The Friend of My Enemies
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
This is our last session on the topic of friendship. So far we have discussed being a friend worth following, being an encouraging friend, and being a sacrificial friend. Today we are going to wrap up this series On Friendship talking about enemies.
There is a well known saying that goes like this: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. How many here are familiar with that saying?
If you are familiar with it, you probably know the second part of that saying as well that goes, “the friend of my enemy is my _________.” enemy
The title of the sermon today is The Friend of My Enemies
The Friend of My Enemies
The Friend of My Enemies
Today, I want us to read a part of the Old Testament. If you grew up in church, this story is probably going to be very familiar to you as it is often taught in children’s classes. If you are not familiar with this story, buckle up because it is absolutely fascinating. It is easily in my top ten favorite stories from the Old Testament. And it is so because of so many amazing details that often get glossed over.
Now, you know the way I like to tell stories. I love to get into the details of things, but today is going to be a little bit different. We are going to start at the beginning of the story, rush through the middle, pay very close to attention to the end of the story, and then analyze the beginning of the story once more. Why not just analyze the beginning when we start off with it? I’m glad you asked!
The reason is that the analysis of the beginning cannot be as thoroughly done without knowing the details of the end of the story.
Just a little context before we jump in, at this time in Israel’s history, they have already split into the Southern Kingdom of Judah and the Northern Kingdom of Israel. These particular events happen in the the northern kingdom of Israel.
So without further ado, I will ask you to join me in reading 2 Kings 5:1
1 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper.
Right off the bat we are introduced to this man, Naaman. I want to ask you to do something that I like to do when approaching Bible stories that are familiar. If you know this story, the story of Naaman, I want you to approach this sermon as if it were the first time you were hearing about this. Forget what you know about the story; forget that you know the outcome. Put that off to the side because as I like to say, “familiarity doesn’t always breed contempt, it often breeds complacency.” What happens sometimes when we approach a passage of Scripture that we are familiar with is that we say, “Oh, I know this one,” and speed read through it or don’t listen intently when it is being taught.
Instead, I when you come to a familiar story or passage in the Bible, I want you to adopt a different approach. Approach that passage with the thought, “Is there anything here that I have missed? Are there any details that I have not thought about? Do those details make a difference in the passage?” because some detail won’t make a difference, but sometimes they add to the message being conveyed.
So, if you know this story, I want you to approach it with this mindset today.
With that being said, let’s look at the things this verse tells us about Naaman.
Naaman is the Captain of the host (armies) of Syria.
* Great man - He was noble. He was important.
* Honorable
* Used by God to deliver Syria - it is important to note here that Naaman was not a believer in God, he worshipped false gods, but God still used him to accomplish His plan for the nation of Syria.
* Mighty man in valor - brave warrior.
* But there was one thing wrong… he was a LEPER.
For all his greatness and courage and valor, Naaman was a man that lived with leprosy. Leprosy was a death sentence. It was a horrible disease that ate away at a persons flesh as it would rot and become infected. There was no cure in those days. You could hope and pray that it went away, but that was not a common occurrence.
Our story that, by the way, is not some fairy tale, it is a story of actual events that took place, our story opens up not with a prophet, not with a great man of God. It doesn’t start off with Israelite who is going to save the nation or do something great for it. In fact, it doesn’t even start off with an Israelite at all.
This story begins by describing to us an enemy of Israel. Naaman was the captain, the general, of all the armies of Syria, a nation that would one day soon, attempt to completely take over Israel. They were hostile toward them, they were not believers in the God of Israel, they looked to subdue Israel and make them part of their kingdom. Naaman was not a friend.
We get this introduction to Naaman in verse 1, but in verse two, we look at the tactics he has employed as they begin to test Israel’s defenses and as they begin to probe into Israel’s lands. 2 Kings 5:2
2 And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife.
Naaman had deployed companies of Syrian soldiers to conduct raids in Israel’s territory. They would go into villages and bring people back captive live this little maid that they brought back.
It is safe to assume that these raids were not snatch-and-grabs where a team of specialized soldiers goes into a village or a home, locates a target, grabs that target quickly and quietly, and leave before anyone knows what happened. No, the proper incentive for soldiers of that time was that they could keep the spoils of the raids and they could keep women and children and enslave them. Those that resisted they killed, and common practice of the time was to burn down and destroy the areas where they raided.
