Naaman's Gospel

5/15/22

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Sermon Transcript

Good morning. Please open your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 5. Scripture reading this morning from Ephesians 2 is one of my favorite passages in the Bible.

If you want to hear a wonderful sermon on those verses, please come back next week. I had a slight change of plans today, so please open your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 5. And in that chapter you will find one of the most fascinating events found anywhere in the Bible. And it involves not a Jew but a Syrian, a Syrian named Naaman, 2 Kings chapter 5.

Now Naaman was a captain of the host of the king of Syria, which at this time was probably Ben-Hadad III. And Naaman, it would seem, had everything going his way. He was a great man in the eyes of the king, we’re told. He was honorable. He had been given military victory by God. He was a mighty man of valor. Everything looked like it was going Naaman’s way. But he was a leper, the Bible tells us with classic understatement.

Just five simple words in English, in fact only one word in Hebrew, but what a word that is, what a statement that is. Leprosy. That one word changed everything about Naaman. We know lepers were ostracized by the Jews. We know how they were treated by the Jews, and the Syrians’ treatment of Naaman wouldn’t have been any better, probably would have been much worse.

Despite all of his honors and all of his successes, Naaman was unclean, Naaman was diseased, Naaman would soon be outcast, Naaman would soon be forgotten. What could he do?

Verse 3 introduces us to the next character in these remarkable events. A young servant girl out of the land of Israel who waited on Naaman’s wife. She had been captured from Israel during a Syrian raid. Now at this time it seems like Israel and Syria were kind of enjoying an uneasy truce, but that certainly was not always the case. They had frequently been at war with each other, and apparently during one of those times of warfare this young girl had been taken captive and was now serving Naaman’s family.

You know, this chapter in 2 Kings, 2 Kings 5, it’s filled with famous and important people. We meet not one, but two kings in this chapter. We meet the great prophet Elisha. We meet the great man Naaman. We meet his wife, who was also, no doubt, powerful and influential.

And yet sometimes I fear we may skip over the most important people in this chapter, and here’s one of them right here: this young servant girl. What courage she had, what faith she had. She saw Naaman’s problems and she knew God could cure him. She knew the Prophet Elisha could cure him. Can you imagine the courage it took for her to speak up? Can you imagine her position if Naaman came back from this long journey he’s about to take and he came back still a leper, which nearly happened? Wouldn’t it have been safer just for her to keep her mouth shut?

She didn’t. She spoke up. She spoke out. She told them about God. And Naaman’s wife and then Naaman himself believed her. And let’s pause for just a moment to think about that remarkable fact. What sort of life must this young girl have lived among them to be so quickly believed? Something that might have just seemed preposterous to Naaman. And yet, he believed her.

She’s nameless, but doesn’t she deserve a place alongside Daniel and alongside Joseph, along with the faithful people of God who remained faithful during times of exile and captivity? Who would have believed such a story from her? But they did believe her. And the Syrian king granted Naaman permission to go to Israel and be cured by the prophet. Off he goes.

You know, any time anyone tells you the Bible doesn’t have any humor in it, you can mark it down. They’ve never read the book. And you can just see the humor right here in these events. And it’s so funny, you know it really happened. Of course we know it happened, but you can see it just from these events and the humor that happens.

Well, what’s the humor here? Well, somewhere between this servant girl and Naaman’s wife and Naaman and Ben-Hadad, the message has been changed just a little bit. The servant girl told Naaman to go see Elisha and Elisha would cure him. But the letter to the Jewish king from Ben-Hadad says that that Jewish king was going to cure Naaman.

The king of Israel’s in a panic. He can’t cure anybody. The king of Israel at this time was Jehoram, the second son of King Ahab. Now you might recall from 1 Kings 22 that King Ahab had been killed when a certain man drew a bow at random and just shot it and poor Ahab got hit by it. Now interestingly and without any basis as far as we know, it’s certainly not told us in the Bible, but the historian Josephus, he tells us that that Syrian who drew that bow at random and killed Ahab, he tells us that was Naaman himself. Maybe, we don’t know.

