Road to Emmaus

Hi everyone, this is Emma from Encounter Church

Henley and thanks so much for tuning into our

podcast. Our prayer is that through this podcast,

you can have an encounter with Jesus that will

change your life. And now get ready for an inspiring

message from our preaching team. Let's pray together.

Oh Lord, we pray that you just come and examine

our hearts today. We thank you God for your forgiveness

that you give us through the cross and we thank

you that you come and meet with us here today

through your word despite the ways in which we

fall short of your glory. Lord, may we have ears

to hear and eyes to see today that we can hear

your voice. that we can be transformed by Your

Word and that You would come and do a work in

us, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. When I was

15, a girl broke up with me. It was after a month

and it was over text message. It's rough. She

lived this side of town and I lived all the way

in Galah. Yeah, okay. Now, when I lived in Guala,

Adelaide didn't seem very far away from me, but

now that I've begun living in the western suburbs,

Guala feels like an eternity away. In fact, when

you live here, it feels like anything more than

20 minutes is too far away. I was so disappointed

that this girl had broken up with me that I poured

my disappointment out into a journal, which I

still have, which funny as it would be to read

to you, I cannot. on account of all the colorful

language that I used to express my disappointment.

You know what's funny about this journal entry,

right? I didn't blame her for breaking up with

me, even though it was her decision. I blamed

God. My anger, my frustration, my disappointment

was directed not towards this girl, but towards

God. After all, the only reason we moved to Gaula

was a call of God upon our family. My disappointment

was directed towards God. I was disappointed

in God. I was disappointed with God I'm sure

you've all experienced moments of disappointment

in your life John Maxwell said disappointment

is the gap between expectation and reality But

that doesn't completely cut it does it because

the gap between expectations and reality could

be massive in a positive way, couldn't it? Your

reality could somehow suddenly become so much

better than your expectations We wouldn't call

ourselves disappointed if we suddenly won the

lottery Or got offered a massive promotion or

thought we couldn't have kids and then you fall

pregnant That's not disappointment That's delight

You would be blown away. So I've improved on

John Maxwell's quote Disappointment is when your

reality is less than your expectations. Maybe

your life hasn't turned out the way that you

thought it would. Maybe your career isn't where

you hoped it would be. Maybe your marriage or

family doesn't look like what you thought it

would. And maybe you fully or in part hold God

responsible for this. Maybe you're disappointed

in God. Maybe you thought he would show up at

certain... in certain ways in certain times.

Maybe the prophetic word that was spoken over

you hasn't come to pass yet. Maybe you prayed

and healing never came. Maybe you shared and

you hoped and you prayed but that person that

you love still hasn't come to faith in Jesus

yet. How do we deal with our disappointment with

God? Dealing with disappointment, particularly

when it's our disappointment with God, I think

is really crucial. Because there are so many

people, and I know a lot of people, and I know

you probably do too, who went to Easter camps

growing up, they grew up going to church, or

even found Jesus as an adult, but they no longer

follow Him, and at the heart of it is that they

thought God would do X, Y, or Z, and He didn't.

At the heart of it, they are disappointed. Maybe

in your heart, you are disappointed too. So we...

In order to live by our key values of multiplying

resilient disciples or hearts on fire for Jesus,

we have to learn what to do with our disappointment

when it comes. Today we're starting a series

called the resurrection files. where we're exploring

the encounters that the disciples have with the

resurrected Jesus. Because from them we can learn

things about the resurrection life, which Matt

led us in thinking about at the beginning. The

life that we have to come because Jesus rose

from the dead. We can learn what Jesus has in

store for His disciples post His resurrection,

which is us as well. And we can be ministered

to by the humanness in which the first disciples

respond to the resurrection of Jesus because

in so many ways they behave so much like we do.

