In The Military (11_of_12)

In The Military? (11 of 12)

Meet Jesus

Luke 7:1-10

We are doing a series of studies about people who met

Jesus—people who had a variety of problems, a variety

of circumstances, and as result of that they were able

to meet Jesus.

This morning I want you to meet a man who met Jesus

and in the course of his meeting Jesus, a servant is

healed and a life is changed. I want you to meet this

man who is a military man. We do not know his name,

but we do know that he was a man in the military. He

is known in these verses of Scripture as a centurion.

The word, centurion, is similar to the word, century.

When we use the word, century, we know what we are

talking about-100 years.

When you see the word, centurion, in the Bible it is

similar to that in that a centurion was a Roman

soldier who was in charge of 100 men. This centurion

is an officer in the Roman Empire and evidently he is

over a garrison of soldiers stationed at the city of

Capernaum where Jesus lived.

He is unnamed. As you read the New Testament you will

find that there are a number of centurions mentioned.

There are about seven mentioned in the New Testament.

Without exception every one of those military men is a

man of high character and is a man who is placed in a

favorable light in the New Testament.

For instance, two of them. You may remember when the

Lord was crucified at Calvary. When it was all over,

the Bible says there was a centurion standing there

and he said, "Surely, this man was the Son of God."

You may remember another centurion in the 10th chapter

of Acts—a man named Cornelius. The Bible says he was a

devout man. The Bible compliments him in terms of his

character. Every time these military men, the

centurions, are mentioned in the Bible, they are

mentioned in a favorable light.

I think about that and our own fellowship here. I

think about the fact that we have men and women in the

military in the fellowship of the First Baptist

Church. Last week at our visitor's reception, I met

some people in the military and we regularly do

because there are people coming here constantly

because they have been assigned to the Jacksonville

area. Some of the finest members of our church are

people who are in the military. They are dedicated;

they love the Lord. They are committed to their

country. They are committed to their Savior and they

are committed to our church. In fact, there are some

of you who came here many, many years ago in the

military and while you were here you came under the

sphere or the influence of the gospel preaching of the

First Baptist Church. You received the Lord Jesus

Christ as your personal Savior. You just stayed on

when your military responsibilities were over. I want

to just say to you a great word of appreciation to all

of you have been and to all of you who are now in the

military and are members of the fellowship of the

First Baptist Church of Jacksonville. God bless you,

we appreciate you, and we are thankful for you.

Here is a man who is in the military and is

complimented in Scripture and as we will see, he is a

man of very high character. Why is this so? Why is

this man a man of such character and a man Jesus

compliments? I think the reasons are found in this

account as he meets the Lord indirectly. We don't have

any evidence that he ever saw Jesus in the flesh—that

he had a physical contact with him in terms of seeing

him, but he meets him by means of faith. Why is this

true? I think because he is in the military he learns

some very important lessons. I think through him, you

and I can learn some lessons also that are important

to us.

I think we can learn from this centurion, first of all

the lesson of--

I. HUMILITY.

When you read these verses of Scripture, particularly

verses 3 - 7, you will see that this man is a man who

has humility. If you are going to be in the military

and if you are going to be in combat, you certainly

have to have a good dose of humility. If you become

proud and don't take care of the situation, you can

bring great harm to yourself and harm to others. There

has to be a healthy humility in your life. That's what

we are going to find about this man.

We find that there is a public evaluation of him. It

says in verse 3 that this centurion sent unto Jesus

the elders of the Jews. There's a parallel account in

Matthew 8. When you first read it, it gives the

implication or suggestion that the centurion came

himself. But it is very apparent when you read Luke 7

that he did not come himself, but rather he sent

others. When you look at that people say that's

contradictory. Matthew 8 says he came himself; Luke 7

says that he sent others. Actually when you put the

two accounts together you find that the centurion made

a request of Jesus and he sends that request through

the elders. There is a common axiom that we all

understand. The axiom is—what you do through another,

you do yourself. This is certainly true in law when

someone has hired someone to kill someone else. They

are tried for murder because what you do through

another, you do yourself.

Here is a man who has expressed his request, but the

request is carried on his behalf by these leaders of

the Jews. When they come to the Lord Jesus Christ, we

see their public evaluation of him. He was an unusual

man. He has a servant who is sick. Roman soldiers

would not be expected to have a great deal of

compassion upon common soldiers. Yet, we are told in

verse 2 that this servant was dear unto him, that he

was sick, and he had a life threatening disease.

