Faith of a Centurion

Luke 7:1-10

Jesus Heals a Centurion's Servant

7 After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 Now a centurion had a servant[a] who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. 3 When the centurion[b] heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, 5 for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.”

6 And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. 7 Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. 8 For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 9 When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” 10 And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.

Context:

Luke was also known as “Luke the Evangelist” and was widely regarded as the author of both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts

Luke wrote more of the New Testament than anyone else - approximately 27.5% of the New Testament was written by Luke

Keep in mind that Luke was not one of the original 12 disciples - meaning he himself was not an eyewitness to the ministry of Jesus

But, he gathered historical accounts concerning Christ in great detail - Luke 1:1-4, “[Luke] Carefully investigated everything from the beginning”…

Luke Chapter 1 also says that, “[Luke] 3) Followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4) that you may have certainty concerning the things that have been taught”…

I am thankful for the Book of Luke… bc it provides me with a confidence that the Bible was not just a random collaboration of fictional stories… rather, it is a documented account of historical events…

All this to say that Luke took an accurate account of the ministry and teachings of Jesus Christ… for you and I to have a confidence of things that we have been taught…

Transition:

Lets look at the Scripture at hand and peal back its layers to see what God has for us today…

The historical account of Luke 7:1-10, is describing the FAITH of a Centurion…

CENTURION = Roman army officer, who was generally in command of 80-100 soldiers… meaning that they had power, influence, authority & were widely respected…

In fact this Centurion was a Gentile, but the Jewish elder’s were found of him because he treated them well…

4 And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, 5 for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.”

We see that this Centurion was well liked by the Jewish Elder’s because of all that he done for them… so they were eager to go to Jesus to try get Jesus to help save the Centurions servant…

The Jewish Elder’s even called this Gentile - a “worthy man”, meaning that he is worth your time, he is worth your efforts, he is worth you going out of your way to help heal his servant… He is worthy of your presence…

So Jesus goes with them to see this Centurions servant… But as Jesus was headed towards the Centurion… some of the Centurions friends rush out to greet him saying…

notice the response of the Centurion…

6 And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. 7 Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. 8 For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

Did you catch it… The Centurion says… “LORD… do not trouble yourself… for I am not worthy to have you under my roof…”

POINT #1) The HUMBLE understand that Jesus is LORD

I love how this Centurion understands that Jesus is LORD… that he addresses Jesus probably as LORD…

LORD = A title of respect for someone in a position of greater authority

This same word LORD is used in Luke 5:12, when a man that was covered with leprosy saw Jesus he fell down on his face and begged him, saying, “LORD, if you are willing, you are able to make me clean”

A. My point is this… this Centurion… this man with earthly power, authority, respect, and rule… humbly submits to the greater authority Jesus… so much so that he feels that he is unworthy to even have Jesus in his own home…

But how does this relate to you… how does a Centurion back in the day of King Jesus and his story affect you today… how does it apply… what can yo walk away with…

I hope you notice that you and the Centurion are not so different… now I know that you do not have authority, power, rule, and the respect of 80 Roman solders… I get it… But, you do have power, authority, and rule over your life…

each day you decide if you are going to humble call Jesus LORD of your life… or if you are going to continue to reign and rule over you own life…

Is what you want, what you say, and how you want to live your life the absolute authority? or is Jesus - the one true LORD the absolute authority in your life…

I am curious… If you or I were this Centurion… would we respond the same? Would we call Jesus LORD and recognize that we must humble ourselves and acknowledge that he is the absolute authority… or would we have demanded that Jesus come at once… bc we have power and he must submit to our power our authority… what we want…

My point is this… Do you truly understand that Jesus is LORD of your life… the absolute authority… no one greater… or are you still clinging to your life and wanting control of how you think your life should be lived?

B. Don’t miss this either though… HUMILITY will be required to understand and allow Jesus to be LORD of your life…

Some of you may struggle with… I know that Jesus is LORD, but I struggle to allow him to be God and LORD over my life… how do I do that?

The proud do not see their need to allow Jesus to be LORD… The proud try to throw Jesus in the mix to help promote what they want and how they want to get it… They want Jesus to be apart of their life… but they don’t want Jesus to be LORD of their life because they are proud, puffed up, and think they know what is best…

James 4:10 says, “10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you (and he will lift you up)”…

You are not the LORD of your own life… you are simply a servant of how Jesus calls you to live your life because you understand that he is the ultimate authority…

HUMILITY = assessing yourself appropriately; especially in light of your sinful state…

Question: have you assessed, have you judged, have you evaluated yourself properly when you think about your sin?

POINT #2) All that Jesus requires from you is FAITH

The Greek Word for Faith here is EMU-NA = Strong confidence in, and reliance upon, someone or something…

We see this same word FAITH (EMU-NA) in Matthew 9:2, “And behold, they brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher, and when Jesus saw their FAITH, he said to the paralytic, “Have courage, child, your sins are forgiven”...

In other words the paralytic had a strong confidence in and a reliance upon someone to forgive him of his sins and make him well...

Tell me… what is your FAITH in? What is your confidence in? What do you rely upon day in and day out? Is it in Jesus? Or is it in something… anything else…

We see here that this Centurion was strongly confident in & completely reliant upon Jesus Christ to save his servant…

VS 9 When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”

I wonder if Jesus were to walk in this youth room today if he would find a youth group with such a faith as this Centurion…

If your looking for another example of faith… here it is… When I was in high school my girlfriends car broke down in covington… the battery had died… My girlfriend and I had two problems… 1 was that we needed to get her battery jumped and started so that we would not face the real problem 2) being late to her parents house bc her sister was in from out of town…

We did not want to call are parents bc honestly we were embarrassed that we her battery died and this evening/going to see my girlfriends sister was a big deal bc she lived in California and Brookes parents were preparing for sister to come home…

So all my confidence, the number one person that I relied on, was my best friend from High School Blake… I reached out to him… told him that Brookes car needed to a battery jump and that I desperately needed him… my entire hope was in this man Blake… and he pulled through… he literally came to covington within 20 minutes and jumped the car… Brooke and I took off to her parents house and they were known the wiser… they never knew… All thanks to my friend Blake…

You see I had faith that Blake would come and rescue my girlfriend and I… the question is do you have faith that Jesus has saved you from your sins? that you have a personal relationship with him? that he is LORD of your life?

POINT #3) JESUS is always willing to save ANY and ALL who call upon his name

Acts 2 Peter is quoting the prophet Joel, and he says: “VS 21) And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the LORD shall be saved”

Notice how the text does not say only some who call upon the name of the LORD will be saved… only those who obey me perfectly will be saved… only those who go to church every Sunday will be saved… NO…

IT SAYS EVERYONE who calls upon the name of the LORD shall be saved…

Some of you tonight are like, Tanner I get it man, I have heard it before… I understand what your saying… but… my faith is weak, it is small, I do not know a lot about my bible, I am not perfect I mess up all the time, my faith… I just do not know if my faith is enough…

Friends Matthew 17:20, says, “… For truly I say to you, if you have faith like a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you”.

The little faith you have is enough… as long as you place it in Jesus Christ… you will be saved…

What is your response to Jesus? Will you respond in Faith like the Centurion?