Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus,
I’m sure you’ve heard sermons preached and teachings taught on the story told by King Jesus in Luke 16 concerning a poor beggar named Lazarus and an unnamed rich man. I largely remember the “poor Lazarus had to suffer in this earth, but he is living richly in Heaven” and “the vile rich man that only cared about himself and not the poor.” While both statements and the generalities are true, what rarely is explained is what Jesus is teaching us from this story. Both Lazarus and the rich man were in Spiritual disobedience. One led to eternal death and separation from God – the rich man. The other led to temporal suffering and poverty in the earth and to eternal loss of rewards from Christ Jesus at the Bema Seat – Lazarus.
Before we go into this message in depth, I want to encourage all my Sisters and Brothers in Christ to spend quality time with Jesus every day. There is a difference between spending time and spending quality time with Jesus. Spending time is checking the list – an acquaintance. Spending quality time is investing yourself – fellowship. Acquaintance is mental ascent or head knowledge. Fellowship is intimacy or heart revelation. Fellowshipping with God each day provides access to rhema or revealed Truth. The next two verses give us insight into what investing ourselves in a relationship with Jesus Christ provides us.
Proverbs 25:2
It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but it is the honor of kings to search out a matter.
Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
God loves to share His wisdom, His hidden mysteries, and secrets with those who truly love and seek Him.
Proverbs 2:6
For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
The Scriptures are God breathed and inspired by The Holy Spirit (II Timothy 3:16-17). What we have in The Scriptures is knowledge and understanding. By diligently searching and meditating knowledge and understanding, God gives and reveals wisdom to us.
Let’s return to the story of Lazarus and the rich man. Look at Luke 16:19-22.
Luke 16:19-22
19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
Notice Lazarus’ desire in Luke 16:21. To be fed by the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. These crumbs represent the crumbs of the world. Is this according to God’s will for Lazarus? Of course not. Lazarus was a Jew, a son of Abraham, a benefactor of the Abrahamic Covenant. We know Lazarus was righteous because he ended up in Abraham’s bosom.
Lazarus’ name means “God is my help” in Hebrew. Ironic, isn’t it? “God is my help” has refused his very namesake. Lazarus is not operating according to his name. And Lazarus is not operating according to The Word of God. Meditating on this story, The Holy Spirit pointed me to Luke 16:8 when Jesus was telling the parable of the unjust steward. Let’s see what Jesus had to say.
Luke 16:8
And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
This parable can be confusing because it seems Jesus is condoning the evil and unjust behavior of the unjust steward. Far from it. Jesus is admonishing Believers in this verse. Jesus tells us the children of this world, the unsaved, are wiser at operating in the kingdom of darkness than the children of light, Believers, are at operating in The Kingdom of God. This is exactly part of what Jesus was teaching in Luke 16. Lazarus had NO business being a beggar and desiring the crumbs of the world.
What should have been Lazarus’ state or condition? He should have been living in and experiencing the Blessing of Abraham, which is The Blessing of The LORD. Genesis 12:2-3 is the blessing of Abraham which is referred to in Galatians 3:13-14 for New Covenant Believers.
Genesis 12:2-3
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Was Lazarus a good representative for His Father, God? No. Absolutely not. He was a terrible example of The Blessing of The Lord. We must ask ourselves why was Lazarus a poor man and a beggar? What wrong thinking and wrong speaking put Lazarus in this state or condition? It’s true Lazarus was a righteous man, but he had something very flawed in this thinking and speaking. The answer, very simply, and very clearly from The Scriptures is Lazarus did not tithe and did not give offerings which led to his beggarly state. “But Larry, there are many other things that could have led to Lazarus’ natural state and condition as a beggar.” No, there’s not. If Lazarus had been a tither and had given offerings, he never would have – in fact, he couldn’t have ended up a beggar. If it could happen, this would make God a liar.
Malachi 3:8-12
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.
9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
Notice what God has to say about a Believer who tithes and gives offerings:
- The windows of Heaven are opened unto the Believer.
- God will pour out a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.
- God will rebuke the devourer, satan, for the Believer’s sake.
- satan will not be able to touch or destroy the fruits of the Believer’s labors.
- The Believer’s vine will give a harvest of ripe, full fruit – not underdeveloped or rotting fruit.
- All nations and peoples shall call the Believer blessed – we see the hand of The Hebrew God upon you – and the Believer and everything about him will be delightsome to all around them, saved or unsaved.
The Scriptures tell us Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were tithers. Were any of them ever beggars? Absolutely not. Some will try to say Jacob was begging when he sent his sons to Egypt for grain. And it is categorically incorrect. Jacob was following God’s instruction to go and receive that which God had prepared for HIS people. He and his family were richly blessed with security, land, and sustenance—a powerful fulfillment of God’s promise to preserve them.
On the other hand, the Believer who refuses to tithe and give offerings, cheerfully and consistently, is described by God in Haggai 1:5-6.
Haggai 1:5-6
5 Now therefore thus saith The LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
Can you tell me someone else who withheld the tithe and suffered because of it?
Adam and Eve.
I can see your expression and hear your exclamation – “Adam and Eve?” What do they have to do with the tithe? As you will see, everything. As a side note, I always find it humorous when asking the question “who” taught Cain and Abel to bring the tithe, the first fruits? Of course, it was Adam and Eve. Who taught them? Yes, God.
Genesis 2:15-17
15 And The LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And The LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
We can see from Genesis 2:15-17, God commanded Adam and Eve they could eat of every tree of the garden except one – the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil. All the other trees, and the fruit thereof, including The Tree of Life, belonged unto Adam and Eve. However, the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil belonged to God.
Genesis 3:1-3
1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which The LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
In Genesis 3:1-3 we read of the temptation of Adam and Eve by satan. Let me first say this. Eve was not tempted by some snake that rose up and spoke. She would have run to the other end of the garden. The word “serpent” is one of satan’s many names. The Scriptures tell us satan can appear, even today, as an angel of light. This is how he appeared to Eve. The Holy Spirit, through Moses. is telling us satan came in his form as a cunning deceiver intent on stealing the ownership of the earth. We can see this in satan’s first words to Eve. satan is a perverter of God’s Word. He is death and therefore has no life-giving, creative power. He can only take of God’s and pervert it.
Notice in verse 3 Eve says God said “we cannot touch it.” Is this true? No, God never said they could not touch it. In fact, God’s plan was for Adam and Eve to bring Him the fruit of The Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil, but not to eat of it. Is this unlike the tithe? No. The tithe does not belong to the Believer. It is God’s and His alone. It is sanctified or separated unto God just as the fruit of the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil.
What were the consequences of Adam and Eve’s disobedience? What are the consequences when the Believer eats the tithe of God? The same as Lazarus. Both Lazarus and Adam and Eve lived in a state and condition well below that God willed and planned for them. They missed out on all the blessings of The Blessing of The Lord in this earth. Not only this, but Lazarus lost out on many rewards he should have received when we all appear at the Bema Seat to be judged by Jesus Christ.
In closing, God tries the reins of the heart. Does He control the reins of our heart or do we? The tithe tells the story.
Blessings in Christ Jesus,
Larry