Money fails in death is an understatement, isn’t it? Everything fails in death – save Jesus! Last week we learned the hard truth that while money can help make life easier in some ways, it cannot bring true happiness and fulfillment. This week we see that as much as money lets us down in life, its ultimate failure to deliver on its promises happens in death. Those who live with hearts filled with love for money and void of love for God will receive the only eternity that money can buy: one void of God and filled with pain.
Our story from Sunday of the rich man and Lazarus is NOT a parable. God doesn’t call it that. This is pure application. Listen carefully. He just starts 19″There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. There is nothing wrong with material blessings. They come from God after all, don’t they? Money was and is not the problem per se. The problem was that the rich man in contrast to Lazarus, was not interested in anything that God had to offer. The rich man could have been a great guy, just not a Christian. Just from the first two verses we can’t tell a whole lot about Lazarus either, but the name means, “trust in God.”
I’m not sure if God has blessed you with great material wealth or not – for our purposes of this Hard Truth – that money fails in death – it’s really beside the point. Let me tell you a story about a man who wanted to go swimming in Australia in a local river. He asked the guide if there were any alligators in the river. The guide assured him that there were no alligators in the river. The swimmer took one more look before he lept and he said are you sure? When I look in the river I see these moving grey shadows in the water. The guide coolly replied, oh those… Those are the reason I’m sure there are no alligators in the water. Those grey shadows are sharks. They’ve chased all the alligators away. Great! That doesn’t mean it’s safe to go swimming does it? My point is simply this – just because you may not be tempted by a pile of money doesn’t mean that you are tempted by something to take the place of your God. The Hard Truth is that you need to check the water frequently – what personal wants and desires are about to… already have? …pushed God out of the number place in my life? Could it be a person who is not my spouse? Is it a substance that I cannot resist – this is commonly known as addiction? Maybe it’s just that you’ve become so busy, you don’t have time for God’s word for yourself, for your family.
Want to hear more? Watch this weeks lesson taken from Luke 16, the final sermon from our sermon series, Hard Truth – Money Fails in Death.
Book(s): Luke
Series: Hard Truth
Tag(s): Stewardship, Unrepentance
Speaker(s): Fred Guldberg