WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.000 We are returning to the Great Stories series this morning after a hiatus last week. 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:09.880 And you'll remember last time we were in the Great Stories series where we were looking 00:00:09.880 --> 00:00:14.560 at the storybook type stories of the Bible, the types of stories that make it into the 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:17.160 children's storybooks. 00:00:17.160 --> 00:00:23.000 We were looking at Elijah on the mountain of the Lord casting down the prophets of 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:24.960 Baal. 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:29.760 And this week we come to his successor, Elisha. 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:34.960 This is 850 BC, several years ago. 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:40.520 And you'll remember that, we've talked about this in all of our sermons the last few weeks, 00:00:40.520 --> 00:00:46.280 that the people of Israel were split at this point in history between a southern kingdom 00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:47.760 and a northern kingdom. 00:00:47.760 --> 00:00:53.760 And we are in the northern kingdom in Israel, and Elisha right now lives in Samaria. 00:00:53.759 --> 00:00:59.000 So that's where we are in history and where we are in terms of locale. 00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:07.439 And the story is about a Syrian general named Naaman, a foreigner who comes to look for 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:11.879 healing from a prophet of God. 00:01:11.879 --> 00:01:16.680 And you have to know that this is an age of war between Syria and Israel, that they are 00:01:16.680 --> 00:01:19.039 currently at war. 00:01:19.039 --> 00:01:22.759 That's why later in the passage the king thinks that this king of Syria is trying to trick 00:01:22.760 --> 00:01:25.920 him to start up another quarrel. 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:28.200 This is an age of war. 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:34.840 But at the center of this passage is a truth about how a person comes to believe and be 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:35.840 transformed. 00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:38.680 This passage is ultimately about deep change. 00:01:38.680 --> 00:01:40.719 It's about how someone comes to faith. 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:45.160 It's about a real conversion, about being changed from the inside out. 00:01:45.160 --> 00:01:49.200 And all the Naaman comes in this passage to get healing for his skin. 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:55.680 He actually realizes that the biblical God seeks transformation first in the heart. 00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:57.280 And so that's what this passage is about. 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:01.079 So we're going to look at three things and we'll jump right in. 00:02:01.079 --> 00:02:03.079 Why do people seek? 00:02:03.079 --> 00:02:05.200 Why do people want to be changed? 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:09.520 Why do people explore the claims of faith at all? 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:10.520 That's the first thing. 00:02:10.520 --> 00:02:14.000 And then secondly, there's an irony in transformation. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:17.920 And then finally, there's a call in this passage to change. 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:19.959 There's a call to be restored. 00:02:19.959 --> 00:02:21.639 So we'll look at those three things. 00:02:21.639 --> 00:02:28.679 So first, why do people seek transformation? 00:02:28.679 --> 00:02:29.959 Verse one, look at verse one. 00:02:29.959 --> 00:02:35.359 The Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master 00:02:35.359 --> 00:02:39.359 and in high favor because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. 00:02:39.359 --> 00:02:44.119 He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. 00:02:44.120 --> 00:02:48.520 I mean, did you see, there's a juxtaposition there in verse one. 00:02:48.520 --> 00:02:49.520 Did you catch it? 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:50.520 I hope you called it. 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:52.680 There's a grand juxtaposition. 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:59.360 In a place like St. Columbus, in a city like Edinburgh, there are lots of Naaman's. 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:01.759 Some of us, there's a lots of Naaman's in the room right now. 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:08.159 And Naaman's are people who came to a city like Edinburgh to pad their CV, to build up 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:14.359 their resume, to get a job at a reputable institution, to get a degree in order to boost 00:03:14.359 --> 00:03:15.359 a career. 00:03:15.359 --> 00:03:17.800 That's who Naaman is. 00:03:17.800 --> 00:03:20.199 And there's tons of Naaman's in the city of Edinburgh. 00:03:20.199 --> 00:03:24.000 There are tons of people that move here precisely for the same reason. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:26.079 Did you catch the juxtaposition? 00:03:26.079 --> 00:03:30.439 This first verse is an ancient Near Eastern CV. 00:03:30.439 --> 00:03:31.800 It's a resume. 00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:32.800 We have them today. 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:35.039 You have to go to get a job. 00:03:35.039 --> 00:03:38.479 You have to have marketable skills and you need a decent CV and a resume. 00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:40.039 And that's exactly what we read about here. 00:03:40.039 --> 00:03:43.479 And verse one, Naaman. 00:03:43.479 --> 00:03:46.959 Syria is the most powerful country in the world. 00:03:46.959 --> 00:03:52.039 And Naaman, it says at the very beginning, is the second most powerful man in the most 00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:54.479 powerful country in the world. 