Great Responsibility

Well, today you guys talked about Jesus submitting to the Father’s will. Last night we talked about Jesus and how he died so that we could live with him forever. This actually takes place right before Jesus went to the cross. Jesus knew that he had been betrayed, he knew that his hour had come, and he knew that he didn’t have much time left. What did Jesus do? Jesus pleaded to God, asking him if there was any other way so that he wouldn’t have to die! Now I know that when I was a kid, I had sisters that I picked on and they picked on me. We didn’t get along that much. Sometimes they would pick on me and I would go and tell on them to get them in trouble. But most of the time, I picked on them and I was the one who got in trouble. Do any of you guys ever disagree with your brothers and sisters? I bet you all of you do. Well, whenever you hit or kick or do something mean to your sibling and they go to tell your parents, you know that you’re going to get in trouble. The go crying to mommy or daddy, and you know that you’ve only got seconds left before its spanking time. Or time out time. Or grounding time. Whatever the case, you’re going to get in trouble. When your parents come to you, you know you’re in trouble. Do any of you guys ever beg your parents to not discipline you? I know that I definitely have. But wait, they haven’t heard your side of the story! It wasn’t actually that bad, they still have their eye! Well, this was NOT what it was like for Jesus because Jesus didn’t do anything wrong! Jesus was on his journey to the cross, and he pleaded with God that if it was at all possible, that he would not have to suffer! After all, who wants to be beaten or whipped or crucified? The Bible says that Jesus prayed so hard that his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. Who here has ever done that before? Exactly! That’s not normal! Jesus was so distraught and worried by the suffering, yet what do we hear that Jesus says to God? He says, not my will, but your will be done. That right there is one of the most heroic statements ever uttered in the Bible. With one sentence, Jesus willingly chose suffering and made a way to save anyone who would accept him.

Today’s superhero is my most favorite superhero of ALL TIME. He is the most popular superhero ever and you almost certainly have heard of him. He’s the sensational, the friendly-neighborhood, the spectacular, the amazing SPIDER-MAN! Ever since I was a little kid, spiderman has stuck with me more than any superhero. Batman, Captain America, Flash, Superman, they have always been really cool to me, but none of them were ever as cool as Spider-Man. In fact, I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t obsessed with Spiderman. Now, who here knows a SHORT version of Spider-Man’s origin story? What makes him tick? That’s right. Peter Parker was an ordinary high school kid. He was only about 5 or 6 years older than you guys. He was really shy and nerdy, spending his time reading all about science. And he had two people at home who loved him very much, his Uncle Ben and his Aunt May. His parents had died when he was very young, but his Aunt May and Uncle Ben were always there to raise him. Peter Parker was picked on at school for not fitting in with everyone else. Maybe you guys can relate to that, being bullied at school. Well, one day, Peter Parker was at a science exhibit with his school, amazed by all the new scientific discoveries that he was looking at. Suddenly, a radioactive spider crawled down from its web and bit him! Peter thought that it was nothing and that he would be completely fine. But little did he know, the spider and the radiation had fundamentally altered his DNA. Peter went home, feeling terrible. He tossed and turned in his sleep all night, wondering what could have happened to him. What was wrong with that spider? But then the next morning came, and Peter was just fine! Actually, he was more than just fine, he was in the greatest shape of his life! He got ready to go to school and had breakfast with his dear Aunt May and Uncle Ben. Aunt May made the best pancakes ever! So good. Peter went through the school day, and suddenly he learned that he had some new powers! He could stick to walls, just like a spider. He had the proportionate strength of a spider, meaning that he was super strong. He was extremely agile, and he had a special spider sense that could warn him of danger. Peter also used his scientific abilities to create a special web fluid that could let him swing from webs like a spider, forming his hands like this. Peter had this great power, but he abused that great power. He went to go make some money with his powers. As a teenager, he never saw that much money in his life. With these new spider powers, he would be able to make tons of money! One day though, he let someone go when he could have stopped the man because he was too worried about making his money. Then, tragedy struck. Peter’s Uncle Ben was killed by a burglar. Uncle Ben tried to stop the man, but he was old and the man overpowered him and killed him. Peter comes back home from making his money, and he sees the police sirens. He rushes toward the cops to see what happened so close to him, and he realizes that his Uncle Ben was dead. Peter gets angry and wants revenge on the man who killed his beloved uncle, the man who raised him. Peter hunts the man down. The man doesn’t stand a chance against Peter with his new spider powers. He has the man, and he realizes in the police light who the man was. The man that Peter let go because of the money is the man who killed his uncle Ben! Peter is shocked and he turns the man over to the police. Peter walked through an alley, crying. If only he had stopped the man, his uncle would still be alive! Peter could have stopped all of this, but he let the man go. Peter remembered what his uncle once told him, that with great power, there must also come great responsibility. Peter had this great power, and now he knew that those powers came at a cost. He had the responsibility to do something good with his powers. No one would ever die again because he failed to act. And so, Spider-Man was born. Peter created a magnificent red and blue costume, complete with webbing and a spider symbol. He stopped any threat that would come up. Life was difficult sometimes too. He had trouble with girls, with money, and with his Aunt May’s hospital bills, not to mention all the super villains he had to fight! But he always found a way to use his powers for good, never forgetting that with great power comes great responsibility.