Today we're looking at the road to Emmaus. It's

Easter Sunday still and two of Jesus followers

are walking to Emmaus. It's a village about 11

kilometres, so about a two and a half hour walk

away. and they're walking and they're talking

about everything that's happened and a man joins

in and we've got some hidden knowledge here,

we know this man is Jesus but the disciples are

kept from recognising him. Now joining in a conversation

mid -walk feels weird to us today with randoms

that we don't know but this is a very normal

thing for people in Jesus' culture. They were

travelling from maybe long distances to Jerusalem

for Passover, this was the thing that they did

and this was the festival around which Jesus

was killed. And there wasn't any headphones you

could jam in your ears so you don't have to talk

to strangers. So this, you know, you talked,

you debated, you discussed what was going on.

It was the in -flight entertainment, so to speak.

And Jesus wants to know what on earth they're

discussing so intently. And they say these things

that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth.

He was a prophet who did powerful miracles. He

was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all

the people. But our leading priests and our other

religious leaders handed him over to be condemned

to death and they crucified him. We had hoped

he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel.

This all happened three days ago. We had hoped

he was the Messiah to come and rescue Israel.

hoped their expectations of Jesus were shattered

by the reality of the cross. But then they go

on. Then some women from our group of his followers

were at his team early morning and they came

back with an amazing report. They said his body

was missing and they'd seen angels who told them

Jesus was alive and some of our men ran out to

see and sure enough his body was gone just as

the women had said. Now wait a minute, hold up.

They hoped that he was the Messiah and then some

women say his body is missing and and that an

angel had said that Jesus was alive and Some

of their friends had confirmed that there was

nobody there. So why are they going home? Why

are they why are they going home? Why aren't

they investigating if Jesus is not dead doesn't

that mean that maybe they were right about Jesus?

Maybe their hopes were founded Why do they leave?

Because they've given up on Jesus as the Messiah.

Their hopes were shattered on the cross from

their vantage point. Their reality is less than

their expectations. It's worse than their expectations

because the Messiahs don't die. In their heart

of hearts they're disappointed and so they go

home to Emmaus. Now I wonder Where do you go

when you're disappointed with God? Who do you

go to? Where do you run? What is your Emmaus?

Maybe it's comfort food. Maybe it's dating. Maybe

it's pain. Maybe it's shiny new things. Maybe

it's binging TV shows or video games. Maybe it's

alcohol or other substances. Maybe it's doom

scrolling or pornography. Maybe it's the comfort

or the affirmation of others. Where do you run

to in your disappointment? What is your Emmaus?

Now Jesus isn't having this from his disciples.

He says, very kindly, you foolish people, Jesus

has a way. You find it so hard to believe that

all the prophets wrote in the scriptures. Wasn't

it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have

to suffer all these things before entering his

glory? And then he explains it all from start

to finish. By the time he's finished they're

approaching Emmaus and Jesus does the polite

thing he makes as if he's going on and they do

the polite thing of the time which is to beg

him to stay. So everyone's being so very polite

but then at the meal Jesus does something that's

a little less polite. because he takes the position

of the head of the household and he blesses the

bread and he breaks it. This was the job of the

person whose house it was, not him. And suddenly

their eyes are opened. These disciples, they

realize it's Jesus and Jesus disappears. And

they say to each other, didn't our hearts burn

within us as he talked with us on the road and

explained the scriptures to us. So they rushed

back to Jerusalem to tell the others. Now I want

us to take a big step back from all of this.

Why would Luke, who recorded this Gospel, include

this? See, John says at the end of his Gospel,

Jesus did many other things as well, and every

one of them, if they were written down, I suppose

that even the whole world would not have room

for the books that would be written. So there's

so much content. There's content everywhere.

Why put this in? John was an eyewitness of Jesus.

Luke had a plethora of stories from eyewitnesses

he could have chosen to include. Why include

this? Why make this, in terms of length, the

primary resurrection story in his gospel, right?

Now it takes another level of significance if

you take another step back and think about how

much it would have cost Luke to include this

story. It's pretty cheap to get your hands on

a Bible today. In fact there's a whole bunch

where the kids are up the back which you can

have for free so go nuts if you want a Bible.

