BURNING OF THE HEART
THEME: DEEPING FAITH THROUGH A LOVE OF THE STORY.
TEXT: LUKE 24:13-33
It was an hour and a half from the center of Dallas-Fort Worth. It was in a small little Texas town. The building was an old school house that was moved to function as a church building. It was my first real-kind of job preaching. I was at Brown Trail for approximately six months when Gary Garner approached me taking over the Sunday Morning service for this tiny congregation. The little church met once on Sunday morning, and I was required to preach the lesson, not Bible class, just the sermon. In the building, we met on the side in a little classroom because the church did not have enough funds to heat or cool the worship center. Up to this point, I preached about 2 lessons before in a congregational setting. Both of these times, everyone knew me and desired to support me in this work. There were numerous eyes focused and heads nodding. But this church was different. I was just another young preacher trying to improve in speaking. This experience shocked me, but mostly one man. One man would come to worship and partake of the Lord’s Supper. After this, I would stand up to preach. As I was standing, he was arranging the chairs. This created some nervous feelings, this never happened before. He turned the chair in front of him, he stretched out on the chair under him, and he placed his cowboy hat over his head. And the man slept. This was not a big congregation. Maybe there were 12 people. It was a small room, you could not hide. People get tired in church, but most people try to stay with you. Not this man, sermon time was nap time for him. This show really bothered me. I really thought what I was talking about was interesting. For the first three weeks, I tired to preach strong, enthusiastic lessons. But this did not work. Finally, I thought I would preach on the death of Christ. There is no way; a man will sleep through the death of the Lord. As always, the man turned the chair and placed the hat. I started preaching in a too loud tone for the small room. I raised my voiced; I told the story of the death of Jesus Christ. And the man slept, he did not move until the invitation song. He slept through the death of the Lord.
Two disciples on the road to Emmaus must have thought that this fellow traveler was sleeping also. These two men were astonished that he seemed to be unaware of the great events that transpired in Jerusalem. It seemed that this man was the only one who did not hear the story yet. Luke 24:13-18 tells of the situation. “And behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were conversing with each other about all these things which had taken place. And it came about that while they were conversing and discussing, Jesus Himself approached, and began traveling with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. And He said to them, "What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?" And they stood still, looking sad. And one of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, "Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?"
The two men take for granted that this stranger to them has heard about the Jesus story. There is no way he is not familiar with the events that transpired in Jerusalem. It is too shocking that the stranger does not automatically bring up the death of the man Jesus Christ. He has to know about this story. Everyone knows the story of Jesus. And this is the classic assumption of the church. We assume everyone knows the story of Jesus. We believe that those within the church know the story. We believe that those outside of the church know the story. But in reality, most people have not heard the story of the Lord. They know the name Jesus, they know about church, in name only. But people have now heard the story of the Lord. This assumption has created problems in the church. We assume that people are familiar with Jesus. But this is not always the case. The man who went to sleep every Sunday morning at church, he never heard the story. It might have been preached about, read about, but he never heard it. There is a big difference in having the story told, and hearing the story of Christ. We think others have heard the story, because we have heard it before. So we jump to other topics. We talk about the church, we talk about the Lord’s Supper, we talk about Elders and Deacons, we talk about morality, and baptism. And we assume that we can talk about these topics because everyone knows the story of Jesus already. We have said it, but they have not heard it yet.
Fortunately, I did not become a Christian until later on in my life. This was a blessing in some ways. One of the ways was that I can remember certain religious events or times in my life. When I entered into the church, I heard the name of Jesus. Learned about Jesus and knew that he was a great man. I wanted to be like him. But there was head knowledge of who Jesus was. Rationally I could understand the whole salvation deal. But I recall the day that I heard the story, the real story for the first time. It was at Brown Trail, Johnny Ramsey was teaching the class on Mark. We went through the entire Bible, and we hit chapters 14-16. Johnny started to talk about the death, the beating, the torment of Jesus. It seemed so unfair, he was so good, and the people were so bad. Why did they do this to him? This is unjust. As Johnny talked, I listened, how I listened. The words were powerful. I sat there, holding back tears. I did not want to cry in class. But I started to realize the story of Jesus. I heard the story for the first time. Maybe you can recall this story. The first time you truly heard the story.
It seems that these disciples know the story of Jesus. They are going to repeat it to the Lord. They are going to give all the right details, all the facts, all the events. But at this point, they have not heard the story yet. It appears that they have, they know it, but have not heard it yet. The text of Luke 24:19-24 recounts. “And He said to them, "What things?" And they said to Him, "The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him up to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. "But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that He was alive. And some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see.
