No Salvation without Justice
a sermon based on Luke 16:19-31
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
The Rich Man and Lazarus
Luke 16 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.’”
The third sermon in this series on Salvation features a
particularly hard message. I have entitled my sermon: “No salvation
without justice.” This topic has to do with what we need to do to keep
walking on the narrow path.
There are theologians that say that you cannot lose your
salvation and others who say that you can “backslide” from your faith and
commitment to Christ.
The two poles in this case are as follows:
Justification / security – Discipleship / Holiness
“once saved
always saved”
“and lead us not into temptation”
On the one hand, I understand that it is hard to imagine
that once we are born from above (or born again), that we can lose that.
Once we become children of God in the understanding of Christ being the
firstborn of the new creation, how do we lose that status, or better
still, condition?
And there are Scripture passages backing up the notion
that once we’re saved we’re always saved.
In Ephesians 1:4-5 the apostle Paul says: “For he chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and
unblemished in his sight in love. He did this by predestining us to
adoption as his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of
his will”
Romans 8:38-39 seems to reinforce this theology: ”For I
am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
On the other hand, Scripture passages like the one we
read today as well as other passages do suggest that when it comes to
standing before our Creator at the end of time, our reward and possibly
our salvation will depend on an evaluation (see also Matthew 25: “The
sheep and the goats”).
Once again, we find ourselves in the tension of two
theological poles, except this one is tough, because there doesn’t seem to
be a middle ground possible here. You can’t lose your salvation a little,
can you? On this subject we need to come down on one side or another.
I think that every theologian would agree that there are
examples in the bible as well as in modern life, of people who once were
saved and now are lost (Amazing Grace in reverse).
I think the difference lies in the explanation.
Once-saved-always-saved theologians would explain that a person who
backslides never was saved to begin with; they just went through the
motions, but were never part of the elect.
On the other side of the coin, theologians say that,
yes, even the elect can backslide, or why else is the Bible filled with
stern warnings, calls to be vigilant, to watch out, to be careful not to
stumble, to stand firm, not to give in to temptation, etc.
I don’t want to engage in this argument this morning.
Since all seem to agree that the loss of salvation is described in the
Bible, I want to focus on that and leave the debate to others on how it’s
explainable.
Jesus’ parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus tells
the story of two Jewish believers—one ends up by Abraham’s side, the other
one in Hades, or hell. This is one of the most difficult passages for us;
in fact, I do not recall ever hearing a sermon preached on this passage.
In Jesus’ parable, the rich man ends up in Hades where
he is tormented seemingly solely on account of his lack of paying
attention to the law of Moses and the prophets with regard to sharing with
the have-nots, such as Lazarus.
The rich man did not share with Lazarus who lived at his
gates—his misery was in the rich man’s face daily which he apparently
chose to ignore or rationalize. Perhaps the rich man was thinking: “look
at this lazy person, if he’d only get off his behind and work for a
change, he could be as well off as I am.”
What specifically was the rich man was guilty of?
Jesus mentions two things that were available to the
rich man, which he chose to ignore at least partially: Moses and the
prophets. What Jesus seems to be referring to are the so-called “justice
laws.” One of those can be found in Deuteronomy 10:18-19: "[God] executes
justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by
giving him food and clothing. So show your love for the alien, for you
were aliens in the land of Egypt.”
If you lived in ancient Judea, those living at your
gates, in your household, in your neighborhood, in your community were
supposed to be fed and treated well, even if they were foreigners and
people of a different religion. Alms were supposed to be given to the
poor. Widows, the fatherless, those who had no or little support in their
old age were supposed to be supported.
The social justice theme was also very prominent in the
preaching of the prophets. Micah for instance says (in 6:8)
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
The rich man may have been a very devout Jew in all
other ways; he may have gone to temple, done his sacrifices, kept the
cleanliness laws, and even worshiped the right way.
He is in Hades not because he was an atheist, because he
didn’t practice his faith, but simply because of one point--he lacked
social justice.
We may not like this message, especially since we live
in a rich society, but God has consistently shown in his Word that he is
on the side of the poor, the oppressed, and the disadvantaged. God is not
opposed to the rich, but God calls them to share and to help the cause of
the poor and the oppressed.
There are harsh words against the rich who don’t share
their resources with the poor and against those in power who don’t help
the powerless.
