Sermon Worksheet & Manuscript

Robert L. Hutcherson, Jr.

Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church

                                        Sermon Preparation/Delivery

2 Kings 5:1-14

“A Servant Heart”

The Reverend Karla J. Cooper, Pastor

 July 8, 2007

                                                       Proper 9 (14)

Sermon Worksheet & Manuscript

TEXT

2 Kings 5:1-14

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy.a 2 Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”b 4 So Naamanc went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5 And the king of Aram said, “Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.”

He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. 6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.”d 7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?e Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.”

8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!f 12 Are not Abanag and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. 13 But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

BODY

The events in today's text took place in ancient Israel when Elisha was God's prophet somewhere around 600 B.C. Take yourself back thousands of years to these days. Our story opens up in DAMASCUS---the capitol of the nation of Syria. And this is a special day! For today there is a PARADE! Now, in this period of history, there was no TV - and very little entertainment - so a parade was a BIG DEAL! Everyone came out to see them. And this is no exception. The whole town is out excitedly lining the streets. You can almost feel the anticipation in the air as the parade begins. All of Damascus is decorated for the event-especially the parade route-there are flowers and flags everywhere. Vendors are selling fruits and sweet meats. Children are giggling with excitement and LISTEN! It's starting! Down the cobbled streets of Damascus comes the victorious SYRIAN ARMY in full parade dress! There are chariots and archers and siege towers and infantrymen and calvary. All the soldiers look impressive! Every shield shines! Every sword and spear sparkles! Even the horses look sharp for their tails and manes are braided with colorful ribbons. The army carries with it the spoils of war from its victories-chests filled with gold and jewels. And as they pass the king's booth, every soldier salutes in unison. Now, at the head of this impressive column of military might, on a snow white stallion is the man of the hour....The GENERAL who has once again led his army to victory. The Bible describes him in this way: His name is NAAMAN.

General of the armies of the King of Syria. In fact Naaman was a very popular man. Every one liked him! You would too if you had known him. Shining in the sun are the medals NAAMAN has won on the field of battle through out his career as a man of great courage. Can you picture him as he rides astride that magnificent white steed in the uniform of a general? Notice that, thrown carelessly across his chest and draped over his arms, is a brightly colored sash-just a bit of decoration to brighten his uniform. But wait a minute, take a second look at that sash. That sash is not carelessly thrown over his uniform. NO! It is tucked in and very carefully wrapped around one of his arms and one of his hands. It is almost as if he is trying to HIDE the arm and hand. Well, the truth is, Naaman WAS hiding something-he was concealing a TERRIBLE fact from the public and maybe even from himself! The scripture says NAAMAN WAS a great and mighty man-BUT-he was a leper! The most feared disease of the ancient world had afflicted him. And because of this terrible truth, Naaman's whole career had come to mean nothing. His fame, his fortune didn't really matter any more, because of this horrible disease, this curse of leprosy. a disease so devastating that it will consume the whole body, ending in a horrible, slow, humiliating death. Today we have medication to treat leprosy. In the vast majority of the cases it can be arrested in the early stages. But in NAAMAN'S day....in NAAMAN'S day....to get leprosy was to die. So do you see how NAAMAN must have felt? Thanks to this illness, his achievements in life, his popularity with the people and the king, didn't really matter any more. Naaman, although he was a great man was a leper and because of that his life suddenly means nothing. In verse 2, the scene shifts from the streets of Damascus to the intimacy of Naaman's home. On a previous military conquest, the marauding band of Syrians had captured a Hebrew girl and she had been given to Naaman's wife as a household servant. I think this young girl and Mrs. Naaman had grown close. Their conversation might have sounded like this: Mrs. Naaman says, "My husband is a good man. He has received many honors. The king loves him dearly. We have everything in life that we could want and more but....(And then tears begin to stream down her face)...but you know he is a leper. I would give anything if something could be done because life doesn't mean anything to us anymore." Then the servant girl from Israel, who COULD have been bitter at being abducted from her homeland and home, showing a loving servant heart, replies, "Mrs. Naaman, back home we worship Jehovah, the TRUE God. And I wish that my master, Naaman could go there. There is a prophet in Samaria named ELISHA. He would heal him of his leprosy-I know he would! The God I worship has that kind of power. So, Mrs. Naaman, showing a loving servant heart, excitedly tells her husband. He goes to his close friend, King Benhadad and tells his friend, the king, of this prophet, ELISHA, whom they say can cure leprosy and of his desire to go there and be cured. Benhadad says in essence, "No problem, Naaman! I will write a letter to King Joram and tell him to have you cured!" Upon his arrival, King Joram  freaks out, because HE can’t cure leprosy…and fears an “international incident” Well the Bible says that Elisha, showing a servant heart in verse 8 says, "Send Naaman to me. Let him come to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. He will find that there is a living God." So, off goes NAAMAN to find the house of ELISHA, following the directions given to him by King Joram. I can picture in my mind's eye NAAMAN leading his entourage through the narrow streets thinking, "This fellow I am going to see....what's his name? Elisha? Well, he surely doesn't live in the best part of town. He must not be anybody-I can't even find his place." But finally, several low income areas later, they arrive in front of Elisha's humble abode. Now picture this scene. Naaman is perched proudly atop his white stallion with his horses, and his chariots, and his orchestra, and with his nose held high in the air, and he says. "Servants! Knock on the door and tell this ELISHA that I am here-NAAMAN, GENERAL OF THE ARMIES OF SYRIA-I am here to be healed!" So, Elisha's servant hurries inside with the message. Naaman waits for this prophet of the God of Israel, ELISHA, to come running out, bowing and groveling to greet him and invite him in, paying him the proper respect due to a man of his stature. But instead, to NAAMAN'S surprise, the servant returns with another message: "General Naaman, sir, Elisha said for me to tell you to go wash seven times in the Jordan river and you will be made whole."

