Grace and peace to you, through Jesus Christ, our Greatest Hero. Amen.

Hebrews 11:17-34 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, ¹⁸ even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." ¹⁹ Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death. ²⁰ By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. ²¹ By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. ²² By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones. ²³ By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict. ²⁴ By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. ²⁵ He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. ²⁶ He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. ²⁷ By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. ²⁸ By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. ²⁹ By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. ³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days. ³¹ By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient. ³² And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, ³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.

My girls are very active and will at times fall and get cuts and scrapes. When they do we’ll wash out the wound, put a band-aid on the wound and then tell them to "Leave it alone!" We know that when you remove a bandage, when you pick a scab, when you mess with a wound that is in the process of healing, you can do further damage. Generally speaking, it is unwise to re-open old wounds.

But isn’t that what we are doing today? We are re-opening the wounds that were inflicted on us 5 years ago on September 11, 2001. Why? Wouldn’t it be easier to just let the past be past? Let’s build our memorials, say our goodbyes and get on with life. Why deal with it again, and why deal with it in a church service? With the eyes of faith, we can look at the events surrounding 9/11 and accept that God makes good come out of evil. A good thing that came out of the evil was that we discovered that there are real heroes all around us.

In the hours following the attacks, we began to hear stories of heroic actions by ordinary people. Firemen who raced up the stairs to get into the World Trade Center even as employees raced down the stairs to get away. Port Authority Policemen who became trapped by falling rubble as they were trying to help coordinate rescue and evacuation efforts. Stock brokers who slowed their escape from impending doom in order to help others make it out safely and ended up losing their own lives. The passengers of United Flight 93 taking matters into their own hands and thwarting the hijackers who tried to crash the plane into the Capital building or the White House. All of these people were heroes in the real sense of the word.

That leads us to our question for today. What makes a hero? Heroes sometimes are people who spend their whole lives doing something, for which they never enjoy rewards. Heroes are men and women of sacrifice. They are remembered, not for what they received, but for what they gave. They sacrificed their standard of living for their standard of giving. People are not born as heroes. They emerge from the mass of humanity and do something above the norm.

In Hebrews 11, God records for us the names of some men and women whom God would regard as human heroes. And recorded in the stories of these men and women are many character traits that help us to define a true hero. We are going to look at three of those characteristics of heroes this morning. This is not an exhaustive list, but it is an accurate one.

First, a hero does something. He doesn’t sit by and watch things happen around him. He gets involved. Recently, on a plane from Miami, there were 65 psychiatrists traveling home from a convention. During the flight a woman became ill and mentally upset, yet none of the doctors offered to help. The plane had to put down in Nashville so they could take the woman to the hospital. These psychiatrists could have been heroes, but they chose to sit by and watch the situation unfold rather than taking action.

As we read through Hebrews 11 a little while ago, did you notice that every person who was mentioned was a person of action? Abraham sacrificed. Isaac blessed. Jacob worshiped. Moses refused, chose and left. The Israelites passed through. The people marched. Heroes become heroes because of the actions that they take.

The passengers on United Flight 43 had a choice to make. Sit by and watch it happen, or take action. You all know what choice they made. After Todd Beamer had recited the 23rd Psalm and asked if the other guys were ready, they headed into action with the words, "Let’s roll!"

Jesus had a similar choice to make. He saw that the world that he had created had been hijacked by sin and Satan. He knew that the world was hurtling toward utter destruction. He could have sat by and watched it happen. But instead, he chose to act. He left heaven behind and was born as a little child. His life was filled with action – healing the sick, blind, deaf and lame, driving out demons, raising the dead, righting what was wrong and bringing people back into right relationship with God. Jesus was a person of action.

If you want to be a hero, it is not enough just to be a person who does something. You have to choose to do what is right. The movie "John Q," is about a little boy who needs a heart transplant and the frustration of his parents to find funding in order for that to happen. One morning, after weeks of getting the run around and finding no one to help while they watched as their son got weaker and weaker, the mother angrily said to her husband, "Just do something!" He did. He found the chief of heart surgery, forced him to the emergency room of the hospital and took everyone there hostage. He did something, but he did not do what was right.

The Bible is a book of heroes. These are men and women, who in times of crisis, use God's strength to rise to the occasion, do what is right and conquer evil. Every biographical account in Hebrews 11 begins with the same two words "by faith." That means that whatever it was that they did, they did it out of faith in their gracious God. They did what was right.

Moses was a hero. With all of the odds against him, he stood before Pharaoh and shouted, "Let my people go!" Through the sea and through the wilderness against all of the odds, he remained the leader of God but the most humble of men. Moses' humble leadership made Moses a hero.

Joshua was a hero. He saw life from a different perspective. He and Caleb and ten others were sent in to survey the Promised Land. Ten of the men saw defeat but Joshua and Caleb saw God. Joshua was allowed to lead his people into the land. He believed God, and he had faith. His faith made him a hero.

