Trinity 1 - Luke 16:19-31

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text is the Gospel lesson just read, the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus from Luke 16.

Today is a special day in the Church. Today God brought Cody Joseph Weathersby into His family by Holy Baptism here at Messiah Lutheran Church, and this afternoon I am preaching for the installation of a newly ordained pastor named Rev. Michael Frese at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Adell, Wisconsin, a little north of Milwaukee. As we begin the Trinity season, it seems appropriate that we remember the Word of God and how He works through it to bring life and salvation. Let’s see how he does it.

God sends pastors to His Church because He promised He would do so. The last words of Jesus before His Ascension into heaven were: Lo, I am with you always, even to the very end of the age. In other words, Jesus promises that He will always, always be with us as long as we dwell here on earth.

That’s quite a promise, isn’t it? Christ our Lord promises to be with you no matter what. No matter how hard and trying the times are in your life. No matter the sorrow you face. No matter how far you fall, Christ promises He will be with you. His passion is for you, for He loves you with an everlasting love. This promise of our Lord’s is the bedrock upon which the Church of God is based. For Christ is our Rock. This is not just theological talk or a cute picture. Christ promises to be with you through thick and thin, even in the face of death itself. Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

Now there was another man who trusted in that great promise of our Lord. His name was Lazarus. He had a lot of reasons, earthly speaking, to doubt God’s Word and promise. He was a beggar. His life was pathetic and painful. He had no food, no home, even the dogs came and licked his sores. Yuk. And yet Lazarus had the one thing needful: he had a name. God had called Him by name, just as God called Cody by name a few minutes ago. He was in the bosom of Abraham. And because of that, no matter what the trial and difficulty the world threw at him, He was safe and at peace.

There was another man; we don’t even know his name. In the eyes of the world, he had everything: money, clothes, sumptuous food, everything a man would want. But what He lacked was the one thing needful. He had no name. He was not written in the book of life. And so all of his riches amounted to nothing, because he refused to trust the word and promise of God.

This is how things work in the world sometimes, isn’t it? On the outside, God’s children are hard to spot. They are the sinners, the weak, the depressed, the poor in heart and body. Even this little infant, new to the world. On the outside, the world seems to get all of the winners: the ones with money and power, prestige and honor.

But what God preaches to you today is that you have the one thing needful when you have His Word, that is, Christ Himself. For when Lazarus and the rich man both died, one went to heaven and the other to hell. The rich man for all his riches was poor. And poor Lazarus, for all of his poverty was rich beyond all measure.

Why was this so? This was so because Lazarus received the Word of God with joy, and it sprang up in Him and yielded a great and mighty crop of eternal life. The rich man couldn’t see it. Try as he might, he could not understand that it is the Word of God which creates faith and gives eternal life. He couldn’t get it. Even when he tried to save his poor brothers, he wanted a miracle. He wanted Lazarus to go back to earth and appear from the dead for them so that they would be shocked into faith. He wanted, if you will pardon the expression, for Lazarus to “scare the hell” out of them.

This is a wonderful text for us to remember as we see how God saves by water and Word, and as we remember God’s servants whom He uses to deliver His Word to His people. The Apology to the Augsburg Confession speaks quite specifically about how God is with us today in His Church:

What this means for you in English is that God has sent you a pastor so that you will know without any doubt or question where God is at work and how He will work. God is at work through your pastor to give you God’s Word, to forgive your sins, to baptize your children, and to deliver Christ’s body and blood to you week after week.

I don’t point this out to you to talk about me. What is important here is the Word of God, and how God’s Word is at work in your midst. We have such a beautiful example of this in Baptism. For here God brings Cody into His family, plants the seed of His Word into him, drives out Satan, forgives his sins, delivers him from death itself, and recreates Cody in the image of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. That is series business, and it is a wonderful gift and treasure beyond all measure.

This day we rejoice in the gifts of salvation which only God can give. His promise remains sure: I will never leave you nor forsake you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

^{^[1]}Tappert, T. G. (2000, c1959). The book of concord : The confessions of the evangelical Lutheran church (Apology of the Augsburg Confession: 1, VII, 12-13). Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

TITLE: “The Eternal Presence of God with His People”