Intro: The following excuses are from a collection of excuses that have actually been turned in at school:
• "Ralph was absent yesterday because he had a sore trout."
• "Please excuse Joyce from P.E. for a few days. Yesterday she fell off a tree and misplaced her hip."
• "Please excuse John from being absent on Jan. 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, and also 33."
• "My son is under the doctor's care and should not take fizical ed. Please execute him."
• "Please excuse Johnnie for being. It was his father's fault."
• "George was absent yesterday because he had a stomach."
• "Please excuse Sara for being absent. She was sick and I had her shot."
• "Please excuse Ray from school. He has very loose vowels."
• “Please excuse Casey from school. It was Take Your Daughter to work day. I don't have a job, so I made her stay home and do housework.”
• Actually received at a high school attendance office: "Johnny was late today because of a shallow gene pool."
• “Please excuse my sister/daughter from school. We told her that her mother is her grandma, her sister is her mother and daddy is still daddy this weekend and she hasn't come out of the bedroom since.”
What do we mean by “excuses”? Where does it come from?
It’s the reason I shouldn’t be held responsible. It’s the way it’s someone else’s fault. It’s me, being relieved of obligation. It’s the reason I shouldn’t be expected to serve, to give, to participate.
I’ve reached the conclusion that excuses are really a symptom. Behind all of them are a few basic causes:
1. fear – I’m afraid of a confrontation, so I begin to make excuses as to why I haven’t made a certain phone call.
2. wrong priorities – I wasn’t very careful with my time – spent it with Fortnite instead of studying for school, so I begin to make excuses for why my homework isn’t done.
3. apathy – Deep down I really don’t want to get involved with someone else’s problems, so I begin to rationalize, to make excuses, for why I’m avoiding them.
Help me out here. Call them out: What are some common excuses you hear in the church culture, when it comes to something that needs to be done?
No time
Can’t afford it
Too tired
They won’t listen
They won’t believe (Your message isn’t good enough, Lord)
I’m not able
Someone else will do it
I already did my time
Excuses aren’t new.
Barak had an excuses: “I won’t go alone!” - Judges 4:8
Gideon had an excuse: “I’m a nobody” - Judges 6:15
Jeremiah had an excuse: “I’m just a kid” - Jeremiah 1:6
Jesus talked about excuses and our relationship to His Kingdom.
Luke 14:16-20
But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’
If you get nothing else from this story, you can at least learn that God doesn’t like excuses. Let’s set the scene by looking together at
Exodus 3:1-10
Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7 Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
This morning, as we take a look into one of the less stellar moments of Moses’ career, we’re looking at his poor example. We’re looking at a moment that displeased God. For God to get His people out of slavery and into freedom, He chose to use a leader. That leader was Moses, and when God contacted him to become the leader, Moses had a list of excuses for why he wasn’t the right person for the job, and God wasn’t overly impressed with them.
In the process of putting Moses on the chopping block here, my prediction is that something’s going to happen. We’re going to see that his excuses may not sound too far out to us because they’re the same kinds of excuses we tend to use ourselves when God calls us to service.
And yes, God has called us to service. No, there’s no burning bush. No, we’re not going to oversee the nation of Israel leaving Egypt. But there’s work to be done. Peoples’ eternity is at stake here. God has prepared good works in advance in order that we should walk in them. So, no matter who you are, God has some calling for you. It might be your next door neighbor. It might be a friend at school. It may be a family member who’s floundering around. It may be every person who works at your job. It may be the whole Rockford city council. It may be a 3 yr old chewing on goldfish crackers in the preschool class. But somewhere, someone is waiting for you to answer God’s call to step forward and speak up for Him.
(Interrupt here) -
Yeah, but, you talk like just anyone should be doing this. I look in the mirror, and I don’t see someone outstanding. I see ordinary. I look around me and I see lots of other people who seem a lot more qualified than me.
It’s interesting that you would say that. That sounds real similar to what Moses said when God first told him He had a job for him to do. “Who am I?”
1. Who Am I? (3:11)
Who am I? That’s actually the right question to be asking. When we look at the task to be done, and then look in the mirror, we ought to ask, “Who am I, Lord, that You’re asking me to do something for You?”
V11 - He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
Who am I? Answer? Basically, you’re nobody! You’re somebody when I am with you. God didn’t say to Moses, “I’ve chosen you because you’re so much better than everyone else!”
John 15:4-5 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
When Moses asked “Who am I?” God replied that He would be with him. That’s what Moses needed to know. God told the same thing to Ezekiel.
Who am I? That’s not the issue. The issue is really “Is God with you or not?”
The next time you find yourself gazing in the mirror and saying that you’re nobody special in the kingdom of God, maybe you need to stop looking at what you see in the mirror and start looking to Heaven. God is calling on you to speak up for Him.
(Interrupt here)
OK, but have you noticed that not everyone knows about Who God is or even believes He exists? In fact, there are plenty of people who laugh at the idea of God. What if people start asking questions about God and how I know He’s real? What about the people who say, “Which God are you talking about? I’ve heard a lot of ideas about God.”
Yes, you’re right, there are a lot of people who really don’t even know Who God is. God’s answer to Moses when he brought this up was simple: tell them!
2. What if They Ask Who You Are? (3:13)
It’s right here that God reveals His personal name to Moses: YHWH – Yahweh. It comes from a being verb, thus the translation: I AM. God is the existing One – the One Who is, Who always was, and Who will always be. Then God details some of what He’s going to do.
So, that’s God’s answer. Let them know they have a personal God in Me. Tell them My name. Tell them about Me. Let them know that I have a plan and that I’m able to carry it out.
