Made Worthy Through Faith

Introduction

Good morning please open in your Bibles to Luke 7:1-10 that is Luke 7:1-10. If you are using a Bible scattered throughout the chairs that is on page 811 that is page 811.

All of us fit into one of two categories and sometimes both. There are those of us who struggle feel worthy of anything at anytime. We live life in a constant pursuit of worthiness. No matter how hard we try it seems like we can’t quite measure up. We will live up to own standards in our profession, our marriage, our parenting, or any other area of life. We get to the end of the day physically and emotionally exhausted, knowing that the next day we start our relentless pursuit all over. Worthiness is always just out of reach.

There are others who are find worthiness is right at the tips of your fingers. Success comes naturally. The truth is you don’t always need to try your hardest because 80% effort has always been enough. You know that will consistently “meet expectations”. The ease of success has lulled you into a dangerous sense of comfort. You find worthiness in yourself and your abilities because it is there for the taking. And it is much easier to embrace the accolades of man, rather then get near the holiness of God where you might learn the truth. Worthiness cannot be found in the things of this world.

And yet, I think most of us are like the centurion we read about in today’s passage. We move back and forth between these two categories. In verse 4, it is declared of the centurion, “He is worthy to have you do this for him.” Yet, just two verses later we read, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you under my roof.”

So which is it. Is he worthy or unworthy? And the more pressing question, what about us? Are we worthy, are we unworthy? Perhaps we are both. Let’s read Luke 7:1-10 as we learn how this centurion and how we can find true worth.

We Seem Worthy from Afar v. 1-5

Luke 7:1–5 “After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.””

The text transitions away from the sermon on the plain, and tell us when Jesus finished saying these things he goes to Capernaum. Jesus has already been in Capernaum in Luke 4, and now he returns. So people know who he is and there is a centurion who hears of Jesus and sends for him. A centurion was a Roman official in the Roman army who would have command of 100 soldiers. This is a position of prominence, and was associated with a good measure of wealth. This centurion has a servant who is highly valuable to him who has become sick and is close to death. The word used to describe the value of the servant carries the connotation of a familial relationship. The servant, who would have been owned the centurion, isn’t just seen as valuable because of his economic value. Rather this centurion has a father like affection for this servant. He doesn’t want this servant, who is like a son to him, to die.

So, this man of means and status hears of Jesus coming to Capernaum and he sends for Jesus, that Jesus might heal his servant. The centurion seems to be well acquainted with the Jews since he sends the Jewish elders to Jesus. The jewish elders would have been the men who helped govern the Jewish people of Capernaum. These Elders were seen as authority figures to the Jews and they are connected to this Roman centurion because he loves the nation of Israel and even gave money to have the temple built. He may have been a God-fearer like a man named Cornelius, another centurion mentioned in Acts 10. These God-fearers were gentiles, or non-Jews, who believed in Yahweh, the God the of the Bible who the Jews served. They would attend the synagogue, and give alms or money to the poor or other things to show their devotion to the Lord. This centurion’s close association with Judaism may have made him aware of the Jewish custom in which a Jew could not enter the home of a Gentile in fear of touching or eating something unclean in the home. So, he sends these Jewish elders to ask Jesus to heal his servant.

These elders come to Jesus and say, Luke 7:4–5 “… “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.”” The reference to this centurion building the temple is probably a reference to financial contributions he made to the temple project. So he gives generously to Jewish causes and loves the nation of Israel. Surely, he is worthy to have his slave healed. He works, his love and devotion, prove his worthiness! Don’t they? I mean Jesus, really ought to do this for this man. I mean he’s healing the poor, certainly this wealthy man who gives to the temple is worthy of Jesus’ power.

We don’t know if this is the rational of the Jewish elders or the centurion himself, but it is said. And it does seem like these elders are there to speak on behalf of the centurion. At the very least in their estimation this centurion is worthy of Jesus’ time and intervention. Which does beg to question, who isn’t worthy of Jesus’ time and intervention according to their estimation? You see, they are assessing worth based upon works. The centurion looks good, at least he looks good so long has doesn’t stand too close to Jesus.

This is true for most of us. In our estimation we look at our lives and say, “I am worthy of a little help from God.” I love his church, I give it money, I show up for set up, serve in kids, I’m good husband, a good father, I pay my taxes, mow my grass, etc.” I’m doing pretty good. Certainly I am worthy. The assessment of worthiness always requires a comparison. And when we are far from Jesus, we compare ourselves to an unworthy standard. And then we fool ourselves into thinking, if I just measure up to this unworthy standard, then I must be worthy.

This kind of thinking can only cut it, if we are far away from Jesus. It is only when Jesus is far from us, that we are able to fall for the lie, that our works make us worthy. Our efforts and our devotion can only be impressive if separated from the righteous and perfect life of Jesus. But when Jesus draws near, the light of his holiness pierces through our facade. We quickly realize, that we are not as impressive as we thought we were.

T/S- Jesus goes with these elders and when comes near to the house the centurion, and those who represent him, no longer claim any worthiness.

Acknowledging Unworthiness Is the Path to Worthiness v. 6-7a

Luke 7:6–7 “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. Therefore I did not presume to come to you….

