Thursday, October 02, 2008

Do I Consider Myself "Unworthy"?

Matthew 8:8 (ESV) 8 But the centurion replied, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.

I've preached close to 2500 sermons in my life in all kinds of places. I remember the one place that absolutely humbled me the most. It was at a Minister's Conference in Branson. I was a young preacher and had been asked to preach to an audience of preachers. They were almost entirely men who had been in the ministry much longer than I and had much more wisdom. I remember being scared to death because I was so inadequate for the task. I felt that anyone in that room was more qualified to bring that message than I was. I felt totally unworthy to be sharing anything with them.

Perhaps you have situations where you feel unworthy. Maybe you have friends that are more afluent than you are and you feel embarrassed to have them come to your house because it isn't as nice as they are used to. Or perhaps because of their standing in society you feel that you are unworthy of their time and attention.

In this passage Jesus meets a man who isn't Jewish but who is a leader in the army. This man is looked up to by those who serve under him and probably lived better than most people in his culture. He has servants at home to take care of the house and one of them is very sick. When Jesus offered to come to his house and heal the servant, the centurion stated that "he was not worthy to have you come under my roof." In the presence of Jesus, this man of importance recognized something about Jesus. His humility wasn't because of Jesus social status. Jesus didn't even own a home. It wasn't because of His commanding presence. Jesus was just "ordinary" in appearance. So what was this emotion and why did he feel it?

The centurion realized that Jesus was worthy to be worshiped, and anyone worthy of worship was much too special to "come down" to his level. In the presence of Jesus he felt small and unworthy of Jesus time. It wasn't a self-depracating kind of feeling. He truly recognized the holiness of the Master and how unholy he was.

So I ask myself this question: Do I feel unworthy? Do I really recognize the true holiness of the Lord? Do I see Him as "The King of Glory"? I often see Him as my "best friend" but do I see Him in His Glory? The beings in heaven all fall down at His feet and worship Him. He is the center of attention and object of worship in heaven. They know who He is and worship Him.

Today, I challenge you to think about who He is. Try to see Him in His Glory. Put Him in his rightful place on the throne of your life and worship Him. Allow Him to reveal Himself to you so that you may come to that place of "unworthiness". It was in this state that Jesus remarked of the centurion; "Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith."

Worship Him today for He is worthy!

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