Transcription
Dear Lord, we are so thankful for children and youth You brought into this place. Lord, we're thankful for laughter, but Lord, most importantly, we're thankful for You. We're here to celebrate You. We're so thankful; we could never thank You enough for Easter morning when You rose from the dead, freed us from our sins. Speak to us now through Nick, Lord. Guide his mind and his thoughts and his speech. Lord, help us not be distracted but to hear Your message for us today, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Pastor Nick B: Good morning. Morning to be in the house of the Lord. Amen. Amen. If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Luke 24. We're going to be encamped out in verses 13-35 this morning. Easter is—it's not only an amazing time; it is the pinnacle of the Christian faith, literally. The Bible itself declares in 1 Corinthians 15 that if Easter did not happen, Christians should be pitied above all other people because we're fools and believe in nothing. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the cross is a—is a cool story, but there's no power behind it. If He is not who He said He is, then it's wonderful that He died on the cross, but that's just a moron—not the power of sin being conquered and the grave being defeated. So everything hinges on today. This is the day of days. This is why we gather together. We say, "He's risen." "He's risen indeed," because there's never been a greater seven words uttered together in the history of mankind: "He is risen." But He is not here. He is risen. He is risen indeed. The greatest sentence ever uttered in the history of mankind. And I know we just finished a series about the disciples, so I promised I would stop talking about them, but this morning kind of segues from that. We're going to talk actually about two disciples in Luke Chapter 24. There's a story, and if you have been a disciple of Christ for Passion Week, you have probably hit all of the highs and lows of—of emotions. You see Jesus walk triumphantly into Jerusalem, and you see everyone say, "Hosanna in the highest." They have Palm Sunday, and it's just an extravagant affair. It's like, "Wow, yes, He is the Messiah," people recognizing it. It's amazing things are happening. And then by Wednesday, He's arrested and betrayed by someone you've been best friends with for years. He is taken and flogged and beaten and handed over to the Romans to be killed and hung on a cross to die—the One who you thought was the Son of God, your answer to everything you have been—been needing, and now He's dead. The One you saw walk on water, the One you saw feed the thousands, the One you saw give sight to the blind, hung on a cross and was placed in the tomb. And if you are a disciple of Christ that week, I don't even know where your emotions are at—all over the place. We know from the other Resurrection Sunday morning stories that the 12—or now the 11—are hiding in the upper room because they're terrified of what happened to Jesus will happen to them. They are completely dumbfounded and brokenhearted. But here in Luke 24, we're going to read about two people we've never met before—before this moment. We know Jesus had other disciples; He had more than just the 12, but these two people we follow—we've never met them before; we'll never meet them again. This—this—this morning happens, and it is one of my favorite stories on Resurrection Sunday. I—I love it when Mary and the women see the angels at the—the empty tomb. I love it when Peter and John have a—a sprinting match down, and John likes to brag that he won—so Alpha Man energy right there. I love how they appear; Jesus appears to them in the room, and Thomas doubts, and then He comes again. I love all of those stories, but this is my favorite Easter morning story because it encounters the gospel in such a way for every one of us today—2,000 years ago as modern-day people who were trying to be the followers of Christ in other ways that the other Resurrection stories are just about them back then. I think this really shows something about us today. So in—I'm going to read Luke 24:13-35.
Now that very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all the things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from—from regarding Him—from recognizing Him. And He said to them, "What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still, and they looked sad. And then one of them, named Cleopas, Cleopas answered, "Are you literally the only visitor from Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened in these days?" And He said to them, "What things?" And they said to Him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet, mighty indeed in word before God and all people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered Him up to be condemned to death and crucified Him. But we had hoped that He was the One to redeem Israel. And yes, besides all of this, it is now the third day since these things have happened. And moreover, some of the women of our company—amazed us; they were at the tomb early in the morning. And when they did not find His body, they came back saying that they had seen a vision of angels who had said that He was alive. And some of ours who were with us went with them to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Him." And He said to them, "Oh, foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them in all the scriptures that concerned things of Himself. So they drew near to the village to which they were going, and He acted as if He was going to go further, but they urged Him to stay strongly, saying, "Stay with us, for it is towards evening and the day is now spent." So He went in to stay with them. And when He was at the table with them, He broke bread, and He blessed it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him, and He vanished from their sight. And they said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the road, while He opened up the scriptures to us?" And they rose that same hour, and they returned to Jerusalem, and they found the 11 and those who were with them gathered together, saying, "The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon." And they told what had happened to them and how He was known to them by the breaking of the bread.
