INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Memorial!!! I have with me today a pointer. I am going to use it today because I have always thought it was cool when the teacher would point to things on the board. You know a pointer is interesting because when the teacher wants you to look at something she directs your attention by pointing at it with the pointer. She might say, “This is a map of the United States.” She will take the pointer and point at a state, “What state is this?” Everyone would say, “Mississippi.” I don’t think there are that many teachers who use pointers anymore but there are millions of people in our society that carry them around everywhere they go. They may not carry one exactly like this one I have but they constantly trying to get everyone to look at someone else when things go wrong. People in our society love to point the blame onto someone else.
If we are late for work, don’t worry, we can blame the traffic. If our kids go haywire at school, its ok, we can blame the teacher. You pull through the McDonalds drive through and order a cup of coffee, steak & cheese bagel, & hash brown. As you are driving off trying to eat the messy bagel you spill the coffee all over your lap. Its not your fault. Its McDonalds fault for making the coffee to hot. You are driving 65 mph on the Pontchatrain Bridge & the speed limit is 45 mph. You meet a Louisiana Highway patrol who gives you a whopping ticket. Its not your fault because there are only two speeding signs on the long bridge. Do you see how easy it is to point the blame to someone else?
CURRENT EVENTS
The definition of blame is to hold another person responsible for perceived faults, be those faults real, imagined, or merely invented. If you have turned on your TV this week you have seen how Michael Vick pled guilty to dog fighting charges against him. Vick really owned up to what He had done but the media had a field day. One guy said that it was the hip hop culture that caused Vick to do such a thing. Another reporter said that Vick had a terrible experience with animals as a child and therefore had no respect for them. Take the I-35 Bridge that collapsed in Minnesota some weeks ago. Have you heard the latest theory? They are blaming it on Pigeon Poo. They said that the acid in the poo caused the metal on the bridge to rust more quickly. The Virginia Tech Massacre was in the news again this week as the President of the campus was finally cleared of charges against his responsibility in the murders. The most ridiculous thing that I have heard of is when Roy Pearson, a judge in Washington D.C. took his dry cleaners to court over a lost pair of pants. What was a $10 cleaning bill somehow escalated into $67 million. He said that he had been through turmoil over the pants and wanted to wear them on his first day on the bench. The two Koreans won the case but now owe over $100,000 in legal fees. The truth is this guy was looking for someone to blame for his unhappiness. This is the culture in which we live.
Have you took time to notice the not responsible signs around you. This week at a restaurant I ate at I noticed a sign by the coat rack that said, “Management Not Responsible for harmed or stolen garments in this area.” For those of us that fly, have you ever read the fine print on your airline ticket? It says that the airline industry is not responsible for delayed flights or missed connections. If you do happen to lose your luggage, yes, they will pay an amount, and only the amount, agreed upon around 1962 in some obscure conference in Las Vegas. Try parking your care in an expensive lot in the French Quarter of New Orleans. You will see the “Not Responsible For” sign. If your care is stolen or damaged they will not be responsible. I was behind a dump truck Saturday and you know what I read. This truck is not responsible for cracked windshields or chipped paint. I think I will get a sign and put in on the front of the communion table that says, “Not responsible for conviction of sin or life change.” And God better beware or he might find himself in court for not answering prayers.
BIBLICAL BLAME
PIN BLAME ON FAMILY
All this pointing and blaming didn’t start yesterday. If you look back to the oldest relationship it is there. I am talking about the first man and first woman. They were created in a perfect environment, but God said don’t eat from that tree. They said OK we won’t eat from that tree. God left. They ate from that tree. God came back and asked, “Did you eat from that tree?” What was Adams response in Genesis 3:11-13? “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I ate. (vs. 12)” This is the first instanced of blame. He said it was that woman. He did like so many of us have done, and attempted to pin the blame on his family. I can’t count the number of times I have heard people say I am the way I am because of my parents. My parents painted the room the wrong color. They used the wrong type of diaper or wrong brand of pacifier. My mom dressed me funny as a kid is why I act the way I do. Well, whose mom didn’t dress them weird. Then we grow up and we take the blame game to a whole new level in marriage. I was standing in a coffee shop the other day and a man and women with a little boy was in front of me. The little boy playing and all of a sudden he stopped and began to pick his nose. The mother looked at his father and said with a sneer, who taught him to pick his nose in public.” The dad said, “you know what happen when we live him with your parents.” They just kept pointing to someone else.
PIN BLAME ON SOCIETY
Jump over to Matthew 27 and we find another man playing the blame game. Pilot was in a difficult situation. An angry Jewish mob wanted to crucify Jesus and Pilot knew he was doing wrong. So in front of everybody he washed his hands saying and symbolizing that the crucifixion was not on him but on them. He pointed the blame on society as we often do.
