William Woo 胡伟南牧师 6/14/2015
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| 胡牧师英语证道，唐锦耀弟兄国语翻译 |
A few summers ago,
a video sprang up on the Internet. You can still see it today on God Tube.The
video is of Chinese Christians receiving new bibles.
And while bibles are no longer
illegal in China, they are apparently hard to get. At least in this video, the
people were extremely grateful. They were crying as they held these Bibles in
their hands. The Caption for the video reads, "We take them for granted,
but other countries treat them like they are gold." Today, the aim of this
sermon is that we have a love for scripture that those in the video possess. That scripture for us
is as gold.
Please turn in
your Bible to Luke 24:13. We have here the longest story in the book
of Luke. A
quick synopsis is that two of Jesus' disciples are walking away from Jerusalem.
Jesus has been crucified, so all the disciples believe him to be dead. To their
surprise, Jesus walks alongside them, but they do not recognize him at first. 13 Now that same day two of
them were on their way to a village called[a] Emmaus,
which was about seven miles[b] from
Jerusalem. 14 Together they were discussing everything that had
taken place. 15 And while they were discussing and arguing,
Jesus Himself came near and began to walk along with them. 16 But
they[c] were prevented
from recognizing Him.
The two men are in a discussion over the
events that had just occurred, which was the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.
Notice in verse 15, that they were arguing. Jesus comes alongside them, but they do not recognize him. We can
suppose that something supernatural was happening to prevent them from
recognizing Jesus. Because they did not recognize Jesus, "he was able to teach
them the necessity of his death and resurrection and to show how this was
fulfillment of Scripture."[1] 17 Then
He asked them, “What is this
dispute that you’re having[d] with each
other as you are walking?” And they stopped walking and
looked discouraged. 18 The one named Cleopas answered Him, “Are You the only visitor in
Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that happened there in these days?” 19 “What
things?” He asked them. So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus
the Nazarene, who was a Prophet powerful in action and speech before God and
all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed
Him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified Him. 21 But
we were hoping that He was the One who was about to redeem Israel. Besides all
this, it’s the third day since these things happened.We see that they were talking about Jesus. They call him a prophet, a title Jesus himself used as a self-designation. They say he is powerful in word and deed before God meaning Jesus was approved by God. "All the people" meaning Jesus was approved by the people. In verse 17 we see the two disciples are discouraged. V. 21-They were hoping that Jesus was the one who was about to redeem Israel. At this time, the Jews believed that the Messiah that would come would be a political messiah.
This savior would save them from Roman occupation.
And as one commentary tells us, "in view of Jesus' popularity and apparent power and authority from God, his followers fully expected him to triumph over the religious establishment in Jerusalem and even to subjugate the Romans. Israel would at last be free. But now that Jesus had been crucified and buried, it was obvious to them that these glorious things were not destined to be. They did not realize that an even greater victory had been won."[2] But actually the Savior came to save people from their sins (Lk 1:77).
A few weeks ago, I preached on Luke 15. There were 3 parables that tell us that God wants to save people from their sins. And until we ask Jesus into our lives we are lost. One of the central missions of a church is to bring the lost to God.
The story continues… 22 Moreover, some women from our group astounded us. They arrived early at the tomb, 23 and when they didn’t find His body, they came and reported that they had seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they didn’t see Him.”The two seem to have heard about what happened earlier that morning when the women arrived early at the tomb, and they didn't find Jesus' body. It seems the women's report failed to convince these disciples." Women of 1st Century Palestine had little credibility…had it been Peter and other disciples who had seen the angels, then the report may have been more readily believed,"[3] From this account we can see there is a high view of women. Throughout the book of Luke there is a high view of women.
25 He said to them, “How unwise and slow you are to believe in your hearts all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Didn’t the Messiah have to suffer these things and enter into His glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted for them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
When the women went to the tomb, an angel reminds them that Jesus himself had predicted his resurrection.(verse 6-7)…and the women remembered. But these two disciples do not remember and in verse 25 they get rebuked by Jesus for being slow to believe! And here is another theme found in Luke of fulfilling Scripture. Jesus' death and resurrection are a fulfillment of scripture.
In fact Luke chapter 1 and 2 detailing Christ's Birth has the theme of the fulfillment of scripture. Explaining the scriptures is something we expect churches to do. I served in Dallas on a youth camp planning committee. There was a local Dallas student, who grew up in the local Chinese church in Dallas. This young man got called to seminary, and the others on the planning committee really wanted him to be the speaker for the camp. One of the pastors wanted a local person to speak to show the kids an example of one of their own who had grown up in the Chinese church and was now in the ministry. Well, this young man graduated seminary and was called to a church in Toronto, Canada. The story is that he didn't last very long. Y'see the church was not used to his sermons. What was wrong? Well, he taught them the bible. This church had not had Bible teaching. Sermons had become eloquent speeches vs. the exposition of scripture. I believe that young man is now a pastor in Asia.
But this is a glimpse of what can happen in America, where sermons do not explain the scriptures. 28 They came near the village where they were going, and He gave the impression that He was going farther. 29 But they urged Him: “Stay with us, because it’s almost evening, and now the day is almost over.” So He went in to stay with them. 30 It was as He reclined at the table with them that He took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him, but He disappeared from their sight. 32 So they said to each other, “Weren’t our hearts ablaze within us while He was talking with us on the road and explaining the Scriptures to us?”
The disciples observed in v. 32, "weren't our hearts burning within us…" God's word has the ability of convicting us of sin, calling us to action, guiding us in life and finding comfort during the painful times. Hebrews 4:12 12 For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart." This scripture that is explained gives life!
We should read the Bible not just for information but to give us life.
Man must not live on bread alone
but on every word that comes
from the mouth of God.”[a
As a youth, I was challenged by a Sunday School teacher, does the time you spend in God's word every day match the amount of time you spend eating? So if you take 20 minutes a day to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, that is about an hour of eating. Do we spend an hour a day on spiritual nourishment? The seminary teaches us that the first person a person preaches a sermon to is himself. So as I encourage you to spend time in scripture, God is telling me to spend more time in his word.
In verse 27, the phrase Moses and the Prophets refers to the whole Old Testament. Jesus is telling these disciples that He –Jesus- is in all of the Old Testament. [Gen 1; Gen 3:15; Gen 12…Abraham, Joseph…]The Old and New Testament should be read by Christians.
Another application of this passage concerns the church. The pastor of the church explains to us the scriptures. How much are we doing to assist Pastor Cheung. How can we help free up his time to study God's word? To prepare sermons?
IS there more that you can do to serve in the church to free the pastor up to give us God's message each week? The last part of the story is found in verses 33-35.
33 That very hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem. They found the Eleven and those with them gathered together, 34 who said,[e] “The Lord has certainly been raised, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they began to describe what had happened on the road and how He was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
The Emmaus Road disciples recognized Jesus when he was breaking bread with them.
From v. 30 –"It was as He reclined at the table with them that He took the bread, blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them." These seem to be clear references to the Lord's Supper. Also they would have been reminded of the feeding of the five thousand… We in fact will celebrate the Lord's Supper in a few minutes. Listen closely as Pastor leads us through the supper. Notice the symbolism of the bread. Take note of the imagery of the wine. Remember that Jesus was broken like bread, and his blood was spilt like wine. He did this for you and for me. He died on the cross so that we may have a new life with God.
Are you one who has not recognized Jesus in your life? Will you see him today? IS God calling you today?
I pray that we all will have the love of scripture that we see from those who do not take Bibles for granted. As we spend time in God's word, we will see that it is worth more than gold.
