Sermons
Burning Hearts
Sun, Oct 23, 2016
Teacher: Tom Blackford Series: Sunday Sermons - 2016 Scripture: Luke 24:13-32
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BURNING HEARTS
Luke 24:13-32
Intro:
Good morning.
It is always interesting to me how a topic for a sermon might come about. I’m so very thankful my “editor in chief”, Nina, is patient with me and the various wanderings and messed up sentence structure.
If you watch much TV you know how frequently the advertisements show up; several at a time, then a few minutes of program then several more adds. Lately I’ve noticed quite a few of these commercials have to do with heartburn. The good looking fireman showing up to offer aid for heartburn, the pink remote control aircraft delivering a bottle of remedy, and the depiction of a person fighting with the cause of their discomfort aided by some heartburn reducer.
Anyway, these put me in mind of Luke 24:32 – “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?”
That is what I’m going to talk about this morning, the religion of the burning heart.
I. Luke chapter 24 contains three stories, all related to the day on which our Lord rose from the dead.
a. First of all is the appearance of the angel to the women who went to the tomb early on the morning of the first day of the week taking with them extra spices and I emphasize that because the body had already been anointed by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus with 100 pound weight of spices. Such was the love of these women for Jesus, whom they still believed to be dead, that 100 pounds weight of spices was not sufficient. They were taking extra spices with which to anoint the body of the Lord.
b. Secondly, there’s the appearance of the Lord Himself to two men as they were making their way along that country road from Jerusalem northwest to Emmaus [uh-mey-us].
c. Finally, there’s the appearance of the Lord to the eleven as they met in the upper room later that day.
II. It’s about that second story that I’m going to be talking. It has been called one of the world’s great short stories. It’s even been called the most beautiful of all the resurrection stories. I wouldn’t argue with that.
a. Here are two men. The name of one we don’t know. The name of the other is Cleopas. Why he is mentioned, we don’t know either because he never figures again in the entire New Testament. Maybe that’s the point of it all. Maybe it’s the point that these were ordinary disciples. They weren’t people of note among the disciples. They weren’t outstanding characters. They weren’t apostles, just ordinary believers making their way home.
b. I think that’s what’s impressive. We are meant to understand, perhaps, that these two men, ordinary disciples, were representative of all the disciples of Jesus at that particular time. In view of the traumatic experience which had passed—the arrest of Jesus, the mock trial, the crucifixion (that terrible experience) and the burial in Joseph’s new tomb.
c. We’re told of what happened to these ordinary people and can envision the kind of emotions they must have been experiencing at the time. Such could happen to believers at any time in any place passing through a similar experience.
d. In fact, if I were to sum up what I want to tell you today, it would be simply this: these men found their hearts burning within them when they stopped talking and started listening, when they stopped talking among themselves and listened to what Jesus had to say about Himself.
III. Let’s approach this, first of all, by listening to the two men and looking at them. Luke tells us that they were walking along that road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. It’s a distance of about seven miles. Maybe they were going home after the day in Jerusalem.
a. What is especially noticeable about this experience is the mood that they were passing through at that time. Luke uses two expressions. He says they communed together and reasoned. They were talking over the events that had taken place and they were reasoning about them. They were trying to understand the meaning in those events.
b. That tells me quite plainly that they were disciples of Jesus because they had a genuine interest in those events. You will also notice that they were sad and that speaks to the fact they were disciples.
c. They weren’t people who merely had a passing curiosity in the crucifixion of Jesus and whose interest in it would disappear when something else came along to take their attention. They were really concerned.
d. Then when a stranger stops them and asks, what are you talking about? Why are you looking so sad? They stopped in amazement. You can sense that in the way that they look at this man. They say, “are you the only one in the whole of Jerusalem that doesn’t know what’s been happening there? Can you possibly be ignorant of the events that have transpired in recent times?” [para]
e. They didn’t really understand the events themselves. They probably knew that the women had come rushing back from the tomb early that morning and said they’d found the tomb empty. They did remember that Jesus had said something about the third day during the time that He was with them, but precisely what it meant they didn’t fully understand. They knew that the tomb was empty. The body wasn’t there any longer.
f. They felt rather like the eleven felt when the women went back and reported to them. They thought that this might possibly be the tale of an overactive imagination of some people who were distressed.
g. They couldn’t understand it, but they were amazed that this man didn’t know about Jesus, and they were sad. That’s an important thing to note. They were looking sad. In Luke 24:17 He asks them; “What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?” Why were they looking sad? I will suggest they were looking sad because they were disappointed.
h. In Verse 18; “And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?”
i. He asks them; “… What things?” So they tell Him they are talking about the things; “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, … a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:” They told how He had been delivered, condemned to death and crucified. Then they said; “we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.”
