Luke 7:6b-8
“Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. 7 Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. 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.”
“Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. 7 Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. 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.”
I addressed this centurion’s faith last week, so I won’t
copy or restate what I wrote then, but there is one other observation I must
make. Forgive me for wading into this,
but I believe that what I see in the centurion underscores the missing reverence
and submission that should be central to our worship and service to Jesus
Christ. Though I may state this badly, I
firmly believe that our society is robbing us of our ability to understand what
a right relationship to a holy God can and should be.
It is my belief that our democratic, “level” society make it
difficult for us to fully appreciate and relate to the majesty and authority of
Jesus Christ. Our egalitarian society is
completely unsuited to prepare us for a correct relationship with the complete sovereignty of
God. Though we have been made sons of
God in Christ – born again and adopted – that still leaves us far from equal
with God in any measure and does not make us independent of His sovereignty.
The centurion was remarkable for his recognition of
authority and how authority works in both the physical and the spiritual
realities. In our “classless” American
culture, we pride ourselves on being an authority unto ourselves, but the relationship of authority under God still applies in our spiritual lives. Our culture and education promote our
individuality and rights and teach us to be suspicious of authority. That inability to sufficiently respond to natural
authority robs us of the full blessings of submission and obedience to Christ.
The Father has given Jesus Christ all authority so that
Jesus’ word is sovereign in both the physical and spiritual worlds. Our response to Him must be absolute submission
and obedience. No matter how our society
has changed and reordered our physical relationships, that
relationship of Lord and slave remains.
Thank God it does.
Coram deo
No comments:
Post a Comment