At a recent session of the Summer Bible Study, I had the privilege of teaching through the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, which is found in Luke 16:19-31. In the parable, there is a man of extreme wealth and a man (Lazarus) of extreme poverty. When they both die, however, Jesus reminds us that the kingdom of God does not correlate with the values of our world. We know this because the poor man ends up in heaven at Abraham\u2019s side, while the rich man ends up in Hades in torment. It is a shocking reversal!<\/p>\n
Jesus then depicts an imaginary conversation between the rich man (in Hades) and Abraham (in heaven). After the rich man asks for some relief from his pain (and receives none), he makes an odd request from Abraham. In verses 27-28 he says, \u201cThen I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.\u201d While we, as readers, may not assume that this request would be granted, most of us don\u2019t have trouble following the logic.<\/p>\n
The rich man ended up in torment and judgment because, apparently, he was a faithless man. Despite his great wealth (verse 19 says that he lived in luxury every day), he largely ignored God. Perhaps he was blinded by his vast resources and therefore saw no need for God. Whatever led to his godless life, the rich man knows that his five brothers are living the same kinds of lives. He doesn\u2019t want them to end up in torment as well, so he hatches a plan to warn them. And just imagine the impact. The five brothers are feasting in their house, and in walks the dead beggar! Surely every jaw would drop. Surely they would perk up their ears and listen to whatever they were told.<\/p>\n
Surely they would change their ways, repent, place their faith in God, and end up in heaven instead of hell.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Again, we may not expect the request to be granted, but the logic of the request seems pretty solid.<\/p>\n
Abraham, however, disagrees.<\/em> In verse 29 he replies, \u201cThey have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.\u201d To be honest, Abraham strikes me as a bit dense here. He hears of this request to send a dead man as a warning, and he basically says, \u201cI don\u2019t get it. Why would that make any difference at all? After all, don\u2019t they have a Bible?\u201d Abraham seems a bit like a parent whose child asks for ice cream and who responds by saying, \u201cI don\u2019t get it. Why would you need ice cream? After all, don\u2019t we have plenty of oatmeal?\u201d The rich man, with what I assume to be great exasperation, says, \u201cNo, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.\u201d A miracle will make a difference. A sign will convince them. Sure, they\u2019re aware of the Bible. Sure, they are aware of God\u2019s story, His commands, His promises. But if you send them a sign, that will make all the difference.<\/p>\n
Many of us find ourselves agreeing here with the rich man. How many of us have prayed, \u201cGod, if you would just show yourself to me in convincing ways, I will believe and follow you forever\u201d? How many of us, when a loved one is sick, have prayed, \u201cGod, if you would just heal her, I am certain that everyone who hears about it would believe and praise you\u201d? How many of us, when dealing with financial struggles, have prayed, \u201cGod, if you just get me this job, my whole family will praise you and follow you\u201d? Our logic is the same as the rich man. We think a sign from God will make all the difference.<\/p>\n
What can we take from this?<\/h3>\n
Now, God is not against signs and miracles. The miraculous fills the pages of Scripture. Jesus did many miracles. But Jesus also spoke frequently about the limited impact of miracles. In fact, He often refused to do miracles when they were demanded by the people. Miracles can be very effective in building our faith. But Jesus seemed to think that most of us overestimate the impact that miracles will have on our faith.<\/p>\n
Too often, when God rescues us from a difficult situation, we move on and go about life as usual.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The rich man says to Abraham, \u201cNo, Scripture isn\u2019t enough to convince them. Do a resurrection!\u201d Abraham, however, ends the parable by saying, \u201cIf they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.\u201d And Jesus\u2019 potent ending to this parable is not theoretical. After all, pretty soon he would be raised from the dead, and many would still refuse to believe.<\/p>\n
According to Jesus, miracles aren\u2019t as effective as we think they are.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
When we pray, \u201cGod please provide, and heal, and fix, and rescue, and then we will all believe,\u201d His response to us is likely, \u201cBut why do you need those things; I gave you the Scripture.\u201d God has given us His Word. He has told us what matters. He has told us who He is. He has told us how we are called to live.<\/p>\n
Why is it that we need a sign? His calling for us is to listen to Him, to obey His commands, and to trust Him with all our hearts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Don’t wait.<\/h3>\n
God, in His grace may bless us with faith-confirming signs and miracles. But we don\u2019t need to wait on these signs in order to follow Him with our whole hearts. He has spoken clearly through His Word, and we would do well to listen careful, to trust Him, and to obey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At a recent session of the Summer Bible Study, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,39],"tags":[186,200,255],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Do we need a sign from God? • Life Bible Fellowship Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do we need a sign from God? • Life Bible Fellowship Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At a recent session of the Summer Bible Study, I […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Life Bible Fellowship Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lifebiblefellowship\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-28T23:17:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-02-20T16:53:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DoWeNeedASign.