The Rich Man and Lazarus - Luke 16:19-31

Dr. Luke teaches us throughout chapter 16 of his gospel about Kingdom Economics and how Christ’s disciples are to think about money. In our last sermon from Dr. Luke’s Gospel (16:1-3) Jesus taught about the importance of his disciples being generous and faithful stewards of all that God has given to us in this present age (16:9). He taught us from the Parable of the Dishonest Steward that we are to store up riches for ourselves that are incorruptible and kept in heaven, and to make friends for the Kingdom through our generous giving and service to God. Jesus also warned against making Mammon (or money or the “Almighty Dollar”) a god in place of serving the true and living God (16:13) which is so easy for sinners to do, and so common in our modern world.

In the last sermon, Jesus positively taught how to be generous and faithful as a shrewd steward of God with our money (16:9). In our sermon today commonly known as The Story of the Rich Man and Lazarus Jesus teaches negatively concerning the consequences of living ungenerously with our money, as unfaithful and stingy stewards of all that God has given to us with no thought to those in need who are around us daily.

From our story today, we learn that our generosity and concern for those in need show that we are truly repentant people and can be known as true children of Abraham by faith in Christ. If we are selfish and do not have mercy and compassion on those in need, we are not truly repentant children of Abraham in Jesus Christ (cf. 1 John 3:17-18; James 2:14-18).