Who Are You: Dr. Banner Or The Hulk?

INTRODUCTION

A very popular movie right now is “The Hulk” based off of the famous comic book character by Marvel Comics. The basic storyline goes like this… Dr. Bruce Banner is a nuclear physicist who is looking to harness and use powerful gamma rays. At a test site, he is accidentally bathed in exposure to these mysterious rays that causes an internal change. But what that change may be is totally unknown.

He soon discovers that during times of anxiety or anger, a chemical reaction occurs in his body. He transforms from the weak and meek Dr. Bruce Banner who looks like everyone else, into a creature that is like nothing else anyone has ever seen. He transforms into an eight foot tall, green colored, muscle bound ball of rage and superhuman strength that men call “the Hulk.”

Dr. Banner at one moment looks and acts just like everyone else, but then he is transformed into a being that no one recognizes—someone, or something, that is totally different from who he was before.

READ THE SCRIPTURE

Before we start, notice the urgency that Paul, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit delivers this message to us: “I beseech you therefore brethren…” Only 21 times in his letters did Paul resort to beseeching and begging their attention. It is like he is saying, “Hey, you guys, listen up! I’ve got something really important to say! Settle down and write this down!”

Paul typically uses this phrase to drive home a vital point, like these three examples:

Now I beseech you, brethren...that there be no divisions among you...1 Cor 1:10

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called… Eph 4:1

beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. 2 Cor. 6:1

In this instance, Paul exhorts us to “make a decisive dedication of our bodies—presenting all your members and faculties—as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated, set-apart) and well pleasing to God…” (Amplified). We are to do this as our “reasonable service’ - this is just the ordinary expectation! This is just what is expected, and normal reaction! How do we do this? Paul goes on...

DON’T LOOK LIKE DR BANNER…

“Don’t be conformed to this world—this age, fashioned after and adapted to it external, superficial customs…” (Amplified)

We should not look like everyone else. We should not do like everyone else. We should not react like everyone else.

We should look different in our dress—2 Timothy 2:9-10. Dannah Gresh says in Today’’s Christian Woman, “I’m 23 and was raised in a Christian home where modesty was taught. It wasn’t until my college years that I began to realize how attractive men found my 4-9, 98 lb. body. Suddenly I had their attention. I work with the youth at my church and my pastor’s wife has mentioned to me on several occasions that my skirts are too short or my shirts cut too low. But I always retaliate by saying that I’m not going to dress like Grandma, and if a guy can’t look at me without thinking of sex, that’s his problem. Been there? Thought that? Me too. Many times the ways I’ve

dressed as a single and as a married woman have flown in the face of a man’s attempt to live in holiness before God, and if he’s married, in faithfulness to his wife. How it grieves me as I’ve become more aware of how fragile me are in this area! Modesty isn’t just about causing our Christian brothers to stumble; it’s about our craving for the emotional rush we receive when we know we’re being noticed.”

We are to be different in our speech—Colossians 3:8, 4:6. “No matter what may be wrong with us physically, when the doctor examines us, he or she often says, ’Stick out your tongue!’ This principle applies to the Christian life, for what the tongue does reveals what the heart contains.” - Warren Wiersbe.

We are to be different in our consumption—Proverbs 20:1. “The Bible does take a favorable position on absitnence. The Nazarite vow...included abstinence from wine and strong drink. The Rechabites were commended by God for their..charge to never drink wine. John the Baptist…’drank no wine’.” - Josh McDowell

We are to be different in our attitudes and actions - 1 Corinthians 10:30. “By our attitudes and actions, we are creating memories that will be associated with our names in life and in death...A solid reputation and loving relationships are high achievements. Honest, integrity, and generosity in life are more valuable in life than an expensive funeral.” - David McCasland in Our Daily Bread.

BE DIFFERENT LIKE THE HULK

“But be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind—by its ideals and its new attitude…”