Faith That Amazes

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

Engagement

How many of you here this morning would like to “amaze” Jesus? I know that probably sounds like a trick question, but it’s really not. In fact, there are two occasions in the New Testament where Jesus was said to be amazed or to marvel at a person or group of people.

The first occurrence was recorded in Mark’s gospel. Jesus was in His home town of Nazareth and one Sabbath He went into the synagogue to teach. But rather than embracing His teaching, Jesus’ neighbors criticized Jesus. Mark records Jesus’ reaction:

Mark 6:6 ESV

6 And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.

The Greek word translated “marveled” could also be rendered “astonished” or “amazed”. I don’t know about you, but I know I sure don’t want to amaze Jesus like that. I don’t ever want Jesus to be amazed at my unbelief, although I know that has certainly been the case in my life at times.

The second time Jesus was amazed is recorded for us in Matthew’s gospel, and since we’re studying the book of Matthew right now, you’ve probably already figured we’re going to look at that event this morning. Let me start with just one verse where we see what amazes Jesus and we’ll come back and look at the rest of the passage in just a moment.

Matthew 8:10 ESV

10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.

This time, Jesus marveled at the faith of a Roman Centurion. That’s more like it, right? That’s the kind of faith I want to have, don’t you?

Tension

This morning we’re going to learn about the kind of faith that amazes Jesus from the most unlikely of sources - a Roman centurion. In Jesus’ day a centurion was a Roman soldier who commanded 100 men. That means that he would have been a Gentile, in stark contrast to the Jews in Jesus’ hometown who would seem to be much more likely candidates to have the kind of faith that would amaze Jesus.

Truth

So let’s go ahead and see what we can learn from this centurion about developing the kind of faith that amazes Jesus.

You can follow along as I read our passage:

Matthew 8:5–13 ESV

5 When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man 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.” 10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment.

There is a parallel passage in Luke chapter 7 that provides us with some other details about this encounter. Due to time constraints we’re not going to look at that passage during this message, but we’ll take some time to discuss it during the Bible Roundtable after our refreshment time.

Here is the main idea we’ll be developing from this passage this morning:

Faith is getting in tune, not pulling strings.

When the worship team gets up here each week, it is crucial that all the instruments are tuned to the same notes. For those of us who play stringed instruments like guitar or bass, our strings can easily go out of tune, especially as the temperature in the room changes. We all have different kinds of tuners, some like this one I’m holding or the ones integrated into our pedals and boards on the stage. But even though these tuners are different sizes and shapes, they are all tuned to the same exact notes. So the C note on Steve’s guitar is exactly the same as the C note on my guitar or Joel’s bass or the keyboard.

You can imagine the chaos that would ensue if each member of the team insisted on tuning their instruments to their own standard, rather than that common standard. As soon as we started playing all of you would cover your ears and run for the exits.

In Jesus day, those in the religious establishment thought they were part of God’s kingdom. They had all the right instruments. They went to the synagogue every Sabbath. They meticulously tried to keep the law, including all the man-made rules that the religious authorities had added to the Scriptures - although none of them could actually do that. They could trace their lineage back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

So I suppose it’s not too big of a stretch to say that these religious Jews were in a spiritual band. But the problem is that they were all tuned to their own religious standards rather than Jesus’ standard. Instead of aligning their lives with the Conductor, they were merely “pulling strings”. They were attempting to leverage their heritage and their works into obtaining something they treasured greatly - entrance into God’s kingdom.

But Jesus makes it clear here that that kind of faith is inadequate. In verse 12, Jesus refers to these people as “sons of the kingdom” which is obviously not a term of endearment, since He indicates these people are going to experience outer darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The centurion, on the other hand, wasn’t trying to use Jesus to get something for himself. He recognized that in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus is the standard. So his goal was to tune his life to that standard rather than trying to pull strings to get something he wanted. He understood that just as his troops were subject his authority, he was subject to Jesus’s authority, not the other way around.

