What Is a Hero?

It is a pleasure, I feel honored to be here, but I always feel like when people thank me so much, I should say, perhaps you should wait till after you hear the sermon. I'm not sure I have a happy coincidence. I've been working on a message. It's funny, when you're not pastoring and regularly speaking, you don't always have to write as often. I've been out of touch because I was working so hard on class prep.

I said, I need to just get an idea and write a sermon. I wrote a draft just before Thanksgiving, and I was working on typing up the notes this week. Chris Roland came in to my office. He said, well, what do you think about going to Indianapolis? He explained what happened to Mr. Borenhorst. I do sympathize with him. My wife had a herniated disc a few years ago. I don't know the pain, but I've seen it in her face. I know it can be very bad, so I'm glad that it's improving with treatment.

Sorry, if you don't mind, I figured I'd make some comments. People always ask me how ABC is going. It's busy. It's going really well. We've got not the biggest class, about 23 students this semester. They're young and very enthusiastic, very intelligent. They keep me on my toes because they ask them questions. Sometimes I have to think real hard and then say, I don't know. It seems like a lot of times. Which reminds me, I didn't hear it in the announcements. Some people, I've had some questions, and I'm the only one that calendar fundraiser.

If any of you were curious about this, I peeled this one off of our refrigerator just before we left. If you're curious about those, we've got them in.

That's something that I'd be willing to answer questions, but I'm not here as a salesman. We have been very busy putting things together for the Winter Family Weekend. I'm one who just watches everybody else do a lot of work, and I'm really glad when they get it done so I can breathe a sigh of relief. The things that Mr. McLean mentioned are coming along. I thought I'd also mention that we recently made a change to what's been done the last few years in the Jelly Live presentation. If you have younger children or you just like children's things, you might want to check that out.

They're going to do somewhat of a game show rather than a performance. Mr. Jonathan told me, if you've ever seen the Bozo the Clown show, it'll be somewhat like that. I've never seen the Bozo the Clown show. I know who Bozo was, so I'm looking forward to seeing it. I remember there was one more thing I was going to say before I started on the sermon. Mr. McLean was wise, of course. I'm glad he didn't tell any embarrassing stories about me. I'm really glad because he's got worse stories on me than I have on him. I'm glad he didn't call my bluff on that.

I remember one of the first times meeting him, we were serving at Camp Heritage together the first year that we had that facility. He was working on volleyball staff, and I was a counselor. I remember thinking that I was pretty good at volleyball. At one point, we were in a game, and he was playing on the other side of the net. The ball was coming to his side. I went up thinking, I'm going to block it. No, I didn't block it. He almost broke my nose, I'm pretty sure.

Ryan McNeely was taller, stronger, more athletic, and more skilled than I was. He probably doesn't remember that incident, but it stuck with me for a while. I'm not sure if I'd say that was the start of a good friendship. Friendship came later.

At the time, I was thinking, boy, that's smart. Let's move on to a sermon topic. Of course, I brought my wife, Sue, and our six-year-old son, Connor. We're thrilled to be here. Connor was thrilled that he can play with the Cobb children, and we're glad to see the Cobb parents. Since Connor came into our lives, Sue and I don't get to watch movies very often, especially to go out to the cinema.

As I was thinking of a subject for a sermon, I somehow was in the back of my mind because, as a matter of fact, it was before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving has been one season of the year when we've got to go to the movies because we go visit Sue's parents and we have babysitters.

I started thinking, what movies have come out that I know I wanted to see that I haven't? I remember, and I think it's been a whole year ago, there was a new Captain America movie with all these superheroes. I thought, oh, I'd like to see that. But I hadn't seen the Avengers movie that came before that. Yeah, there was an Ant-Man movie that might have been tied in. About the same time as that Captain America movie was the big Batman vs. Superman. Before I go too far, I'm sure some of you are thinking, you are aware that they make other types of movies besides superhero movies.

