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Christ Community Chapel is a church in Hudson, OH, that invites people to reimagine life because of Jesus. Learn more about us at ccchapel.com.
Luke seven one through ten.
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,
and was highly valued by him.
When the centurion heard about Jesus,
he sent to him elders of the Jews,
asking 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,
and he is the one who built us.
Our synagogue.
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.
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 under authority,
with soldiers under me.
And I say to one, go,
and he goes, and to another come.
And he comes into my servant, do this,
and he does it.
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.
And when those who had been sent
returned to the house, they found the
servant, well.
What if I
told you that one thing you almost
never want to be said about you
is actually the key to you
encountering and experiencing
and growing in a relationship with God?
The thing that you absolutely
do not want to be true of you
is actually the key.
What I have in mind here is helplessness.
That's
what we're talking about this weekend.
Helplessness.
It's probably true
that one of the things you at least once
said about you is that you are helpless,
that you're needy,
that you can't take care of yourself.
You're not self-sufficient.
I mean, we don't say this out loud
because we're
polite people, but needy people,
people who can't take care of themselves
and kind of drive us crazy.
We don't want to be them.
That's why one of the most American
religious statements
is the belief that God helps those
who help themselves see, you know it
because it makes sense to us, because
we assume if we don't like needy people,
maybe God doesn't either.
But actually the passage
we're going to look at this weekend
tells us it's the opposite.
Only the needy, only
the helpless
actually get to experience God.
That in this series on
Jesus the Redeemer, we're looking in
the Gospel of Luke how Jesus sets us free
from different things.
Helplessness is a little unique.
He can set us free from helplessness.
But first he wants to lead us
into helplessness.
That's
what I want to show you this weekend.
If you have a Bible with you, take it out
and open it to Luke chapter seven.
We're going to look at the first
ten verses.
Take out your phone, your tablet,
however you want to get there.
Hey, if you're here and you didn't think
to bring a Bible or maybe aren't
super familiar with the Bible,
first of all, I'm so glad you're here.
It's a great weekend for you to be here,
and everything that happens
this weekend is as much for you
as it is for me.
The words
I reference will be on the screen
behind me, but if you want to hold
something in your hand, there's a Bible
in the pew in front of you.
Here in the West service
or in the back of the room
in East service,
and actually preach from that Bible
so that I can tell you
today's reading is on page 811.
So if you want to participate in that way,
pull that out open to 811.
But however you're getting there,
let me hold out to you an outline.
I'm going to use to guide our time
together.
Three very simple points.
And they go like this
I want to talk about the need,
the source and the
question, the need,
the source and the question.
All right. Let's start with the first one,
the need.
This story is about a guy
that I really think you're going to like.
He's just called the Centurion.
He is a soldier.
And when you think of this guy,
you're probably thinking
of a guy who was one of those funny hats
and a red cape and,
and a spear,
you know, the typical Roman soldier.
And I guess
he probably had all those things.
But this guy was.
He was more than that.
The word centurion implies
that he had at least a hundred men
in his command.
Centurion century 100.
That's the reference.
He commanded 100 men.
Centurions were noncommissioned officers.
Meaning,
he had worked his way up from a basic
soldier to now commanding 100 guys.
There's
only one way to do that, by the way.
He was really good in battle.
He was courageous.
He was tough.
He could definitely have taken you
in a fight.
That's who he was.
He was a man's man,
a guy's guy, an action hero.
He was a soldier of great renown.
He was an officer, a commander.
And centurions made about 15 times
the annual salary of a regular soldier.
So he's doing pretty good for himself.
I mean, this guy is not just tough
and smart and capable.
He's wealthy.
He is an officer in the most powerful army
in the whole world.
He would be a member at the club.
You wish you could be a member at.
He would drive a great car.
He would live in a great neighborhood.
He's one of those guys
that would ooze wealth and success.
The kind of guy you half admire?
Half.
Hey, that's who this guy is.
But also, he was politically savvy.
When he sends emissaries to Jesus to ask
Jesus for help.
He sends Jewish messengers.
That's because Jesus was Jewish,
and this guy is a Roman.
He's an oppressor.
The Romans are oppressing
the Jews at this point in history.
And so he's not sure if a Jewish guy
is going to want to help a Roman soldier.
So he sends Jewish messengers.
And what they tell
Jesus is, hey, you need to help this guy.
He's one of the good ones.
He actually built our synagogue,
which means this guy is savvy
about the fundraisers he goes to, right?
He gives the right check.
That one hit a little close to home.
You guys.
You guys chuckled at that.
He sends the right
check to the right charity.
When you go by the Jewish synagogue,
his name is on the cornerstone
thanks to Roman Centurion
from Luke chapter seven.
He's that kind of guy. He.
These are people he's oppressing
who are vouching for him.
