Rewards of Obedience

As I have been ministering the word of God these past few months in this park and I have been asking myself two questions that have really puzzled me about some of the people who are homeless or financially strapped who hang out here in the park.

Why is it that so many people have so much trouble understanding what God wants to do in their lives ?

And why do they resist so passionately when the change would only be good ?

It's easy for me to ask these questions because for me to obey God's word is automatic to me.

Does it mean I think that I am perfect ?

Not at all, but it's something I strive to do because I know the benefits outweigh the alternatives. I know that if I obey I will be rewarded.

Does that mean that I will become rich or find some kind of special favor ?

It could if that is what God's will for my life is at that time but that isn't the reward that I'm talking about. The reward is the peace of mind and joy that I get experience in my life.

When you are living just to gratify your fleshly desires you find that there is always a lot of drama in your life constantly that just seems to never go away. Sin is drama so if you don't want that kind of upheaval in your life then you need to change what you are doing and do the opposite. Repent.

There was a man in the bible who's name was Naaman who was a commander in the Syrian army that lived about 3,500 years ago. He was a great warrior but he had a problem, he was a leper covered from head to toe.

Back then the armies would go out on raids and kill all the men and bring back the strong women and children to be slaves. There was a girl who was brought back from Israel serving Naaman's wife and she told his wife this:

II Kings 5 :

2 And the Syrians had gone out on raids, and had brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel. She waited on Naaman's wife. 3 Then she said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.” 4 And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, “Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel .”

So Naaman hears what the girl said and goes to the king of Syria to tell him what he heard and so what happens next ?

A letter goes out from the king to the king of Israel :

5 Then the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. 6 Then he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which said Now be advised, when this letter comes to you, that I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy.

Now what would happen if the king of one country sent a letter like this one to the king of another country that says in a nice, demanding way that they wanted something from you, what would happen if that king didn't even respond to it ?

A very simple answer, WAR. It didn't take much in those days to start a war, you just had to have a small disagreement, and before you knew it, people are dying all around you. So it wasn't a small matter that this king in Syria was asking.

So what does the king of Israel do ?

7 And it happened, when the king of Israel read the letter, that he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me.”

A very natural response from someone who is living life separated from God because of sin. The king of Israel at that time was living a life of selfishness and self gratification. So now because of something that someone said, who he probably didn't even know existed, he now has all this drama in his life.

He acts out same way people would in this park and in the houses outside of this park would act out, he said what we would say, JUST GREAT !!! MORE DRAMA !!! JUST WHAT I NEEDED !!! PERFECT !!! WHY ME !!!

As I said before, with a life of sin comes a lot of drama. They go hand in hand and at times they cause major strife in your life.

So what do most people do ?

They throw their hands up in the air as if there is nothing they can do about it, they look at it as another issue that they can't control, so they do one of two things:

1. Fight it. I'm not going to do that, don't even ask me.

2. Ignore it. I'm going to act as if it doesn't exist and forget about it.

But if you do one of these two things the problem is still there and you've chosen the path of least resistance. That's what the king of Israel did but God had an answer to his problem that he wasn't even looking for as we read on.

8 So it was, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”

God always has His people standing in the gap for other people because he always has his hand stretched out so he can help his creation overcome the things that are causing strife and anxiety in their lives.

He always wants His creation that He loves so much to experience the blessing in their lives that He has always meant them to have. But He cannot make you accept them, you have to do that on your own.

So Elisa tells the king to send Naaman to his house and he will help the king deal with his problem in the same way we Christians try to help with the problems facing the people that we live around.

The king is doing no more than passing the problem on to someone else to deal with it so he doesn't have to. Do we do that sometimes ?

As we read on we find that people don't always except help, but resist:

9 Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” 11 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.' 12 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.

What happened ?

He was offended because he thought he was so important that it was a privilege for Elisa to help him. That's why he said he will surely come to me and stand.

How many people act like they're doing Christians favors by letting them help them ?

Like they have nothing better to do than minister to them.

But then Naaman says that Elisa should be standing before him calling on his God, waving his hands in the air so that God can do a magic trick for him.

Isn't that the way it is with some people, no matter what you do help them they think you owe it to them ?

It reminds me of someone who asked me for help here in this park. They wanted to go into a program that would help them get their lives straightened out. It was a man and a woman.

But they wanted help on their terms and when that wasn't possible, he stuck his middle finger up at me and started swearing at me as if I had to comply with his demands. Well that was that and he is still in the same place he was before that happened, on the streets, in the cold, in the park. Maybe his thinking will change as time goes along, but for now he has everything he needs to be happy.

Naaman was a prideful man too, he was a warrior, he was someone who was used to demanding his way and had the same reaction this fellow in the park had that I talked to, but he was able to do one thing that this other fellow wasn't able top do, he listened to the people that were with him.

13 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'?”

Anyone can do anything that gives them the recognition that they need to have to feel important to someone else. If they can get that kind of recognition they will step up to the plate every time. If given something spectacular to do with a lot of rewards attached to it, people won't hesitate to step up, they would jump in with both feet.

But when it comes to doing things that require humility and sacrifice on their part, their pride won't allow it because they think everything evolves around them. But if you give in, the rewards outweigh the sacrifice.

Just as they did with Naaman when he swallowed his pride:

14 So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

Not only was he made clean, but his flesh was brand new like a newborn child. No more blemishes, no hideous, white scabs covering his body anymore. He was made clean and his skin was as if nothing had ever happen to him at all.

There is a new leprosy that has invaded every nation and country in this world that people don't even see it. You can find it everywhere you go, even in this park.

It does just as much damage as the leprosy did back then, people can see you covered in it, and if you have it, they are afraid to touch you like it was back then because they are afraid it can be passed on to them.

Do you think a leper could spot another leper ?

No doubt at all because Lepers knew when you had the disease because there was no hiding it, because it stuck out and you couldn't fool anyone.

But now the leprosy that has replaced that hideous form is not so easy to detect if you don't know what to look for. Some of your friends have it, some of your acquaintances have it, and if you didn't know what to look for you would have never known they had. But when their lives went out of control and they lost everything they had then you find out.

So what is this new leprosy plaguing this land ?

It's called alcoholism, drug addiction and sexual immorality. These are the new plagues that have consumed the people and destroyed their lives. They need to come to the river and wash themselves to be cleaned like Naaman did.

God is always ready to wash you in the Jordan River of your life and heal you and make you clean. But you have to get into the water first, you have to let your pride go, you have to surrender your will and stop worrying what your friends are going to do or say. You just get into the water.

16 “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, 17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow. 18 “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; Isaiah 1:16-18