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Impressive Manhood (Luke 7:1-10)
13 Plays3 days ago
Growing in Grace Devotions and Inspirations
Hosted by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam Street
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Prayer
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message.
00:00:22
Speaker
If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, fbccolumbustx.org. And now, take your copy of God's timeless Word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
00:00:43
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace.
Father's Day Wishes and Bible Passage
00:00:45
Speaker
Hey, I want to say a happy Father's Day to all the men out there. appreciate all that you do for your families and who you are in front of them every single day.
00:00:56
Speaker
i want to share a passage from Luke chapter 7, verses 1 through 10. ah You can also read sort of like a an alternate version of this in Matthew 8, verses 5 through 13. But we're going to be in Luke. We've been in Luke as a church for a while. And this passage just gets my attention every single time when it comes to manhood.
The Centurion's Faith
00:01:19
Speaker
it ah The passage that gets my attention is Luke 7, 1 through 10, verse 9, says, When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at Him.
00:01:30
Speaker
He marveled at him. What would cause the Son of God to marvel at anyone? Well, in this man's case, it was his faith.
00:01:41
Speaker
What Jesus heard of this man's life and of his faith caused him to marvel. How would you describe impressive manhood that would cause you to marvel?
00:01:54
Speaker
I mean, what would a man have to do or what would he have to be in order to earn your respect? Would do he need to be, let's say popular? Would he need to be wealthy?
00:02:06
Speaker
Would he need to be physically strong, talented, have a brilliant mind, be admired for his looks, hold a certain position, frequently use profanity? I mean, what is it that would define manhood? How would you describe a real man?
00:02:25
Speaker
We should put some serious thought into this. I think especially in our day, we need some clarification on this issue of masculinity and manhood. Men, I just want to ask you, do you have any personal goals or standards that motivate you to be a better man?
00:02:46
Speaker
Those of you with sons, how are you teaching your son to measure his own growth in manhood? Luke 7, one through 10 gives us this Father's Day a glimpse at someone in biblical times that caused our Lord to take notice and marvel at his personal example.
00:03:09
Speaker
So I want us to see what we can learn from this soldier. Let me read the verses first and then we'll go through and I'll give you about five different things that I think would characterize you know manhood, impressive manhood.
00:03:23
Speaker
It says in Luke 7 verse 1, After he had finished all his sayings 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.
00:03:42
Speaker
When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking in 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.
00:04:03
Speaker
And he is the one who built us our synagogue. And Jesus went with them. And when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends saying to him, Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof.
00:04:23
Speaker
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.
00:04:36
Speaker
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 marveled at him.
00:04:50
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And turning to the crowd that followed him said, I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. And when those who had been sent returned
Attributes of Impressive Manhood
00:05:03
Speaker
to the house, they found the servant well.
00:05:07
Speaker
Isn't that incredible? Jesus marveled at this man. There were some things about him that I think were impressive. And so if you would like to leave an impressive legacy behind you of manhood, then I would recommend that you follow in this centurion's footsteps. So let me give you five things to consider in terms of a a growth goal in masculinity.
00:05:32
Speaker
First, I believe that biblical manhood includes compassion, not coldness. I know that in some quarters across our country, some may believe that you know being cold and not caring for other peoples is really manly.
00:05:51
Speaker
But now i want you to notice in verse 2, in verse 5, in verse 6, a few things about this this man. You see, this man had a servant who was sick and ready to die.
00:06:04
Speaker
And I love the way that is described of him. It said that this centurion highly valued his servant. It's dear to him in some translations. The Greek word was intimas.
00:06:18
Speaker
It meant someone who's precious, someone who is esteemed, someone who is valued. Wow, isn't that ah incredible? I mean, it would have been incredible for a Roman at that time to do that because there was one Roman writer who told a farmer, just throw away broken and old tools. He So he could have had that kind of a mindset.
00:06:41
Speaker
You know, let's just toss it aside. If this servant is sick and about to die, then do do with him what you do with your old broken tools. Just throw them out.
