Worship

Pastor Jon Enter                 SalemLutheran.org

Theme: Heaven Is…Free   Text: Luke 16:19-31

NOTE: This sermon is written from the first-person perspective meaning I will be speaking as if I am Lazarus who was sent to heaven in Luke 16.

I heard you had an unexpected visitor three years ago. News of the rich man’s visit reached all the way up to the pearly gates, as some of you like to call heaven. I hope you listened to his message. I know he warned you that hell that is hell. I’m sure he was passionate in his plea to you to wise up in your ways and to not follow in his footsteps of rejecting God. The rich man once thought I was poor and thought I had a miserable existence while I was on earth. Well, now he knows what true depravity and poverty is like as every creature comfort has been ripped away from him and replaced with an eternal hell fire. Now, he knows what true misery is as he is forced to see the glories of heaven while he suffers the curses of hell.

Yes, I had it bad on earth. Who am I? Well, I’m Lazarus; I’m that grown man that was dumped outside the rich man’s door. I’m that grotesque man—as described in the sermon text your pastor just read—whose body was covered with sickening sores and who looked as if I had just bathed in garbage. That wasn’t too flattering of a description but, to be honest, it really wasn’t that far off.

I was a mess. No one wanted to look at me. No one wanted to help me. No one liked me. That’s why I was dumped at the door of the rich man. People were sick of dealing with my sicknesses. So, I was thrown out like garbage. It’s no wonder why the rich man ignored me. I felt like garbage.

I’m guessing you know what that’s like. Maybe you’ve felt the same. Sometimes life stinks. Life sometimes is just so difficult to face the next day. “What use am I to anyone anyway?” That thought was stuck in my head as I wallowed in my own self-pity, in my own wasted life. What had I to show for my years? A whole lot of nothing—that was the answer. Broken relationships. Shattered dreams. Failed attempt after failed attempt to make something of myself in life. I wasn’t happy. I was miserable.

The difference between my life and yours is that I couldn’t hide my pain as well as you do. My sores were obvious to all. Your sores, the pain that you feel in your life, you try to keep from being obvious to anyone. If people ask you, “How are you doing?” You’ll answer, “Fine.” Even when you aren’t fine. Even when you are the furthest from fine. Even when you want to scream and cry and shout out, “I’M NOT FINE! I’M MISERABLE!” You won’t do it. You answer, “I’m fine. How are you?” And they’ll answer, “I’m fine.” Even though they typically aren’t fine as well. Why do you suffer alone?

You are told very little within the Bible about me. You are told that I was 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 [my] sores.” That’s all you know of my life on earth. Then I died and was carried off to heaven. That’s it. No more details. Why is it then that so many of you Christians have a romanticized view of my life? It’s so easy for people to think of me that I never struggled with my poverty, with my sickness, with being alone just because I went to heaven. I’m human. I wasn’t perfect so the pain I felt pained me. Of course, I was tempted to think that God forgot about me. Of course, I was tempted to be mad and cry out, “Why God?”

I’m guessing you know what that’s like. You’re all here to grow in your understanding of God’s love for the world, for you. But what about those times when God seems distant? When you’re suffering financially and you don’t know how you’re going to make it, but God is blessing others and not you. “Why God?!” When you know just $5,000 more per year would take the burden of worry off your life but God who can do anything in abundance is holding back. “Why God?” When it feels like the health insurance you can afford is the equivalent of stray dogs licking you to heal what’s wrong. “Why God?” When you’ve lost your family and friends to death, divorce, disease or disagreement and you feel all alone. “Why God?”

I struggled. I felt financially and emotionally so it was hard to be thankful. It was a struggle to have full trust in God. Again, I think you know what that feels like.

I told you before. I was no saint during my time of suffering. And neither are you. You know better. You know God’s commands. “Do not worry about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:34). Yet you worry about tomorrow. “Do not be anxious about anything” (Philippians 4:6). Yet you are anxious about many things. “No one should say, ‘God is tempting me’” (James 1:13). Yet you blame God for the pains you are feeling. “Submit yourselves to God” (James 4:7). Yet you think—you foolishly think—you can fix things yourselves.

And I get it. Really, I do. I kept listening to those lies of the devil that worry, anxiety, anger and fixing it myself would work. They don’t. My faith understood and my faith knew that God alone was the answer but, in my weakness and pain, sometimes I waivered holding onto that truth. Again, once again, I’m guessing you know what that’s like.

