Sermon Tone Analysis

Fulfillment Is Found By A Leap Of Faith

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Luke 7:1-9 (NIV)

 

The first year we were in California, 1993, we decided to check out Jeness Park and take the kids snow skiing.

So, we drove down there the week after Christmas.

But when we got on highway 99 just south of Sacramento we ran into something I had never seen before.

They called it Tuli fog.

It was so thick I could barely see the lines on the road and yet people were flying by us at 70 miles an hour.

We saw a couple of wrecks and I was so tense that my hands began to cramp on the steering wheel.

As we were driving, I thought about those verses in the bible that tell me how God will never leave me nor forsake me, and how even if I die God would take me up into His arms in Heaven, and I wondered if this was going to be my day?

After we got above the fog in the mountains I thought just how awful it would be to go through life without faith in Jesus Christ and the assurance of life after death.

Today we will take a look through Luke 7:1-9 and see how Jesus befriended a Roman Centurion.

Now understand that Jesus wants to be our friend, but there is some qualifications to His friendship.

James 4:4 reads, “Don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” God wants to be our friend but He asks that we be a faithful friend to Him.

Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

If we are going to be considered God’s friend we must first believe that He exists and that He truly wants to have a relationship with those who seek after Him.

We’re going to get to know a man who came to be Christ’s friend, and it’s a man who some might consider to be one of the most unlikely individuals to have this amazing faith, and that is the Roman Centurion.

I want you to see certain characteristics of this man to better understand his incredible faith.

\\ 1.

I want you to see that he was a powerful man.

Luke 7:1-2

“When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.

There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die.”

A Centurion was not an ordinary man.

He was a man who had to not only had the respect of his men, but also the fear of the conquered people.

They commanded a regimen of somewhere near 100 men and were considered to be the backbone of the Roman army.

One commentator called him, “A man amongst men.”

A man with such power might be tempted to become drunk with power, but it is interesting to note that whenever a Centurion is mentioned in scripture he is always mentioned in a positive light.

There was the Roman centurion at the cross who said, “Surely this man was the son of God.”

There was the Roman Centurion Cornelius who Peter spoke to and he and his whole family became believers.

And Finally this man mentioned here in Luke 7.

This man was no loser, he wasn’t downtrodden, he wasn’t poor, he was a very powerful man.

\\ 2. This man was a compassionate man.

Luke 7:3-5

“The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant.

When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue."

This was no ordinary Centurion.

It was odd for a Centurion to even care less about the conquered people, but this man went above and beyond.

He took care of the oppressed people and even went so far to build them a synagogue.

But even more amazing than his compassion for the oppressed people was his care and concern for his slave.

In those days a slave had little dignity.

In Roman Law, a slave was known simply as a living tool.

He had no rights and his master could mistreat him and even kill him without repercussions.

William Barclay quotes a Roman writer who wrote on estate management.

He recommended that the farmer examine his implements every year and throw out those, which are old and broken.

He then adds, “Do the same with your slaves.”

But someone had defined compassion as your pain in my heart and this slave was precious to the Centurion, and he had compassion on him and wanted him healed.

This man had a heart for people.

\\ 3.

He was a humble man.

Luke 7:6-8

“So Jesus went with them.

He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.

That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you.

But say the word, and my servant will be healed.

For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me.

I tell this one, ’Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ’Come,’ and he comes.

I say to my servant, ’Do this,’ and he does it."

Imagine a Roman officer telling a poor Jewish rabbi that he was unworthy to have Him enter his house!

The Romans were not known for displaying humility, especially before their Jewish subjects.

But true faith always starts with humility, humbling yourself before God.

Even though this Centurion was a man of authority he realized that it was limited.

Now I am a man of some authority.

In this church I can say, “Stand” and everybody in the church will stand up.

I can say, “Let the service start on time” and sure enough it will.

But it is limited authority.

I can say, “Let there be no sleeping in church.”

and somehow some people still do it.

I can say, “Let there be no more Missouri jokes.”

and they still keep coming.

At home, I can say, “Let there be thick juicy strip steak and baked potatoes every night.”

and it doesn’t happen.

I have limited authority.

This Centurion had limited authority, but Jesus has ultimate authority.

Jesus said in Matthew 28:18 “Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

When Jesus spoke, the demons came into immediate obedience.

When He told the winds and seas to be still, even nature had to submit to His authority.

Even the great enemy of death had no authority over our Lord, all of creation is under His submission.

But the quality about this Centurion that I want you to see the most was…

\\ 4.

He was a man of incredible faith.

Luke 7:9

“When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel."

Only twice, in all of the New Testament, do we see Jesus being amazed by someone’s faith.

The first is in Jesus’ hometown where He was amazed at their lack of faith the other place is here where He is amazed at the great amount of faith of the Centurion, and who could blame Him.

Look at the amazing faith this guy had.

This man had only heard of Jesus, and he believed in Christ so much that not only did He believe that Jesus could heal his servant, but also Jesus didn’t even have to be there.

According to this Centurion, all Jesus had to do was merely say the word.

He simply believed.

In the scriptures, we are called to have that child like faith where we simply believe because Jesus says so. Have you ever done that little game where you grab the kids nose and then showed them your thumb.

I’ve done that and had kids get  so upset because they thought I actually had their nose.

That’s child like faith.

You know a while back there was a 21 year old young man, and he sat in a church and he listened to a preacher say that the God of this universe loved him and would forgive him of all his past mistakes and you know what, that young man believed him, he actually believed him.

I know that because that 21 year old was me.

Now, there are a few lessons I want you to pick up on faith that I think we all need to know.

 

1.

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

We believe even though we have never seen.

Have you ever thought of all the incredible things we ask non-Christians to believe.

We ask them to believe in a God who we have never seen.

We ask them to believe that God is able to raise folks from the dead, even though we have never seen such a thing done before.

But with that childlike faith we spoke of earlier, we believe, even though we have not seen.

We are called to live by faith and not by sight.

There was a mother driving with her little boy in Pennsylvania when they came across a horse and buggy.

“Mom what’s that?” “They’re Amish son, they don’t believe in cars.”