Luke 7

Chapter 7, which is on page 863.

And really what I want us to see is the surprise in the chapter.

I wonder if they've ever been surprised coming to church.

! I was talking to a man this week who said that he, I was working in the city in London.

He was a Hindu, a practicing Hindu.

He saw a crowd of people going into church.

He went into church about lunchtime.

He was there for 20 minutes.

He heard somebody preach about the Lord Jesus Christ.

He walked in a Hindu.

And to his own surprise, and certainly his family's surprise,

he walked out a Christian and a believer and a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are times there, even when you've read the Bible as long as I have,

you are greatly surprised.

Maybe there's a surprising claim or something in the Bible

that you stop and you see the surprise of it.

So in Luke's Gospel, it's also familiar, isn't it?

At Christmas time with the nativity scene, you have the shepherds.

But it is surprising, isn't it?

That the lowly, uneducated, poor, irreligious shepherds,

they are the ones that are chosen to be the kind of first tellers of God made man, the incarnation.

It's surprising, isn't it?

At the beginning of Jesus' mind, he isn't worshipped by the scripture-saturated, church-flowing scribes.

The people who know their Bible.

Or any of the expected Jews in Jerusalem.

But instead, he's worshipped by Gentile Magi.

Milton called them star-led wizards.

Who came from hundreds of miles to see him.

Both of those things are surprising.

They're not what you'd expect.

And as you stop and think about them, they are wonderfully surprising.

And they make you love the Bible more.

They make you love the God of the Bible more.

So that's the first place we see surprise.

This kind of stop shock.

But the second one I want to talk about is, well really, let's see the surprise in the passage.

It's a familiar story, it looks like.

The centurion, this man in charge of a hundred soldiers.

And I want to show you what is so thrilling about it.

If you can look at verse 9.

First line is the little letters.

The chapters are the big numbers.

So verse 9, when Jesus heard these things, on page 863, he marveled at him.

He marveled at him.

He was amazed.

To put it another way, Jesus was taken aback.

Jesus was filled with astonishment.

Jesus was shocked.

Or even quite simply, Jesus was surprised.

That's what it means.

By what he just heard.

Now what surprises Jesus?

Have you thought about that?

What surprises Jesus?

It's one of the only places in the Gospels where Jesus is taken aback.

Where he is surprised by what happens.

And the answer is faith.

Faith like this faith surprises him.

But in verse 9 again.

He marveled at him.

Turned to the crowd that followed him.

He said, I tell you, not even Israel have I found such faith.

Now let me ask you another question.

What's so amazing?

What is so astonishing?

What is so surprising to Jesus about this man's faith?

Well, there's a few things that could be surprising.

First of all, was it that he was a Roman soldier?

To put it differently.

This man is a Gentile.

He's somebody who's not a Jew.

And worse than that, from a Jewish perspective, he's a Roman.

Much worse, from a Jewish zealous perspective, he's a Roman centurion.

He symbolises all of Rome's authority.

He has a hundred soldiers in his charge.

And this man in the ancient world is a powerful man.

He's wearing the wrong uniform for the Jews.

He's on the wrong eye of the religious schemeer.

He was a Roman enemy officer.

And is that what surprises Jesus?

That a man like this has faith?

Well, perhaps.

But actually, I'm not sure about that.

I'm not sure Jesus was surprised that this Gentile had faith.

He'd already encountered Gentiles, non-Jews, who'd believed in him.

So he mentioned to me the Magi.

Those wizards that had come from hundreds of miles away to worship him.

Surely somebody would have told him that story when he was a boy.

I said, perhaps.

Because it wouldn't have surprised him that Gentiles, people who were non-Jews, had come to faith.

Because in his Bible, in the Old Testament, it's spoken about that all the time.

Hosea said, those who are not my people, I will call my people.

Those who are not my beloved, I will call beloved.

Isaiah, of course, he had his voice.

God spoke through Isaiah and said that Gentiles would bind themselves to the Lord.

And they would serve him and they would love him.

They would love the name of the Lord.

Isaiah spoke that God's house would be a house of prayer for all the nations.

Do you remember Simeon?

When Jesus was a little boy at the temple.

He said, now let your servant depart in peace according to your word.

For my eyes have seen your salvation.

My eyes have seen your salvation.

You've prepared in the sight of all the peoples.

A light of revelation to the Gentiles.

And glory to your people Israel.

In Jesus, non-Jews like you and me would find their salvation, their rescue.

And I think Jesus knew that.

