Dear Christian friends:

If you ask someone, "Do you love God?", he will answer, "Sure, I love God." He may feel insulted because you question him about it. But people often do not really love God. They don't want to say that or confess, but really people do not love God as much as they think. We can find out if we really love God by a test which our two lessons suggest to us today.

In the epistle lesson John writes: "If a man says, "I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar." So you can know if you really love God or not by how you feel about your brother or neighbor. If you love people, you love God; if you hate people, you hate God. In our text Jesus shows that

By our deeds of love we show if we love God or not. The rich man in our text thought he loved God. (Explain about his riches and how all the people respected him. But when he died he woke up in hell.) Why? Because he really didn't love God. How do we know he didn't love God? Because he didn't love his poor brother, Lazarus. (Explain from text about Lazarus at his gate.)

Now what about us? Do we really love God? You do, if you love your brother, the poor, the sick and the needy. Do you really love your brother? Have you helped someone in trouble and need today? Yesterday? Last week? Last month did you help anyone? And did you help with eagerness and love for that person? Care? Luther World Relief. L.S.S.?

We can think of and make many beautiful excuses. (Tell of the woman stabbed to death outside New York apartment house. Thirty-eight people saw or heard woman's cries for help and not one went to help. Afterwards the press asked them why they didn't go and help. Some excuses: "I was afraid." "I thought it was a lover's quarrel." "I was tired." "I didn't want to get involved." "Not my business.")

We read about and see on T.V. so much trouble and need we become cold and hard-hearted and get a bad habit of not helping. Do we really love God?

Where can we find this love for God? In the epistle lesson John writes: "God is love. And if a man remains in love, then he remains in God and God remains in him." Again John writes, "We love Him because He first loved us. Here is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent his Son to be payment for our sins. If God like that loved us we ought also love one another." (John 4:4-11)

In the Gospel lesson Jesus, too, shows we get love by hearing God's Word. (Tell how rich man is in hell, asked God to let Lazarus rise from death and preach to his five brothers, so they will not come to the place of suffering like he.) God answers they have the Bible let them hear that. Rich man, "Who, if someone rises from death and preaches to them they will wake up and listen. God, "No, if they will not listen to God's Word in the Bible, they also will not listen to someone who rises from death and preaches to them.

So, we see how important it is for us to hear God's Word from the Bible. Through that we receive faith in Jesus Christ and with it love for God and our neighbor.

May God's wonderful love in Jesus touch our hearts and change us and help us to believe and to love God and show (prove) our love by loving all people.

Amen.