Matthew 14:13-21 God Helps Those Who Help Themselves September 5, 2016 Before the message the following video was shown.

Transcription

1 Matthew 14:13-21 God Helps Those Who Help Themselves September 5, 2016 Before the message the following video was shown. We re in our second week of the sermon series Rumor Has It. As I mentioned last week just as some everyday facts can get misconstrued on the internet, even to the point of making them dangerous, so too biblical truths can become manipulated into something not so true, leaving little or no scriptural basis. This can become spiritually dangerous. Last week we talked about the phrase, Everything happens for a reason. If we use it in the context of cause and effect it is very true, but if we mean God makes every detail of our life happen it is not exactly true. To find out why visit our website at joumc.org to download the sermon manuscript, because today we re going to look at the phrase God Helps Those Who Help Themselves. As noted in the video, this phrase is not a direct quote from the Bible. Today we will look at three theological truths that are in the Bible. One does, more or less, support the phrase, God helps people who help themselves. On the other hand, the other two seem to contradict the phrase. Of course, in the midst of unpacking this we will also look at how God expects us to respond to these truths, in the here and now. But first let s look at today s scripture while it is still fresh in our mind. Verse 13 says, When Jesus heard about John, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. What did Jesus hear about John? He heard about John s death, very graphically recounted in the 12 verses leading up to this scripture. Here we are seeing a very human Jesus. He is still fully divine, yes he is God, but he is also fully human. He had just left his hometown of Nazareth where people were repulsed by him. So he s already having a rough day, and then come to find out his cousin, John the Baptist, was brutally killed. Jesus exhibits a very human reaction. He takes off in a boat with the intentions of being alone. Problem is the crowd gets wind of this and they started following him by foot. Around the lake they went. So, by the time he got to the deserted place, there was this huge crowd, yet he still had compassion for them. Verse 14 says, he healed the sick. Now remember there are five thousand men, not to mention additional women and children. I imagine there were more than a couple who needed healing. My experience of Jesus, both scripturally and personally, is that he s not into rushing things. So this was turning into an all day affair. So the disciples approached him, saying, This is an isolated place and it s getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves. And what does Jesus say? You give them something to eat. Now the gospel doesn t tell us this but, I reckon these twelve are lookin at each other mumblin things like, didn t Elijah say, God helps those who help themselves? Another says, no, I m thinking it was Solomon it sounds like one of his proverbs. Still another says, No! No! No! You re both wrong. It s the eleventh commandment Moses brought down from Mt Saini the first time. Of course, the writer cleans it up a bit, so what we read, is that they replied. Can you believe it? How many people, especially by what we know of these bumbling twelve disciples, would spontaneously say anything in unison? So no, it was one of the disciples and I put my money on Peter, with his ready, fire, aim mouth, who says in Verse 17, We have nothing here except five loaves of bread and two fish.

2 They re thinkin, These people need to take care of themselves. But go easy on them, it s not that they are cruel and insensitive, the reality is the disciples can t feed the thousands on their own; not with just five loaves of bread and two fish. And Jesus knows this so he told them to, Bring [the rations] to me. After ordering the crowd to sit down, he took the loaves and the fish, he blessed them, he broke them. He then gave them to the disciples to distribute among the crow. Everyone ate until they were full. And there were leftovers! You know what s sad about this story?... We get so caught up in trying to figure out how Jesus did it. We re like someone watching a magician. Where did the card go!, how d he pull that coin out of my ear? I know it wasn t there when I got here! We are so intrigued by the miracle we pour through the books of scholars who offer their own theories. Here s the problem: when we do that we miss the main point! Because the most important verse in this story is verse 16, You give them something to eat. The phrase God helps those who help themselves is NOT in the Bible at least not exactly. So what DOES the Bible say? Truth #1 Do what you can to help yourself. This is one truth that seems to support the phrase. The evidence is found in Paul s 2 nd letter to the Thessalonians, a church he started in his 2 nd missional journey. He had already stressed to them to put their full trust in Jesus, who would be coming back any moment. Here is the thing, the people started putting their full trust in God to the point that they started quitting their jobs, and waited for the imminent return of Christ, trusting that, in the meantime, God would provide for them. Thankfully Paul was no Jim Jones or Marshal Applewhite, he gave it to them straight in chapter 3: Even when we were with you we were giving you this command: If anyone doesn t want to work, they shouldn t eat. We hear that some of you are living an undisciplined life. They aren t working, but they are meddling in other people s business. By the Lord Jesus Christ, we command and encourage such people to work quietly and put their own food on the table. (3:10-12) It s kind of like the story I heard years back. There was this man named George who prayed and prayed that he would win the lottery obviously, he wasn t Methodist. Week after week he faithfully prayed; and week after week he watched the news to see if he won; week after week he went to bed very disappointed. But, he knew one of these days, God would bless him with lottery winnings, because he had faith. Finally, there was a span of several weeks that there was no winner. This of course means the pot grew bigger and bigger. In fact, it was getting bigger than George had ever seen. And oh, he was excited. He started thinking this is the big one. God was waiting until the jackpot was really huge, before blessing him as the winner. Finally, one night there was a winner, so night after night George watched the news fully expecting his name to be announced. After about a week of this the winner was finally revealed and it was not George. That night he went to bed more frustrated than ever. He tossed and turned until finally he told God what he really thought about it all. He said, God? George here. You need to give me a break. I ve been praying fervently for you to make me the lottery winner. Week after week I tune in to see the news fully expecting the winner to be me, and week after week nothing. The least you can do is give me an explanation. And that is exactly what he got. On this particular evening God answered him directly, saying, George? Give ME a break. The least you can do, is purchase a ticket. So the partial truth of God helping those help themselves is that we don t wait around for a miracle to happen. We are God s instruments used to change our lives and sometimes even to