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:57.599 He is much more powerful than any of us know. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:01.919 He's actually more powerful than we really can imagine in the 21st century because of 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:04.759 the shape of the world at this time. 00:04:04.759 --> 00:04:07.039 He's immensely wealthy. 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:10.159 And it says more than that, he was great. 00:04:10.159 --> 00:04:11.719 The text is commending him. 00:04:11.719 --> 00:04:13.120 He was a great man. 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:15.399 He was a master with his master. 00:04:15.399 --> 00:04:16.959 He was in high favor. 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:21.279 The Lord had even given him victory as a foreign general. 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:22.759 He was a mighty man of valor. 00:04:22.759 --> 00:04:26.000 In other words, he was a great warrior. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:29.279 He had a pretty padded CV. 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:34.639 He had everything that an ancient Near Eastern person would tick the box of success story 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:36.360 that was this guy. 00:04:36.360 --> 00:04:42.599 But you see the juxtaposition, the very end of the verse. 00:04:42.599 --> 00:04:45.680 But he was a leper. 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:48.519 He had leprosy. 00:04:48.519 --> 00:04:54.399 And that means that no matter how much your CV and resume is padded, no matter how fabulous 00:04:54.399 --> 00:05:00.279 your life is, no matter how successful you've been or great, great of a person you are 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:04.519 in this life, there is no security or escaping leprosy. 00:05:04.519 --> 00:05:09.879 Metaphorically, of course, suffering. 00:05:09.879 --> 00:05:14.319 This was a truly great man, but he was not safe. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:15.319 He had leprosy. 00:05:15.319 --> 00:05:17.560 He had immense suffering. 00:05:17.560 --> 00:05:23.439 Now the meaning of Naaman's leprosy is more than just skin deep. 00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:26.839 I was joking, but it's all right. 00:05:26.839 --> 00:05:30.919 We'll keep going. 00:05:30.919 --> 00:05:32.279 This is not Hanson's disease. 00:05:32.279 --> 00:05:37.719 Today leprosy is Hanson's disease. 00:05:37.719 --> 00:05:43.119 In the Bible, leprosy is consistently described as something that makes the skin turn white. 00:05:43.119 --> 00:05:44.679 Hanson's disease does not do that. 00:05:44.679 --> 00:05:47.639 So this is not the same thing as modern day leprosy. 00:05:47.639 --> 00:05:53.799 But biblical leprosy, whatever skin disease it was, it turned the body into sores that 00:05:53.799 --> 00:05:55.919 turned white. 00:05:55.919 --> 00:05:58.199 It literally looked like death. 00:05:58.199 --> 00:06:02.639 You looked like you were dead, like you were a zombie. 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:07.399 And for that reason, leprosy meant more in the ancient Near East than a mere biological 00:06:07.399 --> 00:06:10.759 condition, like it might mean for us today. 00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:14.199 It meant more, not only in Israel, as some of you that know the Old Testament know this, 00:06:14.199 --> 00:06:19.039 but it meant more in the whole ancient Near East, leprosy for ancient peoples was an outward 00:06:19.039 --> 00:06:22.300 sign of an inward problem. 00:06:22.300 --> 00:06:26.000 It meant there was some deep internal flaw within you, whatever it might be, something 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:31.639 you had done, that you were, something was wrong with you and you were outcast in almost 00:06:31.639 --> 00:06:33.720 every single society in the ancient Near East. 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:37.560 If you had leprosy, you looked like death and it represented a condition inside of you 00:06:37.560 --> 00:06:39.399 that was the condition of death. 00:06:39.399 --> 00:06:40.519 That's who you were. 00:06:40.519 --> 00:06:44.399 And so leprosy was a really big deal. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:50.000 And so that means Naaman's problems were much bigger than white skin. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:52.240 It was much bigger than that. 00:06:52.240 --> 00:07:02.280 And whether you live in 850 BC or 2017, suffering like this takes you out of your depth, no 00:07:02.280 --> 00:07:07.199 matter how good your resume is when you go to get a job, no matter how many degrees, 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:12.319 no matter what you've done in life, suffering like this takes you out of your depth, no 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:13.600 matter how well we do in life. 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:17.639 The wine always runs out, as Jesus puts it in the Gospels. 00:07:17.639 --> 00:07:22.479 The wine always runs out at the best of parties, the best moments in life where you're with 00:07:22.479 --> 00:07:27.680 your friends and with your family, the greatest memories they will always fade into shadow. 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:33.079 Now this is the part where we get depressed, where one person at every single party will 00:07:33.079 --> 00:07:39.519 ultimately see every other person in that room buried at some point, one person. 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:42.240 The wine will always run out. 00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:43.240 Something will happen. 00:07:43.240 --> 00:07:44.240 You will get leprosy. 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:48.120 You will come to the end of our rope at some point in life, suffering always comes. 00:07:48.120 --> 00:07:52.079 And that's exactly what happens here to Naaman. 