Some people are convinced this famous line comes from the Bible. Does God help those who help themselves? Our assumptions are not good enough...we need to go to the source of all truth.
Does God Help Those Who Help Themselves
Thursday, April 28, 2011
God helps those who help themselves. Everyone knows that’s in the Bible – right? Wrong. Poor Richard was Benjamin Franklin’s creation -- an uneducated man full of advice about life. He’s the one who made those words famous.
God helps those who help themselves. It sounds good. It seems to make sense and the average person believes it’s in the Bible. It’s not.
It became a popular truism in the United States around 1739 when it appeared in Poor Richard’s Almanac. Poor Richard was a character created by Benjamin Franklin – he was a rural uneducated but very pious fellow who coined pithy little proverbs. They were mostly about thrift and hard work and living a simple life and they became imbedded in the American mind.
My son could attest to this. When he was little, his grandmother, my mother, had him write, “waste not want not” on a piece of paper and draw a picture to illustrate the message. I think he drew a picture of himself scraping his plate into the trashcan and his grandmother saying “no, no”. She was hoping he’d live by the wisdom of those words. I don’t think it took but of course it’s not bad advice – waste not want not. Poor Richard had a lot of good practical proverbs but what about “God helps those who help themselves.” It sounds good but is it true?
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Actually Poor Richard didn’t come up with it. It’s not in the Bible but it’s been around a long time and it shows up in the wisdom literature of lots of cultures. In 472 BC Aeschylus said, “To the man who himself strives earnestly, God also lends a helping hand.” The ancient Babylonian Talmud has God saying, “If you will lift the load I will lift it too.” But the earliest recorded example is in Aesop. Aesop was the original poor Richard – he lived around 620 BC – probably a slave who was freed because he impressed his owner with his wisdom. He wrote fables -- and there was always a moral to the story. One of them was:
"Hercules and the Wagoneer." A Wagoneer was once driving a heavy load along a very muddy road. He came to a part of the road where the wheels sank half-way into the mud. The more the horses pulled, the deeper sank the wheels. So the Waggoner threw down his whip, and knelt down and prayed to Hercules the Strong. "O Hercules, help me in this my hour of distress. To his great surprise Hercules appeared to him, and this is what he said: “Don’t just sprawl there, man. Get up and put your shoulder to the wheel. The gods help those who help themselves.”
Aha! Now we know who really said it. It wasn’t the God of the Bible! It was Hercules.
The true God has a very different message for us. The message of the Bible couldn’t be further from the practical wisdom of Aesop or Poor Richard. He doesn’t say, “I only help those who help themselves.” If he did, we’d all be in serious trouble.
He says, “I help those who can’t help themselves.”
The entire bible drives home the point from beginning to end that we’re helpless in ourselves, we can’t save ourselves, our only hope is the living God coming into our world, into our lives and doing for us what we can’t do for ourselves.
But God gave us his Law didn’t he? We’ve been talking about the movie the Ten Commandments where Hollywood did a pretty good job of portraying the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. Wasn’t God showing us our part in the deal? Wasn’t he telling us to pull our own wagons out of the mud?
Exactly the opposite.
Paul says the Law simply proved that we’re prisoners of sin. Read Romans 7:22. The law, he says, is what makes us cry out, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” God gave us the Law so we’d see that however much we struggle to get ourselves out of the mud, we only sink deeper and deeper. But he doesn’t stand by like Hercules and say, “try harder man!” No! He works in our hearts until we say, “Help me Lord! I can’t help myself! I’m completely and totally powerless! Save me!”
And then he comes to us with all of the grace and mercy he has for us in Jesus Christ. He comes to us with a salvation that’s completely 100% his work and he saves us. He pulls us out of the mud.
Listen to what the Bible says:
Romans 5.6-8 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
God helps those help themselves? No! In fact, as long as we hold onto that hope -- that we have some power in ourselves -- we’re never going to receive what Jesus did. He wants us to know that we’re absolutely powerless and that while we were powerless, weak, ungodly sinners stuck up to our necks in the mud, dying – no dead – Jesus died for us. And his death for us was our salvation. He went down to the depths of hell for us, he took on all of our sin, and he buried it and then he rose from the dead and his resurrection was our resurrection. His resurrection draws us out of the mud – it sets us free -- on solid ground – the solid ground of a new creation.
2 Corinthians 5: 17-18 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ.”
All of this is from God. God doesn’t help those who help themselves. He helps the helpless. We need to get the notion out of our heads that we have to do something – that we have to do our part. That’s a burden we can’t carry. We can’t carry any part of it.
“This is from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ”, Paul says. The death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is from God – it’s our salvation – he did it all while we were totally powerless to save ourselves.
Last week there was a story in the news about an eleven-year-old girl and her 16-year-old autistic brother in Seneca, South Carolina. They were playing in the woods on Tuesday afternoon after school and ended up in a marshy area where Hanna got stuck in the mud – up to her knees. She tried to get out and she told the reporters, “I couldn’t; I just sunk deeper and kept sinking.” The mud was eventually up to her ribcage and she still couldn’t feel any solid ground under her feet and the more she struggled the worse it got. Jayme, her autistic brother, was the hero of the day. He ran to get his mother who ran to her daughter -- only she couldn’t get close enough to help. So she told Jayme to stay put and then ran back to the house and called 911. The rescuers arrived just in time. Two more inches and Hannah’s lungs would have collapsed. They laid down ladders and used ropes and managed to get to her. They put a life vest on her and then they shoveled to create air pockets, enough to finally lift her out of the mud and save her life.