Naaman and his army then go into this village and at best, they only kidnap a young girl, and at worst, they kill her parents who would have likely tried to defend her, they burn buildings and people in them, and possibly assault this girl in every way imaginable.
Let me remind you that Naaman is not a friend of Israel.
This young girl, this little maid is given to Naaman’s wife as a gift. It is possible, likely even, that Naaman himself took this girl and was the kidnapping agent. At the very least, he gave the orders for the raid to happen. Naaman is an enemy of Israel.
Y’all know that I like movies. When I read this I see the action play out in my mind like a movie. I can see Naaman and his horde riding into this village with torches and swords drawn. Fires are set, soldiers dismount and go into houses pulling out anything of value that they can get their hands on. People are resisting and fighting and dying in the process.
Naaman dismounts and enters a home. There at the door is a father, weaponless but determined to protect his family. Naaman pushes him aside and enters, and upon seeing the young girl, he decides that she will be his spoils of this raid. He moves to grab her, but just as he does, the father comes to the rescue.
I can picture Naaman, a man who has killed hundreds of trained enemy combatants, I can picture him in my mind as he takes his sword and dispatches the father without even giving it his full attention and with his empty hand he pulls the girl out of the house and onto his horse as he gives the order to ride back home.
Do we need to be reminded again that Naaman was not a friend of Israel? He was not a friend to this girl. Naaman is the enemy. Not just an enemy, but the enemy. He gives the orders, devises the strategies, and commands the armies. All that the army does is done under his authority. Naaman is the enemy.
Now put yourself in the shoes of this little girl. You have been forcefully taken into enemy territory where you live as a slave. You’re a slave, not just to any old Syrian family, but a slave to the family of the man that kidnapped you. The man that is in charge of all of Syria’s military. What is you next move?
Ill tell you what mine is, I look to poison his food. I want to watch him suffer and die just like he watched my village get burned and my family and friends get killed.
Oh, he has leprosy?! Oh that’s great! I’ll tell him exactly what I believe about leprosy! What was the view that the Israelites had about leprosy? They saw it many times as God’s punishment on someone.
“Well of course you have leprosy, Naaman! You are fighting God’s chosen people. It’s no surprise to see that you have this horrible disease. You know what Naaman, I was going to plan on poisoning your food, but you know what would be even better? Watching as your skin falls off! Watching you get infected from all those sores and seeing you writhe in pain and agony wishing death upon yourself. This is great Naaman; I get to watch you die from God’s punishment to evil men.”
But that is not what this little maid does. She does something completely opposite.
Look at 2 Kings 5:3-4
3 And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.
4 And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.
Isn’t that amazing? This girl not only tells Naaman’s wife, “Back in Israel there is a prophet that could heal Naaman.” But she expresses pity that Naaman is not currently in Samaria where the prophet is. That phrase, “Would God...” is a phrase that indicates regret. It is as if, to use the modern vernacular, this little girl were saying, “I wish to God that Naaman could be in Samaria, the capital of Israel, so that he could meet the prophet that lives there. I just know that that prophet could cure Naaman’s leprosy.”
Not me y’all, if I am completely honest with you, I do not think I would have this young girl’s compassion. I would likely say something like, “Hey Naaman, I know someone that can cure you from your leprosy, but guess what, I’m not going to tell you!”
But this girl waited on, not sabotaged, Naaman’s wife. She didn’t sabotage the household. She tells Naaman’s wife about the prophet in Israel (Elisha) who would be able to heal Naaman.
Another servant overhears this conversation and goes to tell Naaman what he has heard. So Naaman takes this information to the king of Syria. 2 Kings 5:5-6
5 And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment.
6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy.
Naaman is highly valuable for the kingdom of Syria, so the king does something completely reasonable. He writes a letter to the king of Israel, King Jehoram. With that letter, he sends ten thousand talents of silver and six thousand pieces of gold along with ten outfits. That is a lot of money and those clothes that he sent would have been top of the line clothes of the softest and highest quality fabrics. But the letter is very important.
Remember, Naaman and his troops have been raiding Israel’s villages. To guard such a large amount of money, you would need a pretty good sized escort to accompany it. So as Naaman travels through Israel with his Syrian soldiers approaching Israel’s capital city of Samaria, that letter is the only thing telling Jehoram that Naaman comes in peace and is not an advanced part of an invasion force.
