1 Unexpected Heroes Introduction Hebrews 11

Transcription

1 1 1 Unexpected Heroes Introduction Hebrews 11 When I mention the word hero, what comes to your mind? Do you see a person in tights and wearing a cape, maybe a mask, bulging with muscles and having super powers? We have been taught to think of superheroes this way. Maybe when you hear the word hero you think of someone in uniform: a policeman, fireman, or military person. Indeed they are among my heroes! Maybe you think of a parent or grandparent, a teacher or mentor. Many images come to our mind when we hear the word hero. Unlike the superheroes you see on TV or read about in cartoons, most real heroes don t get up in the morning, don their cape and mask, and go out to do heroic deeds. Real heroes are just plain, ordinary men and women who rise to the occasion when situations demand and do what is necessary. It has always been that way. They are rarely stellar folks with great credentials to commend them. Often they are flawed, mistake-prone ordinary people who would never see themselves as heroes in anyone s eyes. So what makes a hero? A study was done last year relative to heroism. We ve come to define heroism as an activity with several parts. First, it s performed in service to others in need whether that s a person, group, or community or in defense of certain ideals. Second, it s engaged in voluntarily, even in military contexts, as heroism remains an act that goes beyond something required by military duty. Third, a heroic act is one performed with recognition of possible risks and costs, be they to one s physical health or personal reputation, in which the actor is willing to accept anticipated sacrifice. Finally, it is performed without external gain anticipated at the time of the act. Simply put, the key to heroism is a concern for other people in need, a concern to defend a moral cause, knowing there is a personal risk, and done without expectation of reward. The same is true for the heroes in the Bible. It s amazing how unlikely the biblical heroes are. When you read about them you find that all of them are likewise flawed, mistake-prone, and at times reluctant believers at best and yet there they are in the pages of the Bible, used by God in great ways! In this series I am calling Unexpected Heroes you ll meet some of the most colorful characters in the Bible and some modern heroes as well. You ll be uplifted and inspired as you consider what their lives teach about how God can use someone like you! Heroes often emerge from unexpected places. Their lives teach us important lessons about what to do, and sometimes, what not to do. Many of these characters seem larger than life, overcoming unbelievable odds on their path to victory. In the Old Testament there is the Big Three: Abraham, Moses, and David. We talk a lot about these guys: their faith, exploits, and the lessons that we can learn from their lives. However, some of the best lessons in Scripture come not from the greats, but from less prominent stories: people that appear, at first glance, easy to discount. Scripture is full of stories of forgotten lives, unsung heroes whose actions and sacrifices failed to win them worldly renown but noted by God and included in His Word. Yet, these great lives reveal significant people who God was able to use, and whose lives counted for something great. They may not be on the rolls of the rich and famous, yet their lives are still significant because they illustrate what is possible when ordinary people remain faithful to an extraordinary God. This series will look at some famous and some more obscure characters in Scripture, and the lessons that we can learn from their lives. Despite what the world tells us, we do not need to be powerful, prominent, or rich to have influence. Obeying God, even in the small things, can impact history in a powerful way!

