Sermon in Phoenix 27.01.2013

May the peace of God which passes all human understanding rest in our hearts now and always. Let us join together this morning in opening prayer and thanksgiving.

Holy and righteous God, our beloved Heavenly Father, we have awakened this morning to a new day of grace. And we have awakened with this knowledge and joy in our hearts that we have been protected through the night as your children. And we have felt, dear Father, even in nature, how that rain that has come has washed away the dust, the dirt of the earth. We have also, dear Father, experienced how that precious living gospel has also washed away the sin from our hearts. And this washing, dear Father, is the work of your Son. That Son whom you sent. To suffer and die the death on the cross so that on this day we would have hope of everlasting life one day there in the safe haven of heaven.

So as we gather this morning, dear Father, around your holy and precious Word, we pray for your service blessing. We pray for your peace. That you would send your Word unto us. That Word, that Word which is life. That Word that gives hope. That Word that teaches. That Word that rebukes. That Word that we know. That Word that teaches about honest, collapsed, faulty travelers we need every day of our life.

But also on this day, dear Father, we thank you for the abundant blessings and gifts that you've afforded unto us, your children. Those temporal blessings have been sufficient so that we have again been provided for on this new day. Yet we understand, dear Father, that all of those gifts and blessings come from your hand. So we pray that you would continue to send and provide for us of those needs and necessities of this life. But most of all, dear Father, we thank you for the blessings that come from your Son. And today, we are your children traveling towards heaven.

And so we ask now, dear Father, send unto us your word. And for all of our unspoken thoughts, our own concerns and worries, we include them into that prayer that your Son himself has taught when we say, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

This morning I will read for our study of God's word one of those texts that has been assigned for this day. We consider today how it is Jesus who awakens faith in the heart of man. And these words are found in the second book of Kings, the first 15 verses. The words are as follows in Jesus' name.

Now, Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and honorable because of him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria. He was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper. And the Syrians had gone out by companies and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid. And she waited on Naaman's wife. And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria for he would recover him of his leprosy.

And one went in and told him saying, Thus and thus said the maid. And she said unto him, What is the name of the prophet that is of the land of Israel? And the king of Syria said, Go and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed and took with him ten talents of silver and six thousand pieces of gold and ten chains of raiment.

And he brought the letter to the king of Israel saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover me. And he said unto him, I will recover him of his leprosy.

And it came to pass when the king of Israel had read the letter that he rent his clothes and said, Am I God to kill and to make alive that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? Wherefore consider I pray you and see how he seeketh to quarrel against me.

And it was so. And Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? Let him come now to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.

So Naaman came with his horses and his chariot and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times. And thy flesh shall come again to thee and thou shalt be clean.

But Naaman was wroth and went away and said, Behold I thought he surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord and his God and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper. Are not Abana and Farfar rivers of Damascus better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean?

So he turned and went away in rage. And his servants came near and spake unto him and said, My father if the prophet had bid thee to do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? How much rather then when he saith to thee, Wash and be clean.

Then went he down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God. And his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. Amen.

When the Heavenly Father awakens in the heart of man a call, a call to be one of his own, that call is so strong that a man cannot possibly resist that call that God has used. We think of the Apostle Paul, that man who had caused great damage to the work of God's kingdom during his day. But when he was called to be one of God's own, he was on the road to Damascus. And Jesus appeared to him there. Jesus had already been gone there, returned to his Father for some time. But he appeared there to Paul on that road. And Paul was struck blind.

When he was in that blinded condition, he was asked, isn't it hard for you to kick against the pricks? How that call that God had for him was such a call that it was impossible to turn away.

We have also, brothers and sisters, experienced in our life that same call that has come from the hand of the Heavenly Father. He has given us the strength, even on this day, to believe despite our often unwillingness or our stubbornness. Or even perhaps there have been those ideas or thoughts that is the journey even worth endeavoring? Because it's been such a heavy and difficult journey.

The enemy of souls during those times of heaviness has come and said that it would be better perhaps that you would just deny faith. It would be easier on the outside of God's kingdom. There is no battle there. There is a peace there. And this sermon of the enemy, we have heard as God's children. But yet hasn't God in His ways been able to keep us as His own to this day? It is God's grace for us that we are His own.

That call was also heard by this same Naaman of whom we heard in our text. And in our text today, when we consider them, it speaks of how Jesus awakens faith in the heart of man. We heard in this portion of God's word before us that it was so that this Naaman was called into God's kingdom.

