"Help! I Need Somebody! Help! Not Just Anybody! Heeeeeeelp!"

We know them as The Beatles. Paul, John, Ringo and George, the English rock band stars that were active throughout the 1960s and on of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music.¹ Now I have to admit, I have always enjoyed listening to The Beatles. They had a sound that revolutionized the music industry. One of the more fascinating tidbits about The Beatles is that they were actually the opening act in England for Roy Orbison, another one of my favorite musicians.

 

One of my favorite songs from John Lennon and Paul McCartney is “Help!”. I believe that the words are quite telling of how people really do need help. Read some of the lyrics from the song:

Help, I need somebody.

Help, not just anybody.

Help, you know I need someone, help.

When I was younger, so much younger than today,

I never needed anybody’s help in any way.

But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured,

Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.

Help me if you can, I’m feeling down

And I do appreciate you being round.

Help me, get my feet back on the ground,

Won’t you please, please help me.

And now my life has changed in oh so many ways,

My independence seems to vanish in the haze.

But every now and then I feel so insecure,

I know that I just need you like I’ve never done before.

Did you catch it? Here’s a couple of guys who wrote this song and they are crying out for help. Granted, it makes for a catchy tune and I would suspect that neither of them would attest to needing anybody’s help. After all, as John Lennon put it, “We’re more famous than Jesus Christ!”

 

But this is the tragedy of it all. The Beatles are one of the most famous musical groups to ever grace the world and they truly did need help. No, they didn’t really need the help of a manager or producer. I believe they would have figured things out on their own as far as the music industry is concerned. The true help they needed was from the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Lord Jesus Christ that Lennon was mocking, for that matter, all of The Beatles.

And this is the cry of the world! “Help! I need somebody! Help! Not just anybody! Help! You know I need somebody! Heeeeeeelp!”

 

There was another fellow that was seeking the same kind of help. His name was Nicodemus. You remember him from John 3:1-21. He was seeking to know who the Lord Jesus was and the Lord revealed Himself to Nicodemus. We find later in the Gospel of John that it was this same Nicodemus that helped Joseph of Arimathea tend to the body of the Lord after He died on the Cross (John 19:39). Nicodemus needed “somebody” and it wasn’t just “anybody” that he needed. He needed the Savior of the world—the Lord Jesus Christ! In fact, all of us need the exact same Helper!

 

As we come into the Christmas season, let’s remember that there are many who crying, “Help!” And as we remember those who are crying for help, let’s remember that we have the responsibility to tell them to Whom they should turn to for help. Our responsibility is to tell them, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

 

¹ Unterberger, Richie (2009a). "Biography of The Beatles". Allmusic. Retrieved 15 September 2009.

Sitcom Heaven!

World Magazine is reporting in its November 5, 2011 issue that there is a “comedy revival”¹ that is taking place in America. It is taking place through the sitcom craze that is suddenly hot again. Now remember that “reality” TV has been the hottest thing since sliced bread. It all started with Fox Television with the series Cops. It has aired since 1989 and it has had a huge following since it first started. Right after Cops we had America’s Most Wanted that aired on Fox Television for over two decades. Now we have America’s Got Talent and American Idol. Reality TV has been huge.

 

But the reality of the crises that we are facing here in America today are taking its toll on us. The seriousness of people losing jobs concerns everybody—even those who are still working because they have seen co-workers laid off. The reality of the economic issues that we are facing is equally disturbing. For those who have invested heavily in the stock market or in mutual funds they are seeing their retirement go up and down, up and down. For the most part, because of the world economy, we just don’t know what’s going to happen next. Then we have wars and rumors of wars. We used to have enemies that we simply knew as enemies. Now we’re not sure if our next door neighbors are actually friends or terrorists. The wars for which America is involved are slowing down and even coming to a supposed “end”, but the casualties are still rising and uncertainty in those regions is growing.

 

So comes the comedy—the sitcoms. Now that everything has become too real, we need a little entertainment to take our minds off of the reality of what’s happening around us. An interesting idea about these modern-day sitcoms is that they are geared toward families once again. No, it is not the “Leave It to Beaver” or the “Ozzie & Harriet” types of families that we are seeing. Rather, we are seeing the “new” families. The Modern Family is a huge hit on ABC but the families they portray are not how the Bible speaks of how the family ought to be. There is a homosexual couple who has an adopted daughter. Another couple shows how a man and a woman just seem to get along life’s journey but without much order. Again, these families are not portrayed in the Bible and they are not as they should be.

 

“What is that supposed to mean?” God’s view of “family” begins in Genesis 1:26, 27 when He desires to create man in His image—both male and female. In Genesis 2:21-25 He describes how the man is alone and that He desires for him to have a helper. God creates a helper for Adam and Adam names her Eve. God charged the new couple to “be fruitful and to multiply” in order that they may subdue the earth. He blessed them with the ability to have children. Moreover, see how the family was structured: one man, one woman, to bear children. Even the New Testament (cf. Ephesians 5-6) describes that an intact family consists of one man, one woman and their children. Over and over again we see how God has established the family.

 

But is the sitcom really something in which we should participate? Is reality TV something in which we should participate? The reality of these shows—both sitcoms and reality TV—will eventually guide your thinking if you’re not cautious. What humors us most may hinder us most. Let’s study God’s Word to learn how to deal with the daily issues that we face.²

1 World Magazine, November 5, 2011, Comedy Revival, www.worldmag.com/articles/18769.

2 We will be sharing other Scriptures in the coming weeks of how the family is to operate. Be looking for the upcoming issues of A Note From the Pastor.