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:53.079 And you know what that means. 00:07:53.079 --> 00:08:02.280 That means that Karl Marx in the 19th century, when he perpetuated the grand secular myth 00:08:02.280 --> 00:08:10.340 of modernity, which is that religion seeking hope in the midst of suffering is nothing 00:08:10.340 --> 00:08:13.040 but an opiate for the people. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:18.879 It's a drug that poor people who have no material means, who have no access to great 00:08:18.879 --> 00:08:23.640 health care, who have no financial security, religion is ultimately just something that 00:08:23.640 --> 00:08:30.680 they seek out because it's the only thing they can possibly hold on to, but not Naaman. 00:08:30.680 --> 00:08:34.440 And I think if you go out into a city like Edinburgh, what you find is that people that 00:08:34.440 --> 00:08:43.000 are very well put together and are doing very well in life are clandestine seekers of truth. 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:47.320 They're covert hopers. 00:08:47.320 --> 00:08:50.639 They're doing it under the radar. 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:53.080 Everybody out there walking in the streets, as soon as they face something that brings 00:08:53.080 --> 00:08:56.519 them to the end of their rope, no matter how great their life has been, they can't help 00:08:56.519 --> 00:09:02.960 but look for the prophet of God, just like Naaman began to do here. 00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:06.919 There are other responses to suffering. 00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:13.159 One of the extreme responses that was very popular in the 20th century, especially in 00:09:13.159 --> 00:09:18.159 France, where it kind of grew up, it was called French existentialism. 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:22.199 One famous guy, Albert Camus, who wrote a bunch of novels, you might have seen some 00:09:22.199 --> 00:09:28.759 of them, The Stranger, as one, he wrestled with Shakespeare's famous phrase in Romeo 00:09:28.759 --> 00:09:32.879 and Juliet, the one that every single person knows, to be or not to be. 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:34.360 That is the question, right? 00:09:34.360 --> 00:09:40.039 And of course, in Shakespeare there, he's wrestling with suicide, to be or not to be. 00:09:40.039 --> 00:09:42.759 That's the question, does life have any meaning? 00:09:42.759 --> 00:09:45.000 And should I just end it here, to be or not to be? 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:47.320 That's what Shakespeare was wrestling, and Camus wrestled with that. 00:09:47.320 --> 00:09:49.879 And this is what he came to. 00:09:49.879 --> 00:09:57.399 The great crisis of human existence is coping with our ultimate fight with nothingness, 00:09:57.399 --> 00:10:00.200 with non-existence, with death. 00:10:00.200 --> 00:10:05.879 And so he said, the only way to really meaningfully describe the meaninglessness of life is through 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:14.080 the ancient sycophus, sycophus, sycophus, yes, myth, that's right, sycophus, ancient 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:15.080 mythology. 00:10:15.080 --> 00:10:16.080 What does he do? 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:23.560 He wakes up every day, and he rolls a giant stone, a giant ball, up a hill, and then when 00:10:23.560 --> 00:10:28.879 he gets to the top, it rolls back down again. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:35.000 This for Camus and others was the point of life, and that's that there's no point. 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:38.480 And so what you have to do is you have to make your own meaning, you have to find your 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:39.480 own hope. 00:10:39.480 --> 00:10:42.360 You have to go through this life and define who you're going to be through your feelings, 00:10:42.360 --> 00:10:45.279 through your thoughts, through your hopes, through your dreams, through building a great 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:46.720 CV. 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:50.080 You have to find meaning for yourself. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:54.039 And the 21st century, the 20th century, it found out that this was empty, that this 00:10:54.039 --> 00:10:59.759 was one response to the suffering that we experience in life and that it's empty because 00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:03.799 every single person at some point in life comes to a place where they are out of their 00:11:03.799 --> 00:11:10.879 depth, whether that's because of a biological problem, an ethical problem, a relational 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:15.439 problem, whether it's inside or outside, you come to a place where you know that there 00:11:15.439 --> 00:11:18.959 are deep flaws within your own person. 00:11:18.959 --> 00:11:22.159 It's not just biological, but you come to wrestle with the fact that you might be a 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:31.559 person who some of us struggle with holding on to deep grievances, holding on to people 00:11:31.559 --> 00:11:35.199 who have grieved us deep, who have sinned against us and not being able to forgive. 00:11:35.199 --> 00:11:42.399 And it's crushing your spirit or people who struggle with lying or whatever it may be, 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:45.600 that you come to a point where you find that there are deep flaws both inside of you and 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:47.679 outside of you, ethically and biologically. 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:52.679 It brings you to the end of the rope and what else can you do but seek hope, try to find 00:11:52.679 --> 00:11:57.519 an answer and that's exactly what's happening here with Naaman. 