Sermon Transcript
We have a guest speaker today because Alba and DK’s son got married yesterday, so I’m sure they’re very happy. That’s— it’s a good thing, but it’s also— they’re happy it’s done, I’m sure. And Dan is driving back from Texas. So anyway, it’s a joy to welcome Derek Brown as our guest speaker this morning. Derek earned his BA from the Master’s University and later completed both his Master of Divinity and PhD in Systematic Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
Many of you will remember Derek for his 6 years here at Bridges serving as the— serving our youth as our director of middle school and high school ministries, where he faithfully invested in our students and families before heading off to seminary nearly 20 years ago. Wow, time flies. Derek is also the author of several books, including Praying for Your Pastor and Solomon’s Great Commission: A Theology of Earthly Life. Both of which I have read and I highly recommend. Today, Derek serves as associate pastor and teaching elder at Creekside Bible Church in Cupertino and as the academic dean and professor of theology at the Cornerstone Bible College and Seminary in Vallejo, where he continues to equip pastors and leaders in faithful ministry.
But most importantly to me, Derek is the husband of my daughter Amy and the father of my 3 wonderful grandchildren. We are grateful for his love for the Lord, his commitment to God’s Word, and his heart for the church. Please join me in reading of our scripture passage for today’s sermon from Luke chapter 7. After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. Now a 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. And 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 has built us our synagogue. And Jesus went with them. And when he was not far from the house, 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 set under authority with 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. When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that had followed him, he said, 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. Welcome Derek Brown as he brings God’s words to us.
Well, thank you, Brad, for that kind introduction. Thank you, Dan, for allowing me to take the pulpit today. Thank you, Nate, for a great conversation beforehand. It’s really a blessing to be back here 20 years later to be able to preach in this pulpit, so thank you for having me, and I’m excited to open the Word to you this morning. We are going to be in Luke chapter 7.
If you’re not already there, let’s turn there. And, you know, when you’re doing a message like this, you just drop into a book, you need to let you need to set the context a little bit, so that’s what I want to do, if you don’t mind. Jesus is right in the thick of his ministry. He’s been healing. He’s been teaching.
And just prior to this text here, he has given a sermon, and you probably would recognize a lot of that sermon. It’s very similar to the Sermon on the Mount that you’d find in Matthew chapter 5 through 7. And so he’s just completed that message, and that’s where we are now in this text as we come to this text. It says, after he had finished all these sayings, the sayings that he had just previously given in chapter 6 in that sermon. So that’s where we find ourselves, in the thick of Jesus’ ministry, right after a message that he had given.
In the hearing of the people, verse 1 says. And it tells us now, as Luke is setting the stage for this story, he’s going to give us the location, and the location is Capernaum. That’s where we’re at. So we’re going to be looking at the setting and then the centurion. These are important setups for what Luke wants to communicate to us.
And we do need to remember that in a narrative, narrative section like this, you— it’s not like Paul’s didactic letters where he kind of tells you exactly what he wants you to know. You have to judge from the way that the author is telling the story what he wants you to derive from it. So hopefully I’ll give you some tools even in your own Bible study to help discern those things as you read through narratives, because the way it’s structured, the way he tells the stories, is important because he’s trying to communicate— Luke is trying to communicate something important through that structure itself. So let’s start with the setting. We are in Capernaum.
What’s so big about Capernaum? Well, it’s northwest of the Sea of Galilee. It was a city, and that’s significant. It’s not just a town, it’s a city. That meant it was a larger place.
That meant it was a significant place. It was significant, we know that, because Rome had a military station there. They had a military outpost station there, as we see with having a centurion there. We also know that it had a tax office there. You see that in Matthew 9:9.
So it was an important city, but it was also a significant city in Jesus’s ministry. Jesus had a home there. Did you know Jesus had a home in Capernaum? Yeah, I know, I, I was amazed to find that out too. He had a home in Capernaum, uh, he called it his own city in Matthew 9:1, and he had preached and performed many miracles there in Capernaum.
And actually, we’ll see that that’s an important part of the story, that this— that Jesus had pleaded so many miracles in Capernaum is going to be an important part of the story. And going back to Matthew for a moment, also the fact that Jesus had denounced Capernaum because He had done so many miracles there, and yet they refused to believe in Him. That’s another important piece that we need to keep in mind as we go through this passage. So now Luke establishes the setting. It’s in Capernaum.
