"Burning Love"
March 27, 2005

The Old Testament Lesson: Job 19: 23 - 27
The New Testament Lesson: Luke 24: 13 - 32

To inspire a renewed feeling of the power of the resurrection

I.  We forget importance of the resurrection since we have heard it so often.
    A. Times when preachers have some trouble with the subject of sermon
        1. I’ve heard colleagues talk about sitting in front of blank computers
            a. They have simply no idea of how to start.
            b. wind up doing something else just to get the creative juices going
            c. Preachers’ block is one of the most frustrating things!
        2. That is exacerbated on Easter.
            a. But it is for a different reason.
            b. It is not that we don’t know what the subject is going to be.
            c. It is that we preach on the same subject every Easter.
            d. “What new thing can I say about Resurrection this year?”
        3. That question is compounded by the reality that this is one of the two sermons some people will hear all year!
            a. I remember a cartoon that I’ve mentioned before.
            b. A Pastor is Greeting at the door after service.
            c. Behind him is the sign board reading Easter Sunday: He Lives!
            d. The man he’s greeting is saying, “Boy Pastor, you’re in a rut. Every time I come here, you’re preaching on the resurrection!”
        4. Thinking about this, I even contemplated preaching something else
    B. But I Can’t: This is the most important message you’ll ever hear!
        1. This is the main distinctive of The Christian religion.
            a. Many faiths take you to the tomb where their founders body is laid.
            b. Others haven’t any Earthly presence, just heavenly messages
        2. In Christianity, our confession is that God became man.
            a. Jesus is God with us.
            b. He lived and then sacrificed himself for our salvation.
            c. But he was raised from death to defeat the power of death.
            d. So, while we have a burial site, it is empty.
        3. That Good News ought to thrill us!
    C. It is, however,  possible to lose the impact of this message
        1. You can’t be around church without hearing resurrection.
        2. The result is that it can become trite.
            a. Be honest.  Have you ever failed to react with excitement?
            b. You’ve heard it before.  You know what’s coming.
            c. A sermon on the resurrection is like a joke you’ve heard 100 times.
            d. As soon as you hear the opening, you’re already hearing the end.

II.  We don’t have to say something new.  Message of resurrection is enough! Think back to that first Easter and hear News that is incredible good!
    A. The disciples on the Road to Emmaus show us how we should react.
        1. As they traveled along, they were in deep grief.
            a. Obviously, they were men who knew Jesus well.
            b. They had listened to his teaching.
            c. The believed he was the promised Messiah.
            d. I believe they were part of the Palm Sunday throng.
        2. They meet a stranger along the way.
            a. Invited him to travel with them since traveling alone was dangerous
            b. His polite inquiry leads to astonishment
            c. It would be like not knowing of the assassination of Abe or MLK
        3. The Scriptures are interpreted in a new way
            a. But, the reason he isn’t upset is that he knows the promise.
            b. He tells them what they should already know.
            c. the crucifixion was necessary, but not necessarily the end.
            d. He opens their minds to hope through the resurrection.
        4. When they get to the dinner table, Jesus lets them in on the secret!
            a. He opens their physical eyes to the reality their hearts have shouted.
            b. I am alive!  The promise is true!
    B. Their reaction is the most instructive.
        1. Notice: It wasn’t the presence of Jesus that initiated their joy.
        2. “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked about scripture?”
            a. before they knew who this stranger was.
            b. While they were hearing the promises of God about resurrection
            c. It was not the proof but the promise that moved them!
        3. Have you ever had that feeling?  That burning of the heart?
            a. The result of being in God’s presence, whether or not we know it.
            b. when we come near to the reality, things suddenly make sense.
            c. There is a feeling of anticipation, excitement, expectancy.
            d. Something good is coming our way!
        4. John Wesley felt that at his meeting in Aldersgate.
            a. He, like these disciples, listened to the promise.
            b. He says “My heart was strangely warmed!”
            c. God was present and at work within him.
    C. That first Easter, amidst the grief, there was room for hope!
        1. The hope was stirring when they didn’t know it was there.
        2. Their heads were shouting “Hope is dead!”
        3. Their hearts whispered “Resurrection!” all the same.
        4. And they responded to the whisper!
        5. Resurrection guarantees that hope is never dead.

III.  Resurrection should be a part of our daily mindset.
    A. Friends, today I want your hearts to ignite in hope.
        1. I want you to feel that same burning in your hearts.
        2. Have you been weighed down by anxiety and fear?
            a. Are there challenges in your life that you don’t want to face?
            b. Is illness or age making your fretful for the future?
            c. These are things that extinguish the burning
        3. But the promise is stronger still.
            a. Resurrection! is being whispered in your heart this morning.
            b. The hope of the ages has come.
            c. This life is really just the front porch of the home God has for us.
        4. Resurrection is not just an old story for Easter morning.
        5. It is the reality that forms the background for everything else we do.
    B. I want you to fix your minds on that Truth.
        1. It will change the way your approach everything.
            a. knowing that we will be raised gives a different perspective
            b. Everything we do in this life is a prelude to what comes after.
        2. This reminds me of the quip often repeated:  If I’d know how long I was going to live, I’d have taken better care of myself.
        3. Friends, those who place their trust in Jesus are going to live forever.

Once, when Alfred Lord Tennyson was on vacation and out of contact with current events, he stopped and elderly woman in a small village.  “Is there any news?”  Her response was, “Well, there is only one piece of news that I know, and that is that Christ dies for my sins.”  Tennyson replied, “that is old news, and good news and new news!”  Friends, the same can be said of the resurrection.  Certainly it is old news, for it has been announced for 2000 Easters.  But it is also Good News.  In fact, it is the best news ever heard for by that event, death is defeated.  And at the same time, it is new news, for every time we place our trust in this decisive victory of God, it changes our entire perspective on life.  Take heart.  God’s love is victorious over sin.  Halleluiah!  Christ is Risen!

(He is Risen Indeed!)

And as you go from this place, may you walk in the way of Christ Jesus and May God always find you faithful!