Now think about it. The instructions from Elisha to Naaman were plain, simple, very direct, no way to misunderstand them. Go dip yourself seven times in the Jordan river on your way home and you will be healed. And this part of the story contains a life lesson for us. You see, in the same way that ELISHA's cure for NAAMAN's leprosy was simple....God's cure for our sin is simple. There is no complex mathematical, philosophical, or psychological process that you have to go through to in order to be healed of the curse of sin. , all you have to do is follow the guidance of Romans 10:9 : "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your hearts that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." Confess....believe...be saved! Simple...much like Elisha said to Naaman...Go....dip....be cured! EASY TO UNDERSTAND! So direct-so basic-that a child can understand and respond.

Well, what was NAAMAN'S response to HIS simple cure? Verse 11 records that he responded with anger! His ears could scarcely believe what he had just heard. I can imagine he was thinking, "Where is this prophet? BUSY??? He didn’t even come out to meet me! He sent some measly servant to tell me to dip seven times in the muddy Jordan?! So in great rage Naaman probably wheeled that horse up and did a "Lone Ranger" imitation and then tears off back down that street. If he’d been in a car, I bet he’d have “laid scratch”…”burned rubber”…just to show how angry he was at having been “dissed”.

Why do you think Elisha treated Naaman that way? I mean…why not go out and pay him a little respect? Well, I think acted like this because he wanted Naaman to learn about the power of the TRUE GOD. He wanted this man to learn that the cure he would receive was not in anything ELISHA would do. The cure came from the LIVING GOD. You see, Elisha knew how Naaman would expect to be cured. The SYRIAN MAGICIANS would have worked all manner of mumbo jumbo to cure his leprosy. So Elisha wanted to teach Naaman that God's cure is not a result of man's achievements. And today is based on the same principle. We are not cured of our sin by anything we do or accomplish. We are cured by our faith in God's achievement on the cross. I also think Elisha wanted to give NAAMAN an experience of faith. Think of it...you are infected with a deadly disease and are told to cure yourself by immersing in a filthy germ laden river. It doesn't make any sense...and usually faith doesn't either. Philip Yancey says, "Faith is believing something in advance that will only make sense in reverse."

