EMMANUEL: GOD WITH US LUKE 24:36-53

EMMANUEL: GOD WITH US LUKE 24:36-53 Main idea Because God Is Always With Us; He Sees, Hears, And Knows Everything We Think, Say, And Do. 1. JESUS PRESENCE GIVES US ASSURANCE (VS 36-43) Knowing that Jesus is always with us; reassures us of his love. A. FREAKED OUT (36-37) B. EMBRACING A NEW TRUTH (38-40) C. TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE (41-43) 2. JESUS PRESENCE GIVES US PURPOSE (VS 44-49) Knowing that Jesus is always with us; empowers us to live as witnesses. A. THE TRUTH OF SCRIPTURE (44) B. THE UNDERSTANDING OF SCRIPTURE (45-47) C. LIVING TESTIMONIES OF SCRIPTURE (48-49) 3. JESUS PRESENCE GIVES US HOPE (VS 50-53) Knowing that Jesus is always with us; gives us hope for living. A. BLESSINGS AND DEPARTURE (50-51) B. WORSHIP AND JOY (52) C. THANKSGIVING AND OBEDIENCE (53) Page 1

Emmanuel: God With Us Luke 24:36-53 This morning, we find ourselves at the end of Luke s Gospel. In order to finish this book properly, I think it would be good to remind ourselves of Luke s purpose. At the beginning of the Gospel, Luke stated his intent like this: 1 Many people have set out to write accounts about the events that have been fulfilled among us. 2 They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples. 3 Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write a careful account for you, most honorable Theophilus, 4 so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught (Luke 1:1-4 / NLT). We discussed this at length in the very first sermon in this series on Luke but it is worth summarizing. By the title most honorable, scholars believe that Theophilus was a Roman official. The name Theophilus means God-lover. However, the name can also mean friend of God or even Beloved by God. Scholars seem to think this was written to a Roman official who had been converted to Christianity. Luke is a Gentile (non Jewish) physician and Theophilus is a Gentile (non Jewish) government official. This letter is written by a Gentile to a Gentile concerning the life, death, and resurrection of the Jewish Messiah. Luke stated that he carefully researched all the facts in this letter and his second letter which is the book of Acts in our Bible. In his Gospel, Luke has recounted a short biography of Jesus. The goal of course is to demonstrate that Jesus is exactly Who He claimed to be; The Jewish Messiah Who is King of heaven and earth. Salvation and eternal live come through faith in Jesus Christ. Luke has dedicated the entire last chapter of the Gospel to resurrection appearances of Christ. Here is what we have to keep in mind when reading this morning s passage. Luke picks up the story this morning on the day of Jesus resurrection and then ends his Gospel by recording the Ascension of Jesus which takes place 40 days later. Luke picks up the story again at the beginning of his second book; Acts, in which he adds a lot of detail to his summary of the Ascension described here in verses 49-53. It seems to me that Jesus wants to impress on His disciples that He is with them and that He will always be with them; even though He is about to return to heaven in bodily form. We learn from the rest of the New Testament writings that Jesus lives in us through the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit. The emphasis of this morning s text is the presence of Jesus. The main idea is this. BECAUSE GOD IS ALWAYS WITH US; HE SEES, HEARS, AND KNOWS EVERYTHING WE THINK, SAY, AND DO. This thought at the same time is frightening and comforting. In other words, knowing that God knows everything we think, sees everything we do, and hears everything we say; is frightening because of how sinful our thoughts, words, and behaviors are. Perhaps if we focused more on this thought; we would sin a lot less. On the other hand, it s comforting to know that God is always with us and never leaves us. When we face trials, sufferings, and discouragements in life; it s comforting to know that Page 2

God is right there with us and will give us what we need to make it through. Jesus will personally accompany us to heaven. Too many times our failures in life come because we forget that God is with us. Let me give you an example. Let s review some basic theology. What is the answer to the question, Where is God? The answer of course is, God is everywhere. Let s try that. Where is God? God is everywhere. exactly. There were these two little boys at church who were best friends. Further, they had a reputation for always getting into trouble. One Sunday, one of the boys was sick and had to stay home; but not wanting to let his friend down, the other little boy was twice as bad at church as normal. As he was running through the sanctuary after church, the pastor