Faith That Shocks Jesus

Luke 7:1-10; and Various other passages

Well, good morning! How are we this morning? Oh, it’s so good to see you!

I would invite you to take a Bible with me and go to Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter 7. What a great song to start with in this passage and to dive into with running to the Father!

If you don’t know me and you’re brand new, I’m from a simpler time at Saylorville when there were no windows in the basement, and it was full of asbestos and I had an office down there. But we did okay! We had the Word of God, so we made it happen. But I like the new digs. Everything looks so nice around here. And it’s great to be back with you.

Our church on the east side of Des Moines, the Park Church, says, “Hello,” and my family that’s with you are grateful for the invitation. And I’m excited after a good four years to be able to open God’s Word with you, so let’s do it! Okay?

So speaking of our church, we are about three years old. And when you’re starting a church plant, the first couple of years are very important, so it seems. Right? And they are. And I remember as our first, our biggest Sunday that we had ever had to date, and the place was absolutely packed, and we had a great worship set, and a great opening of just… man. The Lord is like His presence, you could just feel it, and everything is good, and we’re gonna get out there, and we’re just gonna preach the Word, and this could be an awesome Sunday! Well, we meet at Grandview Christian School on the east side, and we meet in the same place that they do their productions. And so there’s a lot of stage lights in there. And we use those on Sunday morning, as well. And one of those lights that morning decided to go absolutely rogue! (audience laughing) And I’m telling you, it was flashing like a strobe light… red, white, and blue. And it would turn off and turn on. And every time it would turn on, it would go, (imitates sound) like this power sound that came on. And I thought, “Hey, maybe nobody is noticing,” but then every time my face would light up in a different color the whole crowd would be like… like this… Right? (audience laughing) And I realized that my message… so it felt like, was just done! I prayed. I even stopped the service and said, Lord, and I gave the guy’s opportunity to turn the light off, but it wouldn’t even turn off! And so the whole time, I’m just in an unwanted dance party on the stage right there. Right? And I’m not against dance parties, I like ’em, but not when I’m preaching the word! Right? And so I walked away from that stage and I can laugh about it now, but I was so discouraged! Here we were just getting going. The biggest Sunday we’d ever had and it felt like the whole thing was done! And I went home, of course saying the nice things that I was supposed to say afterwards to people about it.

And I went to take a nap and before I did, I turned to my wife and I said, “We can’t afford to have a service like this right now.” — Because we were in a tough season! Some people from the core team had decided it wasn’t for them, and they left our church, and they didn’t leave quietly. And it felt like this is an opportunity for us. We’re growing. There were a ton of guests. Let’s show them what we are all about. And so I went and took that nap bitter, thinking that everything was up to me… faith in myself, and what I could do.

Our text this morning is the exact opposite. We are going to see an unlikely man who understood that it wasn’t about what he could do, but that it was all about Jesus.

While I was looking at this text in our staff devotions a few weeks ago, and when we got done, one of our guys said, “That’ll preach.” And I was like, “Yeah, that was good, wasn’t it?” Not that I was good, but man, we got a lot from that! And I said, “I think I’m going to do that one at Saylorville.” So here we go. We’re diving in. Let’s do this together.

Let’s pray. This is in the same vein you guys have been in with God’s Hall of Faith. And so we’re going to look at this faith passage together. But let’s ask God’s blessing this morning.

God, this is Your Word, Your Spirit that inspired authors to write it down for us so that we can know who You are, who we are, how to have salvation through it, and how to live as Christians in the world because of it. So God, I pray You do all those things today in the work that only You can do, in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

I want to talk to you about convictional faith this morning. Convictional faith. A “conviction” is “a deeply held truth that transforms the way that you live.” It’s a deeply held truth that transforms the way that you live. And so here’s the big truth that I want to give to you from the text this morning that will change the way that you live in the power of the Spirit as you leave this morning. Here it is. Jesus has the power to do anything in the world and in my life. Let that sink in. Look at it. Believe it. Jesus has the power to do anything in the world and in my life. And so with this main conviction, we’re going to find it’s the conviction of the man that we’re going to see here. And his life was changed as a result of this conviction because faith always flows from conviction. What you believe about God will determine the way that you live and faith is played out by the truth of who God is. So let’s look at Luke chapter 7. The the good doctor, Luke, the historian under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says this in verse 1.

Luke 7:1-5,

1 After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.

2 Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him.

3 When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant.

4 And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him,

5 for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.”

