The End of Money Love

It was a gorgeous color and oftentimes
was used in imperial king’s robes. It was the mark of great pomp
and importance. Obtaining purple dye was an extremely
expensive and tedious process. They extracted it from shellfish. And as such, to dye a fabric
in purple was to produce one of the most expensive pieces
of fabric in that day. And look at him, it wasn’t just
the purple fabric, it’s this fine linen. This guy is decked
to the hilt, but he’s decked to the hilt every day habitually. This was him. This is how he
lived and walked. Look further. He was joyously
living in splendor every day. Literally, he was making every
day a banquet. Every day was a party for him.
Every day was this lifestyle that he’d fallen into. You know,
look at it. It doesn’t say here that any
particular wickedness is ascribed to this rich man, and it isn’t
that he’s detestable in God’s eyes just for being rich, because
the very next person in this passage is Abraham and Abraham
was a wealthy, wealthy man. It isn’t his wealth that makes
him detestable, as we’ll see. There’s no wickedness ascribed
to the rich man, nothing but ordinary worldliness. J.C. Ryle said it this way. We
are not told that the rich man was an open breaker of any one
of the Ten Commandments. It’s not said that he was an
idolater, blasphemer, murderer, adulterer, thief, but he was
one who lived only for himself. That’s the image you have to
have of this man immediately. And that was the ruin of his
soul. Look at verse 20. The poor man named Lazarus. I don’t believe the same individual
that was raised from the dead will deal with that another day.
A poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with
sores, longing to be fed with the crumbs which are falling
from the rich man’s table. Besides, even the dogs were coming
and licking his sores. The name Lazarus was a pretty
common one. It was a shortened version of Eleazar, which meant
helped of God or God is my help. How much more suitable could
it have been for this man who received no help from man, no
help from his fellow man, but his help, whatever he got, came
from God. Totally neglected by them, but
helped by God, especially in the end. Look at the situation. First of all, it says he was
laid at the rich man’s gate. The rich man probably lived in
some kind of big, sprawling mansion. And outside of which there was
this gate that the rich man had to pass through. And so they
laid Lazarus there, his friends, perhaps in hopes that this rich
man, upon seeing him, would have some kind of mercy. We don’t
know, we’re not told exactly what was wrong, why he couldn’t
walk, but he couldn’t walk. And so in such a bad condition,
he was laid there. And I don’t know how perhaps
he was able to peer through a window. Perhaps he was even so near the
house that he could see the dining that was taking place. But note
that it says he was longing to be fed with the crumbs which
were falling from the rich man’s table. I mean, how hungry, how
impoverished do you have to be to look and longingly drool at
the crumbs that are falling off a man’s table? This is the test
for the rich man right here. As one said, this was the opportunity
for the opulent swagger to show whether after all he had a heart. He didn’t. This very poor man,
one who is in need of everything, was lying at the gateway of the
rich man’s mansion, having been laid there Here was an opportunity
for the rich man to show pity whenever he went in or out of
the gateway. He could not help from seeing Lazarus. The beggar
was eager to be fed with the scraps that fell from the rich
man’s table. Note this, the parable doesn’t
say that he received them, only that he was longing. We had this
growing up, we had this glass table, right? Mom had the glass
table there in the kitchen. And one of the amusing tricks
that can be concocted only in a child’s warped mind was that
we would, with the dog under the table waiting for those same
kinds of crumbs, we would drop it and onto the glass table and
the dog would just sit there gaping up at this morsel. I say that only to point out
that that’s the same kind of cruelty that this poor Lazarus
must have experienced time after time, seeing food fall. And you just get this image of
this feast where food is falling and flying and not a morsel. It says that he was longing,
but it doesn’t say that he received them, just like the prodigal
son who was longing for those pods and no one gave him anything. Note the dogs. When we say dogs in our DNA,
in our day and age, we think of Fido, right? Little Fido who
comes running so obediently. We feed, we put on a pillow and,
you know, precious little dog. The dogs in the east are not
that. our family pets in the east. There were these wild, neglected
pack dogs that would go about completely wild and without mastery. They were the scavengers of the
land. And so when it says that these dogs came and were licking
his sores, I mean, I’m not even going to go too far with this.
It’s so gross and graphic. This is not mercy that the dogs,
that the man was enjoying no pleasure in this. This was sad and disgusting,
this is the lowest of low, this is misery at its deepest level. The dog in the east was an unclean
beast, the scavenger, the beggar would have probably shrunk from
the approach of these dogs There’s one other thing to note
in this little passage, verses 20 and 21, and that’s Lazarus’s
silence throughout this whole parable. Lazarus never, never
says a word, never murmurs against God’s distribution of wealth.
He never murmurs against God’s providence. He never grumbles
about the rich man and his abuse. Even in the afterlife, in that
scene to come, he never He never grumbles. He never exalts over the rich
man. He never protests against even
the request that the rich man makes, the formerly rich man. And so, if I were to put several
thoughts before you on the end of money love, what is the eventual
end of money love? It’s this first one that is probably
the most notable, and that is that it is callous. There is
a callousness to money love that begins to exalt money above people. Things above people. The man
loved his food more than he loved his fellow man. He loved his
palace more than he loved others. He loved his money. He loved
his money more than other people and he didn’t even care that
there was one laid at his gate with the most basic needs. that
he more than amply had the means to meet and he would not. And
he did not. But not only that, secondly.
