Servant Girl or Missionary
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Intro:
1. Misery to Missionary
1. Misery to Missionary
1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.
2 Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman’s wife.
3 She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”
4 So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.”
Naaman = Army commander...... raiding Israel...... Might man of valor!..... BUT HAS LEPROSY
Servant Girl - Has been ripped from her parents, her home, her temple (church family)...... and is not a servant to Naaman’s Wife..... NO LONGER FREE.
Grief, sorrow, and Misery that existed in that family, in her life..... HER WORLD WAS RIPPED FROM HER.....
What emotions filled her soul, SO MANY QUESTIONS.... but we see God’s sovereign grace on display in her life.....
Maybe she had the theology degree Joseph displayed when he told his brothers and said....
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
This servant girl is the perfect example of 1 Peter....
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
From her Misery she becomes a missionary! From her various trial, she showed the geniuness of her faith..... She pointed to the power of God in the prophet in Samaria!
How many times have we shared like she has out of GRACE and not GUILT!......
GO AND TELL.... GO AND TELL.... may be the message you hear week after week.....and there is an overwhelming guilt we feel.....
We become salvation sellers! ....our evangelistic efforts are based on guilt.... with an emphasis on numbers rather than people. "Evangelism for the Rest of Us: by Dr. Mike Bechtle.
What was her motivation?.....God’s grace experience and God’s grace shared!
The Servant Girl displays a deep understanding of God’s grace.... even in her misery!..... She has embraced the call to be a blessing to others.... even her enemies! From her misery she became a missionary!
She is pointing to God and God alone! This is the call to every Christian following Jesus!.....
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
All that we do should point towards Jesus! If we are following Him, then everything we do must be pointing in that direction whether good or bad?
SHE UNDERSTOOD! God is at work 10,000 ways in your life right now.... and you see three of them! - J Piper.
In the Good? How can we as a church point our community to Jesus?
We have one of the only full-sized gyms in our city, can we be creative on how to use it as a blessing to our community
We our the “friendliest” and welcoming Church in our community
We our a multi-generational church following Jesus!
With our time, talents, and treasures...... Yes I am talking about the financial blessing God has given to you and your family...... Your talents and gifts.... your time!
The Bad -
We face grief and sadness and sickness, God can use it, will we continue to point towards Jesus!
God works all things for your good and his purpose and GLORY!
27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
2. gods to God Alone
2. gods to God Alone
Naaman was changed by GOD! He moved from believing in gods to God alone!
5 And the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing.
Roughly..... MILLIONS of U.S. Dollars! and some NICE clothes!.... Elisha is going to be BLINGING!
6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.”
7 And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”
8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
The King of Israel in a time of peace gets this entourage and is nervous because he knows he cannot heal Naaman..... but Elisha being told by God most likely sent to the king for him to come to be healed by the prophet.
9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and 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, and you shall be clean.”
11 But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.
12 Are not Abana and 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.
13 But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”
14 So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
Naaman has a problem… leprosy..... it is a permanent issue of death that he can see!
Leprosy was a walking death sentence that also meant political, physical, and emotional death from people in his life..... WHEN this spot shows up.... he sees death staring him in the face!
I can BUY my healing..... Millions of dollars of worth.... he was all in on what it costs!
RICH YOUNG RULER!.... What must I DO to inherit eternal life? What is the price tag
Willing to do whatever it takes to get rid of the death sentence of Leprosy in his life! - Leprosy
I know better than God.... You want me to jump in the dirty Jordan river?..... if this was the instruction, I could have done this in my country in far superior bodies of water!
What was the First though 6 dips like?. COME ON.... THIS AINT WORKING..... GOD IS THE ONLY GOD! .... then on dip 7?!!!!
15 Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; so accept now a present from your servant.”
Naaman shows the truth of the Bible that God is God alone! It echos the NT that there is healing and salvation in Jesus Christ alone!
12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
He mentioned God before and after his healing! HE has been changed from gods to God alone!
God works through the servant girl, through Elisha, and even through his servants to bring him to faith!
The Lausanne Covenant, substantially crafted by John Stott, includes the phrase, ‘evangelization requires the whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world’.[1]
Teamwork of Evangelism! Evangelism is a Y’all Sport!.....
Acts 1:8, a verse often quoted with regard to witnessing, shares the you-plural concept:
But [y’all] will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on [y’all]; and [y’all] will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
3. Forgetful to Forgetful
3. Forgetful to Forgetful
I fear what has taken place for the king happens all too often for us today!....
6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.”
7 And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”
8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
The King of Israel forgot that there was a prophet in Israel! That somehow he had to do what only God could do!.....
Elisha the prophet was God’s presence in the kingdom and the KING FORGOT ABOUT HIM AND FORGOT ABOUT ELISHA! It is interesting in this segment of miracles of Elisha, Elisha is not the main character, the miracle is not the only emphasis. It is the characters in the story.... even the king who forgets GOD!
9 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children—
Jesus is God’s prophet and presence in the KINGDOM...... HE is Emmanuel..... yet are we like this king who forgets!
Symptoms of Forgetfulness for the King and I!
Self-centered focus - The King thought he would have to do it
God is too small - Is this King starting a quarrel with me.... what are his plans verse God’s plans
Busyness - What is happening here in front of me that is distracting me from what God is putting together
God is at work 10,000 ways in your life right now.... and you see three of them!.... We find that we think that we are in control of 10,000 thing happening in our life and that God fits into 3 of them!
Comfort and Safety - The king feared his peaceful kingdom was about to get upset!
This morning what do you need to hear from the Holy Spirit?
This morning what do you need to hear from the Holy Spirit?
1. Unnamed servant girl - Are you overwhelmed by God’s grace that no matter the situation you point to Jesus!
2. Jesus Christ alone - Have you come to the point to recognize that you have a death sentence on you.... not in the form of leprosy, but in SIN.... That Jesus died for that sin so that you may be forgiven, healed, and made right with God for eternity!
3. Forgetful to Faithful - May we be found Faithful and not like the forgetful king!