I'm just like them.

Having a legacy isn’t all it is cracked up to be.  There is famous (generally, a good thing - like Terry Fox or Dr. Fredrick Banting) and then there is infamous - people who have a legacy they probably wish everyone would forget.  We won’t bother trying to create a list of those people;  if  you pause for just a moment you can quickly come up with your own.

But what if your infamy is recorded, prominently, for all people of all times.  What if it were accessible to virtually everyone in the planet.  Can you die from excessive blushing?

I’ve done my share of stupid things.  And there are people out there that remember them.  But they aren’t documented and distributed on a global scale.  Phew.  Others are not so lucky.

There is an entire book of the Old Testament that documents the infamy of a group of scoundrels and scalawags.  We refer to it as the book of Judges.  With one exception (Othniel) these stories are not Hall of Fame examples of mature spirituality.  While all of them - by God’s grace - accomplish God’s purposes, all of them also demonstrate huge character flaws.  Ehud plots a subversive assassination with no divine consultation.  Barak is afraid to take on the task and it is others who save the day.  Gideon keeps looking for loopholes to escape his duty.  Samson is given a gift to benefit the entire nation but uses it on self-gratification.  Jephthah offers his daughter as a human sacrifice even though he could have been released from that vow.  Each one was used by God in His timing for His purposes but none of them were mature in their faith.

And then we come to Hebrews 11.

The author of Hebrews is writing about the nature of faith.  As we read along, we are encouraged by the mention of great faith heroes like Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Isaac, Jacob, David, Samuel.  Yes, they all made mistakes, but they also lived impactful lives.  Let’s see, who else can we add to that list?

Gideon?  Barak?  Samson?  Jephthah?  Really?  These guys are in the same Hall of Fame as David and Samuel?  Are you sure?

There it is, in black and white.  

So, what are these guys doing alongside the likes of Abraham, Moses, David, and Samuel?  This isn’t just about the people.  Their stories of faith are not about their accomplishments.  The author of Hebrews is not trying to put their stars in the sidewalk of fame.  They are pointers to the larger, often unseen yet always present agent involved in all these moments in human history:  the Almighty, Living, Creator God.

We must respond to God in faith (“without faith it is impossible to please God” - 11:6).  Assumed, yet not excessively stressed, is the flip side of this coin:  God responds to us in grace.  These stories aren’t about how “good” each person in the list was, or how “great” their accomplishments.  It is their fallibility that sets the backdrop for God’s grace.  In the end, God used surprising and unexpected people to accomplish His purposes.  It wasn’t because of their merit but because of His grace.

If the book of Judges were written today, it very well may include another scoundrel and scalawag named “Graham.”  I’m a lot closer to Gideon and Barak than David and Samuel.  If God ever did a facepalm I’m sure I’m the cause.  And yet my life is peppered with His grace - just like Barak and Gideon.  

Thankfully.

I love that the Bible records the rawness of humanity.  I’m just like the women and men whose legacy - or infamy - is recorded in its pages.  And the grace of God is extended to me - to all of us - just as it was extended to them.  Same God, same grace.

We do desire to be people of faith.  We embrace the truth that without faith it is impossible to please God.  But faith isn’t the trigger that manipulates deity to accomplishing our purposes.  Faith is acknowledging that there is a God, and that all things are subject to the authority of this One, True, Living God.  As the psalmist said (Psa. 24 NASB),
 

The earth is the LORD’s,
And all it contains;
The world,
And those who dwell in it.


As a fellow scalawag and scoundrel, I’m thankful to be counted with Barak and Gideon - people through whom God’s grace flowed for God’s purposes.  Hopefully my legacy will be, “God’s grace worked through him.”

Graham Bulmer
Lead Pastor
graham@q50community.com
Graham and Sharon Bulmer bring many years of pastoral, teaching, leadership development and administrative experience to the Q50 Community Church plant. They served in Latin America as missionaries for almost 15 years, and have pastored here in Canada.