00:11:57.519 --> 00:12:03.799 No matter if you try to climb every mountain and forward, every river and climb Rapunzel's 00:12:03.799 --> 00:12:06.959 hair and kill the mighty dragon, you still come to a point where you're at the end of 00:12:06.959 --> 00:12:10.679 your rope no matter what you've accomplished. 00:12:10.679 --> 00:12:20.279 And so the first lesson here in this passage is that true change, true hope, real transformation 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:25.639 and renovation from the inside out begins with a deep reckoning with the truth that no 00:12:25.639 --> 00:12:32.120 matter how well you have done in this life, no matter how fabulous or fantastic your life 00:12:32.120 --> 00:12:38.439 might be at any point, the reality confronts us that we are deeply flawed. 00:12:38.440 --> 00:12:42.400 The Bible calls it sin, the Bible calls it sin. 00:12:42.400 --> 00:12:47.520 So that's the first thing that Naaman had to come up against to wrestle with. 00:12:47.520 --> 00:12:54.000 Now secondly, the irony of change, the irony of restoration. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:55.280 How does restoration happen? 00:12:55.280 --> 00:12:57.400 That's basically the question we're asking here. 00:12:57.400 --> 00:13:02.240 If you look down at verse 2 and 3, now when I say look down at verse 2 and 3, you might 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:08.080 be thinking he just did a whole point on verse 1 and now he's saying look at verse 2 and 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:11.840 it's this point going to be entirely on verse 2 and we follow that pattern until we get 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:12.840 to 14. 00:13:12.840 --> 00:13:15.520 No, I never do that. 00:13:15.520 --> 00:13:16.520 You know that. 00:13:16.520 --> 00:13:19.400 I'm almost always on time. 00:13:19.400 --> 00:13:25.639 Verse 2, now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land 00:13:25.639 --> 00:13:30.960 of Israel and she worked in the service of Naaman's wife and she said to her mistress, 00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:34.920 would that my lord or would the prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of his leprosy. 00:13:34.919 --> 00:13:38.679 So Naaman went and he told his lord. 00:13:38.679 --> 00:13:44.959 So the irony of change, there's a stark juxtaposition in this verse too. 00:13:44.959 --> 00:13:47.319 Did you catch it? 00:13:47.319 --> 00:13:54.159 Not only is Naaman a great man who has leprosy, but now the second most powerful man in all 00:13:54.159 --> 00:14:01.399 the world is brought to the only possible hope he has through a little slave girl that 00:14:01.399 --> 00:14:04.399 he had captured in a raid. 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:09.919 A person who ultimately has no consequence to Syria at all. 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:15.240 And so the writer of the book of Kings is wanting to come aware that sometimes hope actually 00:14:15.240 --> 00:14:20.120 might be when you seek for it found in places that are unexpected. 00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:27.559 In other words, that the process of finding hope might begin with humbling yourself and 00:14:27.559 --> 00:14:29.679 this is what Naaman has to do. 00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:35.679 We get the sense here that he's actually searched out all the possible answers in his own country 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:39.879 for healing and that he is humbling himself in a way here and listening to the little 00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:42.879 girl and going to his king. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:51.959 Now jump down to verse 10 and 11 when Naaman actually gets to Samaria and comes to see 00:14:51.960 --> 00:14:59.960 Elisha, verse 10 and 11, Elisha sends a messenger to him and says go and wash in the Jordan. 00:14:59.960 --> 00:15:03.759 And he is incredibly angry Naaman is about this. 00:15:03.759 --> 00:15:09.400 So when he finally takes his journey south and he gets to Elisha, Elisha the prophet 00:15:09.400 --> 00:15:17.240 of God won't come out and see him, won't even step outside of his door and he sends a messenger, 00:15:17.240 --> 00:15:19.800 a servant instead. 00:15:19.799 --> 00:15:28.120 And that makes Naaman extremely angry and verse 12 it says that it put him into a rage. 00:15:28.120 --> 00:15:31.120 So this is a very extreme anger that he's in. 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:34.479 Now why is he so mad about this? 00:15:34.479 --> 00:15:38.240 And I think there's two reasons and the first reason is this. 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:44.079 Naaman is a great man and great men want to do great things in order to earn favor to 00:15:44.079 --> 00:15:47.079 get the rewards that they're seeking in life. 00:15:47.080 --> 00:15:51.000 Great men want to do great things to earn the favor whether that's of a prophet of God 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:53.920 or God or whatever else. 00:15:53.920 --> 00:15:55.320 Just think about this. 00:15:55.320 --> 00:16:02.240 If you go back to verse 5 he went first to the king of Syria in order to get a letter 00:16:02.240 --> 00:16:04.840 of recommendation. 00:16:04.840 --> 00:16:09.040 So he goes to the king of Israel and the first thing he carries with him is a letter of recommendation 00:16:09.040 --> 00:16:11.440 saying this guy's worth it. 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:13.360 This guy's worth healing. 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:17.279 This is one of the ones that's worth expending your magic powers for. 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:18.759 That's what he's doing. 00:16:18.759 --> 00:16:25.560 And then the very next thing is it says that he in verse 5 and 6 he also takes with him 00:16:25.560 --> 00:16:31.360 10 talents of silver and 6,000 shekels of gold. 00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:34.279 10 talents of silver. 00:16:34.279 --> 00:16:39.399 10 talents of silver is 300 kilograms of silver. 