Hokey Pokey Faith

January 26, 2014

Joshua:  Turning Obedience Into Blessing

Joshua 3:  Hokey Pokey Faith                             NOT EDITED

SIS—If we take the first step of faith, God will take care of the rest.

Ever hear the phrase: "getting your feet wet?" It refers to experiencing something for the first time. It describes the process by which an idea becomes an experience. This idiom comes from Joshua 3 according to most sources. In this chapter God parts the waters of the Jordan at flood stage so the Israelites could enter the Promised Land. Sadly, most church-goers live on the Wilderness Side of Life instead forging the waters of decision to enter the Promised Land. For most American Christians, faith is an idea, not an experience. An idea, however wonderful, will never bring about significant results until that idea is turned into an action. Real faith makes a real difference in life and a real difference in our world. I call this:  "Hokey Pokey Faith." If your feet ain’t movin’ your faith ain’t workin’.  James described real faith in this same way:

2:18  Show me your faith without works,

and I will show you faith from my works.

Real faith gets it feet wet.  Real faith has three requirements:

1) Reevaluate Your Position (4, 15)

⁴ But keep a distance of about 1,000 yards  between yourselves and the ark. Don’t go near it, so that you can see the way to go, for you haven’t traveled this way before.”

Many people suffer from a “victim complex.”  Their circumstances define their self-identity.  They become their problems and life becomes an enemy to be avoided at all cost.  Not every person that suffers from a “victim complex” suffers to the same degree, but many suffer from it to some degree and we all can be caught in this net if we are not careful.

Verse 4 is a difficult verse in the context of this story.  Bible students do not agree completely on what this means.  Even without a clear, univocal interpretation, some pretty clear applications seem to derive from this verse.  I don’t think this verse is intended in any way to teach that God is aloof and apathetic about His creation, as some teach such as Deists.  Certainly His holiness is in view because that’s what the Ark of the Covenant was all about.  It was the only furniture in the portion of the Tabernacle called the “Holy of Holies.”  The Holy of Holies was such a sacred place that only the High Priest could enter and only once a year after following very strict guidelines of ritual purification.  So, the distance between the Ark and the people certainly demonstrates the awesome holiness of God.  The Bible teaches that God is Our Heavenly Father, but this does not support the kind of familiarity toward God we see in the church today.  As we learn in 2Samuel 6, even the mere touching of the Ark brought instant death to a man called Uzzah.  The Ark was a “holy” artifact representing the very real and immediate Presence of God.  So, we should not get so “familiar” with God that we lose our perspective on His holiness.

I think we can draw another line of application from this verse by focusing on the idea of “distance” instead of the artifact of the Ark, itself.  God is leading the Israelite people right into the biggest challenge of their lives to date.  Look at verse 10-11

¹⁰ He said: “You will know that the living God is among you  and that He will certainly dispossess before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites  ¹¹ when the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth  goes ahead of you into the Jordan.

The Israelites would soon be neck deep in a difficult encounter with pagan squatters in the land God had promised to them.  These were fearsome peoples who had a generation earlier caused the last generation to panic and be paralyzed by fear.  God wanted to show that He had it all under control and would be in the land securing it on their behalf long before they arrived.  With a half a mile distance th4 full congregation could keep the Ark in view.  They could see God leading them ever closer to the Promised Land.  God would arrive long before the congregation.  Victory was assured.

Another challenge faced Israel besides the pagans they would need to fight.  They would soon face the Jordan River, raging at flood stage.  Look at verse 15:

Now the Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest season.

The references to these two challenges, the pagans and the raging waters of the flood stage represent the various challenges we must face in life.  The Ark represents God’s presence that goes before us in every battle we must face.

I think we can apply this idea of keeping a distance from the Ark we in two ways:  1)  we must never take for granted God’s holiness—and  2 ) we must never lose sight of God’s presence that goes before us regardless of how difficult our circumstances may be.  His Presence both guides us and guards us.

From time to time we must reevaluate our position in regard to God’s Presence in our life.  Faith requires we constantly scan the horizon of our lives to see where we are positioned in regard to God’s presence in our lives.

This is important so let me repeat it:  Faith requires we constantly scan the horizon of our lives to see where we are positioned in regard to God’s presence in our lives.

2.  True faith requires we REORDER our Priorities (5)

⁵ Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves,  because the Lord will do wonders  among you tomorrow.”

