Fully Restored
2 Kings 5:1-15
“He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.” vs. 1
He Almost Had It All
Can anyone name the first black man to win the college football Heisman Trophy? As a senior in 1961,Ernie Davis became the first African-American to receive the Heisman Trophy and was the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft.
“Ernie Davis succeeded at every venue, a three-sport standout in high school, a two-time All-American halfback at Syracuse. “He led Elmira (N.Y.) Free Academy to a 52-game winning streak in basketball and as a Syracuse sophomore helped the Orangeman gain their only national football championship.
Ernie Davis was an incredible physical specimen. He was an incredible athlete. Perhaps the greatest running back in the history of pro football, Jim Brown, attended Syracuse University a few years before Davis. Davis broke Jim Brown’s school records for rushing yards and points scored. He won the highest award in college football, the Heisman Trophy, and Jim Brown never did that. Ernie Davis met the President of the United States after the Heisman award ceremony. He was the first player selected by any pro football team the year he graduated from college. He signed the largest contract in pro football history up to that point. He was a mighty man. By all accounts he was a decent human being. “BUT!” But, he had leukemia. “And then, stunningly, he was gone. Struck down by leukemia, Davis never realized his dream of playing in the NFL.”
Davis played football for Syracuse University, and went on to gain national fame for three seasons (1959–1961), twice winning first-team All-American honors. As a sophomore in 1959, Davis led Syracuse to the NCAA Division I-A national football championship, capping an undefeated season with a 23-14 win over The University of Texas in the Cotton Bowl Classic. That same year, Elmira Star-Gazette sports writer Al Mallette coined the nickname for Davis, the “Elmira Express”. Davis was voted Most Valuable Player of the 1960 Cotton Bowl Classic and the 1961 Liberty Bowl. In his junior year, he set a record of 7.8 yards per carry and was the third leading rusher in the country with 877 yards, having rushed 100 yards in 6 of 9 games.
Read Passage – 2 Kings 5:1-15
Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy .2 Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. 5 “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents[b] of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. 6 The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.” 7 As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!” 8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.” 11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage. 13 Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. 15 Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God . He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.
The Man Who Had Everything…
General Naaman had everything. He was a commander, a great man, highly regarded, a valiant soldier (all from vs. 1), he owned things and people (vs. 2), a family man (a wife vs. 2). It would be easy to think that he probably had the respect of his men and the army, that he was probably thought of as a local war hero, and access and even respect by the king (vs. 4) because he was willing to let him travel. It seems that man can have everything he’s ever wanted.
Ill. When we are rich and famous people tend to think that we have it all. You can look at people like Donald Trump, Beyonnce, Oprah, Alex Rodriquez, Sting, President Obama, Warren Buffet, etc. and many people assume that because of their money, their fame, their ability to buy just about anything and anybody they want that they have very few if any problems.
Except…
Naaman had a life overflowing with options, but all of those options can be taken away from him by just one thing: his own mortality. You see, we are all more alike than we are different. We are all vulnerable and all have the prospect of losing everything. Yesterday I did a funeral and one of the lines I used in that service was…”We all have one thing in common, one thing that is destined for all of us, death.”
Naaman’s one problem – he was sick. He had leprosy – a terribly disfiguring, progressive condition. Curing it was beyond the medical technology of the time. There was no question that Naaman’s future was in jeapordy. Leprosy is a disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions are the primary external sign. Left untreated, leprosy can be progressive, causing permanent damage to the skin, nerves, limbs and eyes. Contrary to folklore, leprosy does not cause body parts to fall off, although they can become numb or diseased as a result of secondary infections and those secondary infections can result in tissue loss causing fingers and toes to become shortened and deformed.
Leprosy can be a very lonely disease. People don’t want to get near you, touch you or have any contact with you. It’s not really certain how it is passed from one person to another but the general consensus is that is probably through respiratory droplets. Interestingly enough armadillos can transmit leprosy to humans. In ancient times most leprorers were confined to or ostrisized to leper colonies so that the disease could not be transmitted to other people.
Naaman was most likely confined and organized and managed his troops from a distance or thorough others. He was married but most likely had to be kept away from his wife or at least kept a significant distance. Normal everyday contact with people was not a normal way of life for someone with leprosy.
Naaman had one desire that we know about. He wanted to be healed.
The Restoration Process
Did you know we are like Naaman? God used the physical misfortune of Naaman to bring about an inner spiritual healing. God uses the circumstances of our life to pull us closer to Him and to reveal His power. We are not told how Naaman got the disease. As far as we know he didn’t do anything wrong, anything to deserve such a thing, any reason whatsoever that he contracted this disease. Note: Sometimes we just get things. We don’t earn them, deserve them or do anything to bring them on but we have them and they can become defining characteristics of our life. It’s there that God can begin to work in way that we could never have imagined.
This year we are looking at some of the lesser known people in the people and the lessons that God bring us through their life. Today, through the story of Naaman, we learn what it’s like to be in need of restoration and how that process works.
