Where Have All The Heroes Gone?
Sermon
Sermons on the Second Readings
Series II, Cycle C
Object:
I want to talk about heroes today. We all have them. Our heroes are men and women that we look up to. Our heroes are those individuals that inspire us and help us to strive to be our very best.
There is a cute story about a Texan who was trying to impress on a Bostonian, the valor of the heroes of the Alamo. After finishing his story about Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, and countless others, he says "I'll bet you never had anyone so brave around Boston."
"Did you ever hear of Paul Revere?" asked the Bostonian.
"Paul Revere?" said the Texan. "Isn't he the guy who ran away looking for help?"
Heroes are important even if we disagree on the interpretation of what makes them heroes. Fred Smith in his book, You and Your Network, says:
We cannot live fully without heroes, for they are the stars to guide us upward. They are the peaks on our human mountains. Not only do they personify what we can be, but they also urge us to be. Heroes are who we can become if we diligently pursue our ideas in the furnace of our opportunities. Heroes are those who have changed history for the better. They are not always the men and women of highest potential, but those who have exploited their potential in society's behalf. Their deeds are done not for the honor but for the duty. Through our study of heroes we enter the realities of greatness.We cannot live fully without heroes, for they are the stars to guide us upward. They are the peaks on our human mountains. Not only do they personify what we can be, but they also urge us to be. Heroes are who we can become if we diligently pursue our ideas in the furnace of our opportunities. Heroes are those who have changed history for the better. They are not always the men and women of highest potential, but those who have exploited their potential in society’s behalf. Their deeds are done not for the honor but for the duty. Through our study of heroes we enter the realities of greatness.
Heroes are the personification of our ideals; the embodiment of our highest values. A society writes its diary by naming its heroes. We, as individuals, do the same.
Dr. J. C. Cain of the Mayo Clinic had difficulty selecting the young medical men to be trained at the clinic because of the exceptionally high caliber of all the applicants. All had excellent grades, fine discipline, high motivation, and good work habits. In searching for some question that would differentiate between them, he chose to ask this question: "Young man, tell me of your heroes." Dr. Cain found this was the best clue to their value structure.
Our heroes tell us much about our values. Those who have no heroes probably have not yet identified their highest ideals. Heroes not only inspire us, they also prove the greatness of which the human spirit is capable.
Who is your hero? Think about it.
While you do, I want to tell you that researchers for the World Almanac and Book of Facts asked 2,000 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 sports celebrities and movie stars.
Columnist Sidney J. Harris lamented the fact that every one of the thirty 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.
It's strange, but the world has really changed. The heroes of an earlier day were people of substance. The heroes were people who gave of themselves so others could live and enjoy life. Today all our heroes are celebrities. They rise on a wave of applause and break on the rocks of inattention. They are fantasy waiting to be exposed.
Who did you name as your hero? Was it Dave Dravecky? He pitched in World Series games and several All-Star games. Then, one day, his world was ripped apart when he was diagnosed with cancer. He fought a great fight but in the end he lost his arm, his pitching arm, to cancer. In his book, Comeback, Dravecky talks about the faith in Christ that helped him overcome it and to find new meaning in life. He said that baseball was important to him. It was part of who he was. Christ, on the other hand, was his life and when it was all said and done, he still had his life. Now that's a hero!
We need more spiritual heroes. When we open the book of Hebrews we see one man that stands out front and center. In chapter 11 we are introduced to Abraham. His story, beginning in Genesis chapter 12, shows us what it means to follow God faithfully. Abraham's story is one of a man who finds meaning and purpose in his life. The author of the book of Hebrews lifts Abraham up as a man who knew God. He is one of the prominent names in the faith hall of fame.
Abraham had a good life. He had a family and a place to call his own. One day he came face-to-face with God. His life would never be the same. God called him and offered him the one thing he did not have, a son. He listened to God's promises and without hesitation said, "I will be your man." Abraham didn't have it easy. He faced an uncertain future in an unknown land. He faced enemies who were ruthless and often jealous. He grew older and yet he never questioned God's promise that he would be the father of a great nation. And when he finally received the joy of bearing a son, Isaac, God asked him to trust him and give up his son. Abraham never wavered in his faith. That's why the writer of Hebrews says look to Abraham and see a hero.