So there's a lot to unpack here. These two people, who we only learned one of their names—Cleopas—were just two disciples in Jesus's group, given He had lots of people who followed Him, and they're going to Emmaus. Now, as I'm reading this story, I have so many questions of why this is included. Why—why are they going to Emmaus? Why these two people we have never seen and we'll never hear from again? Why did Jesus not reveal Himself to them? What—why is this whole scene taking place the way it is? And I—I love that it's Luke who writes this because Luke, of all the people who have written the Gospels, was—was this kind of investigative journalist. You know, he was not a firsthand encounter of the Gospels; he was a disciple of Paul, and he would investigate all these other firsthand accounts to write down and kind of correlate this Gospel. So of all the Gospels that have this story, I think it's amazing that it's Luke who writes it down because he's this kind of investigative person, but yet you open the story, and my mind is full of questions of like, "Why is this here? Why—why include this story?" It's already amazing; we saw these women at the—at the empty tomb and the angels on high and all of that glory. We've already seen all of this awesome stuff. Why include these two men on the road that we've never heard from and never hear from again? What's the point of that? Why were they even going to Emmaus when all of the other disciples are hiding for their lives in the upper room? Why do these guys decide, "You know what? It's a great day to go for a field trip and go to Emmaus?" Why does Jesus not reveal Himself to them? That's some pretty important information. Jesus revealed Himself to all the other people, but these people He hides Himself, and they take this walk. So if you are a note-taker, you know how I love to divvy up these—sermons into sections. So the first one is Jesus walks with—Jesus encounters these men who, like He said, we never see from again, never heard from before on the road, and I don't know why we—why they're going to—I don't have any of that information. It just—it—it makes you wonder what—why this is here, and I think we're going to discover that this morning as we dive into the text. But Jesus encounters them, and He hides Himself from them, I think, is something that is incredibly huge, especially today for us modern-day disciples. See, Jesus will be walking with these people all the way to Emmaus, and they had no idea it was Jesus who they walked with. Every single one of us, whether you have been there or are there now, are those disciples is walking to Emmaus. You didn't know it, and you might not know it now, but Jesus is walking with you, and you just don't see Him. So many of us, even we—if we've been following Christ for years, or whether we are still struggling with if we know Him and call on Him as our Savior—all of us at some point have said, "God, You feel so far away. Where are You? Why am I walking alone? Where—if You're the God Who so loved my soul, Who would go to the cross for me, where are You? I feel alone. I'm walking by myself. Where are You, Jesus? Because You say You're a God of love; You said the God Who loved my soul, but where are You?" And yet what we don't know is Jesus is there, walking with us the whole way, but we just don't recognize it yet. And that is a huge thing. Why the not yet? Why doesn't Jesus just walk on the scene into our lives and just burst out with miracles and wonders and declarations and say, "I'm here. Look at me. I'm God of the universe. I'm the One who loved and—your soul." Why doesn't He just come and grab us by the collar and shake us up and show us that? Because, as we've seen through the series we just ended, through the—the disciples, especially as we ended last week with Judas, that you can see the wonders of God; you can—you can walk—you can see Him walk on water; you can see Him heal the blind and feed the thousands; you can walk with Him and talk with Him and even perform miracles with Him for three years and still reject Him and still doubt Him and still turn away from Him. God knows our human hearts, and unfortunately, as much as we think, "If God's real, why doesn't He just show up and display Himself?" It's because history is shown throughout the Gospels, throughout the Bible, time and time again how hardheaded we are that even if God grabbed us by the collar and pointed us in that direction, we'd still say, "I don't know. I'm not quite sure about that." You see Moses and—do all of these miracles in Egypt and bring the Israelites out of Egypt and part the Red Sea, have the 10 plagues, do all of these wonders, and the second He goes to pray for a few days, everyone loses their minds and turns to His brother and says, "We need a new God. I don't know where your brother's at, but—make us a new God," and they got crazy, and Moses had to come downstairs and put them in timeout. They lost their sight of their person for a few minutes, and even though they had seen wonders and miracles, their hearts still couldn't get it. And I think that has been—if not all of us at some point—all of us throughout our lives, we have walked with Jesus, and we wonder, "Where