One of my favourite passages of Scripture is the “road to Emmaus.”  The gist of it goes something like this.

As the Jews were dispersing from Jerusalem following Passover Week, two blokes were walking to Emmaus – 7 miles away.  All of a sudden some stranger tags along them and engages them in the most amazing dialogue anyone could fathom.

Passover week in Jerusalem began with thousands of people celebrating Christ’s entrance riding on a lowly donkey. Completely fulfilling Scripture, the King of the Universe rides on an "ass" as He enters His beloved city.

After close to a week of confronting the religious nut jobs, He is betrayed by one of his own and handed over to be illegally tried and sentenced to death.

Instead of celebrating His entrance into the city, much of the same mob now shout, “crucify Him!”  He is beaten to a pulp, beard torn off and body parts hanging out of Him – beaten beyond human appearance.

Then He was made to carry a cross to His eventual place of execution – nailed through the hands and feet, lifted up and basically suffocated to death thanks to one of the most savage forms of capital punishments known to man – crucifixion.

Upon His death, dead people rose and walked the streets – in full view of the massive amount of tourists in town during Passover week.  The curtain in the Temple was torn in two – exposing the most Holy of Holy parts of the Temple. The sky went dark and the earth shook with a mighty earthquake.

He was buried.  His followers freaked out for their own lives and dispersed.  And everyone was in a state of shock.  Wasn’t this man supposed to be the Messiah?  The One sent to liberate them?  Reaching to a new height of influence – only to be brutally snuffed out by crucifixion.

Three days passed and rumours started to float that Jesus had risen from the dead.  Freaky tales started by women who had witnessed an empty tomb.

Hearts skipped a beat and people started leaving Jerusalem to go home to their normal lives wondering, “what on earth has just happened?”

And it’s at this point we encounter the story of the “road to Emmaus” – recorded in Luke 24:13-24:

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 himself 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 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. 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 him they did not see.”

So we have two blokes walking to their home towns when suddenly, a stranger appears.  They freak out at this guy because He doesn’t seem to register about the events which just happened.

And then Jesus responds with what can only be described as God’s sense of humour, “what things?”  I mean c’mon.  He has just been murdered and suffered a death you and I can only imagine and He responds with “what things?”

So Cleopas and his friend tell Him about all the things that just happened.  Can you imagining how Jesus felt as He listened to what they said.  I mean, it was He that just went through all these things.  It was He who suffered and died at the hands of professional executioners.  It was He who felt the wrath of God hammered into Him.  It was He who, while dead in the flesh, went to some demonic prison and declared victory.  It was He who brought Himself back to life.  And it was He who said, “what things?”

I am so going to high five Jesus when I see Him for saying that!  And then in typical Jesus style, He flips the conversation on it’s head by His response:

“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?” Luke 24:25-26

And it’s at this stage where I wish I was one of the two men.  You see, during this 7 mile walk, Jesus must said the most amazing things:

“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Luke 24:27

7 miles of jaw dropping bliss.  7 miles of eye opening wonder.  7 miles of intense teaching from the author of the Scriptures you have based your life on.  7 miles of enlightenment which burned you up inside as you hear every penny drop as if it were a cannon exploding into your ears.

7 miles of conversation with the God of the universe.  The very one who holds your life’s breath in the tip of his finger print.  Walking and talking right beside you.

What strikes me is where He taught them from – Moses and the Prophets. All Old Testament!  Pure and Divine commentary on that “old” part of the Scriptures many “modern Christians” couldn’t care about.

Here’s my rant, the next time I hear some Christian say, “yeah but that’s in the OT,” I think I’m gonna deck him.  When Paul says that “all scripture is God breathed” etc, he wasn’t even referring to the NT because it wasn’t even in place when he said that.

I don’t belittle the NT at all.  It tells the story of my King and the ramifications of His appearing in this ball of ours.  Awesome stuff.  But my gripe is with those that discard the OT as irrelevant.

When Jesus spoke to Cleopas and his buddy, He referenced OT writings about all the things “concerning Himself.”  Wouldn’t you just have loved to be in earshot of this conversation?

Imagine the gems of insight you would glean as all the pieces of the puzzle are put in place by the author of the Book itself?

7 miles of life. 7 miles of conversation that made the hearts of the recipients burn.  When was the last time you had a conversation with someone where you heart burned?  Probably never – but then again, you probably never had the conversation with your Creator like these guys did.

And the story goes on.  It’s beyond this post.  Way too much to even begin to talk about.  But that’s the nature of my King.  He will grab your heart and your mind and He will expose you to the brilliance of His existence.  And maybe, just maybe, your heart will burn also…(emphasis is mine on the issues which captivate me.)

