Sermon Series - Luke 7:1-17 - Take the Chance!

Jesus heals a widow's son and a centurion's servant - faith is behind it all.  The centurion seeks Jesus out as word of Jesus and his teachings and miracles spread. 

The centurion, this loyal solider of Rome, seeks out Jesus, and his life is never the same again - he took the chance on Jesus.

You too can have your life changed - you too can take the chance.  

Seek Jesus out and be amazed!

Transcript

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We are back in our sermon series today, but not in our standard sermon series, Genesis. I'm getting I'm pretty psyched here today because uh I've never had this happen to me before. So I I preached in my church on Luke chapter six, which I shared in the podcast, and then Easter hit. And then this Sunday, the following Sunday, I'll be preaching on the next section in the Bible in chapter seven. So the end of chapter six, now the beginning of chapter seven. I've never had that happen before, so I'm I'm pretty jacked, and I just wanted to share that intel with you. So let's kick it off. Uh we're gonna get going, but just a quick recap here in Luke chapter six. The last time we talked in the sermon series, we learned or we were reminded of a few things, right? We were told not to judge lest we be judged, not to condemn, ditto, to forgive and to forgive on a grandiose scale, right? Mega forgive. To give mercy and love generously, to follow Jesus and emulate him, and then an action in the kingdom is disobedience. Alright, so some of you might be thinking right now, blast. I forgot about that already. Can you just rewind the tape for me and let me rehear that again? Yes, sure. Let's pop in the old VHS and take it back as far as you need to. Alright, let's get back now into the new section here, Luke chapter seven, verses one through seventeen today. Starting out with verse one, here we go. Now after he had finished all his sayings, meaning Jesus, 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 built us our synagogue. And Jesus went with them. 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 marvelled at him, and turning to the crowd that 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. eleven. Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain and his disciples, and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. And when the Lord saw her he had compassion on her and said to her, Do not weep. Then he came and touched the beer, and the bearers stood still. And he said, Young man, I say to you arise, and the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, A great prophet is risen among us, and God has visited his people. And this report about him spread throughout the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country. You know, in the midst of sickness and death Jesus' ministry occurs. Reminded of Mark chapter two, verse seventeen. When Jesus heard it, he said to them, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Now, of course, in context, he's talking to people who aren't necessarily ill physically, but this is Jesus' ministry to come for those who are sick. Luke's writing demonstrates that because of Jesus' actions and miracles discussed today, this shows Jesus as the Messiah and thus brings authority to his teachings and a belief in his authority. So we're going to look at the second part of today's message first. Jesus and company leaves Comperdum and head southwest about twenty-five miles to Nain, where they come upon a large funeral procession. And by the way, I stated where they came upon, but Jesus never really just happened to come upon anything. Everything Jesus did had a purpose. Everything. This widow is now all alone, no male relative around to take care of her, seemingly unprotected, and potentially without any financial support. Helping widows is sown throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. You know, the Bible states over forty times to take care of widows directly and to ensure that they are not mistreated, and approximately 80 times indirectly, especially in the Mosaic Covenant in the book of Deuteronomy. And because of this, Jesus had compassion on her, tells her not to weep. Those in attendance must have had faith. Because the story reads that when Jesus touched the coffin, the pallbearer stood still, almost like, dude, stop and let Jesus do his thing. The dead man now sits up and starts talking. You know, if I was one of those carrying the coffin and the dude popped up and started talking, I'd be afraid that I would drop the coffin out of shock and amazement. You know, when I was a teenager, probably my early teens, uh, there was a cousin of mine in an extended portion of the family who was in his early twenties. He was engaged and he was working a couple of different jobs to save up for the wedding, and he fell asleep at night on his way to his second job and crashed and was killed. And as I was attending the wake, I had uh his dad come up to me and ask me if I would be willing to be a pallbearer. And I was nervous as I'll I'll get out being, you know, an early teen, and and I said, Yes, I would. And he said, Thank you. And I turned around to my dad and I just said, Dad. What if I d what do I do if I trip? And my dad looked at me right in the eyes and simply said, Don't. And I was like, really? That's the advice? Just don't. But I guess sometimes truth is simple. Yet here we see living proof. Right there, a miracle happened. And then fear seized the crowd, and some