WEBVTT 00:00:04.700 --> 00:00:08.099 Today's scripture reading is from 2 Kings 5, 00:00:08.439 --> 00:00:13.060 starting at verse 1. Now Naaman was commander 00:00:13.060 --> 00:00:17.059 of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great 00:00:17.059 --> 00:00:20.820 man in the sight of his master, unhighly regarded 00:00:20.820 --> 00:00:25.260 because through him the Lord had given victory 00:00:25.260 --> 00:00:29.539 to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had 00:00:29.539 --> 00:00:34.259 leprosy. Bands of raiders from Aram had gone 00:00:34.259 --> 00:00:39.000 out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:43.979 who served Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, 00:00:44.259 --> 00:00:48.039 If only my master would see the prophet who is 00:00:48.039 --> 00:00:52.359 in Samaria, he would cure him of his leprosy. 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:57.020 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and 00:00:57.020 --> 00:01:02.539 stopped at the door of Elisha's house. Elisha 00:01:02.539 --> 00:01:07.099 sent a messenger to say to him, go wash yourself 00:01:07.099 --> 00:01:11.219 seven times in the Jordan and your flesh will 00:01:11.219 --> 00:01:15.319 be restored and you will be cleansed. So he went 00:01:15.319 --> 00:01:18.540 down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times. 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:23.379 as the man of God has told him, and his flesh 00:01:23.379 --> 00:01:27.599 was restored and became clean like that of a 00:01:27.599 --> 00:01:31.659 young boy. Then Naaman and all his attendants 00:01:31.659 --> 00:01:35.200 went back to the man of God. He stood before 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:38.900 him and said, Now I know that there is no God 00:01:38.900 --> 00:01:42.939 in all the world except in Israel. So please 00:01:42.939 --> 00:01:46.280 accept a gift from your servant. The prophet 00:01:46.280 --> 00:01:50.060 answered, As surely as the Lord lives whom I 00:01:50.060 --> 00:01:54.299 serve, I will not accept a thing. And even though 00:01:54.299 --> 00:01:59.000 Naaman urged him, he refused. Go in peace, Elijah 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:02.719 says. And Naaman had traveled some distance. 00:02:03.140 --> 00:02:08.259 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:12.939 said to himself, My master was too easy on Naaman. 00:02:13.659 --> 00:02:17.620 this Armenian, by not accepting from what he 00:02:17.620 --> 00:02:21.780 brought. As surely as the Lord lives, I will 00:02:21.780 --> 00:02:25.939 run after him and get something from him. So 00:02:25.939 --> 00:02:30.840 Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw 00:02:30.840 --> 00:02:34.099 him running toward him, he got down from the 00:02:34.099 --> 00:02:37.180 chariot to meet him. Is everything all right? 00:02:37.319 --> 00:02:42.580 He asked. Everything is all right, Gehazi answered. 00:02:43.500 --> 00:02:47.020 My master sent me to say, two young men from 00:02:47.020 --> 00:02:50.139 the company of the prophets had just come to 00:02:50.139 --> 00:02:53.860 me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give 00:02:53.860 --> 00:02:57.340 them a talent of silver and two sets of clothing. 00:02:57.939 --> 00:03:01.580 By all means, take two talents, said Naaman. 00:03:01.860 --> 00:03:07.060 He urged Gehazi to accept them and then tied 00:03:07.060 --> 00:03:11.080 up the two talents of silver in the bags with 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:15.330 two sets of clothing. He gave them to two of 00:03:15.330 --> 00:03:18.550 his servants, and they carried them ahead of 00:03:18.550 --> 00:03:23.430 Jehazi. When Jehazi came to the hill, he took 00:03:23.430 --> 00:03:27.090 the things from the servants and put them away 00:03:27.090 --> 00:03:30.810 in the house. He sent the men away, and they 00:03:30.810 --> 00:03:35.550 left. When he went in and stood before his master, 00:03:35.830 --> 00:03:40.710 Elisha asked him, Where have you been, Jehazi? 00:03:41.710 --> 00:03:46.110 your servant didn't go anywhere gehazi answered 00:03:46.110 --> 00:03:51.629 but elisha said to him was not my spirit with 00:03:51.629 --> 00:03:55.069 you when the man got down from his chariot to 00:03:55.069 --> 00:03:59.180 meet you is this the time to take money or accept 00:03:59.180 --> 00:04:03.580 clothes or olive groves and vineyards, or flocks 00:04:03.580 --> 00:04:07.740 and herds, or male and female slaves, Naaman's 00:04:07.740 --> 00:04:11.000 leprosy will clung to you and to your descendants 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:16.500 forever. Then Jehazi went to Elisha's presence, 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:22.160 and his skin was leprous. It had become white 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:27.500 as snow. The word of the Lord. Well, in a courtroom, 00:04:27.779 --> 00:04:31.600 sometimes when you think everything has been 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:34.300 said and all