Parable & Prophesy

What does it mean to truly know God? What does God want from His Church? Where are the resources of the American Church focused? These questions and more are discussed in episode one of the Rich Church Poor World Podcast.

Transcript

Rich Church Poor World, Episode 1

Do you remember the story Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus?  It’s found in Luke 16 and it’s a bit of a haunting story. In it we find a rich man “who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury.” We also find Lazarus, who sat at the rich man’s gate each day longing for scraps from his table. Jesus tells us that, not only was Lazarus poor, but he was also covered in sores, and to make his position even more degrading, dogs would come and lick his sores while he lay there helplessly.  

What a stark contrast we find between these two men - One lives in wealth and luxury while the other spends his life in poverty and suffering. Of course, we know how the story ends when both men die. Lazarus is carried by angels to the heavenly banquet where he sits with Abraham and the rich man goes to the place of torment where he longs for just a drop of water from Lazarus’ finger. Upon being told by Abraham his request is not possible, the rich man then asks if Lazarus can go and warn his five brothers to prevent them from ending up in the same place of torment; but Abraham tells him “If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.” 

Personally, I’ve never found this story to give me the warm fuzzies . It’s certainly not one we would turn into a Sunday school song or include in a children’s Bible. The story is more of a tragedy than a fairy tale. It starts with the miserable view of Lazarus on earth and ends with the awful position of the rich man in hell. It’s hard to get much more depressing than that right? Yet we know Jesus told this story for a reason.

The latter part, which includes a view of Heaven and Hades, is always intriguing, but let’s turn our focus to how the story begins. Jesus starts by describing two men on opposite ends of the lifestyle spectrum, one who is extremely wealthy and one who has nothing, not even good health. We also find that their worlds are connected, with Lazarus lying at the rich man’s gate each day just hoping for a few crumbs or scraps the rich man might be willing to share. We could be left to wonder if the rich man was even aware that Lazarus was out there suffering, but Jesus answers that question later in the story as we find the rich man recognizing Lazarus with Abraham when he looks across the great chasm between heaven and hades, showing us he knew exactly who Lazarus was.

It’s hard not to look in disgust at this rich man. How could he have so much and not be willing to offer just a little assistance to someone like Lazarus who was destitute and who was right before his eyes as he left his house each day? What kind of heart of stone do you have to have to see such suffering and do nothing about it when you have more than enough to help? I wonder what he thought each day when his chariot pulled in and out of his house and he saw Lazarus suffering there not even able to push the dogs away from licking his sores. Perhaps he thought, “if he had only worked hard to be successful like me he wouldn’t be in that position.” Maybe he thought “this is just the world we live in. Some are destined to be rich and some are destined to be poor. I’m glad I’m the former and not the later!” There’s also a chance he could have felt sorry for Lazarus, but thought “there are so many just like him. The problem is too big for me to do anything about.” He may have even turned his head away to the side every time he passed thinking “this is too sad and painful to see.” Perhaps another likely scenario is that he always meant to help Lazarus but never got around to it. Everytime he would think “tomorrow I’ll have the time to do something for Lazarus” tomorrow would bring something more important for him to do, an opportunity to add to his wealth or attend a social event would take priority over Lazarus and the days would pass into weeks and months as Lazarus continued to suffer in agony while the rich man was preoccupied picking out fine linen garments and dining on the choicest foods. 

We know from scripture that the rich man did not end up in hell solely because he was rich, nor did Lazarus end up in heaven because of his poverty, but when we see what an inconsiderate, selfish person this rich man was our first reaction is to think it only seems natural that such a person would end up in hell.  After all, if the love of God was in the rich man’s heart, it wouldn’t be possible for him to ignore such need. No one who sees a fellow human being in a state of such suffering, who has the means to help and doesn’t, could possibly be saved could they? But it gets worse, the rich man not only had the means to help but chose to spend the abundant wealth he had on improving his own lifestyle. He spent his wealth on lavish living; on finer clothes, richer foods and faster chariots. 

Doesn’t this despicable character start to make you nauseous? At his gate lies Lazarus, painful and irritating sores all over his body, hunger pangs shooting through his stomach, he can’t even stand up because he’ll become too light headed and faint, and yet each day the rich man passes him with a full stomach and stylish new wardrobe. Surely if we were in the rich man’s position we wouldn’t be so self centered and heartless. Surely we would do all we could to aleviate this poor man's suffering. 

            Fellow Christians in America, we are in the same position as this rich man and the painful truth is we are acting no differently. We live in abundance and comfort while the poor outside our countries' gates suffer in immense poverty and hardship. Much worse than that, they suffer in spiritual darkness because we are not willing to make the sacrifices needed to get the gospel to their ears. We see their hungry faces on mailers. We occasionally hear of their suffering on the news. Once in a blue moon we may even hear about the needs at church on Sunday, but though we are the richest country in the world, statistics show we never toss more than a few meager crumbs their way. 