00:06:53
Speaker
But he knew that in Capernaum, out of the 33 miracles performed by Jesus, 11 of them were done in this city. You see, Capernaum was a base of operations for the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:07:08
Speaker
And so verse five says that um these Jewish elders were saying to Jesus, you know what? He loves our nation. And isn't that funny that a Roman would actually love Israel?
00:07:23
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ah It wasn't his nation, but they said he loves our nation, not his nation. He loves our nation. I think that's an amazing thing, especially when you consider he's a commander of an occupying force in their nation, and they knew this guy really cares about us.
00:07:45
Speaker
I think that's pretty astounding, actually. But ah learn to look at each word in Scripture because there's something that is really unusual said in verse 6, especially about a Roman centurion.
00:08:01
Speaker
Then Jesus went with them, and when he was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him. He sent friends.
00:08:13
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So this centurion had friends? Yes. Is it okay for a man to have friends, to really have friends that he cares about? Well, this guy did. He had friends, and he sent one of his friends ah to Jesus. And so I just thought, isn't it interesting that of all the things that could be said about a man, the one thing that is said about him is that his servant was highly valued.
00:08:42
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By him. To him, this man meant something. Do the employees or the people you work with, do they know that they mean something to you? What about in your family?
00:08:54
Speaker
Does your family know that they're important to you? That they're significant? Wow. You know, I think it's interesting how in Acts chapter 10, verse 24, we see another centurion. His name was Cornelius, and he called together his relatives and, once again, his close friends.
00:09:16
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This is two centurions who both have friends. I think that men need friends. It can be lonely sometimes when a man is trying to lead his family, He's working hard. He's trying to provide and so forth. We need friends.
00:09:33
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But in order to be a friend, you have to care and there has to be compassion. So anyway, I just think that a real man would be a man of compassion, of caring.
00:09:44
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He knows when to love. He's not cold and withdrawn. Let's go to the second thing of manhood. I believe that manhood is more than just compassion.
00:09:54
Speaker
I believe that it's more than just feelings. No, I believe it also includes action. So we're not talking about someone who was apathetic or lethargic.
00:10:07
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I think that our actions validate and prove our statements about love. Wouldn't you? I mean, even in Romans 5, 8, it says, but God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
00:10:23
Speaker
Even in James 2, verses 14 through 26, we can see that faith brings along with it works. We're not saved by our faith, but it's interesting how when we have real saving faith, we're going to do something to honor God with our life.
00:10:42
Speaker
Even in 1 John 3, verses 16 through 18, I believe that love demonstrates itself, that we're not just saying that we love someone, not love in word or in tongue only, but it says we love in deed and in truth. Are you known as a man of action?
00:11:04
Speaker
Are you known just as someone who's always talking about things but doesn't do anything? You know, this man was receptive to what he heard about Jesus.
00:11:17
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It says, so when he heard about Jesus, he took action then. Are you receptive to what you have heard about Jesus? I know you may not know everything that there is to know about Jesus, but have you acted on what you know about him?
Contrasting Greed and Generosity
00:11:33
Speaker
I think real men do that. I think real men are known to be men who are active. They're not passive. I think another thing is this man was not only receptive to what he heard about Jesus, I think he was also responsive to what he knew about Jesus.
00:11:53
Speaker
You see, it says that he sent the elders of the Jews to him. He had heard that Jesus could heal and he cared about this servant. And so he took action and said, you know what? I'm going to make sure that this Jesus has an opportunity to pray over my servant because I care about him.
00:12:15
Speaker
But it says he sent the elders of the Jews to him. How did he do that? how did How did a Roman centurion, I mean, the elders of the Jews, they did not like the Romans.
00:12:29
Speaker
They did not like this force that was in their country. And yet something about this man was different. He had such a way about him that he was able to talk those Jewish elders into going to talk to Jesus because, frankly, most scriptures that we read, the Jewish elders did not like Jesus either.
00:12:51
Speaker
So for them to go to him, that was quite quite some accomplishment right there. So let's move from talking about being men of compassion, not coldness, being men of action, not apathy, to a third thing, being men of generosity, not greed.
00:13:11
Speaker
You see, worldly men are most times, not always, but most times, they're marked by greed. But godly men, they're different.
