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Our text today deals with the unexpected. For example, many (most?) people think that if they were rich that life would be better… not just better, but much better. As a young man I used to believe that too, but I don’t believe it any more. In case some of you still believe that, let me give you some interesting facts… facts that we could say are unexpected:
Lottery winner Billie Bob Harrell, who won $31 million in the Texas lottery, committed suicide.
Patrick Collier won $1 million in the lottery, and two weeks later was arrested for allegedly choking and punching his fiancée in the face.
Lottery winner Phil Kitchen was found dead on his couch from the over consumption of whiskey.
Lottery winner Dennis Elwell died from drinking cyanide.
A 16-year-old lottery winner in the UK named Callie Rogers said, “Some days I don’t even want to leave my house because people scream abuse at me. Two months ago I thought I was the luckiest teenager in Britain, but today I can say I have never felt so miserable.”
Lottery millionaire Kevin Lee Sutton was charged with attempted murder for attempting to shoot another man in the head with a .22 caliber pistol.
Seattle lottery millionaire Rick Camat was shot to death by police in a parking lot after he refused to drop his pistol.
Gerald Muswagon won $10 million in the lottery, spent it all in seven years, and then hanged himself.
William Post III, who won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery, died in bankruptcy. He told an interviewer, “Everybody dreams of winning money, but nobody realizes the nightmares that come out of the woodwork.”
As we study 2 Kings 5 today, I think you will agree with me that we will find several things that are unexpected.
2 Kings 5:1 – Now Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper.
Naaman was in all likelihood the commander of the Syrian Army for Ben-Hadad (the king) during that great battle with Israel, when Ahab and Jehoshaphat fought to win the city of Ramoth-Gilead, and Ahab was killed. During that battle:
1 Kings 22:34 – Now a certain man drew a bow at random, and struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. So he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am wounded.”
According to the Jewish Targum (commentary), that certain man was none other than Naaman. Now the Bible gives us five superlatives about this man Naaman, followed by that terrible conjunction, “but.”
Naaman was:
The commander of the Syrian army
A great man in the sight of the king
Not only was he great in the king’s eyes, he was honorable
He was victorious on the battlefield
He was a mighty man of valor
But then we read that little word “but.” But he was a leper. Naaman had a lot of good things going for him, but none of his achievements, and none of his valor could give him victory over the battle that mattered most to him… victory over leprosy. He was a great man, an honorable man, but he was losing the battle against a foe for which there was no known cure.
Naaman had so much success outwardly… things that we think would make a person happy, but there are other factors that enter the equation. As I am working on this sermon a news story broke that has shocked the baseball world. Baltimore pitching great Mike Flanagan committed suicide… he was 59. The southpaw had won the Cy Young Award in 1979 after posting a 23-9 record and a 3.08 ERA. In 1983, Flanagan went 12-4 for the World Series champion Orioles. And last year Flanagan was hired by Mid-Atlantic Sports Network to work as a color analyst on the Orioles telecasts… a dream job (supposedly).
Do you think there might be a lesson here for us? I do, and it is this… it is possible to have the trappings of success, and to be miserable at the same time. Can you say Elvis? All too often we measure success by the world’s standards, but let me remind you what success is from God’s point of view.
Genesis 39:2 – The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man.
Outwardly Joseph looked like a failure. His brothers had sold him into slavery because they hated his guts. He was about to be falsely charged with attempting to seduce Potiphar’s wife, and as such he was put in prison, but God states unequivocally that Joseph was a successful man. And did you notice why Joseph was successful? Joseph was successful because the Lord was with him. How do you define success?
2 And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman’s wife. 3 Then she said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.”
How would you like to have been that young girl taken captive at the hands of the enemy? Suppose this young girl was your daughter… would you be tempted to think God had made a mistake by letting her be taken as a prisoner? It would be easy to fall into that trap, but I want you to see that God is protecting her and using her as His spokesperson… His missionary if you will. By the way it wasn’t “luck” and it wasn’t any accident that this young girl was chosen to wait on Naaman’s wife… this was the hand of God at work behind the scenes.
