Hi, this is the Him We Proclaim podcast: The Messages of John Fawnville. You're listening to season five. Called Two Keys to Spiritual Growth. Here's message number one called The Greatest Drama Ever Staged What we're doing is, we're looking at and we're laying the groundwork for how we worship and why we worship the way that we worship. In Luke 24, actually provides a very big insight to why we do what we do when we come to worship.
I don't know if you've ever heard of Dorothy Sayers. Have you guys ever heard of Dorothy Sayers? She was a renowned English crime writer and poet and playwright. She was also a Christian humanist, an essayist, a translator. She was a student of classical and modern languages.
She was quite a brilliant person. I'll just put it like that. But she once wrote an essay entitled this, The Greatest Drama Ever Staged. And listen to how she begins her article. She says, official Christianity of late years has been having what is known as a bad press.
We are constantly assured that the churches are empty because preachers insist too much upon doctrine. They call it dull dogma. As people call it.
So the fact is the precise opposite. It, she writes, is the neglect of dogma that makes for dullness. The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man. And she says, and the dogma is the drama. That drama is summarized quite clearly in the creeds of the church.
So, when we look at the creeds of the church, what we have to understand is that the creeds of the church, they're more than just a set of dry, dusty propositions that we'll recite here in just a few moments from the Nicene Creed. The creeds of the church are not dull dogma. These propositions that are in these creeds are embedded in the biblical story. They're telling a story. And one of the most beloved stories in the Bible is Luke's account of Jesus and the two disciples on the Emmaus Road.
which we have here in our text in Luke chapter 24. And what you're going to see is that central to this story is a drama. In fact, It's the greatest drama that was ever staged. This drama that you're going to see is our Lord's drama, and he is the lead actor, and the drama is his script. He has written it.
One New Testament scholar says this: He says, You're not at liberty to muck around with a plot. It is God's drama, not yours, rooted in Scripture and in the events of which Scripture speaks. And the amazing thing is this: that even though this drama is the Lord's script, we have been given the privilege of taking part in it.
So it would kind of be like going to the Florida theater downtown and you're going to a Shakespeare play and halfway through the play at intermission, they come up to you and they say, you're up in five minutes for Act Two. And you're going, oh, what do I do? The amazing thing is is that God has written you into this drama and you have a role to play in it, a participation in it. And so, from the very beginning of this account. From this day to this point today This drama has been acted out day after day, week after week, year after year by millions of Christians.
And like every good drama, there's conflict because drama is based on conflict, right? There's this mandatory ingredient for a good drama. You gotta have an interesting, good conflict. What is the conflict in this drama, in this story? The conflict in this story, this drama, is that there are two disciples, they're walking down the road to Emmaus.
And Jesus says that they are foolish and slow of heart. They are dull of understanding. They're dull, they're foolish, they're slow of heart as to what the meaning of Scripture is. And because they are ignorant of what the meaning of the scripture is, they're unable to recognize who they are talking to. Jesus, the risen Jesus.
is a complete stranger to them. But the good news is that the conflict Good stories always have a good resolution, so the good news is that the conflict is resolved by Jesus when he explains the meaning of Scripture and when he serves them a meal.
Now, before we get ahead of ourselves, let's just briefly recount this story. Look at verse 13. Let's just walk through the story and see what Luke reports. In verse 13. Luke reports from verse 18 that a man named Cleopas And his companion were walking from Jerusalem back to their home in Emmaus.
And they were walking back to the hominimaus on the eve of Christ's resurrection.
So the most momentous event in the history of the world had just taken place, and this is the evening of when they're walking back from Jerusalem. Verse 14, as they were walking home, they were talking with each other about all the things that had just taken place in Jerusalem. What did their conversation revolve around?
Well, Luke tells us that their conversation revolves around Jesus' crucifixion. It also revolved around the report of some women that had been to Jesus' tomb and they had found it empty. and that these women had received a message from angels affirming that Jesus was alive. And so as they were walking back home, they were talking about all these things.
Now verse 15, look at verse 15. While they were talking to one another about all these things, Jesus joins them. And he begins traveling with them. Look at verse 16. But Luke says in verse 16 that Jesus was a total stranger.
He says, because their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
So while talking with this complete stranger who was Jesus, the risen living Jesus. Jesus asks them this question. What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking? What are you talking about? In verse 17, it says, They stood still looking sad.
