Dr. Ed Young - Debt of Gratitude

TOPICS: Gratitude

Anybody here who has ever lived in Vermont, would you lift your hand? You lived in the state of Vermont? Surely out of 5,000 or 6,000 people, somebody’s lived in Vermont! Am I not seeing your hands? Where? Back there! Stand up, Vermont! Stand up for a minute! Hey, welcome! We got one! Now, I am told that in Vermont there would be a lake that’s frozen solid in December. And here’s a guy who sees a shortcut on the way home. Instead of walking around the lake — look at him! He doesn’t have a lot of faith, does he? He’s checking out that ice to make sure it’s thick enough. This is December, so here he goes, across the lake; he’s just feeling his way along. Here comes a man, much heavier, on a snowmobile with a couple on it, and they don’t seem to have any doubts. They’ve got great faith! Watch them-they just go! Watch them as they zoom across! Now, all of a sudden, he’s a believer! So we look at the guy who’s feeling his way and say, «Boy, he’s skeptical. He doesn’t think that ice is going to hold him up.» But that couple on the snowmobile must have zoomed by and said, «What are you doing down there on your knees? It’s December! This ice? You think it won’t hold you up? You don’t have any faith at all!» They just zipped across. They had great faith, didn’t they?

Now, let’s just go back to the same lake and see what happens in March. It’s been a warm time, and here’s the same guy taking a shortcut to work this time in March. He’s still skeptical. Whoa, right there-he’s still skeptical! But it’s March; he’s feeling along. Here comes that couple! This couple has an attitude you hear a lot of times in churches and pulpits: «If you’ll just believe! If you’ll have enough faith! Or if you’ll believe and be passionate about your faith!» To believe is to know it’s a reality, to picture that reality, and you’ll be safe. That’s what faith is! You want faith? Faith in yourself? Faith in what you believe? I desire it; I claim it in the name of-and boy, it’s going to happen! They had faith!

Well, here we go. Now, what in the world is this? You see faith; you see death. Man, they-when that whole hypothermia, drown-whatever-death comes, but they had a lot of faith. Then we see doubt. So that’s the three words we are going to look at: three gigantic words that affect every single one of us today and the rest of our lives. We need to understand, and we’ll see what Jesus did and what Jesus said, what he did, what he said about these three giant words: faith, death, doubt.

Hope you have your Bibles with you! Luke chapter number 7: Luke 7, verses 1-10, Jesus deals with faith, and then in verses 11 through 17, he deals with death. D-E-A-T-H. Verse 18 all the way through verse 35, he deals with doubt. So let’s look at that, if we could. Luke 7, verse 1: When he had completed all his discourse, his teaching, in the hearing of the people, he went to Capernaum. Capernaum! He’d been out on the plain, the side of the hill, in a flat area, and a centurion’s slave who was highly regarded by him was sick and about to die. When he heard about Jesus, the centurion sent some Jewish elders asking him to come and save the life of his slave. When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored him, begging him, saying, «He is worthy for you to grant this to him, for he loves our nation, and it was he who built our synagogue.» Talking about the centurion! Now Jesus started on his way with them, and when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, «Lord, do not trouble yourself further, for I am not worthy for you to come under my roof. For this reason, I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me, and I say to this one, 'Go, ' and he goes, and to another, 'Come, ' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this, ' and he does it.»

Now when Jesus heard this-now listen carefully-he marveled at him. What does it take to amaze God? What does it take to make God say, «Oh, that’s amazing»? What does it take? And he turned and said to the crowd that was following him, «This is Jesus: I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.» When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health. Interesting, isn’t it? We’re talking about faith! First of all, know what a centurion is. A centurion would be a captain in the Roman army, in charge of about a hundred soldiers, and that’s how the Roman army was established. They had centurions who were captains over 100 soldiers; they had generals, and the generals answered to the emperor, to Caesar. So this centurion was just one step away from ultimate power-the power of Caesar. We have to understand that in context.