Yeah, and I watch some of those sometimes. There have been a lot of superhero movies. This trend might be annoying to many of you, but I grew up reading comic books, so I thought it was pretty cool. As a matter of fact, I brought a friend of mine along. I dug out in the boxes. This is a vintage piece of comic book. You might not be able to read it. It says $1.50 up here. You can't even buy a trading card for $1.50 anymore. I might refer to this later, because I want to talk about my friend Spider-Man.

But the one thing that's been kind of bad about this new trend of movies is they're starting to follow what the comic books started doing. Back after I stopped reading them, I was a big comic book nut as a kid, and I did move on to textbooks and history books. But comic book writers sort of got bored with the traditional good guys vs.

bad guys, as movie makers have been doing. So they moved into having more and more anti-heroes. And that's when the protagonist is not always such a good guy. Sometimes he's got some real problems and faults. And that might be interesting for script writers, but it really gets away from heroes. In the decades-old comic books like the one I brought up here, they were simpler. The superheroes were heroes in the truest sense of the word.

And one of the best examples is Spider-Man. I thought, if you'll bear with me, I wanted to remind us of his story, because the origin story of some of these heroes is some of what makes them so interesting and why they've made such good movies. In Spider-Man's origin, you start off with Peter Parker. He's a nerdy, skinny teenager, which I could really relate to when I was a nerdy, skinny teenager. He got bullied by the athletes, by the popular kids in school.

Now, Peter is an orphan, even. He's lost his parents. He's being raised by his elderly Uncle Ben and Aunt May. But then everything changes when he gets bitten by a radioactive spider. Or, in modern times, if you've seen the movies, it's a genetically modified spider. We had to get up to date. Suddenly, Peter Parker has the proportionate strength, speed, and agility of a spider. Not to mention spider sense and the ability to shoot out these webs and swing around. One of the most important parts of the story comes next, though. At first, Peter is interested in using his powers to make money and impress girls.

What teenage boy doesn't want to do that? So he shows some promise as a professional wrestler. He looks like a skinny kid, but he can out-wrestle these big brutes. And about that time, as he's going along that, he witnesses an armed robbery. A fellow robs the store and brushes by, and Peter has all these powers. He could stop him, but he says, It's not my business. Why should I get involved? Soon afterwards, he'll learn why he should have. And he'll learn the hard way. It'll turn out that very stained-arm robber that Peter Parker watches get away, soon afterwards, will shoot and kill his beloved Uncle Ben, leaving Peter more orphaned than ever, feeling very guilty, and of course, not sure if he can ever confess to Aunt May that his lack of action was why she's now a widow.

Peter, at this point in the comic books and in the movies, comes to understand a quote that's often attributed to Uncle Ben, With great power must come great responsibility. Now, that sounds really dramatic, and it's good.

I should mention that although Stan Lee, who wrote those lines, hasn't come out and admitted it, it's been traced to other figures before him. There's a quote from the French Revolution that says something very similar. Winston Churchill said something similar to that. So did Theodore Roosevelt and others. But I always think of Uncle Ben. Not the guy with the rice, but the one from... But whoever said it first, Peter Parker takes it to heart.

He makes it his life's code. He commits his life to using these tremendous powers he now has to fighting crime and to protecting other people from harm. He exerts himself to prevent other people from suffering the type of tragedy that he did, or preventing the tragedy that he allowed happen when he stood by and let Uncle Ben's murderer get away.

That phrase, with great power, must come great responsibility. To me, it sounds like it fits with what comes in the Bible. Does it seem that way to you? Maybe because there is a quote from Jesus Christ that was similar. If you'll turn to Luke 12, Luke 12 and verse 45, we can see that. I wonder if whoever wrote that in the French Revolution or Winston Churchill or others might have been thinking of this.

Luke 12. Did I say 45? It's 48. That was before I put on my glasses.

Actually...

Oh yeah, I'm looking at about halfway through the verse. I just want to read this part. It says, This isn't the words of a comic book character and a fictional superhero. It's the words of our Lord and Master, spoken to his followers. And whenever I read that, I think of that and I say, Much has been given to me. Much has been given to us. What will be required? Now, I'm sure that we're not going to be required to climb walls, leap from buildings, or capture supervillains.

