Luke 24:13-53

Peter Thompson preaching from Luke 24:13-53. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Our reading this morning is from Luke chapter twenty-four, verse thirteen to fifty-three. So let us read together. That very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk? And they stood still looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopus, answered him, Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? And he said to them, What things? And they said to him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty indeed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see him. And he said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going further, but they urged him strongly, saying, Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now spent. So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures? And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon. Then they told what happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, Peace to you. But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, Why are you troubled, and why do you doubt? Why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still believed for joy and were marveling, he said to them, Have you anything here to eat? They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them. Then he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you. But everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer, and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning with Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things, and behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifted up his hands, he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven, and they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God. And so reads God's word.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Anyone else study Emily Dickinson in school? Not even the Irish people. Oh, we did over here. Okay. Well, she is American. She was born almost 200 years ago. And one line from one poem still sticks with me. If I thought of other poems, they'd probably be different poets. I don't remember, but this one sticks with me. Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul. There's that image of a small bird in your mind's eye. What's that hope like? As far as I remember, I did I did Google it, but uh I still can't remember it now. But as far as I remember, that the bird sings sweetly as the gales blow. And it gives hope to the soul that it belongs to. But does it last? Can it help someone through the hardest of circumstances? Sometimes it feels like that bird could so easily be crushed, and the hope would be no more. Another literary masterpiece, Madagascar, I can't remember which one, one or two, there's a brief scene in one of the movies where one of the four main animals rescues a little bird, places it in a little pond, and then moments later a crocodile comes up from underneath and snaps it. And the little birdie is no more. Where does your hope lie? How secure is it? What would happen if it was taken away? Could it be crushed like that little bird? In our passage today, Jesus draw draws near to these two disciples along their journey to Emmaus. They're talking about all that's happened, and Jesus asks, So uh, what are you talking about there? Sounds a little nosy, but I guess uh they weren't able to put their headphones in because they hadn't been invented yet, they couldn't ignore him. I don't know if you're the kind of person on the bus who just starts talking to the person next to you to strangers. I find as I'm getting older I've started doing it more. Um But Jesus comes alongside them and asks them what they're talking about, and they're shocked. It's it's it's it's a key piece of information for the the the evidence of the the resurrection and the the well the death and the resurrection of Christ because they're shocked. They're like, are you the only person in Jerusalem? Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who hasn't heard? Are you living under a stone? And look at the end of verse 17. They stood still, looking sad. They're so sad because their friend has just died, a cruel death. And then a couple of verses down in verse 21, these sad disciples they say some of the heaviest things you're gonna hear. They say, But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. These disciples had so much hope. They'd hoped that Jesus would free their people, lead them to victory, give them peace, even supremacy, maybe. They'd hoped that Jesus would save them. And instead, what they saw was that hope went to Jerusalem to die. That's where these disciples were. Imagine you're out in the desert, you're parched, the sun is beating down on you, and you have no water. And in the distance, you see some water and an oasis. You get your hopes up. But of course, it turns out to be a mirage. The light and the heat playing tricks with you and getting your hopes up just for them to be dashed, as you realize there's no water to quench your thirst. That's kind of what these disciples are. That's that's where they're at this first Easter Sunday before they realized that Jesus truly was alive. And it's in this place, this place of mind, that Jesus draws near to those two disciples. Jesus draws near to them in their hopelessness. Where has hope died for you? Where are the mirages that you thought