Opening
Take your Bibles with me and go to the book of 2 Kings 5. 2 Kings 5 tonight.
It’s good to be back with you. Back in the pulpit. After vacation and then the revival service and then the snow storm this weekend, I feel like I haven’t been up here preaching in a month and I’m excited to get back at it.
Tonight we are going to look at the second half of the story of Elisha and Naaman. I know Adam preached on this chapter two Wednesdays ago and some of this might be review. But this really is its own story and it has some powerful warnings for us.
If you remember Naaman was a general in Syria. The Syrians were not chummy with Israel. They were the enemies of Israel. In fact, the jewish historians have this legend that when King Ahab died in battle - it was Naaman that shot the arrow.
So Naaman is this big wig general in Syria until he gets leprosy. Game over. Naaman is going to die. He’s going to be ostracized from society. None of his accomplishments are going to mean anything. He’s in a desperate position.
And to his rescue comes an unlikely person, a servant girl, a Hebrew that cares enough about him to share about Elisha back in Israel. So Naaman is in a place of desperation, and he decides, "Okay, I'll go give this a try."
As I'm sure Adam preached two weeks ago, he wasn't exactly happy about the way that Elisha went about it. Elisha basically gave him a piece of paper that said, "Go dip in the water seven times."
But eventually he did it, and God miraculously healed him of his leprosy and that brings us to this story.
In the second half of this chapter, we have two different characters:
Naaman is on his way up, coming to the Lord and being converted, and we see the change that God makes in his life.
Gahazi is on his way down, seeking after material gain, and we see the change that that makes in his life.
Tonight, we're going to talk about a contrast between people that are going up - people that are getting closer to the Lord, where God is working in their life - and people that should know better who are going down - who are apostatizing - who are walking away from the Lord. I can't think of a better passage or a better story in the Bible to show this contrast.
Naaman
We're going to start by looking at Naaman. Let's read verses 15-18 together.
15 () And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.
16 () But he said, As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it; but he refused.
17 () And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules' burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord.
18 () In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing.
2 Kings 5:15-18 (KJV)
I believe that Naaman was genuinely converted. He is a different person than the Naaman that we first see coming to Elisha. God is at work in his heart and God has transformed him. God hasn't just taken away the leprosy from his skin, but God has given him a new heart and I think we see that here in this story in four different ways.
These are four ways that we can tell that we're on the way up. These are four ways that we can tell that we're growing closer to the Lord, that God is at work in our heart.
The first way we can tell we're on the way up is this: When we're on the way up we want to hear from God.
We see in this story that as soon as Naaman is healed, the first place he goes is to the prophet. He goes back to the prophet because he wants to hear from God. He's got a new-found respect for this man Elisha that God has used to give him the Word of God and bring him healing.
He stands before the prophet, who is speaking for God, and he is asking questions. He's asking permission to bring dirt back to his country. He's asking for advice about how to handle this specific situation related to his employment. (We'll get to that in a second) But he shows a respect for God and for the word of God that wasn't there before.
I'm reminded of 1st Peter 2:2, which says,
2 () As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
1 Peter 2:2 (KJV)
I think when we are on the way up, when God is working in our heart, we have a different relationship with the Word of God. We want to hear from God. We want God to speak to us. We crave it like a baby craves milk. We just have this strong desire for it.
That's one of the most exciting things about baby Christians: they just have this insatiable desire to hear the Word of God and to hear what God wants them to do. It's just an awesome thing to have baby Christians around you. We certainly see that here with Naaman.
There's a second thing we see about Naaman that shows he was on the way up, and that is, "When we are on the way up, we have a desire to worship God alone."
Naaman makes a bold statement in verse 15. He says, "Now I know that there's no god in the earth besides this one, besides the God of Israel." He's not just saying, "I believe in God." He is saying, "I believe in God exclusively."
