Luke 7:1-10 The Centurion s Faith Parkdale Grace Fellowship Sunday AM, November 9, 2014 Jesus has painted a pretty bleak picture for those who are rich in this world with some pretty strong warnings and pronouncements of woe over the spiritually destructive influence of their riches. Particularly in the sermon He just finished preaching in chapter six He came down pretty hard on those who are rich in this life. So in case some of those who are rich are beginning to despair that there is no hope for them, the very next event that the Bible records is that of a rich man who comes to faith in Christ in a dramatic way. With God there is no one who is without hope God is able to save anyone regardless of their background, nationality, occupation, social status or wealth. Luke 7:1 2, "Now when He concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum. 2 And a certain centurion s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die." Capernaum was the home base for Jesus ministry in Galilee. It was also apparently the home base of this particular centurion with a very sick servant. What is a centurion? A centurion was a Roman military commander in authority over 100 men. Probably most of the Roman soldiers enforcing Roman law on the Jewish people of that area of Galilee were under this man s control. He was a wealthy man of power and authority, a foreigner, and a gentile, he was not a Jew. Most centurions were viewed by most Israelites as the enemy. However, this particular centurion, though a rich and powerful commander, was a compassionate man who had cultivated a close and affectionate relationship with a low class servant. He loved this poor man, but the servant was sick and about to die. Luke 7:3, "So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant." As centurion responsible for maintaining law and order in the area he would surely have made himself familiar with Jesus. Jesus had been drawing massive crowds in that area for quite a while now. Perhaps on some occasions this centurion had stood in the crowd and had listened to Jesus teaching. This man is one of the greatest examples of faith in the New Testament so we want to look carefully at what we can learn from him. Verse three describes a very unusual situation. When he heard that Jesus was back in town, he recruited some Jewish religious leaders to go ask Jesus for a favor, to see if He would be willing to come and heal this man s dying servant. The elders mentioned here were likely spiritual elders in the synagogue in Capernaum. Not Pharisees, priests or scribes, but respected spiritual leaders. This is unusual that an unclean gentile, and particularly a Roman soldier at that, who was considered by most Jews to be an enemy of Israel, would have such a positive relationship with these respected Jewish leaders that they would be more than willing to do him a favor. These elders not only ask, but they plead with Jesus on behalf of the centurion.
2 Luke 7:4 5, "And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was deserving, 5 for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue. " Now we see why this Roman captain has a good rapport with these Jewish elders. Unlike most Roman soldiers this man loves the Jews, and to demonstrate that love he built them a synagogue the implication is that he paid for the whole thing himself. A synagogue was a large public building where the Jews would gather for public worship, much like our church buildings. The fact that he would build them a synagogue is a hint that he not only loved the people but that he thought highly of their religion. Notice the tactic these Jewish elders use in trying to persuade Jesus to come and heal this centurion s servant. They tried to convince Jesus that the centurion was deserving, or literally that he was worthy of receiving Jesus healing touch because of the things he had done. Like most legalistic Jews these elders believed that favor with God could be earned through good works. This is the thinking that is at the root of Roman Catholicism and most pagan religions that we can barter with God, trading our good deeds and penance in exchange for special favors, or even to gain our way into heaven. Many believe that donating money to the church will gain them favor with God. Jesus this man didn t merely make a donation he funded the entire building He has earned the right to have his servant healed. Many people today still think like these elders, Surely a good man like that would never go to hell, he has earned the right to go to heaven look at what he has done. I have often heard people praying to God for a miracle in a loved one s life and in their prayer they will recite to God all the good qualities and good deeds of their loved one, thinking that they will convince God that this person is worthy of the favor that is being asked. Many people when facing death will make donations to a church or a charity thinking that generous giving will put them in right standing with God and increase their chances of being acceptable for heaven. But as we will see in a moment, the centurion did not ask these elders to tell Jesus that he was deserving of this favor not at all. But these religious leaders did not know God nearly as well as this Roman centurion did. The plea of worthiness is totally invalid for anyone to make before God when what they are holding up as evidence of their worth is their own good deeds. There is no one but Jesus who is worthy and deserving of God s grace because all of our good deeds are tainted and corrupted by our sin. In Isaiah 64:6 NIV, the Bible says, "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." Romans 3:9 12, " both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. 10 As it is written: There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one. "
