Sermon Tone Analysis

Sermon 2-

It’s a clear starlit night.

Captain Smith peers off the side of the ship at the great watery expanse called the Atlantic Ocean, he feels a proud sense of accomplishment sweep over Him.

He thinks back to all the hard work and time spent at sea that allowed him to be the captain of the biggest and most beautifully engineered vessel in human history.

Since its late and no one is awake, he ventures down to the engineering room where he is greeted by your senior wireless officer, Jack Philipps.

With a troubled look in his eye, jack mentions that he has received several warnings from other vessels ahead that there are large expanses of icebergs in the ships path.

The captain dismisses the information thinking that this modern ship is unsinkable.

Nothing would sink this ship, with his skill and the ships engineering, even if it did hit an iceberg; he could seal of that section of the ship and continue on.

Besides, he is going to be famous for being the captain of not only the largest vessel in history, but also the fastest to have ever sailed from England to the us.

The warnings kept coming.

Nothing has happened yet, so the captain continues to move on.

He relies on his experience and his vessel to get him through.

Six warnings in all come, and no action is taken.

Finally, his ship, the titanic, hits an iceberg and after 2 hours, is buried in the dark, cold sea.

As we journey together through the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, we will see, like captain Smith eventually saw, that how we respond to what has been revealed has eternal significance.

Today we will talk about some of the most pressing and difficult questions we as human beings ask about life and about death.

What happens to us after we die?

Is there an eternal good place and bad place?

How do we know which one we are headed toward?

Can we do anything about our destination?

Can we change the trajectory of our vessel and avoid the iceberg?

The story of the titanic has a dark ending, but as we examine this parable we will be encouraged by the love of God, what He has done to secure our position and how we can spend eternity with Him instead of being cast into deep darkness like the titanic.

The titanic brings to mind another, lighter, story about boats,

A pastor and a speed boat tour operator both died and went to heaven.

St. Peter was at the Pearly gates waiting for them.

'Come with me', said St. Peter to the speed boat driver.

The speed boat driver did as he was told and followed St. Peter to a mansion.

It had anything you could imagine from a bowling alley to an Olympic size pool and it was right next to Jesus’ house.

'Wow, thank you', said the speed boat driver.

Next, St. Peter led the pastor to a rugged old shack with a bunk bed and a little old television set.

'Wait, I think you are a little mixed up', said the pastor.

'Shouldn't I be the one who gets the mansion?

After all I was a pastor, went to church every day, and preached God's word.' 'Yes, that's true’, said St. Peter But during your sermons people slept.

When the speed boat driver drove his boat, everyone prayed.'

There are many jokes out there related to eternity in part because this topic is so mysterious, but also because it is so unnerving.

Jesus points to an afterlife.

Not only by resurrecting Lazarus earlier in the book of Luke, but by He Himself coming back to life.

Jesus points out that anyone who believes in him will live with him after death, forever.

We will turn to the words of Jesus for the answers regarding what happens after death.

Let’s look at a story Jesus told about another man named Lazarus.

This is a parable.

A simple story designed to reveal basic spiritual truths.

We must be careful when reading and interpreting a parable not to make it say more than it was meant to say.

We can’t get too hung up or press too hard into the details.

With this parable, people have often pressed too hard into the details.

Many false ideas about heaven and hell have been derived from this parable.

Including the idea that hell is an eternal torture chamber and that heaven is some kind of never-ending picnic in the sky.

The purpose of this parable is not to give us a map into the afterlife, it’s meant to teach us the connection between this life and the life to come.

Let’s take a closer look…If you have your bibles, please turn to .

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.

20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.

Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side.

The rich man also died and was buried.

23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.

24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.

26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers.

Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

This parable is only found in the gospel of Luke.

The editorial remark in 17:1 reminds us that the audience for this parable is still the Pharisees; there has been no break in the teaching of Jesus since v. 15.

Since Jesus is addressing the Pharisees, what he is telling them is this: you are trying to self-justify.

You try and justify yourselves in the sight of men, but what is valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.

The self-justified identity is based on accomplishments and based on things outside of God that you achieve or do.

Then there is the God-justified identity.

This is the identity that we want.

It is not based on your achievements or what you do, but it’s based on God’s grace.

God’s grace is an unconditional acceptance given to an undeserving person by an unobligated giver.

In the beginning of the parable, Jesus depicts a rich man.

The purple he wore was cloth dyed with a very expensive dye.

It would be used for the external garment and the fine linen for the undergarment.

The combination represents the ultimate in luxury.

These would be clothes from Louis Vuitton not Savers.

The word feasted is a word often used for happiness and it is the same Greek word used for merriment.

It means that this man had all he asked in life and lived a life of enjoyable comfort.

The text doesn’t say that the man committed any grave sin, but he lived only for himself, which was part of his condemnation.

Lazarus is the only name given to any person in any of Jesus’ parables.

This has great significance.

Lazarus means, “God is my help”.

Lazarus’ ultimate hope and help was God, while the rich man put his hope in his riches, wealth, and status.

The rich man doesn’t have a name because that is all he is, a rich man, and nothing else.

The rich man has built his identity on his wealth, while Lazarus has built his identity on God.

Lazarus proves that circumstances don’t ultimately effect who you are.

If we build our identity on anything but God, in death that thing will be gone, but God won’t.

In death we will have God or nothing.

To live in God’s kingdom is to have an identity, a name, that lasts.

Nothing is wrong with being a mother, business man, musician, or pastor, but if that’s the main thing, if that’s the thing that if it was taken away and you would say, “I’m nothing”, Jesus says in this parable that that’s literally true.

Lazarus lays at the gate of the rich man’s grand house.

He was a man of physical misery.

He wanted to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table, he was destitute.

The dogs came and licked his sores.

The rich man had all he wanted, while Lazarus had nothing.

The religious state of both men is left out.

But evidently, Lazarus was a man of faith since the angels took him to Abraham’s side.

There is no joy for the rich man after his death.

This part of the parable brings us to some of the realities of death.