Don't Be Like Gehazi
In 2 Kings Chapter 5, a man named Naaman is the commander of the Syrian army, and he has leprosy, so he comes to Israel, looking for the prophet Elisha, because he wants to be healed.
And by this time God has established his work through Elisha, and people all around recognized that. Elisha has already performed a catalog of miracles, and so Naaman comes to him with a whole entourage of treasure — ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, ten changes of clothes.
Elisha tells him what he needs to do in order to be healed: Wash in the Jordan River and your skin will be restored. And Naaman is reluctant at first but he follows through, and sure enough, he is healed! He goes from having leprosy to having skin as smooth as a baby’s.
God has worked another miracle through Elisha, and Naaman is converted. He says the God of Israel, Yahweh, is the one true God, and so he wants to give Elisha all this treasure as a gift, but Elisha rejects. Elisha takes none of the treasure and so Naaman leaves. And this is a good story. Everything is going great. God is at work.
But Then Gehazi
But Elisha has this servant named Gehazi, and Gehazi is seeing all this, and after Naaman leaves he decides he wants to get himself some of that treasure. So after Naaman travels down the road a little ways, Gehazi catches up with him and deceives him into thinking that Elisha changed his mind. Gehazi says that Elisha does want some of the silver and the clothes, and by the way, can you deliver them to my house?
And Naaman is eager to do this, so he leaves the treasure with Gehazi, goes back to Syria, and then Gehazi comes to see Elisha, and Elisha says to him, “Where you been, Gehazi?”
In 2 King 5:25 Gehazi says, “Your servant went no where.”
Gehazi said that to Elisha … Elisha the prophet who has literally been performing miracle after miracle — he has raised a kid back to life, he has stood boldly before kings, he just cured Naaman of leprosy. God has been at work through Elisha, and Gehazi has seen it all, and somehow he thinks this lie is going to work.
All the other servants in this story, the servants of Naaman, they recognized God’s work through Elisha. But it was actually Gehazi, the servant on the inside, who didn’t get it, even though he had been there and seen everything. Gehazi was Elisha’s personal attendant. He had been with him for all these miracles. He has seen these miracles with his own eyes, but he is the servant in this story who doesn’t believe. Although he has been there and seen God’s work, he has an evil, unbelieving heart. Because that happens.
Exhortation
Cities Church, in our short five years together, we have seen God do amazing things. He has been so good to us, and if you have been here, you’ve seen it with your own eyes. God has been a work, but here’s the thing: we still have these hearts.
And our hearts can grow cold.
Even for those on the inside, for those of us who have seen God’s work with our own eyes, we can become like Gehazi. And so my exhortation this morning is “Don’t.”
Church, don’t be like Gehazi.
Take care, brothers and sisters, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God (Hebrews 3:12).
Prayer of Confession
Father, we confess that we are desperate for your mercy. Even in this season of so much grace, of so much to be thankful for, of seeing your work in our church, we acknowledge that our hearts are prone to wander, and they will wander unless you keep us. We need you, Father, to hold us fast, to awaken us each day to your glory, to overcome us with your love, to lead us in your truth. And we confess that, in our sin, we can often resist this. We can grow callous to your care, and for that, we beg you for mercy. We do not want to harbor sin in our hearts, so for this and other sins, we come to you now in silent confession.
