Ten Lies About God
Lesson # 3
“God Helps Those Who Help
Themselves”
Ephesians 2
For the record, the statement “God helps those who help themselves “ is
not in the Bible it is first found in the writing of Aesop who said, “The gods help them that help themselves.” Euripides,
a Greek philosopher, said, “Try first thyself, and after, call on God.”
George Herbert in the 17th century wrote, “Help
thyself and God will help thee.” We received our present version from Benjamin Franklin who wrote, “God helps
those who help themselves.” [p.
175] (1736). Franklin himself was a deist and so he believed that God did not play an
active role in men's lives. In his point of view if man was not able to help himself, then
man was hopeless.
The Bible
teaches something entirely different than the above saying, because God makes special
provision to help the helpless.
“For while we
were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly....But God demonstrates
His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Proverbs 28:26
“He who trusts in
his own heart is a fool,But he who walks wisely will be delivered”
Jeremiah 17:5
“Thus says the
LORD, "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And
whose heart turns away from the LORD.”
The principle that underlies the phrase “God helps those who help
themselves,” seems to be based on two assumptions. First, is the need for and the value of work. The
Bible does warn us about our obligations to work, Paul said in 2 Thessalonians (3:10) “… If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” We
cannot lounge around and think that God will do everything for us.
“There
is a story told about a man who was stranded in his housed during a flood. A boat came to
rescued him awhile he was standing on his doorstep, surrounded by water. But he waived the
rescuer off, saying ‘God will rescue me!” The ollowing day the water rose and
another boat came to rescue the man now stuck on the upstairs balcony. He again refused
help, shouting, ‘God will rescue
me!’ Late the next day, he found himself sitting on the chimney, the waters swirling
around him. A helicopter hovered overhead, an man shouting, ‘ Lets help you!’
But the man shouted back, ‘God will rescue me!’
As
fate would have it, the water rose and the man drowned. He arrived in heaven in a
not-so-good mood, complaining to Saint Peter, ‘ I expected you to rescue me!’
‘Frankly,
I am surprised to see you here,’ Peter replied, ‘because we sent two boats and a
helicopter to pick you up!’” God does expect us to take advantage of a
boat or a helicopter if we need to be rescued. [p. 173].
The second, assumption is that there is
actually something you can do. Whether we can help ourselves or not depends on
what our problem is. There are some things we can do for ourselves. If our problem is
ignorance, we can get an education. If our problem is emotional imbalance, we can seek
professional help. If we are drowning, we may be able to struggle to safety or a lifeguard
may rescue us. But unfortunately there are some problems that are God-sized. When it comes to salvation, God must intervene because we
cannot help ourselves.
(Ephesians 2:1-2)
“And you He made alive, who were dead in
trespasses and sins, (2) in which you once walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of
disobedience….”
After having read these verses we have to ask ourselves is there anything we can do
to save ourselves? Spiritually speaking our problem is that we are dead. We are dead in our transpasses and
sin. Some people think our problem is environmental,
change our circumstances and we in turn will change ourselves. Some think our need is psychological, with the right kind of
counseling we will be alright. But these can not make us alive spiritually. To many think
of unbelievers as spiritually sick,
but it is much worse than that they are dead.
“in which you once walked according to the
course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now
works in the sons of disobedience, (3) among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in
the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by
nature children of wrath, just as the others.
It Is God’s Power Alone That Saves Us.
(Ephesians 2:4-7)
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His
great love with which He loved us, (5) even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive
together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (6) and raised us up together, and
made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (7) that in the ages to come
He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ
Jesus.”
God comes to us while we are completely unable to help ourselves. When you are dead
you are dead. We are completely unable to do anything to help. God cannot and does not
wait until we can “do the best we can.”
In the verse we just read Paul gives two purposes for God raising us from the dead.
First purpose that God had in providing salvation was in order to display His grace (vv. 6-7). “… and raised us up together, and
made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (7) that in the ages to come
He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ
Jesus.”
The second purpose of God providing salvation is seen in verse four and five. Three
words describe God’s generosity toward man, underline them as we read again these
verses. “But God, who
is rich in mercy, because of His great
love with which He loved us, (5) even
when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” God
did what he did that man might enjoy his
grace. Grace is defined as giving man
what he don’t deserve, and mercy is
defined as not giving man what he does deserve. Spiritually speaking far from helping
those who help themselves, God helps only those who cannot help themselves.
(Ephesians 2:8-10)
“For by grace you have been saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
(9) not of works, lest anyone should boast. (10) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
In one sense it is difficult to understand why it is so hard for some to accept
that salvation is the free gift of God. Maybe it is part of Satan’s plan to try to
convince individuals that they have to earn it, they have to work to get God’s love
and approval rather than just accepting his gift by faith.
If we examine it, God’s grace is difficult to accept for two different kinds
of people; first, those who are overcome with guilt.
These people feel so unworthy of grace
that they have a hard time accepting it.
A second class of people who have difficulty accepting grace are those who do not
see their need for it. These are the
good moral people who fail to see their
need. To these people the suggestion that there is nothing they can contribute to their
own salvation is insulting. But Jesus has nothing to give to those who do not see that
they have a need.
Verse ten helps us to understand that works have never been and will never
be instrumental in our salvation. We are saved by grace through faith, as a gift from God,
period.
Does that mean that we may write off good works as meaningless and live any way we please? Not at all! Though good works contribute nothing to gaining new life in Christ, they are a result and proof of that new life.
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