So, because he had that kind of faith, the kind of faith that amazed Jesus, Jesus’ power flowed through him and his request was granted and his servant was healed.

But even more importantly His faith meant that he would be part of the many who will come from east and west and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He would receive what many in the religious establishment would not - a place in God’s kingdom. All that happened because he understood that...

Faith is getting in tune, not pulling strings.

Once again, let me say that I think that all of us want that kind of faith. But how do we develop it?

First, it is important to note that faith is a gift from God. It isn’t something we can manufacture on our own. But the Bible is clear that it is a gift that we can develop so that it matures to the place where it becomes a matter of getting in tune with Jesus rather than just pulling strings to get what I want. So how do I develop a faith that amazes Jesus? Let’s look at three principles we can pull from this passage.

Application

HOW TO DEVELOP A FAITH THAT AMAZES JESUS

Be humble

When you read Luke’s account of this event, you see that some Jewish elders actually came to Jesus to plead the case for this Roman centurion. They told Jesus that He was worthy to have his request answered because he had built a synagogue for the Jews. That certainly tells us something about the character of this man. Even though he was not a Jew himself, he had used his financial resources to help a group of people that were not exactly the favorites of the Roman government.

Not only that, the very fact that he was seeking help for his servant is instructive, too. In the culture of that day, servants were considered to be just like property. So if your servant got sick and died, it was no big deal. You just went out and purchased a replacement, the same way today you’d go buy a new refrigerator when yours quit working. But this centurion didn’t think like that at all. He had genuine concern for others, even a lowly servant.

So, in the eyes of the world, he would have been considered to be a good man. But that is not how he saw himself. Look what he says to Jesus in verse 8:

“...I am not worthy...”

That is not the mindset of one who is merely pulling strings to get something he wants.

If we’re honest, I think all of us would acknowledge that we sometimes, and maybe even often, pray with the mindset that God should answer our prayers because we are worthy or because we deserve it. That’s not a new problem at all. It is a problem Jesus’ half brother James had to address with the early church when he wrote these words:

James 4:3 ESV

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

How often do we not receive because we ask with the wrong motives, believing that we deserve what we’re asking for?

One important aspect of humility is putting the interests of others ahead of our own, and certainly the centurion does that here. Paul’s words to the church in Philippi come to mind:

Philippians 2:3–4 ESV

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

This centurion was willing to approach Jesus, even though it violated the cultural norms of the day, not to get something for himself, but to seek the good of his servant.

I am not saying that we shouldn’t pray for our own needs. In fact, Jesus instructed us to do that in His model prayer when He instructed HIs disciples to ask for their daily bread. What I am suggesting is that when we pray, we ought to consider our motives and make sure we aren’t merely pulling strings to get something we want or think we deserve.

We should pray with the idea that we’re under the authority of Jesus, not the other way around. That leads directly to our second principle.

Trust God fully

Let’s go back and look at verses 6 and 7 again:

Matthew 8:6–7 ESV

6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.”

Notice that the centurion actually doesn’t even ask Jesus to come heal his servant. He just presents the situation to Jesus and trusts that Jesus will do the right thing. And I have to believe that everyone, including the centurion, Jesus’ disciples and all the onlookers, had to be shocked at Jesus’ reply. In the underlying Greek the word “I” is emphatic, so what Jesus is saying here is something like this: “I myself will come and heal him.”

Although there is nothing in the Bible would have prohibited a Jew from entering the house of a Gentile, the Jewish religious leaders had developed a whole set of manmade rules which included that stipulation. So in that culture, a Jewish man who entered the house of a Gentile would be considered to be unclean. But Jesus offers to heal the servant even if it means violating those rules. It’s similar to what we saw last week when Jesus touched the man with leprosy.

The centurion’s response makes it pretty clear he is caught off guard by what Jesus says. He was obviously familiar enough with the Jewish customs of the day to know that he couldn’t ask Jesus to come into his home. He essentially is saying, “I’m sorry Jesus. I didn’t mean I wanted you to come into my house and be defiled according to your religion. I trust that you can heal my servant without having to do that”.

