INTRODUCTION
• Most of us are acquainted with the ideas of formal and informal authority.
• Formal authority is attached to someone’s title or position.
• More often, though, people have informal authority over us.
• We’ll listen to the people we trust and do what they ask because we trust them.
• If we don’t trust leaders, even if they have formal authority over us, we will often do everything we can to avoid doing what they tell us to do.
• More to the point, in his classic Leadership without Easy Answers, Ronald Heifetz defines authority as “conferred power to perform a service.”
• He notes that all authority, ultimately, is conferred. (Given over to another, bestowed or awarded to another)
• It’s given, if even subconsciously by one—or many—to another.
• Accordingly, authority is conferred to some more easily than to others.
“Not all authority relationships are the product of a conscious and deliberate conferring of power. Often, they are produced by habitual deference” (Ronald A. Heifetz, Leadership without Easy Answers [Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1994], 57–58).
• Today as we continue with our “The Power of the Gospel series, we are going to examine an event that punctuates not only the power of Jesus but the authority of Jesus.
• In this episode, Jesus demonstrates His power with an act of healing. While this story is remembered for the healing of the centurion’s servant, it is notable that the attention is focused on the faith of the centurion himself and how it pleased Jesus.
• Later in the Gospels, observers will marvel as Jesus walks on water (Matthew 8:27) and at the healing of a paralyzed man, but on the other hand, Jesus marvels at our faith.
• A real focus on the faith of the people with whom Jesus interacts is a pattern we’ll see often.
• In fact, this episode is one of Jesus’s first public acts of ministry following the Sermon on the Mount.
• Nevertheless, Jesus also wants the people to trust him. They must confer authority to him. Only then will obedience flow out of awe and love, from Jesus’s formal and informal authority, respectively.
• The authority of Jesus is an important concept to grasp because if we do not understand, respect, and submit to His authority, we will rebel and fight with Him all the days of our life, either consciously or unconsciously.
• The BIG IDEA for the message today is: By healing the centurion’s servant, Jesus establishes his power over the material world, but it’s the spiritual reality of faith to which Jesus draws our attention.
• Let’s turn to Matthew 8, we will begin with verses 5-7.
Matthew 8:5–7 CSB
5 When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, pleading with him,
6 “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible agony.”
7 He said to him, “Am I to come and heal him?”
SERMON
I. The need for faith in the authority of Jesus.
• There comes a time in life when we are faced with a situation we cannot handle on our own.
• Many of us are independent and prideful and we are used to being able to take care of business on our own.
• Going back to the thoughts on the issue of authority, we have a tendency to resist authority, especially if said authority gets in the way of what we want to do with life.
• We go through life thinking we are in control, thinking that we can live life however we want, and if there is a God, He will let me into His kingdom on my terms.
• Then something happens to many of us that serve as a wake-up call, something happens that brings us to the breaking point.
• Our illusion is shattered, we can no longer fool ourselves into thinking our construct is true.
• We ultimately face something that is bigger than ourselves and we begin to realize just how much we need to place our faith in something other than ourselves.
• The ministry of Jesus is marked by three Passover celebrations.
• The first year of ministry is marked by the first Passover which took place in 27 AD found in John 2:13-23.
• Year two, which is where our text finds us today is found in John 5:1, the date is 28 AD.
• The final year of His ministry begins with the Passover celebration found in John 6:4, in the year 29 AD.
• Passover usually took place on a date in March to May, much like our Easter celebration.
• Jesus was at the Passover Celebration in Jerusalem in roughly March of 28 AD. Jesus was in Jerusalem where He healed the lame man at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5).
• A month later, Jesus is back in Galilee (Matthew 12:1-21) teaching and healing.
• This is when the Sermon on the Mount is preached (Matthew 5-7).
• Now about two months after the 28 AD Passover and about a month after the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus returns to Capernaum, and this is where the event we are looking at today takes place.
• When Jesus enters Capernaum, He is approached by a centurion who needs Jesus to fix a problem for him.
• A centurion was a non-commissioned officer in the Roman Army or auxiliary territorial army who commanded a group of 100 men.
• The centurion had the responsibilities of a Junior Officer, like an Army Captain today.
• This man comes to Jesus begging Him to heal his young servant. Matthew uses the Greek word for Child, whereas, in Luke's account, he uses the word for servant.
• Nonetheless, the young man means something this centurion.
• Jesus asks is He to go to the centurion's house to heal the young servant.
• This unnamed centurion was a man who respected the Jewish people, even though he was in the Roman Army.
• In Luke 7, we are told this centurion loved the servant he was seeking to help.
• We see that he also loved the Jewish nation.
• This man was generous, he built a synagogue for the people.