God is holy.  He expects us to pursue holiness.  Holiness is a bit hard to define, especially since the same word applies to God as it does to His children.  The Word of God says in several places in the O.T.

Be holy as I am holy (Lev. 11:45; 19:2; 20:7)

Peter repeats this same phrase (1:6).  What does this mean?  Certainly, it does not mean that I can “become like God in essence” as Mormons teach—no matter how dedicated a Mormon one might be.  You will not become holy in any manner or to any degree that God is holy in His essence. 

Holiness for God is something He already possesses and can never lose.  Holiness for man is something we pursue and can never gain fully apart from the working of grace in our lives.  The Word says,

²³ Now may the God of peace  Himself sanctify you completely. And may your spirit,  soul, and body be kept sound and blameless for the coming  of our Lord  Jesus Christ.

God, Himself, makes us holy and blameless.  It is not what we do, but what God has already done in Christ.  Our task is to manifest the holiness He provides through righteous living.

Let’s step back into our text.  The whole thing with the Ark reminds us, as we have seen, that God is Absolutely, even terrifyingly, holy—and we are not.  Yet, then we come to verse 5:

⁵ Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves,  because the Lord will do wonders  among you tomorrow.”

I’ve told you many times that Hebrew verbs build upon a basic root by adding what is called, “stems,” or different variations on the root.  In the case of the Hebrew word translated, “consecrate,” two issues are put in play by the stematic form.  This particular stem is the reflexive—stay with me it isn’t that hard—form of the piel stem.  It is the hithpiel stem.  The piel stem refers to an action that ends in an identifiable state.  An example would be, Bob flew the airplane.  The direct object, airplane, is put into the state of flight.  The hithpiel stem does the same thing but the action refers back to the actor as in:  Bob flew the airplane himself.

So, the idea of consecration is simply this:  create a state of godliness by your attitude and actions, and each of us has to do that form himself or herself.  Parents can’t consecrate us.  Priests can’t consecrate us.  Religious rituals cannot consecrate us.  We have to consecrate ourselves by reordering the priorities of our lives to reflect the place that God holds in our lives.  He is our Creator, and also our Redeemer. 

We have a responsibility to God as Our Creator and Redeemer to “put ourselves into a state of holiness.”  In other words, we should reorder our priorities to reflect Who we say God is.  Consecration is the act of matching what you do with what you say.

I think the number one reason that individuals and churches do not grow is because we have our priorities out of order.  For many church members this would be an easy matter to prove simply by looking at one’s bank statement and comparing how much was spent on “fleshly” needs and desires and how much is spent on “spiritual” endeavors.  I’m sure the same conclusion would derive by a simple “time use analysis” for any given week in our lives.  How much time did we spend on “earthly and fleshly needs and desires,” and how much time did we spend on “spiritual pursuits.”

Now, this bites into our ego.  It stings like salt in a wound.  We recoil at such preaching that actually takes serious the Word of God and applies without softening the chastisement that God’s Word often brings.  But, the simple matter is we cannot move forward in faith if we have our priorities out of order.

A very successful lawyer parked his brand-new Lexus in front of the office, ready to show it off to his colleagues. As he opened the door, a truck came along, and completely tore off the driver's door! The attorney immediately grabbed his cell phone, hit speed dial for 911, and had a policeman there in 3 minutes. Before the cop had a chance to ask any questions, the lawyer started screaming hysterically. He had just picked up the Lexus the day before, and now it would never be the same, no matter how good a job the body shop does.

After the lawyer finally wound down from his rant, the cop shook his head in disgust and disbelief. "I can't believe how materialistic you lawyers are," he said. " You are so focused on your possessions that you don't notice anything else.""How can you say such a thing?" he responded indignantly. The cop replied, "You didn't even notice that your left arm is missing from the elbow down! It must have been torn off when the truck hit you." "OH, NO!" screamed the lawyer in shock. "Where is my Rolex?!?"

“Consecration” is quite simply the matter of reordering our priorities to reflect our view of the holiness and majesty of God. 

