Making Excuses or Making Decisions

luke chapter 14 verse 16. and said he unto him this is jesus talking answering a question about somebody that would be bitten to eternity that great supper a certain man made a great supper and he bade many sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bitten invited come for all things are now ready and they all with one consent began to make excuse the first said unto him i have bought a piece of ground and i must these go and see it i pray thee i beg you i ask you have me excused and another said i have bought five yoke of oxen and i go to approve them i pray thee have me excused and another said i have married a wife enough said and therefore i cannot come so i'd like to talk to you tonight on this subject making excuses or making decisions please be seated i love powerful sundays and practical wednesdays but sundays should be practical and wednesday should be powerful but there should be a rhythm in what we do it's not all preaching and not always reaching for lost people but it is strengthening the body of christ so tonight lord willing in the next two wednesday nights i'm going to be teaching kind of along this line of decisions making wise decisions but there's a story behind this message i've shared like a line of it here and there before but several years ago maybe a decade ago i was talking to a young man he was not doing very well in life he lacked motivation he was rather listless he lacked a healthy relationship with his father in our conversation as i tried to talk to him and encourage and help and give a little guidance he just kept making excuses and he had a lot of legitimate problems in his life certainly they were very real but no matter what was suggested his default response was an excuse for his lack of behavior good behavior and his lack of motivation and at that time and to this day when i look back on that conversation and that individual i felt compassion for him and i still felt compassion for the circumstances of his life life is not fair and in case you weren't here when i said it affair is a place where you go ride rides and i've learned that it is not what happens to you but what happens in you that determines your destiny and makes the difference things will happen to you in your life but it's your response to those circumstances that matter the life of joseph daniel jesus and others they teach lessons to us that you can keep a right spirit when life is not fair you can be sold out forgotten lied on and come out on top when god exalts you in due time so you've got to control your spirit while the circumstances of your life might be out of control i've been listening to this young man suggesting things that might help him trying to encourage him felt like we were getting absolutely nowhere the statement that i'm going to say that i feel like was a word from the lord to him in that moment i shared it on graduate sunday june 14th 2020 just the line in my message on acceptable losses i reviewed it the next wednesday night june 17 2020 in a bible study entitled by any means and what i really felt to say to him and i looked at him and i tried to be as kind as i could because i wasn't trying to hurt him or knock him down again i said you need to stop making excuses and start making decisions because for every problem that he faced for every obstacle for everything that had happened to him instead of making a decision to overcome or to do the right thing he used all of those things as an excuse to go the wrong way and do the wrong thing stop making excuses start making decisions an excuse is a reason that you give in order to explain why something was done or was not done or to in order to avoid having to do something you make an excuse sometimes an excuse is an apology for something or trying to remove blame maybe blame shift from yourself to someone else an excuse is to make an apology and sometimes excuses are legitimate sometimes excuses as i said are to shift blame i was researching this in the bible bible programs and online and someone wrote about what they thought were the top ten excuses made in the bible ten the snake made me do it eve said that nine the woman you gave me made me do it adam said that i would have died if i wouldn't have eaten some of that red stew esau said that the rivers back home are a lot cleaner than these over here naaman said that six i'm not keeping count right my family ain't much to speak of gideon said something like that phi i don't speak no good moses said something like that four it's only a few bleeding animals that's what saul said to the prophet samuel after he had offered sacrifices in violation to the law of god three i'm too young jeremiah said that two gotta go bury my father first that was the man that jesus called and most likely his father had not yet died and maybe the number one most lame excuse in the bible in this writer's opinion was i threw this gold into the fire and out came this golden calf now i'm sure you can think of other lame excuses in the bible we're not going to have a testimony service right now but what is the lamest excuse you've ever heard what is the lamest excuse you've ever given you know i read about excuses at work excuses at school i decided to not include them in my message tonight it's the same old stuff you've heard your whole life the dog ate my homework you know etc there's some pretty funny ones actually there's a old southern gospel song all the southern gospel fans will know this song it's called excuses they're terrible recordings or i would have played it for you tonight excuses excuses you'll hear them every day and the devil he'll supply them if from church you'll stay away when people come to know the lord the devil always loses so to keep those folks away from church he offers them excuses and then there's some pretty funny verses to that song and the summer is too hot the winter is too cold the springtime when the weather is just right we've got somewhere else to go it's up to the mountains down to the beach visit some old friend or maybe just stay home and relax