are You? Why don't You just show Yourself?" And it's because until our hearts are in the right place, until our hearts have been stirred and are ready with Him, He could show us all the wonders of the world, and we still wouldn't get it. Sometimes Jesus walks with us unseen because He is working on our hearts. So if you're sitting here today, say, "God, I don't know where You are. You feel so distant; You feel so far; You don't know what I'm going through; why are You putting me through this if You love me?" It's because He's working on you still. He's working on this situation; He's working behind the scenes, and we just don't even see it yet. When I bring my children to the doctors and they have to get shots, it breaks your heart as a father because they don't understand the pain and the difficulty you're putting them through, but you—as you hold them and they cry, "Daddy, why—why are you doing this? Why—why it hurts?" You sit there and you hold them. You say, "Because I know it's for your good, because there's a plan for this, because it's ultimately for your healing. You just don't see it yet." We are just as limited in our scope as my—as my little children when I bring them to the doctors. We wonder, "God, why are You letting this into my life? Why does this hurt? Where are You? I feel so alone." And God's promise is that you are never alone. He will never forsake you; He will never abandon you; He will be with you, but maybe we just don't see Him in it yet. But God has never broken His promise. The Bible says He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And I can give you a promise today, church: He will not start breaking His promises with you. He promised He would never leave or forsake us; He would never abandon us. It's not going to start with you. Even if we feel like we are alone, even if we feel like He is far away, the promises of God transcend our feelings because His promises are true always and forever, and He promises to be there with us. He promises He's there with us, even if, like these disciples, we just don't know it yet. But when He reveals Himself and we see, looking back everywhere He's walked with us, it's amazing that—man, the whole time, all of that was God working. I just didn't know yet. I love how the Bible constantly describes our relationship with God not as like something you build and construct, but as a walk. Because if your—if your relationship with God is something you build and like construct, then—well, it has to be wonderful and glorious like the temples and all. I—I see success because I see how big it is; I see how lasting it is; I see how wonderful it is. But that's not how God describes our relationship with Him. He describes it as a walk that we will walk by faith and not by sight, that He is the way, the truth, and the life. He describes it this way because a walk has ups and downs; it has hills and valleys; it has days you're exhausted and days you're feet are blistered; it has days you're tired and need to rest. It has every hill and every valley, and the success of a journey isn't if you're tired, isn't if you're in a valley or if you're on a mountaintop—where you've gone from here to there. And God's journey brought us from death to life on Easter Sunday. That is the journey He's inviting us into, and maybe we just don't see Him yet in it. But then He goes on, and the second section is Jesus talks with them as He encounters them on the road, and they don't quite know it's Jesus yet. He asks them what—what—why are you so sad? What's going on? And they describe to Him the Gospel; they describe to Him the events of Passion Week, and in amazing detail, cross-referencing all the other Gospels here. They tell this story of what has just happened, and now they're sitting, and it's Easter evening, and they're just sitting, and they're completely bamboozled and dumbfounded of what to make of all the things they have just seen and just—and just have learned. And the thing with that connection from—from seeing God and knowing Him, He's walking with you, to the heart is the difference between the heart and the head. These guys knew it; they knew the Gospel; they knew that Jesus wasn't in the tomb anymore; they knew He went to the cross and rose again. They—they knew it and were still wondering about it. The transition God takes from us knowing that He is with us goes from the head to the heart. You might know all of the Gospel backward and forward; you might know Bible talk better than I do, but that doesn't make a relationship with God. Our relationship with God starts in the head and ends in the heart. The Bible even says that the demons believe in God and shudder. Satan himself uses scripture time and again in His battle with Jesus and the temptations with Him. Satan knows scripture better than any seminary professor and any pastor does not mean He has a right relationship with God. The difference between heart and head is huge. This is where He begins to bring these two disciples, and this is what Jesus does with us when we walk with Him and we don't know it. He works on our head, but then He begins stirring their hearts. I love how He says to them, "Oh, foolish ones, slow to believe