The Invitation
Notes
Transcript
Have you ever watched a TV show where two characters are talking together about another character? It’s a pretty typical plot line in most television shows. Mark and Amy are talking about Tom while their backs are towards the door. Mark and Amy talk about how annoying Tom was being and how they can’t understand why he acts the way that he does.
Well, Tom, after hearing this, walks up to them and says, “Oh, I didn’t realize I was that annoying!” Mark looks at him and says, “Hey there Tom. How much of that did you hear?” Tom says, “enough to realize I’m not wanted here.” And then Tom storms off while Amy tries to go after him and Mark holds her back.
This familiar drama is kind of what happens in today’s Scripture!
It’s Easter Sunday and Mary Magdalene had just told the disciples that Jesus’s body was gone. Peter and the other disciple had just ran to the tomb and saw that she was right, and they all left.
Well, two disciples, one named Cleopas and the other one unnamed, are walking away from Jerusalem towards a village called Emmaus, which is about seven miles away.
As they are walking along they begin to talk about the events that had just happened. During their conversation, Jesus himself approaches the two. Their eyes “were kept from recognizing him,” so they had no idea who this man was.
Jesus says, “what are you discussing with each other while you walk along?”
At this point, while looking sad, Cleopas says to Jesus, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?”
The two disciples are baffled that this person had no idea what had just transpired. It would have been huge news to anyone around there, especially since this happened during Passover where there would have been a large multitude of travellers in Jerusalem.
Still, Jesus says, “What things?”
Cleopas and the other disciple say to Jesus, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth...”
Here they are off to a good start. They are talking to somebody (who we know is Jesus) about Jesus.
But, things take a turn...
They say that Jesus, “WAS a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people...”
So, here we see that the news of the resurrection has yet to be taken fully serious by these two disciples. They are speaking about Jesus as if he is no more.
They go on to say, “we HAD HOPED that he was the one to redeem Israel.” They finished explaining what had happened. Again, here, we see these two disciples talking as if Jesus were no more. Not only that, they say “we HAD HOPED.” This means that they no longer hope that Jesus was going to redeem Israel.
In this moment they show Jesus that their faith is no longer fully in him. At some point during his arrest, beating, sentencing, hanging, dying, and burial they had lost their full hope in Christ.
Well, in typical Jesus fashion, he rebukes them by saying, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?
Jesus was sharp with these two disciples. He wanted them to realize what they were saying and how wrong they were. After his response to them, Jesus goes on to explain to them all of the prophets. He interprets their meanings and how their prophecies pointed to the very events that had just transpired.
It’s interesting to note that up to this point the disciples had yet to ask Jesus for his opinion or even an explanation. He just gives it to them. And after doing this he began walking ahead of them. As he was about to separate from them and go his own way, they said to him, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.”
This is probably one of the more important parts of the story, this invitation. But, we’ll come back to that.
Jesus agrees and follows them to their table, being the guest, and took over control by taking the bread, blessing it, breaking it, and giving it. The guest had now become the host.
In that very moment their eyes were opened, they recognized him as Jesus, and he vanished from their sight.
Filled with amazement, they hurried back the seven miles to Jerusalem, travelling through the night, found the other disciples and the entire company of people that were with them. They proclaimed to them what had happened and shared their testimony.
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This story shows us an amazing movement for the disciples involved. At first they are in the company of Jesus, completely blind to who he is.
When I read over that part I began to think to myself, “how many times have I been in the company of Jesus and never even realized it?” If we remember that Christ dwells within us through the Holy Spirit, we would know that Christ is always present with us. But, I’ve got to tell you, sometimes it doesn’t feel like it.
Even knowing what we know, there are moments where someone can say to me, “But Christ is present in you” and I can say, “Where?”
The disciples, and sometimes even us, can be blind to Christ even while in his presence.
But, even so, Christ continues to walk with them, even as they don’t recognize him. He talks with them about the events that just happened, he opened the Scriptures in a way that certainly impacted them.
As they sit in his presence at the table Jesus takes his role at the head, which certainly would have been odd. He then takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to them. While doing this they were still blind to who he was. But, as soon as they took that bread from him, their eyes were opened! They have moved from being blind, to fully recognizing who Jesus is!
Now, fully aware that Jesus was just with them, they rush back to Jerusalem and the first thing they do is testify about their experience and the presence of Jesus in their lives.
The disciples move from blind to seeing to testifying. However, there is one important thing that they do in order for this to happen, they invite Jesus to come with them.
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While Jesus was walking ahead of them and about to go the other direction, the two disciples invite Jesus to join them, share in a meal, and stay with them. They had no obligation to do this, Jesus didn’t ask them for the invitation, he simply accepted it. It was after this moment that the disciples were able to have their eyes opened to the full-truth of Christ. It was after all of this that they were able to go and tell more people about the wonder-working power of Jesus!
It took an invitation.
Here’s the thing, even though they didn’t recognize Jesus’ presence, he was still with them.
Even when we don’t recognize Jesus’ presence, he is still with us.
It’s very easy to fall into the trap of thinking that Jesus is not with us anymore. We don’t see him in person, the world continues to fall, people continue to be harmed. And through it all we search for God, but it seems like sometimes he isn’t there.
However, no matter what you think, even if you think this is all false and that God doesn’t exist, He still does. And the amazing thing about God is that he doesn’t force himself on us.
He gave each and everyone of us the ability to choose whether or not we believe in him and want to follow him.