and hope some ken folks drop in then those church benches they said they're too hard the singers are way too loud you know i get nervous when i'm sitting in a crowd the doctor told me you know better watch those crowds but you go to the ball game because you say it helps you relax got a headache on sunday morning backache sunday night but you're well by monday morning gotta go to work something about sickness but that was before covet the preacher he's too young or maybe he's too old the sermons they're not hard enough or sometimes they're too bold his voice is much too quiet sometimes he gets too loud needs to have more dignity or he's just way too proud and then there's goes on and on he didn't shake my hand and blah blah blah excuses people make excuses and excuses while they may be legitimate in some cases they probably don't really help they don't change the circumstances they don't change you they're not helping you get ahead now there's enough material on this subject in the bible to teach an entire series so today i'm going to summarize even some of those top 10 excuses in the bible and i'm going to focus on the text that i read and try to make some application that you can take home and hopefully apply to your life to stop making excuses and start making decisions amen when god called some of the great leaders in the bible they responded with excuses about their inability they wanted god to know that they were not capable of doing what he was calling them to do now here's what i know after 44 years of ministry that you are never able to do what god has called you to do if you if you could do what he's called you to do in your own ability then you wouldn't need god and everything god ever calls us to do is beyond our ability and by relying on him we watch him come through for us so moses when god came to him he said lord i am not eloquent and then here's the line i want to focus on heretofore nor sins he said god before you came to call me to deliver these people out of egyptian bondage i was not eloquent now that we've had this talk nothing's changed if you really want me to do this then you should he heal my speech impediment and he said i'm of slow speech and a slow tongue of course god did not let him off when the lord came to gideon in judges chapter 6 he said to gideon thou mighty man of valor and immediately gideon defaulted to his feelings of inferiority he said lord why is all this stuff happening to us asking god why doesn't really help your circumstances very much and then he tells the lord that he's the poorest kid in the poorest family of the poorest tribe in the nation of israel and they have been savaged by the midianites for seven years so they're already poverty-stricken he's the poorest of the poorest of the poor he just really doesn't have what it takes when jeremiah i said it in the top 10 but in jeremiah 1 when the lord came and called him you know jeremiah said lord god i cannot speak for i am but a child no i don't think he was a child but he knew he was a young person don't you remember paul telling timothy to let no man despise die you but even in your youth be an example of the believers be a godly person even when you're young don't let your youth be an excuse amen and the bible says to flee youthful lusts so no one has an excuse to not serve god no matter your circumstances nor your station in life then there's lots of excuses in the bible for sinful behavior these are in the top ten two of them are adam you know the lord comes to him walking in the garden the cool of the day adam and eve are hiding covering themselves with fig leaves the lord asked him what he's done adam tells him he said i'm afraid and then adam says the woman that you gave me so really god this is all your fault if you would not have created eve she would not have succumbed to the temptation and given me the fruit and i would not be in the shape i'm in right now if it wasn't for her and ultimately it's because of you i know you've never blamed your spouse and you've never blamed god but in genesis 3 adam did i sin then the lord goes to eve and says eve what have you done and she does what people do she made an excuse the devil made me do it she said the serpent beguiled me he tricked me and i ate that free now god had given him a clear command wasn't like something they couldn't figure out wasn't some mysterious thing they had to unearth you know god told them what to do what to not do but she had an excuse when cain killed his brother abel hid his brother in the ground the lord came and asked him about cain abel and abel said to god am i my brother's keeper what an excuse to tell god am i'm not i'm not responsible for my brother i have no idea where he is and the lord said his blood is crying to me from the ground saul he's in that top 10 list you know saul is the epitome of an insecure leader he shouldn't be he's head and shoulders taller than anyone else he starts out as a humble man but his insecurity leads to pride and there's an occasion in first samuel 13 when samuel says i'll be there on the seventh day saul waits around nothing happens samuel does not come he waits to seven days and all the people are really nervous the king james said they followed him trembling and samuel doesn't come to gilgal and the people are scattered from king saul so finally saul says i've waited long enough he's really freaking out he's afraid he gets a burnt offering he offers it to the lord and the bible said in first samuel 13 10 as soon as he made an end to offering that offering you know i wonder if samuel was like you know looking at his watch you know they didn't have watches he's just kind of waiting for saul to get impatient and jump the gun so samuel walks up and saul comes to greet him and samuel says what has have you done and saul gives three excuses that i saw the people were scattered for me i'm i'm not doing well in the polls so i'm capitulating to the opinions of people and then he said you told me you were going to come in seven days and i waited seven days it was still the seventh day samuel kept his word but you