City Life Starter

Written by Paul Lane

The Word

¹⁹ “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. ²⁰ But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, ²¹ desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. ²² So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

²⁴ “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ ²⁵ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’

Luke 16:19-31

Reflection

What is this “great gulf” that is fixed?  It is said that hell is the choosing of a soul to select its own will over and above the will of God.  And in so doing the prison door is locked from the inside.  Pastor Chris talked about eternity on Sunday, and how we must be prepared for it.  Perhaps a short coming is not an issue for 70 years, but what of it considering eternity.  The full convergence of your life may not be clear in 70, 100, or even 1000 years, but over eternity where do your habits take you?  Is your life converging on heaven or on this self-locking door?

I’d like to borrow from Dante and his Devine Comedy the concept of the Inferno and the Purgatorio.  For Disregarding the Catholic-Protestant debate of the existence of Purgatory, I’d like to borrow from Dante and his Divine Comedy regarding the concept of the Inferno and Purgatorio.  For the souls of the Inferno, the convergence point is set.  The sin of their lives dominated them, and the doors became locked from the inside.  However, those in Purgatorio, while having sinned, are about the business of washing it out. Similarly for us, the task of being sanctified is at hand and the cleaning up of the soul can be accomplished while on earth.

There is also the old 70’s show “Gilligan’s Island” in which seven people are stranded on a tropical island and no matter what happens they can never be rescued.  The show’s creator, Sherwood Schwartz, told National Public Radio (NPR) that the show is actually set in hell and that the characters represent the seven deadly sins.  These sins are deadly because they converge to a door that locks from the inside. 

1. Pride – (The Professor) If you believe that you know it all, the difficult day comes when it is time to learn something new.  You must either overcome your pride and accept that you don’t know it all or decide that there is nothing new to learn, and thus the door is locked from the inside.
2. Greed – (Mr. Howell) Money as the source for all joy is an easy trap in which to fall.  One does not need to have money to be ensnared by it.  For it is the love of it that locks out other things and hence locks to door from the inside.
3. Wrath – (The Skipper) Anger, by its nature is a pushing away or destroying of others.
4. Envy – (Mary Ann Summers) This is an idolatry that doesn’t model virtue in others, it seeks to take it and hide away in a locked room.
5. Lust – (Ginger Grant) If allowed, this pleasure would consume every moment and not allow other things.  There is a displacing of other pursuits.  Yes, your cell phone or computer screen can be a Ginger.
6. Gluttony – (Gilligan) Like Lust, this one locks the door by a pleasure that consumes rather than one that displaces.
7. Sloth – (Mrs. Howell) In the garden God gave Adam and Eve the honor of working.  This one says no to work and thus the door is shut on God’s honor.

And finally, there is Gollum.  Though there are seven deadly sins, they all fall to one thing: idolatry.  “We wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious. They stole it from us. Sneaky little hobbitses. Wicked, tricksy, false!”

J.R.R. Tolkien

Application

We must see sin as the thing keeping us from what we really want and not just something we happen to struggle with from time to time.  Don’t let the slow and easy road lull you into complacency.  So, we must be about the business of our father, rejecting sin, winning souls, and advancing His kingdom.  But most of all, we must maintain a soft and repentant heart.  With such a one, the door is always open.

Prayer

Lord, I confess that I not only have fallen short of our plan for me, but I have done so willingly.  I have too often chosen not to be faithful, and I have not followed through on promises.  I have harbored anger, greed, and lust for too long.  And I have not exercised the discipline you have given me.  I repent of my sin and turn to You for my sanctification.  I pray that You help me stay focused on the business of working sin out of my life and heaven in. Through Your grace and in Jesus’ name,

Amen.