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<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Sermons for Proper 21:</SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> Luke 16:19-31 – </SPAN><STRONG><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">“Neighbors Who Never Met”</SPAN></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> Luke 16:19-31 – <STRONG>“Jesus the
Toxicologist”</STRONG> by Leonard Sweet</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Luke 16 the sermon titled "Neighbors Who Never Met"
</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=4
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">What parable would make a man with three doctoral
degrees (one in medicine, one in theology, one in philosophy) leave civilization
with all of its culture and amenities and depart for the jungles of darkest
Africa? What parable could induce a man, who was recognized as one of the best
concert organists in all of Europe, go to a place where there were no organs to
play. What parable would so intensely motivate a man that he would give up a
teaching position in Vienna, Austria to go and deal with people who were so
deprived that they were still living in the superstitions of the dark ages for
all practical purposes. The man who I am talking about, of course, is Dr. Albert
Schweitzer. And the single parable that so radically altered his life, according
to him, was our text for this morning. It was the parable of the Rich Man and
Lazarus.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The Rich Man and Lazarus were neighbors, you know. They
saw each other every day. Oh, not socially you understand, but there was
contact. Every day the Rich Man saw this beggar at his front gate. Who were
these men?</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">We shall call the Rich Man Dives [pronounced ‘Dive-ees’:
it’s Latin for “Rich Man” as he has been called for centuries] Dives would have
felt very comfortable living in our present time. He was a progressive kind of a
guy. He was self-indulgent and this is the age of self-indulgency. The
contrasting life-styles of these two men is so obvious that you can’t miss it.
Dives was a connoisseur, a lover of the arts, one who knows and appreciates fine
living, four star restaurants.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">We are told in vs. 19 that he habitually dressed in
purple. Purple was known as the color of royalty because it was the most
expensive dye in the ancient world. Only the upper echelon and the high priest
could afford it. We are also told that his undergarments were made of fine
linen. Linen, the lifestyle of the rich and famous.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The other man in the story is Lazarus. How can we
describe Lazarus? Lararus is homeless. We are told in vs. 20 that he was a
cripple. Lazarus barely made it from day to day, living off the leftovers thrown
to him by Dives as he daily passed him. He is just a survivor, that’s all you
can say of him.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">One day, said Jesus, both men died. Death after all is
the great equalizer. Death does not care about your social standing, your color,
or your standing in the community. Lazarus, said Jesus, was carried away by the
angel of death unto heaven, where he occupied the seat of honor next to Abraham.
About Dives, the rich man, all that Jesus says is that he was buried. Isn’t that
strange that that is all that he says? After all, Dives funeral must have been
something that the community would remember for years to come. Apparently,
however, that fact failed to impress Jesus. Oh, Jesus did add one additional
fact about Dives’ death that may be of interest to you. His soul was sent to
hell.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">This is an unnerving story. I can well see why this was
the irritating grain of sand in Albert Schweitzer’s oyster. Why is this story so
bothersome? For a few moments this morning I would like to share exactly why. It
is bothersome because….</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">1. First, it shows how God reverses the standards of the
world.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">2. Second, it is a terrible fate for a man who was not
mean.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">3. Third, the rich man begs to warn his living
brothers.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The rest of this sermon following the outline above can
be obtained by joining www.eSermons.com.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">_______________________</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Luke 16:19-31, the sermon titled “Jesus the
Toxicologist” by Leonard Sweet </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Any of you know a hoarder? I don’t mean somebody who
can’t throw anything away. I mean somebody who keeps to himself everything he
has and can’t let go of anything. </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">In today’s gospel parable the un-named “rich man” lives
a hoarder’s life of prosperity and extravagance. He luxuriated in exhibiting the
power of his wealth by hosting exquisite banquets every day. He demonstrated his
wealth by dressing in the finest, most expensive clothes. </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Yet he also hoarded his wealth by refusing to extend
alms, feed the poor, help the sick, house the homeless. He so hoarded his wealth
for his own personal use and power that he allowed Lazarus, who was poor, sick,