As we seek to get our feet wet in faith, and practice “Hokey Pokey Faith” we must reevaluate our position in regard to God and our problems—the greatest problem of course being our sinful nature which alienates us from God.  Secondly, once we have reevaluated our position in regard to God and our problems, we need to reorder our priorities to reflect our view of God’s holiness and majesty.  Third, to experience the kind of faith that is “filled with the wonders of God” (v5) we must:

3.  Resist our fears (v 13)

³ When the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, come to rest in the Jordan’s waters, its waters will be cut off. The water flowing downstream will stand up in a mass.”

This verse is where we get the idiom:  “getting your feet wet,” meaning turning and idea into action, or belief into practice.  It is the only faith that is Biblical faith.  Faith with dry feet is not real faith.

Here’s one of the most remarkable teachings in the Bible, and there are many.  Obedience always leads to blessing.  When we “do” what God calls us to “do” we receive God’s “wonders.”  That is, when we get our feet wet in faith, God does amazing things for us, in us, and through us.

But, let me be quick to point out that “obedience to God” is not an easy thing.  Almost every path to God’s wonderful providence goes through some deep valley, over some towering mountain, or in this case faces raging waters.  Don’t take the challenges of life lightly.  They are real.  Faith, true faith, is a dangerous thing.  True faith puts you in some precarious predicaments that cause fear and anxiety to rise up in our spirit.  That’s why three times in chapter one God said to Joshua:

Be strong and courageous (1:6, 7, 8)

I grew up near the mighty Ohio River in the days before they added all the locks and dams and other flood control measures.  The Ohio was (is) a mighty river in most places, but when rain waters poured into her, she became a raging, white-capped monster.  I remember this usually calm river becoming a menacing, thundering torrent.  Many swam in the Ohio and for the most part she was a kind and safe host—but not at flood stage.  At flood stage, a normally calm river becomes a harbinger of death.  This is what was taking place in regard to the Jordan.

Stepping into the Jordan at flood stage would be done only at great personal risk.  Fear would be a natural companion that day.

Faith that experiences God’s wonders must sometimes do the “hokey pokey” with risk and danger.  Faith that experiences God’s wonders must “resist fear.”  Fear is a healthy companion to obedience as long as you don’t let it keep you from getting your feet wet.

Fear is a God-given reaction to danger.  Fear puts us on high alert so that we can deal appropriately with difficult or dangerous situations.  Fear is also the impulse to avoid the source of our anxiety.  This is the fear that we must resist with faith. When fear causes us to avoid doing what God has called us to do, we move into a state of rebellion.  This is why former generation spent forty years in the Wilderness until they died—they feared the pagans that lived in the land God had promised to them—the Promised Land.

Avoidance is a serious obstacle to dealing with fear because it works--temporarily.  For a time we feel good by avoiding the object of fear. But, dealing with fear by “avoidance” eventually gives our fears control of our lives.  Fear not resisted reduces faith to an idea.  Such fear traps us into wandering aimlessly in the Wilderness.

It is normal to feel fear when facing danger.  But, fear must be resisted and overcome so that fear does not become paralysis.

That’s how faith works.  You have to “put your feet into it—it being whatever situation you are facing.”  In any given challenge, when something simply must be done, the only absolutely wrong action to take is to take no action.  We cannot let fear paralyze our faith.  Yet, many of us do this on a regular basis.

As I was reading in preparation for this sermon I came across one of the most profound statements on resisting fear that I have ever seen.  The statement says, “Thinking will never overcome fear—action will.” 

This is the whole idea behind the idiom, “getting your feet wet.”  You cannot experience life by thinking about things—you have to “do” something.  You have to get your feet wet.

What “next” step do you need to take in order to “get your feet wet” and begin the crossing over into the Promised Land?  Are you willing to reevaluate where you stand in relation to God?  Are you living in His presence?  Have you given your heart and soul to Him as the Lord of your life?  What about your priorities?  Have you recently evaluated whether you life matches what you believe about God’s holiness and majesty?  What about the fear of falling completely in love with the Lord?  What about the fear of giving regularly to support the work of the church and trusting God to meet your needs?  What about the fear of making that decision you are facing?

What next step do you need to take today to “get your feet wet with faith?” 

How’s that “Hokey Pokey” song go? “You put your right foot in . . . “

You can learn a lot about faith by doing the “Hokey Pokey.”

If nothing changes . . . nothing changes!  You can do nothing all day long and you will never see God’s wonders in your life.  If you don’t “get your feet wet,” your relationship with God is going to be as dry as a desert.  If your faith does not have wet feet, you are condemned to remain on the Wilderness Side of the Jordan.

