. They’re poor by the standards of this world, though not beggars. Some of them are actually Venezuelans who have taken refuge in Colombia, because the entire life they had built for themselves in Venezuela has been stolen from them by their socialist government and they’ve had to leave all their riches behind just to stay alive. The people in Medellin live with constant threats of violence and robbery from the drug cartels who are still very powerful in the city. We spoke with taxi drivers who have seen it all, who were forced at gunpoint to transport cartel members, whose own family members have been robbed.

And yet, our church family there is not despairing. They aren’t depressed. Nor are they jealous of all the nice things you and I possess. Their lot in life is a hard one. But they’re joyful in the Lord and in the Gospel of Christ Jesus, and they know that they have God’s favor here, and riches waiting for them in heaven.

You and I are, in a sense, like the rich man, in that, by the standards of the world, we really are rich—even the poorest among us. But, unlike the rich man, we have been convinced of our great neediness before God, and, as John said in the Epistle, we have known and believed the love that God has for us. And the love that God has for us produces, not only faith, but also love for our neighbor in need. Specifically, you and the other congregations of our diocese reached out in love to the Colombian church with the special offering that was gathered, so that our brothers and sisters there are not like Lazarus, who was left longing to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Instead, they are so, so grateful to receive the help we’ve been able to give, which came from the eternal perspective Jesus has given us of our earthly life, showing us that it’s not about hoarding money or enjoying earthly pleasures. It’s about knowing the true God, hearing His Word, securing our eternal home, and then using earthly wealth to help our neighbor and especially our fellow Christian in his need.

Work to keep that eternal perspective, and to grow in it, because the allure of earthly happiness is powerful and persuasive. But the Word of God is more powerful still. Keep hearing it faithfully and listen to what it says. In it, God’s love for us is fully revealed, so that, whether we’re rich or poor, well off or miserable, we never lose sight of what really matters: an eternal home with God in Paradise, purchased for us with Jesus’ own blood; and helping our neighbor along the way until we get there. Amen.