stated that God has visited his people. Jesus' fame and miracles spread across the countryside like wildfire. In other words, Jesus was trending. Now, Jesus' sermon that we just discussed in chapter six, and that he left to go to Capernaum from, you know, that took place in the back 40, right? That was, you got the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River goes down, and then it goes into the Dead Sea for those who are geographically challenged. And the Sermon on the Mount took place on the mountainside north of the Sea of Galilee. Now Jesus now comes into Capernaum on the north side of the Sea of Galilee. Now the Roman army, in the Roman army, a centurion was a commander of 100 soldiers. Make no mistake, this guy was in charge. But these people come. The elders of the church, the people pleaded with Jesus. They really cared about this guy. Jewish leaders pleaded for this Roman soldier. They were pleading for a guy that is part of the government ruling over them, right? It's like watching a sports event and wanting your team to do well and win, but also really liking someone on the other team. You know, several years ago, uh, you know, I was a big fan of Cal Ripkin when he played uh the Iron Man of Baseball. And when he announced his retirement, I was like, oh man, I would love to see him play once, you know, in real real life. And so my family and I, we traveled down to Kansas City to see a Royals game. Now, Cal Ripkin played, I can't remember, two, three, maybe four games uh in a series against Kansas City. And so we get up there, and as you're walking in, you know, the place was crowded. It was his last game in Kansas City out of this stint. And as you're walking up, you're getting this giant baseball card with stats. I mean, it was like a full sheet of paper on a piece of card, but it was pretty thick. Uh, picture of him uh on the front and on the back was his full stats, right? And it was all for free. All for free. Now remember, I'm at the Kansas City Royals Stadium, and they're handing out giant baseball cards of a Baltimore Oriole. Then we get in there, and before the game starts, right before the teams take the field, they showed a highlight reel before the game. All of Cal Ripkin. And then his last at-bat, you can kind of sense it was going to be his last at bat. He hit a baseball to the warning track, and the crowd was like, ah, he didn't get the home run. The opposing team's fans wanted him to hit a home run in their stadium. Likewise, this general population wanted change politically, right? They wanted their oppressors overthrown and out. And people did not like Roman soldiers, but here the elders in the town are rooting for this guy. He was well liked and respected. The Bible states that this centurion loved the nation and built the synagogue like a good benefactor. Can you think of someone that you'd go to bat for? Is there a person who do you stick up for? Plea to Jesus for that was worthy? Look at all he did for us, God. Please help him. He's worthy to be helped because of his actions. He doesn't know you, but he's so worthy of this. What about yourself? Do you think someone would come to your aid and plead to the ultimate benefactor, Jesus? And say, Jesus, look at everything he has done. He loves his country. He loves this town. He loves this state. He supported the church with his tithes and offerings. Heck, he bought this quick trip in town. For all you Wisconsin folks out there. Now, this is not a work sermon. But remember last time in chapter six, in the last podcast, I said inaction in the kingdom is disobedience. What's going to be said about you at your funeral? Because it's coming one day. What will your actions be remembered for? How will the things that you have done affect future generations? Well, it could be in a couple of ways. Oh yeah, I remember that dude. He helped so many people. You could tell he took Jesus' teachings to heart, the way he walked, the way there was an aura about him. Or maybe it's the reverse. Maybe it really didn't make that much of an impact for the kingdom. And like a vapor, you came and went and will quickly be forgotten. How will your words that come off your tongue echo through eternity? Will they be remembered as kind, loving words, helpful to those who needed someone to talk to? Like, man, the way she talked, the way she listened and heard me, it was just like Jesus was talking to me, listening to me. I love sitting with her. Or is your sharp tone still making cuts into people's lives? This soldier, this centurion, he would have heard enough of the Jewish faith and have had some kind of understanding of it. I mean, if he was that loved by others, the Jewish elders, he would have had a good relationship with them and had plenty of conversations. So he potentially would have heard about the prophecies concerning Jesus. And he would have certainly heard about Jesus and what happens around him. Otherwise, why would he have sought Jesus out to heal his servant? And why did he send the Jewish elders? Well, perhaps he did not think that Jesus would listen to or take his request seriously because he was a Roman soldier. You know, if we look at Matthew's gospel, Matthew writes about this too. In Matthew chapter 8, verses 5 through 13, which I'll read now, similar story, very similar, but you'll hear some differences here. So let's start this, right? Matthew eight, verse five. When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly. And he said to him, I will come and heal