            Like the rich man, we are too consumed with ourselves to open our hearts to those suffering outside our gates. We close our eyes and look away when we see the photos of starving children in Africa thinking “this is too painful to see.” We want to plug our ears when we hear about the 1.2 million children being sold into sex slavery each year around the world. We shake our heads in disbelief when we are told there are still 3.2 Billion people in the world who are considered unreached with the gospel and that 70,000 of them die every day without ever hearing the name of Jesus. Our hearts are stirred momentarily and then the “cares and riches and pleasures of this life” climb right back to the top of our priority list. 

            Our thoughts are similar to that of the rich man, “the problem is too big for me to make an impact.” “Tomorrow I’ll do something to help.” “When we have more in savings and have no debt then we can do more. In the meantime, it’s too painful to think about.” The cop outs and excuses flow out just long enough for us to get distracted by something more enjoyable to engage in. Even now you may be thinking “Man, listening to this is starting to make me feel depressed. I’ll come back to it another time. Where’s that Bible study I got on peace?” The decision to stop listening is yours to make, but I have to warn you that doing so is taking the path of the rich man. The Lazarus of your life is being brought to your attention. Are you going to look away and pass by?

            My prayer is that you will keep listening because every professing Christian in America needs to be brought to the realization that not only do we have it within our means as a church to reach the spiritual and physical needs of the world, but we are also given direct commands by God to do so. Furthermore, we are living in clear disobedience to these commands. It’s estimated that Evangelical Christians have 3,000 times the financial resources to complete the Great Commission and that with just .03% of our income we could plant a church in every unreached people group in the world, yet 42% of the world's population remains unreached with the gospel.

            We sit back in our oversized, over comfortable church buildings and get fat on biblical truth while the world around us starves for just a few small crumbs of hope. They will never receive it if we don’t wake up to our self centered version of Christianity and repent. Almost half the world's population is unreached with the gospel and yet studies show the average American church spends more money on utilities for their building every month than they spend supporting international missions and getting the gospel to those who have never heard it. In fact, the average American Church devotes more of its budget to building maintenance, mowing the lawn, weeding the flower beds, touching up paint, etc. than they give to international missions. So, we may say we care about reaching the lost, but our actions show it’s more important for us to walk into clean, air conditioned buildings every Sunday than it is to get the gospel to those who have never heard it before. If you breakdown the numbers you’ll find that about 95% of the money given to our churches never leaves their walls, but instead is directed towards a more comfortable Sunday morning experience for the American Christian consumer. 

            We look at the wealthy man in the story of the rich man and Lazarus and see clearly that his actions showed the love of God was not in his heart. We must also examine ourselves and ask the same question - How can the love of God be in our hearts when we ignore such needs? When we spend our abundance on ourselves  instead of using it to help others who desperately need it? In Jeremiah 22:16, God asks the wicked king Jehoikim a question we would do well to reflect on. Referring to the king's father, Josiah, God says, “He gave justice and help to the poor and needy, and everything went well for him. Isn’t that what it means to know me?”  In essence God is saying “if you really know me it will show by how you treat the poor and needy.” 

It reminds us of Matthew 25 starting in verse 34 where Jesus says “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.” When asked by the people when they ever saw Him this way Jesus responds “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!” 

Don’t misunderstand, this is not a works based salvation message, but what Jesus is making clear is that, if we really know Him, if our faith is genuine, it will show itself through a heart that has unwavering compassion for those who are hungry, thirsty, naked, sick and imprisoned. This list can and should be applied in both a material and spiritual way.

 God says this is what it means to truly know Him. We’ve turned “knowing God” into something much different. We’ve made it going to church on Sunday, attending a small group, and going through the motions of pretentious American Christianity. We have become experts at studying the Bible, we have more study guides and devotionals than we could complete in twenty life times, but we are so weak on true application, because most of the material is more focused on how God can serve us as opposed to us laying down our lives as living sacrifices for Him. We have drifted into a Christianity that twists the Bible into a set of principles we can follow to achieve the American dream of comfort and prosperity and we’ve listed all the difficult commands of Jesus as strictly optional. 

God’s rebuke to the people of Israel in Isaiah 58 applies perfectly to us. Listen to what He says:

“Shout aloud! Don’t be timid. Tell my people Israel of their sins!

Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me. They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God. They ask me to take action on their behalf, pretending they want to be near me. ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say. ‘Why aren’t you impressed?’

“I will tell you why” I respond. “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.”

“What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling?” 

“You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance...Is this what you call fasting? Do you really think this will please the Lord?”

“No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.”

“Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.

Then when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ He will quickly reply.”

