Babe Ruth had hit 714 home runs during his baseball career and was playing one of his last full major league games. It was the Braves versus the Reds in Cincinnati. But the great Ruth was no longer as agile as he had once been. He fumbled the ball and threw badly, and in one inning alone his errors were responsible for most of the five runs scored by Cincinnati.
As the Babe walked off the field after the third out and headed toward the dugout, a crescendo of yelling and booing reached his ears. Just then a boy jumped over the railing onto the playing field. With tears streaming down his face, he threw his arms around the legs of his hero.
Ruth didn’t hesitate for one second. He picked up the boy, hugged him, and set him down on his feet, patting his head gently. The noise from the stands came to an abrupt halt. Suddenly there was no more booing. In fact, a hush fell over the entire park. In those brief moments, the fans saw two heroes: Ruth, who in spite of his dismal day on the field could still care about a little boy; and the small lad, who cared about the feelings of another human being. Both had melted the hearts of the crowd.
Anyone can be a hero, despite the unlikelihood of it being true. Heroic acts show up every day in the most obscure places, and heroism manifests itself in the most improbable of people. The world has never been without heroes; unfortunately, the world always seems to choose heroes with no heroic qualities.
A poll conducted a few years ago revealed that 60% of American adults have no heroes. In an aforementioned poll, middle-schoolers chose celebrities and athletes most often as their heroes. But what of the daily heroes we behold daily? How about hardworking moms and dads who strive to keep their families together? What about the men and women in service jobs who struggle every day to make our lives better? Are there any who still consider the spiritual heroes who endeavor to touch the spirit of man with God’s grace and mercy?
BACKGROUND
To conclude our series on Unlikely Heroes, we must once again consider a Scripture passage from the writings of Paul. Yes, we did look at him as one of our unlikely heroes, but we must realize that in his many writings there aren’t too many subjects about which he didn’t write. The passage for our consideration today is no different.
Paul understood what it was like to be a hero, and often encouraged Christians in that regard, though he never used those words specifically. What he comprehended were two facts concerning the followers of Christ.
First, Christians need spiritual heroes in their lives. Spiritual heroes inspire us by both their conduct and their words. They not only provide an example for us to follow, but they also speak words of life to us that assist us in living out our own spiritual journeys. I believe that regular fellowship with believers through church attendance, small groups, one-on-one discipleship, etc., places us in contact with fellow believers who will invest themselves in us.
Second, every Christian should be a hero to other believers. The New Testament is permeated with scriptural advice on how we are to serve and assist fellow believers. Just as you need heroes, so does every other Christian, and you are a hero to someone.
It is great to look at heroes of times past, such as Paul and Peter, Polycarp and Ignatius, Martin Luther and William Tyndale, John Wesley and Charles Spurgeon, and Dwight Moody and Billy Graham. But we need live heroes to which we can look to provide not only an example but advice and counsel as well.
So, the passage we will consider for this study is Romans 12:3-21. In it we will uncover advice on how each of us can become someone’s hero. As per his usual style of writing, Paul writes doctrinally in the first part of this letter (Chapters 1-11) and then practically in the second part of the letter (Chapters 12-16). This chapter begins the practical part of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome.
I. Know Who You Are (vs. 3-5)
Some comic book heroes have a double identity. For instance, Superman is the mild-mannered reporter, Clark Kent; Batman is the persona of billionaire playboy, Bruce Wayne; and Spiderman is the guise of the nerdy teenager, Peter Parker. Their ability to keep both identities helps to protect their loved ones as well as give them the ability to live a somewhat normal life.
I love Southern Gospel music and especially Bill Gaither and the old Cathedral Quartet, featuring bass singer George Younce. Years ago, George asked Bill to write him a song, which resulted in the now-classic “Sinner Saved by Grace.” While I respect Gaither’s songwriting, I believe that, theologically, he got this one wrong.
