How to Impress Jesus. (Luke 7:1-10)
Have you ever wanted to impress somebody. I suspect all of us at some point in our lives we wanted to do that. Young men want to impress young women maybe so they can get a date. Young girls want to impress young men for the same reason. A potential employee wants to impress the interviewer so that he can get a job.
More importantly perhaps is what do you have to do to impress somebody. Now the difference between being an ordinary person and being a spiritual person is that the one you want to impress is the Lord. So, let me ask a very simple question today do you know what you are meant to do to impress Lord?
Well, there's a story tucked away in Luke Chapter 7 but I think gives us at least a partial answer to that question, granted maybe some other things are involved as well as this but what is mentioned here is involved for sure when it comes to impressing the Lord.
The Faith of the Centurion.
1 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6 So Jesus went with them.
He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
(Luke 7: 1-10)
This is a rather simple story but some of the details are particularly interesting so let's just start at the beginning and let's just walk through the story.
1: When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. 2: There was a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3: The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4: When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5: because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6: So, Jesus went with them.
(Luke 7: 1-6a)
Verse, one says, "When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people." That's obviously a reference to the latter part of the previous chapter, where we have Lukes’s version of the Sermon on the Mount. In any case, it says, "And when he finished doing that, he entered Capernaum.
Perhaps you've heard me say this before, but you need to take note. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. He was said to be from Nazareth; however, once he started his ministry, he was kicked out of Nazareth, and he went to Capernaum, and Capernaum became his headquarters.
If you trace the life and ministry of Christ after that, you will discover that he repeatedly goes back to Capernaum. So, it could be called, in essence, his headquarters. Peter lived there, and perhaps that's why he made his headquarters in there. At any rate, he entered Capernaum.
Verse two then tells us, "that a centurion's servant who was dear to him was sick and ready to die. And when he heard about Jesus, so he sent elders of the local Jews to Jesus to get them to plead with him to come and heal his servant."
At this point, I'd like to just do a quick character sketch of this centurion. There are all kinds of details in the story that give us an interesting picture of what this guy was really like. I want to point some of them out to you for a minute. For example, look at verse 9. It says, "When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled, turning around, he says to the crowd, “I have not found such faith even in Israel.” Now, the reason he said that is because the centurion was a Roman; he was a Gentile. So, that's the first characteristic I want to mention about this centurion: he was a Gentile.
Why is that significant? Well, the Jews despised the Gentiles, and the Gentiles hated the Jews. Antisemitism is not a new thing. The Romans called the Jews a filthy race. They spoke of Judaism as a barbarian superstition. They spoke of the Jews' hatred of mankind. Also some gentiles, weary of the many gods and loose morals of paganism, had accepted the Jewish doctrine of the one God and even the Jewish ethics.
But the whole atmosphere of the story here implies an unusual close bond of friendship between the centurion and the local Jews. So here is a Gentile that's a close friend of the Jews. That’s the first thing we need to note.
The second is that he's a centurion. The text says that in verse two, and the rest of the story is basically about the centurion. Now, what is a centurion? To understand that you need to know that the Roman army had a legion, and it was divided into cohorts, and those legions at the time of Christ consisted of around 6,000 men. The legion was divided into cohorts which in turn were divided into groups of 100 men, and a centurion commanded each of those groups of 100 men.
So, to say it he was a centurion meant in the military, and he had a hundred men under him. Someone has said, "Centurions were the cement which held the army together. They were the backbone, the finest men in the Roman army." So, here is a Gentile, a military man, and he is in charge of 100 men, hence his title, centurion.
The third thing we can say about him is that he was a man of character."
Men of fortitude and character were required for this job. Interestingly all the centurions mentioned in the New Testament and there are always men of character. One author says that one historian a Roman historian describes their qualifications they must not be so much seekers after danger as men who can command, remain steady in the face of action and remain reliable. They ought not to be overanxious to rush into the fight but when necessary they must be ready to hold their ground.
So here's a man, a man of character. He was also obviously wealthy; look at verse five, "for he loves our nation and has built us a synagogue.
