2011-05-08am Sermon Luke 24

110508am Luke 24:13-35 Acts 2:14a,36-41

The wonderful story of the Road to Emmaus! Do you notice how the Risen Christ draws alongside them so patiently and respectfully. I think if I had just risen from the dead, I would be standing on the pinnacle of the Temple summoning all nations to bow down and worship me – oh no, that's what Satan tempted Jesus to do in the beginning, isn't it? Instead he appears quietly and spends time helping these two disciples, learners, to learn more and discover the wonder of the resurrection.

Although it's a continuous process, do you notice how they went through four stages.

First, they heard it. v.13-24 Jesus was at first unrecognised, and he asked them what the matter was, and they told him first what was common knowledge, how Jesus of Nazareth was a prophet powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. This was public, well known – it seems it's a mistake to think that Jesus was an obscure person only known in a few Galilean villages, he was a very public figure who made an impact. We've been reading part of Peter's sermon in Acts 2, and he says there Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as your yourselves know.

I remember hearing Bishop Gavin Reid, former head of CPAS (one of the societies we support), say that we evangelicals have known well how to evangelise the individual, but not how to evangelise a whole culture. Our culture has changed (of course, they always do), and today you couldn't say 'you already know about Jesus'. Many people haven't even heard the basic story. One of the most basic forms of mission we can do is anything that will get the basic story into the public domain. There are strong forces which don't like that! But that's doesn't deter us. We need to value more the cultural echoes of Christianity – in the arts, music, literature, paintings, anything that portrays Jesus. One of the best ways is you can support with prayer and money keeping going our youth worker post: the work in holiday clubs, Sunday groups, weekday groups, school assemblies, school visits to church, and all the team that help, is fantastic.

These two know more: v.21b and what is more... they have heard the witnesses who found the empty tomb and the angelic message. They have heard that Jesus has been raised but they don't know what to make of it. In the book I am reading for Easter, The Shape of Living by David Ford, professor at Cambridge, he says, 'The resurrection is God's way of inviting us into joy... He can be rejoiced in without reservation... There is no avoiding trusting (or distrusting) testimony to the resurrection... As with any historical event there is no way we can re-run history to check what happened. Testimony is the only way we have access to the past which we ourselves cannot remember. It is not too much to say that the Church is the community of those who trust the testimony of the first witnesses to the resurrection. Since then there have been two millennia of cross-examination and speculation. My verdict on what I have studied is that the original witnesses have by no means been proved untrustworthy and that it is reasonable to believe their main message: that the crucified Jesus is risen.'

And that brings us to the second stage: they believed it. v.25-27 Jesus rebukes them and begins probably the most privileged and exciting Bible study ever. They had heard it, but now they came to understand what it all meant, the new amazing thing God was doing right there and how it tied in and made sense of everything he had done before, all the OT Scriptures by which they and their community had lived for thousands of years. We have those same OT Scriptures – and in the NT we have the fruit of this Bible study, we have the original apostolic witnesses' teaching which explains what the story of Jesus means for the whole world.

When the church encourages you, nags you, to read the Bible, it's not because it's some religious duty that will gain you points, it's because it will help you to understand the meaning of the good news, it will strengthen you for daily living in the joy of Christ. All the Scriptures point to him, one way or another. If you read it in this light, and looking for this light, you will see light. In the words of another great theologian, Cliff Richard, 'I love to see a Bible that's been well used, 'cos when a Bible's well used, the devil's not amused.'

And as you read it, you can expect Christ to be alongside you explaining it to you by his Spirit. Now I know that you could argue that everybody reads the Bible differently and you get wildly different interpretations. John Stott says that when people say, You can make the Bible mean anything, he says, Yes, you can if you are sufficiently unscrupulous. But the fact is that the vast majority of Christians massively agree on all the major teachings of the Bible. The differences between us a greatly exaggerated and are nothing like as big as the agreements. The core principle of the Reformation, of which the Anglican Communion is an heir, is that the Bible is sufficient for what we need to know about God, and is clear to the normal reader. It's through the Biblical explanations that we not only hear it but understand it and believe it.

But there is more. Thirdly, they experienced it v.28-32 More accurately they experienced him. David Ford again: 'This truth is inevitably self-involving... it is not just an 'event', it is about the new presence of a particular person, and we can never adequately relate to people unless we are willing to be affected by them... So the truth of the resurrection is not something about which we can say, How interesting! And then go on to some other investigation.'

This is what Peter was talking about. After he had told them about the resurrection and explained its meaning, the crowd said, Brothers, what shall we do? That's the question you need to ask. John Stott again says he became a Christian after hearing a sermon on the words of Pontius Pilate at Jesus' trial, What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ? Up to then, he says, he had heard about Christ and kind of believed it, but it had never occurred to him that he had to do anything with Christ. Peter answers the question: repent and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. You need to change your mind, change your ways, be immersed in the life of Jesus and filled with the Spirit of Jesus. Be opened up to the real presence of this real person, in whom all the fullness of God dwells bodily. One of the best places to do that is in the breaking of bread v.30-31. Wherever you do it, you need to experience something of what they experienced: did not our hearts burn within us?.

And there is still more: they heard it, they believed it, they experienced it, and fourthly they shared it. v.33-35 One of the signs that an animal or person is physically mature is that they are able to reproduce, and one of the signs that you are spiritually mature is that you are able to reproduce spiritually, by sharing the good news. Churches are meant to reproduce and bear fruit in new disciples. Cells are meant to reproduce: the main reason our small groups are called cells is because that is what cells do, they grow and multiply. Whether it's through your cell adding new people or new believers coming through a course like Start or Alpha, they are meant to reproduce. If your cell has not added any new disciples – I don't mean people who were already disciples – is it mature or just old? And individually we are meant to bring new people into the joy of Christ.

Now I know that this is a massive challenge and can just depress us. But the very story we are reading helps us. Look at how the risen Christ evangelises. Not from a distance, but by drawing close. Not by battering them with demands, but by asking them how they are and where they are. Not by condemning them (though he certainly challenges them!) but by supplying information. Not by arguing with them but by joining them in their meal – notice that, not even by inviting them to his table but by going humbly to theirs. If Christians would model themselves more on this there would be a lot less anxiety about evangelism – from both sides. When you look back at how you have come to Christ, don't you notice that he was with you, guiding you and accompanying you long before you knew it, just as here? When you look at your friend or neighbour who is not a disciple, don't you think that Jesus is actually already walking with them, even if they don't know it?

Jesus was with them all they way through this, before they recognised him, and of course after he disappeared from view he didn't really leave them. I wonder what stage you are at on this road? It's not always a straight line, and it goes at different paces, but this same living Jesus is walking with you and me every step of the way.