True heroes are people who we can look up to and try to emulate. They are people who passionately believe in something and are even willing to die for it. Wycliffe, a very successful translating agency throughout the world, did an advertisement several years ago. It depicted a strong, athletic-looking man wading through a jungle river with a canteen on his side. The advertisement said: "Jim was voted the most likely to succeed. It's too bad Jim had it made. Personality, initiative, a college degree with honors, everything was his for the asking. Now look at him, backpacking across a jungle river, giving his life to a preliterate people barely out of the stone age, painstakingly creating a written alphabet from a previously unrecorded babble of sound. Working night and day translating the pages of the New Testament, exposing the senselessness of superstition and ignorance, relieving the pain and introducing the possibility of health, building a bridge of understanding to a neglected people. And to think, Jim could have been a success."
When they ran that ad, they had more young people sign up than at any other time. They gave kids something to live for. They gave them a bigger-than-life hero. That was Abraham. He was a man who lived out his faith and followed it all the way into the promised land. Heroes are real people. I think that is the problem with society today. Most of the people we lift up as heroes are fictional people that movie actors play. Arnold Schwarzenegger played just such a role in a movie called The Last Action Hero. In the movie he plays an actor who plays Jack Slater, a real action hero. In a twisted plot, a young boy gets to meet his hero and he finds that Schwarzenegger is not what he appears to be on the screen. It's a fun play on this theme of larger-than-life heroes. Although the movie does have that storybook ending, in real life they come off as mere mortals when we get up close and personal.
Contrast this with what we know about Jesus. Look closely at the picture that is painted of him in scripture. He was tested and he was tortured. He got hungry and he got tired. He sweated in the heat and cried in distress. He was real. He had a mission and didn't let anything get in his way. He loved us so much that he gave his life for us. That's what I call a hero.
The truth is that everyone has heroes -- people they want to be like -- but heroes are not just famous people who achieve outstanding things. They are individuals who live life with a deep and abiding faith that allows them to do great things.
Abraham's faith allowed him to follow God through the good and the bad. The only thing that separates him from us is the level of faith he demonstrated. He was an ordinary man who, through faith, became the father of the faithful. That is why the writer of Hebrews lifts him up. He is an example of what each of us can be as we live out our lives. We can be heroes to those who follow behind us.
A friend told me about John Brooks, a small church pastor he knew. He was a man acquainted with disappointments in his life. He struggled to make it through school. He faced financial hardship. His wife was stricken with an incurable disease. Yet John Brooks accepted a call into ministry because he believed God had work for him to do. He left his native Australia and traveled to America. He accepted a call to a small congregation in New England. He served that congregation faithfully. You would never know the troubles he had entertained in his young life if you saw him. He was a successful pastor, well respected by his congregation, his peers, and the community. He was a hero to the young people in his church. He told each one that God had something important for them to do and he helped them believe in themselves. They became preachers, pharmacists, teachers, moms, and dads. Every one of them also became active in their respective churches over the years as choir members, organists, Sunday school teachers, lay leaders, and board members. He became a great man, not because of anything extraordinary he had done, but because he walked with Christ and faithfully followed him -- like Abraham -- like you and me.
So to be a hero, you don't have to attract a lot of attention and have your name in the newspapers. You do not have to have a lot of money. You don't have to be a person in authority or wield a lot of power. You only have to live by faith and let it show.
Another Abraham, Abraham Lincoln, entered the Ford Theatre the night he was killed. The box he sat in was in the back and hard to get to. He entered it quietly and without fanfare. But someone saw him come, and one lone person stood up and began to applaud. Before long, the whole theater was standing and he received a twenty-minute standing ovation.
That was only five days after the war ended. For years, he had been the target of criticism. Yet he stayed the course and fought for what he believed was right. He lived by faith in those years and his faith was rewarded that night. Five days after the war ended he received his due and then it was done. A shot rang out and his life was snuffed out.