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"583\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"328\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Franklin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@LBFChurch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@LBFChurch\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Franklin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dan Franklin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#\/schema\/person\/965cbd49985278d06f53ca5664e62cc6\"},\"headline\":\"Do we need a sign from God?\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-28T23:17:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-20T16:53:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/\"},\"wordCount\":1013,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DoWeNeedASign.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Miracles\",\"parable\",\"signs\"],\"articleSection\":[\"LBF Church\",\"Teaching\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/\",\"name\":\"Do we need a sign from God? • Life Bible Fellowship Church\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DoWeNeedASign.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-28T23:17:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-20T16:53:25+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DoWeNeedASign.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DoWeNeedASign.jpg\",\"width\":583,\"height\":328},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Do we need a sign from God?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/\",\"name\":\"Life Bible Fellowship Church\",\"description\":\"Passionately Pursuing LIFE in Jesus\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Life Bible Fellowship Church\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/LBFlogo_rgb.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/LBFlogo_rgb.jpg\",\"width\":2010,\"height\":1622,\"caption\":\"Life Bible Fellowship Church\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lifebiblefellowship\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LBFChurch\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/lbfchurch\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCBPvf6mYfTx4l4HOYM9wm_Q\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#\/schema\/person\/965cbd49985278d06f53ca5664e62cc6\",\"name\":\"Dan Franklin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d51dce09f5a5e1b893d63fea6a626b6e?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d51dce09f5a5e1b893d63fea6a626b6e?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Franklin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/lbf.church\/author\/danfranklin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Do we need a sign from God? • Life Bible Fellowship Church","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Do we need a sign from God? • Life Bible Fellowship Church","og_description":"At a recent session of the Summer Bible Study, I […]","og_url":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/","og_site_name":"Life Bible Fellowship Church","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lifebiblefellowship","article_published_time":"2016-07-28T23:17:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-02-20T16:53:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":583,"height":328,"url":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DoWeNeedASign.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Dan Franklin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@LBFChurch","twitter_site":"@LBFChurch","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Franklin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/"},"author":{"name":"Dan Franklin","@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#\/schema\/person\/965cbd49985278d06f53ca5664e62cc6"},"headline":"Do we need a sign from God?","datePublished":"2016-07-28T23:17:50+00:00","dateModified":"2019-02-20T16:53:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/"},"wordCount":1013,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DoWeNeedASign.jpg","keywords":["Miracles","parable","signs"],"articleSection":["LBF Church","Teaching"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/","url":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/","name":"Do we need a sign from God? • Life Bible Fellowship Church","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DoWeNeedASign.jpg","datePublished":"2016-07-28T23:17:50+00:00","dateModified":"2019-02-20T16:53:25+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DoWeNeedASign.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/DoWeNeedASign.jpg","width":583,"height":328},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/do-we-need-a-sign-from-god\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Do we need a sign from God?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#website","url":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/","name":"Life Bible Fellowship Church","description":"Passionately Pursuing LIFE in Jesus","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#organization","name":"Life Bible Fellowship Church","url":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/LBFlogo_rgb.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/LBFlogo_rgb.jpg","width":2010,"height":1622,"caption":"Life Bible Fellowship Church"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/lifebiblefellowship","https:\/\/twitter.com\/LBFChurch","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/lbfchurch\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCBPvf6mYfTx4l4HOYM9wm_Q"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#\/schema\/person\/965cbd49985278d06f53ca5664e62cc6","name":"Dan Franklin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d51dce09f5a5e1b893d63fea6a626b6e?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d51dce09f5a5e1b893d63fea6a626b6e?s=96&r=g","caption":"Dan Franklin"},"url":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/author\/danfranklin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1129"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1604935,"href":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129\/revisions\/1604935"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbf.church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}