Christians have been using this idea for many years. There seems to be the thought of a double identity here: “I am a sinner, and I am saved by grace.” In other words, “I am saved, but at the same time I am still a sinner.” However, that is not what the Bible declares! We are saints who stand before God in the salvation He has provided! In the past we were sinners; that doesn’t mean we don’t ever sin now, but that is not our identity now. We are saints of God, striving, with God’s help, to live in Him and in purity of life. Our identity is found in Christ, and in Christ alone.
Paul reminds us that we have no reason to boast because we are who we are by the grace of God. We are members of the unified body of Christ, individually members of a collective group. That is our identity; we are in Christ as His people.
The implication here is that when we present ourselves to the world, we are introducing ourselves as those changed by God’s grace. That is the message we also want to proclaim, that others can have the same experience we have had. We do not tell them that they are still sinners, for what effect will that have? No, instead we are declaring that they can be transformed from the identity of a sinner to a saint of God!
This should free us to live our lives heroically before others, seeking to support others spiritually. You can be a hero because of who you are!
Paul Harvey tells the story of Ray Blankenship preparing his breakfast and gazing out the window when he saw a small girl being swept along in the rain-flooded drainage ditch beside his Andover, Ohio, home. Blankenship knew that farther downstream, the ditch disappeared with a roar underneath a road and then emptied into the main culvert.
Ray dashed out the door and raced along the ditch, trying to get ahead of the floundering child. Then he hurled himself into the deep, churning water. Blankenship surfaced and was able to grab the child’s arm. They tumbled end over end. Within about three feet of the yawning culvert, Ray’s free hand felt something protruding from one bank. He clung desperately, but the tremendous force of the water tried to tear him and the child away. “If I can just hang on until help comes,” he thought.
He did better than that. By the time fire-department rescuers arrived, Blankenship had pulled the girl to safety. Both were treated for shock. On April 12, 1989, Ray Blankenship was awarded the Coast Guard’s Silver Lifesaving Medal. The award is fitting, for this selfless person was at even greater risk to himself than most people knew. Ray Blankenship can’t swim.
Ray was not the child’s hero because of an identity as a great swimmer; he couldn’t even swim! He was her hero because of the heroic qualities he harbored deep inside that were exhibited that day. Become someone’s hero by truly being who God has made you.
II. Use What You Are Given (vs. 6-8)
Our series has highlighted the lives of men who exhibited particular heroic qualities. For Moses, it was his passion; for Daniel, his purity; and for Paul, his zeal. Comic book heroes are known for their qualities as well. Superman was known for his superhuman strength and ability to fly; Batman had his gadgets and the Batmobile; Spiderman had his spidey-sense and webs that he slings. Each of these used what they had.
Paul reminds his readers that they also have been enabled by God with unique gifts and abilities. As he points out in other passages such as 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, believers do not all have the same gifts and abilities but rather have been gifted to serve in various areas of church life. Each of us has a place where we fit into God’s plan of the church. None of us have all of the gifts and abilities needed, and we each have at least one gift through the grace of God.
Again, this gives us the freedom to be the heroes God can use! Instead of competing with other Christians, we are cooperating with them to build the church, and our gifts help us to influence those around us. A fellow believer with his unique gifts and abilities can be your hero, while you with your distinctive gifts and abilities can be his hero.
In the Marvel comics, there came a point where two of the superheroes in the Avengers actually fight each other. Captain America believed the Avengers should not be under government control, while Ironman believed that they should be. Their beliefs divided them so sharply that the two of them actually engaged in some epic battles with each other. Unfortunately, this forced the other members of the team to have to choose sides, and also affected their cooperative ability to fight their enemies effectively.
God’s intention in uniquely gifting His children was that they might work together for the sake of the gospel. Christians accomplish nothing fighting with each other and everything by working together for the kingdom of God. By utilizing our gifts and abilities, as well as through our holy living, we can be the heroes that those around us need in their lives.
III. Live as You Are Expected (vs. 9-21)
For many, Christianity is considered legalistic, with the many positive and negative commands found in the Word of God. But that is not reality. Yes, Paul does list some injunctions in this passage to be carried out by believers. But the truth is that the Gospel sets us free to live as God expects us to live!
