The Faith of the Centurion, Part 4 | The Beatitudes in Action

Luke 7:6-10

If God isn’t absolutely sovereign, doesn’t have the power over your checkbook, doesn’t have the power over your bank account, doesn’t have the power over your health, doesn’t have the power, of, over your relationships, why pray? We believe he’s sovereign. We believe he is all powerful. We believe his heart, is, is always bent toward good. We believe he is all wise.

 And so, when we pray. We don’t pray, my will be done. No. Thy will be done, because your will is best. And if you choose to withhold this thing I ask for, it’s because you’re wise. You know better than I do. What am I, but a child, and an unworthy child, before you. I can’t see all your goodwill. I can’t see all your eternal decree. I trust you. I trust you. That’s how Christians, who come to God in prayer, think. So, with the believing supplication, it got Jesus’ attention. He’s willing. He comes. He wants to do. He wants to heal. And it becomes for him a providentially timed teaching opportunity.

So that’s point five in your outline: the perfect illustration. Teachers are always looking for good illustrations. Here’s one. Jesus notes it, spots it, verse 9, “When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, turning to the crowd that followed him, said,” It’s funny; he’s not in a hurry. He’s like, ‘Oh! Oh! The servant’s dying. Let me get there post haste! I need to run. No. He turns like he’s got all the time in the world. Why? Because he created time and he does.

So “He marvels at him, and turns to the crowd that follows him, said, ‘I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.’” Again, this word, marvel, thaumazo; used 53 times in the New Testament, only twice to show Jesus’ marveling. And in both instances, when Jesus marvels, they involve this divinely generated virtue of faith.

 He marvels here at the presence of extraordinary faith, and he marvels, in Mark 6:6, at the lack of faith in his hometown of Nazareth. Even just the smallest smidgeon of faith he doesn’t find in Nazareth, where you might expect it most. Jesus does find faith in Israel, here and there, but not this kind of faith in Israel; even among his own disciples, he didn’t find this kind of faith.

 There are a number of times he had to correct his disciples because, remember, they lacked faith. He calmed the storm. I mean he commanded the wind and the waves, and they obeyed him, and the, the, howling wind, the rising waves, they came, they became flat as glass; Matthew 8:26, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Peter walking on the water; he started to sink beneath the waves. He took his eyes off Christ, who commanded him to come walk on the waves.

Matthew 14:31, Jesus, when he’s sinking, took hold of Peter’s hand and said, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Why did you doubt? It’s gentle, but it is a correction. It’s kind and tender, but it is a rebuke. The disciples asked Jesus why they couldn’t cast a demon out of a little child.

 And he said, Matthew 17:20, he said, “Because of your little faith.” He’s not saying, Oh, no, no, there, there, that’s okay. He’s saying, no, you, you who have been with me, why do you doubt? You who know me, why do you doubt? This postmodern tendency to say; Oh, let’s celebrate the doubt; let’s celebrate the ambiguity of God; he changes all the time, we don’t know. That is not worthy of commendation. 

But that’s not what he sees in this centurion. It’s not what he would later see in the Syrophoenician woman. Remember Matthew 15? Matthew 15, where that woman comes to him. Her daughter is being tormented, then he kinda ignores her, at first. Keeps walking. She keeps on calling out. Keeps on crying out. His disciples come and, inter, intercede for her, saying, Please, please, attend to this woman.

 And he turns to the woman and he says, he’s just talking about Messianic priority, and he’s drawing out of her something that the disciples need to see and he says, “It’s not right to take the children’s bread”, that is, the food, the meat that is meant for Israel, “and to throw it to the dogs.” He’s not being insulting. He’s saying little dogs, lapdogs, you know, like cute, cuddly like little, I’ve got one of these little white fluffy ones at my house. It barks too much, but it is cute and cuddly. But it’s that kind of a dog. One you would have for a pet.

 It’s not right to take the children’s meal, that’s just prepared, off of the stove and not give it to the children, but to throw it down to the house dogs. And so “She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.’” Her daughter is healed instantly. She accepts that she’s separate. She accepts that she’s running around the house like a little house dog. That’s okay for her. She gets to feed at the master’s table, because even scraps are better than anything that the world has to offer.

So, Jesus found that faith and when he found that faith and he especially, he found it among the Gentiles, he’s astonished. Verse 9, he spins around on his heels. He takes advantage of this divinely appointed, providentially timed teaching moment. And he says to the crowd, I tell you or I say to you. He’s demanding, here, their full and undivided attention, “I tell you”, in, “not even in Israel have I found such faith.”

So, what did Jesus, found, here? What about the centurion’s faith, caused Jesus to marvel. What commends this man’s faith to us; makes it so exemplary? Just list a few observations I’ll go through them, point, you might want to write these down for your own reflection. First, as we said, this man was a, mm, this man was a man of love. He’s marked by kindness and generosity. So he’s a man of love, marked by kindness and generosity.

