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Jonathan Griffiths: Riches accumulated in this world, they provide no security for the future. And that's such a shock to us because we are always thinking about financial security. But Jesus gives us a reality check here. Worldly riches are of no true and lasting security at all.

Steve Hiller: Welcome to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths. I'm Steve Hiller. Glad you're with us today. Jonathan, as we've been taking a look at money in our current series Cash, Christ and the Kingdom, you've entitled today's message a reality check from beyond the grave. What what are we looking at today?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, we're looking at one of the more sobering stories and parables that Jesus tells anywhere in the New Testament is the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man, of course, had lived a life of luxury and comfort. And at the bottom of his driveway, there had been a poor man named Lazarus who had lived in discomfort and deprivation. And when the rich man dies, we discover that the positions are reversed because Lazarus knew the Lord and his future beyond the grave was one of joy and bliss in the presence of the Lord.

But the rich man the rich man didn't know the Lord. And his future was one of suffering and loss. And it's a terribly sobering picture that we're given of the rich man's sense of regret and of inability to do anything about it once he had died. And Jesus, of course, wants us not to make the same mistake. So it is it is a wake-up call from beyond the grave in today's message.

Steve Hiller: Well, let's look at this account from the Book of Luke chapter 16 verses 19 to 31 is where we'll be as we begin our message, a reality check from beyond the grave. Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: If our last story from Jesus was the most perplexing story he told, the story today in our passage may well be the most sobering, the most direct, to our ears perhaps the most shocking. It's a story that is about wealth and money on one level, but actually it's driving at something far deeper, a matter of the heart, a matter of spiritual and eternal significance. You will remember that earlier in chapter 16, Jesus told us the parable of the dishonest manager, a man who was quite crooked in many ways, but who understood one thing very well.

He understood that money should be used to invest in relationships with people, relationships that will last well into the future. That man, he didn't love money. He knew how to use money strategically. And Jesus, he he wanted us to learn from that man to use money shrewdly, to invest in people and eternal relationships. Jesus wanted us to be sure that we are not those who love money, who are not enslaved to money, but rather those who love God and then use money. It was a powerful story. It's powerful teaching, and I think it hit home for us as listeners.

But some of Jesus's first hearers didn't actually like that story at all. In verse 14 of Luke 16, right after that parable, we read this. The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things and they ridiculed him. The Pharisees, religious teachers and leaders of their day, they needed to hear and they need to heed what Jesus was saying because evidently they loved money and they clearly fell into the trap that Jesus is warning against, but they hated the teaching and they ridiculed the teacher. And so now Jesus has another story, a story focused on wealth and on the future judgment yet again.

And we can hardly doubt that it's aimed straight at the Pharisees, the religious people in the first instance. Well, here in today's story is another man, a very different man. He clearly loves wealth like the Pharisees. And we discover that he is in a state of deep spiritual crisis, even though he doesn't realize it until it's far too late. The scene is that of the home of a rich man. This guy, he had it good in material terms. He had it very very good. He had money and he knew how to spend it on himself, how to enjoy it.

He had the best clothes, the best home, the best food. He was clothed in purple, we're told. Purple garments were the stuff of envy and luxury in the ancient world. Purple dye was extracted from sea snails and it was hard to come by. It was expensive. Some religious garments would have one purple thread woven into them. Well, this man's whole outfit was purple top to toe. And his base layer, his t-shirt and shorts underneath, it was fine linen. No cotton poly mix for this guy, only the best stuff. And as for food, he feasted sumptuously, we read.

Isn't that a wonderful word? And and he feasted sumptuously not just on the high days and the holidays, no, every day. Meats and cheeses and oils and breads and wine, nothing but the best for him. No holding back, no rationing, no leftovers the next day, only the finest and the freshest, no expense spared for him. And he evidently wore his fine clothes and ate his fine food in a very fine house because this house was big enough and grand enough to have its own gate at the bottom of the path, at the bottom of the drive.

This was no, you know, a little townhouse, no suburban bungalow. No, this was an imposing place befitting a man of his economic and social station. There was really only one problem, one fly in the ointment, one factor to dampen the ambience and to spoil the view at this rich man's gates sat a poor beggar, man named Lazarus. Now the whole scene with Lazarus was a bit sorry and a bit sad. It was really quite unpleasant if we're being honest about it. When the rich man went out for a walk, he would practically trip over Lazarus.

