Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity
Sermons. This week we're beginning a brand new
teaching series called Filed Away, where we're
going to dive into one chapter of one book in
the Old Testament. We're going to go into 2 Kings
chapter 5, where we hear about the story of Naaman.
And Naaman seems to have it all. He's really
successful in his career, he's well -liked, he's
got lots of money, but Naaman has one problem.
And that problem leads him to God. So let's ask
together, how do people come to seek God? And
how does God meet us in our seeking? Today's
reading is from 2 Kings 5, verses 1 -15. Now
Naaman was commander of the army of the king
of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his
master and highly regarded, because though him
the Lord had given victory to Aram, he was a
valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. Now bands
of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken
captive a young girl from Israel, and she served
Naaman's way. She said to her mistress, if only
my master would see the prophet who was in Samaria,
he would cure him of his leprosy. Naaman went
to his master and told him what the girl from
Israel had said. By all means go, the king of
Aram replied. I will send a letter to the king
of Israel. So Naaman left, taking with him ten
talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold,
and ten sets of clothing. The letter that he
took to the king of Israel read, With this letter
I am sending my servant Naaman to you, so that
you may cure him of his leprosy. As soon as the
king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes
and said, Am I God? Can I kill and bring back
to life? Why does this fellow send someone to
me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he's trying
to pick a quarrel with me? When Elisha, the man
of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn
his robes, he sent him this message. Why have
you torn your robes? Have the man come to me
and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.
So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and
stopped at the door of Elisha's house. Elisha
sent a messenger to say to him, Go wash yourself
seven times in the Jordan and your flesh will
be restored and you will be cleansed. But Naaman
went away angry and said, I thought that he would
surely come out to me, stand and call on the
name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over
the spot, and cure me of my leprosy. Are not
Abana and Farpar, the rivers of Damascus, better
than all the waters of Israel? Can I wash them
and be cleansed? So he turned and went off in
a rage. Naaman's servants went to him and said,
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? 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. 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. The word of the Lord. In August of
2022, something really strange happened down
in Palm Beach, Florida. At 8 .31 on August 8th,
FBI agents arrived at Mar -a -Lago, the personal
residence of President Donald Trump. And they
came with a search warrant that had been derived
after months of subpoenas and surveillance. And
the charge was this. retention of classified
documents. Could it be? Could it be that President
Trump was hiding in his own house classified
and secret files? Well, agents poured into his
house and they went to work searching everywhere.
They searched under the floorboards, nothing.
They searched through the ceiling tiles, nothing.
They searched under the mattress, nothing. But
then Eureka, the motherlode, they found them
hiding in plain. over 100 classified files, some
of them marked top secret, not hidden in a secure
facility, not hidden behind some false wall,
but hidden in the bathroom. That's right. There
they were. They were stacked beside the toilet.
They were stacked beside the sink. They were
stacked beside the shower. It was strange but
true. I mean, who doesn't enjoy a little light
reading when they're on the can, I guess. Which
leaves us with two questions. Two questions.
How could something so important be hidden in
such an ordinary place? And the second question
is, what was in those files that he decided he
had to hold onto them so carefully? Now, someone
knows the answer to that question. It's certainly
not me. But we can all rest easy knowing that
this case is now in the hands of the... Justice
Department, and the FBI of the United States
of America. I'm probably going to be on a no
-fly list now for saying all this. Speaking of
investigations, though, this morning we are opening
another file. This is a file that has been hidden
for a long, long time. It hasn't been hidden
in Florida. It's not hidden in Washington, but
it's hidden in our own Bibles. If you were to
flip through your Bible, you would eventually
come to this one file, just really one page of
your Bible that I like to call the Naaman file.
And it's this little story. It's tucked away
in 2 Kings chapter... Chapter 5, it's hidden
in plain sight. I mean, if you are not paying
attention, you are going to go right past it.
And you might say, well, okay, fine, Rob. The
Bible is full of stuff that I've never read.
Why is this one page, this one file so important?
I mean, if it's so important, why is it hidden
away? It can't be that important. You're wrong.