the witnesses have spoken and we're 00:04:34.300 --> 00:04:36.439 just about done here, all of a sudden something 00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:39.019 quite unexpected can happen. One of the lawyers 00:04:39.019 --> 00:04:44.860 can get up and call. A surprise witness. Now 00:04:44.860 --> 00:04:47.579 a surprise witness is this unexpected person 00:04:47.579 --> 00:04:50.639 who's going to show up and bring some brand new 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:53.259 testimony. And so the courtroom usually goes 00:04:53.259 --> 00:04:55.319 into a bit of a furor when the surprise witness 00:04:55.319 --> 00:04:57.500 is getting called. And then the doors of the 00:04:57.500 --> 00:04:59.819 courtroom open and everybody turns in their seats. 00:04:59.899 --> 00:05:01.620 You've seen the TV shows. Everyone turns in their 00:05:01.620 --> 00:05:05.259 seats to see who this surprise witness is. And 00:05:05.259 --> 00:05:09.040 there's usually gasps as they walk down the aisle. 00:05:09.139 --> 00:05:12.230 And then the judge has to kind of bang. his gavel 00:05:12.230 --> 00:05:14.410 to kind of bring the courtroom back into order 00:05:14.410 --> 00:05:16.870 back into order and then and then when they finally 00:05:16.870 --> 00:05:20.649 have calmed down the judge will swear this witness 00:05:20.649 --> 00:05:24.230 in this witness will then go take the stand and 00:05:24.230 --> 00:05:28.269 now they get a chance to say what they're going 00:05:28.269 --> 00:05:31.990 to say and often actually what a surprise witness 00:05:31.990 --> 00:05:35.470 brings to the case is enough to change everything 00:05:35.470 --> 00:05:41.149 and to force the jury to rethink everything Today, 00:05:41.430 --> 00:05:43.790 we're bringing to a close this little teeny tiny 00:05:43.790 --> 00:05:46.350 teaching series that we've been doing here in 00:05:46.350 --> 00:05:49.370 February called Filed Away, The Case of Naaman. 00:05:49.449 --> 00:05:52.329 And we've been looking at this little story that's 00:05:52.329 --> 00:05:54.790 buried deep in your Bibles, in the Old Testament, 00:05:54.889 --> 00:05:57.449 in the book of 2 Kings, that talks about the 00:05:57.449 --> 00:06:02.329 story of Naaman. And it's a short story. You 00:06:02.329 --> 00:06:04.550 might even miss it. And you might think, actually, 00:06:04.589 --> 00:06:07.829 that by now, surely, we've heard all that needs 00:06:07.829 --> 00:06:10.149 to be heard. There can't be much more. here, 00:06:10.370 --> 00:06:14.509 but actually no, no, not all the witnesses have 00:06:14.509 --> 00:06:17.670 spoken. There's actually somebody else that we 00:06:17.670 --> 00:06:21.170 need to hear from today. There's actually a surprise 00:06:21.170 --> 00:06:25.709 witness in the case of Naaman. Ooh, who is it? 00:06:25.750 --> 00:06:28.449 Well, let's think it through. Surely it's not 00:06:28.449 --> 00:06:31.149 Naaman. Right? Because we've actually heard a 00:06:31.149 --> 00:06:34.089 lot from Naaman already. Naaman was, of course, 00:06:34.110 --> 00:06:36.670 that man who had everything until he realized 00:06:36.670 --> 00:06:39.649 that without God, he had nothing. He had money. 00:06:39.709 --> 00:06:42.310 He had connections. He had power. But he had 00:06:42.310 --> 00:06:44.990 leprosy. And there was nothing that he could 00:06:44.990 --> 00:06:47.430 do. And there was nothing that anybody else could 00:06:47.430 --> 00:06:51.970 do to save him or heal him until, that is, he 00:06:51.970 --> 00:06:54.699 encountered the grace of God. When he encountered 00:06:54.699 --> 00:06:57.879 the grace of God, not only was he healed of his 00:06:57.879 --> 00:06:59.920 leprosy as he came up out of the waters of the 00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:03.000 Jordan River, but he found a brand new faith. 00:07:03.399 --> 00:07:06.779 And so that's why Naaman declared, now I know 00:07:06.779 --> 00:07:11.139 there is no God in all the world except in Israel. 00:07:11.220 --> 00:07:13.459 That is a wonderful piece of testimony. That 00:07:13.459 --> 00:07:16.000 is great testimony. But actually, we've heard 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:17.920 this testimony before. We've heard it for the 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:21.339 last two weeks. So no, Naaman is not our surprise 00:07:21.339 --> 00:07:25.139 witness today. Well, then you might say, maybe 00:07:25.139 --> 00:07:29.920 it's Elisha. Elisha was the prophet of God who 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:33.899 refused great wealth so that God's grace could 00:07:33.899 --> 00:07:38.019 remain a gift. You see, Naaman came to Elisha 00:07:38.019 --> 00:07:40.240 for help and Elisha told him where to go and 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:42.699 how to dip himself in the Jordan River. And then 00:07:42.699 --> 00:07:45.019 after he was healed, he came back to Elisha and 00:07:45.019 --> 00:07:48.060 he wanted to pay Elisha for this wonderful miracle. 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:51.680 But Elisha said, I will not accept anything. 