Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Hey everyone and welcome to our last traditional Thursday gathering of the year.

I say that because..by way of reminder…we are meeting next week at 6:30p for our annual Christmas party.

Anyway…if I haven’t had a chance to meet you my name is Cody Rogers and I serve as the worship and college pastor here…and if you need anything while you’re here tonight, prayer, questions, concerns…just look for someone wearing a name tag and we would be happy to help you out.

So let’s get into what we are doing tonight.

Tonight…is a really cool moment in the life of our ministry.

Tonight we finish our series in the Gospel of Luke.

Tonight signifies the end of our third fall semester as a ministry…and I’ll tell you…it’s bittersweet for me.

Sweet because it means that the Lord has sustained us for 2.5 years now.

Which is just mind blowing to me…it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long.

Tonight is also bitter…because I feel like Jesus has done so much work in us through the gospel of Luke.

I mean, he’s shaped our hearts, informed our minds, led us to deeper relationship with him…and helped us to treasure his word all the more.

And tonight…marks the end.

But as you’re about to see, just because it’s the end of our time in Luke…doesn’t mean it’s the end of Jesus’ work.

Because..

He’s Not Done

He’s not done with us…with this ministry....and he’s not done with his disciples.

His ministry didn’t end on the cross, in fact it really was just beginning.

So let’s do this.

I’ve got a lot to talk about tonight, let’s get right into the passage.

Turn to Luke, chapter 24, verse 13.

As you’re turning there, let me set up for you what’s going on.

At the beginning of chapter 24…the women who were with Jesus went to his tomb…and found it empty.

They go back, tell the apostles, they don’t believe the women…and Peter runs to the tomb and discovers that it is also empty.

If you’ll remember from our time talking about Peter’s denials…he’s a little emotional…the last time he saw Jesus he had denied even knowing him.

So that’s whats happened, and now we are in verse 13…where two of the disciples (not one of the 12 apostles) are walking to a small town 7 miles away from Jerusalem called Emmaus.

And I’ll tell you right now…before we read this.

This is hands down one of my favorite passages in all of Luke.

And it’s mostly because I think Jesus is just so cool in this…and I love the dramatic irony that we know it’s Jesus…that Jesus knows what’s going on…but these disciples have to figure it out.

It’s a great story…let’s get into it.

I’m going to be reading the whole passage…because it’s important.

So let’s do it.

Alright…so I told you the title of this message is “He’s not done”…let’s go ahead and see why he’s not done.

He still has questions to ask.

One of the things we highlighted throughout this series was Jesus’ way of asking questions to expose the heart and reveal wrong thinking.

Here’s just two examples.

So like I said, we see Jesus ask questions…even if he already knows the answer.

And he asks questions to turn the focus back on the person he’s speaking to…to reveal what is going on in their own hears and minds.

We saw that he did that before his death…and here in this passage…we see that he’s not done doing just that.

So what are some of the questions that he asks?

Guys…he’s asking these questions as if he doesn’t already know the answer.

But we know he knows the answer…because even before he died he was able to tell what people were thinking and prophesy about the future events to come.

So Jesus is asking these questions that he already knows the answers....which leaves us with the question…why is he doing that?

Well, he’s doing that for the same reason that he did before he died.

To expose hearts and reveal incorrect thinking.

That’s what he does to these disciples…he asks these questions because he wants to reveal that doubt that is in their heart and the lack of understanding they have about who he is.

Look back at it.

So yes…he was a prophet…but that’s not all he was.

That was just a part of who he was.

So clearly, they have a lack of understanding of who he is.

Look back.

This is them saying… WE HAD HOPED…as in they no longer had hope…that had given up hope.

So Jesus was asking this question to not only reveal a lack of understanding who he was…but to reveal a heart of doubt within them…which clearly they had.

I love that Jesus is doing this here because it shows us…that even after the cross…he is still asking questions of his disciples to penetrate their mind and hearts...

What does this mean for you?

It means that he is still asking you questions.

He’s still speaking to you.

He’s still revealing doubts in your heart and lack of understanding in your mind..

How does he do that?

Through his church, through his people, through his word, through his spirit...

So what is Jesus asking you?

What has he been asking you lately?

If you don’t know…ask him to reveal what he’s been asking you!

Take advantage of the fact that you have a savior who is willing to do this…to expose the things that are amiss in your heart and mind...

And praise God that you have a savior who will patiently teach you the answer to those questions…and that brings us to our second point.

He still has things to teach.

Jesus is not done.

He has things to teach these disciples.

So what does he teach them?

Let’s look back at the passage.

So what did he teach them?

He taught them who scripture said he was.

These verses are another reason why this passage is one of my favorites in all of Luke.

Because Jesus is like…here, let’s walk, let’s talk…and let me literally just do a bible study with you.

And you know…they didn’t have bibles back then.

They didn’t have individual copies of scripture.

So you can imagine Jesus is walking down the road with them…for seven miles....and he like “do you remember when Isaiah talked about a root of Jesse, that would be born in bethlehem…yeah that was me.

I was born in bethlehem.

Or…do you remember in

Yeah…that was literally me three days ago.

That was literally what happened to me on the cross.

Hey, you know when the people of israel were dying and moses took a bronze snake and hung it on a pole and they looked at it and were healed and saved…that represented me.

Hey, you know the lambs that moses was commanded to sacrifice on behalf of the sin of God’s people…that was me.”

So…can you imagine what it was like for them to have all the dots connected for you?

Except…Jesus wasn’t saying that was him yet.

That’s the beauty…that comes later.

So what is the point of all this?

Jesus wants them to be taught who he has, and what God commands, through his word.

He wants to use God’s word to eliminate their doubt…and impact their heart.

And we know that he did impact their heart with God’s word…because they say it.

So…Jesus isn’t done because he still has questions to ask…he still has lessons to teach (like the lessons of what scripture reveals about him)…and finally.

He still has lives to save.

So on top of asking them questions, and teaching them lessons…why is Christ there?

Why is he walking with them besides to begin laying a foundation of the church?

He’s there…because he still has lives to save…and that’s exactly what he does.

Look at it.

So Jesus hid himself from the, until he asked them the questions he desired....and taught about how scripture revealed him…and then…and then, he opens their eyes to fully see and believe in him.

And how does he do it?

Through the symbol of the breaking of bread.

Which, if you’re new to church…the breaking of bread represents the last supper…which is when Christ says that the broken bread represents his broken body.