JUST LIKE US (part one)
Have you ever made a mistake? You may be thinking, 'is this a trick question'. Knowing the answer is a resounding, 'yes', often times it's hard to admit when we've made a mistake. Remember the show, 'Happy Days'? There was an episode where Fonzie was wrong and he was trying to say it but he couldn't quite get it out [play clip].
We can be like Fonzie. We all make mistakes but we don't like admitting when we do because we get embarrassed and we think those who saw or know about our mistakes will look down at us. Beth would say I don't like to admit when I'm wrong. I think she's wrong. Some say the three hardest words for a man to say are, "I love you". It's probably more true that the three hardest words for us to say are, "I was wrrrng" [fonzie style].
When Beth and I dated as teenagers I was a little egotistical. I used to tell her I only made one mistake per day. I can't remember what excuse I came up with on the days I committed two or more (probably because that never happened). Enough about me, in 1980 there was a book titled, The Book of Blunders. Here are a few examples.
When a drum major tossed his baton in Ventura, California, it hit two 4000-volt power lines, melting the baton as well as blacking out a ten-block area and putting a radio station off the air. A bank robber in L. A. told the clerk to not give him the cash but to deposit the money into his checking account. Thank God for dumb criminals.
On his first assignment for a Chicago newspaper, a rookie reporter drove a company car to a car-crushing plant, parked in the wrong spot, and returned from interviewing the manager just in time to see the vehicle being compacted into scrap metal.
Everyone makes mistakes, even those in the bible. The heroes of the faith were not perfect; they had their share of blunders. In the next few weeks we'll be taking a look at some people in the bible who had great displays of faith but also had some moments that were not so great. We'll see that they were just like us.
1) We're all human.
Think about how we view celebrities sometimes. People can have the tendency to put them on a pedestal and practically worship them. And if they ever get a chance to meet one of them they go crazy. It's like we look at them as if they are more than human; like they are at some upper level or even a godlike status.
In fact, because the tendency to do this is so common there are sections of publications devoted to showing how the stars are "just like us". They show celebrities doing everyday things. And in some way we think it's actually a little weird; like it doesn't look right to see these larger-than-life people looking regular or doing regular things or going to regular places.
Well, it's not just the music or movie or sports stars we do this with. We can actually behave this way when we look at biblical 'stars'. Have you ever thought of people like Moses or David or Paul in this way? We think these 'stars' of the bible are nothing like us? Based on some of the things we read about them doing it's somewhat understandable that we would see them as larger than life people. We have a biblical account in Acts where this happened to Paul and Barnabas.
Acts 14:8-15, "In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them."
In some ways we might make a similar mistake. When we study these impressive biblical figures and what they did we might look at them as if they were practically perfect. When we see them do unbelievable things like what happened here in Acts we make the mistake of seeing them as more than human-super-human.
When we do that we make the people of the bible out to be almost fictitious. And we conclude that folks like these are no longer in existence and therefore it would be foolish to think that we could ever live up to that level of faith. In doing so we make these biblical characters someone who we can't relate to and their faith and example are unobtainable.
We may also think that God only uses men and women who are at this high level of faith and ability and therefore I'll never really be used by God because I'll never be at this super-spiritual level. This way of thinking is not only wrong; it's dangerous.
We're going to see that although the people in the bible were great in many ways, they were still flawed human beings. But the wonderful thing is that God is in the business of using imperfect, everyday people to do amazing things. Many of the ones we consider spiritual giants actually committed some pretty deplorable acts.
Yet that didn't keep God from doing great things through them. It's so important to realize that screwing up does not make you a screw up. Sometimes strong people get weak, smart people make errors and the best athletes mess up. And Christians still sin; even ministers (but only once a day).
2) Just like us.
James 5:16-18, "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops."
James wants us to understand that Elijah's prayers were no more powerful than our prayers. Why? Because he was a man just like us. He was human; he made mistakes; he had high points and low points (we'll be looking at Elijah in the coming weeks).
This doesn't mean we're on the same spiritual level as he was. Christians are at different maturity levels and certain people are specifically gifted to do amazing things but that doesn't mean they are any less human than you or I. Elijah and everyone else we read about in scripture were people, just like us.
So that means we can reach the same heights if God so chooses to use us that way. There's nothing wrong with us praying to be used like Moses or Elijah or Paul or even Jesus. Although Jesus is in a category all his own we still try to be like him.
Let's not make the mistake that we'll never be able to do the things he did. If his Spirit lives in us then we can do what he did. In fact, Jesus said we can do more!
John 14:12, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."
It seems strange to hear Jesus say this. He didn't mean we could be better than him or more powerful than him or more miraculous. Nor does it mean we'll be able to do everything he did. Again, he's Jesus and we're not. But it's pretty interesting that Jesus would say this knowing that he is perfect and we are not. So what did he mean?
