Believe It Or Not Series

INTRODUCTION

Growing up I had my heroes. I had sports heroes. Basketball players like John Havlicek and Pete Maravich; baseball greats like Johnny Bench and Ken Griffey, Sr.; and football heroes like Larry Csonka and Bob Griese. I had Western heroes like John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Jimmy Stewart, Gary Cooper, and Audie Murphy. Men in certain vocations were my heroes, like policemen, firemen, and soldiers. Even comic book heroes like Spiderman and Superman held my respect.

But I also had my spiritual heroes as well, those who greatly influenced my life. People like my parents who modeled church attendance and Bible reading for me; pastors like George Aston, Ory Miller, John Smith, and Ted Windham; and SMC faculty like Charles Bennett and David Luethy. There have been many others along the way as well.

If you had asked any of these spiritual heroes of mine if he were a hero, most likely you would have gotten a flat out “No!” Though they would never admit it, their influence was greater than any of them may have known. And some of them were “unlikely heroes.”

What is an “unlikely hero?” It is someone who, because of background or circumstances, never dreamed they could ever influence someone else, but through their lives provided the impact needed by those around them.

BACKGROUND

I want to introduce you to this series, “Unlikely Heroes,” with first a review of what characteristics might be found in people who seem very unlikely to become heroes. As the series progresses, we will be considering some people of the Bible who portray these characteristics, as well as the one unique attribute that set them apart.

Our text for today is found in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12. This particular section of the letter is a warning against idleness. It appears that some among the Thessalonica church took Paul’s teaching about the coming of the Lord in the first letter to indicate that they must give up everything and wait. They stopped working and began to depend on others. Paul’s warning here is that idleness is wrong.

But along the way, Paul reveals about himself what I believe are characteristics of unlikely heroes. Now, Paul will be one of the men whose life we will profile later, but humor me a little here as we investigate this passage. READ: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12

There are at least three characteristics of an unlikely hero indicated here:

I. He Works without Expecting Recognition (vs. 7)

Notice that Paul does talk about the church imitating him, but also notice that he went about his work without ever expecting at the time that they would praise him. While he was among them, he simply did what he had to do, never wanting to receive any glory. It is only later that he could look back and say, “Look at my example! I worked for what I needed. I did not indicate in any way that we should just cease to work.”

Unlikely heroes are just like that. They can be found doing their jobs without ever expecting anyone to notice at the time. They are not seeking recognition for the work they do, because it’s their job! Yet the influence they wield over the lives they touch can never be expressed into words.

When I first started teaching at Dillon Christian School, the custodian there was an older man named Leroy Turner, better known as “Mr. T” to staff and students alike. He was a retiree who just wanted to work and be active. Except when he spoke to someone or pretended to shoot students with his “finger gun,” you would scarcely notice his presence. Yet the trash cans were always emptied, floors swept and mopped or vacuumed, and everything in its place. When he passed away a few years into my tenure there, it was a great loss to all of us, because we felt a part of the school had been ripped from us. We honored him by attaching a recognition plate to a table in what is called the Commons Area. I had the privilege of writing a short poem for that plate. It reads:

Our hallowed halls are empty now,

We’ve lost a dear, close friend.

He walks the halls of glory now,

His earthly walk at end.

Though he was gone, he was not forgotten by those whom he influenced with his life.

That is what an unlikely hero is like! Steady as steady goes, solid as a rock, and never a word of self-praise or desiring recognition.

I believe that God is looking for that characteristic in all of His people. In Romans 12:3, God through the pen of Paul warns, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” Proverbs 25:27 says it is not “glorious to seek one's own glory.” Both James and Peter quote from Proverbs 3:34 when they declare, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6 & 1 Peter 5:5).