But I think there is some lessons we can learn from the examples of those heroes.

Now, before I go further, perhaps I should address some of our terminology. Think, what is a hero? I actually checked some dictionaries, and I was surprised because it turns out the most modern definition is a little different from what it existed in the past. The modern definition of a hero is someone who has admired or idealized for his or her courage, outstanding achievements, or notable qualities. Someone who's admired for what they are. That's not bad, but it's lacking something that I think is very important that was part of the original definition of the word. The original meaning of the word was someone who exerts himself, even sacrificing his own interests or concerns on behalf of others. On behalf of others. There's a big difference. It could be done in devotion to ideals, or even just simply to protect other people from harm. Although I didn't write down the Greek and Latin, the root words from which we get the word hero, and those, the Greek and Latin originals, refer to protecting or safeguarding. And that is important. The difference between a person who just has great characteristics or achievements, between him and one who uses those characteristics on behalf of others, that's as great a difference as the one between that selfish Peter Parker who's worried about impressing girls and making money, or the one who devotes his life to living up to Uncle Ben's Creed. With great power must come great responsibility. There's no difference in the traits the person has or their abilities, but there's a great difference in how those abilities are directed. But enough of comic books. I should turn to an example from the Bible. It's one that's so good that a lot of Bible critics assume it has to be fiction. But it's not fiction. The hero I have in mind is David. David wasn't a nerdy, skinny kid who got picked on at school. Probably school hadn't been invented yet, so I'm not sure if picking on kids at school got invented yet either, but he was a young man at the time of the story. If you want to start turning to 1 Samuel 17, I do want to go there. Before he rose to prominence and of course became a king in Israel, David did have remarkable traits. Before anyone knew about it, he was a skilled musician. He was a formidable fighter. When his sheep had been threatened, he tracked down a bear and killed it with his own hands. And he did the same thing to a lion.

So David had these heroic traits according to the modern definition. I would say that though he was mostly limited to that definition until he exerted himself on behalf of others, the famous story that's found in 1 Samuel 17 will begin at the start of the chapter. And I know it's one you know, but it's always fun to reread and visit. And now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle. They were gathered at Shoko, which belongs to Judah, and camped between Shoko and Ezechah and Ephesus and Demim and all those other places you never heard of. Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they were encamped at the valley of Elah and drew up in battle array against the Philistines. Philistines stood on one side of the mountain on the side, Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley in between them. And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines. Instead of champion, we could say, Aesirou for the Philistines. He was named Goliath from Gath. Sight with six cubits and a span. And the man was about nine feet tall. And the chapter will continue. I won't read the description of his massive armor and his weapons. But then we will read his challenge, beginning in verse 8. Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel and said to them, Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine? And you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourself. And let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and to kill me, we'll be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you'll be our servants and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, greatly afraid. In light of how I've been defining a hero, we could say that Goliath was a hero for the Philistine. He stood up to fight for them.

And he was calling on Israel, Send out a hero of your own. But that kind of scared the Israelites, because the person they'd go up against was a giant and a powerful one. Even King Saul didn't volunteer to go out as the hero. But then along comes a teenage shepherd. He was there delivering food to his older brothers who were in the army. When David heard that challenge, and he saw the Israelites backing away in fear, he was surprised by that fear. He was surprised by Goliath's audacity, as we see in verse 26. Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach of Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? That's one thing that David clearly saw. He said Goliath wasn't insulting and challenging the men of Israel so much as he was challenging and insulting God Himself. So David determined that he would be a hero for Israel. In verse 32, David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. David determined he would stand up for, he would stand up in the place of the people of Israel. It's noteworthy he didn't go for and in the place of God. He was quite confident that he would be fighting alongside with God. He thought, God is going to come with me into this battle. He went out carrying just that sling and the five stones that he picked up. And what did the well-armed giant do when he saw him? He scoffed. He laughed. He said, Come here, boy, I'm going to feed you to the birds. But David answered back very strongly in verse 45. David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword and with a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you've defiled. This day the eternal will deliver you into my hand. I'll strike you and take your head from you. And this day I'll give you the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air, the wild beasts of the earth. And all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And then all the assembly will know that the eternal doesn't stay with a sword or spear, for the battle is the Lord's and He'll give you into our hands.

