Sermon for September 28, 2025 (Luke 16:19-31) by Rev. David Domanski
It’s hard to make a profit, whether we’re operating a business or just a household. If you’re in business, your revenues have to exceed not just the cost of goods sold but also all the overhead you have to carry. And, of course, a chunk of whatever profit you do make will go to taxes. If you’re a mom or dad trying to make ends meet, your income has to cover food, clothing, housing, the gas pump, and a thousand other expenses. Often, there’s not much left over. It is difficult to make a profit.
Nevertheless, we spend most of our lives trying to do just that. In North American culture, we work not merely for daily bread but also for an increase of wealth and prosperity. We strive to have more than our parents had when we were children, and we want to have enough not only for our lives but also a good deal to pass on to our children. Making a profit has become the first priority for most of us. We are tempted to do anything in order to make a profit—and to NOT do something if there’s no promise of profit in it.
But God reminds us through Paul that, “We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” There is nothing we can gain for ourselves in this life that will last into eternity. So it’s ironic that although food and clothing are enough for our earthly life, we are always looking for profit that we will never be able to take with us when we die. And in our search for profit, we are prone to pitfalls and temptations whereby we may lose so much more.
Today’s Gospel lesson, usually referred to as, “Lazarus and the Rich Man,” has a lot to say about the pursuit of profit and wealth, and also about the pitfalls we may face when we focus on riches. But first, it’s important to recognize that God says there’s nothing inherently sinful about profiting financially or being wealthy. Instead of condemning wealth, through Paul, God gives instructions to the rich: Don’t trust in riches, share generously, and store up eternal treasures (1 Timothy 6:17–19). But the desire for the profit of worldly riches can be an entangling temptation, a pitfall, by which we fall into destruction.
One of the pitfalls of pursuing worldly wealth that God is concerned about for us is that it can lead us to dismiss the needs of others. The rich man ignored poor Lazarus (Lk 16:19–21), and we can likewise fall into the trap of ignoring the needs of others in focusing on ourselves. Pursuit of wealth may also tempt us to cast out godly desires for eternal treasures. The rich man thought only of worldly luxury (Lk 16:19). Instead of remembering that our true home is in heaven, we too can fall into the evil trap of thinking only about the here and now instead of God’s eternal kingdom.
Lastly, desire for wealth may tempt us to trust a god that will surely fail us at the moment of death (v 7). The rich man’s god left him, and he was in torment forever (Lk 16:22–25).
Jesus encourages us to flee from these pitfalls by holding fast to the different kind of profit God gives you in Him. You have been given the confession of the faith and it possesses all the spiritual wealth that God knows you need in this life to take you into the life everlasting. The faith is that which we believe for our salvation, the good confession Christ himself confessed before Pontius Pilate (vv 13–16; Jn 18:33–37). That Jesus Christ is King, not of this world, but living in immortality and light. That Jesus Christ came to bear witness to the truth and is coming back to share with you the eternal treasures he has secured. That Jesus Christ willingly gave himself to suffer under Pontius Pilate for your sins.
You were given eternal life when you yourself made this good confession before many witnesses at your baptism (v 12). Perhaps you were old enough to speak the confession with your own lips; perhaps someone spoke it for you. Even as an infant, you had that faith placed in your heart by the Holy Spirit. And through that gift of baptism, you now have forgiveness from the very sins that a love of money can cause—coveting, the misuse of wealth, and the neglect of those in need. In your baptism, you also have God’s promise to continue to rescue you from the temptations and pitfalls of the devil. And, in the end, your baptism into Christ guarantees you eternal salvation and heavenly treasures that no one can take away. You have been given incomparable and never-failing profit in Christ!
“We brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world” (v 7). When it comes to money, we’ll never make a profit; in the end, we’ll only break even. But if we give in to the temptations of riches, we won’t even break even. We’ll fall into a pit from which we’ll never climb out. All that we have comes from a gracious God who came into our world. It is to Him that we must cling. Our true riches are in Christ Jesus, and He has showered us with eternal treasures in our baptism. He is the source of our true profit, and if we are to hold onto it, we need to heed the prophets who warn us of how easy it is to lose the treasure. It’s as easy as opening your hand to grab what you haven’t been given. So treasure above everything else the profit you’ve been given in Christ, for it will last for eternity. Amen.