00:13:21
Speaker
Men who are learning to follow Jesus, learning to be more like Jesus, these men are generous. It says in verse 5, He loves our nation and He has built us a synagogue.
00:13:35
Speaker
Would you say that you're growing in generosity? If you think about it as a man, one of the things that's pretty well accepted is that a man should be the provider for his family.
00:13:49
Speaker
You know, I believe biblical manhood is a call to be a provider for a family. But it's just that, you know, are you willing to say out of all the money that I work hard for, I'm going to share some with my wife.
00:14:04
Speaker
I'm going to share some with my children. I'm going to share some with my grandchildren. I think that's that's remarkable. Have you ever read about the founder of the restaurant a chain called Chick-fil-A?
00:14:17
Speaker
Truett Cathy passed away at 93 years of age. But do you know what he did? Every Sunday, Truett Cathy taught 13-year-old boys in Sunday school for 50 years.
00:14:31
Speaker
It's just amazing how much of the money that he made you know from all these Chick-fil-A restaurants and how he invested it in the families of his workers.
00:14:43
Speaker
It's incredible. You should read about it sometimes. You know, 2 Corinthians 9, 6 through 8 tells us that God, God loves a cheerful giver.
00:14:54
Speaker
Proverbs 11, 25 says that a generous soul will be made rich. That doesn't make sense, does it? I mean, you would think that you're going to have to be a miser if you want to be rich.
00:15:07
Speaker
But this verse says in Proverbs 11, 25, no, someone who cares about others enough to help them a little bit along the way, That guy's going somewhere.
00:15:18
Speaker
He's going to have even more. Proverbs 19, 17 says, generous to the poor, lends to the Lord, and he will pay back what he has given.
00:15:29
Speaker
I thought that was interesting. So now it's like God's being involved here. When he sees me help out someone who's needy, then he says, you know what? I'm going to repay you for that.
00:15:40
Speaker
I thought that was pretty cool. And then Proverbs 22, 9 says, the generous eye will be blessed. I believe this centurion had a generous eye.
00:15:51
Speaker
I believe he cared. He cared enough to say, you know what? Out of the money that I work hard for, there's a certain portion of it that I'm going to set aside and I'm going to help someone else that needs help.
00:16:04
Speaker
You know, 1 Timothy 6, verses 17, 18, and is a great passage on money. And one of the things it said is says is, we should be ready to give, willing to
The Importance of Humility
00:16:19
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share, as we read through that. There's nothing wrong with enjoying the money that you make.
00:16:25
Speaker
you know Like I said, i mean, we work hard for our money, so there's nothing wrong with enjoying the money that God has provided. But I wonder if God is not honored whenever we say, I will not only spend this money upon my own enjoyment.
00:16:42
Speaker
I will also take some of this money and I will invest it in God's kingdom. I will invest it in ah someone else who has not had the opportunities that I've had.
00:16:55
Speaker
I think that's a great way to ah to invest your life, to invest your resources and so forth. So I think that manhood should be not just about self.
00:17:07
Speaker
I think it should be about helping others and investing in others. So a man of generosity and not a man greed. But then I would go on to say a fourth thing.
00:17:18
Speaker
I think that we should also say, God, please help me to be a man of humility not a man of haughtiness. If there's one thing God expects in the man he blesses and uses, it is humility, not haughtiness.
00:17:37
Speaker
Even the apostle Paul himself says in 1 Corinthians 15, 9, that he is the least of the apostles. He says in Ephesians 3, 8, he is the least of all the saints.
00:17:52
Speaker
And in 1 Timothy 1, 15, He says, you know what? If you want to give me a name, why don't you call me the chief sinner? Man, that is some kind of humility. When I read through this passage in Luke 7, did you hear anything that struck you as being a glimpse at this man's genuine, authentic humility?
00:18:17
Speaker
One thing that stood out to me was in verse four, where all of these um Jewish elders, they're saying the one for whom he should do this is deserving.
00:18:29
Speaker
He's worthy. You know, that's what they said. He's worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation. And he is the one who built us our synagogue.
00:18:40
Speaker
And on and on they go, right? But then remember what Jesus, not Jesus, but the centurion sent his friend to tell Jesus in verse six.