And we know what happened. I don't have to read it. David slung one stone and killed the giant.

And as he said in advance, it was because of God's blessing and God working through Him. Certainly God could have struck down the giant himself. He could have struck with lightning or caused him to have some kind of disease or whatever. But I think this example is here, and we refer to it many times, because it does show us the character of a hero.

God wants us to have that, a person who's willing to protect others, to sacrifice their own self-interest on behalf of those who have need.

When we develop and exercise the traits of putting others' interest before our own, and of exerting ourself on behalf of others, we'll be emulating the man who was the ultimate hero of all time. And of course, you're probably ahead of me. I'm referring to Jesus Christ. And as I wrote it in my notes, I thought, this point might be one of the easiest points anybody's ever made in a sermon. Jesus Christ is our hero. He stood up for us when we could not stand up on our own. He sacrificed His own comfort and His personal interest for the benefit of others. Let's read how the Apostle Paul put it in Romans 5, Romans 5, beginning in verse 6.

I thought about bringing a different Bible. I probably should have. I think the font size in my notes is twice the size of that in my Bible. Romans 5 and verse 6. For when we were still without strength, we were helpless to help ourselves. In due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet, perhaps for a good man, someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

This could be describing the climax of a heroic movie. The chips are down. The people are without strength. Then the hero sacrifices themselves to save them. But this isn't just a movie. The hero sacrificed himself to save us. I've often said this is one of the basic facts of Christianity. I'm not going to turn there, but it's stated very plainly in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 3. In very simple words, Christ died for our sins.

He stood in place for us. I think when we know and understand this, it's worth pausing to remember just how much we need that. We need Christ to save us. We have no power to save ourselves. We're in the mass of all mankind, whom Romans 3.23 refers to. I said that too fast. Which it refers to when it says, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Then three chapters later in chapter 6 and verse 23, it explains the results. The wages of sin is death. It's the gift of God that's eternal life. Eternal life isn't something that's inherent in us. It has to be given.

But we want to remember, because God is consistent. He is just. He's fair. He doesn't change. He doesn't bend the rules. So for the universe He created to have integrity and be stable, He couldn't just overlook the penalty of death. It had to be paid. Sin must result in death. And since we've all sinned, we have to...we can't just be forgiven and have life unless there is death. As the saying goes, we need a hero. I wrote that down when I thought there was a pop song sometime, I think back in the 80s, that says that. Wasn't it? I need a hero. Wasn't it? It was Tina Turner, I'm pretty sure. It's like I've got some of the words to it that comes back to my memory and some doesn't. I'm kind of notorious. I'll break into song in class sometimes at ABC. And never for the benefit of the students. I have fun doing it, but you might have noticed from my voice, I'm not a great singer. But our situation isn't as trivial as a pop song or a movie. Every human being really does need a hero. If we're to have any hope for life, we need a hero to save us from those inescapable consequences of our actions. We can't pay for our own sins, at least not with any hope of life. But Jesus Christ was different. I want to read a couple of verses in Hebrews. Hebrews 4 and verse 15. To start with, Hebrews 4 verse 15. Okay. My voice is dry, my fingers are dry, I can't turn pages anymore. Hebrews 4 and 15 says, We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are. He was tempted with all types of sins, but without sin. He never sinned. And thus, if we turn forward a few pages to chapter 7, chapter 7 and verse 26.

He had once for all when he offered up himself. Yeah, Christ never sinned. He never earned that death penalty. And I think theoretically, he could have walked away and enjoyed his own life.

