Simple Words of Faith
How a Slave Girl and Pagan Servants Teach Us About Evangelism
Good Morning!
It’s interesting how many times gentile military leaders are used to give an example to the grace and mercy of God, which brings me to one of my favorite stories in the Bible, the healing of Naaman the Syrian General. So many “oppressors” are granted a place in Jehovah’s providential care, which makes Naaman’s entrance into the story of salvation all the more amazing. In this portion of 2 Kings there is a slave girl who upon hearing that the commander of the army suffered from leprosy told him of a prophet of the LORD in Israel, a man by the name of Elisha. Her simple faith and willingness to share the good news with a man of his stature cannot go unnoticed. The world would say that she should show spite to this man who had caused her repression, yet her first impulse is to gently help her captor with the problems he had. This act of affection for a neighbor should be instructive to us, especially when we live in and time and place that thinks returning evil for evil is the name of the game in seeking “justice”.
In some ways she has a lot in common with the words of the woman at the well in John 4 when she goes and tells her friends about this man who told her everything she had ever done, the testimony of the women who report the resurrection to the disciples, and Rhoda’s work in Acts 12:13. Each in their own way are conduits to God’s grace by their willingness to speak in love. Much of the Lord’s purposes in His creation are accomplished through avenues we least expect.
There are so many elements to the girl’s testimony to Naaman that are worth looking at that it could fill a whole volume (indeed it has). There us, as noted, a seemingly random interaction (though we know there is no such thing in God’s providence) between a servant and a man of place. There is should be no sense where this lamentable action, the enslaving of those grabbed in war, could be a scene of God’s gracious love, yet it seems like it is especially in these types of situations where the LORD particularly enjoys expressing His goodness and mercy. Similarly with the gentile woman whom Christ speaks to in Matthew 15, the Centurion in Mark 15, and the other Roman soldier in Luke 7, and of course the care of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 there are many instances where the very folks that the people of God are found to be disliking shame them in their faith and trust in the promises of Jehovah, even if at the time they are not the focus of it.
But back to Naaman for a second. It’s not just the 1 Peter 3:15 work of the slave girl that is worth highlighting in the passage. Probably one of the greatest statements (no hyperbole) that we many times can forget is what the pagan servants say to Naaman when Elisha tells him what to do so that his leprosy would go away. At first the general protests in 2 Kings 5:11-12 saying:
But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.
In response his nearest aides tell him in the next verse, “And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”
If the words of the unnamed slave girl move us to praise how much more so do these wonderful words of trust have an effect on the heart of the believer? I’ve got to be honest. Every time I read those words it gets a little dry in here. These unbelievers are proclaiming the simplicity of faith in a way that has few peers in the Scriptures. You can hear Paul’s words echo this in Romans 10:6-9:
But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ”(that is, to bring Christ down from above) or, “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ”(that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Many today want flashy lights and get faith quick schemes that involve conferences, books, lectures, plans, retreats, etc… from overpaid loudmouths, or even well-meaning teachers. Yet, the believer’s life, and especially the faith we receive from the redemption purchased by Christ, are not to be understood to be born out of engaging in complicated and rigorous religious twelve-step programs. That was one of the great concerns of the Apostle in Galatia. Here him from Galatians 2:16-20:
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
By the way, what became of Naaman? He heeded the counsel of his friends and was healed.
Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in 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.
What glorious truth!
His being accounted righteous in the eyes of the LORD began through the simple advice of a woman in a bad place. She knew Naaman’s only hope was in the word of God from His prophet.
Nothing has changed for our world today.
If you need help, or if your friend is requiring cleansing from sin, and is wandering around seeking an answer for what troubles their soul you have the example before you on what to do. Give them Jesus. For peace and salvation will come from no other.
Here is gentle word of encouragement:
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/grace-to-syrian-commander
Blessings in Christ,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church