grabbed him by the collar and angrily said, Do you know where God is?! The little boy was frightened and didn t know what to say. The pastor continued, I want you to go home and think about it and I don t want you to come back until you can tell me where God is! After church the little boy went over to his sick friend s house. He said to his friend, Guess what; they ve lost God, and they re trying to blame it on one of us! 1. JESUS PRESENCE GIVES US ASSURANCE (VS 36-43) The truth is that God is everywhere and Jesus wants His followers to be comforted by this fact. In verses 36-43 we learn that Jesus presence gives us assurance. KNOWING THAT JESUS IS ALWAYS WITH US; REASSURES US OF HIS LOVE. Throughout His life and especially through His death; Jesus continually expressed His love for the disciples. In verses 36-37, we see that the disciples are all freaked out. The irony of this whole story is found in the very first phrase of verse 36, While they were still talking about this. Do you remember from last time that the women went to the tomb and found it empty? They were informed by angels that Jesus rose from the dead. They went back to tell the disciples but the disciples thought they were talking nonsense. Peter and John went to the tomb and found it empty. Earlier that evening, two of the disciples were walking back to Emmaus when Jesus appeared to them. Immediately, they ran back to Jerusalem and found the rest of the disciples. Just as they were about to tell everyone that they had seen Jesus, the disciples burst out with their own good news that Jesus had appeared to Peter. Then the two travelers revealed the fact that they too had seen Jesus. We left off last time with all the disciples talking about the fact that Jesus had risen from the dead. It is in this context that Jesus appeared and stood among them. Jesus interrupted their conversation to offer them the sign of peace. He said, Peace be with you. Immediately they are freaked out because they think they are seeing a ghost. They were just saying Jesus, our Lord, and our Redeemer is alive and well. In other words, their salvation and relationship with God is right. They have every reason to receive Jesus Page 3

blessing of peace. Yet, their living Lord and Redeemer is standing before them and they are freaked out. They were startled and frightened. I know it s ironic but I think I can understand it. Jesus didn t knock on the front door. He just appeared and all of a sudden started talking. Whenever supernatural beings appear in the Bible, the response is always the same; people are scared out of their minds. At the very beginning of Luke s Gospel, the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah the priest while he was on duty in the temple. Luke said Zechariah was troubled and gripped with fear. Meeting up with supernatural beings is not part of our everyday experience. They saw Jesus die. They buried Jesus and now, out of nowhere, Jesus is standing there. It must be a disembodied spirit. It must be a ghost. Other Gospels say they were behind locked doors so how could a person get in the room? I don t think I m much different. I believe that Jesus is alive. I believe He is everywhere present at all times. Yet if He showed Himself to me; I m sure I would pass out. Even when I catch myself sinning; it freaks me out when I realize Jesus is present. In verses 38-40, Jesus gets them to change their worldview by getting them to embrace a new truth. You ve got to love Jesus sense of humor. He clearly understates this whole thing. He nonchalantly asks, Why are you so freaked out and why do doubts arise in your hearts? The answer is clear. They re freaked out because they never saw a resurrected person. Sure, they saw Jesus raise a little girl from the dead. They saw Jesus raise a widow s son from the dead; and they saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead. However, all these people went back to living regular human lives. They couldn t appear and disappear. They couldn t walk through walls and locked doors. Of course they are freaked out because Jesus standing in front of them violates all the laws of physics in their experience and ours. I know technically there is a new physics out that says because everything is made of moving atomic particles that theoretically solids can pass through other solids ; but our experience says differently and if we saw someone actually walk through a wall, it would freak us out. But here, Jesus wants them to understand the reality and physics of resurrection. Unlike Greek metaphysics that says since the soul is good and flesh is evil; at death the soul is set free and lives eternally while the body rots in the grave; in Jesus kingdom both the body and soul