MK040 Sermons
Seeing (Audio)
One of the tasks that my wife occasionally will ask me to do that I find very challenging is to go get something out of the freezer because you see when I open the freezer I'm pretty convinced that somehow she booby traps the freezer every time she closes it so that when I proceed to open it something very heavy and frozen will fall out of the freezer and land on an unprotected part of my body usually a big toe I think the guy who created the freezer on the bottom it wasn't just it's more energy efficient I think it just happened to him too many times and as an engineer he had to find a solution it gets worse when I go down to the basement freezer because you go down to the basement freezer and you open that door and it just looks like a massive block of ice when you open that door that's basically what it looks like and she tells me to go in there and find something and I come up and say I can't find it she said it's very obvious it's right there right in front of you and I said where and she goes downstairs and proceeds to move four things over to the side and two things down at the bottom and says it's right there couldn't you see it and I said I'm sorry that's not nine to definition of it's right there but I do understand because when I was a student and in grad school I worked in a restaurant ran the night shift and one of the things I did one of the very first things I did when I started work every evening as I would go in and I would walk through this massive walk-in cooler and I would examine what was on every shelf if there was a container I would look inside of it if there was something a pot was I take the lid off make sure because when you're in the middle the dinner rush you don't have time to go in there and look through 18 shelves of things and find something you need to know where it is right at that moment did the same thing with the freezer and nearly every night I would send someone in there a bus boy a dishwasher a waiter waitress that was not busy doing something you know sometimes even my own manager say can you go in there and get me this they're like I can't find it I did must not I said I know it's there and I would tell them go to the third shelf three things high this color container and they would come back with it very obvious to me but they just couldn't see it we have things like that that show up in our lives all the time don't we things that are very obvious to other people but you just don't see it I imagine if I took a poll in here of the teenage guys and asked them how many times they've stepped over the same pair of shoes you know and proceeded to walk in their bedroom and their mother father says didn't you see that pair of shoes and they can honestly say I didn't see it I didn't see it but it's right there that's right there or how often have you misplaced your keys or your cell phone and you frantically looked all over the house all over the car trying to remember where it was trying to remember the last place you were and you cannot and someone says oh they're right here right where you left them that's not uncommon for me to sit down what someone in my office who's going through a difficult time and they say can you give me some input on this and I'll say to them have you thought about this or have you considered that and they'll say why didn't I think of that it's so obvious it's so obvious well this morning we're going to talk about seeing the obvious seeing the obvious and if you haven't been with us throughout this summer we've been in a series of studies from the the life of Jesus called the parables of Jesus and the parables is a term that Jesus used to describe stories he told I'm not stories that would be typical of stories we would know and understand but these are stories that illustrate the message that he was communicating in the sermon on the Mount he preached this sermon all these things and then the rest of the next three years he proceeded to tell stories to illustrate these principles who's trying to get people to figure out how to live by often in the stories you find yourself listening and all of a sudden in the middle of the story it goes to the right or goes to left in an unexpected fashion and then the story points at you and you realize this is not about someone else this is about me and so we're going to take a look at one of those stories this morning and just like I asked the kids to listen to what I was going to say to them and for you to listen in the story we're going to have was designated for certain that different group of people and I'm going to for sake of assumption assume it's none of you but I want you to listen from the outside edge to a message that Jesus has for a group of people because I think in the middle of it you might find something very significant for you this morning if you have a Bible if you would turn to Luke 16 Luke 16 our guys have some Bibles and they're going to pass them out for you the Bibles they're passing out the page number we're going to be on is page 850 page 850 in Luke 16 and as you're turning there to Luke 16 let me just tell you a little bit about the kind of what's happening at this point in Luke's retelling of Jesus life this parable is often ignored because the role reversal that occurs at the end is a bit confusing it falls at the end of a trilogy of stories about money there's a story about a young man who wastes all of his father's resources known as the prodigal son there's also a story that we looked at earlier this summer about a manager