He could have said, hey, I don't have to die. This is great. But if he'd have just done that, he would have fit the modern definition of being a hero. You know, that of having admirable traits. He would have been like a young King David, or a young David, not king, who could play a mean harp, who could run down bears or lions, but who had not yet faced the giant. He could have been like Peter Parker, who was building a career as a professional wrestler, but who had not yet realized that with great power must come great responsibility. But it's silly for me to even contemplate that. Jesus didn't just stop and enjoy the benefits of his superior attributes. He undertook the greatest heroic feat of all time. He endured a painful and humiliating death in the place of all mankind, on behalf of us. One more scripture in Hebrews, in chapter 12. Hebrews 12, verse 2. Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. Now, we could say he endured crucifixion, despising the shame, and had sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. He scorned any shame or humiliation that he was subjected to. And he was. Remember, they spit in his face and they mocked him, but he was looking ahead. He did it for the joy of what it would accomplish. I was thinking of this. I'm pretty sure that Jesus never wore a cape. At least, I don't think so. And I'm pretty certain he never put on spandex. But he did the most heroic thing in the history of the universe. He didn't nearly kill a giant. And when David did that, that was heroic. But Jesus Christ, you could say, killed death. At least, he did what was necessary to be eliminated, as it says in 1 Corinthians 15.

1 Corinthians 15, beginning in verse 25. I think you know this, so you can just let me read it to you if you like. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 25. He must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. As I said, slaying the giant is big, but killing death is enormous.

If you look across to verse 54. So when this corruptible is put on incorruption and this mortal is put on immortality, then we'll be brought to pass the saying that's written. Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where's your sting? Hades, where is your victory? The sting of death is thin, the strength of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. I always say, wow, that's fabulous! This is being a hero on a plane so far above anything in the comic books or movies as being almost silly for me to use some of the same terms to describe it. But I know since we've all seen movies, and at least some of us have read comic books, maybe it does help us. And I'd like to think there is a similarity that, or there can be, that's worth considering.

And I'll confess, one of the reasons I've got this, I've got a box of these at home. Which is kind of exciting, well, it's not exciting that I have them in a box, but when I was young buying comic books, I learned that my dad had had a whole bunch of comic books. And that before I became old enough to read them, I'm not sure if he gave them away or my mom gave them away, but they were gone.

I said, what? I would have loved to have had those. So I said, I'm going to save my comic books. One day I might have a little boy that will be ready to read them. I didn't know that it would take 30 years for them. But I'm saving them, and he's learning to read.

Okay. But I didn't just read comic books. I made the heroism they portrayed an object of my imagination. I don't know if you ever did this. I would sometimes tie a big bath towel around my neck so the cape would flow behind me. And I would sometimes go out in the backyard, or I would go in the basement amidst the piles of boxes and old furniture. Well, I imagined epic battles with villains.

In my imagination, I defended helpless citizens. I took mighty blows and absorbed them from powerful enemies to protect people. Of course, since I was writing the stories in my mind, the good guy would always win, and that was me. I wanted to be like Batman or Spider-Man. I would say, fortunately, I never let that aspiration go far enough to lead me to actually put on a costume and go downtown looking for muggers and car thieves.

I don't think that might have ended badly. But I'd like to think that that line of thinking might have motivated me once or twice driving along to stop and offer to help someone who had a flat tire on the side of the road. It might have inspired me to give back extra change to a cashier. Not because I couldn't use the money, but I didn't think they'll get in trouble with the boss, and I want to help them with that.

Along the way to these which are more realistic, but sadly much more tame acts of heroism, I grew more mature. I entered adult life, and I believe I also became to emulate a much better hero than Peter Parker. On the pages of the Bible is that ultimate hero that I was just describing. Now, I can't imitate Jesus' greatest act of heroism any more than I can shoot out webs or climb up a wall outside the building. But there's no need. Hebrews 10 and verse 12 says that Jesus offered one sacrifice forever. So there's no need for me to try to do what he did in that way, but I can work to be like Jesus as much as possible.

Particularly in being willing to put the good of others ahead of myself to sacrifice my own interest. To try to do as it says in Philippians 2 and verse 5. I'm going to turn there because I want to read a couple verses. Philippians 2 and 5 is a common memory scripture that I usually don't have in my memory. But it says, let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus. Some of how that way of thinking translates into action, I think, is what Paul meant in the verses just preceding it.