Now he’s going to bring forward the main characters. And the first main character, of course, is the centurion soldier. Who was this guy? Well, he would have been a noncommissioned officer in Roman military. He would have been a leader of soldiers.
In fact, he would have been a leader of 100 soldiers. And, of course, we know what that’s like in our military. You have certain leaders within certain branches and they oversee a group of men. That’s a similar kind of thing here. He was a centurion, so he would have been over 100 officers.
And these officers were career military men. And it’s interesting because the New Testament often casts these centurions in a positive light. You see this often. You see this especially with Luke. The centurion stationed at Jesus’ cross testified to Jesus’ deity.
You see that in Luke 23. In Acts 10, Luke tells us that there is a man, a centurion named Cornelius, who was a Gentile who Jesus— who Peter preached the gospel to and who was a God-fearing Gentile. A centurion advocated for Paul in Acts 23 and protected Paul in Acts 27. So actually Luke is emphasizing the fact that these centurions are viewed favorably and not only that but this is an implicit indication that the gospel is spreading now out beyond the Jews. It’s going out to Gentiles.
Well, this centurion in Luke 7, he has a a servant. This is another important part of the story. This is another character that we need to key in on. Having a servant would have been typical at the time. Servanthood, of course, was common in Jesus’ day.
But this particular servant was highly valued by the centurion. The word value here is translated elsewhere in the New Testament as precious, distinguished, having honor. He would have been trustworthy. He would have been hardworking. He would have been well respected by the centurion.
But it probably goes beyond that. This word would indicate that there was probably a special affection for this servant. He was special to him. So not only was he hardworking, not only was there a utilitarian benefit to this servant, but he was also someone he liked. The centurion liked this servant.
He had affection for him. He had a deep affection for him to the point where he’s sick and now he is distressed that he is ill and he wants something to be done about it. So when the centurion heard about Jesus, he dispatched some people to see if he could get some help from Jesus. And what does he do? He dispatches the elders of the Jews, it tells us in verse 3.
Verse 2, it says, now the centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. Verse 3, when the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent him the elders of the Jews, asking him to come and to heal his servant. Now, it’s quite possible that these Jews were civil leaders. In fact, that’s probably the case. Whatever the case, it’s important that up to this point in his ministry, Jesus had done a fair amount of work both preaching and healing in the Galilee region.
Because I want to know, as I go through this text, I want to know what had the centurion heard about Jesus? Why did he dispatch the Jews, the elders of the Jews, to Jesus? What did he know about Jesus that is compelling him now to think, okay, I have a I have a servant who’s gravely ill, and now I need to take these elders of the Jews and send them to Jesus. What had he heard about Jesus? Well, this is important, and I’ve already mentioned this.
Jesus had done a lot of healing ministry in Capernaum itself, where the centurion is. For example, Jesus healed the demoniac in Capernaum. He had healed Peter’s mother-in-law in Capernaum, and I tend to think that the centurion heard this and he’s thinking, well, if Jesus is healing mother-in-laws, he’s got to be healing everybody. So he’ll heal my servant. I— maybe that was in his mind.
I don’t know. He had healed a paralytic in Capernaum, but also in John 4, he— we find out that he had healed somebody else. He had healed the son of a royal official, a Roman, just like the centurion. In fact, this official in John may have been a centurion himself. In that story in John, Jesus is in Cana, which is about 15 to 20 miles as the crow flies from Capernaum, and the royal official in Capernaum hears about Jesus and sends to Jesus to have him come and heal his son, and he does.
So I tend to think that the centurion in our story for today had heard about Jesus, all the miracles he had done in Capernaum, he had heard about the healing that he had done for the royal official’s son, and he is very encouraged that he could have Jesus come and heal his own servant. So I think that’s where we are at with what the centurion knows. So he’s gonna dispatch these Jews to go talk to him. But how do the Jews appeal to Jesus? And this is important.
Luke is making a distinction between how the elders of the Jews will appeal to Jesus, and how the centurion himself will appeal to Jesus.
They go to him and they say this.
They say, he is worthy. Verse 4, and they came to Jesus and 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 built our synagogue. You see what they’re doing? They’re appealing to Jesus to help the centurion on the basis of his worthiness. He’s obviously a kind and generous man.