00:16:39.399 --> 00:16:47.759 In yesterday's market the last time I checked the silver price it was $391,370 U.S. dollars 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:51.120 of silver that he brought with him. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:53.360 This is in 850 BC. 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:59.000 We can't even calculate the real wealth that that's actually worth in that time. 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:02.039 But wait 6,000 shekels of gold. 00:17:02.039 --> 00:17:07.680 A shekel is I think.41 grams. 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:12.680 And that means 6,000 shekels of gold is 70 kilograms of gold. 00:17:12.680 --> 00:17:17.840 And if you're keeping up with the current gold prices that is worth 1.75 million pounds 00:17:17.840 --> 00:17:18.840 today. 00:17:18.840 --> 00:17:23.320 And what that means is that this is a wealth that nobody in the world today probably even 00:17:23.320 --> 00:17:24.320 knows. 00:17:24.320 --> 00:17:25.920 I mean this is beyond billionaire. 00:17:25.920 --> 00:17:31.000 This is an immense wealth that he's bringing to Israel. 00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:36.200 He wants to buy it you see. 00:17:36.200 --> 00:17:39.600 He wants his letter of recommendation to get him through the door to the prophet. 00:17:39.600 --> 00:17:43.400 He wants his money to get him through the door to the prophet to earn his favor. 00:17:43.400 --> 00:17:46.920 When he actually comes to the prophet he brings horses, he brings chariots and he brings his 00:17:46.920 --> 00:17:51.559 army in pomp and circumstance and stand outside the prophet's door. 00:17:51.559 --> 00:17:52.559 And what is he saying? 00:17:52.559 --> 00:17:53.559 He's saying I deserve this. 00:17:53.559 --> 00:17:54.559 I deserve it. 00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:55.559 I'm a great man. 00:17:55.559 --> 00:17:58.120 I deserve to be given salvation by healing. 00:17:58.120 --> 00:18:00.400 This is what I deserve. 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:01.960 What does he want to hear? 00:18:01.960 --> 00:18:06.160 He wants Alicia to come out and say if you really want to be healed you have to go. 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:09.840 Go to the mountain and defeat smog. 00:18:09.840 --> 00:18:13.360 He wants to be told you have to climb Rapunzel's hair and slay the dragon. 00:18:13.360 --> 00:18:18.440 He wants to be told you have to go take the broom back from the wicked witch of the west. 00:18:18.440 --> 00:18:21.440 He wants to do something great. 00:18:21.440 --> 00:18:23.720 He wants to be sent on an adventure. 00:18:23.720 --> 00:18:29.040 A man, he's worth that and that's what he thinks. 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:38.159 And the lesson that he finds out is that the stuff of this world cannot help him. 00:18:38.159 --> 00:18:46.279 The stuff of this world is not an answer for you when you are at the end of your rope in 00:18:46.279 --> 00:18:49.000 the face of real suffering. 00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:52.920 The materials of this world cannot help you. 00:18:52.920 --> 00:18:57.559 You cannot buy salvation or healing. 00:18:57.559 --> 00:19:00.399 You can't earn it. 00:19:00.399 --> 00:19:06.919 The second reason I think that he's so mad is he thinks that the Israelite religion is 00:19:06.919 --> 00:19:12.359 exactly the same as all the other religions of the ancient Near East. 00:19:12.359 --> 00:19:14.679 So two things really here. 00:19:14.679 --> 00:19:20.359 First, he goes to the king of Israel first to make his petition. 00:19:20.359 --> 00:19:23.480 Why does he do that in verse 6 and following? 00:19:23.480 --> 00:19:24.599 He goes to the king of Israel. 00:19:24.599 --> 00:19:28.199 He wants the king to make this happen. 00:19:28.199 --> 00:19:32.159 And the reason he probably does that is because for all the religions in the ancient Near 00:19:32.159 --> 00:19:36.359 East, the king is a demi-god typically. 00:19:36.359 --> 00:19:40.039 The king is recognized as a deity. 00:19:40.039 --> 00:19:42.119 It would have been the case for him in Syria. 00:19:42.119 --> 00:19:43.199 You go to the king. 00:19:43.199 --> 00:19:45.319 The king is the one that's closest to the gods. 00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:48.519 The king is the one that can interact with the gods. 00:19:48.519 --> 00:19:55.680 And the prophet of any king is the puppet of a king. 00:19:55.680 --> 00:20:00.400 And so what he thinks is that if he goes to the king, he can basically get the god to 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:03.119 do whatever the king wants him to do. 00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:07.359 And he can get the prophet of the king to do whatever the king wants him to do. 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:14.079 In other words, he thinks that Israelite religion works exactly like Baalism as we looked at 00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:15.799 it a few weeks ago. 00:20:15.799 --> 00:20:23.720 And so in verse 7, when he comes to Joram, this is Ahab's grandson, by the way, Joram 00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:28.359 the king, this is Joram's response. 00:20:28.359 --> 00:20:33.240 Am I a god to kill or make alive? 00:20:33.240 --> 00:20:38.119 In other words, I don't have control over God. 00:20:38.119 --> 00:20:39.599 You're completely confused. 00:20:39.599 --> 00:20:43.599 You think that the king can get God to do things. 00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:45.759 I am not God. 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:47.879 I have no control over God. 00:20:47.879 --> 00:20:49.759 You've come and confronted the real God. 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:51.639 And the real God doesn't answer the kings. 00:20:51.639 --> 00:20:53.559 The real God doesn't answer the prophets. 00:20:53.559 --> 00:20:54.559 He can't be controlled. 00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:55.799 He can't be conjured. 00:20:55.799 --> 00:20:57.599 He can't be manipulated. 