You see, their hopes had been dashed by Jesus' crucifixion. And these two disciples were utterly puzzled by all that had been reported to them by the women. Neither of these disciples, along with the eleven, disciples of Jesus. expected Jesus to rise from the dead. Jesus' resurrection was the farthest thought from their mind.
As far as they were concerned, these two disciples, as far as they were concerned, Jesus was dead. And they were going home returning from a funeral.
So look at verse 18 and listen to how Cleopas answers Jesus. Jesus, what are you guys talking about?
So listen to Cleopas' answer. Look at verse 18.
So one of them named Cleopas answered and said to him, Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days? I mean, can you just imagine that? Like here's the lead actor in the drama. Who's just pulled the whole thing off? And he says, Are you the only one here that doesn't know what happened?
Um Quite humor in the Bible here. Look at verse 19, and he said to them, Jesus said to them, what things? And they said to him, the things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word, in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to the sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happen.
But also some women among us amazed us when they were at the tomb early in the morning. And they did not find his body. They came to him and saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.
Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said, but him they did not see.
So Jesus asks them what they're talking about. Cleopas tells them, tells Jesus. And Jesus, after Cleopas shares his foolishness with Jesus, This is where the turning point in the story begins. Up to this point in the story, Luke has emphasized how the risen Jesus was a stranger to the disciples. He said in verse 16 they did not recognize him.
Cleopas just revealed to us in his answer to Jesus that he is utterly clueless. He is blinded to the mean of Scripture.
So, the question that the story is setting before us is this: how. Are the eyes of these disciples opened so that they can recognize Jesus? There's the conflict. What is the resolution? Luke gives us the answer in verses 25 to 35.
And what we're going to look at for the rest of this morning is this: that in verses 25 to 35, Jesus gives the church a model. for how people come to recognize him. Jesus gives the church A model for opening people's eyes so that Jesus might be known to them.
So what we have is that this in this Climactic meal. The two disciples along the Emmaus road They heard the resurrected Christ, first of all, proclaim himself from all the scriptures. And Luke says that when he broke the bread, their eyes were opened to recognize him.
So this is the greatest drama that has ever been staged and it unfolds in two acts. The two acts are very simple. You have scripture explained, and you have a meal served. You have scripture explained and you have a meal served. And uh and so uh In in the first act, Scripture is expounded in in the second Act A meal is served and the result is the Lord is known.
One New Testament scholar says this: He says, We can be quite sure that Luke intended us to hear this part of the story as a strong hint. What is the strong hint that the story is teaching us? The strong hint he says is this. He says, From now on, our hearts will be warmed by the exposition of Scripture. And we will know the Lord in the breaking of the bread.
So, the model that Jesus gives us here is why the church's corporate worship service has historically been divided into two parts: two acts. You have the service of the word, which is a creation of faith, and you have the service of the sacrament, which is a confirmation of faith. And so in the service of the word and in the service of the sacrament, the triune God has the leading role. He is the leading actor. He is the one working to open eyes so that the risen Jesus might be known.
So let's look at the first opening act of this drama. Look at verses 25 to 27. How does Jesus begin to open up their eyes?
Well, first of all, he explains to them scripture. Jesus exposits scripture. Look at verses 25 through 27. He said to them, O foolish men and slow of heart, you're dull of understanding. Slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.
Was it not necessary for the Christ Messiah to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. Here we have the service of the word. Jesus explains to these two disciples how all the things that they were discussing that had taken place, how all of that had to take place in him.
Now notice how he begins this scripture lesson. He begins it with a little bit of law. A little exhortation, a little bit of rebuke. He gently rebukes them. Oh, foolish men and slow of heart to believe.
He says, you are foolish. You're slow of heart, you're dull to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? Jesus says, You should have known that the Old Testament scriptures clearly taught that the Messiah would first suffer and then enter his glory and then rise again. Because it is clear from the Old Testament scriptures that the way of suffering leads to glory for the Messiah.
Isaiah 53, the suffering servant, they had a clearest day for them. If you back up in Luke's Gospel, in Luke chapter 9, verse 22, Jesus clearly tells his disciples that he must first suffer and then be raised from the dead. Listen to what he told them. He said, the Son of Man must suffer many things.
Now, the Son of Man comes from Daniel chapter 7, who was seen as a conquering king. crushing the kingdoms of this earth.