Warning: You Can Be Your Own Obstacle
I want to start with a warning though. The warning is that you can be your own obstacle. We all have our issues and those issues can stop us from moving ahead. Let’s hear Naaman’s; verse 11:
“But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. ” vs. 11
Naaman’s big issue is pride. He is used to being waited on, his orders followed, treated with respect and honor, and catered to. Instead, he feels maybe a bit snubbed, not really honored, and it hurts his pride. He has a preconceived idea of what the prophet, and even more so, what God should do and when it doesn’t happen he gets upset. His pride is hurt. He’s not treated with the pomp and circumstance that he is used to and his pride almost stops him from doing what he needs to do to be healed. Elisha didn’t even come out to see him. And then the request is not the grandious, showy, big healing he is expecting. He doesn’t understand that his ;lan is not God’s
plan. His way is not God’s way. We can fall into the same trap. We can be our won obstacle. We may need to ask ourselves what our sin or our issue is and identify it so that we don’t become our own obstacle to God working in our life. It is important to submeit to God’s plan and to humble ourselves before Him,. David said in Psalm 25:9:
“(God) He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.” Psalm 25:9
We have to humble ourselves, submit to Him in order for Him to accomplish the plan He has for our life. God desires us to be humble people.
Possible Obstacles: Pride, Anger, Deceit, Envy, Fear, Gluttony, Lust, Laziness, Procrastination, etc.
So let’s look at what the real restoration process looks like. What are the things we need to realize or put into our life that allows God to fully restore us.
-You Are Not Alone; Others Can Help
The first thing is to realize that you are not alone. We feel very alone in times of despair and stress but God uses others to help us through our tough times. Naaman and his army have been out raiding and they have conquered people and taken things. Naaman has taken a young girl from her family, her surroundings, all she knows and has made her a servant to his wife. How would you feel if you were her? Probably not like you want to help this man who has done this to you. But God works through her and she has a heart to help Naaman. Verse 3:
“She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”” vs. 3
What a great heart this girl has! God uses her to nudge Naaman to action. It would have been so easy for Naaman to discount her thoughts, to not give her the time of day, to say she is only a girl and a servant at that, what does she know? But instead he hears her. Reminds me of what the prophet Isaiah said in chapter 11:
“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. ” Isaiah 11:6
Children will lead them. Don’t discount what someone says just because they are youg, inexperienced, in a different place, etc. God uses others to help us through situations and to lead us.
Ex. Graduation I attended Friday night, impressed the way the kids lead the service
-Your Part: Obedience
The second lesson we learn about the restoration process is that we have a part in it by being obedient. Naaman almost walked away from his cure. Now another person steps into Naaman’s life; it’s one of his personal servants. He confronts his pride and in boldness tells Naaman that he would have done what the prophet had asked if it was some spectacular thing.
There is another thing to note about this though. The Jordan is not looked at as a great river. Most think it’s a muddy mess. Foreingers thought that about it and so did Naaman. He is even quoted as saying how much more clean and better suited other rivers are. Washing himself in this muddy mess of a river is not his idea of cleaning. But through this servant we see him begin to break down and to humble himself to follow God’s plan. So in verse 14 it happens:
“So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.” vs. 14
Here’s there is an important point that we all deal with at times in our life; We can have disbelief and still be obedient. Naaman can’t believe that washing in the Jordan, and seven times, can help heal him. But he breaks down and despite his disbelief he obeys. Sometimes our disbelief paralyizes us and stops us. But it’s okay to have doubts and yet be obedient.
Obedience can be the saving grace in your life. Proverbs 19:16:
“He who obeys instructions guards his life, but he who is contemptuous of his ways will die.” Prov. 19:16
-Starts Where You Are
And finally, the 3rd lesson is to realize that God takes you right where you are. Your restoration does not start when you finally get it all right, it starts right where you are.
“Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.” vs. 1
There is this idea that many people have that they will come to God or pursue God when they get their life order. But that is not what God wants to communicate to us. That is what men say. God says he’ll take us right where we are at.
TV Show American Pickers – Two guys who go around the country looking through people’s dens, attics, storage barns, etc. and looking for something old but valuable. They like to buy thing sand restore them. They are not looking for something already restored and in mint condition. They can’t make any money that way. They want old discarded things that areneed of repair; an old gas pump, a pinball machine, a bike, a old sign, etc.
God’s idea of restoring us is to take us where we are and then begin the process of healing, of mending, of cleaning, and bringing us to a place of health. That’s what people should feel coming here to our church, that this is a place that welcomes people where they are, takes them in, loves them for who they are, and a place where they feel safe and loved.
It’s what Jesus did for us on the cross. His death and resurrection is the gift of restoration. That when we accept Him, his blood covers our sins and we become new, restored and clean. Do you remember what Jesus said in Matt. 11:28
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matt. 11:28
Notice he says weary and burdened. Not clean and sparkling, Not energetic and raring to go. Weary, tired, at your wits end, burdened, overwhelmed…at a place needing restoring.
Following Up With Gratitude
The ending of this story is one to remember. Naaman goes back to see Elisha. IT’s important for us to go back; verse 15:
“Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God . He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.” vs. 15
Catch what Naaman is saying. He is healed of his leprosy. Great. Fantastic. Buyt he also is leaked spiritually because He acknowledges that God is God. His heart is restored as well