00:20:57.599 --> 00:21:03.719 You actually need to come and face reality that the god that is real, the god that is 00:21:03.719 --> 00:21:08.079 creator, the god that can truly heal you and give you salvation is a god that you can't 00:21:08.079 --> 00:21:11.119 define, that you could never expect. 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:17.519 He's a god that, as John puts it in the first John, that is greater than our hearts. 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:19.319 He's greater. 00:21:19.319 --> 00:21:23.759 And so then he goes instead to the prophet in verse 11. 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:28.039 And when Elisha refuses to heal him, this is what he says. 00:21:28.039 --> 00:21:31.919 This is what Naaman says, verse 11. 00:21:31.919 --> 00:21:37.279 I thought first that the prophet would have come out to me because I am great. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:38.279 That's what he's saying. 00:21:38.279 --> 00:21:42.039 I thought the prophet would have come to me because I'm a great guy and I deserve that. 00:21:42.039 --> 00:21:50.119 But secondly, I thought he would call his god and wave his hand over me and heal me. 00:21:50.119 --> 00:21:56.519 Now when he says call his god and wave his hand over him, what he's saying there is, 00:21:56.519 --> 00:22:02.480 if you remember, if you were here two weeks ago for Elisha on the mountain, the prophets 00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:09.319 of Baal on that mountain cried out to God in rhythmic ritual like their god, Baal, in 00:22:09.319 --> 00:22:10.759 rhythmic ritual like fashion. 00:22:10.759 --> 00:22:13.200 They babbled before their god. 00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:14.200 It was a ritual. 00:22:14.200 --> 00:22:19.720 And so what he's saying is I want this prophet to come out and perform the ritual, cry out 00:22:19.720 --> 00:22:23.400 to God in repetition so that God will do what you say. 00:22:23.400 --> 00:22:24.640 This is how it works. 00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:25.640 It's mechanical. 00:22:25.640 --> 00:22:26.940 It's mathematics. 00:22:26.940 --> 00:22:31.200 If you put in the words and the magic, it will happen, right? 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:34.680 And that's exactly what Jesus is talking about in the Sermon on the Mount when Jesus 00:22:34.680 --> 00:22:38.640 says don't pray like the pagans who babble. 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:45.120 He's saying who rhythmically, ritualistically cry out the name of a god and expect to be 00:22:45.120 --> 00:22:46.120 heard. 00:22:46.120 --> 00:22:47.120 Don't pray like that. 00:22:47.120 --> 00:22:48.920 And that's what he thinks that Elisha's going to do. 00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:54.240 And then when he says he'll wave his hand, that can also be translated. 00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:58.880 That verb wave there is sprinkle. 00:22:58.880 --> 00:23:07.240 And he thinks that when you call on God ritually and you sprinkle a potion, then it will just 00:23:07.240 --> 00:23:09.480 work. 00:23:09.480 --> 00:23:12.120 So in other words, he thinks this is straight magic. 00:23:12.120 --> 00:23:17.720 That's what he thinks is going to happen here. 00:23:17.720 --> 00:23:25.280 Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, he was recently giving a speech 00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:29.399 where he was talking about and thinking about his legacy, he's 72 years old. 00:23:29.399 --> 00:23:34.680 And he spoke about initiatives in this speech that he had spearheaded, initiatives like 00:23:34.680 --> 00:23:41.759 reducing obesity in New York City, eliminating secondhand smoke from public spaces, putting 00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:46.559 down or diminishing gun violence on the streets. 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:50.920 And in each instance, the article this journalist says, Mayor Bloomberg demonstrated a desire 00:23:50.920 --> 00:23:54.079 to promote human health, safety and flourishing. 00:23:54.079 --> 00:23:59.599 And then this is how Bloomberg finished his legacy speech as he reflected on his time as 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:00.599 mayor. 00:24:00.599 --> 00:24:06.399 Quote, I'm telling you, if there is a God when I get to heaven, I'm not stopping to 00:24:06.399 --> 00:24:08.639 be interviewed. 00:24:08.639 --> 00:24:11.639 I'm heading straight through that door. 00:24:11.639 --> 00:24:14.319 I have earned my place in heaven. 00:24:14.319 --> 00:24:16.839 It's not even close. 00:24:16.839 --> 00:24:23.199 And you see, the religion of Bloomberg in 2017 is exactly the same as the religion of 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:27.559 Bale and Naaman in 850 BC. 00:24:27.559 --> 00:24:33.000 And that's that if there is the hope of an afterlife, if there is the hope of getting 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:36.680 past this world of suffering and truly being saved, truly being healed from the inside 00:24:36.680 --> 00:24:42.720 out, then the only way that we'll possibly get to it is if we earn it. 00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:47.680 If we clean up the streets of New York City or whatever else. 00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:59.200 Naaman, for Naaman, salvation is a commercial transaction with a God that can be manipulated. 00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:03.400 And Alicia here is saying no, not so fast. 00:25:03.400 --> 00:25:08.240 And Jesus Christ in the New Testament says no, not so fast. 00:25:08.240 --> 00:25:16.440 No magic, no hand waving, no ritualism, no family line, no bloodlines, no success stories, 00:25:16.440 --> 00:25:23.720 no material wealth, no security, no general goodness, no heroic feats will buy the Christian 00:25:23.720 --> 00:25:27.759 God into salvation. 00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:34.519 And so the third lesson Naaman has to learn here is from his slaves, ironically, again, 00:25:34.519 --> 00:25:39.640 when Alicia tells him go wash in the river and he rages. 