So they're thinking glory They're thinking victory, they're thinking conquering, and Jesus says the Son of Man, the glorious Son of Man in Daniel 7, must first suffer. Jesus had clearly already taught them the Old Testament scriptures and prophets. He says, The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed. And then be raised up on the third day. But the problem with the Jews of Jesus' day.
Particularly the religious leaders and even Jesus' own 11 disciples, up to the moment of his ascension, when they said, Now is the time when all the glory is coming. They did not understand that when they read the Old Testament scriptures that the Messiah must first suffer and then enter glory. They only saw the glory of the Messiah and they missed the suffering. What they were looking for was a political conqueror to come riding in on a white horse to save them and redeem Israel. We had hoped.
that he would redeem Israel. But they weren't looking for a savior from sin who was a suffering Messiah.
So, therefore, in verse 27, Luke says, beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, Jesus explained, he exposited to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. That's the service of the Word. What happens in the service of the word, and why do we do what we do at this part? Because in the service of the word, It is God speaking to us. And in the service of the word, there's both the reading of God's word and the preaching of God's word.
When we had the reading of God's Word, there's an Old Testament reading, there's a New Testament reading, and there's a Gospel reading. Why is that? Because the Old Testament reading is the beginning of the story that is leading us to Jesus. You can't understand Jesus without the first 39 books. It's like we were talking about this morning in primetime.
If you went to The Last Jedi, and that was the first time you've seen Star Wars, you would have no idea what Star Wars is about. Because you've missed all the previous episodes. The same is true. You can't lump off 39 books of the Bible, and expect to know what Jesus is and who He is and why He's doing what He's doing.
So, the Old Testament reading is the start of the story. The epistles and the Revelation, these explain who Jesus was and what, and the work that He did, and the implications for now how we live in light of what Jesus did for us. And so we have a New Testament reading. But the Gospel reading speaks of Jesus himself. The gospel reading speaks of his deeds and his words, his announcement of his kingdom, his challenge to his contemporaries.
It speaks of his suffering and his death and his burial and his glorious resurrection from the dead. And there you encounter Jesus himself in the reading of the gospel. And so, as your hearts are enlightened and warned by the reading of Scripture, as God is addressing you from His Word, then we give attention to the preaching of God's Word. Because it is through the reading, but especially the preaching of God's Word, that the Holy Spirit sets forth Christ in all of his saving benefits to us and then applies all of him and his benefits to us as we listen to the proclamation of that good word.
So, notice carefully that Jesus' explanation of the scriptures to these foolish, Slow of heart, dull of understanding disciples, notice that his preaching of the word of God to them. Notice it wasn't a moralistic lecture. Three ways to overcome foolishness of heart. Three ways not to be dull of understanding. Four different keys to help you be propelled out of foolishness into victory in living.
I mean, just right, he didn't do that. How did Jesus Teach the scriptures to them. He simply gave them an explanation of a Christ-centered exposition of the Bible. Jesus lays out for them from Genesis to Malachi, the Old Testament scriptures. He simply lays out for them, he shows himself from all of the Old Testament as being the one that the prophets spoke of.
Flow. Slow to slow to believe. All that the prophets have spoken of.
So let me show you one more time. And he opens up the Bible and it is a Christ-centered revealing of himself on every page of Scripture.
So, the Bible obviously covers a great deal of ground and lots of different subjects, and lots of different characters, and lots of different stories, but there's one supreme subject that binds it all together: Jesus Christ and the salvation God offers through Him. And speaking of the Old Testament scriptures, in John chapter 5, verses 39 through 46, Jesus says to the religious leaders of his day: listen carefully to what he says about the Old Testament. These are the scriptures. He's talking about the Old Testament. These are the scriptures that testify about me.
If you believed Moses The Pentateuch, you would believe me, for Moses wrote about me. Preaching is not merely a dissemination of information to fill up our heads with a bunch of theology. Preaching is not simply an exhortation to keep a list of moralistic principles to live your best life now. Preaching, Jesus says, is a clear unfolding of Christ from every page of Scripture. Listen to how Luke describes the Apostle Paul's preaching in Acts chapter 18, verse 5.
He says, Paul became wholly absorbed. I like that. Paul became wholly absorbed with proclaiming the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. And so preaching is not words about Jesus. Preaching is Jesus coming to you by the power of the Holy Spirit who gives you Christ and all of his saving benefits from the pages of Scripture.
That's what preaching is.