But to produce Luke's Gospel in today's money

would have cost between three and a half to four

thousand dollars. And that's just the floor because

it depends on how many spelling mistakes were

in there, how many revisions that he decided

he wanted to make. This was a significant investment.

And the Emmaus Road story is two percent of Luke's

Gospel. Now I'm not the one who does maths in

the family, that's Ash's specialty. But this

would have cost $200 to $250 for Luke to include.

Why include this encounter with Jesus with some

nobody disciples on a road to a town that no

one can really definitively tell you where Emmaus

actually was? Why would Luke include this? What

is he getting at here? Well this story is so

important because so much of our own story as

disciples of Jesus is reflected in this story.

The resurrection has happened. We have heard,

you and me, that the tomb is empty and that Jesus

is alive and still we can be come disappointed

with God. We hope in things that do not come

to pass. And on the long walk of life, like a

walk to Emmaus, we can easily avoid seeking the

truth about Jesus on our own little walks to

our own little Emmauses. And it's on that long

walk of life, even today in 2026, that the risen

Jesus meets us. The risen Jesus meets us. And

I want to give you three ways that Jesus meets

us. He meets us as he met those disciples in

the correction. Scripture. The disciples confession

about Jesus is not wrong but it's very partial,

it's incomplete and Jesus comes alongside them

and he corrects them with Scripture. The Messiah

had to suffer these things before entering his

glory. He interprets the whole Scriptures for

them through the lens of what he had come to

do. In the same way the Scriptures for us interpreted

through the lens of Jesus, comes and corrects

us if we let it. If we let it. And invites us

into the deeper truth and understanding about

who Jesus really, really is. Now I want to make

sure we don't just brush past this, my friends,

because we actually need the scriptures. We need

to read them and we need to allow them to shape

us and to challenge us. We can't assume that

we have a complete understanding of who Jesus

is. We can't assume that we've ticked him off.

I've read Jesus. I'm good. We can't assume that

the scriptures have nothing more to say to us

today. And we can't assume that we don't still

need, regardless of how spiritually mature we

may be, loving correction from God. Paul says

in 2 Timothy 3, all scripture is inspired by

God and it's useful to teach us what is true.

and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives.

It corrects us when we're wrong and teaches us

to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and

equip his people to do every good work. God uses

it to prepare and equip his people to do every

good work. We need the scriptures, my friends,

to prayerfully read them, to absorb them, to

allow them to renew our thinking and to cultivate

our imagination. We need to allow Jesus to lovingly

correct us. he does with Cleopas and his friend.

The second way he meets us is in the breaking

of bread. Jesus breaks and blesses bread with

the disciples and it's in the breaking and the

blessing of the bread that their eyes are open

and the presence of Jesus is seen and felt clearly.

In the same way when we break bread with each

other, in our homes, as Christian community,

when we break bread together here, celebrating

the Lord's Supper together, our eyes and our

hearts are open to the presence of Jesus. We

can see clearly both Jesus and our own selves,

our own hearts. The third way that he meets us

is in the burning of our hearts. The disciples

remarked that their heart burned within them

as they talk with Jesus. And friends, in the

same way, when we talk to Jesus today, when we

Contend in prayer, which is one of our core values.

When we listen to His voice, when do we cultivate

ears to hear? Well, then our hearts burn inside

of us for Him, with Him and for Him. Ben, you

can come back up. You know, Luke includes this

expensive little story. For the disciples that

are to come. If you call yourself a follower

of Jesus for you and for me. For those who wander

away from the empty tomb and they've got disappointment

in their hearts. Because we also wander away

from Jesus from time to time. Towards our own

versions of Emmaus. With disappointment in our

hearts. What do we do with this disappointment?

Well we can see how Jesus met the disciples in

theirs and he meets us in ours. But there's something

deeper here. There's a there's an irony here

going on we talked about disappointment being

when your reality is less than or worse than

your expectations But here their reality for

these two disciples is is not less than their

expectations The problem is is their perception

of reality is incorrect We had hoped he was the

Messiah who'd come to rescue Israel Not only

is that exactly who Jesus is but he's even better.

