April 25, 2004

Rev. John W. Fowler

Scripture Lesson: Luke 24:13-35

From the 24th chapter of the gospel of Luke, beginning with verse 13, I want to talk about two disciples who walked with Jesus and were greatly encouraged after doing so, on the road to Emmaus. It says:

"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see." 25He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" 27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

When we come to the alter of our Church, the Church of Jesus Christ, it is a very special time when vows are taken. It was in 1956, as a one year old I am told, that my parents came the alter and I was baptized. They took vows to bring me up in the Christian faith and I am glad that they did. They did a pretty good job, at least on their part. I didn’t always receive it as well as I’d liked, but they took those vows seriously.

Years later, I would stand at an alter in another Methodist Church to take vows to love, honor and cherish, and I am glad I did that. And then, three times I stood at the alter with a child, my child, our child to take those vows to bring that child up in the faith.

I have even gone to Lake Junaluska on two occasions, but especially the second time, when you are ordained an Elder, you know that this is really signing on for life. You feel a little nervous going in there, but when you kneel and the Bishop lays his hand upon you and says, “Take thou authority to preach the Word of God,” …. to administer the sacraments, you know it’s a very holy time.

But probably as special as any day was the day in 1966—the Confirmation Class. I don’t remember a great deal about the class. I know I went. I don’t know if my class was as large as yours, but I still remember how special I felt when I stood there and the minister of our church asked those vows, the same vows that you took today. But to stand there in that group and confess my faith in Jesus Christ, is a very special time. And one thing that they did that was special to me was, they gave us a Bible with our name on it. I remember it was 1966 and it had John W. Fowler on it, because that’s the Bible that I kept for a long time. In fact, it’s the Bible that was so special that, when I was finally given two churches to preach in, I always made sure that I had that Bible. (tape change)

…..he was racially prejudiced against them. They were the enemy of his people and he didn’t want any part of God bringing a revival to them and so he went the opposite direction. If you know the story, you know that he ended up being thrown overboard into the belly of a great fish. The fish got tired of him, vomited him out. But he repented! He went and he preached, forty days, “Repent!” And they did. And what does Jonah do? He gets mad about it. He says, “God, I knew this would happen. That’s why I didn’t want to go in the first place. I wanted You to zap ‘em, judge them, and here You are, working this great revival.”

And the Lord tells Jonah, “Shouldn’t I have had mercy on these people, who don’t know their right hand from their left?”

Sometimes we are discouraged because we are disappointed. Joshua was discouraged because he was afraid. He was afraid to follow Moses, and that’s why the Lord kept telling him, “Meditate upon the Word day and night. Do not depart from it.” He knew that was what Joshua needed. “If you will spend time meditating on the Word you will be encouraged. You will have the courage, Joshua, to do My will.”

Well, what happened to these Disciples? Well, essentially they encountered Jesus Christ on the road to Emmaus. They walked with Him and they were encouraged, because that’s what happens when we walk with Jesus. We find that Jesus comes up, they don’t recognize Him. You know, oftentimes, I have found in my life when I am depressed or discouraged, God is moving in my life and I don’t recognize Him. I am just preoccupied with what is going on in my life and I just don’t see it. That’s what happens if they are downcast and depressed and they just don’t recognize him.

And so, He just says, “What are you discussing together as you walk along.?”

They say, “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who doesn’t know what is going on?” And they talk about Jesus. They say, “It didn’t turn out like we thought it would. Why did He have to die upon the cross?”

They talk to Jesus. One of the ways God encourages us is through prayer. And we do it the way they do it. We simply tell God what is on our heart, and we talk to Him. And that is what they did. Jesus invites us to pray when we walk with Him.

The secondly, He opened the scriptures to them. He began to say,

And He began to go through the Old Testament prophesies, especially Isaiah, Chapter 9 where He talked about the Messiah, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Or in Chapter 53, He says,

5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;

Who is he talking about? He’s talking about the Messiah, six hundred years before He is to be born, Isaiah was prophesying that He would be born. Their eyes were beginning to be opened. He does that through the scriptures. He begins to open our eyes to His truth.

And then, as they are getting ready to eat, they invite the stranger in to break bread with them. He doesn’t force Himself upon them, as the Lord doesn’t, but He invited them to break bread with Him. And as they ate, their eyes were opened. Oftentimes we recognize Jesus Christ in everyday life. It’s wonderful that we sense His presence when we come to church and worship Him, but you don’t have to wait until the church service to recognize Him. Oftentimes He works in very mysterious ways, but sometimes in very ordinary ways in everyday life as we invite Him in.

Let me tell you about this teacher’s prayer. She said that when she first learned to pray, she was an eight grader, playing left field in soft ball. She was very conscious of the fact that she “threw like a girl,” and she didn’t mean that as a compliment either. And her prayer was, “Lord, please don’t let them hit into left field.” And she prayed like crazy for that. But she learned to pray in school, “Lord, help me.” She learned to pray about friends, especially problems. She learned to pray about her family. What is she saying? She learned to pray about everyday life. She learned that, walking with Jesus, if you invite Him in you can talk to Him about anything that is on your heart.

How does Jesus encourage us today? Let me just focus on one of those disciplines, especially. It is my prayer for this Confirmation Class that you allow Christ to open the scriptures to you; that you would let the scriptures guide your life; let them encourage you with His truth—encourage especially when you are discouraged—but let them guide you into His path and His will for your life.

