The Ultimate Resurrection. Luke 16:19-31, When we read this passage, it is easy to conclude that the rich man went to hell because he was rich and Lazarus went to heaven because he was poor. But the Bible does not state that it was because the rich man was rich that he went to hell.
We can deduce a reason why the rich man went to hell; he lacked love. Financial status should not be a determinant of how we act, and love and kindness are not dependent on how much we make or don’t make.
Once we lose the fear of death, then we can live life fully and obey God properly. All of us are designed to live forever, because life doesn’t end at death. The life you are living now is a preparation for the next one, if you continue on your current trajectory, where will it take you?
It’s quite funny to note that the rich man still wanted to send Lazarus on errands, he was proud deliberately. He didn’t believe in the equality of humans, he believed that he had more value than Lazarus.
It’s not enough to just go to church and claim to be a Christian, you need to align with the values of Christ.
After seeing that there was nothing he could do about his own situation, the rich man became concerned about his brothers, he didn’t want them to come to where he was. Once you cross from this life into the next, the opportunity to change is gone. (Hebrews 9:27)
If you leverage on the scriptures to know how things work, you will see beyond the point of death, the quality of your decisions will be better. If the rich man had been able to see beyond the point of death while he was on earth, influencing his brothers positively would have been priority for him.
Money is important, but make clean money and develop the capacity to be a loving person, with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Sermon excerpt from Sunday sermon by Pastor Sam Adeyemi – Sunday 18, June, 2023
