Sermon Central
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Jaw-Dropping Faith
Contributed by John Gaston on May 23, 2019 (message contributor)
Summary: The Centurion is the only person who ever demonstrated such faith that Jesus was "amazed." There are four characteristics of his faith which make it extraordinary. We could learn a lot from this man!
JAW-DROPPING FAITH
INTRODUCTION
A. RESPECTING AUTHORITY FIGURES
1. Have you ever been in a grocery store and saw a child best described as spoiled?
2. The mother would say, “Put that candy back’, and the kid would say, “No”, and then rip the package open. The mother would say, “That’s it! Don’t you get another one and I mean it.”
3. The kid would grab something else. The mother would say, “put it back”. The kid would start screaming, and the mother would say, “be quiet and put that thing in the basket.”
4. The mother was supposed to be the authority figure, the child knew who was in charge!
5. A salesman called a house and a woman answered. He said, “May I speak to the person who makes the financial decisions for your family about purchases for your home?”
6. The woman answered, “I’m sorry. He’s still at kindergarten and won’t be home till about 3!”
7. We’re looking at the subject of ‘authority’ in tonight’s message.
B. TEXT
1When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, 5because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." 6So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." 9When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the
crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." 10Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
C. THESIS
1. Tonight, we’re looking at a man who had “Jaw-Dropping Faith.” Only twice in all of Scripture was Jesus said to “marvel” or be amazed.
2. The other time was when he began his public ministry in his hometown of Nazareth, and he was rejected by his fellow Jews – “he was amazed by their lack of faith.” (Mark 6:6, Luke 4:14-30).
3. The centurion had a faith that was more perceptive and sensitive than anything Jesus had witnessed in Israel.
4. “Why was Jesus so amazed?” We’re going to look at the 4 characteristics that made this man’s faith so amazing. FIRST, HIS FAITH CAUSED HIM TO;
I. HE LOVED ACROSS ALL BARRIERS
1. Jesus had just completed the teaching know as “The Sermon on the Mount.” Now Jesus entered into Capernaum, a city on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee.
2. While Jesus is in Capernaum, he is approached by representatives of a Roman Centurion. Centurions were commonplace in the Roman Empire. They were equivalent in rank to a modern-day army captain and normally in command of 100 soldiers.
A. A SPECIAL SERVANT
1. This particular centurion had a servant who was ill, Matthew (8:6) in his account of this incident uses the term (pais) which is young child.
2. Whoever this young man was, Luke who was a doctor, said he “was sick and ready to die.” If you have ever clung to a loved one that was at death’s door and you felt that he was slowly losing the battle, you know this centurion awful sense of helplessness.
B. HE BROKE THROUGH BARRIERS
1. THREE WAYS HE CROSSED SOCIAL/ RACIAL BARRIERS:
a. We are told that this man loved Israel, though it was not the land of his birth.
b. He cared deeply about his young servant, which was out of the social norm.
c. And he crossed racial and ethnic barriers when he, as a Gentile, appealed to a Jew for help.
2. His liberty is especially surprising when you realize a. How proud and arrogant the average Roman was about their citizenship and status, looking down on others as barbarians; and b. How much the Jews hated non-Jews. One Jewish saying was, “I thank God that I wasn’t born a dog, a gentile, or a woman”.
3. To conclude, this man ignored all the social barriers and loved people from several diverse racial and economic classes. That’s pretty jaw-dropping!
