2 Kings 5:1-14
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Transcript
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Introduction
Introduction
Tonight, We’re Going to Look at One of the Best Known…
And Most Popular Stories in the Book of Kings
Out of All the Texts in the Book of Kings…
This Text/Story has Probably Been Preached on…
More Than Any Other
It’s Often Been Used to Preach on the Topic of Baptism
And When You Read the Story…
It’s Really Easy to Make a Connection to Baptism
But this Text is So Much More Than Just a Baptism Text
It Covers Themes Such as:
Humility
Faith-Based Obedience
Conversion
Monotheism
The Authority of God
The Grace of God
The Mercilessness of Humanity
Greed
Because There’s So Much to Say about this Text…
We’re Going to Break this Chapter into 2 Halves
2 Kings 5:1-14
2 Kings 5:1-14
This Text is about a Man Named Naaman…
And How He is Healed By the God of Israel
This Story is Still in the Collection of Stories…
That are Showing Us How Elisha is God’s New Spokesman
He has Taken Over the Role of God’s Prophet to Israel
2 Kings 5:1 (NIV)
1 Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.
There’s a Lot of Important Information in this First Verse:
Naaman is Commander of the Aramean Army
We’ve Seen Several Confrontations Between Israel & Aram in Kings
The King of Aram Considered Naaman a “Great” Man…
And He was Highly Respected…
Because He had Brought Victory to Aram
(Notice Yahweh was the One Giving Naaman the Victories)
The Narrator Wants Us to See…
That God was Orchestrating this Whole Story We’re about to Read
He was a Valiant Soldier, But there was One Battle He Couldn’t Defeat:
The Skin Disease that had Taken Over His Body
All of These Details from Him Being a “Great” Man…
To Him having Leprosy…
Are Important Details to the Story
Next We Meet Another Important Character in the Story:
2 Kings 5:2–3 (NIV)
2 Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”
Naaman’s Wife had a Little Israelite Slave Girl…
Who’d Been Made an Exile By the Arameans
Instead of Harboring Hard Feelings Toward Her Slave-Owner…
She Tells Them about an Israelite Prophet Who can Heal Him
2 Kings 5:4–7 (NIV)
4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 5 “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.” 7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!”
When You’re Dealing with a Disease…
That Seems as if it is Going to Take Your Life…
You Become Desperate
“If it’s at All Possible that this Little Girl is Right…”
“And There’s a Man in Israel Who can Heal Me…”
“It’s Worth a Shot”
Because He’s Held in Such High Regard By the King…
The King Sends Him to Israel’s King with a Letter
“Cure Him of His Leprosy, and Take this Huge Wad of Cash for Your Trouble”
What Aram’s King Doesn’t Know is:
Prophets of Yahweh Don’t Work for Money
They aren’t Paid By the King
The King Doesn’t have Authority Over God’s Prophets
So, Sending Naaman to Israel’s King is Useless
Israel’s King Flips Out
“How Do They Expect Me to Heal this Man’s Leprosy?!”
“I’m Not God!”
“They’re Just Trying to Stir Up Trouble with Israel!”
2 Kings 5:8–10 (NIV)
8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”
Elisha Tells the King:
“Oh, Calm Down!”
“Send Him on to Me”
Naaman then Arrives with Horses (Plural) & Chariots (Plural)
Then Elisha Sends His Servant with a Simple Message:
“Go Immerse Yourself in the Jordan River 7 Times”
“Your Leprosy will Be Cured & You’ll Be Considered Clean”
(Leviticus 14 Calls for a Person to Be Sprinkled 7 Times with Water…)
(To Be Cleansed from a Defiling Disease)
You’d Think this would Make Naaman as Happy as He could Be
That’s about as Simple & Easy as it Gets!
You’re Horrible Disease will Be Completely Healed…
And All You have to Do is Dunk Yourself 7 Times in the Jordan River
2 Kings 5:11–12 (NIV)
11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.
Instead of Being Excited/Happy, He was Furious
Why?
For 2 Reasons:
1.) It Didn’t Meet His Expectations
2.) He Didn’t Understand it
For a Person of His Status & Greatness…
He Expected Elisha to Perform Some Amazing Miraculous Ritual
He Didn’t Understand Why that Muddy Old Jordan River…
Was Better Than His Crystal Clear Aramean Rivers
Because of His Personal & Nationalistic Pride…
He was Going to Give Up, Go Back Home, and Die a Leper
But Once Again…
His Servants Come to the Rescue:
2 Kings 5:13–14 (NIV)
13 Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.
His Servants Attacked His Pride with a Good Dose of Common Sense
This Humbled Him Enough to Obey God’s Instructions
And When He Did, He was Restored & Cleansed
He Became Like a Young (“Little”) Boy
Naaman Experienced a Physical Rebirth
But Not Just Physical
Notice What He Says in 2 Kings 5:15
2 Kings 5:15 (NIV)
15 Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”
The Commander of the Aramean Army…
Is Now a Believer & Follower of the One True God
We’ll Read the Rest of His Story Next Week
Application
Application
Let’s Take 2 Primary Lessons Away from this Text:
Humility & Faith = Salvation
“God Works in Mysterious Ways” is Such an Overused, Cliche Saying
But it’s True
God Works in Ways that:
We Don’t Expect
We Don’t Understand
Did You Know There’s a Reason for that?