will be resurrected and live in eternity. We look forward to the event known as the rapture when our dead bodies will rise from the dead, be transformed into eternal bodies, and reunited with our eternal souls. We will live in eternity as embodied souls. To prove this, Jesus invited them to see and touch His body. His body has substance but is not bound by our earthly laws of space and time. Let me just make an aside comment here. Many people try to spiritualize the resurrection. In other words, they say that the Bible doesn t really mean that Jesus physically rose from the dead; what the Bible means is that the early church kept the spirit of Jesus ministry alive. I don t know how anyone could possibly come to that conclusion. The Bible writers are clear that it was important to Jesus that He make sure people knew that He physically rose from the dead. Luke was a Page 4

physician. He knows exactly what he is saying and he knows the implications of what he has written. The disciples response in verses 41-43 was that this all too good to be true. Again, please don t miss Jesus humor and grace. Luke tells us that they still couldn t believe it because it was all too amazing and joyful. Their dreams were tiny compared to the reality Jesus presented before them. They could never have imagined this outcome. Again, it appears nonchalantly, that Jesus asks them, Do you have anything here to eat? Obviously Jesus isn t hungry. Perhaps He s playing with them. They gave him a broiled fish. Can you imagine this scene? Jesus starts to eat the fish and all of them just stare at Jesus while He chews it and swallows it. Their eyes are wide and they don t even blink. Now, they have touched Him and watched Him swallow fish. He is no mirage. He is a living body and soul. Jesus; their Lord, Savior, and Redeemer is alive. It s too good to be true; but it is. The Gospel message is miraculous. You and I were born into sin and we continue to sin. But instead of giving us the punishment we deserve; God takes on Himself our punishment so that we can go free. We cannot earn our way to heaven. Jesus makes it available to us free of charge. All we need to do is confess our sins, ask Jesus to come into our hearts and forgive us. Believing that Jesus is Who He claimed to be and acknowledging that; is what makes us right with God. That news seems to me to be too good to be true; but it is. When we become Christians, God gives us the Holy Spirit to live in us. The Holy Spirit convicts us, empowers us, and comforts us. Jesus lives in us through the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit. KNOWING THAT JESUS IS ALWAYS WITH US; REASSURES US OF HIS LOVE. One of the things we crave as humans is love. We desire to be loved and to give love. The problem with human love is that we will always let others down and others will always let us down. Our culture tries to fulfill this need for love through all sorts of sexual experiences. There is only one relationship that can satisfy our need to give and receive love; that is a personal, intimate, and passionate relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only person who will not misuse our relationship. Jesus is perfect love. 2. JESUS PRESENCE GIVES US PURPOSE (VS 44-49) Another thing we crave in life is purpose. We want to feel meaningful and we want our lives to make a difference. In verses 44-49 we learn that Jesus presence gives us purpose in life. KNOWING THAT JESUS IS ALWAYS WITH US; EMPOWERS US TO LIVE AS WITNESSES. I think perhaps that they are starting to calm down a bit because Jesus wants them to understand they have a purpose to fulfill. Jesus didn t appear to them just to dazzle them with magic. Since we have been given the same purpose to fulfill, let s see how Jesus commissioned them. First of all, our purpose is built on the truth of Scripture as Jesus described in verse 44. The Scriptures were sacred to Jesus. During His life on earth when Jesus said, I say unto you, God the Father says, or Scriptures say, those phrases carried equal weight. The Scriptures are true. Jesus reminded the disciples that everything in the entire Hebrew Scriptures had to be fulfilled. Jewish people today still refer to their Scriptures as tanak; Page 5

