The Origins of the 12 Steps

THE ORIGINS OF

THE 12 STEPS

BY REV. STEVEN GREY

In 1935 two hopeless Alcoholics, Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith met and began working on a way to help people struggling with an addiction to Alcohol. Within years they had over 100 people who were sober from their work. Through this a 12-Step Method was created to help people stay sober.

We have been hosting 12 Step meetings here in the church for the last several months. I don’t know about you, but I know very little about the 12 Steps. I know it is for alcoholics struggling to beat their addiction. I know they have a “12 step” program, though I do not know what that means. I know that it involves sharing. But that is about it.

So, I began to investigate and learn. I found that the 12 Steps are very Biblical in their purpose. We could easily have a 12 step program for the Christian faith. Dr. Bob sponsored more than 5,000 AA members. Dr. Bob told those he sponsored that there were three things one had to do to keep sober:

Trust God

Clean House

Help Others

The 12 Steps are founded on this simplistic framework. So, what are the 12 steps? Let’s explore Steps 1-4 in this article.

Step 1: “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol— that our lives had become unmanageable.”

There must come a time for us all that we are in a bad place and need help. It may be some simple things, like changing a tire or sewing a button. But there are always bigger life decisions that we mess up. At first, we think we are fine. Then we begin to see that things are failing. Suddenly things begin to get out of hand. Before we know it that situation in life is out of control, and we need help.

REV. STEVEN GREY

The moment that we realize we need help, and we have to get it, is crucial. This is when members of 12 step organizations, usually go to their first meeting. Unless they are drug by someone else, this realization is their true first step.

For Christians we are not all that different.

But our problem is sin. On a grand scale, all people face that same problem. We all struggle with sin and the separation from God that it causes. Often it is when our life is out of control that we turn to God. Our health is failing, our family is broken, our life is in a spiral because of bad decisions or bad habits. But just like the alcoholic, we come to the realization that we need help. Fortunately, God has help for our sin problem.

It comes through the gift of Jesus Christ. It is called “forgiveness”.

But this forgiveness is not open to everyone. It only available to those who come to that point of confession. We admitted we were powerless over sin —that our lives had become unmanageable.

This is when we need a savior and we begin to look for one.

1 Peter 2:6 says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

That initial step is trust.

Believing God is greater than we are and can fix our problems leads us to Step 2.

Step 2: “Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” Have you ever noticed that we all struggle with God? Not that there is a God or that he is a good God or a powerful God. Our struggle is submitting to him. Even for those who do submit, it is a process we must commit to over and over again. The problem in this step is admitting defeat. For the alcoholic, it is admitting that they cannot control alcohol, it controls them. For the Christian, it is the awareness of our sin. That we cannot seem to stop sinning no matter how we try. And our sin makes it impossible to please God, no matter if we want to or not.

Our step of turning to God is about losing independence.

I can no longer do it my way.

I must submit to someone else and do it their way.

I must swallow my pride.

I have to yield and admit that I am defeated.

I cannot do it myself.

Someone bigger and smarter than me has to step in and do it for me. I have messed up too much and am no longer worthy to be self-sufficient. Both the Alcoholic and the Sinner face the same situation. And God realized that this would be a humbling situation for us.

So, through Jesus, he made it as easy as possible. It is not a matter of doing something.

It is a matter of getting it straight in our hearts:

1 Thessalonians 5:8 “But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.”

Just as there are steps to putting on a suit of armor, so there are steps that we go through to come to a decision and begin to live that new truth. And there is the very decision that we should put the armor on in the first place. Why? Because we cannot do what we need to do without it.

Step 3: “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.”

As Christians, this is the point that we consider the moment of salvation. When we decide to turn our lives over to Him. This is the moment of surrender.

This is the moment we take all that thinking and turn it into action:

Romans 10:9-10 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”

If we call out to Him, we are saved. We simply have to believe it in our hearts and call out with our lips. God wants to save you; He wants to see you in heaven someday.

God will never stand in your way when you desire to come to salvation. These first three steps are basic decision-making steps. We do this kind of thing with many decisions we make.

We realize there is a situation.

We realize we cannot do it alone.

We call out for help.

This next one is where it gets hard.

Step 4: “Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.”

AA’s fourth step calls them to look at their lives. And not just look, examine the words used in this step.

Searching—Turn over every rock and look in every nook and cranny.

Fearless – Let nothing hold you back

Moral – How we stand in absolute rights and wrongs.

Inventory –A thorough list of everything.

AA members are expected to produce an honest picture of themselves. To do the best they can with the faculties they have. The list is a purposeful, hard look at yourself. The fact is, it’s everywhere in the Bible.

2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?”

Lamentations 3:40 “Let us examine our ways and test them and let us return to the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 11:28-29 “Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.”

Galatians 6:3-4 “If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions.”

Romans 12:3 “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”

Test, Judge, Examine;

If we do not do it, it will come down to God doing it. I would rather look for my own faults now, then have God find them on the day of judgment. This is a serious matter that few of us consider. Look at your own heart. Be completely honest with yourselves. Then tell God you’re sorry for the things that are not right. And fix your life. Git ‘er done, because as soon as you know you have an issue, you are living in sin if you continue in it.

This is probably why many people do not want to look at such things. They know they will find dirt. And they do not want to have to clean it.

Here is a prayer used by some 12 Step organizations you may find helpful:

“Jesus, I offer myself to Thee—to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!”

(In our next issue we will be looking at steps 5-8.)