Let me bring this message home to our church family.  As the raging torrents of circumstances flood the banks of our lives separating us from the Promised Land of Victorious Christian Living, we have to make some decisive changes in our lives.  We have to take off our shoes and socks, roll up our pants and step into the water. 

<<<end>>>

Unlikely Heroes

January 19, 2014
Joshua:  Turning Obedience into Blessing
Joshua 2:  “Unlikely Heroes”

SIS – A true hero is an ordinary person who does an extraordinary act that blesses others and put oneself at great risk.

One of the true marks of heroism is that the “hero” never sets out to gain fame for his or her deeds.  A true “hero” is never in it only for personal gain.  Heroism always involves risk and it always involves others.

One would expect to find a lot of true “heroes” on the battlefield—and in fact, there are and have been many.  I think of the great WWII hero, Audie Murphy.  was one of the most famous and decorated American combat soldiers of World War II. He was awarded every U.S. military combat award for valor available from the U.S. Army, as well as several medals from other Allied countries.  He was also the recipient of the Medal of Honor.  Murphy was the epitome of what we think of when we think of heroes.  War breeds many heroes.

Soldiers make common heroes, but one would be less likely to suppose that a true hero could be an “accountant.”  I mean, now that pencils have given way to computers, there isn’t even the danger of lead poisoning anymore.

However, in the aftermath of the horrible tragedy of 9-11, one of the little known heroes did in fact arise out of a prestigious accounting firm.  Let me say that in the aftermath of that tragedy there were more heroes than one could count—some named, many remain unnamed.  We would expect that many of the heroes of 9-11 would be First Responders—being a hero is sort of their job description, and most do it very well.  But, back to the accountant.  An accountant would seem an “Unlikely Hero” in the context of the great tragedy in New York City.  In fact, this hero was not even living in New York City.  Dave Karnes was living in Wilton, CT, as a senior accountant with the firm, Deloitte Touche.  Now, granted, he was not your typical accountant. This “Unlikely Hero” had some hero blood running in his veins.  For 23 years Dave Karnes was a ground pounding infantryman with the U.S. Marines.  Now, there’s an accountant that can do more than crunch numbers!  As the office personnel watched on T.V. as the second plane crashed into the second tower, Karnes said, “We’re at war!”  He told his boss, “You might not be seeing me for a while.”  What takes place after this with this “unlikely hero” in an accounting office is nothing short of miraculous.

I wish I could tell the whole story, but time won’t allow.  The basic synopsis is this:  after the tragedy, only 12 persons were rescued—the last two by this “unlikely hero,” the Marine-Turned-Accountant.  Here’s the short version.  After telling his boss, “We’re at war.  You might not see me for a while,” he went to get a Marine Spec haircut. Then he went to get a Marine regulation haircut.

The small barbershop in Stamford, Conn., near his home, was    deserted. "Give me a good Marine Corps squared-off haircut," he told the barber. When it was done, he drove home to put on his uniform. Karnes always kept two sets of Marine fatigues hanging in his closet, pressed and starched.  Next Karnes stopped by the storage facility where he kept his equipment—he'd need rappelling gear, ropes, canteens of water, his Marine Corps K-Bar knife, and a flashlight, at least. Then he drove to church. He asked the pastor and parishioners to say a prayer that God would lead him to survivors. A devout Christian, Karnes often turned to God when faced with decisions.

Karnes set off at 120 miles per hour in his newly purchased Porche 911 for his destination—Ground Zero.  God did lead Karnes to the last two survivors as he and his church prayed.  With the help of two other first responders they worked for over six hours digging the survivors out.  Then Karnes packed up and went  home.

This is just one example of an “Unlikely Hero.”  There are so many on a daily basis that the stories are too numerous to tell. Sadly,  ordinary people doing extraordinary things does not always make the news.  But, “Unlikely Heroes” are everywhere.  YOU can be an “Unlikely Hero.”  The Bible is filled with “Unlikely Heroes”—in fact, it’s the only biblical kind.  One such “Unlikely Hero” is not only a woman—shockingly unlikely qualification for a hero in and of itself—but she is also a common prostitute.  Rahab is an “unlikely hero” and she can be a model for each of us.

LET’S READ ABOUT THIS UNLIKELY HERO.