So I don't think he was any more surprised that this centurion has come to faith.

Than the centurion we found in Acts chapter 10, certainly.

Acts 10 · chapter mention

Because the Holy Spirit was opening the eyes of the Gentiles.

Even mighty military men.

Okay then, what surprised Jesus?

Was it that this Roman soldier worked with the Jews to ask for Jesus for help?

Or perhaps?

Possibly isn't it?

It's surprising to me.

At least when I read verses 3 to 5.

The centurion adhered with Jesus.

And so he sent some of the elders of the Jews to him.

To ask Jesus to come and help his servants.

And when they come to Jesus, they plead earnestly with him.

They say, this man, this centurion, deserves you to have you do this.

Because this man loves our nation.

He's Roman, yes.

But he loves our nation.

And he helped us build the synagogue.

Now as you read the Gospels, you find that the Jews and the Romans working together

was unheard of for something good.

For something in favour of Jesus.

So as we read that, it should take us a back.

Are you telling me that the Roman centurion, that he called on the Jews,

those prominent social and religious leaders,

to see if they would go and see Jesus?

And see if he would come back and be his servant?

Are they friends?

So if you can go through the Gospels and all that,

they're not normally friends, are they?

Jews do not normally like Romans,

and Romans do not normally like Jews.

Well, it seems like they're friends here, isn't it?

And the reason they're friends is given to us in the passage.

Can you look at the end of verse 5?

This thing to me, he loves our nation,

and he's the one who built us our synagogue.

Or he helped build it.

He either funded it,

or he supplied people to help build it.

So either he's a God-fearing,

a God-fearing Gentile,

that is a convert to Judaism,

or at least he's somebody who's sympathetic,

of those he oversees,

of those whom he polices,

those he guards.

Well, maybe.

Maybe he's both.

Whatever it is, Jesus actually doesn't seem very surprised

by the Jews and the Gentiles working together.

So that's our question.

What takes Jesus aback?

Why is Jesus surprised?

Was it that the Roman soldier,

the Roman centurion,

wanted Jesus' help on behalf of his servant?

Look at verses 1 and 2.

After he'd finished all his sayings,

and that is the Sermon on the Plain,

the little sayings of Jesus,

like I love your enemies,

he entered Capernaum.

And now a centurion had a servant who was sick,

and at the point of death,

who was highly valued by him.

Isn't that an interesting phrase?

Highly valued.

How was he highly valued?

Ask that question.

In which sense?

The servant might have been highly valued,

in that he was useful.

A good servant is hard to find, I'm told.

Or he might be highly valued,

in that centurion loved him.

Like he loved one of his own children.

He probably valued him in both those ways.

He was a useful servant,

and he was also a servant who was more like a son to him.

Now what is potentially surprising,

is if we lived in the Greco-Roman world,

if we lived in the world that Jesus lived,

the average slave owner had very little time in regard for slaves.

He treated them like animals.

So in his book Ethics,

the philosopher Aristotle said,

there should be no friendship between inanimate things,

such as a horse or an ox,

or a slave.

Roman writers,

Zavira or Ketel,

said the only difference between a slave and a beast,

and a cart,

was that the slave talked.

Do you see the surprise?

Once he put it in his historical setting,

it is surprising, isn't it?

But this high-powered soldier,

this mighty soldier of the establishment,

cared about a lonely slave.

Let the slave die, acquire another one.

Or at the very least,

don't humiliate yourself in front of everyone,

by begging to this Jesus,

a man of little social consequence.

But even though the centurion

is asking for his servant to be healed,

I don't think that surprises Jesus at all.

If anyone

was a high-ranking person,

well, it is Jesus, isn't it?

God incarnate is as high as he can,

I'd argue.

And yet he cared for the poor

and the suffering people.

I don't think Jesus is surprised by this.

So what was it?

What was it that surprised Jesus

about this man's faith?

Was it that this powerful man

humbly trusted in Jesus' absolute authority?

Was it that this powerful man

trusted absolutely and humbly

in Jesus' authority?

And the answer is yes.

Yes.

Yes, what is so surprising

is that this powerful man

humbly trusted in Jesus,

not just a little bit,

but all of his absolute authority.

Every word that the Roman centurion

says in verses 6 to 9,

it's important.

You can have to line it.

You can star it.

You can mark it.

You can kiss it if you want.

Just listen to what he says in verse 6.

And Jesus went with them.

When he was not far from the house,

he said to him,

and said to him,

Lord, do not trouble yourself,

for I am not worthy to come,

for you to come under my roof.

