June 17, 2001 Luke 7:1-10
1 When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." 6 So 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. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For 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."
9 When 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." 10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well. (NIV)
I remember when I was growing up, I would always open up the fridge and look for something to eat. I would stand there and just stare into the fridge, and wait to see if anything appealed to me. I think my mom had an alarm on the door - some light or sound that only she could hear. It wouldn’t matter if I had the fridge open for a second or a minute, she would always manage to yell out, “what are you looking for?”, before I closed the door. And I always answered, “Something to eat.” So she would say, “hurry up and find something!” She didn’t want me wasting electricity.
People are doing the same thing today. They are searching for something to eat - spiritually. They want the satisfaction of knowing that they are doing the right thing - that they are loved by God. What they really want, is God’s approval. God’s approval is exactly what the centurion, of all people, got. Jesus said in today’s text, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." That’s quite a statement - something that all of us would like Jesus to say of us. Today we are going to look at the centurion’s faith, and see what made it so “great” in Jesus’ eyes. In order to do so, we will consider the theme -
Amazing Faith! Where is it Found?
I. In an unselfish attitude
First of all, we want to look at why this centurion wanted Jesus’ help in the first place. Why did the centurion send for Jesus? Luke says, a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion wasn’t asking for more money or fame. He just wanted Jesus to heal his servant. Even the elders of the Jews said, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." What does this tell us about the centurion? He had an amazing faith. How do we know? He was a very unselfish person. He wanted his servant to be healed. He wanted the Jews to have a nice place to worship. How can you have a God pleasing faith like the centurion? Be generous and unselfish.
You see, there is a direct correlation between the way you act and what kind of faith you have. God tells us to do very unselfish things - love your neighbor as yourself. Give Him your firstfruits. If someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If you didn’t have any faith, what would you say to such requests? “I’m not giving God my firstfruits! Then I won’t have enough for myself! If I have to give someone my cloak, then he’ll just take advantage of me.” God asks us to do these unselfish things to build our faith. When we don’t do them, we aren’t exercising our faith, and we lose our trust in God. I would compare it to practicing an instrument. Somebody can tell you how to play the guitar or the keyboard. You can learn all of the notes in your head. But you still need to get physical practice to get better at it. Faith works the same way. When we put our faith into practice - we come to a firmer conviction that God is what He says He is. God asks us to do that with our possessions and our abilities - use them to help others. When you use your time and possessions for others - you are taking a chance. You could lose money and time. But how often does it happen that when we are more generous, God provides us with more? When you trust God and do the things he asks you to do, your faith becomes more than a head knowledge - it becomes a knowledge of experience. It gives us an amazing faith.
II. In a Christ centered faith
What else made the centurion’s faith amazing? The object of his faith. The centurion had been stationed in Capernaum. Jesus stayed in this city during much of his Galilean ministry. Several of the disciples of Jesus came from there - James, John, Simon Peter, Andrew, and Matthew. Many Jews lived there. Therefore, the centurion knew both the Jewish religion and who Jesus was. There is no doubt that the centurion was a proselyte of the Jewish religion. Why else would he have built the synagogue? He also must have heard the promises of the Messiah. And now he was sure that Jesus was the one who was promised to come. So he sent the elders of the Jews to go and ask Jesus to heal his servant. He knew that no medicine would save this man who was on the verge of death. Jesus was the only hope. Because he trusted in Jesus, his servant was healed.
This is the real crux to a strong faith, isn’t it? There are many people in the world with a very strong faith - stronger faith than what we have - but it doesn’t do them any good because their faith is in the wrong god. For instance, a person may worship a piece of wood and pray to that god three times a day. He or she may burn incense to their god every day - more than some of us do. In other words, they have greater faith in their god than we do ours. But it doesn’t matter how much they trust in that piece of wood, because that piece of wood has no power. If the centurion had trusted in a doctor at that point in time, his servant would have died. But since he trusted in Christ - he had a great faith.
Therefore, we need to have Christ as the object of our faith, if we want to have amazing faith. You can trust in your doctors to get you well - and they may work for a time. You can trust in your money to make you happy - and it may suffice for a time. But these gods will only perish with time. You might compare it to what happened to Jesus on the cross. Jesus had trusted in His Father throughout His whole life for strength in time of trouble. He prayed to Him, trusted in Him, and God delivered. But in the end, Jesus needed to be deserted by the Father, go through hell on the cross, to pay for our sins. It was at that point in Jesus life, that His God deserted him. The one that He trusted in turned His back on Jesus - and made Him suffer for the sins of the world. That’s what’s going to happen to all who trusted in their money, their health, their doctors, and any other things that were not Christ. When Judgment Day comes, they will cry out, “my god, my money, my ability, my doctor, why have you forsaken me? I thought that you were going to save me!”
