"It Cannot be Earned or Repaid" 2010
2 Kings 5:1-14 Ephesians 2:1-8
2 kin 5:1-14 The Healing of Naaman
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. 2Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. 3She said to her mistress, ‘If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.’ 4So Naaman* went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. 5And the king of Aram said, ‘Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.’
He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. 6He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, ‘When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.' 7When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.’
8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, ‘Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.’ 9So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. 10Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.’ 11But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, ‘I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! 12Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?’ He turned and went away in a rage. 13But his servants approached and said to him, ‘Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, “Wash, and be clean”?’ 14So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.
Ephesians 2:1-8 From Death to Life
You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. 3All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. 4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ*—by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—
During my first pastorate, I needed to borrow a truck one time,
and a parishioner offered to loan me his pickup.
In my world and the way I was brought up,
if you borrowed someone's car or vehicle,
you always brought it back with a full gas tank ---
--- which I did when I returned his pickup.
But then, the next time I saw him,
I was shocked and surprised that he was furious with me.
He was deeply offended that when I returned his truck,
I had brought it back with his gas tank filled;
and it took me quite a while
to understand why that infuriated him so.
But you see,
the way he saw it, he had let me use his pickup as a gift,
and it was something he wanted to do for me as his pastor.
So when I put gas in his truck, it felt like and seemed to him,
that I was turning it into a deal or a transaction,
as if I was trying to repay something like it was a debt,
- which he took as a refusal of his gift and kindness.
From his perspective,
it was as if I had shared a meal in his home with his family,
and then, as I was leaving after dinner,
I had taken out my wallet and asked,
"So what do I owe you for the meal?"
It was a gift, a kindness and not something to earn or repay.
He saw that filled gas tank as a refusal to accept his generosity,
which felt to him like a lack or appreciation, ingratitude,
and a cold-hearted rejection of his friendship.
He had wanted and expected me to simply benefit from his kindness,
to welcome it as a gift, his generosity as a sign of friendship;
and rather than simple gratitude, I had angered & offended him.
Obviously I didn't mean to offend or to insult him, but the truth is,
it can be really difficult to receive gratefully and graciously
because that is not the way or the attitude of our culture.
I find it way easier to give than to receive with gratitude.
We are born into this world helpless and in incessant need.
But from there on, our next years of life are spent preparing
to be as strong, self-reliant, and as independent as possible;
to develop and become capable of providing for ourselves,
so that as adults, we can make a contribution in the world.
In our world, much of à
our sense of value derives from the things we achieve and earn,
our human worth is usually measured by our productivity,
and meaning is tied to our accomplishment and successes.
As we grow up, we learn that it's good to be the one who gives,
and its shameful and weak to receive or be dependent on others.
But then later on, we reach an age,
a point in life, where all of that starts to change.
I believe that for most people, old age is probably
the most difficult part of anyone's spiritual journey.
The human body's strength & capacity fades with the passing years,
lack of vigor, aches, pains and medical problems increase
while the memory and mental acuity will often decrease.
Old age can be a process that forces transition from the assurance,
the self-determination and independence of our youth,
toward having to rely and receive help from other people.
It is a humbling experience when we are the one having to be helped
rather than being the one who is able to give and to provide.
Giving up that power and control is a real loss in life.
In old age, we are forced to receive from others that which
we can no longer, but did at one time provide for ourselves.
I notice that the difficult challenge of getting older or very ill
can be a time of spiritual growth because it requires us to learn
a lot more about trust, reliance, dependence and gratitude.
This life lesson,
of having to receive what we cannot earn or expect to pay back,
to submit rather than rely upon ourselves or our own strength
- describes the essence and process
that is going on in the story we read about Naaman.
The basic point is the stark contrast
between this world's perspective and value system à
of relying on our own power, control and self-determination,
and the humility of receiving God's gifts and blessings,
as something we can never earn, we cannot control,
and which we'll never be able to repay adequately.
Naaman is introduced to us
as a very successful, powerful and capable man of the world,
an effective leader in control, and confident of the king…
… but then as it turns out, none of that really matters,
because he is also a leper, which negates everything else.
All that he had been, a man powerful, in control and influential,
now, as someone suffering from leprosy, he no long is …
… for in the ancient world
that dreaded disease of leprosy would trump all else,
which meant he would lose all of that status,
and eventually will become a powerless outcast.
It can be taken as a sign of his abject desperation,
that he heeds the words of an insignificant Hebrew slave girl… vs. 3
She said to her mistress, ‘If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.’
But despite his leprosy,
he still wants to control the cure, for it to be on his own terms;
- through the influence & friendship of powerful kings,
or his impressive entourage and the payment he brings,
--- all of which the prophet Elisha rejects.
vs. 9~12
So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, … But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, ‘I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! … He turned and went away in a rage.
Elisha's behavior, that did not honor him as he would have liked,
has Naaman ready to abandon and walk away from a cure
for the sake of his status and pride;
and its only by the intervention of another lowly servant
that he reconsiders and follows Elisha's instructions.
