Hero To Zero

Hero to Zero

Introduction

Have you ever been at the top and fallen all the way to the bottom?

It’s a hard pill to swallow!

One minute everything is going great and the next, it’s all falling apart!

In some situations, such a fall from hero to zero we find it’s hopeless to recover.

But the good news is that our God is an all powerful loving and forgiving God!

He can do miracles where with man it would be hopeless.

Salvation is that way too! With man, it is impossible to get to heaven, but with God, all things are possible. God provided a way for salvation by simply turning from sin and trusting in Jesus for salvation! The plan of salvation seems so easy that some reject it and instead turn to things like works for salvation or other paths that can never save anyone.

Today we are going to talk about a man named Naaman who was a man of valor in the Syrian army. He was a hero in Syria!

But, seemingly by no fault of his own, he went from hero to zero and became a desperate man!

So desperate he would do anything no matter how crazy it sounded to recover from his fall.

All of us too are in a falling state (sinners) and whether we realize it or not, we too are hopeless to do anything about it of our own accord. Our only hope is to rely on a real hero in Jesus!

Study

2 Kings 5

5:1 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.

Naaman was a commander and valiant warrior of the Syrian Army, highly respected.

Imagine being highly respected and popular and then getting leprosy?

You would go from hero to zero in an instant!

In one moment, everyone is swooning on you, and the next moment, you are shunned!

Leprosy is often representative of Sin.

Once you have it (well actually you are born into sin) you can’t get rid of it, and it will eventually kill you. It’s a death sentence, just like leprosy!

Once you get leprosy (aka Sin), it’s hopeless for you. Leprosy brings death, Sin brings spiritual death (hell is known as the second death).

Once you get it (leprosy or sin), there’s nothing humanly possible that you can do! Game over!

Hint there is hope!

Notice that it says that the Lord had given Naaman the victory in Syria’s battles?

God still loved Naaman even though he was not an Israelite (aka a believer).

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

1 Timothy 1:15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

If God didn’t love sinners, how could we possibly get saved? Good thing He does love sinners!

So, right off the bat, we perhaps see that this “Naaman situation” was orchestrated by God.

Now, if you know God orchestrates some situations, and that God only wants good for us, this little note seems to tell us that God is orchestrating something special here, so take note!

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

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.”

Even though this Israelite girl was taken captive, she still was a woman of God and loved her enemies by sharing with them a possible solution to Naaman’s hopeless skin problem. Do you think that maybe God orchestrated this godly girl being taken by the Syrians? Maybe!

The girl sharing hope, is similar to sharing hope for the lost. If you find someone is lost, even if they are your enemy, would you hold back the plan of salvation from them? Hopefully not! Hopefully, you would overcome your bias and care enough to share the love of God, to friends and to enemies. You might win over your enemy and they might become your friend! Wouldn’t that be great! I’m not saying it’s not hard to do, but it’s the right thing to do. This girl was a godly enough woman to do the right thing and share the solution.