But I also find it interesting in this portion of God's word how there are those specific ways and those orders of grace in which God uses to call His own and also how one is able to believe.

This Naaman was a mighty man of valor. He was a warrior. He was a leader of the army. He would have been one of those kinds of men of whom also the Gospel text of today speaks of when it speaks of this man that Jesus awakened.

And this man was that kind of a man also that was mighty, that was able to do many things in his life. Naaman was that kind of a man that was able to tell men to go, to do things, and they would do them. He would move soldiers around into the proper position so that they would be successful in battle. He would have had those kinds of servants that he could command and they would do according to his word.

And there was this man that when Jesus entered in Capernaum, there was this centurion who beseeched him. And it says, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievous and tormented. And when Jesus went there, or rather, this centurion was told by Jesus that I will come and heal him. But this centurion understood and didn't want Jesus to come there. He said, I'm not worthy that you should come into my house. But speak thy word and this man would be healed.

He says, I am a man of great authority having soldiers under me. And I say to this man, go and he goeth. To another, come and he cometh. And to my servant, do this and do that. And he also recognized that Jesus was that kind of one who could simply have said, you say the word and it would be so. And the faith of this man was made evident in his command and his understanding of this work that Jesus was able to perform.

So this Naaman was the same kind of a man who had power and authority in this life. But God's word said that there was a problem with him that he was a leper. And this leper, not only is this text of course an example, but it's also an allegory. It speaks of a natural everyday event to a spiritual picture.

And this man was mighty, but he was a leper. And it speaks to this that he was not a believing man, but rather he was an unbelieving person. And these Syrians of whom he was a leader in the army, in their battles they had gone out and they had taken from one of their battles this little maid out of the land of Israel. And this little maid was that maid that had waited on Naaman's wife. She was a servant in their home.

And we begin to see then how God's grace order works. You know this mighty man of valor, he would have been able to say and command many things to happen in his life. But there was one thing that he could not do and that was heal himself.

And this healing process during that time when Naaman lived was quite a process. And we won't get into all of the details about that, but it was so that he knew that there would have been some healing process to take place.

But this little maid that was in his house, this little maid from Israel, she reminded him and told him, or told the servants actually, Naaman's wife, that there is a prophet that would be able to heal him. That he would be able to heal you and care for that matter of leprosy.

God's word is that kind of word that has been entrusted to his children. And his children are those kinds of children who feel themselves to be so poor and weak. It's interesting, isn't it, that this word has been entrusted to this kind of kingdom. A kingdom of sinners.

This word has been entrusted to those who need help themselves. God's kingdom is that kind of kingdom where there are sick taking care of the sick. And this is such a wonderful matter for the child of God to experience.

We know and we feel, because we are God's children, that this saving ark that we're traveling in is that kind of ark that comforts and leads and guides. God's word and God himself directs the work of his kingdom through sinful and faulty people.

One of the prophets, Elijah, he needed to be taught this kind of a lesson when he was there doing battle against the false prophet's Baal. He had tired. And in some ways he had grown in himself and dried up. And he felt like he was alone in the work. And he went and hid himself in a cave.

And when he was in that cave, there were a number of events that happened to him. There was thunder and lightning. There was wind. And the wind was so strong, in fact, that it even broke the stones there on the mountain. And he was so tired, he was so tired, that gets bad for people. And he was in tears suddenly. He had a burning desire.

And some people would tell him that in the midst of all this is a transported prophecy. Oh, dear Mediterranean man, I'm going to destroy you. You will not live. Doesn't that sound like that? It sounds like that, doesn't it? It's like that.

Understand the sounds of the miracles, that the work of God's kingdom continues with that still, small voice. And that still, small voice is that voice of the Good Shepherd. And that voice of the Good Shepherd is that which God's children hear. We hear that invitation, come. We hear that invitation, can you believe?

And it comes in a way where Jesus Himself came in such a lowly, in a childlike way that He came from below His disciples. He came from below those whom He served. He served. He washed their feet. And He served in all things. This is how Jesus served. And it is still that kind of serving that is done from within God's kingdom.

God's Word calls. It gathers. It enlightens. It reveals the way to salvation. And it is done through these little maids of Israel. Just like this little maid in the house of Naaman. And she told her master that if Naaman was to go there to seek this prophet, he would be able to heal him. And this maid had said so.

And so one of the servants then went and told his Lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is in the land of Israel. It is so that God's work is done still to this day. And it is done in the same way.