The second observation that I would make. Of the end of money, love
is not only is it callous, it is costly. Look at verse 22.
Now, the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to
Abraham’s bosom, and the rich man also died and was buried.
We’ll get to his cost in a moment. Let’s look at the poor man, Lazarus. We’re not even told whether he
was buried. It was a very common practice in those days to take
a body, especially a leper or perhaps a criminal, and to throw
it in the town dump. We’re not even told he was given
a proper burial. If there was a proper burial,
it was almost so obscure that it goes without even mentioning
even here in this passage. But note who does show up to
the poor man’s funeral. Angels. Beings who are called the attendants
of Christ. Those who are the messengers
of good news regarding salvation. The heavenly host. That great
angelic choir. God’s heavenly defenders. Those
who are friends and helpers of God and God’s people. That’s
who shows up at his funeral. And it says that they carry him
to Abraham’s bosom, which was an expression, a picture of a
banquet of paradise to the Jew. There were three terms in common
use among the Jews that expressed this future state of blessedness. They spoke of the Garden of Eden
or paradise as being one time, one day restored. They spoke
of the throne of glory. But the most common phrase that
they used was the bosom of Abraham. That was the most popular. And
it rested on the idea of a great feast in which Abraham was the
host. And if you picture the Lord’s Supper and you’ve heard
it said that John reclined on the Lord’s bosom. That’s exactly
the image that you have. They rested on one elbow and
the next person at the table’s head would be right here on your
chest. And so when it says that they carried Lazarus and laid
him on Abraham’s bosom, it expresses the most intimate, precious,
and honorable spot that a person can have. No mention is made of his burial
But his final destination is absolutely clear. The man is
in heaven. The man is in heaven with God.
The rich man’s funeral, on the other hand, we can imagine because
it mentions his burial, he received a proper burial and we can imagine
it was attended with great pomp. Probably hired mourners. that
would spend a week or more mourning and wailing this rich man’s death. And a rich man could afford a
lot of mourners and a long time to do it. J.C. Ryle urged, let us never
give way to the common habit that men are to be valued according
to their income. And that the man who has most
money is the one who ought to be most highly esteemed. There
is no authority for this notion in the Bible. The general teaching
of Scripture is flatly opposed to it. Not many wise, not many
mighty, not many noble. Wealth is no mark of God’s favor
and poverty is no mark of God’s displeasure. If we could measure
them as God measures them, we must value them according to
their grace. Here, people put on a big fancy
send off for the rich man. while the poor man died in quiet
obscurity. But it was costly. It was costly
for this wealthy man because the next time we meet him, it’s
in hell itself. Look at verse 23. In Hades, he
lifted up his eyes being in torment. There are those that would try
to say that the general teaching on Hades in Scripture or Sheol
is this afterlife, it’s this general term where everybody
goes and it’s like this gray nothingness. Well, I’ll tell
you, it certainly is clear, but it’s not clear elsewhere. It’s
clear here what’s meant by Hades because he is in torment. And
it’s torment in fire. In Hades, he lifted up his eyes
being in torment, and he saw Abraham far away and Lazarus
in his bosom, and he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have
mercy on me. Now, if this is a place of great
neutrality, call it purgatory or whatever you will, why on
earth would mercy be necessary? Why on earth is he in misery
and torment? Have mercy on me. And note this,
send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water
and cool off my tongue.” We’ll come back to that one in a moment.
For I am in agony in this flame. The way that we deal with our
earthly resources can be very costly. The end of money love
has a cost. And here we see that the way
that he treated his earthly resources landed him straight in hell. We’ll see more from this passage
next week as we take it up, but note how costly it was. We are
taught here, said one, that it will be a great part of the misery
of the damned souls to understand those to be in a state of happiness
whom they have in this life scorned, despised and abused. You know
what I think it is? It’s some kind of a one way mirror
where they can see out and they can see all the glory of heaven
and they can see all the blessings that are being poured out on
those sons of God. while they themselves are without.
And there will come a time, he goes on, when the proudest sinners
will be glad of the slightest help of the least of the saints,
if they could attain it. There’s a cost. There’s a cost
in how we use our earthly resources. And this rich man reaped the
worst part of it. We’ll pick up next week with
the remainder, the additional two thoughts on the end of money
love. But let’s ponder these two in
our hearts today. How callous are we? It’s a tough
thing in our day and age when on almost every big city corner,
you have those with the cardboard signs. You begin to wonder who’s
legitimate and who isn’t. And there are some that are clearly
deceitful in that. How is our heart? How callous
are we to the needs of others? How are we investing in eternity?
And what will it cost? Let’s examine our hearts. Our kind Father and God, we bow
before You and we find You to be so gracious to us. We thank
You for these words that are to any man shocking, uncomfortable,
Lord, we see one of your rare views into eternity, looking
into very hell itself, glancing equally at heaven. God, grant
us the grace to examine our hearts that we be not like those who
love money more than people. Tear off the calluses of our
hearts. Let us minister with those resources that You’ve given
us for Your glory. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray,
Amen.