Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton. Here you'll find practical, relevant, biblical information.
The Bible will be broken down verse by verse so that you get the full context of the scripture to better grow in your relationship with Jesus.
Hey everybody, welcome to the sanctuary. It's so good to have you back with us.
Those of you who are joining us for the first time, let me just say welcome.
Thank you so much for bearing with us last week. We took the week off. Just needed a little bit of a break there.
Sometimes it's good to just kind of get away from things, right?
So this week we're looking at a subject that's definitely near and dear to my heart and I know the hearts of several of you.
For those who have served, those who are currently serving in the military or even as first responders or just those front lines that we see in the world across the board,
whether it's in healthcare, security, whatever, even social workers, sometimes we wonder how God feels about what we're doing.
You know, we believe we're doing the right thing. We're looking out for others.
Yet we still have these lingering questions in the back of our minds.
We still have these doubts about how we fit into God's kingdom while we are working in a vocation or we come from a vocation of violence.
And that is what we're going to take a look at right now.
So I have good news for you. God loves those who serve. He does.
You know, we're called to serve the Bible. It's all over the place.
God loves a servant and we could go all the way back to the beginning of the Bible to see it.
In fact, if you if you turn to Genesis, Chapter 14, the Bible tells us of Abraham and Lot.
And I'm just going to kind of summarize it here for time's sakes.
But I encourage you to go and read it for yourself.
Now, basically, in a nutshell, the Bible tells us a joint military force invaded the land.
And after ransacking it, they took all the property that they wanted, the slaves, the food.
You know, they kidnapped people, including Abraham's nephew, Lot.
Now, there was someone who was able to escape and invade capture and he was able to get back to report what had happened.
Now, upon hearing the news, Abraham called out three hundred and eighteen trained warriors from his household, all right, from his stead, basically.
And they went out in pursuit.
You know, it was his rescue mission is a mission to protect the innocent.
You know, so he and this little task force that he put together, they were able to close with the enemy, attack and defeat them and rescue lot and several others in the process.
This was a noble mission of love and the Lord blessed him and his small force with the victory.
Again, God loves those who serve to truly serve.
It is a selfless act.
Remember, biblical love, it's not just hollow words.
It's not this, you know, you know, man be pain, be emotion that, you know, the world likes to throw out.
Biblical love, it is action.
It's not just walk the walk or, you know, talk the talk.
It's walk the walk.
You don't just tell people that you love them.
You show them service is exactly that.
Now, while there are some who slip into looking for glory, there are those who truly want to make a difference in the world or at least their communities.
Right.
Now, the Bible, it speaks of warriors in several places.
Today, we're going to look at one specifically.
So for those of you with your Bibles or your apps or even if you're just taking notes, please join me now and turn to Matthew chapter eight.
And we're going to be looking at verses five through thirteen.
All right.
So Matthew chapter eight, starting in verse five.
All right.
We're actually to look at the first two verses here, verses five and six.
The Bible says when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him asking for help.
Lord, he said, my servant lies at home, paralyzed, suffering terribly.
Notice we're talking about a centurion.
This isn't just some enlisted foot soldier.
A centurion was a career officer in the Roman military with, as his name tells us, a hundred troops under his command.
This was an officer who had spent considerable time.
We're talking years leading from the front lines.
All right.
Not just sitting back in office somewhere nice and cozy, hanging out with a tent, serving people, sending people out for coffee.
No, this is someone who was hardened.
He was battle tested, as loyal as it's going to get.
He knew his vocation.
He knew it well.
He was not someone to trifle with.
Definitely not somebody you want to meet into, you know, in a dark alley in the middle of the night.
Not only that, but here comes this Roman officer knowing good and well that the Roman troops were particularly hated by the Jews because of the mistreatment they had received.
You know, the Jews have been very mistreated.
Yet here's this officer and he's coming and he's approaching Jesus.
Now, anyone who has spent time in the military, law enforcement, you know, similar positions, you know, they can testify.
There are a lot of things that can get in the way of someone doing something like this, especially at that level, at that rank.
Right.
Ego, pride, time, language, positions of power.
You know, I'll even throw race in there, you know, because at that time you had the Jews versus the Gentiles and all that.
You know, there is a very, you know, big mindset when it came to that.
So, you know, you only have to bring up the Middle East and you'll quickly hear many derogatory terms being used towards their people even today.
Right.
So we can definitely throw a race in there.
So for this man to come, you know, to approach anyone, let alone Jesus, you know, a lot of people allow a lot of things to hold them back from truly coming to Jesus and getting to know him.
But here he is.
He's just walking right up to him.
So take a moment.
Ask yourself, what holds you back from Jesus?
Why do you allow it to happen?
You know, here's a man who's essentially a foreigner in every sense of the word, and he's not allowing anything to hold him back from coming to Jesus.
So picking back up here in Matthew 8 verses 8, I'm sorry, 7 through 9, the Bible says, Jesus said to him, Shall I come and heal him?
The centurion replied, Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.
But 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 goes.
And that one come.
And he comes.
I say to my servant, do this, and he does it.
Man, humble.
He's humble.
Even as an officer with authority over men, his beckon call was something that would be answered 24 hours a day without exception.
But here he is humbling himself.
Even as Jesus asked, Hey, you know, would you like me to go to see the injured man?
The centurion, he knows he's unworthy of such an act.
However, he's respectful and is showing that he understands exactly who Jesus is and what authority he holds.
And he's openly showing his own faith.
Just say the word and my servant will be healed.
He knows that Jesus doesn't even have to go.
He just needs to say the word and it'll be done.
That's quite the display of faith, especially from an outsider.
And people, there's people around Jesus that have their own doubts and are still like, I don't know about that.
