A Faith Not Seen
3/10/05
Matthew 8:5-13
Mt 8:5 And when he was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
Mt 8:6 and saying, Lord, my servant lieth in the house sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
Mt 8:7 And he saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
Mt 8:8 And the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed.
Mt 8:9 For I also am a man under authority, having under myself soldiers: and I say to this one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.
Mt 8:10 And when Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
Mt 8:11 And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven:
Mt 8:12 but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast forth into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
Mt 8:13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; as thou hast believed, [so] be it done unto thee. And the servant was healed in that hour.
How many of us trust our dog? We trust them not to bite us, to guard our homes, and to be our friends. We trust our doctors to give us the correct medicine for what ails us. And the truth is that often times they are only making an educated guess at what is wrong. We seem to have complete faith in their judgment of what is wrong with us. I hate to get a doctor that does not listen to what I have to say but tells me what is wrong. We trust our police officers to enforce the laws and make a safe environment for us to live in and to raise our families in. How shocked we are when we discover that the police officer is human and he makes mistakes maybe he is even the criminal that he is suppose to be protecting us from. How devastated are we when we discover that our doctor is human and makes mistakes. You see we put our trust in humans and animals and often that trust is mistaken. Humans and animals fail to meet our expectations but yet we blindly put our trust in them instead of in Jesus Christ.
I love to cut pictures out of the local newspaper.
In Saturday’s paper, I found a very special one, depicting a high school freshman as she prepares for a track meet. With shoulder length brown hair, she looks like most runners her own age, thin, focused, intent on the race ahead. Undistracted, her face turned downward, she holds one hand at her right ear. In the other, she carries a tiny radio attached to a fanny pack. Nearby her father, Matt McCarthy, speaks into a small transmitter.
Natalie McCarthy, the ordinary looking girl in the picture, sprints both the one hundred and two hundred meter dashes for her Steilacoom High School track team. It is her almost total blindness that makes her most extraordinary.
So, how does she do it? How does she line up with a group of healthy, sighted teens and dash for a finish line she cannot see?
By radio.
Natalie runs with a single earpiece in her right ear. With her father’s voice coming through the tiny transmitter, she hears the course corrections he gives her from the sidelines. With nothing more than trust, and her father’s verbal directions, Natalie runs at full speed toward a goal she cannot see, with competitors she can only hear, over obstacles she can only imagine.
Hers is a perfect picture of our race with Christ. For us, the Holy Spirit directs our race. We face challenges we cannot see. We race for a goal we can only imagine. Though we don’t hear our coach through a radio earpiece, the Lord promises over and over that he will guide us in our race for the finish line. He will direct us. We will hear our Heavenly Father’s voice. We must trust, as blindly as Natalie does, the whispering in our spiritual ears. We must trust and respond. Change course. Run the race. Your Father is whispering in your ear.
Proverbs 3: 5-8
The centurion had this type of faith. Jesus the Son of God marveled at the faith of this Gentile who had not the advantage of the Old Testament to show him the path to God. This centurion understood what the Jews did not understand and that was you can say have faith, you can think about having faith but until you submitted to its’ authority in your life you can never live by it. Just what was different about the centurion’s faith than what most of the Jews were doing?
The First Principle that we can learn from the centurions’ faith is that He had a faith in something that was unseen. He had only heard about Jesus and what He was doing but he still believed that Jesus could heal his servant even without coming to his home. He recognized that there was something unique about Jesus and His message. He even saw the truth in Jesus’ message by the miracles that He had already performed and He believed not because of what he had seen Jesus do but what he had heard about Jesus and His ability. How hard is it for us to believe something unless we can see with our own eyes? How many of us today would believe that Jesus could heal the sick and cure the lame if He was walking the earth today? But you see the centurion did. He put aside all the doubts and came to Jesus asking in complete faith that Jesus could do what He wanted to do.
John McNeil reports that he was once the pastor at a church in the British Isles. It was heavily in debt. This worried him greatly and he prayed about it a lot.
One day a perfect stranger came to his office. He said that he was aware of the church’s financial problems and offered to help. He put a blank check on the pastor’s desk and promised to come back later and sign it.
The pastor couldn’t believe what was happening. After the man left, he began to study the situation. "This can’t possibly be true. Does this man realize that our debt is thousands of pounds? I don’t think he would pay it in full, if he knew. Yet he told me to make the check out for the full amount. But that would be taking advantage of him. I’ll make it out for half." After a great deal of thought, that’s what he did.
When the stranger returned, he signed the check with no hesitation whatsoever. He obviously had meant what he said. The church’s benefactor was actually a well-known philanthropist. When the pastor realized who he was and that he was fully capable of paying the debt in full, he wished he had made out the check for the entire amount the church owed.
How He wished that he had more faith in this man. But like many of us that doubt crept in. Don’t let doubt block your faith Jesus can save us completely and He can also keep each and every promise that He has made.
The second principle of faith that we can learn from these verses is that his faith was complete. He did not just believe a little bit. The centurion realized that all Jesus had to do was to speak and it would be done. He knew that Jesus did not need any potion, dance, or anything else to accomplish what He wants to do. The Centurion knew that Jesus did not require to be in the presence on the one sick to accomplish the healing. What faith is that. Most of us would have wanted Jesus to come home with us so we could be sure the sickness was healed just in case there was a limit to how far Jesus’ ability could reach. Many of us would have had doubts that Jesus could accomplish that but the centurion did not have any doubt. He had compete faith in Jesus’ ability. Often our society supports those who doubt. We honor them and make heros of them. Now there are times we should doubt. We should doubt human endeavor because we do make mistakes and we don’t always have the best interest of our fellow man in mind. Once upon a time, in a land far away, a beautiful, independent, self-assured princess happened upon a frog as she sat, contemplating ecological issues on the shores of an unpolluted pond in a verdant meadow near her castle. The frog hopped into the princess’ lap and said: "Elegant Lady, I was once a handsome prince, until an evil witch cast a spell upon me. One kiss from you, however, and I will turn back into the dapper, young prince that I am and then, my sweet, we can marry and set up housekeeping in your castle with my mother, where you can prepare my meals, clean my clothes, bear my children, and forever feel grateful and happy doing so." That night, as the princess dined sumptuously on a repast of lightly sauteed frog legs seasoned in a white wine and onion cream sauce, she chuckled and thought to herself: I don’t think so. But when it comes to Jesus we can and must have complete faith in Him. He is the only way to the Father and He is the only one who can save us. Jesus marveled at the faith of the centurion.
The third principle of faith that the centurion can teach us is that he had faith in the authority of Jesus. He recognized Jesus’ authority over illness and sickness. He knew that Jesus’ authority was complete. He recognized that Jesus could command and illness and demons must obey. He recognized Jesus’ authority because the centurion was a man of authority and a man under authority. We need to recognize Jesus’ authority and submit to it. The captian of the bridge of a large naval vessel saw a light ahead on a collision course. He signaled, "Alter your course ten degrees south. I am a captain." The reply: "Alter your course 10 degrees north. I am a seaman third-class."
The furious captain signaled, "Alter your course ten degrees south. I am a battleship." The reply: "Alter your course ten degrees north. I am a lighthouse."
Jesus this morning is calling for us to alter our course. He is calling for us to submit to His authority and place our complete faith in Him. He is saying if you trusted me to save you from hell then trust me to lead you and take care of you. Walk with me and not against me. What about you? Is your faith completely in Jesus? Are you submitting your life completely to Jesus? If not then do so today.
