“A Faithful and Worthy Man”
Luke 7:1-10
August 10, 2025
Last Sunday was a special day for us — a humbling and gratifying day. We are thankful. Leading up to the day, and even during the dinner and recognition, I couldn’t help but think about one of my mentors, J. Dwight Pentecost, who participated in my installation as pastor in September, 1990.
On one occasion I remember him being introduced to speak (perhaps it was chapel in seminary?). But before the introduction was finished, he got up from his seat, went to the pulpit, and physically pushed the introducer out of the way and said, “Enough of the glorification of the worm!…” He wanted nothing to diminish the glory of Christ.
In an era when there is so much talk about GOATs — the greatest football, soccer, or baseball players, or the greatest actor, businessman, movie, singer/artist — it’s kind of refreshing to hear someone say, “It’s not me!…”
That humble attitude is also behind the first story we find in Luke 7. That chapter is broadly about faith — Jesus is worthy as an object of our faith (vv. 1-10), explanations about who Jesus is and why He is worthy of believing (vv. 11-35), and the actions and demonstration of faith (vv. 36ff).
And this particular story (vv. 1-10) addresses the nature of genuine faith — how we think about ourselves and how we think about Christ if we will come to Him. And it’s all about humility…
To have genuine faith in Christ, believe that He is worthy, but you are not.
Reading the story quickly, we might think that the focus of the story is the centurion, or even the faith of the centurion. Yet the centurion is “unimportant” enough that he remains unnamed throughout the story. And while Jesus is observed throughout the story, the centurion never comes out of his house (and does not even appear to meet Jesus). The focus is not the centurion but Christ. Luke is ever-consumed with a passion to reveal the nature of Christ. So in this section, Luke uses the miracle of the suffering slave to demonstrate true faith, and the superiority of Christ with four implied comparisons…
- Christ is Kinder (vv. 1-3)
- Christ is Worthier (vv. 4-7)
- Christ is Authoritative (v. 8)
- Christ is Believable (vv. 9-10)
Christ is the Son of Man…
Download the rest of this sermon on Luke 7:1-10.
The audio will be posted on the GBC website by Tuesday.
Words of Grace 