IV. They were still disciples, weren’t they? They still loved Jesus. He still occupied their thoughts. He still filled their hearts. They still believed in Him. Perhaps one of the reasons why they were talking to each other in this way was that they were seeking to console each other in their grief.
a. Why were they sad? I will suggest they were said because they had lost hope. They had lost their expectations. They said to Him, to the man anyway, we trusted that it was He that should have redeemed Israel.
b. Notice the past tense. They had lost confidence in the ability of Jesus to do what He had come to do. Whether or not their expectation was right in looking for an earthly kingdom, you know very well that that is precisely what the disciples of Jesus expected.
c. You remember in Acts chapter 1 even after the resurrection they said to Him, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Verse 6) There’s no doubt at all in my mind that the disciples of Jesus for the most part expected Jesus to bring about a restoration of a magnificent kingdom and drive out the Roman oppressors. These men were disappointed. That’s what they thought He’d come to do.
d. Whether or not they were right in that expectation is not the point at the moment. The fact is things had not turned out the way they wanted them to turn out. They felt they had expectations of Him, and things had not happened as they expected. It all ended in disaster from their point of view.
i. Notice something else though. In spite of this depression, there’s not one word of criticism of Jesus—not one unkind expression in anything they said about Him. On the other hand, all they had to say was full of love, full of affection, full of friendliness, “a good man, mighty in word and deed before God and all the people”, “a prophet”.
ii. What they say is simply, we thought it was He who should have redeemed Israel. We lost our hope. We lost our expectations. They were discouraged. They were downcast and they were disappointed… And because of their disappointment their hope had died.
V. Folks, I would suggest to you this morning, that there are many Christians in a very similar state. Christians that have lost their expectations. Christians who are without hope. If we really think about it, let’s put the question to ourselves right now, what expectations do we have of our faith and Christianity? Isn’t it true that we do not expect the Lord to be doing great things today? We have lost the exciting vision; it seems to me, of what can be accomplished through the Gospel. Our expectations have died.
a. I don’t think there’s any doubt about our love for the Lord… I don’t think our faith in Him can be questioned or our personal loyalty, but what of the passion and enthusiasm and fear that we once felt for Him? That seems to have completely dissipated. We don’t expect great things to happen… We don’t look for God to do great things.
b. Suppose you were a world traveler and visited a brother in another country and he asked you about the state of the church in the US. Something like this came up in bible study the other Wednesday. What do you suppose your brother in say, Germany, or Africa, might have heard to make him ask this question? Perhaps he had been talking with a US brother who had given Him the impression that the church was really failing in the states and there’s no hope to be seen anywhere.
c. Perhaps he had heard a very depressing picture of things in the US. Now he may have been talking to a brother who has not visited more than a couple of congregations in the last 15 or 20 years so he really wasn’t in a position to know of the good things that are happening, the new works that are beginning, the enthusiasm that some people have and the numbers of young men being trained to preach the Gospel. Perhaps he heard from someone with a very narrow view because of their own circumstances… So what could you tell him? What would you say? What is your view?
d. It seems to me that we could get into that state of discouragement if we’re not very careful. Especially given the things we see going on in the world and in our own country today.
i. Sometimes the flame of expectation, the fire of hope dies down in our heart. It doesn’t burn as strongly as it should and as it once did.
ii. Can we remember when we first obeyed the Gospel, for example? Can we remember the enthusiasm we experienced when we came up out of the waters of baptism? I know how I felt. What about you? How do you feel now as you look back on your own present condition and you think of the way you used to feel about the Gospel and about the church?
iii. Is it the same? Or has expectation died? Has the hope gone? Understand what I’m saying. I’m not denying that things are happening. I believe that things are being done, but sometimes we can do things out of a sense of duty—not because God is working through us. We need the kind of understanding that will make our hearts burn within us if we’re going to be very useful to the Lord.