So the truth that we build our lives on is, Jesus has the power to do anything in the world and in my life. Here’s the first conviction that flows out of that. So “I will.” That’s what a conviction does. It says, ‘I will do this as a result of who God is. I will go to Him in my time of need.’ When is your time of need? Every hour. Right? — as the song says… Every moment, every day, there isn’t a time that we don’t need Jesus.

The story tells us after this, it says that immediately after the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is walking away from there, and He encounters a man who was actually living out the teachings that God, that Jesus described in His sermon. He’s not a Jewish man. He’s a Gentile, and he is a centurion.

In the Roman legion, there’s about 6,000 men typically. 60 of them would be centurions. And of those 60 men, those centurions… would lead, like the name says, around 100 men. So what we have here is a strong leader, and he is over a bunch of rowdy soldiers that are under his authority. This strong leader has got a big heart. He loves people, and he loves very dearly the servant that works for him who has come ill. And this centurion knows that this is more than what I can do. So he pleads with the Jewish leaders! He says, ‘I’ve heard about Jesus, would you go to Him and ask Him to come back and heal my servant?’ So the leaders go to Jesus. They tell Him about this man. He says, he’s been really good to us, unlike most Romans, he, himself, is actually responsible for building the synagogue that we have here in Jesus’ adopted hometown of Capernaum.

What we come on here is a dire situation. He says that the servant is about to die. So where do you go when things are dire? — When things are out of your control, which is a lot more than what we actually acknowledge or think. We go to Jesus… And that’s what he does. He goes to Jesus, because he believed that Jesus was able to do anything in the world and in his life.

So my question as we begin this is that thought for you. Where do you go when things are dire? When things are hard? Do you go to fix it mode? ‘I’m gonna figure this out.’ Do we go somewhere else? Do we take to social media? — Or do we go to the One who can do anything in the world and in my life, directly to Jesus, Himself, like this man did. Where do you go in your time of need?

It’s been five years since I’ve been here at Saylorville and I spent 10 years here, and our leaving here was difficult. We didn’t know where we were going. We thought we did, but it fell through. And we went out on what felt like faith, but really was something like we didn’t know what else to do. And the people that we were near and dear to and close to, we didn’t have the same kind of relationship anymore, and it was a very difficult season for our family. And to be honest, there were times that I didn’t run away from Christ, but I didn’t necessarily run to Him. And I began to realize and understand that, and I went into myself because I didn’t have this conviction that drove my life, that Jesus can do anything in the world and in my life. And I’m thankful for the last couple of years and what they’ve done… but it was very difficult. We were in a desperate place! And when it was through a hard traumatic season, Jesus says, ‘Why didn’t you come to me? Why did you run to me? Why did you stop trying to figure it out?’ —Because sometimes we run to Jesus. Don’t we? Sometimes we run to the Father. Sometimes we crawl to Jesus. Sometimes all we can do is cry out to Jesus, and when we do… let’s look on at what happens.

This Centurion believed that Jesus had the power to do anything in the world and in his life. And we read on in verse six,

Luke 7:6-8

6 “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.”

7 Therefore I did not presume to come to You. But say the word, and let my servant be healed.

8 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.”

Remember our truth; Jesus has the power to do anything in the world and in my life. Do you believe that? Here’s what you should be convictionally as a result. I will trust that He is able to do what I cannot. Did you notice when he calls out to Jesus, what does Jesus do? He goes! He makes His way towards him with His disciples, with the crowd. He makes His way towards the man who was calling out in His time of need. Before He ever gets to the house, he sends out two of his servants and they say, ‘Hey, hey, hey, hey, our master says, don’t trouble Yourself. Don’t come in here. Don’t make Yourself ceremonially unclean by coming into the house of a Gentile.’He says, ‘You know what, Jesus? Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.’ And then you look at this humble illustration this Centurion gives. He says, ‘Jesus, I’m a man under authority and I have people under my authority. And when I tell them to do something, they do it. If I tell them to stay, they do it. If I tell them to go, they go. They listen to me, because I have the authority over them.’ — But he says, ‘I don’t have the authority in this situation. You’re the only One that has the authority to make this right. And so I’m appealing to You and I believe that You don’t even have to be here. All You have to do is say the word and my servant will be healed.’ Look at the next verse.