00:07:52.439 --> 00:07:54.959 In fact, he says, is now the time for me to accept 00:07:54.959 --> 00:07:57.779 money? I think there probably is a time for someone 00:07:57.779 --> 00:07:59.980 like Elisha to accept money, but he knew this 00:07:59.980 --> 00:08:02.920 was not the time because he knew to take money 00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:07.120 from Naaman would be to take credit from God. 00:08:07.300 --> 00:08:10.379 And it was so important for Elisha to make sure 00:08:10.379 --> 00:08:13.339 that Naaman understood what God's grace was all 00:08:13.339 --> 00:08:15.740 about and that it was purely a gift and it could 00:08:15.740 --> 00:08:19.860 not be bought and it could not be earned. That 00:08:19.860 --> 00:08:23.639 is a wonderful, wonderful testimony. But we've 00:08:23.639 --> 00:08:27.360 heard this story. And so, yes, Elisha is not 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:31.699 our surprise witness today. So then you might 00:08:31.699 --> 00:08:35.080 say, well, then it must be Gehazi, right? Gehazi 00:08:35.080 --> 00:08:38.879 was this quote -unquote holy man who was so completely 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:43.940 lost, choosing empty religion over the grace. 00:08:44.899 --> 00:08:48.340 You know, Gehazi had great exposure to religion. 00:08:48.500 --> 00:08:52.179 He was like the sidekick to the greatest prophet 00:08:52.179 --> 00:08:58.779 in the land. And yet he could not grasp God's 00:08:58.779 --> 00:09:02.840 grace. Instead, all he did was grasp for greed. 00:09:03.379 --> 00:09:06.460 And we heard today that at the end of the story, 00:09:06.539 --> 00:09:09.399 he goes chasing after Naaman. And he says, oh, 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:12.799 this. My master, Elisha, he let the Syrian off 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:16.200 too easily. I'm going to go get something out 00:09:16.200 --> 00:09:18.700 of him. And he made up some lie about people 00:09:18.700 --> 00:09:20.759 needing money. And Naaman, of course, gave him 00:09:20.759 --> 00:09:25.000 the money and he hid it. But Elisha knew and 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:29.419 God knew about this sin. And so by the end of 00:09:29.419 --> 00:09:33.159 the story, Gehazi now is the one with leprosy. 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:38.960 It's a sad story. It's tragic testimony. But 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:44.230 Gehazi, is not our surprise witness. Well, if 00:09:44.230 --> 00:09:48.370 it's not Naaman, if it's not Elisha, if it's 00:09:48.370 --> 00:09:50.710 not Gehazi, then who is it? Who is this person 00:09:50.710 --> 00:09:53.110 that is coming to us today to bring us a brand 00:09:53.110 --> 00:09:56.730 new tidbit of information that is going to change 00:09:56.730 --> 00:09:59.350 absolutely everything? Well, the courtroom doors 00:09:59.350 --> 00:10:01.870 swing open, everyone turns around, and what do 00:10:01.870 --> 00:10:04.789 they see? Who do they see walking into the courtroom? 00:10:04.870 --> 00:10:09.710 None other than a little girl. A little girl 00:10:09.710 --> 00:10:13.190 who most people probably in that courtroom don't 00:10:13.190 --> 00:10:18.629 even see at first. But she is the surprise witness. 00:10:19.190 --> 00:10:23.509 She's the slave girl. She's the person upon whom 00:10:23.509 --> 00:10:27.370 this whole case depends. Because this is the 00:10:27.370 --> 00:10:30.950 little girl who lost everything. And chose to 00:10:30.950 --> 00:10:36.610 forgive. And transformed her suffering into healing. 00:10:37.399 --> 00:10:39.679 and hope. And you're probably like, little girl? 00:10:39.779 --> 00:10:42.299 I don't even remember there being a little girl 00:10:42.299 --> 00:10:43.860 in the story. Rob, what are you talking about? 00:10:43.940 --> 00:10:46.500 Well, at the very beginning, right after we find 00:10:46.500 --> 00:10:50.460 out that Naaman has leprosy, the author tells 00:10:50.460 --> 00:10:53.960 us, now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out 00:10:53.960 --> 00:10:57.720 and taken captive a young girl from Israel. And 00:10:57.720 --> 00:11:01.200 she served Naaman's wife. And she said to her 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:03.679 mistress, if only my master would see the prophet 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:08.039 who's in Samaria. he would cure him of his leprosy. 