Of all the things you could say about him, you would have to add that he was a man of compassion. In fact, that's the point of verse two, For it tells us he had a servant who was dear to him was sick and ready to die." The centurion sends to get Jesus to come and heal him. That tells us that he was a man of compassion. It tells us this slave was dear to him, and when the guy was sick gravely ill and he took these extraordinary steps to try and help.
One commentator says, "In Roman law, a slave was defined as a living tool. He had no rights. A master could deal with him, treat him, and even kill him if he chose. Normally, when a slave was past the point of being able to work, he was thrown out to die. So, this indicates that he was a man of compassion."
The next thing I would say about this man is that he was humble. As a matter of fact, he knew quite well that the strict Jews were forbidden to enter the house of a Gentile. So, when the Lord came, he said, "No, you don't have to come into the house." So, there are a whole lot of other things in this passage say to me that he was a man of humility.
One more characteristic of this man, and that is, he was pious because he helped build the synagogue. Some have concluded that he may even have been a convert to Judaism. Not all agree with that; some say he might have built the synagogue for political reasons. But given everything in this passage, I'd say that probably he was a Gentile God-fearer, if not possibly a proselyte, and was probably at least a pious man.
So, he sends somebody to the Lord to hear his requirements. Verse three says, he sent the elders of the Jews to him, pleading with him to come and heal his servant."
Now, let's put this story in its political context. He's the Roman with some authority over this city; he built the synagogue, and so he probably figures, he going to have some influence with the religious elders." He has heard of this religious figure who apparently can heal people, so let's get the religious people to invite him to come and do that here.
So they come to Jesus, they requested he does that, saying that the one to whom he should go deserved his attention., I wish to underline that point. That's interesting, because of what comes up next, because they say he deserves it, and they give two reasons for that.
First, he loves our nation. I've already pointed out that in itself is already unusual. The elders are saying to Jesus, who is a Jew, "Look, you ought to come help this guy because, well, he loves Jewish people. So, let's go help this Gentile who loves Jews."
The second reason is, "because he built the synagogue. So they say, he loves us, and he put his money where his mouth is, so we have got to help him back. This guy's got money; he's got a position, so let’s return the favour.
So, that's the request. Now, what we're going to get is the reaction. Look at verse six.
6b: He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7: That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8: For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
(Luke 7: 6b-8)
That’s interesting? We have in verse four the elders saying, "He’s deserving." Now, we have in verse six, his own opinion of himself, and that is, "I'm not worthy of this. I'm not worthy that you should enter under my roof."
I think that this shows he also knew the Jews normally didn't eat with Gentiles. Remember that. So, he is respecting the Jewish custom. The point is he just showed his humility and said, I'm not worthy that you should dinner under my roof, just say the word and my servant will be healed.
Look carefully at verse 8. He could have said, "Hey, I'm a centurion, and I tell them what to do, and then people have got to it. I've got great authority. Just do it, just do it." But that's not what he says. He says, "For I am a man placed under authority." So, he recognizes that he was under authority before he said anything about being over other people. Again, I think the story is underscoring again and again that here is a very humble man.
So, I just thought it was kind of interesting that other people come and say, "He's deserving. He built the synagogue, he's worthy." And he says of himself, "I'm not worthy that you should even come into my house."
So, here's Jesus' response in verse 9,
9: When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” 10: Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.
(Luke 7: 9-10)
Now, there's a little bit of a problem with that verse 9. It says that he marvelled, and the implication is that he was surprised. I mean, why would he be surprised? He's God, right? He knows everything, so why is he surprised. How do you explain that?
But I want you to notice he marvelled at two things. He marvelled at the unbelief in Israel. He said, "I haven't found such faith in all of Israel." Now, you know the treatment he got from the Jews very well, and you know very well that they didn't get what he meant. Mark 6:6 says he marvelled because of their unbelief. Then he went about the villages in a circuit, teaching. That verse is saying Jesus marvelled at the Jewish unbelief. Well, if he marvelled at the Jewish unbelief, he also marvelled at the Gentile belief, and that's the point of this.
“I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel." And those who were sent returned to the house and found the servant well who had been sick. Notice he didn't say healed; he said well. He was not just healed; he was in good health.