These officers would have been well paid. They would have been wealthy. And he is kind to the people that his country is occupying. He is kind to the Jews. He is gracious to them.
He even helped build their synagogue. He’s a good man in terms of the Jews, how the Jews are concerned. And they are appealing to Jesus on that basis. You should heal him, Jesus, because he’s a good guy. He’s a nice guy, he’s nice to us.
So the elders focus on the worth of the centurion as the basis for why Jesus should heal his servant. And what I want us to also see here is the fact that Jesus now will go with him. It says here in the next verse that, Jesus went with him. Without a word, he just goes with him. That’s all we know.
And this indicates that Jesus is not only ministering to the poor and downtrodden in Israel. He is willing to go to the wealthy, those who are in a higher social stratosphere, because this centurion would have been well respected. He would have had social clout and social capital, and he was clearly wealthy. So Jesus didn’t only go to the poor and those of low social rank. I think that’s an important lesson for us.
He is going to all people because all people are lost, whether you’re poor or wealthy. You are lost and under the burden of sin apart from Christ. And so I, I’m grateful for Jesus’s willingness to go to this wealthy centurion.
Well, that’s the Jew’s appeal. Jesus, you need to heal this guy because he’s a good guy, right? Well, that’s in contrast now with the centurion’s appeal. He’s, he’s going to have a different response. Verse 6, it says that Jesus went with them, and when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends saying to him, Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.
So now what do we have happen? He is— the centurion has dispatched the elders of the Jews. They went and appealed to Jesus on the basis of the centurion’s worthiness. The centurion, knowing himself, knowing who he is in light of Jesus, dispatches some friends to go tell him a different message, namely, I am what? I am not worthy.
Isn’t that interesting? This is not coincidental. Luke knows what he’s doing here, contrasting these 2 approaches to Jesus. The message now that these friends are giving is significantly different than what the elders of the Jews had said. You said he’s worthy.
He’s saying he’s not worthy. The centurion still desires his request to be granted, but not on the basis of his worthiness. Do you see that? That is just astounding for who this guy is, especially. I mean, of anybody, this guy’s worthy, right?
He isn’t even worthy to have Jesus come under his roof. That’s what he says. He says, therefore, I did not presume to come to you, but say the word and let my servant be healed. Do you see what the centurion is saying here? This is remarkable.
He’s saying that Jesus doesn’t even need to touch his servant in order to heal him. All he has to do is speak a word and the creation bows its knee.
The centurion does have remarkable faith, but let’s continue now in verses— verse 8, and then we’ll skip down to verse 10. The centurion’s faith. This is the next point in your outline. Let’s see what the centurion says. Just say the word and let my servant be healed.
For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me. 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. Now, this is amazing. See, this Roman centurion, he knows something about authority, doesn’t he? First of all, he’s under Roman authority.
He serves the nation as a military officer. But he also has men under him, and it’s an effective authority. And when he says to go do something to a soldier, he goes, you know, he says, okay, I’ll do it, right? Aye, aye, Captain. And it’s happening all the time.
I know how authority works, Jesus. I tell someone to do something and they go do it. You have that same authority, only it’s not just over people, it’s over the entire creation, namely the virus that is ravaging my servant’s body. All you have to do is say the word and my servant shall be healed. That’s remarkable faith.
His authority is effective, so he knows Jesus’ authority will be effective. Jesus’ power and his authority is able to reach into the sickness in a person’s body and do all that needs to happen. I don’t know all that needs to happen, but Jesus does, and just speaking a word, he is Lord over creation, and that healing can happen, and the centurion somehow believes that.
It’s amazing. All Jesus has to do is speak to the creation, and creation bends its knee. In other words, you don’t need to be in the physical presence of Jesus for him to speak an effective word of power into your life. Isn’t that awesome? He’s in heaven right now, and he doesn’t need to be in your physical presence in order to work power in your Christian life.
But let’s skip down to verse 10. What happens? Don’t worry, we’re not skipping over verse 9. We’ll go back. But verse 10, it says, and when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant had been healed.
Mission accomplished. The servant’s been healed. The centurion knew what Jesus could do, and Jesus did it. But what’s remarkable, the centurion says, only say a word. I want someone to help me see where Jesus actually says a word.
