The Making of Heroes, June 15, 2014

The Making of Heroes

Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 1 Corinthians 13:11-13

Father’s Day

Grace Presbyterian Church

June 15, 2014

Rev. Dr. Richard E. Miller

 

Why Do We Need Daddies?  A little boy asked his mother. “Did you say that the stork brings babies?” “Yes,” answered his mother. “And God gives us our daily bread?” “Yes, dear.” “And Santa Claus brings us presents?” “Yes” “Well, then,” the little boy frowned, “what do we need Daddy for?” A good question.

On this Father’s Day, we honor the person or persons who fulfilled the fathering role for each of you as you were growing up. And the question we will address is “What do we need Daddies for?” One answer might be that every child needs a hero. A hero to look up to. A hero to emulate. A hero to learn from. A hero to help teach and mold a child into a fine adult. A hero who will love them.

Sport Heroes We find heroes nearly every where we look. When the new Busch stadium was opened in 2006, they honored past Cardinal heroes such as Stan Musial, Ozzie Smith, Bob Gibson and Lou Brock. These were ball players that many a kid idolized growing up.

Movie Heroes  As were some of you, I was raised with such western heroes as the Lone Ranger, Tom Mix, Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, and Gene Autry. And on July 26th is National Day of the American Cowboy.  And of course I was an avid reader of comic books, featuring such super heroes as Superman, Batman, the Flash, Wonder Woman, Captain Midnight, and Spider Man. Or how about James Bond, Rambo, Indiana Jones, Robin Hood, and the Karate Kid?

Military Heroes  And then we have such military heroes as Alvin York, Eddie Rickenbacker, and Jimmy Doolittle, each of whom received the Medal of Honor, the highest military honor for valor than can be given. 

Audie Murphy was the most decorated hero of World War II. He received the Medal of Honor, along with 32 additional U.S. medals, five from France, and one from Belgium. Jacob Wilson Parrott was the first recipient of this medal for his valor in the Civil War. Whether famous or not, each was a hero in his own right.

Biblical Heroes In addition, heroes also are found in the Bible. In fact, Hebrews 11 contains a listing of some of the Bible’s gallery of heroes - such as Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Joseph, Rahab, Moses, David and Samuel. These were men and women who were empowered by God to do wondrous things. They were heroes because they had courage, character, and confidence in God.

What About Us?  But what about us fathers and grandfathers?  How can we become heroes to our children or to the children around us? I’d like to highlight two qualities that would achieve that end - teaching and loving.

Teaching our Children  First let’s look at our role of teaching our children. Proverbs puts it very well - “Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.” [22:6] This proverb was put into action by a Florida couple who lived in Sarasota. They taught their teen age sons everything there was to know about their family business. Unfortunately, their family business was armed robbery, and the training they gave their sons included the use of AK-47 assault rifles, police scanners, escape routes, surveillance, survival gear, and disguises. After each robbery, the boys were debriefed, and their mistakes were identified and corrected.

In the Book of Acts, after the apostles of Christ had been flogged and released from prison, it states, “And every day in the Temple and at home they did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.” [Acts 5:42]

Our scripture from Deuteronomy reflects the same idea. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.”

It is very clear what God is telling us in scripture. Train our children in the right way. Do not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Tell our children that they are to love God with all their heart, soul and might. Tell them this when we are at home or away, when lying down and when we rise. In other words, tell our children to love God all the time. Far too often today, teaching our children about our faith is left up to our Sunday School teachers on Sunday morning or Vacation Bible School in the summer. If fathers do this year in and year out, they become a hero of the highest order to their children. However, far too often Christian homes abdicate the responsibility of teaching children about the faith.

A horticulturist once wrote, “If we paid no more attention to our plants than we have to our children, we would now be living in a jungle of weeds.” ‑Luther Burbank (1849‑1926).

 

But I would also suggest the need for fathers to teach their children other things as well, such as patriotism - the love for our country, our need to vote, be involved in the community, flying the flag, the pledge of allegiance, and appreciating our democratic form of government. One way I’ve used to teach my children patriotism is to trace their ancestors back to the Civil War and the Revolutionary War. I’ve pointed out that they have grandparents who were passengers on the Mayflower. When my granddaughter was in Plymouth, Massachusetts, she visited the Mayflower Society House with the knowledge that she was a direct descendant of many of the people memorialized there. My children not only treasure their Patriot ancestors, but they have a greater appreciation for all who fought and are fighting for our freedom.

In addition, the home is the best possible place to teach children the virtues of self-discipline, compassion, responsibility, work, honesty, and loyalty.

 Loving our Children  The second quality of a father who would be a hero to his children is to be loving. Paul highlights this need for love when he wrote, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”

Role Model Basically what we’re talking about on this Father’s Day is that all fathers and grandfathers should be Christian role models to their children. Someone whom the children can emulate and from whom they can learn. It is said that the greatest gift a father can give his children is to love them and to love their mothers.

The Lone Ranger  As I mentioned earlier, one of my boyhood heroes and role models was the Lone Ranger. When his character was created by Detroit’s radio station WYXZ in 1933, the station manager gave the following instructions for the character of the Lone Ranger. “The Lone Ranger always uses perfect English, no accent. He never casts aspersions at any race or religious group. He is always fair and serious. Remember, the Lone Ranger never shoots to kill. He is a sober-minded man with a righteous purpose. Make the kids look up to him. Make him an idol.” [Wukovits, John J., “Those Thrilling Days of Yesteryear,” 1988]

Heroes Today Are heroes perfect? By no means! Are fathers perfect? By no means! But fathers can prove that God can take humans who are weak and transform them into heroes. After all, heroes are simply people who walk with God, and who open themselves up to his power.

 

They are people who commune with God each day in prayer, acknowledge their sinfulness and weaknesses, and make all that they are or could be available to God for his purposes. God is, after all, the potter, and we are the clay. When we allow him to mold and make us into people of courage, character and confidence, then without us even realizing it, another of God’s heroes is born.

Who are the heroes of today ? Who do our children and grandchildren idolize? Are there heroes with pure hearts and upstanding character in America today? If our answer is “Not very many,” then the solution to such hero-shortage is simple. God is in the business of making heroes. When the tribulations of hardship, disappointment and sorrow disrupts the tranquility of our lives, and they will, God can raise us up and empower us to be a hero.

Paul Harvey   A few years ago, Paul Harvey told of a poem called “What Are Fathers Made of?”  “A father is a thing that is forced to endure childbirth without an anesthetic. A father is a thing that growls when it feels good--and laughs very loud when it's scared half to death. A father never feels entirely worthy of the worship in a child's eyes. He's never quite the hero his daughter thinks, never quite the man his son believes him to be--and this worries him, sometimes. So he works too hard to try and smooth the rough places in the road for those of his own who will follow him. Fathers are what give daughters away to other men who aren't nearly good enough so they can have grandchildren who are smarter than anybody's “

Remember that one does not set out to be a hero. It simply happens as we travel our road of courage, our path of character and our journey with God.

And for all of us, it has been said that “A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove. Only that the world was better because I was important in the life of a child.”

Amen.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NRSV  Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

 

1 Corinthians 13:11-13

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.