Friday, September 19, 2008
Luke 16:19-31
IDEA: Jesus sees advantages where we see disadvantages and vice versa.
PURPOSE: To help listeners understand the disadvantages of being “middle-class.”
When you read the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31, which of these two men would you rather be?
In the long run, does it seem better to be rich? Or to be poor? Who has the most advantages?
Jesus’ view of the matter may be different from ours. In Matthew 19:24, He commented to His disciples, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
What makes it so difficult for wealthy people to put their trust in God?
I. The poor rest their security not on things but on people.
Where is my security?
In a steady paycheck?
In a retirement fund?
In the social security system?
In a paid-off house?
What happens if . . .
I lose my job? (no more paychecks)
My retirement fund is mismanaged and dwindles to nothing?
The social security system runs out of money?
I lose my house because I can’t pay the taxes on it?
When I fail to build relationships and focus on building bank accounts, I may be putting my eggs in the wrong basket.
The poor have the “advantage” of not being tempted to put their security in the wrong place—on things instead of in people. It may be easier for them to obey Jesus’ command in Matthew 6:19-20: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”
II. The poor have no exaggerated sense of their own importance, and no exaggerated need of privacy.
We talk a lot about self-esteem. Is self-esteem different from self-importance?
If so, how? If not, how do they overlap?
How can a sense of self-importance keep us from the kingdom of heaven?
What does our “need of privacy” say about us?
How does our “need of privacy” affect interdependence?
How does it affect our relationships?
How does it affect our openness to others when it inconveniences us?
Is there any way that the result of this need of privacy can wall us off from the kingdom of God?
Jesus sees advantages where we see disadvantages and vice versa.