But our result will be different. Our God will not desert us. Why? We know that Jesus already went through hell on the cross for us. We know that God punished Jesus instead of us. With faith in Jesus, since we know that God already forsook us when He forsook Jesus, we know that Jesus will never forsake us on Judgment Day. Having been abandoned already, Jesus never wants us to go through what he did. Jesus promises in John 10, My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. So we need to trust that Jesus was already forsaken by the Father in our place. As long as our faith is in Jesus - we have an amazing faith.
III. In Humility
What else made the centurions faith amazing? Look at his opinion of himself! It is interesting to compare the Jew’s system of faith with the centurions. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." In their minds, the centurion deserved to have Jesus come to them because of his works - he loved their nation and built their synagogue.
This is what many people think today - I have great faith because I do what God tells me to do. They are confident that God will accept them into heaven because they haven’t murdered anyone. They have faith that God loves them because they were good husbands. Their faith is in their works. These people do not have a saving faith. They are actually going to hell.
A saving faith is like the centurion’s. What did the centurion think of himself? 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. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. Notice what he didn’t say - “I’ve built a synagogue. I love your nation. Even though I’m a Gentile, I’ve still worshiped the God of the Jews.” He makes no demands. He puts no conditions on Jesus - like I did this, now you can do this. All he says is - I’m not worthy to have come to you or have you come to my roof. Jesus didn’t have to do anything that the centurion asked him to.
This is what Jesus says makes a great faith - when you realize you are not worthy of God’s riches. Isaiah 66:2 says, "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit. Why is humility so necessary for strong faith? When you are humble, you realize you need help. I compare it to growing old. Some elderly people are very stubborn. They have taken care of themselves all their lives. As long as they can do so - they refuse to ask for help. It isn’t until their physical condition gets to the point where they can’t help themselves that they finally ask someone for help. And even then they don’t always like it. The centurion realized that he couldn’t help his servant. He realized that he didn’t deserve to have Jesus come under his roof. Since he knew that he was a helpless and unworthy sinner, he had no choice but to trust in Jesus. That’s why he had great faith - because he knew that he couldn’t save himself. And that’s another part of having a great faith. Don’t trust in yourself or be arrogant. Then you have to trust in someone else.
We need to remember this. We don’t deserve to be in this church building. We don’t deserve to have the body and blood of the Lord touch our lips in the Lord’s Supper. We don’t deserve to be in God’s presence. He doesn’t owe us anything. The more we remember this, the more we will also need to trust in the blood of Christ for our forgiveness. With a deep understanding of our sin and unworthiness, we will also have a deep appreciation of our salvation in Christ.
IV. In Trusting in God’s Word
There’s one more thing that made the centurion’s faith great. He trusted in the Word of God. You may remember the story of Naaman and Elisha. Naaman thought that Elisha would wave his hand over him or make him wash in some special water to be cleansed of his leprosy - he needed a special sign. But what about the centurion? He said to Jesus, “say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For 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." The centurion believed that Jesus was so powerful, that His Word would be strong enough to heal his servant. As God, Jesus could send his angels to heal Him, or He Himself could heal His servant. He trusted that the Word of Jesus would be good enough. He didn’t need any special signs.
Jesus also said of us in John 20:29, “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." We have not seen Jesus raise the dead. We haven’t seen him rise from the dead. All we have is a book, with a bunch of his words in it. But this is no more than what the centurion asked for. This is all we need - trust in God’s Word. In God’s Word we have many promises from Jesus. He has every hair of our head numbered. Our sins are forgiven. Those who believe in Jesus are going to an everlasting paradise. An amazing faith needs to take Jesus at His Word. If Jesus said there is a heaven, believe it. If Jesus said that the devil is defeated, believe it. If Jesus said that we are going to heaven by just believing in him, we need to believe it. That’s what an amazing faith does. It trusts what you say. The centurion believed in Jesus’ words, and his servant was healed - brought back from being nearly dead. In the same way, when we believe in Jesus, we are brought back to life from the spiritually dead. That’s what it takes to have amazing faith.
You may look at today’s sermon and think to yourself - ok, I know how to get an amazing faith now. Be generous. Be humble. Trust in Jesus. And listen to his Word. Is that why the centurion finally had such an amazing faith? No. He didn’t get it because he lived in Capernaum, or because he listened to the Jews. He didn’t get it because he was humble. Romans 9:16 It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. He only had this faith because God mercifully decided to give him faith. So if you want an amazing faith, don’t think that you have to do exactly as the centurion did - that’s the Jewish way. The fact is, you already have an amazing faith, if you trust in Jesus. If you trust in Jesus, God has already done an amazing thing with you. He has turned you from a self righteous sinner into a humble saint who trust in Christ. That’s amazing. Thank the Lord that he has already given you an amazing faith, since Jesus is found in your heart through the Word of God. Amen.
