Amazing Faith
Luke 7:1-10
May 13, 2018
Well now we have concluded Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plateau”.
And Luke now returns to the ministry section of Jesus.
Chapter 7
• BEGINS with 2 miracles
• CONTAINS how those miracles validate who Jesus is
• ENDS with Jesus confronting Israel’s unbelief
AND THAT HAS PROVEN TO BE A REOCCURING THEME
THROUGHOUT LUKE’S GOSPEL.
Also in chapter 7
• We have unexpected recipients of these miracles and forgiveness
• While those who expected to receive these things missed out.
AND THAT IS ALSO A REOCCURING THEME FROM LUKE
What we see again is this:
Salvation isn’t occurring where you’d expect for it to occur.
And the reason is because people don’t understand
The chief prerequisite for salvation.
Israel thinks the chief prerequisite for salvation is religious works.
• The problem is that only leads to self-righteousness which is
detestable to Christ.
The chief prerequisite for salvation is not religious works, it is humility,
• Because humility leads to faith.
And we’ve seen that haven’t we?
Over and over and over
Well that theme continues here with this Centurion.
And what I find fascinating about this story
Is how Jesus responds when He encounters this man
Of such humility and faith.
Luke reveals Jesus’ response in verse 10 when he says that upon encountering this man, “He marveled”
Marvel: means “to become full of wonder”.
The Greek word here translated “marveled” is THAUMAZO
And it is a word often used
To describe the way the crowd responded to Jesus.
It didn’t matter if it was His wisdom, His power, His love, or His patience,
The people around Jesus continually marveled at what they saw.
But it is not a word often used in regard to Christ.
We know that He is omniscient God. He is the all-knowing one.
We have verses that clearly indicate He read the hearts of men.
John 2:24-25 “But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.”
So we quickly understand that there wasn’t much that could surprise Him.
There wasn’t much that could catch Him off guard.
BUT TWICE THE SCRIPTURE REVEALS THAT IT HAPPENED.
Once occurred according to Mark 6:6
Mark 6:1-6 “Jesus went out from there and came into His hometown; and His disciples followed Him. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him. Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.” And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He wondered at their unbelief.”
Jesus was astonished at their unbelief.
It was almost as though He was caught off guard
At how deep the rebellion of man could be.
Who knew man could be so stubborn and unbelieving?
And even because of this unbelief we often find Jesus
IRRITATED or seemingly put out with humanity.
Matthew 17:14-17 “When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. “I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.” And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.”
Mark 3:4-5 “And He said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.”
Mark 7:33-34 “Jesus took him aside from the crowd, by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva; and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, “Ephphatha!” that is, “Be opened!”
Mark 8:11-13 “The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven, to test Him. Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, “Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” Leaving them, He again embarked and went away to the other side.”
John 11:33 “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,”
And when you look at passages like that,
It is obvious that humanity continually disappointed Jesus.
As Jesus walked this earth, He found humanity to be
Shallow, skeptical, stubborn, self-seeking, manipulative & unbelieving.
And in His hometown they even took that to a level
That is said to have astonished Him.
Jesus was well acquainted with the weakness and wickedness of man.
And that is what makes this passage so intriguing.
In Matthew 8:10, we see the only other time in Scripture
That says that Jesus was astonished.
We see the only other time He marveled.
What we recognize is that here is a day where Jesus marveled Because on this day He found what He was looking for.
And perhaps He had wondered if He would ever find it.
Luke 18:8 “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
But on this day He did, and He found it in an unsuspecting place.
So while this miracle as a whole is about His tremendous power to heal.
This miracle also opens the door for us to see,
Exactly what Jesus was looking for from humanity.
And it allows you and I to examine this man who marveled Jesus,
That perhaps we might marvel Him as well.
So let’s look at this encounter that made Jesus marvel this morning.
4 things I want you to see.
#1 A DYING SLAVE
Luke 7:1-3
First I want you to recognize the setting
Because I think it also plays into an important theme for the gospels and to the point Luke is making.
(1) “When He had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum.”
Certainly you should be familiar with “Capernaum”
It is often referred to in the gospels.
You remember the demoniac that was delivered in the midst of the synagogue back in Luke 4? That was the synagogue in Capernaum.
Luke 4:31-35 “And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath; and they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority. In the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are — the Holy One of God!” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, he came out of him without doing him any harm.”
Do you remember the four friends who tore the hole in the room to let their paralytic friend down? Also in Capernaum
Mark 2:1-3 “When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them. And they came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men.”
In fact Capernaum had sort of a reputation
Of being a town where Jesus worked many miracles.