Does Jesus say a word in this passage? He doesn’t say a word. Now, perhaps He did and Luke just doesn’t record it. That’s fine. That happens.
We can’t argue necessarily from silence. But here’s the thing.
Immediately after this story, we find Jesus using words to raise a dead man. Okay? That’s Luke 7:11-17. A little later, He uses words to heal a demoniac. That’s chapter 8.
And to raise a young girl from the dead. And then again in chapter 8, the woman with the discharge of blood, she comes up to Him, she grabs His garment, power goes out from Him, He doesn’t say anything, but she’s healed. So Luke knows when Jesus uses words to heal and doesn’t use words to heal. He knows that. In this case, he fails to mention, or intentionally does not mention, because he didn’t say it, that Jesus said any words.
So I am led to believe that Jesus didn’t say anything, that He healed this servant with a mere thought. Now, why is that significant? It’s significant because Jesus’s power is even greater than the centurion’s faith. It’s amazing. You wanna see power, Jesus says?
I don’t even need to say anything and your servant will be healed. That’s power. But how does— let’s go back now to verse 9. Now that we’ve seen the end of the story, let’s go back to verse 9, because there’s something significant here as well. Verse 9, when Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.
This word marvel, it’s an interesting word. It means amazed, surprised, astonished. Jesus is astonished that a Gentile, who had no access to Israel’s religious life, did not grow up in terms of, did not grow up in Israel’s religious life, did not have the Scriptures as a part of his daily upbringing, He did not have access to the one true God through his word, or at least did not grow up in that. Now that Rome is occupying Israel, he does have some sort of access, but he didn’t grow up with that. How could it be that a man who is not a member of God’s chosen people could be believing in the Messiah when God’s chosen people are not believing in the Messiah?
When God’s covenant people have missed it? And Jesus marvels at this. Now, some of us might read this and have struggled with it, be like, wait a second, to marvel at something kind of implies that you’re not fully aware of all that’s going on, or you can’t put all the pieces together. Why is Jesus marveling, right? Maybe you struggled at that word.
For example, I marvel at skyscrapers. I look at a skyscraper and I just wonder how on earth could that even I don’t know. You have to drill down and build up. All the work that is required, I have no idea how those things can be built. And you could sit me down and explain to me all the steps that happen, I’d be like, they might as well be built by leprechauns.
I don’t know how that happens. I marvel at skyscrapers because I don’t understand how it could be. Is that what’s happening with Jesus? Is Jesus not fully aware of all that’s happening? Didn’t he know as God that the centurion would have faith and his chosen people wouldn’t?
Well, we have to keep in mind that Jesus is both God and man, perfect God and perfect man. From a human perspective, Jesus could wonder at the faith of a man whose faith surpasses those who should be believing in him and in their Messiah. He is demonstrating sinless humanity in providing a response that corresponds perfectly with the situation, namely, being amazed. From a human perspective, this is amazing. It should make anyone who knows the history of Israel and all the spiritual privileges that they had and that they enjoyed marvel when they see a Gentile expressing faith in the Messiah.
And not just faith, but faith that believes that he is the Creator who has authority over all creation. That actually— the response that Jesus had was actually the perfect human response in the face of such faith. So there’s nothing deficient here in Jesus at all. God had set up everything for the Jews so that they would embrace their Messiah. He had given them detailed prophecies.
He had given them a sacrificial system. He had given them pictures embedded in their religious and civic life. They, of anybody, should have known that Jesus was their Messiah. Well, they rejected Him, especially in Capernaum. Remember how I said?
That the denunciation of Capernaum would come back to be significant in the story. Israel had rejected their Messiah, specifically in the place where he had done the most miracles, and here’s a Gentile, not a Jew, who now believes that Jesus has the power to heal his servant with a mere word. So Jesus marvels. It makes sense. But now let’s look at the lesson.
This is the next part in your outline. Let’s look at the lesson now from this passage. What is the lesson? The lesson is that a great Savior creates great faith. ‘Cause I gotta be honest with you, just to kinda let you behind the curtain a little bit in my own life.