Here's a roman officer who has great compassion for

one of his common servants.

The Jews thought well of him. That was a little

unusual, too. This Roman centurion evidently was in

charge of a garrison of 100 soldiers who were risible

to keep the people under the subjection of the Roman

Empire. You wouldn't normally think those kinds of

people to be very popular. Yet, here is a man who has

won the hearts of his Jewish people. The leaders

themselves come to the Lord and notice what they say

about him in verse 4. "He is worthy." He has made a

request. They are carrying that request to Jesus and

their public evaluation of him is—he is worthy. That's

their evaluation. They are looking on the outside and

saying he is worthy.

They give two reasons why they say this man is worthy.

The first reason they give in verse 5 is, "He loves

our nation." He evidently had some sense of affinity

to the Jewish people and their nation and their

religion. It is altogether possible that this Roman

centurion had finally come to the point of where many

people in the ancient world had come. He had come to

the point where he just realized that his Roman gods

were not real. The Romans had all kinds of gods. They

were polytheistic. They had many gods and they

worshipped all kinds of Gods. But evidently this man

is an intelligent man and he is an understanding man.

He has come to the belief that those gods are not real

and he finds something especially attractive about the

Jewish people and their religion and their belief in

one God. Maybe he is drawn to the scriptures of the

Jewish people. He has religion inclinations. He has a

desire for spiritual reality.

Much like our day. We are living in a day where some

of the gods people have tried—they are finding out

that they are not working. All of the gods people try,

beside the Lord, are not working.

Someone criticized me this week. Somebody watching me

on television said, "All he talks about is Jesus."

That's one of the greatest compliments I've had in a

long, long time. I feel pretty good about that. Jesus

Christ is the only God there is. There's only God and

His name is Jesus.

Here's a Roman centurion and he has been drawn to the

Jews.

The second reason they give in verse 5 it says, "He

built a synagogue."  He built them a church. He

evidently was a man of considerable wealth to be able

to build some folks a church was pretty good. I think

probably in my trips over to Israel and to Capernaum,

I have seen the remains and the ruins of that

particular synagogue that probably the centurion had

built the Jewish people in Capernaum. It says a lot of

r him that he is willing to use his financial

resources in order to build a place where people could

hear about the Lord.

I thank God for people like you who are willing to use

your physical resources in order to build buildings

that people will know about the Lord. We keep talking

about our Children's Building. It's going to be more

glorious than we can tell you. It's going to be a

facility that will enable us to teach literally

thousands and thousands and thousands of boys and

girls about Jesus and teach them to memorize

Scripture.

God bless you people who have means who are willing to

give in order that there can be a church and a place

where people can come and hear about the Lord Jesus

Christ.

That's their evaluation of him. They say he is worthy.

The opinion of others is important. It's not the

crucial, not the final thing, but the opinion of

others is important. There are three opinions about

you. There is the you that others see. There is the

you that you see. There is the you that God sees.

Looking at it from an outward perspective, the people

around saw this noble, this good, this kind centurion

and their evaluation was—he is worthy. They make the

evaluation on the basis of his works--what he had

done.

As we move on he gives his personal evaluation. When

the request was made of the Lord, we are told in verse

6 that Jesus went with them. In fact in Matthew 8:7,

Jesus said this, "I will come and heal him." Jesus now

goes with the elders to the house of the centurion and

the word evidently goes ahead of them. The elders are

coming and Jesus is coming too. He has said he is

going to heal your servant.

Then notice what he does. In verse 6 he sends a second

group out to see Jesus. Before Jesus gets to the

house—He's not far, He's almost there verse 6 says.

Now, he sends some friends. He has sent the elders;

now he sends a second group. He sends some friends.

Look what he says. "Lord, don't trouble yourself. I am

not worthy that you should enter in unto my roof." He

is saying—I'm just not a good enough person for you to

come. He's saying I'm not worthy for you to come unto

my roof. He m ay have been saying—my house is not

kosher. He may have been saying—I'm not a Jew; I'm a

Gentile and you would defile yourself religiously and

ceremonously. Don't come to my house. I'm not worthy

for you to come.

Not only that but in verse 7 he says, neither thought

I myself worthy to come unto you. I'm not worthy for

you to come to me and I'm not worthy to come to you.

