We
are in week four of our sermon series called: “Life Lessons from the beach”
There
is no better place to be on a beautiful summer day than at the beach with
several of your closest friends, and this series focuses on selected events
from the Bible that took place on or near the water and we're finding the major
life lesson from these accounts.
So
far in our series, we’ve looked at Luke chapter 5, and learned that: “Obedience is
better” and “we all need Jesus”.
We
looked at John 21 and learned that “Anyone can be forgiven of anything”;
And
last week we looked at Joshua chapter 3 and we believe that “If God asks you
to do something; He will help you do it.”
This
morning, we are turning our attention to the book of 2nd Kings.
The
book of 1st and 2nd Kings are a history of the events of
the life of the Nation of Israel and Judah, from the later days of King David
until the capture of Jerusalem.
The time frame for these two books is
from 971-562 BC.
If
you have your bibles with you, I invite you to follow along as I read from 2
Kings 5:
“The king of Aram
had great admiration for Naaman, the commander of his army, because through him
the Lord had given Aram great victories.
But though Naaman
was a mighty warrior, he suffered from leprosy.
2 At this time Aramean raiders had
invaded the land of Israel, and among their captives was a young girl who had
been given to Naaman’s wife as a maid.
3 One day the girl
said to her mistress, “I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria.
He would heal him of his leprosy.”
4 So Naaman told the king what the
young girl from Israel had said.
5 “Go and visit the
prophet,” the king of Aram told him. “I will send a letter of introduction for
you to take to the king of Israel.”
So Naaman started
out, carrying as gifts 750 pounds of silver, 150 pounds of gold, and ten sets
of clothing.
6 The letter to the
king of Israel said: “With this letter I present my servant Naaman. I want you
to heal him of his leprosy.”
7 When the king of Israel read the
letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and said, “This man sends me a leper to
heal!
Am
I God, that I can give life and take it away? I can see that he’s just trying
to pick a fight with me.”
8 But when Elisha, the man of God,
heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes in dismay, he sent this
message to him:
“Why are you so upset? Send Naaman to me, and he will learn that there
is a true prophet here in Israel.”
9 So Naaman went with his horses and
chariots and waited at the door of Elisha’s house.
10 But Elisha sent
a messenger out to him with this message: “Go and wash yourself seven times in
the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will be healed of
your leprosy.”
11 But Naaman
became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would certainly come out to meet
me!” he said. “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the
name of the Lord his God and heal me!
12 Aren’t the rivers
of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of
Israel? Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be healed?” So Naaman turned and went
away in a rage.
13 But his officers tried to reason
with him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something very
difficult, wouldn’t you have done it?
So
you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be cured!’”
14 So Naaman went
down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God had
instructed him.
And his skin became
as healthy as the skin of a young child’s, and he was healed!” (2
Kings 5:1-14, NLT2)
Once
again the Jordan River plays a significant part in our story, only this time
it’s in the life of a man by the name Naaman.
The
Bible tells us that Naaman was the commander of the Army of the King of a
country known as Aram—AKA Syria.
The
Lord had given Ben- Hadad, the King Aram great victories because of Naaman, and
Naaman was a mighty warrior, but there was a problem.
He “…suffered from leprosy.” (2 Kings 5:1, NLT2)
A bible dictionary tells is that:“Leprosy is a
chronic, infectious disease characterized by sores, scabs and white shining spots
beneath the skin.” (NNIBD, 760)
Leprosy can be
cured today through the wonder of modern medicine, but in Naaman’s day, the
only known cure was to receive a miracle.
According to the
Law of Moses, a person with Leprosy had to be isolated from society, they had
to wear mourning clothes; have un-kept hair, and had to yell: “Unclean!
Unclean”, so no one would come into contact with them…
But apparently,
this wasn’t the procedure for Naaman, as he was free to roam as he wanted, and
even served as the commander of the King's army.
On one of their
frequent raids of Israel, soldiers from Aram brought back a slave girl from
Israel and she was given to Naaman’s wife as a maid.
“One day the girl
said to her mistress, “I wish my master would go to see the prophet in Samaria.
He would heal him of his leprosy.” (2 Kings 5:3, NLT2)
Naaman decides that
this is a good idea, and he approaches the King of Aram, asks if he can go
visit with the Prophet.
The king agrees,
and Naaman is off to meet with the King of Israel.
Before Naaman
leaves, the King of Aram gives Naaman a letter of introduction that was to be
given to the King of Israel.
“The letter to the
king of Israel said: “With this letter I present my servant Naaman. I want you
to heal him of his leprosy.” (2 Kings
5:6, NLT2)
When the king of
Israel received this letter, he’s outraged, and he suspects that his
counterpart is trying to pick a fight with him, and he responds by tearing his
clothes,
When Elisha
received word of the king’s not-so-fine-moment, Elisha convinces the king to
send Naaman to his house, to prove to Naaman that there was a prophet in
Israel.
Naaman and his
posse traveled to Elisha’s house, but Elisha does not come out to greet them,
but sends his servant to give Naaman a simple request:
“Go and wash yourself
seven times in the Jordan River. Then your skin will be restored, and you will
be healed of your leprosy.” (2 Kings
5:10b, NLT2)
Why would Elisha
refuse to speak to Naaman, especially after he persuaded the King to let Naaman
come to his home?