2 2 READ from Hebrews 11 and PRAY I love the way God operates. I ll admit, sometimes it frustrates me, like when He doesn t work with the timetable I ve clearly set for Him, but overall I love the way He operates, especially when it comes to unlikelies those men and women who are quite unlikely to do anything remarkable. I love the fact that the Jews expected the Messiah to come to the rescue in full super hero garb, mow down the opposition and then reign on an earthly throne. Instead, the messiah God sent them was born in a manger, basically lived the life of a nomad and died a sinner s death. Yet He rescued us all the same. Unexpected? Yes sir. I love the fact that God picked David to be king. When Samuel went to Jesse s (David s father) house to anoint the new king, David wasn t even there. He was the youngest and considered the least of his 7 brothers so he was out in the fields looking after the sheep and goats. Samuel saw David s oldest brother and thought, Now this guy looks like a king but God said, Don t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16:8 NLT When Samuel saw David, he was not impressed by his stature but he was God s man for the time. Unexpected? Indeed. I love the fact that Gideon, while hiding from the Midianites, is approached by an angel of the Lord, who addresses Gideon as, Mighty Hero. (Judges 6:12 NLT) To which Gideon says, (in the Fred Lodge translation) You mean me??? Then God raised up this same Gideon, the hiding hero, to defeat the very people he had earlier been hiding from. Unexpected? Fo-sho. I love the fact that a prostitute named Rahab plays the role of hero in Joshua 2 and later shows up again in the New Testament when Matthew is going over the Family Tree of Jesus. Matthew 1:5 Unexpected? Duh.. I love the fact that Paul, before he became arguably the best Christian ever, was Dog, the Bounty Hunter of his time when it came to hunting down and persecuting Christians. But then He met Jesus and, well he did a little writing you might be familiar with, it s called a large chunk of the New Testament. Unexpected? HIGHLY! But not to God, in fact that s exactly the kind of folks He enjoys working with. Need more proof? See Joseph, see Moses, see Esther etc. Just read your Bible for crying out loud! Which brings me to my next point: I love the fact that The Bible is full of an unlikely cast of characters being raised up by God, and doing great things. AND I love the fact that you and I are in that same category. You and I are God s unexpected heroes for our day and place. We are not wearing cape and mask, but we are dedicated to Him to do what is right, what His will happens to be, at any given time.

3 If anyone was NOT expected to be a man of God, it was ME! Nobody ever who thought I d become a Christian at all, let alone a minister of the Gospel. But I m guessing you re unlikely in the way that many in the Bible were. You may be a youngest, sometimes feel like a least, you probably weren t voted, Most likely to do great things for God in high school, you may be currently relegated to the fields to do dirty jobs, you may not have the appearance or height of a future king, queen, mighty hero etc. a.k.a. you re an unexpected. If ever there were to be an unexpected hero it would be you! Right? I guess that d make me a double unexpected. But that s awesome because the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:8 NLT) and history shows that you and I are just the type of clay that feels right in the Potter s Hand. Look, it s true that the Bible ended with The Book of Revelation, but stories of God using unlikely people for His glory are still being written today. Is it likely that you ll play a big part for God in an upcoming chapter? Nope! You certainly don t think so! Right? Exactly! and that would put you in some pretty good company. God has this weird way of being attracted to those who have really blown it. It makes no sense to the morality police but it s true. This whole grace perspective makes no sense from the vantage point of human fairness. Most of us would think it only makes sense that the people God would choose to lift up as examples would be the people who got it right when it comes to behavior and belief. But that s not how He does it. God has this weird way of being attracted to those who have really blown it. It makes no sense to the morality police of this world but it s true. The Bible lists a group of people who have become known as the heroes of faith. They re listed in Hebrews, chapter eleven. But if you take a look at the lives of the people named there it may well knock your moral programming offline. In fact, when you look at the way most of the people mentioned there behaved, you may have to reboot your whole understanding of how God sees people and who He decides to lift up as examples for the rest of us. Those listed as heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11 were, for the most part, definitely not people most of us would have chosen as role models. Or, if we had decided to list their names, at least we would have left out some of the gory details of the inconsistent and wrong behavior that marked their lives at times. There are the exceptions mentioned in Hebrews 11, such as Abel, Enoch, Samuel and a few others about whom we would be hard pressed to find much fault. Then there are the others, the majority in fact; whose lifestyles often looked more like a dirty movie than the biography of a Bible character. Noah is listed as a person of great faith, yet the man was found lying in a drunken stupor no sooner than the ground was dry enough for him to fall down on. In Genesis 8:20, he is seen building an altar shortly after he stepped out of the ark. Then, in Genesis 9:20, he is seen drunk and naked, and apparently doing some things that would make the average churchgoer cringe to even think about. Mentioned next in the lineup is Abraham, who is commended so strongly in Hebrews 11 that it seems as if the writer has completely forgotten that the Bible has already given us the low-down on the man in the book of Genesis. Abraham took a concubine named Hagar to try to produce the son God had promised. Nobody would argue that what he did wasn t wrong, but most people who know their own propensity toward doubting God at times can let that one slide. But what about Genesis 12 where he had Sarah tell everybody she was his sister when they arrived in Egypt? He let her be taken into Pharaoh s house to save himself. (See Genesis 12:11-15) He was willing to give her to someone else sexually because he was afraid! Most people wouldn t recommend Abraham as Husband Of The Year, but the Bible lists him as a man of great faith. Apparently God looks past behavior and into the heart more readily than most of us can imagine or are willing to practice ourselves. 3