Isn't that interesting? Public evaluation said he was

worthy. Private evaluation he says I'm not worthy.

What people saw on the outside caused them to say he's

worthy. What he saw on the inside caused him to say I

am not worthy. Why does this centurion take this

position? Why such humility? I think first of all

because he understands who Jesus is. He says, Lord,

I'm not worthy. We are told in verse 3 that he had

heard of Jesus and he had formed an opinion. He had

developed a conviction concerning Jesus. His opinion

is—he's the Lord; I am not worthy. He understands who

Jesus is.

When you understand who Jesus is you will understand

that there is only one worthy in the universe and it

is Jesus Christ. He's the only worthy one. In The

Revelation 4 and again in chapter 5 we are told that

around the throne of God where Jesus is, the message

is—he is worthy. Jesus alone is truly worthy.

He understands who Jesus is; but look he understands

who he is. He looks down there where people can't see.

He knows all about himself. He has gone to depths that

human beings are not able to go in their evaluation of

other people. He has taken a journey deep down into

the recesses of his own heart and to his own life. He

knows all about himself. He's basically saying—I'm not

worthy.

It's kind of like you look at a lake and that lake has

a shiny, glistening surface. You say, how beautiful.

Then you drain the lake and in the bottom you find the

mud and the ooze and the creeping and the crawling

things.

When you and I drain the lake; when you and I look at

the depths of our hearts; we discover that Jeremiah

17:9 is exactly correct when it says, the heart is

deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who

can know it?

There are depths of depravity in the human heart that

are unimaginable. You and I, but for the grace of God

are capable of doing anything that anybody in this

world would do. The human heart is so, so fallen.

He looks at himself and says I'm not worthy. He looks

at himself and he has a genuine humility before the

Lord. By the way, that's the only way you can ever be

saved. You can never be saved coming to God saying—I'm

worthy. When you get into the presence of Jesus Christ

and see His worthiness, you will see your unworthiness

and you'll be like John the Baptist was when he heard

about Jesus. He said, "I'm not worthy even to untie

His shoelaces." Or you'll be like Simon Peter. When

Simon Peter was confronted with the glory and the

majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ, he fell at the feet

of Jesus and said, "Depart from me, I'm a sinful man,

o Lord."  He was saying, I'm not worthy.

That's the condition you have to get in if you want to

be saved. You don't go strolling into heaven bragging

about how good you are and how fortunate heaven is to

have you. You and I are going to go into heaven

singing the old gospel song, "I am not worthy, the

least of his favor, but Jesus left heaven for me. I

couldn't go to Him; I wasn't worthy for Him to come to

me. But he came to me and He saved me. We are going to

go into heaven wearing the humility badge. A lesson on

humility.

There's a second lesson we learn from this noble Roman

centurion. Follow me carefully, this gets interesting.

The second lesson we learn is a lesson on—

II. AUTHORITY.

Military people understand authority.  He says in

verse 7 to the Lord, I'm not worthy to come to you—you

just say a word and my servant will be healed. He is

basically saying—you just give the order. Then he

explains what he is talking about in verse 8. "I'm a

man also set under authority." He is saying—I'm under

authority and he is saying I have authority. "I can

say to one go; and he goes. Another come; he comes."

He is saying I have authority; but I am also under

authority.

We are living in a generation which does not

understand authority. In fact, back in the 60s and

70s, some of us who are old enough to remember what

was going on in those years, there came to be a great

youth movement in this world. It came through the

infusion of rock music into our society. There came to

be a great rebellion against authority. If you study

carefully the music of the 60s and70s, you will find

that among other themes, the leading undercurrent of

all of the music was rebellion against authority. We

have developed a generation today that has no respect

for authority, that rebels against the whole concept

of authority. About the only place there is still any

respect for authority is in the military and in Bible

believing churches.

Here's a man who understands authority. You need to

understand authority. Authority is the right of God to

lovingly guard and guide your life by his established

authorities. Let me explain. In government there has

to be authority. The Bible talks about those who are

in authority over you. The Bible talks about authority

in church—them that are over you in the Lord. Not

dominating you. Not dictating you. But your spiritual

leader—your spiritual authority.  In the family we are

told about authority. The husband, under the authority

of the lordship of Christ. The wife, under the

authority of her husband. The children, under the

authority of their mother and father. It is God's

established way. When there is rebellion against

authority it cause anarchy politically. It causes

agony domestically. That's where we are in America

today. Very little respect for authority.

