IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?
2 KINGS 5:14-27: 14 So he (Naaman) went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. 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. 19 “Go in peace,” Elisha said. After Naaman had traveled some distance, 20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, “My master was too easy on Naaman, this Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely as the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.” 21 So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. “Is everything all right?” he asked. 22 “Everything is all right,” Gehazi answered. “My master sent me to say, ‘Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.’” 23 “By all means, take two talents,” said Naaman. He urged Gehazi to accept them, and then tied up the two talents of silver in two bags, with two sets of clothing. He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them ahead of Gehazi. 24 When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the things from the servants and put them away in the house. He sent the men away and they left. 25 When he went in and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” “Your servant didn’t go anywhere,” Gehazi answered. 26 But Elisha said to him, “Was not my spirit with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money or to accept clothes - or olive groves and vineyards, or flocks and herds, or male and female slaves? 27 Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and to your descendants forever.” Then Gehazi went from Elisha’s presence and his skin was leprous - it had become as white as snow.
INTRODUCTION: IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?
2 Peter 1:1-11 (Spiritual Growth Is A Must.) 1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours: 2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. 10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Four Point Plan For Spiritual Growth (Make Every Effort To…)
1. Step 1 – Read Your Bible Daily.
2. Step 2 – Meet Together With Other Believers Regularly.
3. Step 3 – Get Involved In A Ministry Group.
4. Step 4 – Pray Daily. Commune With God. Seek Indwelling For Empowerment.
Illustration: Feeding Black Dog & White Dog.
BLOWING DIVINE OPPORTUNITIES & CONNECTIONS
Many People Have Had Divine Opportunities That They Have Blown. Either they did not realize the significance of what they had or they knew but took it for granted. Israel did not recognize the time of Christ’s visitation when he came to earth. Judas, Absalom, Balaam, Ananias & Sapphira, Gehazi are also examples.
TO UNDERSTAND GEHAZI, UNDERSTAND THE SETTING
The Prophet Elijah Had Anointed Elisha, His Armor Bearer, To Be His Replacement. Elisha is from a balanced family and not a recluse like Elijah. Elisha is relational for when called into ministry, he wants to kiss his family goodbye. He was also from a wealthy family. So he is not coming to Elijah to get something. He wants anointing only to transform the thought process of the people of Israel on how to be successful without depending on Jezebel. Everyone depended on Jezebel to survive. Elisha will be different. Though both men were similar in that they lived in the same country, same era, were messengers of God to kings, worked almost the same class of miracles; chosen by God to withstand idolatry and restore the worship of God in Israel, yet they are both different. Elisha requested a double portion which meant a double blessing. It typically referred to the birthright or inheritance received by the oldest son of the favorite person. Hannah’s husband gave her a double portion. Isaiah prophesizes double portion of blessing upon Israel. Job received twice as much as he had before. The request by Elisha for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit made him doubly blessed in his life and ministry. Scripture records twice as many miracles through Elisha (28 miracles) as took place through Elijah (14 miracles). When Elisha first made his request, Elijah answered, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so”. After Elisha watched Elijah taken up to heaven, he picked up Elijah’s cloak. Returning to the Jordan River, he called out to the Lord and struck the water with the cloak. The water opened up, and Elisha walked across on dry ground. This act affirmed the transition of the prophetic office – the double blessing.
ELISHA AS A PROPHET NOW NEEDS AN ARMOR BEARER
The Job Of An Armor Bearer To The King And To The Prophet Was A Position Of Apprenticeship. An "armor bearer" was responsible for carrying his master's shield into battle. The armor bearer to the king as in the case of Saul was so committed that he killed himself when Saul was dead. Armor-bearers were also responsible for killing enemies wounded by their masters. The armor bearer in the case of a prophet meant that the person was to study the manner of the prophet for he would, if had the right heart, be anointed a prophet by God one day. It happened in the case of Elijah and Elisha. Gehazi was selected as an armor bearer because he had interest in ministry and Elisha wanted to teach him. But things changed. Question: How can you be so close to an anointing and miss it? How can you be that close to Jesus and not a beneficiary of a miracle? All this is too real in the church. For we can have heavenly inheritance in our hands and overlook it and step on it.
GEHAZI IS WORKING WITH SOMEONE WITH INTEGRITY.
God Anointed Elisha With A Double Portion Of The Anointing That Elijah Had. Before God anointed Elisha, he had been tested. As in the case of all true servants of God, Elisha was called to the ministry while he was faithfully doing his secular duties. Thereafter, Elisha spent many years doing menial jobs for the prophet Elijah. He was known as the one "who used to pour water on the hands of Elijah" (2 Kings 3:11b). He did not seek great things for himself, but God had great plans for him. Before Elijah went up to heaven, Elisha had to be tested. Elijah told Elisha to stay on in Gilgal, while he himself went on to Bethel. Elisha refused but was determined to go with Elijah. At Bethel, Elijah again tried to shake off Elisha by saying that he had to go to Jericho. But Elisha stuck on. Finally, at Jericho, Elisha was tested to leave Elijah, he refused and accompanied Elijah to Jordan. That is where he got double portion of the anointing - God's best for his life. His Integrity Speaks:
