BACKGROUND:
Regarding the Pharisees’ attitude toward money, Jesus gave an illustration that vividly portrays the value of money in light of future judgment. This Lazarus should not be confused with the Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead in John 11. Incidentally, this is the only person in any of Jesus’ stories who is given a name. The rich man in this parable lived out the lifestyle afforded to the wealthy who lived in the Roman Empire. Splendid clothing, delicious food of all types, and days lived in luxury could be had by those with enough money.
In contrast, there is a poor diseased beggar. Ancient Rome had no middle class—there were the very rich and the very poor. Often the poor were reduced to begging in order to survive. This man, Lazarus, was sick, hungry, and abandoned, so he lay at the rich man’s door, longing for scraps from the rich man’s table. Leftovers were all he desired, and the rich man could easily have shared from his extravagance by sending a servant out with a plateful.
But the rich man chose to spend his money on himself, refusing to share, probably not even taking notice of the poor man at his door. His wealth was not sinful, but his selfishness was. While he had everything he could possibly want, Lazarus lay hungry with even the dogs licking his open sores.
In time, both the rich man and Lazarus died, for death takes everyone regardless of social station or wealth. The rich man ended up in torment in the place of the dead, the destiny of those who have refused to believe. Added to the torment was the rich man’s ability to see paradise, with Abraham and Lazarus in peace and luxury. The role reversal is obvious—as Lazarus once lay in pain outside the door of the rich man’s house watching him feast, so here the rich man was in torment watching the joy far away in heaven.
In contrast, Lazarus must have been a God-fearing man, despite the fact that God had not allowed him an easy or pleasant lifetime on earth. When Lazarus died, the angels carried him to be with Abraham, another way of describing the Kingdom.
Not only could the rich man in this story see into heaven’s bliss from his torment, but he could call out to those in paradise as well. He spoke to Father Abraham, a title any Jew would use for Abraham, the father of their nation. The request for Abraham to send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water shows that the rich man’s basic attitude had not changed. For all his deference to Abraham, he still thought of Lazarus as no more than a messenger who could be sent by Abraham to do the rich man a favor.
Abraham sent an answer, but not the one that the rich man wanted or even expected. The rich man may have thought there was a mistake. He had been rich, and if wealth was a sign of God’s blessing, why would he be in agony? Abraham explained that, during their time on earth, the rich man had everything, but Lazarus had nothing. While the rich man could have helped the poor within his reach (such as Lazarus), he chose only personal pleasure. The roles for eternity would be reversed. Lazarus went from pain and hunger to comfort; the rich man went from pleasure and merriment to anguish. This would have unnerved the Pharisees who were listening to this parable. To them, wealth was a sign of God’s blessing, poverty a sign of God’s disfavor. So they enjoyed their wealth and did not attempt to bridge the chasm that separated them from the “disfavored ones.” But Jesus was explaining that another chasm would develop, and they would find themselves on the wrong side.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
How important is it to do everything we can to get people into Heaven? It's the most important thing in life.
Jesus said a lot of outrageous things. For instance, Jesus said - You’ve got to lose your life to save it. He’s the guy who said, “You’ve got to love your enemies… Pray for those who persecute you… It’s better to give than to receive… The meek shall inherit the earth.” He said all kinds of outlandish things that cut against the grain of human nature.
But by far the most outrageous thing He ever said, the most politically incorrect words ever to come from the lips of Jesus are found in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.” This verse outrages many people.
Some of you who are sort of investigating Christianity, this is claim by Jesus, to be the only way to God, it’s an impediment to you, it’s an impediment to others. Why is it so controversial? Because this statement strikes at the heart of three great myths about Christianity. Let’s look at the myths.
Myth #1: All religions are basically the same.
When you get right down to it, when you strip away all the surface level distinctions, when you get them down to their essentials, many people believe that all religions basically teach the same thing. So it doesn’t matter which one that you believe. All spiritual paths, in other words, lead up the mountain to God in one way or the other.
Yet with this one outlandish assertion, Jesus Christ boldly takes Christianity and He puts it in a separate class by itself. If the only real path to God is through Jesus Christ, then the reality is this: Christianity cannot be reconciled with any other religion.
Acts 4:12 says, “Salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” The uniqueness of Christianity is rooted in the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.
For hundreds of years, people have tried to harmonize the different religions of the world. But there are drastic and irreconcilable differences between Christianity on the one hand and all other belief systems on the other hand.
As I’ve studied world religions, what I found is that all religions other than Christianity are basically based on the idea of people doing something through their struggling and through their striving to somehow earn the good favor of God. You’ve got to use a Tibetan prayer wheel or you’ve got to go on pilgrimages or you’ve got to give alms to the poor or you’ve got to avoid eating certain foods or you have to pray in a certain way or you have to go through a series of reincarnations. They are all attempts of people to reach out to God. All other religions are spelled “DO”. You have to DO something to earn heaven.