But here's the centurion.
He's only heard and here he comes.
He's got faith.
He knows what's up.
So not only that, this centurion, he's doing something else.
He's showing love.
He's showing compassion.
He cared deeply for the suffering servant.
Now, he could have gone and demanded Jesus come, hey, come fix this right now.
Officers, people of authority, people of power, they make demands all the time.
They don't ask.
They make demands.
We've all seen it.
We've all had those managers.
We've all had those supervisors.
Instead of be like, hey, can I get you to do something?
Hey, would you mind doing this?
You're going to go do this, but the centurion is not doing that.
You know, he could have done so many things to force his own will to be done.
However, here he's made it personal.
He's personally asking for this healing.
Mark 12 verse 31, Jesus says, love your neighbor as yourself.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Love others the same way as you love yourself.
Right?
This officer, he made it his personal responsibility to look after the well-being of his people,
the servant being one of his people.
Like I said, we've all had those managers.
We've had those supervisors that are more than happy to rip you apart in front of others
or stab you in the back, you know, just to build themselves up or to make themselves look bigger than they really are.
So we all know exactly how exceptional this centurion must have been to take on this matter personally.
It really, it speaks to his character.
And while he trusted that Jesus would heal this man, he demonstrates great obedience.
You know, again, he could have just had Jesus come into that, you know, to see the man.
Instead, he admits he's not worthy of such an act.
You know, it's very much, you know, Wayne's world.
We're not worthy.
You know, a little bit extreme there, but you know, he is like, you know, I'm not up to that level yet, you know.
And he trusted that Jesus could do his will from anywhere.
He didn't just have to go.
He just had to say the word.
And this is something we ourselves struggle with so much, don't we?
This centurion didn't waver in trusting God to work in his life and the lives of others.
We often struggle with our own doubts, even in our own lives, let alone others.
We struggle with our own.
So carrying on in Matthew 8 verses 10 through 12, the Bible says, 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.
I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus, he knew plenty of men of faith, plenty.
However, he was commending this officer, right?
The soldier where many only had a mustard grain sized, you know, face.
This foreigner came in and he had a lot of faith, a lot.
He was confident.
After all, this was a time when Jesus was still walking the earth in the flesh, teaching, performing miracles.
People saw him.
They were there.
They could talk to him, interact with him, touch him and were there to witness.
Yet they still questioned him.
They were still in disbelief.
They still wanted more evidence.
Yet this military man, he didn't ask for any of it.
He had heard.
He'd heard enough.
He knew who Jesus was.
He knew what he could do.
So he went to him and asked for help that he knew only Jesus could provide.
And when Jesus said from the east and the west, he was speaking about the world over.
Psalm 107, verse three, puts it this way, from the east and west, from north and south.
Again, the entire world, not just a small corner of it, not just these nations in this section of a continent or anything.
The entire world.
And this statement in itself was very shocking for the Jewish people.
Why?
Why was it shocking?
Well, I'll tell you why.
Because they were so caught up in being quote unquote, God's people.
That they were caught up in the idolatrous trap of me, right?
Me meaning their identity and their culture.
Right?
This is who we are.
This is what we do.
We're so much better than everybody else.
We're the cultured.
Right?
So much so that they lost sight of what they were supposed to be doing and God's true character.
See, God didn't just want them.
He still doesn't.
He wants the entire world to be reached.
Hence, the reason why Jesus gave us the great commission.
This is something we ourselves need to keep in mind.
Here in America even, we love saying, one nation under God.
But when it comes time for action, we forget to include God in what we're doing.
We forget to ask him for direction and guidance.
We get so wrapped up in our own affairs that we just assume he's there without considering
whether or not what we are doing is actually within his will.
Right?
And then we wonder why things go wrong.
Jesus' message is for everyone.
Not just one people.
Not just one nation.
Everyone.
And like the centurion, it's on all of us as individuals to decide whether or not we accept it or not.
However, just like the centurion, we have to choose.
Just like the Jewish leaders of that time, we have to choose.
Or, you know, even ignoring it is a choice.
That's exactly what the Jewish leaders did.
They chose to ignore.
Or we can be like the centurion.
We can choose to believe and humble ourselves before the Lord.
You know, going into a church service is not a guarantee of going to heaven.
Reciting legalistic prayers and chants that you were taught is not a guarantee.
You have to think about it.
You have to reflect on yourself.
You have to look into your heart.
You have to choose whether or not you will follow Jesus or not.
Matthew chapter 8 verse 13, the Bible says,
Then Jesus said to the centurion, Go, let it be done just as you believed it would.
And his servant was healed at that moment.
Just like that.
Healed.
Again, we need to trust that God will work in our lives according to His plan.
His plan includes His promises to look out for us and to meet our needs.
Now, in going through this, I want you to notice something.
It's really quite important.
Jesus never, not once denounced the vocation of this soldier.
He never told him, Hey, you need to stop what you're doing.
He knew that there was a need for him and those like him.
Those steadfast people who will selflessly look to help others.
The Bible addresses serving in so many places.
So Christian warriors don't need to second guess their vocation.
They don't need to doubt their time of service.
That time of service, that duty, it is approved and it is respected by God.
Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse 8, the Bible says,
A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.
Good, godly people are needed to stand up against evil in the world.
War is an ugly place where ugly things happen.
However, as we know, God can, does and will use everything to His glory.
So rest assured your war on that front, it's done.
Let Jesus be the first to welcome you home.
Let His light shine for the world.
Forgive yourself and let go of that guilt.
Be that light on the mountain.
Remember you are a blessing and you are loved.
Now go and be the church.
Thank you all for joining us here today at Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.
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We look forward to hearing from you all.
God bless.