Joshua 2:9-13 [1] Matthew 7:1-5 [2] 
[3]
In just less than 2 weeks the Olympic Games will officially begin: the eighth day of the eighth month at 8 pm. I read an article in the most recent Sports Illustrated magazine that NBC will offer more than 212 hours a day of Beijing coverage. How can that even be possible? Speaking as someone who feels like there's never enough time in a day, I'd like to know! Well, apparently when you broadcast over 7 different channels at the same time, you can easily break the barrier of only 24 hours in one day. This much coverage will add up to 1,000 more total hours of Olympics than we've ever been able to see before. We know from past Olympic Games that not all of those hours will be dedicated to an actual sporting event. Journalists will take us behind the scenes and share human interest stories about the athletes we watch. We will get the inside scoop on how the athletes got to where they are. We will hear about their struggles, their successes, their commitment, determination, and ability to rise above all odds to be among the elite to compete in these world games. We will be drawn into their stories. For many in our culture, these athletes will become heroes.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing. A hero and we'll be using this word throughout the sermon series regardless of the person's gender, is anyone who shows great strength or ability-someone we admire for their achievements, someone we look up to because of their determination to stay a certain course. These are good traits and it's natural for us to look up to those who exemplify these things. The challenge for us is to remember that not all heroes make it big in the eyes of the world. It's why we're starting a 5 week sermon series today called Heroes. You see, heroes don't always make headlines. Heroes are in the midst of our daily lives and heroes have gone before us in the faith. These are the heroes we should celebrate for through their stories we catch glimpses of God's story and what God is about.
In the NT there is a letter to the Hebrews in which a whole chapter is dedicated to naming some of these important heroes of the faith. None of them perfect, none of them super heroes, all of them ordinary people with faults and flaws but through whom God accomplishes extraordinary things. Think about it: God chose Abraham and Sarah who could bare no children to become parents of an entire nation; God chose Moses who stuttered to be God's spokesperson to the people of Israel; God chose David, a youngest child, often the forgotten son to be a most unforgettable king; God chose an unknown girl to be the mother of God's own son; and God chose Paul, a persecutor of the faith to take the good news of Jesus Christ into all the world. These are just a few of the stories shared through the scriptures.
In verse 31 of this same chapter of Hebrews a woman by the name of Rahab is remembered. The text reads: "a prostitute who did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace." The bible doesn't have a whole lot to say about the life of this woman. She's mentioned as part of Jesus' family tree in the first book of Matthew and she's mentioned 2 more times-in Hebrews and then again in the book of James. Most of what little we know about Rahab comes from the book of Joshua. We read only a few verses from chapter 2 but you will need to read the whole chapter to get a more complete picture of this hero in the faith.
Initially, it doesn't seem that Rahab is exactly hero material. She's introduced as a prostitute-not someone we might expect to be praised in the scriptures. Yet, she is! Her story is located right in the middle of the biblical account of the launch of Israel's military campaign to conquer the Promised Land-Canaan. The Israelites were camped by the Jordan River waiting for the orders to cross and take possession of the land. Joshua, their new leader, first sends in two spies to help in the planning of his strategy. These spies go to Jericho, the first city in the path of this conquest and make their way to Rahab's house. There she hides them beneath stalks of flax drying on the roof. While they hide, Rahab receives a message from the king of Jericho, asking her about the spies who had taken refuge in her house. She doesn't deny that they were there but tells the messengers that she didn't know where they were from or where they were going. But hurry, she says, you just might be able to catch them. And she points them in a direction that becomes a fruitless pursuit.
Make no mistake, Rahab knew who these men were-from where they came and for what purpose they had come to town. Rahab, and the people of Jericho, had heard stories about these people and their God. They had heard about the miracles God worked to bring them out of Egypt. They had heard how God parted the Red Sea for the Israelites and then closed the waters on the pursuing Egyptians. If that's what God had done to the super-power Egypt, what chance did a city like theirs have against the Israelites and their God? Rahab was a believer-her faith was in the God of Israel. She had not yet personally experienced this God but she believed in him because of all that she had heard. This faith gave her courage to act and to be used for God's purpose.
Rahab's story is a dramatic one. After the messengers leave she goes to the spies who still hide on her roof and says: "The LORD your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below." She's made her confession. She's stated her faith. She's told the spies what motivated her to protect them: trusting in the power of God she saw a way out of death that meant life. She protects the spies because they come from God. Now, she asks that they return the favor and protect her: "Swear to me by the LORD that you in turn will deal kindly with my family. Give me a sign of good faith that you will spare my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death." And the spies replied to her, "Our life for yours!" The deal was sealed.
The rest of the story unfolds: Jericho is destroyed, the walls come down. But Rahab and her family are saved. Rahab put her faith in the God of Israel and she was not disappointed. Rahab put her faith in God and through her, God worked to accomplish his purpose. This is what makes her a hero. Rahab set aside her own interests, her own desires, and trusted her life to be in the hands of God. It's this kind of surrender that created space for God to be at work in her life.
It's a pretty incredible story really. Rahab is not someone who you would expect to become a hero of the faith. If we were to pass by her on the street today we might discount her and question her worth. More than likely, we would focus on her sin, be disgusted and miss the part of her created in the image of God. Jesus warns against this: "Do not judge" he says. Don't try to settle the question of who is most worthy. The truth is that none of us is. We all have faults. We are all flawed. None of us is perfect. Everyone of us is a sinner in need of God's mercy and love. If you're looking for God's kingdom, there's no need to establish any kind of pecking order to get in. Do not concern yourself with judging others-that is the work of God. Instead concern yourself with acts of humility and love. That is what life looks like for those who follow Jesus Christ.
Rahab's story teaches some important truths about our own faith story. God doesn't wait for us to get our act together. God doesn't wait for us to become sin-free or to reach a certain level of maturity in our faith before he can use us. God accepts us where we're at and loves us into the person we were created to be. God's grace has no boundaries. God sees beyond what we have done or left undone and sees what he knows we can do for the sake of his kingdom. Just like with Rahab, God does not condemn or have disdain for us. Instead, God offers hope for a better life. Through Jesus God promises new and everlasting life.
Two Sundays ago I shared with you a story about the 91 people from Bethlehem who were on a mission trip to NYC. If you missed it or don't remember it, feel free to go to Bethlehem's webpage where the sermon is posted. 2 of the people on the trip were my oldest two kids. The group returned this past Monday and from what little I've heard, it was a meaningful trip on many levels. I found one of my initial conversations with my 14 year old son particularly interesting. He's given me permission to share this conversation with you.
I asked him after he'd been back a few days if he thought the mission trip had changed him. "No, not really" he said. I was surprised by that answer and I will admit, a bit disappointed. I wasn't needing Jens to be different but I consider mission work an important tool to help shape us into who we're called to be. So I asked again-in a new, creative kind of way. "So what you experienced doesn't make you think differently about the way we live or the choices we make or the things we have?" I was sure I was speaking his language now. "No, not really" he said again. So then I got really profound and said "Hmmm..." and stayed quiet. And then he spoke up: "I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. They were just kids, like me-not so different like I'd thought they'd be".
And I smiled. God, quietly, subtly at work, effecting change for the good. God breaking down walls and building relationships up, bringing about his kingdom on earth. Here was another of God's heroes in my midst-someone, not necessarily aware, but open to being used to further God's purposes. He won't make headlines but his openness to God at work will make a difference in the world.
In faith God invites us to be such heroes. May our hearts be open then, to God who promises to be at work in us so that others are blessed by the good news of God's redeeming love. Amen.