The title of our little message for this evening is: “How to Make a Fool of Yourself.” This is a subject about which I am an expert, so I may have some insights you might be able to use. Our scripture is not unfamiliar. I think several preachers here over the last couple years have referred to it. But tonight, I’d like to emphasize the Lord Jesus’ use of the word “fools” in verse 25.
Of course, if I began this message by saying everyone in this room were behaving foolishly, we’d get off on the wrong foot and probably not recover. If instead of using the adverb “foolishly,” I used the noun, saying you were all “fools,” it would be worse. And if I got even more personal, not using the plural word “fools,” but I pointed down from my lofty position and called you a “fool,” I might not make it out the door unscathed.
But what if is wasn’t me at all – rather it was Christ Jesus speaking? Wouldn’t that change things? Our Lord and Saviour said to two of His disciples, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe…” “what is wrong with you?” Because I am a fool, it would be inappropriate for me to call anyone else a fool. But when the infinitely holy and omniscient Son of God – the One who is embodiment of all wisdom – calls someone a “fool,” that person should not only respect the accusation but take it to heart. And we should remember that when the Lord speaks to His own people, it is always with love. Those two on the road to Emmaus were not angry with this stranger for the use of this word. It was said in such a way that felt like medicine in a sore wound. And they invited Him to supper.
Because one of the primary purposes of our gathering here tonight is prayer… And because we need this prayer since these are the last days, and the world seems to be crumbling around us… And because we are so very like Cleopas and his friend… I’d like us to consider what it was that made them fools in the eyes of our loving heavenly Judge. It seems to me that the cause of their foolishness was their unsettling circumstances, some unclaimed promises and their uncontrolled passions.
Consider the UNSETTLING CIRCUMSTANCES of the day.
A little over 72 hours earlier, the One whom the disciples considered to be the Messiah had been murdered. So all their previously uncontrolled thoughts about the Millennial kingdom had been dashed. Their hopes of peace and personal wealth had been destroyed. The lion and the lamb were still at odds, and poor didn’t yet reside under their own private fig tree. It appeared to these two that the words of Jesus, the prophet, had melted into verbal puddles. He who had been mighty in deed before God and all the people, couldn’t deliver Himself. Of course, these two hadn’t yet heard about the empty tomb, and the explanation that it provided. The Romans were still plundering Israel and the Jews were still living in poverty.
All these two could see were negatives. It is obvious that Cleopas and his companion were Christians, just like the people in this auditorium tonight. And yet as Christians they were fools, just as some of us are tonight. They had been overcome by their unintelligible circumstances. The were caught in a whirlpool – in a descending spiral – they were circling the drain. They were spinning so quickly they had become dizzy and unable to focus.
Potentially like any one of us, if we don’t catch ourselves, all we might see are negative. I get it. I understand. I have been to the same kind of pity party to which these two were headed. When serious problems come into our lives, we tend not to see anything but those problems. Others might see the good in our circumstances, but we can’t. I get it. And in those circumstances we can behave foolish
Let’s make a little comparison: For those two on the road to Emmaus, the Lord Jesus had been crucified and died. His death has become a footnote in the biography of the Roman governor Pilate. Josephus and other historians were soon going to jot down a few words about the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. Cleopas and his companion were just hours removed from the event at Golgotha. But aren’t you and I living on the same side of the cross as those two? Why aren’t we as disturbed about the death of Christ as they were? Isn’t it because, by God’s grace, we understand the circumstances more fully than they did at the time? We know that Christ, like the little boy said in his simple witnessing, “Mister, He didn’t stay dead.” We know that the death of Christ was necessary for our salvation. We know that Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” As far as the crucifixion is concerned, you and I are living under the same shadow as those two. But we can make more sense of it all, and we aren’t quite as foolish about it as they were. The difference is a matter of position and perspective. They were too close to the event to really see it.
But what of the circumstances of the 21st century and those circumstances which are unique to ourselves? Let’s say that you have heart disease despite being only 35 years old. In your fully understandable short-sightedness, you can’t see anything but defeat. You are going to have to fight to stay alive, and it might not be a very long fight. But what if your condition is used to awaken your son to his sinful condition and his eternal needs? What if he is saved by God’s grace, watching you living by faith in the midst of terrifying circumstances? Shouldn’t your disease then be called a blessing? Or let’s say that social insanity escalates to the point persecution, and your family members are slaughtered because you refuse to renounce your faith in Christ. This has been a part of Christian history, and it could be repeated tomorrow. But who is to say that your persecutors couldn’t become like Paul and Silas’ persecutor there in Philippi? What if your suffering results in the eternal salvation of another sinner? While in the middle of your unfathomable circumstances, you may foolishly despair, but once you get down the road a few miles, looking back those circumstances you may be able to see the blessings.
