Father, we thank You for the assurance that we can have in
knowing the Lord Jesus as our Saviour.
Thank you that when we know Him, we can experience this peace
that passes all understanding. We can say from our hearts, it
is well with my soul. We pray that this will be our
testimony today, each one here, that we will find the peace that
the world cannot give. As we face choices in this
world, we pray that we will find the true treasure that is found
in knowing the Lord Jesus as Saviour and Lord, we thank you
for the offering that we have taken this week.
We think of the gifts given to the Lord's work online and
through other means, and we pray that you will bless this
offering for Your glory for your Kingdom.
Father, we thank you for your precious word.
We thank you for the Sunday School, and today we pray for
the teachers and the children as they share your word together.
We pray for your blessing and your help.
Thank you for Gavin as he comes to speak to us.
We thank you for your Word, which is precious and living and
powerful. We pray that we will have
listening and obedient hearts. We pray your blessing on this
time together. In the name of the Lord Jesus,
Amen. Morning church.
So today church, we will start and continue our study and the
book of Luke. And today we'll be looking at
Luke Chapter 7 versus 1 to 10, so Chapter 7, verses 1 to 10 as
we continue our study that we've been going through and the book
of Luke this morning, this week. In these months, have you ever
had one of those moments where you just go, wow, something so
special or extraordinary or incredible happened and you were
just blown away? A few years ago, Lisa, my wife,
and I went down to Wellington to celebrate her birthday and we
went out for dinner that night. Now this wasn't the normal first
table at 5:30 at Iguana Restaurant, if you know what I
mean. This was a real special treat.
The restaurant was in this little rustic railway cottage
and had about 10 tables mixed. I had booked a degustation meal.
I actually knew what Digger station was because I had
watched MasterChef previously. Must this Dig a Station meal had
about 6-7 courses and it was meant to be something special
that we wouldn't normally experience.
There was lovely music playing softly in the background and at
each course the chef would personally come in to our table
and explain to us what it was and what we're about to eat.
And honestly, this food was amazing.
It was tastes and textures that we had never experienced before
and never have since. Each course was totally
different and incredible in its own way.
The whole meal and ambience just blew our mind and we left there
extraordinarily impressed and at how good this food was and the
experience was and we marvelled at what the chef had been able
to do that day. But in today's passage, we are
going to read about something that made Jesus marvel.
So today's message is entitled Faith and Action and we will
look at it at these verses in two parts.
Our first part is Jesus hears of the centurions character and
verses 1 to 5 and Jesus marvels at the centurion's faith in
verses 6 to 10. And the key point we want to
come away with today. Our lives should reflect our
faith in God and point people to Jesus.
Our lives should reflect our faith in God and point people to
Jesus. The tune of me and Luke 7 One to
10 and we will read these verses.
And it says here, after he had finished all his sayings and the
hearing of the people, he entered Capernium.
Now it's 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.
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 bought us our synagogue.
And Jesus went with them, when he was not far from the house,
at 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, but say the word, and let my servant be healed,
for I too am a man. Sit under authority was soldiers
under me. And I say to 1 go and he goes.
I say to another, Come, and he comes, and to my servant do
this, and he does it. When Jesus heard these things,
he marvelled at him and turned to the crowd that followed him,
feared. 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, so let's look at our First Division, Jesus.
He is of the centurion's character, verses 1 to 5.
So we see in verse one that Jesus has finished his sermon on
the plane that we have been learning about over the last few
weeks from Dan and Billy, and he goes and enters capernium.
Jesus knew Capernium well. Matthew 413 tells us that after
leaving New Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum.
Companion was a lively fishing village and on the NW shores of
Lake Galilee and on a major trading route.
The population would have been around 1000 to 1500.
And it was also the home of Peter and Andrew and James and
John, and also Matthew. And in Matthew 91, Jesus refers
to it as his city. It was his go to place to come
back to a place where he felt at home and he performed many
miracles there, including healing Peter's mother and
healing the paralysed man who was lowered through the roof and
raising Cyrus's daughter from the dead.
But he also pronounced a judgement on Capernium and
Matthew 11 for for its lack of faith, even though it saw all
the miracles that he had performed there.
Some verses 2 to 5 we are introduced to the Roman
centurion and we get a picture of the character of this man.
Now I senturion and the Roman army was in charge of 100 men.
Now, they held a lot of respect and authority and were very
wealthy, usually earning 30 to 60 times more than the normal
foot soldier. And unlike many other jobs in
the Roman Empire, you couldn't buy your way into the position
of a centurion. It was a role that you had to
earn and the Romans occupied and ruled over the land and at this
time and for many Jews they were seen as the enemy.
