I have a “Knock-Knock” joke for you. Are
you ready? You need to participate or it won’t be funny.
OK, here we go.
“Knock,
knock.”
“Who’s
there?”
“Control Freak. Now you say ‘control freak,
who?’”
Ha! Did you get it? Because, I’m a control
freak, I didn’t trust that you would say your line of the joke, so I told you
what to say, even though you knew what to say. Get it? That shows I’m a control
freak. Get it? I’m a control freak just in the way I’m explaining this knock-knock
joke with you!
There is some truth to this silly
“knock-knock” joke. It helps us to think about if we might have control freak
issues in how we live out our faith.
Have you noticed that living by faith
isn’t always that easy, because it means that there are times when we just need
to let go and let God? Have you ever heard of that phrase? Let go and let God.
I mean, we can recite the Apostle’s Creed,
read our bibles, say “The Lord’s Prayer,” and attend church, but we’re not
really going to grow in our faith until we let go of control.
Nobody said that having faith would be
easy.
Maybe you have heard of the name, Charles
Blondin. He was a famous tightrope walker. He was the first person to cross
Niargara Falls on a tightrope that stretched 1,100 feet long. In 1859 and 1860,
he walked across that 3 inch rope which was suspended 160 feet above the river
below.
He did this several times during those two
years, each time with a different, daring feat. He did it wearing a sack. Another time he walked on stilts. He pushed a
wheelbarrow of potatoes. He rode a bicycle. One of those times across the
Niagara Falls, he even stopped in the middle of that rope and cooked an omelet
on a small portable stove.
Just think if we would have been in the
crowd that watched him perform these amazing things, like pushing a wheelbarrow
of potatoes across that rope. If he could do that, then what’s to say that he
couldn’t have done that with one of us in that wheelbarrow.
My guess is that if he would have asked one
of us to get in that wheelbarrow, we would have said, “no.” Sometimes, we say
we believe and trust God, but until we say yes, and let go of our control
issues, we’ll never know how deep our faith really is.
Our Old Testament reading for today is a
story about letting go and letting God. Approximately 850 years before the time
of Christ, a non-Israelite man named Naaman has the terrible disease of
leprosy. He is considered an outsider. Naaman was from Aram. He served in the Aram
army.
A young Israelite girl who had been
captured from a previous battle is serving in Naaman’s house. Knowing that
Naaman so desperately wanted to be healed and that there was no doctor in Aram
covered by his insurance provider, this servant girl recommends an out of
network physician. She tells him that there is a prophet in Israel named, Elisha
who would be able to heal him. This prophet was known to heal all sorts of
illnesses and conditions. Naaman who desperately wants to be healed agrees to
go to Israel and try to set up an appointment.
The king of Aram agrees to send a letter
to the king of Israel to allow for Naaman to enter Israel and seek healing from
his leprosy. When the king of Israel received this letter, he thinks the worst.
He assumes that there is some ulterior
motive by the king of Aram. After all, there had been rumors that the king of Aram
wanted to expand their territory. And
so, the King of Israel made securing the border a top priority. On top of that
national security issue, there also had been a terrible drought and grain was
in short supply. The last think the King of Israel wanted was for more mouths
to feed.
To make a long story short, this was no
time for some foreign military person to get special treatment, especially when
this king had so much on his plate, internationally and domestically. On top of
all these worries, the king had to deal with so called protestors who were
known to wander from place to place criticizing the king’s policies. You already
know the name of one of these protestors. Back then, they called them “prophets.”
This prophet/protestor’s name was Elisha.
The pressure is just too much for this
king to take and so he tears his clothes, which is how you threw a tantrum in
biblical times. He wants everybody to know that this letter to allow Naaman to
come into the country is some sort of trap and he will have none of it.
The prophet, Elisha gets wind of Naaman’s
request to come into the country. Elisha tells the king that he would be more
than willing to help this foreign military person who needed to be healed.
So Naaman arrives in full regalia with his
horse and chariot. Elisha instructs for Naaman to take two pills and call him
in the morning. Actually, he tells him to wash seven times in the Jordan River
and then call him in the morning.
Naaman is outraged that he had traveled
all that way just so that this quack doctor could make him look foolish. As he
turns to head back to Aram, some of his own men tell him to at least give it a
try, which he does, and miraculously, Naaman gets healed of his leprosy.
Crazy, crazy story, right? What’s the
point of all of this?
The point is that two of the characters in
the story were control freaks. Those two were Naaman who almost didn’t get
healed because he wanted to control the way he thought he should be healed. The
other one was the King of Israel who didn’t trust anybody and who was relying
on his own wisdom in dealing with the many problems facing the people of Israel
at the time.
