2 BAGS OF DIRT ON 2 DONKEYS
2 Kgs. 5:14-17
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. Have you ever noticed that things really DO look different from one generation to the next?
2. Janet Krogfus says that since she lives in rural Minnesota (way out in the country), she finds driving in the crowded city of Minneapolis, difficult.
3. She was complaining to her grandson, “I have trouble figuring out when to turn and what lane to be in.”
4. Her grandson’s wife could definitely relate to that problem. “I know what you mean,” she said. “I never know at which cornfield to turn when we come to visit you!” [Reader’s Digest]
B. TEXT
14 So he 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. 17 “If you will not,” said Naaman, “please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the Lord.
C. THESIS
1. We all remember the story of when Naaman the Syrian general heard that there was a Prophet in Israel who could heal his leprosy.
2. Israel’s king panicked when Naaman arrived, but Elisha rebuked the king and said “send him to me.” The prophet told him to go the Jordan river and dip seven times. One kid said he thought Naaman “had to dip 7 times because he was so dirty!”
3. Naaman became incensed at the request; “Does the prophet think I need a bath?” Naaman had his own conceptions of how God should perform a miracle. Sometimes we do too!
4. The first 6 times Naaman dipped under the muddy waters, there was absolutely NO CHANGE. Naaman was probably thinking the Prophet was ‘playing him for a fool’ and how he would skewer the prophet afterward.
5. But when he came up the 7th time every trace of leprosy was gone; indeed, his skin had the appearance of the unblemished skin of a child!
6. He was shocked! All his fears of the future – the hideous vision of his nose, ears or lips missing; fingers & limbs eaten off; being an outcast and his slow death, etc., was suddenly gone! No more leprosy! Praise God!
7. But as the story progressed, he came up with a strange request of the prophet; two mules burden of earth. WHAT?
8. That’s what we’re going to look at tonight: “2 Bags of Dirt on 2 Donkeys.”
I. EFFECT OF THE MIRACULOUS HEALING
A. A HEART FULL OF GRATITUDE
1. Naaman returned from the Jordan River full of gratitude and with much humility. With misguided thankfulness he offered the man of God 150 pounds of gold ($3.1 million), 750 pounds of silver ($180,000) and 10 Armani suits, but Elisha vowed he would receive none of it.
2. Think what an honor to God it would be if ALL God’s servants treated the wealth of this world with such holy contempt. Instead, we should show that no earthly riches rival our love for God!
3. Notice that when Naaman couldn’t give his generosity to the Prophet, he had no other outlet but to give it to God! I believe that if Elisha had accepted the gifts, that Naaman would never have asked for the dirt to take back.
B. NAAMAN’S CHANGE OF OPINION
1. Remember, when Naaman arrived in Israel, he detested Israel’s king, he detested its rivers, he detested its prophet, he detested even the very ground of the place!
2. He said, “Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?” (12)
3. In verses 1-2 the Bible tells how, “through him the Lord had given victory to Aram” and how Aramean troops roved around Israel taking prisoners as they pleased.
4. Verse 7 tells the terror of King Joram when Naaman gave him the letter from King Ben Hadad II. So Naaman clearly saw the pitiful weakness of Israel and felt contempt for them.
C. SUDDENLY ISRAEL WAS HOLY GROUND
1. But after Naaman experienced his miracle, everything around him became sacred. The prophet became an emissary of the True God; the Jordan River became a divine tributary; and even the very ground itself became sacred!
2. Naaman was suddenly convinced of the power of the God of Israel; and not only that He is God, but that there is no other God in all the world (v. 15).
3. Like a man looking over all the sins he’d done in his life, Naaman thought of all the deities he’d honored and suddenly knew they were all lies. He had worshipped images of metal and stone. Now he’d met the True God. He resolved to worship only Jehovah the rest of his life.
4. Naaman had to go back to his own country. How would he maintain his faith in Jehovah when surrounded by an idolatrous nation?
5. When the prophet refused to accept Naaman’s monetary gift, he reversed course and asked for one more favor. The request seemed almost absurd -- two mules burden of earth. Why would he ask that?
II. 3 REASONS HE WANTED THAT DIRT
Why would Naaman want to take dirt back? Here are three possibilities I can see:
A. A REMINDER
1. Many times when we go to a memorable place, we want to take a picture or a memento from there. That’s so that later, when we’re thinking about it or talking about it to someone, it can be made the more real because we took away some artifact from the very place.