4 In Hebrews 11:32, the writer said that time wouldn t permit him to mention all the heroes of faith. Read the chapter and consider the lives of those that are mentioned. There is Isaac, who committed the same sin as his father. (See Genesis 26:6-9) Then there is Jacob, who until this day is remembered as a sneaky and conniving man for much of his life. Moses is mentioned, despite the fact that he once killed a man. (See Exodus 2:11-12) Samson and David are both on the list, even though both of them had adulterous affairs that are remembered to this day. Hebrews 11:31 plainly refers to Rahab as Rahab the harlot. How does it make you feel to think that the Bible calls our attention toward people who behaved like that? Is it repulsive to you? To the contrary, I hope it causes you to be encouraged! Why would God set forward people who had behaved like cowards, perverts, murderers, adulterers, harlots? It is to show us just how big His grace is! Oh, by the way, let the record show that much of their misbehavior came after they had come to know and follow God! Our tendency is to often try to get past the misbehavior of people by saying, Well, they weren t believers then. But these in Hebrews 11 were believers when they misbehaved in such obvious ways. Does grace mean that God doesn t care about how we behave? Sometimes people accuse those who teach grace of advocating that. No, God isn t indifferent about how we act. It was sin that put Jesus on the cross, and I m not suggesting that we be soft in our attitude toward sin. But, we should be soft on people! My Bible tells me that I am a new creation in Christ. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Cor. 5:17) That includes you. Don t think for a moment that God looks at you in a negative way because of things you ve done. Have you failed? Welcome to the club. Read Hebrews 11 to learn the names of our charter members. Our club has a rich heritage. Then after you have read their names and remembered their sinful actions, thank God that He has taken yours away from you. If He could only love people who never sinned, He wouldn t have anybody in this world that He could have anything to do with whatsoever. God s grace is bigger than your biggest mistakes, most foolish choices and horribly sinful actions. Where sin abounds, grace still much more abounds. Despite your wrongdoing, even if it happened after you became a follower of Jesus, you can be an unexpected hero. Don t rule yourself out. By His grace, He has made you competent. Put the past behind. When you fall, get up. Keep your eyes on the One who loves you no matter what. Move forward. And all along the way, thank God for grace! Also please notice that not all those heroes in Hebrews 11 are named. As a matter of fact, they are innumerable! What favorite Bible characters do you have who are NOT named? Their faithfulness is mentioned in the Bible, but their names are not. Widow of Zeraphath Widow who placed her mite in the collection Healed Samaritan leper who was thankful Naaman s little servant girl Woman with the issue of blood Woman who anointed Jesus feet Woman at the well In this series we will be looking at some of these unexpected heroes. Some are named and famous, or I might say infamous. Others remain nameless until we get to heaven. Then we will be looking at some of the unexpected heroes of our day, some famous and others nameless. Each week we will have a video prepared by our media team telling us of modern day heroes how are still faithful in doing what God calls us to do obey His Will and calling on our lives. 4

5 Finally we will discover that the only difference between them and us is they made themselves available to God, were obedient, and did what they were called upon to do. None did it to make a name for themselves! That was not in the equation at all. What they did was out of love and obedience by faith in the Lord who loved them. And that is what makes us in good company. See, you and I are not expecting to don a cape and mask and do something heroic today. We are just ordinary, regular folks who are trying to live faithful to the call of Christ. Right? Sure! And so were each of those we will be studying in this series. In each case, what made them useful to the Lord was not their great ability but their availability. Can God do something heroic in and through you? Yes! Will you let Him? That is the decision before us today. 5