The Lord Jesus looked at His two disciples as if they were spiritual children. Yes, they were being foolish, but it was a kind of foolishness most of us have seen in our own babies. Settle down; slow down; this, too, shall pass. The trials may be hard, but the conclusion will be glorious, because God has promised it.
But that leads to the second cause of their foolishness – God’s UNCLAIMED PROMISES.
Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?” What had the Old Testament prophets said about Christ? Of course, the Lord was referring primarily to those prophecies about His substitutionary sacrifice. “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?”
But in addition to the prophecies, there were dozens of prophetic promises. Jesus might have said to them what we can read in Hebrews 13:5 – “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Yes, their cherished and coveted hopes had been dashed, but the Lord was still there. Jehovah made these promises to Jacob, Moses and Joshua, about His ongoing presence, so maybe we shouldn’t apply them to us. But what about the general statements like Psalm 37:28 – “The LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever…” And what about “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” The Psalms are replete with promises that these two should have grasped and cleaved to. “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart; wait, I say on the Lord.” These two childish fools weren’t waiting. Rather than remaining with the other disciples, they were scurrying for the cover of home. “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me; thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.” The Lord Jesus, “hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when the cried unto him, he heard.” Maybe these two tearful babes, were not crying unto the Lord, but still He had not hid his face.
Were these two present when the Lord Jesus said, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Did they hear Jesus’ words in John 14 – “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me.” “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you,” and there He was walking up behind them on the road.
These and a hundred other promises are no less valuable today than they should have been in Luke 24. And that makes me wonder how often the Lord Jesus must look at us, shaking His head and saying, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe…?” When we need wisdom, do we turn to the Lord for guidance or do we look elsewhere? When we need spiritual energy, why do we turn to coffee or something even more caffeinated? When we become sad or depressed, why do we turn secular humor or worldly entertainment? Why, when things don’t go our way, we run home to momma imitating Cleopas? “O fools, and slow of heart to believe…?”
We are being childish, if when we are hungry, we refuse to eat simply because the food is not our favorite. We are fools if when we are thirsty, we refuse to drink because the water hasn’t been doctored to our taste. We are fools when we forget the nourishment the Lord has provided through the myriad of His promises.
And we are fools when we let our PASSIONS run UNCONTROLLED.
Had those disciples taken a beating at the hands of wicked and unbelieving? Yes, they had. Had their misconceived plans been dashed by circumstances beyond their control? Yes, they had. Were they filled with doubts about their earlier decisions to follow Jesus of Nazareth? Yes, they were. But they didn’t have to permit their sadness and doubts rule their lives. We may not have any control over what the world does around us, and we certainly can’t tell the Lord that He is making mistakes about us. There is much beyond our control, but we do have control over how we respond to things. We should have some authority over our own passions.
As I was thinking about this message, Brother Ken Carter sent around a quote which applies to this point. I’ll edit the words of Baptist Theologian John Piper just slightly: “My FEELINGS are not God. GOD is God. My feelings do not define truth. God’s word defines truth. My feelings are echoes and responses to what my mind perceives in my circumstances. And sometimes – many times – my feelings are out of sync with the reality of those circumstances. When that happens – and it happens every day in some measure – I try not to bend the truth to justify my imperfect feelings. But rather, I plead with God: Purify my perceptions of your truth and these circumstances, and transform my feelings so that they are in sync with the realities of my life.”
Cleopas and his friend were not looking at their lives in a Christian fashion. They were looking down and within – rather than up and toward the Lord. They looked at their Christianity as defeated, when that was not true. They were feeding their feelings with more of their own feelings, and thus the spiral continued. I know that it is very easy to say, and difficult to do, but they should have forced themselves to continue to be passionate about their Saviour.
We must not let our emotions control our spirits. And that remains true whether those emotions are positive or negative. The fire in our hearts must be fueled by the Holy Spirit rather than the burning of our polluted emotions. “O fools, and slow of heart to be believe all that the prophets have spoken.”
Cleopas and his friend were not offended by the Lord’s loving rebuke. And when they neared home, they invited this stranger to spend the evening and share a meal with then. After a couple hours of delightful conversation and food, “their eyes were opened, and they knew him, (at which time) he vanished out of their sight.” “And they said one to another, did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” By the time the evening ended their hearts were aflame once again, but this time the fuel was about “all that the prophets have spoken.” Their foolishness was passed and they were once again rejoicing in the joy of the Lord.