in the prophets," and He goes on, and He describes to them from the scriptures why all of these things had to unfold. I—I—I love that kind of encounter of, "Oh, foolish ones." I—I think of it like—like when a parent is talking to a child when they ask that silly question, 'cause it seems silly to us, "Mommy and Daddy, do you love me?" And you got to say, "Of course I love you. Do you not know how much I love you? Do you not see all the things I do? Do you not know all the things I do for you?" And that's that same feeling I think that Jesus has when He confronts these people, "Oh, foolish—oh, kiddo, do you not know how much I love you? Do you not know—done for you?" Sometimes we sit there bamboozled and wondering, "God, where are You? Why did all these things happen? Where—why?" And God just sitting there saying, "Oh, kiddo, I love you. Isn't it obvious?" Um—L—anyways, going on. So He goes and He tells them—I'm sorry, I don't remember what I was going to say. So I've heard the Bible described in many different ways, and for most people, they think of the Bible as an instruction manual or a map. It's—it's—it's data; it's information; it's how to get from here to there; it's how to—it's how to live your life; it's how to do these things. But the Bible isn't just data; it's emotion; it's relationship; it is a 66-book love letter. It's my favorite way I've ever heard of the Bible described—is a 66-book love letter. It's not just information of how to act; it's not an operating manual; it's the God of the universe taking the time to write out His story so that you could know Him, that you could be His, and He could be yours. It's a love letter; it's not just information. He wants to move that knowledge from the head to the heart. He goes on, and as He says, "Oh, foolish ones," and He goes and He—He shows the—He interprets the scriptures to them. Like I said, Jesus could have come on and performed all kinds of miracles, grab their collar, grab their attention, just displayed Himself; Him being alive in front of them would have been miracle enough, but He goes on and He shows them the word of God says, "Oh, child, how much I love you. Oh, child, this is why I had to suffer and die. This is why I had to go through these things for your name's sake. This is why this all came to play." We ask and often wonder, "God, where are You? Where—when I feel so far from You, when I feel like I don't see You or I don't know You, where—I wonder, 'Why don't You just come on display and show me Your wonders and miracles?'" He's left us a miracle that we can hold in our hands and know with our hearts, and it's the living, breathing word of God. It's not just dead words; it's alive; it's—it's a miracle that we get to hold with pen and paper. It is what God has left for us that we can know His love, know His wonders, and know Him. So as Jesus goes and does this, He talks to them, and He shows them the word. They arrive at Emmaus, and He acts like He was going further, and I have to ask my question, "Why did He pretend like He was going to leave them? Why did He pretend like He was going further? Isn't that trickery? Isn't that kind of deceiving?" But like this whole encounter with them, there was a lesson behind each—every one of His interactions He had with them. So why does He go like He's going to go further? Why does it feel like sometimes He's so far away from us? Because their response was—they begged Him to stay. They said, "Hey, don't go further. Come with us. Come have dinner with us." There are some days where God feels so far, where you don't know where He is, where you wonder where He's at. And the reason I believe that God allows us to go through those moments is—it's because He wants to make us feel alone and abandoned. It's because He wants us to draw to Him, to call on Him. When I'm with my kids 24/7, they could ignore me left and right and not bother and even know I'm there. I could be sitting with them all day long, and I turn around and I go away for three seconds. Be a parent to young children and try to go to the bathroom; I'll tell you that. Leave them for three seconds, "Daddy, where were you? Mommy, where were you?" "I've been with you all afternoon. I just had to go to the bathroom." God—but there's that urgency of, "When—where are You?" And they begin searching and hunting for Mom and Dad. And I believe this is why God does that sometimes in our lives, allows that moment of wonder, "Where are You, God?" Because He stirs in our hearts the desire to search for Him and to know Him. He never has to work on that for Himself. He wants us every moment of every day with an intensity we can't even understand, but sometimes He's got to work on our hearts that get so cold and get so hard and get so confused and distracted with all the little things. So I think that moment where He looked like He was going further, it was to draw out that need to search for God. I love the—I love the promises of the word of God where it says, "Draw near to God; He will draw near to you." It's just a promise. You don't have to say, "You want God to draw near to you. Okay, come to church for 30 Sundays in a row, get your life together, and we'll see about if I can