Sojourn New Albany Podcast

My favorite people always have their own sayings.  My grandmother and aunt used to say, “Well he shot out of there like a bat out of thunder.”  You know you better not say it the other way, lest the Lord hears you and the lightning strike and the thunder rolls after you say it as the theologian Garth Brooks once mentioned.  And I heard this man once say, “That cowboy is all hat and no cattle” I knew that he would become one of my favorites.  

I am a sucker for a person who is able to communicate the truth in the way that the poet Emily Dickinson called for when she said, “Tell all the Truth but it slant”, which means communicate the truth to others but do so indirectly.  She stated that we are like children and the light of the truth is too bright and too thunderous for us to take it head-on.  So you need to find roundabout ways to communicate the truth.  You could say, “He’s a hypocrite” and there are times when that is necessary or you could say it slant, “He’s all hat and no cattle.”  

This man was a man that I studied the Bible with a number of years ago.  And he was my kind of guy.  He had great one-liners, indirect and direct ones like, “Well that doesn’t make any good nonsense” and he loved the Bible.  His annual practice of reading the Scriptures was to read through the entire Bible 4 times in a year.  He said that he stopped counting how many times he read through it when he got to 75.  And I like to spend time around people who say things slant and who when they speak about the Lord and his Word, do so with depth and richness.

However, while studying through the book of Job this man said something that as a 20-nothing-year-old man I didn’t like much then and for several years afterward, “The answer to the problem of evil according to the book of Job is that we don’t know the answer to the problem of evil.”  The problem of evil is basically answers the question of why do bad things happen to good people if God is all-powerful, all-good, and all-knowing.  I heard him say that more times that I ever cared to have heard that statement.  The first time I heard it, as my dad used to say, was two-times too many.  

The Lord restrained me from vocally objecting to what this man said at that time.  I was in my 20s and as a friend of mine likes to say, “I wish I could ask my 20-year-old self what I should do.  He knew everything back then.”  And back then, I knew that there was in fact an answer to the problem of evil that we could know because I had a formula that was working quite well for me then and it was this: information + time + Travis = the answer.  Back then I believed that having an answer to the problem of evil is necessary to be able to communicate with non-Christians as well as it is necessary for growth in the Christian life and for that matter, I still do.  By the miracle of time, I now see that two things were truth back then.  One, that man was telling the truth and was right about what he said about the book of Job and two, my formula for discovering the truth to the problem of evil and for that matter all problems was off.  

We all have a personal formula that we assume will get us what we want.  Once you teach a child to say “please” before asking for something they assume that the answer to all requests will be “yes” and fulfilled immediately.  So when you tell them “no” or “not right now” their body moves  as if they have subjected them to 11, 000 volts of electricity.  Why? Well, the formula is me+my desire+that thing+please+now = happiness.  Clearly when the response is “no” or “not now” you are just a person who enjoys subjecting a person to punishment.  

But we know that life is orderly, in that there is a patterns and for that matter formulas.   But we need to realize that we aren’t the one who determines the pattern or the formula.  We belong to a God who is our Maker and King and he is the One who determines when, where, and what of our lives.  And the wise Christian will learn to embrace his ways, patterns, and his timing over their lives.  

First, because circumstances carry us away from the truth

Second, because the source of our transformation is outside of us.

Third, because ultimately the timing doesn't belong to us 

Explanation -- In the sections of Scripture we have been studying together recently, we learned that the risen Lord Jesus appeared to his disciples to make himself known and to call them to fulfill his mission in a short period of time after he ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of God, which is where is resides at this very moment.  And certains patterns have emerged in these resurrection encounters.  That pattern is what Luke shows the reader in this entire chapter and is found here.  First, various disciples of the Lord Jesus are perplexed about his death on the cross.  Second, the perplexed disciples are confronted either by the resurrected Christ or by angels and pointed to the message of Scripture about the promised death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.  Third, these disciples are changed by the message and go and tell others.  So the first state that they are in is one of crisis, and bewilderment, they were perplexed.  And why were they perplexed?

At one level they are perplexed because of the events from the recent past and their own misperceptions about what these events mean.  The Lord Jesus asked these men what they were upset about and one of these men said these things in Luke 24:18-21, “Then one of them, named Cleopas, 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 in deed 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.”