So, when you begin to understand that in preaching, you're not just sitting here every Sunday morning collecting facts. You're coming and sitting here to encounter your Lord, and when you understand that, everything changes. Jesus is coming to you in the reading of his word, and Jesus is coming to you in the preaching of his word. This is why Paul says it so clearly in Romans chapter 10, verses 6 through 8. Do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven?
That is, bring Christ down. Who will descend into the abyss? That is to bring Christ up from the dead. But what does it say? What does the scripture say?
The word is near you. It is in your mouth. And it is in your heart. How is it with us? How is the word Jesus with us?
Listen, the word of faith is, that is, the word of faith which we are prophetic. Preteen. In the preaching of God's word, we have this attitude of prayer. Let me hear, let me receive, let me welcome him now. The great need of our day is to preach Christ from every part of the Bible as our Lord teaches us here.
Graham Goldsworthy, one of my favorite theologians, he says, if we are not going to proclaim some aspect of the riches of Christ in every sermon, we shouldn't be in the pulpit. Paul sums up his preaching like this in Colossians 1:28. Him we proclaim. Him we proclaim. Why?
Admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present every man complete in Christ. In Christ, Paul says in Colossians 2:3, in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And therefore, Paul's resolve to proclaim Christ, Him we proclaim, makes perfect sense. Our Lord teaches us in His model that whatever our biblical text is, Leviticus. Numbers.
First Kings. Right, Psalms, Proverbs. Whatever our biblical text is, we must preach Christ if we want to overcome our dullness, our slowness of heart to believe, so that Jesus might be made known. This is how one New Testament scholar puts it. He says, only when we see how all the scriptures are centered in Christ as a revelation of the triune God, so that in the Old Testament everything points forward to him, and in the New Testament everything proceeds from him, will we be able to understand the Bible.
So, what are you looking for when you read the Bible? Look for a person. Because Jesus says Moses wrote about me. And so, when God's word has had its way with us in the first act of this drama, then we're ready for the second half of the drama. Look at it with me and look at verses 28 to 31.
Jesus not only exposits scripture, but second, Jesus serves a meal. He serves a meal.
So here we have the service of the sacrament. Look at verse 28. It says, and they approached the village where they were going, and he acted as though he were going farther. But they urged him Say and stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over.
So he went in to stay with them. But when he had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, he began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he vanished from their sight.
Now, this is an amazing thing in this climactic meal. The risen Jesus has just exposited from all the scriptures himself And then their eyes are open and they recognize him when he served a meal and broke bread.
Now, here's the amazing thing that Luke just told you that you may not have seen. Jesus is a guest in their home in Emmaus. But when the disciples enter their home, Jesus performs the duty of the host. Jesus was supposed to be their guest. Stay with us, Jesus.
It's getting late. They thought they were going to host him. And when he reclined at the table, He became the host and they were guests in their own home. How amazing is that? They discovered that Jesus was the host and they were the guests, even in their own home.
Now, as we said, this drama is Jesus' drama. He is the lead actor, and it's his script. And so, there are four significant actions that play out this drama that the Lord does for us as Luke recounts this meal. Four significant actions of Jesus. Look at verse 30.
Luke says, when he had reclined at the table with them, here it is. He took the bread, he blessed it. breaking it, he began giving it to them. These four verbal clauses that you have here are in perfect agreement with the words of institution that you read of in Luke 22, verse 19, when Jesus fulfilled Passover and instituted the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. In Luke 22 verse 19, listen carefully.
Luke writes this, these words of Jesus. When he had taken some bread and given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them. identical verbal clauses from Luke 22. And Jesus said, This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
Jesus took bread, he blessed it, he gave thanks, he broke it, he gave it. And look at verse 31. Look at the result. When he did these four actions, then their eyes were opened and they recognized him. The two disciples recognize the risen living Jesus.
When he came to dinner. When Jesus said served a meal. They recognized him. This is the model for the church and how we come to recognize Christ. Christ has given to us the model of both word and sacrament to open people's eyes so that he might be known by them.
People hear the gospel through the preaching of the word, and in hearing the preaching of the gospel, they are apprehended by Christ. through the power of the Holy Spirit. And then people see and touch and taste and eat the gospel through the administration of the sacrament. And in this way, they are apprehended by Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.
So, in addition to the Word of God, Jesus teaches us that there is this meal, there is this sacrament. They are connected to the word and they become visible words. They are revelatory. The Lord's meal, His supper, His communion table, it is revelatory. It is a visible word communicating loudly to you Christ.