So when Naaman arrives and meets King Jehoram, he presents him with this letter, but it does not give Jehoram any kind of peace. 2 Kings 5:7
7 And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.
Remember what the letter said? “Dear King Jehoram, this is my servant Naaman. I have sent him to you so that you can heal him of his leprosy. Thanks in advance, the King of Syria.
P.S. As a show of our gratitude, we send this silver, gold, and 10 different fresh fits for you.”
So naturally, the king of Israel gets really worried, really quickly. He reads the message and immediately tears his outer garments to show that he is worried and anxious and does’t know what to do.
Before we get into the rest of the king’s response, let’s address this first: why do you think that Naaman was sent to the king whenever the girl said that there was a prophet who could heal Naaman?
Well, the answer to that is probably best explained by using the illustration of the game “telephone.” See, the girl was overheard telling Naaman’s wife that there was a prophet in Samaria (the capital of Israel) that could heal Naaman. It is possible that the other servant only heard “In Samaria, Naaman can get healed.” So he gives Naaman that info, which is then given to the king of Syria.
It is also possible that even though Naaman was given and relayed the complete message, that the king of Syria acted out of pure logic on his part. That logic would follow this. The King is the most powerful person in the country. Therefore, if there is someone with healing capabilities in Israel it must be, A) the king, or B) a servant of the king. Because kings would have the most powerful people at their disposal.
The Syrian king would have had the best physicians in Syria at his disposal, just like he had the priests of Rimmon, their false god that they worshipped in Damascus, at his disposal. So even if the Syrian king understood that this would be something that the prophet of the God of Israel would have to do, he would have assumed that the highest ranking religious personnel would be attending the king directly. Therefore, he sends this letter to the king of Israel in Samaria.
But the king of Israel does not know what to do. He immediately believe that this is an attempt by the King of Syria to justify an all-out war against Israel. The king’s response is basically this: “Am I God? I can’t heal leprosy!” He looks at his advisors and says, “I know what he’s doing… he wants to justify a war with Israel. And when I send Naaman back without being healed, he is going to say that I have despised and slighted him maliciously. He will proclaim this as a personal attack on him and his nation, and he is going to send in his military now in full force to conquer us. He’s just looking for a fight.”
Notice how out of touch with God Jehoram was that he never even considered that there in the capital city lived a prophet of God who would have the answers. He immediately panicked. But we know that Jehoram, the son of Ahab, was not a God fearing man. He was not as wicked as his parents were, but he was still evil and had no relationship with the Lord. So Jehoram is clueless.
Word gets out that the king is distraught, and it reaches Elisha’s ears. 2 Kings 5:8
8 And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
Now, here comes the part that we are going to rush through a little bit, because I want to focus on the result and be able to review the beginning one more time.
Naaman goes to Elisha’s house and takes all the money and clothes with him to reward Elisha when he is healed. But when Naaman knocks on Elisha’s door, Elisha does not come out to greet him. Instead, Elisha send out a servant of his, Gehazi to give Naaman a message. The message is this- “Elisha the prophet says to go to the Jordan river and wash yourself seven times in the Jordan river and you will be healed.”
Easy enough, right? But Naaman feels he has been insulted. First, he is angry that Elisha himself would not show the courtesy that he believed someone of his rank deserved. Naaman was, after all, the commander of all the armies of Syria. He was an important guy, and Elisha couldn’t even come to the door?
Next he feels that Elisha should have met his expectations as far as healing goes. He Thought that Elisha would come out, stand before him, say a prayer, and touch his leprosy and Naaman would experience this wonderful miracle. 2 Kings 5:11
11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.
But then, he is insulted by the terms of his healing. He is supposed to go to the Jordan river? Forget that! That river was dirty! There were plenty of beautiful rivers in Syria that he would rather go to. Wouldn’t those be much better options than the Jordan river? So he begins to ride off in a rage.
One of Naaman’s servants tries to talk some sense into him though. He says, “Naaman, if this prophet would have asked you to do something difficult, like climb a mountain barefoot or some other difficult test, wouldn’t you have done it to be healed of this horrible disease? But instead, all he’s told you to do was to bathe in the Jordan River seven times. It’s easy enough. Why not just try it, see if it works?”
So Naaman does. He reroutes his entourage to the Jordan River where he dipped himself seven times in the dirty water, and when he came out the seventh time, he was healed of his leprosy. In fact, not only was his leprosy gone, this man had baby soft skin.
So he goes back to Elisha’s house, not frustrated, not angry, but excited because he is healed of this condition that, in time, would have meant a horrible death. 2 Kings 5:15-17
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.
