Evangelism – Naaman Style

Introduction

I imagine if we took a two-question survey this morning that the results would be quite stark. If the first question of that survey was, do you know that you need to floss your teeth? And if the second question was, do you floss your teeth? You imagine those numbers would be different. For one, I floss every day that I have a dentist appointment. So that if they ask if I floss my teeth, I can honestly say yes.

But we probably don’t. And that’s kind of a silly illustration, but I think the same is probably true of evangelism. That if you’re a Christian, that’s something you know I need to be doing. But if you honestly answered, you might say, but I’m not really doing it. Or I’m not doing it as frequently as I should be.

But maybe one of the reasons that we fail to be as vigilant in that arena as we know we ought to be because maybe we have a little bit of a misunderstanding about what really evangelism is and what my role in that should be. We picture evangelism as this sitting down with somebody at a table with a Bible open. Here is someone who is outside of Christ, and on the other side of the table is the teacher who knows that Bible front to back. That would be able to call to memory any passage of Scripture, any biblical reference, almost with computer accuracy. A teacher who could answer correctly and biblically any Bible question that could be thrown at them, no matter how obscure or random. Someone who is so versed not only in what the scriptures teach, but in what every denomination and religion of the world that’s ever existed, so that they could counter any argument that might be made.

And that’s what we think evangelism is. And so we then say, all right, I’m out. Because that’s not me. I can’t do that. I don’t have that kind of skill. I don’t have that kind of recall, and what little recall and knowledge I have escapes me in the nerves of trying to teach somebody the Bible. And so, though we know we shouldn’t, we just take a pass and say, if that’s evangelism, then I won’t do it. Or I can’t do it. Or I’ll rarely do it. We know that’s no excuse, but we don’t really know what else to do. The next coming months, I want to do some lessons on the subject of evangelism. And maybe to encourage you to be as active as you know you ought to be.

That there are many roles that you might take and fulfill in the subject of evangelism. If you have your Bible with you, I have my Bible opened up to 2 Kings chapter 5, a familiar text of Scripture. In 2 Kings chapter 5, we have the familiar story of the healing of Naaman. And we turn to this story many times as preachers and teachers. Most of the time we turn to this to use it as an illustration of obedience, of how important it is to do what God tells us to do. Sometimes we turn to 2 Kings 5 to talk about exactness in obedience, that we have to do exactly what God tells us to do. But this morning I’d like to take a curious turn and use the story of the healing of Naaman from his leprosy as an illustrated story about evangelism.

Let’s just, rather than read the 14 verses of 2 Kings chapter 5 that you’re familiar with, just trying to retell the story, as you maybe try to follow along in the text about the story of the healing of Naaman. Naaman was a very powerful man. He was a citizen of one of the most powerful countries at the time, the kingdom of Syria. He wasn’t just a citizen of Syria, he was the commander of the army of Syria. He was a great man, a noble man, and his master, the king, knew that. But Naaman had leprosy. You know what leprosy is, or what it was. Horrible disease. Incurable at his time. Not only was it a chronic, a terminal disease, but it was a slow, painful, excruciating, humiliating pathway to death.

For your flesh literally rotted. And parts of your body literally just began to fall off as you were slowly eating away your flesh and dying. But Naaman was the commander of the army, and one of the perks of being the commander of the army of Syria is that when your soldiers went out and raided villages and cities and towns, that sometimes they would bring back some captives, and those captives could become your servants. And in one such raid, they brought back an Israelite girl. And she became the maiden to Naaman’s wife. And somewhere in the course of her duties and getting to know her new employers better, she made this comment to her master. She said to Naaman’s wife, I wish my Lord was back in Israel.

Because there’s a man there who could heal him of his leprosy. One sentence. One statement. And so Naaman receives that message from his wife. Naaman then goes to the king of Syria and says what this young maiden girl has said that there’s somebody in Israel that can heal this. And so the king thought so much of Naaman, knew the important role that he played, and so he sent Naaman along with ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. And sends him to the king of Israel, Jehoram, and says, Heal this man. The king of Israel, receiving Naaman in this message, thinks it’s just some kind of trap. I don’t have the power to heal a disease like that. He’s setting me up so that when I can’t do this, then he can use that as an excuse to go to war against me.