VI. Now… How does the Lord deal with these subdued and discouraged and disappointed men? First of all, He walks by their side and He gently chides them. He does call them foolish, but He doesn’t come down on them heavily and censure them. He says, “O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”
a. As I said, He deals with them kindly. He doesn’t even take the time to show where they’re wrong in their expectations. I know what some of us would have done. We’d have said, wait a minute, fellows. You’ve got it all wrong. It was never my intention to set up an earthly kingdom. Don’t you understand?… and we would have gone on like that. Isn’t that the way many of us to deal with things?
b. Sometimes what brethren need is not the kind of thing we give them. They need consideration -- not correction. And so often we’re ready with correction. When brethren need understanding, Jesus talks to them about Himself. That’s the important thing here.
c. Take note of this because it’s critical. It’s crucial to our understanding of what followed. He talked about Himself. He spoke to them in such a way that beginning with Moses and all the prophets He created again the flame of enthusiasm in their hearts. As they listened to Him their hearts burned within them.
VII. I’d like us to think about this because it seems to me to be a point that often escapes our notice when we read this particular passage. Their hearts didn’t burn within them as they talked to each other about Jesus. Their hearts didn’t even burn within them as they talked to Jesus. Their hearts burned within them when they listened to Jesus talk about Himself.
a. I stress the fact that their hearts only began to glow and come out of their chilled state when He spoke with them. In other words, when they stopped talking and started listening. You might ask what He said that would produce that amazing effect. The simple answer is: -- nothing new, nothing that they hadn’t heard before, nothing that they didn’t know from the scriptures, but they’d never heard it like that before—beginning with Moses and all the prophets. Beginning with Moses. I would love to have been there that day, to have heard the Lord Jesus expound to them the scriptures.
b. The word we translate as “expound” or “interpret” is a Greek word that means to break down into constituent parts and to show the relation of one part to another. To unfold the meaning of what is said. That’s what Jesus did. He moved in and out of the scriptures, weaving them together producing a picture for these men. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to have been there that day? Talk about Bible expositions. There’s never been a Bible exposition like the exposition given to two discouraged and disheartened men on a lonely country road going from Jerusalem to Emmaus [uh-mey-us]. . To have been there that day—it must have been glorious.
VIII. Beginning with Moses, perhaps He began with Genesis 3:15 and told them how after the first sin, the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head though it would bruise His heel. Yes, I was wounded but it’s there in Genesis. Don’t you see that? I had to be wounded.
a. Maybe He told them, for example, of the great promise that God made to Abraham when He made the covenant with him—in thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. If you look at Galatians chapter 3, you’ll find that Paul says that God preached the gospel before to Abraham saying in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.
b. Maybe He told them about Genesis 5:22—how Moses wrote of the story of Abraham taking his son, Isaac up Mt. Moriah to offer him as a sacrifice to God and how the message was: God Himself will provide the lamb for the sacrifice.
c. Maybe He spoke of the scapegoats upon which the sins were heaped and sent out into the wilderness. Or of the Passover lamb, Paul says, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.
d. Peter says, in Acts chapter 3 “Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.” Think of those prophecies, will you?
i. In Psalm 110, for example, He is the one of whom David spoke when David said; the Lord said unto my Lord, sit down at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. In the Song of Solomon he is the lily of the valley and the rose of Sharon, fairest among 10,000.
ii. In Isaiah chapter 9 the prophet said, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever..
iii. In Jeremiah chapter 23, He could show how Jeremiah had predicted that God would raise up one who would be the righteous branch, who would reign as king and deal wisely because He is the Lord our righteousness.
iv. In Ezekiel 34, he would show how Ezekiel said God will raise up a faithful shepherd and He shall feed the people and he shall be their shepherd.
v. In Daniel chapter 7, Daniel said; I saw one like unto the son of man. They brought Him unto the ancient of days and they gave Him a kingdom. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom which shall not be destroyed, and its glory shall not be given to other people.
vi. In Hosea chapter 14, the prophet speaks of Him as the evergreen cypress who will be a blessing to His people. His people shall say what have we to do with idols anymore?
vii. In Joel 2:28, the passage that Peter quoted on the day of Pentecost, when God said I shall pour out my Spirit upon all flesh. Peter says that that was fulfilled when Jesus ascended on high. This pouring out is that which you now see and hear.
viii. In Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.. Here is a child born in Bethlehem, born of a virgin, and yet His origins, and goings forth have been of old, from everlasting.
ix. Nahum chapter 1: the last verse speaks in that passage; Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace!
x. Haggai chapter 2: He’s the signet on the hand of God, the sign on the hand of God and the desire of all nations, who should come.
xi. Zachariah 9: O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. He enters into Jerusalem.
xii. Malachi chapter 4: Shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.