Looking up above it to verse 3, he says, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. But in lowliness of mind, let each, each one of us, esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look not only for his own interest, but also for the interest of others. I left out the word out. Don't only look out for your own interest, look out for the interest of others.

And that does fit well with our definition of a hero. Someone who does things for others, even at the expense of his own interests. If you're a Spiderman, that might mean absorbing mighty blows, taking a beating from the Green Goblin, so innocent people don't get hurt. If you're a mild-mannered Christian, it might mean taking time to feed and walk your neighbor's dog while they're on vacation. Even though it means missing, in my notes, it said some of the Bengals game, but I think it's the Colts game here.

If you're that type of hero, it could mean that you'll spend an evening that you would prefer to be relaxing at home, but you'll chaperone a teen event that the church puts on. Or perhaps a children's carnival. Wouldn't it be great if we could participate, though, in some bigger way in helping Jesus Christ's most heroic event? You know, with Christ covering the sins of mankind?

I said, well, I've already said you can't do that. He did it. You know, Jesus didn't need a teenage sidekick. There was no Robin to his Batman. But then again, I thought Scripture shows a way that maybe we can participate that I didn't think of. It's 1 Peter 4 and verse 8. I'd like to turn there and note a couple of places that maybe there's more that we can do to be involved than I initially thought. It's 1 Peter 4 and verse 8.

It says, And above all things have fervent love for one another. And then Peter will quote from Proverbs, Love will cover a multitude of sins. I say, Love will cover a multitude of sins. How is that? Well, as I said, Peter was quoting from what we call the Septuagint version of the Psalms, not Psalms, Proverbs. In Proverbs 10 and verse 12 it says, But this could cause us to pause. What does it mean? Surely it can't mean covering up sins as in sweeping them under the rug, hiding them away so no one sees them. That wouldn't be godly. Now, if it's not that, then how can we cover sins?

Because we can safely say, I believe that only the blood of Christ covers our sins.

The blood of Christ, His sacrifice is what wipes the slate clean, takes away the penalty. That's why I spend all that talk about Jesus being the ultimate hero. But if we look forward another book to the book of James, I think we see an explanation. In the book of James in chapter 5 and verse 19, there's something that I think does allow us a chance when the opportunity presents itself to participate. Here, James says something similar. Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns us thinner from the error of his ways will save us all from death and cover a multitude of sins. That last phrase says, John's talking about... not John James is talking about the same thing Peter talked about. Of course, we mere mortals don't cover the sin. We don't save the sinner. Jesus Christ does that. But we could see ourselves in some ways as a loyal sidekick that might help a person to realize that there is a sin and for that person to help motivate that person to turn from the sin. That's the definition of repentance. So that the sin then will be covered by Christ's sacrifice. It'll be as is described in 1 John, 1 John 1 and verse 9.

You might never guess that at ABC I teach the general epistles class. 1 John 1 and verse 9, which I can't find in this Bible, but I know it's there, says, Even though our part on this would be very minor by comparison, it's still kind of a big deal. Helping a person to see and turn from an error that could cost him his life, I think that really is an act of heroism. And as such, we should expect that it's not easy. It might be fraught with danger and difficulty. Jesus Christ describes some of how that's done back in Matthew 18. Matthew 18 verse 15. It's a fairly well-known passage of Scripture that I know ministers like to turn to and people don't like to hear. Well, I don't think we mind hearing it, but it's when it comes time to put it into practice that we don't enjoy so much. Matthew 18 verse 15. I think Mr. McNeely left me some water. Jesus is speaking and he says, Moreover, if your brother sins against you, Now, for the sake of this message, we might apply this principle to say, If you see your brother in a sin and you're aware of it. Not that we go looking, searching for other people's sins, but, you know, your brother sins against you or he sins. Now I lost my place. Yeah. Go and tell him it's false between you and him alone. And if he hears you, you've gained your brother. You'll gain your brother by helping him to turn from sin. And as James says, in his repentance, that sin will be covered. You'll cover a multitude of sin.