The reason I love Spider-Man’s story is because it is surprisingly similar to our stories as Christians, as believers in Jesus. We believe that Jesus died for our sins, but we also believe that Jesus was raised to life again. And that’s the best part, that Jesus didn’t stay dead! Jesus was about to ascended into heaven, but first he hung out with his disciples for 40 days. Jesus told his disciples that he would send the Holy Spirit to give them power and to be with them forever, which was even better than Jesus being with them all the time. They would receive the power they needed to always do what is right like Captain America, to persevere like Batman, to conquer their fears like Green Lantern, to discern the truth like Wonder Woman, and to always serve Jesus with their whole heart. The Holy Spirit was going to be their ace in the hole, protecting them and together, building up the Church of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is as much God as Jesus is God. Now at this point, there was no church. It was only a handful of men and women disciples. Before Jesus ascended, though, he told them to go back to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to come. The disciples went back and waited in an upstairs room, praying together for the promised Holy Spirit to come. Then suddenly, a noise and a rushing wind blew into the house and little flames rested on each of the disciples’ heads. Don’t worry though, it didn’t catch their hair on fire. THIS was the promised power of the Holy Spirit that they were waiting for, and it had come to rest on each one of them. They went outside and started preaching, and people just couldn’t help but believe that Jesus was alive and that they had a future with him! People just had to believe the good news! This was when the church was born, and it was an unstoppable movement, like taking some fire to a field of dry grass. The dry grass ignites and soon, the whole field is burning and radiating heat. That unstoppable movement lead all the way now, to this point, bringing you here.

You see, just like the Holy Spirit came to those disciples, he came to you too! If you believe that Jesus died for your sins and that he is alive again, then Jesus sends his Holy Spirit to be in your life also. But having the Holy Spirit is so much more than having superpowers. You don’t just have the Holy Spirit so that you have power, but so that Jesus can have an everlasting relationship with you. Spider-Man’s motto is great power, great responsibility, right? Responsibility is like having keys. Maybe some of you have keys to your house that your parents gave you. Right here, this one is mine. But with this key comes responsibility. I can’t just leave the door unlocked all the time, I have a responsibility to make sure that it’s locked so our house stays safe. And right here, this is my car key. Having a car is definitely a responsibility. You have to put gas in it and you have to make sure that everything in the car runs correctly. And you certainly can’t drive crazy on the road! That’s just plain dangerous! And right here, I have keys to Brian Daniel’s church. Now I could get into any room I wanted. I can get into Brian’s office, but what if I lost the keys? Anyone could come in and take the keys and get into Brian’s church and steal all his stuff! He has an awesome root beer collection that he probably doesn’t want stolen. When you get keys, you also have to be responsible for those keys. That’s what it’s like having the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. You’ve got some great power, but you also have a great responsibility to God with that power!

So what does that power mean for you? It means that like Jesus, you need to submit to the Father’s will because he has a plan for your life. He wants more than anything for you to have a relationship with him. He wants you to tell him how you day is going. He wants you to tell him when you get sad and he wants you to tell him when you’re really excited about something. And God doesn’t just want you to talk to him, he wants to talk back! He wants to encourage you and give you advice and he wants to make sure that you are always safe. He wants you to love him with everything you’ve got. But he also wants you to love other people like you love him. That’s what keeps the church alive! Like Spider-Man, each of us have this great power, the Holy Spirit. But what’s the other part of great power: great responsibility. We have a responsibility now that we have the Holy Spirit to Love with everything we have got. And we’ve got our ace in the hole the Holy Spirit who is better than any superpower because he helps us to live out that responsibility, that life of love. As Christians, we have a great power, the Holy Spirit. But with the great power of the Holy Spirit comes the great responsibility to love God and love people with everything that we’ve got.

This week, we’ve looked at what it means to be a true superhero for God. We learned integrity from Captain America on Monday, we learned perseverance from Batman on Tuesday, we learned how to deal with fear from Green Lantern on Wednesday, we learned about the truth from Wonder Woman on Thursday, and now we learned about Responsibility from Spider-Man on Friday. Heroes aren’t that hard to find. Look around. Each one of you are a hero in God’s eyes. And heroes often work together. Likewise, we all work together in one super team with one mission: to have a relationship with God and to tell other people how they can too. Let’s go from camp today and let’s live into that mission