IX. Can we imagine all the other passages that the Lord Jesus could weave together in this magnificent panorama of the Old Testament concerning Himself? Do we wonder that their hearts burned within them as He talks with them and as He opened up the scriptures?
a. As I reflect, I think that there’s something very special about this little incident in Luke chapter 24. I don’t think that meeting was meant just to bless these two anonymous men, because they really were anonymous. I think it’s there to be a blessing to Christians in every age. I don’t think it was a chance meeting. I believe that Jesus went to meet these two men on that road.
b. Think about what happened that day. Let our minds go back, what has happened? The greatest event in human history, death has been defeated. The stone has been rolled away. Jesus has been raised in triumph from the dead in fulfillment of His own promise.
c. What do we find Him doing? What does He do? Does He go to Jerusalem to demonstrate Himself to the priests and the Pharisees and the scribes and say, well, here I am. Don’t you see it’s just as I promised you. I’m alive again. No. Does He appear to His apostles? Not yet. He goes out in the way to meet two men on a dusty, country road on the way to Emmaus [uh-mey-us].
d. I don’t know what Jesus had been doing for the rest of day, it was getting on in the day here and we are not told. I don’t know where He went when He left them, but I know that He vanished out of their sight. I’m perfectly sure that Jesus came knowing that He would meet these two men and that being the case there’s something in this story for ordinary people like you and me.
X. For some of us today, the sense of expectation has gone. The spirit of optimism has evaporated from the lives of many of us. We no longer expect great things from God and we no longer attempt great things for God. We’ve lost the heart that burns, it seems to me. I suggest that we need, perhaps more than anything else, to stop talking and maybe even to stop doing and start listening,… listening to Jesus.
a. I’m not saying that Jesus stops to speak along country roads these days. There’s no Damascus experience regardless of what some people might say. I’m certainly not suggesting that our word is of no value or that our doing is of no value, but I do believe that what we have to say about Jesus and what we have to do about Jesus will have greater power, greater influence, once we have stopped and listened to Him talk about Himself.
b. Perhaps that sounds like another plug for Bible study, but what of it? When we find ourselves spiritually low, folks; when we’ve got a pessimistic view about the church and about each other, and indeed about the world, and about the ability of the Gospel to change the world; when we find it difficult to talk well of our brethren, but go about criticizing and doing nothing to put things right; when hope is gone, optimism is gone and zeal is gone; it is almost certainly because we’re not spending enough time listening to Jesus.
XI. The weakest Christians that I know of are the ones that don’t know the Word of God and don’t let it speak to them, people who don’t listen to Jesus. I say that without fear and without apology. Maybe some people are not particularly pleased by it, but, quite frankly that’s what I believe. I say it because it’s true.
a. Only good can come of it if we face up to this fact. Folks, we can only get to know Jesus better, and understand what He can do for us and with us and through us when we’re prepared to listen, when we’re prepared to be taught by Him. Even if that means talking less about Him, we need to listen. If we do that, we’ll find that after listening to Jesus what we have to say about Him will have more authority that it had before.
b. When we do work for Him, it’ll be the work of faith and a labor of love and with the patience of hope. If we spend time listening, being taught by Him, we’ll discover our confidence in each other, in the church, is revived. Our zeal, the zeal of our hearts, will be inflamed and our hearts will really burn because we’ll realize that the power of Jesus hasn’t diminished. His plans have not been frustrated as those two men suspected. His presence is just as real today as it ever was. The church will become more alive and we’ll be more effective in service. The world will know the difference.
Conclusion:
Well ,the rest of the story tells us how they constrained Jesus to abide with them, how He went in to sup with them, took the bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to them and their eyes were opened. Now they recognized Him and He vanished out of their sight. You see they were indeed slow of heart and their outward inability to recognize Jesus mirrored their inward self. Puts me in mind of 2 Corinthians 5:7 where we are told “walk by faith, and not by sight”.
That’s the message for you. Stop talking and start listening. The Bible is the Word of God. All the Bible and He has something to say to you. You’ll never know what God wants to say to you, what the Lord Jesus wants to tell you about Himself so long as you keep it closed. It needs to be opened.
If you’re not a Christian, the first thing you need to listen to is Jesus’ great commission when He said; all authority, all power is given to Me in heaven and on earth. There’s not any power today that doesn’t rest in the hands that were nailed to the cross. He said, go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. That means Chardon and that means us. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved as Mark 16:16 states. He that believes not… shall be condemned.
If you are subject to God’s invitation, if there’s any reason that you can think of that you need to be reconciled to the Lord today, why don’t you respond as we sing this hymn. Let’s stand and sing.
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# 612
Reference Sermon
Frank Worgan
Where and when we meet
Chardon, Ohio 44024