Opened Minds, Transformed Hearts Part 1

Luke 24:36–53 NIV

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence. He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

Assembly Required

I am going to begin today by introducing two terms you may not be familiar with. “Flatpack Fear” and “IKEA Effect.”

Have you ever bought a piece of furniture from Ikea or from some other store and dreaded the words “Assembly Required?”

This is a concept that is known as “Flatpack Fear”! (https://www.thefreelibrary.com/CONQUERING+FEAR+OF+THE+FLAT+PACK..-a0223188794, accessed 5/13/21)

Begin with directions

Compare to pictures on the box

Assemble tools and start

And by the third page, the project looks more like a Picasso than the bookcase it is supposed to.

You scratch your head and ask yourself how is this mess supposed to transform into something useful.

So what do you do?

You do what any normal red-blooded American would do… Get on YouTube and watch a self-professed “Expert” assemble it. And as you watch, something clicks and your mind is opened to where you got lost and then after dismantling the project, you begin again with confidence and understanding. And hopefully you end up with something close to what is pictured on the front of the directions. Albeit, as every guy knows, there will be extra parts.

And when you are done, you have a great sense of Pride in what you have accomplished, so much so that the piece you just assembled becomes your favorite and most important piece of furniture you own. This is known as “The IKEA Effect” or according to Wikipedia: that "labor alone can be sufficient to induce greater liking for the fruits of one's labor: even constructing a standardized bureau, an arduous, solitary task, can lead people to overvalue their (often poorly constructed) creations." (Wikipedia, IKEA Effect, Accessed 5/13/21).

What does this have to do with the celebration of Ascension Sunday?

It is an example of how our perceptions are often driven by our fears and how joy comes when our minds are opened and those fears are overcome.

Background of the passage

A. The events described in this passage happened the evening of the Resurrection, so the evening of the first Easter.

B. It occurred after the Emmaus Road event.

c. The disciples were in hiding in Jerusalem and the two who met Jesus on the Emmaus Road joined them and exclaimed that Jesus was risen.

d. Jesus had already appeared to Simon and the women.

e. Among those gathered there were those who believed and some who doubted but all were afraid.

f. WHY

1. Fear is Often a Result of Ignorance or Faulty Preconceptions (36-40)

The resurrection was indeed a joyous event. Christ the Lord had risen from the grave as he had promised. So why were his disciples afraid? Why did they doubt?

A. We find one reason to this question in verse 39:

Luke 24:39 NIV

Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

You see, a ghost could mean only one thing, that the person who belongs to that ghost is still dead. And if that person is still dead, well… There were a number of reasons this would have caused fear to the Jews.

Contacting or communicating with the dead was strictly forbidden.

Deuteronomy 18:10–14 NIV

Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God. The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so.

In Leviticus 20:5-7 the Lord says he will turn his face away and cut off anyone who does such things.

2. They would have remembered how their first king, Saul, was killed because he contacted Samuel after he died, as we read in 1 Samuel 28:3-25. He and his sons were killed in battle the day after.

3. It would have seemed to them a form of idolatry.

a. People seek to communicate with the dead in order to seek spiritual advice when we should seek this advice from God alone.

b. We cannot know if those with whom we are communicating are not demonic forces as we read in 1 Timothy 4:1-2

1 Timothy 4:1–2 NIV

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.

Why did they think he was a ghost?

There are three reasons I can think of here:

He died!

He was crucified, dead and buried!

They had been witnesses to this.

He appeared to them randomly and also in a room with the door closed!

Remember, this is all happening the same day as the Resurrection.

They really hadn’t had a lot of time to, as we say today, “Process this!”

So when someone you know has died suddenly appears in a room without coming through a door, you think it’s a ghost!

B. Another reason they were fearful is they were afraid of what the Jews and Romans would do to them.

Jesus had been put to death in an incredibly brutal way.

The disciples had to be asking themselves what was going to happen to them!

Fear and Despair were driving their thinking in light of an incomplete understanding of Jesus’ Words and the teachings of Scripture.

They were still thinking, even though they believed that Jesus was God’s Son, that he was here primarily to restore the earthly Kingdom of Israel.

We read in Acts Chapter 1:

Acts 1:6 NIV

Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

3. Not only had they lost their friend and teacher, they had also lost hope for their nation.

2. A True Understanding of Jesus in Scripture Dispels Fear (39-47)

One of the most reassuring verses in the Bible is John 16:33:

John 16:33 NIV

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Jesus spoke these words to his disciples the night before his crucifixion. Still, it is obvious they did not have peace in the days after Christ’s death. They were in hiding and when they heard he was risen they feared he was a ghost.

So the first thing Jesus does is give them the proper understanding of his nature:

He tells them to touch him (vv 39-40)

AND

He eats with them (vv 41-43)

After he invites them to touch him and they do and we read that they still didn’t believe but it was not because of fear: It was because of JOY!

We often hear the expression, “I don’t believe it!” for something we know to be absolutely true, whether joyful or terrifying. But, if ever that statement or the statement “too good to be true” applied anywhere, it applied here.

It is hard to imagine that kind of joy, isn’t it. I imagine the only thing that we could compare it to is finding a child alive who was presumed to be dead. I think about the young girls in the Ohio case who were held in a basement for years, or Elizabeth Smart who was held for almost 10 months. To hope against hope and to find them alive!?! We can only imagine!