which represents T for Torah, the first 5 books in the Bible also known as the Law of Moses; N for Neviim, which refers to the prophets; and K for Ketuviim, which refers to the writings. Jesus had taught them that the entire History and Bible of the Hebrews referred to Him and all was fulfilled in Him. Again, I want to remind us that when we study the Bible, both Testaments; we should study them in their historical context and understand what they meant for that day and even for us. However, we should always go back and then see how these passages apply to Jesus. Jesus will go on to say in the very next section that all this was about Messiah. The word messiah means the anointed one. In Israel s life; those who were anointed were priests, prophets, and kings. Jesus is the supreme Priest, Prophet, and King. In verses 45-47 He went on to give the disciples a better understanding of Scripture as He applied Scripture to Himself. Jesus said clearly here that His role and ministry was laid out in the Hebrew Scriptures from the beginning. We know that Jesus quoted from all parts of the Scripture; the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. He went back and taught them how the Scriptures laid out His suffering, death, and resurrection. The Hebrew Scriptures laid out the method of being right with God through repentance and salvation through Jesus. And further, it was laid out that this message should be preached throughout the whole world. In our study through Luke we have already talked about these passages, but let me just quickly give them to you. His suffering was laid out in Psalms 22, 31, 69, 118, and Isaiah 53. His resurrection from the dead is found in Psalms 16:10 and 110:1. Certainly the Substitutionary atonement of Jesus on our behalf and forgiveness of sin was all through the sacrificial system when the worshiper, priest, and high priest lay hands on the sacrificial animal; and then slaughtered it. God told Abraham that through him all nations on earth would be blessed. However, I would just like to show you how subtle this can be. We all know the story of the prophet Jonah. God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh which was a pagan nation and was actually hostile to the Jewish people. Jonah did not want to go to non-jews and preach to them. He tried to run away and God had him swallowed by a great big fish. When Jonah had spent three days in the belly of that great fish, he decided to repent. God then had the fish vomit Jonah up on the shore and he went to Nineveh to preach. This pagan nation heard the message and received it. As a nation, all the people fasted, repented, and turned to God. God saved them. In the Gospel of Matthew (12:40) Jesus said that just as Jonah spent three days in the belly of the fish, so would He spend three days buried in the heart of the earth. Luke recorded that incident (11:29) and Jesus saying that just as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites of God s offer of mercy to wicked people; He was also a sign of God s offer of salvation to wicked people (11:30). It seems as if Jesus went back and taught them the Scriptures from His Christocentric perspective. That is something we have to get into our heads and hearts; life is all about God; not about us. We need to learn to live Christocentric lives. When we start to live like this then we will be able to fulfill our purpose in life which is to be living testimonies of Scripture as described in verses 48-49. Our purpose in life is to be Page 6

living witnesses of Who God is and His gracious offer of salvation through Jesus Christ. When people look at us, do they see the love and grace of God? I hope so because if they don t; then we are useless and serve no purpose. The Greek word for witness is the exact word we get our English word martyr. Everyone present in that room suffered for the Name and Mission of Jesus Christ. Many, if not most of them, were tortured and killed for telling people of God s love and offer of salvation through Jesus. They loved Jesus, they loved one another, and they loved the lost enough to give their lives to bring this lost and hurting world the message of God s love. Does that describe our love for God, for one another, and for our lost family, friends, and acquaintances? The disciples were no different from you and me. They were timid, afraid, and unsure of themselves. I m sure they felt they didn t have a clue as what to say. And that is why Jesus commanded them to stay in Jerusalem and wait. We know from Acts 2, Jesus was talking about the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit came on these people; they were totally changed. All of them became powerful witnesses to the hostile world in which they lived. People saw the way they loved God and one another; and wanted to become part of that. The early church grew like wildfire. It seemed as if the more Christians people killed, the more people wanted to become Christians. My prayer for Devon Church is that people see the love we have for God and for one another; and the feel this love being offered to them through us. KNOWING THAT JESUS IS ALWAYS WITH US; EMPOWERS US TO LIVE AS WITNESSES. Experiencing the presence of God in our lives allows us