Your
answer to this question will determine your eternal destiny. Will you
assimilate into a world system governed by carnal man or the Kingdom
of Heaven governed by God. The two are as different as light and
darkness. Man’s ways are not God’s ways and God’s ways are not
man’s ways.
In
recent years we have heard many world leaders speak of the
globalization of systems and nations. Globalization appears to be the
dominant world view. It simply means the development of an integrated
global economy marked by free trade, free flow of capital and tapping
into cheaper foreign labor markets. Finance is the driving force
behind most organizational entities in all the world. Money is power
and power is money! However there is much more at stake here than
money. To be a world player, one must be prepared to make
concessions. You cannot expect to hold one hundred percent to your
ideals and values and still participate successfully in the global
economy. Presently, the powers that be are colluding together and
many are bowing to the promise of financial power.
We
are not citizens of this world! We were not created to function in
this environment that engulfs all of mankind. We are created for a
better world and for much greater purpose than what this world can
offer. We were made to walk with God in the midst His creation in the
cool of the day. We were made to share in intimate relationship with
God so as to share with Him in intimate communion all the days of our
lives. We were made to be free from all the human encumbrances that
sin has brought upon this world.
We
are not citizens of this world! We are citizens of the Kingdom of
Heaven. Therefore, we must distance ourselves from the worldliness
that seeks daily to invade our lives. Manipulation is of the devil. A
spirit of control is orchestrated by Satan. People in leadership
roles can easily be influenced by the desire to control the outcome.
God is the only true standard and His Will is the only blessed
outcome!
God
will put people of like character into the same lot together and
bring them into judgment. In Luke’s version of Jesus’ ministry,
he accounts for numerous parables that Jesus used to illustrate
Divine principles. It is interesting how Jesus used the parable of
the rich man and Lazarus to characterize the life of a believer and
an unbeliever.
Luke
16:19, “There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple
and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day...”
The
rich man represents an unbeliever. Not that a person has to be poor
or lack possessions and money to be a believer but that the rich man
allowed his possessions to stand between himself and God. The rich
man had fine things IE… purple and fine linen and had a lavish
lifestyle. (fared sumptuously). However, it was not the things that
he possessed that hindered his relationship with God but the mindset
that possessed him. For him, life was one continual party. And
evidently he gave no thought to the need of others.
What
is the mindset of a rich man? Jesus gives us an example in Luke
12:16, “And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a
certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 And he thought within
himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to
bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my
barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and
my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods
laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20
But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be
required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast
provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not
rich toward God.” Life, at it’s best is short. Our focus should
be on completing the assignment God has given to us as His servants.
And
there was a beggar named Lazarus. Luke 16:20, “And there was a
certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of
sores...” Now we see the other side of the coin. Lazarus was laid
at the rich man’s porch or front gate everyday. The need was
obvious. There was no avoiding the dilemma of this poor man. He was
really sick with sores all over his body (probably leprosy). He had
to be carried not being able to walk alone. He was probably poor
because he was sick. So, why was he sick? His sickness led to his
total deprivation. So, why was he sick? Could it be so that God might
touch the lives of the people around him? Could it be so that God
might challenge every person that crossed his path? Here was a
hungry, homeless, sick brother and how many people stopped to give
him aide?
Then
comes the final hour! Luke 16:21, “And desiring to be fed with the
crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came
and licked his sores. 22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died,
and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also
died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in
torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”
Lazarus died and was carried by angels to Heaven. The rich man died
but his outcome was much different. “And in hell...”
(Hades-Greek) Parallels with the Hebrew Sheol both meaning “realm
of the dead.” The inference is the eternally dead without hope or
deliverance.
The
two people in this parable represent two different lives, two
different deaths and two different eternities. Both individuals had a
choice. Though Lazarus had a life of struggle, he chose to believe in
his creator. The rich man, however, chose to follow his own selfish
desires avoiding the needs of those around him. Lazarus sacrificed
his mortal life to inherit his eternal life with Christ. The rich man
sacrificed his eternal life with Christ for his mortal life. What
will be your choice? Only you can determine your destiny!
Hebrews
9:26, “...but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28 So Christ was
once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for
him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”