didn't come when you were supposed to come and then the philistines they're assembling they're gathering together at mikmash to try to attack us so so samuel says to him so then he says i force myself in the king james the message says i took things into my own hands i'm tired of waiting on god that sermon on be still and know that i am god is worn out so i just took things into my own hands you weren't here so i stepped out of kingship into priesthood and i offer the offering and saul samuel said to saul you've done foolishly you've you've violated the commandment of the lord and the kingdom is going to be torn away from you so samuel gives saul give these three reasons people my popularity's waning my preacher let me down man of god you delayed and thought you were going to be here but you didn't come through on time so and then the enemy i saw that enemy out there and i just gave in to all of those things in the new testament there's a man named felix and he is listening to paul preach and he's shaking under conviction for his sins but he tells paul to go away and he said when it is a more convenient time i'll call for you again now is not a good time making excuses for sin proverbs i love proverbs i think you know that i love every book in the bible because it's god breathed but the bible said that the lord overthrows the words of the transgressor and then he says a lazy man a slothful man is needs to go to work but he sits there and he says there's a lion without i shall be slain in the street so he makes an excuse for his laziness and doesn't do what he should do the one talent man of matthew 25 says to his master i knew that you were a hard man that was his excuse and he is called a lazy and wicked servant and james tells us in james 1 that we should never say that when we fall into temptation that god tempted us god is not tempted with evil and he doesn't tempt anyone with evil but everyone is tempted when they are drawn away of their own lust and enticed james said and when lust has conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death and finally on this little section in the judgment there is no excuse there is no excuse when you and i stand before god no matter what happened to you no matter what was offered to you in temptations when you stand before god there will not be one excuse there's nothing that you will be able to say in that moment that will get you off the hook you cannot blame anyone else in that day romans 1 and 20 speaking of pagan people just by the invisible things of creation paul said that they are without excuse and in romans two and one just the next chapter in this same three chapter kind of a courtroom scene where paul is like a prosecuting attorney and he brings all the world in the courtroom and declares them guilty before god all have sinned and come short of the glory of god romans 3 23 kind of the heart of this passage but romans 2 and 1 therefore thou art inexcusable o man you judge other people and you condemn yourself so i just want to say that people try to make excuses for sin for their decisions for their actions for not living for god but none of those excuses really matter in the judgment it's important that we really make sure that we stop making excuses and start making decisions now that leads me to our text when jesus called people to discipleship various people give gave different excuses for why they didn't follow him right sometimes it was overt and sometimes it was more subtle more diplomatic and in luke 14 the story we read about it is somewhat like that luke 14 16-17 jesus is answering remember something a statement a man made in luke 14 and jesus he said unto them a certain man made a great supper and invited a lot of people now what i want you to see here is there was an invitation it wasn't a last-minute get-together wasn't some you know kind of impulsive thing he invited people to come to a dinner that he had planned and verse 17 says that he sent his servant at supper time this would have been the evening meal according to the original language and what i've studied of this and to say to them that had been invited so again it wasn't like a last-minute text message hey can you come over we know we've got pizza this is something that had been planned at supper time he said to them that were bitten come for all things are now ready we've been working on this you've been invited now it's time to come eat this is going to be a huge dinner party no one should have been unprepared no one should have not come because it's implied that they all said they'd be there because we later learn that they go out and get other people when these invited guests probably recommend referring to the jewish people they don't come verse 18. and they all everybody say all they all with one consent again i think this speaks of national israel they all with one consent begin to make excuse and then we'll talk about what each of them said but i want you to think about this the plans for the banquet are rocking along really well there's this impressive list of guests that have been invited they've all accepted the banquet is now ready and then suddenly things start falling apart to this plan the timetable of the host just doesn't seem to fit with the schedule of the guests so they start making excuses now when you read this they all with one consent these excuses seem to be coordinated sometime between the invitation to the dinner the invited guests must have collaborated and conspired to decline the greek in this says it doesn't appear anywhere else in greek literature it really means that they kind of they were thought alike they acted in unison or concert they acted as one it's coupled with they all it's like a social catastrophe for this man who went to all the trouble to plan this great dinner and the guests who initially accepted are all begging off to a person they're all turning them down that makes me think about this i've never really analyzed this particular verse that there's something behind this coordinated effort it's like a collusion to boycott the banquet sounds like