OPEN: Two engineers applied for one job at a computer company. They had identical qualifications, so to determine which one to hire, the firm gave them a test. Each did well, except they both missed the same question.
The manager called the first candidate, explained the results of the test and then said, "I’m afraid we’re going to hire the other applicant."
"Why? We both got nine questions right," said the reject.
"Our choice isn’t based on the correct answers, but on the question you both missed."
"But if we both missed the same question, why would you choose him over me?"
"Well, in answer to question 5 on the test, the other guy put down ’I don’t know.’ You wrote: ’Neither do I.’"
APPLY: That 1st candidate didn’t have enough knowledge to answer the questions on the test and so he sought to get by - by relying on another man’s learning.
Sometimes you can get away with that.
Sometimes you can get by on someone else’s knowledge or experience.
But there are times when there is NO substitute for having personal knowledge of the things that are critical in your life… like your job for example.
Likewise, it’s hard to get very far in our Christianity if we don’t have a personal faith in a living caring God. We can only lean on someone else’s faith and experience in Christ for so long, and then it must be OUR faith that carries us from there. Because, you see – OUR faith is critical to our relationship with God.
Hebrews 11:6 tells us “…without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists (an intellectual belief) and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Real faith, personal faith – goes beyond an intellectual belief that God exists.
ILLUS: For example:
When I say, “I believe in my wife,” I’m saying something different from “I believe that I HAVE a wife.”
When I say “I believe that I have a wife” – I can verify that. Diana was away to Florida this past week, and I could have proved I had a wife by simply getting on the phone and calling her.
But if I say “I believe in my wife” I am saying that I trust her. That she won’t hurt me. In fact, when I say I believe in my wife, I am saying that I would be willing to bet my life on her.”
And that’s pretty much what the author of Hebrews is trying to tell us about faith in God. If you look down thru the stories of the great heroes and heroines of the faith in Heb. 11 you’ll find people who “bet their lives” on God.
“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” (Hebrews 11:8) He didn’t know where he was going, but he was willing to “bet his life” on God’s faithfulness.
“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen (Noah had never seen anything like the flood God spoke about, or the need for a boat the size he was required to build, but) in holy fear built an ark to save his family.” (Hebrews 11:7)
These men bet their lives on God. You could say – theirs was a “more than enough” kind of faith. A personal faith, a real faith.
That’s the kind of faith I want in my life!
But, how do I get that kind of faith? II King 5 tells us of the Spiritual journey of a man who started out with little or no faith and became a devout follower of God.
I. The 5th chapter of II Kings gives us the spiritual journey of a man named Naaman.
In his day Naaman was a success story. If he lived today, his fame would have been the equivalent of a sports star or a famous actor. He was a man who was going places. A leader of men, capable, well-liked.
But, Naaman had a problem… Naaman had come down with leprosy.
Now, if you had leprosy, they could heal could heal you with medicine. But back then, when you got leprosy… you had it till you died. And it wasn’t a pretty death.
(pause…)
Now, in Naaman’s household there was a slave girl who’d been taken captive as a young girl. Apparently, she liked Naaman (just like everyone else did) and she wanted to help. So she told her witnessed to Naaman’s wife – “you gotta go see my preacher – Elisha.” He could heal Naaman of his disease.
You see, this slave girl knew that God existed and she believed that if Naaman earnestly sought Him, God would heal him.
Now, Naaman is willing to try anything. This was a desperate disease and it called for desperate measures. So he obtains his king’s permission to go to Israel. He takes with him 6000 shekels of gold, 10 talents of silver and ten sets of clothing and sets out eagerly in search of the prophet of God.
II. But when he finally arrives at the home of the prophet Elisha something changes.
He has made his journey based upon the faith of a little slave girl. It wasn’t his faith, it was hers that had started him on this journey. It wasn’t his faith - it was his desperate hope - that bro’t him to Elisha’s door. Now that he has arrived, he has to act on own his faith - the faith that he personally has. And apparently - that faith wasn’t strong enough to obtain God’s blessing.