00:25:39.640 --> 00:25:45.120 His slaves come to him and said, would you not just humble yourself and try it? 00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:49.519 In other words, do you not take a step of faith supposing that you don't actually have 00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:52.759 all the answers? 00:25:52.759 --> 00:25:53.759 And so that's what he does. 00:25:53.759 --> 00:26:00.479 And thirdly and finally, briefly, the call to transformation. 00:26:00.479 --> 00:26:02.319 Go down to the river and wash. 00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:04.879 That's what Alicia tells him. 00:26:04.879 --> 00:26:06.959 And he did it in verse 14. 00:26:06.959 --> 00:26:10.959 You see that he went down, he dipped himself seven times in the Jordan according to the 00:26:10.959 --> 00:26:14.759 word of the man of God and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child. 00:26:14.759 --> 00:26:16.279 And he was clean. 00:26:16.279 --> 00:26:23.039 Now the text there does not use the word healed, which it could have, that he was healed, but 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:25.119 it uses the word clean. 00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:26.640 He was made clean. 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:29.200 And I think that's for a pretty specific reason. 00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:32.879 And that's that any person that's familiar with the Old Testament, any Israelite that's 00:26:32.879 --> 00:26:40.279 reading this, knows that leprosy, as I mentioned earlier, is a lot more than simple skin disease. 00:26:40.279 --> 00:26:45.839 The leprosy for a Hebrew for an Israelite in the ancient Near East means that you were 00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:50.440 wearing the condition of the world upon your skin. 00:26:50.440 --> 00:26:53.359 And that's the condition of death. 00:26:53.359 --> 00:26:57.399 And that's why any Israelite who contracts leprosy has to be cast out of the camp. 00:26:57.399 --> 00:27:02.319 They cannot be in the presence of the camp because the camp symbolizes the Garden of 00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:05.039 Eden recapitulated. 00:27:05.039 --> 00:27:09.879 There can be no leprosy in the place where God dwells in the holy garden. 00:27:09.880 --> 00:27:13.040 So any Israelite that gained leprosy had to be cast out of the camp until they became 00:27:13.040 --> 00:27:14.400 clean again. 00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:18.360 And that's why this word is being used here, that when he was rid of his leprosy, it wasn't 00:27:18.360 --> 00:27:23.200 just about a skin disease, it was about being transformed, cleaned from the inside out. 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:29.000 It was a symbol of being forgiven, of being cleansed from sin. 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:31.240 It's more than physical. 00:27:31.240 --> 00:27:40.240 And that's why 800 years later in Luke chapter 4, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, recounts this 00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:41.240 story. 00:27:41.240 --> 00:27:44.480 We read it a few minutes ago at the beginning. 00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:46.680 Jesus is in Luke 4 in Nazareth. 00:27:46.680 --> 00:27:49.000 He's talking to his hometown. 00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:53.359 And he quotes from Isaiah, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. 00:27:53.359 --> 00:27:57.440 I have come to free the captive from slavery. 00:27:57.440 --> 00:28:04.160 And then they say to that, the people of his hometown who reject him, is this not Joseph's 00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:05.920 son? 00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:08.519 He's a carpenter's boy. 00:28:08.519 --> 00:28:11.440 He has no marketable skills. 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:13.400 He doesn't have a great CV. 00:28:13.400 --> 00:28:15.000 He's a carpenter's boy. 00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:21.519 And he's from Nazareth as well, which was kind of a dump of a town in Israel. 00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:27.360 And then Jesus says, well, every prophet is rejected in their hometown. 00:28:27.359 --> 00:28:33.159 And then in verse 27, he says this, he quotes or he recounts the story. 00:28:33.159 --> 00:28:36.919 There were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was 00:28:36.919 --> 00:28:39.759 cleansed but only name in the Syrian. 00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:42.159 Now what is he saying? 00:28:42.159 --> 00:28:48.439 What he's saying ultimately is I came for the foreigner, not just for the people in 00:28:48.439 --> 00:28:53.799 my hometown, but in doing that he identifies himself with Elisha. 00:28:53.799 --> 00:29:01.240 You see, he's recounting the Elisha story in order to say, I am the new Elisha. 00:29:01.240 --> 00:29:05.639 I've come here doing exactly the thing that Elisha did for naming. 00:29:05.639 --> 00:29:09.960 I've come to heal the foreign leper. 00:29:09.960 --> 00:29:13.639 I've come to send people down to the Jordan River to wash. 00:29:13.639 --> 00:29:17.319 And you remember when we talked about this two weeks ago with Elijah on the mountain 00:29:17.319 --> 00:29:24.359 that Jesus in the gospels regularly says that John the Baptist is the new Elijah, and who 00:29:24.359 --> 00:29:26.159 comes after Elijah? 00:29:26.159 --> 00:29:27.399 Elisha. 00:29:27.399 --> 00:29:33.480 And so now in the same parallel way in the gospels, the gospel writers present a pair 00:29:33.480 --> 00:29:40.439 of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ following after the ministry of Elijah and Elisha. 00:29:40.439 --> 00:29:44.639 And so in the very next chapter, Luke chapter five, right after he identifies himself as 00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:50.440 Elisha, he heals his first leper. 00:29:50.440 --> 00:29:53.200 And this is what happens in Luke 512. 