at one stage would offer you satisfaction but turned out to be empty and hollow fakes? Where are you feeling hopeless? Where are you feeling like Jesus should have done something for you? Are you saying God needs to do this for me? I'm holding out for him to do this thing or that thing? Are you beginning to lose hope? Have you lost hope already? Jesus draws alongside the hopeless. And he does so even as you walk away from where that hope died. Hope in Jesus who draws near to the hopeless. The rest of the disciples were gathered back in Jerusalem, and Jesus stood among them. And they were frightened, they were startled, but the Prince of Peace says to them, peace to you. We're down in verse 36. When the angels announced Christ's birth uh back at the start of Luke, they proclaimed on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. And now Jesus is not only pleased to live among his disciples and to be with his people, he's pleased to stand among them now, even in their fear, even as they're frightened, they're startled, and he declares peace to them. Jesus knows where they're at and he meets them there. Jesus knows how you're feeling. He knows the depths of your heart and your soul, and he meets you there, proclaiming peace to you. But what is that peace? Is it good circumstances? Is it wealth? Is it good relationships, good health, a good job, good status, etc., etc.? The list goes on. It can't be those things here. These disciples that he's saying, peace to you, he's gonna send them out. He's gonna send them out to proclaim the gospel, and they're gonna be persecuted. Many of them are gonna be killed for preaching the gospel, for doing what Jesus says, and yet Jesus says, Peace to you here. Peter, who is there in that room when Jesus stood among them years after he wrote in his first letter, if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. Later in our passage in Luke 24, Jesus says that they're going to preach repentance for forgiveness of sins. That's why, that's why they get persecuted. People are offended when you tell them they're sinners and they they need to turn. The gospel's offensive. Maybe you're offended by that uh today. We must turn from our sin to Christ. But for these disciples, what sort of peace, and for us as disciples, what sort of peace does Jesus proclaim that doesn't exclude suffering and even death? This can't be a worldly peace. This can't be a peace that's proclaimed out there. This is a peace irrespective of circumstances. This is a peace of having the risen Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace, stand with you. It's a peace of being united to him by faith through his death and resurrection. This peace is being right with God Himself, the creator of the universe, the Holy One. This is the peace that Jesus declares to his disciples, and he stands among them. But it's interesting, isn't it, that they're frightened and startled when Jesus appears. Maybe it's legitimate, they they thought he was dead, so maybe they think he's a ghost. It kind of sees it's that's what Luke says in the text. They they can't quite believe it. But still, it's in that frightened, that startled state that Jesus stands among them. And this is where Jesus stands beside you. You may be, like these disciples, startled, frightened in encountering the risen Lord Jesus. You may be frightened by the implications of him actually rising from the dead and what that means for you. If he did truly rise from the dead, well, that changes everything. You can't just stay living as you are. You either dismiss it and say, ah, these are just ghost stories. Or you behold the risen Lord Jesus standing with you in your fear, and you follow him wholeheartedly. And wherever you are afraid, wherever you're frightened, those places, that's where Jesus comes near to you. He stands with you and he says, peace to you. He says, You are mine, I'm never letting you go. He said, I died so that you would be united to me forever, never separated. Take immense comfort from the fact that he stands with you. Hope in Jesus who draws near the frightened. As these two disciples, back to the two disciples on the road, as these two disciples are walking along the road, they're talking about everything that's just happened during the past few days and weeks, and they're confused. They're struggling to make sense of it all. Jesus draws near to those trying to make sense of things. You see, in walking towards Emmaus, they're walking from Jerusalem where all this had happened, where they had seen their hope die. They're walking away from the horror and the trauma that they had witnessed at the cross. And it's here that Jesus draws near to them. He draws near to them in their confusion, their hurt, their loss, their grief, their trauma. To walk with them, to listen to them, to talk to them. And this is what Jesus does with us. When we're trying to make sense of our lives, he draws near to us. When we're confused or even traumatized, he comes alongside us and walks with us. Even when we're walking away from it all. Or maybe we're heading down those old familiar roads, back home, back to what's comfortable and known. And Jesus gives us time. He's patient. This journey is long enough. I haven't walked seven miles in a long time. Maybe some of you had to do that today. Well done if you did. But if you did, you'll know that it you would have