Cleopas tells the resurrected Lord Jesus the facts about the events that have taken place in Jerusalem.  Jesus of Nazareth was a prophet, he was condemned by the religious and political leaders to die three days ago.  These were no insignificant events to these men.  They had placed their hope in this prophet, this Jesus of Nazareth.  And no ordinary hope.  A hope that he would redeem Israel.  He was a man that they said was “mighty in word and deed before God and all people.”  Another man has pointed out that this way of describing the Lord Jesus by Cleopas echoes the epitaph of Moses in Deuteronomy 34.  There Moses is remembered as being unique among all of God’s prophets in that he knew God face to face but also that God had done great deeds through him, chiefly redeeming Israel from slavery in Egypt.  And these men looked at the resurrected Redeemer with disappointment in their eyes because Jesus of Nazareth did not in fact say to Caesar, “Let my people go!” like they had hoped.  Instead, he said to God, “Into your hands I commit my spirit” before bleeding to death on a cross.  These men were so sad and disappointed because of real things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth that took place and because of their misunderstanding of what God was doing in and through those events.

Illustration -- None

Argument -- We are not that different from these two men.  Have you ever been disappointed that someone else didn’t turn out the way that you hoped they would?  Every person will experience dashed hopes.  Every person in life will witness real events and misunderstand what they mean.  Dashed hopes and crushed dreams happen to everyone.  In fact, this is part of the way that the Lord works.  He dashes our hopes and crushes our dreams.  You might be saying, “I don’t want to hear that.  I don’t believe that!  No, the Lord fulfills our dreams and gives us what we want.”  Not necessary.  If what you want is contrary to the will and plans of God, he isn’t going to give that to you regardless of how much you want it.  Regardless of how good you think it will be for you or for others.  These men clearly thought that Jesus of Nazareth redeeming Israel at that time was a good thing.  The problem of it is is that God didn’t seem to agree with him.

God is a good Father who gives good gifts but he ultimately knows what is good for us.  What parent gives their child everything that they have ever hoped and dreamed of?  Not a good parent.  If a child asks for rat poisoning and has set their heart to have and to hold and to cherish and to love and to call my very own, what person in their right mind would give rat poison to a child?  Children get carried away in their desires and parents know that.  And we do the same thing and God knows that too.

These men had their hope set on something contrary to the plans of God.  And their hopes were bled to death at a cross.  But their hopes carried them away from the good plan of God for their lives and the lives of others.  

Application -- What have you hoped for that God said no to?  How has life carried you away from the will of God?  Who do you know that didn’t turn out the way you hoped for?  Our hopes get us carried away sometimes.  And God knows that.

This passage calls us to examine ourselves.  We are like these men more than we might wish we were.  We all approach the Lord assuming that he wants all the same things that we want.  We all are disappointed with something that didn’t turn the way we wanted.  Or maybe we are so much like these men that we are disappointed that someone else didn’t turn out the way that we wanted.  And because we all have hopes and dreams that are misguided, we all struggle to see the Lord’s hand in our lives.  We all struggle to believe that the Lord’s plans for us and others are good.  

Explanation -- After these men, disappointed, perplexed, and sad, say to the resurrected Christ and Lord that Jesus of Nazareth didn’t do the things that they had hoped for, the Lord Jesus corrects them and conducts a Bible study.  Look with me at verses 25-27, “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.”

It is necessary to point out what the Lord Jesus does not do here.  He does not perform a miracle.  He already did that by being raised from the dead.  He doesn’t show these men the wounds that he has in his body like he did with Thomas.  Both of those things he could have done if he so chose.  He points them to Moses and the Prophets, which is a Jewish way of saying the Old Testament, and then gives them the correct interpretation of them.  He says to them that their Scriptures are about him.  The Lord Jesus shows them in the Word that God is a God who makes promises and he always makes good on his promises.  And God promised to send a One who would crush the serpent’s head in Genesis 3:15.  God said that Job’s Redeemer would stand on the earth in Job 19.  God promised through Isaiah that his Servant would atone for the sins of many in Isaiah 53.  God promised through Zechariah that his King would enter into Jerusalem on a donkey in Zechariah 9.  The resurrected Christ and Lord said to these men, “Let’s stop with all the sadness and study the Bible.”  He points them to truths, not within them but outside of them in the Scriptures.  

Illustration -- Remember the man that I mentioned earlier.  This man was telling me something contrary to what I came up with on my own.  On my own, internal dialogue, what was within me was this: with enough information and time I will figure it out.  The truth lies within me and I have the ability to sort it out on my own.  There is an answer and I myself can find it out on my own.  