Remember when Jesus rebuked Nazareth?
Luke 4:23 “And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.'”
But it was the first miracle recorded there that, I think,
Is of extreme significance to our story this morning.
The FIRST recorded miracle to have occurred in Capernaum
Is recorded in John 4.
John 4:46-54 “Therefore He came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and was imploring Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” The royal official said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, ” Go; your son lives.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off. As he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was living. So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives”; and he himself believed and his whole household. This is again a second sign that Jesus performed when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.”
There you have a man who ruled the synagogue in Capernaum reaching out to Jesus when Jesus isn’t even there.
• Jesus rebukes the man because he has a lack of faith,
• But then goes ahead and heals the man’s son
• Without ever even traveling to Capernaum.
Don’t you know that story spread?
Store that one away because I think it gives us a great deal of explanation as to why the Centurion responds to Jesus like he does.
But one other thing you should know about Capernaum is that
NONE OF THESE MIRACLES ULTIMATELY BENEFITED THEM.
For after all of these miracles occurred we still read:
Luke 10:13-15 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had been performed in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. “But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you. “And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will be brought down to Hades!”
In fact you may remember that infamous day when Jesus fed the 5,000 and then He left the region and crossed the Sea of Galilee.
• And on the next day He revealed to the crowd that He was the bread that came
down out of heaven and everyone must eat His flesh and drink His blood.
And the sermon ended in absolute disbelief.
John 6:64-66 “But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.”
Want to guess where that sermon and ultimate rejection occurred?
Yep, Capernaum
I give you that as a backdrop to help you understand
Where this Centurion got such great faith
And why he was such a contrast to the city where he served.
Capernaum is a chief example of people
Who did not learn what they should have learned from Christ.
And that also causes this Centurion to stand out as a shining example.
But here we are in Capernaum.
And we find the situation, (2-3) “And a centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave.”
So first we have a Centurion.
• That means that he was a Roman soldier and one who was in charge of 100 men.
The fact that he is highlighted in Luke’s gospel already follows Luke’s propensity to focus on the least expected as recipients of grace.
And here we find this Centurion somewhat out of character
Because we read that he has a “slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die.”
Listen, to a Jewish audience, you don’t get much lower down the totem pole than a sick slave of a Roman soldier.
We learn from Matthew’s gospel that this slave was paralyzed and that he was fearfully tormented.
So obviously an accident has occurred.
(he most certainly wasn’t born paralyzed or else he’d never been a beloved slave)
Something awful has happened to this slave that the Centurion loved,
Causing him to become paralyzed and about to take his life.
And the Centurion is not only COMPASSIONATE,
But DESPERATE for someone to help.
Verse 3 says, “When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave.”
This is why I gave you some of those backdrop stories.
• Remember it was the synagogue official from Capernaum who had first traveled to Cana to find Jesus when his own son was sick.
• And even though Jesus had rebuked this man’s lack of faith, Jesus did heal that boy without ever even traveling to Capernaum.
• So when this Centurion is at his wits end regarding his slave, it’s not hard to see who shared a testimony with him.
Someone in that synagogue among the Jewish elders told this Centurion
About what Jesus had done for the synagogue official’s son.
And the result was this Centurion requesting for these elders to go on his behalf to Jesus to see if Jesus would “save the life of his slave.”
But the setting is clear, we have a dying slave
#2 A DISCERNING SOLDIER
Luke 7:4-8
This is a part of the story that we love.
It begins with us seeing that clearly this Centurion was a “good” man
For not only where these Jewish elders willing to travel on his behalf
But they give a unanimously good report about him as they go.
Their wording is especially important.
(4-5) “When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him; for he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue.”
These men approach Jesus on behalf of this Centurion and his slave and their recommendation is: “He is worthy”
That is an important statement.
For it tells us so much about the Jewish understanding
Of what it means to be worthy.
Now first of all, “worthy” here is the word AXIOS
And it indicates “worth based upon merit or function or action”
For example:
Matthew 10:37-38 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”
Or:
Revelation 5:9-10 “And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”
It is worth based upon merit or action.
That is the worth these elders ascribe to this Centurion.
And that is clear to us since these Jewish elders actually spell out why he is worthy saying “for he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue.”
So, because he loves us, and because he served us,
His actions have rendered him “worthy” of this deliverance.
While that does give insight into the type of man we are dealing with,
More than that it gives us insight into the Jewish doctrine of salvation.
• They thought deliverance was earned.
• They thought miracles and healings and even forgiveness was given to those
who were worthy of it.
• If you did enough then you deserved what you requested.