 The centurion loved his suffering slave, a man he counted as dear to him, whom he considered close and he called, my child. And the centurion also loved the Jewish nation, not because he loved their food and their culture and all of their traditions, because he loved their God. His attitude reminds me of what Ruth told Naomi, “Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my God.” He loved the Jewish people in that way. He built them a synagogue, at his own expense, remarkable love.

Second point, he was a man of truth marked by an interest in scripture and in Christ, the Lord of truth. Second, he’s a man of truth, he’s marked by an interest in scripture, in Christ, the Lord of truth. And you should see a connection between those two points, from a man of love to a man of truth because there is a direct link between them. Where you find truth, true truth, rightly received, deeply believed, you also find true love and vice versa.

 There is no true love without deep understanding of truth of God’s word. If you’re shallow in your understanding of Scripture, you’ll be shallow in your love. If you’re deep in your understanding of Scripture, you’ll be deep and wise in your love. The centurion’s love for the Jews is manifest in his investment. What would be best and most likely to bring them to the truth. So, he gave the Jewish nation a, a, synagogue. And then, then, because he loved his suffering servant, he sought the truth in Christ. He sought him.

 He viewed Jesus as Lord. That’s not merely a title of respect, by the way. Some commentators say this, this title, Lord, was a Gentile version of Rabbi, like with the Syro, Syrophoenician woman. That’s not true. She identified him as Lord, messiah, son of David. There was a, there was a theological instruction to her use of the term Lord, and I believe it is the same thing with this centurion, he understands who he is talking to. He isn’t just some teacher.

Third thing, this man is a man of humility marked by meekness. A man of humility marked by meekness, number three. In contrast to the praise heaped upon him by the Jewish elders, their affirmation of his worthiness, the centurion saw himself as inherently unworthy, as deserving nothing, but, commen, condemnation from God. He didn’t say, look, I’ve got some great talents that could be useful to your nation. Do you ever see people who serve in church like that? Like you’re so blessed to have them, you know, you know serving wherever; music, Sunday school, scrubbing whatever, bathrooms, or what; you’re blessed to have me. You’re privileged to have, you know, this so and so here.

 Centurion had a lot of talents and a lot of gifts and a lot of experience. He counts them nothing, none of them as worthy. None of them. As for his standing, his self-estimation, his position as a Roman centurion, his Roman citizenship, his authoritative position in the region, he just regards himself, simply, as one placed under authority. He’s just ranked in a pecking order. He’s just doing his job. As for his spiritual standing, he regarded himself as having no legitimate claim on God’s grace, no right to favor from Christ. That humility caused him to approach Jesus in meekness, demanding nothing, hoping for everything.

And that leads us to a fourth quality: He’s a man of faith marked by believing initiative. Number four, he’s a man of faith marked by believing initiative. He’s a Gentile. He’s outside the covenants. He’s a stranger to the promises and though unworthy, recognizing his sinfulness before the unparalleled holiness of Jesus, he is compelled to come to him anyway, asking in faith. And in faith comes. He knows the love of Israel’s God.

 He knows the amazing, abundant mercy of God. He learned it in scripture there in the formative years of Israel’s national identity. They are plucked from Egypt by a God who makes distinctions, and he separated them out, not because of any goodness in them. They’re just like Egyptians, but he plucked them out, set them apart, gave them his law, gave them his instruction, gave them the proclamation about himself, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” He knows him.

 So, in faith, believing that, he comes. He knows the compassion of Christ. One who had healed before. One whose heart is turned and moved by those in suffering. He knows it’s in the heart of Christ to heal. He simply comes seeking whether or not it’s his will to heal at that moment.

You know something interesting? There’s no indication in the text or anywhere that I could find that the centurion met Jesus. Never shook his hand. Never saw him in the flesh. It may have happened later on; the text doesn’t tell us. It would be pure speculation. I’m not averse to speculation, but I don’t see it here.

 And I think that is supposed to tell us something, because the centurion, like us, at least initially here, the centurion had to trust Christ without seeing him. That’s just like us, right? He didn’t need to be there. He didn’t need to see with his own eyes. He didn’t to hear with his own ears as Jesus issued a healing command.

 The centurion is content to work through intercessory prayer or intercessory requests; two delegations. He’s willing to trust in Christ. He knows he can work through unseen means to accomplish his own will according to his own good pleasure. That, by the way, is markedly different from the unbelieving people of Israel, because they were always demanding signs. John 2:18, “What sign do you show us that you do these things?” Again, in John 6:30, “What sign do you do that we may see and believe in you?” What work do you perform?

 By contrast, the centurion, as J.C. Ryle put it, “He doesn’t ask to see any sign or wonder. He just declares his confidence that Jesus is an Almighty Lord. He’s a master and king, and things like diseases, ah! they’re just obedient servants, willing, at once, to depart at Jesus’ command.”

