Yo, Listen Up!

Luke 16:19-31

September 26, 2004

“Yo, listen up!” Getting people’s attention when it’s really important.

A little girl was standing outside her Sunday school classroom when the pastor noticed she was holding a big storybook entitled, “Jonah and the Whale.” The pastor wanted to have some fun with her so he asked her, “Do you really believe that Jonah was swallowed by a whale?” The little girl frowned and declared, “Of course I do!” The pastor pushed her a bit and said, “You really believe that a man can be swallowed by a big whale, stay inside for three days and then come out and still be alive?” The little girl said, “Absolutely. The story is in the Bible and we studied it in Sunday school today.”

Then the pastor asked, “Can you prove to me that the story is true?” She thought for a moment and then said, “Well, when I get to Heaven, I’ll ask Jonah.” The pastor was on a roll and asked, “Well, what if Jonah’s not in Heaven?” She then put her hands on her little hips and sternly declared, “Then you can ask him!”

In a national poll conducted several years ago by USA Today “67% of American adults said they believe in a hell. But less than 25% believed that they would go there, while 25% believe their friends will be there” [USA Today December 1986]. But is Hell real or not? If Hell is not real, and everyone is going to get to Heaven eventually, we might as well close the doors to this church and go home.
 

It is like “the story that is told of a chaplain who reported to a new duty station. Upon arrival some of the men came to see him and asked him this question: Do you believe in a literal hell? When he replied that he did not, the men asked him to resign and he asked them why. Their response to him was: ‘If there is no Hell then we don’t need you and if there is a Hell we don’t want you to lead us astray.”

A newer poll conducted by US News and World Report (2000) reveals that more Americans today believe in Hell than they did in the 1950’s or even 10 years ago. So let’s assume that we all believe in scripture, and that there is a Hell, in whatever form it takes.

We can then also assume that it’s some place that we do not want to end up in.  
None of us know when the end is. We are not privy to how much time we have left before we meet God; that is why how we live our life is so important.

Today’s gospel reading teaches us three lessons about Hell and about life:

I. Once Life Is Over You Cannot Salvage Things- Share Them Now!
READ vv.19-21
A successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, a brick smashed into the Jag’s side door! He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown.
The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, “What was that all about and who are you? That’s a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?” The young boy was apologetic. “Please, mister...please, I’m sorry but I didn’t know what else to do,” he pleaded. “I threw the brick because no one else would stop...” With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car.
“It’ my brother,” he said. “He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.” Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, “Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.” Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat.
He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts.

A quick look told him everything was going to be okay. “Thank you and may God bless you,” the grateful child told the stranger. Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home. It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message, “Don’t go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!”

God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don’t have time to listen, God has to throw a brick at us.

God was trying to get the attention of the Rich man. He threw a brick at him every day. The brick’s name was Lazarus. Every day Lazarus was laid at the gate of the rich man hoping that the rich man would have compassion upon him; and every day the Rich man ignored the brick that God threw at him. He walked out through the gate, and right past him—ignoring him—and in doing so ignoring God. God was trying to get him to stop, to pay attention, but he never slowed down enough to notice. All of the things that he owned obstructed his view.

Is there a Lazarus laying outside our gate this morning? Is God trying to hit us with a brick?

A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of Root beer and he started his journey.
When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old man. He was sitting in the park just staring at some pigeons. The boy sat down next to him and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old man looked hungry, so he offered him a Twinkie.
The man gratefully accepted it and smiled at him. His smile was so pleasant that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered him a root beer. Again, he smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.
As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave, but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old man, and gave him a hug. The man gave him his biggest smile ever.
When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, “What did you do today that made you so happy?”
He replied, “I had lunch with God.” But before his mother could respond, he added, “You know what? He’s got the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen!”
Meanwhile, the old man, also radiant with joy, returned to his home. His son was stunned by the look of peace on his face and he asked, “Dad, what did you do today that made you so happy?”
He replied, “I ate Twinkies in the park with God.” However, before his son responded, he added, “You know, He’s much younger than I expected.”