When I read that story I thought – that’s it. God helps those who help themselves? Tell that to Hanna. The more she struggled the worse it got and it’s the same for us. The more we struggle, the more we try to save ourselves, the worse our situation gets. We need a rescue and that’s what God has done --- he’s mobilized a rescue. He sent his son to save us.
“While we were still powerless Christ died for the ungodly.”
I want to talk about what this means – to both unbelievers and believers.
First -- Unbelievers.
If you’re an unbeliever – and we know statistically 1/3 of our listeners are– if that’s you -- you’re not yet a Christian -- then this is a profound message from God for you. Our natural logic – our normal way of thinking – is like Poor Richard or Aesop. It just makes practical sense that God would help those who help themselves. You live right and the powers that be will smile on you. You build up some karma and you’ll see a pay-off. God’s like Hercules – you need his help but you’re not going to get it unless you start living a better life.
All of that way of thinking needs to go. The truth is -- you’re like Hannah – you’re stuck in the mud and you’re sinking and your life is in danger. The situation is critical. And you aren’t capable of doing a single thing to help yourself.
Years ago, during the reformation, in the 1500s, two theologians had a debate about how a person gets saved. If you’re feeling a little stuck in the mud and thinking like Hannah, “I’ll just get myself out”, then their old debate is just as relevant for you as it was for them.
Phiiip Melanchthon agreed with Martin Luther that we’re saved by the grace of God. But this is how he saw grace: “Grace is like one parent walking a wobbly toddler across the room to the other parent who crouches down with an apple.”
God holds out an apple – a reward. But he doesn’t just say, “Come and get it.” He knows we’re toddlers so he comes along beside us and steadies us as we walk toward the apple. That’s grace he said – it’s God’s help, but we’re still doing the walking.
Martin Luther said, NO!” “NO” Get that cozy, little picture of grace out of your mind. We’re like caterpillars surrounded by a ring of fire. Our situation’s desperate and our ability to save ourselves is zilch. Martin Luther said, “This is grace. Grace is God reaching into the ring and lifting us out.”
Martin Luther got what God was saying in the Bible – Melanchthon watered it down. Melanchthon thought God helped those who helped themselves. Luther knew that God helps those who can’t help themselves.
That God rescued us by sending Jesus to die for us.
You need to trust in what he did. What HE did. God helps those who trust in him. Who lean all their weight and put all their hope on what he’s done for them in Jesus – not in themselves. Jesus will lift you out of the ring of fire. He’ll lift you out of the crushing muck of your life. Jesus will lift you out of the danger of the coming judgment . And he’ll set you safely in his kingdom, in the Father’s house, not a caterpillar but a daughter – a son. And you’ll live in his grace forever.
In Aesop’s fable, the man – when his wagon got stuck -- made a 911 call to Hercules. Hercules in the mythology of Greece was a demi-god who was sort of like Superman – super strong. But he refused to use his strength to help the man. The Greeks made their gods like themselves – Hercules is proud and he doesn’t have any compassion.
Jesus isn’t like Hercules. He’s definitely not like Hercules. He’s not a myth for one thing. He’s the living Son of God. And he’s not only strong in every way – strong enough to create the world, strong enough to destroy the world. He’s also strong enough to bear the sin of the world on his shoulders. And he’s strong enough to lift you out of the ring of fire. He’s strong enough to rescue you. He comes with the power of his death and his resurrection, and with his overflowing compassion, and in love he saves you. Jesus doesn’t help those who help themselves. Jesus helps the powerless, the ungodly, the sinner. Just lean into him and let him do it.
Second -- Believers.
We understand grace and we believe it. Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. This Easter as I was sitting in church listening to our pastor I was amazed all over again. Thank you Ted Hamilton for bringing it all into beautiful living color. He talked about how Elisha laid down on the dead boy, mouth to mouth, palm to palm, heart to heart and life flowed back into the boy’s body. That’s what Jesus did for us on the cross. He fully identified with us in our sin and death – so we could be fully identify with him in his resurrection.
But here’s where I think we lose it as believers – we lose it when it comes to living our day in and day out lives. We know we’re saved by grace but when it comes to living out our salvation – we revert back to God helps those who help themselves. We take it back on ourselves.
But our life is grace from first to last and it’s by faith from first to last. We’re called to live our lives depending one hundred percent on Jesus. We’re meant to live our lives believing that he lives in us -- like Paul lived his life:
Galatians 2: 20-21 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
God helps those help themselves? No! God helps those who trust completely in Him and not in themselves. He’s at work within us. He supplies the life. He supplies the power. It’s no longer we who live but Christ who lives -- in us! Which means the life we live in the body we can live by faith in the one who loved us and gave himself for us. Sweet personal dependence on him in our helplessness. That’s how we live. We’re still helpless in ourselves but in Him -- we’re strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9,10, “He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me . . . For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