The facts are there, but instead of complementing these disciples, it seems that Jesus rebukes them. He is annoyed by them. Jesus says in Luke 24:25-26 “And He said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! "Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?" They do not really understand the gospel yet. These disciples do not see the larger picture of the death of Christ. The disciples understand the events, but not the significance of the death. It is just event, not something to act on. It is an interesting story, but not the life changing story. This is where a lot of church members are in life. They have grown up with the story of Christ. It is interesting, they realize it is important, but it is not life changing. It is so common in their minds, that they take the story for granted. It does nothing for them any longer. You can preach on Jesus, and members fall asleep. You can teach about Jesus, and members tune you out. The story does not interest them any longer. The have become cold to the story of Christ. It has become like the movie reruns, seen too many times to hold any attention.
I remember teaching a teenage class. In the class we covered various topics. On this particular night, we were going to teach about the death of Lord Jesus. I started in on reading the Biblical text. The class got quiet and begun to focus, except for Frank. Frank was in the back moving his chair up and down against the wall. He was kicking the girl in front of him. I continued on with the story of Christ thinking that he would tune in after awhile. He would realize that the Christ story was being told. But as I continued, he moved on to shooting spit balls across the room at other children. I stopped him and asked, Frank, what am I talking about. He knew, you are talking about the death of Jesus.” The story was told, but he never got it. Jesus is dying, and he is shooting balls of spit across the room. But this is not uncommon. Congregations across the south, will listen to sermons on the death of Jesus. But people will tune out. They heard that story before. It means nothing to them any longer. It is just another story. Just another sermon.
It would have been for these disciples too. This was another interesting occurrence in Jerusalem, just another event on par with gossip and fables. But Jesus is going to change this story into the story. Jesus is going to tell the story again. Luke 24:27-32 “And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. And they approached the village where they were going, and He acted as though He would go farther. And they urged Him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over." And He went in to stay with them. And it came about that when He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?" This time Jesus is the story teller. He opens up the text. He tells the story of the Christ, from the Old Testament. And the two disciples get it. It is because of this realization that they can see Christ. He was hidden before them, but now they can see. He breaks bread with them. He reclines with them. And after they understand the power of the story of Christ, then Jesus is revealed to them. They see Jesus for who he really is.
This is the same for today. People will never become committed Christians unless they see Jesus for who he really is. People will never have a strong faith. You can teach on creation, science, all the arguments for God and the historical Jesus. All the proof in the world, will not help someone who cannot see the story of Jesus. If the story of Jesus has not affected them, there is no true commitment to the Lord. They may show up to church, they may come to church, but they will never be committed. You have to hear the story, the true story of Jesus. And when the story sinks in, you will serve the Lord. Because you heart will burn with the story of Christ, because if you can listen without being affected by the story, your heart has become cold. If you fall asleep through the story. You have become callous to the story of Christ. You need to hear the story again.
As always, there is homework this week. This homework is one of the most important assignments ever for this congregation. This homework will test your commitment to the Lord. I promise you, that this homework will prove if you have heard the story or not. It will be the test to see if you heard the story of the Christ. I want everyone of you to read the account of the death of Christ. It does not matter which account in which gospel. It matters that you read this by Sunday morning. On Sunday morning, I want everyone to have read the story. If you have not on Sunday morning, why not. Why not do this for the Lord. It will be a test to see if you have read the story before. Because if you understand the story, you will read it again by Sunday. And I want you to read it slowly. I want you to let the words sink into your heart. I want you to feel the burn from the story. Because if you have not truly heard the story of Christ, you will never be truly converted to Christ. You will never be dedicated to Christ.
Polycarp was a student of the Apostle John and an elder in the Smyrna church. He heard that some soldiers were looking for him but a small child found him. After this he feed the guards who captured him and asked for an hour of prayer. He was then taken before the governor and condemned to be burned in the market place. The governor said to him “reproach Christ and I will release you. Polycarp answered, “Eighty-six years I have served him, and he never once wronged me, How then shall I blaspheme my King who has saved me?” After this is was taken out to the market place and burned alive on a stake. The best way to ensure, strengthen and improve your faith. Is to heard the story of Christ again. Hear it so that your heart can burn with conviction. Polycarp could burn on the stake because he experienced that true burn in the heart.
