What Is True Faith?

Introduction

On Sunday morning, our Assistant Pastor Josh Duemler preached at Fellowship Reformed Church in Mt Pleasant, MI. Pastor Josh preached from Matthew 8, to explain the true faith of a figure in Scripture.

The True Faith of the Centurion

Interestingly, the man who came to Jesus in faith is a person who wouldn’t have been expected to have true faith. The man who came was Roman, and probably had been raised to worship Roman Gods. And he was also a soldier, and in those days Roman soldiers often used their authority and power to bully people into submission. Yet this Roman commander, a Centurion, exhibited a true faith that was humble, full of love, and trusting in Christ.

Instead of bullying Jesus into submission, the Centurion bowed before Jesus, and pleaded with him. Instead of dragging Jesus to his home, the Centurion acknowledged that he was unworthy to have Jesus present in his house. And the Centurion reasoned out that Jesus was powerful enough to save from afar.

The Centurion’s true faith was also motivated by genuine love for his servant. The Centurion came to Jesus, asking that Jesus would heal his suffering household servant. And by this, the Centurion shows the love that he has for other people, even when they’re lower in status than him.

Jesus praises the Centurion for his true faith. And his faith is held up as an example for all those who would read the Bible today. And we are urged, as we see our crippled, diseased condition on account of sin, to run to Jesus. We can trust him. In him, we can find the healing and restoration that we need to be made right with God. We are granted healing in Christ, through faith alone. And through we’re saved through faith alone, the faith we have doesn’t remain alone, but it produces good fruits in the life of every Christian.