1. Elisha is a man of compassion.
2. Elisha is a man of principle.
3. Elisha is a humble man.
4. Elisha not greedy; satisfy with God’s vision.
5. Elisha is a sensitive man.
6. Elisha is a man of prayer. 7. Elisha said I will take nothing from you because I serve the Lord.
8. Elisha will not give Naaman the idea that he did pay for his healing.
9. Elisha rebukes when wrong’s committed – rebuked Gehazi.
In The Company Of This Great Man Of God, we expect honor, integrity, truthfulness. But hypocrisy can cover a foul interior. In the first apostolic band there was a Judas. In Elisha's service there was a Gehazi. Gehazi is a reminder of how we can be near the truth and be far from it.
GEHAZI WAS A MAN OF GOD. HOW DID HE BECOME A FAILURE?
In Our Passage, Gehazi Abandons The Things Of God To Run After Money. How can we sell the power of God? The Gospel and the power of God are always free. How Did Gehazi Come To This hypocritical character? There are indications in the Bible. When Elisha chose him, Gehazi was a man of God. Do you think Elisha would have chosen him if he knew that his character was not right? There is something that Elisha saw in him when he was chosen as a successor. He’s a prophet of God. Gehazi has been with Elisha for a while and used for many things. In 2 Kings 4:12-16, Elisha is accommodated by a woman called the Shunammite woman. She provided food and shelter for him. He wants to repay her in some way. What strikes me is that it is Gehazi who looks deep into the woman’s heart and perceives her need: “Actually, she has no son, and her husband is old.” Gehazi sees that need in her life. He’s Showing Genuine Concern And Compassion For The Shunammite Widow. Great for a Man of God.
Gehazi Is Also Used To Attempt To Raise This Woman’s Son: 2 Kings 4:29-32: 29 Then he said to Gehazi, “Get yourself ready, and take my staff in your hand, and be on your way. If you meet anyone, do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not answer him; but lay my staff on the face of the child.” 30 And the mother of the child said, “As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he arose and followed her. 31 Now Gehazi went on ahead of them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; but there was neither voice nor hearing. Therefore he went back to meet him, and told him, saying, “The child has not awakened.” 32 When Elisha came into the house, there was the child, lying dead on his bed. There was a shortcoming on Gehazi’s part and the child wasn’t raised. He was acting in Elisha’s place - representative of the prophet. But failure of this mission heralds something about Gehazi. Did the wealth of this woman change something in Gehazi? We don’t know; but he becomes a failure.
PUT HIS CHARACTER UNDER SCRUTINY. FLAWS THAT LED TO FAILURE.
1. Failure Of Compassion. 2 Kings 4:27: And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of God said, Let her alone: for her soul is vexed within her; and Jehovah hath hid it from me, and hath not told me" The Lady Was Desperate, But Gehazi 'Thrust Her Away', Only To Be Rebuked By Elisha. Why? Though she was rich, did she refuse him money in the past? Gehazi was given the Prophet's staff, a sign of authority and commissioned to go straight to the dead boy and revive him. In 2 Kings 4:31-32, the staff was useless by the time he reached the dead boy. The woman refused to go with him. Did she know something? Now here is a Prophet in Training; but even with the Prophetic Commission, and the Prophet's rod, he was powerless! Why did not that rod work? Some say: “I used to pray for people and it work. I used to fast and pray. I used to prophesy. I used to speak in tongues. I used to see vision.” Why aren’t you seeing it now? There are some habits that take away the anointing. Somewhere, something went dead. But you can get it back per Peter.
2. Failure To Serve Freely. In Our Passage, The Syrian Army Commander, A Leper, Finds His Way To Elisha Seeking Healing. Miraculously healed, he offers to give Elisha money and clothing. Elisha refused the gifts. 2 Kings 5:20 "But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master hath spared Naaman this Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought: but, as the Lord liveth, I will run after him, and take somewhat of him". He was not about to let some money and rich clothing from Damascus get away from him. Some pastors and Christians are consumed with greed for everything. They want a reward for every work they do even for God. You’re on slippery ground.
3. He Started Having Wrong Thoughts. Gehazi said to himself: “My master did not make the right choice…” We begin with wrong thoughts and start judging others wrongly especially leaders. The problem began in his mind. This problem began long time ago. While Elisha is involved with God, he is involved with himself. James 1:13-15 We are tempted by our own evil desire and not anyone else. We have to think right people. If we do not, we choose the wrong employment, behavior, partners, friends, investments, advice, etc.
4. He First Ran After & Toward Sin; Sin Did Not Run Toward Him; But Welcomed Him. 2 Kings 5:20-21 As surely as the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him… 21 So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him. “Is everything all right?” he asked. While sin may trail the believer and crouch at his door, it is the believer who chases sin. We choose to run after it. James 1:14 But when a man is tempted, it is his own passions that carry him away and serve as a bait.