When his driver would take him out in the limousine, they would have to pause and kind of inch round this man lying on the drive. Apart from being poor and therefore not especially welcome in the rich man's neighborhood, Lazarus was actually sickly and he was visibly sickly. He was covered in sores, unsightly sores head to toe. And and they were so gruesome that the wild dogs in the neighborhood used to come along sniffing the smell of decay and they would lick those sores, making Lazarus continually, ceremonially unclean in Judaism, ripe for further infection and disease.

Now Lazarus, he had a reason for being there at this rich man's gate. It sounds as though he was unable to move through weakness and disability. He was laid there, we read, but he had a reason to choose this gate. In this house, he knew about the rich man's legendary feasts. He knew that there was always more food on the table than anyone could actually eat. For all we know, perhaps Lazarus was even a servant in this house before he fell ill. We don't know. In any event, he knew enough to know that this would be a good place for castoffs.

And Jesus tells us that in his heart he desired to be fed with the scraps that fell from this rich man's table. Now Lazarus, he wasn't looking for a gold-embossed personalized invitation to the daily banquet. He wasn't looking for a seat at the mahogany dining table. He just wanted some of the scraps to be thrown in his direction. That was his longing. But it was evidently never fulfilled. Before long, the inevitable thing happened. Lazarus passed away. His body was broken. We can see that it was diseased and malnourished. It was obvious he couldn't last long and the merciful thing happened.

His time of suffering was was brought to an end. And perhaps to our surprise as readers, we we learned that Lazarus was one who belonged to the Lord. He was, verse 22, carried to Abraham's side. He joined the saints of old, the people of God of former years in the Lord's own presence. The only hint we had of Lazarus's spiritual state and his value to the Lord was actually his name. Lazarus means quite literally the one who is helped by the Lord. So evidently Lazarus knew the Lord and the Lord had his eye on Lazarus and hadn't forgotten him through all his suffering.

Just so happened that the rich man died around the same time. The party had to come to an end eventually and end it did. We're told in verse 22 that the rich man died and was buried. Lazarus didn't get a burial, of course. He was too poor for that. But the rich man had a fitting burial for a man of his social and economic station. But the the respectful burial that he received was actually the last good thing that would ever happen to him because in verse 23 we read the harrowing words about his fate.

He was buried and in Hades being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. Now for the reader, this moment is something of a shock. But the real shock is of course for the rich man himself. He didn't see it coming. Clearly he had a background in biblical teaching and religious understanding. He knew about Abraham. He knew about the need to repent as we're going to see in a moment. He understood what was going on here, that he was in hell and Lazarus was in heaven, but he hadn't seen it coming.

Now he's in shock and the full gravity and the reality of his situation hasn't yet sunk in for him. He calls out to Abraham for for mercy and he asks for Lazarus to be sent to him, to give him a drop of water. He somehow imagines that Lazarus will still be at his beck and call. But Abraham says no. No, you you had your good things. Lazarus, he had bad things and now things are different. And in any case, there is a chasm fixed between you and him. And it is designed in such a way with the purpose that there will be no crossing over either way.

Reality starts to set in. The rich man begins to grasp the fact that there's no hope for him. And so an instinct is awakened in his heart, perhaps for the first time in a very long time. He begins to think of someone else. He begins to think of others, of his family and his father's house, his five brothers. He begs Abraham, send Lazarus, still imagining that Lazarus is somehow beholden to him as some kind of a servant. Send Lazarus to warn them, please, of the dangers of this place of torment. And Abraham, he says quite simply, they have warning enough.

In the scriptures, a visit from Lazarus will make no difference to them. And so the harrowing story concludes. I refer to it by the way as a story rather than a parable, somewhat intentionally. You'll notice that the passage itself refrains from calling this a parable and that may be significant. Parables, they usually take stories, everyday stories from this world to teach us about spiritual realities, but the bulk of the story actually comes to us not from the earth, but from the spiritual realm. The bulk of the story is set in heaven and hell. So someone say it's a story rather than a parable per se, and maybe that's right.

It's just a side note, but it's a powerful story in any case, a visually and emotionally poignant story. And we sense and we see and we feel that it has a great deal to teach us. What then is here? What is the message of this story for the religious people of Jesus's day, the Pharisees who loved wealth and who laughed at his teaching? What is the message for you and for me as we hear it today? Well, wealth is an important part of this, of course. Jesus has been teaching on money. He's addressing some people who love money, so there are lessons here about money.

But I think we can tell that it's about far more than money. In a sense, money is the presenting issue, but it's not the core issue. Story is a shocking one and it's shocking primarily because everything we might have assumed to be true about the rich man and about Lazarus turned out not to be true actually in the final accounting. The rich man in this life, he looked blessed and he looked secure. And Lazarus, he looked just the opposite, didn't he? But when all was said and done, the spiritual and emotional reality, the eternal reality could not have been more different.