Now, the centurion had a slave, his right-hand man whom he loved- I’m sure he was like family to him-and he was dying. So the centurion sent the leaders in the synagogue, the Jewish leaders, the elders, and said, «Go tell this Jesus, ask this Jesus to heal my slave.» By the way, this is the Gospel of Luke. Remember, Luke was a doctor; Luke was perhaps the only Gentile writer in the New Testament. So Luke used the word healing and the word saving, salvation, interchangeably because they’re the same word in Greek; if you’re healed, you’re saved, and if you’re saved, you’re healed. That is really true; all of God’s children are healed in this life or in the next life. That’s the promise we have in Christ. So get that straight.

Here we see that the Jewish leaders went to the centurion, and they went on behalf of the centurion to Jesus and said, «This man is worthy.» Did you notice that? «Is worthy of being healed!» Man, he’s a conquering officer! He was perhaps over that whole area. What had he done in the eyes of the Jews to make him worthy? First of all, he was a friend of the people! In other words, evidently, this centurion had gone to the synagogue; he saw the worship there of a monotheistic God. He saw the reverence of the people; he saw the morality of the people-he was attracted! Perhaps some people think he was not just a God-fearer but had literally become a Jew and was a member of the synagogue! That made him worthy! On top of that, he built the synagogue!

So we see these leaders going to Jesus saying, «Hey, he wants you to heal his servant! Man, he’s one of us! He’s a part of the synagogue! He built the church! He’s worthy!» Did you notice the centurion’s group said about him? They said he said, «I’m not worthy! I’m not worthy for you to heal me.» Now look how the thinking operates: «Good man! Moral man! Built a church! He’s worthy of healing, right?» But the man himself, the centurion, said, «No, I’m really not a good man! I’m really not! I’m not worthy of being healed!» And see, that’s a crazy way to think! We think just like that, ladies and gentlemen: «That person is so good and so moral! He’s so fine! He just goes to church! He is worthy of being healed!» And there is that rascal over there, that scum-man, he’s not worthy of being healed! We think like that, don’t we? Sure we do! That’s the way the Jews thought, and the centurion brings in a whole new paradigm here. He says, «I’m not worthy, but I know Jesus can heal me because I see in Jesus what I see in myself: authority.»

He said, «I tell someone to go to battle; they go to battle! I tell someone to come to me; they come to me! They’re my soldiers; I’m in command! I tell my slave to do this, and my slave does it!» I’m in charge! He said, «I have listened to Jesus! I have watched him perform miracle after miracle! I see he too is a man who has authority-authority over life, authority over sickness, authority in his teaching.» That was the great faith that Jesus saw in the centurion that he didn’t see in anybody-all the Jews, all the believers, all of Israel! That’s important we understand this great faith wasn’t just the «When I’ve got great faith, I’m in my snowmobile! It doesn’t matter whether the ice is thick or thin! I’ve got faith! We’re going to go across the other side! I’ve got great-» No, no, no, no, no. He put his faith in Jesus! You see, all the Jews- they said, «Boy, how was Jesus able to make that person who was blind see? How could Jesus raise that person who was dead, now alive? How in the world could Jesus teach this? I’ve never heard anything like it! It’s revolutionary!» And they were trying to figure it out, trying to explain it away.

«Who’s his family? Didn’t he just come from carpentry? I mean, they were-» And see, the centurion saw through all that and said, «This is God! This is divine activity! This is someone who has ultimate authority!» And Jesus says, «Man, he gets it!» And all the other Jews-so many of them didn’t get it! He’s got the authority! Who had faith going across that lake in Vermont? They-boy, they had faith in the snowmobile! Look at that guy down there! No! The guy down who was feeling the weight of the ice, reasoning it all through-faith, and when he saw that the snowmobile went over, he had great faith! When he saw it might not hold him up, he turned around and went the other way! You see, doubt preceded faith!