You're wrong, actually. There is more here, something
more transformative, something more revealing,
something more important is here in the name
and file than anywhere in the file. files of
Mar -a -Lago. So for the next three weeks, this
is what we're going to do. We're going to leaf
through the Naaman file together. And we are
going to see that though this case has in some
ways been closed for like 2 ,500 years, I mean,
this story happened 500 years before Jesus was
even born. It's the mother load, folks. It has
everything. It contains everything that you need
to know about two really, really important questions.
Why do people seek God? And secondly, how do
people find God? Those are the two questions
we're going to tackle today. You received some
sermon notes when you came in, so you can kind
of follow along and make sure that we all get
the most out of the name and file. But let's
just start with this first question. Why do people
seek God? What causes someone to go on a search
to find God? What has to be going on in their
lives? I have to tell you that the story of Naaman
that we just read, Naaman is the... most unlikely
person to go seeking for God and to find God.
First of all, Naaman is a Syrian general. And
the Syrians were like arch enemies of the Israelites.
In fact, even at this time, I believe they were
engaged in a war. And even at this time, I believe
that Syria, Naaman and his armies were in fact
victorious or winning the war against Israel.
So why? Why would Naaman, a rich guy, a powerful
guy, an accomplished guy, an all -around good
guy, why would he, a Syrian commander, go to
Israel? Israel seeking for God. He had everything.
It would be like if you found out that Elon Musk
was sneaking into the back of Trinity services
to listen to the sermons. Why? Would he do that?
Why do people seek after God? Maybe you've heard
about this so -called Gen Z revival. Have you
guys heard about this? This idea that people
who are in Generation Z are flocking back to
churches. They're rediscovering Christianity.
It makes for great headlines. Although it must
be said that just this past week, Pew Research
published an article that said, okay, okay, okay.
They're not actually all flocking back to church.
And maybe we've embellished the numbers a bit,
but they are searching, right? Generation Z is
searching. They're Googling for things at 2 a
.m. They're journaling, right? They're praying
under their covers. They're scrolling through
TikToks about spirituality. But why? Why do people
seek God? Maybe a better question is, why are
you seeking God? Why do you see? Why did you?
seek after God? Guys, the answers are all in
the Naaman file. So let's open the file and see
what we can find. Here is the first answer to
the question, why people seek God. According
to the Naaman file, people seek God when they
finally come to this place where they realize
that they cannot help themselves, where they
realize they are out of their depth, and they
realize that they do not have the ability. They
do not have the self -sufficiency to solve their
own problems. I mean, let's look at Naaman. Naaman
was probably the most talented, most capable
person you would ever meet. I mean, verse 1 reads
like a resume. Naaman, he was a commander of
the army. He was a great man. He was highly regarded.
He was victorious. He was a valiant soldier.
I mean, this guy is amazing. Do you know that
even the name Naaman, do you know what it means?
It means pleasant. Naaman was a good guy. He
had every single thing going for him. He was
successful. He was strong. He was popular. He
was pleasant. This file reads like a profile
piece, right? Until you get to one sentence that
changes everything. But he had leprosy. That
terrible, wasting skin disease. And here it is
that we realize. Sometimes there are problems
you just can't fix for yourself. No matter how
great your resume might be, no matter how wonderful
of a designer life you might have created for
yourself, right? There is always something. There
will always be something you can't handle. There
will always be something that will come along
and ruin everything. And it might come from the
outside. right it might be like the death of
a loved one it might be like a relationship broke
down for you maybe the doctor called and and
you found out you had an illness maybe it was
a financial crisis you were going through or
relational betrayal i tell you no amount of success
no amount of power no amount of of achievement
can shield you from those things that are gonna
come and happen to you or or maybe or maybe It
all started from the inside, right? Anxiety that
destroyed you, resentment that brought you down,
bitterness, addiction, you know, pride. I don't
know. The point is that at some point, something
is going to rise up and it is going to take you
down. And you will realize at that moment that
all your self -sufficiency cannot help you. It
isn't enough. It never was enough. You don't
have what it takes to overcome your problems.
And it is at that point. And it is probably not
until you come to that point that you will start
really, really seeking God. I mean, Naaman's
file, it looks flawless. Maybe your file looks
flawless too, by the way. You're all some pretty
accomplished people here this morning. But I'll
tell you, every case, every file has something
in it, something hidden that reveals the truth.
