John Lennon speaks to an issue we all encounter. “Help!” was mostly written by Lennon, but attributed to “Lennon/McCartney” as most their songs usually were. Paul McCartney says he was called in to help finish the song and that the title was “out of desperation”. In the few interviews Lennon gave later he said this song was one of his favorites as it came from the heart. This song was written as he was trying to sort out the rising popularity of his formerly obscure band. He said that he was “fat and depressed” and crying out for help.
We all need some help. This has been an issue from the beginning of time. The Athenians in scripture testify to this truth. In Acts 17 we see that they built an altar to the “Unknown God.” This came about during a plague before Paul’s time. In desperation the Athenian’s offered many sacrifices to their gods, to no avail. In a cry of desperation to stop the plague they built an altar to an unknown god and the plague was lifted. That’s the legend, how true is it? I don’t know. Perhaps God, the God of the universe, allowed that to happen for this specific time of evangelistic outreach.
Since the beginning of time we have had a sneaking suspicion that there was more to the world than met the eye. It was the point after all! So, John Lennon is not telling us anything new, rather something very, very old – we need some help!
We need someone, but not just anyone. We ask for help in the wrong places. We have superstitions that we observe. We have rituals that we obey, because that’s the way we’ve always done it. So often the things we look to for help only hurt us. Look in 1 Samuel 13:1-14, Saul turned to ritual and sacrifice and forgot it was God who saved him. This cost him his kingdom.
God is our help. In the midst of all this God speaks to us, from ancient times. He says in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” If John Lennon was fat and depressed during the height of his popularity then there is no hope for the rest of us! Even the biblical greats required help: Gideon – to fulfill his purpose, Paul – to change his life, and Noah – to save him and his family. The biggest problem that we all need help with is our sin and separation from God. Romans 3:21-26 records this problem and we see that we can’t get any help from God outside of Jesus Christ. We definitely need help and not just from anybody – only Jesus.
We’re already planning 2009 and looking to the future for our church. In January, we will launch a very exciting sermon series and church wide initiative to help us solidify and understand our identity as a church. We will be answering some very basic questions such as, “What is salvation and how is one saved?” and “What does it mean to be a Christian?” In preparation for this series I’m soliciting your help and want to know how you understand both of those very important truths. Please respond and let me know, how you understand:
- Salvation – What does it mean to be saved?
- Christianity – What does it mean to be a Christian?
There are no right or wrong answers, I won’t name names, call you out, or grade you. I just want to know where we are. I would love it if you would respond to these two questions by leaving a comment on this blog post or by emailing me. This is a discussion I would like to reference in January and want to know “How accurate is our average understanding of salvation and Christianity?” I have a hunch that we have made Christianity difficult to understand and easy to do when in reality it should be easy to understand and difficult to do. You might find this “assignment” difficult – but I hope you’ll try anyway.
