INTRODUCTION
The late Senator John McCain, who was a prisoner of war, recalled an incident of patriotism and heroism inside the Vietnamese prison camp, the “Hanoi Hilton.” In 1971, the North Vietnamese moved him and some other prisoners from isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room.
One of the men moved into his cell was Lt. Cmdr. Mike Christian. He was a commissioned, naval flying officer and was shot down and captured in 1967.
The uniforms they wore in prison consisted of a blue short-sleeved shirt, trousers that looked like pajama trousers, and rubber sandals made out of automobile tires. As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves, and other items of clothing. Mike got himself a piece of white cloth and a piece of red cloth and fashioned himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he sewed the American flag on the inside of his shirt.
Every afternoon, before they ate, they would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of their cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance. One day, the Vietnamese searched their cells and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside and removed it. That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, called for Mike Christian to come out, closed the door of the cell, and, for the benefit of the others, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours. Then they opened the door of the cell and threw him back inside. He was not in good shape. They tried to comfort and take care of him as well as they could.
After things quieted down, John went to lie down to go to sleep. As he did, he happened to look in the corner of the room. Sitting there, beneath a dim light bulb, with a piece of white cloth, a piece of red cloth, another shirt, and his bamboo needle, was his friend, Mike Christian, sitting there, with his eyes almost shut from his beating, making another American flag.
He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was for them to be able to pledge their allegiance to their flag and country.
Lt. Commander Michael Christian serves as a heroic example of dogged determination and allegiance despite circumstances, persecution, and torture. But is there anyone else who has shown more? There indeed is!
BACKGROUND
Someone may question why I have chosen Jesus to be an “unlikely hero.” But in one way He was, and that was through His earthly existence. Everything about His earthly life, from beginning to end, screams the unlikeliness of Him ever being a hero, and isn’t that what we have seen with each of the others?
From what we know of Jesus’ deity and His heavenly existence, we know His very purpose for coming here was to be a hero! And what a hero He is!
The Apostle Paul recognized what it cost Jesus to come to this earth and to suffer and die as He did. In 2 Corinthians 8:9, Paul said, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” Yes, Christ left the glories and splendor of heaven for us.
Our passage today speaks of Jesus in terms of His earthly existence and what it means for fallen man. Philippians 2:1-11 is a well-known Scripture passage that teaches us much about our Savior. READ
I. Jesus Was Heroic in His Earthly Life (Philippians 4:7-8)
The start of Jesus’ earthly existence speaks volumes concerning Him ever being considered a hero. The first thing we see is His humble beginnings. He was born to common, ordinary Jewish parents, who themselves were of small means. His birth took place in a dirty stable rather than in a nice, clean environment. Rather than being born among family members in Nazareth, the hometown of His earthly parents, he was born almost 90 miles away in the city of Bethlehem. Shepherds herald his birth instead of family and friends. If that isn’t enough, because of the anger and jealousy of King Herod, the family has to flee to Egypt for a while before they can return home. He was raised to be a common laborer, probably working long days for little income.
Is this the way a hero’s story begins? Not usually. But it is the way this hero’s story is initiated. Nothing in His first thirty years of life on earth, other than His teaching the rabbis at twelve years of age, even hints that He will be anything other than a commoner. Our passage states that He “made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant” and that He was “born in the likeness of men.” But we know the rest of the story, don’t we?
In fact, His earthly reality was so much more than what was seen on the surface. We know what those surrounding Him didn’t realize: He lived sinlessly.
It started with His virgin birth, first prophesied in Isaiah 7:14 and reported as reality by Matthew in Matthew 1:23 when he comments on Gabriel’s visit to Joseph. The sin nature, passed through the seed of the man, was not in effect in Jesus’ birth.
Then we have other writers who confirmed His sinless presence upon the earth. Hebrews 4:14-15 records, “Since then we have a great high priest … Jesus, the Son of God … who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” That author would further state in 7:26, “For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.” Peter also confirmed it in 1 Peter 2:22: “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.”
Why was this important? First, only a sinless Savior could atone for the sins of a sinful humanity. A sinful man could atone for his own sins, but not the sins of another. Second, He is our example of holy living. In 1 Peter 1:14-15, Peter writes, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” 1 Peter 2:21: “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.”
The book In His Steps, authored by Charles Sheldon just before the turn of the twentieth century, popularized the saying, “What would Jesus do?” In the book, he chronicles the lives of several church members, who, following the encouragement of their pastor, set out to live by that phrase, and how their lives were dramatically changed into lives of holiness and ministry. That’s what following our hero, Jesus Christ, will do in the life of a Christian!
Are you living Christlike, following the example of your great Hero, Jesus Christ? The world longs to see Christians live up to their billing as people of holiness and purity.
