“I’m Out of Peanut Butter”
“But Caleb tried to encourage the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said.” We can certainly conquer it!” But the other men who had explored the land with him answered, “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” Numbers 13:30-31 NLT
Intro: We produced power point slides with the Family Feud television game show theme surveying one hundred people, “What excuse might you give for not showing up at church?” Top five answers are on the board: 1. Temperature too hot or too cold. 2. Didn’t have right clothes to wear. 3. Overslept. 4. Worship/Preaching too loud or too soft, (then take three wrong answers from the audience, each time having the crowd say “good answer, good answer but follow with one, two, three strikes.” Then present the title of the sermon. 5. “I’m Out of Peanut Butter” as the fifth and final answer. (Have fun with it.)
People will come up with all kinds of excuses for not showing up at church or following the Lord. Today as we celebrate “No Excuse Sunday” the title of today’s sermon is “I’m Out of Peanut Butter.” I want us to think about antonyms or the opposite of making excuses. So we begin with a bible story.
Once upon a time God told Moses to send out men to explore the land of Canaan which God had already promised to give to Israel. So Moses sent out twelve men. One from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Moses gave them instructions. He told them to go northward through the region of Palestine. To see what the land is like and find out whether the people living there are strong or weak. To count how many warriors they saw. To notice how strong the city walls are or if they are unprotected. To take samples of the soil if it is good for farming or not. To count the trees for lumber. He told them to enter the land boldly and bring back samples of the harvest crops.
After exploring the land for forty days. (I want you to remember the number 40 days we will come back to that at the end of the sermon.) After 40 days the men returned to Moses and gave their report before Aaron and the whole community of Israel. Here is there report: We arrived in the land you sent us to see. It is a land of milk and honey. Reports of hills filled with figs and nuts and fruits. They presented Moses with a cluster of grapes so large that it took two men to carry it in on a pole. The land is magnificent. It was the land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Then came the bad news. The people living there are powerful. Their city walls are thick and heavily fortified with large stones and guards stationed on top. They also saw the sons of Anak the giants living there. Since Goliath was from the land of Palestine he may have been a descendent from these people. Then there the Amalekites, who later become the first army to attack Israel. The Hittites and Jebusites who later control Jerusalem before David. The Amorites living in the strategic hill country. All formidable and fearsome people. So the scouting report to Moses was “we cannot go up against them! They are stronger than we are!”
The leaders from the twelve tribes spread discouraging reports. The enemy is too big. The wall is too tall. Their armor is too thick. But God had promised them this land when they left Egypt. Yet, they made every excuse as to why they should not go up into the Promise Land of Canaan. Except for two of the leaders named Caleb and Joshua. Caleb has a different attitude. His report is positive. “Because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it” Numbers 14:24 What excuses are you making? Do you have a different attitude, a positive attitude? Do you have a different spirit that follows the Lord wholeheartedly?
Life has lots of choices…, lots of options…, lots of roads you can turn on to. Some of the steps we take might need a second look. The easiest choice isn’t always the right choice. Jesus said, “if someone ask for your shirt give him your coat also. If someone ask for you to walk with them a mile go with them two miles. Then he says one of the hardest things. If someone strikes you on the face, turn and offer them the other cheek.” Luke 6:29 None of us can do these things without the help of the Holy Spirit. This is why we have to surround ourselves with people who are encouragers instead of discourages. We have to be in a church place where the attitudes are positive instead of negative all the time. If you want this you yourself have to become an encourager and be positive. The discouraging reports from the other scouts about the land began to spread among the Israelites. The land we explored will swallow us up. All the enemies we saw were huge. We are small like grasshoppers next to them.
The voices of the people began to rise up against the leaders Moses and Aaron. We wish we had died in Egypt rather than taking us into a country to die in battle. Our family and children will be carried off as slaves. So the people began to plot among themselves. Let’s choose a new leader and go back to Egypt. God knew that people would not always see things alike. God knows human nature. He created us. That is why He teaches us these lessons in the bible.
People in your church will not always agree. There will be differences of opinion…, tension and struggles. Sometimes you will be tempted make excuses for not coming to church. What is your favorite excuse temptation?
Now let’s look at some antonyms or the opposites of making excuses. Reinhold Niebuhr an American Theologian wrote: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference. The serenity prayer is about the opposite of making excuses. It is about tranquility and peace that comes through accepting and allowing the truth about our own human limitations and condition. Instead of making excuses we face up to and meet the challenges head on. God deliver us from making excuses. God save us from overlooking the poor…, the lost…, the broken…, the wounded…, the hunger, the hurting, Because we didn’t like the hymn…, the sermon was too long…, or the sermon was too short.
