Trading Places

Sermon Scripture:   Luke 9:19-31

​"For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?"  Luke 9:24-25

Lazarus and the Rich Man are two starkly contrasted descriptions of the ways people live their lives.

Man

• Rich        
• Dressed in Purple & Fine Linen        
• Feasted Everyday        
• Lived behind walls and a gate            
• Moved in and out past Lazarus regularly
• Ignoring Lazarus    

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Lazarus

• Poor
• Covered with sores
• Longed for table crumbs
• Lived outside the gate
• Carried by others to a place of potential charity
• Dogs lick his sores
• Watching the Rich Man

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Rich Man

• Death is shocking for he was healthy
• Attended by who?
• To be in Hades (the home of the wicked dead until the judgment)

Lazarus

• Dies unsurprisingly for he was sick
• Attend by the angels
• To be with Abraham

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​​Rich Man

• Torment of Fire 
• Torment of Separation 
• Torment of a need that cannot be met 
• Torment of the knowledge that cannot be acted upon
• Unchanged attitude toward Lazarus: Send Lazarus 
• The Account is made right
• No faith in the sufficiency of God’s revelation

Lazarus

• Comforted
• In fellowship with Abraham
• No need unmet
• No regret needing to be addressed/no knowledge of the pain of others
• No work left undone
• The Account is made right
• No more revelation will be made than what has been made

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So What?

• Have you received the gracious gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord?
• What stands in your way of being faithful to God? Poverty is no excuse, wealth is no help!