Text: Numbers 13 Date: August 9, 2015 Title: Everyday Superheroes > Superhuman Courage Theme: Courage sometimes means having the ability to put the pen into God s hands, even when you don t know what God will draw next. Question of the Week When has fear stopped you from embracing an opportunity? Intro Last week, we took a little break from our superheroes theme to hear from some of the youth and adults who joined us on our mission trip This week, we re back and talking about courage Prayer Sermon [slide-title] Here s the number 1 reason why I could never be a superhero I would never have the courage to put on the costume Over the years, there have been those who have pulled it off well [slide-superman] Depending on your taste, and on your age, Christopher Reeve as Superman may be one example (It should be noted that those were the days before they built the abs into the suit) [slide-thor] Today, I m guessing that there are some here who would say Chris Hemsworth makes a pretty good Thor (emphasis on pretty) But there have been some truly awful superhero costumes over time [slide-spider-man] No matter what any costume designer does or who they put in the suit, I just think Spider-Man looks ridiculous And then for the truly terrible, there s always Batman and Robin, [slide- 1960s Batman&Robin] who didn t just look silly in the 1960s when Adam West and Burt Ward played them 1
They were just as awful in 1997 [slide-modern Batman&Robin] perhaps worse when George Clooney and Chris O Donnell agreed, God knows why, to do a Batman & Robin reboot 1 So, no, no superhero costumes for me Unless, perhaps, you wanted to raise some money then maybe we could discuss it I went back through some old sermons and realized I ve spoken frequently about courage [slide-title] It seems like a lesson with a short half-life In other words, a short time to forgetfulness I don t doubt that we can hear a message about courage, say amen and the next day run from a situation or a person we know we have to confront I don t doubt that I can preach a message on courage and the next day choose to take the least risky, most predictable, and perhaps least effective path forward for my ministry We all do it, because it seems courage is designed this way with a short half-life When Moses attempted to lead the people out of slavery in Egypt to the land which God had promised, Over and over the people doubted Over and over they questioned Over and over they feared The scripture we read today is part of a two-chapter story about how Moses sent spies into the Promised Land the land that God promised to give Israel after they fled from slavery in Egypt These 12 men, one from each of the tribes of Israel, are given the task to bring back intelligence before they go to take over the land: - What are the people like? - How many live there? - Does the land look good for farming? - Are the cities surrounded by walls or are they vulnerable to attack? 2
They go and they find that yes, the land is amazing It s fertile and beautiful and according to verse 23 (which we didn t read) the grapes that grow there are in bunches so big that two men have to carry them on a pole between them Every one of the spies agree on this fact the land is, in the words of one of the young spies, Caleb an exceedingly good land (14:7) There is only one problem. People already live there. A lot of people. People who aren t going to want to give up their land. And so the spies begin to tell their tales: But Moses, the people there, they re giants They must be like 7 feet tall! You think? I m sure it was more like 9! Moses, I kid you not. They were at least 10 feet tall! Seriously! Compared to them we re no bigger than grasshoppers! There s no way we could do this! They tell Moses that the people are the descendants of the Nephilim, a legendary race of giants mentioned in Genesis chapter 6 When all the people of Israel hear this, they begin to freak out And they begin to say to each other: Why didn t we just stay in Egypt? Let s choose a leader and go back. We ll tell Pharaoh we were just kidding. We enjoyed being his slaves. Fear. Fear drives us back to what we know, even if what we know is awful, because at least we know how awful it is. And we ve learned to live with it. So much of what scares us is just the unknowing. The fact that when we try to look at something new, where we try to imagine new possibilities in our lives, there s just a big blank space. It s like the old maps where they would draw sea monsters out in the middle of the water where no one had been [slide-sea monster] 3
Each of us has a little artist in our heads who, when we are thinking about the maps of our lives, is in charge of filling in all that blank space with sea monsters We can t help it, it s just what we do White space? Yeah, draw a Kraken. Or a giant. Something scary. We fill in the blank spaces with our biggest fears. I have a mini-experience of that same issue every week when I sit down to write a sermon. The page is blank, and until God hits me with the idea for how to begin, that space just gets filled up with, You re never going to get this done. You ll stand up and have nothing to say. At some point, if you re going to draw anything at all, someone needs to erase all that stuff. That s what Caleb does in this story. He stands up and says, Wait. We can do this. God is with us. Didn t God promise this land to us? Why is everyone freaking out? Caleb is the only one in this story willing to take the pen out of the hands of their artists who specialize in drawing giants and sea monsters and put it where it belongs In the hands of God God, who has totally different artistic sensibilities Too much of the time, if we re not filling in that blank space with monsters, then we re filling it with images of how things used to be The people of Israel complain to Moses over and over, we had it so much better in Egypt! Can you imagine? We had it so much better as slaves? They say that, over and over At least there we had something to eat! And yet I bet you ve done it too. I know that I have. We all have. 4
We start into something new, something scary, and say, I never should have done this. Maybe it s something you re in the middle of right now Imagine for a moment that you are God overhearing this conversation between the spies and the people You overhear this knowing that you intend to give the people this land That it will be theirs, and that it is good You know that you ve told them this And you hear one group complaining that it s occupied by Bigfoot And another one convinced that the only way forward is behind us If you were God, how would you feel? What would you say to yourself? Fear is a terrible artist It takes a perfectly good blank space, a space filled with all kinds of possibilities, where God has promised to paint a brand-new picture, and fills it with garbage Sometimes simply because we re afraid let that space go empty even for five minutes Because we re unwilling to live for a little while with the uncertainty Courage is us being willing to put the pen into the hands of God Even when I don t know what God is going to draw in the next panel of the comic book that is my life Yes, it s true that maybe in the last panel the Joker knocked Batman down We ve got to be able to trust that in the next panel he ll get back up (Don t you know no one stays dead in comic books?) That s the universe that God draws Because God is not a God of defeat, but a God of victory Not a God of fear, but a God of hope Courage is putting the pen into God s hands Even when you don t know what s coming next Even when all you see is a blank page 5
It s resisting the urge to fill it in with everything you ve done before Resisting the urge to draw in everything you fear Caleb had that kind of courage In his time, that made him a superhero for his people So this week, I want you to consider this There s someone who needs you to be a superhero for them Someone who needs you to be able to see the possibilities hidden in God s promise, Rather than the monsters hidden in your mind It may be your colleagues at work It may be your son or daughter who is struggling with their next step in life It may be yourself maybe this week, it s you who needs to find the courage to hand the pen over to God We don t need to be scared of the blank space when we know who s drawing the next panel Wonder Woman will get back on her feet Superman s strength will return These are God s promises to us so take courage! Amen. By Joe Monahan, Medford UMC, Medford NJ 1 Here s my favorite review of this film that, by all rights, should have been the end of the Batman franchise - perhaps of all superhero movies: The script is incoherent and inconsequential, and I've seen colonic X- rays more visually appealing than what [Director Joel] Schumacher throws up on the screen. This is from http://clclt.com/charlotte/holy-franchise-batman/content?oid=2785061. Take a look at Rotten Tomatoes for more reviews of a film everyone loved to hate. 6