            Do you see the parallels? Here were people who were showing up at the temple every day. They were doing all the “right things”  - studying God, asking Him for help, they were even fasting which is more of a sacrifice than we would usually make; but God could see right through their hearts. He said they “seem delighted to learn all about me,” “ they act like a righteous nation,” and they “pretend they want to be near Me.” They were going through the motions but God could see they were really doing it to “please themselves.” Beneath the surface their motivation wasn’t to glorify God and know Him intimately, it was to do what they thought was necessary to receive God's blessings. Their motives were self seeking and God could see right through their pretense. 

This sums up so much of Christianity in America today. We’re happy to show up at church on Sunday, learn about God, and even pray and read the Bible throughout the week. We hope God will see us “putting in the time” because what we really want is for God to be happy with us so we can continue to enjoy our safe, comfortable lives where we can put our faith in a nice little compartment that doesn’t interfere with the rest of our personal agenda. We forget that God can see right through our hearts and He knows when our motivation is solely to benefit ourselves. He knows if we are honoring Him with our lips but have hearts that are far from Him. He knows that if our hearts were truly close to Him our focus would not be on going through the motions of religious practice, but instead would be on pleasing Him by actually obeying His commands, not just studying them. 

God says “You want to please me? Free those who are wrongly imprisoned. Remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry. Give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them. Stop hiding from relatives who need help.” If we do these things then God says “salvation will come like the dawn and your wounds will quickly heal.” He goes on to say in Isaiah 58:10-11, “Feed the hungry and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well watered garden, like an ever flowing spring.” 

Could it be that so many of the problems in the American church today are due to our utter neglect of the poor and destitute in our communities and around the world? How can we live like an “ever flowing spring” when we continue to give God our leftovers? How can our “light shine out of the darkness” when out of the small amount we do give to the church virtually none of it goes towards meeting the needs of the poor around the world or getting the gospel to those who have never heard it? Proverbs 3:27 says “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them.” But we have done this very thing by hoarding for ourselves what should be shared to advance the gospel. Did you know the average American Christian gives only 1 penny a day towards international missions? For those of us who struggle with math that’s only $3.65 a year. When we examine our church budgets our self centeredness is just as obvious. Our lack of passion for the gospel and reaching the lost is nothing short of shameful. We would never in a million years admit it out loud, but our actions betray us - we are more concerned with the quality of worship on Sunday or whether the child care program meets our expectations than we are with the destination of lost souls.

We are living like the great commission has been accomplished, but it most definitely has not. We are living like the Bible says nothing about helping the poor, but as we’ve seen it most certainly does. We are storing up treasures on earth when Jesus tells us to store them in heaven. We are wearing crowns when we are supposed to be bearing a cross. In short, we are living in serious disobedience that must break the heart of God when He sees the great needs across the world and the blessings that could be ours to enjoy for all eternity if we would but repent of our greed and self indulgence and offer our lives and all that we have to Him to be used for His Kingdom. 

At no time in human history has there been a wealthier country than the United States. A study from Pew Research shows that almost 9 in 10 Americans have a standard of living above the median global income standard. As a result, the American Church, with its combined resources, is the richest church in the history of the world. That means that before us is the greatest opportunity in Church History. The opportunity to use these incredible resources, that God has entrusted us with, to truly preach the gospel to every nation, tribe and tongue while pleasing God by caring for the poor in the process.

Can you imagine what it would be like to be part of the generation God uses to fulfill the great commission? Can you imagine what it would look like if the church in America woke up to its potential and the Holy Spirit stirred a great revival in our country? Wouldn’t it be amazing, if rather than continuing down a path towards complete secularism, our country turned back to God through the inner workings of a generosity revival that flips the script so Christians are known as people with radical love and compassion instead of self seeking hypocrites? 

Many of us would rather fold our arms and say “the world is going to hell in a handbasket” because that allows us to go on with our “business as usual” Christianity and not do anything. We have our fire insurance so we’re covered and we like our safe and predictable routines that don’t require any real sacrifice. We’re happy to cherry pick the parts of the Bible we want to apply to our lives and explain how the other parts don’t actually mean what they say, but as always God sees the inner workings of our hearts and will hold us accountable. Proverbs 24:11-12 says “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay everyone according to what they have done?”

Yes, God will hold us accountable if we close our eyes to the lost and suffering people of the world being “led away to death” by Satan. In a way, their blood is on our hands if we see their need and do nothing. For we can expect that God will “repay everyone according to what they have done” and if we choose in our selfishness to do nothing for the spiritually and materially destitute we can expect divine discipline. May it come in this lifetime so that we might repent. For God forbid that our indifference be linked to a false faith and before His throne, through the bitter sounds of our deep sobs of regret, we hear Jesus say, “Away with you.  For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me. For when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.”