I have spoke of that experience that we had in our most recent trip to West Africa. When we went into that house there in the little community just north of Balime. Etonam is a young lady in her early 20's. And when we went to visit her in her house, because Nicholas had had that idea and thought, and thought in the morning that when he had met her in the street, that we must go to her house.

So we went there. And she asked of our purpose. We told her. And as we visited about the purpose and the reason for our trip. And we said that we're here and God has entrusted us with this very one, one very small but very important gift. And that is that we're able to preach the forgiveness of sin.

And that when a man is born into this world, he is born as a child of God. But because of sin, a person becomes separate from God. And without the teaching of God's word and without the healing of his word, without the washing away of sin, a man then drifts away and is separated from God.

And this Etonam looked at us and said, she says, it is so it has been my life. But what can you men do about my sinfulness?

She was that same kind of one that God drew and called Jesus when he speaks of this very important matter. When he speaks about the calling of his Father, he also said that I am he of whom God is sent. And he spoke and discussed these matters with those Pharisees of his day.

When he told them that I am the bread of life. I am come to call those. I am that one that is. I am that one that is sent to shed my blood on behalf of those people who find themselves to be sinners. But when Jesus spoke to them, they did not understand. They could not comprehend that it was possible.

But Jesus says, no man can come unto me, except the Father draw him. It is impossible for a man to find God, except that God give that desire in the heart of those to seek him.

We sit here this morning at services and perhaps we don't think of these matters so often. That it is God who has called us to be his own. And God has instilled the desire in our hearts to be his own. And Jesus said it is exactly that way. That no man can come unto the Father, except he draw him.

So, even in our text it was that way. That this heart of Naaman was awakened. He recognized and knew that he was a sinner. And so he went to that area in which Prophet Elijah was living.

And we find it interesting that this king of Syria sent him. And he told him that I will send a letter unto the king of Israel. And when this letter was sent, it was sent to the king. And of course, this king of Syria would have sent it to the king of Israel because they were those kinds of ones that were able to do so much and they had so much control over those everyday things in the countries.

But rather than it go to the Prophet Elijah, it went to the king. Isn't it interesting how, just as those wise men, when the star of Bethlehem led them from the east to that city of where Jesus was born, when they got near to that area, they did not go to Bethlehem at first, but rather they went to the king's palace there in Jerusalem.

The mind of man led them. When they had lost sight of the star, it led them to the king's house instead of where that star led them, eventually to the manger there in Bethlehem.

When a man begins to ponder these things with his own mind and understanding, we would go to those places where we in our minds think things should be. But the king of Syria, why wouldn't he send this letter to the king in Israel?

But when this king in Israel received this letter, he was frustrated and angry and he said, Who am I? I'm not that one that can give life. I'm not that one that can heal someone from leprosy. And he thought the king of Syria was seeking a quarrel against him.

And again we return to the teaching of God's kingdom. There's no quarrel in the work of God's kingdom, is there? We simply, with that little gift that we've each been given, want to continue that work that God has entrusted us to do.

And what is our mission? It is small, it is little, but it is great. God has given us that grace given to us, that grace gift through believing that we have this power as His own to forgive sins.

Have you ever in your own flesh, I know I have, I've sought after honor and power and I've sought after many things in my life that I might be recognized as being some mighty man or someone who is well known and honorable. But these have been so in vain.

What has God given to His children? He's given them the greatest power in all of the earth. And that is this, that we, with our weak ways, can preach the gospel of forgiveness of sins. We can preach such a gospel that has this kind of power. This kind of power. Power over death. Power over unbelief.

We have been given this kind of gift that we can to one another preach that dear child, your sins are forgiven in the name and precious blood of Jesus. It is a tool that has been entrusted to His kingdom here upon earth, and to me, dear brothers and sisters, is there a greater power? Not in the earth that we live. Is there a greater power than one that can free one from death to life?

But this king sent this letter to the wrong place, didn't he? But rather, when Naaman went there, he again needed to be reminded that Elisha, when he heard that the king had rent his clothes in anger or in frustration, he sent this word that, send Naaman to me and I will heal him.

Prophet Isaiah, when he was cleansed of his own corruption and sin, what did he say? He said, here am I, send me. Do we not, brothers and sisters, also have this kind of desire in our hearts? That when we have been called as God's own, when we have been given such a grace gift to be able to believe, do we not also want to share that gift with others?

Do we not also have that same kind of heart that Prophet Isaiah did? Here am I, send me. Or as Elisha here said, send him to me. It is not in a boastful way, but isn't it in such a way that in so doing, we know that God gives us that power and that strength to be able to forgive one and release them from the bondage of sin.

