Lisa Barry: We don?t hear much talk about heroes in this day and age, do we? It seems the only criteria for admiration are fame and fortune. Never mind if they attack people, take drugs or have sexual affairs?as long as they have money or power, they are a role model. Well, a hero has a more narrow definition in my mind with much stiffer criteria. Today on Gateway to Joy, Elisabeth Elliot talks about heroes. Not the high-society type, but the self-sacrificing, God-fearing kind. Let?s learn more as we embark on this Friday edition of Gateway to Joy.

Elisabeth Elliot: "You are loved with an everlasting love." That?s what the Bible says. "And underneath are the everlasting arms." This is your friend Elisabeth Elliot, talking with you today about heroes. We?ve been talking about faith. I?ve had at least one rather irate letter from a listener who said to me, "Why all this talk about heroes? Don?t little people matter? So what if you don?t have a college education!"

Well, let me talk about that last question first. So what if you don?t have a college education? I was just talking with Linda and my friend Judith Beinam today as we were going to lunch about colleges. They?re getting so outrageously expensive, and kids seem to be learning less and less and getting into more and more trouble. I wonder if we shouldn?t go back to the medieval system of just having brilliant men who would gather around them a small group of ten or a dozen people who were really eager to hear what that particular man could teach. And maybe in a crash course of eighteen months or two years, far more would be learned and far more gained with that system than the college and university system. But you can be sure that my idea is not going to be adopted. I just come up with all these brilliant solutions to what I see as various problems.

But I do want to make it clear that I don?t think God is very impressed with BA?s or MA?s or Ph.D.?s of any of the rest of them. It?s just a question of what God gives to you to do and what your responsibilities are in being a steward of those gifts, whether they be intellectual gifts of whatever. It?s an interesting topic to me, because my father was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and was a Phi Beta Kappa man, the highest honor that could be conferred at that time.

My mother, on the other hand, never went past high school, as most women didn?t in her day. There were the exceptional women who went to Wellesley and Radcliffe and Vassar and some of those fine women?s colleges, but the majority of girls really didn?t think about going to college. Mother said it never crossed her mind, because it never crossed her father?s mind. Her mother had died when my mother was only twelve, and she had a stepmother. But it was not in the cards for her to go to college. We used to often tease our parents about that. My father would sort of wink when we got a report card with all A?s. He would always gesture toward Mother at the other end of the table and say, "Well, that?s where the brains are."

My husband, Ad Leitch, who did have a doctorate, used to belittle that. He used to say, "It doesn?t tell a person anything about how smart a man is. It only tells how long he went to school."

You may need a college degree for qualification for a job. But wisdom? That doesn?t necessarily mean that you?re wise. A Ph.D.? Well, keep things in proportion. Not everyone ought to go to college.

So to this listener who didn?t appreciate the fact that I was making heroes out of certain people I think misunderstood me. I certainly have never meant to say, "Little people don?t matter. People without a college education don?t count." Nothing could be further from the truth.

Jesus turned the world?s standards upside down when He said, "He that would be the greatest among you must be the servant of all." He demonstrated what He meant by that when He washed disciples? feet. He said, "If I, your lord and master, have washed your feet, then you must wash one another?s feet."

Sometimes we get overqualified in our own minds for doing the very thing that God cut us out to do. I saw some missionary attrition?missionaries leaving the field because they felt that their preparations and their qualifications were not being properly appreciated. I think of how Amy Carmichael used to always say, "The people that we need here on the mission field are people who are prepared to do whatever needs to be done."

Now "heroes" is not a bad term. We?re not all created equal in stature. We?re not created equal in I.Q., equal in beauty or temperament or athletic prowess. In 1 Corinthians 12 it?s very clear in its teaching that we have different gifts. Because we have different gifts, we have different responsibilities. This equality idea has really gotten out of hand, hasn?t it? Men have different gifts from women; women have different gifts from men. There is some overlap. But on the other hand, there are things that men can do that women can?t do and things that women can do that men cannot do. We?re not interchangeable. So to whomsoever much is given, of him shall much be required.

Is there any support for this hero idea in Scripture? Yes, there is. I would take you to 2 Samuel 14:25-27. "No one in all Israel was so greatly admired for his beauty as Absalom. He was without flaw from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot. When he cut his hair, as he had to do every year, for he found it heavy, it weighed 200 shekels by the royal standard. Three sons were born to Absalom, and a daughter named Tamar, who was a very beautiful woman."

