Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Luke 16:19-31

IDEA: If we can identify with the rich man, then we can see our need as the poor man did.

PURPOSE: To demonstrate to the listener that we are close to the people in the parable.

Whenever you read a story or see a film, you really have to identify with one or more of the characters. Otherwise you don’t care about the story. That is also true with the parables of Jesus. To appreciate them, you have to experience them on the inside.

I. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, do you find it hard to identify with these characters? Why? (We’re probably not overwhelmingly rich or destitute.)

II. Is it possible for us to look at what we do possess—house, clothes, food, disposable income—and behave as this rich man did?

We sit around a loaded Thanksgiving table, and someone says, “We ought to be more thankful.”

But getting riches and keeping them can preoccupy us and keep us from the relationship with God and relationship with people in need.

It would be a mistake to think that the only people for which we are to care are poor people. We have a responsibility for them. But there are other hurting people around us who do not eat out of garbage cans. We can be blind to people around us, as the rich man was blind to Lazarus.

III. Are there other kinds of riches we can have that can be used selfishly?

If we look hard enough, we can see ourselves in the story. It’s possible that if we can see our desperate need, we can then become like Lazarus who found that “the Lord is my helper.”

In this story, the rich man actually needs more “help” than the beggar.