Luke 24:13-49
Ian McConnell
Main
Idea: Jesus shows us how to fuel our hearts with passion for God &
the gospel.
Ultimate
Application: We need Jesus to fuel our hearts with passion
for God & the gospel.
Introduction
Have you ever noticed that the Bible is filled with people
whose hearts burn with passion for God?
§
Think about Moses in Exodus
33:18, “Please show me your glory!”
§
Think about David in
Psalm 63:1, “O God, you are my God...”
§
Think about Asaph in
Psalm 73:25, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that
I desire besides you.”
§
Think about the Apostle in Paul Philippians 3:8-10, “I count all things as loss compared to
the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord...that I may know him and
the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made
conformable to his death.”
§
Think about people in church history like David Brainerd, missionary to the American Indians who wrote in his
diary...
“…of late, God has been
pleased to keep my soul hungry, almost continually; so that I have been filled
with a kind of pleasing pain. When I really enjoy God, I feel my desires
of him the more insatiable, and my thirstings after holiness the more unquenchable;
and the Lord will not allow me to feel as though I were fully supplied and
satisfied, but keeps me still reaching forward.”
Don’t you want that?! At a minimum, don’t you want to want
that? My question is, Where does it come from? What
fueled the fires of their passion for God…and what will fuel ours? In Luke
24:13-49 Jesus tells us.
There is an inseparable
connection between being filled with the Word of God and burning with passion
for God—there is a providential link between being filled with the word of the
gospel and being on fire with passion for the gospel. One is fuel the other is fire. That being said,
in order for the Word of God to function as this passion igniting fuel, our
text this morning informs us that we must interact with the Scriptures the way Jesus
models with the two men on the road to Emmaus.
OT Scholar, Tremper Longman
makes the following observation:
“What is startling is that so
few followers of Jesus today embrace their Lord’s perspective on interpreting
the Old Testament.” Tremper Longman
III, How to Read Genesis
In Luke 24, Jesus is going to
teach us how to read the Bible. And we
are going to be brought to a place where we must ask ourselves, “Do I read my
Bible like Jesus taught me to?”
Longman continues:
“…on the basis of Jesus’
instructions in Luke 24, I submit that it is wrong for a Christian to ignore
the good news of Christ in the act of interpreting the Old Testament...”
We must not ignore the good
news of Christ as we read the OT. Jesus teaches us that the entire OT was
written in anticipation of his future mission to rescue, rule, and renew the
lives of broken sinners. Which means
that now that Jesus has come it should be read with the gospel in full view. In
other words, when the OT was written God’s intention was for the OT to point
it’s readers to look forward to a coming day when Jesus would be sent and now that
Jesus has come we must look back and read the OT through
the lens of fulfillment. We must not ignore the good news of Christ
as we read the OT.
That being said, I should
also add that we must not ignore the OT period. We must read our OT—and not
just Psalms and Proverbs. I think there
is a temptation for disicples of Jesus to make the NT their primary hang out
for Bible reading. Why? We love Jesus!
If we avoid the OT then we are avoiding over half of our Bible. So we must read it and when we do we must
read it in light of its fulfillment in Jesus.
Don’t get me wrong it’s
important that we first understand how the original audience understood the
story in its historical context before Jesus came, but then it is equally
important and not of peripheral significance that we understand that part of the
purpose of each OT story was to point to a future day when Jesus would fulfill
it and give fuller meaning to the story.
Therefore, it’s absolutely imperative that today we read the OT with the
gospel in view through the lens of gospel fulfillment.
Illustration: The summer is always filled with blockbuster
movies. This summer it was "Man of
Steele". Last summer it was “The
Dark Knight Rises.” How many of you went
to the theater and saw “The Dark Knight Rises” last summer? I did. Two times. Don’t judge me. As you are
watching a movie the first time you are watching the story unfold, you are
observing the plot thicken, and in the end you know where it was all going. After you watch a movie for the first time
you cannot watch it the second time acting like you don’t know where the story
is going. In the "Dark Night Rises"
you don’t watch it the second time wondering if the young cop John Blake turns
out to be Robin. You’re not surprised
that Miranda Tate is the daughter of Ra’s al Ghul. You not watching it for the
second time wondering if Batman really dies at the end. You know. Knowing the whole story influences the way you go back and process
parts of the story. And so when you go back and watch it again, details and
clues that didn’t stick out the first time are now popping out in living color. We say things like, “Ah, that’s what he was
talking about.” Or “That’s where that
was going.”
