Glynlea Grace United Methodist Chruch

Scripture

2 Kings 5:1-14

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. ² Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little maid from the land of Israel, and she waited on Naaman's wife. ³ She said to her mistress, "Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy." ⁴ So Naaman went in and told his lord, "Thus and so spoke the maiden from the land of Israel." ⁵ And the king of Syria said, "Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten festal garments. ⁶ And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, "When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy." ⁷ And when the king of Israel read the letter, he rent his clothes and said, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me." ⁸ But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, "Why have you rent your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel." ⁹ So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the door of Elisha's house. ¹⁰ And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean." ¹¹ But Naaman was angry, and went away, saying, "Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper. ¹² Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?" So he turned and went away in a rage. ¹³ But his servants came near and said to him, "My father, if the prophet had commanded you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much rather, then, when he says to you, `Wash, and be clean'?" ¹⁴ So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Focus and Function

Focus: God can do wonderful and amazing things to us and through us. Among these

amazing things is God’s ability to free us from the power of sin. The Holy Spirit

can change our hearts and enable us to resist temptation and love others with

the same type of love God has for us. For this to happen, however, we must

cooperate with God. We cooperate with God through prayer, Bible study,

worship, fasting and good works. Cooperating with God may also involve doing

something that doesn’t seem to make sense to us.

An example of this can be seen in the story of Naaman the leper. In order to be

healed of his disease he had to cooperate by doing something that didn’t make

sense to him. After some hesitation, he decided to cooperate and did as he was

told. Through this action, God healed him. We need to follow this example and

cooperate with God. The upcoming season of Lent is a great opportunity to

become more cooperative with God. We can do this through a special

devotional study, fasting and attending the special worship services. God will

use all these ‘means of grace’ to change us. We will find ourselves becoming

more loving like Jesus Christ.

Function: To encourage the congregation to cooperate with God during Lent through

Bible study, special devotions, fasting, prayer and anything else they feel

God leading them to do.

The Sermon

I. The story of Naaman

A. Naaman: The great Syrian general with leprosy

· Naaman was a great Syrian general who had leprosy. Leprosy was a generic term referring to some type of skin disease. Evidently, this skin disease was bad enough to cause Naaman to go to great lengths to get it cured. He probably tried various home remedies and appealing to his false gods.

- Life application: We all have a ‘leprosy’ that we must deal with from time to time. Our ‘leprosies’ can come in the form of financial troubles, relational problems or illness. Often times, we are like Naaman and try to deal with our ‘leprosy’ on our own, without seeking God’s love and power.

· During that time, it was common for generals to lead their armies on raids into other countries and plunder their food, wealth and women. Naaman recently conducted a raid into Israel. He brought back a young Israeli girl who became his wife’s maid servant.

B. Naaman learns of a possible cure for his leprosy

· The young Israeli girl tells Naaman’s wife that there is a prophet of the one true God in Israel that could heal Naaman. The wife relays the news to Naaman .

· Naaman assumes this prophet is the King of Israel. So, he travels to the king of Israel with a letter signed by the King of Syria. The letter is asking the King of Israel to heal Naaman. The king of Israel responds by exclaiming that he doesn’t possess the power to heal.

- Life application: Like Naaman, we often presume to know who God is going to use or how God is going to do something. We expect great spiritual truths to come from pastors, bishops and other official leaders of the church. The reality is that God can reveal his glory and righteousness through anyone He chooses. God could use a convicted felon to convey truth to a bishop or even the pope.

C. Elisha, the prophet of the one true God, comes to the rescue.

· Elisha learns about what is happening and tells the king of Israel to send Naaman to him

· When Naaman arrived at the entrance to Elisha’a house, Elisha sent a messenger to him with instructions to dip himself seven times into the Jordan river.

· Naaman reacts with royal indignation at such crazy guidance and begins to leave.

· Naaman’s servants advise him to follow the instructions. Afetr all, what does he have to lose?

· Naaman decides to cooperate and follow the instructions. He is then healed. Naaman becomes a worshipper of the one true God.

- Life application (Main point of the sermon): Naaman was not healed until he cooperated with God. Likewise, if we want to be delivered from our sinful nature and used by God to do great and wonderful work, we must cooperate with God. It is God the Holy Spirit who changes us and makes us more loving like Christ. We can’t do this on our own. However, in order for the Holy Spirit to change us, we must cooperate with the Holy Spirit.

II. Cooperating with the Holy Spirit

A. The common ways of cooperating with the Holy Spirit

· Prayer

· Worship

· Bible study

· Fasting

· Serving others in the name of Christ

B. Lent: A season to re-focus our efforts to cooperate with God

· Special devotional during Lent

· Special worship services during Lent: Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunrise service

· Fasting during Lent

- Fast from something that cost money. Donate the saved money to a worthy cause

- Fast from something that takes up time, such as t.v. or playing golf. Use the time saved for a special Bible study.

- Fast from food from sun-up to sun-down (health permitting). Allow the hunger pains to remind you of our utter dependence on God for everything

D. Cooperating with God sometimes means doing something that seems crazy. It sometimes means doing something that doesn’t seem to make any sense.

· Some examples

- When Elaine received a calling to lead a mission trip to Uganda, it seemed crazy to her. Despite the craziness of the idea, she cooperated with God and successfully led a two week mission trip to Uganda in support of the Watoto Child Care ministries (http://www.watoto.com)

- Answering a call to ministry often seems crazy to the person being called.

- The church as a whole may be called to do something that seems crazy.

· When we think we are being called to do something crazy, how do we know it is from God?

- Does it contradict Scripture? Is it something that violates the summation of the Law? (The summation of the Law is love, loving God and loving neighbor)

- Often times, we begin to feel a peace about it

- Look for a confirmation from God

- As long as it doesn’t contradict Scripture or violate the summation of the Law, give it a try and see what happens. If it is from God, God will make it happen. If it’s not from God, it may not happen. If God doesn’t want it to happen, it won’t happen.

III. Conclusion: Cooperation with God begins with repentance and trust. If you have

never repented of your sins and placed your trust in Jesus you can do so right now.

Begin your life long adventure of cooperation with God!!!