But here we see a Roman centurion who was different to
most. Firstly the centurion kid about
others. Verse 2 His servant was very
dear to him and he didn't want to see that servant die.
And this time a servant was the lowest in the health told.
But to this wealthy centurion this servant was special to him.
He saw the servant for who he or she was, a real person, and he
showed real care and compassion towards them.
This was all contrary to the reputation that most Roman
soldiers had in Israel. Secondly, he was respected by
the people. This was not a normal state of
affairs in Israel. As mentioned, most juries saw
the Romans as the enemy who had taken over their homeland.
But here we see the Jewish elders coming on behalf of the
centurion to ask Jesus to come and heal the servant.
This isn't just every in everyday run-of-the-mill Jewish
person coming. This was a number of elders of
the Jews coming with the centurion's request.
These were respected men of authority in their own right.
They would have had the authority to request somebody
else come and bring the message, but they came themselves,
possibly because they felt it would be more successful outcome
if they went. And when they came to Jesus,
they didn't just ask Jesus if he would come and heal the servant.
This is 3 and 4 tell us they pleaded with him earnestly.
The New King James Version says they pleaded and begged him
earnestly. For these Jewish elders to plead
and big before Jesus shows a willingness to humble themselves
on behalf of the centurion before Jesus and lay themselves
at his mercy. The interesting thing is that
these men of authority weren't doing this for their own benefit
or gain. They were willing to plead and
big because they had so much respect for the centurion.
Who would you be willing to plead and beg earnestly for and
completely humble yourself for when there was number, benefit
or gain for you? I would have no hesitation to do
this for Lisa, my wife, without a doubt.
And I would do it for my children, absolutely.
But if we were really honest with ourselves, who would we be
willing to plead and beg for, apart from those that we really
love? But here we see these elders of
the Jews, these men of authority, come to Jesus and
plead and beg earnestly on behalf of a Roman centurion.
Why? Because they had the utmost
respect for him. Thirdly, he was loving and
generous. First five tells us why the
centurion was so respected by the Jews.
It says he loves our nation and he is the one who built us our
synagogue. There are two separate
statements here. It says the centurion loves the
nation of Israel, which is one statement and he is the one who
built the synagogue. The second statement, the ref
doesn't say that he loves our nation because he is the one who
built the synagogue. The centurion's love for Israel
wasn't reliant on him having to build a synagogue.
He loved the nation before he built the synagogue, and he
showed that love by building for them.
He backed up his feelings with actions and was saying that his
love of Israel wasn't reliant on Israel loving him back.
Similarly, God has loved us first, and He showed that love
by sending Jesus Christ to redeem us through his saving
work on the cross. This is love.
Not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as
an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
This is the beautiful picture of the Gospel.
There's an interesting point. Capernaum still exists today as
a partially preserved archaeological site.
While it is no longer functioning as a residential
village, it is a major tourist destination.
One of the main attractions here is a well preserved 4th century
synagogue. During the excavations of the
Sports Century Synagogue, they found it had been built directly
on top of a 1st century synagogue, which would have been
the synagogue that Jesus taught in, and most likely was the
synagogue the centurion built either personally or with his
own funds. But that's, I think that's
pretty cool. I think that's pretty neat that
we can actually go and see with our own eyes part of the
synagogue that has actually been mentioned in these verses.
These words of the Bible that we read here can be backed up by
excavations that we can still see today with our own eyes.
One thing we do need to note is we look at this character of the
Centurion is a good character won't save you caring for
others, being respected by others, or being loving and
generous. It won't save you.
We aren't saved because of our good character.
Our good character should show that we are saved.
Ow. In these first 5 verses we see a
man who cared for others, was well respected, and showed love
and generosity. He lit his character reflect his
faith in God. He lived in a way that made him
different to his peers. He was a godly man who showed
his faith and God through his actions and his character.
The challenge for us as we read these verses is how is your life
reflecting the Saviour you serve?
When we are in the workplace or the lecture hall or the
retirement village library, do people see a man or woman of
integrity and character when they meet us?
Do we have a reputation of someone who loves God or is our
character something else? About 5 or 6 years ago, I got an
e-mail completely out of the blue from a former work
colleague who was in the same office as me when I was about 19
or 20 years old. He worked in a different area to
me, but we were on the same open plan office, so we weren't
close, but we knew each other. He said that at that time he had
been an occult and when he found out I was a Christian, he
started watching me really closely to see how I reacted to
things, to see what I said, see how I treated people.
He wanted to see if my character and actions backed up my faith
in Christ. At that time I had no idea he
was doing this. Then went on to say that he had
gotten out of the cult and he had accepted Jesus Christ as his
own personal Lord and Saviour and was happily following.