Before, Naaman had said to his servant, “Behold I thought the prophet would come out and heal me in such a way...” But now he says to Elisha, Behold, now I know that there is no God anywhere else but in Israel.” This was a very public declaration of his newly found faith. He is in front of his servants and his soldiers when he boldly declares this.
Naaman offers the reward to Elisha who rejects it. So Naaman makes an odd request. He asks for dirt. Two mule’s burden worth of dirt, to be exact. This is one of those details that make this story fascinating. You may be tempted, like I was for many years, just to chalk this up as weird and skip over it. But it is interesting when you understand the context of what this request means.
Israel as a people group, were unique in that time. Every other nation that surrounded them worshipped other gods, and in many cases, they worshipped multiple gods. The children of Israel knew that the Lord God was the creator of the universe and that He was God everywhere and that He is the only true God.
The other nations surrounding them, however, had a differing view. Each of these nations had their own god. A false god that they worshipped. Even the nations who only worshipped one god did not think, however, that theirs was the only god. They believed that their god was one of many gods out there.
The common belief was that these deities were tied to certain people groups or to certain geographical regions. So that when they referenced “the god of the Philistines,” they were talking about the deity that the Philistine people worshipped. Or if they said something about the “God of Israel,” they were talking about the God who had power within the borders of the nation of Israel. The Syrians worshipped among other gods, a god named Rimmon. There in their capital of Damascus there was a temple to this false god.
But Naaman realizes that the only true God is the God of Israel. The God in whom he has now placed his trust and whom he now wishes to worship. But in his mind and in his understanding that has been influenced by his pagan upbringing, the only way to worship the God of Israel is by going to Israel and worshipping.
So, Naaman comes up with a solution, “I’ll just take a little bit of Israel back to Syria with me!” To Naaman, just like to many other people of the pagan nations around Israel, no god was omnipresent or able to receive worship outside of where their “area of operations.” Naaman is acting out of ignorance and without full understanding of who God is, but he is completely committed to God.
It seems he is going to use this dirt to build an altar on which to sacrifice to God and to worship him because he states, “Can I have two loads of dirt, please? Because from now on, I am not making sacrifices to anyone else but the Lord.”
And his commitment is so strong that he voices something that worries him a bit. See, Rimmon was the god of the atmosphere, the Syrians believed. He was often depicted as having a war club and holding lightning bolts in his hand. He was a destructive and dangerous deity and those under him needed to appease him and keep him happy or he would send storms.
Understanding that, let’s read the next few verses. 2 Kings 5:18-19
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.
19 And he said unto him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way.
Naaman says, “When I go back to Damascus and the king sees that I am healed, he is going to want to offer sacrifices and bow down and worship Rimmon in the temple we have for him there. He is going to want me to go with him into the temple, and he is going to lean on my hand.” It appears that the king was either old and losing physical strength or was hurt in a way that he needed assistance to get around.
Naaman continues saying, “When it is time to worship, he is going to bow down to Rimmon and ask me to help him do so. When I bow so that he can bow, will the Lord forgive me?”
And Elisha answers, “Go in peace.”
This is the end of all we know about Naaman. He was a leper who did not believe in God, did not know where to turn, was directed to the man of God but got that wrong and went to a king instead. Then, when he finally did show up to the right place, was almost too prideful to do what was needed to be healed.
But when he humbled himself, he saw the power of God. How many years do you think that Naaman begged his Syrian god for healing? How many sacrifices do you think he made trying to get on the right side of that false god? But one encounter with the living God changed his life forever. So much so that he vowed he would never again offer sacrifices to anything or anyone else other than the God of Israel. The God of Israel was not another god to add to his collection of gods, it was the replacement for all of them!
That is an amazing story. And that is the end of this story. Except it is not the end of the sermon quite yet.
Remember how I said we were going to go back to the beginning? Well, now it is time to go back to the beginning. All of this was just an introduction to this part here.
Now we get to get into the meat of the sermon topic of the friend of my enemies.
All this greatness of God would not have been possible if it weren’t for that young girl.
This girl was the example of a faithful witness in adverse conditions. No doubt, before her capture, this girl had been familiar with Proverbs 24:17-18
17 Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, And let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:
18 Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, And he turn away his wrath from him.