Therefore I do not presume

to come to you,

but say the word,

and let my servant be healed,

for I too am a man under authority,

with soldiers under me.

Come and he comes,

and to my servant do this,

and he does it.

Notice four things, okay?

First notice that the centurion

sent friends to Jesus

to relay the message.

And so the centurion at this point

has never met him.

The centurion has never met Jesus.

He's only heard about him.

He hears about Jesus

earlier on in the passage,

and he responds in faith.

It is as if,

as Paul said later on in the New Testament,

faith comes by hearing.

Faith comes through hearing.

So do not underestimate

what we're doing this morning.

And what we do every Sunday,

what we're doing right now,

that I am preaching to you,

and Lord willing,

you are listening, hopefully.

And that is according to the Bible,

how faith gets into you.

Through your ears.

Ears, as you might say.

So open that.

The second thing to notice

is the first word he says.

Can you see what the first word is?

What's the first word he says?

What is the title he uses?

He uses the title Lord.

He calls Jesus Lord.

The Greek word for Lord is Kyrios.

And it's the same word that is found

in the Greek Saturagia,

the way that the Greeks

would translate the Old Testament.

Whenever they translated Lord God,

they translated it as Lord.

Now even if this Gentile

is speaking better than he knows,

either way,

that title is significant, isn't it?

It is symbolically significant.

Here is a centurion

who is officially under the lordship

of who?

Of Caesar.

To the Romans.

Caesar, not Jesus,

is called Kyrios,

called Lord.

And so this title for Jesus

in the Gospels,

well, it's the most common way

believers talk about him, isn't it?

How do believers talk about Jesus?

They call Jesus Lord.

Unbelievers have other titles.

They're respectful titles.

They call him Rabbi

or they call him Teacher.

In Luke 7 verse 40,

Luke 7:40

the Pharisee Simon calls Jesus Teacher.

Teacher is a tame title for Jesus.

But the Gospels teach you

that Jesus is more than a carpenter.

And he's more than a teacher.

He is, as the centurion put it,

he is Lord.

Third thing we notice

is that the centurion is humble,

isn't it?

After it, he says,

don't trouble yourself.

Do not trouble yourself,

for I am not worthy

for you to come

under my roof.

Just glance at verse 4.

What do the Jews say about him?

Can you notice this?

What's the word they use

in verse 4?

They say,

he is worthy.

He's worthy

to have you come

to do this for him.

This guy,

this Roman centurion,

he really deserves you

to do something for him,

Jesus.

But then glance

at verse 7.

At verse 6, I mean.

Lord, do not tell me yourself,

for I am not worthy.

The Jews say,

hey, this man is worthy,

so lend him your ears.

Do what he says,

he is servant.

But here the worthy man

says to himself,

I am not worthy.

I love it.

Jesus loves it too.

Jesus eats up humility.

God opposes the proud,

but he gives grace

for the humble.

Listen, it is surprising

that Jesus actually

starts to walk

towards this man.

And he's seemingly

very welcome to enter it,

isn't he?

Listen, I was a Gentile.

Jews do not knock

on Gentile doors,

and they certainly

don't cross the threshold

of the house,

because in the house

there might be,

well, there might not

be kosher foods.

They might not have

had a ceremony

of cleansing.

It's a dangerous thing

to do,

and yet Jesus,

he is willing to do it.

But more surprising

is that this military man

won't even let him do it

because of his own sinfulness.

He sees himself

as too unworthy

and too beneath Jesus.

And that is surprising,

isn't it?

Because in Luke chapter 9

Luke 9 · chapter mention

and verse 58,

Jesus will save himself.

I've got nowhere

to lay my head.

I've got no roof

over my head.

I've got no home

that I can call my own.

So you see,

what is so worthy

about Jesus,

what is so worthy

about this homeless Jew,

you see humility there,

don't you,

from the centurion.

A Gentile military leader

who commands

a large number of soldiers,

who is wealthy,

who earned a nice salary

as a Roman centurion,

who funds a major

building project

for the Jews

and the synagogue,

who very likely

as a household of slaves,

he thinks that Jesus

is so worthy

that it's unthinkable

that the Lord

should enter

into his house.

It's interesting,

it's amazing,

it's surprising.

So notice the hearing,

through hearing alone,

he has faith alone

in Christ alone.

Notice the word

that he calls Jesus,

he calls him Lord.

Notice the humility

and fourthly and finally,

notice that this powerful man

humbly trusted in Jesus,

absolute authority.