So. what do we do? Let me answer by telling you a story. I lived as a beggar on the streets among the wild animals. There was a dog with black fur and a dog with black and white speckles who both wandered the streets. They once got into a fight. Which dog won? There’s no way to know. So let me add understanding to this story. Let’s say the dog with black fur found a restaurant owner who took a liking to this dog with black fur. He always gave the dog plenty of water and gathered table scraps twice a day filling a bowl for this dog to eat. That dog with black fur was healthy and strong because it was well fed. The speckled dog was malnourished (it hadn’t eaten in a long time) and it was dehydrated (it hadn’t rained in a while). It was weak and barely able to stand. Now, those two dogs get into a fight. Who wins? The answer is easy. It’s the one that was fed the most.

Inside of you is a faith that wants to trust and serve God and inside of you is also a sinful nature. They’re battling for your focus and soul. Which one is going to win? The answer is easy. It’s the one you feed the most.

Friends, how did I get through the pain, the poverty, the questions about God when life was rough? I released my pain and I fed my faith. That’s what prayer is. Prayer is releasing. Prayer releases your pain, your sins, your unwanted wants to God. Pray to God releasing to him your worry over how tomorrow will actually be better than today. Pray to God releasing your anxiety over how you’re going to make it financially. Pray to God releasing your frustration and anger over God not giving to you according to your will. Prayer is releasing. But it isn’t filling.

God’s Word is what fills your heart with peace. God’s Word is what fuels your life with confidence in God’s love for you. God’s Word is what changes your life and your eternity.

When you struggle in this life, what is your passage of peace that fills your heart with confidence in God’s love when the world around you is pushing back? What is your passage of peace? If you’re struggling for peace, God’s Word is the answer. The Word works!

Can I share a great one with you? It’s Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the plans I have for you declares the LORD. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.” I love those words. And the context of those words gives such peace. God spoke through Jeremiah to the Israelites who were in captivity. They were slaves! And just before this God told them to plant vineyards and build homes because they weren’t going to leave that slavery during that lifetime. But then God said he has plans to prosper them and not to harm them. In other words, they wouldn’t make it out of slavery, but he would sustain them through it. I didn’t make it out of my poverty and sickness, but God sustained me through it. He sent dogs to lick my wounds and relieve my pain. He gave me just enough through humble begging to make it to the next day. He sustained me but even greater, God had plans to give me hope and a future. And I’m enjoying that great blessing, the eternal joys of heaven, now and forever.

God has plans for you too. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. That doesn’t necessarily mean the cancer will go away, that the job promotion will come, that your wildest dreams will come true. But it does mean that God is with you. That he will sustain you. And when you look at the life you get to lead compared to the streets and sickness that was my life, how blessed you are! And how even greater blessed you will be in heaven!

Let me tell you, heaven is worth the wait. At the moment of my death, I stood before the Lord’s throne of glory. I wasn’t alone. There was a sea of other souls standing in judgment before the Almighty. We weren’t in line. Even though were there so many of us, God was dealing directly with me as he dealt directly with those around me. He pulled books—big books—with all of the sinful things I had ever done in my life. I could see everything I had ever done. I kept remembering sin after sin that haunted me on earth now was haunting me again on the doorstep to glory, which was also the doorstep to hell. Amazingly, each and every one of those sins that I committed was crossed out by a line of red blood. Each and every sin that I committed was forgiven by the mercy of Christ! Because of Jesus, I was released from the guilt of my sins and ushered into glory, into heaven eternal! It was not by my works but by the works of Jesus am I in glory!

Let me tell you, the movie, Ghost, had it all wrong! You don’t hang out on earth after your death to avenge those who wrong you. You don’t slide pennies up doors or take a pottery class. Immediately, you stand in judgment before the Lord. Through faith in Jesus, you inherit heaven. There was another book called the Book of Life and in it are the names of those who believe in Jesus. There my name was written by the work of the Holy Spirit. And I was brought into paradise!

In heaven there is no sadness, no sickness, no death. There’s no fear, no sorrow, no regret. Bitterness is gone forever; failure is left far behind. There is perfect happiness, perfect peace, perfection given to you forever. That gift is being prepared for you right now. That gift is yours. Why? It’s not based on the size of your faith. It’s not based on whether or not you struggle. It’s based on whether or not you believe that Jesus is your Savior. It’s based on whether or not you have faith. God is not afraid of your struggles or your weaknesses. He knows you will struggle. All the disciples did. All of the heroes of Faith in Hebrews 11 did. I struggled. But I had faith and trust in Jesus so I have heaven.

Do you have faith? Do you cry out in faith? “Lord, I need you. Help me!” If you have faith, you call on God’s name and God knows your name. Did you notice that when your pastor read from Luke 16? The rich man is simply called the rich man. He has no name in the story. But I’m called by name. Jesus knew my name. And Jesus knows your name. One day, he will call you by name from this life to the next and then you’ll know, you’ll know clearly, just how amazing grace and God are in heaven. Amen.