Power and Authority

Jeremy Robinson

Kingdom Come (Matthew) • Sermon • Submitted 23 days ago • Presented a month ago

A Centurion Displays Faith in Jesus

0 ratings

· 1 view

Notes

Transcript

A Man of Miracles

What if I told you I know about a man who could heal the diseases and physical struggles that plague us, our families, our friends, and our world?

What if I told you I know about a man who could stop a storm with just a word; or who could calm the winds with a raise of his hands?

What if I told you I know of a man who can cause the forces of evil that we read about in the news, see around us in our world, and maybe even experience in our own minds and bodies to shudder in fear and flee at the sound of His voice?

I would imagine most, if not all of us, would want to hear more about such man.

We would want to know His name, where we could find Him, and how we could experience the power He possess in our lives.

This is the man Matthew introduces readers to in chapters 8 and 9.

Over the course of these 2 chapters, Matthew shares 10 miracles that Jesus performs during His ministry.

These aren’t likely in chronological order, but are chosen by Matthew for a purpose, namely to show the authority of Jesus, the Son of God/Son of Man, over every aspect of life in our world.

Chapter 7 ended with a recognition of Jesus’s authority to teach

Matthew 7:28–29 CSB

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 because he was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like their scribes.

And now Matthew wants us to see Jesus’s power and authority to heal, calm, overcome, and restore.

The question I want to work through today is “how should we respond to the authority of Jesus?”

We are going to see three responses to Jesus’s authority in this passage and we are going to spend our time this morning looking at each of them.

How to respond to the authority of Jesus?

Matthew 8 CSB

1 When he came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him. 2 Right away a man with leprosy came up and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 3 Reaching out his hand, Jesus touched him, saying, “I am willing; be made clean.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 Then Jesus told him, “See that you don’t tell anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” 5 When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, pleading with him, 6 “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible agony.” 7 He said to him, “Am I to come and heal him?” 8 “Lord,” the centurion replied, “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man under authority, having soldiers under my command. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” 10 Hearing this, Jesus was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with so great a faith. 11 I tell you that many will come from east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 Then Jesus told the centurion, “Go. As you have believed, let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that very moment. 14 Jesus went into Peter’s house and saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. 15 So he touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and began to serve him. 16 When evening came, they brought to him many who were demon-possessed. He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick, 17 so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: He himself took our weaknesses and carried our diseases. 18 When Jesus saw a large crowd around him, he gave the order to go to the other side of the sea. 19 A scribe approached him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 21 “Lord,” another of his disciples said, “first let me go bury my father.” 22 But Jesus told him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” 23 As he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. 24 Suddenly, a violent storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves—but Jesus kept sleeping. 25 So the disciples came and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to die!” 26 He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. 27 The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey him!” 28 When he had come to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him as they came out of the tombs. They were so violent that no one could pass that way. 29 Suddenly they shouted, “What do you have to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” 30 A long way off from them, a large herd of pigs was feeding. 31 “If you drive us out,” the demons begged him, “send us into the herd of pigs.” 32 “Go!” he told them. So when they had come out, they entered the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the water. 33 Then the men who tended them fled. They went into the city and reported everything, especially what had happened to those who were demon-possessed. 34 At that, the whole town went out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.

Miracles like we read about in this chapter are confusing and are often hard to understand how they fit into how we view and understand our world.

There is a man suffering from a really awful skin condition that caused him real physical pain, but also caused him to be shunned from society.

And Jesus heals him with a touch.

There is a powerful Roman Centurion whose servant is paralyzed and in pain

And without even going to his home, Jesus heals the servant.

He just proclaims that the man would be healed, and he is.

Then there is Peter’s mother-in-law whose was suffering from a fever.

With a touch of her hand, Jesus heals her as well.

Each of these accounts are of really tough life circumstances, of which we are familiar with.

We all know people who are fighting sickness, dealing with debilitating pain, or facing struggles in their lives that could really use a miracle.

I think it is safe to say that most of us in this room would believe, at least to some extent, that miracles like these are possible in our world, that Jesus is able to heal, calm, and cast out.

But our struggle is in believing how we are to respond to that knowledge of His authority.

Can we ask Jesus to heal? Should we ask Jesus to heal? And what should we expect from Him if we do?

One of the clear points Matthew is making about Jesus is that He is ABLE to heal and has the authority to overcome all suffering.

But these first accounts show us something about the heart of those who are asking.

Notice the commonality between the first 2 accounts.

2 “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

8 “Lord,” the centurion replied, “I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

Both of these men come to Jesus, not with expectation, but with faith.

They believed Jesus was able to heal, and so they came to Him in faith, asking if He would do it.

They were submitting themselves to the one they BELIEVED had the power and authority to make right what was broken.

This is the first response we can see in this passage.

We respond to Jesus’s authority...

1) With SUBMITTED FAITH. (8:1-17)

You might ask the question “Why wouldn’t Jesus be willing to heal?”

We know the Bible says He is loving, compassionate, kind, and able, why then would He not heal?

We see that He is willing in these examples, but we also know there are countless other examples where it seems Jesus wasn’t willing.

Is it a matter of the way we ask?

It is about the words we use or don’t use?

It is about the amount of faith we ask with? How can we even gauge that?

Those are real questions, and the answer isn’t about methods or the right amount of something.

The answer is faith, a submitted faith.

Matthew chooses these 3 healing stories because of the three people who make up these stories.

Each of them represent a despised, rejected, and unworthy part of Jewish society.

It wasn’t because they asked a certain way, or had special access to God in some way.

It was because Jesus wanted to show something particularly powerful about the Kingdom of God.

He wanted us to see that He came to heal more than just a city, or a particular people group, or a certain nation.

