It's always a good feeling when you can cross something off your bucket list.
I did that very thing this Wednesday as I sat in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church of Jackson and listened to Tim Keller preach.
When I heard about this opportunity, I was pumped. This man has so much biblical insight. All of his books are so captivating, thought provoking, and helpful. I feel refreshed after reading them, like I have a clearer picture of what was meant by a certain passage in the bible, or a certain book in the bible, etc. The Lord has really blessed him.
My notes from "Encountering God" from 2 Kings 5:1-19 by Tim Keller
1 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 girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of 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 girl 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 changes of clothing. 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 tore 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 torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn 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 stood 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 upon 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, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said 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.
15 Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; so accept now a present from your servant.” 16 But he said, “As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.” And he urged him to take it, but he refused. 17 Then Naaman said, “If not, please let there be given to your servant two mule loads of earth, for from now on your servant will not offer burnt offering or sacrifice to any god but the Lord. 18 In this matter may the Lord pardon your servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon your servant in this matter.” 19 He said to him, “Go in peace.”
Naaman was the commander in chief. He was extremely wealthy, well off in most facets of life, and successful. Yet, he's a leper and here he is, going to seek healing from The God of Israel.
As we read this passage, consider the fact that there are plenty of people who "shouldn't be interested" in encounters with God, but they are.
There are four things we need to pave the way to an encounter with God:
1. Get rid of the illusion of self sufficient (vs. 1)--Naaman had it all, but he was a leper.
It doesn't matter what all you do to make your life great, something WILL come and shake it up--rather it be externally or internally.
We need to believe that we are not sufficient to our own lives. We don't have the wisdom, the virtue, none of it.
The character flaw we have that is most destroying to us, is the one that, by definition, we can't see.
2. You will not seek God until you see that the world can not help you (vs. 7)
Naaman takes all of these clothes, all this money, all of his credentials, etc. and he brings it to show that he is "worthy" of the healing he's asking for.
Israel's God is a transcendent God who is not under the king. He's the true God. He's not a tame God. He doesn't serve the power structure.
If we are going to deal with our problems, we need to realize we can do good, but there are limits. We can not do what God can do. We can not give new hearts and change lives.
3. I need to see that my problem is not my suffering, it's my sin.
"Let him know there is a prophet" (vs. 8) Let Naaman know that Elisha is going to tell him the truth.
When he actually encounters God--what is his response? (vs. 15)
Here we have Naaman, this man who is powerful (by all earthly standards) and all Elisha does is send his servant and simply tells him to "go wash" and Naaman is outraged. He thought the least he deserved was to actually see/her from Elisha himself. Naaman is insulted.
Naaman would have understood had he had to earn this cleansing by some sort of great act of valor but, he wanted to change how Naaman thought, how he felt, and how he perceived things.
The fact of the matter is that ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Christians are poor in sprit even though most of us think we are more in the "middle class" of spirit. We are in fact, all equal, we all fall short, we are all lost and we can only be save by grace.
We must be willing to realize and admit that we have nothing. We have nothing worthy of earning God's grace, that He so freely showers on us.
The hardest thing to admit is that there is nothing you can do to earn salvation.
He had to be humbled to be healed.
How do you know you've had an encounter with God?
1. You have a new grasp on truth.
It changes your mind--let God change your mind.
2. You have a changed attitude toward possessions.
Naaman's attitude changed, especially towards money. He thought he was going to have to use all of his riches to be healed but afterwards, money just became money to him. He realized that the only true wealth is that God loves him and that he is going to live with him forever.
He is the only real security we need.
He is the only real truth there is.
3. We integrate faith with our work.
Testify Christ within my place of work. When we've had an encounter with God, He becomes central to all that I do.
Why can God forgive this man? (Naaman)
The little girl that is spoken of in this passage that suggest to Naaman's wife for him to go to Elisha to be healed is why God can forgive Naaman.
She was brought to Naaman's wife after his armies raided her town, probably killed all of her family and took her away to become a servant to a family that already had "much".
Why isn't she bitter, why isn't she mad, why isn't she angry at Naaman and his wife?
What could she have done? She could have reveled in his disease and kept the knowledge of Elisha, the healer, to herself. BUT, she loves Naaman and his wife. She's concerned about him. She forgave him and that was painful and costly to her in many ways. She very easily could have held that "unknown power" over him. But no, she didn't. When you forgive, truly forgive, you pay the price. You no longer think they should pay for what they've done to you (to someone). You absorb that and let it go. (Dad did a sermon on this once and it was so convicting to me). She was patient in her suffering because she knew that more was to come for her. This wasn't it for her. What STRENGTH that took! What faithfulness to her beliefs that took.
When you look at the bible, when you read the stories, we see something that is fairly consistent throughout--the weak always seem to lead the strong. Salvation comes through weakness.
This little girl points to something else.
Just as the little girl lost her family, Jesus left His Heavenly Father.
Just as the little girl was a servant, Jesus came and was a servant.
Just as the little girl suffered, Jesus came and suffered for us.
Just as the little girl forgave Naaman and his wife, Jesus came and forgave us.
By the weak, for the weak--that's how Christianity works. You must be strong enough to be weak.
There is healing in the God of Israel.
Pay the price of usefulness.
Don't hold on to bitterness.
Forgive.
Admit that you have been saved by grace.
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