The Choice of Eternity
26 September 2004

Text: Amos 6:1-7: 1 "Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes! 2 Pass over to Calneh, and see, and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory, 3 O you who put far away the day of disaster and bring near the seat of violence? 4 Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, 5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, 6 who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! 7 Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away."

Luke 16:19-31: 19 "There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.' 25 But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.' 27 And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house-- 28 for I have five brothers --so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' 29 But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' 30 And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' 31 He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'"

Everyone worships someone. Everyone, at some point in life, chooses someone as their god.

In this story, Jesus tells of two people whose choices resulted in vastly different destinations. This story unsettles many people, because here we find Jesus' definitive teaching on the afterlife. We all like to think of heaven: the place of eternal bliss. None of us like to think of hell.

Today, our culture is convinced that nothing exists after death. If we desire pleasure, we must achieve it now. Instant gratification is the name of the game. And since nothing exists after death, we are fully justified in achieving our desires at everyone else's expense.

The rich man in the story was such a man. This man was "clothed in purple and fine linen," implying vast wealth. This man didn't believe in sharing, either. I once read a proverb in a Russian story: "We eat to live, not live to eat." This man didn't believe in this proverb. He indulged himself in feasting every day.

Now, we will ask ourselves, "what's wrong with this man's enjoying what he had earned? If he earned the money, he should be able to spend it as he would, with no guilt."

Here's the problem. Later in the story, we learn this man was a Jew, and throughout the Law and the Prophets - the Old Testament to us - Jews are commanded to care for others, especially those less fortunate than they. This man, like those people against whom Amos railed, disregarded those parts of the Law and felt no guilt in doing so.

So let's consider Lazarus for a while. We know this isn't the same "Lazarus" as in John, but when Jesus needed a name for the good guy in this story, He naturally picked a name close to His heart.

Lazarus, in this story, was a beggar. There was nothing proud about this man, for he had nothing in life to engender pride. He found himself laid at the gate of a rich man's house every day, hoping someone in the house would pity him and feed him something from the leftovers from the daily feasts. This man had nothing in life - except for faith.

Faith carried Lazarus through life. Those around him may have thought God had forgotten about him, but God never forgot the day Lazarus began chose to worship Him rather than anyone else. When Lazarus died, faith carried him into heaven.

For the first time, Lazarus experienced true joy. When Lazarus arrived with the angels who carried him, he found Abraham himself there to welcome him. When we arrive in heaven, we, too, will find those who preceded us there to welcome us.

The Apostle Paul tells us that we will receive crowns in heaven and reign as kings.1 The Apostle John tells us in Revelation that heaven has golden streets and pearl gates, with a river flowing from God's throne. The tree of life is there; and in heaven, those who worship God will find a banquet beyond comparison. God will wipe every tear from our eyes; there will be no pain. There will be no night, for God Himself will give light to all in the city.2

Now you may ask me, "do you really think heaven will be this way?" Well, I think John described what he saw as best as he could, and I'm thankful for his words of hope. But I actually think it will be even better. I don't think John could find words for everything he saw. I don't think John could adequately describe the joy we will experience as we spend eternity in the very presence of God. We will find ourselves, finally, in the presence of our Creator. We will spend eternity in the fellowship of Jesus, whose death gave us the ultimate testimony of God's love for us by paying the price for the sins that would have prevented our ever entering heaven. We will finally find ourselves complete: physically, because there will be no sickness or death; spiritually, because we will be in God's presence; emotionally, because there will be no emotional pain. Those who choose to worship God, who proclaim Jesus as Lord of their lives, will experience all this forever.

But for heaven to be a choice, there must be another alternative. If heaven is the ultimate good, there must be an ultimate evil for those who choose to worship anyone other than God.

"The rich man also died and was buried, and in hell, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side." What caused this? This man was a Jew, a child of Abraham, one of God's chosen people, just as Lazarus. He probably hadn't been the worst person in life, or even in his family. Everyone probably thought that he was so successful because God had blessed him so greatly. What happened here?

This man did everything for himself. This man thought of no one else, including God. He may have gone to worship, but he worshiped no one but himself. Had he truly worshiped God, this man would have cared about Lazarus, because we cannot believe in God without caring for others. William Temple, the 98th archbishop of Canterbury, once said, "social witness is both a preparation for evangelism and a consequence of it."3 But because this man chose to worship himself other than God, he chose to reside in hell.

