August 20, 2006

Forgotten Lives - Naaman

Lepers Can’t Be Choosers

2 Kings 5:1-14

Opening Words: There are sixty-six books in the Bible, thirty-nine in the Old Testament. The New Testament is dominated by Jesus, himself, our Lord and Savior. The Old Testament consists of a variety of lives. Each one played a small part in God’s plan for the salvation of the world. Most of those lives are forgotten. So what I have been doing this summer is looking at some of those forgotten lives. It is for this reason that I have call this sermon series Forgotten Lives. This weekend we look at Naaman.

According to the scripture text this morning Naaman was a man of means. He was the Commander of the Syrian army and was respected by all. He was at the height of his career and then his world suddenly changes. He suddenly contracts leprosy. In his time there was no cure. The powerful Naaman is powerless. His vast resources can not meet his bigger need. There is only one answer to his problem - God. Can anyone here relate to Naaman? With this little bit of understanding let us look at the text together. Let me call this message Lepers Can’t Be Choosers.

Introduction

In 1715 King Louis XIV of France died after a reign of 72 years. He had called himself "the Great." His court was the most magnificent in Europe, and his funeral was equally spectacular. As his body lay in state in a golden coffin, orders were given that the cathedral should be very dimly lit with only a special candle set above his coffin, to dramatize his greatness. At the memorial, thousands waited in hushed silence. Then Bishop Massillon began to speak; slowly reaching down, he snuffed out the candle and said, "Only God is great." We come here this morning to celebrate the greatness of God!

There was no doubt about it. Naaman needed a great God! His problem was bigger than his resources. He had leprosy, a highly contagious skin disease. In our time it is treatable but in Naaman’s time there was no cure. He had a big problem. His association with the king would not help him. His professional success would not help him. His fame would not help him. His personal wealth would not help him. He had exhausted all earthly options. His future would be filled with isolation and death. Let me state the obvious. Naaman had a big problem. He was desperate to find a solution. Have you ever been desperate to find a solution to your big problem?

Body

Have you ever had a big problem in your life? I don’t mean a little problem, like a dripping faucet or that odor in the basement? Have you ever had a big problem, a problem that was bigger than your resources? Maybe, you were like Naaman. Maybe your big problem was a health problem? Maybe, your big problem was a financial problem. Has anyone here ever discovered that your total credit card debt is greater than your annual income? Has anyone here ever confessed that retirement is not in your future? Maybe, your big problem is someone’s problem? You have a front row seat to your children’s problem, a brother or sister’s problem or your parent’s problem? There is nothing you can really do. What is the greatest problem in your life? Are your resources big enough to handle problem? When you discover that your resources are not large enough to handle your problems then you can celebrate the fact that we believe in a great God. If God could raise Jesus from the dead then God can handle any problem that you have in your life. We believe in a great big God! If you believe in a great big God then say, “Amen!”

This morning I want to talk about three steps that should occur when you have a big problem. Let me say this clearly. God does not create the problems in your life. We are living in Satan’s playground. God does not create our problems however God does use those problems. God uses the problems in your life to develop a relationship with you. God’s goal is for you and Him to have a mature relationship. When life is good we have very little need for God but when life is bad we suddenly find God very interesting. This morning’s three steps lead you closer to God. These three steps are illustrated in Naaman’s story. One is a universal principle. The second and third are unique to the Christian faith. So if you are ready for these three steps then say, “Amen!”

Step One: Seek Him

The first step when you are facing a problem is that you seek God. When everything in life is going along smoothly, we have no need for God. We have no time for God. God uses a crisis in your lives to wake you up and show you what is really important. That was Naaman’s story. Naaman had everything in life. Verse one says, “Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. (Aram was the King of Syria.) 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.” In other words, he had it all but he had leprosy. Naaman had no need for God until he contracted leprosy. It was his wife’s maid, an Israelite refugee, who spoke of the prophet. How many people do you know have no need for God until a big problem invades their lives? It is not just isolated to Christianity. Step one is a universal truth.