make some time for you." How many people do we know who we think that God has too many important things to worry about little old me? And yet the promises of God say, in His eyes, you're not just a little old you—you are worth in His love, His life on the cross, His blood, and His suffering. That is how much you weighed out. In His word is His life. The God of the universe said, "I will"—the One who gives you breath, the One who holds the universe together—"I will breathe My last breath right for you because that is how much I love you." That is how much God said you were worth. So it's not this matter of Him not caring, Him not loving; it's Him stirring that affection in us by us noticing, "Hey, God, where are You?" Because He wants us to hunt for Him; He wants us to search Him; He wants us to be with Him. It's not—it's not hostile; it's not neglectful; it's not cruel; it's like Heavenly hide-and-seek. "Come and find Me. I pursue Me. I want you to come and find Me; I want you to know Me." So He goes with them into the city, and they go and they sit down to have supper. And I love—I love what He said—what happens. So He goes and He breaks bread with them, and then all of a sudden, then after they've broken bread, then they see who He is, and He disappears. And even though it's night and even though—um—seven miles away, which seven miles walking was probably not a slow thing to do, they go back to Jerusalem. And as—as this happens, He said, "Did not our hearts burn within us when He—when He opened up the scriptures?" We're talking about Jesus unveiling Himself to us and moving that head knowledge to that heart knowledge. God uses the word of God to stir up our hearts. The reason why we have the word of God—He left it behind so that He could stir our hearts with it, that we could know Him, that we could see His love for us, that we could tangibly hold this living miracle between the pages, and that He uses it and stirs our heart that we would know Him, that as He knows us. They get to Jerusalem, and they go and they tell the disciples everything that had happened, and they end this whole story with, "Then they told them what had happened on the road and how He had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread." I love that's when Jesus chooses to reveal Himself, because what did He do three days before—um—when He was last with His disciples? He broke the bread, and He told Him, "This is My body that will be broken for you." He poured out the cup, and He said, "This is My blood that will be poured out for you." Jesus reveals Himself to them using the same Gospel message He gave to them before He died. God reveals Himself to us in the Gospel story. We are here celebrating Easter, and it's not just because it's a good time to come together and have pancakes and eggs, which maybe was great. We're here together to celebrate the good—good news, the reason why the buildings exist, this reason why we call ourselves Christ followers, because He would live a perfect life and He would die in our place to conquer sin in the grave. His body would be broken; His blood would be shed; He would conquer sin in the grave; He would roll the stone away, and we could say the greatest seven words—in the history of the world: "He is not here; He is risen." He reveals Himself to us in His Gospel story. God wants to take you from not knowing He is with you to stirring up your heart to stirring up the knowledge that He's given you, revealing Himself to you. He wants you to know Him as He knows you. So I don't know where you are in your faith journey. Maybe you're still at the beginning of the road, and you're wondering, "Where are You, God?" Maybe He has stirred your heart a long time ago; maybe He's stirring your heart right now; or maybe you sit there at the supper with Him, and He's revealed Himself to you that you know Him and you've seen Him in the breaking of the bread; you've seen Him in the Gospel message. I don't know where you are in your journey. Your relationship with God—your journey with God is between you and Him, but I pray that for all of us there and everyone who has walked this walk and continues to walk this walk would know that God is—
Not far from us, that he walks with us even when we don't see it; that he is stirring our hearts to him by his work, and he will reveal himself to us by his good news; what we come here today to celebrate: that he would live, he would die, and that he rose again; that we could have a relationship with him because he conquered sin and the...breach. That is good news, and that is the God who loves and wounds your soul.
Let's pray. Heavily, God, Father, I just thank you for this Easter Sunday. I thank you that even when we don't see it, you are there; that you stir our hearts with your word and with your testimony; that you show us who you are and that you are near. And I pray, Lord, for all of us, though, that you would reveal yourself to us; that you would remind us that you are near; that you would remind us from your Living Word, your promises, and your... good news. Thank you, Lord, that today we can celebrate all of that. Walk with us, Lord. Remind us you are near, in your Son's name I pray. Amen. Amen.