In any event, King Jehoram’s in a great panic. He tears his clothes, he cries out in fear, he thinks the Syrian king is setting him up for something. You know, it tells us a lot about Jehoram that unlike this servant girl he didn’t think to call Elisha, and yeah Jehoram mentions God during his rant, but he doesn’t turn to God for help, does he? Tells us a lot about that Jewish king. So now instead of one person with a problem we have two people with a problem. Naaman’s got a problem and Jehoram has a problem.

Enter Elisha. Enter the prophet. Elisha hears about Jehoram’s distress and he tells the king to send Naaman his way. And you know what? I think Jehoram was really happy to do that. Fine, head off. Off he goes.

In verse 9, Naaman and his old entourage finally arrive at the door of Elisha’s house. The great and mighty Naaman has arrived. And what is Elisha’s reaction? He stays inside and sends a servant out to talk to Naaman. Okay, let’s pause for just a moment and think about that. How must Naaman have viewed that? Now even in ordinary circumstances, it would have been a great insult for the master of the house not to come out and personally greet a traveler, particularly an important traveler like Naaman. That would have been a great insult in normal situations.

This was not a normal situation. Naaman had leprosy. He may not have had it very long, but you know what? I think he was probably already quite used to people not wanting to be around him, not wanting to breathe his air. And now he shows up at Elisha’s house and Elisha stays inside with the door closed. How must Naaman have seen that? He must have seen that as Elisha just not wanting to be around a leper. And so Naaman gets angry.

What does this servant tell Naaman to do that comes out from Elisha? He makes matters worse. Naaman’s already angry when he sees the servant, I suspect. Then the servant then comes out and says, “Oh, just go and wash in the Jordan seven times. That’ll take care of your problem. Then your flesh will be clean.” Naaman’s reaction? He is filled with rage and fury. He turns, he goes away.

This is not at all what he expected. He tells us he wanted fireworks. He wanted a great show by the mighty prophet, and now he finds out he won’t even get to meet the mighty prophet. And washing, he could have done that at home. Those rivers are much better, they’re much cleaner. And so proud Naaman prepares to take his leave.

And yet once again, an unnamed servant plays a key role in these events. This servant suggests that Naaman would have gladly done some great thing if the Prophet had asked him to do that. “So why not do this small thing?” he says. “Why not wash and be clean?” So Naaman obeys the Prophet whom he hadn’t even met yet. He obeys him, he’s cleansed of his leprosy.

Verse 14 says, “His flesh came again like into the flesh of a little child and he was clean.” Beautiful, remarkable. And to go along with that dramatic change on Naaman’s outside, we see a dramatic change on Naaman’s inside. We keep reading, we see a very different person from the proud and angry Naaman who showed up at Elisha’s door. We see a grateful Naaman.

And you know, I’ve always wondered about Naaman’s homecoming back to Syria. I’ve often thought of that young servant girl as she waited at that door with her eyes of faith for her master to come home cleansed of his leprosy. And he did. This brief story from the life of Naaman is beautiful. It’s fascinating. But why should we study it today?

Romans 15:4, Paul tells us that what was written before was written for our learning. Galatians 3:24, we learn that the law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. So when we look at these events from 2 Kings chapter 5, we need to be asking, what is the great schoolmaster teaching us about Christ? What can these verses tell us to bring us to Christ? And the lessons leap from the page.

Few Old Testament events have more to say about the gospel of Jesus Christ than this short event from the life of Naaman. What can we learn about the gospel from the life of Naaman? Well, first, we learn from Naaman that there is a great and desperate need for the gospel. Naaman may have felt alone in his leprosy, but he was not. He was not alone in his leprosy.

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Apart from Christ, we all stand before God as lepers. Unclean, we all need to hear the good news of the gospel, be cleansed. But you know what? No one’s ever going to believe the good news until they first believe the bad news. And the bad news is that sin is the disease and we all have it. And the good news is that the gospel is the cure. We can be made clean by the blood of Jesus Christ. Absent Christ, we’re all in the place of Naaman. Absent Christ, we’re all just lepers in need of cleansing.