• That theology is evident in the way these men approach Jesus.
And so they advise Jesus to grant this man’s request
Based upon his merits.
Now, without confronting their theology we simply read (6) “Now Jesus started on His way with them;”
• So Jesus is consenting to the request.
• By all accounts it appears that He is going to go and heal this slave.
But that is when the story takes an unexpected turn.
It takes a turn that seems to even marvel Jesus.
(6b-7a) “when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You”
THIS IS SO RICH.
• Jesus has agreed to the terms of the Jewish elders and He is on His way
• Then this man apparently gets word that Jesus is nearly here
• And he sends a second group of messengers to stop Jesus.
And despite the recommendation of the Jews that this man was worthy,
The centurion says just the opposite.
“I am not worthy for You to come under my roof”
But here is the interesting thing.
HE USES A DIFFERENT WORD.
They said that he was AXIOS; worthy because of his merit.
He said “I am not HIKANOS (heek-a-nos)”
HIKANOS is NOT a performance based word.
It means “sufficient” or “competent”
Literally this centurion send word to Jesus saying, “I am not enough”
He didn’t say “I haven’t done enough” he said, “I am not enough”
It is the same word John the Baptist used
Matthew 3:11 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit (HIKANOS) to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
It is the same word Paul used
1 Corinthians 15:9 “For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit (HIKANOS) to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”
And there is Luke’s favorite theme staring us right in the face yet again.
• It links back to the humility of Zacharias and Elizabeth
• It links back to the humility of Mary
• It links back to those lowly shepherds
• It links back to the humility of Simeon or Anna
• It links back to the humility of Peter who cried “away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man”
This Centurion understood that in regard to the Lord of all the earth,
There are no criteria that makes one worthy of His presence.
Forget what I’ve done, forget my efforts, forget my actions,
None of those things could ever make me “enough”
To deserve your presence here in my house.
BEYOND THAT,
Even if works could accomplish it, even then, I still haven’t done enough.
For notice what the Centurion said next:
(7) “for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy, to come to You,”
There he used the word AXIOS
I haven’t done enough to deserve to come to You.
I am not enough to deserve You to come to me.
Isn’t that tremendous!
It is the humility that is required by the Lord.
BUT EVEN THAT ISN’T ALL.
That still isn’t what made Jesus marvel.
As we said earlier, humility is important because it leads to faith.
This man said, I didn’t come because I’m not worthy,
And I don’t deserve for you to come because I’m not worthy.
But I also didn’t expect You to come because it’s not necessary.
“but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this on, “Go!’ and he does, and to another ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”
This man clearly heard the story of how Jesus healed the synagogue official’s boy without ever leaving Cana.
Finally this whole story and our Centurion COMES INTO FOCUS.
• He had a sick slave whom he loved.
• Some Jews (who loved him) told him about this Jesus who could heal even from a distance.
• He was clearly in awe of this Jesus he was told about.
• And his hope was that Jesus would do the same for his slave that He had done for the official’s boy.
But he never expected that Jesus would arrive at his home.
• And when Jesus is about to arrive
• The Centurion immediately stops Him
• And says, “No Lord, I’m not worthy of this, just give the order from a distance.”
He was merely hoping Jesus would grant by His awesome authority
That his slave be released of his illness.
He was clearly a man of great faith.
When the Jews heard the story about Jesus ability to heal,
They heard about a man who could fix all their problems.
When the Centurion heard that story he heard about a man who had authority like he had never seen before.
This soldier understood what it meant to be in submission to a higher ranking authority.
• I seriously doubt he ever expected Caesar to show up in his home.
• I seriously doubt he ever expected his commanding officer to show up in his
home.
• I seriously doubt he ever expected the Roman general or the governor or the
emperor to show up in his home.
He knew he was not worthy of such a thing.
The best he would ever hope for from any of those men
Was that they use their authority to his benefit.
And that is all he expected from Jesus.
But what is certain is that this man knew Jesus could do it,
And that he did not deserve it.
A dying slave, a discerning soldier
#3 A DELIGHTED SAVIOR
Luke 7:9
And there it is. 1 of only 2 times Jesus does this in Scripture.
“Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.”
This man finally gave Jesus the opportunity
To preach a sermon the world needed to hear.
He was surrounded by Jews who thought their only problems
Were Rome, hunger, and the diseases that plagued them.
They were certain that they were God’s people,
And that heaven was already a done deal.
And even after preaching the Sermon on the Mount and convicting them at every turn, it is obvious they still thought this to be the case.
And so Jesus takes the opportunity afforded by this humble, believing, soldier to preach a truly shocking message.