the news media when they start beginning to parrot the same talking points you know that they've been talking together before they've been talking to you well it's true i know some of you didn't like that but still true but anyway that's not really my sermon but it did make me think about excuses that are being made left and right in our culture blaming everyone else so first man let's back to the bible here we are luke 14 18. i already read this first part make consent with one ex one excuse make excuse the first everybody say the first guy i have bought a piece of ground and i need to go see it and then he's so polite i pray that he had me excused now have you ever had anybody tell you something in a real nice way that you know it wasn't really all that nice they were being nice but they really weren't being nice and you knew you saw through that and you were trying to be nice back while they were stabbing you in the back something like that anyway now think about this remember i already told you that this is a dinner it's a banquet it's not in the south it's not lunch it's supper right i know dinner is controversial this is the evening meal it gets dark they don't have spotlights who in their right mind goes to inspect a piece of land in the dark it's a dinner meal and his excuse is i bought some property and i've got to go check it out that's not a really good excuse but that's what he said there's a second man verse 19 and another said i've bought five yoke of oxen that's probably 10 oxen and i go to prove them i pray thee have me excused now if you were in a living with some type of equipment and you buy some new equipment i know you're really pretty antsy i would say chomping at the bits but most of you don't know what that means but horses do that and plow animals might chomp at the bits they're ready to go and he wanted to go try it out and you got a new truck about a tractor got a backhoe a new computer that doesn't seem to fit with the backhoe but anyway you just want to try it out but remember it's going to be dark those oxen don't have headlights it's a really lame excuse well i bought some ox and we're going to have to go check them out in the field we're going to plow a little bit tonight you're not gonna plow tonight you could come to the dinner you're not gonna miss anything and you could go plow tomorrow but that was the lame excuse verse 20 and another said i have married a wife and dropped the mic therefore i cannot come he didn't have to explain any more than that now under the old testament law this this man might have a legitimate excuse because under the law when a man was married he was he was exempted from war for a year deuteronomy 24 and 5 in case you're taking notes he will not go out to war not charged with any business stay home with his wife for a year wouldn't that be great a leave of absence like paternity leave for a year but no paternity you just got married well this excuse may apply here but but maybe not i started thinking about this guy how long had this wedding been planned how long had the dinner been planned so we can't get too deep and trying to apply every little word or thought or behind the scene cultural nuance of these scriptures but but most likely the wedding wasn't an improm it was not an impromptu wedding wasn't a shotgun wedding right but that's his excuse i can't come now if you think about it these three excuses or any of them sinful no bought land bought a new tractor got married none of those excuses were sinful they didn't have to say you know i'm going to go rob a bank and i can't come to the dinner nothing like that is even said but if you think about it the excuses that these people gave were similar to things that get ahead of god in our lives like property jobs family family is really important your home your stuff is really important they're essential commitments that we all have in life but sometimes they become the greatest rivals to the lordship of jesus christ jesus looks at these three people and throughout his writings luke 9 he talks about those who want to follow him one disciple said i'll go with you wherever you want to go and jesus said i don't have a place birds have their nests boxes have their holes i don't even own a home another man jesus called him follow me said i've got to go back and bury my father probably implying go back home stay with my dad take care of the family business till my dad dies and then after i get that settled then i can come and follow you was probably not i need to go attend a funeral but you can go study that on your own i think i've done that but jesus said let the dead bury their dead come follow me and then he invited someone else luke 9 and they said let me just run back home and tell everybody goodbye jesus said no man having put his hand in a plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of god now i wasn't going to get into the plow much but back then like a handheld plow were double yolk somewhere like a single like a stick if you look back at old bible land customs and if you look back you know when you're plowing with an animal and you've got the plow in your hand and you keep looking back you're gonna plow real crooked rose and jesus said you're not fit for the kingdom of god if you keep looking over your shoulder because you can't look back you've got to look ahead all of these claims seem to be just regular things in luke 14 the same chapter jesus said if you come after me and you do not hate and it means love less your father and your mother your wife and your children your brothers your sisters your own life also you cannot even be my disciple this is the same chapter and whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple now there are lots of principles in the bible but told the new testament about taking care of your spouse having a healthy marriage having a healthy family i'm all about it on our pastoral team if there's a family need we want to say put your family first but when it comes to true discipleship nothing is ahead of jesus christ even in the bible this is not an excuse for