In Bible times they had this idea of God's being tied to a specific location. You see this a lot in the Old Testament history, where they had this idea of the God of the Philistines and the God of the Hebrew lands. It's like that God has specific jurisdiction over a specific plot of land. And I'm not sure about this but I kind of think the reason why Naaman wanted to bring back all of that dirt is because he wanted to bring a little piece of God's land with him. The God that actually does something.
Now of course that's not how it works. God is everywhere. We don't have to have dirt from Israel to worship the Lord but it just shows the heart of this young Christian, Naaman, and the heart he has to really worship God.
At the end of verse 17, he makes it plain. He says, "I'm not going to worship any other gods anymore, only this God."
Oftentimes when people first get saved and start following God, they are all in for the Lord. Their whole heart is dedicated to the Lord and they see things pretty clearly. They just want to give God their whole life. Something happens to us as we go on in our faith where we lose that, but as we're going through a phase of revival, we come back to this idea of God having our whole heart and God being worthy of our worship.
A third thing we can learn from Naaman about how we act when we are on the way up, when God is working in our hearts is when we are on our way up, we have a desire to give to the Lord.
Naaman in this story had a huge desire to give something to Elisha. And Naaman could give it. Naaman was a very very wealthy man. God has healed him. God has changed him and he wants to give back. That's a beautiful thing.
But I think it's interesting here that Elisha will not receive a gift. He refuses to take a gift from Naaman. Now Elisha didn't always refuse to take gifts. He allowed, for instance, the Shunammite woman to build a special room for him. I'm sure there were other times in Elisha's ministry where he took gifts and Elisha needed the money. He was in charge of the school of the prophets. He had that whole thing to keep going.
So why did he refuse this gift from Naaman? I think the reason that makes the most sense is that he didn’t want Naaman, a new believer and a gentile to think that there was any financial motivation for what God had done. He didn’t want Naaman to think it was all a business.
Maybe Naaman, in his ignorance would have thought that it was giving the money that really bought his cleansing. Maybe he would have thought that because he gave the money to Elisha - that Elisha had done it.
But it wasn’t Elisha - all Elisha did was give a sheet of paper to Naaman - this was God’s work.
But I do think that it shows that when we have our heart right with God - we want to be giving people. We want to give to Him. We want to give to the church, we want to give to missions. We have a desire to give back to the Lord what He has given us.
How do you think about giving to the Lord? Have you got a stingy heart? Have you gotten to the point where you dread the offering plate being passed in front of you? Or are you still so grateful for what God has done for you that you get to give back a little to Him?
When we are on the way up:
We want to hear from God’s word
We want to worship God alone
We want to give back to God
One more thing here:
When we are on the way up, we want to do what is right by God.
Another way of saying this is that we are careful to follow God. We want to live a life without sin. We are conscious that God is always watching us.
Naaman makes a very interesting request in verse 18 after he promises he will worship God alone. You see, Naaman apparently worked for the king. He wasn't just a general; he was some kind of aid to the king. As part of his duties he would have to bring the king into this pagan temple, the temple of Ramon, and bow with him or help him. He's seeking advice from Elisha about what to do in this situation.
A modern equivalent would be like being a Christian whose job it is to be a caretaker for a devout Muslim man. As part of your job you have to help this Muslim man lower down into a place of prayer and pray to Allah five days a week. That's kind of like what Naaman knew he would be doing but he'd be doing it for the king and so he's asking for advice. He's asking for permission. He says, "Is God going to forgive me for this thing?"
Doesn't that show just this tender heart, this pure conscience that Naaman has here as a new believer? Church, that's a good thing. It's a good thing to remember always that God is watching us in all that we do and everywhere that we go. It's a good thing to care about being holy and righteous before the Lord.
And I want you to notice that Elisha doesn't blast him when he asks this question. He doesn't say, "Of course you shouldn't go to that temple. Of course you shouldn't be seen with the king." Elisha just says, "Go in peace." He deals with this thing tenderly. Maybe this should be a reminder to us that not everything is always black and white. Not everything deserves us to just come in and blast people because we're doing it right. “Why would you do that thing?”