I suspect it was
to demonstrate to Naaman
that it is God, not humans, who heal.
When Naaman
received the simple command to go jump in the Jordan River 7 times, he became
upset and declared:
“I thought he would
certainly come out to meet me!....I expected him to wave his hand over the
leprosy and call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me!” (2 Kings 5:11, NLT2)
Naaman did what
we sometimes do; he put God in a box.
Naaman thought
that Elisha would come out of his house, wave his hands, shout to the Lord, and
the spot would be cured, but contrary to popular belief, God doesn’t always do
what we think He should do.
God, through the
Prophet Isaiah said: “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts…. And my ways are
far beyond anything you could imagine.” (Is.
55:8 NLT2)
Naaman tried to
limit God, but God will not be limited by time and space as we are limited by
time and space, and upon hearing the news that he was to wash in the Jordan
River 7 times, Naaman begins to walk away.
Have you ever
done that? Has someone ever said something to you, only to get you so fired up that
you end up walking away in disgust?
Naaman felt that
way, he thought—expected— that God would work in one specific way, but was told
to do something completely different.
This is why we need
Godly people in our lives. We need them to speak into our lives to prevent us
from doing something that we are sure to regret.
As Naaman was
walking away from a command from the man of God, his officials came to him and
said:
“Sir, if the
prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it?
So you should certainly obey him when he says simply, ‘Go and wash and be
cured!” (2 Kings 5:13, NLT2)
Sometimes we have faith for the
big things that God asks us to do, but we need faith to do the small things
that God asks us to do.
Had Naaman not
listened to his officials he would have missed a chance to be cured of this
disease, which was the very reason he travelled to Israel.
The Bible tells
us that: “…Naaman
went down to the Jordan River and dipped himself seven times, as the man of God
had instructed him. And his skin became as healthy as the skin of a young
child’s, and he was healed!” (2 Kings 5:14, NLT2)
Naaman obeyed
what Elisha asked him to do, and as such, he was cured of leprosy.
So, the Life
Lesson from the Beach today is this: “Be faithful in the little things.”
Naaman expected
a big miracle, instead of small one—His remarks in verse 12 lead us to believe
this to be true:
“Aren’t the rivers
of Damascus, -- Where I’m from--- the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of
the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be healed?” (2 Kings 5:12a, NLT2)
It was almost as
if he was certain a big miracle was coming, and he almost missed the “small
miracle” that God wanted to bring.
Friends, there is no doubt that God wants
us to be faithful in the “big things” of life; but God is also asking us to be
faithful in the small things of life.
It was in doing something
that seemed small and pointless to Naaman that led to his healing, God wanted
Naaman to be faithful in the little things.
I believe that this
Life Lesson
from the Beach is just as true
today as it was in Naaman’s day.
Jesus said in
Luke 16: “If you
are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you
are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater
responsibilities.” (16:10, NLT2)
Jesus is
speaking to the integrity of our hearts—if we do the little things well, we
will do the bigger things better; but if we have trouble doing the little
things, we will have trouble doing the bigger things.
God wants us to be faithful in
the “big things” of life; but He’s equally as concerned that we are being
faithful with and in the little things of life.
So, how are you
doing in life’s little things?
è
Are you reading your Bible on a regular basis?
è
Are you spending time with your family?
è
Do you love your spouse?
è
Are you a man or woman of your word?
Being faithful in the little things—as Naaman
was--- will lead to bigger things, but not being faithful in little things,
will lead to corruption in bigger things
This Life Lesson
from the Beach reminds us to be
faithful in the little things.
ILLUSTRATION- I remember a time early on in
my ministry where I was growing tired of doing the little things.
I
was giving my work my all, I was doing everything I knew to do, but I wasn’t
seeing the results that I thought I should be seeing.
Instead
of getting mad, I prayed that God would help me serve Him right where I was; I
wanted to be faithful with the things that God had entrusted to me.
During
that time, the words of Galatians 6:9 became my friend.
What
does Gal. 6:9 say? “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper
time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (NIV)
If
you are growing weary in doing the little things, take heart: God sees you and
He will reward your faithfulness when the time is right.
I want to
encourage you to remain faithful in doing the “little things” that God has
asked you to do.
If
you are having trouble remaining faithful—in big things, or in little
things—the Life Lesson from the beach from a few weeks ago is the message that
you need to hear once again: “Anyone can be forgiven of anything.” (See John 21:15-17)
If
you are having trouble in the little things of life, I want you to know that
you can hit the “reset button” and begin once more, but you can only do that
because: “The
LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”
(Psalm 103:8, NIV)
The
Bible tells us that after Naaman was healed, he went back to Elisha and
proclaimed his allegiance to God. (2
Kings 5:15a, NLT2)
Because
Naaman was faithful in the little things, he came face to face with the God of
the universe.
If
we remain faithful in the things that God has entrusted to our care, we, too,
shall know His awesome power.
As
we prepare to transition into a time of corporate worship and prayer, if God
has been speaking to you about your need to be faithful in life’s little
things, may you find the same grace that Naaman did, and may you make a
commitment to do the little things, no matter how foolish they might seem.
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