Surely that’s what’s going on here. Elisha, the prophet, who was the one that the maiden girl is actually talking about, heard of this story and sent word to the king and says, Send that man to me, so that he might know that there’s a prophet in Israel. And so Naaman and his entourage come to the place where Elisha is, and Elisha just simply sends a messenger out and says, Here’s what you do. You want to be cured of your leprosy, you go down to the dirty Jordan River and you dip seven times and you’ll be made whole. Well, we know the story, don’t we? Naaman was enraged. Naaman thought, this is not the way I thought this was going to happen. I surely thought that he was going to come out and he was going to wave his arms over me and do some grand demonstration and heal the leprosy that way.

And even this, by the way, aren’t there better rivers than Damascus that I could dip in? The Abananon, the Farpar, aren’t they better rivers than the Jordan River? And so he just refused to do it and went away in a rage. But at some point his servants came to him and said, Naaman. If he’d have told you to do something great like you had imagined, wouldn’t you have done it to be healed? So why not just do this simple thing that you’ve been commanded? And they persuaded him. And so finally he humbled himself, went down to the Jordan River, dipped seven times, and sure enough, just as the prophet Elisha had said, he was healed of that horrible, deadly disease. And went back to his home, cleansed and whole.

When we think about that wonderful story of someone being cured of an incurable disease, of someone really being given the sentence of life rather than that of death. I want us to think about the five peoples that were involved in the story of the healing of Naaman. And how integral all five of these parties were to the healing of Naaman. I think that you could argue effectively from the text that if any one of these five parties did not do their part, did not fulfill their role, that Naaman never would have been healed. Let’s think, go through the story again and think of the five parties. There was first the little maid girl from Israel. We might call her the initiator. She’s the one that got the whole story started, isn’t she?

If she hadn’t made the observation, if she hadn’t spoken up to her master and said, I wish that Naaman could go to Israel, because there’s a man there that can heal her. Nahman never would have been healed. If she hadn’t made that one request, that one statement to the lady that she worked for. I wish she could go to the prophet in Israel. Now, one thing we know about the maid girl is she did not have the power to heal the disease. It seems from the telling of the story that she didn’t know a whole lot about it. All that she knew was there’s somebody in Israel who can help him. And so she got the story started. And then there’s Elisha. Elisha was the messenger.

He’s the one who had the power. He’s the one who had, he didn’t really have the power. He had the power of God. And he was the messenger or the conduit for that power of God. God has always used messengers, hasn’t he? You ever notice that? Observe that even in the book of Acts, the book of conversions, where people after people are converted to Christ, that God never worked upon them directly. He always sent a messenger. Even when God himself was involved, or an angel of God or the Holy Spirit was involved, that was always involved in sending a messenger. The Holy Spirit, the angels, the God never went directly to that lost sinner and acted upon them. God, the angels, the Holy Spirit always went to the messenger and said, You go.

And you talk to them. God’s always had a plan. You think about Noah and the Ark. You think Joshua and the walls of Jericho. God’s always had a plan that people needed to follow in order to receive the blessing from God. Don’t confuse the power of God for the plan of God. The plan of God does not diminish the power of God. And God had a plan. God had a messenger, and that messenger was Elisha. He’s the one who knew what to do. And what’s interesting about this messenger and his message, that in this story, at least, the message was far different than the recipient expected. It wasn’t what he wanted to hear. It’s not what he thought he was going to hear. And that’s so telling, isn’t it?

That’s often the way it is with the message of God. That it’s often not what man either wants to hear or what he expects to hear. But it’s still the message of God. One thing interesting before we get to the next party that’s involved in the healing of Naaman, one interesting thing about Elisha is that not only was he a messenger, he was a faithful messenger, because he was unwilling to compromise that message, to change that message. Did he receive word, did he hear that Naaman was upset? This powerful commander of the army of Syria was upset that he expected something else. If he did, there’s no indication that Elisha thought anything about it. He didn’t come out of his home and say, okay, all right, if that’s the way you want it, then we can do it that way.