In the past, I have struggled with passages in the New Testament where Jesus commends the faith of other people. I just, they’ve always hit me, I’m just like, ugh, I know it’s supposed to be encouraging, it’s not to me. Why? Well, because often I find my faith is so weak and frail, And here Jesus is commending the faith of others. Like, for example, Luke 8:48, a situation I just recently mentioned, the woman with the hemorrhage.
Jesus says this to her, daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Luke 17:19, referring to the lepers that he had healed, when one comes back, he says to the man, rise, go your way. Your faith has made you well. Luke 18:42, when he heals a blind beggar, Jesus said, recover your sight, your faith has made you well.
And then in Matthew 15:28, here it is, this one has been challenging for me. Then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith, be it done for you as you desire. And her daughter was healed instantly. These have been challenging passages for me to wrap my head around, because I read them and I think, well, My faith is weak, how do I have, how would I ever get great faith? I need to kinda get with the program here, I need to stir up some faith or something.
I don’t feel like I have great faith. What’s going on? But this is the lesson. The lesson is not the call to stir up faith somehow in myself. The lesson is that it’s the Savior who creates the faith, it’s the great Savior who creates the great faith.
Let’s go back to what the centurion said about Jesus.
What does he say? First, he says that he is not worthy of Christ. I’m not worthy for you to come under my roof. So at the bottom of the centurion’s faith is a humility that lowers himself before the Lord Jesus. You see that?
How was he able to see Jesus’ power and authority so clearly? It’s because he had humbled himself before Christ.
Only a person who recognizes their unworthiness before the Lord and who is willing to cast aside the desire for human approval and human praise can see Jesus clearly. And Jesus makes this abundantly clear in John 5:44. Jesus asks this rhetorical question. He says, how can you— He’s talking to the Jews, the Jewish leaders who were rejecting him, who were not believing him, and he says, how can you believe when you seek the glory that comes from man and you don’t seek the glory that comes from God? How can you believe?
It’s a rhetorical question because the answer is, I— you can’t. When you are commending yourself as worthy before God or before others, then faith in Jesus becomes impossible.
The centurion had social capital, didn’t he? He was a Roman officer stationed in a thriving Jewish city. He had relational capital. He was friends with the Jews, and he had shown them great kindness. He was respected, and he was admired.
He was the leader of men. A movie should have been made after him. I mean, this guy’s a man of men. He could approach Jesus, and like the elders, he could have grounded his request in his social clout. In his military prowess, in his wealth.
He could say, Jesus, I’ll make it worth your while, right? He had all of that available to him, which is why it’s so remarkable that he says, I am not worthy. Out of everyone you could find, he was the most worthy. It’s not how he viewed himself, which is precisely why he was able to believe and to see Jesus for whom he really was. Interestingly, he even contradicts the elders of the Jews, their request.
They had grounded their request in his worthiness, and he actually contradicts that. And you might be thinking, boy, if those elders heard about that, they might be wondering, come on, man, like, we’re just trying to help you out here, and now you’re contradicting our message? He didn’t care. He didn’t care. He was humbling himself before the Lord, and because of that humility, he was able to see the authority and power of Christ.
The centurion saw in Jesus, not magical power, but authority over the creation where he just speaks a word and his servant can be healed. See, it’s not about self-producing faith in your own heart. That’s the lesson I had to learn. It’s not about thinking, oh, I need to have great faith. What do I do to make that happen?
Even in Luke, he makes it clear that you can’t do that anyways. That’s good news.
In Luke 22:32, Jesus reminds Peter, I’m gonna— Satan has demanded to have you, has requested to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed that your faith may not fail. And guess what? Peter’s faith did not fail. Why? Because it wasn’t ultimately dependent upon Peter, but upon Jesus praying for Peter.
And then later in Luke 24, you find out that the disciples were able to understand the Scriptures. Why? Because Jesus opened their minds and their eyes to understand So Luke knows that faith isn’t somehow created in me. What is it created? It’s created by beholding Jesus Christ.
Faith sees. Faith beholds. Faith beholds the person of Christ in His fullness. That’s why today’s title of the message is A Great Savior Creates Great Faith. The centurion wasn’t just someone who’s a naturally trusting person.
He wasn’t someone who just was naturally more religious than other people. His faith wasn’t remarkable because he produced it. It was remarkable because he saw Jesus for who he really was, and no one else was able to see it, especially those who should have been able to see it. Why? Well, another title to this message could have been The Tale of Two Religions.
