Audio file 

Worship_the_Ultimate_Hero_mono_f 1.mp3 

Transcript 

John Murphy 

This is the Rock House Center podcast and I'm John Murphy. 

Beth Murphy 

I'm Beth Murphy and we're talking today about worshipping the true hero. We find that Christians and and not just Christians who come to Rockhouse center as clients, but across the board through our experience in the Christian culture that Christians often struggle to have authentic feelings of all love or reverence for Christ. Although there's plenty of justification in scripture and plenty of reasons to Revere Christ, the feelings can sometimes seem contrived or an attempt to comply or obey. Scriptures call for a heartfelt response to the truth. Thankfully, God has wired our hearts to respond to the character and the story of Christ. In this podcast we connect you with the story of Christ in a way that engages your heart. 

John Murphy 

I think it's really important to help people connect in a feeling way to Christ and to really a. Appreciate what he has done and trying to understand how it is that we even position ourselves in relation to Christ in a way that we can feel the kinds of things that is anticipated that we would feel in scripture, but we are just people and he's God. So how do we make this connection when we're trying to help people get an understanding and relate to some of these things I talked about? Trying to create a brain stamp trying to create a feeling or a thought which that which we can then apply to our relationship with Christ. There are some things in this world which we do experience which can help us connect with Christ and a correct posture are correct, sense of emotion and feeling towards him. And. What we want to do is move to a place where we can actually authentically feel that reverence and feel that awe and feel that love and glory for him. The thing that we want to bring up today is just that there. There is one experience that does relate to how we can connect with Christ in a way in which these feelings can emerge from our heart. And that's hero. Ship Hero worship is something that we see all over the place and many people experience at one level or another. Whether you worship your Big Brother, your dad, or you worship your favorite football player or entertainer or politician or whatever it is, we do understand what that means. To have a sense of awe and reverence. And worship for a person, and that is hero worship. And I think that if we think about hero worship and what it is we're we're moving towards a the a correct understanding of correct posture towards Christ so that these feelings that we would want to come out of us naturally actually do arise. 

Speaker 

So. 

Beth Murphy 

Some of those feelings that we associate with someone that we hold in high regard would be thinking that they're awesome, truly having a sense of awe about them, or love or reverence or glory. Those words and those concepts of course, really are wired into us as a way to relate to Jesus himself. And so that's what we wanted to do and. This topic today is kind of think about those feelings and redirect them in a way toward Jesus. 

John Murphy 

Yeah, certainly had situations where I've been amazed by people and impressed by the things they've done. But it wasn't until their experience that we had that time where we were moving into our House and we had that experience of our son being saved, his life being saved by two people. That's when I first started connecting with the feeling. Of hero worship and the way it's set up was that we were moving into a house and we had done a lot to make sure that our boys would be safe when we moved into the House because there was a pool there that a gate had not been built around yet. And the movers were there and were helping us move in and as they were coming around the back of the house and moving something in, they noticed that our older son was in the water. One of them thought he was just having a big time and really eager to get in. That water's not going to wait till he moved in. But the other person looked at him and said I don't know. I think he might be struggling, so they ran over and checked it out and saw quickly that he was drowning in the pool and they pulled him out. He had all this water inside of him and he was they brought him to me and water was coming out of him. And it was. And he was upset and we were all upset. And we realized that something really big had just happened. And what had happened was, is that. These two people, who we didn't know. No. Had no history or experience with it and whatsoever had just saved our child's life. They had saved us from a catastrophic loss and they didn't ask anything for it. They didn't owe us this, this heroic act. It was just something they did and it was massively a blessing to us and I touched that sense of how. Immediately because of what they. Had done. I felt a sense of care for them, concerned for them to reverence for them all, for them appreciating them. I wanted to give them things. Just my heart, posture completely shifted to two people who were complete strangers to me, but instantly became something very important into in my heart and something that I had great gratitude and appreciation for. Just because of that one act, I didn't make myself think that that was my hearts reaction to what they had done. This massive blessing they had offered us. 

Beth Murphy 

And we all have first hand or second hand experience some version of that with people who have intervened in the lives of others, whether it's an EMT or a firefighter or policeman, soldiers, people in the military, because they have made sacrifice, they've intervened in situations and they've turned the situation around, often dramatically. And if you were on the receiving end of that, you didn't know them, you didn't ask them to risk their life for your benefit. But you know that they've saved you from a personal catastrophic loss. And if it's not you, if you just sat at home and you saw this, a report of it on a television screen, you can have spillover feelings of that kind of. And you, you feel reverence, all love. You're prone to want to express your gratitude, your glory, and our country does that, we. We express our gratitude. And thanks and appreciation and all these other things for people who have done those kinds of acts in our lives and that's what we're getting at it because you realize in your heart what's happened. And so in this, we're looking at Jesus himself and what is the truth of what he has done for us. 