But Jesus Christ is God’s attempt to reach out to people. Jesus taught the opposite of what these other world religions taught. He said that nobody could earn their way into heaven so you might as well stop trying. Christianity says you can never do enough to earn your way into heaven. Christianity is spelled “DONE.” Jesus Christ has done what we could never do. He lived the perfect sinless life and He went to the cross to pay for the sins of the world.
The Bible says in Titus 3:5, “God saved us. It was not because of any good works that we ourselves had done but because of His own mercy that He saved us.”
Myth #2: All religions have equal claims on the truth.
In other words, let’s say Christianity is different than other religions. It’s still one philosophy among many. It’s only valid as any other religious systems. Even if there are some differences they all have equal claims on the truth. You have your truth. I have my truth. They’re both equally true.
This has a certain amount of appeal in the United States because we live in a tolerant and pluralistic society and our constitution protects the right of any human being to believe whatever they want to believe. You can believe anything in this country. Some people make the erroneous assumption that because the laws of our country protect every belief that therefore every belief must be equally true. And that’s not the truth.
We live in a world, where anybody can make the claim that they are the way and they are the truth and they are the life and that no one comes to the father but through them. The interesting thing is that through the centuries people have made that claim. Jesus isn’t the only one to say He was the only way to God. Lots of folks have made that claim.
My favorite one was a woman born in 1752 in Rhode Island. Her name was Jemima Wilkinson. Jemima Wilkinson was able to convince about 200 people that she was the daughter of God, that she was their ticket to heaven, that she was the one and only way to the Father. Her little movement was destroyed though in 1820 when she died. She told her followers “Don’t bury me, just lay out my body because on the third day, I'm going to come back from the dead.” So they didn’t bury her. They just set her there and they waited and nothing happened and slowly one by one they sort of trickled away and that was the end of Jemima Wilkinson’s claim to being the way, the truth and the life. She wasn’t and she was proved to be someone who was lying.
But how do we know that Jesus was telling the truth? Anybody could say this. How do we know that Jesus was telling the truth? The reality is this: Only Jesus backed up His claims with unique credentials that gave Him unique credibility. Lots of credentials. I’ll mention quickly just four of them:
Proof #1. First, Jesus Christ is the only individual in the history of the world to fulfill dozens of ancient prophecies that were written hundreds of years before He was even born on this earth in Bethlehem. Nobody has been able to do this except Jesus Christ.
One ancient prophecy predicted the exact moment in history when the Messiah would be born, which He fulfilled. He couldn’t have arranged for how He was put to death. It was predicted hundreds of years before crucifixion was ever adopted as a method of execution by the Romans. It describes crucifixion hundreds of years before it was even used. There’s no way He could have done it on His own. And He fulfilled these prophecies against every mathematical odd. People have done computer studies and looked at the odds of any human being able to fulfill these prophecies and they show not just that it could be difficult, not just that it would be unlikely. But it would be mathematically impossible for any human being in history to fulfill them. Jesus Christ did.
Proof #2. He validates His claim by His unprecedented character. So many times when you get to know someone, better and better, you see their shortcomings more and more obviously. But the opposite was true of Jesus Christ. As His followers spent more time with Him, got to know Him more, they increasingly marveled at His purity and His holiness and His integrity. In fact, nobody was closer to Him than Peter and John and listen to what they said after spending three years with Him in close proximity.
John said, “In Him is no sin.” Can you imagine somebody living with you and getting to know you really well for three years, what would they say about whether or not you ever did anything wrong? John said about Jesus, nothing, no sin. Peter said, “He committed no sin and no deceit was found in His mouth.” So His unique character validates His claim to being the one and only way to God.
Proof #3. He validated His claim by performing miracles. Jesus said in John 10:37, “Don’t you even believe Me unless I do miracles of God.” In other words, anyone can claim to be the Son of God but unless I do miracles supernaturally to show you, don’t even believe Me. And He did perform miraculous things. And they weren’t done in some dark room in the quiet with just a couple of people there. He did them in broad daylight. He did them in front of skeptics and cynics. As a matter of fact you can look in books of ancient history of people who are opponents of Jesus Christ in ancient Jewish writing, in the Koran of Islam, they all admit that Jesus did the miraculous. So His ability to do the miraculous further validates His claims of who He was.
Proof #4. The most spectacular demonstration of His deity: Three days after He was put to death He was resurrected from the dead. And He was encountered by more than 500 eyewitnesses. Who else but the Son of God could spend three days in a tomb and then come forward and establish that He had returned to life.
