2 Kings 5:1-14

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

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

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

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

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