And hundreds of years before Jesus spoke it, it seems this girl knew the character of God enough to know that we are to love our enemies. We have covered this already in-depth in the study of the Sermon on the Mount, but I want us to go back to Matthew 5:43-45
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
This girl understood that even as a slave in enemy territory, she was unique. She was special. She was one of God’s chosen people. Not only that, but she understood what many Jews did not understand then and did not understand even in Jesus’ day- that they were chosen, not keep hidden God’s character and His goodness; not to be prideful of anything; but to show the world the greatness and the goodness of God.
And this is exactly what this young girl did.
She loved her worst enemy, and that love was not just expressed in the words that she spoke. Listen, why would you, as the man who kidnapped this girl, trust her when she tells you that back in her homeland, in enemy territory, there is someone who not only could, but would, heal you of your leprosy?
The only reason to trust those words would be if she had shown herself trustworthy. Had this girl taken every opportunity to escape or try to assassinate Naaman or his wife, she would have never been trusted. Had she been hateful and had she despised her captors, none of them would have any reason to believe her.
But they did because she must have shown love.
That man, Naaman, who had been a curse to her, she blessed by telling him how to be healed.
She did good to someone who out of spite had used her and wronged her and continually taken advantage of her.
And because of this, Naaman’s life was changed, but his eternity was changed forever as well.
Sun Tsu said, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and the friend of my enemy is also my enemy.” But this little girl understood God’s character and determined that the friend of her enemy would be herself.
Listen, the friend of your enemy is not your enemy. If you are a Christian, the friend of your enemy should be you.
Why? So that you can show the world that you are God’s child. So that you can show your enemy that you are God’s child.
And in truly loving and blessing and doing good to your enemies, you may be a catalyst for change. It could be that God will use that to change their eternal destiny, to bring them back to God.
To often we pray for the demise of our enemies, but we seldom pray for their blessings. To often we pray for God to do justice on them and to avenge us.
But we forget what God has done for us.
I want to close with this as a reminder to those of us who are Christians and as a revelation to those who have not yet put their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation and forgiveness of sins.
I want to tell you about my story of salvation. The circumstances will be different than anyone else’s story of salvation, but the spiritual implications are the exact same for anyone who has been saved.
I was saved at the age of 14. I am a missionary’s son and a pastor’s son. I was born in a Christian home, but like everyone else in this world, I was born with a condition called sin.
As I grew and learned the difference between right and wrong, I chose to do what was wrong. I began to actively sin. Those choices were rebellious, not just against my parents, but against the God who created me and had declared what was right and what was wrong.
Because of my sin, I became God’s enemy. And this is where every person has common ground. Our sin puts us in direct opposition to God, and all men are God’s enemies.
But around 2,000 years ago, God enacted a plan. God, from the beginning of time had a plan to reconcile humanity to Himself. He was not happy that sin has turned his most precious creation into his enemies. He was not happy that the payment of sin would require every person to be separated from Him for all eternity as we suffered torments.
So God demonstrated His love toward us this way - that while mankind was neck deep in sin, unable to erase it on his own or ever fully pay for it, God sent His Son Jesus to take the punishment of sin on Himself.
Jesus came to earth, humbled himself, became a human like one of us. Though he was tempted, he never sinned, but he did take on the punishment for our sins. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, and He willingly died on a cross to pay for our sins with His blood.
Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead, defeating both sin and death.
Jesus showed the ultimate friendship toward humanity that had shown themselves His enemies. While we were yet sinners, Jesus came. While we were yet sinners, Jesus died for our sins. While we were yet His enemies, He shed His blood and suffered the Father’s wrath to completely satisfy the payment for sins. he took upon himself the sins of the whole world, while the whole world was still his enemy.
Why? Because He loves us. He was cursed by people, yet he blessed them. He was used and abused, yet he prayed for them. He was beaten and mocked and scorned, but he died for them. He died for us. All so that we would one day be able to be friends with God.
Before Jesus, I was an enemy of God. Those of you that are saved, before you got saved, you were an enemy of God. If you are here today and you have never put your faith in Jesus as your savior and asked Him to forgive you, you are currently an enemy of God. But that is not what God wants for you.
You have a friend that is waiting, and that friend is Jesus.
If you are saved, I want you to think of your enemies right now. Are you praying for them? Are you asking for blessings for them? Are you loving them the way that Jesus loved you? Do you realize that it could be you that influences them to get right with God? If not you, then who else? Who else did Naaman have? Who else could have told him about the living God of Israel?
I’ll ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes at this time as we have a brief invitation.
Sing All I Have Is Christ.