00:18:50
Speaker
And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends saying to him, to Jesus, Lord, do not trouble yourself for I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof.
00:19:07
Speaker
Have you ever been around anyone that's truly prideful? Do you like being around a prideful person? Someone who is haughty and so forth? Have you ever been around anyone in your life who is very genuinely humble?
00:19:22
Speaker
I mean, they're just humble. it's They don't make life about themselves. That's the feeling I get about this man. I mean, I've only got this text. I don't know anything else about this man.
00:19:33
Speaker
But from this text, I can tell you what I know about him. He didn't make life about himself. Lord, do not trouble yourself for I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof.
00:19:45
Speaker
Wow. I think that's that's fascinating. It reminds me a lot of Simon Peter in Luke chapter five, verse eight. Whenever Jesus blesses his fishing trip and it's like two boats are beginning to sink because of all the blessings.
00:20:03
Speaker
And what does Peter do? Does he say, look what a great fisherman I am. No, you know what he does? He hits his knees and he says to Jesus, depart from me for I'm a sinful man, oh Lord.
00:20:19
Speaker
You know, it's like it all began to dawn on him. I can't believe how good God has been to me. And I'm so broken. I'm so sinful. I've made so many mistakes in my life.
00:20:32
Speaker
This man was not a proud man. I believe this man was a humble man. Maybe much like the centurion, this is yet another centurion that's found in Acts chapter 27, verses 3 and centurion named Julius says,
00:20:48
Speaker
but this centurion name julius And all of these people are ready to put the Apostle Paul to death. I mean, there's a shipwreck. And at this time, the Apostle Paul was considered a prisoner. He had been sharing the gospel and he was arrested for it. And so now, you know, he's going to be sent to Rome and they're going to see what they're going to do about him and all of these kind of things. But along the way, the ship breaks apart.
00:21:15
Speaker
But you know, this centurion named Julius, he was known for kindness. He was known for humility. And those soldiers said, we better put this guy to death because this guy is going to swim away and we'll never see him again. And we're supposed to be here for justice and so forth. But you know what?
00:21:35
Speaker
That centurion said, no, nobody dies today. Nobody dies today. We will get him to Rome, but not this way. We're not going to kill him ourselves.
00:21:45
Speaker
And so I
Faith as the Key Trait
00:21:46
Speaker
just thought, man, that guy, even though he was a centurion, look at him. Look at centurion named Julius. And look now at this centurion that is found in Luke chapter seven.
00:21:59
Speaker
Such a humble man. I'm not worthy for you to come to my house. Wow. You know, there's seven centurions in the New Testament. It would be worth your time to do a personal study on those centurions that are mentioned throughout the New Testament.
00:22:15
Speaker
There are quite a few lessons that we could learn from the centurions. But the primary lesson that we learn from this centurion in Luke chapter seven is not about those things that I've noticed sort of in passing. No, the main thing in verses eight and nine and 10, was this soldier's faith.
00:22:39
Speaker
He was a man of faith, not a man of the flesh. You know, he makes this statement of faith in verse seven. Let me read it to you. Therefore, I did not presume to come to you.
00:22:51
Speaker
He says this to Jesus by way of a friend, but say the word, Jesus, and let my servant be healed. Isn't that amazing? like a statement of the centurion's faith. He hasn't been following Jesus like the disciples.
00:23:09
Speaker
He hasn't been a part of the crowd. This is a busy commander of 100 men, and so he's not going to have time to go and follow Jesus.
00:23:19
Speaker
So he doesn't know everything, but he knows enough. He knows enough to say, say the word and let my servant be healed. Man, I just think that is an incredible statement of faith.
00:23:34
Speaker
And notice that he also takes a stand in faith. He takes a stand in faith, just saying, you know what? I would think that it works a lot like it does in the military.
00:23:50
Speaker
is what the centurion is thinking. And the centurion is saying, here's what I know from military military experience. For I too am a man set under authority with soldiers under me.
00:24:03
Speaker
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. You know what Jesus did when he heard that?
00:24:15
Speaker
He marveled at him. Turning to the crowd that followed him and said, I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.