We aren't as strong as we look. We can't handle
things on our own. We need help. We need God.
That's the first reason why people go seeking
for God. This second one, by the way, in your
notes has a bit of a typo. But there's another
reason why people go seeking for God. And it's
not just that we realize that we can't help ourselves.
It's actually we realize that the world can't
help us either. Other people can't help us either.
The system can't help us either. You see, when
Naaman realizes that he can't help himself, what
does he do? He goes looking to the world for
help. He heard that, oh, maybe there's someone
down in Israel who could help him. And so he
says, I know how the world works. I know how
the world works. I know how to get what I want
from the world. And so he heads off to Israel
and he takes with him the three things that he
thinks get you what you want in the world. He
takes money. He takes his connections. And, of
course, he goes taking his own power. But because
that's how the world works, right? He takes money.
He takes lots of money. You know, scholars argue
over how much money this is. Some people say
like Naaman could very well have been like a
billionaire, that kind of money. Why would he
take so much money? Because that's how the world
works. That's how you get things from the world.
Money talks. Money gets you things, right? Second,
he takes his connections. I find this funny.
Naaman had all these connections with all the
people at the top, the people at the very top.
He has a letter of reference from the king himself
that he takes down to Syria because Naaman knows
that in the world, you know how you get things
done? It's not what you know. It is who you know.
And that's why he goes looking for help. And
where does he go when he's looking for help?
He goes. To Israel, and he goes straight to the
top there. He goes straight to the king there,
right? He says, king, from my king to your king,
here is a letter of reference. I'm here to get
the help I need. Look at the connections I have.
Now give me what I want. But the world can't
give him what he wants. And the third thing is,
he goes with all his power. We're going to see
this a little later in the reading, but Naaman.
is fully prepared to do anything to get his cure.
He is willing to do the most courageous task
to accomplish the bravest feat, whatever it will
take, whatever he must do, he is willing to do
it to earn his cure. He's got the money. He's
got the connections. He's got the power. And
usually if you have these things, then you can
get what you want from the world. But Naaman
finds out those things aren't going to help him
either. When he gets to Israel and he brings
all his money and all his connections and power
to the king, the king of Israel starts freaking
out. He's like, well, what are you doing? I can't
help you. He says, you think I'm God? You think
I can sort out your problem for you? Can I bring
people back to life? You think I can heal you?
You think that's how it works down here? I don't
even know where to begin. He starts ripping his
clothing. He is so frustrated. Naaman, he says,
that's not how it works. That's not how it works.
You want healing. I can't help you with that.
If you want healing, you can't get that here,
right? The world can't give that to you. That
is something only God can give you. Now, I don't
think we should be too hard on Naaman because
in many ways, we're all just like Naaman, right?
When we have trouble, where do we go, right?
We look to money. We look to our connections.
We look to our own power. We go to the top. We
go to the top doctors. We go to the top lawyers.
We go to the top scholars. Go to the top authors.
We listen to the top podcasts, whatever. We're
always looking to the world to get the answers
to our big problems. But Naaman ends up learning
what we all have to learn. And that is all of
us will come to a point, and actually maybe some
of you here, you've already come to this point
through life experience, where we're going to
realize that not only can we not help ourselves,
But the world also can't help us either. And
until we realize those two things, we really
won't turn to God. And we really won't start
seeking after God. Now, if that is where the
name and file ended, it'd be a pretty sad file,
depressing. Might as well just put it in the
paper shredder and forget about it. But no, there
is more. to this file than that. Because the
file doesn't just tell us why people seek for
God. It actually ends up telling us how people
end up finding God. If you read the name and
file carefully, you will see he discovers, again,
he discovers two things. And they are, in fact,
the same two discoveries that all of us must
come to if we are really going to find God in
our lives. I'm telling you guys, the name and
file is super important. super important. Here
is the first thing we learn from the Naaman file,
that if we want to find God, that will only happen
when we finally figure out what our real need
is. When we finally figure out what our biggest
problem really is. You see, Whatever problem
you have, whatever problem you have, we need
to realize that our presenting problem is actually
not our biggest problem. Whatever we think we
need, we have to understand that our biggest
need is actually not our biggest need. There
are problems, bigger problems beyond your problems.