God planted this young girl exactly where He wanted her to be for one reason. God is asking her to do a very special job… to be a witness. Now I have no doubt that she wrestled with fears, and she probably didn’t know the reason God had her there. I have no doubt she could say with Joseph about her captors, “But as for you, you thought evil against me.” It wasn’t until much later she was able to say, “But God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive,” Genesis 50:20.
It may be that what you and I perceive as evil isn’t evil at all. To be sure it is uncomfortable, but God is using it to change us, and to get us where we need to be. Paul had something to say about this:
2 Corinthians 4:8-12 – We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death is working in us, but life in you.
Paul knew that all the difficulties that he experienced were not in vain:
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 – For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Naaman doesn’t know it now, but he is going to find out soon that his leprosy will lead him to God.
One more point I want to consider before we move on. What was this young girl’s name? We don’t know… she remains anonymous, and I believe there is a huge lesson for us here… one that is unexpected: it is possible to be an unknown and still be influential. This young girl was a witness, and she pointed Naaman’s wife toward Elisha and toward the God of Israel. Even though her name isn’t recorded and her position was that of a servant, she had an impact that we’re still talking about today, some 2800 years later.
I’m sure every one of us and every school child knows about Paul Revere and his famous midnight ride, but have you ever heard of a man named Israel Bissell? He was a 23-year-old dispatch rider who, on that same April evening of 1775, also took off to warn the colonies that British troops had opened fire on colonial farmers at Lexington. He rode south with the news, and he rode like the wind. According to local legend, he made it to Worcester… normally a day’s ride… in just two hours, and his horse dropped dead when he got there. With a new horse, he took off again, racing through Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania, spreading the alarm. He rode 350 miles in six days, an unheard of feat. Paul Revere, on the other hand, only rode twenty miles. So why is it we remember Paul Revere and not Israel Bissell? It’s because Paul Revere was immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem:
Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
Nobody wrote a poem about Israel Bissell, and he is all but unknown today, but he helped saved the Colonies, leading to the establishment of our United States of America. And as a happy ending to this story, several years ago a poet, Clay Perry, did write a poem about Israel Bissell. It went like this:
Listen my children to my epistle
Of the long, long ride of Israel Bissell;
Who outrode Paul by miles and time
But didn’t rate a poet’s rhyme.
4 And Naaman went in and told his master [Ben-Hadad], saying, “Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel.” 5 Then the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing.
Ten talents of silver and six thousand shekels of gold is a huge sum of money. Ten talents of silver equals 750 pounds of silver and six thousand shekels of gold equals 150 pounds of gold according to the Bible Knowledge Commentary. ($3,800,000)
6 Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said, Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.
The king of Israel (Joram, one of Ahab’s sons) thinks that he’s being set up. Why? Because somewhere along the line a very important detail got omitted. The young servant girl was pointing Naaman’s wife to the prophet Elisha and Elisha’s God, but by the time the king of Israel received the message, it was communicated to him that he should be the one to do the healing. He knew he had no power over disease, and as such he was convinced that Syria wanted to go to war with him.
Does this remind you of anything? It reminds me of the game telephone. The game begins with the first person whispering a phrase or sentence to the person beside him. Each person successively whispers what that person believes he heard to the person next to him. The last person announces the statement to the entire group. Mistakes typically accumulate in the retelling, so the statement announced by the last player differs significantly, and often amusingly, from the one uttered by the first person.
But more importantly let’s make sure we notice this important point. It is possible to be the most powerful person in the world, and still be impotent to meet people’s needs. Kings can make edicts, set policies, start wars, and increase taxes, but kings can’t change hearts, forgive sins, or give eternal life… the things people need most. In reality, kings aren’t as powerful or important as they think they are.
Several years ago, a political consultant by the name of Robert Strauss said something in an interview, and I thought it showed rare insight. He said, “Everybody in government is like a bunch of ants on a log floating down a river. Each one thinks he is guiding the log, but the log is really just going with the flow.” I hope I am wrong, but I don’t think Robert Strauss has a clue whom is responsible for guiding the flow.
