“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life,” Churchill wrote. Modern-day heroes are few. They’re here, of course. But most models of heroism are relegated to imagined characters for television and film. Fewer and fewer have a grandpa or uncle who was a hero. For many nowadays, they have to look up to imaginary Marvel characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man, or Captain America. Let that sink in: millions of Westerners worship made-up cartoon characters. They quote the films; they buy the swag; they spend billions supporting that industry. I’m for free markets; so spend your money as you like. No issue here regarding what you do with your money. But what it reveals is a hunger deep within the human spirit.

We long for heroes. We long for models, for paradigms of bravery, selflessness, and moral courage. The theologian Augustine famousely wrote, “Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee” in his Confessions. And Solomon wrote that God “put eternity into man’s heart” (Eccl 3:11, ESV). Pascal famously wrote that man has a “God-shaped hole/vacuum” within him only God is sufficient to fill.

This Sunday I’ll be leading the saints of Christ Covenant Church (3cs-canton.org) in one of the most packed pericopes of Scripture. It’s 2 Peter 2. What’s it about? False teachers. Just a few years after Jesus’s resurrection, already churches were corrupted by nefarious leaders. Already. How much more do we need to be careful, therefore? There are those who mislead people for selfish gain. Sadly, we do not have to look far to find pastors who ask for raises again and again, who ask for more vacations, who ask for time away, for sabbaticals, for allowances, and inculcate an enviornment where there’s accountability for everyone else but not for them, et al. They see themselves as special, as exempt. “Rules for thee, but not for me.”

Peter begins chapter two this way: “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction” (2 Pt 2:1, ESV). The Bible addresses false teachers head-on because God knows the damage they inflict upon congregations. Peter says that “in their greed they will exploit you” (2 Pt 2:3, ESV).

If you have an enemy because you take stands for truth, you are blessed. “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Mt 5:12, ESV). We could do for more heroes, I agree. But we need to be wise about who merits that moniker. More than likely, he won’t be the one demanding comfort and protection. He’ll be the one taking care of the sheep. We are to look forward with wise hope, knowing that it’s a good thing to have the right enemies. That’s a sign we’re doing things God’s way.