Before we look at some characteristics of this Unlikely Hero, let me say a little bit about her name.  Keep in mind that the Bible is not a “book of information,” but a book of “transformation.”  Stories that appear in the Bible are not merely history.  They are what bible scholars refer to as, “salvation history,” or holy history.  The technical term is heilsgeschicte, as in, heils (salvation) + geschicte (history).

So names, places, events in the Bible are prophetic with applications for every generation.  Bible stories have applications much broader than the historical event.  Consider Rahab (usually pronounced, Ray-hăb).  Her very name derives from the Hebrew root meaning, “to grow wide.”  That’s exactly what happens to Rahab.  Apart from her place in God’s Story, she would have remained an obscure prostitute from Jericho.  But, consider Matthew’s description of the ancestors of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Matthew 1:5 records,  “⁵ Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse, ⁶ and Jesse fathered King David.”  Jesus was born from the lineage of David, and Ruth was David’s great grandmother.  I’d say Rahab definitely “widened her influence!” 

This is precisely my point.  Every one of us would be less than a speck of dust on the window of the universe if it were not for God’s plan for our lives.  God wants us to “grow wider” in our influence—in short, God calls us to be His “heroes”—howbeit, unlikely ones.

Just like Rahab, you have “hero’s blood” flowing in your veins.  You, like Rahab, can be a hero.  Her life exemplifies several aspects of what it means to be a “hero in God’s Army.”  The most striking characteristic of this unlikely hero, and all unlikely heroes, is:

1.  She was not perfect, just repentant (2, 5-11)

2 Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men as spies  from the Acacia Grove,  saying, “Go and scout the land, especially Jericho.” So they left, and they came to the house of a woman, a prostitute named Rahab,  and stayed there.

Rahab definitely was not perfect-far fromit.  She was a common prostitute.  She sold her body and dignity for money.  You will note that she also had little qualms about lying when the King’s men came to her house in search of the spies.  Often people will use Rahab to justify lying—she’s the hero of the story and she clearly lied is how the reasoning goes.  Well, I just simply remind people who bring this up that she also was a prostitute so lying was only one on a list of sins.  She is most certainly a common, garden-variety sinner—head to toe and all points in between.  But, there’s more:

⁵ At nightfall, when the gate was about to close, the men went out, and I don’t know where they were going. Chase after them quickly, and you can catch up with them!” ⁶ But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them  among the stalks of flax that she had arranged on the roof. ⁷ The men pursued them along the road to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as they left to pursue them, the gate was shut.  ⁸ Before the men fell asleep, she went up on the roof ⁹ and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land  and that the terror of you has fallen on us,  and everyone who lives in the land is panicking because of you. ¹⁰ For we have heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt,  and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings you completely destroyed  across the Jordan. ¹¹ When we heard this, we lost heart, and everyone’s courage failed  because of you,  for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.

Rahab had clearly come to the saving realization that Yahweh, the God of Israel was the one true God.  There are view professions of faith in the Bible stronger or clearer than that of this lowly prostitute.  Both Paul in the Book of Hebrews, and James in his book testify of the true, saving faith of this lying harlot (Heb. 11; Jam. 1).

The old adage says, “The proof of the pudding is in the tasting.”  In other words, we can judge the quality of the cook by examining what he produces.  Rahab had a holy fear for God and it produced a genuine faith with a changed behavior.  A true fear and reverence for God always changes a person’s behavioe.   The Bible authenticates Rahab’s change of life through her encounter with the God of Life.  One cannot stand in the light of God’s sovereign holiness and not recognize one’s sinfulness.  Isaiah demonstrates how this works.  Isaiah has a vision that transports him into the very throne room of Almighty Yahweh.  When the light of God’s holiness shines upon Isaiah, this is his response:

^6:5 Woe is me  for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips and live among a people of unclean lips, and because my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.

It is true, God will accept us “just as we are.”  But, it is equally true that if we have a genuine relationship with Him, He will not leave us where He finds us, and neither will we be content to stay there.  We hear it often:  “Nobody’s perfect.”  This phrase is used in one of two ways:  1) it is used as an excuse for our failures and bad behavior, as a “cover-up” for our sins.  This excuse seeks to absolve us from the responsibility for our actions and attitudes.  Such a confession is no confession at all and breeds even more sin.  2) Others, like Isaiah and Rahab, use this understanding of imperfection as a “confession,” or as a plea to God to come and rescue them from the depravity of unholiness and unbelief.  This is true confession.  Imperfection is no barrier to serving God, but an unrepentant, unbroken heart that has no fear of God is an absolute hindrance to being used by God.