who wastes his bosses resources in the first part of Luke 16 and then the second part of Luke 16 we're going to look at the story of a rich man who wasted his resources and if you look there in verse 14 chapter 16 verse 14 you can see the audience that says the Pharisees who'd love money I'm assuming that's none of you here this morning heard all of this and we're sneering at Jesus earlier he had been talking to his disciples and they were the primary audience and the Pharisees were kind of listening in on the outside and as they're listening to this story they're like can you believe he told that that would never happen where did he come up with that one who's going to believe that story and Jesus then turns the tables and points the finger directly at them follow along as I read just the first couple verses of the story it says in verse 19 there was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linens and lived in luxury every day and his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus covered with sores and long to eat what fell from the rich man's table even the dogs came and licked his sores the time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side the rich man also died and was buried so the first player in the story the first participant in this narrative is the guy who's known as the rich guy the rich guy and it says he was dressed in purple purple was the color of the wealthy of that day because of the die with was to find that die it was a certain snail in the Mediterranean Sea and it was hard to locate and they had to find that die for the and have that die crushed to turn cloth purple this guy is the guy that had the best of everything and multiples of everything he had more than he absolutely needed and essentially this guy is what would have what we would call today a clothing fetish now I won't say a show of hands or have anybody pointing if the anybody knows what that means but this guy had a clothing fetish he had more than he needed for everything that he had that had what occurred in his life it also says that he dressed in fine linen the word fine linen describes undergarments so essentially he had designer boxers to go with everything else you know a very humorous perspective that the author includes is that the Greek word for fine linen is busos and the Hebrew word for this is but so even as but was covered with nice stuff you know is what the text tells us and it says there that he lived in luxury every day that idea of luxury is not necessarily referring to his clothing but likely is referring to his meals and people served him and provided for him and met his needs every day all the time constantly that's how this guy lived life the second participant in the story is mentioned in the next verse and he's a man known as Lazarus noticed the rich guy is not named he's not named could be anyone could be anyone Lazarus is named Lazarus is the only individual in any parable that Jesus that Jesus told any story that he told that was given a name the only guy and his name means God helps God helps and look at verse 20 describes Lazarus in verse 20 says at his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus now now beggars only beg usually for three reasons they they were beggars actually a fourth but they were beggars because of a physical limitation they couldn't see they couldn't hear they couldn't walk or if they had a economic downturn and they had to beg for food but the story says that this guy was laid there he was placed there that likely means he couldn't walk so someone had to physically pick him up every day and put him at the gate gates were only around homes that wealthy people lived in and it's pretty common in the parts of the Middle East you know beggars will go to the churches on Sunday because they know people come they'll go to the mosque on Friday because they know people come and it's the best shot for them to get something so Lazarus whose name means God helps get helps from his friend there but he doesn't get anything more it says he's covered with sewers and he's longing to eat what's left or tossed from the rich man's table and that's not necessarily like you know you go to eat and something misses the mouth and kind of hits the hits the waist and ends up on the floor and the dog gets it no that's not what he's talking about they would use bread to kind of wipe the plates clean and then toss that out into the street and that's what he tried to get a hold of says the only person that really cared for him is in the end of the verse it says the dogs came and licked his sewers now these are not your average household pets that you let in your house and you feed them and they sleep on your furniture and maybe even in your beds you know these are basically wild dogs roaming the streets that's who they are and it may seem kind of disgusting to you that the dogs lick the wounds but apparently dog saliva helps to heal wounds quicker so when your dogs lick in that scab just let them do that it's actually a good thing for you in 1994 they found an archaeological dig 1300 dogs bred actually in Palestine or in Palestine and these animals were going to a healing cult in which the owners were paid money to allow the dogs to come lick the wounds so that people would their wounds would be healed quicker but think about the contrast that Jesus presents for us here a rich man who had everything more and excess than he ever needed a man who was greatly in need and the only one who meets those needs are the wild roaming dogs I don't know