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The Burn

Didn't Our Hearts Burn Within Us?

Surrendering to God’s total control means giving him your dashed hopes and broken dreams. Have you done that? If you have, perhaps you’ve taken them back out of his hands and are clinging in bitter disappointment that things have not turned out as you had hoped. Surrender them again to the One who defeated death and rose from the grave. After all, he specializes in resurrections – even of dead dreams!

The Journey: Luke 24:32

They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”

Heartburn isn’t usually a good thing, but when God shows up and gives you heartburn, it’s a good thing.

These two disciples were walking the seven-mile journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus, discussing the devastating news of the past few hours. It was the very first Easter Sunday, but they didn’t know yet that Jesus had risen from the tomb. As far as they were concerned, he was dead and gone—and so were their hopes.

Then Jesus showed up, although his identity was hidden from them, and gave them an incurable case of holy heartburn. It was the heartburn of hope, and it was just the cure their broken hearts needed in those post-crucifixion moments.

That’s the beauty of the resurrection. No matter what you’re going through, the empty tomb stands as a constant and certain reminder that there is always reason for hopefulness. That’s why the psalmist, David, said, “Why are you hopeless? Why are you in turmoil? Put your hope in God!” (Psalm 42:5) Resurrection hope is not just wishful thinking or a pie-in-the-sky kind of attitude that says, “Oh well, things will turn out okay someday.” It’s not the breezy kind of optimism that Mary Martin sang about in South Pacific when she said “I’m stuck like a dope with a thing called hope.”

The kind of hope Jesus will burn into your heart is first of all, a reliable hope. Marx said that hope is the opiate of the people, but Christian hope is built on the foundation of the Bible and supported by the reality of the empty tomb. Verse 27 says, “Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

Second, resurrection hope is a relational hope. The resurrection is not just a story from the pages of history. “Christ is risen” isn’t just a theological incantation clerics pull out of the bag of tricks every Easter. It is hope that arises from an experience with Jesus himself, not just a dream or a fantasy or a phantom. Verse 29 says, “So he went home with them.” Jesus walked with these two disciples. He ate with them. He listened to them, inviting them to pour out their hearts. And he revealed himself to them. Resurrection hope is a real person—an intimate relationship with the living Lord.

And third, the kind of hope Jesus wants to give you is a radical hope. When you encounter the risen Lord and put your complete trust in him, it will be nothing short of life-changing. Verse 31 says that after they had spent time with Jesus, “suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.” These two disciples were headed back to Emmaus to pick up the pieces of their shattered dreams, if that were even possible. Instead, they encountered Jesus, and their plans were radically altered. Actually, their lives were radically altered from that moment on.

Maybe you are in the kind of funk these two disciples were on that first Easter Sunday. Perhaps your dreams have been dashed, your circumstances are not what you had hoped for, and your life has not turned out as you expected. Get ready! If you start to get a little heartburn, it could be that the risen Lord is resurrecting your hopes.

By the way, when Jesus resurrects your hope, you will never be disappointed! (Romans 5:5, NLT)

Surrendering to God’s total control means giving him your dashed hopes and broken dreams. Have you done that? If you have, perhaps you’ve taken them back out of his hands and are clinging in bitter disappointment that things have not turned out as you had hoped. Surrender them again to the One who defeated death and rose from the grave. After all, he specializes in resurrections!

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, I surrender everything I have, everything I’ve lost and everything I desre to you. I am all yours. Now through the same power that resurrected Jesus from the dead, resurrect me to a new and living hope.
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Living Proof

When you consider the historical, physical, visual and transformational proof of the resurrection—verifiable evidence—you are forced to decide about Jesus: He is either Lord of all or he is not Lord at all, and Christianity is either based on truth that you should order your life by or it is nothing more than a legend which needs to be discarded. But as respected apologist Paul Little said, “For a mere legend about Christ…to have gained circulation and to have had the impact it had without one shred of basis in fact, is incredible.” The evidence says the resurrection is reliable fact; you can be confident in that. And from that evidence you will find that Jesus especially wants you to be convinced that he is alive!

The Journey: Luke 24:15

As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them.