had to set off quite early. It takes most of the day. Because by the time they get to Emmaus, it's getting dark. And I'm sure you've been on uh long journeys where either you or the other person has plenty of opportunity to just talk and talk, to work things out verbally. Or it gives you the opportunity to say something important. Parents are great at seizing those opportunities, aren't they, when uh we were teenagers for difficult or tricky conversations with their kids, especially when they start talking about uh relationships or changes in your body, etc. etc. Um, you're not gonna open the car door. Uh you're just gonna blush. You're not gonna open the car door and jump out because you're on this long journey, you can't get out. There's a good chance for you to try and make sense of things. Not quite like that, but similarly, Jesus comes beside you as you wrestle with making sense of what's going on in your life. He draws near to you when you ask the difficult questions that you have about faith and life. He walks closely with you as you try to sort out in your head what's going on. There's a hope in Jesus who draws near to those who are just trying to make sense of things. Similarly, Jesus comes alongside those who are looking for meaning. And trying to make sense of these last few days, the two disciples they're searching for meaning. What does all this mean? What does it mean that the women came back from the tomb saying he's alive? As they walk along, they're trying to find meaning in light of scripture as well. This is what they had, uh this hope that they had had, the meaning they were looking for was what they knew from God's word. They were trying to make sense of the fact that they were anticipating that Jesus was the one who was to bring victory for God's people. What does all this mean? Jesus draws near and walks with them. We're all looking for meaning. So many people are looking in the wrong places. There was a program on Irish TV called The Meaning of Life for a number of years. They had famous people on talking about what they thought the meaning of life was. I didn't watch much of it, but when you tuned in, what you heard was a few kind of same things. It was lovely to hear their stories, the story of their life, etc., but they were they were finding trying to find meaning in themselves. What they could make of themselves. Can they be happy? Can they be content in their own skin? Or many of them found meaning in in family, in relationships or friends. Those are all fine to a greater or lesser extent. But the search for meaning, it won't stop there. Those things are fragile. They can be taken away. And when that happened that happens, if your meaning is there, if their meaning is there, then that meaning is gone. That's where the disciples' hope was. That's where their meaning was. They were finding their meaning in the victory they hoped that Jesus would bring. And for those who are struggling to know what meaning there is, Jesus draws near to you. When life seems meaningless, when what you know no longer gives you that meaning, Jesus comes alongside you and he listens. He meets us in our search for meaning. There's a hope in Jesus who draws near to those who are looking for meaning. But Christ not only meets people who are looking for meaning, he engages with the skeptic. Jesus stands among his disciples who doubt. They're doubting. Verse 38. He draws near to them and comforts them. Like those who are confused, frightened, struggling to make sense of everything. Jesus meets people who are skeptical where they're at. So much of his interactions with the disciples that evening, as they were gathered in Jerusalem, was geared towards a group of people who were doubting or were skeptical about it all. And Jesus is willing to answer their doubts. He's willing to give them proof. He offers various kinds of proof, engaging their struggles, engaging their questions, engaging their doubts. He shows them his hands and his feet so that they would see his flesh and his bones, especially where he was bearing the fresh wounds of the nails. And he goes further. He knows they're worried he's a ghost. So he eats some food to help them see that it truly is him in the flesh. People do these tests for their companies do these tests for their products, like if they have an amazing phone case, they'll drop it off a tall building onto a onto a concrete pavement. Or the sharpest knives in the world, they'll slice the thin slice off a tomato to show you it's it's perfect. That's because we're we're skeptical. It's good, probably in those cases that we're skeptical. Jesus knows that about us. So he meets us in our doubts. If you're a skeptic, Jesus is willing to take your questions, to hear your issues, to meet you where you're at. And he wants you to know peace. He wants you to be at peace with God through his death on your behalf. He wants you to know life to the full and be confident it's yours by faith in him, the one who rose to life. So hope in Jesus who draws near to the skeptic. Hope in Jesus who draws near to those looking for meaning, to those trying to make sense of life, the frightened and the hopeless. One of the very curious things in this passage, pretty much at the top, is that these disciples were kept from recognizing Jesus initially. And that's both for our sake and for theirs. You see, it gave them and it