Second, we learn from Naaman that the gospel is for all. You know, we saw Naaman’s fury in verse 11, but you know what’s interesting? He’s not the only person to ever had that reaction from these events. In Luke chapter 4, verse 27, Jesus reminded his Jewish listeners that, yeah, there were many lepers in Israel, but none were cleansed save Naaman, the Syrian. And how did they, the people, react when Jesus told them that?

Luke 4:28 tells us they were filled with wrath. Filled with wrath. Why? Because Naaman’s a Syrian. “You mean God is going to bless people who aren’t Jews?” Naaman stands beside Ruth, Naaman stands beside Rahab, Naaman stands beside Nineveh as evidence that God’s plan has always been to bless the entire world through his son. God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son. The gospel is for all, and Naaman is a reminder of that fact.

The third thing we learn from Naaman is that we must proclaim the gospel to all. We’ve already talked about the servant girl who told Naaman about Elisha. Can you imagine a more unfertile field in her mind than Naaman for news like that? Why would Naaman ever listen to anything she had to say, and having heard it, why would he ever do anything she had to say?

Naaman had his own religious beliefs. Why would he care about what this foreign slave had to say about anything? How could she know more than he knew about anything? Naaman would never listen to her in a million years, right? Wrong. He did listen to her. We plant, we water, it’s God who gives the increase. And woe to us if we fail to plant and water when God is standing by to give the increase.

Fourth, we learn from Naaman about the power of a godly life in bringing others to Christ. Again, we’ve spoken about the servant girl and her faithfulness and her courage. Think about the life she must have led for Naaman to believe her. There’s a great lesson for us there. At some point, we will each have a special opportunity to proclaim the gospel to someone we have known for years. That door will open and we can tell them about Christ.

Maybe it’ll be something that happens in their family and suddenly they’re more interested in it, maybe they come to us at that point, we don’t know, but we’ll have an opportunity to talk to someone we’ve known for years about Christ. What will our lives be saying to them at that point? They’ve known us for years. What will our lives be saying to them when we’re now proclaiming Christ to them? Whatever our lives are saying to them, our life will be speaking more loudly than our words at that point, because they know us. They know how we’ve lived. How must this servant girl have lived before them to be so readily believed?

Fifth, we must learn from Naaman that the gospel cannot be separated from obedience. Romans 10:16 tells us the gospel is something we obey. We obey the gospel. Acts 2:38 tells us there are things we must do to be saved. We are active in the process, not passive. Naaman understood this at the end. At first Naaman showed up and just wanted Elisha to wave his hands and bring down the mighty thunderbolt, but later Naaman understood that his cleansing would come after his obedience to Elisha’s command, not before. And in like manner, the gospel is something we obey. We are active recipients of God’s grace, not passive.

Sixth, we learn from Naaman that the gospel puts water between life and death. Water between life and death. Now, there is no student of the Bible who could ever be surprised that water stands between life and death. Water stood between slavery and freedom in Egypt. Water stood between the wilderness and promised land in Exodus. Water stood between leprosy and health for Naaman, and today water stands between those lost in sin and those alive in Christ.

Romans 6:4, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we are raised to walk in newness of life.” And for those who might wonder, “Well, maybe I was saved before I was baptized.” Let me ask you this, do we bury living people or dead people? We are buried in baptism. That means we’re buried spiritually dead, but we’re risen spiritually alive. Naaman’s cleansing from leprosy came at a definite point in time. It happened at the moment he commanded to wash, be clean. He obeyed that command. In like manner, our cleansing from sin happens at a definite point in time when we obey the command to wash and be clean. We are buried in baptism.

Second, we learn from Naaman that the gospel creates a clean person, a new creature. Can you imagine how Naaman felt when he came out of that water? Can you just imagine how he felt when he came out of that water? Lepers were unclean. In fact, Leviticus 13:45, if he’d been a Jew, he’d have to go around crying, “Unclean! Unclean!”

Sin has that same effect. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 51:2, “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” John tells us in 1 John 1:7 that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from sin. Elijah’s servant told Naaman to wash and be clean. Where have we seen that before? Ananias told Paul, Acts 22:16, to arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins.