God Works in Ways that We Don’t Expect or Understand…
Because it Forces Us to Humble Ourselves & Simply Trust Him
Naaman was a “Great” Man…
Who Expected a Great Miraculous Event to Be His Salvation
But, Instead, He Got:
A Prophet Who wouldn’t Even Come to the Door to Talk to Him
Instructions to Dunk Himself in a River
This Hurt His Pride & He Became Angry
Naaman Didn’t Understand How this was Going to Help Him at All
He’s Got Better Rivers in Aram that He could’ve Dunked Himself in…
If that’s Really All it would Take to Heal Him
All He Knew was that Yahweh’s Spokesperson…
Told Him to Do it in the Jordan
If it hadn’t Been for His Servants Convincing Him…
To Humble Himself & Trust the Instruction of God…
Then He would have Never Experienced…
The Grace, Power, & Salvation of God
There are 2 Words Used Throughout the Text:
“Great” & “Little”
A Little Girl Told a Great Man How He could Be Saved
When the Great Man Obeyed the Little Instructions…
He Became Little Himself
Salvation Doesn’t Come to Those Who are Great…
But to Those Who will Humble Themselves & Become Little
Those Who Humble Themselves…
And Simply Trust in the Instructions of God…
Will Receive Salvation
It Doesn’t Matter if the Instructions…
Are What We Expected or Not
It Doesn’t Matter if We Understand Them or Not
What Matters is that We Humble Ourselves…
And Trust Him
1 Corinthians 1:18 (NIV)
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
“God is Going to Save the World from Sin, Corruption, & Death…”
“By Becoming Human & Dying as a Sacrifice for the Sins of Humanity?”
To the Self-Acclaimed Wise/Intelligent…
That is the Most Silly/Ridiculous Story Ever Told
They’d Never Expect it
They’ll Never Understand it
But to the Humble & Helpless…
The Gospel Story is the Grace, Power, & Salvation of God
Salvation/Rescue/Deliverance/Restoration…
Comes When We Humbly Trust God
Lessons to Learn From a Little Slave Girl
A Quick Reading of this Chapter…
Might Lead You to Completely Forget about the Little Slave Girl
But Without Her, this Story would’ve Never Happened
There are Many Good Lessons to Learn from Her:
How to Love Our Enemies
She was Kidnapped & Taken from Her Home…
And Forced into a Life of Slavery & Servitude
If Anyone has the Right to Hatred, Animosity, Bitterness, & Prejudice…
It’s Her
But Instead, Her First Word is: ʾǎ·ḥǎlǎy (ah-ha-lie)
“My Wish”
“My Wish is that My Master were with the Prophet…”
“So He could Be Cured”
Though Her Situation was Unjust & Unfavorable…
She Still Loved Her Master/Owner
This Ought to Leave an Impact on Us…
But Try to Imagine the Impact this Girl would’ve had…
On the Original Audience of the Book of Kings
The Book of Kings Ends with the People of Judah in Babylonian Exile
They’ve Been Told By Jeremiah…
To Pray for & Seek the Welfare of Their Captives
Now They’ve Also Been Given the Book of Kings as a History of Their Nation
And They Read about a Little Israelite Slave Girl…
Who was Once Taken Captive
And Because She Sought the Welfare of Her Captor…
He Became a Believer & Follower of the One True God
This Little Slave Girl Teaches Us to Love, Pray for, & Seek the Welfare of…
Our Enemies
And in Her Case, it Led to...
His Salvation, Repentance, & Confession of Total Allegiance to God
We Learn from a Little Slave Girl:
How to Evangelize
I Like to Imagine the Smile on Her Little Face…
Whenever Her Master Arrives Back Home and Says:
“You were Right about Your God”
“He Healed Me, Restored Me, and Made Me Brand New”
“And Now I Know that He’s the Only Real God There is”
What Did She Do that Led…
To an Outsider & a Pagan Becoming a Loyal Believer?
She Saw Someone in Need
She Loved that Person & Desired Their Well-Being
She Told Them Where Healing could Be Found
Then it was Up to Naaman…
Whether He Chose to Pursue that Source of Healing & Blessing…
Or Disregarded it
That’s the Basic Mode of Evangelism
See a Need
Love the Person
Tell Them Where Healing, Redemption, and Restoration can Be Found
Conclusion
Conclusion
One of the Big Things that Sets Churches of Christ Apart from Other Traditions…
Is that We Place a Heavy Emphasis on Baptism
Many Faith Traditions Practice Baptism
But We are a Little Different in that…
We Believe it’s Not Just a Good Thing to Do
We Believe it is Essential
We Believe if a Person Refuses to Be Baptized…
They are Refusing to Obey the Command of Jesus & His Inspired Apostles
If Naaman had Refused to Obey the Command to Be Immersed in the Jordan River…
He would have Remained a Leper
If We Refuse to Obey Jesus’ & the Apostles’ Command to Be Immersed in Water…
We will Remain Lost in Our Sins
I’d Love Nothing More Than to Talk/Study with Anyone…
About Why We Believe this about Baptism
It Essentially Boils Down to this:
The NT Presents Baptism as the Moment When:
We Die to Ourselves, are Buried with Christ, & Resurrect with Him to a New Life
Our Sins are Washed Away/Forgiven
We are Added to His Nation/Community of Believers = The Church
We are Adopted into the Family of God
We are Given the Holy Spirit to Indwell Us & One Day Resurrect Us
According to the NT…
None of These Things Takes Place Without Baptism By Faith in Christ
That Doesn’t Mean that Baptism is the Source of Our Salvation
God’s Love, Grace, & the Sacrificial Death & Resurrection of His Son are the Source
But Just Like Naaman’s Command to Be Immersed in the Jordan River…
Baptism is an Obedient Act of Faith