Go In Peace
2 Kings 5:18-19
““Go in peace,” Elisha said.”” vs. 19
El Shaddai
As a young man of 19 years old I was attending Cal State Hayward Univ. which is nowCalStateEastBay. I had heard of Christian bookstore inHaywardand had recently decided that I needed to listen to more Christian music so one day after school I headed over to the store to look for some new 8-tracks, yes, 8-tracks (I know I am really dating myself. It gets worse, the 8-track was in my Pinto). As I began to look through the albums on the best seller list there before me was this incredibly good looking young girl on the front of an album; long flowing brown hair, pretty face (seemed much like the girl next door kind of thing). I had never heard for this girl; Amy Grant. All it took was listening to one song and I was ready to buy her album (of course it helped that she was pretty attractive too!) From that point on I really enjoyed listening to her music and bought other albums of hers. The song that really got to me was the song El Shaddai. I love to sing along with her. I often wonder if that set the tone for my love of the Hebrew language. It struck a chord with me that took me to a place of worship and praise like I had never really felt before. Much of her music took me to a deeper connection with God.
In 1991 Amy made a big career choice. She announced that she wanted to widen her audience and venture out into the secular music stream. She even went as far as to say that she felt called by God to do this. Many people were really upset with her and thought this was definitely the wrong thing to do. She generated a lot controversy within the Christian community, from “complaints that she was too worldly and too sexy” to a “barrage of condemnation” following her divorce from fellow Christian musician Gary Chapman and then marriage to country music star Vince Gill. People were harsh in their criticism and judgment of her. Many Christian leaders called her out on the carpet to not do such a thing and to stay true to her calling as a Christian to produce only “Christian” music.
It interesting when you consider that how quick we are to” judge” people when they don’t do what we like or what we think is right; especially in the Christian church. We can be pretty hard on people and sometimes turn them away.
A quick follow up to Amy Grant. She did pretty well in the secualr music world and in 2002 return to the gospel genre. From that point on she has been able to blend her Chrisitan music and faith with the secular world in a way which really no other artist has been able to do that I can think of.
So, if you are able, please stand as we read the Word of God from 2 Kings 5:15-19.
Read Passage – 2 Kings 5:18-19
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. So please accept a gift from your servant.” 16 The prophet answered, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing.” And even though Naaman urged him, he refused.17 “If you will not,” said Naaman, “please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the Lord. 18 But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I have to bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.” 19 “Go in peace,” Elisha said.
The Joy Of Knowing God
We have looked at this story for two weeks and I want to look at it one more time from a new angle. A quick review is that there is a commander in the army ofAramnamed Naaman who was a valiant soldier but was struck with the disease of leprosy. His armies had capture some Israelites and a young girl from one of those raids became Naaman’s wife’s servant. She tells him to go see Elisha the prophet and that he can cure him. Naaman goes and Elisha tells him to dip in theJordan River7 times and he will be healed. He hesitates but from some urging from his own servant he goes and he is cured. Naaman is healed both physically and spiritually and in verse 15 makes this proclamation:
“Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.” Vs. 15
When someone understands and accepts God; it is life changing. Make no mistake about it, there is a joy in knowing God. Naaman experiences that. I have had the opportuinty and the privilege of being with someone when that has happened. Of course in our time it is the knowledge and realization of Jesus as Lord and Savior. It is a very emotional time and an incredibly joyful time as well.
Ex. Wini Booth on Easter, an 81 year old woman who received Christ
Caught In A Dilemma
Reality can set in quickly after someone accepts God and for many people they get caught in a dilemma. The newness of their new faith begins to fade, they are no longer around all those who believe the same way and they have to come down off the hilltop experience. They return to their life where many times those around them don’t know God and they struggle to know exactly how they should act and react to the things around them. That is the case with Naaman. We saw in verse 15 how he acknowledges that God is the only God. That is great but he quickly realizes that he will be going back home and his culture is not one that acknowledges Yahweh as God. They have their own gods and their own religious practices and Naaman knows he cannot just stop going to the pagan temples, he can’t just stop doing the things he is expected to do as the right hand man to the king.. He will be expected from his king and his people to continue on in their cultural worship practices. So he brings this up to Elisha in verse 18:
“But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing…” vs. 18a
I found it interesting he didn’t ask Elisha how he could get out of his pagan worship or what he should do when he is required to go or to bow down. He admits he is going to have to bow down and he asks for Elisha to forgive him before it even happens.
Peace In A World of Judgment
Here is what I want us to consider today; What does God call us to do when people don’t do the things we think are right or when they act in a way that doesn’t seem right? Many times the Christian community is quick to judge, to control, and to try to force people into doing things that satisfies their peace of mind or ideals. Like Amy Grant, Naaman felt he needed to be in the world and a light to the world. I’m sure Naaman felt the upcoming judgment and criticism that would likely come as he returned to his world.
Listen to Elisha’s response to Naaman’s request in verse 19:
““Go in peace,” Elisha said.”” vs. 19
Surprisingly he sends him on his way with peace. I find that fascinating. He doesn’t chastise him, critique him, judge him or even forbid him to go to the pagan temple and worship. Wow! I have a feeling many in the Christian community would do that.
Ill. On several occasions people have brought their children to me because they have been disobedient, not doing well in school, etc. and what they want is for me to tell the child what they should do and how to act. That coming from me will somehow make them straighten up. I have even had people use me as a threat. Yea! “If you don’t do this or if you do that, I’ll go tell Pastor Ron!”