about you but if this guy's name mean God helps it doesn't appear that he's getting much help right now it really doesn't well the story takes a turn is both the rich man and Lazarus die in verse 22 and Lazarus the beggar dies and it says that the angels carried him it says there in the text to Abraham's side some of the older translations say Abraham's bosom you say what is that well the Talmud which is the Jewish interpretation and additional rules and guidelines for the Jewish people of how to live describes the Talmud as a place of of of comfort a place of rest before entering God's presence now whether this is for real or just part of Jesus's story that connected with the traditions that they spoke about we don't really know but it's part of the story and it describes him as being there in a place with Abraham who's one of the the pillars of their faith and in a place of comfort you know when they would set someone and rest someone another person's chest it was a place of comfort and ease and notice who took Lazarus there the angels took him there angels took him there this guy doesn't have any help well there's people carrying him and there's dogs taking care of him and now the angels are providing him but the rich guy does nothing he does nothing the rich guy dies he gets put in the ground but to their surprise their roles gets reversed looking verse 23 it says in verse 23 it says in Hades where he was in torment the rich guy he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side again Hades not a phrase that is explained in the Bible but just simply used to refer to a place of suffering and torment for those that reject God and he describes him as being at this place and able to see Abraham and see Lazarus say John is that true of people who have died and are in in a place of torment of hell in place of God's presence called heaven honestly I don't really know don't really know but for the story purposes this is the way Jesus described it and he goes on in a surprising way to see the rich man speak and look what he says in verse 24 he called up to him father Abraham trying to use the family card he said have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue because I am an agony in this fire the rich guy walked past Lazarus every day his friends would come put him by the gate rich man would go in and out past him every day in and out past him every day likely never speak to him never acknowledge him but you get the sense that he knows who he is because he recognizes him and uponing seeing Lazarus and seeing his condition that he's in a place of torment and seeing Lazarus in a place of comfort and ease you would almost expect that he might have a change of heart he might say Lazarus I know I walked past you all those times and and I really shouldn't have can you somehow find it in your heart to forgive me and can you somehow help me I'm in a difficult time I'm in a crisis I'm in a point of need can you somehow do something for me and for him to express humility but he really doesn't but he goes on to say in verse 24 he called on him and he said have pity on me so the the man who had pity on no one asked Abraham to have pity on him the man who would not serve Lazarus or help him in any way even to give him the crumbs off of his table the scraps the leftovers from his meal asked to have Lazarus serve him the one who only took care of his own needs asked to have his needs met when Lazarus was in pain he was ignored by the rich man and now the rich man in torment can't even handle the suffering that he's experiencing it's almost like he can't imagine he's in this setting where now he needs to be served the tables have been completely turned what would Lazarus do have you ever been in a position where someone has treated you poorly and the tables got flipped have you ever had an older brother or sister treat you badly and they got caught by mom and dad have you ever had a boss who misused their authority over you and demanded more of you than was reasonable and took credit for all your work and then he got exposed by management have you ever had a parent a relative that treated you badly maybe even abused you and they got caught what did you think in that moment in time what went through your mind it's about time see what goes around what comes around goes around but ironically you hear nothing from Lazarus not a word not a word you almost could justify him exploding in rage saying how could you do such a thing who are you well in the position you're in to ask something of me don't you get what's happened this is what you get for the way that you lived but a strangely silent you could almost justify him saying just leave that selfish monster to let the fires of hell burn his flesh off but nothing nothing so Abraham turns to the man and says son remember that in your lifetime you received good things but now he is comforted here and you are in agony it's as if Abraham said you know you got all that's coming to you and there's nothing more but this poor man this Lazarus he didn't have much but he's gonna left the rest of his life in a place of comfort he then goes on to describe in verse 26 this chasm he said there's this chasm between the two of you and and and people can't go back and forth remember the the rich man asked for Lazarus to come to him and part of me almost wonders speculates that if it was possible would Lazarus have even considered going and offering something to this man as awful and detestable as he has been well the rich man doesn't give up and he shows a