John Murphy 

It was interesting that a number of years later, after that experience it. Hit me that what Christ had done so many more times over than what those two people had done for us. And I thought about that. He did save us from a catastrophic loss. He saved us from a catastrophic, eternal loss and of being apart for God for eternity. That's a massive eternal train wreck. He came and went through great suffering. To be able to do that for us, he didn't owe us anything. We didn't have any relationship with him before he made the effort to make himself available to have a relationship with and go through massive suffering to make it possible for him to actually do the amazing act he did of defeating sin and making it possible to reconcile to the father. So you have a you have a catastrophic. Plus, he saved you from he paid the ultimate price. He owed us nothing. He doesn't require anything of us in return. We start thinking about it that way. You can see that he really is a hero and the way God has made us to for our heart just to react to people who do things heroically. I believe God made our heart to react to Christ as a hero and that these same kind of things which just stir out of us, that we have this urge to to. Revere and to love and to worship and do all these things to people who have done amazing things for us here. I believe that that way our heart was built, was built to connect with Christ, and the truth of what he did so that we can have those feelings that they can emerge from us instead of something that we force in our relationship. With him. 

Beth Murphy 

And you know that it's in there, that it's wired in there because you can look at people and their reactions to situations in the world where it could be a reaction to an incredible athlete or a renowned celebrity of some sort, or certainly just the visual image that you get. And watching people at rock concerts. Particularly the people who are really into it and really up front, their body language, all of what's going on is truly hero worship. They are worshipping something and so there's something touched inside because God put it inside of a. So what we're talking about here is engaging God to redirect that to Jesus himself because he is the ultimate hero and it's that's stirring inside us that a way in which God has wired our psyche. That's what we want to connect with and then apply it to Jesus himself, that it was meant. For. 

John Murphy 

It is a natural response to have these feelings, which we think of them as sort of scriptural platitudes that be nice if we can. Get there. But actually these things have the opportunity to emerge out of us in a natural reaction to the truth of what Christ had done, the true awe, the true love, the gratitude, the sense of devotion, the praise that comes out of us, the desire to do what would ever please him, and obedience, the sense of reverence for what he has done, the Thanksgiving. For what he has done, all of these kinds of things are words that we understand are expected in our relationship with Christ. But God doesn't do things, set it up in such a way that he makes us do things that we aren't feeling. He has made us so that these emotions come out of us naturally. They're not force things. And in our relationship with Christ, we would begin to feel those things towards him as long as we allow the truth and connect with the reality of what he's done, so that our heart can be moved that way towards. 

Beth Murphy 

Him the scripture comes to mind in revelation. That's just a statement of the fact that Jesus is the lamb who was slain, who is worthy to receive all honor and power and glory. And wisdom and wealth and strength. That's the statement of the fact. And we are wired to do our best. To express that to him, because that is the natural thing that our heart does when we realize the truth of who he is and what he's. Done for us. 

John Murphy 

Can be observed in some cultures where if someone comes and saves someone else's life, it is anticipated and is a natural response in those cultures to be very dedicated to those people and serving them. And in some places they're even rumors. I don't know if it's actually true or not, but I understood in some Asian cultures possibly that there is a sense of that as soon as someone saves your life, your life is theirs. Well, that's actually an appropriate response to Christ. He came and saved us from the life that we had so out of us would come. The devotion to give our life to him because he saved our life and gave us a life worth living. It all fits together. 

Beth Murphy 

So before we move into a prayer, we'll just encourage you to ask God to help your heart appreciate what a true hero Jesus is. And how every other heroic act or status of heroism on our culture cannot possibly be compared to the ultimate heroic figure of Christ. He didn't seek glory or approval from man or the world, but he was satisfied just in his pleasing God through his heroism. 

John Murphy 

I think it's time to move it to prayer now and ask God to help us connect with these feelings. To bring. These true and authentic emotions out of the reality of what Christ did for us, and just to open our heart up to allow God to stir that in us, because this will allow us to move into the right sense of connection with Christ, that we all really want. We don't want to be forcing these things. We want to feel these things. We want them to be coming out of the reality of who Christ is and what he's done. For us, so let me just invite you into this prayer. Repeat after me. Lord Jesus, I thank you for all that you have done. To save me from the eternal catastrophe. And offering a life of everlasting peace. In the face of the challenges of this world. I declare that you paid the ultimate price of your life. After being treated in the most dark and inhumane way possible by our world. Purely for the benefit of others. Jesus, I declare that your act of redemption. And your character. To find what an authentic hero is. And I declare you truly are my hero. Please forgive me for any expression. Of hero worship or worship of any kind. That I have had of other people. That dishonors the miracle of your victory over sin. And the magnitude of the blessing. You have made available to me. I open my heart for you to flood me. With the thankfulness. The awe. The love. The gratitude. And the worship you deserve. Please strengthen my heart to never take your heroic act for granted. I pray these things in your name. Amen. 

Beth Murphy 

We're on a mission at Rock House to bring healing and restoration to every challenge of life, and we welcome you to join us by sending this podcast about worshipping Jesus to any one who might be blessed. We want to reach folks anywhere in the world, those who may have never come for counseling the Rock house, and never will. And those who have tried traditional counselling and still feel hopeless and need to come to rock house. Those of you who have a testimony as a rock house client or from doing our be transformed workbook on your own, join us in this mission. You can lead a friend through the be transformed workbook or have them contact Rock house if they're in the middle of a life struggle. We have God's answers for hurting people in your life, and if they connect with Rockhouse they will hear a life changing truth. Call us at 615-369-0668 or connect.onlinethroughcontact@rockhousecenter.com. Thanks for joining us today and God bless you. 

John Murphy 

Thanks for being with us. Goodbye.