and homeless, to lie right at the gates to his estate, without even considering
offering him care, without even entertaining the notion of extending a helping
hand to him. </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">In late August of this year 67 year old Billie Jean
James, who had been missing for four months, was finally found. Her husband
found her dead in their own home, buried under one of the mountains of trash
that filled their house from top to bottom.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Billie Jean had been a “hoarder,” compulsively stuffing
more and more “stuff” into her home, filling up every room with strange
collections of this and that, incapable of throwing anything, even garbage,
away. The stench of trash and decay was so great in this “hoarded house” that
not only did the husband live there for four months without noticing the smell
of a decaying body. Even police rescue dogs, trained to detect the smell of a
dead body, never detected her presence. It was not until the husband finally
noticed Billie Jean’s feet sticking out from under a mountainous pile of trash
in the room she had named her “rabbit hole” that his wife’s body was finally
discovered.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">If you’ve seen the hit reality tv show “Hoarder,” you
know that hoarding is now a recognized psychological disorder, defined as “when
people find it impossible to make decisions, organize themselves, or focus on
immediate tasks” (Michelle Carro, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University
of Nevada). This past summer was a tough one for hoarders. In addition to James’
death there was another 89 year-old hoarder found dead in her cluttered home in
July. It took the Skokie, Illinois fire department three hours to remove her
body. And an elderly couple in Chicago was trapped for two weeks in their
junk-infested house. When they were finally rescued both were covered with rat
bites. </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">It’s easy to look at such “hoarding” behavior and see it
as a sad, strange, out-of-control obsession that is certainly not the life
experience of most of us. The power of a sanitation worker’s strike and our
over-flowing landfills testify to the fact that most of us love to throw stuff
away, not hoard it.</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Yet would any of us deny that our culture is firmly
established on the premise that “more is better.” “More is better” is the basic
recipe for addictive behavior that can take many forms. </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">For hoarders more “stuff” is better, no matter what that
stuff might be. </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">For alcoholics more drinks are better, no matter how
many they’ve already had. </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">For drug addicts one more snort, or smoke, or shot is
better. </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">For anorexics one more lost pound, even one more lost
ounce, is better. </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">For food addicts one more bucket of chicken, one more
large pizza, is better. </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">For those whose addiction is money, there is no such
thing as “rich enough.” </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">For those whose addiction is power, there is not such
thing as “power enough.”</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Jesus was variously called “teacher,” “rabbi,” “master,”
“wonder worker,” “messiah.” But I would suggest that what Jesus really practiced
was “toxicology.” Jesus was a toxicologist…</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The rest of Leonard Sweet's sermon can be obtained by
joining www.Sermons.com </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">________________________</SPAN></DIV></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">More vs. Love</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </DIV>
<DIV style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The world's philosophy is a four-letter word: More. The
church's theology is also a four-letter word, but it often means the opposite of
more: Love. Will the church be a force and a forum for love?<BR><BR>The problem
with our world, our nation and our church can be summed up in one word: More.
"More" has become, as Laurence Shames has put it, America's "unofficial national
motto." We want more of everything: more fun, more money, more excitement, more
love, more programs, more church members, more, more, more. "More is what
Americans are used to, what we perceive as normal, here in the land of the
escalation clause, the built-in increase. More is the way we think about
'success.'" And more is what America and the world is running out of.<BR><BR>The
indecent discrepancy between the rich man's lifestyle and Lazarus' life-struggle
was appalling. But for a long time Americans have considered themselves pretty
much delivered from that kind of fearful inequality. That's why we have lumped
nearly everyone into this country's great "middle class." Of course there have
always been a few exceedingly rich individuals. And of course, any realistic
person knows that a certain number of poor "will always be with us." But both
rich and poor are still considered anomalies to the norm.<BR><BR>Leonard Sweet,
Collected Works, www.Sermons.com<BR>__________________________</SPAN></DIV>
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