The Master of the House

The Lord says four things to these religious people who did not truly love God.

The Pharisees were good at convincing people that they were holy, that they were God’s people. They were good at convincing people that they were the ones who truly obeyed God’s law. They were so good at convincing people that they eventually brought people under the yoke of their traditions. They emphasized their outward show of piety and religiosity. They seem to have reached the point where they believed their own hype.

Here’s the difference between the Pharisees, the people, and God—“Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart” (1 Sam 16:7). They could fool men, but they couldn’t fool God. God knows their hearts.

What’s striking about verse 15 is how often you hear people saying “God knows my heart” as a way of excusing their sin. It’s their way of saying, “God will be OK with me. God understands and accepts my sin.” But when Jesus talks about God knowing our hearts it’s to make it plain that we can’t fool God. His judgment will be perfect. He will see our thoughts, our motives, our desires, our feelings, and everything else that is under the surface of all our pretending. We should tremble when we read, “God knows your hearts.” It’s the very knowledge of our hearts that creates the crisis with God! This is why we don’t want to treat our hearts as the best guide to life. Our problem is our heart. As Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it?” We may fool ourselves and others, but we will not fool God. God knows who we are all the way down to the bottom of our souls. How foolish it is, then, to risk heaven and hell with a weak appeal to “God knows my heart.”

“For what is highly admired by people is revolting in God’s sight.” People tend to think others love what they love. We should not make the mistake of thinking God values something because we value it. God’s ways and thoughts are not like ours; his ways and thoughts are higher (Isa 55:8-9).

If we love a thing like money to the point that it rivals God, then it becomes an idol. If we should not trust our hearts, then we should not trust our loves either. We should test our loves by God’s Word as well. We must be careful to ensure we love what God loves and that the things we love are not revolting in his sight.

Men have a tendency to worship their possessions. That’s what’s going on with these Pharisees. They’re like the rich young ruler. That’s the man who went away from Jesus sad because Jesus told him to sell all he had and give to the poor (18:18-23). The man had a lot of things, and those things had a hold on his heart. Whenever we exalt things before God, God calls them revolting! God hates idols. He views them as unclean. The heart that loves money loves an abomination that God hates.

The Pharisees preferred their own way of life based on the love of money. They rejected the teaching of Jesus and laughed at it. When they did that, they were rejecting the very commands of God. That’s why our Lord says about the Bible in verses 16-17,

“The Law and the Prophets [the Old Testament] were until John [the beginning of the new covenant]; since then, the good news of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone is urgently invited to enter it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in the law to drop out.”

Nothing God has ever said and written in his Word has an expiration date. No requirement of God for his people has “void” written on it as if it were a cancelled check.

God’s Word continues in force. Christ fulfills it, but that does not give us warrant to conclude, “That’s the Old Testament; it does not apply.” Or, “That’s something in New Testament times, and times have changed, so we don’t have to obey it.” Those are terrible ways of looking at God’s Word. God’s Word will stand—every jot and tittle—until it is all fulfilled and Christ returns. The Word of God obligates us until the return of Christ. By the Word of God we come to understand how Christians should manage God’s house as stewards.

This seems like it comes out of nowhere. How does Jesus go from discussing stewardship and possessions to talking about divorce and adultery?

Think about where your thoughts have gone while reading this. Chances are, at the mention of “stewardship” you began to think about your own money and spending decisions. Then, there’s a good chance you began to think not just about yourself but about your family—their needs, limitations, and desires. So eventually the mind focuses on our relationships. Here the Lord calls to mind the most intimate and fundamental of relationships. He views marriage as a stewardship. How we manage or care for that relationship matters to God.

So in the context of obedient stewardship as required by God’s Word, it makes perfect sense that Jesus should speak against adultery to a religious people who believed you could get a divorce for almost any reason. Some rabbis in ancient Judaism supported divorce for “offenses” as minor as a woman burning her husband’s food or the husband simply finding her displeasing in some way. Sinful humanity has had a low view of marriage from the time that Adam blamed Eve for eating the fruit down to our day of no-fault divorce.

Jesus speaks into that culture to remind us that we don’t steward only possessions, but we steward relationships as well. Though we live in a fallen world where marriages end for all kinds of reasons—sometimes good ones and sometimes despite the best effort of one spouse—God intends our marriages to be lifelong. He intends us to steward that relationship until the very end, the way Christ cares for his bride until the end. If we won’t steward the blessing of marriage but live adulterously, then we shouldn’t think we can steward the blessing of riches and live faithfully. We should not convince ourselves that we will be faithful to our covenant with God if we express covenant disloyalty in relationship with our spouse.

We can’t fool God. God doesn’t love what we love. His Word stands forever. So all who call themselves “Christians,” “disciples,” or “stewards” must obey God.

Is there any area of your life where you trick others into thinking you’re religious but the truth is something different? Have you soberly considered that God knows your heart and can’t be fooled? Is there an area of our life where we think God must be pleased with us or with something we’re doing simply because it pleases us? Have we considered that that area or thing, if it’s contrary to God’s Word, is revolting in God’s sight? Have we been thinking God’s commands no longer apply to our life or that we do not have to obey God? Let us be suspicious of any notion that it’s okay to disobey God. Finally, how are you stewarding your relationships in your home, in the church, and in the community? Do we manage our relationships in a way that demonstrates we are God’s servants?