little bit of humanity in verse 27 he says I beg you father send Lazarus to my family says I've got five brothers would you at least tell them about this situation and Jesus said they've got truth if they don't listen to what I have to say and what's already being told to them someone even coming back from the dead won't do any good ironically a little bit later in the gospel of John a man named Lazarus ironically enough does rise from the dead and as he rises from the dead he's presented to the religious leaders the story of his rising of the dead is presented to the chief priests and the original leaders and they're like that's not that couldn't really happen it's not possible they try to bury and hide it even someone came back from the dead and they didn't even believe it so what's the point of this story well I don't think this is a story condemning wealth but I think it's a story if we remind ourselves that Jesus is talking to people who love money and his disciples were on the outside listing to this of an element of our faith an element of following Jesus an element of living out our faith that often doesn't get mentioned when we talk about what is following Jesus look like and and what would that look like in my life it's things like reading the Bible it's things like prayers things like being here in a church service or or serving in some way but how often do we include in the conversation it includes things like serving the poor or serving someone in need I know for me in my background what I was raised with in the context of church that never entered the equation it was our job to share the gospel and that's an important component of our faith journey and a living out our faith but it never got included that we have a responsibility and an obligation to serve people in need as you often heard me say we are the wealthy ones you might say well John you don't really know how many miles are on my car you don't really know you know where I am on the totem pole at my job or doesn't matter doesn't matter we're the wealthy ones we're the wealthy ones and you know what being wealthy and having your basic needs being met puts you in a position to do it puts you in a position to walk right past every day someone laying there in need right near you because you see it every day and you walk past it and you see it every day and you drive past it or you see it every day in the cafeteria at school when you just ignore it you see it every day and you develop this thing called compassion fatigue where it's so much and it's just there and it basically becomes like a street sign that you don't even see when you're driving down the road the truth is it's possible to avoid people in need and if you avoid people in need it really forces you to pay attention to what James said when he said if your faith doesn't have action to it then it's just words it's just words remember what James said in the end of James 1 he said this is true religion to pay attention to the widows in need and orphans those that are less deserving those that are in those difficult situations you say john are you suggesting that people who ignore the needs of the poor that and their christmas that they don't have a relationship with god i'm not suggesting that and i'm also not suggesting that people who just take care of the needs are poor how aren't a better standing with god i'm not suggesting that at all i'm suggesting you that Jesus said the poor you will always have with you and in many of his miracles and many of his stories he talks about paying attention to the needs of others and those who are less fortunate the rich man used his resources only for himself and i would add in our context only for his family and he didn't pay attention to the needs of others around him might be saying john how do i pay attention to those needs i've asked one of our college students sarah molar she would join me on stage and um sarah sarah had some interesting experiences over this last year and i've asked her to join me and share some of those experiences with us this morning sarah spent some time last fall she spent four months in um the middle east uh in the land of israel actually um in the city of Jerusalem study in Jerusalem university college and um while sarah was there she had some interesting experiences kind of moving out of uh rural Lancaster county into more of an urban setting so sarah you want to tell us a little bit about that experience and what god did in your heart during that time let me turn it on sorry there we go that's good yeah you're on um okay there's um so as has john mentioned i was in Jerusalem um a city in israel a last semester um and when i was there um there was a lot of people as many in many cities there's lots of people in the streets asking for money um which can be kind of an uncomfortable thing especially coming from a very rural environment where you don't see that every day um and so before i went to israel i was kind of struggling with what do you do with that what do you do when you see someone asking for money do you give money to them do you talk to them do you pray with them like what do you do and so that was something i was kind of struggling with before i went to israel um and so one day when i was there i was kind of feeling led by god to go a little bit above my comfort zone and rather than just put a couple dollars in someone's cup um or just say hi to them he wanted me to do more um so i was out kind of out shopping for the day by myself um and there was a man who i saw who i'd seen before