Faith Isn’t Easy - 2 Kings 5:1-17
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Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
(Adapted from the full sermon “Fighting Fear with Fear” for Faith’s Chapel) My wife and I married when we were very young and very, very broke. Like broke as a joke. So, one day, I checked the mail, which I hated doing because it seemed to only bring bad news. But, this day was different. In it, there was an envelope from the Nissan dealership, and in that envelope, was a car key attached to a note saying: “You’re a winner!” And, as I understood it, I was supposed to just take that key down to the dealership to see which car it fit, and I would be the winner of that car.
I was ecstatic. I couldn’t believe that I had just won a new car. I called Megan as fast as I could and explained to her how our luck was apparently taking a turn for the better. So, as soon as she got home, we hurried to the dealership to cash in on our prize. When we got there, I walked awkwardly into the dealership with the key and the note saying I was a winner and asked one of the salesmen what I needed to do. And, I’ll never forget him giving me this look like: “Bless his heart.” You know, that look where somebody feels sorry for how dumb and naïve you are. It makes you feel worse about yourself, not better. I quickly learned a valuable lesson about bait and switch and realized that I had won like a sticker or something, and it was really just a marketing ploy to get me into the dealership so they could try to sell me a car.
God’s Word
God’s Word
And, bait and switch has become so normal to us that we have a fundamental mistrust of anything we perceive as being simple or easy. We’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop.
And, I think that can be a major stumbling block to our full acceptance of justification by faith. We have great difficulty accepting that we can be forgiven our sins and declared righteous before God because we have simply placed our faith in Jesus’ atonement and propitiation. It seems too good to be true.
And, I think 2 Kings helps us to see that. We see here both a picture of justification by faith and the difficulty that we have with justification by faith. By the way, I’d highlight, because I’ve often been asked about it, that people are not justified by works in the OT and faith in the NT. In the OT, God’s people are justified by faith in how God WOULD provide for their sins, and in the NT, God’s people are justified by faith in whom God HAS provided for their sins. So, I want you to see Three Simple Truth About Justification by Faith:
Justification really is simple.
Justification really is simple.
Naaman was a baaaddd man. He was the Syrian captain, which would have made him like the Prime Minister and Secretary of Defense rolled up into one. And, God had used Naaman to bring judgment upon the sins of his people. It says explicitly that “by him the Lord had given victory to Syria.” But, strong men are easily proven weak, and such is the case with Naaman. He gets leprosy, which would’ve made this proud man an outcast and assured him of a premature death.
That’s when we meet a character that is in every way Naaman’s opposite. We don’t even know her name, just that she is a slave girl from Israel. Now, I don’t want you to miss this from the perspective of those Israelites living in exile so many years later who would’ve been reading 2 Kings. It’s made clear that God made Naaman the Syrian great, and God sent leprosy to make the great man weak, and it’s just as clear that God placed a little Israelite girl in Naaman’s house to do his work. God had not forgotten about her, and God was at work through her. It was God’s way of saying to his exiled people reading 2 Kings: “I haven’t forgotten about you either, even if it feels like it. I’m at work in small ways you can’t begin to behold.”
What’s key is what she says to Naaman. She says, “I wish you would go to the Lord’s prophet so you could be healed.” The servant girl’s concern for the man who likely murdered her family shows a great contrast between Naaman and her. Naaman was a very strong man with a very weak hope. He was dying. But, the servant girl was a very weak person with a very strong hope. The servant girl appears to be the vulnerable one, but her faith turns out to be the only actual hope for the strong man.
You see, when Naaman is presented to King Jehoram, Jehoram says: “What can I do? I’m not God!” But, when Naaman is seen by the young servant girl, she says: “I know exactly what to do. I know God!” Isn’t her childlike faith beautiful? “He would heal him,” she says. It’s that simple from her perspective.
In Mark 10:15 Jesus says: “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”” And, how does a child come? Simply, trustingly, believingly. They have no strength to show. They have no wealth to bring. They come believing that Jesus really lived perfectly, died redemptively, and was raised triumphantly, and that He is sufficient for salvation. So, we’re seeing here that this is the picture of the remnant of true Israel in the OT, and that’s the picture of all those who are redeemed in Christ today.
It really is simple…
Faith is simple, but not easy.
Faith is simple, but not easy.
