How Was Naaman Cleansed? Series

HMMMM! That sounds intimidating… until you think about things from a different angle.

ILLUS: Years ago I read somewhere that one of Abraham Lincoln’s aides was worried that a majority of Northerners disagreed with one of Lincoln’s policies. The aide tried to convince Lincoln to abandon the policy, and Lincoln said something to the effect: “They disagree with me? Well, that means I have to do a better job of explaining it to them.” (I apologize that I can not verify the truth of this story)

Lincoln was convinced he was right… and he wasn’t going to quit talking about it until he’d convinced those who disagreed with him that HE WAS RIGHT! And in the same way… there’s always going to be people who disagree with us on God. Just like the millenials. They reject Jesus, they ignore God, they don’t want Scripture to have any influence in their lives. And that kind of opposition is gonna happen! There’s always gonna be people like that.

But just like Abraham Lincoln, we need to be convinced we’re right and then refuse to shut up! We need to be committed TO DO the best job we can of explaining God to them… and never quit! Because their eternity is in the balance.

But just like that little slave girl, we need to realize that sometimes all we can do is say what we can, and then trust God to do the rest. God can do that because He is not limited by our abilities and our wisdom.

Do you realize that when it came to Naaman obeying God and being baptized in Jordan river - it wasn’t the slave girl that convinced him, and it wasn’t Elisha that convinced him. It was his pagan friends. The slave girl and Elisha did their part, but it was God working through the pagan friends that made the difference. Thus, we need to trust God to take our meager efforts and change lives. So do you should do YOUR part… and then trust God to do the rest!

One last thought: Naaman came to Elisha for healing, but of course, it wasn’t Elisha who healed Naaman - it was God. In fact, that’s exactly what Elisha’s NAME meant. The name “Elisha” means “MY GOD is salvation.” In other words, salvation came from God! And everything in Elisha’s ministry pointing to that truth. Everything, including how he treated Naaman.

Do you realize there are people who wouldn’t have handled Naaman like Elisha did? There are people who would have been more “seeker-friendly.” They would have tried to be more understanding of Naaman’s sensibilities. They might even have given him a 10 point lesson on all the advantages of doing things God’s way.

But instead, Elisha refused to cater to Naaman’s pride and ended up making him mad. Elisha’s actions literally drove this guy away, and Naaman could have died of his leprosy - faced with eternal damnation.

Now, why would Elijah do that? Why offend Naaman? Well, he did that because this wasn’t HIS message - it was God’s. What is God’s message? When John the Baptist preached the message from God was "REPENT, for the kingdom of heaven is near." (Matthew 3:2) Jesus had the same message: in Matthew 4:17 we’re told “From that time on Jesus began to preach, "REPENT, for the kingdom of heaven is near." And when God started His church at Pentecost, Peter preached "REPENT and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38