being a bad spouse but if an unbeliever departs that believing spouse that stays in the church is free so here's the deal jesus christ is to be the lord of everything in our lives and then jesus says this if you were going to build a tower shouldn't you sit down first and count the cost figure out whether or not you've got enough to finish that tower because what you don't want is an unfinished project half a tower and every everybody walks by and say yeah that's the tower that he started and he didn't have enough money to finish it what jesus is saying if you're going to be my disciple then you need to sit down you need to make up your mind that no matter what comes into your life that you're determined to finish what you started then he says another example a king going to make a war with another king doesn't sit down first and he consults to see whether he can take two ten thousand men into this battle against an army with twenty thousand men and win and if he can't win then he waves the white flag and he finds a truce he finds conditions of peace and jesus then applies it so then likewise whosoever be of you who forsaketh not all that he has cannot be my disciple now i know that's very strong language it's not really on the oneness of god or baptism in jesus name speaking in tongues or or internal inward or outward holiness it's about fundamental discipleship which underlies everything doctrine lifestyle everything this is that decision part of living for god this is the grit that we bring to the table with the grace of god that he gives us that we make up our mind that we stop making excuses and we start making decisions amen if you think about these three excuses that are in luke 14 the guy that buys the land the guy that buys the oxen the guy that gets married those three those three men they did not violate any of the ten commandments except the first one of the ten in exodus 23 the lord said thou shalt have no other gods before me that dinner was typical of an invitation into the kingdom of god and while the legitimate needs of life were there it was the fact that each of those three men put other things ahead of god jesus said seek ye first i wish i would have put this verse in my notes but i didn't seek you first the kingdom of god and all these other things land oxygen shall be added unto you the things that non-christians spin their every waking moment fixated on our heavenly father provides that for us when we put him first in our lives making excuses start making decisions amen there will always be what seemed to us to be viable excuses to not walking in complete obedience to jesus christ god has a way of getting right to where we live to the rich young ruler go sell everything you have give it to the poor come follow me he didn't tell everybody to do that but money gold was that guy's god right so for him that was what discipleship meant for you it might be something else that is in competition with the lord and tonight i just want to encourage you i would even say challenge you to stop making excuses about the gods you put before him start making decisions start making stop making excuses about a lack of responsibility in areas of your life and start making decisions well here here's here's where people sometimes fall down they they look around and they find fault imperfection in other people and institutions so here's a big revelation for you tonight everything in life except jesus is flawed the government is flawed the economy is flawed your company is flawed your friends are flawed your church is flawed your spouse is flawed don't tell him or her yay verily i was saying to thee you are even flawed and i am flawed but when it comes right down to it you can't pick them apart and make excuses for not being committed to god and to the people that you should be committed to in your life stop making excuses start making decisions your decisions are what define you your commitments shape you you go to college for a certain thing you become what you give yourself to and if you commit yourself to the right things it shapes you for time and also for eternity instead of making excuses make a decision make a commitment to your marriage if you're married to your family to your church do everything in your power to make those relationships work don't run away don't play the blame game don't make excuses make decisions like joshua did he put everybody on notice joshua 24 14. now therefore fear the lord and serve him in sincerity and truth i love those two words they're repeated by paul in the new testament the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth i'll just stop right here not part of my sermon really my message but sincerity is not enough truth has to be coupled with sincerity and sincerity has to be coupled with truth and i think joshua says it here first serve god in sincerity and truth and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood he's referring back to abraham's father tara the flood here is probably the river euphrates on the other side of the euphrates your fathers worship idols and then in egypt also the gods that were served there and serve you the lord and if it seems evil unto you to serve the lord then just why don't you decide who else you're going to serve you're not going to serve almighty god then pick your god joshua says you're going to serve the gods that your father served on the other side of the flood those gods that terra served and ur of the chaldees or he said are you going to serve the gods of the amorites those canaanite people in whose land you dwell pick your god you've got to pick a god because you will serve something it's not like you're not going to serve something you may think you're not but at a minimum you're going to serve yourself and make yourself your own god but joshua says here's some choices for you that god's served all the way back there and are the gods of egypt are the gods of the canaanites but then joshua said but as for me i can't control what any of you do but as for me i'm making a decision as for me and my house we will serve the lord