00:11:08.059 --> 00:11:12.179 And that's it, two verses. And yet without her, 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:16.659 there would be no healing for Naaman. There would 00:11:16.659 --> 00:11:21.019 be no new faith for Naaman. Without her, Naaman 00:11:21.019 --> 00:11:25.019 would just have slowly deteriorated from leprosy 00:11:25.019 --> 00:11:29.440 until he finally died. So let's learn why this 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:33.919 whole case depends on this overlooked. surprise 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:36.240 witness. I've given you some notes. I encourage 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:40.879 you to follow along as we go through this surprise 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:44.220 witness. Well, let's get started with the hidden 00:11:44.220 --> 00:11:47.240 trauma behind the testimony. Because before this 00:11:47.240 --> 00:11:50.059 little girl was a witness, she was a victim, 00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:55.159 actually. And before we talk about her courage, 00:11:55.240 --> 00:11:57.940 we have to talk about her trauma. Her life was 00:11:57.940 --> 00:12:03.500 not a Hallmark movie. She had experienced horrible, 00:12:03.500 --> 00:12:09.360 horrible evil and violence in her life. She had 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:13.299 seen her own family torn apart. She had seen 00:12:13.299 --> 00:12:17.759 her home burned to the ground. And she herself 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:23.039 had been dragged away, kicking and screaming. 00:12:24.169 --> 00:12:27.590 Let me just slow down and unpack what this sentence 00:12:27.590 --> 00:12:30.090 means that we just read. First of all, bands 00:12:30.090 --> 00:12:32.470 of raiders. What is that all about? Well, yeah, 00:12:32.509 --> 00:12:34.909 Israel and Aram were in the midst of a war at 00:12:34.909 --> 00:12:38.389 this time. And there were always these incursions, 00:12:38.389 --> 00:12:41.789 these border clashes that were happening as soldiers 00:12:41.789 --> 00:12:45.470 would swoop in past the borders and exact all 00:12:45.470 --> 00:12:47.549 sorts of horrible damage and violence before 00:12:47.549 --> 00:12:49.870 they swooped right out again. And if you lived 00:12:49.870 --> 00:12:53.090 on the border, it was a very, very dangerous 00:12:53.090 --> 00:12:56.690 place. to live. This little girl lived on the 00:12:56.690 --> 00:13:01.649 border. It was brutal. She was taken captive, 00:13:01.830 --> 00:13:05.750 we are told. Now that is very sanitized language. 00:13:06.190 --> 00:13:09.509 What that means is that she was separated from 00:13:09.509 --> 00:13:14.220 her family and she was dragged away. You know, 00:13:14.220 --> 00:13:17.519 children were often the ones who were taken away 00:13:17.519 --> 00:13:20.360 because they could still be assimilated, right? 00:13:20.519 --> 00:13:24.960 And they would make good slaves, children. And 00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:28.120 her village probably burned to the ground. Her 00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:33.059 family, probably all killed or scattered, for 00:13:33.059 --> 00:13:35.899 sure. She would likely never see any of them 00:13:35.899 --> 00:13:39.909 again. She's a young girl. The Hebrew here tells 00:13:39.909 --> 00:13:41.809 us she's pre -adolescent. Think of someone who's 00:13:41.809 --> 00:13:45.470 10, 11, or 12 watching their front door be smashed 00:13:45.470 --> 00:13:50.330 in by soldiers. She's from Israel. That just 00:13:50.330 --> 00:13:54.950 reminds us that her exile from her homeland wasn't 00:13:54.950 --> 00:13:57.129 just geographical, it was also spiritual. This 00:13:57.129 --> 00:13:59.129 was the promised land. This is where she worshiped 00:13:59.129 --> 00:14:02.009 the God of Israel. Now she was gone from there. 00:14:02.110 --> 00:14:05.789 And then finally, again, Some very polite language, 00:14:05.950 --> 00:14:10.549 but it says she served Naaman's wife. Nah, she 00:14:10.549 --> 00:14:14.409 became property. She became property with no 00:14:14.409 --> 00:14:19.409 legal rights. And to make it even crueler irony, 00:14:19.830 --> 00:14:22.850 she served in the house of the very man who had 00:14:22.850 --> 00:14:26.149 caused all her pain. Naaman was no average Joe. 00:14:26.549 --> 00:14:30.450 Naaman was a commander of the armies of Syria. 00:14:31.240 --> 00:14:33.600 And he was the one who had done all this. It 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:37.200 was at his command that her whole life had been 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:39.639 destroyed. And so, yes, every day she heard his 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:42.700 voice. Every day she walked through the kitchen 00:14:42.700 --> 00:14:48.720 and saw him. And she had to serve him. I cannot 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:54.539 imagine how all that would feel. Maybe it felt 00:14:54.539 --> 00:14:59.519 like those exiles who were taken from Jerusalem. 00:14:59.740 --> 00:15:03.379 This is another story to Babylon. But in Psalm 00:15:03.379 --> 00:15:06.600 137, we kind of read how they were feeling. It 00:15:06.600 --> 00:15:10.519 begins with this longing for home. Oh, alongside 00:15:10.519 --> 00:15:14.379 Babylon's rivers, we sat on the banks and we 00:15:14.379 --> 00:15:17.480 cried, remembering the good old days in Zion. 