So here's my question: What is the point of the story? Jesus was obviously impressed with this Gentile. So, what impressed him? Well, real simple, Jesus said, "I have not found such great faith."
I said at the beginning it's a very simple story, and the simple point of the simple story is Jesus was impressed with the Gentile's faith and the Jewish unbelief.
Now, the reason I want to put that in the context of this man's life, this centurion had a number of very commendable qualities. I've mentioned he was a man of character, integrity, fortitude. He was a man of compassion; he was humble; he was pious. Of all the commendable qualities he had, the one that impressed Jesus the most was his faith.
Roman soldiers were trained to be self-sufficient. So, here is this self-sufficient man who is willing to have faith in Jesus Christ.
Now, I think you could make a case out of the fact that what impressed him up until verse 9 is his humility. The whole thing about "I'm not worthy" . But we know he was a man of position; he was wealthy. So, I think, and if they had not had verse 9, I would have said, "What impressed me about this guy was his humility." And that's my point today. What impresses Jesus? Faith. But what does it take to have faith? Humility. One is connected to the other.
If you are proud, you are not going to trust the Lord? When we don't believe what God says, that's the problem? Yeah. So, what we really need is a dose of humility. We just need to be able to say, "Lord, I'm not worthy, but I believe you can do it."
In a desperate is your situation you try to solve it all by yourself, or you look and say, "I can do this. On my own. Of course, you need some of that. This man had all those characteristics; he was a Roman soldier, however, what Jesus is impressed with is somebody who has all those traits and yet says, "I'm unworthy, so I'm going to trust you in this situation which is beyond me, and I recognize that." So, if you want to impress the Lord, what you need is a little humility.
Now, we talk about faith for a second. So we need some humility, but the real point is we also need faith. I think that we need to talk for a moment about the different levels of faith.
In Mark chapter 4, it talks about people who had no faith, that were amazed. We all know people who had no faith. In chapter 14, it talks about people who had a little faith. Jesus talked about, you know, just the faith of a mustard seed. Do you know how small a mustard seed is? Mustard seeds poured into your palm it like sprinkling a pepper shaker. That's how small those little mustard seeds are.
So, Jesus said some people have a little faith, some have none, and some have a little faith even as small as a mustard seed.
Now, with that in mind, I want you to look at Luke Chapter 7, verse 9. Luke Chapter 7, verse 9 says, "I say to you, I have not found such great faith." This man had great faith.
So, let me ask you a question. Do you have no faith, a little bit, or great faith? Those are the possibilities. Now, I think most of us would look at our faith and say, "No, we could do with a little more," right?
Could you do with a little more faith? Alright, let's turn to Luke Chapter 17, verse 5. And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." As your homework assignment, that's what you take home tonight. "Lord, I need more faith. Give me more faith." Somebody is coming in the story by saying that the centurion frankly reveals the two indispensable requirements for receiving real blessings.
He was deeply humble and had a wholehearted faith in Christ.
Today, this is still the way to receive divine blessing. We must realize our own utter worthlessness and, at the same time, cherish a steadfast faith in Christ, our Lord. Repeat that. We must realize our own utter worthlessness and, at the same time, cherish a steadfast faith in the Lord.
The apostle Paul, let me tell you what he said about himself. In 57 AD, he said, "I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God." That's in 57 AD, and he considers himself the least of the apostles. A few years later, in 61 AD, he said, "To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." Then later, in 62 AD, he wrote this as a paper saying, "And worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief."
He starts out as the least of the apostles, then he drops down to the least of the saints, then he drops down to being the chief of sinners.
So what's your attitude towards yourself I know people who have an inflated opinion of themselves and sometimes somebody needs to put a pin in their balloon. We all need to be deflated from time to time. Were the least of the Saints and the cheif of sinners and yet Paul was a man of great faith facing death he wrote to his son in the faith Timothy saying, “I have fought a good fight I have finished the course I have kept the faith finally there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge will give to me on that day”.
Of all the things you could say about the apostle Paul right at the top of the list was that he was a humble man of faith that's what impresses God.