There’s only one King who is directing the flow of the river of life, and He alone can heal diseases, forgive sins, and give eternal life… and that is King Jesus.
7 And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me.” 8 So it was, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.”
Elisha used a lot of every day items to help people put their trust in the Lord. Please understand, it’s not the things themselves that have the power, it’s the Lord. Think of some of the miracles that Elisha performed and the simple things he used to demonstrate that God was the power behind the miracle.
Elisha put salt in a polluted spring to make it drinkable (2 Kings 2), he put flour in a pot of poisonous stew to make it edible (2 Kings 4), he fed a hundred men from 20 loaves of barley bread. Not only did they all eat, they even had some leftovers (2 Kings 4). Now in our text, Elisha tells Naaman to wash in the Jordan and be healed of his leprosy.
We need to be careful here careful because many, many people cross that fine line between faith and superstition. Do you remember the brass serpent? When the Israelites were in the wilderness, their constant complaining brought God’s judgment on them. People were dying right and left from the fiery serpents that God sent to get their attention.
Numbers 21:7-9 – Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
I am sure it seemed like a silly solution. Who would have thought that looking at a brass serpent could heal anything? Yet the act of looking in faith stopped the plague and brought healing (again something unexpected).
Unfortunately, the Israelites turned this brass serpent into a lucky rabbit’s foot, and it became the object of their worship instead of the Lord. King Hezekiah finally took the brass serpent and destroyed it (2 Kings 18). Back to our text.
10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ 12 “Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.
Did you notice the fact that Elisha didn’t go out and talk to Naaman…? Elisha sent a messenger instead. Naaman’s reaction? He flew into a rage. I believe Naaman was expecting some grand display of pomp and circumstance from the prophet himself… Naaman apparently believed all the press reports that he was indeed a mighty man of valor. Naaman was furious that some lowly errand boy would dare insult him by telling him to go wash in the Jordan. Hadn’t Syria just defeated Israel?
Let me explain it this way. I have heard that there is a small rivalry between Duke and Carolina in basketball… have you heard that? Well suppose these two teams make it to the championship game, and suppose (for argument’s sake) that Duke beats Carolina. Can you imagine if Coach K had been suffering for years with something like AIDS, and one of God’s anonymous children (not a Tim Tebow) told coach K after he won the NCAA title game that all he had to do was to go to the Carolina campus and take a shower, and he would be healed of his disease? No… I can’t imagine that either!
But there is another lesson from the unexpected here for us to observe, and we could call it the simplicity of believing. Some people think it’s too simple to just believe in Jesus to receive eternal life. But God has always asked people to trust Him. When God delivered Israel from the bondage of Egypt, He asked them to trust Him by putting the blood of a lamb on the doorposts of their houses. In the same way, God simply asks you to believe in His Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Back to our text:
13 And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. 15 And he returned to the man of God, he and all his aides, and came and stood before him; and he said, “Indeed, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel; now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.”
There is one more lesson from the unexpected for us to take note of… it is possible to do something simple and be changed forever.
Naaman was cleansed of his leprosy, and while that was wonderful, that wasn’t the greatest miracle that happened that day. The greatest miracle was something that happened to Naaman’s soul, not his skin. He was healed of his spiritual leprosy… He acknowledged the God of Israel. In today’s language, we would say that he was born again.
16 But he said, “As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will receive nothing.” And he urged him to take it, but he refused.
Please don’t think the lesson from this verse is that it is more spiritual to refuse gifts! That is not the point… the point is simply this… this is Naaman’s first contact with the Lord, and he needs to know that God operates on mercy and grace, not money. God’s gifts are free. We have all received freely from Jesus, and we should give freely in return.
17 So Naaman said, “Then, if not, please let your servant be given two mule-loads of earth; for your servant will no longer offer either burnt offering or sacrifice to other gods, but to the LORD. 18 “Yet in this thing may the LORD pardon your servant: when my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow down in the temple of Rimmon-when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD please pardon your servant in this thing.” 19 Then he said to him, “Go in peace.” So he departed from him a short distance.