3 change the world. Our times of prayer are meant to empower and guide us into action. When our fore fathers wanted religious freedom they didn t just PRAY about it they got in boats and came here to exercise their freedoms. So yes God does help those who help themselves kind of. But the bulk of scripture tends to debunk the phrase. The reality we find in truth #2 God cares for those who cannot help themselves. Now I m going to be frank with you, 99% of the time when we say this phrase, it is used as a rationalization; to avoid the Christian obligation of helping others. We often close our eyes and our ears to the fact that some people truly cannot help themselves. Many are so trapped by poverty, struggling so financially, that self-help isn t nearly as simple as summoning up the will to pull themselves up by their bootstrap. To pull oneself up by their bootstraps insinuates someone has boots in the first place. I m going to be going to the Church of the Resurrection in Leawood Kansas the end of the month as part of my Institute of Congregational Development classes. Their lead pastor is Adam Hamilton, and I ve heard him tell the story in another forum, meeting a homeless man when he was fresh out of seminary. The man approached the young pastor asking if he could give him some money for lunch. Hamilton figured he d do one better, he d take him to lunch. After paying for the meal, Adam suggested he could help the man get a job. Vagrant eagerly accepted his offer. First step? Help him make a basic résumé. So Adam took down his name, then asked for his contact information. To which the man replied, Dude, I don t have a phone. I don t have an address. Okay. So he asked about his education, which not surprisingly was very limited. And of course what résumé is complete without references. But the man had no references, in fact he further explained, if I had references, I wouldn t be out on the street. Finally, after an hour and a half sitting with this man, Adam Hamilton found out just how little he knew about the situations in which many homeless people find themselves. Certainly we need to do what we can to help ourselves, but sometimes people face challenges they don t know how to overcome on their own, or don t have the resources. That s why our churches get involved in Family Promise, it s giving the people the guidance and resources so they have boots to pull up. Our calling isn t to shrug off responsibility for helping our neighbors by invoking the phrase, God helps those who help themselves. In fact, God commands us to take special concern for the poor and needy. Leviticus 23:22 says, When you harvest your land s produce, you must not harvest all the way to the edge of your field; and don t gather every remaining bit of your harvest. Leave these items for the poor and the immigrant; I am the Lord your God. Did you catch that?... God told farmers to intentionally leave part of the crops on their property unharvested, so the poor and the foreigner could glean off the portion left behind. The command involved compassion, charity, and dignity of work. Furthermore, God consistently calls us to help those who cannot help themselves through scripture. Your insert has a brief list of examples. (see below) you are welcome to take this home and peruse them yourself. But note a lot of scripture stresses we are among the tools God uses to help those who can t help themselves. On the other hand, there are people, for all intents and purposes, can help themselves, yet they are overcome by their own sin and/or personal despair. But even then, the Bible consistently illustrates how God saves and delivers even those who have made a mess of their lives even those who didn t necessarily do anything wrong but find themselves walking in the valley of the shadow of death and despair.

