luke-16-19-31

0 · Orients the congregation to the sermon's location in the ongoing series and directs them to the specific passage

We are actually going to be back in our series in Luke's Gospel this morning. So we are back in our series, Kingdom Come. We took a break this fall. We're back in it. We're going to be looking specifically this morning at chapter 16, verses 19 to the end of the chapter. So you can turn with me to Luke 16.

1 · Situates the parable within Luke's larger narrative arc—Jesus journeying toward the cross while teaching about the kingdom through parables—and establishes continuity with earlier teaching on discipleship and God's gathering heart

Before we read the passage, just a reminder of where we are in Luke's Gospel. In Luke 9, Jesus makes His fateful turn towards Jerusalem. He sets His face towards David's city and towards the apex of His mission on earth, towards the cross. And so for the remainder of Luke's Gospel, Jesus is now on His way, en route to Jerusalem and en route to complete His mission, to die as a sacrifice for the sins of His people. As we work our way through that, though, in chapter 14, we saw Jesus warning and telling those who would follow Him to count the cost of what it means to be a disciple. We heard that message this summer. And then in chapters 15 and 16, He begins teaching about more details of His Kingdom, and He uses a specific device. He starts telling parables. He starts telling stories, memorable stories. A series of stories about lost things that show us God's heart to gather in those who have drifted. And so we heard about a lost coin and a lost sheep, and then finally about a lost son, a prodigal, who the father in his grace brought back home. These stories tell us about who God is and about the nature of the kingdom. This morning, as we pick back up in Luke's Gospel, we're still in the midst of that section. Jesus telling His followers and the crowds about what the kingdom is like. Jesus tells us another story in Luke 16, another parable that paints for us another picture of just the upside-down nature of the kingdom of God.

2 · Reads the entire parable verbatim, presenting the text as God's authoritative Word that will be expounded

So look with me now at Luke 16, beginning at verse 19. Hear God's holy and authoritative word. 'There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, He lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side, and he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.' And he said, 'Then I beg you, Father, to send him to my father's house, for I have 5 brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them.' And he said, 'No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' And he said to them, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.' The word of the Lord. May He write His truth upon our hearts.

3 · Invokes God's help in the preaching and hearing of His Word, acknowledging dependence on the Spirit for the sermon to accomplish its purpose

Would you bow your heads? Father, by your mercy, you have given us Moses and the prophets. You have given us your holy words, and we are gathered now to sit under the teaching of your words so that we might be fixed and convinced of the truthfulness of this testimony about Jesus. Lord, that His Kingdom would be real to us, that our hearts would believe and that our lives would reflect it. But Lord, for this to happen, we need Your help. And so we ask now that You would send Your Spirit to empower the preaching and hearing and receiving and doing of Your Word. We pray that You would do this for our joy and for the glory of Your Son, Jesus. It's in His name that we pray. Amen.

4 · Identifies Jesus' narrative formula and signals that the sermon will proceed by examining the parable's two central characters

Well, Jesus' opening words, He begins by saying, 'There was a man.' There was once a man. It's almost a little bit like saying, 'Once upon a time.' It's that sort of introductory phrase. Jesus is telling a story. It's the exact same way He actually started the story of the prodigal son. What Jesus is doing is tipping us off that the key to the story is going to be in examining the main characters. There was a man, and one of them is a rich man. The first thing I want us to see this morning is the significance of the parable's two characters, these two men.

5 · Unpacks the cultural markers of extreme wealth in Jesus' day—purple robes, fine linen, daily feasting, gated estate—to establish that the rich man possesses ostentatious, excessive wealth far beyond ordinary comfort

Jesus draws our attention to them. First, there is a rich man, and Jesus says he's clothed in purple. Now, I grew up, my high school's colors were purple, so we always wore purple. I would read that in the Bible as a kid and thought, 'Well, of course He's clothed in purple. That's the colors you wear.' In Jesus' day, purple was a symbol of wealth, a symbol of significance and royalty. He wears linens, fine linens, not rough wool, but silky linen cloths as undergarments. It signifies His life is one of comfort. This is essentially the custom-made $5,000 Armani suits and Rolex watches of our day. That's what this man wears. That's what he walks around in. He's not just a guy who's got a comfortable life. This is a man with ostentatious wealth. He has more money than he knows what to do with. Jesus even says, 'Every day is a feast.' We're going to have our annual manly meat fest, first Friday in December, December 2nd, and we go and we just stuff our faces with copious amounts of meats. And we enjoy table fellowship together. Well, this guy's life is just one perpetual meat fest. He eats like that every day. There's no end to the food and the drink. Everything is at his fingertips. He wants for nothing. He doesn't just have a nice house. It says they lay Lazarus not on his front steps, but at his gate. This guy's got a gated house, a gated community. Keep the riffraff at arm's length. He lives in a mansion. This is an upper crust guy. This is a 1 percenter, a 0.1 percenter.