Pastor Jon Burgess
April 3, 2016 - W1614

A barista at a Canadian coffee shop noticed that a patron who often visits the shop, was in tears. He asked her why she was crying and found out her husband had just passed away. So he and several of the other baristas started praying with and laying hands on her through the take out window. They also gave her a free latte, but what made it special was that in spite of the line of cars and people, they took the time to care for this patron at a takeout window. In a world that is all about time and getting things done quickly, they slowed down and prayed with her. She needed to know that God is real, these Baristas knew that and used this moment of an intersection to bring Christ into that situation.

This is just one of many kinds of intersections we come across in our lives. Intersections are the topic of our discussion today. The basic definition of an intersection is where your life and mine cross over, where we join together, where there is a connection. But, oftentimes in the hurriedness of life and all its expectations we end up in a collision 

What I hope that you will take away from today’s lesson is that instead of a collision at those intersections of our lives, which happens way too often, that you have, instead, a connection with God to avoid that collision. I hope that through this lesson you will see that God is, in fact, at the very center of every intersection in our lives. And, He wants us to connect with our hearts with His, so that our hearts will connect with others around us.

More often than not, as Christians, we hear a still, small voice, a whisper from God, telling us to “walk this way” and more often than that, we are so tangled up with the overbearing situations in our own lives that we don’t hear that tiny whisper. The result from that is a collision rather than a connection. Let us look at a part of Old Testament scripture that will help us get a grasp at this thought, it comes from Isaiah 30:19-21:

“People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious He will be when you cry for help! As soon as He hears, He will answer you. Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’” (Isa. 30:19-21)

Who would you rather have on your side through the adversity and affliction we are, no doubt, going to encounter, God or other worse fates?

This is a fallen world we all live in, but, God is saying to you that He will never give you more than you can handle. All we have to do is call out to God for help. In that set of verses it says “… your teachers will be hidden no more”. That’s the teaching of the Divine Mentor, a book written by Pastor Wayne Cordeiro. The book teaches us that God has put teachers, mentors all around us. These teachers are whispering His will into the intersections of our lives. The thing is that most times they are hidden from us, but now will no longer be hidden from us.

How many of us want to see the divine mentors God has put in our lives? Let’s look at the story of two men on the road to Emmaus. This takes place shortly after the death of Christ and His missing body. They still don’t fully understand what happened, and they are discussing it as they are walking along the road. And suddenly another man joins them and inquires about what they are talking about. The first point I want to share with you is this:

1) Jesus meets us at the intersection of the Depressed and the Determined.

You see there are times where we find ourselves where things are about to collide with a deep depression, a gloomy discouragement and we really don’t know why. We are determined to follow God, but feel defeated. We get down hard on ourselves, because as Christians we are not supposed to feel this way. We have the time of Jesus’ resurrection to be thankful for and we should be happy, but we are not, why? This is exactly where we find these two men at also, in Luke 24, Mary had just gone to the tomb and found the body of Jesus gone. A heavenly being told Mary to run and tell the others that Jesus is alive.

“Now, that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus Himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing Him. He asked them, ‘What are you discussing together as you walk along?’ They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked Him, ‘Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?’ ‘What things?’ He asked. ‘About Jesus of Nazareth,’ they replied. ‘He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.’” (Luke 24:13-19)

Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross. They thought He, along with their hopes and dreams were dead and gone. In a group we could sort of believe as a group, but we can be more transparent with just a few very close friends. Just like these two men were being transparent with one another.

Then we see in this that “Jesus Himself” shows up at the intersection and they don’t even recognize Him, just like we oftentimes don’t recognize Him either. To top things off Jesus asks them, “What are you discussing among yourselves?”

Now then because they did not recognize Him, with downtrodden faces, Cephas asked Him (Jesus) “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who doesn’t know the things that have happened?”

Now, we all know that God is well aware of our situations, just as He knew exactly what had happened that day in Jerusalem…He was there. Through all this Jesus didn’t get defensive. In fact, please take note that they called Him A prophet. They will later find out He was The Prophet. He was not just a man of God He was God, Himself. Like these two men, when you and I meet Jesus at that intersection of Depression and Determination, we will find Jesus opening our eyes. We just need to be honest with Him and we need to listen to Him, because He is being honest with us and He is listening to us.

You are probably wondering why Jesus didn’t just tell them who He was. Well, as a Pastor, I get asked that question a lot too. It’s not that I am embarrassed by my profession, on the contrary I have the best job ever, I get to talk to people about Jesus all the time. The reason is that many people feel uncomfortable with the word Pastor and will try to disguise their story a bit. So I like to find out about them and their situation before I let them know who I am. That way they are more open to talk. I hear their story from the heart. I think that’s what Jesus wanted to do, He wanted to hear their hearts.