It’s the same way with
reading the Old Testament in the days since Jesus was sent to live, and die,
and rise to rescue, rule, and renew the lives of broken sinners. We can’t go back and read parts of the Bible
without acting like we know the whole story. We read each part in light of the whole. So when we read the OT now, details and clues that didn’t stick out before Jesus came
now pop out in 3D. We read the stories
of the OT saying, “Ah, that’s what he was talking about there.” Or “That’s the significance of that event.” As
you read your OT today, you must read and interpret it in light of how it all ultimately
points to Jesus, how it was all ultimately fulfilled in Jesus, and how reading
it and learning it has the power to change our lives and fuel our hearts with holy
passion as we encounter Jesus by the Spirit page after page.
We must not read the OT with
our BC glasses on—before Christ. We must
read the OT with our AD glasses on—in the year of our Lord! Why? Because this is how Jesus teaches us to
read the Bible, and it’s when we read our Bible this way, we will encounter
Christ and he will make our hearts burn with passion for God. That’s what’s
going on here in Luke 24.
Outline:
Let me give some background
to the text. In our story it’s the very day Jesus is raised from the dead. Jesus
engages two of his disciples who are confused.
He knows they are confused. He
knows they are discouraged because of their confusion—and here’s what he does—he
pursues them. And what we know as the
story plays out is that he pursues them to bring clarity and understanding to
their confused & discouraged hearts.
Let that
encourage you if that describes you this morning. Are you confused and discouraged? Here’s good
news—Jesus pursues us when we are confused and discouraged. And out of his deep
love for us he does this to bring clarity to our convoluted hearts and
minds.
As Jesus engages them he hides
his true identity. We can only speculate as to why. Most likely so they don’t go, “No way, it’s
Jesus!” before he teaches them this lesson.
As he asks them questions to draw them out it becomes obvious what’s at
the heart of their confusion & discouragement: They were taken back by the
cross. Just three days earlier they witnessed the horrifying mutilation of the
one they believed to be the Son of God.
And now they have questions: Why did Jesus have to suffer and die like
that? In verse 21 we read that “they
hoped he would be the one to redeem Israel”—what’s going on? They were so confused.
These may be some questions
you have today. Why did Jesus go through
all that he went through? Well in this
story Jesus is going to explain. And
after he explains, their response, “did
not our hearts burn!” How does Jesus fuel the fire?
1. Jesus
Enables us to Understand.
We need Jesus to enable us to
understand what we wouldn’t naturally understand. What’s our problem? Jesus tells us in verse 25. We are naturally
foolish and slow of heart to believe what the prophets have spoken. In other
words, we don’t naturally get the Bible. I’m not sure what your academic
credentials are this morning—and I’m not trying to insult you. But you don’t naturally get it. We don’t
naturally get it. Why? Because naturally we don’t want to hear what
God has to say. And naturally we don’t
get what God is saying. One of the
consequences of sin is that we are born into this world with an operating
system that includes a 32g darkened mind and terabytes of dulled spiritual
senses. Isaiah said, “There is none that understands, no not
one.” The message of the Bible is that in order to want to hear what God has to
say and to be able to understand what God has to say we need God to give us
understanding. We need two gifts from
God: regeneration and illumination.
§ Regeneration is when God the Holy Spirit makes
our spiritually dead hearts and minds alive to God—this is where spiritual life
begins as God graciously opens our minds to understand our need of forgiveness,
deliverance, and acceptance with God through the life, death, and resurrection
of Jesus. Do you believe the gospel today? If you do it is because God in his
mercy gave you understanding. Can you thank him?
§ Illumination is the ongoing work of the
Holy Spirit to continually open our minds and help us understand the message of
the Bible. Regeneration is the event of God turning on the electricity. Illumination
is the ongoing experience of God flipping on the light switch.
In our story, you might think
that these two guys should have understood. These guys were a part of the group
that was following Jesus all around. Jesus was their Bible teacher. You would
think that these guys would get it. But
they didn’t. What did they need? Well, if they were disicples of Jesus they
were already regenerated. God had
already made their dead hearts alive so that they would turn from their sin and
trust in Jesus. But these disicples still
needed ongoing illumination. They need
divine light to understand the meaning of the Bible’s message. So what does
Jesus do for them? Look at verse 27, “he
interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”
What this means is that even
though they read their Bible and even though they traveled around with Jesus
the greatest Bible teacher, they needed divine illumination. They needed God to help them understand what
God had revealed in the Bible and especially how properly understanding the
message of the Bible would lead to understanding why it was necessary for Jesus
to suffer like he did.
