Trinity 1

1  The Best is Yet to Come

We all have different tastes in food.

You might like your potatoes best. I might like the juicy steak.

I’ve learned to save the most tasty part for last,

so that its taste can linger in my mouth after the meal.

That means I have to eat my less favored parts first,

even though I may not like them as much.

By saving the better parts for the end,

I have something to look forward to in the meantime, and it’s easier to eat the rest patiently while I wait for it.

But if I eat the best parts first,

then I’m not so happy about eating the rest later.

I think that’s one reason kids don’t always eat all their food.

It’s not that they’re full. They just don’t like what’s left behind.

When we’re born, God has a lot in store for us.

We have to learn how to handle it as we grow. Some parts we’ll like, and others we won’t like so much.

Life is hard for most people, in different ways. But what comes afterward can be much, much worse.

Or it can be much, much better.

It takes discipline and patience

to save the tastiest food for the end.

It also takes discipline and patience

to postpone your enjoyment and true life

until you reach heaven.

That kind of discipline and patience can be hard,

whether you are rich or poor, young or old.

Jesus said: “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

As long as you are living on Earth,

This is not really your life.

We may resent that others tell us how to live

— even God! — but we haven’t reached the end of our meal yet.

Some people want this to be their true life,

to enjoy it all while they have the chance.

They can be rich or poor.

But if you want this to be your life, watch out!

God may give you what you wish for.

Then whatever comfort and joy you have on earth

is all you will ever get.

Our theme is the attitude we should take as we live on earth:

The best is yet to come.

Because the Scriptures say this is not our true life. Because we will be comforted afterward with Lazarus.

2  Luke 16:19–31

“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

“So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. ‘And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, ‘for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ”

2.1  Because the Scriptures say this is not our true life

Lazarus is the only person named in any parable that Jesus told. So this may not be a parable, but an example from real life.

We see people like these two every day: One person has das gute Leben, the “good life.” Most people call him lucky, or even blessed by God.

Another person has troubles and suffering. Most people call him unlucky, and wonder what he did to deserve it.

Most agree that it’s a shame when someone suffers, and we can be glad for those who do not suffer.

But there is something wrong with that thinking.

Lazarus suffered. We feel for him in his misery, because we wouldn’t want to suffer.

We may see someone like him today: lying in weakness outside a doorway, pleading in his eyes for even a crumb of help.

We may wonder why someone would be reduced to this. Can’t he find a job to buy some food? Doesn’t he want to work and provide for himself? Where is his pride? What has he done to deserve this?

In short: we would naturally think that God must hate him, or that God doesn’t even care about such people.

So we quicken our step and look the other way, as though we might catch a part of God’s disfavor.

The rich man did not suffer like Lazarus. So when we see such a person, we wonder what it would take to be like him.

What are seven habits of such highly effective people? What is his management style? How does he make use of his time?

Can we get part of that divine favor he enjoys?

But all of this thinking is based upon a terrible mistake. It all assumes that this life we live now is our true life.

It’s not our true life. At least, it’s not the true life of a Christian.

Colossians 3:2–3: Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

In Jesus’ own words: Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Where was the rich man’s heart? It was set upon the table before him, and hanging richly from his shoulders.

He really enjoyed this treasure. It was his life.

Where was the heart of Lazarus? In God’s wisdom, Lazarus had no riches on earth, and he longed for the life to come.

Most people would think him cursed, but Jesus reveals that he was blessed.

You see, unlike the rich man, Lazarus knew that this was not his true life.

God would have us all be like Lazarus: not necessarily poor and full of sores, but rather trusting that the best is yet to come.

Now, we must each examine our own lives. But beware of hypocrisy!

You would not want to end up with the rich man, where the worm never dies, and the flames of torment make a drop of water more precious than gold.

So consider yourself honestly.

What things do you enjoy? What things do you wish you could enjoy?

Our culture is so rich with entertainment and recreation. We have so many toys and trinkets to draw our affection.

Yet even what we do not have might absorb us. The desire of Lazarus for the table crumbs might easily have swallowed his desire for heaven.

There are different ways to consider your life: You can count your blessings, and measure your love for them over against heaven. You can see how you spend your time, and whether God is more important than everything else. You can learn the Ten Commandments again, and see if your love for God is really strong enough.

If we are honest, we will find that we always fall short. We don’t have the discipline in ourselves, nor the patience to wait for our true life in heaven.

Our Father in heaven knows all these things, and allows us to suffer so that we may know them too.

Rich or poor, high and low, we all have our crosses to bear.

Precious crosses, to give us discipline and to train us in patience.

Precious crosses, to help us cling to God’s promises, and find our true life in heaven.

Let us learn and remember that the best is yet to come, for the scriptures say this is not our true life.

2.2  Because we will be comforted afterward with Lazarus

The best is yet to come, for we will be comforted afterward with Lazarus.

God did not hate Lazarus. He loved him.

Maybe there were some who thought Lazarus was not important. But God calls Lazarus by name, while the rich man remains unnamed.

For now, we live in a place of dark sorrow. Our one comfort is the light of God’s Word.

It’s in the Word alone that we learn about the true life of poor Lazarus, and about our own true life to come.

It’s in the Word alone that we learn that the things we enjoy now are passing away, and that those who make them the highest priority will be with the rich man, to whom Abraham said:

Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.

This didn’t happen because the rich man was rich and because Lazarus was poor.

It happened because the rich man found his true life on earth, but Lazarus waited upon God’s promise of life in heaven.

Lazarus believed on the basis of God’s Word that the best is yet to come.

But the rich man believed that the best was to be enjoyed here on earth.

Do you enjoy the good things in life?

Do you appreciate the difference in this world between quality workmanship and junk, between beautiful things, and worthless things?

I hope you do, because God appreciates them too.

But remember that even the best quality and the most beautiful are still only earthly things.

They say diamonds are forever, but nothing could be more untrue.

Diamonds are not forever, but God’s favor in Jesus Christ is forever.

They say that blood is thicker than water and family time more precious than any other.

That’s not so.

The baptismal water where God cleanses us of sin, and the time when we hear God’s love from our Savior

is more precious on earth than any family time.

They say that time to spend with your children is limited, but when you spend that limited time around God’s Word instead of in worldly pursuits, then you will have eternity to spend together, with Christ.

Can we take the attitude of Lazarus: that the best is yet to come? Not really. We also have much in us like the rich man.

When he couldn’t have a drop of water, he asked that Lazarus be sent to warn his brothers.

He didn’t believe that they had enough warning already. (In his mind, it was God’s fault that he was in hell.)

But Abraham told him: They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.

We also have Moses and the prophets, don’t we? We have what they wrote, along with the New Testament, the Gospel of Christ.

We have everything needed to repent of our sins and of our sinfulness. We have everything in God’s Word that can give us the faith we need in Christ.

But what is God’s Word? What is your Baptism, or the body and blood of Christ?

What are these things compared to the fun of our amusements and recreation? or the satisfaction of our own achievements? or the glory of fame and fortune?

We may already enjoy all that stuff, or we may long for it more than anything else.

Either way, we would follow the rich man to hell, if it were up to us.

But God intervenes to save us. We have our precious crosses for discipline and patience, and to drive us to our most precious treasure:

God’s Word, with the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Indeed, you are forgiven.

The flesh wants the things of the world instead. Our flesh belongs to this world, and will perish with the world.

But our true life is in eternity, with Christ, and we will be comforted after this, with Lazarus.

Truly, the best is yet to come. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!