Squeaky Wheel Gets The Grease

Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease

Text: Luke 24:28-31

He made as though He would have gone further KJV

He acted as though He would go farther. NASB

He made an appearance of going on further, YLT

The question we want to ask today is: Would Jesus have left the two disciples on the road to Emmaus had they not "pressed Him to stay with them." I believe the answer is yes for the reasons outlined below.

The passage before us gives us much insight into the dealings of God with mankind. If we were to formulate a spiritual law from it, we would Southernize it, and say: "Squeaky wheel gets the grease."

(For those international readers to Southernize something is to say it in the idioms people residing in the southern part of the United States might use.)

When we say squeaky wheel gets the grease, we simply mean we lubricate those parts of our machinery/equipment that are making noise indicating they need/want attention. The louder the squeak the more likely we are to pay attention to it. Conversely those parts that don’t "squeak," we pay little attention to. This is a great spiritual truth. Remember Jesus taught a parable to this end: That may ought to pray and not to faint. (Luke 18)

We will break this message down into three simple parts:

Considering the Curious

Constraining Christ, (Squeaky wheel gets the grease) and,

Crying out to Christ

It is my contention that Jesus in fact, would have left the two disciples on the road to Emmaus had they not constrained Him to remain with them.

For a minute I would like you to consider who in the NT it is that got Jesus to do miracles?

The woman with the issue of blood: she broke through the crowd to touch Jesus.

Bartimaeus: He cried out, and all the more so, as the disciples tried to quiet him.

Zacchaeus: He made an extraordinary and humiliating effort to see Jesus

The Syro-phonecian woman: She regarded not Jesus classifying her and her race as dogs, but continued to press Him saying, "even the dogs eat the crumbs from the master’s table."

The paralytic: Whose friends ripped open the roof to get their friend healed.

I wander how many Bartimaeus’s there were in Jesus’ time who didn’t get healed because they didn’t make the effort to seek Him out?

Those listed above are examples of people who made great effort to reach and be touched by Jesus. Ever read this verse: Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find [me], when ye shall search for me with ALL YOUR HEART.

How must we seek God if we want to find Him? With all our heart. Making it top priority, sublimating other desires and goals. Putting that above all other desires. Pressing in, pushing on, seeking with holy determination, and passionate pursuit. You get the idea.

How about this verse? Hebrews 11:6 But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

According to this passage there are two things you MUST believe: 1. You MUST believe that God is. 2. You MUST believe that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. If believing that God rewards them that diligently seek Him, is something that God says we absolutely must believe, then it must be something that is very foundational to the Christian faith.

Do you diligently seek Him? Consider the following, and then consider your ways:

1. Considering the Curious

Exodus 3:1-4 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, [even] to Horeb. Exodus 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush [was] not consumed. Exodus 3:3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. Exodus 3:4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here [am] I.

Did you notice in verse 4 where it says: "And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him..." In other words God did not venture to speak to Moses until Moses had first responded to Gods invitation. What you don’t see an invitation? In the book of Revelation we are given a word picture of Christ’s interaction with people, "Behold I stand at the door and knock..." How is it you think Christ knocks? Do you think He actually taps on people’s hearts? In some cases he probably does. But most often I think He does some little thing to get our attention and it is only as we respond to that, that He reveals Himself in a much greater way. A nudge to prayer, a nudge to go to church, a burning bush which calls us to consider the curious.