Introduction:
A. It was Benjamin Franklin who said: “He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else” and I guess I have to agree with him.
B. John Swigert, Jr. had an interesting excuse in 1970. Who is John Swigert, Jr.?
1. John L. Swigert, Jr. was one of the three astronauts aboard the ill-fated Apollo 13 moon mission in 1970.
2. Swigert was originally part of the backup crew for the mission, but was assigned to the mission just 3 days before launch, replacing astronaut Ken Mattingly, because Mattingly had been exposed to German Measles and he had not been immunized against it.
3. Swigert’s last minute substitution interfered with filing his federal income-tax return.
4. On the second day of Apollo 13, April 12, Swigert asked Mission Control to begin work to get him an extension on his filing, giving the excuse that he was a last minute substitution.
5. The IRS didn't have to make a special ruling to grant Swigert a two-month extension because of his “I'm-on-my-way-to-the-moon excuse.”
6. There was already a regulation that provided an automatic extension for anyone out of the country and being on the moon qualified as being out of the country.
C. So some excuses are better than others and boy do we have a lot of them!
1. We have excuses for why we missed school or work.
2. We have excuses for why we are late paying our bills.
3. We have excuses for why we got off our diet and exercise program.
4. We have excuses for why we haven’t been in touch with friends.
D. We also have excuses regarding spiritual things.
1. We have excuses for why we have been missing worship or Bible classes.
2. We have excuses for why we don’t give more money or time or effort to the Lord.
3. We have excuses for why we can’t take on a responsibility like teaching a Bible class or visiting a shut in.
E. Can we agree that most excuses aren’t very good ones?
1. Ultimately, God doesn’t want to hear excuses, rather He wants to hear confessions and resolutions.
2. God wants to see genuine repentance and faithfulness.
F. For a number weeks, we have been studying the life of Moses.
1. Let’s briefly review the story we have covered so far.
2. The people of God, the Israelites are in Egyptian bondage, and for the past 40 years Moses has been a fugitive living in the desert, tending the flocks of Jethro, his father-in-law.
3. While alone with the sheep near Horeb, the mountain of God, Moses saw a bush that was burning, but was not burning up.
4. When Moses approached the bush, God spoke to him saying, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” At this Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. (3:5-6)
5. Then the Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt…I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the land of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, and land flowing with milk and honey…So now, go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” (3:7-10).
G. Today we want to pick up the story with Moses’ response to God’s plan and commission.
1. How do you think Moses should have responded to God’s call?
2. He probably should have responded, “Yes, Sir! Lord, your wish is my command!”
3. But that’s not how Moses responded, and if we are honest that’s probably not how you or I would have responded.
4. So let’s spend some time with the story and learn the lessons God would want to teach us.
I. The Story
A. So how did Moses respond to God’s plan and God’s call?
1. Ultimately, Moses didn’t like God’s plan and he didn’t want to be a part of it.
2. Although Moses was 80 years old, he didn’t feel ready or equipped for the job.
3. And so, like us, Moses offered excuses to God – 5 to be exact.
4. Let’s take a look at the excuses and how God responded to each of them.
B. Excuse #1: “Who Am I?”
1. In Exodus 3:10-11, the Bible says: 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
2. Moses basically said to God: “Lord, you had better double-check your records. I think you have the wrong guy. You don’t want to use me!”
a. Moses had tried to be the deliverer once before and it didn’t work out to well – now he views himself as a failure.
b. Moses saw himself as a nobody - Just an average guy who had been tending sheep for 40 years in the middle of nowhere.
3. But as I have mentioned before – God is in the business in using the failures, and nobodies of the world.
a. Who would have expected that God would choose Jonah for his assignment?
b. Who would have expected that God would chose Gideon for his assignment, or Rahab or Peter?
c. And how about Moses? Would you have chosen a sun-withered, 80 year-old shepherd to face down one of the mightiest kings in the world?
d. But that’s the way God often works.
4. God’s answer to Moses’ excuse is so comforting.
a. The Bible says: 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 will worship God on this mountain.” (3:12)
b. The key to the whole thing is that God will be with Moses.
c. I like the story of the elephant and the mouse who were friends and who crossed a suspension bridge one day. When they got to the other side, the mouse said, “Boy, we really shook that bridge didn’t we?!”
d. I think the elephant did most of the shaking of the bridge, the mouse was just along for the ride! That’s how it is with God and us!
5. God’s presence makes all the difference in the world.
6. God’s presence assures the victorious, safe outcome.
7. God spoke with assurance: “When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain” – no “if’s,” “ands,” or “buts.”
8. In the end, what matters is not who we are, but who is with us. If God is with us, then that’s what makes the difference.
C. Excuse #2: “I Don’t Have All the Answers!”
1. The Bible says: 13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
2. So Moses was saying, “I can’t be your spokesperson, because I won’t have any answers when people start firing questions at me. I mean, I don’t even know your name!”
3. Let me ask you a question before we look at God’s response to this excuse – Have you ever lost respect for someone who replied to your question with the answer, “I just don’t know”?
a. On the other hand, how do we feel about people who act like they know the answer, when they really don’t, and even after being shown they were wrong, won’t admit it?
b. “I don’t know the answer, but I will try to find the answer for you” is a very good response.
4. So, how did God reply to Moses’ excuse? The Bible says: 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.
16 “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’
18 “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.’ 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.