Listen again to verse 7 and 8.

Therefore,

I do not presume

to come to you,

but say the word

and let my servant be healed.

For I, too,

am a man under authority

with soldiers under me

and I say to one girl

and he goes

and I say to another

come and he comes.

The centurion,

he knows how authority works.

If he told one of his soldiers

to go,

he went.

If he told one of his soldiers

to fight,

he fought.

If he told one of his soldiers

to stand and intentionally,

he did it.

I had a rugby coach

when I was a teenager

and if he told you to stop

and drop to the floor

and do 20 press-ups,

he did it immediately.

And if he said,

I do 20 star jumps,

he did it.

If he said,

go on that line

and run to that line

and run back,

he did it.

He had absolute authority.

As a parent,

if I tell my children

to get up,

get dressed,

brush their teeth,

brush their hair

and get ready for church,

then they immediately do it.

No.

That's said with the rugby

field children.

In the gym

or on the training pitch,

he was a man

of absolute authority.

If I say jump,

you say how high.

Now,

whatever authority

illustration works for you,

you use it.

This man,

he knew how authority worked.

He was a man

of authority.

He was a man

of great authority.

There's an interesting story

about King David

in 2 Samuel 23.

David and his men

are fighting

against the Philistines.

They're hiding out

in a cave

and they're waiting there

for the right time

to attack

the enemy army.

The enemy army

has made their stronghold

in the city of Bethlehem

in David's hometown.

David,

where David was born

and raised.

And as they were waiting

for the right time

to attack,

David says out loud,

oh,

I'd love someone

to get me a drink

from the well

that is in Bethlehem

by the gates.

It's like we say,

I'd love a can of Coke

from the shop

on the corner.

Now,

he might have been thirsty,

but actually David

wasn't serious

I would think

in that passage.

I don't think David

was giving an order.

I think David

there is voicing

a frustration,

there's a military frustration,

oh,

I wish I could go

to my hometown,

to my home well

and get the water

that I love.

Oh,

I've drank all my life.

But he couldn't

because it was occupied

by the enemy.

Anyway,

the interesting thing

is there's a few soldiers,

three of them

hear what he said

and they take it

as a command.

And off they went.

It's absurd,

this absurd

kind of life

endangered error.

But somehow

it's successful.

We read about it,

these three mighty

men of David,

they break through

the Philistine ranks,

they draw water

over the well,

which was by the gate,

and they carry it

and they bring it

back to David.

Mission accomplished.

It's an incredible

thing to do.

That story's got

a very odd ending,

I won't give it to you,

but you can read it

this afternoon.

But it demonstrates

this,

it shows you and I

this,

it demonstrates

the supreme authority

of a word

spoken by God's

anointed king.

I'm thirsty.

I want water.

Your water,

sir.

I mean Lord.

And as Christians,

as those who may

be reading Luke's

gospel,

if you have,

you will know

that Jesus is

the son of David,

who's a far

greater king

than David.

And we know

that he has

all authority

in heaven and earth.

And we know

that he spoke

creation into existence.

And we know

that Jesus is divine,

he's the second person

of the Holy Trinity.

But think about this,

what did the

centurion know?

What did the

centurion know

about Jesus?

Well actually,

not very much.

What he did know

is that Jesus

had authority.

And Jesus

had authority

over death

and disease.

He didn't

hear that much

about it

through news

of Jesus'

miracles.

He knew

that Jesus

had almighty

authority

to do

to do

what the

centurion

was asking

to do.

With just

one command.

As I order

my troops

to go from

here to there,

I want you,

Jesus,

to stop death.

And I believe

death will

stop now

because you

say.

Now as I

study this

passage this week,

there's a question

that keeps coming

up in my mind.

That I thought

Jesus would

respond differently.

I thought

Jesus would

respond differently.

Something like,

hey, Mr.

Centurion,

hey, Mr.

Finkshot,

you cannot

make a

theological

presumption.

You can't

think that I

work in the

same way that

you do in

your job.

You can't

make a

theological

assumption

based on

your occupational

experience.

In other

words,

just because

you are the

people around

Mr.

Centurion,

and they do

what you say

they should do,

that doesn't

mean how I

work.

That's not

how my

miracles

work.

They don't

work on

your

terms.

But of

course,

that's not

what Jesus

says yet.

Aren't we

glad that

Jesus said

Jesus are

not me to

save us

from our

sins?

Because he

is compassionate.

I'm

simply pointing

out to you

that Jesus

is kind.