3 What is it that you are counting on in your life to give you favor and acceptance with God? Luke 7:6 7, "Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. 7 Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed." It seems likely that a messenger had run ahead and reported to the centurion what the elders had said to Jesus and that Jesus was now on his way to his house, for the centurion sent some friends to intercept Jesus and to correct the misinformation that the elders had communicated. In verse 4 the elders had said that the centurion was deserving of this miracle. Now in verses 6 and 7 the centurion sets the record straight, I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. This Gentile soldier had a greater understanding of who Jesus was than the religious elders had. To them Jesus was just another Jew like themselves, perhaps gifted with some kind of prophetic power, but still just a man, nothing more. But the centurion had taken notice of the power and authority of Jesus words, and as a military commander his success in battle and in peace keeping depended on his ability to accurately identify and asses the capability of an opponent or of a potential trouble maker. The centurion knew that Jesus was not just a man like him, and he certainly knew that the elders had made a great miscalculation of who Jesus was to claim that the centurion, a mere man was deserving to have Jesus come and heal his servant. The message he had sent with the elders in verse 3 was asking that they plead with Jesus, implying that they beg for mercy and for an undeserved favor. This centurion had seen enough in Jesus to know that He wielded the power and authority of God, and his response was the same as that of many other men whose eyes were opened to know when they were in the presence of God. Look at Peter who had the same humble response when he first realized that Jesus was more than just a man. Luke 5:4 8, " [Jesus] said to Simon, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. 5 But Simon answered and said to Him, Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net. 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord! " Isaiah 6:1 5, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory! 4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 So I said: Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts. "
4 What is your attitude in approaching Jesus with a request? Do you believe that you are entitled to a favor from Him? Do you approach Him as someone who owes you something? Or have you accurately assessed Jesus and determined that there is nothing we can offer that will make us worthy or deserving of asking anything from Him? We are dependent upon His mercy and His grace; mercy to not give us the penalty we rightly deserve, but instead to graciously give us the blessing that we do not deserve. James 4:6, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Luke 7:7 8, "Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I also am a man placed under authority, having 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. " This commander had seen the way Jesus operated and he knew that all Jesus had to do was to speak a command and the thing He commanded was accomplished. But he had accurately noted that Jesus wasn t exercising His own authority but that He was operating under the authority and power of God, which was true. Remember that though He was fully God, Jesus was limiting Himself to live fully as a man as man was originally created to live in total dependence and submission to the will and power of God. Notice in verse 8 that the centurion said, For I also am a man placed under authority The centurion was under the authority of a higher commander, and did not act independently, but he carried out the instructions and orders he received from His superior. And he had 100 soldiers who were under his authority and when he gave them a command they were compelled to obey him completely because, though he was just a man like them, he had all the power and authority of the Roman Empire and the Emperor backing up his command. If a soldier or a citizen disobeyed this commander it was equal to disobeying Caesar and they would suffer the consequences of disobeying Caesar. Over the months that he had watched Jesus operating in Galilee, the region of his jurisdiction, this centurion had accurately observed that He was a man operating under a higher power and authority than that of the Roman Empire. For he had observed that there were other subordinate powers that were compelled to completely obey the words of Jesus powers that no Roman official had authority over demons were subject to His authority, disease, disabilities and paralysis were all under Christ s authority. Even the wind, the fish and the waves of the sea all obeyed Jesus. And though this centurion had the authority and power of Rome behind him, he recognized that Jesus was under a superior authority higher than all of Rome, and that Jesus outranked this Roman officer who acknowledged that he was unworthy of coming into Jesus presence. Wow, what insight. Do you have any idea of who Jesus is? Do you have any sense of how high and exalted He is above yourself? Do you have any sense of how, apart from His grace toward us, we are absolutely unworthy of Him coming near us apart from His grace we have nothing in ourselves at all to offer Him as a reason why He should show us any kindness or favor at all? It is by God s grace alone that we are saved none of us deserve it.
