BIBLE MESSAGES ON EASTER
Bob Marcaurelle
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Message 8
Annual Sermons: Vol. 12 Sermon 4
Bob Marcaurelle: Easter Lk. 24:13-35
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THE BURNING HEART
“They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’” (Lk. 24:32)
Who are these two men, one named Cleopas, whom we do not know, and the other unnamed? Who are these who were depressed over Jesus’ death, who didn’t believe the reports that He had risen, who were irritated when Jesus (whom they didn’t recognize in His risen form), asked them what was wrong and who were scolded by Jesus for their unbelief and ignorance of Scripture?
Who were these who heard Him teach the Old Testament prophecies about a divine, crucified, risen Savior; and took Him into their home to learn more; who recognized Him when He sat at their dinner table and who, when He immediately vanished, ran the eight miles back to Jerusalem and shouted to the disciples that Jesus had been in their home?
Who were they? They were two members of Jesus’ church. They were not apostles and probably not preachers or church leaders. They were two the world calls “nobodies,” two laymen who went from depression and defeat to joy and victory because they had experienced Easter. They knew from this day on they did not follow a memory. They had more than rules for life that Jesus had left behind.
They knew their Savior was alive; that God had accepted Jesus’ sacrifice by raising Him; that their sins were paid for, the payment accepted and they were forgiven. They could sing, not just from the head, but from hearts set on fire, “We serve a risen Savior/He’s in the world today/We know that He is living/Whatever men may say!”
And did you notice what set their hearts on fire, what they remembered and treasured the most. It was not their experience of actually seeing the risen Christ. If we ever were allowed to see the face of Jesus or hear his voice, we would never stop talking about it. We might even judge the spiritual maturity of others by whether or not they have seen Jesus or heard Him like we have.
But, no, they didn’t lift up their experience, something that happened by the Sovereign choice of God, they lifted up what is available to every believer, finding God’s presence in the study of the Word of God. They said, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he. . .opened the Scriptures to us?” (Lk. 24:32).
Oh, friends, do you know what the best part of being a preacher is? It is to sit down on Monday morning without a clue as to what you are going to preach. Put yourself in my place - this week you have to make three speeches on three different subjects. Is that hard enough? And suppose the people you speak to are ones you have been making speeches to every week for 25 years.
How on earth does a Pastor meet such a challenge? He picks up his Bible. He bows his head and prays with the Psalmist, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law” (Ps. 119:18). He begins to think, to pray, to search the Scripture, to think of people in his church and suddenly, because of the touch of the Holy Spirit, the truth comes alive, the needs of people come alive, the Bible comes alive and during that week a sermon is born. It is born a second time when it is preached. I know what the burning heart is. Every preacher worth his salt knows what it is. I hope you who hear me know it too.
And it is available to you. Sunday School teachers, don’t wait until the last of the week to prepare your lesson. Start early and ask God to give you insight. Read your Scripture and your commentaries.
Ask God questions. Think of other lessons and other Scriptures. In life, at work, at home, on TV, in your Pastor’s sermons, let God apply all kinds of truths to your upcoming lesson. You will find out what it is to go beyond a “lecture” on a religious theme. You will find the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit. You will find the burning heart in Bible study that comes from the risen Christ.
Illustration: And this high and holy encounter is open to all God’s children. A nearby Pastor, preaching his first Mother’s Day service in his new church, used his mother’s Bible. He told how she drew near to death in a hospital and had a tube down her throat. One day she revived a little, unable to speak, she motioned for a pad and a pencil. She wrote with words barely legible how she was not in a great deal of pain and how she loved each member of her family. Then she wrote her last line, “I sure do miss my Bible study.”
Folks, I don’t know that lady, but you can write this down. She is a member of the “Burning Heart” class of the church of God. And when you and I go into our prayer closets, open the very Word of God and let the risen Jesus speak to us through the Holy Spirit, Who leads us into all truth, we will have it too.
William James used to say Christianity, to people, was either a dull habit or an acute fever. If it is a religion to you - rituals and rules - it’s a dull habit. If it’s a relationship with a living Christ, kept alive and growing through Bible study, prayer and daily obedience and forgiveness, it will be an acute fever.
And Christians with burning hearts is what this lost world needs. They don’t want to belong to a Sunday School class or church, they belong to twice as many things as they have time for now. They don’t want to go to church. They are on the go from Monday morning until Saturday night. They certainly don’t want to give up their Sundays. That’s the only day they can cruise in neutral for awhile and not “have” to be somewhere or do something.