That's how savvy he is.
Okay,
so with all that in mind, let's now read
the first couple of verses,
Luke chapter seven, verse one.
Here's what it says.
After he had finished all his sayings, the
he here, by the way, is Jesus
in the hearing of the people
he entered Capernaum.
Now a centurion had a servant
who was sick,
and at the point of death
he was highly valued by him.
And when the centurion heard about Jesus,
he sent to him
elders of the Jews,
asking 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.
He's the one who built us our synagogue.
Think I want you to see is
this guy is smart.
He is talented.
He is tough. He is capable, guys guy.
He's savvy, he's self-sufficient,
and he is utterly and completely helpless.
He has a servant who is sick.
Now, in the original language,
this implies not just any servant, but
a young boy.
He has a young boy who who he owns,
who works for him, who is sick.
In Matthew's version of this story,
he says the centurion says he is suffering
terribly,
meaning he's watching this young boy die.
If you were a young boy
who is suffering and dying,
and you work for
one of the most powerful men in the world,
when you looked up at that man
in your dying, what would you say to him?
Surely you can help me,
sir. You're so powerful.
You're so rich.
You're so smart, you're so savvy.
You're so capable. Sir, please.
I'm dying.
Please help me with this guy.
Couldn't.
Because money didn't fix this influence
didn't fix this success
professionally doesn't
fix this club membership.
Fundraising checks couldn't solve this.
Here's the thing. You like this Centurion.
I know you do.
Some of you are this guy.
Others of
you are trying to become this guy.
He's everything we value.
He's as American as you can get.
2000 years before there was an America.
And he's utterly helpless.
You see, this story is teaching us right
off the bat that no matter who you are,
no matter how rich, how powerful,
how successful, how savvy, how
self-sufficient, you will inevitably come
to a moment in life
where you are utterly helpless.
But what I want you to see is that maybe
that's not a bad thing.
I mean, I know in moments of helplessness
we tend to say things like,
God, where are you?
God, don't you care?
God, don't you see? God,
what are you doing?
It's okay to say those things,
but I want you to keep in mind that
if this story never happens,
we still have the Gospel of Luke, right?
If this story never happens,
Jesus is still going to live senselessly,
die sacrificially, and rise victoriously.
This story doesn't change
what happens with Jesus.
It just make sure the
centurion doesn't miss Jesus.
Do you see that
without this moment of helplessness,
this guy isn't part of the story of Jesus?
Without helplessness, we might live
our whole lives without reference to God.
Without helplessness,
we may never ask God, where are you?
We may never ask God, do you see me? God?
Do you care?
What if helplessness
isn't a reason to doubt God?
What if helplessness is a reason
to believe
that God maybe is getting your attention?
That was true for this guy.
But if it's true for him,
why couldn't it be true for you?
And isn't it true that in your experiences
with helplessness,
usually you find yourself
reaching for God?
Really, no matter
how you think of yourself, an atheist,
religious, Christian, whatever
you might call yourself, in those moments,
you try something like,
hey God, if you're out there,
would you help?
Because those moments awaken us
to the reality of God.
They awaken us to the idea that maybe
we could be part of the story of God,
but man do they pass quickly.
Most of us are familiar
with that cycle, right?
You get low in a moment of helplessness.
You pray to God.
The moment passes, you move on.
Makes me think of the story of the guy
who's late for an appointment,
and he's driving around the parking lot
trying to find a spot.
So finally he says, God,
if you'll give me a parking spot,
I will go to church every day for a year
and the spot opens up in the front
and he goes, nevermind.
God found one.
Tell me you can't identify with that.
Friends, I want you to understand that
helplessness is what ultimately is going
to include this guy in the story of Jesus.
It is ultimately what's going to include
this young boy and the story of of Jesus.
What is your current problem?
Is not the sign that God doesn't care
what if it is the way
he is bringing you into his story?
What if that marriage that is crumbling,
that rebellious teenager, the
the search for a jobs,
the desire to kick that addiction?
What if the problem that maybe even
for the first time in a long time
brought you here
this weekend is like Romans.
I mean, Luke seven and the Roman soldier
is just God bringing you into his story.
What if neediness is not a bad thing?
Well, the only way that could
be true for my second
point is if there's a source
that you can go to to meet that need,
this guy reaches out to Jesus and he's
asking two fundamental questions, right?
The same two questions that you and I
wrestle with in our moment of neediness.
And that is, can God
help me and will God help me?
The first is a question of power,
a question of ability.
The second is
maybe a question of interest.
Is there a God? And if so, can he help?
And even if he can help,
is he inclined to help?
I don't know if you've ever thought
about it, but when you cry out
to God in your moment of helplessness,
that's what you're really asking.
This guy, by the way,
is utterly convinced of the first one.
