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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