To: Hebraic-Foundations@yahoogroups.com
From: "Pastor Buddy Martin" <Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org>
Date sent: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 15:13:27 -0500
Subject: Bible Study HF061 - As You Have Believed
Hebraics,
The following study has to do with the dynamics of believing, and how
that the Word of the Lord becomes the center piece for a true Biblical
faith walk. As a platform for the study we will look at the centurion who
came to Jesus on behalf of his servant.
This is Bible Study HF061 - As You Have Believed.
Our Scripture reading is found in Matthew 8:5-13:
"And when Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him,
imploring Him, and saying, 'Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at
home, fearfully tormented.' Jesus said to him, 'I will come and heal
him.' But the centurion said, 'Lord, I am not worthy for You to come
under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say
to this one, "Come!" and he comes, and to my slave, "Do
this!" and he
does it.' Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those
who were following, 'Truly I say to you, I have not found such great
faith with anyone in Israel. I say to you that many will come from the
east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer
darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
And Jesus said to the centurion, 'Go; it shall be done for you as you
have believed.' And the servant was healed that very moment."
Many times the crowds of people marveled at Jesus. Only two times in
the Scriptures does it say that Jesus marveled. He marveled once at
the unbelief in His own hometown. It says, And He did not do many
miracles there because of their unbelief. The other time was with the
Roman soldier. Here it says, He marveled, and said to those who
were following, Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith
with anyone in Israel.
This is also the place where Jesus gives the first prophecy concerning
the Gentile nations. The Lord said, Many will come from the east and
west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the
kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into
the outer darkness. The outer darkness speaks of loss of covenant
relationship. He later tells the Jewish leadership, "The kingdom of
God will be taken away from you & given to a people, producing the
fruit of it. The centurion expressed a faith that would become the very
heart of Biblical Christianity.
There are a number of lessons found in this incident, but let's draw
mainly with the one that has to do with faith. When the centurion said
that all Jesus needed to do was speak the word and his servant would
be healed, it was this statement that caused Jesus to marvel. The
centurion gave insight into the very Lordship of Jesus, and how that
God works in creation, and in the lives of people.
Remember what Moses told the peoples after their many trials in the
wilderness? He said, "He [God] humbled you and let you be hungry,
and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers
know, that He might make your understand that man does not live by
bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the
mouth of the Lord." (Deu8:3)
Now would be a good time to explain what the term word of God, or
word of the Lord actually means. The Word of God refers to anything
God has spoken. That is simple enough. But this is why the Scriptures
are called the Word of God. The Bible continues to be a living book to
Gods people. God speaks to us through the Scriptures more than any
other way. There is a reason for this which we will see shortly.
When it comes to the new covenant, the term 'Word of God' is applied
to the gospel. This is because the gospel is a living message from the
throne of God. Therefore when the man of God is preaching the
gospel, there is a special sense of God's presence in the preaching.
Paul quotes Isaiah, in saying, "How beautiful are the feet of those
who
bring good news of good things." He then says, "So faith comes
from
hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." (Rom10:15,17)
In this passage the term 'word of Christ' means two things. First it
speaks of the invitational message from the kingdom of God's Son.
This message carries an invitation in it for those who hear to respond
and enter the kingdom. But it also includes the thought of a 'living
voice.' Thus the voice of Christ is actually heard in the gospel
message. Jesus said, "An hour is coming and now is, when the dead
will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live."
(John5:25) (All who are saved were the dead who heard His voice.)
Some years ago in Honduras, it became my lot to preach the gospel in
one of the mountain villiages. On the way to the villiage I asked the
Lord what He wanted me to say to the people. In my spirit I had this
impression that I was to tell them that I came as an ambassador of the
Kingdom of God. When I stepped up to minister, I said, "I come as an
ambassador of the kingdom of God, and I have a message for you
from the King." You could see it on the faces of the people. Every
one
was intent on hearing what the King had to say. And the salvation
response was in place.
The Word of God is a message of salvation through Jesus Christ. This
message works its way through the total of the Scriptures, which
brings us to a related meaning for the term The Word of the Lord.