Ruth was a hero. She had the opportunity to turn back and start a new life. She had every right to do so. But, Ruth was loyal. "Where you go, I will go" is now a watchword of loyalty. Ruth's loyalty made her a hero.

David was a hero. Armed with nothing but a slingshot and confidence in his God, he tackled a giant who had paralyzed a nation. He had courage. His courage made David a hero.

Jesus was a hero. Jesus always chose to do what was right. The Bible records that Jesus was tempted in all the same ways that we have been tempted, yet he was without sin. Jesus had every right to destroy mankind, but instead, he chose to act in such a way to bring about the salvation of all who will put their trust in him. He didn’t open his mouth when he was oppressed and afflicted. He was numbered with the thieves on the cross so we would receive glory with the saints in heaven. Though he had done nothing wrong, he was assigned a grave with the wicked. Jesus was so righteous that at his death, even a Roman soldier commented, "Surely this was a righteous man. Surely this man was the Son of God." His righteousness becomes our righteousness. A hero takes action to do what is right.

In Phoenix, Arizona, a mother stared down at her young son who was dying of terminal cancer. She took her son’s hand and asked, "Billy, did you ever think about what you wanted to be once you grew up? Did you ever dream and wish what you would do with your life?" "Mommy, I always wanted to be a fireman when I grew up." Mom smiled back and said, "Let’s see if we can make your wish come true."

Later that day she went to her local fire department, where she met Fireman Bob. She explained her son’s final wish and asked if it might be possible to give her six-year-old son a ride around the block on a fire engine. Fireman Bob said, "Look, we can do better than that. If you’ll have your son ready at seven o’clock Wednesday morning, we’ll make him an honorary fireman for the whole day. He can come down to the fire station, eat with us, and go out on all the fire calls. And if you’ll give us his sizes, we’ll get a real fire uniform for him, with a real fire hat with the emblem of the Phoenix Fire Department on it, a yellow slicker like we wear and rubber boots."

Three days later Fireman Bob picked up Billy, dressed him in his fire uniform and escorted him from his hospital bed to the waiting hook and ladder truck. Billy got to sit on the back of the truck and help steer it back to the fire station. He was in heaven. There were three fire calls in Phoenix that day and Billy got to go out on all three calls. He rode in the different fire engines, the paramedic’s van, the fire chief’s car and even got to ride in a police car.

Having his dreams come true, with all the love and attention that was lavished upon him, so deeply touched Billy that he lived three months longer than any doctor thought possible. But one night his vital signs began to drop dramatically. The head nurse began to call the family members to the hospital. Then she remembered the day Billy had spent as a fireman, so she called the Fire Chief and asked if it would be possible to send a fireman in uniform to the hospital to be with Billy. The chief replied, "We can do better than that."

About five minutes later a hook and ladder truck arrived at the hospital and extended its ladder up to Billy’s third floor open window. Sixteen firefighters climbed up the ladder into Billy’s room. With his mother’s permission, they hugged him and held him and told him how much they loved him. With his dying breath, Billy looked up at the fire chief and said, "Chief, am I really a fireman now?" "Billy, you are, and the Head Chief, Jesus, is holding your hand," the chief said. With those words, Billy smiled and said, "I know, He’s been holding my hand all day, and the angels have been singing." And Billy closed his eyes one last time.

Those firemen could have made all kinds of excuses for why they could not have done those things for little Billy. Todd Beamer could have made all kinds of excuses for why he should not be the one to fight off the terrorists. Firefighters and police officers and emergency personnel could have run the other way on 9/11 but instead rant into the danger. They still run into danger – that is the nature of their job. American soldiers could hang up their helmets and guns and say, "Let people fight their own battles. This is way too dangerous." Yet they put themselves in harm’s way to keep us safe and free.

Jesus could have made excuses for why he shouldn’t come to earth. He knew that we would reject him. He knew that with all that he had done for mankind since the beginning of creation, his creation had rebelled against him. He knew that we were sinful and headed for destruction, but it was a situation of our own making. He knew that no matter how many miracles he did, how many prayers he answered and how many lives he changed, he was still going to have to suffer on cross. Yet with all those potential excuses, he still came. Why? Because heroes don’t make excuses. Heroes find ways to love people.

What is a hero? We can look at local heroes like firefighters, soldiers, and police officers. We can look at biblical heroes like Abraham, Moses, and Joshua. But the greatest hero of all is the one who didn’t just save us from burning buildings, he saved us from the fires of hell. He didn’t just defeat terrorists, he won the eternal war against Satan and the forces of evil. He laid down his life on a cruel cross so that we might enjoy the glories of heaven. Today we honor our heroes who are among us. But let us always, for now and all eternity, honor, praise, and glorify our Greatest Hero, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13