Encountering God - You're Not First Class! Christian, You Are not Even Middle Class!

"So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing."

The Gospel of Jesus Christ goes like this: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God."  Naaman must learn what this means, and so too must we.  You may wonder, "What do you mean when you say 'you must be poor to receive the kingdom?'"  Here is a Christian, A Christian is poor in spirit - "blessed are the poor. . ." That is the fist beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount.  It means literally "bankrupt."  It implies a debt so great that you have no hope of paying it - no way at all.

Naaman was not poor, at least not at first.  In fact most people are not poor in spirit, most people are middle class in spirit.  The middle class in spirit says, "I am not perfect, I certainly need a bit of help from God, to get through the hard stuff.  But I need only a little.  I am a good person and I do this good and that; and so far I have lived a pretty good life. But I do need a bit of help every now and then.  Just enough of God to get me through - please - thank you."

But this is not a Christian.  A Christian is poor - desperately poor!  A Christian has nothing, no leverage with God at all.  They are poor, bankrupt, and without hope.  A Christian must rely on charity, on grace; a Christian cries out, "Oh God! Is there mercy for me? is there mercy for me?

Naaman must have learned that an encounter with God happens in exactly the same manner for everyone - no matter who they are; it happens on God's terms!  His silver and gold were useless, God cannot be bought!  But this is unacceptable to the self-made--middle-class-man, and that is why Naaman was initially so angry, so insulted.  Anybody can take a bath!  Naaman wanted the expensive and difficult task to prove his worthiness, but he was not worthy, he needed grace.

Sometimes we want the hard thing so that we can earn our healing, or reward.  But in reality, the hardest thing in the world is to admit there is absolutely nothing you can do and nothing you can offer to earn anything from God  It will be by the sheer grace of God if Naaman is to encounter God and be healed.