Now, it’s important that we
understand that these two guys weren’t the exceptions. Like maybe they were just two of the slower
disciples. Not at all. You see, after
Jesus reveals himself to them, they run back to Jerusalem to tell the apostles
and the other disicples that they had just encountered the resurrected Jesus
and got to sit in on the greatest Biblical Theology course that’s ever been taught. As they are describing their experience,
Jesus pops in and reveals himself to the whole crew. And now they all get to take the class that
Cleopas and his buddy took a couple hours ago.
Verse 44 bIt wasn’t just
these two guys on the road to Emmaus that needed illumination. It was also the apostles and the rest of the
disicples that needed illumination. They
all needed Jesus to open their minds to understand the meaning of the
Bible. And so do we.
You say, “Okay I get
that.” But Jesus isn’t here with us like
he was with them. How does Jesus help us
understand the Bible today? How does
Jesus open our minds to understand the message of the Bible?
Right before Jesus is
betrayed, arrested, & crucified He prepares his disciples for his exit from
the earth. He tells them in John 14 that
if he leaves he is going to return. But even
though he is leaving he is not leaving them alone. He goes on to say that the way he is going to
be with them is by sending the Holy Spirit to be their Helper. One of the most significant ways the Holy
Spirit is going to help the disicples is by illuminating their minds to
understand the meaning of the Bible. So
Jesus says, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the
truth…” (John 16:13)
In other words, the way Jesus
helps us understand the Bible today is by the illumination of the Holy
Spirit. Paul makes this clear in 1
Corinthians 2:14. And he teaches the church in Ephesus to
pray for illumination from the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 1:17-18. Bottom line is that we need Jesus to enable
us to understand and the way we receive Jesus’ help to understand the Bible today
is through the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
How do we get the
Illumination of the Holy Spirit? The Spirit has already been given—we just need
to ask for it. It’s a gift that we
receive by faith as we pray. We pray
prayers like Psalm 119:18 “Open my eyes that I may behold wonderful things out
of your law.” We pray prayers like Paul prayed in
Ephesians 1:17-18 “Father would you give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation
and enlighten the eyes of our heart.”
How does Jesus fuel the fire? Jesus Enables us to Understand.
2. Jesus
Enables us to See.
Jesus enables us to see what
we wouldn’t naturally see. As Jesus
enables these men to understand the Scriptures what does he cause them to see? Look at verses 26-27 “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 the things
concerning himself.”
Remember they are
confused. They don’t understand why
Jesus had to suffer and die on the cross.
And what Jesus does is show them how the whole Bible, from Genesis to
Malachi, points to Him and the good news of what God will accomplish through
the suffering of the Messiah. He’s saying, “don’t be thrown for a loop by this…this
is what the Bible has been pointing to all along.”
Notice that in order to show
them why he had to suffer and die he begins with Moses. This is the designation for the first five
books of the Bible—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Then he moves on to the Prophets—Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Hosea…so on and so forth. And in the end Luke notes in verse 27 that he
took them through all of the Scriptures and helps them see how all of the Bible
that they had at that time pointed to Him and his mission to suffer and die for
their salvation.
This is exactly what he does
when he appears to the rest of the disciples starting in verse 44,“Then he said to them, ‘These are my
words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written
about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be
fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said
to them, ‘Thus it is written (Where? All
thru the BIBLE), that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from
the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in
his name to all nations…’”
What this means is that more
than anything else, Jesus wants us to see that “it is written” all over the OT
scriptures that he was sent by the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit to “suffer
and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of
sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.”
