AfterWords: “God Helps Those Who Help Themselves”

 

Romans 5:1-8

I have been so looking forward to preaching this series—“Quotes and Misquotes We Live By.” Thank you for joining us for this series that will run into September.

This past Sunday? “God helps those who help themselves.” – I have actually heard people say, “Well, you know what the Good Book says: ‘God helps those who help themselves’….” And, sure enough, a poll in the late 1990s showed the majority of Americans (81%) believe the concept is taught by the Bible,…with "born-again" Christians [coming in at] 68%. In fact, “the phrase topped a poll of the most widely known Bible verses.” Wow! And in case you haven’t figured it out yet, this saying is NOT in the Bible…even if it is solidly in our own national psyche!

We find this idea first showing up in the writings of the ancient Greeks—both in Sophocles (410BC) and Ovid (1C AD). But, our own saying comes from English political theorist Algernon Sidney who penned the words we hear today, "God helps those who help themselves." Benjamin Franklin later printed it in Poor Richard's Almanack (1736) and the rest is history.

But is it so bad? – I mean, it isn’t biblical, but is it wrong? What happens if live by this idea? Well, we quickly judge those who do not “help themselves.” We rarely stop to consider why someone is not helping themselves, but we determine they are lazy, that God should ignore them…and we should, too. I’ve heard it said, “I don’t mind helping someone who is a least trying!” We feel very justified by such an attitude. After all, doesn’t Proverbs tell us, “Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor” (Prov. 12:24) and “The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied” (Prov. 13:4)? We embrace this this “God-helping-the-diligent-idea,” and we walk away from the one in need, fully justified in our own minds.

But, Why is One in Need? – Let’s stop to ask the question we often don’t ask.  Why is one in need? Why is someone not helping themselves? A person might simply be—as Proverbs often puts it—a sluggard. There are such people…but probably a lot fewer than we imagine. Or it could be that a person may be struggling against a system that works against them, against a societal attitude that will not be changed, or with a physical or mental condition that holds them back, that keeps them from being and doing what they really dream. This is where most folks are who don’t help themselves.

God Helps Those Who Help Themselves? – So, now a few more questions:

·       How is a young homeless man—a boy and then a man who has no home, who struggles with mental illness, who has no one behind him to teach him, to push him—how is such a person supposed to “help himself”?

·       How are the lepers who come to Jesus—expelled from society, rejected by their culture—how are they supposed to help themselves?

·       How is the woman caught in adultery—a second class human, a person with no voice in her culture—how is she supposed to help herself?

·       How are 5,000 hungry people far from the city supposed to help themselves?

·       How was Lazarus, dead in a tomb, supposed to help himself?

·       And, how are we, you and I—powerless to save ourselves, unable to break the vicious cycles of sin in our lives, lost in the darkness of depression, formed by and at the mercy of a broken and divided culture—how are we supposed to save ourselves and find the life we crave, that God longs for us to have? How?

Did you hear Paul’s words today? Listen again: “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 person, though for a good person 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.”

Conclusions— God helps those who help themselves? This is not what our Good Book says. God helps those who cannot help themselves. God helps us in our helplessness. God—through the Spirit, through the Word, through the Church—reaches out all who need help…especially those who cannot help themselves.

“God helps those who help themselves.” We may never find a saying more contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, more opposed to the good news of God’s grace for us in Jesus. Let us remember today and every day that Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus comes to give us—we who cannot help ourselves—the gift of life. Amen

I so hope you will join us for this entire series: “Quotes and Misquotes We Live By.” Next in the series: “Spare the rod and spoil the child” – a must-see for parents of all ages!

Sunday, August 2, 2026
"God Helps Those Who Help Themselves"
Watch/Listen: HERE
(Due to technical difficulties, we were unable to stream/record this service.)