Setting the Roof: Serving Under Authority

Our Theme is “Rebuilding the House of God”

Ezra 1:5 ESV

5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem.

Is your spirit stirred?

Is your foundation strong?

Are you a pillar in the house of God?

Are you ready to find out what comes next?

Today we are setting the roof.

I worked in construction for 14 years.

I helped build houses.

When we would start building on a foundation we would already have ordered the material for the roof.

We would work hard to make sure that we finish on time to set the roof when it arrives.

When you set the roof, you are not finished, but the building looks complete.

The roof is covering.

It is the shade from the sun.

It is protection from the rain.

It is safety from things falling out of the sky on your head.

It connects the walls and holds the building together.

In the church, our roof, the one over our head is Jesus Christ.

Our covering is our authority and that is Jesus Christ.

From the earliest days of the church, one confession preceded all others.

The church declares that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Ephesians 1:9–10 ESV

9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

That is God’s plan for all of time, to bring everything in heaven and on earth under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Kilgoris must come under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Kenya must come under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

You and I must come under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

As leaders in the church we carry some authority, but more important that the authority that we exercise is that we respect the authority over us.

Today we are going to look at one of the miracles of Jesus and what it teaches us about authority.

Luke 7:1–10 (ESV)

1 After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. 3 When the centurion 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.

Having authority is not what we think it is.

Jesus is in Capernaum a small town along the shores of Galilee.

Capernaum is the home of Peter and some of the other disciples.

Jesus spent a lot of his time there.

It was a small working class town with a lot of fishermen.

It also had a tax office there to collect taxes for Rome.

Rome occupied the territories of Israel at the time of Jesus.

They provided protection from raiders and bandits, but the people paid heavily in taxes.

Some would say that what Rome was doing was just another form of robbery.

A Roman centurion sent a message to Jesus at Capernaum.

A centurion is a Roman army leader.

The title centurion implies that he is commander of a hundred men.

The centurion does not come himself, but he sends a message through the Jewish leaders.

If he were to come himself the people would assume that he was coming to take something by force.

So he sends messengers, and these are Jewish leaders so they are more likely to be received,

but make no mistake, the message is coming from someone with authority.

The messengers are begging Jesus to do a miracle and to heal the centurions servant.

They are first trying to convince Jesus and the other people that even though this man is a centurion, he is a good man.

The Jews tried to cooperate with Rome so as not to make trouble for themselves.

Understand that if this centurion wanted to insist that Jesus do something for him, he could have had Jesus brought to him and tried to force him.

But he didn’t do that. He took a softer approach.

But Roman leaders were known for using their power to dominate and keep people in fear.

They are telling Jesus that this man is not like that.

He helped the town of Capernaum to build their synagogue.

He made a generous donation to the building campaign,

or perhaps he saw to it that they did not have to pay bribes to get their materials.

And because he has shown favor to the Jews, they want Jesus to show favor to him.

Is that what authority means? Is it the ability to make other people do what you want them to do?

When I was only a small boy, God called me to preach the Gospel. God gave me a vision of a man at a pulpit. I did not know at first that the man at the pulpit was me. Because the man at the pulpit was tall and strong and at that time I was small and the youngest of my family. I felt weak.

Later God showed me what I was becoming and he told me, “remember who you are now, and how you feel, because when I am done with you, you will not recognize yourself.

As I was growing up and when I attended Bible School, I would admire the preachers as the preached under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. They looked powerful and I thought they must also feel powerful.

But as I began to preach I did not feel powerful, I would feel weak and helpless. I would feel a burden for the people and for the message that God had given me, but I did not feel powerful - I felt drained of strength. But I have learned that I does not matter how I feel when I preach. Because when I am weak, then God is strong.

Sometimes when I feel the worst, that is when God uses me the most. Because when I am powerful and strong, I have my own ideas and I am not as willing to let God speak through me.

All of this led me to think that perhaps power, strength and authority are not what I believe them to be.

How does God use power? have you thought about this?

When God chose to reveal Himself, He came as a helpless baby.

He grew up as a child and submitted to his parent’s authority.

Luke 2:52 ESV

52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

He didn’t fight back at Israel’s oppressors.

He reserved His harshest words for those who claimed to represent God, but who did not serve.

He voluntarily died on a cross.

Jesus conveyed a new way to be human.

At the fall, mankind asserted self-will, the desire to be in control.

In the heavenly realm there was rebellion - the desire to be God.

Mankind was falling into the same pattern of desiring power, dominance and control.

Jesus submitted himself to the Father.

And He submitted Himself to mankind, believing that God would work through every circumstance.

God uses power to serve!

Having authority comes from being under authority.

So Jesus goes with these people to visit the centurion.

Maybe that doesn’t sound impressive to you, but for the Jews, any interaction with the Romans was a big deal.