he had he was in his wheelchair and he had a whole bunch of clothes and bags with him um so it looked like maybe he he lived outside or slept in his wheelchair i'm not really sure what his situation was um but i felt god calling um me to talk to him which is not very comfortable for me so i went up i asked him his name um i asked him if i could pray with him i don't think he really understood there was kind of a language barrier there um he spoke Hebrew and i spoke English so it was kind of difficult um but i prayed with him anyways and kind of felt very uncomfortable the whole time i saw you know a lot people were looking at me kind of weird and it just it felt very odd um i felt like people were thinking like what is this American tourist doing who does she think she is you know why is she talking to this man um and after we finished praying um i had asked him you know if he wanted something to eat he asked me to get him a sandwich from a particular shop down the street but again there was a language barrier i wasn't really sure exactly what he was saying and like what shop he was saying and i didn't really know what he wanted me to get so i kind of just guessed and got him in sandwich but it was apparently the wrong sandwich and he was upset about it and he was kind of getting aggravated frustrated about the language barrier and um kind of started raising his voice at me um and so we didn't have a very pleasant interaction and kind of left on a sort of unpleasant note i had to leave because i was i was late for a class so i was just like all right well i'll see you later here's some food and kind of was on my way um and i was feeling kind of discouraged about it because i was expecting you know god who called me to talk to this man why was it such a bad interaction um and i just kind of realized that sometimes god calls you to do things and they're really uncomfortable and hard and you just have to kind of ignore the people that are watching because that can be very uncomfortable and the people that are you know kind of wondering like what are you doing talking to this man obviously you know like you're not friends with him or whatever um so just trying to work through how to how it go about that was hard and i swear to share that story with us because i think sometimes when we see this we kind of feel a sense of conviction that i should do something and sometimes when we do something it doesn't go well it doesn't go well and that doesn't mean god's not in it doesn't mean god's not stirred your heart and you're not called to follow his direction um this summer then uh sarah had a unique opportunity uh she was planning to go i think you said you're planning to do like an internship with the park services and instead she decided to uh spend a summer working at broad street ministries in downtown philly very different than the park services so um and uh this experience for her this summer was to take groups of of students who lived in all different parts of the country and give them exposure to urban poverty and not only give them exposure to it but then help them process what did they see what did they experience what did they learn where does god show up in the midst of all of this and then what is it what is the challenge for them to go and live this out and so this summer you were confronted with this need over and over and over again and what was one of the learnings that came out of that for you this summer sarah um so the interaction i had with the man and is real kind of started me to be interested in doing urban ministry and i was um one of the reasons i went to broad street ministries and i was like yeah i'll be around people asking for money every single day and so i'll get really comfortable with it and i'll have an answer and things will make sense and that's not necessarily really what happened um so i went out with youth every day and one of the sites that we went to is we sold newspapers with other people in the city who were experiencing poverty or homelessness they were able to buy the papers for 25 cents and sell them for a dollar making a 75 cent profit so this could sustain them help them get back on their feet if they're between jobs or between housing or something like that so we went out with them and sold the newspapers on the streets and i think the biggest thing about that entire experience was that you're constantly being ignored by people people wouldn't look at you people wouldn't talk to you you're constantly saying like would you like to buy this newspaper without any response and experiencing that ourselves for like two hours when some people experience that every single day was incredibly eye-opening because you realize how important it is to just acknowledge people and to give people the dignity of saying hi to them and looking them in the eye maybe asking them how their day is going maybe strike up a conversation with them but at the very least giving eye contact and saying hi to people can be a really big thing and so i didn't really walk away with an answer um i didn't walk away feeling comfortable every time i pass someone um who is experiencing homelessness or poverty on the streets in fact i still feel uncomfortable uh that discomfort doesn't really go away and i think that's a good thing because i think if you let yourself still feel um you know whatever about it feel kind of kind of something stirring in you about it i think that's a good thing because it means something's working in you um and so i think the biggest takeaway i have is that