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?” 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 had 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 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 disbelieved for joy and were marvelling, 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, that 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 and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from 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.”

May I have my 7 miles with Jesus – this is my life’s greatest wish.

To say that I’ve been flat out with work lately would be to understate the situation.  Fourteen hour days have become the norm for me lately.

As part of my job, today I had to drive 4 hours to a regional hospital for a 1 hour meeting and then drive back.

But the drive gave me the opportunity to listen to a tonne of Ravi Zacharia’s preaching on my iPod.  I must have gone through about 8 of his sermons and have developed a great admiration of how this man thinks.

He became a Christian at the age of seventeen after a failed suicide attempt and has developed into one Christianity’s brightest sparks – especially in the area of philosophy and apologetics.

He routinely speaks on the coherency of the Christian world-view,claiming that Christianity is capable of withstanding the toughest philosophical attacks.  And this is what I admire about this man – he systematically cuts down every argument stacked up against Christianity.

Someone may ask a question and he simply launches into a response.  By the time he finishes, you just sit back and think, “Wow!  The thought process this guy has is amazing!”

Have a look at the following video as a typical example of what I’m talking about…

And this is just a mild response.  A few posts ago, I talked about the debate ABC Nightline recently had regarding the existence of Satan and a friend pointed out the Ravi should have been present to take on Deepak Chopra.  Now I make no excuse for despising the world view Chopra has – he glorifies “self” above anything and everything.

Personally I thought Mark Driscoll handled him quite well.  But he didn’t nail Chopra on some of his claims.  Chopra has now released a new book called, “The 3rd Jesus” – a complete mish mash of Hindu/Buddhist and Christian teaching to make Jesus more acceptable in this “self” elevated world.

And Ravi has responded to this book – completely exposing the fallacies of Chopra’s claims as well as exposing the limitations of Chopra’s own understanding of the faith’s he embraces.  I encourage you to listen to Ravi’s critique below.

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If you want to dig deeper into your faith and if you want proof the the faith we embrace can withstand secular assaults upon it, then I strongly encourage you to check out more of Ravi’s materials.

Main Website

Just Thinking Podcast

Let My People Think Podcast

If you’re on the lookout for a high quality bible recording that won’t cost you a cent, then read on.  This story is making it’s rounds on the net and I thought it would be great to make this resource known here at LayGuy also.

A word of warning though.  Although free, if you want the whole bible, you’ll need to do a fair amount of work to get it.  Having said that, you can easily download high quality MP3 recordings of entire chapters – up to 500 versus at a time.  Without further ado, here’s how:

1. Head over to the ESV bible online.
2. Click on the “Options” link in the top right hand corner.
3. Don’t worry about the visual options for now, head down to audio options and select “MP3 (David Cochran Heath, complete Bible).”
4. Press “save” at the bottom of the screen.
5. Do a search on the chapter and/or versus you want to download.
6. For the purpose of this exercise, I’m searching Genesis 1
7. Genesis 1 pops up onto the screen.  You’ll notice the “(listen)” next to the chapter title.
8. Right click “listen” and select “save link as” (Firefox) “save target as” (Explorer) etc.
9. Choose a place to save it on your computer and rename the file to something meaningful – such as “Gen 1” in our example – make sure you add “.mp3” after your file name.
10. Save and download it.

This can then be easily be listened to on your computer or transferred to an MP3 player or iPod.

Crossway are the publishers of the ESV and have made this resource available for all – very generous despite the times we live in.

And the quality?  Well just have a listen to this…

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I’m really looking forward to the upcoming sermon series at Mars Hill Church called The Peasant Princess.  Based on the the Song of Songs, Mark Driscoll will spend 10 weeks going through the details of this provacative text.

It’s been said that ancient Jewish Rabi’s weren’t allowed to study the Song of Songs until they were 30 years old as it contains explicit sexual material.  So listening to Driscoll spend 10 weeks on it should be fun indeed.

Mars Hill have a dedicated website to this series found here. In addition, they have produced a PDF outlining what they hope to acheive with this series.  To prepare us for the adventure, they have also released the following video promo to wet our appetites.

You can just tell that this will drive attendance to Mars Hill Church and hopefully this sex crazed world will get a better understanding of the way Scripture views intamacy.

