Summer Road Trip #4: Storybook Expectations

Summer Road Trip

“Story Book Expectations”

Luke 24:13-35

13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles* from Jerusalem. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.

17 And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?”*

18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”

19 And He said to them, “What things?”

So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. 21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. 22 Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. 23 When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. 24 And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”

25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

The Disciples’ Eyes Opened

28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying,”Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.

30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

NKJV

Title: Summer Road Trip Series: Story Book Expectations…

Intro. We have all planned those trips, those adventures, those vacations, those Road Trips…and in our minds they are Story Book…because of our perceived Expectations…we are already anticipating this Story Book Desired Outcome…before we every leave for the Trip.

What Happens when it doesn’t turnout that way…when the story doesn’t turn out like you thought…

That My Friend is the Story of the Road to Emmaus that I just read.

We live in a storied world and universe…as long as our life seems to be in story form there is Hope for a different outcome.

A story has a beginning…drama…conflict…and an ending. No ending however is Greater than The End… Dead!

Eternity
1. Very Little in the Old Testament refers to or speaks to the After-Life…the Pagans dealt with the after-life but even their summations were wrong …
2. No one spoke about the afterlife like the Apostle Paul did in the New Testament…
II.Road to Emmaus Reality
1. These 2 men along with the disciples had great expectations for Jesus…
2. 3 Expectations if we are going to be specific

They expected Jesus to be crowned as the True King
1. Israel had a King…His name was Herod…not the same Herod when Jesus was born…it was actually his grandson…
2. But he was a ruthless King…He wasn’t even 100% Jewish…he was Jew and Gentile…But pagan in behavior
The 2^nd Expectation was that God…through the Messiah, Jesus would Rule and Reign on the Earth, instead of all these Pagan Empires…
1. Israel had been controlled by:

1. 1. The Egyptians
  2. The Chaldeans
  3. The Babylonians
  4. The Persians
  5. The Syrians
  6. The Greeks
  7. Now the Romans during Jesus’ day
2. They were waiting for God to come and destroy all these Pagan countries and set up His Kingdom on the Earth
Their 3^rd Hope was that Israel would be Redeemed

Transition: This was the Expectations of the Jewish People, the Nation of Israel, and Honestly the Disciples…Instead the New Messiah who was to bring Heaven to Earth and overthrow the Pagans…has just been Nailed to a Cross and Has died…THE END!

III.THE END
1. No Resurrection yet…
2. Good Friday to them was a disaster….
3. The Credits have rolled…
  1. You are looking at the movie screen and the credits are reading….”recorded in Sony Dolby Surround Sound”
  2. The lights have just come up and the guy who sweeps up the popcorn has just entered the scene…
  3. It’s Over and these two guys are walking back home to Emmaus…in complete disappointment
IV.Dealing with Disappointment
1. Anyone ever had to deal with disappointment
  1. This is the backdrop of the minds of these two men walking home to Emmaus…
  2. Jesus shows up and they don’t even recognize Him…
    1. I’ve noticed in the bible a lot of people who really knew Jesus…encountered him and didn’t know who He was…
    2. Wonder how many times I have encountered the Lord Jesus in a person, a song, a scripture, a smile, a circumstance…yet didn’t recognize him…
    3. Jesus walks them through the scripture and explains the SUFFERING SAVIOR
      1. It was always in the will of God for the Messiah to suffer…it is all through the Old Testament…

Transition: These two men run back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples and Boom Jesus shows up in the room…He enters the room and walks through the walls, but He can also eat bread…HE can be touched

3 Expectations Did Come To Pass
1. The Gospel message is the entrance of a new plotline in the dramatic story of the Human Race
2. The Resurrection of Jesus is not a Fairly Tale Ending…Actually it is a New Beginning
  1. See the Resurrection changes everything…
3. From Adam’s Fall till Jesus…the Human Story always ends bad…
  1. Fighting, Corruptions, Destruction…and the ending is always the same
  2. That is the story of Adam
  3. But Jesus is where, as they say, the PLOT THICKENS OR TAKES A TWIST for the Human story
4. Paul said, “Jesus has redeemed us from the Law of Sin and Death”
  1. Sin and Death, Sin and Death, Sin and Death…this is the epitaph of the Human condition until Jesus came…
5. When Jesus Came…
  1. He is on the cross dead, laid in the tomb, but on the 3^rd day the story Changed….A NEW BEGINNING
  2. See that is what Jesus offers…
    1. We call it…Getting Saved
    2. Giving our lives to Christ…
    3. I Prefer “The Jesus Way”
    4. Either way, That can be our life’s story if we believe in the Lord Jesus