00:24:26
Speaker
This man was a man of faith. His faith was a confessing faith. He made a statement of his faith, but also his was a standing faith.
00:24:36
Speaker
He didn't know a lot about how things work in the spiritual realm, but he knew how things worked in the realm of authority. And he said, you know what? If I, as a commander over these men, tell them what to do and they do it, I can only imagine that you, as the Son of God, you tell things what to do and those things do what you tell them to do.
00:25:03
Speaker
And that's why I think that he marveled. He marveled. You know, sometimes Jesus marveled at something else, not faith, but the lack of faith.
00:25:14
Speaker
If you were to go not to Luke's gospel, but to the gospel of Mark, in Mark chapter 6, verse 6, Jesus said about the people of Nazareth that he was marveling at their unbelief.
00:25:31
Speaker
He marveled at their unbelief. I wonder which would be said about us. Would we marvel at the greatness of God? Or would God say, I'm just astounded that after all I've done, all I've provided, the air I've provided, the water I've provided, my son who died on the cross for these people so that they could be forgiven for their sins, so their guilt could be released off of their shoulder.
00:25:59
Speaker
I'm so shocked. that they don't even believe me. I wonder sometimes if that's what God would say. He put together 66 books in our in our Bible.
00:26:11
Speaker
And I wonder if he is so surprised whenever it's like he doesn't see belief in our hearts. So may we be men who follow this man Of course, it wasn't just him. There was even another centurion who was at the cross when Jesus died. You remember him?
00:26:29
Speaker
In Luke 23, verse 47, it says that he glorified God when Jesus died, saying, certainly this was a righteous man.
00:26:42
Speaker
You know, that man also was a man of faith. I don't believe that Pilate was a man of faith. Pilate was the one who ordered Jesus to be scourged, to be whipped, and then to be crucified.
00:26:56
Speaker
But in John 18, verse 28 and following, it records how Jesus was brought before Pilate, falsely accused as an evildoer, cross-examined him, and then Pilate's verdict was, I find no fault in him at all, it says in verse 38.
00:27:16
Speaker
And so they were going to release ah you know a prisoner. And he wanted this a man named Barabbas, who was known to be a thief, a rebel, He wanted him to be released, but the crowd said no.
00:27:30
Speaker
And so Pilate had Jesus scourged, saying, I find no fault in him. But it's interesting in John ah chapter 19, verse 5, when he brings Jesus out before them, you know what he says about Jesus?
00:27:44
Speaker
And I think there's such depth here. Here's what he says about Jesus Christ, the carpenter, the Savior, the Son of God, who stands before us as the substitute for our sin. He stands on trial, guilty for things that he hadn't even done, falsely accused and so forth.
00:28:05
Speaker
He stands there bloody before these people. And Pilate says, behold the man. Let me say it one more time. Behold the man.
00:28:18
Speaker
If you want to know who was the manliest man who ever lived, I would say, behold the man, Jesus Christ.
00:28:30
Speaker
He is a true man's man. He died not for himself. He died not for wrongs that he had done. He died on the cross so that we could be forgiven for the wrongs that we have done.
00:28:46
Speaker
What a man. Let's pray together. Oh Lord, we're living in a very confusing day when a lot of our young people are being confused, even some older people being confused over what it means to be a man.
00:29:00
Speaker
But I thank you for how you take your word and you recalibrate us. You can reset our thinking so that we can move in the direction towards something that would be impressive manhood in your eyes, something that you would find to be honorable and glorifying.
00:29:20
Speaker
Oh, Lord Jesus, we know that you were a man. and you laid down your life for others. May we do that.
Closing Prayer and Father's Day Wishes
00:29:27
Speaker
May we be like this centurion that we read about today.
00:29:31
Speaker
Lord, bless all of our dads. It's not easy to be a dad today. So would you encourage them? Would you strengthen them? Would you let them see how ah faithful you are?
00:29:43
Speaker
Let them see how good and gracious and merciful you are? Let them know that you're wise and they can trust you. May they follow you in all your ways.
00:29:54
Speaker
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Listen, you have a happy Father's Day. Thanks again for listening.
00:30:06
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.