We can be Heroes

All of us need heroes in our lives whether it be Superman, Batman, Spiderman od wonder woman.

Here in New Zealand, we hear the word Hero quite a lot and it’s a title bestowed on rather ordinary people.

But isn’t that what a hero is, ordinary people doing something extraordinary?

Sometimes heroes are made because of their courage, sometimes they are made because of their circumstance. Sometimes others volunteer to be a hero, sometimes they become a hero out of necessity.

During WWII a 26-yearold lieutenant in the US Navy named John F. Kennedy was at the helm of a patrol boat that collided with a Japanese destroyer.

The patrol boat was damaged, and the crew had to abandon ship and swim three and a half miles to a nearby island and set up camp.

Without supplies and terrified because of the proximity of the Japanese, after a couple of days the decision was made to swim to another nearby island that offered them minimal food, water, and shelter.

John F. Kennedy who would later become the 35^th president of the United States had always been at home in the water

He swam to yet another island to find provision to sustain his crew.

There he found help that put him in contact with the Allied Forces and thereby saved his comrades.

For his selfless action Kennedy was awarded the Navy and marine Corp medal and the purple heart, asked how he became a hero his answer was “it was involuntary, they sank my boat,”

When your boat gets blown out of the water you’re faced with a decision, allow yourself to be captured by the enemy, sink, or swim.

If you refuse to surrender, you can quietly sink under the waves or you can swim to safety and become a reluctant hero, but a hero, none the less.

And through this courage you can remain a faithful witness to Jesus Christ.

This moment in history is calling out for heroes, reluctant or otherwise.

The moral and spiritual revolution happening in this country is gaining momentum by coercion, those who oppose the revolution are already paying the price.

Our culture is slowly closing in on us and really there is no where to escape, and that is forcing you as a Christian to declare where you stand, which means you have to accept vilification, cancellation, or shamed.

All of this does create an opportunity to prove Christ is more important to us than our livelihoods, our reputation or our family.

I can tell many people are uncomfortable when we talk this way, believe this though, it could be your reality tomorrow and we need as Christians to be prepared for what is to come.

While your church goes through the motions, they are the ones who have surrendered, put their heads under the waves and are sinking.

So, your choice is already here to be made, these are your options in these last days, are you going to surrender, sink or swim?

Those are the options for Christians today and tomorrow as pressure mounts from various sources whether it be legal, educational, cultural, or political.

Thankfully we serve a God who has lessons to teach us even as we find ourselves drifting in open waters we have never navigated before.

You know, we are not the first believers who have sought a place to hide.

Today’s church is in the same place as the disciples were when they thought Jesus was dead.

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors were locked when the disciples were in fear of the Jews, uncertain about the future, hiding for fear of persecution they were silent, wondering who would make the first move, calculating what sharing their commitment to Christ would cost,  feeling alone and abandoned, just like we might feel when we take a stand against the onslaught of our culture.

Remember Jesus returned and was amidst them, they were not on their own.

Christ wasn’t dead after all if he was, and he was, and they could become the heroes the times called for most of them would end up martyred for the faith.

 Many times, I am frequently asked, “my church is like an evangelical bubble carrying on as usual oblivious to the fact that the culture is collapsing around us, what can I do as an individual to stand my ground and refuse to bow to the pressures directed towards me and my family.”

Or another somewhat similar comment I often hear as best expressed by a friend who sent an e-mail in which he wrote we are really sad we’ve left our church and our friends because the church has surrendered to wokeism.

We constantly hear services on social justice judging us urging us to bow the knee to cultural pressures that have divided us how can we worship Christ together during racial finger pointing blaming and shaming.

There is a challenge for us today will we interpret the scriptures through the lens of culture, or we will we interpret culture through the lens of scripture.

Which of these will be our ultimate authority.

Pressure is building for us to surrender to culture and tailor our teaching to make it compatible with the spirit of the times

I believe God is calling us to a higher level and at this cultural moment calls for heroes from all races and from all areas of life.

We need heroes from everywhere,

We need fathers’ mothers and children, to be heroes we need, to rise together and say that Christ means more to us than the approval of culture.

Ours is a choice.  will we submit to the culture or stand against it?

Whether we will joyfully let our light shine or whether we will joyfully let our light shine or try our best to hide bemoaning our fate.

Ours is a choice between anger and optimism, fear of fear or courage, self-pity or joy.

Even a stowaway must either swim or drown when the boat in which he's hiding has been torpedoed.

Neutrality is impossible

It’s up to you to either surrender, sink or swim.