How does He do it? Three ways, I find. First of all, He does it as God the Father. Especially He reveals himself in the Old Testament. The Old Testament—we had it in Sunday School— we think sometimes those stories they are just for children, but they are not. Those Old Testament stories of faith are still encouraging today. When we are tempted to think that we’ve got to go along with the crowd, we go to the Old Testament and find that here is Noah. Here he is building this great big boat in the wilderness, in the desert, about a flood coming. People are making fun of him, but he is more bent on doing what God has called him to do and God rescues him and his family in that flood.

Or I think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the book of Daniel, who will not bow down to the great statue. They are put in a fiery furnace, but the Lord is with them in that fiery furnace. Or I think of Daniel, who wouldn’t compromise his habit of prayer, even though he was told not to. He was put in the Lions’ den, but God rescued him. We have that when we are tempted to go along with the crowd, from the Old Testament.

When we are faced with a great, big problem, you can go to David and Goliath. David, probably not a whole lot older than you all are, went out there, showed courage that was remarkable, that no other soldier had, but what happened for him? He had the courage of the Lord in his life, and he went out and faced this nine foot, nine inch giant who was defying the armies of Israel, and defeated him as God guided him. When I am faced with a giant problem I go to that story and remember, if God can be with David with Goliath, He can be with me in this great big problem.

And I think of Esther. Esther was called, “at a time like this,” to put her life on the line and speak up for her fellow Jews. She fasted and prayed for three days, and then she went in to see the king, and because she had that courage and people praying for her, the Jews were saved.

He reveals himself as God the Father. Especially in the Old Testament are stories of faith of people just like you and me. They dressed differently; they ate different food, but they were seeking God in everyday life.

Jesus opens the scripture, not only as God the Father, but also as God the Son and we have the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In Matthew, with this former tax collector who became a Disciple, it especially gives us the teaching of Jesus. As Jesus said, “This Word is like a sower going out to sow seed and when it finds good seed, good soil, there is a great harvest.” That’s what happens when you read this Word and it comes into your life. When we read the scriptures God helps us to love people.

We read the Sermon on the Mount when we are worried and we read the words of Jesus who said, “Do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or drink or what ye shall wear. But rather, seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.”

Or I think of Mark. Mark especially shows us that we have a powerful Messiah. Paralytics are put at His feet and they get up and walk.

Or I think of the Gospel of Luke and the stories that Jesus told of a Samaritan who was willing to help someone who was on the road and needed help, and he showed care and compassion.

I think of the Gospel of John, and especially the spiritual gospel, the gospel that lets us know Jesus is alive. John said, “The whole world could not contain the books written if I told you everything else about Jesus.”

All of the these gospels tell us the good news of the love of Christ, but they all at the end tell us that the tomb was empty, that He rose from the dead. He reveals Himself as God the Son.

And then also He reveals Himself and opens the scriptures as God the Holy Spirit. We have the Book of Acts where these ordinary people, fishermen, carpenters, ordinary people turn the world upside down. Why? Because they have been with Jesus. They have walked with Him and the Holy Spirit has come upon them. We see in the Book of Acts that church had its problems as well, but we knew that God was with them.

And then we had that great Apostle Paul, or we knew him as Saul as he was persecuting the Church. On the road to Damascus he was converted. His life was changed. He confessed his faith in the Lord and became on of the greatest missionaries of all times. We have his writings. We have the Book of Romans for doctrine, but especially we have those letters, short letters, oftentimes four or five chapters, but they tell us how to live. He wrote to Galatia and he wrote about freedom, that that’s what happens when the scriptures are opened up to us and we walk with Christ. He frees us from the power of sin. He frees us from fears. He frees us from those things that enslave us and helps us to live abundantly.

Or in Ephesians he says, “Put on the full armor of God to withstand the wiles of Satan.” He tells us how to have a spiritual defense. And of all places, from prison, he writes about joy, in Philippians. And that joy is found through serving Him. As God has a plan for your life in serving Him, He wants you to do it with joy.

And we come to the end of this book, and the scriptures are opened up as it tells us, “Come, Lord Jesus,” that Christ will come again. He will return. We do not know the day or the hour, but we know that He is coming back.

When we walk with Jesus, and especially when we allow Him to speak to us through the scriptures, our hearts will burn within us. He will lift us from discouragement and provide encouragement with His truth, but especially His love.

It was a time of great discouragement in my life in ministry. There was a lot of sickness going on in the church. There was a lot of squabbling—not anything big, but just enough to just get real frustrating and tiresome. I knew that I was becoming discouraged and I couldn’t quite shake it. I was visiting with a family who were going through a very difficult time and they said, “Now these are some Bible tapes that have helped us a lot. Would you like to have them?” I felt the Lord prompt me and say, “Yes, you better take them,” so I did.

And the tapes sat there for awhile because I was just too busy. Isn’t that something? The preacher is too busy to hear the Bible tapes. But then it finally dawned on me: I really should listen to these. It was Oral Roberts’ notes on the New Testament. And Oral knows the Bible, because I began to listen to them. But I didn’t listen to them because—well, they’ll help me preach; they’ll help me teach Bible study. Just for my soul is why I began to listen to them. And I listened to the by hours, a lot of times at night after the children had gone to bed. And in about a month or six weeks I went through that New Testament and I knew that something had happened to me. I realized that this book had become more than something I did for work and I realized what God was wanting me to do was get back to letting Him speak to me through this book.

We don’t ask God to open the scriptures as an end in itself because, what happens, when He opens the scriptures, our hearts do burn because they are burning with the love that God has for us, an everlasting love that He has for you and that He has for everyone in the whole world.

The Disciple said, “Did not our hearts burn within us?”, when He opened the scriptures to us.

Let us pray.