Faith That Changes Your Life
Pastor Tan Thai · Sep 8, 2019
This sermon, based on Luke 7:1-10 and 7:36-50, explores the nature of genuine faith through two contrasting figures: a Roman centurion and a sinful woman. Both came to Jesus not on the basis of merit but through humble faith, and both were met with his love and power.
The sermon opens by introducing two accounts in Luke 7: a Roman centurion asking Jesus to heal his beloved servant, and a sinful woman weeping at Jesus' feet at the home of a Pharisee named Simon. Luke, a physician, wrote with the purpose of showing that Jesus is the Savior of all people — regardless of social status, gender, or sinful background. The two characters represent opposite ends of society but share one thing in common: both came to Jesus in faith.
The first section addresses the foundation of faith. The sermon distinguishes between a false foundation — good deeds, moral virtue, and social standing — and the true foundation, which is the recognition of one's own unworthiness and complete reliance on God's grace. The Roman centurion, though powerful and praised by the Jewish elders for his generosity, humbly told Jesus he was not worthy to have him enter his home. Ephesians 2:8-9 is cited to confirm that salvation comes not from works but by God's grace received through faith.
The second section examines the object of faith. The sermon emphasizes that what matters is not the intensity of one's faith but its object. The sinful woman offered the two most precious things she owned — her hair and a flask of expensive perfume, the very tools of her livelihood — to wipe and anoint Jesus' feet. This act symbolized the total surrender of her life to Jesus, shifting her entire source of worth from beauty and body to Christ himself. Jesus used the parable of two debtors in Luke 7:41-43 to teach Simon that the one who is forgiven much loves much.
The third section presents the results of genuine faith. First, faith leads into love — the more deeply one understands the forgiveness received, the more one is capable of loving others. Second, faith produces assurance and courage — the woman was willing to disregard public opinion and let down her hair before everyone because she had already been touched by Jesus. His declaration to her, 'Your faith has saved you,' was not a conditional encouragement but a final, absolute pronouncement of complete forgiveness.
The sermon closes with a practical challenge: each person should identify the 'little flask around the neck' — the thing whose loss would make life feel meaningless — and lay it at the feet of Jesus. Isaiah 53:5-6 is cited as the prophetic foundation for Christ's substitutionary sacrifice, the basis upon which anyone, no matter how unworthy, can come to him in faith and be received.