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:19.679 I bet you she felt that way, remembering the 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:22.700 good old days. But did she feel this way too? 00:15:22.860 --> 00:15:28.509 The revenge? Oh, reward. For whoever gets back 00:15:28.509 --> 00:15:32.590 at you for all you've done to us. Is that how 00:15:32.590 --> 00:15:39.309 she felt? Was she full of revenge? Well, as we're 00:15:39.309 --> 00:15:42.210 going to see, no. Because what we're going to 00:15:42.210 --> 00:15:46.970 learn is that the strongest faith often comes 00:15:46.970 --> 00:15:51.490 from the deepest. And trauma like she endured 00:15:51.490 --> 00:15:53.809 can either do one of two things. It can harden 00:15:53.809 --> 00:15:56.990 your heart with bitterness and revenge, or it 00:15:56.990 --> 00:15:59.590 can refine and transform your heart. Now that 00:15:59.590 --> 00:16:02.129 may seem like impossible to imagine, but let 00:16:02.129 --> 00:16:04.110 me tell you this. I know for a fact that some 00:16:04.110 --> 00:16:07.649 of the deepest faith right here at Trinity Streetsville 00:16:07.649 --> 00:16:14.230 was forged in the deepest wounds. You never know 00:16:14.230 --> 00:16:17.940 the hidden pain. That is sitting beside you in 00:16:17.940 --> 00:16:20.820 the pews here on a Sunday morning. Some people 00:16:20.820 --> 00:16:23.940 in this room, they have lost loved ones. Some 00:16:23.940 --> 00:16:26.620 people have lost marriages. Some people have 00:16:26.620 --> 00:16:28.720 lost their livelihood. They've lost their health. 00:16:29.019 --> 00:16:31.059 Some people have lost safety. There are people 00:16:31.059 --> 00:16:32.740 here at Trinity who, like this girl, have lost 00:16:32.740 --> 00:16:36.039 their country. They have lost their homeland. 00:16:36.440 --> 00:16:40.379 And yet, they're still here. They're still here. 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:43.259 And so the real question is not, are you going 00:16:43.259 --> 00:16:44.919 to go through suffering in your life? Of course 00:16:44.919 --> 00:16:46.320 you are. The question is, what is that going 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:49.960 to do to you when it happens, when someone hurts 00:16:49.960 --> 00:16:56.399 you? Well, we know that she didn't let revenge 00:16:56.399 --> 00:17:00.600 control her because of what she spoke. Now, when 00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:03.600 I say spoke, I don't mean she got up and. yelled 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:06.200 something. I don't mean she got up on a stage 00:17:06.200 --> 00:17:08.559 with a microphone in her hand and preached a 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:12.319 long sermon. No, she just whispered a few tiny 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:14.740 words. But you know what? God doesn't always 00:17:14.740 --> 00:17:18.160 work through the loudest voices. Sometimes he 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:22.019 works through the quiet whispers of a witness. 00:17:23.460 --> 00:17:26.319 And here's what she said. She said to her mistress, 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:30.240 if only my master would see the prophet who is 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:33.900 in Samaria. He would cure him of his leprosy. 00:17:34.099 --> 00:17:36.319 This again, this little whisper didn't happen 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:39.240 in a pulpit, didn't happen on a stage, it didn't 00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:40.700 happen in a palace. This probably happened in 00:17:40.700 --> 00:17:43.240 a kitchen, actually, in one of the most ordinary 00:17:43.240 --> 00:17:47.559 places ever. A private conversation between this 00:17:47.559 --> 00:17:52.359 little girl and her mistress. But yet, this ordinary 00:17:52.359 --> 00:17:55.819 place and this ordinary moment led to extraordinary 00:17:55.819 --> 00:17:58.380 consequences. And you know what? She didn't have 00:17:58.380 --> 00:18:00.440 to say anything, did she? She could have just 00:18:00.440 --> 00:18:04.299 zip, kept her mouth shut and watched with delight 00:18:04.299 --> 00:18:08.299 as day after day after day, Naaman deteriorated, 00:18:08.299 --> 00:18:11.799 deteriorated. She could have said, good, serves 00:18:11.799 --> 00:18:17.460 him right. Let him suffer. But she doesn't do 00:18:17.460 --> 00:18:21.400 that. Instead, she whispers these words of hope. 00:18:21.500 --> 00:18:24.400 And you might wonder, you know, what could a 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:27.680 little whisper from a slave girl do in such a 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:30.500 world? Well, we know what it did. That whisper, 00:18:31.069 --> 00:18:33.230 moved Naaman's mistress to talk to Naaman, which 00:18:33.230 --> 00:18:35.869 moved Naaman to go down and talk to his king, 00:18:36.029 --> 00:18:38.990 which moved Naaman then to go down and talk to 00:18:38.990 --> 00:18:41.230 the king of Israel, which then moved him to go 00:18:41.230 --> 00:18:44.109 and talk to Elijah, which then moved him to the 00:18:44.109 --> 00:18:46.609 Jordan River, which then moved him toward healing, 00:18:46.769 --> 00:18:49.890 which then moved him toward a brand new faith 00:18:49.890 --> 00:18:53.210 in the God of Israel. It seemed like all the 00:18:53.210 --> 00:18:56.390 geopolitical machinery in the world at that time 00:18:56.390 --> 00:19:00.390 moved because of this little girl's whisper. 