A lot of people say, “I believe in Jesus. I think he was a great teacher…in fact I’d say he was God’s Son. But I’m not too sure about this resurrection thing…I mean really, it’s kind of unbelievable. It’s probably just a myth, anyway.”

According to a recent poll, 85% of Americans claim Christianity as their personal faith, yet of those, an astonishing 35% believe that though crucified, Jesus never had a physical resurrection. No resurrection! The Risen Lord is the heart and soul of Christianity. The Apostle Paul said Jesus rising from the tomb on the third day isn’t just a creative little addendum to the Easter story, it is central and essential to authentic faith. He pointed out if Christians are not going to stake their lives and their eternal future on the reality of the resurrection, then they are wasting their time being Christian.

Large numbers of people are fascinated with Jesus; they respect him; they even love him, in a way. Yet they are uncomfortable with the resurrection and uncertain that it really happened. However, buried deep within their hearts is a longing for the resurrection to be true. They need Jesus’ resurrection to be real—even if human logic has buried the possibility of someone rising from death—because they, too, hope for resurrection when they reach the end of their lives.

They are no different, really, than the people in first century Palestine who had placed their hopes in Jesus. They, too, had bought into his proclamation of eternal life, only to have their hopes dashed when Jesus was crucified on the cross and buried forever in a cold, hopeless garden tomb.

Or so they thought! Stories began to immediately circulate that Jesus had risen from the dead. At first his followers didn’t believe it—who in his right mind would?—until Jesus himself began to appear to them, offering not just hearsay evidence, but irrefutable evidence, living proof, that he was alive. That’s right, Jesus himself showed up and blew the doors of disbelief right off their jailhouse of doubt, forever freeing them to the settled truth that he was alive and that resurrection was now the new end of life order for all who placed their faith in him.

Jesus himself showed up! (Luke 24:15, 36) In the accounts of five different New Testament writers, the Risen Christ made thirteen separate appearances to a total of 557 witnesses—people who saw Jesus alive with their own eyes. At the time Paul wrote his piece about the resurrection, some thirty or so years later, he pointed out that most of those 500 plus eye-witnesses were still alive, so all any skeptic had to do was just go ask one of them for their personal account. (I Corinthians 15:6)

Acts 1:3 says, “During the forty days after his crucifixion, Jesus appeared to these people many times with convincing proofs that he was actually alive.” Jesus himself showed up. He wanted people to know that he was alive—that resurrection was the new order of the day.

When you consider the historical, physical, visual and the transformational proof of the resurrection—verifiable evidence—you are forced to decide about Jesus: He is either Lord of all or he is not Lord at all. He is either the risen Christ or he was an incredible liar. Either Christianity is based on truth that you should order your life by or it is nothing more than a legend, and therefore needs to be discarded as unreliable and swept forever into the dustbin of history.

But as respected apologist Paul E. Little stated, “For a mere legend about Christ, in the form of the gospel, to have gained circulation and to have had the impact it had without one shred of basis in fact, is incredible.”

The evidence says the resurrection is reliable fact; we can be confident in that. And from that evidence you will find that Jesus especially wants you to be convinced!

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!
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Submission

It is the Path to the Highest Honor

Submission is not a very appealing word in our culture, but it is critical to the kingdom life growing and producing God-pleasing fruit in us. Submission is not weakness, it is acceptance of the will of God for our lives, and our joyful surrender to it. Submission is an active faith in God’s plan and a ruthless trust in his character, especially when things are unpleasant for us. Submission says, as Jesus prayed, “Father not my will but your will be done.” Submission cares nothing about comfort, success or fame, but nevertheless, it is the pathway to the highest honor before God.

The Journey: Luke 23:46

Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” And with those words he breathed his last.”

Submission is not a very appealing word in our culture, but it is critical to the kingdom life growing and producing God-pleasing fruit in us. Submission is not weakness, it is acceptance of the will of God for our lives, and our joyful surrender to it. Submission is an active faith in God’s plan and a ruthless trust in his character, especially when things are unpleasant for us. Submission says, as Jesus prayed, “Father not my will but your will be done.”