He's kind,

and it

seems that

as you

read the

kind of

miracle

stories,

that everyone

who comes

to him in

faith,

they might

be a little

bit

superstitious.

They might

ask for

things they

shouldn't

ask for.

They might

want miracles

done on

their own

chairs,

whatever.

But the

point is,

whoever comes

to faith

in Jesus,

Jesus is

willing to

work at

their level.

Mustard seed

faith?

No problem.

Big and

bold faith

like this?

Fantastic.

Just say a

word,

that'll work.

First

time tells

the tale,

doesn't it?

It's a

true story.

That speaking

the word

thing worked.

It was no

big deal to

Jesus.

And when

those who

had been

sent returned

to the

house,

they found

the servant

well.

Let me

read that

again.

When those

who had been

sent returned

to the house,

they found

the servant

well.

One

commentator

writes this,

a greater

miracle of

healing than

this is

nowhere

recorded in

the

gospels.

Without

even seeing

the sufferer,

without a

touch of the

hand or a

look in the

eye, the

Lord restores

strength to

this dying

man, or

he might

be a

boy, by

a single

word.

He speaks

and the

sick man

is cured.

He commands

and the

disease

departs.

So let

me put it

this way.

Jesus'

power in

Luke 7

reminds me

a lot of

God's

power.

In

Genesis 1.

It's the

same word,

isn't it?

God said,

let there be

light, and

there was

light.

God said,

let there be

life, and

there was

life.

A one-word

miracle from

a distance.

Not a

problem.

Not a

big deal

for Jesus.

What is a

big deal, and

what Jesus

makes a big

deal of, is

this man's

faith.

Jesus marvels

at it.

Surprise,

surprise,

surprise.

It's the

whole point of

the passage.

So let

me ask you

this, wouldn't

it be great

to live a

life, a

life of

faith, that

Jesus would

be taken

aback by?

To live a

life of

faith that

Jesus would

be amazed

at?

Wouldn't it

be great to

have the

sincerity,

sensitivity,

humility,

love, depth

of faith as

this Gentile

soldier?

To have

unlimited

confidence in

Jesus'

absolute

authority?

Wouldn't it

be great to

humbly trust

in Jesus?

This miracle

was not

written to

teach you

that any

time you

need a

miracle, just

ask and

Jesus will

give it.

They weren't

written for

that purpose.

The miracles

were written

to show you

the gospel,

to show us

the gospel in

parable form.

So for

example, Jesus

healed the

paralytic.

Do you

remember the

story?

He demonstrated

that he had

the power to

heal.

Well, yeah.

But what is

the point?

He has the

power to

forgive sins.

The power to

forgive sins.

And when

Jesus healed

Jairus'

dead daughter

and this

centurion's

dead servant,

dying servant,

what is the

point?

It shows he

has authority

over death

and that he

can forgive

sins.

He has

authority over

death.

And when we

see the

centurion,

this Gentile

who needed a

Jewish Messiah,

this mighty

man who

desperately

needed help,

this worthy

man who

was so

unworthy

before Jesus,

this commander

of words who

knew that only

Jesus' word

would work,

when we see

the centurion,

we see faith.

We see the

face of faith.

This is what

saving faith

looks like.

It looks like

this.

And it's what

our faith should

look like.

It's a story of

salvation.

salvation is

not given to

us based on

our ethnic

background.

If you're a

Jew, great.

If you're not

a Jew, not

so great.

If you're

Welsh, terrific.

Anything else,

not so much.

It's not based

on our ethnic

background.

It's not based

on your generosity

and charity.

You give money

away for the

temple, marvellous.

You give money

away for charity,

good.

But it won't

get you into the

kingdom of heaven.

Salvation is

not based on

your moral

worth.

Are you a

person who's

praised for

being worthy?

For your

good works,

wonderful, but

it's not so

wonderful that

it'll get you

into heaven.

The only

ground, the

only basis of

salvation is

faith.

What kind

of faith?

This kind

of faith.

A faith that

abandons trust

in ourselves

and totally

and without

reservation

relies on the

person of

Christ and

the authority

of his word.

Do you have

this kind of

faith?

Do you?

I know where

to get it.

It's right here,

isn't it?

It's right here in

this story, in

story form in the

Bible.

And I know where

else to find it.

It is right there

in heaven for the

asking.

And ask

Jesus

right now

even to speak

a word.

To speak a word

into your hearts.

And he will do it.

Let's bow our heads

in prayer.

Let's pray.