Saturday, September 17, 2016

A Faith That Impresses Christ

Do you have the type of faith that catches God’s attention, the type of faith that impresses Christ? How about the type of faith that amazes Him? The Roman centurion did! When I read this story in Matthew 8:5-13 I was intrigued by the fact that Jesus was impressed by the faith of this centurion soldier. A centurion was a career military officer in the Roman army in charge of 100 men. At that time, Roman soldiers of any ranking were greatly abhorred by the Jewish people because they had a reputation for being harsh, cruel and oppressive.
“When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.” Matthew 8:10

Jesus was impressed at this man’s faith. When I looked up "impress" in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary it said "to affect especially deeply; to gain the admiration or interest of: to leave an imprint." Let's take this just a step further. This man did not just impress Christ, scripture used the word amazed. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition of that word amazed as this…"to surprise and sometimes confuse (someone) very much: to fill (someone) with wonder.” Now, I don’t know that Jesus was surprised or confused by this man’s faith, but I do believe that this man’s faith filled Jesus with wonder. I believe this man impressed Christ. I believe that this man's faith left an imprint on the heart of Christ! Let’s stop here just for a moment and take a look at this example set before us. Jesus has openly stated that He has “not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.” In other words, this man whom the Jews hated, one of their very own enemies, was being praised for his level of faith. Our Lord has a good sense of humor doesn’t He? Because He will often use the “foolish things of this world to shame the wise” (1 Corinthians 1:27). He used this centurion soldier as an example for the Jewish people of what great faith should look like.

What is Faith?
Christ knew that locked up inside the Jewish culture of that day was a people who had not surrendered their religious traditions to the Lord. They lived and died by the letter of the law. They did not live by faith. Jesus came to challenge their thinking on this topic and what better way to mess with their thinking on the subject of faith then to label the most unsuspecting candidate with “great faith.” It’s these types of “foolish things” that will break down our religious stereotypes of what we think faith in Christ looks like. This is what Christ was and is truly after. He was after the breaking of the religious walls that so many leaders had placed before their own eyes. They had built walls so high that they were unable to see the Son of God when He was walking right beside them in human flesh. How many of us are guilty of building up the same religious walls? I know I have put up a few myself only to have them torn down by the “foolish things of this world”. The Lord desires us to walk by faith and not by the letter of the law, not by our religious traditions. We can go to church on Sunday and “do church” but this is not faith. Faith is trusting in the dark what God has spoken in the light. Faith is believing that God is going to do the things he has promised to do even when it looks like we are walking in the complete opposite direction of those promises. Faith is trusting that God is going to remain true to His character no matter what circumstances we face.  

Let's get back to our example of the centurion soldier shall we. I tend to think it takes a lot to amaze Christ the Son of God, but if this centurion soldier can do it, then surely so can we! This man was not given any special supernatural dose of faith. He simply believed that Christ was capable of healing his servant. Is our faith in a a place that we believe Jesus is capable of doing the impossible in our lives and in the lives of those we hold close to our hearts? I know I waver in this area. I know when the rubber meets the road I often fall short in my faith when it comes to trusting Christ for the impossible to be in the realm of possibility. Let’s let our faith be built up today by the example of the centurion soldier. We ARE capable of walking in a realm of faith that impresses Christ. This type of faith is not beyond our reach. But it does require us to allow all the walls we have put up in our religious thinking to be destroyed for His honor and glory. It does require us to step out of our comfort zones and out of the boat from time to time only to walk on the water.  Faith requires us to live by what we can not see (2 Corinthians 5:7) and do the things that are only possible with God (Matthew 19:26). Inside each of us is a faith that has the ability to rise up and do the impossible.



What Impresses Christ?
We can not win Christ over by our good works or our well stated words, although these things each have their place. Christ is after something much deeper here. It's the very thing that the centurion soldier had. The very thing that moves Christ to a realm of amazement, the very thing that leaves an imprint on the heart of Christ is our faith in action. This centurion soldier not only had faith, but he acted upon his faith. He sought out Jesus, the only one who could heal his servant from the bonds of sickness. When we couple faith with action, it moves the heart of Christ. Peter would have never walked on water if he had faith to do so yet stayed in the boat. The woman with the issue of blood would never have gotten healed if she sought out Jesus yet did not have faith that He could heal her. Faith and action go hand in hand. It is our faith that is acted upon that brings the heart of Christ to action on our behalf. What thing in your life are you believing God for? Have you partnered your faith with action, or are you just sitting back and believing only? Are you actively seeking out Christ or are you still sitting in the boat waiting for Christ to do the miracle? Speaking from experience, I have found myself in this cycle of having faith but no actions, and worse yet having actions, but no faith. I do the very thing Christ is calling me to do but the whole time I am doubting His ability to do His part. James calls this “double minded.” It is this double mindedness that causes us to be unstable in all we do. So let’s pull from scripture today the importance of pairing our faith with our actions in order to have the kind of faith that impresses Christ, the kind of faith that leaves an imprint on his heart, the kind of faith that amazes Him.  

Lord, thank you for this example of the centurion soldier. Thank you that you desire for our faith to grow in such a way that it can impress you. Thank you that we ARE capable of attaining such a level of faith that we can move you to amazement. Help us in those moments when we want to stay in the boat to remember that sometimes you are looking for our obedience through faith in order for the miracle of walking on water to take place. Help us to remember your steadfast character in those moments when we are wavering in our faith. Help us to remember that you keep your promises despite what we may see around us, despite how bad we think our circumstances may be, you are a God who keeps His word.    

To read more related posts: Fireproof Christians, Jesus In Our Boat, The Example Of Esther, My By Faith Shoes, Leap Of Faith, Blind Faith, Facing Our Giants, Our Voice of Action

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