Naaman and the King of Israel were the
control freaks.
But there were two characters in the story
who the author of II Kings wants us to know were willing to let go and let God
in that situation. The one was the Israelite servant girl who had been captured
and who had told Naaman about the prophet Elisha.
The other character in the story who
understood to let go and let God was the prophet Elisha. He was able to calm
the king down and to remind him that everything was going to be all right and that
his worst fears were not going to come true.
This Old Testament story reminds me that
for those of us who are control freaks, we need others to remind us that
sometimes we need to just let go and let God. And sometimes, God calls us to be
a calming influence for those who are anxious and worried about a certain
outcome.
I’ll
never forget my first Easter Sunday as a new pastor. I was so nervous. Even after several hours of
preparing the sermon, I kept reworking it over and over again and when it was
all said and done, I realized that my first draft was perfectly fine. Instead
of worrying so much about the sermon, I could have used that time to enjoy
being with my family.
I was
also concerned about the number of bulletins because of the larger crowd we
were going to have. And then I worried
about where the Easter lilies were going to be placed around the altar. Our
flower volunteer had already set them up and I asked if she could arrange them
differently which she graciously did.
As I
looked at the new arrangement from the view of the balcony, I said, “You know, actually, the way you had them
before looked nicer.” I am so glad
that this person was nice because anyone else would have made me wear one of
those Easter lilies.
Knowing
that I was worrying way too much about my first Easter Sunday as a pastor, she
calmly approached me and with a disarming smile, she gently said to me, “Robert, you just need to let go and let
God.” She was so right. I needed to let go and let God.
I would imagine that there are more than a
few people here today, including this pastor, who needs to be reminded, “you just need to let go and let God.”
A good friend of mine needed
that reminder during a time of transition in her life. She had faithfully
served as a food and hospitality coordinator on her church staff for thirty
years and decided to retire.
Peg put her heart into her ministry. She
coordinated ministries such as collecting teddy bears and blankets for children
at the hospital, providing free weekly church meals for people in the community,
overseeing funeral lunches, and assisting with new member classes.
The church staff took her out to lunch as
a way to celebrate her retirement and her many years of faithful service in the
life of our congregation. Even though Peg knew that it was time to retire due
to health reasons and wanting to spend more time with her husband, she was
finding this transition in her life really difficult to accept.
She was worried that the new person
wouldn’t know where things were kept in the church or wouldn’t know which
members to call for certain projects. She was worried about all of these
things.
At her retirement party, staff members
gave her gifts. The best retirement gift of all came from her husband, Jim.
When she opened his gift, she looked confused because it was a piece of jewelry
based on the Disney movie, “Frozen.”
Jim looked at his wife and simply said the
popular line from the main song of that movie, “Let it go, Peg. Let it go. Let it go.”
Everybody had a good laugh including Peg.
She just needed someone to say to her, “Let it go. Let it go.”
Sometimes, we just need to surrender and
yield to God. That’s all we need to do.
When I
was in college, I reached a low point in my life. I was trying to do everything my way and it
was only leading from one disappointment to another. My own control and pride
were getting in the way of the future that God had in mind for me.
Without
a sense of purpose and feeling really down, I finally decided to surrender all
of who I was to God. I fell to my knees and I prayed, “God, forgive me for not allowing you to be first in my life. From this
point on, I want to do whatever you want me to do. I want to follow Jesus every
day and be his disciple.”
When I
stood up from that prayer, it was like this huge weight was lifted from my
shoulders. That’s what it feels like when you finally let go and let God.
Today,
we will be receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion. It’s a meal that reminds
us that God has done everything that is needed so that we can be the people God
is calling us to be.
Jesus
died on the cross and offers us hope, new life, direction, forgiveness,
purpose, guidance, and salvation. If you think about it, what more do we need?
What more do we need?
(Singing) - Let it go. Let it go.
Let it go.
Let It Go!
Small Group Questions
II Kings 5:1-14
July 3, 2016
In our Old Testament reading, we have the story of the prophet Elisha healing Naaman, a Gentile who had leprosy. This story helps us to see the importance of letting go and trusting in God. This is exemplified by the young Israelite woman who told Naaman that Elisha would be able to heal him and Elisha who was willing to heal a non-Israelite.
Who are the people in your life who have taught you the importance of "letting go and letting God."
The King of Israel and Naaman are examples of people in the story who did not want to let go and trust the people who were trying to help them.
List some reasons why we may find it difficult to let go and trust God in situations. What can help us overcome these challenges to our faith?
This story of the healing of Naaman shows us that we need each other to let go and trust God. This is one of the reasons small groups are so important in our faith journey. How has being in your small group helped you to let go and trust God?
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