From Funk to Fire - Luke 24:13-35
Have you ever met someone who was so on fire for Jesus that you could almost smell the smoke? I have, his name was Brendan, not to be confused with our own Brandon, though I have seen Brandon’s fire for Jesus on more than one occasion. Brendan, on the other hand was so on fire for Jesus he was practically a flame thrower.
20 years ago, Brendan was a member at my church in Mobile, AL. He was a former Baptist who fell head over heels in love with salvation by grace alone. Before he came to my church, he had been a big supporter of the ministry of Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort. He had all their tracts for doing evangelism, like the million-dollar bill which was a novelty fake million-dollar bill with gospel content on the back. He would hand them out to store clerks, waitresses, his mailman, you name it. Brendan wanted to incorporate that type of evangelism into my church so one day he invited me to join him downtown Mobile. He explained we were going to do some street preaching. To say I was reluctant is an understatement. Last street preacher I saw was standing on the corner outside the Chattanooga Aquarium screaming at people that they were going to hell. Parents were terrified, children were traumatized, and I was determined I was never going to be that guy. Yet here I was on the streets of Mobile asking complete strangers if they thought they were a good person. That was the opening line Brendan wanted me to use. It was better than the old days when preachers would walk through neighborhoods knocking on doors and asking people, “if you were to die tonight and God asked why He should let you into His heaven what would you say.” “Do you consider yourself a good person” was a bit better but not much. So, I tried it with the first few strangers I passed and … it was awful. They just looked at me like I was the rudest thing they ever met. I modified the approach by saying hello first. That did allow me to have a few short conversations, but I seriously doubt any of those conversations made a significant spiritual impact. After we were done Brendan asked me what I thought. I could tell he was hoping his new pastor thought this was the greatest thing ever and that I was immediately going to replace my evangelism program with street preaching, but I tried to gently tell him I very much did not like it and was very much not going to do that again.
I may not agree with his methods, but there is no denying, Brendan was on fire for Jesus. For a long time that bothered me because, well, I’m just not that guy. I have never publicly raised my hands to praise music. I don’t have a Jesus bumper sticker on my car. I do have a big black bible, but it is on my desk, I don’t walk around with it. I love Jesus. I do! I am happy to tell you why. Thanks to the Holy Spirit the fire of faith burns inside me, but when I compare myself to a guy like Brendan, I used to worry that I was not on fire for Jesus.
Sometimes, spiritually speaking, I feel more funk than fire. It would be great If I were the only one that has ever felt this way, but I know that I am not. I have observed spiritual funk in the life of more than one Christian, and I suspect there are countless more who, for various reasons, have hidden their funk from others. Spiritual funk is difficult to predict who it will affect and to what extent and for how long. However, there are all some common factors that bring on the funk. Some sort of tragedy or hardship; something that is bad enough to make you question God’s providence; His plan for your life is a common factor for the funk. Loss of a job, of a friend, or a life very often leads to the kind of funk that brings out fears and insecurities. Sin, be it the sins you have committed against others or the sins they have committed against you, is an incredibly common cause of spiritual funk. But sometimes it is hard to tell what it is that is causing the funk. You can’t explain it you don’t know what is causing it, but you just feel spiritually blah. It is not that you have stopped believing in Jesus as your Savior. You know the blood stained cross and empty tomb are compelling proofs of God’s love for you. You still have your faith; you are just in a funk. Again, I wish I was the only one, but I know that I am not. Many of us, most of us, perhaps even all of us at some point and to some extent have experienced spiritual funk. If you haven’t, than first of all congratulations, this sermon is not for you, but you still may want to listen because someone you love might be going through a spiritual funk. It is my prayer that though this sermon the Holy Spirit will work in our hearts as we see how Jesus led two believers From Funk to Fire.
It is Easter evening, hours after the Mary(s) discovered the empty tomb and were told by an angel that Jesus had risen from the dead just as He said and a week before Thomas got his unfortunate nickname as the doubter. Luke tells us about two disciples who were on their way home to a village called Emmaus. These two disciples were in the funkiest of funks. Not disco funky funk. Theirs was the kind of funk that could easily lead to a place from which there is no coming back.
Luke tells us, “14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.” Luke describes their talking as a “discussion”. Jesus describes it as an argument. Literally Jesus asks them, why are you “throwing words against each other?”[1] These two disciples were in such a “discussion” that they hardly noticed when Jesus joined them as they walked and talked. Even when they did notice Jesus, they didn’t know Who He was. Luke tells us Jesus kept them from recognizing Him. Likely Jesus knew if they knew Who He was they would be happy enough to scream and shout. The appearance of Jesus would distract them from their funk in the way a rousing rendition of “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” might temporarily distract you from your funk, but Jesus didn’t want to temporarily distract these disciples from their funk He wanted to take them from funk to fire, so He, for a time, hid His identity.
