INTRODUCTION:

A father was sitting on the floor with his three boys getting ready for bedtime prayers. The two older boys were having an argument about their action figures. The issue was whether Superman was better than He-Man. One boy said that Superman could fly, the other countered that He-Man had bigger muscles. And so it went, back and forth, while the youngest boy, Nicholas age four, just watched.

Dad turned to Nick and asked: "So who's your hero, Nick?" Without batting an eye, Nick tilted his head, gave Dad one of those "Well, Duh!" Looks, grinned and said matter-of-factly, "You are, Daddy!"

That father said it was one of the happiest moments of his life. What a privilege to think that someone really wants to be just like you, but what an awesome responsibility! (1)

We all have heroes, don't we? And I'm not talking Superman, Batman, Buck Rogers, Power Puff Girls or any of the other superheros of the comic books or cartoons. I'm not talking about the characters portrayed by John Wayne, Randolf Scott, Vin Diesel, Tom Cruise or any other Hollywood heroes. I'm about real people who have influenced us. Those people whose live and accomplishments have impacted us in such a way as to give us hope.

One of my young heroes died recently. I saw her one morning on the Today show. You may have heard of her. Alexandra Scott died August 1 after a lifelong battle with neuroblastoma, a rare aggressive childhood form of cancer that attacks the nervous system. Alexandra was diagnosed with neuroblastoma the day before her first birthday.

She dedicated the last four years of her life to raising money to fight cancer in children. Her goal was to raise a million dollars. Four years ago she raised $2,000 by selling lemonade. In 2003 she raised $200,000. As people began hearing her story, more and more became involved by setting up their own: "Alex's Lemonade Stand." On June 12, there was at least one lemonade stand in all 50 states. And the proceeds all went to cancer research.

So far, this year, the total is up to $750,000. Volvo of North America has pledged to hold a fund raiser to assure the fulfillment of the goal this year.

I've never seen an 8 year old with so much wisdom, so much faith, so much joy and life and so much determination. There was something in what she said and did that touched me deeply. In my mind and in my heart she will always be a true hero.

You see we all have heroes, those people who have influenced us on a deeper level either with their lives or what they have done with their lives. There is a part of them that lives in us and drives who we are. Their story has become part of our story.

I'll bet you can't name the last five lottery winners but I'll bet you can tell me the names of five teachers who influenced your life and your career choice. I'll bet you can't tell me much about the life of Hollywoods best actors and actresses (other than what you read in the tabloids while waiting to check out at the grocery store) but I'll bet you can tell me story after story about your favorite relatives. Why? Because those stories have become part of your story and an integral part of who you are.

Paul understood the importance of both heroes and stories in the life of our faith. That's what he's writing about in the passage from Hebrews this morning. Let's look at Hebrews 11;29-12:2.

[29] By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned.

[30] By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days.

[31] By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

[32] And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets--

[33] who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,

[34] quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

[35] Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection.

[36] Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.

[37] They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented--

[38] of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

[39] Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised,

[40] since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

[12:1] Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,

[2] looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Let's look at this passage through the words; WITNESSES, WEIGHT, WORK AND WINNER.

I. WITNESSES:

A. First, Paul says "we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses." And that's the whole purpose of his listing all those folks from the Bible and briefly telling their stories. By virtue of being in the Bible, they are part of our story. They are apart of who we are. We take them and their stories wherever we go.

In one of my devotions, On a Wing and a Prayer, Brian Kelley Bauknight (1998, Dimensions for Living) tells about his grandson. He says that no matter where he goes, he always takes along a backpack. Not just any backpack but one filled with his "guys" as he calls them. These are little plastic figures. You know the heroes of TV, movies and storybooks, even some from cartoons. He really does have a backpack full of them. And they go wherever he goes, to a restaurant, in the bathtub, to bed with him at night, it doesn't make any difference.

Shortly after his arrival, out come all the "guys." He'll play with a few of the favorites but all of theme are there. When it's time to leave, all the "guys" go back in the backpack and carried to the new place.

He knows them all by name and can tell each of their stories. They are his friends and his companions.

B. And that's the point Paul is making to us. The Bible is our backpack full of the "guys" and "girls" who are our companions in life. We know their names and know their stories. They are our firends.

And those stories shape who we are, what we think, how we act and react but most importantly, how we view and interact with God. The stories of Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, of Ruth and Naomi, of Rahab, of David, of Peter, James and John; the stories of Jesus and Paul, these are our stories. These are the stories of our faith. The stories that have influenced our stories and made us who we are in the faith.

Their stories of faith, of failure and forgiveness, of strength and valor, of tenacity, of passion and compassion are the fuel of our own stories. They remind us who we are, whose we are and of God's great love for us. They are our Heroes of Faith.

II. WEIGHT:

Second, Paul makes a leap of faith here, he says: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely."