Now why does the Holy Spirit of God preserve for us records of people?s looks? Are they important? Yes. Yes, they are. It was God who made Absalom so greatly admired. He must have been some man?without flaw from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot. But God didn?t make everybody like Absalom, did He?

It?s interesting that it?s mentioned also about David that he was handsome and ruddy, and that Saul was a head taller than anybody else in his kingdom, an outstanding man. God had given these people gifts which were appropriate to the job that God wanted them to do. God has given to each one of us exactly the gifts which are appropriate to the job He wants us to do.

Now it wasn?t David?s looks that made him a hero. In 1 Chronicles 11, we have a whole list of the heroes?David?s heroes. The New English Bible actually uses that word "heroes." "Of David?s heroes, these were the chief; men who lent their full strength to his government, and with all Israel joined in making him king."

Then mentioning David, "He stood his ground." Then in verse 19, we have this expression: "Such were the exploits of the heroic three." Benaiah is mentioned because he "went down into a pit and killed a lion on a snowy day. It was he also who killed an Egyptian, a giant seven and a half feet tall, armed with a spear as big as the beam of a loom. He went to meet him with a club, snatched the spear out of the Egyptian?s hand and killed him with his own weapon." Benaiah was a hero.

Then there?s a whole list in 1 Chronicles 11:26-47?a list of names of David?s valiant heroes. Then in chapter 12, "These are the men who joined David at Ziklag while he was banned from the presence of Saul the son of Kish. They ranked among the warriors valiant in battle. They carried bows and could sling stones or shoot arrows with the left hand or the right."

Verse 8: "Some Gadites also joined David at the stronghold in the wilderness; valiant men trained for war, who could handle the heavy shield and spear, grim as lions and swift as gazelles on the hills."

But they?re not the only ones that were mentioned. In addition to all these heroes, the doorkeepers of the tabernacle were also mentioned. The people who brought the goats? hair to make the hangings for tabernacle?they were mentioned. Little people. Remember that Dorcas is mentioned in the New Testament because she made little coats. That was enough to put her in the Scriptures. Stephen, a man filled with the Holy Ghost, a man who became a great preacher and the first martyr, served tables. Jesus washed feet.

Have you heard of Mattathia? How many of you know who Mattathia the Levite was? Well, I wouldn?t have known until yesterday. I just looked him up. He is in there because he was chosen to be in charge of the preparation of the wafers, because he was trustworthy. In charge of the preparation of the wafers because he was trustworthy!

These were men of faith. How do we judge a person?s worth? By education? Distinction? Job? Money? "Daniel was of the blood royal and of the nobility, a man of good looks"?there?s another one?"bodily without fault, well informed, intelligent, fit for service in the royal court." But why is Daniel remembered? Was it because he had royal blood? He is remembered because of his faithfulness, because of his obedience.

If you want to read some great missionary biographies, here?s a list for you. I have to read these quickly, because I only have a part of a minute left. Missionary biographies. THE SMALL WOMAN, about Gladys Aylward of China. A FOREIGN DEVIL IN CHINA?Nelson Bell. That was Ruth Graham?s?Billy Graham?s wife?s father. WILLIAM BORDEN, a book by Mrs. Howard Taylor. He was a very young man when he died. David Brainerd died at the age of 28, I think, a missionary to the Indians in the Eastern United States.

Then I could mention my biography of Amy Carmichael, A CHANCE TO DIE. ISOBEL KUHN OF CHINA, BY SEARCHING, STONES OF FIRE, GREEN LEAF IN DROUGHT TIME, and MALAMO OF AFRICA. Well, that?s a start. I hope that you will read some missionary biographies, especially you who need some heroes who are Christians.

Lisa Barry: And we have some of those books available here at Gateway to Joy, along with a recommended reading list by Elisabeth. One of the books Elisabeth mentioned, A CHANCE TO DIE, is the biography of Amy Carmichael. Her life was a great inspiration to Elisabeth. Amy made difficult personal choices that yielded a lifetime of benefit to others. If you haven?t been in the habit of reading hero biographies, let me suggest this one to begin your collection. It?s a very large book, but you?ll have a hard time putting it down. Her story is a must-read.

The cost of that hardcover book is $23.50, and that price includes shipping and handling. You can send that, along with your request, to Gateway to Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68501. Or give us a call at 1-800-759-4JOY. Or you can dial up our Web site at gatewaytojoy.org. Today?s program has been a production of Back to the Bible and is supported by the gifts of people like you.

Monday we?ll go on the road with Elisabeth as she speaks to a group on the sufferings of Christ. That?s next time on Gateway to Joy.