Well, the truth is that Naaman would have died of leprosy if it were not once again, for some loving servants who realized that what they had to say was valuable and had the guts to standup to their master. Verse 13 says that they stopped Naaman and said in essence, "Wait a minute, Boss. Cool off and think for a second or two. If this Prophet ELISHA had asked you to do a difficult thing, you would have done it, wouldn't you? You’ve built your career out of doing the hard things! If he had asked you to crawl on your knees the 150 miles back to Damascus in penance, you would have done it. If he had asked you to hide in a cave for three years eating nothing but grasshoppers and wild honey and pray eight hours a day you would have done it. But instead of asking you to do something difficult, he has asked just a simple thing....go dip seven times in the Jordan River. It's even on our way home! Don't you think it is reasonable...he asks such a simple thing....why not at least try it?"

"I can't understand it but this prophet of God said to do it so I will." Now, let's look closely at what happened next... Naaman got down off his horse. Now remember, Naaman was a general. When other soldiers walked....he rode! But he got down off his horse. And you know that is the first step to God. We have to humble ourselves. We have to get down off our "high horse"and admit in all humility that we are sinners like everyone else on this planet. We must get down before the cross....where all the ground level and admit our sin…because IT'S NOT WHO WE ARE.

The next thing that happened was NAAMAN took off his medal-laden uniform.

And when we come to God, for the cure for our sin, we must lay aside all our credits and achievements, all our virtues and righteousness-everything that we say makes us good and admit that none of it is even close to being good enough. As Isaiah 64:6 says even "...our RIGHTEOUS deeds are like filthy rags." So we come to God with nothing in our hands because IT'S NOT WHAT WE DO…it's not who you are, it's not what you do, it is simple faith in what Jesus has done

And then...Naaman walked into the water in obedience. And when Naaman came up the seventh time the Bible says his flesh was restored and his skin became clean and soft like that of a young man. Naaman lost his leprosy, but not before he lost his pride! Isn't that a message for us still today?

Let me repeat …it's not who you are, it's not what you do, it is simple faith in what Jesus has done…Jesus…the ultimate Servant, who thought it not robbery to come down from the pinnacle of prominence to play the part of a peon…to take every insult…every sleight, every bruise, even death itself on the cross as a common criminal, to remind us in a servant’s loving way that even the least of servants have importance. For me, one of the most important messages came from an angel…a servant…whom Scripture does not even give the name…who says…”If you are looking for Jesus the Christ…HE IS NOT HERE!!! The first “press release” of the “Servant Leader’s victory over sin and death…for you…for me. As we go from here…I encourage you tonight to remember that is the servants who so often save the day. Won’t you ask our Lord to renew your servant heart/ The altar is open…Let us pray…

Order of Worship

Sunday July 8st, 2007

11:00 A.M.

Opening Hymn………………………” I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord”, Hymn 515

Doxology……………………………………………………All

Call to Worship…………………………………Bro. Robert Hutcherson

Hymn………………………………..”Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”, Hymn 75

Prayer……………………………………………Bro. Robert Hutcherson

Prayer Response………………………………….”Give Us This Day”

Scripture Reading………………………………Bro. Robert Hutcherson

Decalogue……………………………………….Bro. Robert Hutcherson

Gloria Patri…………………………………………….Congregation

Sermon…………………………………………..Bro. Robert Hutcherson

Invitation to Christian Discipleship…”We’re Traveling Home To Heaven”, Hymn 496

Altar Call/Offertory………………………………………..All

Offertory Response……………………………”All Things Come Of Thee”

Affirmation of Faith…………………………………..Congregation

Benediction………………………………………Bro. Robert Hutcherson

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a A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain

b A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain

c Heb he

d A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain

e A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain

f A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain

g Another reading is Amana