The hard part, of course, is going to your brother alone. It doesn't say, go to your pastor and let him know your brother has a problem. Oh, thank you.

I'm going to go through three glasses of water if I keep this going. Don't go tell the pastor your brother's sin. Don't go telling other people you'll never believe what so-and-so was up to. It certainly doesn't mean post it on Facebook or Twitter. And this is describing a face-to-face encounter, in which you'll have to be humble and vulnerable. And when I say you, I should be saying we. I'm not looking down saying, you know, I'm past this. We're all involved in this potential. And one of the things I always say when I describe this, when you go to your brother in a fault, be prepared to learn that you're mistaken. You might go to your brother and say, you've got this wrong, and then find out, oh, I'm the one that's got it wrong. But even if you do know all the facts, and you correctly explain things to your brother about his or her problem, your brother might get upset. He might yell at you. He might not want to be your friend anymore.

For times that that happens, of course, Jesus describes a continued process here in Matthew 18. He says, you can come back, bring one or two more witnesses. And if he still won't listen, he says, tell it to the church. And there's different interpretations of whether that means the ministry or the membership in general. When it comes down to it, they still won't turn. It can lead to treating him as, remember how it says, a heathen and a tax collector. That doesn't mean you change your dress and get a new social security number like you do with the IRS. So I've heard. But, you know, it might come down to ending the relationship as a brother, treating them as though they're not part of the church anymore.

But that's not what we expect to have happen. The goal is to exert ourselves, to risk our well-being and even a friendship to help someone, to help them to have their sin covered. You know, it's a lot of trouble to go to on behalf of another person. It involves putting your emotions in harm's way, sacrificing comfort for the interest of others. In one word, it is heroism. It really is.

I recognize it a little from having experienced it from the side of the person who was in a fault and having someone come to me. And I might be able to think of other examples, but I still remember the first time it happened when I was, I believe, 19 years old. I wasn't involved in some grievous sin or addiction, but what had happened, I recently made a new friend that I started hanging out with. And although I didn't realize it at the time, you know, the more I hung out with this guy, the more of a jerk I became to most people I was around. And one of my older friends that I'd known for a long time came to me one day and said, Frank, I want to talk to you about something. And he just sort of laid it out. You know, putting himself at risk, I might have done the things I described. I might have yelled at him and said, You don't know what you're talking about. But in this case, it worked. I looked at myself and said, Yeah, I've been being sarcastic and cynical and insulting people. I've just been acting like a jerk. And I determined I wanted to change my behavior. I learned from my friend when we talked about it later that he felt a lot of trepidation to come and do this. And I say that knowing that neither of us had trepidation in our vocabulary at that age. But he was kind of scared and worried about how I'd react. But he did it anyways because he was being a hero for me. And I appreciated it. I was still saying, a lot of you might know how that feels. I'm glad I haven't had to do it with other people very many times. But any time I've had to go to someone, and that includes even as a pastor. Boy, it's hard. It's scary. You would think, well, pastors don't have to be afraid. They're coming with God behind them. No, it's still scary and difficult. I'd say the only time I've ever gone to someone when it wasn't tough was when I went to them in anger. And then I was doing it entirely wrong. And like I said, that hasn't happened often either.

But when we go to a brother humbly and in love, when we're willing to sacrifice our well-being for someone else to help them to cover us in, that's heroic. That's doing better than capturing the green goblin. I'm sure we can find other ways by which Christians can help in the work of Jesus Christ. But I have trouble thinking of any that are quite so heroic. Now, the movies and the comic books do show a different picture of what it's like to be a hero. You know, I still have fun watching them and sometimes reading comics. But I know that real heroes don't need to wear capes, spandex, or leather. We have in our Lord and Master the best example ever of what a hero should be. He's an example for us to follow. And in God's Word, it teaches us some of what we can do to follow that example. And when we do, we'll be heroes.