Isn't it this that you as parents, in raising your own children, haven't you asked that God would give you that kind of strength and courage? That you would always be willing and ready to preach that gospel to your children. That you would be able to teach them about the goodness of our Heavenly Father. That they would also, with you, be able to believe.

This is such a desire in the heart of a parent to be able to share that same faith that is in your heart to your own loved ones. And oh, and that doesn't happen. When the parent there with weakness has tried to sow that seed of love and forgiveness into the hearts of those children, and they've rejected it.

We can only get a small, we have a very small picture of what it must have been for Jesus when his own rejected him. When he looked at the city of Jerusalem the last time, he wept. Because they had rejected all that he had been sent to do.

He had been sent by his Father for one purpose. And that was to free man from the corruption of sin. And people rejected him. If people rejected Christ, can we not also expect that people would also reject that teaching in which God is also entrusted today to us, his children.

But also when this Naaman left his land there, Syria, and went to Israel, it says he departed and he took with him ten talents of silver and six thousand pieces of gold and ten changes of raiment. He was going to now go there and purchase or pay this prophet to do that which God had sent him to do.

It again illustrates the mind that there is in the heart of man to try to purchase. There were those also experiences in the New Testament times during the time of the Acts of the Apostles when there were those that wanted to try to purchase and buy that which the Apostles had been sent to do.

But prophet Isaiah also says that, Ho, everyone that thirsteth come ye buy without money or price. So God's word and the gift of faith is that which is given as a grace gift. It cannot be purchased. It is a free treasure that God has given to those that he has called.

And so this man Elisha had called. And this Naaman then came with his horses to Elisha's house. It doesn't say how many but surely Naaman would have brought an entourage with him. And as they pull up in front of the house it says Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.

Did Elisha himself come? Again it is a picture of how the grace order of God works. Elisha sent a messenger to him saying, God's word promises and tells us that this is when Saul of Tarsus was blinded there on the road to Damascus. He was sent with very specific directions that he would go into that city. He would go to a house on a street called Straight and seek out a man named Ananias.

There were specific and clear instructions as to how this grace order would take place. Elisha sent the messenger also. And this messenger that Elisha sent he said, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times and thy flesh shall come again unto thee and thou shalt be clean.

This struggle then that was in the heart of Naaman would have been that same kind of struggle that still goes on in the heart of a man who is called right to the door of God's kingdom. And then when God's word is preached, the messengers that God has sent are given words, then there is that battle in the heart of that individual to either accept or to ignore that teaching and that preaching of that servant.

There is that battle there between the enemy of souls who has that unbelieving heart for his own and that awakened condition where God's word begins to awaken that heart and there was this battle then between the enemy of souls and God for that heart of man.

It is often during that when those words that are preached there, for example, when Jesus in many ways uses illustrations in his parable of the sower, he said some of the word falls on that kind of heart that is like the wayside. When that word falls on the wayside, quickly the birds come and eat that word. Quickly the enemy of souls can come and take that word, take that word that is being sown there and removed from that heart of man even before it starts to bear fruit.

Many today hear God's word and they hear God's word in many ways. It is not always that they come to the hearing of God's word at services, but there are ways in your lives, brothers and sisters, that God and His word are made evident.

Have you mothers, when you have gone there with your fifth, sixth, fifteenth, or sixteenth pregnancy to the hospital or to the doctor's office, don't you think that that life in which you have been given and that obedience of faith that you have endeavored, that you want to be trusting in God's care and goodness, that you want to be obedient in all things, that you would accept a child as a gift of God?

When you go and visit with that doctor or to those clinics and those people around you, don't you think that your life is very evident and they see in your very obedient life God's kingdom? They surely do. And in some ways, those life's experiences are such powerful tools.

Have you ever heard this kind of conversation or this kind of a remark when you've spoken that I believe and trust that God gives me those children according to His will, that He will bless me exactly as He wants me to be blessed. Have you ever heard this, this kind of response where they say, well, we would have had more children also, but...

Brother Laudy Hawks though, dear departed brother, he often said that the faith of this world ends with the acceptance of children. And I think it's so. I wonder at the end of this world, will that be the one big difference between God's kingdom and the kingdoms of this world where God's children accept from God's hand those blessings that He gives.

The Psalmist in the 127th Psalm, he speaks that children are an heritage of the Lord. The fruit of His womb is His reward. And he says that these children are as arrows in the hand of a mighty man. And these arrows speak with the enemies at the gate. These children are those that testify that God is the Lord of life and death.