Under the Mosaic Covenant, Israelites were required to follow the letter of the law. According to Jewish scholars, there are 613 laws found in that covenant. Wow! Talk about fear of failure! Could anyone really obey every one of those laws, and how would you know if you did or did not? Paul says in Galatians 3 that the law actually imprisoned those under it until faith came and brought freedom.
The mighty work of Christ has set us free to live as God expects us to live! We no longer love because He tells us to do so, but because we want to do so because His love is in our hearts! No longer are we considered righteous because of a set of laws we obey, but we have been made righteous through the saving work of Christ, and now we freely obey Him as our loving Master! The ministry we now perform is not out of duty, but because we desire to make Him and His grace known to others!
In 1912 Englishman John Harper, the newly called pastor of Moody Church in Chicago, was traveling on the Titanic with his 6-year-old daughter. After the ship struck an iceberg and began to sink, he got Nana into a lifeboat but apparently made no effort to follow her. Instead, he ran through the ship yelling, “Women, children, and unsaved into the lifeboats!” Survivors report that he then began witnessing to anyone who would listen. He continued preaching even after he had jumped into the water and was clinging to a piece of wreckage (he’d already given his lifejacket to another man).
Harper’s final moments were recounted four years later at a meeting in Hamilton, Ontario, by a man who said:
“I am a survivor of the Titanic. When I was drifting alone on a spar that awful night, the tide brought Mr. Harper of Glasgow, also on a piece of wreck, near me. ‘Man, ‘he said, ‘are you saved?’ ‘No,’ I said, ‘I am not.’ He replied, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
“The waves bore him away, but, strange to say, brought him back a little later, and he said, ‘Are you saved now?’ ‘No,’ I said, ‘I cannot honestly say that I am.’ He said again, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,’ and shortly after he went down; and there, alone in the night, and with two miles of water under me, I believed. I am John Harper’s last convert.” He was also one of only six people picked out the water by the lifeboats; the other 1,522, including Harper, were left to die.
Now was John compelled by law to physically save those people and seek their spiritual salvation? No! He could have easily saved his own skin! Did he offer his services just because of his position as a pastor? Even that idea is repulsive to his memory. John Harper was only doing what his Savior would have done! He did it because it was the right thing to do according to his spiritual transformation through the saving work of Jesus Christ.
Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12 to “set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” Remember, you can become a hero to someone by living your life the way a Christian is expected to live.
CONCLUSION
The story is told of of Dave Karnes. When the World Trade Center tumbled to the ground on that dreadfully dark day, more than 3000 people lost their lives. But a few who were buried beneath the rubble miraculously survived. Two of these were Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin, a pair of Port Authority employees who responded to the attack and were on the bottom floor as the south tower fell. Trapped without water and breathing smoke-filled air, both men had little hope for survival.
At the same time, something was stirring inside an accountant in Connecticut. Dave Karnes, who spent 23 years in active duty in the Marines, was watching the scene play out on TV. But more than just allowing it to trouble him, he decided to do something about it. He went to his boss and told him he wouldn’t be back for a while. He went home and put on his fatigues and then drove 120 MPH to ground zero, arriving by late afternoon. While rescue workers were being called off the site, Dave was able to stay because of the clout and credential of his uniform. Finding another Marine, the two joined forces and walked the pile of debris together, seeking to save a life. After an hour of searching, they heard the faint tapping on metal pipes. It was Will and John who had been trapped for nine hours. This Marine, who had been working a spreadsheet just hours before, found them, began to dig, and then freed these two men.
Of the 20 people pulled out of the rubble to safety, Will and John were numbers 18 and 19. And all because Dave Karnes took off his suit, put on his rescue fatigues, rolled up his sleeves, and stepped into the despair and darkness of Ground Zero.
Do you want what God wants for you, to be someone’s hero? You must remember your identity as a child of God, use our God-given gifts and abilities, and live as the Lord expects you to live. Despite the natural belittling of yourself, the doubts, the insecurities, you have to wake up to the realization that you, through God’s grace, write your own autobiography, you are the author of your life story. After realizing that, write a good story with your life and make sure to write yourself as the protagonist. Be someone’s hero in your journey.
