"Were not our hearts burning?" Luke 24:32 [Sunrise photo April 7 2013]

“Were not our hearts burning?” Luke 24:32 [Sunrise photo April 7 2013]

Day 7 Church of the Burning Hearts

They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” Luke 24:32

Scripture records twelve resurrection appearances of Jesus, the first six in Jerusalem, four in Galilee, one on the Mount of Olives, and one on the road to Damascus.

In the ancient church, the focus of the second Sunday of Easter (the first after Easter) is the church. Sermons topics on this day will typically be on “Doubting Thomas”, or “The Emmaus Road”.

Why does the church even exist? Because of the resurrection.

The church is the community of God’s people defined by the Easter event and called to live out the resurrected life. ((Robert Webber Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year  p. 149)

Luke 24: 13-35 records the story known as “On The Road to Emmaus”.  Take a minute to read it right now, then come back and read on.

Jesus was physically present, but He was not recognized. 

The fact that Jesus was walking and talking to people who knew who He was, but they did not “see him” actually encourages me. Why? Because the revelation of Jesus was not in his physical presence, but in the effect he had on their spirits.

“Were not our hearts burning?”

I can relate to the burning heart. That’s how I felt at 12 years of age, led by the burn in my heart to walk forward one Sunday night in a little Baptist church in Salisbury, MD and give my life to Jesus.

John Wesley experienced the same thing at Aldersgate.

I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death. The Journal of John Wesley, May 24, 1738

Faith in Jesus is more than perpetuating a religious and cultural institution. Faith is a matter of the heart, responding to the presence of Jesus.

Worship as burning hearts gathered together.

The first disciples and followers of Jesus gathered together because their hearts were burning. Jesus had taught them of His kingdom and had given them a mission to tell the good news.

They gathered to remember, encourage and act. They encouraged one another with “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs”

The truth of the resurrection transformed them from fearful and defeated into bold world changers.

They were supernaturally motivated. They did not take their cues from the culture around them to be “relevant”, they were counter-culture.

They were the church of the burning hearts. That’s the church Jesus invites us to join. That’s the one I want to be part of.

Prayer:

I invite you to pray with me today.

“Jesus open the eyes of my heart, that I may see as You really are. Fill me with zeal for your house. Bless your church with passion for Your  kingdom to come, and Your will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.”

About This Devotional Series

According to the historical church calendar, the Easter season is the 50 day period from Resurrection Sunday to Pentecost Sunday.  I’ll post a fresh devotional thought with my sunrise photo of that morning, everyday through Pentecost, commenting as the Spirit inspires. Check out the rest of the series here.

I invite you to join me on this journey from Easter to Pentecost!

Would you like more devotionals like this? 

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