to freely receive and give love; and it gives us a real sense of purpose in life as we share this love with others. Besides giving and receiving love, and besides wanting our lives to be meaningful; we all have a desire to feel safe and secure. Young people join gangs because they feel safe there. People groups segregate themselves and huddle together with their own people group because they feel secure. But God wants us to go out into the world and bring His message of love and salvation to everyone. Our security is based solely on the fact Jesus has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. Like the early church, bad things can happen to us. We can even end up tortured and killed; but Jesus has guaranteed to escort us safely to our heavenly homes where we will spend eternity with Him. 3. JESUS PRESENCE GIVES US HOPE (VS 50-53) As pointed out in verses 50-51, Jesus presence gives us hope. KNOWING THAT JESUS IS ALWAYS WITH US; GIVES US HOPE FOR LIVING. Again, that doesn t mean we are going to be rich with money and property. It doesn t mean we won t suffer. It doesn t mean we will never be betrayed by loved ones. We will get sick. We will suffer. We will die. However, we find hope and joy that we know where we are headed and where we will spend eternity. Jesus has already pointed out that in His resurrection state; He could appear and disappear at will. There were no barriers for Him. Time and space were no longer applicable to Him. In verses 50-51 we witness Jesus blessings and departure. Keep in mind, this event takes place 40 days later in real time. Jesus lifted hands and pronounced a blessing on the Page 7

disciples. While He was blessing them, He ascended into heaven. Again, notice the understatement of Luke. He doesn t exaggerate this or make this into some big production. He simply stated the facts. Jesus had earlier told the disciples that He must return to heaven so the Holy Spirit could come. In verse 52 we see that these blessings and promises led the disciples to worship and joy. Please carefully note the wording here. Worship is reserved only for God. In fact people wanted to worship the Apostles but the Apostles stopped them and even rebuked them. They worshiped Jesus; Jesus accepted worship; therefore Jesus was claiming to be God in the flesh. When we think about all the promises God has given us; when we think about the fact that God is always with us; when we think about how God loves us; the only legitimate response is worship. Knowing that God loves us and knowing that we are in a right relationship with God ought to bring us joy. True joy and peace are never a result of circumstances we find ourselves in. True joy and peace come from knowing and being in a right relationship with God. If we continue to place our faith in Jesus; then we will be right with God. Joy and peace belong to God s children. In verse 53 we see this all leads to thanksgiving and obedience. The disciples went back to Jerusalem and waited like Jesus told them to. In other words, they had given up three years of their lives to follow Jesus. The resurrection made everything worthwhile. They were filled with joy and this led to worship, thanksgiving, and obedience. I pray this would all characterize our lives. KNOWING THAT JESUS IS ALWAYS WITH US; GIVES US HOPE FOR LIVING. If we were to take some time to think about this, the three basic desires we have in life is to love and be loved, to have our lives mean something, and to feel secure about the future. The only legitimate way to fulfill these desires is to be in a personal, passionate, intimate relationship with God. Knowing that Jesus is always with us fulfills these desires of love, purpose, and security. The point is this. BECAUSE GOD IS ALWAYS WITH US; HE SEES, HEARS, AND KNOWS EVERYTHING WE THINK, SAY, AND DO. In talking about the realization of God s constant presence in our lives, Martyn Lloyd-Jones says this about its transformative power like this: If we were all to practice this it would be revolutionary. I am quite certain a revival would start at once. What a difference it would make to church life, and the life of every individual. Think of all the pretence and sham, and all that is unworthy in us all. If only we realized that God is looking at all, and is aware of it all, and is recording it all! That is the teaching of the Scriptures, and that its method of preaching holiness not offering people some marvelous experience which solves all problems. No, it is just realizing that we are always there in the presence of God. For the person (man) who starts with a true realization of that is soon to be seen flying to Christ and His cross, and pleading to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Page 8