He's even better. Jesus is not just the Messiah

who's come to rescue Israel, he is the Son of

God who's come to rescue the universe. His death

on the cross wasn't the end of his claim to be

the Messiah, but his very coronation as King.

And this is what Jesus meets them on the road

to show them, that ultimately their disappointment,

although real and valid, is completely unfounded.

He is what they hoped he would be and more. They

were only seeing partially but now their eyes

are opened. Now they see clearly. Now they see

their perception about Jesus was wrong and their

disappointment turns into utter delight. You

know I think I've noticed that In my own disappointment

with God, my disappointment isn't actually with

God, it is with what God has or has not done.

God made my family move to Galah, thus ruining

this months long relationship. God did not make

her love me enough to overcome our distance.

And I think often our disappointment with God

is similarly not necessarily with God, but with

what God has or has not done. I wonder today

what disappointment you might carry within you.

Disappointment in what God has or has not done.

What do you do with it? You do what Cleopas and

his friend, the two disciples on the road to

Emmaus, do without even consciously realising

it. You do what 15 -year -old heartbroken Tim

did in very colourful language. You speak out

your disappointment to Jesus. You take it to

him. And as He did with the two disciples, He

meets us in our disappointment. He meets us with

spiritual correction. He meets us with His presence.

He meets us through the burning of the Holy Spirit

within us. Now I can't stress how important this

is for a life of joyous, lifelong, fruitful life

with Jesus. It was not a sentence. I can't stress

how important this is to not stuff your disappointment

down. to not allow your heart to grow bitter

with God for what He has or has not done, to

not allow your heart to turn to stone within

you towards Him, but to go to Him and to confess

your disappointments to Him, to confess your

hopes to Him, and to watch Him meet you in that.

Watch Him open your eyes to truly see what's

happening. 15 -year -old Tim couldn't see that

the end of this relationship could make way for

something much, much better, but it did. Have

you met my wife? I can't see my life objectively.

I can't see my life from God's perspective. But

God can. God sees. And whatever disappointment

you hold in your heart towards Jesus, He sees

you. He knows you. I want to encourage you. Speak

it out to Him. Confess it to Him. Allow Him to

lovingly meet you in it. Because here's something

that I believe with all my heart. And Paul says

it to his in his letter to the Corinthians. Now

we see things imperfectly like puzzling reflections

in a mirror but then we will see everything with

perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial

and incomplete but then I will know everything

completely just as God knows me completely. One

day we will also like those disciples break bread

with Jesus and our eyes will be open and we will

realize that any disappointment we've ever had

in Jesus unfounded. Now disappointment that our

expectations have been less than our reality

will turn to complete absolute utter joy and

delight. Let's pray together friends. God we

thank you that you give us life and life to the

full. And I just pray, Holy Spirit, come and

minister to us. Come, Holy Spirit, we want you

to be here with us. I want your presence to descend

here in this place where your gathered people

worship you. Come and create a space in us where

it is safe to speak out our disappointment to

you. And God, we pray and we know that you will

meet us in that. We ask that you to come in Jesus'

name. While we sing this song, while I was praying

about today, I felt that we should give a really

practical, physical opportunity to confess your

disappointments to God. So behind page over here

is this box that I found in a cupboard. Isn't

it beautiful? And there's some paper here, which

I'm going to put on the ground, and some pens.

that was my fault and I want to invite you as

we're singing and as we worship together to come

to write down the disappointments that you hold

in your heart towards God and to put it in that

box and then I will destroy them I promise and

use this as a way to clear your heart of anything

that you hold against God and allow him to come

and meet you in it. Sound good? Would you stand

with us as we sing? Thanks so much for tuning

in to this week's message. If you felt challenged

or need prayer, we'd love to hear from you on

Instagram at encounterhenley. Or if you're interested

in how you can support this ministry, please

go to our website encounteradelaide .com .au.

Thanks again for listening. God bless you.