Good morning,
Praise the Lord for this last Monday in September. The Lord blessed with a full weekend of worship, witness, and fellowship. The Lord blessed us during our Saturday Evening worship. As one man struggling with drug addiction walked in to the church, our people welcomed him. He said he needed a miracle then and there. Our people prayed with him, trusting in the power of Jesus to set the captives free. One of the young man gave the testimony yesterday during morning worship that he has been free of drugs for one year. This young man also has been dabbling with Eastern religions like the Hare Krishna movement. He has recommitted his life to Christ. You can see the Joy of Jesus in him. The Lord has freed him and has cleansed him. Praise the Lord.
Thank you for praying for us for the Saturday evening services at the historic First United Methodist church in down town Endicott. We praise the Lord for the way He is raising laborers in His vineyard. Our Lord is so faithful.
The Gospel reading for yesterday was taken from Luke 16:19 ff, the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The Lord tells the story of the rich man who never met his neighbor. He might have seen him from a distance, but never noticed him and never took time to really meet him.
Erwin Lutzer, pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago wrote a book entitled, “One Minute After You Die”. In it he said, “One minute after you slip behind the parted curtain you will either be enjoying a personal welcome from Christ or catching your first glimpse of gloom as you have never known it. Either way, your future will be irrevocably fixed and eternally unchangeable…. those who find themselves in heaven will be surrounded with friends whom they have known on earth… Every description of heaven they have heard will pale in the light of reality. All this, forever.
"Others – indeed many others - will be shrouded in darkness, a region of deprivation, and unending regret. There, with all their memories and feeling fully intact, images of their life on earth will return to haunt them. They will think back to their friends, family and relatives; they will brood over opportunities they squandered and intuitively know that their future is both hopeless and unending. For them death will be far worse then they imagined.
"And so while relatives and friends plan your funeral – deciding on a casket, a burial plot, and who the pallbearers will be – you will be more alive than you have ever been. You will either see God on His throne surrounded by His angels and redeemed humanity, or you will be feel an indescribable weight of guilt and abandonment. There is no destination midway between these two extremes; just gladness and gloom.” [ Erwin W. Lutzer. “One Minute After You Die.” (Chicago: Moody, 1997) pp. 9-10]
In Luke 16 beginning with verse nineteen we find the story of rich man and Lazarus. Jesus tells a story that gives us a glimpse into life on the other side of death. This story is unique to the Book of Luke and is the only one where we find these characters. There is a huge contrast being drawn here between the life of the Rich Man and Lazarus. These two men have nothing in common during their lives. The Rich Man is extremely wealthy, with his wardrobe consisting of only the finest clothes. He would also have had a large home. The fact that he had a gate (v. 20) would likely make his home some type of mansion. The Rich man lived in luxury everyday, flamboyant and flashy with his wealth. The Rich Man is assumed to be healthy because there is no mention of any kind of physical problems. Like many today he lived his life without ever thinking about what would happen when life came to an end. It is ironic that it is the Rich Man who remains the unknown in this story. His name is not mentioned for the specific reason that he had no relationship with God.
Lazarus, however, lived an extremely different life. He was poor beyond our ability to comprehend. Lazarus was also very sick, unable to work. Lazarus was forced to beg, because he had no means to support himself. He was dependent each day on what the good will of others or he would have had nothing to eat that day. We are told that he was so hungry that he was willing to eat the burnt, broken and discarded pieces of bread from the rich man’s table. Yet Lazarus was blessed in one key way; he apparently knew God. The name Lazarus means “God is my helper.” There is a direct connection between his name and the result of his eternity.
The rich man and Lazarus lived totally different lives, but they had one thing in common. They both died. Yet, death is not the end of existence. At death the invisible part of who we are moves out of the body and enters into a new existence. Lazarus was a man who had a relationship with God. When he died he was escorted by the angels into the presence of God. It would clearly seem that there was no waiting period for him to enter eternity. Lazarus lived on after he died. Death was not the end for him and there was a life that was waiting for him to enter. Lazarus moved on because the angels came and took him to heaven. Lazarus carried on his new life with the comfort of heaven.
The rich man also died but no angels carried him into God’s presence, a split second after he died he woke up in a terrifying inferno called Hell.
First, One Minute After You Die All Earthly Prosperity or Earthly Suffering is Ended. (vv. 19-21)
Second, One Minute After You Die Your Eternity Will Begin! (vv. 22-23)
Third, One Minute After You Die Your Eternity Will Be Set Forever. (vv. 24-31)
The story of Lazarus and the rich man caused a man with three doctoral degrees (one in medicine, one in theology, one in philosophy) to leave civilization with all of its culture and amenities and depart for the jungles of darkest Africa. This story induced that same man, who was recognized as one of the best concert organists in all of Europe, go to a place where there were no organs to play. This story so intensely motivated him that he gave up a teaching position in Vienna, Austria to go and deal with people who were so deprived that they were still living in the superstitions of the dark ages for all practical purposes. The man who I am talking about was, of course, Dr. Albert Schweitzer. Dr. Schweitzer, along with so many, heard the call of Jesus and followed in to the outer parts of the with Good News Jesus our Lord.
May the story told by our Lord do something new afresh in us today and do something beautiful and merciful through us today.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8HgAVenbUU
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