gives us the opportunity to believe based on his word, his suffering, and his table. This is how Jesus draws near to us. Jesus draws near to us in his word, in his suffering, and in his table. The two disciples in verses 13 to 35, they knew their Bibles. They loved God's word, they delighted in it, but they didn't see what it truly said because they didn't see Christ. But again, Jesus drew near to them. And as they walked that road from Jerusalem to Emmaus, he showed them himself in the whole Old Testament. He came near to them in his word. And when he departed at the end of our passage, ascending into heaven, his physical absence was not only not missed, but because we have his word, we all, even 2,000 years later, know this same Jesus drawing near to us in the scriptures, both Old and New Testaments. So let Jesus draw near to you in his word. In the everyday, on your way down the road, he wants to meet you in his word. On Sundays, here now, Jesus meets us in his word. As it's preached, as it's read, as we sing it. In community groups, Christ meets us in his word. And where does he meet us in the Old Testament? As you read Genesis 1, see Jesus being present as God speaks all things into existence. Genesis 3, see Jesus as the seed of Eve, who would crush the serpent's head and who would be struck himself. In reading about Abraham being willing to give his only son, we see Jesus. When Abraham says God will provide a lamb to be the sacrifice, we meet Jesus stepping into our place. When you read about Moses holding up the bronze serpent in Numbers 21, you see Jesus lifted up on the cross, that those who trust in him and turn to him in faith will be healed. When you read about the sacrificial system to purify people so that they can come to God and have peace with him, you see Jesus. When you read of God's people failing over and over, you long for and anticipate his true Son living perfectly according to his good will. When you hear the agony of Psalm 22, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Hear Jesus who willingly went to the cross for you. When you read the next Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. You anticipate the great shepherd of the sheep, Jesus. When you read Psalm 110, hear King David proclaim to you that there is one who sits at God's right hand with all power and authority, and you see Jesus. When you read Proverbs, find Jesus there as the wisdom of God, the wise son who listens perfectly to his father. When you read Isaiah 53, you meet the suffering servant who is Jesus. When you read Hosea, see Jesus give everything for his bride for the church, even though we've run away from him and given ourselves over to other things. We'll see Christ in the book of Jonah from next week for the following few Sundays. When you read Zephaniah, see Jesus as the one in our midst who takes away the judgments we deserve and sings and rejoices over us, his people. When you read Malachi, see Jesus as the Son of righteousness, rising with healing in his wings. I mean, you can't chuck a brick in the Old Testament without hitting a place where Christ draws near to you. Now, somewhat of a word of warning. A wise friend of mine was wondering about his own relationship with God and the Bible. And at one time in the past, he asked whether he had more of a relationship with the text of Scripture or with the Lord Jesus Himself. It's an excellent question to ask. It is so wonderful to study the scriptures, so wonderful to spot these patterns of where we see Christ in the Old Testament. But you can do so in a way where you either miss, or maybe even if you're pulling out those patterns, you avoid Christ. He is the one we find there because we meet him in his word. Don't miss him. Don't miss meeting Jesus in his word. Hope in Jesus who draws near in his word. Jesus also draws near in his suffering. This is what he repeats through the passage. It was necessary for Christ, for the Christ to suffer. Jesus says, I had to suffer for your sake. He says this, and he says that scriptures have said this all along. Lots of those passages that I mentioned, they talk about God's, how God's chosen one would suffer. Genesis 3 with Adam and Eve and the serpent in the garden. Genesis 22 with Abraham and Isaac, Psalm 22, which Jesus quoted on the cross. Isaiah 53, which is a powerful description of what Jesus would face on the cross for our sake. And there are just a few places in Scripture that point forward to how the Christ, how Jesus will suffer. And this is what Jesus outlines to them here. And that's why he calls them foolish. They don't see what's right there in front of them. And they don't actually believe what the scriptures say. They don't truly believe. Again, what the scriptures say from beginning to end is that Christ suffered for our sake. Christ suffered for your sake. Jesus draws near to us, and in fact, he actually draws us near to himself. He draws us near to God in his suffering. His death on the cross achieved our salvation. And in his suffering, we find one who comes so close to us because he understands on the deepest of levels our humanity. He understands us in our suffering. When you suffer, meet Jesus who suffered there. And on our way home, we came across some of those rolling protests on the motorway back to Dublin. They didn't cause us too much trouble, thankfully. The delay wasn't too long. But when