When Your Comfort Becomes Your God

Text: Luke 16:19-31

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Question for you this morning: What is the point that Jesus is making in the Gospel reading from Luke?  

Perhaps a person may say that it's obvious - rich people go to hell.  In other words, greedy capitalists have no place in the Kingdom of God. Is this right, though?  

If we look back at our reading from the Gospel of Luke, we do see that the rich man was evil and godless.   He didn't have faith or love, but he did have plenty to eat and drink. He had fine clothes and an incredible house filled with money and possessions but cared nothing for the poor and dying Lazarus.  

And so, it's settled, right? Rich capitalists go to hell. And disenfranchised poor blue-collar workers?  Well… they go to heaven. Sermon is done; case is closed. Enough said.  Right? 

Now, wouldn't it be easy if it were that simple? But it is not. You see, many in culture want us to think it's that simple.  But dear friends, our culture is naive. Furthermore, it is theologically reckless to conclude from today’s Gospel reading that rich people go to hell and poor people go to heaven. 

Let’s unpack this a bit more.  Looking at Luke 16:19, let me paraphrase what Jesus is saying about the rich young man: 

“There was a man who had more money than he knew what to do with. Every day, he dressed in the finest clothes. Every day, he sat down to meals that most people would only dream of. Every day, his table was full, his cup was filled, and his cravings were satisfied. This was not an occasional celebration. This was not a feast day here and there. This was his pattern. His routine. His way of life. Every day was built around comfort, luxury, appetite, and excess. He did not simply enjoy good things; he was fixed on them.”

Now, to help you hear what Jesus is driving at?  Let me adjust this parable a bit so you can hear the main point being made.  Let me use, not a rich man, but a poor man: 

There was a poor man who had very little, but every day his life still revolved around comfort, appetite, and ease. Every day, he dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie, while consuming TV dinners, soda, and chips bought with food stamps. Every day, Netflix played. Every day, the Xbox stayed on for hours. Every day, his thumb doomscrolled TikTok while the day slipped away. This was not an occasional restful or a rough season. This was his pattern. His routine. His way of life, because he chose not to apply for a job because government assistance was a whole lot easier. And so, every day, his cravings were satisfied while he built his life around comfort, entertainment, appetite, and escape. Sure, he lacked expensive things, but he sure was fixed on inexpensive things.  

Dear friends, contrary to what the resentful Marxist college instructor says, fine clothing and good living do not condemn a person to hell. Furthermore, contrary to what the smug capitalist businessman says, a successful Wall Street stockbroker is not more morally righteous before God than a poor person. In other words, Jesus does not tell this story to score points on economic and social class. He is not giving ammunition to the poor so they can hate the rich, nor is He giving comfort to the rich so they can despise the poor. No, Jesus is pressing much deeper than that. He is exposing the human heart. He is showing us what happens when a person becomes curved inward—fixed upon comfort, appetite, status, ease, and self. Please listen up!  The rich man was not condemned because he had nice things; he was condemned because his nice things possessed him. His wealth had become his world. His table of food had become his temple. His stomach had become his god. And Lazarus, lying right there at his gate, became invisible.

Dear friends, there are two important words in this text that we must not miss. The words are these: “each day.”  Let me explain why these two words matter! 

Each day, the rich man dressed in purple and fine linen. Each day, he feasted sumptuously. Each day, his table was full. Each day, his cup was filled. Each day, his appetites were satisfied.

But what is wrong with that? Are we not supposed to eat each day? Do we not need to drink each day? Do we not get dressed each day? Of course we do. Food is not evil. Drink is not evil. Clothing is not evil. The Lord gives daily bread, and daily bread is good.

But when Jesus says, “each day,” He is showing us a pattern. He is showing us a fixation. He is showing us a man whose life was bent around consumption every single day.

Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes that there is a time for everything. There is a time to mourn and a time to dance. There is a time to work and a time to rest. There is a time to eat and a time to refrain. But when eating becomes the fixation of every day, food is no longer received as a gift; it becomes gluttony. When drinking becomes the fixation of every day, the drink is no longer enjoyed with thanksgiving but becomes drunkenness. When rest becomes the fixation of every day, not a weekly day off or an afternoon nap, but the center of life itself, well… rest turns into laziness and sloth.

And so, dear friends, here is the warning. When you wake up each morning and if your whole day is built around one thing—comfort, food, drink, entertainment, money, pleasure, ease, status, or escape—then that thing is no longer just a thing. It has become your god. It has become your idol. It has captured your heart. And when the heart is captured by an idol, the Lord God is forgotten. And when the Lord God is forgotten, the neighbor in need becomes invisible. 

That is what happened to the rich man. He was so curved inward on himself, so fixed on his own table, his own clothing, his own appetite, his own comfort, that Lazarus was able to suffer and die at his gate, and the rich man could not even see him.

Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy on you and me.  

Dear friends, I want you to hear the Gospel too.  You see, Jesus does not tell this story so that you leave here saying, 

“Well, I guess rich people are bad and poor people are good.” 

No. 

And He does not tell this story so that you leave here merely feeling guilty about your money, food, entertainment, comfort, or rest. 

No. 

Instead, He tells this story to wake you up, to open your ears, to turn you away from yourself, and most of all, to bring you to Himself.

Baptized Saints, here is the truth: the rich man had everything, and yet, in the end, he had nothing. His clothing could not help him. His table could not help him. His money could not help him. His full stomach, his nice house, his daily comfort, and his whole little kingdom of pleasure could not save him. None of it could cross the chasm. None of it could answer for his sin. None of it could bleed for him. And dear friends, the same is true for you and me. The things we cling to cannot save us. The things we consume cannot forgive us. The things we chase cannot raise us from the dead. Your money cannot bleed for you. Your entertainment cannot bleed for you. Your rest cannot bleed for you. Your hard work cannot bleed for you. Your poverty cannot bleed for you either. Only Christ can bleed for you. And He has. 

Baptized Saints, the Son of God did not stay far off in the riches of heaven while poor miserable sinners lay dying outside the gate. He did not look upon you in your sin and pass by on the other side. Jesus did not say, 

“Too filthy. Too selfish. Too far gone.” 

No, He came down. He took on your flesh. He entered your poverty. He bore your sin. He carried your uncleanness. He became the outcast. He became the rejected One. He became the Man of Sorrows. And there, upon the cross, Jesus was stripped of His garments, denied comfort, given sour wine, mocked by men, forsaken under judgment, and nailed to the tree for you.

On the cross your Savior was not dressed in purple and fine linen, but covered in blood. Not feasting sumptuously, but thirsting. Not ignoring the beggar at the gate, but becoming the beggar, the poor man, the crucified sinner in your place. He did this so that you would not be left outside, so that you would not be abandoned to your idols, and so that you would not be swallowed by death and hell. 

Baptized Saints, today Christ comes to you. Not as another product to consume. Not as another pleasure to chase. Not as religious entertainment. No, He comes in the way of gift through Holy Baptism. He comes to beggars in His Word. He comes to empty hands at His Table, so that you might receive Him like poor, empty, and needy Lazarus.  Yes, with your sins exposed and your idols uncovered, receive Christ and His Forgiveness,

“You are forgiven; you belong to Christ; you are not forgotten in this vale of tears but are welcomed to the eternal feast that has no end.” 

In the name of Jesus. Amen.