This is a story that removes the veil of temporal appearances in the light of eternity and it shows us reality, true spiritual reality. If you like this passage serves as a reality check for us on a number of different levels. I count at least four. I'm sure there are more.

Steve Hiller: You're listening to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths and a message called a reality check from beyond the grave, part of our series Cash, Christ and the Kingdom. Now we're going to pause here, but we'll go back to the message in just a moment. If you ever miss a program in our series, you can always come and listen online. Our website is encounterthetruth.org. There you can stream the program or download an MP3 for free. You can also listen if you have the Encounter the Truth app. You'll find that for free at your app store. That's a great way to stay connected with Jonathan's teaching when you're on the go.

So again, look for the Encounter the Truth app at your app store or come and listen online at encounterthetruth.org. Back to the message. Here's Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: This is a story that removes the veil of temporal appearances in the light of eternity and it shows us reality, true spiritual reality. If you like this passage serves as a reality check for us on a number of different levels. I count at least four. I 'm sure there are more. First, there is here a reality check about riches. A reality check about riches. To the naked eye, this man, this rich man, he looked secure in his riches. That's true, isn't it? And we understand that in this world, wealth brings quite a lot of security.

There's almost nothing in this world that money can't buy. In fact, according to recent research, money even buys happiness on some levels at least to some degree. Over a decade ago, two leading Nobel Prize-winning researchers published an influential study, and you may have read about this recently, saying the effects of wealth on emotional well-being plateaued around $75,000 a year of income. But one of those researchers in that well-read study has just come out with a revision to that study based on some new data sets. And now he says that money is much more influential on happiness than was previously thought.

In fact, you keep getting happier and happier and happier right up to $500,000 worth of annual income. Well, I don't know. I I don't know if money buys happiness. On some levels, perhaps it does, at least for a time. But it certainly does buy a degree of security and physical well-being, at least for a time. I think we can we can see that. We understand that. We know that. You know, if you happen to be born in a country that you don't like or or that's dangerous, money will buy you a visa or a passport somewhere else.

There'll be some other country that will prioritize access for wealthy people and you'll you'll be able to get in. You'll move. If you have health problems, money will buy you the best doctors in the best clinics, in the best hospitals anywhere in the world. Money will always buy you a secure home in a secure place with security systems and security guards. Money will buy you the safest cars to travel in, bulletproof and bombproof if you need that. Money will buy you tickets on the best planes operated by the best carriers, access to the safest private jets.

Money will buy you access to the best educational opportunities, access to the best networking connections to get the best and the most secure employment that money can buy. You see, money does buy security in this world, not perfect and total security, of course. I mean, wealthy people still get sick, get robbed, get killed in accidents and so on. But let not kid ourselves. Money goes a long way in this world to buying security, to ensuring our physical well-being and that of our loved ones. And the rich man in our story, he looked very very secure.

He was well provided for in terms of food and clothing, a nice home with a wall and a gate, comfortable, secure. Lazarus was of course a powerful illustration actually of the same principle, but moving in the opposite direction. See, he didn't have access to the cushioning and protective resources of wealth to guard him from the harsh realities of hunger and homelessness and preventable disease. See, in this life, these two men together reinforce the principle that money keeps you healthy and safe, pampered and secure at least most of the time. But the situation of these two men after death could not actually be anymore different.

The great shock of the scene we encounter in those moments after death is essentially this. Wealth had no power to protect the rich man, none at all. His money, which gave him such security in this world, gave him no security at all in the world to come. I don't know if you've ever had the unhappy experience of seeing an investment of yours turn to dust overnight, go from something to nothing in an instant to become entirely worthless. It can happen in the blink of an eye, of course. I remember when I was a student and just beginning to learn about the stock market and I was getting interested in investing in the movement of the markets and that kind of thing.

And I remember that a a famous Canadian company at that time was going through a bit of a rough patch, the Timothy Eaton Company, once one of Canada's great brands named after one of the country's most noteworthy families with a long, illustrious history and grand iconic department stores across the land. It was going through turmoil at that time and the stocks were looking very very cheap. I remember thinking, well, this looks like a bargain. I mean, Eaton's isn't going anywhere. It's too famous. It's too well established. This would be a great time to buy, surely.