Submission shapes everything about the Christian life: How we respond to our circumstances, how we regard others, how we regulate our emotions, and how we relate to the eternal world. More than anything, godly submission produces confidence that God knows what he is doing with our lives, which in turn, produces even greater surrender.

Submission also releases God’s favor in our lives. Just look at Jesus, the most powerful, yet most submissive man who ever lived. Of all the qualities that endeared him both to the Father and to those of us who have entrusted our eternal salvation to him, it was his joyful surrender to the mission of God that stand above all others. In particular, notice how his submission to God’s plan in the face of death released the Father’s high favor to him:

Jesus humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names. (Philippians 2: 8-9)

Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. (Hebrews 12:2)

Is there anything that moves both the heart and the hand of the Father more than our submission to the divine mission, especially when it requires surrender to the unpleasant providence of God? Is there anything that better demonstrates tough-minded but tender-hearted trust that God knows what he is doing than submission to his plan. Is there any greater joy, tranquility or stability than knowing and trusting that because of the Fathers’ competent care, this world is a perfectly safe and satisfying place—even when it doesn’t look like it? Is there any prayer more God-honoring than to pray, as Jesus did, “Not my will but your will be done…into your hands I commend my spirit.” (Luke 22:42, 23:46)

No—there is none!

Andrew Murray said, “Just as a servant knows that he must first obey his master in all things, so the surrender to an implicit and unquestionable obedience must become the essential characteristic of our lives.” Surrender and submission to the will of God is not always, perhaps not usually, an easily thing. Where do you need to submit to the Father’s will today?

Don’t be afraid; just do it. You will never regret it!

As you think about that, remember the words so movingly expressed by the old hymn,

My times are in thy hand:
Why should I fear?
My Father’s hand will never cause
His child a needless tear.

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, my times are in your hand; I will not fear. You will never cause nor cause me to shed a needless tear. I trust you completely, and so offer you my full submission.
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Thoroughly and Barely Saved

It Is Only By Grace

What was it that made the repentant thief hanging on the cross next to Jesus worthy of salvation—even if it was at the very last minute of his life? The same thing that makes you and me worthy of our salvation: Absolutely nothing. The thief had no time for a single good deed nor time to make right his long list of wrongs. All he could do was recognize his own guilt, believe in the redemptive righteousness of Jesus, and entrust his eternity to the mercy and grace of God. By the way, that is all anyone can do to be saved.

The Journey: Luke 23:42-43

Then the thief said to Jesus, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Two thieves hung on the cross, with Jesus between them. One of them joined the mocking crowd in hurling insults at the Lord, but the other hurled himself upon the mercy of God. And, according to Jesus’ own words, he was thoroughly saved that day, even if it was just barely.

The penitent thief had done no good works, had no track record of righteousness, had no opportunity to make right all the wrongs he had done. Yet Jesus assured him that within hours, he would be at the Lord’s side in eternity.

So what was it that made him worthy of salvation—even if it was at the very last minute of his life? The same thing that makes you and me worthy of our salvation: Absolutely nothing.

All the man could do was recognize his own guilt (“Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes…”), believe in the redemptive righteousness of Jesus (“but this man hasn’t done anything wrong….”), and entrust his eternity to the mercy and grace of God (“Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”)

By the way, that is all anyone can do to be saved. As the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” Furthermore, he added in Titus 23:4-7, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Not by works—it is a gift of grace to unworthy sinners. Our salvation is because of God’s kindness, not our righteous acts. Period.

The thief was thoroughly saved that day; as saved as you, me, or those who have faithfully served the Lord their entire lives. And that is the whole basis for the Gospel. That is what sets Christianity apart from every other religion: Salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Every other religious effort to attain eternal life is based on what we do. But what we do, no matter how much we do and how well we do it, can never be enough to satisfy a perfect and holy God.

Christianity is based on what Jesus did for us on the cross. Only by acknowledging our sinfulness, believing in his atoning work, and receiving him by faith can we appropriate God’s free gift of grace that thoroughly saves us for all eternity.

And that’s the Good News.

