Faith and Worth

Lessons in Faith and Worth

For the week of March 4-10th then material to study was Matthew 8-9, Mark 2-5. I read though this twice before what I wanted to study hit me. This is the story in Matthew 8: 5-13 that I have heard mentioned but never really covered. And again I have pulled out the verse numbers to make it read more like the story of a miracle that it is.

Matthew 8:5-13
And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,  And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy,grievously tormented.

And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.

The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only,and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no,not in Israel.  And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.  But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour.

Both before and after this story we see other stories of Jesus healing, the man with the withered hand, the woman who touched His hem and was healed. They are all miracles and worthy of study, but I find this one remarkable for what the centurion said to Jesus.

His servant is very sick with palsy - that is a paralysis, especially that which is accompanied by involuntary tremors (thank you Google Dictionary). He asks Jesus to come and heal his servant and Jesus agrees. So far very normal, then the centurion says, "Lord I am not worthy for you to come into my home: but speak the word only, and my servant will be healed" (converted from KJV language for clarity).  He then goes on to explain that he is a leader of men. When Jesus heard the He "marvelled" I don't think He was marveling at the centurions leadership position. I believe He was impressed by the mans faith, awareness, and assessment of his standing.

This centurion had enough faith to ask for healing, and enough awareness of his own life to essential say- I am not worth for you to come into my home, but please heal my servant. I have faith that you can do this from here by saying so. Jesus then tells him that He has not found anyone with such great faith, He talks about the outer darkness which is a topic we will have to get to later - I have not received understanding about this yet. Some knowledge, but no understanding :)
Finally, Jesus tells him that as he believes so it will be done; and the servant was healed in the same hour.

The centurion knew and admitted that there were things about his life and his home that made him and it not worthy for the Lord to be in his home. He also had great faith - what does that mean for us?

We can have faith, and still do wrong. We can take action to fix our sins and wrong choice through the atonement. But how about this...are we making sure we are worthy when we go into the Lords house as well? By worthy are we praying and repenting of sins before taking the communion and doing our duties in the church? Are we praying, repenting and assessing before going to the Temple? This centurion knew there were wrong things in his life, admitted them and still had the faith to ask for a miracle of the Lord.  Wrong things in our life don't keep us from prayer, that's when we should be speaking to our Father the most.

The Bible doesn't tell us what happened to the centurion, but I like to think that this meeting with the Jesus and this miracle encouraged him to change what he need to change in his life, he certainly possessed the faith to do so.

The Fruits of the Tree

Most of the topics recommended in the Jan 28-Feb 3 Come Follow Me deal with repentance and the baptism of Jesus. Both important topics, but as always I want to talk about what struck me in this chapter as we are instructed to follow the Spirit in our studies. So here we go, please check out these verses. 

Matthew 3: 9-10 and Luke 3: 8-9
And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Matthew 7:16-19

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?  Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.   Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Jacob 5

Grafting and redeeming olive trees- adding new limbs to the old

Mark 1:17 

And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

Are you seeing a theme? I did, because as soon as I read Matthew 3 I remembered the story in Jacob. When I read Luke 3 it was reinforced, and remembered Matthew 7 (I remembered the story and had to look up the location) When I read Mark 1 I felt a connection made.

Matthew 3 and Luke 3 both talk about how trees that bear bad or poor fruit are cut down and cast into the fire, and both discuss bringing forth the fruit of repentance. Most of the people who came to John confessed their sins and were baptized. The Pharisees did not.  Matthew 7 talks about how "ye shall know them by their fruits", in the end good works (fruit) don't come from evil/bad people. Things might look temporarily good, but in the end a shiny healthy outside won't matter if the inside of the fruit is rotten. 

Does that mean people who do bad things cannot be redeemed -no it does not. Those who came to be baptized confessed their sins and wanted to change. The Pharisees did not. Jacob 5 illustrates that as well when the owner tended the tree to make is whole and well. 

Jacob 5 also talks about another part that ties in to Mark 1 - grafting new branches to make the tree strong and healthy. Jesus called many apostles to him - not one of them was a Rabbi or teacher of the gospel. He called new people to him, people with different backgrounds who were willing to listen and learn. People who didn't pretend to have all the answers and taught them, and they went out an taught others. Jacob 5 address the why of this, the new branches will go on and become new trees so that even if the original tree dies off the branches will continue. Jesus did die and live again, continued his teaching and ascended into heaven. His branches lived on and continued his work. 

King David and the Lessons of Atonement

King David and the Lessons of Atonement

King David lived a righteous life for most of his life, however only one man lived a perfect life and that man was a decedent of David, not David himself. David had been home from the wars for over a year and one day while on the roof of his house sees a beautiful woman bathing in her own house. Asking after her he finds out that she is the wife of one of his soldiers. David has her brought to him and "lays with her".  There is no record of her attempting to refuse him, so we do not know how much responsibility  she bears in this. Bath-sheba becomes pregnant and David sends for her husband Uriah who after reporting to David won't even go home because the others are still in the field. David sends him back to battle and orders him sent to the fiercest fighting that he should be killed in battle, and he is. After the period of mourning he takes Bath-sheba as his wife. It is after this that the prophet Nathan comes to David, and brings him to his senses with the story of the rich man and the poor man.

When Nathan brought David to his senses, David confessed his wrong doings and admitted his sin, Nathan told him that the consequence would be the death of the child conceived in sin,  he prayed and fasted for 7 days that the child would be saved. After the death of the child he rose and bathed and comforted Bath-sheba and ate. The sin is past, no matter how it came to be he and Bath-sheba are married now and the sin is forgiven.
David followed a path that is no different than what we do in atonement today. 1) Have a godly sorrow for the sin - David was angry at the injustice and wanted the man punished
2) Abandon the sin completely - make restitution as far as possible - The Lord decreed the death of the child conceived before David and Bath-sheba were married would be the restitution. David pleaded for the child's life for 7 days but that was the restitution. A man's life cannot be restored.
3) Confess to the proper authority. - King David was the highest authority, the Lord already knew as did Nathan the prophet.
David spent 7 days in prayer and fasting becoming right with God and attempting to save the life of his child. When the Lord took the child he went to his wife and comforted her and they went on with life. The final step, when forgiveness is granted you go forward and do your best to stay on the correct path. David was given his son Solomon.