00:29:53.200 --> 00:29:57.840 He was in a city and a man came to him full of leprosy. 00:29:57.840 --> 00:30:02.880 And when the man saw Jesus, he fell on his face and he begged and he said, Jesus, if 00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:08.800 you will, you can make me clean. 00:30:08.800 --> 00:30:14.200 Now every Hebrew that would have been standing there who knew the Torah, who knew the law 00:30:14.200 --> 00:30:16.440 would have been saying one thing. 00:30:16.440 --> 00:30:20.279 And that's don't touch him. 00:30:20.279 --> 00:30:23.720 Jesus, don't touch the leper. 00:30:23.720 --> 00:30:24.720 Don't touch him. 00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:28.440 If you touch him, you will become unclean. 00:30:28.440 --> 00:30:30.559 You will be cast out from the presence of God. 00:30:30.559 --> 00:30:31.840 You will not be able to go to the temple. 00:30:31.840 --> 00:30:33.960 You will be outside the land of Israel. 00:30:33.960 --> 00:30:36.240 Don't touch him. 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:39.880 No prophet in the Old Testament could touch a leper, you see? 00:30:39.880 --> 00:30:45.160 And that's exactly why some speculate Elisha never went out to actually meet with Naaman, 00:30:45.160 --> 00:30:46.280 because he couldn't touch him. 00:30:46.280 --> 00:30:48.880 He couldn't be with him lest he become unclean. 00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:53.320 No prophet in all of history could make people clean. 00:30:53.320 --> 00:30:55.280 No prophet could do it. 00:30:55.280 --> 00:30:59.680 And then Jesus turns to him and he reaches out his hand and he says, I will touch him, 00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:00.680 be clean. 00:31:00.680 --> 00:31:02.560 And the man is clean. 00:31:02.560 --> 00:31:05.480 Jesus doesn't become unclean when he touches sinners. 00:31:05.480 --> 00:31:07.920 They become clean. 00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:10.519 He is the new and better Elisha. 00:31:10.519 --> 00:31:12.039 And he is the River Jordan. 00:31:12.039 --> 00:31:14.680 You see, Elisha had to send Naaman out. 00:31:14.680 --> 00:31:15.680 I can't touch you. 00:31:15.680 --> 00:31:16.680 I can't be around you. 00:31:16.680 --> 00:31:19.920 Go to the River Jordan and wash a simple act of faith. 00:31:19.920 --> 00:31:22.320 But Jesus himself is the River Jordan. 00:31:22.320 --> 00:31:26.600 His blood is the river that washes lepers clean. 00:31:26.600 --> 00:31:30.960 He is the new and better Elisha, you see? 00:31:30.960 --> 00:31:34.360 What happens when he touches the leper? 00:31:34.359 --> 00:31:43.199 He absorbs leprosy, just like he who knew no sin became sin for you. 00:31:43.199 --> 00:31:48.319 And he went to the cross in the most ironic of ways to destroy death by being swallowed 00:31:48.319 --> 00:31:55.719 by it, just like a little girl, a nobody, a slave had to go tell Naaman the only hope 00:31:55.719 --> 00:31:59.000 you can find is in the God of the Bible. 00:31:59.000 --> 00:32:02.799 Two grand ironies. 00:32:02.799 --> 00:32:06.960 He knows exactly how to heal you. 00:32:06.960 --> 00:32:10.359 He knows exactly how to heal you. 00:32:10.359 --> 00:32:16.200 And some of you may come and say today, but you don't know what I've done. 00:32:16.200 --> 00:32:19.000 You don't know what I've done. 00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:20.500 And I don't. 00:32:20.500 --> 00:32:22.639 But he does. 00:32:22.639 --> 00:32:26.680 And he became it, you see? 00:32:26.680 --> 00:32:31.159 He swallowed porn addiction in himself. 00:32:31.160 --> 00:32:33.160 He swallowed all of our addictions. 00:32:33.160 --> 00:32:36.200 He swallowed gossip that some of us are addicted to. 00:32:36.200 --> 00:32:38.279 He swallowed the lies and the deceit. 00:32:38.279 --> 00:32:40.040 He swallowed the leprosy. 00:32:40.040 --> 00:32:41.560 He swallowed cancer. 00:32:41.560 --> 00:32:42.880 He ate it up. 00:32:42.880 --> 00:32:46.640 He went in and swallowed death and it ate him up from the inside out so that he might 00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:47.640 destroy it. 00:32:47.640 --> 00:32:54.040 The cross is the grand irony of all of history and it's how he came to destroy death. 00:32:54.040 --> 00:32:55.840 And we'll just close with this. 00:32:55.840 --> 00:32:59.960 Hebrews 2.15 addresses it directly. 00:32:59.960 --> 00:33:03.680 Through death, he destroyed the one who has the power of death. 00:33:03.680 --> 00:33:05.319 That is the devil. 00:33:05.319 --> 00:33:08.960 He has come and is this you? 00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:09.960 Is this you? 00:33:09.960 --> 00:33:17.559 To deliver those who fear death from the pangs of lifelong slavery. 00:33:17.559 --> 00:33:21.279 And the Bible puts it straight up. 00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:26.200 Do you fear death? 00:33:26.200 --> 00:33:32.640 And the hope is this, the end of life for those who will go down and wash in the river 00:33:32.640 --> 00:33:40.240 Jordan, the blood of Jesus Christ by faith is not death but resurrection. 00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:41.240 And that's an invitation. 00:33:41.240 --> 00:33:46.039 That's an invitation whether you have never believed in Christ before or whether you've 00:33:46.039 --> 00:33:53.319 been in the peace for a long, long time and your heart has gotten hard. 00:33:53.319 --> 00:33:56.080 That's an invitation to come down to the river and wash. 00:33:56.079 --> 00:33:57.079 Let's pray. 00:33:57.079 --> 00:34:06.519 Father, we give thanks to you for the gospel, for the blood of Christ for us and the beauty 00:34:06.519 --> 00:34:09.400 of that gospel presented even in the pages of the Old Testament. 00:34:09.400 --> 00:34:12.960 So we ask of the Lord that you would give many here eyes of faith, maybe for the first 00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:14.759 time we pray. 00:34:14.759 --> 00:34:17.960 Do the work of God as we proclaim the message. 00:34:17.960 --> 00:34:19.440 And we pray this in Christ's name. 00:34:19.440 --> 00:34:26.440 Amen.