This is what a successful mountain climber does: a successful mountain climber knows the rock! He knows his limitations; he knows himself! It’s an exercise in reality! You say, «Well, that’s not really biblical faith!» Then you don’t know the definition of biblical faith! Look at it in Hebrews chapter 11, verse one: «Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen!» Faith is assurance! Doesn’t sound like, «I wish I could,» does it? It’s the assurance, and it’s the evidence of things you don’t see! Faith is an exercise in reality, ladies and gentlemen! So this was the faith demonstrated by the centurion! This was the great faith Jesus applauded and said he’d not seen anything like it before! It’s because he saw in Jesus the authority!

What does it take for you and I to make it through any situation? Just enough faith to turn ourselves and turn the situation over to Jesus! That’s all it takes! That’s all it takes right there-that’s great faith! Faith based on truth, based on experience-you just can’t argue with it!

So then, we see the next section of our study deals with death. We see what Jesus said about faith, what he did about faith; now we see what Jesus said about death and what he did about death. Look back, if you would, in Luke 7:1. Soon afterward, he went to a city called Nain. That’s what he did, and his disciples were going with him, accompanied by a large crowd. Now as he approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out-the only son of his mother-and she was a widow. A sizable crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he felt compassion for her and said to her, «Do not weep!» That’s what he said. And he came up and touched the coffin. That’s what he did. The bars came to a halt, and he said, «Young man, I say to you, arise!» The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. Fear gripped them all. They began glorifying God, saying, «A great prophet has risen among us, and God has visited his people!»

What about death? I love what Weby said in his commentary. He has people meeting. He said two crowds met. You have Jesus and his apostles and disciples, and a whole crowd coming from Capernaum all the way to Nain. There’s a whole crowd of people following Jesus down the road. At the same time, there’s a whole crowd of people with the widow of Nain and the body of her dead son. So these two crowds met-two crowds met! One was going out to the cemetery to bury the boy; the other was going into the city to celebrate Christ. Two crowds met! By the way, you and I are in one crowd or another! Because of our sin, we’re either on the way to the cemetery-death — or we’re on the way to the city-which is the New Jerusalem! But that’s subplot. Also, not only two crowds met, but two only sons met: Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, and this was the only son of the widow from Nain. So these two sons met-both only sons! They met! But one was dead and one was alive-Jesus was alive! He would soon be dead, and the boy who was dead, Jesus would soon pronounce him alive! Interesting, isn’t it?

Also, two sufferers met. There was a widow who was weeping, and there was Jesus, who was a suffering servant identifying with her in compassion and weeping with her. He, after all, is a Man of Sorrows, with us-is he not? So two sufferers met! But the most important thing about these meetings, going in and going out, is two enemies met: life and death! Life and death! Jesus came and brought life to him who was dead, and ladies and gentlemen, that is always how Jesus handles death! That’s always how he handles it, every single time! What does Paul tell us in 1 Corinthians 15? Great, great chapter! He says what happens when we’re followers of Jesus Christ? He said this which is perishable- said we take it off, we throw it away, we put on that which is imperishable! He said this which is mortal- it’s not going to be here forever-we take it off, we put on that which is immortality! Isn’t that terrific? He said, in fact, to explain it to you, death is swallowed up in victory! He said death has no sting because the sting comes from sin, and Jesus took care of our sin on the cross. Then, he says, «Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!» This is how Jesus handles death! He eliminates it! Death is dead in Jesus Christ! It’s out of business; it’s nonfunctioning!

So we see here what Jesus did and what Jesus said about death. It’s always what he does and always what he says about death, and we see it here — that young man was brought back to life. Then we see how Jesus dealt with doubt. By the way, if you’d asked any of us to this point if we read the Bible, who is the one person that would never doubt that Jesus was the Son of God, that we’ve discussed through the Bible from Genesis all the way to this point-the one person that would never doubt who Jesus was? I would say it’d be John the Baptist, wouldn’t you? I mean, John the Baptist-would he doubt that Jesus was the Messiah? That’s- I would never believe that! You just can’t be! He was his cousin; he was a forerunner; he announced he was coming! Yet John the Baptist sends a delegation to Jesus, and he has doubts that Jesus is the Messiah. Hello! Look at it in our scripture: verse 18-still Luke 7. The disciples of John reported to him about all these things. Summoning two of the disciples, John, from his prison, sent them to the Lord, saying, «Are you the expected one, Messiah, or do we look for someone else?» Now verse 20: When the men came to him, they said, «John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one, the expected one, or do we look for someone else? '»