Or if you’d rather do it in one of these other rivers, then we’re not going to push that. Rivers are rivers, you’re right. Okay, you can go. He was unwilling to compromise the message. As a faithful messenger of God. Another integral part in the saving of Naaman, the healing of Naaman were the servants. All indications are from the attitude, it says twice in the text that the reaction that Naaman had to the message of Elisha. It says he was enraged or infuriated. Later it says he went away in a rage. All indications are that Naaman was not going to comply with the message of God. That he was not going to do what he was told that he needed to do in order to be healed.

So much so that if the servants hasn’t stepped in, it seems he’d went back to Syria a leper. But those servants were the voice of reason and just simply went to him and said, why not? If he’d have told you to do some grand thing, you would have complied with that, then why not? They were the voice of reason in this story. Then it’s important that we not forget the most important party in the healing of Naaman, and that’s God the healer. These other people were important, and maybe even integral to the story. But their role, whether it was the initiator, the little maid, whether it was the messenger himself, the prophet Elisha, whether it was the servants or whether it’s we’re going to see Naaman himself, they all were playing a part in getting this man to God.

1. We Need Initiators Like the Maiden Girl

That’s what it was all about. Was connecting this man, this leper, with the healer, God. And it seems that they never lost sight of that. Certainly Elisha never did. And then, of course, there’s Naaman, the one who was healed. He had a big part in his healing. At first he didn’t, but when he finally heard the voice of reason, he complied. After the maid gave the suggestion, after Elisha gave the message, after the servants encouraged, Naaman finally did his part. And God healed him. And so hey, we have the five parties involved in the healing of Naaman. And I know you’re probably way ahead of me already in making the application to evangelism. We need initiators. Like the maiden girl. One part of evangelism, one very important role in evangelism is being the initiator.

To being the one, whether it’s a family member or a co-worker or a classmate or a neighbor, of simply just getting the ball rolling. Of just inviting somebody to a Bible study, inviting someone to a worship service, or you knew the gratuitous advertisement was coming, or inviting somebody to a gospel meeting. These forms are in the table in the foyer as you leave, if you go out this door.

Just three names and addresses of people that you’ll initiate the conversation with and invite to our gospel meeting. If you were here last Sunday, you know what I plan to do with that. Just take those names and addresses, and I’m going to send them a personal letter. They’re not going to be on a mailing list. They’re going to get one correspondence through this action. They’ll get one letter. I promise to be polite, sweet in that letter. All I’m going to say is that you gave me their name, that you said you were going to invite them, and I want to invite them as well. And I want to tell them what to expect. Because sometimes people don’t know what to expect when they come to a different church.

And I want to tell them what to expect when they come to the South Bumbee Church of Christ. What to expect when they come to a gospel meeting that’s held here. And just invite them to the gospel meeting. You can be that little maid, that initiator. You know, it’s a frightening yet humbling thought sometimes to realize that you may be the closest that somebody will ever come to knowing the truth. There’s somebody that you know that you’re the closest person to them coming to the truth. They may not know anybody else who’s a child of God. Or if they know somebody else, they may not know them as well as they know you. Or if they know somebody else, maybe they’re more bashful than you are about sharing the truth.

But you can be that initiator, that one that just simply says, would you come to a gospel meeting? Would you come to a worship service at Bumby? I’m going to go to the meetup that Greg’s doing. Would you come with me just one time to see what it’s like? That’s, by the way, evangelism. And that’s an integral part of evangelism. Elisha was in Israel with the message, with the power endured by God to be able to heal this man of leprosy. But nothing would have happened. If this little maid hadn’t said, I wish Naaman could go to Israel where there’s a man who can heal people of leprosy. We need initiators. We need those that would make simply a little suggestion. We know we need people who know the power of God.