“not even in Israel have I found such great faith.”
Talk about a dose of reality.
They might not even be as pleasing as a Gentile.
Matthew’s gospel takes the sermon even a step further.
Matthew 8:11-12 “I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
You mean to tell me that when the role is called up yonder,
There will be many Gentiles there with Abraham.
And if that was not shocking enough, many Jews will not get to go,
But will instead go to hell.
BUT THESE ARE JEWS!
Romans 9:4-5 “who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”
God has worked harder for their salvation
Than for the salvation of any other people on the face of the planet.
And yet you are telling me that many of them will not go to heaven.
And at that point everyone in that crowd
Had better be asking one question.
“WHAT DOES THAT GENTILE HAVE THAT WE JEWS DO NOT?”
Because what we have is frustrating Jesus, and what he has amazes Him.
Well friends you know the answer. Faith
And it was faith born out of his humility.
A humble person more naturally responds in faith
Because they have no other option.
They can’t fix it themselves
So they must trust someone else to fix it for them.
This man totally believed in the authority of Christ
And had no problem trusting in that authority.
To which Jesus said:
“not even in Israel have I found such great faith”
AND WHAT DID HIS FAITH LOOK LIKE?
IT WAS COMPASSIONATE – putting a servant before himself.
IT WAS FULL OF GOOD WORKS – building a synagogue for the Jews.
IT WAS HUMBLE – knowing that those works didn’t change who he was.
IT WAS SUBMISSIVE – having a firm grasp on authority
IT WAS CONFIDENT – knowing that Jesus could do whatever He wanted.
That was faith.
The centurion had it, the Jews did not.
He would go to heaven, they would not.
But the point of course is that in this man Jesus is delighted.
“He marveled at him”
He used this man as an example of exactly what He is looking for.
• I can only imagine the hours and days and weeks and months that Jesus spent traveling from city to city always in search of one who had this humble faith.
• I can also imagine the continual frustration He felt as person after person was convinced that they deserved salvation.
• And then on this day, seemingly out of the blue, from the most unlikely candidate Jesus finds an expression of the humility and faith that He had long been searching for.
And Jesus was ecstatic!
It should be our desire to delight Him in just the same way.
A Dying Slave, A Discerning Soldier, A Delighted Savior
#4 A DEFINITE SIGN
Luke 7:10
And the point of course being that Jesus was everything the Centurion thought Him to be.
• He was a man with authority.
• He tells paralysis and sickness to leave and it leaves.
• He has authority to do whatever He pleases.
And this only serves to continue to verify that Jesus is exactly who He claims to be.
• He is the Savior.
• He is the One who can set the captives free.
And the key concept learned in this passage
Is exactly what kind of captive gets set free.
It is NOT the one who thinks himself worthy because of all that he has done.
That was Israel and their self-righteousness caused them to reject Christ.
The one who is acceptable is the one who knows that he is not enough,
And therefore must throw himself on Christ.
And what an important point to drive into our minds yet again.
This is an area where Scripture grants us discernment
And helps us to think straight in a world that thinks backward.
We hear this self-worth push continually in our world.
Everywhere you turn, and often times it comes most through Christian music venues, we hear the message that YOU ARE ENOUGH
• You are enough
• You are worth saving
• You are worth dying for
• You deserve to be loved
• You deserve to be wanted
And we love that message which so elevates the worth of man.
It makes me feel good.
But it is a message contrary to the gospel.
The gospel DOES NOT TEACH
That Christ died for you because you were worth dying for.
Here is what the gospel says:
Romans 5:6-8 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
That’s the whole point of the gospel.
That Christ died for you when you weren’t worth it.
The Jews had it all wrong.
• They thought they should be saved because they were worthy.
• They thought they had value and therefore should be delivered.
• They thought they had done enough and therefore merited love.
And this mindset caused them to be lost.
But take the man who understood what he was.
• He was not enough
• He was not worthy
• He did not deserve it
• And there we find the man who embraced the gospel
The gospel has always been a testimony to the grace of God,
Not the value of man.
It is the message that
God is so gracious and God is so merciful and God is so loving
That He would even be willing to save those who least deserve it.
Those like
• The insignificant slave of a Roman soldier
• Or, like you’ll see next time, a widow of an insignificant city
• Or, like you’ll see at the end of the chapter, a woman with more sin than you can list
And yet Jesus will deliver them all because He gives grace to the lowly.
Our world hates the message that “I am not enough”.
But I’m going to tell you friend, until you embrace that truth,
You will never be saved.
But those who do, cause Jesus to marvel!