So this battle that is waged in the mind and the heart of man, especially when one is hearing or seeing God's kingdom approaching, whether it approaches in conversation with His word, or with actions of your life, the fruits of your faith are evident. God calls in many different ways.

But that one that is faced with this opportunity, it was as it was here for Elisha. He then questioned that why didn't Elisha come to me? And why then, should I go and wash in the Jordan River? He asked these questions.

Is not this river of Farfar and Abana, which are in Syria, aren't they greater than this Jordan River? By looking at the Jordan River, it's not such a glorious river. It's not a mighty flowing stream. But in that Jordan River, many of God's miracles or God's work was performed. It was in that Jordan River that Jesus was baptized. They crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land, the children of Israel.

This Jordan River has such symbolism. It is a picture also of God's Kingdom. And this Naaman asked that why not? There are those in the world that would ask the same question that why not these other faiths and religions?

There are those who have asked now in recent times, there has been this, there is this journalist that has sent an email and I promised next week that I would visit with her. She has Finnish heritage. And part of her questions are that how do we believe, of course, and how is our faith different than other Lutheran faiths?

And she would also like to know, she would like to know what is the difference between our faith and other Lutheran faiths? She would also like to interview some of the young couples with some Finnish heritage. And she would like to know is this the same group here as it is in Finland?

I haven't had a chance really to visit too much with her. But we will see how this goes. But her questions are from the outside asking these questions probably not unlike this, but this is a question that a certain name would have asked.

Is the Farfar and Abana River, they look mightier than this Jordan River. Aren't they also acceptable?

God's Kingdom, as we mentioned in the very beginning, is that kind of a kingdom that is a saving kingdom. Children can live and dwell. It is such a place where within God's kingdom, it was just as that saving ark for Noah and his family, where those eight souls that were saved there from that destruction of the first world.

Oh, they must have had services. They must have had those kinds of services as those rains came. And they realized that they were preserved from the destruction of that first world. Would they not have rejoiced in their heart to the extent when they saw all of those thousands and thousands of people perish?

But somehow, God had granted them grace to be saved. Those services would have been that kind of service that we also, in the heart of God's children today, rejoice and are thankful that into this kind of a kingdom God has called us. That He has preserved us and given us this hope of everlasting life one day in heaven.

And when Naaman had heard this, that he should go to the Jordan River, he said, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord, his God, and strike his hand over the place and recover the leper. Are not Farfar and Abana, rivers of Damascus, better than all of the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them and be clean?

So he turned away and went away in a rage. With his own mind, his own understanding, he could not comprehend God's kingdom. Nor can we.

But then his servants, they again returned him to this thought and said, they came and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee to do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, wash and be clean?

How simple is it, brothers and sisters, that we today can be simply believing? It is not great and mighty works that we do. It is nothing other than simply believing upon Him that sent. It is believing upon Christ. It is believing upon His goodness and the forgiveness of sins through His name and precious blood.

So, finally, when Naaman heard this, can't you do something so simple? Then he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan according to the saying of the man of God, and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child. And he was clean.

Again, this little child is such a picture of God's kingdom, isn't it? A picture of perfection. A picture of innocence. A picture of... Jesus took this child in His arms and He said, this now is the greatest.

And Naaman went from being one of those mighty men now to one of these little children. Do we not also, brothers and sisters, want to be one of those little children in God's kingdom all the days of our life? And may God grant it to be so that we can always remain as His own and as His little child.

And he then returned to the man of God. And what did he do? He came in all of his company and stood before Elisha and said, Behold, I know that there is no God in all of Israel, but I know that there is no God in all of the earth, but in Israel.

Now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant. Do we not also, brothers and sisters today, know, and even when we come into the hearing of God's word, we are assured of the forgiveness of sins. And we're at the services. Are we not so sure that this is God's kingdom? This is that place where we can be nourished and fed, cleansed from all sin and defilement.

Today, brothers and sisters, Jesus has awakened faith in your heart. It is a treasure. It is a gift that God has given. Cherish that treasure. Hang on to that as the greatest and most blessed gift that man can own.

And your faith in this is strengthened through the hearing of God's word and the preaching of the gospel. Remain this morning believing all of your sins forgiven in the name and precious blood of Jesus. In so believing, you are journeying towards the glorious destination there, the glory of heaven.

God has allowed it to be according to his will and his word. I also this morning asked that can I also hear that same gospel?

Let us close our service by joining together in the Lord's benediction. The Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make his face shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up his countenance upon us and give us peace. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. Amen. Amen.