- Can you imagine the response I would have received if I told their child to “Go in peace?”
So the thing I want to focus on today is what I looks like to bring peace to a world of judgment. It seems to me that the world is expecting criticism, judgment, and condemnation. I think when we see what Elisha does for Naaman in this story, we learn what we can do and how it can affect the world differently. Let’s consider what it does for others when we give them peace; real peace, God’s peace.
To understand this I went back in to the Hebrew definition of peace to understand what the Israelites understood the peace of God can bring in peoples lives. The word they used is the word Shalom. They didn’t really have a word for hello and goodbye because Shalom was the word they would use to greet and to send away. The idea was to experience peace in the coming and the going. Let’s understand the deeper meaning behind Shalom to see how it might work in our lives as well.
- Well-Being
First, God’s peace brings a sense of well being. Naaman was not living in peace but in un-wellness. He did not have a sense of well being, quite the opposite. He has been living with a disease that (pardon the pun) had to be eating away at him. Remember verse 1:
“He (Naaman) was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.” 1 Kings 5:1
We recognize his physical issues but can you imagine how this would have plagued him mentally? It would have affected the way he did his job, who he could interact with, both family and job wise, and if you have ever had a disease, especially one that there seems to be no cure for, you never forget. It goes with you everywhere. This idea of peace is the idea of your own well being. When you live without well being you live in fear, in turbulence, and uncertainty. I’m sure Naaman felt much of that fear and probably a lot of loneliness as well.
Ex. Let me illustrate this from I was at with a speaker who was diagnosed with prostate cancer a few years ago. He understood the severity of it. He explained to us that about 28,000 men a year die from prostate cancer. One thing he said he didn’t realize and that hit him hard as he dealt with it was that everyone identified him through his cancer. It was the overriding character of who he was from that point. One of the first things people would ask about or sometimes all they would talk about with him was the cancer.
When we pass along the peace of God, it can bring a sense of well being. God’s peace brings well being to the mind and healing to the body. Solomon said in Proverbs 14:30:
“A heart at peace brings life to the body.” Proverbs 14:30
This kind of peace comes from God. It’s not a quick cure-all or guarantee you will be healed completely. It’s an acknowledgement that God is in control and ultimately your life is in his hands. It’s the knowledge he can do anything and that his best will be worked out in your life.
- Harmony
The second aspect of peace that comes from God’s peace is harmony. Let’s remember that Naaman was a commander of men. He was used to giving orders, controlling situations and in the army, there is very little, if no room, for emotions, for questioning, and for things that are not in control. We see this come up when Elisha tells him to go wash in theJordan. Verse 12:
“Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.” 2 Kings 5:12
He is a success driven man and efficiency is important and demanded. One of the reasons that Elisha’s instructions are so strange to him is that dipping in the dirtyJordanis not a sign of success or efficiency. In fact, Naaman’s judging side comes out as he puts down theJordan Riverand even thelandofIsrael. His home and people are better, stronger, more elite. After all, they are in control ofIsraeland are superior, right? He is implying that he could have stayed in his home country and been cleansed with better water and not wasted his time coming all the way toIsrael. He is also a soldier and very few times does a soldier experience harmony. They are warriors. Men used to fighting.
Now Elisha gives Naaman peace. This peace is a peace that has to do with others and how you view other people and things. This peace is a sense of harmony. Harmony with others, harmony with himself, harmony with those he is going back to. That is huge because he is going back home with a new faith and it’s not a faith that his fellow country men, family friends, and people know. Part of his new faith will be to bring harmony, God’s harmony to situations.
The opposite of this peace, this harmony, is judgment. Judgment and harmony cannot live together. If we are judgmental, that separates and causes disunity and hurt. If Naaman had continued in judging, he would have never gone and washed in the waters that cured him. His judging would have caused him to miss getting cured!
David was also a fighting man. In Psalm 37:37 he wrote:
“Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a future for the man of peace.” Psalms 37:37
As David gets older and as his reign is established, he sees how this plays out. He wants to build God a temple but God will not let him because his life has not been one of harmony but of fighting and un-peace. What he desires will be up to his son to complete.
- Freedom (to grow toward God)
A third aspect of Shalom, God’s peace, is freedom, and more specifically the freedom to grow toward God. This is spiritual peace. Recall for a moment that Naaman wanted to give Elisha a gift as an expression of his gratitude. Elisha wouldn’t accept anything. So Naaman has a request for Elisha. That comes in verse 17:
“Please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the Lord.” vs. 17
I think this is a pivotal point in this story. This shows his heart. His request to grow in his faith will not be swayed by the pagan worship and his desire to bring some of the dirt is Naaman’s way of telling Elisha how serious he is on growing close to God. This is critical in Elisha blessing Naaman with peace because Naaman is backing up his profession of faith with action. I love that fact that we don’t see Elisha judging Naaman because he sees his heart. That is like God exactly. God sees our heart. When he sees a heart that his built on dedication to Him and one that strives to grow closer in relationship with Him, He blesses us with peace, His peace.
In the New Testament Peter says in 2 Peter 3:18:
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 3:18
The more we know Him, the more we grow in His grace and in the knowledge of Him, the more peace we have and more judgment is not a part of who we are.
Question: What are the judgments you are holding on to? What do you need to let go of?
To Admit Confidence
In the Israeli culture to greet with peace and then to send them away in peace was a expression of confidence, confidence that God would work in their life, condfident that God would shine through with peace in a world of judgment. Elisha sends Naaman out with confidence that God is going to do great things in this man. “Go In Peace.”