So I think Naaman is just a beautiful picture of someone who God has got ahold of and who is growing in the Lord:
He wants to hear from God’s word
He wants to worship God alone
He wants to give back to God
He wants to live a holy life before the Lord
And here is the thing, this should be all of us. This isn’t something that we are supposed to grow out of. This is our new life in Christ!
Now let’s look at the second character in this story…
Gehazi
And let’s go ahead and read the rest of this chapter. Starting back up in verse 19 and reading through verse 27.
19 () And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.
20 () But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the Lord liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him.
21 () So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well?
22 () And he said, All is well. My master hath sent me, saying, Behold, even now there be come to me from mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets: give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of garments.
23 () And Naaman said, Be content, take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of garments, and laid them upon two of his servants; and they bare them before him.
24 () And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house: and he let the men go, and they departed.
25 () But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither.
26 () And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?
27 () The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.
2 Kings 5:19-27 (KJV)
If Naaman is a picture of a man growing closer to the Lord, a man on fire for the Lord, then Gehazi is a picture of a man that is leaving the Lord, that's walking away from the Lord. It's really quite the contrast here.
Remember, Gehazi is Elisha's main servant. He's Elisha's right-hand man. He's Elisha's Padawan, his apprentice. It was Gehazi that Elisha sent before him to lay the staff on the Shunammite's son who was on his deathbed. It's very likely that Gehazi could have been the next Elisha. He could have been the next one that would lead after Elisha.
Imagine having the privilege of living that closely with somebody like Elisha, somebody that was such a man of God. Imagine the miracles that Gehazi got to see.
You know what? Spiritual privilege doesn't guarantee spiritual success. How many of you know somebody that grew up in the home of truly godly people that doesn't even go to church anymore, that maybe doesn't even name Christ anymore?
Should that surprise us? Even the twelve apostles, not all of them, followed Christ. Even people that were part of Paul the Apostle's entourage abandoned him and abandoned the faith.
Just because somebody is put in a spiritually privileged position doesn't mean that they're always going to follow the Lord. Just because you have godly parents or godly friends, or you go to a good church and you hear the Gospel preached to you week in and out, that doesn't mean that you're going to keep following the Lord.
So just like we can look at Naaman and we can see steps of people that are walking with the Lord, we can look at Gehazi and we can see steps of people walking away.
I think the first thing we see in verse 20 is when we're walking away from the Lord, we get critical of His servants. Look at what Gehazi said about Elisha.
20 () Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought:
It's like Gehazi is saying, "Elisha, let this guy off easy." Elisha didn't do what he should have done in that situation.
You are putting yourself in a dangerous position when you start criticizing the things that the leaders God puts in your life over you are doing all the time.
Lee Roberson used to say, "It takes no size to criticize." It's the easiest thing in the world to sit on your couch on a Sunday afternoon and yell at the quarterbacks in the NFL because they're not doing it right. But you ain't in the NFL and you never could be. It's a totally different thing when some freakishly athletic 300-pound defensive lineman is trying to kill you and you have to make a decision in a split second.
It's the easiest thing in the world to criticize the leaders that God places over you in your life. Some criticism is okay; people are not perfect. If you fall into a spirit of continual criticism, that is a sign that you're not satisfied not with your leaders, but you're not satisfied with the Lord.
Teenager, if you're constantly criticizing your parents, remember God is the one that gave you your parents. If you're second-guessing everything that they do or everything that they say, remember you're not just criticizing your mom or your dad; you're criticizing the providence of God.
Wife, if you're constantly criticizing your husband and second-guessing his leadership, you're not just criticizing your husband; you're criticizing the Lord. The Lord gave him to be your spiritual leader.
So I want you to see that one of the symptoms of a heart that's moving away from the Lord is a spirit of criticism towards God-given leaders.
A second symptom that we can see from that same verse, that same phrase, is when you are moving away from the Lord, you have a spirit of harshness towards other people.