just giving people the dignity of you know a smile or a hello um no matter how uncomfortable it is is super important thank you sarah for sharing your stories with us i appreciate that you can just leave that right there on the on the scene you know and i asked sarah to share these stories because um it really seemed like it helped her to see and get a bigger picture of the needs of people and wrestling with how to respond and as you heard her saying over over and this doesn't get any easier this is not something that's very comfortable and you might think well well john that's that's great but i i'm not going to be spending the summer down on broad street you know i was just not kind of in the in the cards for me you know and um so what does that mean and what does that look like for me and what does that look like for me in my journey and you may recall about two weeks ago i challenge you with a prayer and that prayer was god help me serve someone in need who doesn't expect to be served by me and i challenge you to pray that prayer every day and and someone sent me a note and i want to just share this with you about an opportunity that god provided them that might help to open your eyes about what this looks like for you it says thanks for that challenge last sunday god gave me an opportunity on monday night i was in the grocery store and observed a young couple with a baby who seemed very stressed out about what food to get and how they would pay for it i had 20 dollars cash with me and felt god prompting me to give it to them i offered it to them and the girl broke down in tears and could hardly say a word the couple found me a few minutes later in the store and profusely thanked me the girl said she was far from home in texas and away from family and no one ever offered any help like that before and how much it meant i was able to tell them about the love of god and share that love with them and after a difficult and and discouraging day i went home with an encouraged joyful heart thankful that god had blessed me with this opportunity you know i think part of this story and the point of this story is for us to remind ourselves that every single day you and i walk by someone in need and i don't know what that needs gonna look like it may not be a panhell or shake in a cup um but it might be someone who's just faced a very difficult experience in their life it might be someone that just needs you to give them the dignity of treating them as sarah said whether that's a co-worker in the cube whether it's the guy bagging your groceries or collecting carts in weavers market parking on um whatever that is whatever that is you see this is a part of our faith this is a part of living out our faith in which we recognize that god has created every person in his image and in his likeness are there people that have made a disaster of their lives and taking advantage of the system absolutely and you know what god's going to get that all taken care of in the end but that's not our job to figure that out now our job is not to ignore the need when we pass by it every day and so my challenge for you is this number one is that you will pray that god will open your eyes just say god open my eyes to see the needs of people around me number two when you see someone need to act on it act on it you heard sarah share the story of how how often she felt paralyzed and she wasn't sure what to do and and and yet she just had to take a step and act on it not knowing what god was up to and what he might do and in the process offer dignity give generously enter their story but listen and obey god's voice as he prompts you to do this i can honestly tell you when sarah was relaying this story about the newspaper people been there and done that as she described what those people's how those people responded and treated um clearly has happened to me you know as with my dad at the baseball game on monday down at the Orioles game and when we left there were panhandlers all over the place you know they knew where to set themselves as people were walking past them and i hadn't really sat with this story and i found myself sitting with this story thinking what would i do differently if i was there this week and i crossed paths with them and so i don't know when or where or how god's going to bring your life to intersect with someone in need but i'm fairly confident that you will cross paths with someone in that situation this week and the challenge for you is what will you do with it we join me in prayers we close this morning god as we look at this story of rich man and Lazarus Lazarus didn't have anything but he ended up with everything and the rich guy had everything and ended up with nothing um it's kind of surprising and staggering and unsettling and i think that's what Jesus wanted to have happened to the Pharisees but his disciples were standing there listening to this story as well and um kind one of the things that the early church was marked by is they cared for the poor they cared for people in need and they spread the life-changing message of the gospel it wasn't one or the other it was both and Lord i pray that you would help us not to forget what we celebrated earlier and that's the the truth that Jesus died on the cross and his death is what gives us the possibility of eternal life but that we'd also remember Lazarus and that the rich man didn't see the need that was right in front of him help us God to have our eyes open and see the needs that you put right in front of us this week in your name we pray amen