The Rich man had the opportunity to have lunch with God, to minister to the needs of a man in need; and yet he was too busy. Even the wild animals that roamed the streets were kinder to him than the rich man.

II. Once Life Is Over You Cannot Seize Opportunities- Seek God Now.
READ vv. 22-26.
C. S. Lewis was told about a gravestone inscription that read: “Here lies an atheist – all dressed up and no where to go.” Lewis quietly replied, “I bet he wishes that were so.”
People prepare for life on earth, but seldom for life after life. The contrast between the rich and the poor man couldn’t be any greater (v 22). But the story of their lives is now reversed in death. Lazarus had died without fanfare; we can assume however that the rich man had a decent burial. But Lazarus had a smooth ride and a soft landing - he was carried by angels into Abraham’s bosom.

Why did Lazarus go to heaven? We can find the answer in the definition of his name. His name is Lazarus, which means “God is my helper”. Though poor in health, so sick in fact that his body was full of sores; though lacking the ability to probably even walk since the Bible says he was “laid” at the gate, yet still he trusted in God.
He only hoped that the rich man would help him. But at some point in life, maybe it was before his sickness or maybe it was because of sickness, for whatever reason came to a personal relationship with God.

He may have felt that God had deserted him, betrayed him, or maybe cursed him, but he never left God, denied or cursed God. Bad things followed him (v 25) but they did not shape or harden him. He did not blame or resent God for his lot in life.

He believed in a better tomorrow, a glorious future, and the everlasting life that is awaiting believers like him in heaven - a deliverance from death, hell, and separation from God.
It was not because of his poverty that he went to heaven, but it was because of his faith in God.

Why did the Rich man go to hell? Was it because he was rich? His riches did not land in hell any more than did the poverty of Lazarus give him a free ticket to heaven. Lazarus went to heaven by faith in God; the Rich man went to hell because of his lack of faith in God!

His riches were his god, although every day he had the opportunity to turn to the Lord. He had a witness sent from God lying at his gate, and yet he did not seize the opportunity.

Hell is not cool. It is pictured as a place of intense suffering and unceasing sorrow. Suffering is physical and the sorrow is emotional. The word fire (v 24) is an understatement. The Rich man in his life had everything he needed. But now he can’t even get a drop of water to cool his tongue.


 

III. Once Life Is Over You Cannot Save Others- Speak Up Now.
READ vv. 27-31.
Don’t you know that the Rich man has regrets- he wishes a thousand times over that he could have changed his ways, and is still to this day suffering the torments of hell, which in part is the memory of missed opportunities. “Oh I wish I had turned to the Lord; I wish I had noticed Lazarus.”

And now the Rich man not only has regrets over his on missed opportunities, but now he wishes that he had known the Lord so he could have shared him with his five brothers. The Rich man could not send out any warnings from hell to his brothers—there is no “Crossing Over with Johnathan Edwards”—his brothers had the same opportunity that he had.

Just as the rich man could not influence people from hell, neither could Lazarus have any influence over those he left behind. If we’re going to love someone we had better love them now; if we’re going to share Christ with someone we had better speak up now. There is no salvaging of things, no seizing of opportunities once this life is over!

“One day, when Vice-President Calvin Coolidge was presiding over the Senate, one senator angrily told another to go “straight to hell.” The offended Senator complained to Coolidge as presiding officer, and Coolidge looked up from the book he had been leafing through while listening to the debate and wittily replied. “I’ve looked through the rule book,” he said, “You don’t have to go.”

You really don’t have to go: you can heed the Word of God, ask Jesus into your life, and be saved.

Is God calling to you? Is God hitting you with a brick? Then, “Yo, listen up!”

You have that opportunity and that choice of where to spend eternity right here, right now.
Let me ask you this morning: do you know where you will spend eternity? Do you have the assurance of heaven, of eternal life with God?