This story give us a horrible picture of the results of this choice. Jesus tells us in verse 24 that the man found himself in flames. Jesus tells us in Mark 9 that in hell, the worm does not die and the fire is never quenched.4 We find in verse 26 that those in hell cannot leave; their torment is inescapable. Those in hell find it unbearable because it was not created for humans; Jesus says in Matthew 25:41 that hell was created for Satan and his angels.

Once again, someone may ask, "do you really believe in hell, and that it will be as bad as the Bible says?" Again, I say that Jesus used the best words He could to describe hell to a first-century crowd. As humans, few of us can imagine a worse way to die that to burn alive. Again, I think the reality is worse than the Bible describes. We find no mention of God wiping away any memory of this life. The person in hell will be there because he chose to worship himself, and those who worship themselves can think of nothing worse than to be humiliated in some way. The person in hell will forever remember every slight in life, every missed opportunity to advance himself. She will be consumed with anger, hatred, and pride, and this will be exacerbated by her inability to escape.

You may wonder, "why will there be no escape?" Remember the alternative is eternal worship of God. Those in hell did not choose to worship Him in life; they will not choose to worship Him in death. If they would choose to worship God, there may be hope, but their pride would not allow them to surrender. Paul tells us that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."5 Those in hell will confess Jesus as Lord, but it will be the most forced confession in all of eternity. And those in hell will forever resent it; they will forever resent the confession that someone else is Lord of all.

To make it even worse, after this forced confession, those in hell will find themselves dealing with Satan's wrath resulting from his forced confession of Jesus as Lord. Satan, who chose to reign in hell rather than serve in heaven, will forever enforce his proud, brutal reign on those who would not willingly surrender to God. They will not willingly surrender to Satan, either, meaning that for eternity hell will find itself engulfed in the horror and agony of spiritual warfare and domination.

This all sounds horrible. So let's add only one more picture from Jesus' story: Those in hell will see us in heaven; witness our joy, our bliss, our ecstasy. And they will hate every bit of it.

Perhaps this is the first time you've ever heard the choice placed so bluntly. This is certainly the first time I've ever preached on the choice of Luke 16. Perhaps you've never thought of the consequences of worshiping yourself instead of God, or worshiping anything else instead of God. Maybe you think you can worship a sport, a car, a job, a career, a person, or anything else. You can choose to worship what you will, but now you know the result of the choice.

Perhaps you're thinking, "well, I don't worship anything or anyone." Remember my first line? Re-read it. The moment you choose to act in selfishness against someone else, you've chosen to worship yourself. You've chosen to rebel against God, and the only remedy for your rebellion is surrender. Do you think surrender to God is easy? Try it. Something deep within you - your pride - will fight you tooth and nail, trying to keep you from doing so, for surrender to God is to choose to worship Him over yourself.

However, once you find yourself willing to surrender, Paul says that the process from there is simple. All you have to do is say, "Jesus is Lord of my life," believing that God raised Him from the dead - and mean it. Demonstrate you mean it by joining a local church to grow with them. Which church should you join? Any church that preaches the Bible and practices godly love with each other and those outside.

If you're a Christian and you're reading this, you're probably thinking, "whew, I'm glad I've already made my choice and don't have to worry about this." If so, think of this: What about those in your life that haven't yet chosen God? Now that you know what they're facing, can you stand to leave them to choose in ignorance?

They say the difference between a lecture and a sermon is that a lecture only gives you information; a sermon gives you a chance to do something with the information. This is your time to decide. Choose life. Choose God. Choose to tell those you love about the choice they face. Your choice today will be the ultimate choice of your life.

Notes

1. 1 Corinthians 6; 2 Timothy 4:8.

2. Revelation 21.

3. Quoted by George Hunter III, How to Reach Secular People (Nashville: Abington Press, 1992), p. 60.

4. Mark 9:48.

5. Philippians 2:10-11.

For further reading, I recommend C.S. Lewis' The Problem of Pain. Lewis addresses the choice of heaven and hell without descending into the fundamentalists' glee over people they dislike dying and going there. No one in their right mind wants anyone to go there, regardless of what they've done; but the way some of the fundamentalists talk, you'd think they actually enjoy the thought of people spending eternity there.