He gives them a proper understanding of His purpose!

As mentioned earlier, the disciples really thought that Christ was here to restore the Kingdom of Israel to its former glory. In reality, while the restoration of Israel is part of the plan, Jesus’ purpose was infinitely greater. And though he had been with them for three years, the disciples could not see this plan because of their own preconceptions about the role of the Messiah.

Something needed to happen in order for them to fully comprehend his purpose. Their minds had to be opened beyond their own means of doing so.

There are two Greek words in this sentence I want to address:

dianoixen and nous: Literally, these words mean Open and Mind. Simple, but as a phrase it communicates something much deeper. The idea these words communicate is that Jesus put it all together for them, the concepts, the analogies, the prophecies where they were probably missed by many of the teachers and rulers. Remember, even though Luke makes this period between the resurrection and the ascension seem like a blink of an eye in his gospel, it actually lasted for 40 days. Forty more days for Christ to equip them with knowledge far beyond the most learned of the ruling classes.

Now before Jesus could impart this knowledge, one more thing had to happen for the disciples to receive and understand it. They had to be enabled by the Holy Spirit. Now Luke doesn’t mention this but in John 20:22 we read that Jesus “breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Then he goes on to talk to them about forgiveness. And this is when Jesus imparts a full knowledge of his purpose to them, that we might have forgiveness in His Name! And that this forgiveness would be preached to ALL NATIONS, not just one!

It wasn’t about restoring one kingdom, it was about restoring one race, mankind! It was about what could not be brought about fully under the Law. It took an act of the Holy Spirit to enable the disciples to receive it just as it does for us today. A true understanding of what Jesus did for us by dying on the cross and rising to life again can only come from a prompting of the Holy Spirit in our souls.

Leon Morris wrote that Jesus went “beyond showing how prophecy was fulfilled in his passion and resurrection. It was also fulfilled in the preaching of repentance and forgiveness of sins... In his name connects this repentance and forgiveness with what Jesus is and has done… Luke is speaking about what Christ has done for people and what is available through him... It is no petty forgiveness available for a few pious or nationalistic souls, but for all people.”

Leon Morris, Luke: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 3, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 361–362.

Jesus showed his disciples his true purpose through a true understanding of Scripture.

3. A True Understanding of Jesus in Scripture Demands Transforms our Hearts (48-53)

I only want to want to touch on this today as an introduction to next weeks sermon. I simply want to say that these disciples, who were only days and hours ago, afraid and hiding, were transformed into courageous, confident and committed men who with sincere joy in their hearts bore witness to the things Christ and the Holy Spirit had opened their minds to. Jesus opened their mind to the truth in Scripture and it transformed them to the point that, even when he was ascended into heaven away from them, their joy was still there, unlike the sorrow that they had when they believed him to be dead or a ghost.

We heard Psalm 47 earlier and can’t you just imagine that the disciples were quoting this psalm in the Temple as they were praising God!

Psalm 47 NIV

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. For the Lord Most High is awesome, the great King over all the earth. He subdued nations under us, peoples under our feet. He chose our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loved. God has ascended amid shouts of joy, the Lord amid the sounding of trumpets. Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise. God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne. The nobles of the nations assemble as the people of the God of Abraham, for the kings of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted.

Ok, that’s all the preview for next week.

Application

I only have one point of application here.

As believers we must develop a Spirit-led and Christ-centered understanding of the Bible

How do we do this?

Firstly, we must be in Scripture.

Let me quote the reformer John Calvin from his commentary on the Synoptic Gospels:

"Let the reader next observe, that the disciples had not the eyes of their mind opened, so as to comprehend the mysteries of God without any assistance, but so far as they are contained in the Scriptures; and thus was fulfilled what is said, (Ps. 119:18,) Enlighten mine eyes, that I may behold the wonders of thy law. For God does not bestow the Spirit on his people, in order to set aside the use of his word, but rather to render it fruitful. It is highly improper, therefore, in fanatics, under the pretence of revelations, to take upon themselves the liberty of despising the Scriptures; for what we now read in reference to the apostles is daily accomplished by Christ in all his people, namely, that by his Spirit he guides us to understand the Scriptures, and does not hurry us away into the idle raptures of enthusiasm.”

John Calvin and William Pringle, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, vol. 3 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 375–376.

Calvin is saying that we must not put aside Scripture because we have received the Holy Spirit. In fact, we must be deeper into it! We should let the Holy Spirit lead us in our study of the Bible so that we may have our minds opened and live fruitful lives.

Second, we submit to the teaching of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus put it all together for the disciples and the disciples took what they had been taught and wrote it down for us. Sometimes these writings can read like the instructions for that piece of furniture, confusing and difficult to understand.

But we are not alone when we read if we submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

We should not come to Scripture through the lens of our own “ISMs”. Many people today seek to adapt Scripture to their worldview whether it be liberalism, socialism or conservatism. We have Bibles for feminists, for gays and lesbians, for liberation theology and many other “ISMs”. These Bibles lead us only to solidify our own preconceptions and interpret the Word not through the Holy Spirit but the human one. They serve only to close our minds to what we already believe and are used to justify doing so.

Only when we submit willingly to the Holy Spirit in Scripture will our minds be opened to the true nature of Christ Jesus in Scripture and his teachings applied to our lives.

Next week I will carry this theme out a bit further.