12:27/31:51

Luke 7:9

“When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed Him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”

It says, He turns to the crowd and He “marveled.” It’s like Jesus stepped back and He’s like, ‘Wow! That’s extraordinary!’ And then He looks at the crowd and He goes, ‘Hey, I haven’t seen this kind of faith from you guys. What’s going on here? None of you have this kind of faith that this man has.’ Listen… What makes Jesus step back and say, ‘Wow!’— What shocks Jesus? It’s faith! It’s the faith that humans, you and me, have in Jesus. It makes Him step back and go, ‘Wow!’ When we acknowledge that I can’t do what I need. Only Jesus can do it, and I put my full trust in Him, Jesus is like, ‘That’s amazing! I’m astonished by how much you believe in the power of what I can do!’ Only Jesus can change a heart. Right?

Man, I was meeting with a guy one time. He was introduced to me from a friend, and we met together. And I was talking to him, we started talking about faith and what he believed. And I’m telling you, like some of the most bizarre things that you’ll ever hear from somebody! — And that there’s all these different things, like conspiracies and everything. And you’re like, some of you are like, ‘That doesn’t sound too bizarre. I like the sound of that!’ Right? To the normal person it was. Okay? (congregation laughing) And definitely did not believe in Jesus and the exclusivity of Jesus. And he came to our church one time to check it out. And he came for a couple of weeks and didn’t come back. And then he’s showing up again, and he brought his wife. And he’s sitting and afterwards he comes up to me and he says, “Hey, Brad, can we meet?” I said, “Yeah, let’s meet!” And I went over to he and his wife’s house. I took my intern with me and he said to me, “You know what? I think that Jesus is the way to God.” I said “What’s that?” He’s like, “Yeah!” And so we started doing Bible studies together. And just last week, they’re looking at me and they’re like, “Yeah. This makes sense!” And I get in the car with my intern, and he goes, “Brad, that was awesome!!” “I know!” I was like, “I know!” Right? That’s what Jesus can do! It’s too bad I didn’t believe it, but that’s what Jesus does! He has the power to do anything, including changing the heart. And they haven’t yet made a decision for Christ. We’re playing the long game that they’re not far from the kingdom of God.

To see what God can do is extraordinary when we trust Him. You know, and it’s interesting that I give you a ton of examples of when I lacked faith more than when I have good faith. Right? And I think that’s more common than us actually exercising good faith. And we see that again in Mark chapter 6. Let’s look at the screen behind me. It’ll be up there. This is another example. Jesus is in his very hometown in Nazareth. And this is what it says. Mark tells us,

Mark 6:1

1 “He went away from there and came to His hometown, and His disciples followed Him.”

2 And on the Sabbath He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to Him? How are such mighty works done by His hands? (And then it shifts)

3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him.

4 And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in His hometown and among His relatives and in His own household.” (Catch this)

5 And He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. And He marveled (say “marveled”)because of their unbelief.”

Here He is in His hometown. They started off people who were amazed! ‘Oh my goodness! His teaching! We knew this guy growing up… Where is he getting this teaching from?’ But they can’t accept His authority. They don’t believe that Jesus has the power to do anything in the world and in their life. And so they are offended by Jesus instead of believing in Him. And Jesus says He couldn’t do any miracles there except for a few small things… Why? — Because of their unbelief.

Now this word “amazed” or “marveled” is used a lot in the Gospels, but it’s most of the time used in reference to people like you and me when they see Jesus. They’re, like, marveling at the things He’s doing, who He is and His teaching. There’s two times that it’s referencing us …Jesus looking at us, and the first one’s the centurion that we looked at, and here’s the second one. And so we see this, that Jesus is marveling. He steps back and says, ‘Wow!’ As a result, both times because of faith. One of those times because of an extraordinary amount of faith in Him, and the other time is a bunch of people who had little and no faith in Him at all. And both of them made Jesus step back and go, ‘Wow! This is not what I was expecting in both places. So if you notice here also, Jesus couldn’t do any miracles.

Now, I’ve got 11 minutes left. I do not have time to unpack a theology on this. That’s why you have pastors here and they’d be happy to talk to you about that. But it seems like there’s some kind of connection between God’s blessing in your life with the proportion of faith that you have in Him. And don’t you want to have the blessing of God on your life? Isn’t that your desire? Let’s have great faith in Him because that’s where His power is unleashed on us. So if you’re like me, you have more stories about your lack of faith than when you had good faith.