4 We worship a God of second chances we worship a God of the hopeless, the helpless and distraught. We hear the Psalmist cry out I raise my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. (121:1-2) So is the case in our lives. When we are feeling anxiety, we need help, we find it in the Lord, we experience the peace of Christ even when we ve made a complete mess, God can deliver us raising us out of the pit. It is in those situations we recognize, thankfully, that God does help those who can t help themselves. That is the third truth we are looking at today and that is Grace. Grace is the word given when God helps those who don t deserve it, who can t earn it, who can t help themselves. Grace means receiving the blessings of God even when you ve made a complete mess of things. Grace is what allows us to experience mercy. When we can t fix it ourselves, God intervenes. We find this quality of God s character throughout Scripture. The truth is we are ALL needy creatures. To truly thrive we need more than the basics: food, water, and shelter. There is a chart on the screen a form of which is also on the back of your bulletin insert (see below) this is Maslow s Hierarchy of needs. Of course the very base of that are our physiological needs; air, water, food and then go up a level and there is what keeps us safe; shelter, a source of income, health care. These two layers are the basic needs that ensure we continue to exist. Maslow s theory is, once these are met we are better able to tap into the higher level needs: the love and belonging; the esteem knowing that we have value and worth; and we can find a better understanding of our purpose in life. It is in these that we meet our spiritual needs. We can be stunted at any level and consequently find ourselves unable to thrive. For example: there s a man who spent most of his life living for himself, for wealth and affirmation from others. His focus on success led him away from his family; he lost touch with their love. He felt no belonging, so he sought love and belonging from the bottom of a bottle. Over time he became helpless to control his craving for alcohol, to the point of losing his job, the very thing that gave him esteem and meaning, and he nearly lost his family. Then there is the story of a mother who was driven to despair by the death of her teenage son. Her days were so dark, she had a hard time functioning. It was like she couldn t breathe. She couldn t eat. She really couldn t take care of herself. These are true stories, and perhaps you have your own story. A story in which your basic needs were met, but somewhere along the way, you felt like one of those higher level needs was hindered and consequently, you were not thriving. The stories of this man and the mother eventually experienced the hand of God in their lives, lifting them out of the pit they had found themselves stuck in. Some of that help came indirectly through people like you and me; sometimes by God s direct intervention. Because God helps those who cannot help themselves. There is a world of people out there, who are feeling unloved, who are feeling worthless. God whispers to their heart, You are my beloved child! You matter to me! Trust me and walk in my love. Once that is accepted, everything changes, they get a taste of what the kingdom of heaven is like. It s the same for all of us. in God s willingness to help us when we don t deserve it, we discover grace. It isn t anything we earn, nothing we can buy or work for. We can t help ourselves into grace. We can only ask and accept it. But, we can also participate in it. I don t think it is a coincidence that the chapter before today s scripture Jesus gives several illustrations of what the kingdom of heaven is like. Examples that illustrate the surprising

5 abundance of the kingdom providing more than enough for all. The feeding of the isn t a parable Jesus spoke of the kingdom of heaven, it is a parable that Jesus and the disciples lived; illustrating the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. It shows us that the ingredients needed is a few humble resources and willing hands to feed those in need. There are times when we can and should help ourselves. God is counting on us to do the best we can. But there are times when we can t make it on our own and God prompts others to help. They become the hands of God. we become God s answer to someone else s prayer. We become God s instrument of grace. And someday one way or another there will come a time when you cannot help yourself, no matter how hard you try. You won t have the strength, you won t have the knowledge, you won t have the resources. There may even be times when you don t believe you deserve help because you know you are, at least in part, responsible for the difficult situation you find yourself in. In those moments we cry out to God, the only one who can help. And despite the fact that we are poor and pitiable, weak and afraid; despite the fact that sometimes we are the ones who have made a mess of things; God reaches out and picks us up and cleans us off. This is the message from God we find over and over again in scripture. God says, I am here You matter to me Your life has meaning nothing no matter what you may have done or been unable to do nothing can separate you from my love. Turn your life to Christ. He is in the business of redeeming sinners and saving those who are broken. He helps those who can t help themselves. Let us pray. Bibliography Hamilton, A. (2016). Half Truths: God Helps Those Who Help Themselves and Other Things the Bible Doesn't Say. Nashville: Abingdon Press. (Bulletin Insert) RUMOR HAS IT: GOD HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVSES A survey by the Barna Group, a Christian polling firm, found that better than 8 in 10 Americans think, God helps those who help themselves is in the Bible. More than half of the respondents were strongly convinced that this is one of the major messages in Scripture. Sooooo. The reality is Scripture consistently calls us to help those who cannot help themselves, or those who require help before they can help themselves. James writes, True devotion, the kind that is pure and faultless before God the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their difficulties in their difficulty. (James 1:27) Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25) and the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10), Jesus tells us we will be judged not only on faith but also on our compassion for the poor and needy.

6 Paul says we are saved by the kinds of faith that moves our hearts to action faith working through love does matter. (Galatians 5:6) Various Proverbs: Those who are gracious to the poor lend to the Lord, and the Lord will fully repay them. (19:17) Those who close their ears to the cries of the poor will themselves call out but receive no answer. (21:13) Happy are generous people, because they give some of their food to the poor. (22:9) The Bible suggests that compassion for others is a form of worshiping and being obedient to God. Speaking on God s behalf, the prophet Hosea writes, I desire faithful love not sacrifice. (Hosea 6:6) Jesus later quotes this verse (Matthew 9:13) to the Pharisees urging them to study carefully what it means. I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me. Matthew 25:40 NEXT STEPS o I will memorize Matthew 25:40 o I will read Matthew 25:31-40 and Hebrews 13:1-8 o I will stay alert to who God is calling me to feed this week. o I will attend worship for the Rumor Has It sermon series.