Excuses, excuses, you'll hear them every day.
And the Devil he'll supply them if the church you stay away.
When people come to know the Lord, the Devil always loses
So to keep them away from church, he offers them excuses.
So to keep them away from church, he offers them excuses.
There are websites that will come up with excuses for you for a price. I have an idea. Let’s spend less time and energy making excuses and more effort and focus on winning the lost for Christ. Here is an original Bruce Lee quote: (write it down and commit it to memory) “One day of making excuses is longer than a month of working to build the Kingdom of God.”
Let’s do something better with our life. Numbers 14:10 says, “The whole community began to talk about stoning Joshua and Caleb.”Talk about shooting the messengers. They wanted to kill Joshua and Caleb for bringing Good News.
“Then the glory of the Lord showed up in the Temple and appeared unto all the Israelites.” Now you would think that this would be a breakthrough. God showing up can be either a blessing or a judgment. In this case it was a judgment. The children of Israel lacked trust at the crossing of the Red Sea. Next they complained about being thirsty, then they complained about the water tasting bitter in a place they called Marah. They complained about the food. They then complained about collecting the daily of manna and quail God had provided. Instead of trusting God for their daily bread they tried to collect enough to last all week and it turned to worms. But when they collected twice enough on the day before the Sabbath it lasted. They began to worship the golden calf. Again and again the Israelites failed to trust in God. Do we trust God in both the little things in life and the big things? Do we trust him daily? Or do we just trust him when it is convenient? Do we trust him both when it is easy to trust and when it is hard to trust? Are we any different?
Or do we make excuses. It is too hot. It is too cold. They were not friendly enough. They were too friendly…, someone might even try to hug you.
You can even use the excuse “I’m Out of Peanut Butter.” Why not use that as your excuse. Isn’t that just as good as any other excuse we make up? Turn to someone right now and ask them Next Sunday are you going to be out of Peanut Butter?
You can come up with whatever excuse you want to. You can come up with as many reasons to stay at home as you want.
I can come up with lots of good reasons to come to church. One of the best reasons to come to church is that is the old rugged cross. There is a hand with a nail print reaching down from heaven to you. There is hope for you because of it.
We are told the people under Moses who were disobedient and refused to accept the report of Caleb and Joshua concerning the Promise Land and led the revolt against them perished in the wilderness and none of them were permitted to go into the Land of Canaan. Only Caleb and Joshua lived to enter the land of Milk and Honey that had talked about.
Christians you have the promise of Gods favor. We have heaven to look forward to entering. But when we stand before God in judgment and he asks why did you not accept and believe in my Son Jesus there want be an excuse good enough to not answer.
The children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. You might think that they had a long journey to the Promise Land. But the whole time they were really only a few miles away from the boarders of Canaan Land. But because they lacked faith. Because they did not trust. Because they made excuses. (Remember I told you at the beginning of the sermon to remember the number 40 days and that we would come back to that at the end of the sermon.) Numbers 14:34 says, Because the men who explored the land were there for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years—a year for each day, suffering the consequences of your sins.
Friends I would not want the same consequences. I don’t want a year away from God for every day I make excuses. The bible says in Number 14:36-37 “The ten scouts who had rebelled against the Lord and had spread the discouraging reports about the land were struck with a plague and died. Only Joshua and Caleb remained alive of the twelve.”
Over 2 Million Israelites walked out of slavery in Egypt under Moses. Think about an entire generation of people dying just a few feet from the Promised Land. Yet it is happening around us today.
The cost of obedience is nothing when compared with the cost of disobedience. We need to be very careful which one they choose. Although we often say, “we can’t…, what we are saying is I will not. Is your excuse “I can’t” or “I won’t?” Why not make the decision today. “I can and I will.” Let us face facts when we refuse to follow the Lord, it is because we chose not to. The sooner we accept the truth the sooner we can make a change.
That means we have to start involving God in our plans. A pastor was planning a vacation with his family. They were going to travel from Kentucky cross country to the Rock Mountains. They were going to spend two weeks taking their time site seeing along the three thousand four hundred mile round trip. His son Matt was only eleven years old. Matt came running into the family room with a map. His was so excited. His face was aglow. He had marked on the map six different places for them to stop and worship along the way. Two places for Sunday mornings. Two places for Sunday night. Two places for Wednesday evening.
What do you think would happen if we let God into our plans? Where would God take us if we gave him full control of the map? What do you think will happen when we stop making excuses? I am convinced God will take us into the Promise Land. Come lay your excuses on the altar.