Jesus gets closer to the centurions house and the centurion sends a group of friends out to meet Jesus with a message for him. He explains that he doesn’t want Jesus to trouble himself, because he is not worthy to have Jesus come under his roof. At first he is worthy to have Jesus perform a miracle, and now he is not worthy for Jesus to even come in his home. Perhaps this is a reference to Jewish customs of not entering a gentile house, but the issue isn’t cleanness, rather it is worthiness.

Luke mentions worthiness twice in quick secession. At first his is worthy, and now he is not. What has changed? The proximity of Jesus. Jesus is the perfect man, he wields authority with perfection, he speaks miracles, he teaches to the multitudes, he cast out demons, and the Holy Spirit dwells in him. This man, knows he is not worthy of Jesus. Yet, the acknowledgement of unworthiness has a counterintuitive effect in the Bible. Acknowledging our unworthiness is not self-deprecating but rather the path to actual worthiness.

When John the Baptists told of Jesus in Luke 3 he says, Luke 3:16 “John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” When John the Baptist compared himself to Jesus he knew that he was not worthy to even untie his sandal. This is the job of a slave, and John says, I’m not even worthy to his slave. Now, listen to what Jesus says about John the Baptist Matthew 11:11 “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” Jesus says he is the greatest man ever born. And yet, to be great in God’s kingdom we must be brought low. The path to worthiness is not proving yourself. It is lowering yourself. And this is the only response when we come face to face with a holy God. When Jesus comes near to us, it exposes our sin and unworthiness, and if forces us to humble ourselves.

In Isaiah 6, the prophet Isaiah is brought into the throne room of God in a vision and when confronted with the holiness of God he cries out, Isaiah 6:5 “And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”” If we want to be made worthy we must see the God for who is. We must see him as the King, the Lord of hosts. The holy one, majestic, glorious, and reigning over all of this world. And as the King draws this centurion he declares, “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof…”

When encounter the holiness of God is paves the way for faith in our lives. We realize that we can do nothing to impress this God, we don’t have anything to offer him, so it forces us to cry out and say. Please take me as I am! I don’t offer anything, but I my eyes of seen the King. Please, take me into your kingdom. I can’t bring anything, but I come by faith alone. I come believing that you O God will have me. We are forced to believe the God loves sinners. He doesn’t take the worthy, there are none. Instead, he takes the unworthy and because of their faith. He makes them worthy. The centurion states he is unworthy, and yet his faith makes Jesus marvel

Marvelous Faith v. 7-10

Luke 7:7–10 “Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. 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.” 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.” And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.”

The centurion’s friends a deliver a message that express not just his sense of unworthiness but also his great faith in the word of Jesus. He explains that just as he as a man in authority, gives a command and knows it will be followed, so he too knows that Jesus, who has authority over illness and death, can but speak a word and his word will come to pass.

All throughout the book of Luke there has been this developing theme concerning the authority of Jesus’ words. In Luke 4:32 when Jesus first comes to Capernaum, we read, “and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.” In in chapter 5 Jesus forgives the sins of a paralyzed man. When others question his authority to forgive sins, Jesus says, Luke 5:24 “But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.”” and even in the sermon on the plane Jesus speaks to those who hear him and says, Luke 6:47 “Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:” He then says that that man is a wise man who builds his house on the rock. Luke is making something really clear to us. Jesus’ words have authority. His words are to be obeyed, and we are to have faith or believe his words. Here in Luke 7 the theme continues as a man in authority over 100 soldiers says, “I have authority and people obey my words.” But Jesus you have authority that not even I as a Roman official have. I command men, but Jesus has command over death itself. The servant that is near death, at the word of Jesus, is made well.

This is the result not of the centurion’s worthiness, but rather his faith. It is by faith, in Jesus, that he makes clear that all he needs, all his servant needs, is the word of Jesus. The word of Jesus will be enough. His love for Israel, his building of the temple, were not enough. They would not and could not heal his servant. The word of Jesus is enough, because Jesus is enough.

Jesus hears this response and he marvels at this man. Jesus only uses this in a positive sense here in this text and in Matthew 8 when Matthew tells this story. Jesus marvels one other time in the NT. In Mark 6:6 he marvels at the disbelief of people in Nazereth his hometown. So, Jesus only marvels in response to faith or a lack of faith. This man’s faith makes Jesus marvel. Jesus is astounded that this Gentile, has displayed greater faith than all of the people he has in encountered throughout his travels in Israel.

Luke is developing another theme. Jesus words has authority, and his word is for Jews and Gentiles. Luke is showing us that in the Messiah, in Jesus, all people can be made worthy. Our accolades do not make us worthy and our failures and all the makes us unworthy can be overcome by the authoritative word of Jesus.

Conclusion

You and I are like the centurion. In all the ways we think we are worthy, we overestimate our own righteousness. We assume that our love and devotion qualify us for the love and intervention of Jesus. And in all the ways we presume we are unworthy, we underestimate the grace of God. We look at our sin and failure, our heritage and we assume we are to unclean to receive the love and intervention of Jesus.

But the good news is that in our unworthiness God opens the door to marvelous faith. God takes unworthy sinners like us and gives us the gift of faith. When we are brought low, we see that Jesus is the King who can heal us at his word. In our unworthiness, we are given the gift of sight through faith. We see Jesus for who he truly is. He is the Son of God made flesh, who has come to save his people from their sins.

It is through faith in Him, that you and I can be made worthy. [Let’s Pray]