him. But the centurion replied, Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, My servant will be healed. For I too am a man 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 this, he marvelled and said to those who followed him, Truly I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Into the centurion Jesus said, Go, let it be done for you as you have believed. And the servant was healed at that very moment. So if you look at Matthew's gospel, right, Matthew records the same event. However, he does not record the sending of the messengers. The account is presented as if the centurion came himself. But be clear here that there is no discrepancy. Matthew was reflecting on how the centurion has authority, and others would do what he tells them to do and to go where he tells them to go. And the centurion realizes that he himself is not worthy to see Jesus. So he sends servants. Now this man was not of the Jewish faith. He had no real reason to learn about Jesus. After all, he was in charge of an area and so many people, he was pretty busy, I would imagine. Yet something in his heart was missing, and something in him must have been yearning for something more. For someone more. Yes, I'm going. What he did, how he lived, and most importantly, who he is and what he accomplished. We just celebrated that in Easter a week ago. How are you reacting to all that? Well, there's a bunch of ways you can, right? Oh, um, well, I wonder what's on the TV tonight. Maybe I should have grabbed some more snacks in the cupboard before coming back to the TV. Or maybe, you know, you do go to church, but uh you're more like this. Well boy, I can't wait for my small group where we talk more about Jesus and what we should be doing. But you really never do any of it or change. There are people all around us in our communities that are on a fast track to hell. I was fairly surprised the Monday after Easter and how the talk was. And I could hear overhear people, you know, all over the place talking about what kind of food they ate, how much they drank. I only heard like one person throughout the day talk about what they did after church. Our culture has dumbed down the most important day in the history of the world. Besides dumbing down like holidays, people not focusing on worship before. I also love how we convoluted prayer. I mean, we no longer just get prayer requests. We also are asked to send good vibes and good thoughts to people now. I mean, for crying out loud, what does that even mean? I love good vibes all day long, baby. But it does me no good when it comes to my prayer life. And how about good thoughts? I'll tell you what, I have great thoughts. I got great thoughts about cheeseburgers all the time, but it does jack for my faith. We have to stop this madness of living without God and hit the reset button in our culture. Now I want to make something abundantly clear. The centurion is a key figure in this story, yes. But he is by no means the central figure. Jesus is. The centurion knows Jesus is different. There is something about him. That's why he says he's not worthy to have you come under my roof. Now I don't know if you could technically call the centurion a believer before he met Jesus. But I firmly believe that through the research that he did, the stories he must have been told, he would have been called one after Jesus healed his servant for sure. The centurion who had people under him and under his authority has now, I believe, put himself under Jesus' authority. I don't have proof on this, but how could he not? What did he know? Did he put the puzzle pieces together? Have you? Do you know how different Jesus is from any other person that walked the earth? Like, to begin with, Jesus turned water into wine, right? He helped the disciples make this humongous fish haul that would have made Wisconsin Supper Clubs envious on a Friday night. He healed the sick, this servant of the centurion being just one of many. He raised the dead to life, this widow's son, his own friend Lazarus, and others. He made blind men see, the mute talk. He healed lepers. He healed the paralytic that came through the roof. He healed a man's withered hand on the Sabbath. He calmed the storm, he walked on water, he fed the five thousand plus, he cast out demons into pigs, and he healed a woman just by her touching the hem of his cloak for crying out loud. And the Bible reads in John chapter 21, verses 25. Now there are also many other things that Jesus did, were every one of them to be written. I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Do you understand who this man is? He is Lord of Lords, King of Kings, the great I Am, the Prince of Peace, the Alpha and Omega, the Redeemer and a Friend. The centurion took the chance to reach out to Jesus, and his life was never the same again. Take the chance. In the book of John, the Gospel of John, chapter 3 says. sixteen and seventeen reads this for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. And then we get to Romans chapter ten verses nine through ten. This is TNT baby ten nine ten the dynamite in your life will explode for the Lord. Here's the verse Chapter ten verse nine because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Kaboomski Folks the only way to heaven to be with God in eternity is through believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. You just heard it in Romans ten nine ten He is the way the only way take the chance on him thanks for listening. Godspeed and bear your shield