The Lord just wanted me to know that the way I lived my life
back then had an impact on Him and made Him think that there
was something more about Christianity that He needed to
check out now. I wish I got emails like this
all the time, but I definitely don't because I know that my
life doesn't always reflect the amazing God that we serve.
You can just have a chat with my wife and children to confirm
that. As I have read these verses and
Luke, I know I fall short of this so often, but it's my
prayer for each of us that we will strive to be a light for
Christ and show a character that points people to Jesus.
This isn't something that we can do on our own strengths, but it
is something we can desire to do with the help and guidance of
the Holy Spirit. It is also something we can pray
for each other, that we will walk, and a manner worthy of the
Lord. Paul wrote this beautiful prayer
to the church and Colossae, which we can read in Colossians
19 to 10, and it says this. And so from the day we heard, we
have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled
with the knowledge of His will, and all spiritual wisdom and
understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,
fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit and every good work, and
increasing in the knowledge of God.
May that be our prayer for each other and for ourselves, that we
may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him,
and bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in our
knowledge of God. What a wonderful blessing it is
to be able to be prayed by bike like that by other people.
So let's look at the remaining 6 to 1016 verses where we will see
that Jesus marvels at the centurion's faith.
And this is 6 to 10. So the earnest pleading and
begging from the Jewish elders pays off.
And Jesus went with them on the way to the centurion's house.
And when he was not far from the centurion's home, the centurion
sent out another group, this time friends of his.
And the message they had for Jesus from the centurion was
Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy that you
should enter my roof under my roof.
Therefore, I did not even think myself worthy to come to you.
The thing I find interesting here is the difference of how
the people see this centurion and how he sees himself.
In various 4 we see the elders of the Jews say he is worthy to
have you do this for him asking when asking Jesus to come and
heal the centurion's servant. They felt the centurion was
worthy of Jesus, visiting him and healing his servant because
he loved the nation and built them a synagogue.
Contrast this with the Centurion's view of himself.
He felt he was completely unworthy to have Jesus come into
his house. He felt he wasn't even worthy to
come to Jesus and meet him as he walk.
What different views of the same person?
The elders of the Jews based their view of the centurion on
who he was and by what he had done.
It was all about the Centurion, but the centurion based his view
of himself on who Jesus was and how unworthy he was in
comparison to Jesus. The centurion had a right view
of himself and his own strength. The centurion was completely
unworthy to be in the presence of Jesus.
For him it was all about Jesus. Since we shouldn't measure
ourselves against others or by the good things we do, we should
start to measure ourselves against who Jesus is and what
the Bible says. And when we do that, we realise
how fallen we are and how much we need Jesus in our lives.
But praise God that through the redemptive work of Christ on the
cross, we are made worthy to be able to stand before God.
But it's not from anything that we can do or have done.
It is all about Jesus. We receive Christ's
righteousness at the point of our salvation, when we accept
Jesus as our personal Lord and Saviour, and it is his
righteousness that covers us. When God looks at us as
believers in Jesus Christ, he doesn't see our sinfulness and
dirty nature. He sees the righteousness of
Christ covering us, Flipping 39 says Be found in him not having
a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that
which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from
God that depends on faith. The centurion then goes on to
make a statement that confirms he is a man who faith is in
Jesus Christ. And the second-half of verse 7
he says, but say the word and let my servant be healed.
And one statement he establishes that he knows who Jesus is and
that he has the power to change lives.
The centurion then goes on to explain and verse 8 that he
understands what it is like to have authority with soldiers
under him who will do whatever he asks them to do.
He isn't saying that he is the same as Jesus, but he
understands what authority looks like and he has complete faith
that Jesus can say just say the word and his servant will be
healed. He knows that Jesus has complete
authority over all things and that the utterance of Jesus word
it will happen. Then after this we see this
wonderful passage in verses 9 and 10.
Fears. When Jesus heard these things,
he marvelled at him and turned to the crowd that followed him
and feared. 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, what an incredible thing to see Jesus marvelling at the
faith of the centurion. It was a wow moment.
Jesus amazed at the faith of this Roman soldier, even to the
point that he sees that even in all of Israel he had not found
such faith. So, you know, you want to know
what makes God marvel? It is faith.
It means to be extraordinarily impressed, astonished or moved
by wonder. And the same word is recorded
one other time in the Gospels. And again it is talking about
faith. But the Mark sex for the sex.
Jesus marvels at the lack of faith.
Nice verses, it said. Jesus said to them, a prophet is
not without honour, except in his hometown and among his
relatives and in his own household.