And there is a bigger need beyond your needs.
So I'm just going to come out and say it and
then we can talk about it. But the biggest need
we have. is to have a relationship with God.
The biggest problem we have in life is when we
don't have a relationship with God. Now, I am
not trying to downplay or minimize any needs
or any problems that we may have in our lives
or downplay any of the real needs and real struggles
and real problems that we see in our world all
the time. But I will say this, no matter how
big the need, There is one need that is above
them all. We need a relationship with God. Put
another way. We don't just need something from
God. We need God. We need God more than we need
a solution to our problem. So, you know, maybe
you would say, well, then my biggest need, in
fact. is not my need to get a job. My biggest
need is not to get healed. My biggest need, I
mean, these are all real needs, but my biggest
need is not to get out of debt. Our biggest need
is a relationship with God. That is the first
step to finding God. Do you guys remember this
story? Remember the story from the New Testament
in the Bible? where four friends bring this paralyzed
man to Jesus. It's a very familiar story. It
seems obvious when they bring their paralyzed
friend to Jesus what his need is. Obviously,
he needs to walk. Jesus, he's paralyzed. But
then Jesus says to the man, he says, son, your
sins are forgiven. And I'm sure his friends were
like. Yeah, okay, but obviously that's not what
we brought him here for. To which Jesus would
probably say, well, that just goes to show you
don't know what his deepest need is. The real
problem isn't that he can't walk. The real problem
is that he doesn't have a relationship with God.
The real problem is that he's not right with
God. Naaman. Had leprosy. Yes, that is a real
problem. But he also had no connection with the
living God of Israel. And that is the bigger
problem. Now, I know you can look at the story
and you can say, ah, Rob, but look, see, see,
God does heal Naaman. God does solve his problem.
But if you look closer, look closer. When Naaman
was cured. Notice what he says when he comes
up out of the water and his flesh is restored.
He looks like a newborn baby. He says to Elisha,
he says, thanks for meeting my need. No, that's
not what he says. Let me read that again. He
says, thanks for solving my problem. No, he doesn't
say that either. If you look at what does he
say? He says, now I know. that there is no God
in all the world except in Israel. Now I know
God. The leprosy was gone. Yes, but more than
that, he had finally encountered the living God.
Naaman went down to Israel looking for a cure
to leprosy, but what he found was God. Naaman
washed seven times in the Jordan River, but not
only did he develop new skin, he developed a
new faith. And this is true of all people who
find God. People who find God don't just find
a solution, they find a savior. They come to
realize that the problem that they thought they
had wasn't in fact their biggest problem, the
bigger problem. Was that they actually didn't
know God. That they didn't have a relationship
with God. You this morning. Again you might have
financial problems. You might have relationship
problems. These are real real problems. I'm not
downplaying them. But they're not your biggest
need. Your biggest need. Is to have a relationship
with God. Because if you had that. And this is
important. If you had that. Then you would actually
find. That these other problems don't destroy
you. They don't consume you. They don't ruin
you. Why? Because you've got this other thing.
You've got this something, this someone, this
God who is more significant than anything else
and therefore gives you a surety and a confidence
and a hope and a security in your life that you
can get through anything if you have that God.
You know, in other words, people who find God.
They don't just find the answer to a problem,
right? They find a God who will walk them through
any problem. That's what the Naaman file shows
us. All people who come to God and find God must
first figure out what their real need is. But
lastly, lastly, everyone who finds God. also
discovers what Naaman discovered. And that is
that our salvation is something that we receive.
It is not something that we achieve. This, I
would say, is the most important finding in the
whole of the Naaman file. Here's what happens.
When Naaman goes to the prophet Elijah's place
and he goes to get his healing, he ends up being
really, really upset. Why is he upset? Well,
for three reasons, really. First, Naaman's upset
because the prophet didn't even come out to meet
with him. And so he's like, doesn't he know who
I am? Doesn't he know how important of a person
I am? Why doesn't he even come out in person?
He just sends his servant out to give me a message.