Abraham Lincoln was named for a hero of the faith. He lived up to his name. You and I are called Christians. We take our name from the Lord. I pray you and I may live up to our name as we seek to live a life of faithfulness. Who knows? Someone may just call us their hero someday. Amen.
There is a cute story about a Texan who was trying to impress on a Bostonian, the valor of the heroes of the Alamo. After finishing his story about Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, and countless others, he says "I'll bet you never had anyone so brave around Boston."
"Did you ever hear of Paul Revere?" asked the Bostonian.
"Paul Revere?" said the Texan. "Isn't he the guy who ran away looking for help?"
Heroes are important even if we disagree on the interpretation of what makes them heroes. Fred Smith in his book, You and Your Network, says:
We cannot live fully without heroes, for they are the stars to guide us upward. They are the peaks on our human mountains. Not only do they personify what we can be, but they also urge us to be. Heroes are who we can become if we diligently pursue our ideas in the furnace of our opportunities. Heroes are those who have changed history for the better. They are not always the men and women of highest potential, but those who have exploited their potential in society's behalf. Their deeds are done not for the honor but for the duty. Through our study of heroes we enter the realities of greatness.We cannot live fully without heroes, for they are the stars to guide us upward. They are the peaks on our human mountains. Not only do they personify what we can be, but they also urge us to be. Heroes are who we can become if we diligently pursue our ideas in the furnace of our opportunities. Heroes are those who have changed history for the better. They are not always the men and women of highest potential, but those who have exploited their potential in society’s behalf. Their deeds are done not for the honor but for the duty. Through our study of heroes we enter the realities of greatness.
Heroes are the personification of our ideals; the embodiment of our highest values. A society writes its diary by naming its heroes. We, as individuals, do the same.
Dr. J. C. Cain of the Mayo Clinic had difficulty selecting the young medical men to be trained at the clinic because of the exceptionally high caliber of all the applicants. All had excellent grades, fine discipline, high motivation, and good work habits. In searching for some question that would differentiate between them, he chose to ask this question: "Young man, tell me of your heroes." Dr. Cain found this was the best clue to their value structure.
Our heroes tell us much about our values. Those who have no heroes probably have not yet identified their highest ideals. Heroes not only inspire us, they also prove the greatness of which the human spirit is capable.
Who is your hero? Think about it.
While you do, I want to tell you that researchers for the World Almanac and Book of Facts asked 2,000 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 sports celebrities and movie stars.
Columnist Sidney J. Harris lamented the fact that every one of the thirty 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.
It's strange, but the world has really changed. The heroes of an earlier day were people of substance. The heroes were people who gave of themselves so others could live and enjoy life. Today all our heroes are celebrities. They rise on a wave of applause and break on the rocks of inattention. They are fantasy waiting to be exposed.
Who did you name as your hero? Was it Dave Dravecky? He pitched in World Series games and several All-Star games. Then, one day, his world was ripped apart when he was diagnosed with cancer. He fought a great fight but in the end he lost his arm, his pitching arm, to cancer. In his book, Comeback, Dravecky talks about the faith in Christ that helped him overcome it and to find new meaning in life. He said that baseball was important to him. It was part of who he was. Christ, on the other hand, was his life and when it was all said and done, he still had his life. Now that's a hero!
We need more spiritual heroes. When we open the book of Hebrews we see one man that stands out front and center. In chapter 11 we are introduced to Abraham. His story, beginning in Genesis chapter 12, shows us what it means to follow God faithfully. Abraham's story is one of a man who finds meaning and purpose in his life. The author of the book of Hebrews lifts Abraham up as a man who knew God. He is one of the prominent names in the faith hall of fame.
Abraham had a good life. He had a family and a place to call his own. One day he came face-to-face with God. His life would never be the same. God called him and offered him the one thing he did not have, a son. He listened to God's promises and without hesitation said, "I will be your man." Abraham didn't have it easy. He faced an uncertain future in an unknown land. He faced enemies who were ruthless and often jealous. He grew older and yet he never questioned God's promise that he would be the father of a great nation. And when he finally received the joy of bearing a son, Isaac, God asked him to trust him and give up his son. Abraham never wavered in his faith. That's why the writer of Hebrews says look to Abraham and see a hero.
