But He Was a Leper
By Pastor Jim May
Great men, they are all around us and in every walk of life. Looking back through history we can see a lot of great people. Abraham Lincoln was considered a great man because of the Emancipation Proclamation. George Washington was a great man, and the father of our country. Dr. Martin Luther King was a great man who gave his life for the Civil Rights Movement. History records the deeds, courage and accomplishments of Eisenhower, Patton and Bradley, military leaders that kept our country free during World War II. In the field of science and mathematics there were people like Jonas Salk who discovered the vaccine for polio; Alexander Graham Bell who is credited with the invention of that little scourge of humanity known as the telephone; Marconi who invented communication devices like the radio and telegraph; Madame Curie who discovered the use of radiology and nuclear medicine. The list could go on and on because the world has been filled with great people who accomplished great things for humanity.
The Bible is filled with great people as well, such as King David, Moses, Elijah, Paul, Mary and more.
But being great in the eyes of the world does not always mean that we are great in eyes of God for greatness must be measured, not only by our accomplishments, but in our commitment to God and our service to him. The world can call you great, but if you don’t know God, what good will that greatness do you in the end?
The Book of 2 Kings gives us the story of one of the great men of the Bible. His king and his nation looked upon him as a hero.
2 Kings 5:1 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper.
Namaan was truly a great man. He was a powerful military leader, honorable among his peers, and he was used to bring deliverance of Syria from its enemies. He was a man of courage and valor, but he was still a man locked in chains of sin and death.
The Bible often uses leprosy as a symbol of sin the heart of man. In those days there was no cure for this dread disease and once it was contracted, it was a sentence of death. it was a terrible disease, causing a rotting of the body and an eating away of flesh. Hideous disfigurement would be the result and often the leper would die alone for no one dared touch him.
Such is the terrible effect of sin in the life of a man. Sin brings the penalty of eternal death, but it seems so subtle. At first it’s almost unnoticeable, but soon the effects begin to surface and the suffering begins.
The body itself is greatly effected for it begins a long march to the grave from the moment we are born and nothing in this world can stop that inevitable day when we shall each face the grave. Sin kills! Sin destroys! Sin eats away at the body of flesh! But most of all, Sin destroys our relationship with God and condemns us to eternal punishment! We cannot rid ourselves of sin. We cannot do anything to cure it. Like leper, we live under the threat of dying without any hope of deliverance.
No amount of good works, strong personality, charity, good character will ever be enough to cure the grip of sin on your life. We may be good people by the world’s standards, but we are still a sinner in the eyes of God.
2 Kings 5:2 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.
This little girl was probably not even a teenage yet, but she found herself as a slave in Syria, taken from her home by force and then forced to wait upon this great man. She was one of God’s Chosen People.
A Child of God is often found in places where they are uncomfortable, forced to work in jobs that they don’t like and under circumstances where they wonder why God has put them there. God puts us in those places, not only for the benefit of those that we will influence, but for our own good as well, to test our faith and commitment, and to reveal the weaknesses in us so that we can begin to trust God and correct those things in our hearts that shouldn’t be there.
2 Kings 5:3 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.
Even in bad circumstances, such as having a boss you can’t stand, or a job where you feel trapped, your light should shine so that people good see your good works and glorify your God. You are put into a dark world as a shining candle, so let your light shine. Don’t be too quick to want to get away, but give time for God to move. You just might be the only one who could ever reach that one man or woman for Christ.
This young lady never forgot her God, nor did she lose her trust in the power of God to deliver. Maybe she would be like one of the kids around here and had attended a Sunday School class at a little country church, where someone just did what they could to teach her about God, but what she heard and saw had a profound effect upon her life because there she learned about God. Maybe she came from a poor background, from a family that had to scratch out a living from the dry earth, but she knew God. It doesn’t matter where she came from, what mattered was that she knew God and she knew where she was going and who was in control of her life. She knew where her new master good find help and like a Christian pointing a soul to Jesus, she pointed them back to the prophet of God who carried the power to heal.
2 Kings 5:4, 5 And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel. 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.