The Tale of Two Religions. Because what you see in Luke chapter 7 is the distinction between the religion of the Jews, which would say, We are worthy, God, for you to save us. And the religion of the humble centurion says, I’m not worthy, God, save me.
One religion will save you, the other will not. Weak faith, then, is not bolstered by pumping ourselves up or trying harder. Faith is strengthened when we humble ourselves before the Lord so that we can see Jesus more clearly, then filling our minds and hearts with a biblical vision of the true Christ. He is the Creator of the universe. He is the sustainer of all creation.
He is the compassionate Savior who will not snuff out a smoldering wick. He is the King of Kings. He is the resurrected God-Man. He is fully God, fully human. He is the one who can heal without a word.
He is the sufficient sacrifice. He is your High Priest. He is the one who intercedes with God on your behalf. He is your Advocate. He is the one who loved you and gave Himself up for you.
Who is to be exalted in this story? It’s not the centurion. Christ is to be exalted in this story.
There’s an implicit warning here, though, isn’t there? The warning is that we ourselves don’t get into a pattern of commending ourselves to the Lord’s help based on our own worthiness.
And we already saw that that can’t work based on John 5:44. How does How does Scripture instruct us to ask for God’s help? Like this, Psalm 25:11, for your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great. Isn’t that interesting? Great faith comes from recognizing that your guilt is great so that you see Jesus, Jesus’ greatness, and what he’s done on your behalf.
Psalm 51, have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. That’s how David appeals to God for help.
See, when we humble ourselves before the Lord, faith becomes possible. But if we continue to commend our worthiness, faith becomes impossible. So the implicit call of this passage is today to bow in humility before the Lord Jesus. And this is for every person here. If this is your first time hearing any of this, this message is for you.
Jesus is the God-man, and he has come to earth to die for us. To die in the place of sinners. But first and foremost, you have to see yourself as a sinner, which means you have to see yourself as unworthy. But when you do that, then you’re able to see the greatness of Jesus. But it’s also a call for us as well, all of us here.
If you’re a believer today, it’s also a call to continue to humble ourselves before the Lord, to not commend ourselves to the Lord’s help on the basis of our worthiness. Christ has fulfilled all God’s righteous requirements in our place. Christ has done that. He has died for our sins in our place. He has risen to life in our place.
He has done all of that precisely because we are unworthy. And here’s, here’s the beautiful, wonderful good news of the gospel. Because of Christ, he accepts you even though, despite of the fact You are unworthy. To the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies, who? The ungodly, to him it is counted as righteousness.
That is the beauty and the goodness of Christ and the Gospel, that He accepts unworthy sinners, and He makes them His children.
You don’t stand right with God right now based on your works, or your performance, or even what you’ve done today. Or haven’t done today, but because of what Christ has done and who He is. And we see that clearly when we humble ourselves before Him, confess our sin, confess our unworthiness, and God opens the eyes to behold a wonderful, loving, good Christ, the Christ that we sung about already this morning. So this message is for all of us. It’s a reminder that faith cannot grow and flourish in a soil that is infested with pride, in a soil that, heart soil that is commending ourselves and our worthiness, but rather one that goes to Christ humbled, recognizing our own sin, requesting and pleading for his pardon, and then believing in all that he has done and all he has accomplished on our behalf.
And when that happens, we will begin to see Christ working in remarkable, powerful ways. And you know what might happen? Our faith will grow. See, that’s one of the precious things about the Christian life, is that preaching is so important. Why?
Because there’s nothing you need to do. You just sit and you hear about the goodness of Christ. You listen, you hear, you behold. That’s what faith does. And that is how faith is strengthened.
So let me pray for us. Let me ask the Lord to bless this study, and then we’ll continue on to communion. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this wonderful story of the centurion, but it’s not even a story about him. It’s about the Lord Jesus, his power, his willingness to help sinners, His willingness to help those who see themselves as unworthy.
It’s not bad news, it’s good news, and it’s when we are seeing ourselves as unworthy that Christ comes along and He lifts our head. He crowns us with righteousness. He brings us into His family. What a wonderful truth. We thank You for these good things and this story that Luke has given us, in Jesus’ name, amen.