Luke 16:19-31

The story features a “rich man” and “a poor man named Lazarus” (vv. 19-20). The rich man remains anonymous, but the poor man is named, perhaps a hint at God’s particular care for the poor and oppressed. The rich man was clothed in “purple and fine linen”; Lazarus was “covered with sores.” The rich man was “feasting lavishly”; Lazarus begged to be fed with crumbs from the rich man’s table. The lives of these two persons couldn’t have been more different.

Both the rich man and the poor man die (v. 22), but they go to two different places. “The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side”—which is a way of referring to heaven. The rich man “was buried. And being in torment in Hades.” Hades refers to hell. The Lord tells us here that his people are very often and more likely the poor and outcast rather than those who live for riches. If we’re getting to know Jesus, we must recognize that Jesus believes in a real heaven and a real hell. The person who dies will go to one of these two places. There is no in-between, no purgatory, no do-overs or mulligans. God appoints a person to die once, and after that comes judgment (Heb 9:27).

Lazarus never speaks in this story. He is named, but he is silent. The rich man speaks twice. He pleads with Abraham for two things. First, he is in hell crying out for mercy. He wants just a drop of water to cool his tongue because he is “in agony in [the] flame” of hell. He’s gone from feasting sumptuously to thirsting in anguish. Verse 24 gives us a picture of the desperation of hell, of the agony of conscious torment in God’s condemnation.

Second, the rich man pleads for his family—but only after he pleads for himself. Sinners remain selfish even in hell. “‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send him to my father’s house—because I have five brothers—to warn them, so they won’t also come to this place of torment’” (v. 27). Even in hell, this rich man thinks Lazarus should serve him. He’s unrepentant of his selfishness and his lack of love for the poor.

The rich man remains fully conscious of his suffering and torment. Hell is not a dream or a place without feeling. The Bible does not present the afterlife as sleep or as annihilation without suffering. It’s a place of intense suffering because God has removed even that common grace that we so much enjoyed in this life even if we are not Christians. Being utterly removed from grace leaves only misery and sorrow. We cannot imagine what horrible, horrible suffering is the removal of God’s love and mercy.

The rich man does not want those he loves to join him in Hades. If our loved ones who died apart from Jesus could speak to us, they would tell us to repent, follow Jesus, and not come to hell. Many are tempted to leave the faith or reject Christianity because they cannot stomach the doctrine of hell. The sad irony is they would be doing the very opposite of what their loved ones in misery would encourage them to do!

When I think of the doctrine of hell, I can’t help but think of my father. Unless my father repented and placed his faith in Christ at a time I’m unaware of, he is now the rich man in Hades. He would, because he loved me, urge me not to turn from Christ. He would warn me against coming there. He would tell me not to be troubled by him but to rest in Christ. Certainly don’t flee the only path of salvation, which is faith in the Son of God crucified, buried, and resurrected to rob hell of its victims. He would call me to be wiser, humbler, and more clear-eyed than him by trusting Christ as Lord and Savior.

Beloved, perhaps you have a loved one who died apart from Christ and it troubles your soul. I understand that pain. But your loved ones would not have their departure keep you from heaven and the love of God. They would have you confess your sins to God, turn away from sin, and trust in Christ as your Savior.

But there are two problems. Lazarus had a lifetime of suffering (v. 25). Now it’s his turn to enjoy the comfort of being with God. All our suffering will be turned to comfort in the presence of God. Suffering will give way to glory. The first will be last, and the last will be first. No one who trusts Christ will face shame in eternity. Lazarus sits with Abraham—a picture of fellowship with God—and it will never be taken from him.

There will be no changing things after we die. There’s a great chasm firmly in place so that no one can pass from hell to heaven or from heaven to hell. Once you’re in heaven, you’re in heaven. Once you’re in hell, you’re in hell. There can be no change of address.

There’s a second problem. People who will not believe God’s Word will not believe even a great miracle like someone coming back from the dead (vv. 29-31). The Old Testament (“Moses and the prophets”) is enough to get someone saved from hell and into heaven, provided they believe it. The rich man’s family had enough gospel in those Scriptures to come to God and be saved. A person who will not believe the Bible and repent of sin will not believe and repent even with a resurrection. How many mock the good news of the resurrection!

There are some who hear “the good news of the kingdom of God” proclaimed and urgently “enter it” (v. 16). This urgency begins with turning away from sin, away from their desires, and away from the world in order to follow Jesus wherever he leads as Lord and Savior. This urgency to enter the kingdom continues with obedience to Christ and growing in holiness. The reward will be the comfort and joy of being with God in glory.

Don’t be like this rich man. The Lord said in Verse 9 that riches will fail. It’s certain. This man discovered that, didn’t he? He lived a great life with fancy clothes and lavish feasting, but his money couldn’t buy him heaven. He could not escape hell once there. He couldn’t even warn others. The gospel is only good news to us if we respond in time. We must repent and believe before we die so that we might have Christ as our friend and an eternal dwelling with him.

How will you steward your one soul? How will you steward the good news of Jesus Christ? Will you use this life to take hold of eternal life, or will you waste this life and suffer forever in hell? Be a good steward. Use what you have heard to gain what you have not yet seen.

Christian, what a great stewardship we have. What an amazing thing God has done in making even our ordinary stewardship decisions foretastes of the faithful reward we will receive from God. We are but stewards now; but if we prove faithful, we will be coheirs of all in the kingdom, and our hearts will be filled with his glory.