21 “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. 22 Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.” (3:14-22)
5. That is a very long answer to Moses’ excuse! Let’s notice two things about God’s answer.
6. First of all, God answered Moses by revealing His identity.
a. Who is God? He is “I AM WHO I AM.”
b. Does that clarify the issue for you? It probably didn’t for Moses, either.
c. The words “I AM WHO I AM” are the very characters in Hebrew that spell out the name YAHWEH.
d. The word “Yahweh” is the most intimate term for the living Lord in the Hebrew vocabulary.
e. What God is communicating in that name is that I am the only self-existent, infinite Being in all the universe and I am sending you.
f. He is the God who was and is, and will always be.
g. He is the God who continues to be what He has always been.
7. In addition to revealing Himself to Moses, God also gave Moses some assurance.
a. God told Moses that the people would listen to him.
b. God told Moses that Pharaoh would listen to him, not immediately, but eventually.
c. God assured him that the Israelites would be set free and that they would plunder Egypt.
d. All this seemed too good to be true, but this is what God was promising.
8. So you would think that would have sealed the deal for Moses, right?
a. I mean, what else did Moses need to hear?
b. What other excuse could he make? How about 3 more!
D. Excuse #3: “They Won’t Listen to Me!”
1. Unfortunately, Moses was not persuaded by God’s self-disclosure and it’s obvious he wasn’t listening to all that God promised him.
2. God promised that they would listen to him, but moments later Moses came back with “But what if they don’t listen to me?”
3. Like most of us, Moses feared failure and ridicule – He didn’t want to look foolish in front of a bunch of people.
4. The Lord graciously and patiently replied to Moses.
5. The Bible says: 1 Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?”
2 Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. 3 The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.”
Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the LORD said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 “This,” said the LORD, “is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”
6 Then the LORD said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow.
7 “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
8 Then the LORD said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. 9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.” (4:1-9)
6. Moses’ excuses and fears are no match for God.
7. God gave Moses three dramatic, authenticating miracles that could be used to convince the Israelites that God sent him – a serpent from a staff, a leprous hand, and water into blood.
8. Moses was just beginning to understand what God can do and that God was going to work His power through Moses.
9. Surely now Moses was convinced, right? Wrong!
E. Excuse #4: “I’m Not Gifted”
1. The Bible says: 10 Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” (Ex. 4:10)
2. I can imagine Moses saying: “I’ve been keeping company with sheep for 40 years. All I’m good at now is ‘baaa, baaa, baaa.’ That’s about it.”
3. Perhaps you can identify with Moses in this. When you have to speak in public you get scared, your knees knock, your stomach does backflips, and your tongue gets tied.
4. How did God respond? The Bible says: 11 The LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” (Ex. 4:11-12)
5. The God who created the tongue can make it speak when He wants it to.
6. God promised Moses the He would give him the words to speak when he needed the words.
7. Again we have to realize that the power is not in our gifts and talents, but in the God who gives them.
8. God’s not looking for talent, He’s looking for a willing and available servant.
F. Excuse #5: “I Don’t Want to Get Involved.”
1. When God had answered all of Moses excuses, the only thing left for Moses to do was to refuse to go, and that’s what he did – kind of gently and politely.
2. The Bible says: 13 But Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.” (Ex. 4:13)
3. At this point, God was getting frustrated, the Bible says: 14 Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. 15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. 17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it.” (Ex. 4:14-17)
4. If you were God wouldn’t you have been frustrated? After all, what more could Moses want. God had revealed his personal name, had promised to be with him, to perform miraculous signs through him, and to tell him what to say- but Moses refused.
5. God didn’t let Moses off the hook, but he did agree to send someone with Moses. Aaron, Moses’ brother would accompany him and be his spokesman.
6. This compromise was less than the best, and unfortunately, Aaron would prove to be an albatross around Moses’ neck.
7. One commentator said, “When God in His anger gives us what we selfishly want, that gift rarely turns out to be a blessing. One of the most painful judgments God can send is to let His people have their own way.”
II. The Application
A. So, what can we learn from Moses’ response to God’s call and God’s response to Moses’ reluctance?
1. First, we learn something of God’s patience.
a. God understood the gravity of this call and the fear and concern of Moses.
b. We see that God was willing to answer Moses’ questions and try to relieve his concerns.
c. Certainly God got a little frustrated there at the end, but he worked with Moses until Moses was ready.
d. Thank God that He is patient with us!
2. Second, we learn that Moses is a lot like you and me.
a. He was afraid of many things surrounding this assignment, and rightly so.
b. He wondered “why me?” and “isn’t there somebody more suited for this job?”
c. But in the end he learned that he had to simply put his trust in the Lord.
d. If God wanted him to go and would go with him, then it would all work out as God wished.
3. Third, we learn that when serving the Lord, we must trust in the Lord and not ourselves.
a. Look at what God promised Moses – God’s presence, power and provision.
b. Can we expect any less from God?
c. God will be with us – He will provide and empower.
4. Finally, we learn that all of us are called by God.
a. God calls us into a saving relationship with him.
b. God calls us to become godly servants of the Lord – the types of our service may be unique – based upon many factors, but we are all called to serve.
c. Let’s allow God to help us overcome our reluctance and our excuses so that we can become God’s faithful followers and leaders.
Resources:
Moses: A Man of Selfless Dedication, by Charles Swindoll, Word Publishing, 1999
What’s Your Excuse? Article by Daniel R. Mitchum, Kindred Spirit, Winter 1990