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, if my salvation was based on what I could do, I would never make it. Thank you that it is based solely on your free gift of Jesus atoning sacrifice for me. I will be eternally indebted to your grace and mercy. Praise you, Lord, for I am thoroughly saved for all eternity!
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Your Divine Prayer Team

You Can’t Lose When Prayer Works That Way

No matter how confident—or not—you are with your prayers, offer them up to God anyway. After all, according to the Bible, you’ve got quite a prayer team praying with you: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What great news: even at this very moment, the Holy Trinity is actively engaged on your behalf, and they won’t stop until they see that the Father’s perfect plan is fully worked out in your life both in time and for all eternity.

The Journey: Luke 22:31-32

Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.

There is a lot of prayer going up for you! I hope that comforts you, because whether you realize it or not, you’ve got quite a prayer team. Think about this: When you pray, it’s not just you praying. Romans 8:26-27: 26 says,

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

That is tremendous news! Paul says the Holy Spirit is actively engaged, at this moment, interceding within you and through you, lifting your life, taking your case speaking your name before the throne of the Heavenly Father and praying the Father’s perfect will for your life. As the great theologian C.H. Dodd so appropriately noted, “Prayer is the divine in us appealing to the Divine above us.”

Even when you don’t know what to pray for, or how to pray, or stumble through prayer, or even shortsightedly pray things that would be to your harm, the Holy Spirit comes alongside you to translate your prayer into the world’s greatest prayer, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Through the Spirit, “our prayers,” as C.S. Lewis said, “are really His prayers; He speaks to himself through us.” As frustrated and inept as you might be, when you pray, you unleash a divine dialogue between Father and Spirit. When you pray, Father and Spirit are strategizing how to turn the circumstances of your life, both good and bad, into that which will produce the greatest good in you. That’s why there’s no such thing for a child of God as ineffective prayer.

Now as amazing as that is, there’s more. Not only are Father and Spirit in a constant conversation about you, the Son is in on the discussion as well. Romans 8:34 says, “Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Compare that to Hebrews 7:24-25, “Because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”

Jesus’ job description as resurrected Lord is to be your personal intercessor. We saw that with Peter here in Luke 22, but it didn’t stop with Peter. Now Jesus stands night and day before the Father representing your case, too. And he intends not just to help you get through whatever you are going through, his mission is to save you completely! As Henry Blackaby writes, “When Jesus intercedes for us, the Father always hears him; the Father always responds immediately to bring to pass what the Son has requested. He is our advocate with the Father.”

Now try to take all of this in! What it means is that Father, Son and Spirit are actively engaged on your behalf at this very moment, and they won’t stop until they see that the Father’s perfect plan is fully worked out in you both in time and for all eternity.

And when you join then, that’s quite a prayer team you got, isn’t it?

No matter how confident—or not—you are with your prayers, offer them up to God. After all, you’ve got quite a prayer team praying with you!

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to live within me as my prayer partner. Thank you for sending Jesus to be my personal intercessor, bringing my needs before you night and day. Thank you for making me the object of the prayer team of the Holy Trinity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I am forever grateful!
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The Last Supper—For Now

Communion Calls Us to Look Back in Gratitude and Forward in Hope

Holy Communion means a promise. It is one of God’s best promises to you—the promise of his Second Coming. And he has never broken a promise—not one. Jesus sealed the promise of his return by his death, and he guaranteed it by his resurrection. He will make good on it—perhaps sooner than you expect. The next time you come to the Lord’s Table, remember, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:26)

The Journey: Luke 22:15-16

Jesus said, “I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. For I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.”

From the moment Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, Christians have regularly celebrated communion in memory of his death. Some church traditions celebrate it every Sunday, others celebrate it monthly—as does my church on the first Sunday of every month—and still others have their own tradition as to the frequency and practice of communion.

When we receive communion, we mostly focus on the Lord’s death and our redemption that was purchased at the moment of his sacrifice. And what a sweet time of remembrance it is. Nothing is more moving than coming to the Lord’s Table.

