Here is an outline as I work towards Sunday's sermon from Luke 7:1-10. What is "faith"? For some, a way to earn to God's favor.
In college, I thought I had earned a good grade because I knew I was a good student and thought my work was better than most of my classmates. So I thought I'd backdoor my way into a good grade. I got a "C." After discussion with the professor, I had to change my attitude. He wanted me to put in my best effort, to learn, and to do what was right.

Have you had experiences in your life where you thought you had earned something, only to find out it wasn't the case at all? Maybe a job promotion you thought was in the bag? Maybe a job itself? Perhaps you did something nice for your family and expected a certain response but received a cold shoulder instead. Or possibly you feel as though you've earned a certain level of respect at church, but you fail to receive it...and you become bitter.

We often apply this way of earning something to our spiritual lives. Although we acknowledge that we believe we are saved by grace, we do things, or talk about things, in such a way that we belie that we still think we *earn* our salvation: attendance at sanctioned meetings becomes a driving force, more important than what somebody does on their own, away from the building, an external thing becoming a measurement of something that can only be known internally and inwardly; when things go wrong in our lives, we look back at what we failed to do religiously, whether neglecting our Bible reading or not praying enough, or whatever, as a possible reason for why that happened; we don't receive from God the life we think we've earned and we feel guilt over it, that somehow it is our fault we have not received, perhaps because we didn't pray for the right thing, or in the right words, or that we didn't pray *enough*. And we feel guilt.

But we are bound to feel guilt in our spiritual lives until we allow faith to take over, and the love of God through Christ to fill our lives, so that we live for him with a full expression of faith. Guilt is a reminder that we have not fully understood and applied the gospel, that we can approach God and have relationship with him only through Jesus, not through our efforts. We do not earn our way toward God's favor.

For the centurion, faith was a recognition of Jesus' authority that affected how he lived his life.
This is not only a contemporary problem, however. In Luke 7, we see a similar situation: a centurion lives in Capernaum. A centurion was a Roman military official, meaning he was a Gentile, not a Jew. And he had a problem: a servant whom he highly valued was sick and at the point of death. What would he do about? It happened that he heard about Jesus, so he sent some Jewish leaders to Jesus. And not just any Jewish leader, but elders of the Jews, those who should have known the ways of God

So the Jewish elders approach Jesus to enlist his help for the centurion's servant. But they take a different approach. Rather than simply ask, they create a case for the centurion about why he *deserves* for Jesus to "do this for him," why he is "worthy" of it--he loves our nation; he built our synagogue.

And therein we find the problem of trying to be "worthy enough" to earn help from God. It just doesn't work, because God doesn't work that way. He works through Jesus, and to do otherwise opens us to frustration and guilt. Instead of building a synagogue and being a friend to the Jews, we score perfect attendance at worship services and Bible studies; we gain points by clocking in pages with our Bible reading; we pray, asking for things, sure that we have the faith to carry us through; we serve others hoping, or even thinking, that we earn reciprocity from God. When in reality, all God wants from us is a faith that acknowledges the lordship of Jesus and his authority and places our lives under his leadership as we follow him

So Jesus heads to see the centurion. But on the way, an envoy arrives, sent by the centurion with a startling word: the centurion, who was declared "worthy" by others proclaims to Jesus his utter *unworthiness* before Jesus. And yet he declares his faith--he knows how it works, he knows how the game is played. He knows that he has the authority to tell one person "Go" and he goes, and to tell another "Stay," and he stays. And if he has such authority, then he knows that the authority of the Lord Jesus is even that much more

So he asks Jesus to simply say the word, and his servant will be healed. He comes to Jesus with faith, not a merit badge; he has loyalty to Jesus, not a membership card in God's rewards program; he has worth, not of his own, but his worthiness is through his faith, in his abandoning of his own self-worth to find it in Jesus

Rather than "crowding around" Jesus, we need faith in Jesus in order to follow him.
In contrast to the centurion are the crowds. These people were "following" Jesus, but they did not have the faith required to truly follow Jesus. So Jesus turns to the crowd and presents the centurion to them as an example of faith. But he does it in a way that reminds them, once again, that you cannot gain godliness or the gospel through merit or by trying to earn anything!

The key is that Jesus said he has not found such faith in Israel. But wasn't the centurion "in" Israel, geographically? So what did Jesus mean? Well, he meant that among the Israelites he has not found this kind of faith; it took an "outsider," a Gentile, to demonstrate the kind of faith Jesus was looking for. This is a simple reminder: your status, your work, your effort, your merits, cannot *earn* you the favor from God you seek! It is only by faith!

So how do we cultivate this kind of faith? We have to change the way we think about faith, from trying to please God to realizing that we do please God through Jesus; recognize Jesus' authority and power; and submit ourselves to him. The centurion did not need his own power or worthiness; he subjected himself to Jesus and subverted his own power. Will you let go of your pride and ego and submit to Jesus in faith? And if you do, will you then follow him?

This is the core of my sermon for Sunday. I'm working with the theme of "renewal from God." I use the Isaiah text as the base for the sermon, describing the Israelite context of exile because of idolatry, but with the promise of renewal. I then look at how this theme plays out in the narrative arc of Luke that covers the last week of Jesus' life. His "triumphal" entry is actually a death march. But it ends in life. Similarly, we are called to die in order to live.