So what is the solution? Here’s what I’ll submit to you. You must develop a convictional truth that Jesus has the power to do anything in the world and in your life. And if that is the conviction or truth of your life, you will live differently. You will understand that faith is when I know that Jesus is gonna come through because of who He is. I know that He is faithful. He’s gonna continue to be in my life, and I believe that, even though I can’t see what the provision is, yet. Does that make sense? Faith is living in that tension. I know Jesus is gonna do what He says He’s going to do, but I don’t know how He’s going to do it. If He told us what He was going to do, that wouldn’t be faith. Would it? But it’s not like an unreliable person that you’re trusting on. It’s not like coming to me to fix your car. There’d be no faith in that, because I don’t know anything about it. You’re putting your faith in Jesus who was able to do anything in the world and in your life!

Okay, so listen. What is it in your life right now that God wants you to believe the truth and say, ‘I don’t know what it is, how You’re going to come through yet, but I believe You will’? ‘I know that You will provide even though I can’t see the provision.’? That’s what this centurion was doing. He says, ‘I don’t know how You’re going to work it out, but I know You can.” And that’s the tension we live in when we think about faith. It’s saying, “I’m trusting the Provider even though I can’t see the provision yet. And how much more enjoyable is it when you actually trust Jesus? How much fun is it?

I had a situation this week where my faith was put to the test. And I knew that I was preaching on this, and I’m, like, ‘Lord, I gotta have one time that I had great faith.’ Right? ‘I need to have some kind of illustration.’ He’s like, ‘Well, here it is.’ (audience laughs) I had a situation come up that was out of my control and I didn’t know what was gonna happen. And I said, “Lord, I’m gonna purpose in my heart” (There’s the conviction) that You’re gonna come through. I don’t know how it’s gonna happen, but I know that you’re gonna do it, because of who You are and what You’ve said about Yourself.” And so the whole time, instead of freaking out, which we do, I looked to Christ and… what did He do? — He came through! And how much more enjoyable is it when you sit and rest in the sovereignty and the security of God, rather than freaking out, tying yourself up and not to stay awake at night? And then He comes through for you, and you’re like, ‘Oh, You did it all along! Yes, because that’s what God does!”

Let me encourage you to experience the joy of following and seeing Him bring it about. If you were at the Park Church, I would say something like this:

“We don’t just learn to learn. We learn to live.” a Park Church saying

So we didn’t just learn some nice things about us and sharing it. We do it so that we can put it in a practice in our lives. But here’s just a couple of questions for us by way of application. Is Jesus amazed by my faith or lack of faith? When you think about what characterizes your life, is it one that is characterized by a huge faith in Christ that amazes Him because how much you believe in Him, or is He amazed by how little faith you actually have in Him? I think about the people that amazed Him because of their lack of faith. They were the ones that knew a lot about Jesus, but they had lost their awe in Jesus. He didn’t amaze them anymore. And so I wanna say this, that the more that you increase your faith, the more that you are amazed in Jesus, it’s like this. Okay? The more that Jesus grows in your life… now He doesn’t get bigger, which… the more that you understand of how great He is, the more that your faith grows with Him.

And so that’s the second one here, is how can I make Jesus bigger in my life? —By how am I doing, by being in His word, by being with His people, by being sensitive to His leading, by following His Holy Spirit, the more that I have… the bigger that Jesus gets in my life, the more simultaneously my faith grows in Jesus in my life.

Last week, my daughter and I had the opportunity to go to Holland, and when we were there, we went to the Anne Frank House. If you know about Anne Frank, you see her and the story of hiding out for two years from the Nazis with their family in the back room. And we got to walk through this house. Now, I thought it was pretty cool! I thought it was awesome! — But I looked over at my daughter, and it was a much different experience for her, because she knew and had read all the books and knew all about Anne Frank. And her level of enjoyment was greater than mine!

And I want to say to you this morning, if you really want to enjoy Christ and live a life that’s, like, full of His joy, increase Him in your life. Look to Him. The more that He increases, the more your faith will increase.

Well, let’s see the conclusion of this story. Look down at verse 10.

Luke 7:10, “And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.”

Jesus has the power… This is the last one. You ready for it? Jesus has the power to do anything in my life and in the world, so I will… (Here’s the conviction) as a result, I will enjoy his provision when it comes! It says the servant was in good health! Of course he was! That’s what Jesus does! He doesn’t even see His face. He just says the word and they show up, and the servant is healed… from a distance! That’s the power of God! He can do anything in the world and in your life! We don’t get to control the timing or the extent of when Jesus comes through, but we know that He always will. And when He does, don’t miss it! Glory in it! Give Him praise for it! Celebrate all that He’s done in the way that He has provided!