What they need are some Christian friends like these two laymen, who may not have all their Bible questions answered. Jesus called them “foolish. . .and. . .slow to believe. . .” (24:25). They may be far from perfect. They were rude to a stranger (Jesus) when he asked what was wrong (24:18).
They were depressed (24:17) even though some women in their disciple group had said they had seen Jesus. No, they were not perfect. But they were real, they were sincere and the burning conviction of their lives, the truth they ran eight miles to tell, was that Jesus was alive, He had died to forgive our sins (Isa. 53) and He had come to them - two nobodies.
Illustration: The community church caught on fire and a large crowd gathered. The Pastor saw one member he hadn’t seen for a long while and said, “Bill, I haven’t seen you at church in years.” Bill said, “I know. This church hasn’t been on fire in years.” Well, certainly Bill’s excuse won’t satisfy God, but neither does a cold, mechanical, lifeless church that has nothing but rites, rituals and rules and lectures on religious subjects. How did these men experience the burning heat?
I. THE COLDNESS
1. Faith Is Weak. These two as they headed west, seven miles, were the epitome of coldness. Their faith was weak. Isaiah 53 said the Messiah would die for our sins. It said he would survive death and “see the light of life” (53:11). Jesus had taught this for a year.
They knew He had raised the dead and now they couldn’t believe He had been raised. Application: When we give in to despondency over life’s troubles and do not believe God will do what He promises in His word we live as though God does not exist. And the result is. . .
2. Hope Is Gone. No God in control. No purpose in all this madness we call life. No guiding hand! The loss of faith leads to the loss of hope. They said, “We had hoped. . .” (24:21). And when this happens to us we find. . .
3. Love Is Cold. Faithless, hopeless, defeated Christians aren’t fit to live with. They were rude to a stranger. And they were so selfish. Speaking to the stranger (Jesus) about Jesus’ horrible suffering and death, they said, “. . .we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel” (24:21).
Mary, in anguish, had said, “They have taken my Lord away” (Jn. 20:13). She didn’t want His body mistreated. That is love. These two thought of themselves and their nation, what Jesus was to do for them. That is selfishnesss. Is that what the world sees in us, going to church for what we can get and being grouchy and angry and irritable when God doesn’t come through? Are we children of God, His spoiled brats?
II. THE CURE
The only cure for this is to, like these two, get close to Jesus and see in our Bibles His suffering and death for us. How can we doubt God’s power when He turned the sadness of Friday into the joy of Easter morning? How can we not say with Tony Campolo about life’s valleys - It’s Friday Now! But Sunday’s Coming. How can we feel cheated and selfish in the presence of a Lord who died in our place and open the door to heaven for us with His pierced hands? And how about the fact that like these two, the Jesus who rules the universe knows where we are on the road of life, cares about the grief and sin in our hearts and come to us even though, to the world, we are nobodies?
III. THE CONNECTION
How can we make the connection from the weary road we travel today to the Emaus road where faith was restored, hope was instilled and love was rekindled? How can we encounter the risen Christ and hear Him speak to our situation? The great connectors are the Word of God and the Church of God. They got in the Word with Jesus and took off for the church.
Application: When I was saved I bought a new version of the Bible and literally devoured the New Testament. That Bible was so worn and torn that I couldn’t keep it. I discovered that the Word of God, though confusing and strange, was alive. It read me. In the characters and teachings I found my fears, weaknesses, strengths, doubts, certainties. I still do! But these men went, and we need to also go, to the assembled church.
There we find people who join with us in the truths, the hopes, the failures, the forgiveness of our faith. We are in church today, sharing, singing, praying and learning from Cleopas and his unnamed companion and from each other. But Someone else is here - the risen Christ.
A beautiful Bible passage, written 400 years before Jesus promises it. . . Malachi 3:16-17, “Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. ‘They will be mine,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘in the day when I make up my treasured possession.’”
Look and listen, church! Do you see the unseen Presence of Christ here? Do you hear His voice in the hymns, the Scripture readings, the words of your brothers and sisters, and the sermon? If not, this is just another meeting, just one more thing to do on our overburdened “to do” list. Thank God, for many of us, it is more. It is a meeting with the Christ of Easter.
