If you were asked to name some of the heroes of the Christian faith, there are probably some names that would spring to mind. Men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David have their stories told at length in the Old Testament. Obviously, when you flip to the New Testament, Christ is the leading character. However, there are other men like Peter, James, John, and Paul who serve as heroes of the Christian faith and the modern church. There are other unsung heroes that we read about in Scripture, and they made contributions that can’t be overlooked.
With football season quickly approaching, millions of sports fans are caught up in the frenzy that the season brings. If you ask most football fan who their favorite player is, they’ll probably respond by talking about the quarterback of their favorite team. Even if they don’t mention the QB, they may bring up a star running back or wide receiver. Why is that? It’s because those players typically make “bigger,” “flashier” plays. You see the highlights that those players perform every time you watch Sportscenter or one of the sports TV highlight shows.
Who doesn’t get a lot of attention? The offensive linemen. Yet, without their contribution, the quarterback wouldn’t have a chance to throw the ball to his favorite receiver. That running back who is on the highlight can’t go anywhere without a talented offensive line in front of him. Those players, even if you can’t name them all, are the unsung heroes of every game. If they play badly, the offense can’t move the ball. If they play well, other people get all the attention.
Scripture is very similar. Everyone knows about some of the big-named heroes of the faith. If you ask someone who has recently started reading the Bible who killed Goliath, they probably know the story of David. Similarly, people don’t have to be Biblical scholars to know about the things that Paul accomplished. Those men are examples of well-known Bible heroes.
However, there are others. There are people who are discussed in Scripture that made incredible contributions. After all, if what they did didn’t matter, God wouldn’t have made sure to include their stories in Scripture. While there are certainly lessons that we can learn from their lives and accomplishments, their inclusion in Scripture tells us something incredible about ourselves. You don’t have to have the most popular name to matter.
If you’re a behind the scenes servant, you may find yourself in some of these stories. The men and women that we’re going to discuss today may not be the people you think of when you think of Bible heroes, but they matter. They matter so much that God wanted us to read and study about them thousands of years later. If you’re not standing on a stage every Sunday, take heart. You can be an unsung hero of the faith!
An Unnamed Widow
Mark 12:41-44 (ESV)
And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
If you don’t think God uses unsung heroes, you may be surprised that the people we’re going to discuss today rarely, if ever, have their names written in Scripture. For example, in this story from Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is people-watching. In the temple, the offering boxes were situated near the door, and people would put money into the treasury when they entered the temple or on their way out. Jesus watched as people of great wealth put money in, but He didn’t pay much attention to them.
No, this story doesn’t mean that God dislikes people who have money. This story isn’t about the people who gave out of their abundance. Instead, it is about the woman who had nothing. Keep in mind, Jesus knew every detail about every person’s life. He knew that those two coins, which were worth a total of one cent, was everything she had.
This woman’s story was put into Scripture because God wanted us to see her heart. She put the work of the Kingdom ahead of her own comfort and convenience. Her heart for Kingdom work motivated her to give what little she had to the temple. She knew that God could use her little bit of money to do something incredible, and that He would meet all of her needs.
An Unnamed Father
Luke 15:11-12 (ESV)
And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them.
This unsung hero is a fictional character from a parable that Christ told. You may have heard the story of the Prodigal Son before, and in most senses, the son who leaves and comes back is the main character of the story. However, the father in the story plays a crucial role.
We can find ourselves in the story of the Prodigal Son because our sin separates us from our Father. When we repent and “come to ourselves” like the son did, our Father rushes to us, and welcomes us back into His family. However, we can also learn a very importance principle from the father in the story.
He unconditionally forgave the son without any hesitation. He didn’t hold the young man’s faults against him. Instead, he exhibited the kind of forgiveness that we are called to give. This unnamed father is a hero because he exhibits the same kind of grace that God wants us to show to others.
Naaman’s Servants
2 Kings 5:13-14 (ESV)
But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, an be clean’?” So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
Naaman was an incredibly important man. He was a leader in the Syrian army, one of the most powerful armies in the world at this point in time. However, Naaman was battling something that had the power to derail all of that: he was a leper. Leprosy in the Bible was a death sentence. There was no cure, and the death that resulted from leprosy was almost always a slow, painful process. With nothing to lose, Naaman went to see Elisha.
Instead of laying hands on him and healing him, Elisha told Naaman to go submerge himself in the Jordan River seven times. Indignant at such a simplistic approach, Naaman turned around to leave. It was his servants who came to him and encouraged him to listen to the man of God. Something clicked inside Naaman, and he did what Elisha said to do. Miraculously, he was healed!
Elisha and Naaman are generally viewed as the main characters here, but the miracle wouldn’t have happened if Naaman’s servants hadn’t encouraged him to be obedient. We can be heroes in the same way. When you see someone struggling with a major issue in their life, you can encourage them with the Word of God! Doing so is one of the most heroic acts that you can ever perform.
A Closing Prayer:
Heavenly Father, help me find ways to be a behind-the-scenes hero like the men and women that I read about today. I know that they acted in obedience, and I want to do the same thing. Thank You for using ordinary people to do extraordinary things. In Christ’s name, Amen.