• This man, who was not a Jew, is coming to Jesus for help.
• he has faith in Jesus, he most likely heard about the miracles Jesus had been performing prior to His arrival in Capernaum.
• Let’s go to verses 8-9.
Matthew 8:8–9 CSB
8 “Lord,” the centurion replied, “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
9 For I too am a man under authority, having soldiers under my command. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”
II. The exercise of faith in the authority of Jesus.
• From the response of the centurion, Jesus is ready to go to the centurion’s home to do what was asked of Him.
• This is where it gets interesting.
• The centurion is resisting Jesus coming to his home because he feels unworthy of such a blessing.
• How is Jesus going to heal his beloved servant if He cannot come to the house to do so?
• The centurion has so much faith in the authority and ability of Jesus, that he tells Jesus that he knows that if Jesus just says the word, the healing will happen!
• The centurion possesses formal authority, and he recognizes it in Jesus. That’s why the centurion can say with confidence that Jesus’s word will be obeyed (Matthew 8:9).
• The centurion is all too aware of the issue of authority and how it works.
• This centurion was willing to exercise his faith in the authority Jesus had over the power of sickness and death!
• The centurion both acknowledges his unworthiness and recognizes in Jesus’ words God’s authoritative healing power.
• He reasons from the “lesser to the greater” by comparing the invested authority he has as a military leader to evoke obedience, to the view that the mere authoritative command of Jesus will result in the healing of his “servant.”
• How would you feel if you were standing before Jesus and you knew He could heal your loved one?
• Would you have enough faith in Him to tell Him He did not need to come to your house, that you believed in Him so much that Jesus could simply say the word, and your loved one would be healed?
• Or would you feel better if Jesus came and stood before your loved one?
• Wouldn’t you want to be sure the healing would take place?
• How many times in life have we doubted Jesus? How many times have we been eaten up with distress and worry over something because we did not trust that Jesus had authority over the situation?
• How many times have we been given a gift from God, only to squander it because we thought it would be tough because we did not trust in the authority and power of Jesus?
• Now let’s go down to verses 10-13 see what happens!
Matthew 8:10–13 CSB
10 Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith.
11 I tell you that many will come from east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
12 But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13 Then Jesus told the centurion, “Go. As you have believed, let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that very moment.
III. The blessing of faith in the authority of Jesus.
• Look at verse 10 with me again.
Matthew 8:10 CSB
10 Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith.
• Jesus is astonished at the level of perception and faith present in this Roman centurion!
• Jesus goes on to say that such faith has not been found in Israel, the nation full of God’s chosen people!
• This statement by Jesus was amazing. Then it gets better or worse depending on who you are at this point.
• Verse 11-12 reveals something astounding for the time!
• Not only do we find in this narrative an astounding account of Jesus healing a person from a distance, but we also find a staggering reversal of ethnic and religious expectations.
• At this early stage of Jesus’ ministry and Matthew’s narrative, a Gentile is healed, a promise of Gentile inclusion in the kingdom of heaven is revealed, and the nation of Israel is warned of exclusion from God’s program of redemption if they do not repent.
• This certainly must have shocked Jesus’ audience and is a stark reminder to Matthew’s readers of the true nature of discipleship. (NIVAC MT Commentary)
• Now let me ask you a question concerning the healing. This is extremely important for us to understand..
› Why did Jesus heal the servant at the request of the centurion, a person who was not a Jew?
• Was the healing or the proportion of the healing a result of the proportion of faith or the faith of the centurion?
• The key to this was the response to the centurion's faith in Jesus as the one who CAN HEAL!
• This centurion, even with limited knowledge of God was a man who willfully submitted himself to the authority of Jesus, he did not go kicking and screaming, this man was doing all he knew how to be faithful to God.
• My question for you is do you have FAITH in the one who CAN HEAL, the one who CAN change your life, the one who died for you!
• Do you have faith in the one who LOVES you beyond measure?
CONCLUSION
• Application Point: We give witness to Jesus’s authority in our lives by our obedience to his teachings and our willingness to live in submission to God’s Word.
• See you can publically praise the of Jesus all you want, but if you do are not willing to be obedient to His teaching nor have the willingness to submit your life to Him and His word, your faith will gain you nothing!
• Life the life, joyfully live under the authority of Jesus.
• Quit trying to get the goodies from God, quit trying to get the blessing from God if you refuse to submit to His authority in your life.
• For those who are single, QUIT trying to do what you KNOW is wrong in your relationships and then expect God to bless the mess.
• We have to be willing to trust God enough to live under His rule, His authority, His love, and His blessing!
• God loves you too much to watch you squander the blessings He has in store for you!