2. We Need Messengers Like Elisha

We need people who understand Romans chapter 1 and verse 16 that says, I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation. We need those initiators. We need messengers like Elisha. We need those who know the message of God. We need those who are entrusted with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Look over in the book of 1 Peter, chapter 4. And these messengers play a very important role. Preachers are messengers of God who have been entrusted with the message of God. And we need these kind of messengers who will do what Peter said he was entrusted to do. In 1 Peter 4, verse 11, he says, if anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.

3. We Need Persuaders Like the Servants

Amen. We need messengers who will simply convey the message. Will it many times be different than what they expected to hear? Yeah. Will it many times be something that they didn’t want to hear? Yeah. But we need messengers who will simply speak as the oracles of God and say, here’s the message. Do so in a loving way. Do so in a way and would try to impart the message so it can be understood by the listener, but to do so in an uncompromising way. God chose preaching as the way to convey his message to people. And we must not be ashamed of that. We need messengers. But we also need persuaders. Maybe this is your role. We need the persuaders like the servants. Think about those servants when Elisha had given the message, the maid had said, here’s where you need to go to hear the message to receive the healing.

And when Naaman just went away infuriated. How different would the story have been if those servants hadn’t come to him and said, Why don’t you do what you know you need to do? I want to tell you, I’ve seen so many people obey the gospel because of persuaders. They’ve heard the message. Now maybe the message was not what they wanted to hear. It was different than what they expected to hear. Or maybe there was another reason that they were hesitant to obey the gospel until some persuader went to them and said, You know you need to. Why don’t you? I know this is going to be broadcast over the internet, so I’m going to change the names or leave names out to protect the innocent. But I know a man who heard literally hundreds of gospel sermons.

He would come with his wife, but never obeyed the gospel. Every local preacher had either set up a study with him or tried to set up with a study with him. He had heard sermon after sermon, had attended gospel meeting after gospel meeting. There was no question he had heard the message and knew what he needed to do. But there was something there. I don’t know what it was. There was something there that was keeping him from doing what he needed to do. Kind of like Naaman.

Just a couple years ago. Member of the church called this man up one day, just during the week, and said, What are you doing? And he said, Oh, I’m just kind of working around the house here. Why? And this persuader said this. I was just seeing if you were home. Because I’m going to come over to your house and baptize you today. Man was taken aback a little bit. He said, You’re going to what? And he says, Your daughter has a pool, don’t they? Yeah. I’m going to come over and we’re going to baptize you today. Now I know that’s an unorthodox approach.

And I’m sure this person wouldn’t have twisted his arm behind his back and forced him into that pool to be baptized. But he knew that here was somebody who knew the truth. Who knew what he needed to do in order, but there was just something stopping him. But here was somebody, not the preacher, but just somebody that said, like the servant said to Naeman. What are you waiting on? You can fulfill that role. And by the way, that’s evangelism. You know somebody who’s been studying. You know somebody who’s been attending, who’s heard the truth. And you can be that persuader that just goes to them and says, why don’t you obey the gospel? You know, I’ve noticed a trend. You’ve probably noticed it too. When I was a child growing up, ninety-five percent, maybe even higher than that, of the people who obeyed the gospel did so during a service.

During when the invitation song was sung. They came forward. We just kind of thought that’s the way you had to do it. I’m seeing a trend, and I like the trend. Most people I see baptized today, don’t come forward during the invitation song. They’re not baptized on a Sunday morning or on a Sunday night or even on a Wednesday night. It’s some day of the week. That they call somebody or somebody calls them. Now, don’t misunderstand me. When the invitation song is sung, you need to obey it, step forward. But we need to understand that we can obey the gospel at any time. That someone can be persuaded at any time to obey the gospel. And that’s what it’s all about. I want to tell you, just to illustrate that, tell you about the shortest sermon I’ve ever preached.

And you’re probably thinking, just preach it. Don’t tell us about it. The shortest sermon I ever preached was in Joplin, Missouri. At evening services, and evening services were about to get started, and there was a young man that we’d been studying with, and he was very bashful. He wasn’t, quote, raised in the church, and so he didn’t maybe know all of the mechanics of how things were done, and he thought things had to be done a certain way, and he was very, very bashful. And so he came to me before services and he says, Now, Ken, I don’t want you to know. I didn’t want to shock you anything, but when the invitation song is sung, I’m going to come forward, I want to be baptized.