Unlikely Heroes are indeed imperfect, but repentant.  Unlikely Heroes

2.  may be anxious, but they stay focused (3-7; 12-13).

Rahab had become the target of the king’s investigation. 

Then the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab and said, “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house,  for they came to investigate the entire land.” ⁴ But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them.  So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I didn’t know where they were from. ⁵ At nightfall, when the gate was about to close, the men went out, and I don’t know where they were going. Chase after them quickly, and you can catch up with them!” ⁶ But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them  among the stalks of flax that she had arranged on the roof. ⁷ The men [ that is, king’s men] pursued them along the road to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as they left to pursue them, the gate was shut.

Rahab no doubt was anxious, knowing that her life would be in great jeopardy by hiding the spies.  Rahab did not let her anxiety get the best of her and take away her focus.  Look at verse 12 and following:

¹² Now please swear to me by the Lord that you will also show kindness to my family, because I showed kindness to you.  ^u Give me a sure sign  ¹³ that you will spare the lives of my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all who belong to them, and save us from death.”

Rahab stayed focused on what she knew was the most important matter—salvation.  She risked her very life to seek this salvation for herself and for her family.  Salvation was not just “a thing,” it was “the, singlemost important thing,” and nothing could distract Rahab from doing anything and everything to get salvation.  It is this intense laser-like focus that allows ordinary people to do extraordinary feats.

Too often we miss our opportunity to do something great in the Kingdom of God because we get sidelined by our passions or our predicaments.  We lose focus on the really important matters.  I’m sure you have heard stories of how an ordinary person comes up encountered a crisis event and exhibited extraordinary strength.  There are many examples but one involved two Viet Nam vets working in Hawaii in 1988.  Vietnam vets Tiny and Steve were working on a site in Hawaii. Tiny was on the ground while Steve transported things using his chopper until he experienced mechanical problems. The helicopter crashed in a ditch. Tiny and his fellow workers ran to the helicopter and found Steve with his leg trapped under the chopper. That was when Tiny managed to do a superhuman thing. He lifted the crashed helicopter enough to help free his buddy. Steve escaped the crash with minor injuries.  Another case involved a Fire Chief responding to a vehicle accident.  A deputy fire chief in Hinsdale Illinois responded to an emergency call involving a 21-year-old. The young guy crashed his car against a guard rail and was trapped inside. The emergency responders couldn’t force the door open because it would shift the young driver. The deputy fire chief then showed superhuman strength by pulling the doors off the car.

In a few cases I’ve read about, the “unlikely heroes” were asked to try to duplicate their feat of strength later, like lifting a helicopter or ripping off a car door with one’s bare hands.  They are not able to do it.  These stories are usually analyzed to death.  Of course, adrenalin flowing through the body has something to do with it.  But, there has to be a certain state of mind also—a miraculous state of mind.  My point of view is that all the person’s body, soul, and mind are focused on that one singular event.  Such distractions as the chaos and danger do not diminish the strength available to accomplish the task at hand.

James talks about the importance of a “single-minded devotion to God” in regard to receiving great rewards from God:

⁵Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him.  ⁶ But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ An indecisive man is unstable in all his ways.

Often, the difference between being a “hero” or a “zero” is focus.  Let me be so bold as to say that most church-goers never get much from God or do much for God because they are “double-minded.”  The Greek word translated “double-minded” comes from the root meaning “to separate or divide.” We could use the modern phrase, “compartmentalize.”  You become a “zero” in the Kingdom of God when you compartmentalize your Christian life. 

We compartmentalize our lives when we make a sharp divide between what is secular and what is sacred.  We compartmentalize our lives when we limit our service and devotion to God to one holy (and I use that term loosely) hour on Sunday.  As James says, “the person who compartmentalizes his or her Christian life to Sundays can expect to get nothing from God or be anything for God.  Such a person will be a zero, not a hero!” (Jack’s Not Quite Inspired Version).