True heroes are people who we can look up to and try to emulate. They are people who passionately believe in something and are even willing to die for it. Wycliffe, a very successful translating agency throughout the world, did an advertisement several years ago. It depicted a strong, athletic-looking man wading through a jungle river with a canteen on his side. The advertisement said: "Jim was voted the most likely to succeed. It's too bad Jim had it made. Personality, initiative, a college degree with honors, everything was his for the asking. Now look at him, backpacking across a jungle river, giving his life to a preliterate people barely out of the stone age, painstakingly creating a written alphabet from a previously unrecorded babble of sound. Working night and day translating the pages of the New Testament, exposing the senselessness of superstition and ignorance, relieving the pain and introducing the possibility of health, building a bridge of understanding to a neglected people. And to think, Jim could have been a success."
When they ran that ad, they had more young people sign up than at any other time. They gave kids something to live for. They gave them a bigger-than-life hero. That was Abraham. He was a man who lived out his faith and followed it all the way into the promised land. Heroes are real people. I think that is the problem with society today. Most of the people we lift up as heroes are fictional people that movie actors play. Arnold Schwarzenegger played just such a role in a movie called The Last Action Hero. In the movie he plays an actor who plays Jack Slater, a real action hero. In a twisted plot, a young boy gets to meet his hero and he finds that Schwarzenegger is not what he appears to be on the screen. It's a fun play on this theme of larger-than-life heroes. Although the movie does have that storybook ending, in real life they come off as mere mortals when we get up close and personal.
Contrast this with what we know about Jesus. Look closely at the picture that is painted of him in scripture. He was tested and he was tortured. He got hungry and he got tired. He sweated in the heat and cried in distress. He was real. He had a mission and didn't let anything get in his way. He loved us so much that he gave his life for us. That's what I call a hero.
The truth is that everyone has heroes -- people they want to be like -- but heroes are not just famous people who achieve outstanding things. They are individuals who live life with a deep and abiding faith that allows them to do great things.
Abraham's faith allowed him to follow God through the good and the bad. The only thing that separates him from us is the level of faith he demonstrated. He was an ordinary man who, through faith, became the father of the faithful. That is why the writer of Hebrews lifts him up. He is an example of what each of us can be as we live out our lives. We can be heroes to those who follow behind us.
A friend told me about John Brooks, a small church pastor he knew. He was a man acquainted with disappointments in his life. He struggled to make it through school. He faced financial hardship. His wife was stricken with an incurable disease. Yet John Brooks accepted a call into ministry because he believed God had work for him to do. He left his native Australia and traveled to America. He accepted a call to a small congregation in New England. He served that congregation faithfully. You would never know the troubles he had entertained in his young life if you saw him. He was a successful pastor, well respected by his congregation, his peers, and the community. He was a hero to the young people in his church. He told each one that God had something important for them to do and he helped them believe in themselves. They became preachers, pharmacists, teachers, moms, and dads. Every one of them also became active in their respective churches over the years as choir members, organists, Sunday school teachers, lay leaders, and board members. He became a great man, not because of anything extraordinary he had done, but because he walked with Christ and faithfully followed him -- like Abraham -- like you and me.
So to be a hero, you don't have to attract a lot of attention and have your name in the newspapers. You do not have to have a lot of money. You don't have to be a person in authority or wield a lot of power. You only have to live by faith and let it show.
Another Abraham, Abraham Lincoln, entered the Ford Theatre the night he was killed. The box he sat in was in the back and hard to get to. He entered it quietly and without fanfare. But someone saw him come, and one lone person stood up and began to applaud. Before long, the whole theater was standing and he received a twenty-minute standing ovation.
That was only five days after the war ended. For years, he had been the target of criticism. Yet he stayed the course and fought for what he believed was right. He lived by faith in those years and his faith was rewarded that night. Five days after the war ended he received his due and then it was done. A shot rang out and his life was snuffed out.
Abraham Lincoln was named for a hero of the faith. He lived up to his name. You and I are called Christians. We take our name from the Lord. I pray you and I may live up to our name as we seek to live a life of faithfulness. Who knows? Someone may just call us their hero someday. Amen.