And I told him, I said, Well, then let’s do it right now. We don’t know what might happen in between services. You could have a heart attack, you know, in the first song. I said, let’s do it now. No, no, I don’t want to disrupt things. I want to do it the right. When the invitation song is sung, I’m going to come forward. And I said, No, let’s do it now. We’ll delay the start of services. And he says, No, no. And so I said, Okay, let me get this right. I have your word that when the invitation song is sung, you’re going to come forward. Yes. You’re not going to back out. And he said, Yes. So we sang two songs of prayer song. I got up to preach.

And I said, This is going to be the shortest sermon I ever preached. But if you’ll get your song books out, we’re going to sing an invitation song. And if anybody needs to obey the gospel, do so now as we stand and sing. Shortest sermon I ever preached. And I was staring right at this young man the whole time I was saying that. And he grinned, kind of that, okay, you got me grin. And he stepped out in the aisle and came forward. You see, you don’t have to wait till the invitation song, you song. You don’t have to wait until some worship service to go to somebody and say, you know you need to go to the Jordan River and be dipped seven times. Why not do it?

4. We Need a Healer: God

We need persuaders. And you can do that. Obviously, we need a healer. We need God. That’s what the whole story of Naaman is about. That’s what everything is about. Everybody, whether you’re an initiator, whether you’re the messenger, whether you’re the persuader, understand that your role is to bring people to God. If we put focus upon God and quit putting focus upon us and our role in it, then maybe we’ll do more than what we ought to do in evangelism. Because it’s all about God. It’s all about getting that leper to God who can heal them of that leprosy. Romans chapter 4. In verse 21 tells us this about our healer.

And something that we must remember. And speaking of the faith of Abraham, that Abraham had in God, he had this type of faith in God. Do you have this kind of faith in God, in the healer, in the saver of people’s souls? It says of Abraham, Romans 4, verse 21, that he was fully convinced that what he, that is God, what he had promised, he was also able to perform. If we have that kind of faith in God, we’ll overcome whatever obstacles, whatever awkwardness there might be in approaching somebody and initiating a conversation, setting down and studying with somebody, or being the persuader who puts their arm around somebody and says, Why don’t you? If we’re fully convinced that God is able to perform what he’s promised to perform.

5. We Need People to Be Healed Like Naaman

Lastly, and here’s the invitation. We need people to be healed like Naaman. We need people who recognize that what they have is a deadly disease. An incurable deadly disease. That they’re lost and they’re separated from their God. We need people who will listen to the message, even when it’s not what they thought it was going to be, even when it’s not what they wanted it to be, but who will finally and humbly say, okay, I need to be healed. I need to be saved. You know, you think about Naaman, it’s easy to criticize him and going off in a huff and saying, I thought he was going to do this, why can’t I go and do that? But it took a lot for him to finally humble himself and listen to his servants and listen to Elisha and listen to that little maiden girl and go and do what he was told to do.

Conclusion

And he’s to be applauded for that. For finally, it took him a while, but to finally, humbly come to the knowledge of the truth and to do what he was told to do. Are you at that point in your life? Maybe you’ve resisted it at times, maybe even in a rage, been upset that somebody’s told you something different. Well, that’s not the way I always believed it. That’s not the way my parents did it. That’s not the way I think it ought to be. Are you ready like Naaman to just humbly say, okay? I have a disease that I’m dying from. There’s no human cure. But there’s a healer. There’s a savor who’s willing to give me life again. I recognize in an audience such as this, it’s difficult, it’s awkward to step out into that aisle, to walk forward, and to say I’ve sinned, and that I’m lost, and that I’m dying.

But you’ve got approximately 200 persuaders here this morning who want nothing but the best for you. Who are encouraging, hoping and praying that you’ll have the humility of heart that Naaman had. Would you come right now, as together we stand and as we speak.