Isaiah 40 (1-5, 18-31); Luke 19:28-23:56; Philippians 2:5-8

This is a beautiful, though neglected passage. We are probably familiar with parts of it. The beginning verses are sung by a baritone in Handel's Messiah to introduce a turning point in that piece. The ending verses of this oracle are often seen on postcards and posters, standing alone, separated from the rest of this speech by and about God.

Isaiah is known as the prophet of hope. Though more than half of the book is composed of judgments against Israel, Judah, and the nations, Isaiah was also the book used by the New Testament church and by the early church to explain Jesus. It is filled with prophecies of the Lord's Anointed, of his Messiah.

The judgments portion of Isaiah is found mainly in chs 1-39. The remainder of the book addresses prophetically the experience of the Israelites during and after their exile and details promises that God makes about his Messiah and about the mission of Israel to the nations.

But why is there this theme of comfort? The words of comfort, "Comfort, yes, comfort My people," says God, come at a turning point in Isaiah. Just as the words are sung in the Messiah at a pivotal point, so these words come at a pivotal point in Isaiah.

Chapter 40 is this pivot point in this book and follows a historical narrative about Isaiah and King Hezekiah. This story bridges the judgment portion of Isaiah (1-35; 36-39) and with the messages of hope (40-66) and details that faith in God is the key to a good life. The words of Hezekiah, though spoken by him, are also prophetic and close out the message of judgment: "The Lord's word you spoke is good. Let there indeed be peace and righteousness in my days." Though Hezekiah speaks selfishly without thought for the promised destruction and exile, which Isaiah preaches prophetically about in chapters 40-55, his words are prophetic about the comfort and strength God will give to his people when he brings them back from exile.

Renewal is around the corner. After darkness comes light. After judgment comes hope. 

Renewal comes only after we have tasted other things and realize that it is only in God that we will find the strength and comfort we desire. Renewal comes only after we have seen the darkness and have lived in need of judgment. In Isaiah's case, the needed renewal was the hope promised to them in the face of idolatry.

During the exile, as judgment, God shattered the pride of Israel (v. 2, 18ff) and made them dependent on him. This was a prelude to the promised renewal: "Let us wait...and be renewed!"

Isaiah shows the ultimate act of pride is to create an idol that we then worship. But idols of our own making cannot compare with God, and neither can our pride. God shatters this pride—of ourselves, our church, our doctrine—but doesn't leave us with nothing. He freely offers to renew us by his strength and grace. But renewal comes when we wait...in humility, trust, and dependence on him.

Waiting in humility, trust, and dependence, waiting to be renewed, is the opposite of the attitude seen in 40:18-26 where the workman sets himself up as the creator of his own god. The passage is a contrast between the workman who thinks he creates his own destiny and God, who actually does create...and arranges...and calls forth...and displays. It is God who works! It is God who strengthens! It is God who comforts! It is God who renews!
It is our pride that puts us ahead of God and it is this pride that God calls us to let go of in order to seek renewal from him.

Where do we see this pride in our lives and in our church experience? Pride in ourselves? our plans, as we seek our own destinies? Pride in our church? “We don't really need to follow the word of God to reach out to others; we belong to the true church.” Pride in our doctrine? “We don't need to follow Jesus; we merely need to hold to the correct doctrine.” Do we claim to worship the true God, while it may be that we have built or made a god in our own image?

Do we rest on that pride, like Israel did, and become dependent on ourselves rather than God? This is what Israel was guilty of, and their pride led them to the wrong focus, where they were exiled as they learned once again how to trust God.

What we pridefully hold onto--the idols we create; the pride we live by--distracts us from God, but God overcomes those things—he gives power to the weak to make them strong and is not weakened himself. He promises that those who wait for him will be renewed.

We see this waiting comfort and renewal in the life of Jesus. In the last week of his life, Jesus enters Jerusalem seemingly in triumph (Luke 19:28ff). Yet the narrative arc in the Gospels of his last week shows us that Jesus' mission was always to be a mission of rejection by people, until the work of God was complete. From the "triumphal" entry to the conflict with religious leaders to the tightening of the instructions to the disciples to a torturous night in the garden to the arrest and suffering and, finally, to death.

"Triumph," as we see it, leads to death. But death leads to resurrection. To renewal.

In Philippians 2:5-11, Paul describes hymnically what Luke described narratively. Jesus died so that we might live. As we follow him, we die to live. And in that death, which is made when we are buried with Christ in baptism, where we die to ourselves by being linked to his own death, we find renewal, renewal that comes when we are raised with Christ, out of the waters of baptism, into a new life. This is comfort! This is strength! This is renewal!

Let us give up pride. Let us give up idols, recognizing them for the worthless things they are, and remember the life of our Savior, who entered in triumph for us, not a triumph for himself, but a seeming triumph that led to his death. But with God is always the great reversal--where death seems to reign, there is life. And that life is a life of comfort and renewal through the Holy Spirit.

This guide includes teaching and reflection questions on Luke 4:14-30.

This guide includes teaching and study questions on 2 Corinthians 10:13-12:10 (morning lesson) and Luke 3:1-17 (evening lesson).

Questions are from Luke 12:13-21 (morning sermon), Joshua 1:10-2:24 (evening sermon), and Psalm 18:1-24.