Sometimes the wicked prosper

Sermon for Trinity 1

1 John 4:16-21  +  Luke 16:19-31

The scene Jesus depicts in today’s Gospel is not uncommon: an ungodly rich person living right next to a godly poor person. In other words, a prosperous unbeliever next to a miserable believer. And contrary to the triumphalist teaching that is common in modern Christianity, their respective conditions never changed this side of eternity. The prosperous unbeliever was allowed to prosper right up until the day he died, and the miserable believer was allowed to suffer poverty, sickness, and loneliness right up until the day he died. Queue the question that so many people are prone to ask: How could a good or loving God allow such a thing?

This reminds me very much of Psalm 73, a Psalm that I turn to often, because this situation is so common, where unbelievers prosper in the world while believers suffer, where it seems like God rewards wickedness and punishes faithfulness. Let me read just a portion of it now:

Truly God is good to Israel, to the pure in heart. But as for me, my feet almost stumbled; my steps had almost slipped. For I was envious at the boastful; I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death; their bodies are fat. They are not in trouble as other people; nor are they plagued like others…These are the wicked, always at ease; they increase in riches. Surely I have kept my heart pure for nothing… For all the day long I am plagued, and chastened every morning…When I thought to understand this, it was troublesome in my eyes, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end. Surely You have set them in slippery places; You have brought them down to ruin. How they come to desolation, as in a moment! They have come to an end, utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awakes, so, O Lord, when You awake, You will despise their form.

You see, our perspective is so skewed. We see a person’s life from birth to death, and in our sinful pride, we assume that we know the whole story, and we would judge God’s goodness or love based on how comfortable or pleasant a person’s earthly life has been. That’s utter foolishness! This life is a single breath, a fleeting moment, when compared with the eternity that follows. We may see some signs of God’s justice here, some glimpses of God’s favor and love for His children. But we will never see true justice here or God’s perfect love for His children. But we will see it, in the end, in the next life, as today’s Gospel makes absolutely certain.

Jesus once asked, What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? The rich man’s response in today’s Gospel, right up until the day he died, was, “That’s fine! Please! Give me the whole world so that I can enjoy it! My soul matters nothing to me.” How many today would say the same thing?

Now, the rich man in today’s Gospel may not have literally gained the whole world, but he gained an awful lot in this life. That wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t wrong for him to dress well, or to feast lavishly every day. It wasn’t wrong for him to be rich. But Moses and the prophets warned the rich against abusing their wealth, about failing to help their neighbor in need, about trusting in their riches, and about showing contempt for God and His Word. Over and over again the rich are warned in the Old Testament (and the New).

But the rich man in the Gospel didn’t pay attention. He didn’t listen to Moses or the prophets. He simply went about his life, enjoying his wealth and comfort and ease. He didn’t harm anyone. He also didn’t help anyone. He broke no manmade laws. But he broke God’s commandments. And yet, even that could have been forgiven. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t forgiven, because he remained impenitent and unbelieving.

How can you tell? Well, he ended up in hell. Hell is reserved, not for sinners in general, but for impenitent and unbelieving sinners.

Here Jesus paints a terrifying picture of hell, the most descriptive picture in all of Scripture, though it resembles other descriptions, such as, the “outer darkness,” where “their worm does not die, nor is their fire quenched.” Where “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” It’s referred to as “the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” and “the lake of fire burning with brimstone.”

Here, it’s described as a place of torment, a place where the damned “live,” if you can call it “living,” surrounded by everlasting flames, where there is no relief whatsoever, where a drop of water would be a coveted kindness. Even his hope of relief from Lazarus, after seeing him in Abraham’s bosom, is quickly dashed by Abraham, who informs the rich man that there is no crossing back and forth. Those who end up in heaven are there forever, just as those who end up in hell are there forever.

His other hope is also dashed, that maybe there’s a way for a miracle to be done, for Lazarus to be brought back from the dead, in order to warn his five brothers who are still alive on earth, so that they can avoid the torments of hell. But Abraham slams the door shut on any such hope. They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them!… If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, then they will not be persuaded, even if someone were to rise from the dead.

Too late, the rich man learned that it would have been better to have less in this life than to have never-ending torment in hell. Too late, he realized that he had ignored the only thing that could have kept him out of the torment of hell, that is, the Word of God.

If only someone had warned him ahead of time! But, of course, they had, whenever God’s Word was read or preached in the synagogue or in the temple. If only someone would warn the rich now! And not just the rich, but rich and poor and all people, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All people are in need of repentance, and turning from the evil of our hands and of our hearts, recognizing both the evil we have done and the good we have failed to do.

And that, of course, is the purpose of this Gospel. Jesus, the One who did miraculously come back from the dead, the one who descended into hell and rose again, has sent His Evangelist Luke to record this saying and has sent pastors for the last 2,000 years to preach it. To frighten and to warn the godless, impenitent rich with the reality of hell. Yes, you may be comfortable here. You may get through your whole earthly life without any troubles. But even so, you will regret it if you failed to take God’s Word seriously, if you failed to repent urgently. Eternity is infinitely longer than your earthly life, and you will realize that 70 or 80 years of comfort and bliss on earth are like nothing when compared with the endless torment of hell.

But it isn’t all warning in this Gospel. There is some serious comfort, too, for believers whose earthly lives are full of torment and suffering. Look at poor Lazarus. He had nothing. He was poor. And not just poor. He was sickly, full of sores, unable to work. And not just sickly and unable to work. Alone. Alone, except for the street dogs who came and licked his sores. And not just alone. But within sight, within a few yards of a better life, the life of the rich man at whose gate he lay. Not that he coveted the rich man’s life or expected the rich man to switch places with him or something. He would have been satisfied with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table.

To hold onto faith in such circumstances, to keep from cursing the God who would allow such suffering for a beloved son of His, is no easy thing. In fact, it’s impossible for a person to do. But God can sustain the faith of a poor man or an otherwise suffering man and keep giving him the patience he needs to keep going, without cursing God or man, without growing bitter, without seeking to end his own life. To keep going, until he draws his very last breath and closes his eyes to the pain of this world.

Lazarus demonstrated his faith in the God of Israel by his patience and perseverance, which also demonstrates the power of God’s Holy Spirit to preserve faith and to give enough strength so that a person can keep going.

And then look what happened when he died. The angels finally came and carried him home to Abraham’s bosom. And there he was comforted. No more poverty. No more sores. No more loneliness. And not just for a while. But forever, in the embrace of Abraham, the father of the faith, with whom Lazarus will spend all eternity, feasting at the table, dressed in a white robe, together with all the saints, with all believers in Christ. He finally saw the truth, the reality, that he had been loved by God all along, not unlike Job in the Old Testament, and that, as Paul wrote to the Romans, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

So if you’re living in repentance, if you’re trusting in Christ Jesus for forgiveness, and walking with the Holy Spirit in the new life of obedience and love, and you still find yourself plagued by all sorts of earthly trials and difficulties, don’t take it as a punishment from God or a sign of His disapproval, or worse, of His abandonment. Know that you’re in good company, that it has often gone this way for the saints in this life, but that it will all be well in the end.

Take with you today the closing words of Psalm 73, the Psalm we began the sermon with. Pray these words often, and mean them: Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For those who are far from You will perish; You destroy everyone who is unfaithful to You. But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have taken my refuge in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all Your works. Amen.