Illustration: Back
when I was a Student Ministries Pastor I was taking a group of Sr. High
students on a college trip up through Chicago, and Michigan, and
Wisconsin. And so we are driving from
Philly and it takes like 16 hours just to get to Chicago. When you are driving that far and long with high
school students the things teenagers do to pass the time can drive you
insane. And even though I don’t believe
in Karma there is something that makes me think that this was all payback for
the way me and my friends treated out youth pastor. So we finally arrive in
Chicago and wouldn’t you know that it was just in time for rush hour. So we are stuck in Chicago rush hour traffic inching
our way forward stuck behind right behind a FedEx truck. It’s at this point that one of the teens in
leans forward and says did you know that there is an arrow in the FedEx logo. I’m like, what are you talking about? I had seen this logo so many times I couldn’t
even tell you how many times. She says
look, see—it’s an arrow—in between the E and the X. As I looked more closely I saw it. I had never seen that before and I found out
later that many people hadn’t seen that before.
And ever since that day whenever I see the FedEx logo I see the
arrow. It was always there, but I didn’t
see it.
In the Old Testament there is an arrow. It was always there, even if you hadn’t seen it. There is an arrow that is pointing to Jesus. Every story points to Him. (Every prophet—priest—king—sacrifice—like an arrow points us to Jesus.)
I have been stirred by how
Tim Keller draws this out in his sermon “True & Better.” He says,
§ Jesus is the true and
better Adam who passed the
test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.
§ Jesus is the true and
better Abel who, though innocently
slain, has blood now that cries out for our acquittal, not our condemnation.
§ Jesus is the true and
better Abraham who answered the call
of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void “not
knowing wither he went!” to create a new people of God.
§ Jesus is the true and
better Isaac who was not just
offered up by his father on the mount but was truly sacrificed for us.
§ Jesus is the true and
better Jacob who wrestled and took
the blow of justice we deserved, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of
grace to wake us up and discipline us.
§ Jesus is the true and
better Joseph who, at the right hand
of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold him and uses his new power to
save them.
§ Jesus is the true and
better Moses who stands in the gap
between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant.
§ Jesus is the true and
better Rock of Moses who, struck
with the rod of God’s justice, now gives us water in the desert.
§ Jesus is the true and
better Job,
the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his
stupid friends.
§ Jesus is the true and
better David, whose victory becomes
his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it
themselves.
§ Jesus is the true and
better Esther who didn’t just risk
losing an earthly palace but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t
just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.
§ Jesus is the true and
better Jonah who was cast out into
the storm so that we could be brought in.
§ Jesus is the real Rock
of Moses, the real Passover Lamb – innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the
angel of death will pass over us. He is the true temple, the true prophet, the
true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the Lamb, the Light, the
Bread.”
All Scripture points to Him! All
of the Bible is about Jesus. That’s what Jesus enables us to see—that it’s all
about him.
How does Jesus fuel the fire?
Finally…
3. Jesus
Enables Us to be Affected.
Jesus enables us to be
affected how we wouldn’t naturally be affected. Notice verse 32, “They said to
each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the
road while he opened to us the Scriptures?” What happened when they encountered
Christ through the teaching of the Scriptures? How did seeing Jesus in the
Bible affect them? It made their hearts
burn. It was fuel for fire.
§ Their hearts burned with deeper love for Jesus.
o
They already loved Jesus—but their love for him
increased and was impassioned as they came face to face with him in the Bible.
§ Their hearts burned with deeper faith in Jesus.
o
They already had faith in Jesus—but their faith
in him increased as they understood God’s plan for his life, and death, and
resurrection.
§ Their hearts burned with deeper zeal to be on
mission for Jesus.
o
Notice that they run back to Jerusalem to tell
the others that they had seen Jesus. They
had to share what they saw. They couldn’t keep it to themselves. They saw the Savior and they wanted to go and
tell others about the Savior. When Jesus
found them they were walking away confused and discouraged, once they saw him
they are going back with passion and faith.
What will happen when we read
the Bible and encounter Jesus? Our
hearts will burn! It will be like adding
fuel to a fire.
§ As we
encounter him our hearts will burn with deeper love for Jesus.
§ As we
encounter him our hearts will burn with deeper faith in Jesus.
§ As we
encounter him our hearts will burn with deeper zeal to be on mission for Jesus.
What will happen as you encounter
Jesus in all of Scripture? Your heart
will burn as God fuels the fire.
What’s
the ultimate application? Go read
your Bible and pray for the Spirit to show you Jesus. It will fuel the
fire. Where are you reading? Look for Jesus. When you read your Bible you
are positioning yourself to encounter Jesus! When you gather together as the
church you are positioning yourself to encounter Jesus. And when you see him—it
will be like adding fuel to the fire and your hearts will burn.