PIN BLAME ON GOD
We all know the story of the Hebrew children and how God led them out of slavery. God kept them in his hands, took them across the Red Sea, and gave them a John Maxwell type leader in Moses. Suddenly there water supply vanishes, just for three day. It was a difficult time but they eventually found water but b/c it didn’t taste like Perrier water they blamed God. They said we wish we could just go back into to slavery and Egypt. God this is your fault. Our culture is prone to blame God. A person gets a STD and they ask God why it happened. Someone get killed in an alcohol related car accident and they ask God why it happened. They get angry at God when it clearly the person’s own fault.
PROVERBS 5:21-23
Open Bible and read scripture.
I want you to point to your neighbor. Now take that finger and point it at me. Ok that is weird you can point them back at your neighbor again. Take a moment and notice how many fingers are pointing back at you. Three that’s right. Every time you use your pointer there are three pointing back at you. T.S.---TODAY, I WANT TO GIVE YOU THREE SIMPLE TRUTHS ABOUT BLAME.
GOD KNOW WHO TO BLAME (vs. 21)
Verse 21 says the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord. Imagine you have a huge teleprompter. On this teleprompter you can watch any person’s life that you want. You can watch them through out the day and rewind it to see exactly what they did and said anytime. It would be difficult for anyone to point the blame if you knew exactly what they did. Did you know that God doesn’t depend on the 10 O’clock news? God saw you this morning when you rolled out of bed. God sees all and therefore He knows who to blame.
Ill<> We had a Youth Ice Cream party one Saturday night @ one of our Senior girl’s house. We all brought our Ice cream makers. That night I forgot my ice cream maker and they told me they would bring it Sunday. The next morning I was standing upstairs in the youth room. It has tented glass that you can see out but can’t see in. I saw the senior girl and her family pull up and as she got out she dropped one the top piece and it broke. I watched her pick the pieces up and put them back into the bucket. I forgot about until I saw my Ice cream maker sitting in my office. There was no note no nothing. I picked it up and sure enough it was broken. That evening I saw her and I asked about my ice cream maker. She said she knew nothing about it and her brother had carried it to my office. I said, that may be true but I saw you get out of the car and drop it. There was dead silence. I told her it was no big deal but wished that she would have just told me. The deal is I saw her do it. She could not push the blame onto anyone else because I watched it happen. God knows the ways of man. When we do something you’d better know that God knows who to blame. WE MAKE OUR OWN DECISIONS (vs. 22) Caught in the cords of his sin. Do you know why we sin? B/c we are sinners. If you go an look into the mirror and stare deep into its reflection you will see the cause of 95% of all the problems you have. YOU. The fact is we make our own decision to sin. God if I wasn’t so busy I would spend time w/ you. God if she wasn’t so beautiful I wouldn’t lust. God if the internet was not so accessible I would not look at porn. God if I had more money I would tithe. God I wouldn’t have been speeding if I wasn’t going to church. God has given us the wonderful ability to choose. We are not robot. We have nothing in common with R2D2. We can decide right or wrong. We can choose to follow God or ourselves. You must realize you and you alone make the decision. TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR ACTIONS CLEARS US (vs. 23) Greatness of his folly he shall go astray. Our folly is when we blame others for what we are responsible for. In this folly we will go astray. We will continue to point blame after blame after blame. We divert attention from ourselves and onto other people. I mentioned Michael Vick earlier. At the beginning he said that he wasn’t guilty or the other guys were doing on his land without him knowing it. This week was a completely different story. What Vick did was wrong but man you got to give it to the guy he stepped up this week. This is a quote from his statement, “I’m disappointed in myself. Dog fighting is a terrible thing and I didn’t reject it. I take full responsibility for my actions, not for one second will I sit here and point the finger and try to blame anybody else for my actions or what I’ve done. Through this situation I’ve found Jesus. I will redeem myself, I have to.” Whether he was sincere or not you have to say to yourself, Vick said what he should have been said. He took responsibility and stopped pointing at others. In my book that cleared Vick. I am now waiting to see if that was heartfelt or just something he had to say. Fact is He said I did it. Saying I did comes with some consequences but also comes with a certain relief. Do you remember being called into the principles office and lined up with four of your other friends. The principle asked, “who did it?” You are standing there knowing that it was you but you are afraid to say anything. You finally take a deep breath and step forward. “It was me, I did it.” All at once consequences come but they are followed by a sweet peace in knowing that you don’t have to point anymore. It is over. WRAP UP Why do we seek to blame others? B/c we want to divert attention? Stay out of trouble? I think it goes deeper than that. We try blame b/c we can’t bear what we have done. In Hebrew Culture they had what they called a scapegoat. In Leviticus it talks about a goat that Aaron confessed all the sins of the children of Israel on the Day Atonement. The goat, symbolically bearing their sins, was then sent into the wilderness. Even then the people knew they could not bear their own sins. Folks we can not bear our sins. Jesus Christ is our answer. We don’t pin the sin on Him but He takes it. We just have to step up and tell him “I did it.” When we confess to Jesus it is a burden that is lifted and we don’t have to blame anymore.