You can't exercise authority if you are not under

authority. Let me explain. Here's a man who wants to

be the leader of the home and yet he has no

relationship to Christ. He has not bowed the knee to

the authority and the lordship of Christ over his

family. Then he wonders why his wife will not follow

his leadership and guidance in the family.

Here's a mother and she rebels against the whole

concept of authority in the family. Yet, she wants to

have authority over her children. She is astonished

that her children rebel against her authority. But you

have to be under authority in order to have authority.

Do you see what he's saying?

Notice what he suggests. Look at verse 8. "For I also

am a man under authority, having authority." By the

use of the word, also, he's tying himself to Jesus. He

is saying—Jesus I understand that you are under

authority and you have authority.

Jesus was under authority?  Yes He was. When Jesus

came to this earth He was under authority. Jesus said,

"I do nothing of myself." He made statements like

this. "I do always those things that please my

father." he put Himself voluntarily under the

authority of the heavenly father. Because He was under

the authority of the heavenly father, when He was born

into this world, into the family of Mary and Joseph,

the Bible says He subjected himself to them. Jesus

lived under the authority of His parents until He

became an adult. Jesus put himself under the authority

of government. He paid taxes. He was under authority.

Now, the Bible says because Christ was willing to be

under authority, He has authority. In Matthew 28:18

Jesus said, "All authority is given unto me in heaven

and in earth."  All Jesus has to do now is give the

command, give the order, and it's done. He has

authority over the realm of disease. He has authority

over the realm of demons. He has authority over the

realm of death. Jesus can say to a storm—be still and

it is still. He can say to the demons—be gone and they

are gone. He can say to Lazarus—come forth and he

comes forth from the dead. The Bible says where the

word of a king is, there is power. Jesus Christ has

all power.

That says there is no problem too big. There is no

need that you have that is beyond the word of Jesus.

Jesus can just say a word and it is done.

Here is a man who has learned and teaches us the

lesson of humility. Here's a military man who has

learned the lesson and teaches us the lesson of

authority. Here is a man who has learned the lesson

and teaches us the lesson of -

III. FIDELITY.

The motto of the Marine Corp is—semper fi.  Latin—

semper fidelas. Always faithful. We are told in verse

9 that when Jesus heard this man say this He marveled

at him. Think about that- this is Jesus, marveling at

something. He is filled with wonder. He is taken

aback. He marvels. Only twice in the New Testament

does it say that Jesus marveled at anything. Here and

in Mark 6:6 when he was in his hometown of Nazareth.

The Bible says he couldn't do any miracle sin

Nazareth. Why? He marveled at their unbelief.

 The two things that caused Jesus to marvel in the New

Testament were no faith and great faith. Jesus sees

this request of this man and the statement of humility

and authority of this man. Now Jesus says, I have not

found so great faith in Israel. He's first of all

saying—how marvelous his faith. What a wonderful

faculty—his faith. God has given you the ability to

believe. God has given you the ability to trust. God

has given you the ability of faith.

You say you would be saved, but don't have the faith.

Yes, you do have the faith. All you have to do is just

exercise your faith. The marvelous faculty of faith.

We are saved by faith. God has given you the commodity

that brings salvation into your life. "For by grace

are you saved, through faith."  "Believe on the Lord

Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." 

How marvelous is faith. How miraculous is faith. Jesus

aid in Matthew in this same passage, "I have not found

so great faith, not in Israel." Then down in verse 13

of Matthew 8 he says, "Go thy way as thou has

believed, so be it done unto thee."  The miracle of

faith.

You believe the Lord died on the cross for you. You

believe if you ask Him to forgive you of your sins, He

will. You believe if you invite Him into you heart and

life, He will save you.  As you believe, so be it unto

you.

Sure enough, the miracle had occurred. The servant got

well. The servant was healed by the word of Jesus.

That brings me to this point. This morning if you will

come to the Lord in humility. "I'm not worthy to be

saved. I don't have anything to brag to you about. I

have no goodness that's good enough to get me into

heaven. I don't have anything. I come in humility." If

you will acknowledge His authority-=-"Lord, I can't

come where you are. Thank you so much for coming down

where I am." Then, express fidelity. Express faith.

Lord Jesus, come into my life and save me.  The Bible

says, as you believe so be it unto you.

Let's bow our heads in prayer.

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