Not Your Parent's Fault Series

A CEO has taken on a new job, and the outgoing CEO says to him, “Sometimes you'll make wrong choices. You will. You'll mess up. When that happens, I have prepared three envelopes for you. I left them in the top drawer of the desk. The first time it happens, open #1. The second time you mess up, open #2. The third time, open #3.”

For the first few months, everything goes fine. Then the CEO makes his first mistake, goes to the drawer, opens up envelope #1, and the message reads, “Blame me.” So he does: “This is the old CEO's fault. He made these mistakes. I inherited these problems.” Everybody says, “Okay, and it works out pretty well.

Things go fine for a while, and then he makes his second mistake. So, he goes to the drawer and opens up envelope #2. This time he reads, “Blame the board.” And he does: “It's the board's fault. The board has been a mess. I inherited them. They're the problem.” Everybody says, “Okay, that makes sense.”

Things go fine for a while, and then he makes his third mistake. So, he goes to the drawer and opens up envelope #3. The message reads: “Prepare three envelopes” (John Ortberg, Guide, www.PreachingToday.com).

What do you do when you run out of people to blame? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Ezekiel 18, Ezekiel 18, where the Jews in exile were blaming their parents for their trouble. “We’re being punished for their sins,” they claimed. But that’s not the way God sees it.

Exodus 18:1-4 The word of the LORD came to me: “What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? As I live, declares the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die (ESV).

Mom and dad ate the sour grapes, but we’re the ones suffering for it. “ “No,” God says, “You are suffering for your own sin.” So…

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN ACTIONS.

Stop blaming your parents and recognize your own culpability. Realize that you’re in trouble because of what YOU have done, not because of what your parents or anybody else has done.

“The soul who sins shall die,” not your children or your grandchildren.

Deuteronomy 24:16 says, “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.”

That was the law, God’s law, and God will not contradict His Word. He will punish the sinner, not the sinner’s children.

You see, the people were denying their own guilt by blaming others for their suffering. And hat was wrong, because God holds every individual personally responsible for his or her own actions. To be sure, the sin and idolatry had been building up in Judah for generations, but God urged each generation to repent to avoid the judgment to come. Ezekiel’s generation refused to repent, so they ended up in exile. They had no one to blame but themselves.

So it is with you and me! If you find yourself in trouble because of a stupid decision you made, you have no one to blame but yourself. So take responsibility for your own actions. Stop blaming your parents. Stop blaming your predecessor. Stop blaming other people and admit your own sin. It’s the first step to getting out of the mess you’re in.

The problem is, “It is much easier to fix blame than to fix problems” (Kathleen Parker, The Orlando Sentinel, quoted in Christianity Today, Vol. 41, no. 3; www.PreachingToday.com).

In Lodi, California a city dump truck backed into Curtis Gokey's car. The car was damaged badly, so Gokey sued the city of Lodi for $3,600.

There is a catch to the story: Curtis Gokey was driving the city dump truck that crunched his personal car. He even admitted it was his fault, so the city dropped the lawsuit, stating that Gokey could not sue himself (Associated Press, 3-16-06; www.PreachingToday.com).

Don’t shift the blame for the damage you do. Just acknowledge your fault and humbly accept the consequences. Take personal responsibility for your own actions. For if you’re righteous, you will live. If you do what God’s law requires, you escape the death penalty.

Ezekiel 18:5-9 “If a man is righteous and does what is just and right— if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity, does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord GOD (ESV).