The freaked out king of Israel sends Naaman to a man that is completely unimpressed by his credentials — the prophet Elisha. Naaman shows up with an entourage horses and chariots (Seal Team 6) and hundreds of pounds of gold and silver. Everywhere he goes, people know that Naaman is a great and powerful man, and he wants them to know it. Naaman is an intimidating dude! You can see why the king melted like he did. He assumes this guy just wants to provoke another war to ruin him. But, how does Elisha respond? He sends out his secretary! The king is terrified, but Elisha doesn’t even look up from his Bible!
Elisha sends Naaman a very simple set of instructions. “Go wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” And, Naaman is ticked! Naaman is peeved at Elisha’s lack of hospitality and worthless instruction. Of course, he’d tried washing! He’d washed in rivers much cleaner and clearer than the Jordan! That’s why he’d brought all this money with him. He needed to meet Elisha, impress him, and then pay him off so that he could be healed. That’s how every god worked. Pay them, and they give you what you want. But, not YHWH and not his prophets either.
You see, we want to believe that we deserve God’s forgiveness and salvation. If we’ve sinned and know it, we want to believe that there’s something that we can do, something that we can bring that will merit for us God’s saving grace. We want to believe that God wants us because we’re awesome and impressive and desirable. That’s what Naaman plans to do. He plans to impress God’s socks off, and that’s what people all over Calhoun County are doing with the way they raise their kids and help their neighbor and give to charities.
But, Elisha is teaching Naaman that grace isn’t for sale. Being cleansed — justified — by God isn’t a strength competition. This wasn’t about Naaman’s greatness, but about Naaman’s realization of God’s greatness. This was about whether or not Naaman trusted in who he was or in who YHWH was, in what he brought to the table or what YHWH brought. That’s what makes the comments of Naaman’s servants so remarkable. Naaman’s servant’s are wiser than they know. Every translation that I read except the ESV, translates verse 13 as the servants saying: “You expected to have to do a hard thing. Can’t you do this good and simple thing?” Naaman expected to need to pay off the god or go prove his greatness with some conquest. But, YHWH only asked him to trust him and to show it by dipping seven times into the Jordan. It was too simple and too good to believe, especially for a man like Naaman.
The good news for Naaman is the good news for us. God’s offer really is that simple. That’s what makes it so wonderful and him so unique. You don’t have to prove anything and you don’t have to earn anything and you don’t have to be somebody great. You have to trust him. Has the simplicity of the gospel been a stumbling block for you? Have you found it hard to believe that a new life, a new heart, and a new future could be so simple? Well, that shows you just how difficult trusting by faith really is. Faith is simple, but it isn’t easy. That’s why Paul says 1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” It seems too good to be true.
Faith is free, but not cheap.
Faith is free, but not cheap.
So, Naaman, by faith, dips seven times into the Jordan, and one of the sweetest phrases in all the Bible appears as a result. “…and he was clean.” He was clean! Not because of his greatness. Not because of his money. Not because of his military might. Because of his simple faith in a great God, he was clean! Now, this is remarkable two times over because Naaman was clean two times over. Leprosy made one unclean before God to enter into the worship of his people and so did being a Gentile. But, it doesn’t just say that Naaman’s flesh is healed. It states — without qualification — “He was clean.”
Like Rahab and Ruth, here’s another enemy of God saved by him, accepted by him, and loved by him. And, what do we see happen simultaneously in the heart of Naaman? He has a complete recalibration, a resetting of his entire worldview. And he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; so accept now a present from your servant.” In Naaman, we see what we always see in a person who fears the Lord. He discovers there’s only one who is worthy of his life, and he gives it freely to him. So, Naaman’s healing/justification/salvation was free, but it cost him everything. Now, Naaman was renouncing the worship, gods, and customs that had been a part of his people for generations. His whole view of the world and way of life were changed forever. This is expensive.
And, it’s a picture that brings into our minds the full price that would be paid for Naaman’s justification and yours and mine. Oh, the future is in mind here. Is it any wonder that it was the Jordan? In the Septuagint (LXX), “dipped” is translated “baptizo.” Does that strike a thought in your mind? Oh, our Lord Jesus would be baptized in the Jordan too, wouldn’t He? And, from there He would inaugurate a new Kingdom with a secure and glorious future. And, He would do it by purchasing our justification with the price of his blood.
And, we can enter into this kingdom freely, declared righteous and holy. How? By coming to him in a similar baptism, where we lay down our old lives and are set free for a new one. It’s that simple. That difficult. That costly.