Unlikely Heroes stay focused even though the situation they find themselves in may create enormous anxiety.  Rahab knew that she must seek salvation for herself and her family even if it meant she would have to risk her life. She didn’t choose to be a hero—she simply did not feel she had any other choice.

3.  Unlikely Heroes hang their hope on a rope of grace (17-21)

That’s a clever way to say that God’s Unlikely Heroes trust in His power and His provisions, not one’s only strength or ingenuity.  In other words, True Heroes trust in grace, not works.

Rahab hid the spies until it was safe to lower them over the wall (which incidently was where her house was located).  Rahab has one last conversation regarding the promise to spare her family from death when Jericho would ultimately be destroyed.  Here’s how the conversation concluded:

¹⁷ The men said to her, “We will be free from this oath you made us swear, ¹⁸ unless, when we enter the land, you tie this scarlet cord to the window through which you let us down. Bring your father, mother, brothers, and all your father’s family into your house. ¹⁹ If anyone goes out the doors of your house, his blood will be on his own head,  and we will be innocent. But if anyone with you in the house should be harmed,  his blood will be on our heads. ²⁰ And if you report our mission, we are free from the oath you made us swear.” ²¹ “Let it be as you say,” she replied, and she sent them away. After they had gone, she tied the scarlet cord to the window.

There is so much symbolic application in this passage. Does the story have familiar ring to it?  Something red in the window harkens back to the story of the Passover with the red blood over the doorposts.  Everyone in the house with the scarlet thread will be spared, and those that go out risk death just as with the homes on the night of the Passover.  Of course, we know looking back that the blood of the Passover Lamb referred to the blood the Lord shed on the cross.  The scarlet rope also refers to the saving power of the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  The point of the story is simply this:  you cannot save yourself, but you must trust in the grace of God offered to us because of the shed blood of Jesus on the cross.

What Can Wash Away My Sin // Nothing But the Blood of Jesus

The Passover Lamb did not save anybody.  In fact, centuries of sacrificing lambs and other critters never saved anybody.  The scarlet rope did not save anybody.  No religious artifact or talisman possesses any power to save anybody from any thing.  There are not enough rosaries in the world to string together a rope long enough to pull ourselves to heaven.  We are saved by grace, through faith in the blood that Jesus shed for us on Calvary.

Paul says it like this:   For you are saved by grace  through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift (Eph. 2:8).

The only true heroes are “unlikely heroes” who are touched by the grace of God.  God’s heroes are persons who simply make some effort to some good in a difficult situation and trust God for the outcome.  That’s what Rahab did and she changed the entire course of heilsgeschicte, or “salvation history.” Of all the heroes in the Bible, Rahab ranks at the top.  Paul declares:  By faith Rahab the prostitute received the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed (Heb. 11:31).

Unlikely Heroes in a Biblical sense are ordinary folks who accomplish extraordinary feats through exercising the faith they receive by grace.

Now, let’s bring this message home.  What about you?  You can be a hero.  But, you say, “I’m only . . . . “ No, stop right there! Are you imperfect?  No problem if you are repentant.  Are you anxious or scared?  No problem if you stay focused on what is eternally important. Are you concerned you won’t know what to do or have the strength to do it?  No problem if you “hang your hope on God’s rope of grace” and not your own strength or ingenuity.  Yes! Yes! Yes! You can be a hero!

The world is crashing and trapped in a burning car of sin.  People need “unlikely heroes” who will walk up to the death and devastation in their lives and rip off the doors of sin with the gospel of Jesus Christ and, in love, pull them out of the wreckage of their lives.

Most people who are the recipients of the efforts of “unlikely heroes” are not even able to call out for help.  They are spiritually unconscious—dead in their sin--they need “unlikely heroes” to act on their behalf, at great personal risk, and come to their rescue. 

Being an “Unlikely Hero” is dangerous work.  If we truly embrace God and His mission in this broken down, sin wrecked world we are likely to get a little bloodied and singed in the process.

Rahab was a most “Unlikely Hero.”  She frittered her life and dignity away in a brothel.  You can’t get much lower than that; but God “enlarged her circumstance” and increased her influence so much so that she is included in Paul’s roll call of faith in Hebrews 11.

You can be a “hero for God.”  You must be a hero for God.  This world only has two kinds of people:  heroes and zeroes.  Determine this very day that you will do whatever it takes to be an “Unlikely Hero for God.”

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