(Sermon by Pastor Michael D. Schultz 06/10/07)

INTRODUCTION:

Oh, for a faith that will not shrink… People have been singing those words for 224 years now, but for much longer than that, people have wanted to be able to trust in Christ in such a way that they are unmoved by crises, unshaken by disasters, unaffected by things that would easily dismantle most people.  If I could get a faith transplant, I believe it would be nice to have Abraham’s faith.  When told by God to sacrifice his only child Isaac whom he loved enormously (through whose family Jesus would be born), Abraham was standing on Mt. Moriah, knife drawn over his son, trusting what?  Trusting that God would have to raise Isaac back to life after the knife was plunged into him, because God had promised through Isaac Jesus would come as a blessing for all people.  I could go for a faith like that.  How about you?

Only twice did Jesus ever single someone out as having great faith – the Gentile woman who was happy to have crumbs of grace that fell off the table after the Jews had received grace from God, and this Gentile army officer who lived in Capernaum.  Since Jesus praised the centurion’s faith as he did, every one of us ought to take a close look at this man and say or sing the prayer, “Lord, give us such a faith as this.”  Today we’re going -

In Search Of Faith That Amazes Even Jesus

It’s a search that will result in finding what we’re looking for.  So as I list off four noteworthy things about the centurion’s faith, your task during the sermon will be to listen and to understand how it will happen that your trust in the Lord can have those same features.

Notice first that the centurion had a faith that was totally unselfish.  Whatever his own needs may have been, his request was for someone else, a servant who was very dear to him.  Concern for others was what his faith had always been about, and people knew it.  He was a Gentile convert to the Jewish faith and with his own funds he had had a church building constructed for them.  That’s highly remarkable all by itself.

Notice second what happened after he’d heard about Jesus being the Messiah people were looking for.  He approached the Jewish elders in his congregation and asked them to go ask Jesus to heal his servant.  No “maybe he can’s,” no, “well, it surely couldn’t hurt’s,” – “Jesus is the promised Savior.  As such, he can certainly heal my servant.”  His amazing faith was fixed on Christ.

Notice third how profoundly humble he is.  Upon hearing that Jesus was on his way, he sent a second group of friends to stop Jesus.  “I’m a mere man and, Jesus, you’re the Son of God.  I’m not worthy to have you come into my house or to appear before you myself.”  You’re thinking about how your faith in the Lord can have these same features, remember?  Where does humility like that come from?

Notice finally how the centurion’s faith was implicitly attached to Jesus’ word.  Why did he trust that all Jesus needed to do was say the word?  Because he’d come to know what divine authority was all about.  If he followed his superiors’ orders and his soldiers carried out his orders merely because that’s how things are in the military, then all Jesus has to do is say the word and it will happen, because that’s how things are with the Savior who came from heaven!

Now it’s our turn.  It’s time for this true, historical event to make a difference for you and me.  If we’re in search of faith like this, a faith that amazes even Jesus, where does it come from, faith that is totally unselfish, fixed on Christ, profoundly humble, and implicitly attached to Jesus’ word?  It comes from this: When the centurion looked inside himself, he didn’t like what he saw.  To be more accurate, God had convinced him that he couldn’t like what he saw.  That’s where our search for this kind of faith has to start.

It is not pretty.  We have to use words like twisted, corrupt, warped, depraved, worthless.  If we’re ever going to have an amazing faith in Christ, we have to see how incredibly incorrigible and sinister and dirty we are.  Our guilt has a stench more foul than a landfill.  Our sin makes God sick to his stomach and burning with rage, because it’s the opposite of the four things we’ve featured – selfish, fixed on ourselves, arrogant and uninterested in what God has to say. It is so “not us” to see ourselves this way that the only way we will is when the power of the Holy Spirit has changed us to see ourselves this way.

When he has done this, he moves the camera from pitiful us to our beautiful Savior.  It’s what the centurion saw in Jesus – do you see it?  After his own siblings dismissed him and most people had rejected his message, Jesus was crushed to be betrayed by a close friend, and deserted and denied by the rest.  In extreme dismay but willingly he took God’s curse on everyone upon himself.  Alone he carried the cross, alone he was condemned for everyone’s sin, alone he died as payment for all sin.  Then, to prove that all his pain and suffering were for you, he returned to life and returned to heaven, never to die again, always to be an advocate for you.

This faith of the centurion at which Jesus marveled – it comes flooding into you when after not liking what you see in yourself and knowing that God hates it, God lets you see something else.  He lets you look at Jesus and see yourself – not a sinner, holy and pure, precious to God. 

You want this man’s faith, one that even Jesus called great?  It is not unattainable.  It is not a faith that only people in the Bible can have.  It is beating in your heart when you a sinner look at Jesus the Savior and hear God say you are not a sinner to him.  The Holy Spirit who had to use his power to make you hate what you see in yourself used even more of his power to make you fall in love with what you see in Jesus – all your sin washed away and a God who embraces you and will not let you go.

You have the centurion’s faith as people who trust in Jesus.  Now trust in him as well for the ability to be unselfish, for the faith that stays fixed on Christ, for the kind of genuine humility that recognizes what a great God has done for you, and for the energizing confidence that, to meet your every need, all Jesus has to do is say the word.  That all comes as a package deal because God gives such a faith as this.  He does!

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