One More: The Outsider (2 Kings 5:1-17)
Big Idea: God delights to use weak and ordinary people to reach those who are far from him.
Throughout Scripture, God delights to use the weak, small, and seemingly insignificant to accomplish his greatest purposes. In 2 Kings 5, one of the greatest men in the ancient world is brought toward salvation through one of the smallest: an unnamed Israelite slave girl.
Naaman was a mighty commander—powerful, wealthy, respected, and victorious. But he was also a leper. For all his greatness, he could not save himself.
Living in his home was a young Israelite girl who had been taken captive by the Syrians. She had every reason to hate Naaman, yet when she learned of his disease, she told his wife that there was a prophet in Israel who could heal him.
Naaman was big and needed help. The servant girl was small and knew where help could be found.
1. A Little Girl Who Speaks the Gospel
The smallest person in the story possesses the greatest faith. This young girl believes God can do the impossible and cares enough about her enemy to tell him where healing can be found.
She reminds us that we do not need power, influence, education, or status to be used by God. We simply need faith in the God who saves and enough love for others to point them toward him.
2. A Great Man Who Is Offended by the Gospel
Naaman travels to Israel with horses, chariots, authority, and enormous wealth. He is prepared to purchase his healing.
Instead, Elisha sends a messenger telling him to wash seven times in the Jordan River. Naaman is furious. God’s way seems beneath him.
But Naaman must learn what every sinner must learn: the gospel cannot be purchased by great people with great wealth or great works. It can only be received by faith.
The power was not in the Jordan. The power belonged to God. Naaman had to lay down his pride and come to God with empty hands.
3. A Great Man Who Becomes Little to Believe the Gospel
Eventually, Naaman listens. He humbles himself, enters the Jordan, and his flesh becomes “like the flesh of a little child.”
The great man becomes like the little girl.
And notice how God brought him there: a servant girl spoke, his wife listened, kings became involved, Elisha called him, a messenger delivered God’s word, and Naaman’s servants encouraged him to respond. One person planted, others watered, but God brought the growth.
This is the long game of evangelism. We should not become discouraged when one conversation does not immediately produce conversion. Anyone can share the gospel effectively because it is God who makes the gospel effective.
There may be people in our lives who seem too far from God, too powerful, too skeptical, too successful, or too unlikely to believe. Naaman reminds us not to decide beforehand whom God can save.
You may feel small. You may not have all the answers. But like the servant girl, you know where healing can be found.
And ultimately, Jesus did something even greater. The King of heaven made himself small, took the form of a servant, and went down into death so that dying outsiders like Naaman—and like us—could be made clean and alive.
Application Questions
Who feels like an “outsider” to you? Is there someone in your life you have subconsciously assumed is too far from God, too hostile, too successful, or too unlikely to believe the gospel?
What makes you feel too small or ordinary to share the gospel? How does the unnamed servant girl challenge the idea that you need influence, education, status, or all the right answers before God can use you?
Consider the servant girl’s relationship with Naaman. Is there someone difficult to love—or even someone who has hurt you—whose salvation you genuinely desire?
The servant girl simply knew where healing could be found. If an unbelieving friend came to you this week desperate for hope, how would you point them toward Jesus?
Where are you tempted to measure the success of evangelism by immediate results? How does seeing all the different people God used in Naaman’s story encourage you to faithfully plant or water gospel seeds?
Who may have already been planting and watering seeds in your “one more”? How could recognizing God’s work before you entered their story give you greater courage to speak?
Naaman had to lay down his pride to receive what he could never purchase. What keeps people in your life from receiving the gospel? How could you speak about grace in a way that addresses that barrier?
What is one small act of faithfulness you can take this week? Pray for someone, learn their story, share a meal, serve them, begin a God conversation, or clearly share the gospel.
One More Challenge: Write down the name of someone who seems unlikely or far from God. Pray specifically this week: “God, use ordinary me to point this person toward Jesus.”