God spoke to His servants the prophets. He yet speaks to His
children. An example is John the Baptist. It says, "In the high
priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the
son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. And he came into all the district
around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the
forgiveness of sins." (Cf. Luke 3:2,3)
Put these varied meanings together and you get a feel for Gods
Word. The Word of God is God acting directly upon our lives, whether
it is in hearing the gospel, in reading the Scriptures, or having the
Shepherd speak directly into our hearts. Hebrews 4:12,13, explains it
well; For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any
two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit,
of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and
intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight.
And so, why did Jesus marvel at the Roman Centurion? As I said
above, the centurion recognized Jesus on a level far beyond anything
that anyone in Israel, including even the apostles had seen. This is
why Jesus marveled! But this incident has more for us. Listen carefully
to the language of the centurion; Lord, I am not worthy for You to
come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be
healed.
What does this say about how the centurion saw Jesus? What does it
say about what our attitude should be with regard to Jesus? This
centurion was a true believer. He recognized the divinity of Christ. He
knew that somehow Jesus Christ was God in human form. How did he
know this? It appears that he put two and two together. While the
Jewish leadership continued to reject Jesus, this man was not that
easily misled. The religious establishment held no sway over him. And
perhaps he was himself a student of the Scriptures.
Psalm 103:19,20 gives insight into who Jesus is. It says, "The
Lord
has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules
over all. Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength, who
performs His word, obeying the voice of His word!" Who is the One
who commanded all things into existence? John said, "In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
The Psalmist said, "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of His mouth all their host." (Cf. John 1:1; Psalm
33:6)
This brings us to our next area of understanding. We know that the
Scriptures are the Word of God. We also know that the Lord does
speak directly into our lives. What we need to understand, however, is
that the written Word and the spoken Word of God always agree. God
did this because of the many spirits who would like to speak into our
lives. Here the Lord gives us safe guards for our walk with Him. Every
child of God is given the Holy Spirit as a testifier to truth. And every
child of God is given the Scriptures by which the Holy Spirit teaches us
Gods ways. (This is why the apostle said we are to never exceed the
Scriptures. (Cf. 1Co4:6)
But there is a problem. When believers place esoteric experiences
above Gods Word, they open themselves to false leadings and
impressions. Certainly dreams, visions, and prophecies, can have a
part in our walk with the Lord, but these things must pass the text of
God's written Word. The Lord said, "The prophet who has a dream
may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My Word in
truth. What does straw have in common with grain?" (Jer23:28)
What was the Lords final word to the Centurion? Jesus said to him,
"Go; it shall be done for you as you have believed." Does this
have any
relevance to us? Very much indeed.
To finish up this portion of the study here are some key issues that
relate to a disciple's walk of faith:
1) Keep in mind that our walk of faith will never be any more or any
less than who Jesus is to us. The centurion had great thoughts about
Jesus, but he wasn't simply an admirer. He knew that if Jesus spoke
the word, it had to happen. A true believer learns the secret of living
from the mouth of the Lord.
2) Our walk of faith will always be determined by what we believe, and
not by what some other person believes. Too many believers wrap
their lives around someone else. It may be a preacher or an institution.
But in doing this they are disallowing their own faith walk. Jesus
did
not come to give us institutionalized religion. He came to give us a
personal relationship with Him.
On the humorous side, its sort of like the man who was asked,
"What
do you believe?" He answered, "I believe what my church
believes."
The next question, "What does your church believe?" He answered,
"My church believes what I believe." Its getting frustrating, so
the final
question, "What do you and your church believe?" He
responded,
"We believe the same thing together." (Contains more truth than
fiction.)
3) To put our walk of faith on the level it truly belongs, we must have
a
passion for truth. Passion is a strong word. It speaks of something that
consumes us. It is a passion for truth that causes the Lord to speak
into our lives. A man without passion is like a ship without a sail. He's
not really going any place anyway, so why should the Lord give him
direction?
There are other factors that play into the faith walk, but these give
an
idea.
The study is open. Feel free to share your thoughts or ask questions.
(If there is an area of study you would like to see placed on the
forum,
please let me know.)
Buddy
Lawrence E. (Buddy) Martin, HF Host
email: Bro.Buddy@ChristianChallenge.org
Web: http://www.ChristianChallenge.org
"See to it that no one comes short of the grace
of God; that no root of bitterness springing up
causes trouble, and by it many be defiled." (Heb12:15)