If your pastor is invited to the house of a government official -wouldn’t that be something to talk about?

But when Jesus is on the way, the centurion sends messengers to stop him.

They say to Jesus, “look, we don’t want to cause any trouble.”

What could be the trouble?

Only a Jew going to the house of a Roman Centurion.

That is more trouble for the Jew than for the Roman.

But think of what is really happening here:

Israel’s king coming under the roof of Israel’s oppressor.

The centurion seems to know that there is something wrong with this, but he says, “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.”

Does this centurion know something in his heart that the rest of the people do not know?

Does he know who Jesus really is?

Because at this time I am not so sure that Jesus’ disciples even know it.

He is a Roman Centurion - he has a hundred of the most highly trained soldiers at his command.

He should not be intimidated by anyone.

But he has a highly valued servant who is sick, and that he cannot control.

But Jesus heals the sick.

The centurion can kill, but he can not heal.

He can take life, but he can not give life.

He can threaten and intimidate, but he can not cause voluntary obedience.

No amount of power, authority or force can produce love.

The only way to produce love is to serve.

Think about it. When a man wants a woman to love him, he will serve her. he will find out what she wants and give it to her as a gift. He will say the words he knows that she wants to hear. He will do whatever he thinks will impress her to make himself worthy in her eyes.

He knows that he can not force love. She has to desire him of her own will.

By the way men, if you are wondering why your wife is no longer impressed with you it is probably because you stopped doing those things. - Just saying.

The key to power in the Kingdom of God is submission and surrender.

You do not have authority unless you are under authority.

What you have is given to you - never forget this!

If you let yourself think that your authority is yours, then you will try to control what you can not control.

But if you are serving under God, then you do not need to control.

You are merely a steward of the authority that God has given to you.

The discipline of stewardship is living in the tension of knowing your authority in Christ and yet surrendering yourself completely to Christ.

If we don’t take up our authority in Christ with confidence, then we are living like slaves.

We don’t utilize the resources that are ours because we only see them as belonging to someone else.

We live defeated lives that fail to bring God the glory that He deserves.

On the other hand, we can enjoy the good things that God has given us.

We can serve God and others and grow in influence.

We can even function in the anointing of the Holy Spirit

and somehow miss the point of all that we have worked to achieve,

if we do not bring ourselves completely under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

The secret of a steward is that he /she has everything, but nothing is about them.

God can bless you and it doesn’t go to your head because you only see yourself as a channel of blessing to others.

God can use you because you’re not relying on your own strength, you are a conduit for His Spirit.

God is glorified in your life because your life reflects Him.

A person under authority does what he is told to do.

So the centurion has a revelation of who Jesus is an so he is taking the humble position asking Jesus not to come under his roof.

But then he says something that gives even greater revelation.

He says, “I am only asking that you speak a word that my servant be healed.”

God created the heavens and the earth by his word.

Words have power; they can build up or destroy.

When words are spoken from a position of authority they lead to action.

The centurion gives an example.

He can simply speak a word and his word will be carried out by those under his authority.

The Centurion recognizes Jesus’ authority in the spiritual realm and reasons that Jesus has the same power of command.

Who does he think Jesus can command?

Will his disciples heal the servant?

Or does he also command angels?

Are demons of sickness and disease also under his authority?

Does this Roman Centurion know that Jesus is God?

This is the only think that can explain Jesus’ reply.

This Roman Centurion is showing greater faith than all Israel.

Why? Because Israel sees Jesus as a great teacher, but not as God.

The leaders of the Jews like some of what Jesus says and some of what he does, but they see themselves as above him.

This centurion recognizes that Jesus has greater authority.

The Jews want Jesus to do what they say, but the Centurion recognizes that it is Jesus who need only speak and it will be done.

The leaders of the Jews, perhaps Jesus’ own disciples, recognize that He is a channel of divine power.

The Centurion recognizes that Jesus also has divine authority.

He is the source of divine power.

When they returned to the house they found the servant was already healed.

So what does this mean for us as leaders.

You have authority only because you are under authority.

Always remember and recognize your source.

Psalm 133:1–3 ESV

1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! 3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.

Hermon is the tallest mountain in Israel.

It is also the northern most border of Israel.

The peaks of Hermon are cover with snow year round.

It is around these peaks that clouds are formed.

The moisture from these peaks is carried south as far as Jerusalem and creates the morning dew.

All of this is an illustration that we are blessed when we honor our source.

It is like the anointing oil which was used to anoint the head of the High Priest.

It flows down over the beard and on to the body.

When you honor your head, you are blessed.

Blessing flows down.

Authority, anointing and power all flow down.

Do you want great power, authority and anointing?

If you want to receive then position yourself under the authority of others.

Elisha served under Elijah and received a double portion of his anointing.

We follow the example of Christ and lead by serving.