5. He Lied On The Prophet & Others. 2 Kings 5:22 “Everything is all right,” Gehazi answered. “My master sent me to say, ‘Two young men from the company of the prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.’” He lied on Elisha twice – When he left and when he came back. He lied on others – some young men came from the company of the prophets. Lying is a powerful demon. The church has become a place where people fabricate lies on others. We say: “this one said” when they have not said. People’s words are taken out of context to meet our needs. We live double lives. We crook others. We pollute the characters of others. We must be honest.
Illustration: Young Man Fell In Sex Sin – Email Blaming His Pastor – Me.
6. If Not Careful, The Unbelievers Will Determine Your Worth. 2 Kings 5:22-23 …Please give them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.’” 23 “By all means, take two talents,” said Naaman. It was Naaman who determined the final worth of Gehazi.
7. We Are Not Moved By Our Lifestyle And How It Affects The Unbelievers. We are not greatly moved by mankind’s desperate need of God. Gehazi needed God. We think man needs a great many things: the solution of his economic, international, and personal problems, but I’m sure we’re not concerned about his need of God, or we would do something about it. If a man is not concerned with making it possible for others to know God, it’s because God doesn’t mean very much to him. Gehazi didn’t count Naaman’s spiritual health worth very much because it didn’t mean much to him. He was much more interested in compromising God to satisfy himself.
8. Failure To Discern Prophetically The Times And Seasons. “Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and olive yards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?" Material things distract us from. Elisha said: “Is this the time…” Friends, we are living in a dangerous season. Threat of war, insecurity, racial tensions, discrimination, sudden death, planes being bombed, etc. This is not the time to play around.
9. Facing God's Judgment. Elisha Sentences Gehazi To The Very Sickness That Naaman Had Just Been Cured From. He became a leper and the prophet said his children would likewise be lepers, which was not merely a judgment, but the normal effect of an infectious disease, for which there was no treatment in those days. In 2 Kings 7, Gehazi loses his job and as a leper is living outside the city with his sons. If you don’t watch your life for God, you will end up doing the things the unbelievers do – God’s judgment.
10. Hiding His Blessings From Others. In 2 Kings 7:1, the city is under siege and famine. 2 Kings 7:3 says there were 4 lepers sitting outside the city gate. Despairing of their lives they decide to surrender to the Syrians, but find God has done a miracle and the Syrian Army is fleeing for their lives. 2 Kings 7:8 "And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it". Jewish Rabbinical writings state that these men were Gehazi and his sons. If true their actions accurately reflect Gehazi's previous conduct. Even as leper, his greed is still evident. Do you hide solutions to problems from others and keep them for yourselves? You are not transparent anymore. You hide from your spouse, those who ought to know, you are suspicious of everyone, you blame them for your situation, etc.
11. He Would Talk About What God Had Done In Others, Not Himself. In 2 Kings 8:4 "And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done". Gehazi was still around to tell about the things God had done through Elisha, but not through himself. Certainly we find him in conversation with the King of Israel. Perhaps if we spent more time seeking to live pure lives we would see more of the manifestations of God's power in our lives.
12. Elisha Never Used That Rod Again. He Had To Lie On The Child To Bring Him To Life. Whatever we touch dies. Our lives kill everything we become a part of. Why? Because we have a cursed hand. We don’t pay tithe, we gossip about others, we lie, we become carnally tainted.
13. We Tend To Take God & Sacred Things For Granted. There is a very subtle danger that lies in the fact that those things which should always be sacred, tend to become commonplace. We get so familiar with God that we do not take sacred things sacred. Like Gehazi, one can live so continuously and so carelessly in the presence of spiritual things that they lose their significance. That was Gehazi’s trouble - he had lost his sense of faith. God’s power demonstrated in another’s life meant little to him because he himself did not feel dependent upon God’s power for his own life. Religion had become a formal affair of fulfilling certain duties which life imposed upon him. He had lost the ability to marvel at sacred things – seen too many miracles.
CONCLUSION: THE GEHAZI SYNDROME
May I Ask You The Question: “Is Everything Alright?” No. It is not alright. We should not live close to the truth or hear the Word of God and not be affected by it. It was the same with Achan in Jericho. Same with Balaam in the wilderness. Same with Judas in the presence of Jesus. Same with King Saul in the presence of Samuel. Same with Demas in the presence of Paul. Same with Simon the sorcerer in the presence of Philip. As all of these missed their spiritual inheritance in the presence of powerful and miraculous personalities, Gehazi thereby missed the calling that God had in mind for him. It can happen to us. Get focus for God. Like Peter advised in 2 Peter 1, there is a spiritual recipe for spiritual growth – “Man shall not live by bread alone.”
FINALLY & PRAYER… EMPHASIZE 2 PETER 1:1-11 AGAIN.
Determination To Grow. Make Every Effort To Grow. Commitment To Eat Spiritual Bread. Holy Spirit Has His Part. You Have Your Part. Without A Desire And Intent To Grow, You Will Weaken And Fall No Matter How Strong You Are.