Several weeks after the resurrection of Jesus, Peter told a crowd in Jerusalem, “Jesus of Nazareth was a man whose divine mission was clearly shown to you by the miracles and wonders and signs which God did through Him.” He said, “You yourselves know this because it took place right here among you.” Those people looked at him and said, “We know you’re telling the truth.
We knew Jesus too. We saw it. We know that that’s true. And we have put to death the Messiah.” And 3000 of them that day turned away from their sins and put their trust in Jesus Christ and the church was born. Folks, Jesus didn’t just claim that He’s the one and only way to God. He validated His credentials and fully established His credibility.
Myth #3: Christians are arrogant when they say that Jesus is the only way to heaven.
Let me paint a picture for you that may help in debunking this myth. Picture two country clubs. One country club represents every other religious system that you’ve ever heard of. And this country club says, “If you want to come into our country club, if you want to have a membership you have to pay for that membership if you want in. You have to achieve a certain level of spirituality. You have to perform a certain number of religious rituals. You have to accomplish a certain number of good deeds and then maybe we will let you in. That’s what every other religion I’ve ever seen essentially says.
Christianity is different. Christianity is like a country club with the doors wide open: “You want in, come on in. You don’t have to buy your membership. Jesus Christ has already bought and paid for it with His death on the cross. Coming into our country club is not based on your qualifications. It’s just merely based on you accepting the invitation of Jesus. The doors are open. I don’t care if you’re rich or poor. I don’t care if you’re black or white. I don’t care what part of the country you’re from. I don't care what you age is. You decide if you want to come join our country club. It is your decision. It’s your choice.
That is what Christianity is about. You tell me which approach is snobbish. Which approach is arrogant? I don’t think it’s Christianity. In fact, Jesus in the Bible tells us very clearly as Christians we’re to be anything but arrogant in what we believe. We’re to be humble. The Bible says in 1 Peter 3:15-16, “Always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have.”
What that means is all Christians should be able to tell people about the credibility and the credentials of Jesus Christ and why it is that He is their hope for eternal life. But then it says, “Do this with gentleness and with respect.” We are to respect people of all cultures, in all places. We’re to love them and we’re to be humble, while at the same time confident in who Jesus Christ is.
All that brings us to a commonly asked question. If Jesus is the only way, what about those who live on some isolated island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean somewhere who don’t hear about Jesus? Are they going to go to hell because they’ve never heard about Jesus Christ? That doesn’t seem fair? That’s a very commonly asked question. Let me give you some answers:
First, God puts each person in the place where they might reach out to Him. Acts 17:26-27 says “From one man God made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth. And He determined the time set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”
If you’re on some island somewhere, you’re there because God wanted you there. That is the place, it says, where you will perhaps reach out for Him. And it says He’s not far from each one of us. He’s not making it hard for us to find Him. He’s not playing cosmic hide and seek. He’s not far.
Second, everyone has a moral standard written on their hearts and that everyone is guilty of violating. Romans 2:15 says, “… the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness…” We all have a moral standard written on our hearts. Want proof? Has your conscious ever bothered you when you’ve done something wrong? Of course. That’s because you have a moral standard written on your heart and you violated it.
Third, everyone has enough information from observing creation to know that God exists, but people reject God anyway. Romans 1:20-21 says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse… For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him…” Creation alone shows that God exists -
But, we also know from the Bible that every person who sincerely seeks God will find Him. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek Me and you will find Me when you seek Me with all of your heart.” The Bible says it is the Holy Spirit who first seeks us, making it possible for us in the first place to seek God.
This suggests to me that people anywhere in the world who respond to the understanding that they have and who earnestly seek after the one true God are going to find an opportunity in some way to receive the eternal life that God has graciously provided to Jesus Christ in Him alone.
The truth is nobody is going to be excluded from heaven because they’ve never heard the name Jesus Christ. The reason people will be denied admittance is because they’ve told God their entire life that they can live just fine without Him.
They don’t need Him. So when they die God will say to them, “Based on your own decision to live your life separate from Me, I'm going to honor the decision that you made and I'm going to seal it right now and you will live with that decision for eternity. You’ll be separated from Me forever.” God isn’t going to violate our free will. He’s going to honor the choice that you make and that I make as to whether or not we want to be reconciled with Him.
One final point to be made. You need to get this, God is scrupulously fair. Genesis 18:25 says, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” He will. It is so comforting for me to know that every human being who’s ever lived is going to be uniquely judged by God, fairly judged by God. The way I understand it from scripture is that there will never be one individual in all of history after they have been judged by God who will genuinely be able to shake their fist at God and say, “That was unfair!” Even though they may not like the results, they will ultimately see God is scrupulously fair.
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