I wasn't really in a position to do anything about it and in the end I didn't try. But I I watched then with shock to see the company declare bankruptcy just a few days later and to see the stores across the country promptly liquidate their goods and close their doors. And for many investors, of course, the losses would have been immense, catastrophic. That story has of course been repeated again and again throughout history. An asset seems secure, immovable, and suddenly it's worth nothing. It's of no use at all. This rich man, he just couldn't make sense of what had taken place, of his change in situation, of the loss of value, of all his wealth.

In the early moments of his torment, he still thought he could rely on his position and have Lazarus behave as a servant toward him. He wanted Lazarus to bring a drop of water to cool his tongue, verse 24. He wanted Lazarus to go and warn his siblings, verse 27. But the truth is in Hades he's no longer a rich man. He is now merely a lost soul. The whole scene is troubling and it it's meant to be troubling. Jesus has told this story to shock and to warn. And you and I, we need to see and feel and understand the force of all this, the reality of riches is that their security is fleeting.

It is for this life only and it means nothing in the world that is to come. The rich man in this story is precisely an illustration of the failure to understand the principle that the dishonest manager did understand. Remember the dishonest manager, he grasped the fact that he needed to use his wealth today to invest in relationships for the long haul. Well, the rich man in this story, he isn't thinking about the long-term future at all. He has no interest in investing in people and relationships. That's why poor Lazarus is suffering and languishing at his gate.

And when he then decides that he wants the help of Lazarus beyond the grave, it is all too late. Now riches accumulated and enjoyed in this world, they provide no security for the future. And that's such a shock to us because we are always thinking and always talking about financial security, aren't we? That's what the investment houses all talk about. That's what they tell us about, build wealth to build security for the future. But Jesus gives us a reality check here. Worldly riches are of no true and lasting security at all. Now we only see that and we all need to be reminded of that because we will be inclined, all of us, to look to worldly wealth to protect us and to buffer us from the dangers all around us.

And being careful and prudent in this is is is fine enough, but we got to keep wealth in perspective. It will only help us in this life and it can do nothing for us, nothing in the life that is to come. Now some among us, some here will need to hear this warning and receive this reality check more urgently. You need to receive it and hear it because you actually, if you're being honest, you have been placing your trust in money for your security. And you haven't really ever honestly considered what will happen when you leave this life.

And you need to hear the warning of Jesus. And if that's you and it will be a number, I have no doubt, you need to keep listening now because Jesus has more for us here in this passage. He shows us more of what the rich man failed to see and fail to do and what we need to see and what we need to do. For us believers, it's a reminder we need, isn't it? A reminder that the things of this world are passing. We we can't place too much of our hope in them. Our priorities need to be different.

Our hope needs to rest fully on the Lord and him alone. It's a reality check about riches.

Steve Hiller: Jonathan Griffiths here on Encounter the Truth with our message a reality check from beyond the grave. And if you want to go back and listen to this broadcast again, you can do that at our website encounterthetruth.org. Well, whether you listen to Encounter the Truth on the radio, online or through the app, it's all made possible through your generosity. And as you give a gift of any amount this month, we want to say thank you by sending you a book called Gentle and Lowly, the Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers. And Jonathan, I know that this is a book that you've read, you've picked out for us this month.

What did you take away from this book?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, thanks Steve. It is a book I've read and appreciated. I've got others to read and I'm planning to read it again. And I've appreciated it so much because it reminded me of things that I knew to be true, but I don't always remember and don't always live in the good of. I think that the default mode of our hearts and our sinfulness is to think that God is keeping some kind of scorecard of our obedience and he's more pleased with us when we do better in the Christian life and are more faithful and and more fruitful in our service of him.

And Gentle and Lowly reminds us that God's heart toward us is a heart of grace poured out in the gift of his son and given daily through the presence of his Holy Spirit within our lives, that God loves us, that he's merciful toward us, that he's a compassionate father, that he's a gentle shepherd. And we need to be reminded of these things because we don't naturally believe that they're true. But when we're reminded of them and we take hold of them, we're encouraged to walk with Christ in in joy and in faith and indeed then in obedience.

Steve Hiller: Well, we want to send you a copy of this book. Again, it's called Gentle and Lowly is our way of saying thank you for your financial support this month. You can give online at encounterthetruth.org or when you call 1 833 998 7884. It might be easier to remember as 833 99 Truth. And again, our website is encounterthetruth.org. You can also write to us at Encounter the Truth, PO Box 5513, Ottawa, Ontario K2C 3M1. Or in the US at Encounter the Truth, 215 North Arlington Heights Road, Suite 102, Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004. For Jonathan Griffiths and our producer Mark Bretta, I'm Steve Hiller.

Thanks for listening and I hope you'll join us next time.