Sermon Tone Analysis

I love a great cup of coffee.

It’s one of those simple pleasures of the day that has entered my routine.

Thinking back now, coffee became part of my routine somewhere around my Calvin College days.

Not so much as a part of my day to enjoy.

Rather, I think I saw it as more of a necessity.

Since I worked a full-time job alongside a full-time college class load, caffeine quickly became the drug that got me through, and I became a junkie.

As other junkies who sink to the bottom of the barrel, I often found myself stopping by the gas station convenience store to refill my travel mug that had effectively become a permanently attached appendage at the end of my arm.

This was a long time ago.

Starbucks was barely a thing—they had fewer than 100 stores nationwide.

Biggby was still a long way from starting.

Most people had never even heard of a latte before.

Even so, getting my fix with gas station coffee is a pretty desperate low.

But, as I was approaching graduation and stared looking beyond all-nighters to write papers and read chapters, something happened to my firmly entrenched coffee habit.

One of my sisters introduced me to gourmet coffee from a local company right here in Grand Rapids.

It seems that in a very short period of time my habit of coffee turned into a love for coffee—specifically, a love for good coffee.

I started learning about different coffees and how geography and climate affect the flavor of coffee beans.

I learned where the best coffee in the world comes from: the Blue Mountain coffee plantation in Jamaica—if you are willing to pay $50/lb.

for coffee beans.

I learned that coffee is at its absolute best when it is brewed at precisely 192 degrees.

Anything beneath that leaves coffee that has a more bitter taste.

Anything hotter than that—especially coffee that is made in a percolator—ends up burned and loses its bright, earthy flavor.

192-degree filtered water in a French press pot, using Arabica beans from central America or Indonesia is the only way to go.

Yup.

I love a great cup of coffee.

But now I have a different kind of problem.

It’s a problem that I think all of us have in some fashion or another.

It’s not just about coffee, and it’s not anything new.

We can see an example of this in the Bible too.

Naaman’s Advantage

Naaman is one of those characters in the Bible who shows up very briefly and then is gone again.

So, we don’t know much about Naaman.

But, one verse of this passage packs in all the information we need to know about Naaman.

A commander, a great man, highly regarded, victorious, a valiant soldier; BUT also, he had leprosy.

We pick up details elsewhere in the passage to figure out that Naaman is extremely wealthy and had numerous servants.

In only one verse with a string of attributes, we figure out that Naaman is a person of advantage.

Naaman has an advantage over many others because of his wealth, because of his success, because of his connections.

Naaman is the kind of guy who could always get what he wanted, and he had the means at his disposal to do just that.

Nothing stood in his way.

I don’t think we should jump to any immediate conclusions about Naaman because of this.

Maybe he was a jerk.

Maybe he was a super great guy.

The point here in this story is that Naaman could have been any one of those because this story is meant to show us a general picture.

Naaman is symbolic of all people who have been blessed with advantage.

Naaman might be the extreme.

But it’s a hyperbole.

It is an intentional exaggeration in order to make a point.

And in this case, we are meant to see that, in some degree, we are all people of advantage.

We have all been given blessings by God.

We all have resources at our disposal.

Every single one of us has received some kind of abundance from God.

I know that so very quickly we can get caught up in playing games of comparison.

We all do that.

There is always somebody out there who has more than me.

There is always someone who has more money than me.

There is always someone who drives a nicer, newer car than me.

There is always someone out there who gets better grades in school.

Always someone else who scores more points on the team.

Always someone else whose dinners and desserts come out immaculate and perfect every time.

Always someone else who gets the job promotion and closes the deal ahead of me.

Always someone else who makes the cutest crafts and scrapbooks.

Always.

Someone.

Else.

We compare ourselves to others.

And when we do that we quite often seem to find ways of downplaying or minimizing our own advantages because we always find others who seem to have MORE advantages.

But none of this can get around the reality that you and I all have advantages.

We all have talents and successes and resources.

And every single one of those things has been granted to us as a blessing from God. Period.

That is what the example of Naaman ought to show us in this story.

We are all Naaman.

Naaman’s Downfall

The question in this story is not, “What do we do with those advantages?”

In this story the more important question is, “What do those advantages do to us?” Naaman’s tremendous advantage is also his downfall in this story.

The advantage becomes the downfall because Naaman is not aware of what these advantages have done to him.

Let’s take a closer look at that.There are a couple things that Naaman’s advantages produce in him leading to his downfall.

It is his leprosy that brings these things to the front of the story.

Naaman finds a potential solution to his leprosy problem by seeking out the prophet Elisha.

We don’t need to assume what Naaman’s expectations are for this encounter with Elisha.

The passage lays it right out for us.

Naaman thought the prophet would make a big deal over this.

Naaman thought this would turn into a giant spectacle of greatness.

Naaman’s servant calls him out on it.

“If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, you would have done it.”

But Naaman is ticked off because Elisha won’t even come out of the house to see him.

Elisha sends a messenger.

It is no small detail in the story.

Before we can talk about what Naaman ought to be doing with his advantages, this story needs to show us what Naaman’s advantages are doing to him.

In this first instance, we see that his advantages create a wall of pride.

Pride is what Naaman cannot get past in this first encounter.

Elisha doesn’t just step on the toes of Naaman’s pride, God uses Elisha to stomp all over Naaman’s pride.

Naaman doesn’t just receive a slice of humble pie.

He gets the whole pie.

We see Naaman’s pride displayed in this story by the way he reacts to his treatment from Elisha.

He walks away.

Naaman is so angry that the prophet won’t kiss up to him, that he turns away from the healing that is offered to him.

His pride is such a big deal to him, that he refuses to accept God’s invitation to be healed.

Maybe this isn’t so hard to understand.

Naaman is used to having people look up to him.

He is used to being called upon by others.

It isn’t too hard to imagine that Naaman often received praises and flattery from others for all his many accomplishments.