5 Some people say they want Jesus to save them from their sin but they don t want Him to have authority over their lives they still want to live the way they want to live. Who do these people think that they are? You cannot receive Jesus as Savior but reject Him as Lord He is Lord God Almighty and if you are going to receive Him at all you must receive Him as He is. We saw last week in verses 46 and 49 that those who call Him Lord but do not do the things He says will be utterly destroyed in the end. Those who come to Christ must come humbly, like this centurion, and must acknowledge His authority and humble themselves under His authority. Look at the conclusion the centurion came to regarding Jesus; in verse 7 the centurion says, Say the word and my servant will be healed. His confidence in approaching Jesus was not selfconfidence, but confidence that Jesus was loving and merciful to those who humbled themselves and called out to Him. He had seen the compassion, the kindness and the love of Jesus in healing many others, and now this soldier put his faith in Jesus and trusted that He would heal Luke 7:9, "When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! " Jesus has never before encountered such great faith. What do we see in this centurion that Jesus calls great faith? Two essential ingredients of faith are demonstrated by him. First of all knowing who Jesus is God in flesh with all the power and authority needed to solve your problem. And secondly, faith humbly recognizes how unworthy we are in contrast to Christ s greatness. Faith recognizes that I cannot offer any reason in myself why you should show me kindness I am unworthy of Christ, but I appeal to God s mercy. Some of you this morning need to likewise put your faith in Jesus to meet a need in your life. The Bible tells us to humble ourselves before God and He will lift us up. Put no confidence in yourself, acknowledge that you are not worthy, but instead put your confidence in the love of God, the power of God, and the willingness of God to respond to those who humble themselves and come to Him in faith. Why was Jesus so amazed at this man? Ephesians 2:8 tells us that saving faith is an undeserved gift of God s grace. So obviously the Spirit of God was at work in this man s life drawing him to Christ this was the work of God, not the accomplishment of the centurion. So why did Jesus marvel? Because this man was in the natural one of the least likely to ever come to faith in Christ, and yet the Spirit of God was drawing him. Look at his background. He was an uncircumcised Gentile, a foreigner from another culture. He was not raised in a good Jewish home, he was not taught the scriptures as a child, his parents did not take him to the synagogue to worship. Yet he had greater faith than the Jewish elders who had all those advantages. Look at his occupation. He was a soldier, enforcing the oppressive pagan Roman authority on the nation of Israel. He was therefore employed by the enemy of the people of God. As a soldier who had risen through the ranks to become a commander over other officers he was a tough and powerful man who has seen and experienced a lot of violence not the kind of person who very naturally will humble himself. Yet he humbled himself before Jesus.
6 Look at the man s wealth. Jesus has already made it clear that riches are a hindrance to faith. It is very difficult and very rare for the wealthy to truly humble themselves and come to Christ because they tend to love their wealth more than God. Indeed Jesus would later say that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God (Luke 18:24-25). But, by the mercy of God, this centurion, this wealthy commander, was passing through the eye of a needle the Holy Spirit was performing a great miracle and Jesus marveled. We see in verse 5 a clue that reveals why this man s riches were not holding him back from trusting in Christ he was not clinging to his riches but was generously giving them away. Verse five reveals that he had built for the Jews a synagogue at his own expense. This reveals the heart of one who is not clinging to his wealth but willing to let it go. The best way for us to keep money from getting a grip on our lives is to constantly stay in the habit of generously giving it away. Verse five also reveals that this man loved the people more than he loved his money and he was willing to spend his money for the sake of the people. Maybe you were, like this centurion, raised in a godless home, maybe you know nothing about the Bible and have never truly worshipped God. Maybe you have lived a rough life and have hurt some people along the way. Maybe you have had a lot of pride and humility doesn t come easy for you. It doesn t matter what your background, the power of the Spirit of God is able to bring you to great faith like the Spirit of God brought this centurion. The centurion had often been exposed to Jesus they both lived and worked in the same town. But never before had the centurion exercised faith, humbled himself and cried out to Jesus. What was it that motivated him to turn to the Lord at this time? It was a crisis in his life. The critical illness of someone he deeply loved. Perhaps the Lord has allowed a crisis in your life to motivate you to humble yourself before the Lord, and to cry out to Him in faith believing that He can meet your need. Luke 7:10, "And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick." The parallel account in Matthew chapter 8 reveals that Jesus gave this word to the centurion, As you have believed, so let it be done for you. Jesus answered the humble cry of this centurion who put his faith in Jesus, and He will answer your humble cry too will you call out to Jesus this morning? Copyright 2014 by Parkdale Grace Fellowship Permission: You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.