He Deserves It
Luke 1:1-10
June 13, 2004
Pastor Gary Buss
The popular Christian writer, Max Lucado, tells the story of two prowlers, who broke into a large department store. After they successfully entered the building, they stayed long enough to do what they came to do and then escaped unnoticed. What’s unusual about the story is that they stole nothing – absolutely nothing. No merchandise was taken, no items were removed. Instead of stealing anything, they changed the cost of everything. Price tags were swapped. Values were exchanged. These clever pranksters took the tag off a $395 camera and put it on a $5 box of stationery. The $5.95 sticker on a paperback book was removed and placed on an outboard motor. They repriced everything in the store. But the craziest part about the story is what happened the next morning. The store opened as usual. Employees went to work and customers came in to shop. The place functioned as normal for four hours, before anyone noticed what had happened. Four hours! Some people got some great bargains and others got fleeced. But for four solid hours no one noticed that the values had been swapped!
What a strange story. Things that were worth a great deal, suddenly were worth very little. And things that were worthless were all of a sudden very valuable. Which raises an interesting question – how can you truly tell what something is worth? Essentially, that was the question in our Gospel lesson for this morning – the story of the Centurion, whose servant was sick. According to our text, the Centurion sent some Jewish elders to ask Jesus for help. And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with Him earnestly, saying: “THIS MAN DESERVES TO HAVE YOU DO THIS, BECAUSE HE LOVES OUR NATION AND HAS BUILT OUR SYNAGOGUE.” In other words, because the Centurion had built their synagogue, he was a ‘good man’ and for that reason they thought he deserved Jesus’ help. In fact, the word ‘deserve’ actually means: ‘to be worthy,’ and refers to the weighing of coins, to see that they’re valuable. Well, to the Jews in our text this man was very valuable, because he had done so many good deeds.
Oddly enough, the Centurion had a very different opinion about himself. For when Jesus was close to his home, he sent a message to Him, saying: “LORD, DON’T TROUBLE YOURSELF, FOR I DO NOT DESERVE TO HAVE YOU COME UNDER MY ROOF. THAT IS WHY I DID NOT EVEN CONSIDER MYSELF WORTHY TO COME TO YOU!” You see, the Centurion was a very humble man. He didn’t think that he himself was worthy or deserving of Jesus’ mercy and help! The interesting thing is that he used a little different word than the Jews did. He literally said that he was not ‘sufficient enough’ to have Jesus come to him. It’s the same word John the Baptist used, when he said we was unworthy to stoop down and untie Jesus’ sandals. It meant not only that He wasn’t worthy or deserving, but that he could never do enough good things to make himself pleasing to God.
Let me ask you this – which of those two attitudes do you and I have? Are we like the Jewish leaders, thinking that because we’ve done something good we deserve a gift from God? Or are we like the Centurion, humbly believing that we are not worthy to have Jesus come under our roof? I think too many times we are more like the Jewish leaders, proudly thinking that we deserve God’s gifts. For instance, we may think that because we’ve never committed a murder, never robbed a bank, never gotten busted for drugs that that somehow makes us worthy – worthy of God’s love, worthy to enter eternal life, worthy to go to heaven. Or we might be tempted to think that because we give generously to missions, because we wear ourselves down taking care of our family or volunteering at church or doing some other ‘good deed,’ that God owes us something, that we deserve His blessings.
However, the Bible says that the only thing we deserve is God’s anger and punishment, eternal shame and condemnation in hell, because we are all born sinners. In the words of Romans 1:29-32, “THEY ARE FILLED WITH ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, WICKEDNESS, MALICE, GREED, FULL OF ENVY, STRIFE, AND GOSSIP; THEY ARE SLANDERERS, INSOLENT, ARROGANT, BOASTFUL AND DISOBEDIENT TO PARENTS. THOSE WHO PRACTICE SUCH THINGS ARE WORTHY ONLY OF DEATH!” It’s like when we see a criminal get his comeuppance and we say: “He deserves it!” Well, according to Scripture that’s the only thing we deserve from God for our sin – His divine comeuppance, which is His rejection for all eternity!
Thankfully, though, that is not what we receive. Instead of giving us what we deserve, God, for Jesus’ sake, gives us what He deserves – namely life, joy, peace, hope, glory, salvation and every other blessing. Like the Centurion in our text, He treats us with mercy and compassion, even though we don’t deserve it. He could’ve said to the Centurion, “You’re absolutely right – you’re not worthy. So I’m just going to go on home and let your servant die!” But Jesus didn’t do that. He healed the servant and rescued him from death.
It’s important to note, that when our text says the servant was sick, the word for ‘sickness’ actually means: ‘having evil.’ And when it says that Jesus healed him, the word ‘heal’ means: ‘to bring someone safely through the danger.’ Well, my friends that’s precisely what Jesus has done for you and me. By His death on the cross He has taken away the evil of our sin and healed our souls. And by His resurrection on Easter He has brought us safely through the danger of death and hell into the protection of His heavenly kingdom – all as a gift by faith in His name. Which is why, like the Centurion, we need to put our full trust and confidence daily in Jesus. As the Centurion said to Him: “LORD, JUST SAY THE WORD, AND MY SERVANT WILL BE HEALED. FOR I MYSELF AM A MAN UNDER AUTHORITY, WITH SOLDIERS UNDER ME. I TELL THIS ONE, ‘GO! AND HE GOEST, AND THAT ONE ‘COME’ AND HE COMES. AND I SAY TO MY SERVANT, ‘DO THIS,’ AND HE DOES IT.”
What an amazing example of saving faith. And it gives us beautiful picture of Jesus’ authority over sin, death and hell. Like the Centurion, He too is a man of authority. As a matter of fact, Jesus is the ultimate Man of Authority with servants under Him to do His bidding. For instance, He says to our sins, ‘Go!’ and they go. They’re out of there, gone forever, washed completely away in the blood He shed on the cross. They duck their tail between their legs and slink away never to return. Likewise, He says to His comfort and peace, ‘Come!’ and they come to us, giving us the reassurance that we no longer have to be worried or afraid of His punishment, because He took our punishment for us on Calvary. And finally, He says to our soul: ‘Believe this!’ and it believes. Yes, He is the One who gives us saving faith, by the power of the Holy Spirit – the same kind of amazing faith that the Centurion had. And it is that gift of faith in Jesus, which makes us worthy in His sight. For although by ourselves we are not worthy to have Him come under our roof, He comes anyway. He not only comes under our roof, He comes to dwell inside of us in our Baptism, to give us saving faith. And that’s what makes us worthy of forgiveness, life and salvation – deserving of all the spiritual blessings He pours out upon us.
A passenger jet was traveling through a severe thunderstorm. As the passengers were being bounced around by the turbulence, a young woman turned to the minister sitting next to her and with a nervous laugh asked, “Reverend, you’re a man of God, can’t you do something about this storm?” To which he replied, “Lady, I’m in marketing, not management.”
Dear friends, how good it is to know that we’re not in management – God is! He’s the One, who is in control of our lives. He has authority over all our sins and problems, worries and cares and He takes care of them perfectly and completely, just like He did for the Centurion. Our job is simply to market it, that is, to share it with others, by witnessing His name, wherever He gives us the opportunity. By talking to our friends and neighbors about Jesus and inviting them to church with us. By coming to our apologetics conferences so that we are equipped to give a defense of our Christian faith, and joining our Evangelism Committee for street evangelism so that we can share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Above all, by giving Him the praise and honor and glory for all the wonderful things He has done for us. For He truly does deserve it! Amen.
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06/28/2004