Siddhartha Gautama was born 525 before Jesus. He had a good life. He had a protected life and lived in the palace away from the harshness of this world. It wasn’t until he was in his early twenties when he left the palace for the first time. When he saw how other people were living he was shocked! He saw poverty for the first time. He saw disease for the first time. He saw death for the first time and he was never the same. He looked to a higher power to answer some difficult questions and find relief. He developed a mediation style to disassociate himself from this world. It worked for him and he taught others. Today, Siddhartha Gautama is called Buddha, or the enlightened one. Today, there are 300 million Buddhists worldwide. It all started because one young man saw the big problems of this world. He reached for a higher power to ease his pain. Seeking God does not make you a Christian but it does make you a human.

Studies tell us people start coming to church because of a charge or a pain in their lives. They move to a new area and need new friends. The children are just starting college. The marriage is going through some hard times. The diagnosis wasn’t good. A mother or a father has just died. They come to church for the first time in a long time because they are seeking God! Naaman was seeking God because his life was about to change. If you can believe this principle could be true say, “Amen!”

Step Two: Submit to Him

The second step that happens when you have a problem in your life is you submit to God. You are forced to submit to God’s will because you have no other options. Naaman took the words of the maid seriously. He received permission from his king to travel to Israel. Verse five says he took a large sum of money with him expecting to pay a king’s ransom for the healing. Upon his arrival he discovers two things. First, he discovers that the prophet is not in the court of the King of Israel. Second, he discovers that his money is worthless. The healing can not be bought. The healing must be earned through submission. He must go dunk himself in the Jordan River seven times. On the seventh time he will be healed.

Edmund Hillary once said, “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” Submitting to the will of God is one of the most challenging things you will ever do in your life as a disciple. The reason is God does not always address a problem in the way that you expect. Naaman took his checkbook to Israel expecting to buy a miracle. How many times has God responded to your big problem in a surprising way? It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. That leads us directly to step number three. If God has ever surprised you then say, “Amen!” God is using the big problems in your life to develop a relationship with Him. When you have a big problem in your life the first step is you seek God. The second step is you submit to God. The third step is that you trust God. The goal is a mature relationship with God.

Step Three: Trust Him

The third step that happens when you have a problem in your life is you trust God. One of the things I like about this story is that you are able to see God’s hands from beginning to end. There is no such thing as a coincidence. God used many people in this single healing. There were the words of the servant girl, the King of Syria, the King of Israel, the soft spoken prophet Elijah, and finally Naaman’s own servants. He would have traveled back to Syria without a healing. He didn’t really want to submit himself to God but he did in the end because of the encouraging logical words of his servants. He dunked himself seven times in the Jordan and he was healed. Have you ever wondered how Naaman felt after the six dunks without a healing? Do you think he still trusted God? There is not a lot of trusting going on within our world.

History tells us the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man to fly in space. After the end of the Cold War some of Russia’s cosmonauts revealed the pressures under which he operated. For example, Gagarin’s spacecraft was armed with an explosive charge which could be detonated by a radio signal. The Russian’s wanted to ensure Gagarin wouldn’t defect by re entering earth’s atmosphere anywhere but over Soviet territory. So the explosives were rigged. Jerome Blattner once said, “A person who trusts no one can't be trusted.”

How much do you trust God? You will never know the answer to that question until you are confronted with a great big problem. If you believe that is true say, “Amen!” Naaman had leprosy. He had a great big problem! He trusted God and went down for the seventh time. The bigger the problem you have in life then the more you must trust God.

Conclusion

Only a few humans have been fortunate enough to journey into space, and it seems that the experience can be life changing. James Irwin was an astronaut on the Apollo 15 mission. He got to see the earth while standing on the moon and it reshaped his view of the world forever. Here’s how earth appeared to him from space: "That beautiful, warm, living object looked so fragile, so delicate, that if you touched it with a finger it would crumble and fall apart." He saw our world from God’s perspective.

As I close consider this. The same God that holds our world in one hand is the same God that wants a personal relationship with you. May we seek Him, submit to Him and trust Him. And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”