Transition: See you get connected to Jesus and do life the Jesus way, instead of the Adam way and when you and I do, things don’t have to always end the way they have always ended…

VI.A New World

2 Cor 5:11

o that, assuming that anyone is in Christ, he is a creation new in quality. -The antiquated, out-of-date things [which do not belong to the new life in Christ Jesus] have passed away. Behold, all things have become new in quality.

(Wuerst Translation)

2 Cor 5:17-18

17 Whoever is a believer in Christ is a new creation. The old way of living has disappeared. A new way of living has come into existence.

(God’s Word Translation)

a.Another Translation says, “Behold a whole New World and a New Order for living have come…”
b.When you are a true Christ Follower…you step into a Whole New World
c.The Church is to be a preview of coming attractions like the previews of a movie
1. And based on that preview…people will decide whether they want to know this whole new world and this Jesus we claim we know…
2. If we are living just like them and there is no new order, no change, no new world…Who Would Want It…Our Claims Are Empty

VII.Taken, Blessed and Broken, Given and Gathered
1. When Jesus gets to the House of the men living in Emmaus…Jesus begins to behave like the Host…
  1. This reminds me of a time we offer called “Discover Together”…it is where we have asked people to watch a series of videos…then jump in a time after Sunday service…in August…and let’s break some bread together…Discover Jesus and His Church Together….
2. He takes the bread…Blesses it…He Breaks the Bread and He gave it to them…
3. The same sequence of things happens in the story of the little boy’s lunch in the feeding of the 5000
  1. In the boys lunch as well as on the Road Trip to Emmaus…Jesus doesn’t simply break bread…he breaks the limitations on the elements of the Bread…so that it can be multiplied but also so People can step into the Revelation of Bread…
  2. See in this story…when the Bread is broken…their eyes are opened…
  3. The breaking of the Bread, Broke the Limitations on their vision and on their understanding…
  4. Jesus Give us this day our Daily Bread…Jesus said, “Pray for this…” pray the limitations are broken off of Daily Bread…
    1. Limitation of Multiplication
    2. Limitations of Revelation and Insight…
    3. Limitations we have put on the Bread…Jesus said in John’s gospel…”I Am The Bread.”
4. …but after the giving…they gathered…
5. There is always a Gathering…This is a Picture of the Life of Christ and the Life of the Jesus Follower
  1. You will have Friday’s that are only Good Friday’s when you have a chance to look back on them…
  2. You and I will have garden of Gethsemanes…
    1. Times when we are crying out…God No…There must be another way…This can’t be happening to me…
  3. You’ll have times when you go through your mocking
    1. People who see you going through disappointment, pain, hurt, frustration…maybe even sickness or the death of a loved one…and they will say, where is your God now…Where is your Faith Now
    2. You’ll have those days when you feel as if you have been beaten
  4. But in Christ…You’ll always have your resurrection…you’ll always have: IN THE BEGINNING OR A ONCE UPON A TIME…
    1. When it looks like it is over…You’ll have an “In the Beginning…”
    2. Weeping Endured for the Evening…but Baby Joy has come in the Morning…
    3. I went through a season of feeling like I have been taken, broken, even given away to folks that didn’t value me or appreciate what was being brought to the table…Oh but I have been Blessed by my father before the Process ever started and there is a Gathering that is coming…
VIII.Closing
1. I came this morning to talk to some folks who have had some not so good Road Trips…
2. I came to talk to some folks…whose hope and dreams seemed crushed…
3. You had great expectations and they seemed to come up short
4. You feel as if you have been through the breaking and the taking…
  1. This morning…We’re Going to Break the Bread Together…and in the Breaking…the Limitations are Going to Fall Off…
5. I bring you good news…THERE IS ALWAYS A RESURRECTION IN CHRIST

Summer Road Trip #4: Storybook Expectations

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