you come to the first one, especially, you're worried that you're going to be stopped for ages. You're worried Lucy's going to start kicking off and start crying. But actually, what helped us through was that some people went ahead and there was a group chat, and people were popping in the group chat. Oh, there's a protest here around Athlone, but you'll get through in five minutes, no problem. And that small little assurance was so helpful in getting through. And that's such a small example, such a small thing, but it was helpful. Because those who had gone through the hardship already, again, it's very, very minor hardship, understood exactly what we were going through, what was coming down the road for us. And it helped us. They met us in those messages where we were at. Obviously, in a far, far, far greater way. Jesus went through the greatest suffering ahead of us. So when we face trials, when we face hardship, when we face suffering, he draws near. He meets us in the midst of our suffering. He walks with us through our suffering because he has walked that path before us. Hope in Jesus who draws near in his suffering. Remarkably, the two disciples, they don't recognize Jesus until the breaking of the bread. I think it's the Spirit who's doing that to keep them from recognizing him, but again, it's crucial for our faith and for theirs. You see, their faith, having been kept from recognizing him for the whole journey, is rooted in Scripture, in his suffering, and now in the breaking of the bread. Jesus drew near to them on the road, and as they get to Emmaus, it's getting dark, and they invite him to stay. You shouldn't be out at night traveling. They're hospitable, they take him in and they share a meal. And it's in sharing this meal with Jesus that their eyes are open to see who he is. When Jesus took the bread, he blessed it, he broke it and gave it to them, then they realized that it was him. What changed? What made the difference? They probably remembered the feeding of the 5,000, where Jesus took the five loaves, the two fish, he blessed them, broke them, and gave them out miraculously to feed 5,000 men plus women and children. And so here in him taking, blessing, breaking, and giving again, they would have remembered this miraculous provision that day earlier in his ministry. But I think what really caused their eyes to open was them remembering just back just a few nights to the Last Supper, when he again took the bread, he gave thanks and he broke it, and he said, This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And now, here, seeing Jesus break bread again, they remembered and their eyes were opened. Did they merely remember the actions linking up with the words of Jesus here? Or what did they see? In the breaking of the bread here, they saw Christ suffering. Remember, that's what they were struggling with. They failed to see that Jesus was meant to suffer and die, as Scripture says, and as he'd been saying over and over through his ministry. And so it's in seeing the bread broken that it clicks for them. That their eyes were open, that the Spirit works in them. And they realized that Jesus had to suffer. He had to suffer and die for them. Despite the fact that Jesus was with them on that long journey to Emmaus, it wasn't until they saw the bread broken that they truly met him and came to believe. It wasn't until they realized that Jesus had to suffer for them that they truly saw him. And so when we come to the Lord's Supper, we meet the risen Lord Jesus who suffered for our sake in his body broken and in his blood spilled for us. Every week, look at the bread as it's broken and see Christ's broken body for you. Look at the cup lifted up and see Christ's blood shed for you. Hope in Jesus, who draws near in his table, in his suffering, and in his word. And when you meet the risen Lord Jesus, when he draws near to you, when he stands next to you, you're not left the same way. The two disciples in Emmaus on that first Easter evening, when they realize who Jesus is, that he's risen, that all hope is not lost, that hope has actually been raised. And it can't be taken away even by death. They're transformed. And so they testify to the good news that they've just realized. They testify to the gospel. The gospel is the good news. The good news that Jesus died and rose and suffered for our sake. And they start with their friends, their fellow disciples, and they start immediately. Not too long before they start running back to Jerusalem. They were telling Jesus that it was too late, too late to be out, too late to be out traveling. Yet because of this most incredible development, they don't care about any of that. And they get back as quick as they could to tell the others. The amazing news that Christ rose from the dead and is alive is not something that you can keep to yourself. They went straight to the other disciples and they told them everything. But when you exciting news, you feel like running to those close to you, even if it's in the middle of the night, you run or you pick up the phone, you ring them straight away. Nicole's brother got engaged about a month ago and they came over so late. We were both ready for bed, but they got engaged, and it was so exciting. Of course, we were delighted. And when Jesus draws near in his word, his suffering, his table, and you meet him, you don't keep it to