Naaman was forced to submit and give up his sense of control,
and he was made to acknowledge the true source of his healing;
- that it is entirely by God's grace,
and not at all by anything that he does.
From Naaman's story, we learn that it will not be because
he is a great man of accomplishment, determination and success,
nor by the power and influence of the king or even by his wealth.
It's not because of some power that Elisha has or what he will do,
and it's really not by any healing power of the muddy Jordan waters.
The point is,
in contrast to the ways and expectations of this world,
Naaman's healing comes simply as God's gift to him.
It is entirely and only by the gracious blessings of the Lord,
which cannot be earned, controlled or even repaid.
Notice in the scenes after Naaman had been cured and cleansed,
he was still not permitted the control of paying his own way.
vs. 15-16 Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.’
But he said, ‘As the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will accept nothing!’ He urged him to accept, but he refused.
Do you remember a 1998 movie called, "Saving Private Ryan"?
Set during the Normandy Invasion of WW II, a platoon of men
are sent to retrieve a soldier from the front lines
because all his brothers have been killed in combat.
In the end all of the platoon are killed trying to save his life,
and one of the dying soldiers says to Private Ryan,
"earn this";
meaning do something worthy of our sacrifice for you.
This world teaches us to repay our debts and balance the books.
But this motivation can also be a desire for control
which devolves into a theological fallacy which traps
way too many Christians into an endless struggle
of trying to achieve and do great things for God
as an attempt to justify or earn God's love.
Many Christians are secretly driven by guilt, by shame or regret
rather than by feelings of gratitude, joy and love toward à
God who first loved us, even while we were yet sinners.
I have seen countless joyless and hard-driven Christian servants
who serve & labor for Christ not because of love and gratitude,
but are corrupted by guilt, by feelings of shame & regret;
who do good works in an attempt to make up for a past
that God has long ago forgiven and forgotten.
This is a terrible, harsh, and destructive theology that attempts
to balance the books through works of Christian accomplishment.
It reduces the freely given gracious love and blessings of God
into a set of rules for moral living, tasks, and cold judgment
which then leads to unhealthy guilt and shame when we fail.
Here's a test:
what do you have to do in order to get God to love you? 2x
and do you believe, can you believe,
that God will always still love you no matter what?
That is the message that Jesus taught and lived
as He reached out with grace and God's love toward outcasts.
The lesson for Naaman was about God's grace and God's healing love,
and that ultimately it has nothing to do with us or what we do,
and everything to do with who God is and what God does for us.
The message that Jesus lived, taught, and gave us to proclaim,
is that God loves us, loves us each and every one of us,
regardless of our sins and mistakes,
regardless of our situation or trouble we are in;
and that awareness of God's unrelenting love and purpose,
that has the power to transform our whole mode of living.
Consider these verses we read from Ephesians, vs. 1,4-5 & 8
You were dead through the trespasses and sins. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved— For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—
The truth is that God, who created us, is just crazy about us,
and in fact loves us enough,
to have sent Jesus to suffer and die for us,
so that we can know and receive God's love for us…
… and that fact of God's love will never change, never change…
… and despite even our worst sin, moral rebellion and failure,
God still finds something in us worth loving,
… and that undeserved loving commitment is rooted in the very nature of God.
The message, which the Church exists to proclaim to the world
is that God will never in this world reject or abandon us.
The promise is, that God's love for us will never change or grow dim,
because it comes entirely as a gift, and not as the rewardà
for our being faithful, moral, or for our doing good works…
… and this truth of God's unrelenting love has the powerà
to transform everything about our lives and living…
… as God intervenes and grace intersects with our lives.
One time,
a friend somehow convinced me to go on a young adults retreat.
It wasn't during a particularly good or high point in my life,
for I hadn't cracked a Bible or been seen in a church for years.
I was feeling horribly guilty
about how I was living, for having strayed so far
and for some of the decisions and choices I had been making.
And frankly I was feeling distant and beyond hope of redemption…
… for I had abandoned the faith and the Lord I had one professed.
I remember that while the group was singing,
"He's Got the Whole World in His Hands";
in my bitter cynicism I was thinking,
"no, not the whole world, He hasn't got me…"
and then for some reason the song leader plugged in, "Norm";
and when the group sang, 'He's got Norm in His hands …'
something clicked – God's grace slipped through a crack
and it came as a gift -- I suddenly heard it, believed it--
and that moment of grace, for the first time in years
I stopped running from God.
It was a life changing moment
of God's gratuitous gracious and never abandoning love.
And today, if you do know God, then
… no doubt you could describe your own similar experience
when God would not let go, but wooed and called you back;
when the Holy Spirit helped you to hear and respond
to Jesus Christ's message of gracious love and hope.
But sometimes amid all the distractions and lies of this world,
we forget … we forget who are, and how very much we are loved.
So my purpose, and the message of the texts today, as in 2 Timothy 1:6
… I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you …
Rev. Norm Story
1st Presbyterian Church
Las Cruces, NM