Jesus came to heal the world.

Jesus’s mission isn’t simply to heal the world from temporary pain and suffering.

Every one of those healed in this story ended up dying in the end.

Rather, He came to heal the world completely—physically, spiritually, socially…and to heal the world permanently, eternally, not just for now.

That is the point of the miracles of Jesus, to pull back the vale and show us a glimpse of heaven, of His Kingdom.

So here’s a couple of truths I want to leave us with on this point:

We can and should pray for God to do miraculous things.

For Him to heal those that are sick, to restore sight to the blind, to fix broken things in our lives.

And we should ask all those things believing that He is able to do all of them.

Second, we should know that for those who are in Christ, who are Christians, that His answer is ALWAYS yes.

It is either yes right now, which many of us have/will experience.

Or is it yes later, when we leave this broken world and are welcomed into our heavenly home.

Regardless, your cancer will be healed, your pain will be taken away, and the suffering we face now will not last forever.

Finally, for those outside of Christ, who do not believe in Jesus, their only hope is for healing now.

I follow a couple on YouTube who vlog about their travel and building projects.

Recently, the lady found out she has stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, which is a really bad diagnosis.

They have shared before that they are spiritual, but do not believe in Jesus.

So in her announcement she talked about the importance of visualizing healthy and happiness for their family.

What hit me, and broke my heart for them, was that her only hope was for her to be healed here and now. That the thought of her not winning the battle with cancer was something she had to force out of her mind.

What I so want to share with them is that there is hope beyond this world, there is hope beyond the suffering, the pain, the loss, and the heartache.

And that hope is in Jesus! A submitted faith in Him.

Submitted faith in the Authority of Jesus.

2) With UNCONDITIONAL TRUST. (8:18-22)

The next section almost seems like it doesn’t fit into the rest of the chapter.

Jesus shares 3 healing accounts, then these 2 interactions, then back to 3 more miracle stories.

But when we consider Matthew’s theme of Jesus authority, these verse fit perfectly.

I think we can assume these two men had been following Jesus at least for some time, but were all in yet.

They had heard Him teach, experiencing His authority in Word.

They had witnessed Him heal and cast out demons, experiencing His authority in work.

And so the first man comes to Jesus, committing to follow Jesus wherever he would go.

But Jesus’s response reveals something about the man.

Had he really weighed out what that kind of commitment meant for him?

Did he really understand who Jesus is?

Jesus had no faith in this man’s “faith” because he knew that at the heart of this scribe’s bold declaration was self- love, not self-denial, and a desire for power, not a willingness to be powerless

He had seen in Jesus an opportunity to get what HE wanted, not to know and follow Jesus, regardless of what he might lose.

And then another man comes to Jesus, willing to follow Him, but not until he can go and bury his dad.

It is commonly believed the man wasn’t asking to go to his dad’s funeral, or spend the last few days with his dad before he passed.

Rather, it seems the man is asking to stay with his family until his dad dies so that he can get the inheritance that is coming to him.

Like the scribe, he loves the idea of following Jesus, all the benefits that seem to be there, but only on his own terms, without giving up the things he loves in this world.

Jesus is worthy of unconditional trust. By following Him, you may lose everything in this world.

You don’t come to Jesus to get stuff.

You come to Jesus to get Jesus.

He’s the One we need, even if you take everything in this world away from us and we will be satisfied in Him.

3) With CLEAR understanding of the COST. (8:23-34)

The final response to the authority of Jesus is a clear understanding of what it cost to follow Him.

We are going to talk more about the nature of Jesus’s miracles next week, but these last 2 miracles in chapter 8 have 2 similar responses to Jesus’s authority.

In the first, Jesus and His disciples are on a boat in the middle of the sea when a storm develops and begins to toss the boat around.

Jesus is asleep in the front of the boat and His disciples begin to freak out.

In Mark, the disciples ask Jesus “Do you care that we are about to die.” Matthew is a little less harsh with his recollection.

But they are gripped by fear and come to Jesus is desperation, wandering if He is going to do anything to help them.

Embedded in their fear and anger is a lack of faith in Jesus.

He calls them on it.

“Why are you so afraid, you of little faith?”

These were the same ones who had been called to leave their families and their careers to follow Jesus.

They had heard His teaching and had witnessed His miracles.

They obviously believed He was powerful, but in that moment, fear got the best of them.

It is hard to trust Jesus, especially when you feel like you are going to drown.

You have seen and heard Him do incredible things.

But what about now? Is He still faithful? Is He still powerful.

We see in the disciples the cost of trusting Jesus.

The final miracle story in this chapter shows Jesus’s authority over the spiritual world, specifically the demonic world.

Jesus encounters 2 demon possessed men who had been hanging out in the tombs.

Right when they see Jesus they are struck with fear and begin to beg Him not to destroy them.

Instead, they ask to be sent into a herd of pigs.

Jesus grants their wish and they enter the pigs and run them off a cliff.

The striking part of this passage is how the people of the city respond to Jesus casting out the demons into the pigs.

Matthew 8:33–34 CSB

33 Then the men who tended them fled. They went into the city and reported everything, especially what had happened to those who were demon-possessed. 34 At that, the whole town went out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.

They begged Him to leave their region.

Why? Because He was a threat to their way of life, to what they thought brought them security.

They had counted the cost of having Jesus in their lives and realized it was going to cost them too much.

He was too risk to what was secure and comfortable in their lives.

He wasn’t serving their agendas, but was pushing against them, and that wasn’t going to work for them.

It would be easy to sale a Jesus who would give you everything you want and keep you from having to suffer in this world, but you would be missing out on a Jesus who is worth loving everything for.

Related Media

Related Sermons