Welcome back true believers! Wait, I think that’s someone
else’s catchphrase. How about: welcome back Heroes! I like that better. Why you
ask? Well, because one thing I have learned over the last few decades of this life;
is that we all have the potential to be heroes. We may not all have the
opportunity to run into a raging inferno to save a lost puppy, or have the
great misfortune of taking a bullet for a wayward kitten who has found itself
owing a loan shark money; but, we can all be the hero in the story that is our
life. Heroes take on many different forms and some are very outwardly noticeable;
while others exist, hidden in plain sight never receiving the accolades they
deserve. No matter the vintage of hero God has designed you to be, today is the
day to suit up and get in the fight.
For years I wore a plastic Green Lantern ring that I had
bought for a costume party. It was kind of bulky on my finger and I think it
was even noticeable from space. (Well, at least it was from the spy satellites
that I am sure are watching us. Seriously though, I am not paranoid. WHAT WAS
THAT?? Never mind, it was nothing. ) A lot of my friends chided me on my
fashion choice; but, I dutifully put it on my finger as often as it was prudent
to wear; which for me, was especially when I was leading worship. My geekdom
aside, I had a very specific God inspired reason why I wore the ring. You see,
we all have a choice as to what kind of person we will be in this life. This
choice is not just a onetime event where we are called by God to some grand and
extraordinary calling; but, it is an everyday, every moment choice. You see, we
are not defined nor made by just one event; but rather, by every moment no matter
how small that moment is.
Why did I wear that ring? I wore it to remind myself of whom
and what I was. I wore it, so that when sin, disappointment, fear, anger,
hatred, sickness, trials and tribulation or anything else that this life and my
enemy can levy my way raises their ugly heads; that, I would remember who I was
and what I had to do. I am, and so are you, a child of the Living and All
Powerful God. I am, and so are you, a Christian. The term Christian was first
coined in the city of Antioch as a nickname to describe followers of Jesus. The
term literally means: little Christ or little anointed one. Whereas, it was
first used as almost a novelty term; it, later on became a term of hope that stuck
and is now considered the most widely used cognomen for a follower of Jesus. There
is no definitive historical date that one can look to to show where exactly
this term became the predominant name to describe the church; but for me, it is
telling that it did. In my opinion, the term describes perfectly what God did
inside us and who we should be as CHRISTIANS; and that is, little clones of our
Heavenly Father.
Before you fall into the current diatribe of the church and
tell me that we are nothing more than sinners saved by grace, I would like to
show you in scripture where God tells us we are so much more than that. In II
Corinthians 5:17 Paul writes:
“Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold,
all things have become new.”
Moreover, in II Corinthians 3:18 Paul likewise writes:
“But
we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are
being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the
Spirit of the Lord.”
I could quote a
hundred such verses; but for posterity, I will just use these two. In both of
these verses Paul describes the process of salvation. In the first verse he
tells us that the old person that we were has literally passed away and we have become
new. In the next verse he tells us that the longer we behold Christ the more
and more we will be transformed into the same image. Do you see the correlation
here? In one he tells us we have become new; and in the other, he tells us that
what we are becoming is like our father in heaven, which is the image we are
beholding in the mirror.
Now, I am not buying into the false doctrine that states that we
can become gods like Jesus was; but rather, I am saying that Jesus made a way
for us to be transformed back into what we were always meant to be. He made a
way for us to be transformed back into what we were created to be from the start;
and that is, children of God who were designed and fashioned in His
image. It stands to reason, that if Paul understood, as all Jewish
people did; that if God created man in His image, than the image we are being
transformed into is the image we were always designed to be.
Now, Paul does describe this transformation as a process that
happens from Glory to Glory; but, what exactly is this process. The process, is
not God constantly having to do a work in us; but rather, it is in us walking
out the work that has already been done in us. This is why Paul likens it unto
looking into a mirror. The more you look at the image, the more you become like
the image. If Jesus had to somehow find more power for you; then, His sacrifice
on the cross would not have been enough. Since we know that Christ does not
have to go back to the cross daily; we can make the assumption, that the work has already been done. In fact, the bible states in II Peter that, “he has given
us all things that pertain to life and Godliness.” This is where the choices I
was talking about earlier come in. Every day we have a choice as to whom and
what we will be. We can either give in to the sin nature that killed us to
begin with; or, we can walk in the work God has already done for us on the
cross and live as Christians who walk in the same power and authority as the
God who created us. You see, God has already provided the power for you to
break the chains of sin in your life and to choose to live free from it. Paul expresses
this process very well throughout the entire book of Romans; but for me, Romans
6:6 states it the best.
“Knowing
this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be
done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin"
Through Jesus Christ we
have found love, grace and forgiveness; but, we have also found freedom and
power. I have asked myself lately why we have not seen the church growing as
they did in time of the apostles, or even like in the time of our fathers. If
we are truly honest with ourselves we will see that the church is not really
growing at all. Why is this? Currently in the church we have seen a resurgence
of the doctrines of love and grace; so much so, that we have even at times taken
them too far, and begun to teach that people no longer need to repent and
change in order to be excepted in the family of God. Even these extreme
doctrines have not really produced any lasting or significant growth in the
Body of Christ. So if love and acceptance are not enough to bring people back
to God, than what is it we are missing?
What is missing is hope. What is missing is not Love and Grace, but Power. Why did the term Christian take off and is still with us today? It is because it became synonymous with hope and power. People knew then that if they needed help they could find it from a Christian. People knew that where ever they found a Christian, they found God; and with God, comes all the power and freedom of heaven. People knew that if they were sick and nothing in this life could save them, then they needed to find a Christian; because, their God had the power to heal anything. People knew that if they were lost in addiction, then they needed to find a Christian; because, their God had the power to free them. People knew that if they were oppressed or even possessed by a demon, then you needed to find a Christian: because, their God has power over demons. People knew then that if they needed grace, love and their hearts healed then they found a Christian; because, their God had the power to bring all of those things and more.
People if we want to see the Church grow and people set
free, then let us be heroes again. Let us be Christians again. Let us
be people who not only walk in love and grace; but also, in holiness, freedom
and power. Make no mistake however, this is not about being perfect; but
rather, it is about throwing off the imperfect and embracing the perfect power
of God that is available to us through His sacrifice, love and grace. Let us
all be little cities on a hill whose light shines like a beacon cutting through
the darkness of this life that brings hope to a lost and dying world. My
favorite line from Dr Who is from the 50th anniversary special where
the weapon Rose tells the War Doctor what happens when people hear the sound of
the TARDIS. She says,
“You know the
sound the TARDIS makes? That wheezing, groaning? That sound brings hope where
ever it goes. To anyone who hears it, Doctor. Anyone. However lost. Even you.”
This is what we should be as Christians. We should be ambassadors
of our Father in Heaven and His kingdom; the hope and the light. Children of
God lets remind this world again that where ever you find a Christian, no
matter how lost you are, you find hope and the power to overcome anything,
even death itself! Heroes let us rise!