He literally turns around and he starts heading back for home in frustration and rage.
Why? Why would Naaman go all that way to Israel to be healed and then turn around to go home? Why would he come so close to the power of God and then turn away?
Why? Because, There were things that stood between Naaman and God. Things that caused what little faith he had to become weak and incapable of accepting God’s blessings. And the same things that weakened Naaman can weaken our faith and our relationship with God as well.
III. The 1st thing that weakened Naaman’s faith was his pride
He arrives with horses and chariots and his great entourage, and great gifts to do honor to God’s prophet. And when he arrived, he found that this so-called prophet of God didn’t even bother to come to speak to him. Notice what he says:
“Naaman went away angry and said, ‘I thought that HE would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.’” 2 Kings 5:11
He’s been slighted and he is not going to put up with it. He’d rather spend the rest of his life with leprosy than endure this insult. His sinful pride made it so that he walked away from God.
Now, why is that? What is it about pride in our lives that would make someone so willing to walk away from God’s blessings?
Well, pride is the result of an ungrateful heart. A proud person is someone who is accustomed to believing in themselves – they don’t need God except for emergencies.
In Deut. 8:10-17 God tells the Israelites: “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.
Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will BECOME PROUD and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery…. You may say to yourself, "MY POWER and THE STRENGTH OF MY HANDS have produced this wealth for me."
The proud man has grown accustomed to taking credit for their own accomplishments in life. It was their wealth, their good looks, their connections, their breeding, their strength, etc. They didn’t need anyone else’s help to be who they are and God is only a passing acquaintance that they consider only when they have to. They don’t need God. Never really have and
Think about Naaman when he shows up.
He’s come to Elisha for a healing.
He didn’t come there to hear about God.
He wanted a drive-thru healing. He wants to pay his money and go on home.
BUT after his healing - after he’s been humbled in God’s presence - notice what he does.
He wants to take God with him. Look again at II Kings 5:15-17
“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. Please accept now a gift from your servant.’
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.
‘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.’”
Naaman wants to take dirt from Israel home with him so that he can build an altar to worship the LORD. He wants to take God home with him.
You see, a humbled heart wants nothing EXCEPT God in their lives. But the proud heart really has no room for God to work. And so God won’t even bother.
That’s why James 4:6 tells us that: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
Pride is a terrible thing. It can weaken our faith and damage our relationship with God.
And it’s a sin of the heart that kind of sneaks up on you. Most people who are proud don’t even know it. Many of the people around them see it and understand it for what it is, but proud people are often blind to their own sin.
One of the only ways to inoculate ourselves against this wicked and terrible sin is learn to be grateful. To learn to thank God for everything we have. So that’s what I’m going to have us do right now in this service. I want you to close your eyes and then I want you to focus on 5 things that God has given you and give Him thanks for them. (pause while they ponder these blessings).
IV. The 2nd thing that weakened Naaman’s faith was a result of his pride. Naaman wanted God’s blessings, but he only wanted them on his own terms.
God tells Naaman he needs to go down to the Jordan river and dunk himself 7 times. But that isn’t part of Naaman thinks is practical. He complains that he shouldn’t have to go thru all this to get healed. The prophet should have come out, call upon the name of his God and wave his hand over the leprosy. Then he would have bee healed and been on his way. Besides, he complained - the Jordan was a dirty river. They had cleaner rivers up north in his home country. He wasn’t about to belittle himself by getting dunked in a filthy little river in some backward country like Samaria.
In other words, Naaman wanted God to heal him… but he didn’t want to have to obey God to get it done.
That’s why a lot of people turn away from Christianity. G.K. Chesterton once said, "Christianity has not been tried and found empty . . . it has been found difficult and left untried."