The prophet Isaiah put God’s thoughts on justice like
this in Isaiah 10:1-3:
Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees,
to deprive the poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,
making widows their prey
and robbing the fatherless.
What will you do on the day of reckoning,
when disaster comes from afar?
To whom will you run for help?
Where will you leave your riches?
God challenges his children again and again in his Word,
by asking: where is your compassion? I am a compassionate God and I want
you to be compassionate. I am a giving God, and I want you to be giving.
So important is social justice to God that not sharing
with the poor and not helping the oppressed seems to be a deal-breaker
when it comes to salvation.
Yes, all spiritual discipline is important: confession,
meditation, prayer, bible-study, worship, service, keeping the law, but
doing justice is equally important.
Every generation seems to struggle with social justice;
four or five generations ago the issue was slavery, two generations ago it
was women’s rights, a generation ago it was civil rights for
African-Americans and other minorities. On January 17th
of this year, we remembered Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his pivotal
role in our fight for equal rights before the law and in society.
Here we are almost 43 years after his assassination and
we did come a long way since then, but there is still so much to do. Both
the OT as well as the NT are clear on God’s idea of a prosperous and happy
land: it is a land which offers justice for all. A land where all are
considered equal before God, a land where nobody has to go hungry, where
nobody is oppressed or taken away human rights and dignity.
Here is the thing: If only one of his children goes
hungry, the land is not considered prosperous by God.
When Jesus had to define his calling at the beginning of
his ministry he did so in did so in his hometown’s synagogue quoting
Isaiah:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free, . . . Luke 4:17-19
Robert Clancy once noted that the topic of justice,
while having such a prominent place in the Bible, seems little emphasized
by the millions who revere it as the “Word of God.” (1)
This passage of the rich man and Lazarus challenges me
personally. Social justice is something that I am struggling with in my
Christian walk. I know that I should share more out of the abundance that
God gave me. I know that I should do more to help those who are oppressed,
that I should stand up for those who are not afforded equal human rights.
I know that I should speak up on behalf of those who are not treated with
the dignity they need to be shown.
Passages like this one, along with that of the rich
young ruler who Jesus asked to give away all he possessed, and the passage
in Matthew 25 where we seem to be judged on account of what we did to the
least of Christ’s brothers, all those passages make me realize that I have
such a long way to go, that I have to grow in my spirituality and in God’s
grace and mercy.
Do I show enough compassion? Do I do enough? Do I give
enough? The good news is that as a child of God, I already have the basic
desire to help, to give, and to serve—due to the work of salvation God has
wrought in me.
As born-again believers we already have God’s compassion
inside of us; however, we need to be careful not to squelch this
compassion. It is so easy for us to rationalize the plight of others and
thus subdue our God-given compassion.
I struggle with that because my own ancestors (my
grandparents) who were “good Christians” looked the other way when the
Nazis came and took their neighbors away to concentration camps. Millions
upon millions of Jews, Christians, political dissenters, homosexuals and
disabled people were killed because they, along with so many others, did
not say anything or do anything to stop it.
I realize that I, even as a Christian, have fallen short
of the glory of God, and now I have two options. I can either walk away
from Jesus like the rich, young ruler. Or I can say to God, “I know I am
not perfect; I am struggling with giving all I possess, I am not the
Christian that I could and should be, but I come to you as I am and put my
little hand into yours.”
God always invites us to come as we are. We don’t have
to first clean up our act, we don’t have to first be perfect. We can come
as we are with all our flaws and brokenness and imperfections.
His arms are open wide for anybody—even those of his
children who are privileged and rich. The important point is that as we
continue to walk with God that we don’t stay at the point of selfish
living, but rather take baby steps toward our perfection. John Wesley
called this process the “Highway of holiness.”
As we continue to walk with God, he will continue to ask
us to look deep into our hearts and to allow our compassion to move us to
do better. Let us pray….
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(1) “The idea of justice-from its straightforward exposition by Moses
to its sublime enrichment by Jesus-the idea of equity between man and man
under God -- is so concentrated upon, and labored over, through out the
Bible that it is sometimes difficult to see how that book can be so
revered with its essential theme so neglected.” (Robert Clancy, Justice in
the Bible, Henry George News, July, 1951)
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