That centurion demonstrated an understanding of how God’s kingdom works that was far more insightful than that of the religious leaders of the day. As a man who had authority over his soldiers, he reasoned that Jesus was operating under the authority of His Father - the One who had created the entire universe. Therefore, Jesus had complete authority over the creation, just like the Father. As a result, He could command the entire universe to do whatever was needed to heal the servant without having to enter the house and be physically present.

The kind of faith that is based on getting in tune with Jesus rather than in pulling strings merely lays the situation out before God and trusts that in his love and goodness, He will command the universe to answer that request in a way that is good for us and which will bring glory to Him. True faith trusts in Jesus’ authority even without visible proof.

Focus on relationship, not results

I’m not sure who originated this saying, but I ran across it several times during my study this week and I think it’s worth sharing and quite relevant to this third principle:

Faith isn’t a formula, It’s a relationship.

While it’s important to apply the first two principles we’ve talked about and approach God with humility and put our trust fully in Him, at it’s core, genuine faith is primarily about relationship.

I want you to think for a moment about the relationships in your life - both the good and the bad. Are the best relationships those in which you pull strings and try to manipulate the other person into doing something you want or giving you something you want, or are they the ones where you are doing your best to get in tune with the needs and desires of the other person?

Honestly, pulling strings might actually provide some temporary happiness at times. But I don’t know of any relationship that is characterized by that kind of thinking that is healthy and lasting.

But when the relationship itself and the needs and wants of the other person are at the center of the relationship, those relationships are usually healthy and produce long lasting joy.

In this account, the centurion never tried to pull strings or to manage Jesus, or even to negotiate with Him. While he obviously wanted his servant to be healed, his actions and words revealed that the relationship was of more value than the results.

In this case, Jesus did heal the servant, just as the centurion desired. And that’s great. But I think it’s important for us to understand that great faith, the kind of faith that amazes Jesus, doesn’t always mean that the results will be what we want. Jesus doesn’t always heal the cancer, or retore a broken marriage, or put our finances back in order. I can’t tell you why God sometimes does those things and other times He doesn’t. But what I can tell you is that it is a very dangerous thing to conclude that when God doesn’t act the way we want that it is because either we or someone didn’t have enough faith.

Unfortunately that kind of thinking is actually quite prevalent, even among those who claim to be Christians. It is especially rampant in the prosperity gospel and “name it and claim it” movements. My heart breaks for the countless people who have fallen away from God because someone told them God didn’t answer their prayer because they just didn’t have enough faith.

That’s why the kind of faith that amazes Jesus requires us to trust the results completely to Him, regardless of the outcome.

Action

We’ve seen this morning that...

Faith is getting in tune, not pulling strings.

That’s the kind of faith that amazes Jesus.

I want to close this morning by giving you a simple test that will help you to determine if you’re developing that kind of faith.

If faith is getting in tune with Jesus and aligning my life with who He is, then it makes sense that over time my life will look more and more like His.

Earlier we looked at a couple verses in Philippians chapter 2. In a moment, I’m going to read the verses that follow the ones we looked at a few minutes ago. And as I read those verses, I want you to consider whether your faith is developing a life that looks like that.

Philippians 2:5–8 ESV

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Are you humble? Do you love others with a self sacrificing love, even when it’s difficult? Or are you judgmental and self-centered? It’s pretty obvious which of those alternatives characterizes the kind of faith that amazes Jesus.

Inspiration

This morning I began by asking how many of you would like to amaze Jesus. Hopefully, you now know that’s not a trick question or some gimmick. It is something that every single disciple of Jesus is capable of doing. When we develop a faith that is based on getting in tune with Jesus rather than pulling strings to benefit ourselves, we find that Jesus marvels at that kind of faith. And that’s pretty amazing in itself.

But what is even more important is that exercising that kind of faith helps us to become more and more like Jesus every day and to love Him and love others more deeply. That is something I sure want for my life. How about you?