IglesiaBautista.org Sermons : The Sensibility Of A Soldier

The Sensibility Of A Soldier

Author: Esaú Crespo

Introduction:

This man was a member of the powerful Army of the Empire. We have plenty of historic information about this empire to the point that we can make a deep analysis about this Army. The source of this information is mostly Latin writers, such as: Tacitus, Suetonius, Ciceron, Etc.

Lets take a look to just a couple of brief examples that will help us understand the nature of the Army of that Empire:

Courage
When the Roman Empire conquered England, they burn their ships to remove the possibility of running away because their slogan was, to win or to die. That is courage!
Discipline
When the ruins of Pompeii were discovered after it was buried by the eruption of the Vesuvius volcano in 79 AD, the archeologists found the casts of two standing soldiers who decided not to abandon their post. They preferred to die.
Cruelty
We know this from the information we have in the New Testament where it gives testimony of how they killed those three men in the crosses in a cruel way. While they were in agony, the soldiers amused themselves casting lots on Jesus garments.

It was necessary to stand out in courage, discipline and cruelty, in order to become a Centurion. A Centurion was the commander of a squad of 100 soldiers.

When we read what the Bible says about the conduct of this man, we come to the conclusion that we cannot condemn the entire human race through the conduct of the majority.

Through the conduct of this man, the sophism of partial observation becomes questionable. Sophism is a wrong way of reasoning. The following is a list of false assertions often made toward a common group of people:

All the cops are corrupt
All the attorneys are disloyal
All the pastors are scoundrels
All the Iraqis are terrorists
All women are the same

Through the Centurion we can see that an individual can be different from the crowd.

What we learn from this man?

I. His Social Sensibility.

The Bible passage comes from an era of slavery, when the life of a slave was worth the same as the life of a beast. It was normal to fire a sick slave and replace him with a younger and stronger one, but the Centurion did not do this because his heart was filled with social sensibility; in other words, he did not see the slave as a farm animal, but he considered him as a human being who was worthy of aid in his necessity.

In verse 2, we read that the Centurion valued highly his servant.
He showed concern for the sick slave because he sent some Jewish elders to Jesus.
His sensibility it is seen in the fact that he showed loved, not just for his servant, but also for the Jewish nation, as the elders said.
This man prompted Gods blessings because the Lord says that whoever blesses Israel will be blessed. Genesis 12:3:
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse

Individuals as well as nations who have showed kindness to Israel, have received the blessings of almighty God.

The United Stated

England

Countries from northern Europe

II. His Spiritual Sensibility.

What he thought of himself.
Verse 6 ...Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.
Verse 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you.

This man did what Jesus said in His Sermon of the Mount Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3

This man did what the thief hanging from the cross would do later on when he uttered: for we are getting what our deeds deserve

The road to salvation begins when human beings acknowledge their spiritual misery.

His spiritual sensibility led him to enjoy Gods blessings because the Bible says: a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalms 51:17

It is good to have a sound view about our spiritual situation, but its not enough if we do not focus God out of our spiritual condition.

The personality of God: Holyness
I do not deserve to have you come under my roof
The personality of God: Power

say the word

The centurion did not have any doubt of what we read in Genesis 1 about the creative power of God through his mighty word.

The personality of God. Salvation

Jesus said about him: I have not found such great faith even in Israel.

III. His Sensibility Toward Obedience.

I obey
Being obedient he had moral authority to give orders. The centurion gives us such a great teaching regarding the need of submitting to an authority.

The Roman Empire was a powerful one because it maintained discipline and the principles of authority with great zeal.

The Kingdom of God is based under the same principle.

When the principle of authority is infringe then chaos results. This happened with Satan; his pride led him to rebellion.
- This principle works at home. Ephesians 5:21.
- This principle works in the church. I Peter 5:5.
- This principle works in the state. Romans 13:1-2.
That is why the apostle Peter tells us to be careful with the leaders of a congregation. We read in I Timothy 3 the prerequisites for a minister of God are given and one of them is not to be a recent convert (verse 6), because he can become arrogant...and that, is rebellion.

Conclussion:

God expect from everybody, but mostly from believers, to be sensible to the hardships of people, sensible to Gods voice in the Bible, and sensible to the requirements of submitting one another.

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