Heartburn

Luke24:32 "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"

Heartburn. It isn't something I like. You know, that greasy pepperoni pizza tasted so good going down and then it hits you. Not good.

The guys who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus had heart burn…only this was the good kind. Cleopas (who may have been Peter) and another guy were walking to Emmaus talking about all of the events that surrounded that week and the Bible says that "Jesus Himself drew near". Now, I don't know how He drew near. He may have just appeared, but I kind of like to think that He was walking behind them eavesdropping. They didn't see Him and as they talked He picked up His pace and gradually "drew near" so that He was walking with them as well. I am not exactly sure what the deal was here, but they did not recognize Him and He asked them what they were talking about. These guys were surprised that He allegedly didn't know what had happened and they told Him. Kind of funny, these guys telling Jesus that He had been crucified and then some people said that He rose from the dead. I bet, when they finally figured out who He was, they probably had a good laugh at how dumb they may have sounded.

Anyway, before they figured it out, Jesus had an opportunity to open their eyes. He spent time with them, beginning with Moses and all the prophets explaining all of the things the Old Testament had to say about who He was and what He was going to do. (See yesterday.) Then, He had a chance to sit down with them at a meal. Before they ate He took the bread and blessed it and broke it. I am thinking these guys may have had a sense of Déjà vu. "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them…" Mark 14:22 Or, "…He took the five loaves…He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples…" Luke 9:16 I think these guys may have thought: "Where have we seen this before?" "Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him…" v31 What a cool time. What a cool experience. What an amazing revelation. I can just imagine their excitement when they realized that they had been walking and talking and eating with the risen Christ!

Then they said this: "Didn't we have heart burn?" Wasn't our inner man stirred when Jesus talked to us and opened the scriptures to us? Wasn't there this inner sense that we were experiencing God's presence?

I wonder, do I get heart burn when I hear God's word spoken, and taught and preached? Do I get heart burn when I am in the presence of Christ, when I know that He is speaking to me? I really think that many of us take the teaching of God's word for granted. We go to church every Sunday and we hear the preaching and what do we do when it is done? We evaluate it. Or better yet, we evaluate the preacher. This shows something. It shows that we really aren't hungry for the truth. Oh, sure, we want to hear the word preached effectively so that it impacts our lives, but we leave all of this up to the preacher or teacher. Instead, I think it is a more a personal heart thing. Are we ready to hear the word preached? Do we anticipate that God will speak to us…not because of who the messenger is but because of the message. You see, it is the word of God that is sharper than any two edged sword. It is the word of God that will not return void. It is the word of God that is living and active. We can't leave it up to the deliverer of the message, we have to let the source of the message impact our lives and give us heart burn. Now this does not exempt the teacher from having to work hard at delivering God's word effectively. The preacher or teacher must study and be a workman and handle accurately the word of truth. When that happens and when our hearts are ready to receive it, man, our hearts will burn. God bring it.