00:19:01.710 --> 00:19:06.049 Heaven itself moved because of this little girl's 00:19:06.049 --> 00:19:10.549 whisper. And that is because God works through 00:19:10.549 --> 00:19:15.309 overlooked people who speak hope into broken 00:19:15.309 --> 00:19:18.549 places. A little bit of faith, a few words can 00:19:18.549 --> 00:19:21.190 have massive consequences. It's like that quiet 00:19:21.190 --> 00:19:24.029 invitation you give to someone to come to Alpha. 00:19:25.049 --> 00:19:27.750 Or that youth leader who keeps showing up week 00:19:27.750 --> 00:19:30.170 after week after week. It's that person who prays 00:19:30.170 --> 00:19:34.069 faithfully. Without anybody knowing. It's that 00:19:34.069 --> 00:19:37.049 apology that someone offered in private. It's 00:19:37.049 --> 00:19:39.069 those encouraging words that you say to somebody 00:19:39.069 --> 00:19:43.549 after church this morning. Movements do not start 00:19:43.549 --> 00:19:46.210 with people like me standing on stage with microphones 00:19:46.210 --> 00:19:49.029 in their hand. They start with small conversations. 00:19:50.170 --> 00:19:54.809 The world runs on power. But God's kingdom runs 00:19:54.809 --> 00:20:00.009 on whispers. But the greatest miracle of this 00:20:00.009 --> 00:20:03.380 story. Actually, I don't think that she spoke 00:20:03.380 --> 00:20:06.019 up. The greatest miracle is not that Naaman was 00:20:06.019 --> 00:20:10.480 healed. The greatest miracle. There was a miracle 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:13.559 before all of those miracles. The real miracle 00:20:13.559 --> 00:20:17.059 in this story is that this little girl wanted 00:20:17.059 --> 00:20:22.319 Naaman to be healed. I mean, did you hear her 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:26.119 voice earlier on? If only my master would go 00:20:26.119 --> 00:20:29.359 and see the prophet. If only. There's compassion 00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:32.769 there. Right? There is a longing there. Where 00:20:32.769 --> 00:20:36.230 the heck does that come from? And it comes from 00:20:36.230 --> 00:20:39.009 this. There was a miracle that happened in that 00:20:39.009 --> 00:20:41.470 little slave girl's heart long before a miracle 00:20:41.470 --> 00:20:45.630 happened in the river down in Israel. And that 00:20:45.630 --> 00:20:50.950 miracle is the miracle of forgiveness. And you 00:20:50.950 --> 00:20:53.970 might say, Rob, since when is forgiveness a miracle? 00:20:54.269 --> 00:20:58.180 Well, yes. Leprosy falling off someone's body 00:20:58.180 --> 00:21:00.259 is pretty astonishing, but I'll tell you, hatred 00:21:00.259 --> 00:21:04.440 falling off of someone's heart is nothing less 00:21:04.440 --> 00:21:09.420 than a miracle, right? She had every right to 00:21:09.420 --> 00:21:12.299 revenge. She had every right to bitterness, every 00:21:12.299 --> 00:21:15.420 justification to stay silent and watch him suffer. 00:21:15.579 --> 00:21:17.799 And yet by the grace of God, I don't even understand 00:21:17.799 --> 00:21:21.240 it. The grace of God, she was able to forgive 00:21:21.240 --> 00:21:26.940 Naaman for all that he had done. And so centuries 00:21:26.940 --> 00:21:29.640 before Jesus would stand on a mountain and preach 00:21:29.640 --> 00:21:32.519 these words, they were being lived out by a little 00:21:32.519 --> 00:21:38.000 girl in Syria. Love your enemies and pray for 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:42.160 those who persecute you. I mean, she didn't just 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:45.500 tolerate Naaman secretly wishing he was dead. 00:21:45.640 --> 00:21:52.190 She loved him, loved him enough. to want him 00:21:52.190 --> 00:21:55.630 healed. That is enemy love. It's like she had 00:21:55.630 --> 00:21:58.670 Naaman's life in her hands. If she kept quiet, 00:21:58.829 --> 00:22:01.750 Naaman died. If she spoke up, Naaman would live. 00:22:02.230 --> 00:22:05.470 Forgiveness is just that. It is the power of 00:22:05.470 --> 00:22:09.809 life and death. Bitterness kills people. Mercy 00:22:09.809 --> 00:22:14.210 saves people and gives life. My goodness, this 00:22:14.210 --> 00:22:18.710 could not have been easy for her at all. Forgiveness 00:22:18.710 --> 00:22:22.740 is the hardest thing in the world, but the greatest 00:22:22.740 --> 00:22:28.380 miracle is, hands down, the power of forgiveness. 00:22:29.200 --> 00:22:31.319 I mean, we tend to think that a miracle has got 00:22:31.319 --> 00:22:33.660 to be something that somehow disrupts the natural 00:22:33.660 --> 00:22:38.420 forces in the world or disrupts the cycles of 00:22:38.420 --> 00:22:40.180 nature or something. But you know what forgiveness 00:22:40.180 --> 00:22:44.640 does do? It actually disrupts the cycle of revenge. 