Now, verse 21: At that same time-very important-Jesus cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits, and he gave sight to many who were blind. Now this delegation came from John asking Jesus, «Are you the Messiah? Are you the one?» And then Jesus is healing people-here’s someone dead they heal- and he’s healing people! And then Jesus turns around to them after they had witnessed this-verse 22: he answered them and said, «Go and report to John what you’ve seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. Blessed is he who does not take offense at me!» What is Jesus quoting? Jesus is quoting here from four different passages of scripture-all in Isaiah: Isaiah 26, Isaiah 29, Isaiah 35, Isaiah 61-and he sort of puts them all together. In other words, he’s saying, «Tell John what’s going on here! What I’m saying, what I’m doing, what you’ve seen, what you’ve observed!» But Jesus leaves out one thing, and John was looking for this one thing: «Set the prisoners free!» John was saying, «I’m still in prison!»

If he’s going-if justice is going to rain down like rivers, looks like you’d start with me! I’m in prison! And then he could have added there, «And by the way, Rome is still running the show!» He could have added there, «The religious leaders are solid phonies! They’re hypocrites!» And John was saying, «What about this?» John proclaimed the kingdom was coming and called for the people to be baptized and repent of their sin, and he looked at Jesus and said, «Behold the Lamb of God!» There is a kingdom; there’s a promise- one! But the kingdom hadn’t come in total prophetic fulfillment! What is our word here? We’ve encountered it before: it is already, the king has come-but not yet! It is not here completely! It’s an already and a not yet! And Jesus is saying, «Don’t be discouraged!» That last little phrase there: «Just hang in here! I brought the kingdom; it is already here, but total fulfillment is not yet!»

Not yet! So we see here how Jesus answered these doubts-big words we’ve looked at, have we not? Big words: faith-it’s not what we thought it was. Getting the snowmobile-you’ve got to believe, you’ve got to believe! Death- if you fall through life lying to yourself not experiencing reality, you’ll get on sinking sand! Doubt helps us grow up in our faith! How does it work itself out?

Brennan Manning got a call one morning from a neighbor. The neighbor said, «Brennan, would you come over and just spend a little while with my dad? I brought him here; he’s dying, and he just needs someone to visit with and talk with! He’s a great believer.» And so Brennan said, «Sure!» So he walked through four doors up, went to see the man; his daughter left, and they were in the room together. Brennan went to sit down in a chair that was by his bed, and the man said, «Excuse me, would you mind sitting in the chair on the other side of my bed?» And Brennan said, «Oh, oh, certainly! I’m sorry!» and he sat down.

The man said, «Perhaps you wondered why I wanted you to sit over here and not over there?» He said, «Well, you know, I thought maybe that’s where you got out of the bed!» He said, «Oh no! Years ago, I had trouble praying! I devised this system that I would have a chair, and it would be that chair, and I would imagine Jesus in that chair! And I’d just talk to Jesus!» He said, «Lying here in bed, I’ve talked to Jesus a couple of hours a day! It helps me to pray to visualize Jesus and to imagine him in that chair and talk to him in that chair. You think anything’s wrong with that?»

He said, «No, I think it’s a good symbol!» Few weeks went by, and Brennan got a call from the neighbor. He said, «My dad just died!» But he said, «It’s a strange thing, and I didn’t quite understand it, but when we found his body-he was dead! He had twisted his body so that his head was in the seat of this chair!» The centurion and his right-hand man-into their life! The widow of Nain and her boy-into their life! John the Baptist-end of his life! Their lives ended with their head in the lap of Jesus!