If we want a faith that will lay hold of the power of God, then we must be willing to have a faith that is open to the guidance of God. But many Christians don’t look to God 1st for guidance… they’ve got other sources. As a result their faith is weakened and God’s power is hampered in their lives.
ILLUS: Does anybody know who (according to a recent survey) is considered the most influential spiritual leader is in the US? No, not Billy Graham. No, it’s not the Pope. It’s Ophrah Winfrey.
When one preacher told his people that Ophrah probably wasn’t the most reliable source of spiritual guidance in people’s lives… some of his people got angry with him. Why?
Because
There are “Christians” who’d rather be guided by Ophrah than by God.
There are Christians out there who would prefer Dr. Phil to the Bible.
There are Christians who religiously read their horoscopes but not Scripture.
There are Christians who spend more time listening to… well, you get the idea.
Naaman was willing to reject God’s instructions because he had gotten used to listening to the “spiritual leaders” in the pagan temples of his homeland. And so, when was faced with the actual Words of God… he almost rejected them.
That’s why we need to be in church, and Sunday School, and Bible studies.
That’s why we should spend time in personal study of God’s Word each day.
If we want God’s wisdom and His guidance in our lives… we MUST begin with His Word for His Guidance… His advice.
We live in an “information age.” We obtain guidance and information from all sorts of media: TV, radio, news magazines and newspapers. I myself listen to NPR radio (a liberal radio outlet) because I want to know what all kinds of people say. There are people who obtain their information from MTV and VH1, from gossip columnists and talk show hosts.
Some of the information and advice they receive is good… some of it’s bad.
But much of the advice and counsel that we receive these days in our world is based upon pagan concepts. But their advice sounds so convincing. There are times we wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between what agrees with God’s will and what doesn’t… unless we’re used to comparing their advice with God’s Wisdom.
In Psalms 119:98-100 David praises God by saying
“Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me.
I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.
I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts.
If I look first to God for His wisdom then I gain wisdom beyond anything this world can offer. But, if I’m not looking to God’s Word first… I may end up walking away from God when I need Him the most.
The only thing that saved Naaman from walking away from God was the simple question of one of his servants:
"My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!" 2 Kings 5:13
Obeying God isn’t usually hard… it’s just difficult because there are things about God that often seem to defy the wisdom of this world.
I mean just consider these realities that God’s Word bids us to believe:
We see unseen things (2 Cor. 4:18)
We conquer by becoming slaves (Rom. 6:16-18)
We are made great by becoming like little children (Luke 9:48)
We are exalted by becoming humble (Mt. 23:12)
We become wise by being fools for Christ’s sake (1 Cor. 1:20, 21)
We grow strong by being weak (2 Cor. 12:10)
We find victory by glorying in our infirmities (2 Cor. 12:5)
We live by dying (John 12:24,25; 2 Cor. 4:10,11)
We receive more blessings from giving than by receiving (Acts 20:35)
Does any of that make sense?
No… until you’ve spent so much time with God and we begin to think like He thinks.
CLOSE: I suspect this fact that God’s reality is different than ours is one that God begins to teach us from the very outset of our relationship with Him.
I mean, consider how illogical baptism is to our salvation.
There’s obviously nothing in the water that could touch the very depths of our soul. The water can barely wash away the dirt from our body, let alone the stain of sin from our hearts. And yet God introduces it as the way in which we lay hold of His healing and His grace.
But think about Naaman…
Was it the Jordan River that cleansed him of his leprosy? (no)
Was it dunking himself 7 times in the river that removed his disease? (no)
It was in obeying God’s command and trusting that God would be faithful to His Word. And so it is when we approach the throne of God in willing obedience that God heals us of our inner sickness and disease.
SERMONS IN THIS SERIES
· God of the Box = Mark 6:30-44
· More Than Enough Faith = II Kings 5:1-20
· Standing Up For God = I Kings 17:1-16
· More Than Enough Church = Isaiah 54:1-5
