OFFERING - LUKE 7:1-5
1 Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum.
2 And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die.
3 And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant.
4 And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this:
5 For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue. KJV
In this write up about “offerings” some could think that we chose the wrong verses however we will see the connection between love, offerings and blessings shown to us in this example. The writer of these passages is the Apostle Luke recording an event describing a healing by Jesus. We notice in verse 1 that the place was Capernaum and the conversation took place in a public platform around a group of people. Immediately in verse 2 we see some key words like centurion, servant, sickness and death. This information reveals to us that the man who sent to Jesus was a ruler in Rome’s army. A centurion was an officer in the Roman army who typically had at least a hundred soldiers at his command. We notice by the wording of verse 2 that this Centurion had a measure of compassion. Compassion was shown when approaching the Lord Jesus on the behalf of another but it is clearly mentioned that this servant was dear unto the Centurion. This teaches us that we should try, to the best of our ability, to be faithful to our bosses. In this situation the heart connection between the master and his servant proved to reach past a normal work relationship. The prayer of the Centurion proved to be beneficial to all parties, including Jesus. The Centurion keeps a good worker and friend whereas the servant gets his life back and the Lord has another opportunity to display His awesome love through healing. The servant is recorded as being very sick, yes so sick that the forecasted path of the sickness leads to death. The verse adds the note "ready to die" which means death is so near that one could hear it’s calling for a soul. When death starts looking imminent many people lose hope and prepare for departure. However, we see quite the opposite with this centurion because in the face of those circumstances he called for Christ. Notice in verse 3 that this centurion was different from the common gentiles of that day. Yes, this centurion was a believer and he knew that his problem was bigger than he could handle on his own. His faith in divine help is the reason he went to the Church of God. Although the building is called a synagogue the core of love and spiritual help comes from the Church of God. The Church of God is Jesus Christ and that is exactly who the Centurion looked to for help. This centurion understood some important things about God because it is noted in verse 5 that the centurion loved the Jewish nation. This basically means that he loved the Jewish people and we all know when you love God's people essentially you are loving God. The Lord loves all people but many people on the earth do not love others which prohibits them from loving God. Notice that the centurion knew that it would be unorthodox for him to approach Jesus as a gentile, so he petitions the church elders first. This is similar to the teachings of James 5:14 where sick believers are encouraged to call for the elders of the church if the sickness has caused them to be bedfast. The bible does not mention if the servant was a believer so we will base our conclusions about this situation solely upon the information given. This leads us to believe that the centurion’s faith with some help of the elders is the reason that his servant was healed by the grace of God in verse 10. However, let us examine some key traits about the centurion. The first one was previously mentioned when the Jews stated he loves their nation. Was this conclusion drawn because the centurion was known for praising God loudly? The scripture gives no such indication. Maybe this conclusion was reached because the centurion always attended service? Here again, no scripture indication is given about that either. We can see what is mentioned as a proof of devotion was the fact that he built a Jewish synagogue. The Jewish people considered the funding of a synagogue sufficient evidence of sincerity when considering the heart of the centurion. It is commonly known that those who put a large sum of money toward something usually have that something in their heart as described in Matthew 6:21. Experience tells us that whatever we have inside of our heart our money will go towards and vice-versa what you invest in consistently establishes a place in your heart. Although money will never be the measure of a man's heart it can be used to help people fulfill their hearts desire. In this example we see two things going on at once. The first thing we notice is that God can use different people to help establish His purposes in the earth. We have a Roman Centurion paying for a Jewish synagogue, which means that God can use unexpected sources to fully pay for a Christian Church. Secondly, we notice that this gift for the building of God really blessed the people of God to directly bless the Heart of God. Therefore all Christians can understand that it is perfectly acceptable to God if we desire to give an "offering (or offerings)" toward a building fund or church development. We all know the phrase that if you have done it unto one of God's children you have done it unto God in Matthew 25:40 but here we see that principle in action. Notice that the offerings of the centurion paid dividends in other areas beside financial gain. He gained the respect of the Jewish people and he also gained the honor of God. This is obvious that the Father God wanted to help him by the reaction of Jesus. Jesus did not hesitate to offer help is was the case with the Syrophenician woman in Mark 7:25-30. The Lord rather immediately started heading toward the problem, we must note that the Lord Jesus faces problems head on and so should we. Now lets look at the very real fact of building a synagogue for the Jews or we could say for the message of God to be taught and received. Was a Roman officer required to build a Jewish Synagogue? Absolutely not! Did giving this type of offering to God make him a better person? Certainly not because good works always follow good hearted people. We must never think good works create a good heart if that were the case the need to be born again would be non-existent. However, we firmly believe that when the Lord comes into your heart you have compassion and this compassion compels you to do good works. Now that we have spoken about the good heart of the centurion desiring to give a large offering toward a building let us acknowledge that this type of extravagant giving is not for everyone. The reason this centurion was able to purchase a synagogue was because he was greatly blessed by God. Therefore beloved of God don't try to be like someone else simply stay within your own means (your budget) when it comes to the giving of an "offering". The "offering" of the centurion was done in proper perspective of his financial position with his spiritual desire. We should know that those who are rich in this world will be held to a higher standard of giving then those who possess less. This is shown to us in Luke 12:48 which states, “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required:” and 1 Timothy 6:17-19 with the teaching of the rich being rich in good works. We can not prove that his offering was directly related to God answering his prayer but we do have a promise from God in Malachi 3:8-12 that when we give tithes and offerings we would be blessed. The immediate attention the Lord Jesus gave to the request of the centurion gave him an audience with God and we all know that is the greatest blessing we could ask for. To be able to pray in confidence knowing that the Lord hears and will answer our prayer is our blessed assurance of salvation. The results speak for themselves because the centurion put his total trust upon God in all humility and faith it allowed a healing to take place in his household according verse 10. If we purpose to do what we can with the resources under our control when it comes to the giving of "offerings" we are sure the Lord will do what only He can do when it comes to the crisis of life. Remember giving an “offering” will never buy you a miracle from God. However, giving to God may put you in the right frame of mind to be bold enough to ask God for help and hopefully you will be humble enough to receive it by faith in the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen!
In His Love, Eric & Angela Foster