By Jon Beaty
Jesus' parable of the rich man and Lazarus is often misunderstood. Many Christians read it as a lesson about what happens after death. Instead, it's a lesson about the life God's people, and His church, should live before it's too late.
The Prosperity Trap
One day I received a chain letter in my college dormitory mailbox. The letter urged me to make copies and send them to a specified number of people, along with one dollar to the name at the top of the list. After removing that name, I was to place my name at the bottom. The letter promised financial prosperity to everyone who followed the instructions.
I followed all the instructions—except sending the dollar. Perhaps that's why no one sent money to me. My dreams of easy wealth were dashed.
Chain letters are illegal, though I didn't know that then. Get-rich-quick schemes prey on our self-centered nature and often use deception to separate people from their hard- earned money.
Prosperity isn't inherently bad. The Bible gives many promises of prosperity to God's faithful followers. However, some of us look for shortcuts, skipping over the need to be faithful followers first.
The Heart of the Parable
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus shows us how even honest accumulation of wealth can fail to deliver lasting prosperity. Jesus highlights how our self-centered nature can diminish the value of God's blessings. James 4:3 makes this clear: "You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions" (ESV).
On the contrary, God desires and rewards selfless generosity. This is the key to lasting prosperity: "The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself" (Proverbs 11:25 NKJV).
Jesus' parable is fundamentally an appeal to faithful stewardship of both temporal and spiritual wealth. Recorded in Luke 16:19-31, the story presents two stark characters: a rich man living sumptuously, and Lazarus, a poor man plagued with sores, lying outside the rich man's gates hoping for crumbs from his table.
In the parable, both men die. The rich man finds himself in Hades' flaming torment, while angels carry Lazarus to Abraham's bosom. Separated by an uncrossable gulf, the rich man pleads for mercy—just a drop of water from Lazarus' finger for his parched tongue.
Abraham's response is telling: the rich man has already received his good things in life and must now endure torment. Though not explicitly stated, the implication is clear—he failed to share his riches with Lazarus, who lay in desperate need outside his very gates.
The Character Test
How we use the temporal and spiritual blessings God gives us reveals whether we have received Christ's self-giving character of love or are clinging to our self-centered nature of sin. Jesus' message to the rich church of Laodicea serves as a sobering reminder: without the character of Christ—symbolized by gold refined by fire—we are "wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked" (Revelation 3:17).
This hits close to home for our church family. Outside the gates of our church there may be people receiving nothing more than crumbs of truth while we enjoy the sumptuous benefits of present truth and spiritual understanding.
When Crisis Comes
The parable's urgency becomes clear in its final scene. The rich man pleads for Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his five brothers, hoping they might avoid his fate. But Abraham responds that they have Moses and the prophets—if they won't listen to Scripture, they won't be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.
This prophetic irony wasn't lost on Jesus' audience to whom were given the witness of another Lazarus raised from the dead. To our generation is given the witness of Jesus risen from the dead—yet many still refuse to heed the call to selfless love and generous stewardship.
Our Present Opportunity
As Seventh-day Adventists, we have been entrusted with precious truth about God's character, His end-time message, and the hope of Christ's return. But like the rich man in the parable, we face a crucial choice: Will we hoard these blessings for ourselves, or will we share them with the "Lazarus figures" outside our church doors?
The parable isn't about the afterlife—it's about the life we're living right now. Every day we walk past people who are spiritually hungry, emotionally wounded, and physically needy. They lie at the gates of the church (and sometimes inside the church) —not the building, but the body of Christ—hoping for crumbs of genuine care, practical help, and life-giving truth.
The great gulf that separated the rich man and Lazarus in the afterlife may well represent the gulf we can create in this life through our indifference to others' needs—inside and outside the church. But unlike the parable's afterlife scene, we can still cross that gulf. We can still reach out. We can still share.
A Call to Action
Christ calls us to be rich in good works, generous in spirit, and ready to share (1 Timothy 6:18). The prosperity He promises isn't measured in bank accounts but in transformed lives—both our own and those we serve.
Let us examine our hearts and how we live as a church. Are we living as faithful stewards of God's temporal and spiritual blessings? Are we crossing the gulf to reach those in need, or are we content to enjoy our spiritual feast while others starve outside and inside our gates?
The time for action is now, while mercy's door remains open. Tomorrow may be too late. The rich man learned this lesson in torment—but we can learn it in time to make a difference.
May we choose today to live with open hearts, open hands, and open gates, sharing the riches of God's love with all who hunger and thirst for righteousness. For in doing so, we discover that true prosperity isn't what we accumulate, but what we give away in Jesus' name.