And all of his saving benefits through the power of the Holy Spirit, so that your eyes are awakened to see him. This meal, this revelation, it holds forth the same thing that the preaching of the word of the gospel holds forth to you, which is Christ. It gives to you a person.
So, just as the word enters through the ear to burn the heart. This meal enters through the eye in order to enlighten the heart. And this is the model that Jesus gives to the church. Look at verses 32 to 35. And look at the profound effects that both word and sacrament have upon these two disciples.
Look at verse 32. They said to one another, were not our hearts burning within us? While he was speaking to us on the road, while he was. explaining the scriptures To us. As Jesus revealed himself as the center subject of the entire scriptures, their hearts within them were burning.
We recognize Christ in the preaching of the gospel, and our hearts burn within us. Because we're seeing him. Then look at verses thirty three through thirty-five. Luke says they got up. That very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the 11, Christ's 11 disciples, and those who were with them, saying, The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.
They began to relate their experiences on the road and how he was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread. It isn't the breaking of the bread that the disciples recognize the risen living Christ, Lord. They find these 11 disciples. Look at verse 34. And they say to them, The Lord has really risen, and he has appeared to Simon.
That is the point of this climactic meal. To get you to encounter not a dead God, but a living risen. Christ. who is in your midst and to recognize him and they say The Lord has really risen. And it was our Lord's fourfold actions that are reacted every time we celebrate this drama of this meal.
Jesus took bread, he blessed it, he broke it, and he gave it. And we come as participants in his drama, and what is our part? We come and we receive and we eat and we drink and we get our eyes opened and we go, the Lord is really risen. The gospel is true. And so, his model of word and sacrament, Jesus teaches us right here, clearly, is how we come to recognize him.
Now, as we finish this morning, like the two disciples on the Maus Road, we too. We are foolish and slow of heart at times, are we not? How often is the risen Jesus, the risen living? resurrected Christ a stranger to us. How?
Badly do we need our eyes open to see him? We need to be swept up, and Jesus knows this, to be swept up into his drama week after week, year after year, so that we continually recognize Jesus, who is a stranger to us.
So that we can meet Him afresh through the power of the Holy Spirit. And so we come recognizing him in the preaching of the gospel. Didn't our hearts burn within us when we saw him on the pages of Scripture? And then we come recognizing him in the breaking of the bread. And it is in the eating of this meal that the drama reaches its culmination.
This is why the celebrant in this Drama says to the people of God, lift up your hearts, and they respond with great joy. We lift them up to the Lord because He is present. It's in this meal that the church, by the powerful and the mysterious working of the Holy Spirit, Jesus, that we come into his presence. And receive from him, receive from him, and recognize him as a risen Lord. And we, like these disciples, can say, the Lord has really risen.
And we have seen him on the pages of scripture fulfilling the entire Old Testament that the prophets spoke of. And we have heard him in the gospel proclaimed to us, and he has come to us again. And now he is here to serve us in a meal. To reveal himself to us, to comfort us. I can't tell you the comfort of recognizing the reality of the risen Lord.
When you come to death And every one of us will, unless the Lord comes back. When you come to death, there is no greater comfort than knowing that you have for a lifetime. Recognize the risen Lord. And it is in recognizing him. Knowing him.
Encountering him by the power of the Holy Spirit. That our hearts are led to great thanksgiving, to doxology and songs of praise, which is why we call it the Eucharist thanksgiving. He gave thanks. And then we give thanks. This recognition of Christ, the living risen Christ.
being apprehended by him Through the means of word and sacrament, this is how we grow inwardly and outwardly as a church. This is the model that Jesus has given to us. And so, from the earliest days of the church, this word and this meal. Has been the central means whereby Christians have been nourished in faith. Hope and love.
And that's why we're doing it. It's a powerful model, isn't it? Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you.
We thank you for this word. We thank you for this sacrament. We pray that in it today, through the power of your Holy Spirit, you would open up our hearts to recognize Jesus and to see him and to be apprehended by him powerfully. We thank you that you have given to us this great model. Maybe be faithful to it.
We pray this in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Thanks for listening to the Hymn We Proclaim podcast with John Fawnville. Him we proclaim as a ministry of John Fondill of Fairmount Church in Jacksonville, Florida. You can check out his church at paramountchurch.com.
We look forward to next time.
