The Bible doesn’t say that: God helps those who help themselves Luke 18:9-14
This is our third Week of our series “The Bible doesn’t say that.”
The goal of this series is to clear up a few misunderstandings surrounding phrases we hear in culture all the time that are attributed to God and to the Bible…But in reality, the Bible doesn’t actually say that…We started with “God won’t give you more than you can handle,” and last week took on the phrase, “God hates sinners.” Today: God helps those who help themselves…But I want to qualify our phrase today. We should say in the case of “God helps those who help themselves,” that the Bible doesn’t say that, but, then again, it does.
It is true that if you were to look up this phrase in the Bible, you would not find it anywhere. Yet, so many people think it is. Barna Group research: 81% of Americans think that phrase is in the Bible. And Christians ? 68 percent.
So how did this phrase become to be misconstrued as a truth from our Scriptures? First sighting- Aesop’s Fables: Aesop tells story of a man driving wagon. Heavy load on a muddy road/gets stuck. More horses pulled/deeper the wheels sank. Called on Hercules to rescue Him. Hercules- Get up and put shoulder to the wheel. The gods help them that help themselves.
Next sighting- Benjamin Franklin/founding father:-1757 edition of Poor Richard’s Almanac. Let us hearken to good advice, and something may be done for us. “God helps them that help themselves.” This sounds like something out of the Proverbs. Keep in mind- Franklin was a Deist. God set world in motion/stands at a distance. While mankind is left to fend for ourselves. Not only is this motto NOT in the Bible. So it was popularized by someone- didn’t believe the Bible.
This notion that God helps those who help themselves is a deep part of our heritage, reason and experience, so we should not just discount it. Remember those are three of the criteria Wesley taught us to use when discerning a truth. It rings true.
God does help those who help themselves, but something has to take place first. We have to be brought down, first, so that we might rise higher. We must die, first, so that we might truly live. You see many people are not truly living today. They are merely existing. They are working, striving, even to the point of exhaustion to get things and to make a statement to their neighbors, but they really are not living. Their highest goal in life is 500 channels on TV and beer in the fridge. Not too poor, not too rich, content in their Lazy Boy and all their ball games. Clever and cute, but not passionate and beautiful. They have the best healthcare in the world, yet they are the sickest. They have more leisure time than at anytime in history, yet they are bored and depressed. They have no hopes, aspirations, goals or desire to grow or expand their experience of life. Nietzsche call such “the last man.” He said, “Alas, there cometh a time when man will no longer launch the arrow of his longing beyond man – and the string of his bow will have unlearned to whizz!”
In order to live we must first break free of this vapid, empty, meaningless self-indulgence and self-absorption of our Instagram existence. Because there is a certain dangerous, callous pride in being Nietzsche’s last man. We sit in our chairs with our 500 channels on TV and beer in the fridge and think man I’m glad I’m not like the rest of the world with its lazy, poor, ignorant souls. Yet, we do not realize that but for the grace of God there go we.
In my own life, I recognize the role of God’s grace that I brought me to the life that I experience. Parents who were encouraging and supportive. Friends and mentors along the way who showed me the right path. Heck, just being born in the United States of America. God shed his grace on thee.
Ah, there it is. Grace must come first and keep pouring. Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-9, “8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”
If we are to rise and shine, rise above, achieve, enjoy life to the fullest, if the string of our bow is to whizz again, we must first receive the grace of God, freely given. And we respond through faith, and faith comes through repentance. And this is what the tax collector did in Jesus parable. He looked down. He was brought down, so that he mind rise up and even be exalted.
That brings us to our parable from Jesus this morning from Luke 18:9-14: 9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
The Pharisee is another example of the last man. He is content, has a false sense of assurance, prideful, too comfortable, judging, clever, cute. He acts like he is superman, but he is far from it. Heavy weight boxer Mohammad Ali. Known to look into camera and say, “I am the greatest! I’m the king of the world!” There is a story of story of Ali on a flight. The attendant ask him to buckle his seatbelt, but Ali refused, saying, “Superman don’t need no seatbelt”. Without hesitation the flight attendant shot back, “Superman don’t need no plane either-buckle up”
The Pharisee acts like he is superman. He’s doing all the right things by society’s expectations, but something is missing. And that becomes apparent when we encounter the tax collector. He stands at a distance from the Temple, feeling unworthy. He will not look up to heaven, but beats his breast and says have mercy. He looks down. He is humble. Humility. Humus. Dirt. But Jesus says, here’s the point of the story, those who exalt themselves will be brought down, but those who humble themselves will be exalted. They will rise up. They will excel. They will achieve. God will be their greatest advocate. When they put their shoulder to the plow, God will give an extra push. We they study hard for the test, the divine will fire a few extra synapses. When they are raising their children, God will give them wisdom and understanding on how to undertake that noble endeavor.
Yet, so many of us are content to be a last man, a Pharisee. Outwardly, we have all the goods, but inwardly we are empty and bereft of a desire for excellence, to be our best, to go beyond ourselves and achieve something great in life, for ourselves, for our children, for our church, for our community. We are content to be a last man in our man cave. Ah, this is the life, but we find that it’s not after a while. So we need bigger screens or we explore exotic brews. That is just another version of the same last man. No, we are called to look down, to see just how sad and empty we are if we are not enthused with the divine presence of God inspiring and firing us up. That comes with grace.
God did not give you this life to live it as a walking cadaver. He did not put you here that you might die but that you might live. That you might overcome adversity, that you might expand your horizons, that you might do a great thing while you are here. Most of us are stuck in the mediocrity and contentedness of the last man, of the Pharisee. Most of us have a long way to go. Maybe you first need to start taking better care of yourself. Maybe you need to let go of a grudge. Maybe you need to stop judging others. Maybe you need to be a little less self-indulgent and more focused on disciplining yourself for a higher achievement, as an employee, a parent, a spouse, as a neighbor.
God does help those who help themselves, but we first must die to that self-indulgent, vapid, empty, proud, 500 channels and beer in the fridge last man, look down and see just how vapid and empty we have been without God’s grace filling every corner of our hearts and minds.
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