Luke 16:19-31
Luke 16:19-31
Today’s passage is a very interesting passage. It is the story of “the rich man and Lazarus”. This is not the Lazarus that Jesus raised from the dead in John 10. This is a different Lazarus. He is poor. He is not someone we would look on as “having God’s favor” but we have to stop and remember that God’s favor does not always appear in physical form. When he died, he went to heaven. The rich man did not.
What can we learn from today’s passage?
1) PHYSICAL/MATERIAL BLESSING DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN FAVOR FROM GOD.
Don’t misunderstand. God can choose to bless you in this way if He wants. But one does not equal the other. We often have a problem seeing the two as one in the same. James addressed it in James 2 when he talks about the sin of partiality.
2) WE NEED TO SEE PEOPLE WITH ETERNAL EYES.
Every single person that we meet is either headed for an eternity in heaven with Jesus or an eternity in Hell apart from Jesus. There is no middle ground. This must be the fuel in which we get our mission. God has breathed in us a purpose to reach people for this very reason.
3) PEOPLE REPENT THROUGH HEARING THE WORD OF GOD.
The rich man desires for someone to go TELL his brothers about salvation but Abraham replies… “If they do not hear…”
This just brings back Romans 10:14-15 for me…
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Let this inspire mission in you today. There are lost, hurting people in our city. We have THE good news for them. Jesus has come to take away their sin and give them life.
Who are you praying for?
By: Nick Parsons
Today’s passage is a very interesting passage. It is the story of “the rich man and Lazarus”. This is not the Lazarus that Jesus raised from the dead in John 10. This is a different Lazarus. He is poor. He is not someone we would look on as “having God’s favor” but we have to stop and remember that God’s favor does not always appear in physical form. When he died, he went to heaven. The rich man did not.
What can we learn from today’s passage?
1) PHYSICAL/MATERIAL BLESSING DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN FAVOR FROM GOD.
Don’t misunderstand. God can choose to bless you in this way if He wants. But one does not equal the other. We often have a problem seeing the two as one in the same. James addressed it in James 2 when he talks about the sin of partiality.
2) WE NEED TO SEE PEOPLE WITH ETERNAL EYES.
Every single person that we meet is either headed for an eternity in heaven with Jesus or an eternity in Hell apart from Jesus. There is no middle ground. This must be the fuel in which we get our mission. God has breathed in us a purpose to reach people for this very reason.
3) PEOPLE REPENT THROUGH HEARING THE WORD OF GOD.
The rich man desires for someone to go TELL his brothers about salvation but Abraham replies… “If they do not hear…”
This just brings back Romans 10:14-15 for me…
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Let this inspire mission in you today. There are lost, hurting people in our city. We have THE good news for them. Jesus has come to take away their sin and give them life.
Who are you praying for?
By: Nick Parsons
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