Can I add a fifth quality to the centurion? Centurion is a man of love, truth, humility, faith and fifthly, he’s a man of authority and submission. Authority and submission marked by leadership and obedience. He gets the principle of authority and submission, because he acts in leadership on the one hand and obedience on the other hand. In verse 8, he testifies of himself, “For I too am a man set under authority.”

 So being placed in a position of authority, he received commands from his superiors and obeyed them. And then being in a position of authority, he issued commands to his inferiors and expected to be obeyed. As a man in authority, he obeyed by leading, commanding obedience. As a man under authority, he trusted and he obeyed.

 It’s that principle of authority and submission. It’s that practice of leadership and obedience. These are what helped him to understand the position, authority, and the person of Christ. Think about your own submission and obedience to Christ. Does it reflect the faith of the centurion? When he says, Go, do you go? When he says, Come, do you come? When he commands you, his slave, do this, do you do what he says?

Just quickly a final point. This is, point number six, larger point. Point number six in our outline. Cause we need to see how these things end. Right? We, we, already know, but look at point number six, your outline: The Immediate Resolution. Verse 10, “When those who had been sent returned to the house.” Who’s that? That’s the friends. When they “returned to the house, they found the servant well.”

In Matthew 8:13 we read that, “The servant was healed at that very moment.” Immediate resolution. It’s not simply that the, ser, servant here is delivered from the troubling and the paralyzing affliction itself. Instead, Luke, the physician, notes that they found the servant not just healed from the malady, but in good health. When Jesus heals, he heals fully.

 There’s a little play on words in verses 9 and 10, kinda using that word, found. Jesus had found an amazing faith in the centurion, and the, reg, and the servants or the friends returned and found the servant in good health. They found what the centurion had requested, because they delivered the request, and then they looked for an answer. And they found, what they looked for.

Are you praying that way? In faith? Or are you simply shooting doubting prayers up into the sky, like arrows you know that are never gonna hit the mark? Are you looking carefully into the promises of God’s word and then letting them instruct the way you pray, and then taking aim in your prayers, and looking for the answers in your life; as if God actually intends to answer when you ask; to be found when you seek; to open when you knock.

It wasn’t just the friends, though, who were looking that day. Jesus was also looking, and he found what he was looking for. The word, found, tells us he was looking for great faith. Isn’t he? In fact, Jesus is eager to find that kind of faith in each one of us. He, get this, he likes to marvel at great faith. Why? Yes, he delights to see it in us. Yes, he delights to see us grow in understanding.

 But you know what he delights in the most? God. And true faith, amazing faith like this faith is a work of God in heaven. It’s a work of his grace. And he loves seeing God work. Is that what rejoices your heart? Let me ask you: Do you have a faith that amazes? Are you, like that centurion, demonstrating the true marks of saving faith, sanctifying faith?

 Or is your faith marked by profession only? Just skin deep. Do you say you trust God, but then you, you motor through life on your own power all the time, wearing yourself out, exhausting yourself, doing it in your own way. Is your faith skin deep? Do you have faith at all? Does any of this, that we’ve been talking about here, mark your life?

For those of you who know you have faith, but you’re like that man who said, “Oh, yes, Lord, I do believe, just come help, help my unbelief.” Ashamedly, sadly, I am one of those who have little faith, but I want to grow. So, I ask, are you a person of love, marked by kindness and generosity? Because a person who has faith growing is marked by love, and kindness, and generosity.

 Are you a person of truth, marked by an interest in the love of scripture? Do you, are you devoted to Christ himself? Are you a person of humility or a person of great pride, because you know what you’ve done, what you’ve accomplished, and you look back at all your past achievements and walk around with your chest puffed out? Can you bear with an offense from somebody else? Or do you rehearse offenses, because after all, don’t they know who you are? Don’t they know what you’ve done?

Truth is, any offense that can come from other people, it’s so much smaller than what we actually deserve, right? We know. God knows. Are you a person of humility? Are you marked by meekness in dealing with other people? Are you a person of faith? Are you a person of great faith, of remarkable, Christ marveling faith, marked by believing prayer, believing action, believing initiative? Look, we want to be all of that, don’t we? We want to be all of that. We know we’re not, so it’d be fitting if we close the service just by asking: Want to join me in prayer?

Father, we so often are like that man who did pray, “Lord, I believe, just help my unbelief.” You are a God who is infinite, and so you are infinitely capable of paying attention to every single one of our finite needs. You are near to every single one of us, if we’ll just call upon you. The word isn’t far from us, it’s very near. It’s in your mouth and in your heart. If we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we will be saved. If we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we will be sanctified for your glory.

 And so we pray that you would increase our faith. That we would be a people, this church, would be a people of great faith, of amazing faith, which means we’re people of love, and of truth, and of humility, and meekness. Which means we’re a people that are giving, expecting nothing in return. Which means we’re a people that wants to give, and sacrifice, and love others, and know each other, and know you. So please work in us, we pray, not just for our own sakes, not just for the sakes of those for whom we pray, but for the sake of your name, father, for the sake of Christ and his glory, for the sake of his saving Gospel. Amen.