WK 45 THE JEWISH SLAVE GIRL IS A GOOD MISSIONARY

THE JEWISH SLAVE GIRL IS A GOOD MISSIONARY

SCRITURE LESSON: 2 kings 5:1-19A
2 KINGS 5: 1 Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.
2 Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife.
3 She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”
4 Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said.
5 “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.
6 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.”
7 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 is trying to pick a quarrel with me!”
8 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.”
9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house.
10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, was yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”
11 But Naaman went away angry and said, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.
12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage.
13 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’!
14 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.
15 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. Please accept now a gift from your servant.”
16 The prophet answered, “As surely as the LORD lives, whom I serve. I will not accept a thing.” And even though Naaman urged him, he refused.
17 “If you will not,” said Naaman, please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the LORD.
18 But may the LORD forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I bow there also __ when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD forgive your servant for this.”
19 “Go in peace,” Elisha said. After Naaman had traveled some distance.

INTRODUCTION
In II Corinthians 5:11-21, Paul uses three key words to describe the mission to which God has called us. In verse 11, he describes our mission as people called to persuade men to come to Christ.
In verse 19, he describes our calling as ‘the ministry of reconciliation’.
In verse 20, Paul describes Christians as ‘ambassadors for Christ’.

An ambassador is one who represents his/her government in a foreign country. In the same way, a foreign missionary is one sent by his/her church to spread the gospel message in a foreign land.

In our study this week, we will see how a Jewish slave girl in a foreign land became the unofficial ambassador of her country in Syria, but more importantly served as the ambassador for Christ in a foreign land.

EXPOSITION
Leprosy in the Old Testament
Leprosy, which is a skin disease was considered in the Old Testament times as a punishment from God. For example, when Miriam became jealous of Moses, God punished her with leprosy (Num. 12). Lepers in Israel were outcasts and could not mingle with others in society. There was a stigma which was attached to the disease. When lepers were healed they had to offer various forms of sacrifices to cleanse them from their guilt or sin. This was the kind of disease that Naaman suffered from, and so, even though he was an army commander he was not happy. It affected the outlook of the family, and those in the government.

The Jewish Slave girl witnesses to her faith
Effective witnessing is derived from the concern which we have for the lost. The Jewish slave girl knew what was going on in the home. She knew the stigma associated with the disease and she knew how the whole family was worried about Naaman’s illness.

It is to be assumed that the girl had very good relationship with Naaman’s wife and so she could tell her of the power of the God she believed in. The whisper which she might have made to her mistress set of a chain off events which eventually led to the healing of Naaman. A few questions are: Had the girl ever met the Prophet Elisha? Had she ever seen Prophet Elisha heal anybody of leprosy? And yet, the girl demonstrated her faith in the God of Israel and His power to heal so she witnessed to her faith.

The girl’s witnessing sets off a chain of diplomatic events
The slave girl’s testimony probably given in the kitchen to her mistress set off the following series of diplomatic events
Naaman related the girl’s message to the king
The king of Aram sent a letter ordering the king of Israel to arrange for Naaman to be healed.
A disturbed king of Israel received information from the Prophet Elisha that Naaman be sent over to him.
You can never know how your simple testimony can be used by God to set off events that will change somebody’s destiny.

There is pride in the heart of man
Naaman’s reaction to the instructions given by the Prophet Elisha shows the pride that is in the heart of human beings. It didn’t matter that Naaman was suffering from the stigma of leprosy and had traveled all the way to Israel to be healed, he refused to follow the Prophet’s instructions. He was too big to be treated that way. There are many who cannot accept the Gospel message, which essentially says that, our salvation does not depend on what we do but on the finished work of Christ on the cross. Not until this pride is broken, the human heart cannot accept God’s salvation which is based on grace.

A group of servants persuade Naaman to humble himself.
The story of the healing of Naaman may be called the “story of the three servants”. The Jewish slave girl initiated the story through her witnessing in the home of Naaman. It had take a group of servants who traveled with Naaman to persuade him to swallow his pride and follow the instructions of the prophet to wash seven times in the river Jordan.