His anonymity allowed Jesus to help these disciples focus on the source of their funk. “17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”” In their funk they get a little sassy with Jesus, basically accusing Him of living under a rock because He didn’t seem to know about the things that had happened in Jerusalem. When we are in a funk we often attempt to deflect. Jesus sidesteps their sass and forces them to probe a bit deeper. “19 What things?”, Jesus asked. The all-knowing Son of God does not ask this question to gather information. He asks the question to give insight. He asks a question so that these disciples might move beyond their feelings, fears, and frustrations and get to the source of their funk. It is necessary, when one is in a funk, to move beyond feelings, fears, and frustrations. These are but symptoms, to focus your attention on treating them is akin to treating cancer with a Band-Aid. You got to get to the source of your funk.
Jesus listens as the disciples describe to Jesus what had happened to Jesus. But eventually they get to the heart of the matter. “we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.” We had hoped. They believed that Jesus was the Messiah, that He was sent from God to save them. They just could not understand why this tragedy happened and struggled to see how this could possibly be part of God’s plan. Faith still burned inside the hearts of these disciples, but it was flickering.
Jesus seeks to fan that flickering faith into a fire, so He simultaneously identifies the source and shows them the solution to their funk. Jesus said to them, “25 How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” These disciples believed that Jesus was the Christ the Son of God. They believed that He was their savior from sin. They believed much, most of what Jesus had taught them… but because of grief or intellect or bias they did not believe it all. They did not want to believe the things that conflicted with their ideas of Who Jesus was and what He came to do and How He did. They were like someone who studies the scriptures and knows them well but is somehow blind to those Scriptures that condemn their particular form of rebellion, somehow still question God’s promises to bless them, somehow fail to believe that when Jesus proclaimed the sins of all people of all time had been forgiven that included their sin. Sadly, there are real reason for us to feel grief and suffering and sadness in this sinful world, but when we allow those things to pull us into a spiritual funk it is inevitably the result of a heart that is slow to believe what Moses, the prophets, and apostles have spoken.
I want you to think back to a time when you were in a spiritual funk, maybe for some of you that time is right now. Think about the time you were spending in God’s Word. Were you actively and eagerly engaged in worship, or were you going through the motions? Were you doing daily devotions or was your bible collecting dust? Were you striving to walk with Jesus or had you wandered off on your own? Honestly confess the answer to those questions and you will discover for yourself, the source of your funk.
Thankfully the solution to a spiritual funk is rather simple. Don’t get me wrong, your sinful flesh will fight you every step of the way. Your sinful flesh wants your funk to take you to a place from which there is no coming back. But in Scripture the Holy Spirit gives you the strength to fight the sinful flesh and go from funk to fire. That is what happened to the two disciples who walked with Jesus. “32 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?”” Even after Jesus revealed Himself to them, it was the time they spent in Scriptures learning about their God who so loved them that He sent His one and only Son to die for them so that they might have everlasting life that lit these guys on fire. That is what Scripture does. It does not spend a great deal of time discussing symptoms. It goes beyond feelings, fears, and frustrations and gets to the very heart of the matter. It confronts and it comforts. It exposes and it equips. It speaks of your sin and God’s grace. And that grace, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is what leads you from funk to fire.
The disciples were so on fire for Jesus that they grabbed a fist full of million-dollar bills and ran out into the streets and started asking random strangers if they thought they were good people. No. That is not true. Rather, “33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them.” They went and found their friends and told them how the scriptures had taken them from funk to fire. There in the heart of the home these disciples acted more like furnace than flamethrower. No gimmicks, no in your face confrontations just friends talking with friends about what the Scripture say concerning Jesus.
Every now and then in Scripture you read about an on fire Christian acting like a flame thrower. Peter telling a crowd of thousands that they killed the author of life comes to mind as does Paul calling Elymas a son of the devil and the Sanhedrin whitewashed walls. There are moments in Scripture like that. But most often Christianity spread through Christians who were on fire for Jesus acting more like a furnace than a flamethrower. Which is why today I am not going to invite you to join me downtown as I accost strangers with the law. Rather I encourage you to leave here today and go find your friends and family and share with them what the Scriptures say concerning Jesus, chances are many of them are in a funk. Friends talking with friends about what the Scripture say concerning Jesus, that is what people who are on fire for Jesus do.
By the power of the Holy Spirit, you are on fire for Jesus. Through the pages of Scripture, may the Holy Spirit fan the fire of faith in all of us that we increasingly go from funk to fire. Amen.
[1] ἀντιβάλλω: to discuss, implying conflicting opinions—‘to discuss, to argue about.’