II. Jesus was Heroic in His Salvific Work
Mankind, for the most part, was living on borrowed time. There were many in the Old Testament who had lived by faith in God, looking for their redeeming Messiah to appear. And there were still some in Israel living by faith in their God and seeking His Kingdom during the time of Jesus’ sojourn on earth. But mostly man was living in sin, sinners by birth and by choice. Paul may have summed it up best in Romans 3:9-23: “… as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.’ ‘Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.’ ‘The venom of asps is under their lips. ‘Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.’ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.’ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.” … For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The middle verses are various quotations from the Old Testament, with his summary at the end that “all have sinned.”
According to our key passage, however, none of that stopped the Second Person of the Trinity from lowering Himself to become one of us, and by dying on the cross for us. Our greatest hero wore no tights or cape, but rather the marks of beatings on His body, a crown of thorns, three rusty nails, and a spear. But he did save the world through a supernatural effort, in a feat no other hero could have ever accomplished: the salvation of man’s soul.
On January 15, 2009, US Airways flight 1549 collided with a flock of seagulls shortly after liftoff from La Guardia airport in New York City. The birds congested both engines, causing them to fail and leave the pilots without any power to continue flying. With only seconds to act, Captain Sullenberger contemplated a return to the airport but realized they weren't going to make it. The only option was to ditch in the Hudson River. After following an emergency checklist with his crew, Sullenberger guided the plane down just beyond the George Washington Bridge and successfully landed in the river. An aviation expert later called it “... the most successful ditching in aviation history.”
After an investigation, all were in agreement that Captain Sullenberger had done everything “by the book.” Had he made an error in judgment, or failed to follow the emergency procedures, it’s very likely that all 150 passengers and 5 crew members would be dead right now. But his preparation, experience, and determination to follow procedures, even with only seconds to act, turned him into a hero.
Jesus did everything “by the book,” following and completing the will of the Godhead, and He arose from the dead to prove His deity and to guarantee that God’s will for man’s salvation was completed. Unfortunately, many have refused to accept His heroism for themselves. They would rather see man as the only “god” and discount anything supernatural. One day, though, His heroism will be known by all, for Paul says, “God has highly exalted Him,” and He has a “name that is above every name,” and “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow … and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Multitudes through the ages have accepted this great salvation and have found the peace and relationship that they have needed in their lives. Are you one of the multitudes whose sins have been forgiven through the supernatural heroism of Christ?
III. Jesus Will Be Heroic in His Second Coming (Philippians 3:17-21)
I want to read to you Philippians 3:20-21: “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”
The death and resurrection of Jesus is not the conclusion to the story. This hero did not just “ride off into the sunset,” never to be seen again, although He did go away. No, when he left, Jesus did so with a promise to return, but this was not a promise to return “for old times sake” or just to visit.
Paul reports that we have changed citizenship to where our Hero is, and that we are awaiting His heroic return to retrieve us from this place of sin. We will be changed from this lowly, earthly body, corruptible and deteriorating, into an eternal, incorruptible, glorious body. We will then travel to our heavenly home, where we shall be with our Hero forever.
In March of 1942, General Douglas MacArthur was forced to leave the Philippines by an edict of President Roosevelt. Many American and Filipino troops were left there to try to fend off the invading Japanese forces, and MacArthur felt as if he was abandoning them. He would travel to Australia, where he learned that relief for his troops on the islands would not be forthcoming. In a speech to the press, the general would utter his famous declaration to the Philippines: “I shall return!”
After being made Commander of the Pacific Fleet, MacArthur finally was able to develop a plan to invade the Philippine Islands. In October of 1944 he made a radio broadcast in which he declared, “People of the Philippines, I have returned!” In June of 1945, American troops had finally recovered the islands. Only one-third of the men he had left behind had survived to witness his return. “I am a little late,” he told them, “but we finally came.”
Surer than the return of MacArthur to the Philippines will be the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We should be looking forward to the day our Hero returns and receives us to Himself, and we will go to live with Him forever!
CONCLUSION
Years ago, researchers for the World Almanac and Book of Facts asked 2000 American eighth-grade students to name prominent people they admired and wanted to be like. Those most frequently mentioned by the teens as their heroes were celebrities.
Commenting on this, columnist Sidney J. Harris lamented the fact that every one of the 30 prominent personalities who were named was either an entertainer or an athlete. He noted that statesmen, authors, painters, musicians, architects, doctors, and astronauts failed to capture the imagination of those students. He further suggested that the heroes and heroines created by our society are people who have made it big, but not necessarily people who have done big things.
The hero who did the biggest thing ever was Jesus. His heroic earthly life has inspired many, and His salvific work of dying on the cross and rising again from the dead was the single greatest accomplishment on behalf of mankind. And His soon-coming return to take those who have made Him Lord of their life with Him will be the greatest act of heroism for those who know Him. Are you among the number who not only admire His heroism but have accepted Him into your life as your Savior? The greatest world hero awaits only a word from the Father to return. Are you ready?