Yet it is not only about remembering, communion also calls us to look forward. Twice, as Jesus instituted this holy sacrament, he spoke to his disciples of a time in the future where he, himself, would again participate in this celebration. He was referring to his second coming. He was issuing a promise that he would come again, and each time they, and by extension, we, receive Holy Communion, partakers were to be reminded of that promise and rejoice in its future fulfillment.

The next time you receive Holy Communion, I want to challenge you to not only look back in gratitude for the Lord’s death, but look forward in hope to the Lord’s coming. When you eat the bread and drink the wine, you are declaring his death, as the Apostle Paul said, “til he comes.”

Holy Communion means a promise. It is one of God’s best promises to you. And he has never broken a promise—not one. Jesus sealed the promise of his return by his death, and he guaranteed it by his resurrection. He will make good on it—perhaps sooner than you expect. And as you come to the Table, remember, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” (1 Corinthians 11:26)

Even so, come Lord Jesus!

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, thank you for sending your Son as the sacrifice for my sin. By his death, and through his resurrection, I am forgiven, I am freed from the judgment of sin, and I have eternal life. And that the story doesn’t end with my redeemed life here on earth. It is a never ending story with the next chapter of many to come when the promise of his return is fulfilled. As I receive communion, I once again gratefully lay claim to my Lord’s soon return.
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The Dustbin of History

Here’s a quick reminder to help you keep a healthy perspective on life: What you see—it is temporary. It is here today and gone tomorrow, inexorably headed for the dustbin of history! I didn’t say it is unimportant—that may or may not be the case—but, for sure, it is temporary. It will all, even the really expensive stuff, sooner or later, return to the dust from which it came. Spiritually wise people will fight to keep that perspective regarding the stuff of life.

The Journey: Luke 21:5-6

Some of his disciples began talking about the majestic stonework of the Temple and the memorial decorations on the walls. But Jesus said, “The time is coming when all these things will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!”

Here’s a quick reminder to help you keep a healthy perspective on life: What you see—it is temporary; it is here today, gone tomorrow and inexorably headed for the dustbin of history!

I didn’t say it is unimportant—that may or may not be the case—but, for sure, it is temporary. It will all, even the really expensive stuff, sooner or later, return to the dust from which it came.

The disciples were pretty infatuated with the beauty and magnificence of Herod’s Temple, and rightly so, from a human perspective. It was a wonder to behold. But Jesus gave them a dose of reality by reminding them that every square inch of it would soon return to the dust from which it had been created.

Jesus didn’t say that the temple was unimportant. In fact, he had driven out the moneychangers who were corrupting that very place. (Matthew 21:12-13) He was upset that they had turned what should have been a house of prayer into a den of thieves. Jesus wasn’t down on this marvelous place of worship. He just knew that in the larger scheme of things, it was only temporary.

So also are all the things that give you comfort and security: Your home, car, clothes, jewelry, and all the other stuff that you spend your hard earned money on just to one day put in a garage sale. Not necessarily unimportant, mind you—just temporary.

Spiritually wise people will fight to keep that perspective regarding the stuff of life. They will remember, as Jesus said, that not only earth, but even the heavens as we know them will one day pass away. The only things that will remain are the things that he has proclaimed: “Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.” (Luke 21:33)

That’s why Jesus warned us not to get too caught up in the things of life: “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing” — the pursuit of happiness … “drunkenness” — the pursuit of pleasure … “and by the worries of this life” — the pursuit of comfort. (Luke 21:34)

The temporary stuff of this life will prove to be “a trap” (Luke 21:35) if we don’t ruthlessly maintain an eternal perspective: “Watch therefore, and pray…” (verse 36).

Friend, it would be wise for you to remember what the Master said as you go about your day today. Your stuff is temporary; only what is of faith is eternal. Perhaps a good prayer for you to whisper throughout this day would be the one suggested by Bernard, Archbishop of Vienne: “Let your prayer for temporal blessings be strictly limited to things absolutely necessary.” Perhaps that will keep you suspicious that most of what the world will tell you that you’ve just got to have now will produce nothing that will follow you into eternity.

A Simple Prayer To Be More Like Jesus:

God, keep me focused on the things of your eternal kingdom today, and not on the pursuit of the temporary stuff that vies for my attention.