The gospel of Jesus Christ turns unclean people into clean people, and if you can think about how Naaman must have felt when the physical malady of leprosy had been removed from him and he came out of those waters, how must we feel when sin has been removed from us and we come out of those waters, a new creature?

And so these events from the life of Naaman have much to teach us about the gospel of Jesus Christ, much. But you know what? They also tell us something about false gospels, and we know from Galatians chapter 1 that there are some false Gospels. Let’s look for a moment at one of those false Gospels, something I call the Gospel of Naaman.

What was wrong with Naaman’s plan? You know, he showed up with a plan. Well, first, Naaman’s plan, his gospel, was driven by excitement and drama. He wanted Elisha to come out in person and wave his hands all around dramatically calling the name of the Lord. Elisha’s plan? Yeah, much too dull for Naaman.

Second, Naaman’s gospel was driven by his own personal convenience. There were a lot of rivers back home in Syria that Naaman could use and they were a lot cleaner water - this is just also so inconvenient. “I really have to do that here?”

Third, under Naaman’s gospel, if you get your feelings hurt, you can just go home and pout. That’s what he was ready to do. He showed up at the great prophet’s door, he was insulted, he had his feelings hurt, he got mad, he said, “I’m going home. Never coming back.” That’s Naaman’s plan.

And under Naaman’s gospel, you get to determine the plan, not God. You get to determine what you have to do, not God. Under Naaman’s plan, if God commands me to do something that I don’t really think makes much sense, then I just don’t have to do it. I can just ignore that part and do what I want to do instead. “Baptism doesn’t make sense to me, then fine, I’m just not going to do it.” “If I don’t like the command, I’m just going to change it.” “I don’t like being immersed, I’m just gonna sprinkle.”

Those rivers back home are just as good as the Jordan River, and Naaman would have been perfectly fine if he’d followed his own plan, right? Wrong. If Naaman had followed his own plan, Naaman would have died in his leprosy. If Naaman had followed his own plan, he would have gone home a leper.

Did you know that hell has a theme song? Do you know that hell has a theme song? You know what it is? I think Frank Sinatra sang it. “I did it my way.” Well, if Naaman had done it his way, he would have gone home a leper.

Fifth, under Naaman’s gospel, yeah, just showing up is all you really need to do. Right? He was there. Went all that way? He even brought gifts, expensive gifts. Was he really required to do something else? I mean, he was there. Yeah, he did have to do something else. Showing up was not enough for Naaman, and it’s not enough for us. I could show up every time these doors are open, but if I have not obeyed the gospel, then I am a leper. I am dead in my sins.

Of course, Naaman’s gospel was no gospel at all. There’s no good news in what Naaman had planned, and if he had persisted in following his own plan, he would have gone home a leper and died a leper. And yet, as bad as it was, Naaman’s gospel was not as bad as some of the false gospels I see on TV today. Naaman didn’t fall for some of the things that people are falling for today.

So let’s look for just a moment at what Naaman got right. First, Naaman understood he had a serious problem. He knew that. Naaman knew he had leprosy. He knew the ultimate outcome of that terrible disease. He knew he needed something. You know what? A lot of them have no idea they are suffering from a disease infinitely worse than leprosy with an eternal penalty.

Naaman didn’t ignore his leprosy. Naaman didn’t explain away his leprosy. Naaman didn’t pretend he was something other than a leper. Instead, Naaman faced the facts. He’s a leper and he set out to find a cure. Likewise, our first task in reaching the lost is to convince them they are lost.

Second, Naaman understood that belief alone was not enough. He knew that. He knew that. In fact, Naaman believed very early in these events, didn’t he? Belief really wasn’t the problem here. In fact, Naaman was a believer while he was still a leper. He was a believer while he was back in Syria. How do we know that? Well, if he didn’t believe, why did he travel all that way with the expensive gifts and the entourage?

