Why Are You Here?

Pastor Mabio Coelho

Midland SDA Church

May 15, 2021

Base Texts: 2 Kings 5: 1-17; Colossians 3

Objective:  To show that being a servant of God and a good professional are two sides of the same coin. You cannot be one without being the other. It also show that your first calling and profession is to be a missionary.

Introduction:

I have a question to ask you now that maybe you never asked, or maybe you already asked yourself but did not give importance to this thought. The question is, "What is your motivation for working?" Why do you do what you do? (ask and listen to answers).

I want to invite you to open your Bible in a super-known story. Perhaps one of the 10 best-known stories in the OT: 2 Kings 5: 1-17 (The healing story of Naaman).

I –  Reviewing the story:

 a) Read the entire story (or selected verses) in order to tell the story of the chapter, reminding the audience of the details of this well-known history, but in such a way that someone who has not had a Christian childhood or does not know the story could also understand it.

 b) Emphasize Naaman's Conversion (2Ki 5:17) and not just his healing.

II – Understanding the story:

 a) Who was Naaman – 2 Kings 5:1

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. i)The General of the Syrian Army (the superpower of that time) 

            2. ii)He had commanded the army that, by divine permission, subdued Israel 

            3. iii)The ancients understood that not necessarily the strongest army would win a battle, but the one with the strongest god. 

            4. iv)He was an “honorable man” and “a mighty man of valor”, but he was a leper(v.1) 

            5. v)He had a death sentence hanging on his had and all the physicians, magicians, and his gods could not help him 

 Application:  As someone of such high rank and one of the highest officers of the most powerful nation at the time (the USA at that time), why did he listen to a domestic servant, or worse, a domestic slave of a country enslaved by them? Why did he listen to somebody that served a weaker God than his?

 b) Who was this maid / slave  – 2 Kings 5:2

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. i)She had been one of the war captives 

            2. ii)He was taken as a teenager (hint from the original Hebrew v.2) 

            3. iii)She worked for Naaman's wife 

 c) What did she do to deserve attention? – 2 Kings 5:2-3

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. i)She worked – v.2 (and she worked in the best possible way, she was honest, kind and efficient. The literal translation at the end of verse 2 is "she worked in the face of Naaman's wife", an idiom to say that she worked in a way honorable and straight, with all her dedication and love.  Same word used to represent the work the priest did before God on the temple) 

            2. ii)She spoke at the right time – v.3 

 Application: Do you think that if she was careless, did not wash the bathrooms in the best possible way, did not serve with love and affection to the people who captured her—even if she wisely spoke at the right time—do you think they would listen to her????

III – The story behind History: Why do you work? What is your motivation?

The story behind this story is our story. This story speaks of the ideal answer to the question that is the title of this message: What is your motivation to work? This story shows the answer which God dreams that we will answer.

When reading and studying the story of the captive girl, it is clear that she lived God's dream for us. She knew and remembered about the dream God had for his people (expressed in many ways in the Bible since the first mention in Exodus 19:5–6 and Deuteronomy 4:5–8) to be special a special people who through their life demonstrated the character of God. There are many passages on the Bible that explore this desire God has, but I want to invite you to study the God’s dream for us as expressed in Colossians 3.

Colossians 3: 2 says that we should think “of things above, not of things here on earth;”. In the remainder of the chapter, Paul makes it clear that we must be careful with our intentions and motivations. They should not be selfish, focused on reward or self-promotion. In Colossians Verse 14, Paul tells us that love, first to God and then to our fellow man, must be the reason that leads us to do everything.  Paul remind us that we are God’s servants first (and above everything else).  What we do to make a living is just that, but our higher calling is to follow in Jesus’s footsteps. He, and only He, should be our role model.

Only then can we understand the attitude of this captive girl and the attitude that God expects from us. In Colossians 3: 22–23 we read: “22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Conclusion

I don't know why you worked until now, but I hope that with what we have just studied you will start working, doing everything that comes into your hands, in the best possible way, doing “with all your heart, as for the Lord and not for men”(Col 3:23). I hope now you understand that God wants you to know that your profession and calling is to be His ambassador/ambassadress in your home, in your school, in your workplace, in your business transactions, etc.