Naaman is giving great evidence of saving faith. He is going to put away all the other gods he has been serving, and serve only the LORD. Now in his exuberance, Naaman doesn’t have a clue that his desire to serve God doesn’t line up with the Mosaic Law. If he wanted to sacrifice to the Lord according to the Law, then he would have to go to God’s altar… he couldn’t build his own. And he would have to have a Levite offer up sacrifices on his behalf, he couldn’t do it himself. Did you notice Elisha’s response? Did Elisha rebuke him and tell him all the things he was doing wrong? No, he simply said, “Go in peace.”
I think there is another huge lesson for us to learn here. New believers have exuberance about them, and many times they are like a bull in a china shop. Our job is not to throw water in their face and point out all the things they are doing wrong. We need to rejoice over the fact they are headed in the right direction. Yes, there will be a time and a place to gently instruct them in the ways of God, but let’s make sure we don’t dampen their enthusiasm for God by finding fault with everything they do. The important thing is that in his heart, Naaman is putting away all other gods. What a great place to start.
Naaman is a new believer, and that is the key to understanding Elisha’s response, especially when Naaman (thinking out loud) realizes that his master, Ben-Hadad the king of Syria, is going to ask (require) Naaman to accompany him to his house of worship. Naaman knows it is wrong, but as a new believer he doesn’t know what to do. By his response, Elisha isn’t condoning the worship of Rimmon.
I think this is another example of grace… give the guy a break. When Naaman grows up a little more in the Lord, he will know how to handle this situation better.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego knew they couldn’t bow before Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image. They didn’t say, “God forgive us when we bow before this idol.” But the difference is this… they were mature believers, not new born babes.
The disciples didn’t stop preaching the Gospel just because the Jewish authorities threatened them and told them to stop preaching. They didn’t say, “God forgive us if we stop preaching because things might get awkward.” Naaman is just a new believer. Let’s not condemn him.
As Paul Harvey likes to say, “And now, the rest of the story.”
20 But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Look, my master has spared Naaman this Syrian, while not receiving from his hands what he brought; but as the LORD lives, I will run after him and take something from him.” 21 So Gehazi pursued Naaman. When Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him, and said, “Is all well?” 22 And he said, “All is well. My master has sent me, saying, ‘Indeed, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mountains of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments.’” 23 So Naaman said, “Please, take two talents.” And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and handed them to two of his servants; and they carried them on ahead of him. 24 When he came to the citadel, he took them from their hand, and stored them away in the house; then he let the men go, and they departed. 25 Now he went in and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, “Where did you go, Gehazi?” And he said, “Your servant did not go anywhere.” 26 Then he said to him, “Did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you? Is it time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants? 27 “Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever.” And he went out from his presence leprous, as white as snow.
What a sad ending to such a delightful story. I don’t think it takes a genius to figure out the lesson God wants us to learn from Gehazi. Guard your heart because greed is hiding in your heart and is just waiting for a chance to escape.
1 Timothy 6:9-12 – But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Greed will destroy you if you don’t rule over it.
Monkey trappers in North Africa have a clever method of catching their prey. They fill a number of gourds with nuts and chain them firmly to a tree. Each has a hole just large enough to allow an unsuspecting monkey to stick his hand inside the hollowed-out gourd. When the hungry animal discovers this hole and the treasure waiting inside, he quickly grabs a handful of nuts. However, the hole is too small for him to withdraw his bulging, clenched fist. Believe it or not, he doesn’t have enough sense to open up his hand and release the prize in order to escape, so he is easily taken captive.
This is a picture of many Christians. The devil excels in advertising… he knows how to stimulate the appetites of the flesh. But if we watch and pray… if we bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, God keeps us safe from the deception of sin.
Greed has been the ruin of many a man.
Money makes the same promises as God… I can make you happy. I can give you security. I can make life worth living. I can make you popular. But here is the truth:
Money can buy you medicine, but not health.
Money can buy you a house, but not a home.
Money can buy you sex, but not love.
Money can buy you followers, but not respect.