I can’t wait to get my copy of one of the most anticipated study bibles to be released.  The ESV Study Bible is set to redefine the expression of a “study bible” as it is a vast volume containing the English Standard Version Bible text as well as the following features:

• 2,752 pages—equivalent to a 20-volume Bible resource library all in one volume.
• 1.3 million words—written by 95 leading evangelical scholars and teachers.
• 20,000 notes—focusing especially on understanding the Bible text and providing answers to frequently raised issues.
• Over 50 articles—including articles on the Bible’s authority, reliability, and interpretation; on biblical archeology, theology, worship, prayer, and personal application.
• Over 200 full-color maps—created with the latest digital technology, satellite images, and archaeological research; printed in full color throughout the Bible.
• 200-plus charts—offering key insights and in-depth analysis in clear, concise outline form; located throughout the Bible.
• 80,000 cross-references—to encourage easy location of important words, passages, and biblical themes.
• 40 all-new illustrations—including full-color renderings and architectural diagrams of the Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, Solomon’s temple, Herod’s temple, the city of Jerusalem in Jesus’ time and throughout the history of Israel, and many more.

Below is a 5 minute video explaining some of these features:

And to give you a taste of what’s to come, click on the following links for a sample PDF of the text or JPG for the graphic:

• Solomon’s Temple (JPG)
• Introduction to the Book Of Revelation (PDF)
• Introduction to the Psalms (Including Psalm 1) (PDF)
• Introduction to Luke (PDF)
• Introduction To Ezekiel (Including Chapters 1-2) (PDF)
• Introduction and entire Book of Jonah (PDF)

Officially released on October 15, 2008, there are a number of styles to choose from.  Pre-order before August 15 to get your 25% discount.  For more info, click here and be sure to check out the ESV Study Bible blog for more snippets in the future.

With all the talk these days about Emergent/Missional and Seeker Sensitive Churches plus the discussion around liberal or fundamental Churches and whatever else, I ground myself in Scripture as to what to expect as a reaction to the Gospel being taught.

As Christians, lets not kid ourselves about the message we deliver. We preach Jesus’ life, death and resurrection and the reasons for it. This is the Gospel and this is the message we are asked to spread across the whole earth.

All the different streams of Christianity mentioned above attempt to get this message across in a meaningful way in the hope that people respond to it. But what gets in the way is when we deliver it in a way to maximize acceptance rather then focus on the substance of what we teach.

More and more I am shifting my opinion to focusing on the message instead of focusing on the acceptance of it. And in doing so, scripture says that we will always encounter 3 responses to what we believe:

1. Disbelief and mockery
2. Interest and further discussion
3. Belief and commitment

As anyone following this blog would know, I am a fan of Mark Driscoll and the Church he pastors – Mars Hill Church. Mars Hill gets its name from an interesting passage of scriptures found in Acts 17 when Paul visits Athens. The entire story can be read here.

In a nutshell, Paul visits Athens and is moved by the idolatry found there. Being the center of civilised society, Athens is alive with culture, education and arts. But because of the idols found in the town, Paul is moved to reason with the Jews, devout people, anyone in the market place and philosophers about the Gospel.

Read the passage this way: Paul speaks to everybody and anybody about the Gospel. And in doing so, he comes across Epicurean & Stoic philosophers. The “epics” taught that the pursuit of pleasure, not knowledge, is the meaning of life. The “stoics” taught that wisdom is found in being free from intense emotion, unmoved by joy or grief and a belief that everything in nature is God – aka pantheism.

In many ways, what the “epics” and “stoics” stood for is what we in modern society also hold dear to our hearts.  So perceived as a “babbler,” Paul is asked to address Mars Hill – where all these goonies get together and try to “out-philosophise” each other. There, Paul tells the Gospel in a relevant and missional way – a way their mindset is able to digest.

The result of this?

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst.  But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them. Acts 17:32-34

Here are our 3 responses:

1. Some mocked
2. Some wanted to know more
3. Some believed

What Paul did was address Mars Hill in a relevant, and yet confrontational way – not shying away from controversial issues and then he hit the topic of resurrection. And this is when “the *@!# hit the fan” at Mars Hill.  Anything in regards to resurrection was a major issue at Mars Hill given their philosophical beliefs – and this is probably why Paul didn’t get to finish his spiel and get to his favorite topic – the resurrection of his Messiah.  And Paul simply left Athens leaving a few members of Mars Hill as believers, some wanted to know more and probably most chasing him out of Athens in mockery.

Fast forward 2000 years and we find ourselves in the ridiculous cycle of which “conversation” or approach is better in getting people to accept the Gospel of Jesus.  I hear and get every perspective:

• To the fundamentals, I get your desire to hold onto truth and prevent the twisting of scripture in order to make the Gospel more “palatable” to the masses.
• To the emergents, I get your desire to present the Gospel in a relevant, new and fresh way – to keep up with the times.