God’s chosen instruments are usually, the foolish, the weak, the lowly and the despised things of this world, so that no one may boast before him. (1Cor. 1:26-31). The third servant in the story is beyond our scope in this discussion, except to say that Gehazi the servant of the Prophet Elisha, who was supposed to know, better rather failed and destroyed himself through covetousness.

VI. Naaman confirms the slave girl’s testimony
The story began with the Jewish slave girl witnessing about the power of the God of Israel to heal. Naaman had to have the witness in himself, by acting on the slave girl’s message. After all the diplomatic wrangling, when he humbled himself, he gave his own personal testimony; “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel”. He now knew that the slave girls’ testimony was true.

Jesus can only be real to us, if we will take the step of faith and jump into the river as Naaman did to have our sins washed in the blood that flowed at Calvary.

VII. Naaman will practice his new found faith in his own culture.
At the end of the story, Naaman had to answer a very important question in cross-cultural missions, “How does he carry out his new found faith in the God of Israel when he returns to his own country?”

He solved the problem at two levels.
a. At the personal level, he decided that he would set up an altar with earth taken from Israel, and offer his own personal sacrifices to the God of Israel on the altar.
b. At official levels, he knew that he could not immediately throw away his position and relationship with the king, so he asked that God who knows his heart forgives him when he follows the King to the temple Rimmon, the god of Aram. The Prophet Elisha understood him and prayed for him, saying: “Go in peace”.
In cross-cultural missions, our first step is to enable the convert experience the touch of God at the personal level and God himself will direct them in terms of how to dispose of unacceptable practices;.

THE WORD IN OUR LIVES
The story of the slave girl witnessing to her faith in a foreign land poses many challenges to us as individuals and as a church. There are many people who begin well in their villages and towns, but when they travel out to the cities and other places outside their familiar zones, they have no witness. Sooner or later, their faith degenerates and attend church services only when they return to their villages on special occasions. They have no witnesses to give in their new place of abode. Unlike the slave girl, they are not missionaries.

The church also has to re-examine her approach to missions. The Methodist Church Ghana is essentially a Southern Ghana based church that has not made much impact on non-Akan speaking ethnic groups in the country. Our congregations outside the Akan-speaking zone have largely been chaplaincies taking care of Akan speaking Methodists in those areas. There has to be a new orientation and emphasis if we are to be the missionary church.

The same may be said of our congregations in Europe, and America. Are they centres that are witnessing to what God is doing in the Church in Africa, or are they mere chaplaincies? Christ has called us to be ambassadors, and an ineffective ambassador may have to be withdrawn, or recalled. Let us follow the slave girl’s example and become effective witnesses and missionaries.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What kind of atmosphere do you think existed in Naaman’s home and how could that have contributed to the effective witnessing of the slave girl?
The slave girl and Naaman’s servants had to overcome certain barriers in order to convince Naaman to have faith in God. How do we overcome such barriers as age, social class, ethnic differences in our witnessing?
In a pluralistic society such as ours (e.i. people have different religions and faiths etc) how can we effectively witness to the uniqueness of the Christian faith? What lessons do we learn from the Jewish slave girl?
Why do many people lose their faith and have no effective witness when they leave their hometowns and villages to the cities and foreign countries.
Discuss how the Methodist Church Ghana can be more mission-oriented outside her stronghold in the southern half of the country.

BIBLE LESSON APPLCATION
This week, identify someone in your neighborhood, or workplace or someone you meet who comes from a different ethnic group or follows a different religion and initiate a conversation that will lead to sharing your faith. Pray about it and follow it up
Report the results to your group.

DAILY BIBLE READING
Sunday Acts 4:8 The healing of the cripple in Jerusalem
Monday Acts 1:1-8 Becoming witness to the Lord
Tuesday 2Corinthians 5:17-21 Becoming ambassadors for Christ
Wednesday Colossians 4:2-6 Declaring the mystery of Christ.
Thursday 2Timothy 4:1-5 Preach the word.
Friday Genesis 18:20-27 Abraham pleads for Sodom.
Saturday Genesis 8:20-22 God establishes his people.