00:22:45.930 --> 00:22:49.029 It disrupts the forces of retaliation within 00:22:49.029 --> 00:22:53.250 us. When someone faces real harm and they forgive, 00:22:53.549 --> 00:22:57.150 when someone forgives real evil, that's not normal. 00:22:57.950 --> 00:23:00.390 It's actually quite shocking. This story is actually 00:23:00.390 --> 00:23:02.990 quite shocking, which means this is supernatural. 00:23:03.750 --> 00:23:06.109 God has done something in this little girl's 00:23:06.109 --> 00:23:08.950 heart. It is a miracle. And I just wonder about 00:23:08.950 --> 00:23:10.769 you. I wonder about me, actually. Would I have 00:23:10.769 --> 00:23:15.200 spoken up? If somebody who harmed you was suffering, 00:23:15.480 --> 00:23:17.720 would you want them healed? Or would you just 00:23:17.720 --> 00:23:22.740 want to see them squirm a little bit? And I know, 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:24.960 of course there are. There are people here today 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:28.039 who are carrying hurts. And you can't even begin 00:23:28.039 --> 00:23:31.539 to imagine letting go of that anger. It would 00:23:31.539 --> 00:23:35.799 take a miracle, you'd say, for you to forgive 00:23:35.799 --> 00:23:41.910 that person. Lewis Smeeds. once said that to 00:23:41.910 --> 00:23:47.710 forgive someone is to set a prisoner free and 00:23:47.710 --> 00:23:52.390 to realize that that prisoner was you. This little 00:23:52.390 --> 00:23:55.190 girl was a prisoner to Naaman. Yes, she was, 00:23:55.349 --> 00:23:58.650 but she refused to also be a prisoner to her 00:23:58.650 --> 00:24:02.529 resentment. You know, we don't think that this 00:24:02.529 --> 00:24:06.430 girl was set free, right? When she forgave, it 00:24:06.430 --> 00:24:09.349 didn't free her from Syria. But when she forgave, 00:24:09.349 --> 00:24:11.970 it freed her from the bitterness. It freed her 00:24:11.970 --> 00:24:13.910 from the anger. She said, I'm not going to be 00:24:13.910 --> 00:24:17.609 a prisoner to that as well. And as a result, 00:24:17.609 --> 00:24:20.549 she was turned into someone that God could use 00:24:20.549 --> 00:24:24.789 in an amazing way. What an amazing witness she 00:24:24.789 --> 00:24:28.869 is. Wow. But here's the thing. After giving this 00:24:28.869 --> 00:24:31.369 great testimony, something very surprising happens 00:24:31.369 --> 00:24:33.890 to our surprise witness. She just disappears. 00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:38.480 The real hero of the story is never mentioned 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:41.519 again. She disappears from the pages of history. 00:24:41.660 --> 00:24:43.380 You know, actually, if you read Luke's gospel, 00:24:43.500 --> 00:24:46.880 Jesus even remembers Naaman, but no one remembers 00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:49.960 this little girl. There's no reward for her. 00:24:50.039 --> 00:24:53.319 There's no spotlight. We have no record of Naaman 00:24:53.319 --> 00:24:57.220 saying thank you to her. There's no, and she 00:24:57.220 --> 00:25:01.049 lived happily ever after. No, she just speaks 00:25:01.049 --> 00:25:03.430 and then she vanishes. Naaman, of course, gets 00:25:03.430 --> 00:25:05.670 the healing. Naaman gets the new faith. Naaman 00:25:05.670 --> 00:25:09.450 gets two bags of dirt from Israel to take back 00:25:09.450 --> 00:25:11.789 home to his home country. But she gets nothing. 00:25:11.950 --> 00:25:15.190 She just fades into the history books. She fades 00:25:15.190 --> 00:25:17.250 into the margins. But, you know, that's how it 00:25:17.250 --> 00:25:22.769 works. In the kingdom of God, it is often the 00:25:22.769 --> 00:25:26.490 hidden heroes who do the work. The kingdom of 00:25:26.490 --> 00:25:29.069 God runs on people that no one applauds. Who 00:25:29.069 --> 00:25:32.890 was that woman who gave those two coins? I don't 00:25:32.890 --> 00:25:34.650 know what her name was. What was the name of 00:25:34.650 --> 00:25:37.190 that boy who gave his loaves and fishes so that 00:25:37.190 --> 00:25:38.910 all those people could be fed? I don't know. 00:25:38.950 --> 00:25:42.670 What was the name of that slave girl, the Israelite 00:25:42.670 --> 00:25:44.970 slave girl down in Syria who saved Naaman? I 00:25:44.970 --> 00:25:47.769 don't know. No one knows. Well, that's not true. 00:25:48.490 --> 00:25:54.160 Actually, God knows. God knows. You know, the 00:25:54.160 --> 00:25:57.559 prophet Zechariah once said, do not despise the 00:25:57.559 --> 00:26:01.539 day of small things. You know, the world measures 00:26:01.539 --> 00:26:06.059 importance by visibility, but God measures importance 00:26:06.059 --> 00:26:09.200 just by quiet faithfulness, which means that 00:26:09.200 --> 00:26:14.259 you can be central to the purposes of God and 00:26:14.259 --> 00:26:17.960 no one knows your name. You never trend on TikTok. 