yourself. You tell it to those around you. You encourage those disciples that you're with, your brothers and sisters, a community group on a Sunday morning. Maybe you'll even run seven miles to tell them. It's such an encouragement when people share how they've encountered Jesus that day or that week or that month. It never ceases to be the greatest of joys to hear how God is working in people's lives. So testify to the gospel with your friends, with your brothers and sisters. And we don't stop there. This good news that we have must be spread beyond these four walls. It must be spread beyond the four walls of your homes. It must be spread beyond the four walls where you have community group. We must testify to the good news of Christ's resurrection out in the world. Jesus commissions his disciples here in verse 48. He gives them the same mission that he has had. He gives them the task of continuing to spread the good news of the gospel to the rest of the world, to all nations. He says they'll start in Jerusalem where they are, and then they'll go out from there preaching repentance for the forgiveness of sins across borders, across oceans, until it goes out into all the world. They're to be like if every radio and television station got interrupted for the most amazing, wonderful breaking news. That's what we've been called to. We've been given this mission to take the gospel to all nations. It's so important that we testify to what God is doing in our lives with each other, but we must take it further too. We must take it to our families who haven't met Jesus, our friends who don't know him, and our colleagues who haven't heard the good news. We must take on this mission to share this gospel with those in Dublin and across Ireland and across the world. Meeting Jesus transforms us so much that we want others to be transformed by him too. So we go forth with the gospel to proclaim it to the hopeless, to the skeptic, the frightened, the confused, knowing that Jesus meets them where they're at. But we don't go along. Actually, if you think that sounds like a walk in the park, that you'd be able to do it all in your own strength, then you've been mistaken. Jesus has given us the power of his very own spirit to help us as we go and share the gospel with the world. That's the promise of the Father in verse 49. And we are clothed with power from on high to equip us to testify to the gospel to every nation. The Holy Spirit is with you as you tell others that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and that he has met you. The Holy Spirit gives you power to preach to those around you that they need to turn from their sin and find forgiveness in Christ. The Holy Spirit is the promise your Father gives to you to proclaim the good news of the gospel to the nations. So testify to the gospel out in the world. This new and transformed life that comes about when we encounter the risen Lord Jesus Christ, who draws near to us, it bursts out in worship of Jesus. We've already seen that. That worship looks like running to tell your friends what he's done. And it looks like proclaiming the gospel to the nations. But it also bubbles to the surface in whole lives of worship. We testify to the gospel through a life of worship. Jesus takes his disciples out to Bethany at the end of our passage and he blesses them. And as he does so, he ascends into heaven to take his rightful place at the right hand of the throne of God. And as he says, he's going to send his spirit. His father has promised his spirit. As he leaves his disciples, he blesses them. And every week we receive God's blessing. In the benediction at the end of the service, the very last words we hear are God's words of blessing on you, his people. And as his disciples witness Jesus ascending, having been blessed by him, they return to Jerusalem, full of great joy, praising and worshiping God. They're so delighted and thrilled that they have a hope beyond death. They're no longer frightened, they're no longer startled. And so they worship God continually. As God's people who have been utterly transformed by the gospel, we worship him with our whole lives. So be continually blessing and praising God with your words, with your thoughts, with your actions. Let your life show that Jesus has saved you and that you've met Him. Worship Him as the risen King and live your life for Him. That transforming nature of meeting Christ in our hopelessness, in our doubts, in our fear, and in our confusion, it changes absolutely everything. So hope in Jesus who draws near to you and testify, tell of his gospel. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, you meet us right here in your word and in the table. You suffered and you know that, you know the sufferings each person here has faced. You know the sufferings that each person here is currently facing. And you know the sufferings that each of us will face. And so meet us in our sufferings. You know the doubts, you know the fears that we have. Would you meet us there with grace? Would you make us a people who are so enthralled by you, being so transformed that we cannot help but proclaim the good news of what you've done for us? To those around us, and that we would live lives of worship to the praise and honour of your name. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 44:20

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