Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Today it is my honour to have my very first sermon with you, and hopefully it will not be the worst 20 mins for you today.

So have mercy on me when you fill out your little sheet.

Haha...

I am just kidding.

I believe that the Holy Spirit will work among us and speak to us.

And may God be with you all.

(With my hand open)

I have chosen this considerably long passage of 2 Kings Chapter 5, and would like to meditate it together with you.

I'll be quoting the passage throughout my sermon, but just to remind you, this is the story of the miraculous healing of the Syrian General Namaan by Elisha.

You may already familiar with the story and start to wonder: "What on earth that this Syrian General Naaman has to do with the topic: Insider and Outsider?

Well, we will find it out.

However, before our journey starts, how do we define as "insider" and "outsider"?

According to Oxford Dictionary, "Insider" means a person within a group or organization, And "Outsider" means a person who does not belong to a particular organization or profession or a person who is not accepted by or who isolates themselves from something.

In other words, there is an unseen boundary or line or wall around that particular group.

So if we draw a circle here, you are either in or out and it will decide your status.

However, is this true?

How should the Church decide whether a person is in or out?

Is it by their social status?

Is it by how many holy activities he/she participates in?

Or is it by what positions that he/she serves in church?

Now, let's fasten our seat belts and start our journey.

Not by Social Status

Imagine we have travelled way back in a time machine.

The time is around 850-843 BC, and Jehoram is the King of Isarel.

Unfortunately, Isarel is very weak at this time and is surrounded by strong neighbours.

A mighty worrior, the Commander-in-chief of the army of Aram-Damascus, Naaman, had great fame on the battlefield and was trusted by his king.

According to the Bible, "because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria."

Yet, he is a leper.

In verse 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."

We do not know the name of this little girl.

However, a female who is called "a little girl" at this time would probably be around at the age of 9 or 10.

This little girl had been captured as slave and is under the service of Naaman's wife.

Probably she would never see her parents again, or even worse, her parents may have already been killed in the raid.

(打草谷) But listen to what she said in verse 3, "Oh, if only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria!

He would cure him of his leprosy."

We do not know what form of leprosy that Naaman is afflicted with, we do not know how servere it is, but it is clear that it is a skin disease and it resulted in a whiteness, and possibly dryness of the skin tissues.

"If only my master..." This little girl knows how much her master is in pain because of this skin decease.

In fact, in verse 4, we can see how desperate Naaman is.

He takes the word from a servant girl, a slave, a "nothing" in the social status, and goes straight to speak to the King.

He is so desperate that he will take any chance to cure it.

"If only my master..."

Although the life of the little girl has been messed up or destroyed by the capture, she does not repay her master with hatred, but with care and love.

She knows the heart of his master and what he cares for.

Now, let's see how Jehoram responses on that.

Verse 5-7 in ESV, 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.

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.”

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.”

His first reaction is not trying to help but to tear his clothes.

An annointed king of a chosen nation, who is supposed to be very close to God, or at least should know his God well and seek His face.

But no! His first thought is about himself - his own political interest.

"Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me."

The Syrian king was with good intention when he send out Naaman.

Nevertheless, Jehoram misinterpret it as "seeking a quarrel".

The king of the chosen nation has found no peace in his mind.

Sadly, he does not even know there is a prophet, a man of God in his kingdom.

But a captured little girl in the land of Syria knows it.

Who is the insider?

Is it Jehoram or is it the little girl?

At this time, woman and children are only consider as posessions.

She is not even in the land of Israel.

This little girl in every aspect of the worldview is an outsider.

But you and I all know, she is an insider in the Kingdom of God.

Jehoram, the annointed king of a chosen nation that has every rights historically, politically, and religiously to claim to be the insider of God's kingdom is in fact an outsider.

Let's travel back to 2012 and unplug our seat belts for a moment.

Brothers and sisters, we are Christians; we are the chosen people; we are the annointed priests in the kingdom of God.

Yet, how many of us can be like the little girl - repay mistreatment with love?

When bad things happen, how many of us first think of our own interest, not the kingdom of God? How many churches are middle class dominant?

How many of us has ever cared about the hungry and thirsty spirits of the "wealthy"?

How many souls of the "wealthy"and celebrites have lost in drug overdose and suicide?

Society keeps changing but the need of the poor has not.

How many of us have feed their need?

While many poor need to work on Sunday, how many churches have weekday service that allow them to rest before God at least once a week?

Brothers and sisters, being counted as the insider of the Church does not depend on the social status.

As our Lord Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."‎

The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), .

Not by the "doing" or "holy activities"

Let's fasten our seat belts again and continues our journey.

Now we see that Elisha, the man of God has send a messenger to Jehoram when he heards that the King of Israel has torn his clothes.

He said to the King, "Why have you torn your robes?

Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel."

‎So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house.

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.”

Oh, Naaman the Outsider is outraged 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.

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?"

When he said "...he would surely come out to me..."

He may be thinking: Even I am not a King, but I am at least the Commander-in-chief, the prophet should at least come to see me.

Oh ya! Naaman has high social status.

He is also a successful man in his profession.

He helps Syria to win many battles.

He is proud of it, and as an outsider, he has every right to feel proud because he does not realize that it is the LORD who gives him the victories.

However, Elisha only send him a messenger and tell him to wash in Jordan river.

He feels that he has been slapped on his face, he feels that he has been dishonoured, his pride has been stepped on,and his identitity has been denied.

Just imagine that you are Stephen Harper, and one day the Queen (well, you know the Queen theorically is the head of Canada) has sent you to the front door of some guy named Elisha.

You are standing there and ringing the bell.

(ting-a-ling!)