Forceful Entry

Luke 16:14-17
Jesus has just warned the Pharisees of the dangers of accumulating wealth.  There is the tendency to begin to trust in it and rely on it to the point of choosing it over Christ as your master.  You begin serving it and devoting yourself to its accumulation as opposed to serving and devoting yourself to God (vs. 10-13).  The Pharisees, however, had fallen into this trap.  They were both lovers of money and "lovers" of God, or so they thought (vs. 14).  They viewed themselves as having God as their true master, while also indulging in luxurious wealth and earthly treasure.  Clearly they did not intentionally and purposely choose wealth over God, but justified themselves in their own eyes and those of the people, reckoning one could have both and be without division between the two.  They did not have to choose, as Jesus said they did, they could combine them both together in harmony.  They felt justified in this, it made sense, it had the appearance of meshing together and the people accepted it.  But Jesus warns them that the very justifications that appealed them to men, condemned them before God.  Just because it works here on earth and is accepted by the masses is not validity before God, in fact it should cause concern because what we like and accept is opposite from what God values and accepts (vs.15).  How could they so clearly violate Jesus' words and justify themselves apart from obeying him?  He spelled it out so clearly for them and yet they remained disobedient.  They felt justified because they considered themselves to be "Children of Abraham", law-abiding, holy religious leaders who gave generously, attended temple constantly, prayed and converted people (Luke 11:39-42; Matthew 23:15, 23-28), all the while maintaining their religious standards (law).  They could have their indulgent wealth as long as they continued to keep these laws given to them and remained legally "pure".  They were trying to force their way into the kingdom of heaven through law-following (vs. 16).  Jesus reminds them that if one so chooses law as his means to heaven, he will be judged according to it and every single ordinance and act must line up perfectly, not one mistake is overlooked or accepted.  There are no exceptions or allowances (vs. 17; Galations 5:2-4), which condemns all men under law (Galations 2:16).  If they want to maintain their wealth and earthly riches and possessions and continue to rely on the law and their own means of righteousness as entrance, then so be it, but they have chosen their master, despising the other (vs.13), trying to force their way into heaven apart from Jesus.  Have we not done the same thing?  We prefer our possessions and wealth and worldly treasures, refusing to give them up, so we justify them and trust in our godly appearance and behavior (i.e. law) as proof of our righteousness in Christ, which is no more than counting on Old Testament law as our means of righteousness before God, the same as the Pharisees.  We just have slightly different sets of laws.  Instead of a sacrificial system, we adhere to the law of "asking Jesus into our heart".  Our offerings are now church attendance, sunday school, tithing 10 %, and avoiding major sins instead of rams, bulls, sheep and goats.  We too have justified ourselves and our indulgences in our own eyes and the eyes of those around us, thereby actually appealing to the favor of the lost world, the same as the Pharisees, which Jesus said should be a clear sign of warning to us (vs. 15), not a sign of God's blessings and workings.  We who are "under the blood of Christ" have in actuality divorced ourselves from Christ and committed adultery against him, by "choosing" both him and this world, i.e. law (vs. 18; Galations 5:2-4).  This is all given in a vivid illustration in the story of Lazarus and the rich man (vs. 19-31).  This rich man lives in self-indulgence, thinking he is a Child of Abraham, destined to the kingdom of heaven (vs. 19, 24-25).  When he is exposed as having chosen his master (by his selfish indulgence and ignoring the helpless while still maintaining his religion) he pleads for a prophet to be sent back to his family to warn them so they do not suffer the same fate as he has (vs. 27).  Abraham reminds him that they already have their sign in the form of the prophets of old, and if this will not open their eyes then there is no hope (vs. 29, 31).  What is it we are waiting for to open our eyes to our having chosen our master in the form of earthly wealth and treasure?  Why do we still believe we can have both?  We have Jesus' clear words of warning, Old Testament warnings, and New Testament warnings from the disciples.  Do we seek some sign from heaven, someone arising from the dead before we repent (vs. 30)?  We are warned against this mentality (Matthew 16:4), and told that we already have our sign in the form of God's word.  But have we simply heard it but not understood it (Matthew 13:14-15)?  Have we embraced treasure in this world, combined with treasure in the next?  Have we ignored the gospel's warning against this, instead justifying ourselves in man's eyes?  Have we relied on "modern day law" as our path to force our way into heaven, refuting grace (Galations 5:2-4)?  Are we the present-day Rich Man and Pharisees ignoring Jesus in the form of Lazarus (Matthew 25:45)?  Have we have made our choice?