To Make Christ Marvel

1 When He had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum.

2 And a centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. 3 When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave. 4 When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him; 5 for he loves our nation and it was he who built us our synagogue.” 6 Now Jesus started on His way with them; and when He was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to come under my roof; 7 for this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” 9 Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” 10 When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

Luke 7:1-10 NASB

A Sick Servant

This passage in Luke contains several truths we could consider for our own lives. It focuses on a man, a centurion (an officer in the Roman army), whose servant is sick and about to die (Luke 7:2). The man sends other Jews to Jesus in hope that Jesus will save his servant from dying.

We don't know much about the centurion, and we know nothing about his servant, but it is obvious that the soldier loved his servant. Verse 2 says that the centurion "highly regarded" him. What we translate as highly regarded could also be translated as "more honorable" or "precious." Regardless how you look at it, there was indeed great respect and appreciation for the slave. The desire to see the servant made well wasn't just because the soldier didn't want to lose his "property" to death, but he surely felt compassion for the man and wanted to help him. It is out of humility and kindness that the slave owner would care enough to send a plea for help to a Jew. In today's world, that last thought may not be very well received, but it's the truth.

A Love for Jews

We also see in verse 4 that the centurion loved the Jews. We don't know all the details, but it is clear that he even played a role in providing a synagogue for them. In general, the Roman citizens did not care for the Jews, at all. Even more so, the Roman soldiers had very little respect for them. Likewise, the Jews had little love for the Romans as they were the ruling civil authority and were mostly seen as "oppressors" of the Jews. So, we see that the relationship with this centurion was unique in both directions; his love for the Jews and their admiration for him.

A Love for Jesus

But not only did this Roman soldier have a love for the Jews, he had a real conviction about Jesus. In verses 6 & 7 he calls Jesus "Lord" and says that he isn't worthy for Jesus to even come to his home. This is a humble man who had placed Christ above himself (saying he was not worthy of Jesus to come to his home) and although we don't know exactly what his thoughts are about Jesus, we do know that he called Him Lord. We also know about the man's faith. The soldier believed that Jesus could heal his servant, it is why he had sent the Jews to find Him. This man had faith in Jesus!

This leads me to my main point for this post; this man's faith caused Jesus to marvel at him! The original text that we translate marvel can also be translated, "to admire." Can you imagine receiving the admiration of Jesus because of your faith? Oh, that we would all place ourselves at the feet of Christ to the point where we cause Him to marvel at our trust in Him!

This man certainly believed that Jesus could heal his servant, but his faith didn't stop there. The centurion believed that it wasn't even necessary for Jesus to be present at the bedside of his servant to heal him; he believed that all He had to do was to say the Word. THIS is the faith that marveled Jesus. And it was coming from a Roman soldier, a Gentile. Jesus hadn't even seen this kind of faith in all of Israel, and they were the people for whom He had come. Jesus even commended the man for having great faith.

What is Great Faith?

Let me start off this next section by making sure you understand that I do not subscribe to the "Word of Faith" movement. The men (and women) who constantly spew false "name it, claim it" doctrine are all charlatans. That whole false Gospel will teach you that you need MORE faith, increased faith, and if you believe it, it will happen. They also teach that if you didn't get your healing or your desired bank account balance, or whatever, that it's your fault because you didn't believe "enough." Their false Gospel version of faith typically requires you to include faith in THEM, by sending them money and attention. This is all unbiblical and if you follow or listen to any of these false teachers, I hope you will turn them off immediately.

So, what makes a man's faith great? I believe this is a relevant question to ask. Jesus obviously makes a statement that identifies this soldier's faith as "greater" than that of everyone else in Israel; that's remarkable and it shouldn't be disregarded. Jesus was essentially comparing this man's faith to everyone else's and making the claim that his faith was greater. So, yes, according to Jesus there is a faith that marvels God and He does recognize it in comparison to someone else's faith. According to Jesus, you and I can both be Christians and yet I can have a greater faith than you. So how do we achieve great faith? I don't care about whether my faith is greater than someone else's, I just want it to be great in the eyes of God. I hope you do too.

Do Not Doubt Jesus

To be able to define great faith, we should look at Matthew 17:14-21. In this passage, we see where a man brings his son to Jesus' disciples in hope that they will cast out a demon which had been tormenting him. However, when the disciples attempt to cast it out, they are unsuccessful and Jesus scolds them regarding the littleness or lack of faith that they were exhibiting at the time:

19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” 20 And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

Matthew 17:19-20 NASB

So, the disciples had little faith? Yes, but I think it was worse than that because in a few verses prior Jesus rebuked the disciples for being an unbelieving generation. I think that defines their lack of faith as an even greater issue than just being "little;" they simply didn't believe:

17 And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.”

Matthew 17:17 NASB

Also, if we look at this same event from Mark's perspective, we see a little more about the father's response to Jesus' question about his faith:

23 And Jesus said to him, “ ‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.”

Mark 9:23-24 NASB

We see here that the boy's father did believe in Christ and his concern was not with the amount of his faith but with the presence of his doubt. In verse 20, the faith of a mustard seed that Jesus mentions is meant to imply that if we have any faith at all, that is enough. The issue is whether we have doubt.

Those who teach that you need to somehow get more faith are wrong. Any faith, even that of a tiny mustard seed is enough. Great faith is simply the lack of doubt.

James sums this up very well for us and spells it out in black and white:

6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

James 1:6-8 NASB

So what do we do when we have doubt? Just like the father asked Jesus, we should too ask Him to "help our unbelief." We should acknowledge our doubt and hand it over to Him. Paul also gave us a great example:

5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

2 Corinthians 10:5 NASB

We must also be careful when we acknowledge God's sovereignty in whatever we ask, that we do not allow that to also introduce doubt.

15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”

James 4:15 NASB

Yes, we should seek God's will, and we should submit to His will, but we are to boldly come before the throne of God and make our requests and petitions known to Him. We are to ask Him, even though He already knows, because that is evidence of our dependence on Him.

What is our motivation when we come to Him in faith? Are we abiding in Him, seeking His will, His way?

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

James 4:3 NASB

7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

John 15:7 NASB

There are countless examples of people in the Bible, coming to God with simple faith, refusing to doubt, who didn't have a $7 theological vocabulary and know all the ins and outs of "doctrine," yet the Lord heard them anyway. The centurion we read about earlier was just like this. He didn't have all the answers, but he believed that Jesus did and his mustard seed faith was enough.

Do We Have a Marvelous Faith?

So, where is my faith? Where is your faith? Are we so sure of who Jesus is, of his Lordship over us, and have humbled ourselves underneath Him that we are able to trust Him like the centurion? What obstacles are you facing today? What challenges, sickness, money troubles, etc., are you dealing with that is in need of a great faith? We are all going through some kind of trial (count it all joy) but have we placed ourselves on a path that will require us to live out the kind of faith that makes Him marvel? Do we have great faith? If not, why is that so? Are we allowing doubt to consume us, choking out our faith? What are we waiting on? Just the spoken Word of Jesus can do miracles for those who believe on Him.

God bless!

Matt