Listen to me… What an opportunity you have! Every eye right here. What an opportunity! This centurion was not a rabbi. He was not well educated. He wasn’t even part of God’s people. But Jesus was amazed at him, and maybe, like, you’re thinking, ‘I don’t have a great background. I don’t have a ton of education.’ It doesn’t matter! Jesus gets certain… all he says, ‘I want you to believe! I want you to put all your trust in Me.” You say, ‘I’m so broken! You don’t know… God could never use me!” Listen, God only uses broken people because that’s all there is! That’s all He has to choose from. So if God can use someone who has nothing, no experience or anything, but has great faith in God, God can take and use you in an extraordinary way! So keep believing, keep trusting, keep pressing in. He wants to use you! And He wants to do it through your faith, not in what you can do and accomplish, but all of who Jesus is.

So I went to that nap, and I woke up on that morning with that strobe light that was going crazy the day before, and I felt like my message was completely ruined! And the text started to come in the next day and people were saying, “Brad, I learned so much with the way that you handled that, more than any message you’ve ever preached!” And then I was talking to a guy who had been invited to our services by a friend. And he came up to me and said, “Brad, I know Jesus! I got saved!” And I said, “Tell me about it.” He’s like, “Well, I believe that I’m a sinner. I believe that Jesus died for me. I believe that He rose again. I put all my trust in that and not my good works,” (which is what some of you need to do today) And I said, “Chris, when did that happen?” He said, “It was during that strobe light message.” (Laughter) I was like, “Of course it was!” God doesn’t need me! He doesn’t need you! He’s able to do anything in the world … in spite of you! Here’s Chris’s baptism a few weeks later. That’s me clapping like a fool behind him! — enjoying what God had done, and the beauty of all of who He is! Listen… Jesus can do anything in the world and in your life!

My wife and I, we took a phrase from Jackie Hill Perry that we often say to each other. We say,

We say,

“Won’t He do it?” Jackie Hill Perry

Sometimes it’s through laughter, we joke around and we say, “Won’t He do it?” Sometimes in the mundane, we don’t feel like doing something, we say, “Well, He’d do it.” It’s our way of saying, “Hey, you’re not trusting God. Put your faith in God. Trust what He can do.” And sometimes it’s through tears like now, or we say, “Won’t He do it?” Listen, what God says He will do, He will always accomplish! And He’s asking you to believe it. When Jesus promises

[John 6:37] “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”

Won’t He do it? When Jesus promises,

[Matthew 28:20b] “…And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Oh, won’t He do it? When Jesus promises, ‘If you come to me, I will give you rest for your soul.’

[Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”]

Won’t He do it? When Jesus promises to us, ‘I will make your joy complete, and no one will be able to take it away…

[John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”]

Won’t He do it?

When Jesus promises, ‘Ask anything in My name and it will be given to you…’

[John 14:13,”Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”]

Won’t He do it?

Jesus promises to us His comfort or help in trials, victory and temptation…

[1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”]

Won’t He do it?

Jesus says, ‘I’m going away but I’ll send to you another the Holy Spirit to be with you.’

[John 14:16, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever…”]

Won’t He do it?

Jesus promises to us, ‘If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.’

[John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.“]

Jesus promises ‘As the Father has loved Me so I have loved you.’   

[John 15:9, “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”]

And Paul doubles down and he says,

[Romans 8:38-39] “‘For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons nor the present nor the future nor any powers neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Won’t He do it?

Jesus’s promises to us:

[Luke 9:22, “The Son of Man will suffer many things. He’ll be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and He will be killed and on the third day He will be raised! ”]

Won’t He do it? He’s done it! And then Jesus promises…

[Revelation 22:7] “…behold, I AM coming soon!”

Won’t He do it?

God in heaven, we run to you because we have nowhere else to go. We come to You only by the Savior, Jesus, who hears our call and responds and comes running to us in our time of need. God, I pray, Oh, I want Your blessing in my life. I know that You’re going to work anyway in spite of me, but I want to enjoy it when it’s happening, because of my great faith in You! God, I pray You’d make this church and these people that they would be so awe-inspiring when they look at You because of the great awe they have for You, that You’re amazed at their faith, and when they’re faithless, You remain faithful. Thank You, Jesus! It’s in Your name we pray. Amen.

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