Jesus and the Helpless

Announcements:

The Wonder Tour is asking the question, "I WONDER...could there be more to life than this?"Since 2004, teams from Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, & Kansas have been impacting communities in Oklahoma, Arkansas, & Kansas. This year they have a team from Missouri & a team from Arkansas bring The Wonder Tour to Sulphur Springs, Arkansas June 12-17.

A team of 40+ 7th-12th graders - along with adult leaders - will arrive in Sulphur Springs on Sunday, June 12 ready to serve the community for 5 days through

• Community service projects
• Afternoon games with Sulphur kids
• Feeding the community FREE dinner
• FREE Carnival games
• FREE dramas, concerts, & more...

This group needs ideas for service projects, as well as volunteers and money. If you're interested in helping, check out their Facebook page, and contact Cassie Steele.

• We will be having our annual Easter sunrise service up at the cross on April 24! Bring your own chair--and blankets if you wish--and be sitting in it at 6:30 AM. If you need transportation up the hill then please arrive at Harbor House at 6:00 where 4x4 vehicles will take you. Potluck will be a big Easter breakfast after the service (contact Vivian if you plan to bring something).  

Praise Reports:

• Great news for our local soldiers! Christin and Levi will not be deployed overseas anytime soon. Tyler Smith is home, recovering well, and James is slated to come to Little Rock in May 31.
• Abby, Aaron, Dwayne, Sandra, and Pam are all celebrating birthdays this month!
• Adam Christian is doing very well in basic training.
• Elaine's baby goats are selling well.
• Ruby is doing better. Please keep her on your prayer list.
• Kathleen's friend, who had lost her hope, is now back in church with hope regained.
• Lil Buckley is recovering from a stroke and is supposed to be home, praise God!

Prayer Requests:

• Alan (of Alan & Kathleen) is still looking for work.
• Roy goes to Ft. Smith for Post Office training for a week. Please consider keeping Gabe sometime.
• Dixie is still at Circle of Life Hospice.
• Greg and Jaimie's brother-in-law, Paul, passed away last week.
• Our country and leaders need prayers.
• Elaine's niece, Jamie, is a new mother with a lot on her (and her parents') shoulders.
• The ringing in David's ears is now a scream.
• Remember Rebecca. 
• Lary Becker is 43 years old and suffering kidney failure and heart problems.
• Keep Mary in your prayers.
• Darryl Holman was taken to the hospital last Sunday after coughing up blood.

The Rich get Richer!, originally uploaded by rubyblossom..

Luke 16:19-31 Parables are extremes--in this case there is a very rich man and a very poor man. This is the only parable where a character is given a name: Lazarus (which means "God is my help"). 

Let's dissect the two characters of this parable.

Rich Man: This guy is very generic. From Heaven's point of view he is a no-name, just another rich guy. Personal Application: If we show disdain for people in this world, we are in danger of becoming a "nobody". 

Notice that wealth is defined as eating and dressing well, and "living in luxury" (literally, a celebratory atmosphere). What do we usually define wealth as? Probably having a big bank account, and many nice possessions. Most of us would be considered rich by the Bible's definition.

Rich Man also has something of an entitlement mindset, as seen by his attitude in vs. 24 when he asks for the guy to whom he denied mercy to lessen his own suffering. His attitude wasn't even changed by death and torment!  

There is a "Law of Recognition" in Christianity: we either are or aren't recognizing God-given moments in our lives. We have to discover and be open to them. Rich Man didn't recognize his duty to Lazarus, didn't invest in him. What might have happened if he had? Usually investment leads to profit, which leads to joy. He might have found himself loving and investing in a completely different economy--Heaven's economy--and storing up treasures in Heaven. Helping Lazarus might have changed Rich Man's heart and life. But no, he was totally self-consumed.

What God-given opportunities are you missing in your life? 

 Lazarus: Heaven took note of this man. Throughout the scriptures we see that God has a heart for the poor, widows, orphans, and aliens. Why? Because they are helpless. It is our responsibility to care for the helpless the Lord entrusts to us. Personal Application: Do not confuse helping the helpless with helping those who can help themselves. Lazarus was "laid" at Rich Man's gate, so he was probably lame as well as covered in sores. He couldn't help himself. Don't squander your surplus by enabling slackers, do utilize your surplus to assist the truly needy. 

Do you notice the "cavalier" attitude of Heaven in this parable? Lazarus was beloved by God, but wasn't healed or even helped in this world. The lesson here is that God leaves most matters of justice to us; Abraham's bosom is the reward of the righteous and that makes up for everything done on earth. It's up to us "rich men" to step up and help the helpless in this life.


This parable gives us what may be our closest look at the afterlife. The places described here are not literally "Heaven" and "Hell", but rather "Paradise" and "Hades". These might be "holding places" for the dead to wait out the time till Judgement (Luke 23:43). By the time of their deaths both Lazarus and Rich Man had decided their eternal fate.

In the next life we will get comfort or agony, 

according to how we comforted agony.

Death is the final threshold, and after that we cannot turn back and do the right thing. God has given us grace, established the status quo, and given us the tools and rules for living. We have one life--one shot at success. Rich Man in Hades is portrayed as scrambling, as if he missed something, key information he should have been made aware of. But he had the Law and the Prophets. That was all he needed.

So, who is the helpless person at your gate? Take your abundance and share it. It might sound like the social gospel, but it's what the Bible says (Deuteronomy 10:18, 15:7, 15:11, 24:14, Psalm 140:12, 146:7, Proverbs 22:22, 31:20, Matthew 19:21, Luke 12:33, 1 Timothy 5:3). Where there is true helplessness, love is the only proper response.