2/12/23    II Kings 5:1-14   C & Z     “Believe It or Not!”

10 Feb 2/12/23    II Kings 5:1-14   C & Z     “Believe It or Not!”

2/12/23    II Kings 5:1-14   C & Z     “Believe It or Not!”

I’m going to make a little confession as I tell you that I don’t really consider myself to be very old yet.  Yes, I am 72 years old and my flexibility is shot.  I can use a little more sleep.  I used to have a vertical jump of almost 3 feet and now it is not quite 3 inches.  There are many physical things that I don’t do as well but it is my mind that keeps telling me that I am a lot younger than I actually am.  You see I’m one of those guys that are really hard to convince.  When I was a teen and if someone had told me that you could heat up any type of food in the little electric box on the counter, the microwave oven, I would have said that wasn’t possible.  If you would have told me in high school that I would be able to watch TV and talk to my friends in a little piece of plastic that I hold in my hand, I would have said that you are crazy.  And you have all heard me say that if you would have told me 35 years ago that I would be a pastor, I would have said that was totally impossible.  I guess that I just have a hard time imagining the future.  Today, we will be looking at one of the most interesting passages in the Bible where we have imagined power against real power.  I hope that we can find our faith in here also.

I don’t think that I’m the only person here that is skeptical and Americans have a long history of this.  Thomas Edison was made fun of for his work with electricity.  Alexander Graham Bell was thought to be a bit touched by insanity when he said he thought he could send a voice through a wire.  Look at all we have today because of these two inventions.  I doubt if these two men could even comprehend all the things that we have today because of their work.  You see things that are thought to be not possible often times can be very possible.  And when we are dealing with God, then all things become possible.  For instance, imagine for a minute, that I was a prophet of God just like Elisha in the Old Testament.  You came to me and told me you had no way to make your clothes clean.  I, in turn, told you that all you have to do is go to the Sheyenne River and dip you your whites in the river 3 times and they will be brighter than they were when they were new.  Would you do it?  Or would you think I was a bit crazy because the Sheyenne River is almost as muddy as the Red.

I think that today’s reading is full of God moments like this.  I also think that there are 3 main characters along with God in the story.  First, we have a slave girl that is only mentioned but she is very important because she starts Naaman in the right direction.  We don’t know anything about this girl except that she served Naaman’s wife.  I’m going to read in between the lines a little here and I may be totally wrong about this.  I would guess that this is a time when God is working in her because she was taken captive from her home.  She was ripped away from her family, her friends and her whole way of life.  She probably wasn’t real happy about this!

Then to top it off she has to work for the wife of a leper.  We have to take a look at this for a second.  Being a leper in those days was about the worst thing that could happen to you.  Terrible things happened to you physically until you finally died from complications.  It was a terrible death and it was considered to be contagious.  It was kind of like having AIDS a few years ago before we knew much about it.  If you remember, no one wanted to be close to someone with AIDS because we thought it could be easily passed to another person.  Leprosy was very much like this.  Plus, you couldn’t live in the general population.  I would guess that Naaman had to live off by himself someplace.  I would also guess that he was about to lose everything and be tossed into a leper colony.

Leprosy was a terrible disease and this poor slave girl was put into this household by God.  We also have to realize that there was something different about this girl because she actually was trying to help her enemy.  She was trying to do the right thing by telling Naaman that there was a prophet who might be able to cure him.  This slave girl was quite a woman and we don’t even know her name.  She was honoring God and doing her best by treating others as she would want to be treated herself.

This girl had faith.  This is what we are called to do also, have faith.  When we go out and encounter the sick, the hurting we are to have faith that God can help them.  Notice I said God can help them and not us, not you.  You can’t do much by yourself.  Let God work through you!  Sometimes it is as easy as listening.  Sometimes it might be bringing a little food.  Most of the time, it doesn’t take a lot of work on our part except that our presence is needed, required.  Remember; try to have the faith of this poor slave girl who was helping her enemy.

So, we have this slave girl telling Naaman to go to Elisha.  And, who was Naaman besides someone who had leprosy?  Naaman was a commander in the army.  He was a man who had the king’s ear as we see that the king told him to go and see this prophet.  He was also pretty good at being a general or whatever because the king sent him to Elisha in the first place and not to the leper colony.  So, he was a valued asset to the king.  I would also guess that he probably thought a little too highly of himself.  He thought he was more important than he actually was.

When I read this passage, I can’t help but think of the candidates we have had run for president.  I think that they all think they are far more important than they actually are.  Don’t get me wrong, they have value and they do good things but they are not the king yet.  I’m sure we can look in our own community and find people who think they are far more valuable than they actually are.  Sometimes egos get far too big.

This is what happened to Naaman.  He went to Elisha.  He took gold, silver and fancy clothing for Elisha.  He set off with his entourage expecting to see another person of power and glory.  It would be like President Biden coming here to meet the king of North Dakota and he brings all kinds of gifts.  But instead, President Biden comes to my door and I won’t even come out to greet him.  I send a servant out to tell him to go to the muddy Sheyenne River and dip himself in it 7 times.

We studied one time in a Bible study as to just what kind of river the Jordan was.  We like to think of it as this wonderful large, clean, life-line river running through Israel.  This is a misconception.  The river is dirty, muddy and smaller than the Red River in Fargo.  It is no wonder that Naaman gets all bent out of shape.  After all, he is one of the king’s right-hand men and he is told to go jump in this dirty river.  Also, how dare this prophet not even come outside to see him when he comes to his house?  This seemed totally outrageous for Naaman.