He never doubt Jesus. His ability to heal.
He's heard about Jesus.
The the Bible says somehow he's he's heard
about stories of Jesus doing miracles.
He never wavers.
That's why
Jesus says he has such great faith.
He knows Jesus can do it.
He isn't sure Jesus will do it.
That's
why he sends Jewish guys to vouch for him.
Let me ask you in your current
understanding of God,
do you believe he can help people?
Do you believe he will?
That's why you have to see
that verse six in just a few short
words is life changing if you let it be.
Verse six says this And Jesus went
with them.
You know, it's entirely possible.
This guy sends Jewish guys
to Jesus and says, hey, will you help?
And Jesus says, no.
It's entirely possible that Jesus says,
not for a Roman,
not for a soldier, not for an oppressor.
I got other sick people to take care of.
I'm too tired.
You're too bad.
But he doesn't.
The Bible just says,
and he went with them.
You see,
Jesus is an invitation to this idea.
There is a God who can help you
and that God is interested in helping you.
God can and God will.
This story is an invitation for you
in your neediness for me,
in my helplessness to go to God.
It's an invitation
to bring that rebellious teenager to
to bring your broken marriage,
your addiction, whatever it is
that you're facing, to bring it to God
and say, God, I'm hopeful that you can.
I'm hopeful that you will.
Jesus says, this guy has great faith,
but he's only fully convinced
of the first one.
The second one he's iffy on.
But he knows this.
What I can't do for myself,
I believe Jesus can.
Do you think that? Let me put it to you
this way.
You know I have five kids.
How could you not know that?
I talk about it all the time,
but in my family, I am the know guy.
Do you know what I mean?
Like, if you want to. Yes. You go to mom.
If you want to know.
I don't know why you would,
but if you do, you come to me.
Especially when it comes to money, okay?
Especially when it comes.
I love to say no to things
involving money.
I tell my kids all the time, I'm
trying to say yes to college,
so I'm saying no to ice cream.
Okay, I can't say yes to both.
I, I'm I'm always saying no.
So I imagine
sometimes my kids are discussing
how best to approach me
in their moment of need.
Like one kid is saying to another, like,
mom said, I have to ask dad.
I don't really want to.
And I imagine that sometimes, maybe
not always.
Sometimes one kid decides to vouch for me.
Okay,
and how do you think they would do that?
Well, they would point to all the things
I've done in the past, right?
They would say, no, no, no, it's good
you should ask that.
When I needed this for lacrosse, remember
he came through.
Remember when we were on vacation?
It was really hot.
We all wanted lemonade. And he.
This doesn't sound like me
at all, by the way.
And he got it for us.
Like, you can go to dad sometimes, you
know, here he likes to do stuff for us.
You can go to dad.
They would be saying,
hey, let me tell you the stories I've
experience in order to give you courage,
the dad can and will. Friends
hear me on this?
Hear me on this?
That's exactly what the gospels are.
I know, I know, guys like me
are always telling you to read the Bible,
read the Bible,
and sometimes you just think
we're telling you
to read it for its own sake,
like there's a merit badge in heaven.
And if you read enough, you get it.
But what I'm telling you is
the gospels,
the stories of Jesus, the miracles
of Jesus, the affection of Jesus,
the Jesus who shows us a God
who can help us and will help us
are there because they are God Himself,
giving you reasons to come to him
in your moment of need.
That's why you got to see these
these couple of words and Jesus went with
them, is an invitation to you.
At the end of the service.
We'll have a prayer team down here
and they'll be ready to pray with you.
Listen, if Jesus would go with this guy,
why wouldn't he go with you?
Bring your
problems, bring your concerns,
bring your struggles.
Bring your questions.
Because the Bible tells us
there's a God who can and will help us.
And I know what you're thinking,
which is why that's my third point.
The question
I know the question that's on your mind.
But what if he doesn't?
That's been on my mind, too this week.
You know, people sometimes ask me, Zach,
what is preaching like?
And I always say that
it's like you have a test every week.
You remember in school
when you had a test coming up,
it's like, I have a test
every Thursday and Sunday, and
and sometimes I'm studying,
sometimes I'm not studying,
but I always feel like
I should be studying, right?
Like like I may not be all the way
prepared, which is why I love that Pastor
Joe and I tend to take turns
every other week because I'm never more
relaxed than Sunday afternoon
after I just preached.
Okay, because I got a little bit of time
for the next test.
Not this past Sunday, though,
because I'm preaching two weeks in a row.
So this past
Sunday I went to a Cavs game
with some of my friends, which was great.
But while we're there,
at least part of my brain
is working on the sermon
because Thursday is always coming.
Okay, so my head is kind of spinning,
and I know
I'm going to preach on helplessness.