But Naaman knew that belief alone was not enough. He never questioned that. He didn’t sit home in Syria and say, “Well, I believe the Prophet can do it so I’ll just sit here and wait for it to happen.” He didn’t do that. He knew that either he had to do something or Elisha had to do something. He knew something had to be done. He understood that. And likewise today, belief alone is not enough. We can’t just think our way into heaven. As James reminds us, the demons believe and tremble. Belief is necessary but it’s not sufficient. Something has to be done.

Third, Naaman understood that he had not been a leper from his birth. He knew that. Naaman knew that leprosy was something that came on to him later in life. He hadn’t been born a leper. In fact, what he wanted to do was to kind of return to the condition he had when he was born. Had the skin like a baby, and in fact that’s what the Bible tells us happened when he came out of the water, he had flesh like a little child. He’d had flesh like that once before when he was a little child.

Likewise Jesus tells us in Matthew 18:3 that unless we become his little children we can’t enter the kingdom of heaven. Just as Naaman was not a leper from birth, we are not sinners from birth. Just as Naaman wanted to go back like he was when he was a little child, we’re commanded to do the same thing, to be like little children without sin, to enter the kingdom of heaven.

And fourth, Naaman understood he could catch leprosy again if he came in contact with lepers. I think he knew that very well. He’d caught it the first time, and I bet he was very careful when he went back to Syria not to hang around with lepers. There is no indication that he thought or that he had been given some kind of permanent immunity from leprosy. If he went back and hung around with lepers, he’d probably become a leper again.

Today, a Christian can also return to a life of sin. We’re not immune to the temptations of this world. We’re not immune to the effects of bad and evil company. We must remain faithful unto death to receive the crown of life, Revelation 2:10.

Finally, Naaman’s gratitude shows us that he did not think he had earned his cleansing by dipping in the Jordan. Do you ever see Naaman looking around and saying, “Look what I did by my mighty work of dipping in the Jordan River”? Or did he dip in there and say, “Okay, I’ve done it, now you owe me”? We don’t see his pride here, he came out like a little child, we see his gratitude, gratefulness to God for what God had done.

Did Naaman earn his cleansing by his works? Of course not. Who could ever read this and think such a thing? And yet people say that about baptism all the time. Naaman’s obedience to God was absolutely necessary to be healed, but that healing was a gift from God. And Naaman knew that very well. We see that in his gratitude. Naaman understood there were certain actions he had to do to receive that gift, but it was a gift from God. Same is true of baptism. Our salvation is a gift from God, but we must wash and be cleansed.

We’ve looked at Naaman, 2 Kings chapter 5. But you know what? Naaman is here today. Someone here today like Naaman has traveled all the way to Elisha’s doorstep and he’s found there something he did not expect. Something perhaps he wishes were different about the plan of God, and I want to talk to that person for just a moment.

Perhaps you don’t think baptism makes any sense. Perhaps you disagree with the mode of baptism. For some reason, you’ve come to the brink of a decision, not once, not twice, but perhaps many, many times, but you have never acted. Each doorstep and walked away in your leprosy and in your sin. You’ve traveled to Elisha’s house, but unlike Naaman, you’ve gone home a leper. Why? Why have you turned your back on the cleansing that God offers? Why have you turned your back on the cure?

Listen again to what Naaman’s servant said, “If the prophet had bid thee to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather then when he says to you, ‘Wash and be clean’?” That is the question for Naaman today. What if instead of God commanding you to wash and be clean, God had instead commanded you to do some great thing. Would you have done that?

What if God had commanded you to go up to heaven and get Christ to come down? What if God had commanded you to go into the deep and bring Christ up from the dead? Those are the very two questions that Paul asked in Romans 10:6-7. And you know what Paul tells us? He tells us something we already know. We don’t need to do those great things because God has already done them. There’s no need for us to do them. God has done those great things.

What we must do is so small by comparison. We must obey the gospel. We must wash and be clean. We must hear it. We must believe it. We must confess that Jesus is the Son of God. We must repent of our sins. We must be baptized for the remission of our sins, and we must live as a faithful servant of God unto death. That is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and there is no other. So why do you tarry? Why do you tarry? Arise and be baptized. Wash away your sins. Please come while we stand and while we sing.