Notice that Gehazi called him “this Syrian”. That's not respect for somebody that God has just converted. That's prejudice. That's harshness.
When we start to look at other people, God's people, as obstacles, that's usually a sign that our heart is hard towards the God that died to save them.
I need to move on.
A third symptom that we are moving away from God is a carelessness about the things of God.
Notice that Gehazi didn’t just criticize Elisha and objectify Naaman, but he made his determination to go against his master and said “as the Lord liveth, I will.”
What a casual and careless way to talk about the Lord. Gehazi had gotten so comfortable with the things of God and talking about God that he tack this kind of spiritual sounding talk onto his own determination to disobey God.
Church, just because somebody talks about God or talks about Jesus or puts a religious spin on what they are doing, doesn't mean their heart is right with the Lord. In fact sometimes it means they are far away from God!
When the 10 Commandments tell us to not take the name of the Lord our God in vain, that's not telling us to stop using God's name as a curse word. It's telling us that God's name should be taken seriously. The things of God should be taken seriously.
And when we get flippant about talking about the Lord, that might be a sign that our heart is far from God.
So what does Gehazi do here? He watches Elisha turn down this gift and he decides this is too good an opportunity to let up. So he chases after Naaman and he makes up this story about how there were people that needed Naaman’s money. He asks for some changes of clothes (which were very expensive) and some silver.
And Naaman, with his converted heart gives it to Gehazi.
Then it seems like Naaman takes these clothes and this money and hides it.
So what does this show us about a heart that is moving away from God? Doesn’t it show us that a heart that is moving away from God is a selfish heart? It’s a greedy heart. It’s a heart seeking after it’s own things?
Look Gehazi comes back and lies to Elisha. Elisha says, "Where have you been?" And Gehazi, like a teenager, says, "Nowhere?" But Elisha knew. By God's revelation, Elisha knew what Gehazi had been up to. Elisha said to Gehazi, "Because of this thing that you've done, you are going to have Naaman's leprosy." And immediately his arms were white with leprosy.
You know it's interesting: there are three people in the Bible who were all people that were servants of God, that God used greatly, that God gave leprosy to. Do you know who they are?
The first one is Miriam, Moses' sister. Remember she was called a prophetess. And what was Miriam's sin? What was the reason why God gave leprosy to Miriam? She was gossiping. She was criticizing her brother.
The second one here is Gehazi and what was his sin? Greed. Gehazi wanted for himself.
The third one. Anybody know who it is? King Uzziah, one of the godliest kings in the history of Judah. What was his sin? It was the sin of pride.
Now all three of these people, Miriam, Gehazi, and Uzziah, all three of them were people that were used of God in a big way. Yet all three of them were given leprosy for these sins:
For the sin of gossiping and criticism
For the sin of greed
For the sin of pride
Church, God takes sin very seriously, not even big sins, but the sins that we let live in our heart.
So who are you tonight? Are you a Naaman that is walking towards the Lord? Maybe you don't have everything figured out yet. Maybe you still have a lot to learn but you are desiring the word of God. You are trying to listen to the man of God. You are trying to live a life in accordance with what God wants. You're trying to serve the Lord with your whole heart. Is that you? Are you moving up? Are you moving towards the Lord?
Or are you more like Gehazi?
Somebody that's been around for a while
Somebody who's let their heart get cold and away from the Lord
Somebody that's gotten a little bit too comfortable with the things of God
Somebody that's allowed themselves to be kind of critical of the leaders that God puts in their life
Somebody that's let little sins fester, like gossip, sins like greed, sins like pride?
And you are moving away from the Lord
I don't know about you but I would much rather be a Naaman than a Gehazi. Wouldn't you?
This chapter is such a strong warning for us to take care of our heart. If you can walk around all day, every day, with the great Elisha and witness firsthand all the miracles that he committed and still walk away from the Lord, what confidence do we have?
Let me close with this verse from 1 Corinthians 10.
12 () Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
1 Corinthians 10:12 (KJV)
Let’s stand and pray together.
