Any Excuse Will Do!

Any Excuse will do!

Luke 14:16-14:24

This morning we are going to talk about excuses.

We all have made them. Some excuses are better than others. Some are more valid than others and some are just plain lame.

I have heard that some girls when asked out on a date, and they did not want to go, might gave an excuse. I have to wash my hair….I have home work to do….perhaps something else. To me this would be an example of bad excuses… instead of just telling the truth they just make up a little story to say no.

This last Wednesday I called one of the students in my Wesley foundation group to ask if she was going to make it to the meeting that was starting.

She said “Oh , I am so sorry. I forgot all about the meeting. I am in the hospital having a baby.” Since her excuse was completely true. (I saw the baby Friday afternoon.) I think that was a pretty good excuse.

But the point is that it really was just an excuse.

An excuse is an explanation with the hopes of being forgiven or understood with the real intent of NOT doing something.

Today’s scripture comes from Exodus 3 and 4. We are looking at selected passages from Moses call story. We are talking about the burning bush incident. That starts in chapter 3 of exodus.

- Moses is out in the wilderness tending the flocks of his father-in-law Jethro when he notices a fire. A bush that seems to burn and not burn up. He has been working in the wilderness for 40 years and this event catches his attention. It is unusual and he goes over to check it out and God starts talking to him…

The voice of God calls Moses over and tells him that He (the voice) is the God of his forefathers. Moses responds my falling to the ground and covering his face. Not wanting to see God and die.

Moses exposure to the God of Abraham is minimal. He was raised in the house of Pharaoh. He was around Israelites (the children of Israel) but he was an outsider. Besides, the Israelites were heavily influenced by nearly 400 years of exposure to Egyptian culture and Gods.

But, it seems that Moses knows when he is being spoken to by God and he knows how to show reverence.

In verse 10 God tells Moses that He is sending him to Pharaoh to lead His people out of Egypt. Basically, Moses, I have a job for you.

Moses first response is to offer an excuse.

But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"

Wait an minute, Sir, Jehovah, YAWAY, I am just a hillbilly shepherd. I am not qualified to go down to Egypt and lead anybody any where. All I know is sheep.

Is it different today? How do we react when God speaks to us?

He does speak to you doesn’t he? In your devotion time, Bible study or perhaps on rare occasions a sermon?

How do you react…..? Do you respond obediently or do you react like Moses?

What if some one asked you, “Will you teach Sunday school?”

Would your reaction be a thoughtful yes or at least maybe? Would you say I’ll pray about it and really do it or would it be more like, “Oh, well, I don’t know the Bible well enough Or I could just never do that.”

Moses shows us that resisting a call is a normal reaction. The strange thing is, he thinks that he can just say no to God’s call.

He thinks that “Who Me?” is a valid excuse.

And all too often we make exactly the same assumption. But we need to realize that when God calls us to take an action, we must put aside our doubts and fears.

God responds to Moses, "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 will worship God on this mountain."

I am not sure that is very reassuring…after you do what I tell you to do, you will have a sign that I sent you.

First of all, God never says that Moses is specially qualified for the job. He does not offer any disagreement of Moses statement.

What he does is tell him that He (God) will be with him.

Somehow Moses was unclear about the math. He thought 1 +1 = 2 which is not very big. When really he should have been thinking, Me + God is bigger than any other combination.

All of us forget that if God is with us we will win every time. There is no assignment to big or dangerous if we are responding to God’s call.