He could do no mighty work there except he laid his hands on a
few sick people and healed them, and he marvelled because of
their unbelief or their lack of faith, and he went about among
the villagers teaching. The Jesus was in his hometown of
Nazareth, where people were offended by him and failed to
recognise his authority, largely due to their familiarity with
his upbringing. We read here of Jesus marvelling
at their lack of faith or their unbelief among the people of
Nazareth. Contrast this with the centurion
who totally understood Jesus's authority and power.
He had more faith than anyone in Israel.
So what is faith? It's a word we throw around a
lot in Christian circles, but how do we define it?
Faith is the total dependence on and trust in Jesus Christ for
salvation and a right relationship with God.
If it is faith that makes Jesus marvel, then it must be really
important. If it is so important to Jesus,
then it should be important to us now.
The apostle Paul spoke a lot about faith first.
Romans 18. First, I thank my God through
Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed
in all the world. Romans 321 to 22 But now the
righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law,
although the. Although the law and the
prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through
faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
Romans 51. Therefore, since we have been
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Colossians 2/5 for those.
For though I am absent in body, yes, I am with you in spirit,
rejoicing to see your good order and firmness of your faith in
Christ. Galatians 311 Now it is evident
that no one is justified before God by the law, for the
righteous shall live by faith. Friends, when we are struggling
with problems and issues and we feel like it is getting us down,
we need to come back and remember who Jesus is and what
He has done for you. We need to get back to being
totally dependent on and trusting and Christ.
We need to be built up in our faith, but what does it look
like to be built up in our faith?
How do we do that? It sounds like great advice, but
how do we get there? We do it by being in the Word of
God. Romans 10/17 says so.
Then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
If we want to strengthen our faith, then we have to be in the
Word of God in a way that builds us up.
Don't just read it for reading sake, read it so that it changes
you. The important thing is that we
don't need to be in the Bible all the same way.
There are different ways to study the Bible.
Some people love to journal and write things down when they are
in the Word. Others like to read in the
morning. Others like to read at night.
Some will listen to the audio Bible in the car on the way
home. The important thing is to find
the way that works for you where you can be built up in the faith
in the Word of God. Find a way to be in the Word
that works for you and how you best receive the Word and make
it a regular daily activity. So the question for each of us
is how is your faith? Take some time this week to pray
and let the Holy Spirit remind you of who Jesus really is and
what He has done for you and rekindle that first love that
you had for Christ. Challenge yourself to be in the
Word daily if you're not already, and find a way that
works for you to grow and your knowledge of God and His Word.
So in these 10 verses, we see two parts of the Centurion's
life. We see his character and we see
his faith. These aren't 2 diametrically
opposed aspects of his life that never overlap.
We see them interlinking in his life.
In a way, they're both aspects. Show others that he loves God.
You can have good character and live a good life.
Loving and caring for others. Being respected.
Going to church every Sunday and not have faith.
Ultimately, people will think that you are a really good
person and you will be loved by many, but it won't save you.
We don't get to heaven by being a good person or coming to
church every Sunday. There are many think that this
is the case. There's a saying I heard when I
was a very young Christian, which I've shared before, but it
really stuck with me. And it goes at Going to church
doesn't make you a Christian, just like going to McDonald's
doesn't make you a hamburger. Jesus feared and John 14-6 that
no one comes to the Father except through me.
There is only one way to be saved and that is through the
faith in Jesus Christ. Just doing good things and being
a good person of good character is not enough.
Jesus himself made that really clear to us.
But when we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour,
and we have genuine saving faith in him, then our lives should
reflect the Saviour we serve. We should be people of godly
character and action, motivated by our faith in Christ.
And as mentioned earlier, we aren't saved because of our good
character. Our good character should show
that we are saved, or as James says and James 2/26 For as the
body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead.
Also. The way we live, our character,
our words, our actions should be a light to those around us
because of our faith in Jesus Christ.
Friends, may that be our prayer for ourselves and for each other
this day. May our faith and Christ change
our character in such a way that people will want to know Jesus,
and may that all be for the glory of God.
Let's pray any Father, we come before you humbly.
We thank you for your word. We thank you for the truth of
the saving faith we can have through Jesus Christ.
Lord, we are nothing and in our in our own right, but through
you, Lord, you make us worthy because of your righteousness,
when your righteousness covers us until we give all praise and
thanks. Lord, we pray that our faith
will shine out and the people that we are and that we will be
men and women, young people of character, not because of
ourselves but because of our saving faith in Jesus Christ.
A We be lights for you and the places that we have to you.
They all want our own glory be given in Jesus name, Amen.