I love You Lord, but...
Luke 14:15-33
Many profess to love the lord but with reservations. Their mantra is “I love you Lord but...” Excuses arise when they are called to follow Jesus Christ in sacrificial discipleship, to commit to having a consistent walk and witness as a child of God, to faithfully be present both in worship and service to the Lord, or to live separated holy lives. Excuse making is nothing new. Our Lord deals with this matter in the parable of the Great Supper where we have three who said “Yes...but”.
I. The Invitation and the Response.
A. Luke 14:16 The Great Banquet –
1. Banquets in the ancient world were often held to mark some transition or change in a person’s life (e.g. the returning prodigal) or of the relationship between individuals (e.g. the marriage supper for the king’s son in Matthew 22)
2. Invitations would go out. Those who accepted the invitation were then counted. The feast was prepared based on the number of people who accepted the invitation. Simply the more people coming, the more food had to be prepared. Both the amount and type of meat prepared would depend on how many accepted the invitation.
3. To accept an invitation and then to back out at the last minute would be rude. The invited guest was obliged socially and morally to attend the banquet.
B. Luke 14:17 - The second invitation
1. After the meal was prepared based on the number of acceptances a second invitation would go out telling everyone to come for everything was ready.
2. Matthew 22:4 “Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”’
3. To refuse to come once the invitation had been accepted was and is not only rude and insulting but places a financial burden on the host.
C. Luke 14:18 – “they all alike began to make excuses.”
1. There is a difference between a reason and an excuse. The main distinguishing characteristic between a reason and an excuse is the issue of responsibility. An excuse is an attempt to evade full accountability for something that you did or didn't do. A reason, on the other hand, is an explanation for one’s action.
2. Someone has said, “The heart has its reasons but the mind makes the excuses.”
3. Billy Sunday called excuses, “the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie”.
D. A Trio of Excuses Luke 14:18-20
1. But they all with one accord began to make excuses: While the excuses are different, the reasons really all the same
2. Excuse 1 - Luke 14:18 – Materialism
a) One is concerned with material things . He just bought a field. This is either a bold lie since no one in the middle east without examining and knowing all about the property. What he was saying in no uncertain terms the material possessions he had were more important to him than his relationship with the host.
b) Matthew 6:19 - Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
c) When John Stuart and his family first came over from Scotland, our family brought many cherished personal belongings that reminded them of the "auld country". Amongst these treasures was an old hickory-shafted putter that he had owned since he was a child. he bought it at a flea market for about five shillings. Whenever and wherever he played golf, he took the putter with him. He was much too busy to play golf on a regular basis when he arrived in North America, so eventually he stored his golf clubs in the shed at the bottom of the garden. He thought they would be safe there, because He kept them under lock and key. Several years passed by, and then he was invited to take part in a golf tournament for a local mission. The organizers were trying to raise money for homeless people. he suggested that they could put up his Scottish putter, which had been hand-made in St. Andrews, as a special prize. They were delighted with the offer, for they believed it would help raise a lot of money. He went back to the shed and unlocked the door. he looked for the putter in the golf bag, but it wasn't there. He turned the bag upside down, and suddenly the steel head of the putter clanged on the ground. The hickory staff had been completely eaten by termites. His cherished Scottish putter was no more! Jesus cautions them about setting our hearts on material things, which will eventually rust and decay. They have no eternal value, whereas life with Him is everlasting. That's where our real treasure lies, and if we cherish God's kingdom while we live here on earth, we will have riches above and beyond all that we can ever own or compare. – adapted from John Stuart traqair@aol.com
d) Matthew 6:19-20, 33 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal… But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”
e) This excuse is one of personal desires. I love you Lord but I want… or I want to…
3. Excuse 2 - Luke 14:19 – Work or Busyness
a) 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out
b) Teams of oxen are sold in the Middle East in two ways. They are taken to the market place and a nearby field, and there they plow the field. Anyone wishing to buy may then drive the oxen himself and examine the animals thoroughly to see if they work well as a team. Or the owner of the team announces that the team is for sale and say what day the team will be working in the field. Prospective buyers can then come to the field, watch, examine, and test them for themselves. Only after the team is examined thoroughly is a price discussed. - copied
c) He was too busy with running his farm to stop and attend the supper. He was more concerned with his business and his busyness than his relationship with the host. His excuse was probably a lie though as Anybody who buys ten oxen without first testing them is not the smartest. Everything else was more important than his concerns for his host. Again like the first individual he was insulting and rude to the host.
d) I would but I have so much on my plate. I’m just too busy with… “If you’re too busy for God, it’s real simple: You’re too busy, because you’re putting everything else in front of the number one commandment — love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.” – R. Warren
4. Excuse 3 - Luke 14:20 – Family
a) 'I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.'
b) While one could suppose there was no reason a newly-wed could not bring his wife, the excuse is presented as matter-of-fact, “…and therefore I cannot come.” It would be crude and unbecoming to use his new marriage as an excuse. Unlike the other two, this man does not even ask to be excused, but rudely announces that he is not coming. They were not ready to make the sacrifices involved
c) I would but my wife…I would but my husband…I would but my children…I would but…
d) When we put our family above the Lord, we have said, in effect, that they are more important to us than the Son of God - the one who died a horrible death on the cross for our sins.
e) Eli in 1 Samuel 2 gives us a prime example of what God thinks about making family a priority. We read in 1 Samuel 2:29 God’s charge against Eli, “You have honored your sons more than Me.” When his own sons dishonored the Lord, Eli would not restrain them For this, his sons would die and his lineage would be cut off.
II. The Reason behind the Excuses
A. While all the excuses were different they really were all the same - the Scriptures tells us they all with one accord began to make excuses.
B. Someone has said “Excuses are made. They are fashioned for convenience, and are clung to in desperation.”
C. Understand that these were excuses not reasons; they were insults. Their rejection of the invitation revealed their lack of respect for the host.
D. These excuse makers condemn themselves; their excuses are only a thin veil hiding the fact that they do not want to come. “Back of an excuse is a lack of desire.” (Morgan) There is no rational reason why someone would not want to be part of this feast; they just don’t want to. – Dave Guzik
E. There are a lot of Christians who make excuses for not living for the Lord who say I love you Lord but…, but the reason is that they just don’t want to…
F. Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”
G. No interest, no love, not even family loyalties, nor my own life should be placed before living for Christ and being His disciple.
H. The early church father Jerome said, “If Christ should bid me go this way, and my mother did hang about my neck to draw me another; and my father were in my way, bowing at my knees with tears entreating me not to go; and my children plucking at my skirts should seek to pull me the other way, I must unclasp my mother, I must push to the very ground my father, and put aside my children, for I must follow Christ!” – Spurgeon
I. Some people say they love the Lord but want to hang on to the world of sinful activities. They believe that putting sin out of their life is not important, as long as you love the Lord. - John 14:15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”
1. “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15)
2. “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
J. Some people say they love the Lord but want to still pursue their own selfish desires.
1. The health and wealth preachers declare “The Lord loves you and wants you to be happy. He wants to give you your heart’s desires.
2. Jeremiah 17:9 says are heart’s are deceitful and desperately wicked.
3. If a person truly loves the Lord, then that person will desire to make any and all changes necessary to please the Lord.
K. There are many, many people who say they love the Lord. But their actions and attitudes of many scream out that the reality is that not only do they not love the Lord but that they do not know the Lord. Matthew 7:22-23 tells us that many will say "Lord, Lord " who in reality do not know Christ let alone love Him..
L. Matthew 22:37 “Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’”