So Naaman does what any other self-appointed important person would do, he gets ready to leave in disgust.  Once again there are some people who aren’t even named who come to his rescue.  His servants tell him if he were told to do some great thing, he would have done it.  Therefore, do this small thing, wash in the Jordan 7 times, which is so easy to do.  So, he finally does it and of course he is healed.

I think we should stop here for a moment and think about how we might be like Naaman.  I don’t mean that any of us has the ear of the president or that we feel that we are all that important.  What I am talking about here is how often do we actually do what God tells us to do or do we go away angry.  Or do you insist that you do it your way and not God’s way.  How many times have you been told to wash yourself in the Jordan River and you haven’t done it?

I would guess that most of us have been told to go and forgive someone or go and tell someone that we are sorry for something that we did.  But we become proud like Naaman and we refuse to lower ourselves to an apology.  Or how many times do we know of a neighbor who is really struggling and we just go about our merry way.  God tells you to love your neighbor but you say you will do it when you have time.  Or how many times does God tell you that you should come to church or be a part of the faith community?  Whether you like it or not, you are still under the rule of the 10 Commandments and you are to observe the Sabbath, keep it holy!

I remember one time we were talking about this in confirmation class.  The question came up, “Can you worship by yourself?”  This is something I hear all the time.  We have people who think that they can go out and worship God without anyone else.  I say that this is not really true at all.  You cannot really worship by yourself.  You need to be in the presence of other Christians.  You can pray and do lots of things between our worship times but you need each other on a regular basis in order for good worship to take place.  You cannot try to worship by yourself and be a good Christian.

Anyway, the point I’m trying to make with all of this is that just maybe you aren’t quite as good as you think we are.  Maybe you have a lot more Naaman in you than you like to think.  Maybe you have some habits that just are not what God wants you to do.  Maybe you go to prayer and ask Jesus for healings or blessings or relief and you ask in a way that you don’t believe anything will happen.  You ask but your attitude is that you are telling God that this will never work.

How in the world are you supposed to get back on track?  The obvious way is through faith and prayer.  Let’s take a little look at another main character in this story, Elisha.  Although Elisha isn’t mentioned that much in the story, he is representing God as he is God’s main prophet.  Elisha was a true man of God.  Through Elisha, God had already worked many miracles.  He had feed 100 men with next to nothing and he had raised a boy from the dead.  The miracles that were performed by Elisha almost parallel those of Jesus himself.  This can only mean that Elisha truly loved the Lord.

In our story today, we find that Naaman is cured of a dreaded disease and Elisha is not even present.  Elisha doesn’t even see Naaman.  Naaman is called on to trust in the Lord for his healing without ever seeing the Lord or Elisha.  What is really interesting here is that Naaman has been brought to his knees by this disease.  He will lose everything.  He will have nothing left.  This is the last resort for Naaman.

I remember when I came to Christ, I was on my knees.  I was on my last and Jesus was my last resort.  I have known many people who have had to be totally down and out before they come to Jesus.  Many of us have had to swallow our pride and admit that there is someone far, far more powerful than ourselves who can change lives.

It is during these times of our lives that we need people like Elisha who can tell us what God wants us to do.  We need people like the slave girl and the servants to help us get to the place where God wants us to be.  We need all these characters to help us on the wonderful journey with Jesus Christ.  But most of all we need to have the insight, the guts to make the right decision.  In the end it all comes down to being your decision.  If Naaman walks away from Elisha and doesn’t go to the Jordan, then he dies.  If you make the decision and walk away from Jesus, then you will die.  It is that simple.  My advice to you is to accept Jesus and live.  This isn’t rocket science. Come to Jesus and live!

Michael Walther tells a modern story of how you can either believe or not believe.  In 2005 after the levies broke in New Orleans, Coast Guard Lt. Iain McConnell was ordered to fly his H46 helicopter around the clock to try to rescue people.  None of the crew on this chopper were ready for what devastation they would see in the city.  They were far ahead of the news crews and one of the first rescue people allowed back into the city.  Even though the city was completely under water, they managed to save 89 people, 3 dogs and 2 cats on their first three missions.

In our story today, only one person was saved, Naaman, but I think that the principle is very similar to our modern story.  McConnell and his crew started on their next mission in New Orleans.  They made 12 different flights to this area and they saved no one, not one.  Everyone refused to get on the helicopter.  Instead, they demanded that the Coast Guard bring them food and water.  McConnell’s crew told the people that this was very dangerous because the water wasn’t going to recede any time soon.  These people still refused to board.  They weren’t rescued and as a result many of them died.  They died for no reason.  How tragic!

Can you imagine being in a situation like that and you refuse help?  I would think that you would want to be on the chopper and out of there as quickly as possible.  It is the same thing with our family, friends and neighbors who don’t know Christ.  The water isn’t going to recede until they take that final step and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  Naaman did it.  I’ve done it.  Many of you have done it.  We can only tell people so much.  We can only show them so many times how much Jesus loves them.  The final decision is theirs.

I know that we can’t save everyone.  Jesus tells us that many will not believe.  On the other hand, let’s not give up on anyone.  It is our job not to quit trying to save the people.  Be like the slave girl and the servants.  Be like the helicopter pilot who kept trying to rescue the people.  Try to help all those around you.  Someone tried to help you at one point.  Go help others.  Jesus loves you and He loves us all.  I praise the Lord that.  And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.