That is why I say that the most important moment in our Scripture today is when the disciples invited Jesus to come with them.
Jesus waited for that invitation, and only after it were they able to actually see Jesus.
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Much like the disciples in this story, we spend a lot of time in the presence of Christ without actually recognizing that He is there. He speaks to us though stories, and we are blind. He speaks to us through the Scriptures, and still we are blind to his presence.
However, much like the disciples, this can change for us. We just need to offer the invitation.
Think about the moment that you receive salvation. In that moment your heart aches for more. You long to be closer to God and someone had told you that this can be done through Jesus. With a genuine pulling from your heart you profess that Jesus is Lord and believe fully in Him.
Your faith in Christ not only saved you, but it opened your eyes so that you could testify to other people about the goodness and truth of God. You, as a Christian, at one point in your life, invited Jesus into a loving relationship with you, and he happily accepted it.
Today’s Scripture showed us two disciples who began to doubt and whose faith was not fully in Christ. However, they invited him in again, and He was revealed to them again.
That same thing can and will happen to us.
We’ve fallen into this idea that we only accept Christ 1 time. Often times you’ll hear someone say “when did you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior?” Most people respond with the 1st day that they became a Christian. However, I want to tell you that my favorite response is this, “Oh, I accepted Him just this morning when I got out of bed.”
You see, we are not limited to inviting Christ into our lives only 1 time. We can, and should, do it every single day and in every moment. Even if Christ is fully in our lives there is no reason why we cannot say to Him, “Lord, won’t you please stay for another day?”
In Revelation 3:20, Jesus says,
20 Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.
Jesus longs for us to invite him in, daily.
As we continue to struggle, to see things around us be not the way that they were, Jesus continues to be with us, offering to be in our lives so long as we invite him to do so.
That’s the beautiful thing about free will. It enables us to connect with God on a genuine level, something that isn’t forced on us. We come to it on our own, through the grace of God.
It means that Jesus isn’t at our door breaching through, he’s patiently waiting for us to respond to the knocking and invite him inside.
Once he is inside, we have a very important job to do, tell others.
Every single time that Christ actively works in our lives, and we SEE it, we are supposed to tell others about it.
To sit on our faith is to take away the opportunity for someone else to come to Christ.
So, we as Christians must stop sitting on our faith. We must begin telling other people about the wonder-working power of Jesus and how after inviting Him in our lives have changed.
Each day we need to all invite Jesus back in so that we can continue to see His presence and tell others about it.
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So, I have to ask, how many of you invited Jesus to come and be with you only one time?
How many of you are walking on the road to Emmaus, completely blind to the fact that Christ is with you?
How many of you see the curses of this world more than the blessings of God?
How many of you are hearing Jesus knock at the door, offering himself to you, and simply ignoring Him?
Is Jesus your priority, or does your priority lie elsewhere?
How many of you feel as though God is not present right now? Do you feel like your life is meaningless? Do you think that God has abandoned you, or maybe that He has never even been there?
Are you struggling with believing in God, in Jesus, in the resurrection, in the defeat of death, in the Holy Spirit that dwells within us?
Are you struggling?
If this sounds like any of you today, I promise you that things can and will change. It just takes an invitation.
It takes you inviting Jesus into your life, to be the Lord of your life. It takes giving it all to Him, having faith in Christ, and living as much like Christ as possible.
I need to ask you, have you done this? Do you daily ask Jesus to lead your life, or are you still living in the past? Have you never even asked for Christ to be active in your life?
As you walk on this road to Emmaus are you going to hear Jesus speak and let him walk away, or are you willing to put your struggles, pride, anger, frustration and disbelief to the side and invite him to come with you?
If you are willing to do this, to invite Jesus along with you, whether if for the first time in your life or for the second, or third, or 100th, I want you to honk your horn right now!
If you are sitting at home right now and you feel a pulling by God to invite Jesus into your life, whether for the first time, or the second, or the third, or the 100th, I want you to email me, text me, message me, post to our Facebook page…tell me that you are ready to give your invitation to Christ!
So, brothers and sisters, as we begin to end our time of worship this morning, I’m going to ask that you pray with me. If you decide to respond and invite Jesus into your life either this morning or at the time that you watch this service and sermon, I want you to reach out to me and let me know. I want to keep praying for you.
Let us pray together,
Father, we come before you this morning as a group of people who constantly fall short of your glory. We come before you as people who struggle each and every day to find faith, peace, love, and hope in our lives. Some of us come before you as brothers and sisters in Christ, and others come before you without any relationship with Jesus. So, Father, I ask that you hear us this morning. Hear us as we invite your Son Jesus into our lives again. Hear us as we long to feel your presence daily. Help us as we walk on this road, so that we recognize Jesus in every moment that his presence is with us. Father, hear us as we confess to you that your Son Jesus Christ came into this world, he lived the perfect life, he deserved no death, yet he bore the weight of our sins on the cross and died for us. Hear us as we confess that we believe in this loving sacrifice and we long to live in eternity with you and with your Son, and with the Holy Spirit. Gracious God, hear us as we recognize that the only way to you is through our belief in your Son. Our only way to you is through your grace. Father, as we come before you either accepting your Son for the first time or for the thousandth time, we ask that our eyes be opened. That we continue to see your blessings daily, give praise to you, and testify to the world around us that we are saved through our faith in your Son Jesus. Father, we ask all of these things in the wonderful, powerful, merciful, gracious, and loving name of the risen Jesus Christ, amen!