00:26:18.359 --> 00:26:22.829 You never get famous. The kingdom of God is not 00:26:22.829 --> 00:26:27.950 sustained by celebrities. Instead, the most important 00:26:27.950 --> 00:26:30.990 kingdom work often happens in obscurity. The 00:26:30.990 --> 00:26:35.589 kingdom is actually built by unseen saints who 00:26:35.589 --> 00:26:40.349 no one notices. That volunteer who set up chairs 00:26:40.349 --> 00:26:42.529 this morning in there, you know, who did that? 00:26:42.650 --> 00:26:47.150 Or the anonymous donation that pays for the program. 00:26:47.839 --> 00:26:51.480 The parent who just reads scripture to their 00:26:51.480 --> 00:26:54.299 children at bedtime, night after night. The kid's 00:26:54.299 --> 00:26:58.619 church volunteer who steps in at the last moment. 00:26:58.700 --> 00:27:02.259 You never know these people, right? And you may 00:27:02.259 --> 00:27:06.559 never know how your quiet obedience changes someone 00:27:06.559 --> 00:27:10.140 else's eternity. Because I mean, without her, 00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:13.579 none of this story would ever have happened. 00:27:13.960 --> 00:27:16.599 Are you willing to be faithful even if you're... 00:27:16.839 --> 00:27:20.160 forgotten? Are you willing to serve even if you 00:27:20.160 --> 00:27:24.259 never get the credit? It reminds me of Jesus, 00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:27.759 who was the greatest hero of all, of course, 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:30.180 and yet he never got the applause. He never got 00:27:30.180 --> 00:27:33.480 the appreciation. And that's where I want to 00:27:33.480 --> 00:27:38.339 end today. The last reason why this surprise 00:27:38.339 --> 00:27:41.839 witness is so important to us is that she is 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:46.410 a symbol of the Savior. She is not just an example 00:27:46.410 --> 00:27:52.150 for us to follow. She, a suffering servant, is 00:27:52.150 --> 00:27:55.470 pointing us to the true suffering servant, Jesus 00:27:55.470 --> 00:27:58.130 Christ. You know, Isaiah writes this about Jesus. 00:27:58.470 --> 00:28:02.490 Surely he took up our pain and bore our sufferings, 00:28:02.490 --> 00:28:05.069 and by his wounds we are healed. Just as this 00:28:05.069 --> 00:28:07.289 little girl was torn from her home and lived 00:28:07.289 --> 00:28:09.910 in a foreign land, Jesus left his heavenly home 00:28:09.910 --> 00:28:13.359 and came and lived among us. And just as she 00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:17.400 had to live among her enemies, Jesus came into 00:28:17.400 --> 00:28:21.599 a world that rejected and hated him. And just 00:28:21.599 --> 00:28:24.259 as she bore sufferings that she did not deserve, 00:28:24.480 --> 00:28:29.400 Jesus suffered as an innocent man on the cross. 00:28:29.720 --> 00:28:34.420 He did nothing to deserve that. But just as her 00:28:34.420 --> 00:28:42.839 forgiveness healed and saved Naaman, us all. 00:28:43.519 --> 00:28:46.319 The reason that Naaman was healed is because 00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:49.480 he had this suffering servant. And the reason 00:28:49.480 --> 00:28:52.859 we are healed is that we have a suffering servant, 00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:57.460 Jesus Christ. Just like that little girl looked 00:28:57.460 --> 00:28:59.579 at Naaman and forgave him and saved him on the 00:28:59.579 --> 00:29:02.779 cross, Jesus looked at us and said, Father, forgive 00:29:02.779 --> 00:29:04.160 them. They don't know what they're doing. And 00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:06.700 in so doing, he healed us and he saved us too. 00:29:07.380 --> 00:29:10.789 If you just see the little slave girl, as an 00:29:10.789 --> 00:29:12.990 example for you to follow, we're all going to 00:29:12.990 --> 00:29:15.029 leave here feeling very, very challenged for 00:29:15.029 --> 00:29:17.369 sure. But if you see the slave girl as a symbol 00:29:17.369 --> 00:29:19.789 of Jesus, then we're going to leave here with 00:29:19.789 --> 00:29:26.049 joy, knowing how much God loves us, just like 00:29:26.049 --> 00:29:28.950 that little slave girl loved Naaman. And that 00:29:28.950 --> 00:29:31.089 realization might just be the thing that you 00:29:31.089 --> 00:29:34.690 need in order to do some forgiving of your own. 00:29:36.009 --> 00:29:38.390 So no sooner did our surprise witness appear, 00:29:38.529 --> 00:29:40.650 then she's gone, and the case of Naaman is now 00:29:40.650 --> 00:29:43.569 closed. But I want to say to you, the Spirit 00:29:43.569 --> 00:29:47.789 is still calling witnesses. Witnesses who will 00:29:47.789 --> 00:29:50.470 speak words of hope. Witnesses who will serve 00:29:50.470 --> 00:29:53.950 without applause. Witnesses who will refuse revenge. 00:29:54.029 --> 00:29:57.549 And witnesses who know that before they ever 00:29:57.549 --> 00:30:02.269 forgave anyone, they themselves had already been 00:30:02.269 --> 00:30:06.700 forgiven by God. a suffering servant who bore 00:30:06.700 --> 00:30:12.660 our wounds so that we could be healed. That is 00:30:12.660 --> 00:30:18.980 the greatest miracle of all. Thanks be to God. 00:30:19.640 --> 00:30:20.279 Amen.