2. Some people come home with crazy souvenirs. One offered is nuclear waste from 3 Mile Island; another is Fog from San Francisco. Here’s a coffee cup with the wrong British Prince with Kate. Then there’s the Toad Purse and lastly the “I’m Not a Terrorist” bag. https://viraluck.com/32-epic-souvenir-fails/
3. So dirt seemed like a strange souvenir, but the dirt was a tangible, unchanging witness to the incredible miracle he had experienced directly from the hand of the Living God!
B. TO CREATE A SHRINE
1. It could be that he wanted to create a special shrine (a place regarded as holy, set apart to worship God) in his house with the dirt, so he could kneel and worship Jehovah on it. What an awesome idea.
2. In that context it would be “holy ground.” Naaman probably felt, when kneeling on it, like he was back in Israel – God’s land.
3. Some think he made an altar out of it to make his burnt offerings and sacrifices to God on, since he mentioned sacrificing to Jehovah in verse 17. One other possibility -
C. TO RELIVE THE MIRACLE
1. He could have been recreating the same “atmosphere” there to relive the miracle of his salvation again.
2. As he stood there before the Prophet, with his skin still tingling from the miracle, he distinctly felt the presence of the Living God.
3. He never wanted that presence to leave. He wanted to keep it going. How could he when he went back to Damascus? By taking some of that place back with him! He would keep the experience ALIVE!
III. NAAMAN’S LESSON FOR US
A. DON’T FORGET WHAT GOD DONE FOR YOU
1. “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them” Deut. 4:9.
2. Don’t lose your spiritual experience. It’s so easy to get caught up with what’s happening today in our lives – our busyness, our pressing agendas – and forget to keep the Lord as our first priority.
3. We can forget the day we were born-again. We can forget how our sins were washed away; how we felt such peace and sublime joy. God says, “Don’t forget!”
B. DON’T LET YOUR EXPERIENCE GROW DIM
1. God told us, “The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out” Lev. 6:13. He was speaking, in symbol, of the altar of our hearts. God wants us ‘on-fire’ for Him. He wants our love for Him to be hot or cold, but not lukewarm.
2. God wants our experience to be fresh -- not stale, sour, or decayed; not faded; not worn – but like it just happened a minute ago. He wants you to have a fresh encounter with God every day!
C. PREPARE A TIME & PLACE TO CONNECT WITH GOD
1. Just like Naaman took the dirt of that place back to make a
shrine and offer new sacrifices to Jehovah, you should select a time & place to offer God NEW sacrifices of prayer and praise.
2. Give God the firstfruits of your time in the morning. Spend time with God. God says, “Be still and know that I am God” Ps. 46:10. Ps. 27:14 says, “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”
3. God warns all those who don’t stop & wait on Him; “For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: ‘In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. But you would not.’” Isa. 30:15.
4. David said, “May my prayer be set before you as incense and the lifting of my hands as the evening sacrifice” Ps. 141:2 NIV. God is delighted with your prayers. “…but the prayer of the upright is His delight” Prov. 15:8 KJV.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: DIVING INTO AN EMPTY POOL
1. A young man who had been raised as an atheist was training to be an Olympic diver. The only religious influence in his life came from his outspoken Christian friend.
2. The young diver never really paid much attention to his friend’s sermons, but he heard them often.
3. One night the diver went to the indoor pool at the college he attended. The lights were all off, but as the pool had big skylights and the moon was bright, there was plenty of light to practice by.
4. The young man climbed up to the highest diving board and as he turned his back to the pool on the edge of the board and extended his arms out, he saw his shadow on the wall. The shadow of his body was in the shape of a cross.
5. Instead of diving, he knelt down and asked God to come into his life. As the young man stood, a maintenance man walked in and turned the lights on.
6. The pool had been drained for repairs! Thank God he stopped and gave his life to Christ! It saved his life, in more than one way!
B. THE CALL
1. Naaman had a good motive – to hold onto his newfound faith and keep the Lord first in his life. He took definite steps to do this.
2. Have you established a shrine in your house? – (defined)
“a place regarded as holy where you can worship God”?
Tt would be a place dedicated and used by you for prayer.
3. Are you creating an “atmosphere” in your home where God is honored? Are you trying to relive/remember the miracles God has done for you?
4. Are you keeping your devotion to Christ fresh? Do you still feel the fire of God in your heart?
5. Let’s go to God in prayer and make a new dedication of ourselves to Jesus! Prayer.
[I got the idea for this message from a note by J. Richison in the Word Bible Commentary]