Now my personal formula and rules have been disrupted by someone and something outside of myself.  I have a man older than me having read the Bible more than me saying you won't figure out the problem of evil, look at Job.  This man was speaking with authority from the ultimate source of authority and I resisted what he had to say.  All of this what an outside interruption to my personal formulas and internal messages.

Argumentation -- Have you ever been interrupted?  Do you know how jarring that is?  Do you know what the Scriptures are?  Another man said that when we hear God speak in the Scriptures it is God interrupting the lies of the world with his truth.  And in the Scriptures, you met with God in a way that you cannot meet with him any other way.  You can know things by doing experiments.  You will know something about the world through formulas.  You will learn things about the world by looking through a microscope or underneath the hood of a car.  You will know things by looking at the stars, by listening to a podcast, or by thinking out loud.  But regardless of how long you stare at the stars, they never tell you that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, buried, and raised on the third day as Christ and Lord.  Regardless if you look into a microscope or the motor of a car, you will only find the message of a crucified, buried, and raised Lord within the pages of Scripture.  

Application --  Where do you go to learn about the Lord?  What pages do you turn?  If you are looking for the Lord, where do you search?  

We learn from the example of the Lord Jesus that he is found within the pages of Scripture.  It is not that there's anything wrong with motors and microscopes but the Lord is found in places like the Gospels of Matthew and Mark.

And we learn from the Lord Jesus that all of Scripture is profitable like the apostle Paul says.  Not just the parts that we like.  Or that makes us comfortable.  All of it comes from the mouth of God and is meant to change us to look more like Christ.

Explanation -- So these men see personally the resurrected Lord Jesus and have a Bible study with him but they still don’t realize who they are speaking with and studying with.  How come?  Look with me at verses 15-16, “While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him”

Their eyes were kept from recognizing who they were speaking with.  Their eyes were kept by God from recognizing him.  But that was before the Bible study, right?!  Yes it was before the Bible study.  So you would think that once they have the Bible study then their eyes would be opened.  God would time things in such a way that once the Lord Jesus starts in Genesis then they would recognize him.  Or once he gets to Isaiah 53 and they see the prophecy of the cross then they would recognize him.  Or maybe once he explains how the Psalms point to him then they would recognize him.  Well that is not what happens.  They do recognize him, later that evening over a meal.  Look with me at verses 28-31, “So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far 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?”

Their eyes were opened by God when God was ready to open them.  It doesn’t mean that the Bible study from earlier in the day was in vain.  They spoke about the Bible study that the Lord Jesus had with them.  It is not that the truth that was shared fell on deaf ears.  It is not that the work of the Lord was in vain.  It wasn’t time for harvest.  

Illustration -- I continued studying the Bible and specifically the book of Job after having studied it with that man that I mentioned earlier.  I continued for a number of years to dislike what he said because I was convinced that my formula was right.  Then I remember, re-reading Job and doing a different study of that book, and seeing that Job admits and accepts his own ignorance of why bad things happened to him, a good man.  I then read the words of another man that said that the Lord knows why Job suffered even though Job doesn't.  And then I remembered what this man said to me years ago, “The answer to the problem of evil in the book of Job is that we don’t know the answer to the problem of evil.”  This man wasn't wrong when he said those things to me, he was just early according to my personal but misguided formula.  I need to encounter the Word after more personal conflicts.  After more doctor visits.  More funerals.  I couldn’t see it at the time but it wasn’t time for me to see it.  I had too many false hopes back then.  I had too many selfish dreams.  And I knew too little about the Lord and his ways.  And God knew that, and in the right time, he opened my eyes to see the truth and be transformed by it for the glory of God and my own good.

Argumentation --  There is a pace that the truth travels.  And that pace is determined by the Lord.  Christian you might have shared the truth with a loved one but when that person receives what you have to say is up to the Lord.  Christian, I want to encourage you to study the Bible with others but when you share the truth, walk away from the experience and wait for the Lord to make someone hear what you have to say.  We only receive the truth of the Lord when the Lord wants the truth to be received.  

Application -- Christian you and I have to embrace our own limitations.  We can’t make someone else see that the Jesus of Scripture is Lord and Savior.  That he is worth living for.  We have to learn to wait for the Lord to open their eyes after the breaking of bread or a bowl of soup or whenever the Lord chooses to show himself to them.