Excuse Makers – Then and Now
Excuse Makers – Then and Now
Last week I talked about your next step. That’s right, we all have a ‘next step’ we can take, in our growth, in our maturity, in our walk with Jesus, and in our service to God as an individual or even collectively as a church group.
Did God prompt you do anything new this past week? Is He prompting our congregation to go to the next step as a group somehow?
Just in review, last week we talked about when Peter took a great step of faith and what he needed to do that. We saw how he literally stepped out of the boat and walked on water toward Jesus.
And what did he need in order to do that?
– The first thing that he needed was courage and reassurance from Jesus.
– And then he simply needed to JDI, or just do it.
With that we read Peter actually walked on water; well at least as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus he was fine. He began to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus and became distracted by everything else that was going on around him. That’s when he began to sink.
And so from that lesson we learned that we need to take courage. If Jesus prompts or directs us to do something He is going to be right there to watch our backs. And then we simply need to step out, or JDI, just do it, and keep our eyes focused on our goal and on Jesus and not get distracted, frightened or dismayed by everything going on around us.
Today I want to discuss a problem even the best of us have when it comes to taking that next step or even doing something that God specifically wants us to do, and that is making up some kind of excuse as to why we can’t do it.
Did you ever feel like God wanted you to do something and you just can’t help but wonder, ‘why me Lord? Lord, are you sure you are asking the right person to do this? Why not someone else?’
Maybe the Lord has laid something on your heart this week, or maybe the Lord has put an opportunity in front of our church but all you can think of is excuses as to why we shouldn’t do it. Maybe how much it’s going to cost, or how much work may be involved, or how much it’s going to incontinence you personally. Even the best of us come up with excuses for not doing things.
But don’t fret. Realize that some of the most renowned men and women in scripture made excuse as to why they couldn’t be the one to do what God wanted them to do. For example:
Moses: Almost everyone know Moses. One day when he was 80 years old and out tending sheep God came to him in flaming bush and gave him a task to do telling Him to go to Pharaoh with the message: to: “Let my people go!”
So at 80 years old Moses was to go down into Egypt and demand that the Pharaoh simply release over a million Jews, which was his primary work force and just let them go.
Well right off we see that Moses is full of excuses when it came to taking this next step in his life. In Exodus we read how Moses respond to God and then how God responds to him. It says in Exodus 3:11,
“But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you[b] will worship God on this mountain.”
“But who am I ?”
There are a number of reasons we come up with excuses:
– We feel insufficient or inadequate
– We have a low self image or feel weak
– Fear – afraid what may happen, or what others may think
– Laziness or selfishly we simply don’t what to do what’s before us
Like when God prompts us to do something I think Moses may have made a number of excuses in this text for all of these reasons. He probably felt insufficient or inadequate, and to weak for such a task. He was 80 years old. He was probably afraid. That’s why He fled from Egypt 40 years earlier, he feared the Pharaoh. And maybe there was part of him that selfishly wanted to just sit and watch his sheep and not get involved. He was aa old man now.
But God had a job for him to do. And in vs 12 He tells Moses, “I will be with you.”
And then Moses tries to use the excuse that he can’t speak well and slow of speech and slow of tongue.” And then in 4:13 Moses comes right out and tells the Lord, 13 “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”
And so in the next verse we read “Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses…” and he agreed to send his older brother Aaron to help him.
Later when the Jews finally got out of Egypt and made it to the border of the Promised Land and God wanted them to go in and conquer it they were frightened and made up all kinds of excuses saying, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (Numbers 13:31-33)
And so because of their lack of faith and distrust in Him, God did not allow any of them to enter the Promised Land except their children 40 years later along with Joshua and Caleb.
There were many others who tried to make excuses as to why they could not do things that God wanted them to do, God wanted to use Gideon rescue his people from the Medianites,
But in Judges 6:15 all Gidieon say to the Lord was, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” ‘I am poor, insignificant and way too young.’
But again in Judg. 6:16 the Lord tell him as He told others, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.”
But that wasn’t enough for Gideon, he needed proof from the Lord, a sign from the Lord.
And then there was Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:4-10) “Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.”
Do you see a pattern here? Over and over we read that if God prompts us to do something He promises to be right there with us. When God prompts you to take that next step, that step which you may be uncertain about, that you may feel inadequate to make, or unqualified, or because you lack experience, or you are just afraid to do, God is saying, ‘Don’t worry, I am with you. I’ve got your back and I’ll be working behind the scene to make this happen. You just have to have faith and trust me.’
Tony Robbins the motivational speaker said, “Using the power of decision gives you the capacity to get past any excuse to change any and every part of your life in an instant.”
A decision to trust God and just do it can get you past those insecurities which you may have. I would like to tell you about one more Bible character who tried to make an excuse for not doing something and that was Ester
If you remember the story of Ester, she was a beautiful young Jewish lady who became the queen of Xerxes, the Persian king who ruled over a huge empire which include the areas of what is known as Turkey, as well as Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel; it also encompassed sections of modern-day Egypt, Sudan, Libya, and Saudi Arabia.
Shortly after Ester became queen a man by the name of Haman devise a plot to have all the Jews exterminated not knowing that Queen Ester was a Jew. After Ester’s uncle Mordecai discovers the plot he went to her and asked her to plead the Jew’s case before the king. But what does she do? She makes us an excuse. Let me read this story to you in Ester 4.
“ When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. 2 But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. 3 In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
4 When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. 5 Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.
6 So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. 7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. 8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.
9 Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”
12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”
15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” 17 So Mordecai went away and carried out all of Esther’s instructions.
I love verse 14 where Mordecai says, “14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place…. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”
The same could be said of you and me, ‘who knows whether we have been put in this position in life for such a time as this, for such a job, for such a service, or even to make this next step.’
God’s will, will be done with or without you. But I truly believe He wants to help us grow and mature, and even partner with us just like when we give new jobs or responsibilities to children which we know that we could do better but we know those duties will help them mature.
So what are you going to do, make excuse as to why you can’t, or why the church can’t or shouldn’t do something? Or will you trust God enough and believe that He’s right there to help you, or help us do some truly unbelievable and amazing things.
When Jesus told his disciples to go out into all the world and make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and to teach them to obey everything He commanded, He also told them that He would always be with them (and us), even to the very end of thee age. So all we need to do is trust Him, take courage, and make a decision just do what He prompts us to do and stop making excuses as to why we can’t do something.
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