And I'm thinking through,
you know, in between watching the Portland
Trailblazers be helpless
in defeating the Cavaliers, I'm wrestling
with this question of helplessness.
And at this game, there was a giveaway.
They were giving away a bobblehead.
And I'm looking at my bobblehead.
And it hit me,
because this bobblehead
is not of a player.
This is of Nick Gilbert.
Dan Gilbert son
Dan Gilbert
is the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Nick Gilbert is
his son who has passed away.
He had, fatal disease.
And the bobblehead
is pointing to the incredible foundation
they've established, support
research for that disease.
A really cool thing.
Really great way of honoring him.
But it hit me
all of a sudden, I'm looking at this
and I'm going,
I wonder if the Gilberts were here
this weekend,
how they would hear this sermon.
Hey, helplessness is a good thing
because when you go to Jesus,
he can and will help you.
You don't think the Gilberts prayed?
I mean, I don't know if they're religious,
but even if they're not,
you know, they prayed,
you know, they prayed.
And the thing is, it's not just
about their story and their bobblehead.
You probably have your own
bobblehead,
your own moment where you went
to God in your neediness
and you believed or
tried to believe that he could help you
and he would help you, and he didn't.
And maybe even if you haven't
had that moment, what's been holding
you back from really buying
into this message is, what if he doesn't?
Because the deep question of our hearts
is, if I go to God in my helplessness,
if if he if I believe he can help me
and he will help me and he doesn't
help me, what does that mean?
Does he love me?
Do you know what's interesting is that
in this story, God does come through.
In this story, Jesus does do the miracle.
The little boy is healed.
But you know what's also interesting to me
is that even though this centurion
gets what he asks for, he's
wrestling with the same question.
Let me show you this.
It's a fascinating thing in the passage.
Let's pick it up again in verse six.
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 am not worthy to have
you come under my roof.
Therefore
I did not presume to come to you,
but say the word, let my servant
be healed, for
I too am a man set under authority
with soldiers under me.
And I say to one, go,
and he goes into another, come.
And he comes into my servant, do this,
and he does it.
I want you to see the amazing reality here
that will show you your heart and mind.
This guy is utterly convinced
that Jesus can heal his servant.
He is utterly convinced
that Jesus can bring this little boy back
from almost the dead.
The one thing he could never believe
is that Jesus would love him.
It is easier to believe
God can heal you than love you.
Because this guy's a soldier.
You don't think he has guilt.
You don't think he has shame.
You think you can give enough money
to ease your conscience
of being an oppressor?
Even if the people you oppress decide
you're good?
This guy says Jesus.
It never even entered my mind
that you would come to my house.
But you see, that's the greatest miracle
Jesus is going to do in Luke seven.
You can't understand the story
until you see that the greatest miracle
Jesus is going to do for this centurion
and for this little boy, is not healing.
This boy.
The greatest miracle he's going to do
is he's going to tell this centurion,
I have come to do more than that.
I've come to live sinless in your place.
If you go to the cross and become
the soldier, become the oppressor,
become the violent man,
become the guy with the anger problem,
and to come up under the wrath
and judgment of God and to give my life
as a sacrifice for your sin, to die
three days later, to rise from the dead,
ascend into heaven.
And when God speaks your name on the day
of judgment, I will vouch for you.
If you could talk to the centurion
right now in heaven.
And you said to him,
what's the most incredible thing
God has ever done for you?
He wouldn't even think
of mentioning the story.
Because this is the second
most incredible thing
God ever did for him.
Because in Jesus, God
convinced the centurion
that he loves him.
This guy has faith, but it's too small
faith for miracles,
not faith for the miracle of God's love.
Listen, friends, Jesus came
so that you would know God loves you
regardless of whether he gives you
the miracle or not.
You see, the great news of the gospel
is that we don't measure God's love.
And whether he answers our prayer with a
yes like in Luke seven or with a
no like in this story or so many others,
who knows why God does what he does.
I wouldn't even try to guess
his ways are beyond me.
But I can tell you the one thing
we never have to guess about,
and that is whether he loves us.
You see, your ultimate helplessness
and mine
is not our rebellious teenager,
or our marriage or our sickness.
It is the separation
we experience between ourselves and God.
And if we go to Jesus,
he will cleanse us,
forgive us, love
us, and connect us to God.
What if the helplessness
that brought you in this weekend
is the beginning
of your intersection with that God?
Let me pray for us. Father God,
thank you for the story of the centurion.
It is a story for Northeast Ohio.
It is a story for the suburbs.
Rich, successful,
good looking, savvy people
still are utterly helpless
in life's most crucial moments,
still utterly helpless
before your judgment.
Which is why you sent Jesus.
God, help us to see our helplessness
and help us to take it to Jesus.
The one source who can answer
the deepest question of our hearts
and his name we pray. Amen.