Mainly, in the scope of impact of the gospel. He was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. But the disciples were to carry the gospel to the rest of the world. And through the power of the Spirit disciples were going to be able to do remarkable things.
Peter, the imperfect fisherman who had denied knowing Jesus was turned into someone who was able to heal someone who came into contact with his shadow (Acts 5:15). Paul was able to heal people through his handkerchief (Acts 19:11-12). By the word of Peter Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead.
What about us? Although you probably won't be healed by stepping into my shadow or by touching my used kleenex (I wouldn't recommend you try that), there is an element of power at our disposal. By the power of the Spirit our words are powerful. We saw earlier that James said the prayer of the righteous can bring healing.
We speak words of encouragement that changes lives. We preach the gospel that saves souls. Not that it's impossible to be given the ability to physically heal and maybe even cast out demons but more likely we are given the power of the Spirit to cast out demons by inspiring people to overcome sin and things like addictions and depression and find healing and hope.
And Jesus did what he did in person but there would come a day where one voice could reach across the world through radio or TV or internet and do great things for a broader audience. And Jesus' ministry lasted three years or so but his followers have carried on the ministry in his name for almost 2,000 years since then. These are some of the greater things I believe Jesus was talking about.
And isn't it amazing that the ones he's using to accomplish these greater things are people like you and me? Jesus took some fisherman, a tax collector and other ordinary, mistake filled people and turned them into the dynamic followers we read about. Mary Magdalene was demon possessed and then she met Jesus. And she was the first one to see him after he resurrected.
Jesus fellowshipped with prostitutes and sinners. His ministry was to the flawed; the sick, the twisted, the degenerate. The disciples made mistakes all over the place. James and John were selfish and wanted to sit next to Jesus in heaven. They all argued among each other about which one was the greatest. Often times they didn't get what Jesus was talking about. Judas was a thief and traitor, Peter was defiant, James and John were hotheads-they were called the sons of thunder.
Yet these guys had moments of humility and wisdom too. There was a time when Peter recognized he was in the presence of greatness being next to Jesus and he didn't even want to look at Jesus because he was a sinful man. Peter was the one who got out of the boat and walked on water. Peter was the one who recognized that Jesus was the Christ. John had an especially close relationship with Jesus and so on.
Just like us. We have moments where we are bold and courageous and then we have times where we are too afraid to act. We have times of victory over temptation and then in another instance we give in too easily. We're human. We have two natures battling within us.
And, unfortunately, sometimes that old nature wins out. Sometimes we fall for the devil's tricks and lies. We don't have to; we have the ability to resist but there are times when we just don't do that. But don't feel too bad-even the best fall short. Adam and Eve.
Gen. 3:1-7, "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves."
The interesting thing to note here is that Adam and Eve were not just like us-they were perfect; perfect people who made a huge mistake. How Adam and Eve became just like us is seen in how they fell for the devil's trap.
He got Eve to question God, "Did God really say...?" He countered what God said-"You will not surely die". And he got her to doubt God's motives and cause her to believe God was holding out on her-"He knows when you eat it you'll be just like him". She became tantalized by the forbidden fruit and she and Adam ate.
It's ironic that Satan said if she ate she would become just like God but instead she became just like Satan-disobedient and knowing (experiencing) evil. This shows just how crafty the serpent was. He was able to convince two perfect people who lived in a perfect place, had a perfect existence and had a perfect relationship with God and to throw it all away.
I'm sure they didn't realize that at the time but that was part of the delusion. Satan always magnifies the allurement of sin and minimizes the consequences of it. But think about it-if two perfect people could make this mistake then we need to understand how easy it is for us to make them-even big ones.
We think because we're Christians now we shouldn't be making the same mistakes we made before. And while that's true in the sense that now we know better and have the power not to, we also need to realize we're fallible humans fighting a spiritual battle and mistakes are practically inevitable.
We don't use this as an excuse but as a defense to not beat ourselves up over it. When there's conviction, godly sorrow and a repentant attitude we can put it behind us and move forward. When we understand that God is loving and forgiving and seeks to replenish and restore us we won't shy away from him in guilt and shame, we will draw near to him in humility and reverence.
Adam and Eve became just like us. And therefore, from then on, all mankind would be just like them-imperfect. But thanks be to God who sent his perfect son Jesus to deal with our state of imperfection.
We are: Imperfect yet perfectly loved; Broken yet healed by his unbroken bond; Hopeless yet were given hope; A sinner forgiven by the sinless one; Flawed yet he is flawlessly devoted.
Next week we'll begin looking into the lives of some of those biblical dynamos and see how they were just like us.