Even the world knows the value of God’s power to heal and set free when they get into times of distress. The attacks of 9/11 brought our nation to its knees if only for a few weeks, yet a nation that is in backslidden condition still knows where its answer lies. When the attacks came, it was not our military might that we looked at first, nor did we look to medical science. Our money couldn’t buy us peace and safety at that moment in time. None of those things can buy another breath if God calls us home. Men, even lost men, know that there only hope is in Jesus. The problem is that they won’t call on him until it s too late.
Let’s call on him now and know Jesus is with us before the disaster strikes.
2 Kings 5:6,7 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. 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.
Here we see the typical actions of the world when trying to approach God. They don’t know how to find him because they are spiritually blind. They know not the ways of God but only know the ways of man and thus they try to approach God through means of the flesh.
God is a Spirit, and we must approach him in a spiritual manner. Flesh and bone cannot survive in the presence of our Holy God. To look upon him is to die. But in the realm of the spirit we can see him, know him, commune with him and live on.
If they had only listened to the “preacher”, that little maid who told them what to do. She didn’t tell them to go to the King of Samaria. She told them to go to the prophet of Samaria, the man who was truly in touch with God. Most of the kings of Israel and Samaria didn’t serve the Lord. They lived in debauchery and sin, thus they didn’t know any more about God than did the King of Syria.
Man, especially worldly politicians, don’t have your answer – Only God does!
2 Kings 5:8 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.
What a stinging rebuke to a man who was supposed to be the leader of God’s People! The king had no faith. He became filled with fear that Namaan was only seeking a reason to invade and conquer Samaria. If he had learned to rend his heart rather than his clothes, he could have had faith. He could have seen God’s hand moving in the life of Namaan and prayed for the deliverance of this great man from his leprosy, but no – like most Christians in our world even today, all he could think about was himself. He was too self-centered to be a witness for God’s power.
The prophet of God had to come into the palace and tell him that there was nothing to fear but fear itself, for God would still deliver Namaan. God was still alive and real. he hadn’t changed. He hadn’t left men to his own devices. God was ready, willing and very able to perform miracles. God wouldn’t fail them now.
2 Kings 5:9,10 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.
Here comes this great man of the world, a self-made man of means, yet a man under death’s grip. He must have thought that he would command authority and that this God of Israel would sit up and take notice of who he was and come to his aid immediately.
Doesn’t that sound like some people you might know? They believe that they are God’s gift to the church and that God just couldn’t do anything without them. They deserve God’s best and that’s what they expect. I’ve seen a lot of people backslide just because things didn’t go perfectly for them.
God saw my commitment. He knows how much I give, how much I work, how much I pray and how much I study. I do everything you ask me to God, so why can’t I catch a break once in a while. I deserve God’s best and only his best.
My friend, if you think that way, you are headed for a fall. God is no respecter of persons. Your good works don’t earn you any special rewards in Heaven, or any special recognition. After all, all good works are expected of a man or woman that’s been born again. Good works, known as “Fruits of Righteousness” should be a natural by-product of your life because you love Jesus. If you are only working for the Lord just to gain the blessings or the recognition that you think you deserve, then remember this – you don’t deserve anything but judgment from our Holy God. It’s only by his mercy and grace that you are even breathing today. Thank him for the blessings, but never place yourself on a pedestal as something higher and more deserving than anyone else. Let God exalt you.
2 Kings 5:11, 12 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. Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
Pride is at work again. Pride is the greatest sin that lingers in the heart of man. Pride causes us to think more highly of ourselves than we should. Pride keeps us from humbling ourselves before God in complete submission.
The Bible, in 1 John 2:6, tells us that all sin in the heart of man can be summarized into three categories: lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life. I believe that all of this is somehow joined together under the heading of pride.
We are too good to not get what we want; too good to have to settle for less than the best all the time; too good to get our hands dirty in the Lord’s work; and just too good to be shunned.
I’ve seen a lot of people get mad at the preacher, at the church and ultimately mad at God just because their feelings got hurt. Pride put their feelings on their sleeve and somebody, without even trying to do so, just stepped on their pride. Pride won’t let us take the fault, even when it is our fault, much less when believe it’s not. Pride won’t let us repent or confess our shortcomings. Pride won’t let us admit that we are wrong. Pride makes us try to force other people to see things our way. Pride won’t sit back and let God move in his own time, but steps in and often causes division and grief in the House of God.