They were offended by the cross. They were thinking that Jesus was their Messiah and that He would free them from the Roman reigning power, but instead He died on the cross. Jesus wanted them to freely talk about this to Him. That’s what I love about our Savior, He hears and He listens. We live in a culture that needs to be heard, so when someone expresses their doubt or unbelief in God, we should listen, we should not condemn. Jesus did not condemn, He did not criticize them for not understanding. If we respond to people like Jesus does when we find ourselves at those intersections where someone has doubt in God or fear and they don’t buy into the reality of Jesus, then we cannot become defensive. If we put up that wall and become defensive then the conversations halts, it shuts down. But, if we are more like Jesus we will listen just like Jesus listened. And that’s what we need to do. Just listen which brings us to our first connection key:

Connection Key: Listen up! Listen upwards to what it is that God is saying and listen to what other people in your life are saying. They don’t want or need spiritual platitudes. They just need to be heard.

Jesus is not impatient to listen nor is He afraid of depression. In fact, David was depressed a lot. When he had his highs it would follow with very low lows. But he always found Jesus in the center of that intersection.

I hope that this church can be an open haven for those whose lives are laden with depression. I want our people to feel that they can come here no matter how messed up their lives are currently or in the past. I want them to feel that when they enter this church they are walking and talking with Jesus and they are walking into a true sense of New Hope. Jesus wants to listen to them and He wants to speak truth to them, but at the same time He wants to hear what is really going on in their lives and hearts. And in ours.

These two men on the road to Emmaus were depressed and full of doubt. Jesus didn’t stop walking with them, didn’t stop listening to them, in fact, He walked the entire two hours with them from Jerusalem to Emmaus. I want to remind all of us that Jesus is listening, He hears and knows that place of brokenness that we may feel we’re in right now. And when we realize that He is listening to us and we are heard, then we can start to hear Him. He’s not ignoring us, He’s not condemning us, He is walking with us.

2.) Jesus meets at the intersection of Confusion and Clarity!

So now in verses 22-27 we pick up with these two guys again and they are at the crossroads of confusion and clarity.

“In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find His body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said He was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus. He said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.” (Luke 24:22-27)

Jesus gave them the accounts of all the prophets that says the Messiah would have to suffer these things and then enter His glory. As He continued on with the story of the suffering Messiah through Moses, the prophets and all of scripture, the lights went on and they began to understand better all that was prophesied and written.

How many of us came to realize that our frustrations are at the center of where our faith resides. Jesus clarified their confusion and helped them to understand. They did not have the full understanding of what was happening around them. We don’t have it either. How much longer are we going to be satisfied with only a small percentage of what we think we know, when will we be willing to grasp the full 100%? People or friends aren’t going to do it for you, Angels aren’t either. Jesus has been with us for a very long time, but we never had that total understanding. How do we get that clarity? Well here is the next connection key:

Connection Key: Open up. We all just have to open up at this crucial intersection.

We have to admit that we don’t yet fully understand, we need a monitor in our lives, and we need that divine mentor. So here’s what I want you to know, Jesus is waiting for us to open up and admit that we aren’t where we are supposed to be and that we are lost. He won’t put us down or criticize us, but He will guide us to where He wants us to be. There is a wedding feast and He is our groom and we are His bride. We just need to open up to Him to receive the knowledge and understanding as to where we need to be.

And now finally:

3. Jesus meets at the intersection of Wandering and Wonderstruck!

“As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if He were going farther. But they urged Him strongly, ‘Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.’ So He went in to stay with them. When He was at the table with them, He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and He disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’” (Luke 24:28-32)

This part is absolutely great, when the men arrived at Emmaus, they invited the third man, Jesus, to stay with them as night falls. So He joins them and as He sat at the table, “He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.” Jesus who came in as a guest has now become their Host. Our eyes have now been opened like they never were before.

If He is just a guest at our house, we need to let Him take over. It is then that we will move from wandering in life to being wonderstruck. Our eyes will be opened and we will recognize Him. Like the two friends on the road, our hearts will burn within us and the scriptures will be opened up to us. Like them, as we first started the trek in our road of life, it was all about fear and depression, sorrow and confusion but after we open up fully to receive from our Divine Mentor we will have a new and complete understanding of all that is written.

Maybe we didn’t realize it before, or maybe we’re new to Jesus, but the moment we opened up our bible today, we are sitting with the risen Savior. He’s here, He’s now, He’s calling us and talking to us, because He loves us. He wants us to move from the wandering and become wonderstruck, to stand and see Him with awe like we have never seen Him before, which brings us to the third connection:

Connection Key: Speak up We need to let Him know that we want to spend more time with Him, learn more from Him, experience Him deeper. We need to receive a new hunger and a fresh thirst that will rise up within us so we can experience what these two men experienced. Trust me, the same God that sat in that Emmaus room with them is sitting with us right now. Speak up, let Him know we want more of Him and all He has to offer.

1) What kind of intersection are you at right now?

2) There are many divine mentors in the Bible, who lead and guide you. Who is one of your divine mentors?

3) How can you put your hope and trust in Jesus to help you avoid collisions at the intersections of your life?

4) What were the connection keys in this lesson and how can you use them in your walk with Jesus?