You see, while we carry this backpack full our "guys" and "girls," the heroes of our lives and faith. We also use that backpack to carry all the garbage of life, too. Because just like in every well told or well written story, there are heroes and there are villains; protagonists and antagonists.

Most of the villains, most of the antagonists in our lives didn't mean to be villains or antagonists. They were people we loved and respected. Some of them may have even been family and friends. But you see, inside that backpack with all of the "guys" and "girls" is something even more important. We all carry a mirror.

And just like in Snow White, we look into that mirror and ask it, who we are. "Mirror on the wall, who's the fairest, bravest, smartest (you name it) of all?" When we look in that mirror, we hope to see a reflection of our heroes. We want to see with the eyes of the prophet and have the wisdom of Solomon, the faith of Abraham, the passion of Peter, the love of John, the list goes on.

Unfortunately, what we see most of the time is the labels of the villains and antagonists in our lives. They might not even know that they have slapped a label on us. But at some point in our life, the people who were important to us, friends, family, coworkers, society, all of the above have slapped labels on us.

You haven't got enough sense to come in out of the rain. You'll never amount to anything. You're a coward. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. When they were passing out looks you thought they said books and asked for a scary one.

The list goes on and on and on and with each of those wounds another label was slapped on the mirror of ourselves.

Then add to that all of those things we've done that we know we shouldn't have done. The guilt we feel for each of those things. The names we've slapped on ourselves and pretty soon you can't even see the real you anymore.

The weight of our sin and the weight of the sins which have been committed against us drags us down and covers who we really are.

That's why Pauls says we have to travel light and cast off the weight of that sin that clings to us. And we do that through Christ.

III. WORK:

A. Paul also says we're called to do the hard WORK of faith. He says, "let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us." That race is the race of faith. It's a race only in the sense that we have to prepare for it, just like all the Olympic athletes prepare for their events.

You don't just decide one day that you're going to be an Olympic athlete, go try out and make the team. There is not a single Olympian who has worked and trained hard, almost endlessly, to be able to compete with the other Olympians.

And think of the thousands and thousands who tried out but were only a fraction of a second slower than the top five or ten which were chosen. Did that stop them from training, No! Will that be the end of their career? Probably not. They will still work hard and persevere because they love the race. And because they have found fulfillment in it.

B. The hard part of our work of faith, is perseverance. Perseverance not just in the hard times, but in the easy times when things are going good, when we are feeling blessed. That's when we really gain strength. I'm not a runner but I know that you don't start out running the marathon. You start out running short distances, then run the 5k and then the 10k and keep adding distance to your run until you are a marathon runner. And then you begin trying to shave time off of that run. You do what ever it takes, you persevere.

There is a Norwegian Proverb that says: "A hero is one who knows how to hang on one minute longer." Heroes of Faith are those who work and hang on until Christ says it's time to stop. And that's what Paul means here. We do what it takes to win the race of fait. We continue to hang on every day.

IV. WINNER:

And then Paul says we should focus on the WINNER, Jesus, "the pioneer and perfecter of our faith."

When Lloyd Douglas, author of The Robe, attended college, he lived in a boardinghouse. A retired, wheelchair-bound music professor resided on the first floor. Each morning Douglas would stick his head in the door of the teacher's apartment and ask the same question, "Well, what's the good news?"

The old man would pick up his tuning fork, tap it on the side of his wheelchair and say, "That's middle C! It was middle C yesterday; it will be middle C tomorrow; it will be middle C a thousand years from now. The tenor upstairs sings flat. The piano across the hall is out of tune, but, my friend, that is middle C."

It's wonderful to know that in a changing world, there is something that is constant. We all need a middle C. Relationships change. Health changes. Jobs change. The weather changes. Governments change. But the Good News is that Jesus never changes!

HE IS OUR MIDDLE C! He has already run the race. He's already received the crown and is seated at the right hand of God. He's the one against whom all other races are rated. He's already run the race and won. We're called to follow.

Life is forever changing, but Jesus is the constant we can always trust while we're on this journey of life and faith. Jesus is our Middle C and the Chief Hero of the Faith.

CONCLUSION:

The truth is: You are the hero of your own story. You can choose which type of hero you want to be the anti-hero, the hero-turned villain, the valiant hero, the quiet hero who rises to the occasion and quietly slips back into the ordinary. But you are the hero of your own story. You determine what gets written on the page of the story. You determine how you play the role. You are the hero, the director, the writer and the villain. You choose what happens in your life.

And that choice is made possible by the heroes you collect. You choose which "guys" and which "girls" go into the backpack of your life. And ultimately, you choose whether or not to accept the labels which have been stuck to your mirror.

Because the WINNER of the great race of Faith, Jesus, the Son of God who died on the cross for your sake, has offered to clean your mirror up so you can look in the mirror and see His reflection.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith."

1.Devotional Companion by Jeffrey Rasche. Abingdon Press, 1996. Pages 57-58.

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