I'm an important guy. See, he's already being
humbled here, okay? Secondly, Naaman wanted Elisha
to conjure up some Harry Potter spell and do
some spectacular thing. So that he would feel
special like that. But Elisha won't do that either.
And the reason is because Elisha wants to make
very clear that this healing he's about to get
is from God and not from Elisha. But third, and
I think this is the most significant one. Naaman's
upset because he wanted to do something. He wanted
to do some mighty thing for God. Like Bilbo.
He wanted to go to the Lonely Mountain and kill
the dragon himself. Or like Frodo. He wanted
to take the ring of power. And he wanted to go
to Mount Doom and throw it in there. Or like
Dorothy. Go and get me the broomstick of the
Wicked Witch of the West. Naaman would have said,
I can do it. I will go do it. I'll accomplish
it on my own. This is how Naaman. thought that
salvation works, strong people, people like Naaman,
they should be able to earn it. That's what they
want to do. I don't know if you guys remember
the story of Hercules. Hercules, to attain eternal
life, Hercules had to do these 12 like incredible
tasks. He had to kill the Nemean lion. He had
to clean out the Aegean stables in like one day.
And I got to tell you, this idea is deeply, deeply
embedded in each and every one of us that to
get God's blessing, surely, surely, surely, there's
something I have to do to earn it. But just go
wash in a river. Any idiot can do that. Any child
could go and do that. A weakling could do that.
Wait, Naaman says, are you saying that there
is no difference between me and people like that?
And that is exactly what Elisha is saying. Exactly
what God is saying. It's exactly what Paul said
in Romans 3, 23. For all have sinned. All have
sinned. and fallen short of the glory of God.
There is no difference between the prostitute
and the king. There is no difference between
the beggar and the commander. Everyone is in
the same boat. Salvation is not something that
you achieve. It is something that you receive.
And actually... And actually the servants of
Naaman know this better. They're like, listen,
listen, listen, master, master, before you run
away, before you go all the way back to Syria
without your cure, listen, if he had asked you
to do something really hard, if he had asked
you to go and, you know, slay the lion or whatever,
you would have done it, right? So why don't you
do it if it's kind of easy, right? But here's
the thing, it's not easy. This is, in fact, the
hardest thing for Naaman to do. You might think
it's easy for him to go wash in a river, but
it turns out that was his kryptonite. That was
the hardest thing to do. And maybe you can relate.
Maybe you can relate because you want to earn
it, right? God, I will go to church every week.
I want to earn it. God, I will give you 10 %
of my income. I want to earn it. God, I will
volunteer. I will serve. I will give. I will
do all those things. Then maybe I too can earn
my salvation. But here is the thing. And I love
this quote from Tim Keller. He says this, the
great thing we must do to receive our salvation
is to admit there is no great thing to do. Isn't
that a great line? And so here is the great deed
for Naaman to do. To admit there's no great deed
to do. This is the biggest finding in the whole
Naaman file. If you get this, then you have cracked
the case. And when we discover this, when he
discovers this, he's cured. And not only is he
cured, but as we're going to see next week, his
whole life begins to be transformed. And just
winding down here now. You might say, well, okay.
How is that even possible? How is it possible
that there is nothing that we can do? How is
it possible that our salvation costs us nothing?
It's because of this. It's because the great
thing that Naaman thought he could do, somebody
else would actually do for him. Somebody else
was going to go slay the dragon. The dragon of
evil. The dragon of death. On the cross, Jesus
did all that needs to be done. And guess what?
He did it by grace. So now we're saved by grace.
We are saved through faith. Look at it. And it
is a gift for Naaman and for you and for me.
That's why all we have to do is just go and wash.
Go and wash. All of this is in the Naaman file.
Naaman was a great, great person, just like many
of you. I think you are all great people, right?
But he was still clueless until he realized what
his biggest need was and how only God could meet
that need. And so may this gospel that saved
Naaman's life also save our lives too. And may
we all find in God, not just our healing. And
not just the answer to a problem, but a God who
loves us and a God who we can follow for the
rest of our lives. Thanks be to God. Amen. Thanks
for listening to this week's episode of Trinity
Sermons. This sermon was recorded at Trinity
Church Streetsville in Mississauga, Ontario on
February 1st, 2026.