It is no wonder then that the Bible says that Pride comes before a fall. The fall comes because pride won’t let us repent of our sin and turn to God in humility.
God, if you can’t bless me the way I want you to, then what good is your presence in my life? You see, we come to God for the loaves and fishes, but our heart is far from being where it ought to be. God is not some Spiritual Santa Claus, there to only give you things. He is the Creator, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, King of Kings and the Giver of Life. We should praise him, love him, serve him and feel honored above measure just because he knows our name or recognizes our very existence for without him we are nothing. Whether God ever give you another blessing or not is not the point. The point is that He has given his Son, Jesus Christ, for your sin so that you could have eternal life. If that’s all that God ever did for you, then you could still never praise him enough.
2 Kings 5:13 And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?
What God tells us to do often doesn’t make sense to the flesh. It doesn’t make sense to cry in an altar, but that’s where the heart is broken before God. It doesn’t make sense that we must be born again. Even Nicodemus said that. But that’s what must happen. It doesn’t make sense to the world for a man to give up a lucrative job, sell all that he owns, uproot his family and travel thousands of miles to a foreign land to preach the gospel, and ye that’s exactly what God does to send missionaries to reach the lost.
Namaan had too much pride to accept the fact that the prophet wouldn’t even come out to see him, and it really got bad when all he told him to do was go dip seven times in a muddy river. How could that heal leprosy? All that mud might even make it worse.
It doesn’t make sense to the world for a Christian to put blind trust in the power of the blood of Jesus to wash away our sin, but that’s the only way to get deliverance from eternal death and obtain eternal life. Whether it makes sense or not, it is God’s way, and it’s the only way that works.
2 Kings 5:14 Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
Namaan finally humbled himself, got down off of his chariot, took off his royal robes, his medals and prizes of the flesh, repented of his anger at the prophet and obeyed God. He started dipping and I can just imagine what he might have thought with every dip.
Each time there was more mud in his eyes and hair. Each time he became more doubtful that it was going to happen. With each dip the water got even muddier.
It’s never a pretty or comfortable thing to bear our sins to the Lord and confess that we are a sinner. It’s never easy to allow the hidden recesses of our heart to be revealed for the filth that is hiding in there.
James says that the heart is very deceitful and who can know it. Your heart lies to you. You can’t trust it, ever.
How many times do you have to go back to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus? With each passing day the mud of the world gets into your heart, your mind and your spirit and you have to back and be “Dipped” again. It’s a never ending process of going under the blood and having your leprosy of sin cleansed by its power.
Namaan went down once, twice, then five, six times and still nothing happened. When God says 7 times, 6 won’t do. You have to go all the way. You can’t live for Jesus for 60 years then give up and live for the devil in your last days and make Heaven your home. You have to cross that finish line to win. Quitters don’t win and winners never quit. It’s either all the way or nothing at all.
On that 7th time, everything changed. The leprosy was healed. Namaan was delivered. He was given a new lease on life.
7 is God’s number of completeness. If you want God’s best then you have to allow God to be your all in all, your everything, and then you will find completeness in him.
Yes, Namaan was a great man by the world’s standards, but he was a leper. Don’t let the accolades of the world fool you. Don’t let silly preachers tell you that you can get to Heaven with sin in your heart. Don’t let your own heart lie to you and tell you it’s all right when sin still reigns in your heart. Give it all to Jesus, hold nothing back. That’s the only way to get rid of the leprosy, the sin, the sentence of death in your life.
Every one of us can identify with Namaan in one or another. I see Namaan’s walking into the church nearly every week, people who still carry their load of sin, that sentence of death for sin, in their hearts. Why not be washed in the blood and made whole today?
I stand here today in the place of that old prophet of Israel saying, “Come on now, come and dip yourself in the blood of Jesus. Allow Jesus to cleanse death and sin from your heart and life. Come and be made whole. Jesus paid the price, but you have to claim the prize for yourself. It must be claimed by be washed in the blood and being born again by the Spirit of God.
