A Saviour who cares about our fellowship, feelings, faith and future

Luke 24 verses 13 – 35

“And it came to pass, that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.”

Somehow it wouldn’t be the same leaving Easter without coming back to Luke’s gospel chapter 24.  It brings us back to 2 disciples walking on the Emmaus road who were downhearted, despondent and going through difficult times.  Here the Lord draws near to them.  Perhaps we are going through difficult times and feel no-one cares about us.  It is difficult to see and hear Christ working in our situation.  There is a saying “never judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes.”  It is good not to judge someone until you take on board their situation.  Frank Graeff was a Methodist minister who lived in the late 1800’s.  He earned the nickname of the sunshine minister because he was always cheerful.  Frank was given to heavy bouts of depression.  One of the hymns he wrote was

Does Jesus care when my heart is pained
Too deeply for mirth or song,
As the burdens press, and the cares distress,
And the way grows weary and long?

Refrain:
Oh, yes, He cares, I know He cares,
His heart is touched with my grief;
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,
I know my Savior cares.

We have a Saviour who cares for us today.  There is a thought today that God created this whole world, gave it a spin and then sat back and said to the human race “get on with it.”  Is that the thought you have of God today?  Are you despondent?  Thank God we can look to the Saviour who really cares.  For these 2 pilgrims Jesus was concerned about them.

Jesus is concerned about their fellowship.  “Where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst.”  God is not interested in the hundreds but little assemblies where 2 or 3 people gather together in Jesus’ name.  If they do that which honours and glorifies him he is there in the midst of them.  He draws near to where you are today and has so much care for you. Jesus in verse 15 promised his very presence and not an angel.  He did much more though because he walked with them.  Was there a moment in your life when you made you way to the foot of the cross, bowed your knee and took the Lord as Saviour?  Was there a time when you began to think of the things of God?  That was God speaking to you.  Did you ever confess your sin?  Ask the Lord to come into your heart and save your soul?  Here were 2 despondent in their heart.  They were 2 Christians downhearted in their soul.  It took the Lord to draw alongside and walk with them.  He wants to come to your heart today, to draw alongside you and walk with you.  “Behold I stand at the door and knock, If any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in.”  Jesus Christ has a concern about fellowship – verse 17.  He asks them “why are you so sad.”  Verse 19 “what things” he asks the disciples.  They began to tell Jesus about the things that had happened in Jerusalem.  Jesus was bringing them to the place where somehow their fellowship was broken.  That is what the Lord does with us.  We get out of touch with the Lord but he brings us to the place where our relationship was broken.  These 2 disciples were walking away from Jerusalem, the place of fellowship, to the place where the relationship needed to be mended.  Jesus was showing concern about them.  Fellowship is so important.  There was a story of a minister who was visiting his congregation.  One particular man hadn’t been attending the church for some time so the minister decided to call with him.  They sat together and talked about the man’s grievance with the church.  The man told the minister that as a result he was happy to stay in his house on a Sunday and have communion with the Lord there.  The minister lifted out a live coal from the fire and set it on the hearth.  Both men watched it getting colder and colder, blacker and blacker until the minister was able to reach out and lift it.  The minister then told the man “you feel ok today but every time you miss a meeting you get colder and colder.  Why?  Because you have no fellowship.”  It is only when it is in the middle of the fire that the coal burns bright and gives off heat.  Jesus is concerned about our fellowship.  John 10 verse 27 “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.”  In John 15 Jesus spoke of the vine and likened himself to the vine with his disciples being the branches.  The branches have a solid connection because they are drawing from the vine.  The branches are then bearing fruit.  Jesus was concerned about these 2 men and their fellowship.

Jesus was concerned about their feelings.  These 2 disciples were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  Their heads were in their hearts, heavy.  What does Jesus see?  He sees them talking together but their heads were down.  He was interested in their feelings.  The Lord is interested in every bit of us.  He feels for us in our emotions.  Jesus knew all about them and wanted to know about their feelings.  Jesus was concerned about their sadness.  Isn’t it wonderful what we hold inside of us, all the sorrow, sadness he is concerned about it.  Does this feel like a God who would tell us “there you are, get on with everything”?  Hebrews 4 verse 15.  Jesus Christ is our High Priest and he knows about our sadness, sorrow, darkness and weakness.  There is not an emotion he doesn’t know about.  He wants you to bring it to him right now.  Is there something burdening you down?  The Lord knows about it already.  “Man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart.”  The Lord is concerned about it all.  He wants you to bring it to him.  1 Peter 5 verse 7.  He cares for you today.  No one proved those words more than Peter himself.  Before the cock crowed he denied Jesus three times but as the Lord rose again he told the women “go and tell my disciples and Peter.”  He did not want to leave him out.  In the parable of the sower Jesus told about the seed that grew amongst the weeds.  Jesus said the weeds represented the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches.  The seed and the weeds grew together but the weeds eventually choked the seed.  Cares will choke the word of God today.  The harm today is when we put too much emphasis on the things we worry about and do not listen to the word of God.  The Lord knows all about your cares.  He only wants to mould your life through them.  When the blacksmith puts the piece of iron in the furnace he knows the exact temperature it should be at and how long it should be put in the fire.  Sometimes when you and I go through a time of trial we feel it is too long.  The Lord knows the heat of the furnace and wants to make something beautiful out of that life of yours.

Jesus was concerned about their faith.  Jesus is bringing them to that place and reminding them of what they knew.  He said to them in verse 25 “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken; Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?”  The devil likes to take us away from the word of God.  The Lord seeks to strengthen them in their faith.  The Lord is concerned about your faith, the faith that you have in the finished work of Calvary.  The devil will do all in his power to take away that strength.  When I come to the Lord and he saves me I beginning a walk with him and I am kept by the power of God.  If the devil can get in and weaken that faith he will.  He will get you down and take you away.  “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”  Jesus is concerned about your faith.  Has it grown?  Has Jesus something to be concerned about?  Are you growing in the knowledge of saving grace?  The disciples were caught up in the changing circumstances.  What happens when circumstances change for us?  These 2 men were full of the idea that Jesus would deliver them from their enemies.  They had so much hope – verse 19 – but then the Jewish people rejected him and the Roman soldiers took him and crucified him.  These 2 men felt that Jesus had let them down.  Jesus took them back to the word of God.  Remember when Jesus and his disciples were in the boat when a storm rose up.  Jesus was sleeping but the disciples came to him afraid saying “carest thou not that we perish?”  Jesus’ reply was “why are ye so fearful have you no faith?”  Jesus is concerned about your faith or the lack of it.

Jesus was concerned about their future.  When they went into that house, sat at the table, broke bread then they realised who Jesus was.  They had a love and desire once again for that fellowship left behind in Jerusalem.  They went back and began to tell the disciples what had happened.  They were on fire for the Lord.  The Lord would love one person to open up their heart today and say to him “come and do what you did on the road to Emmaus.”  Is there a break in your fellowship with him today?  Have you been reminded of it?  Have you got to go back and restore it again?  Jesus is concerned about your feelings you know.  What about your faith – are you still growing in the Lord?  Is there a concern in your heart for the souls of others?  Thank God he is faithful and he doesn’t leave us in the depths of our despondency.