I’m thinking that too many Christ-followers are afraid that someone is going to ask them something about God that they won’t be able to answer, so they’re afraid for His name to come up. I mean, what if someone asks you Who God is, what will you do?! God says, Tell them! So, if you need to know Him better to be able to do that, get to know Him better, and then tell them!
(Interrupt here) It’s easy to sit here on Sunday morning and say we should tell people about Jesus, but what about the people who won’t believe? In fact, there are some who won’t even listen, I’ll bet you.
I have to admit, your concerns aren’t new. It may be that someone you talk to about the Lord is skeptical. It may be that they won’t believe you or maybe they won’t even listen.
3. What If They don’t Believe Or Listen to me? (4:1)
I wonder how many times a girl doesn’t get asked out on a date because deep inside of some guys is this terror that they’ll be rejected. What if I ask her and she says “No!”
I wonder how many Christ followers fail to ever mention Jesus to someone for fear that they won’t believe or listen.
So, Moses brought this up as an excuse. “What if they don’t believe me? What if they don’t listen to me?”
God’s answer for Moses was some miracles. This is one of those funny scenes in the Bible. God asks him, “What is that in your hand?” “A rod, a staff, a piece of wood.” “Throw it down.” So he does, and it turns into a snake. Moses is definitely not Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter! He throws it down, it starts to slither, and Moses runs away! Then God sends him back to grab it by the tail. He does it, and it turns into his old walking stick again. It was a miracle! That should help. Then God gives him one more. “Put your hand inside your cloak.” He did, and when he pulled it out, it was all covered with that nasty skin disease leprosy. “Put it back into your cloak.” Oooh! But he did, and when he drew it out, it was as good as new. It was a miracle! What a great trick! Then He gave him a 3rd miracle: Take some water from the Nile, pour it on the ground. It will become blood. That should do it. These were some helps God gave Moses so that people would really believe he had been called by God. God did a similar thing for the Apostles to help confirm their message was truth.
OK. So what do we have? I can’t change a stick into a snake, make myself have leprosy, or turn water into blood.
But, I can point my pre-Christian friend to the way God changes lives. I can take him to the Bible and show him God there. I can share my personal testimony. Even then, lots of people don’t listen. What will I do? What if he doesn’t believe or listen to me?
Well, he apparently already doesn’t believe, so you haven’t changed anything there.
But what difference does it make? What if people won’t listen to you? God says to go do it. Maybe what He has in mind is bigger than the way you picture it. You know, God told Moses that Pharaoh wouldn’t listen. 3:19 “But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him.” In other words, “Pharaoh won’t listen. But you go and tell him anyway.”
Dick Rasanen - “I cannot fill the sanctuary with people, but I can fill the service with purpose. I cannot convince people they are sinners, but I can confess that I am a sinner. I cannot persuade the whole world, but I can proclaim the whole Word.”
Put a tag by this excuse #3 and ask yourself honestly if this isn’t one we use a lot for not telling someone about Jesus. It’s something that’s not really up to you. What’s up to you is that you go and speak in the first place.
(interrupt here)
Talking to other people comes easy for you. You do it for a living. What about the rest of us? Some of us aren’t the most outgoing. Some of us would rather die that speak in front of people. It may be that I just don’t speak well.
OK. Maybe it’s not what you do for a living, but it’s something we all do, isn’t it? In fact, you just spoke in front of a crowd.
4. I Don’t Speak Well (4:10)
Moses said this very thing. He didn’t speak well. In more general terms, Moses was saying he wasn’t equipped to do what God was asking him to do. But it was another excuse. Who gives people the abilities they use? God is the One Who’s in charge of these things. And when has God ever asked someone to do a job without equipping him with what he needs? “You go, I’ll teach you what to say and I’ll help you speak.”
God is still teaching us today what to say. It’s something we can learn.
1 Peter 3:15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect…
You see, there’s a sense in which all of us need to be taught; all of us need to be learning what to say. “I don’t speak well.” If you still struggle with how to share your faith with someone, what are you doing about it? Why haven’t you learned yet how to do that effectively? Do you care about the souls of people around you, or is it someone else’s job to care? Always be prepared. Don’t worry, God’s not going to lead you into something without giving you what you need to be equipped. God taught Moses what to speak, and He has given you and I what to speak as well.
2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
Don’t say you can’t speak well. It’s not your words that people need to hear anyway. Your words are valuable to the degree that they are God’s word.
(Interrupt here) There are lots of other people around. The Church has managed to exist up to this point. Someone else can do it, and the fact that the Church is still around proves it. There are other things I can do, and there are other people who can speak for God.
True, there are a lot of other people around. Look around again, and there are even more other people NOT around. What you’re saying is basically the same thing that Moses finally came to: you don’t want to do it.
5. Someone Else Can Do It (I Don’t Want To) (4:13)
Ill - My mom told how, as a little girl, she once got into trouble, and her father was going to spank her on the couch. There was a lineup of pillows on the couch, and she grabbed one to cover herself, and Grandpa Hoff took it away. She grabbed the next one. He took it and threw it, she grabbed the next one, and she went all the way down the whole line of pillows until there were none left to grab! You can fill it in from there!
That’s kind of where Moses is. God has taken away one excuse after another, until finally Moses’ real motives are beginning to show that the rest was just excuses. His real problem is simple: he just didn’t want to do it. It wasn’t about his personhood; wasn’t about if they asked to know God’s name; wasn’t about who believed or listened; wasn’t about how well he could or couldn’t speak. Either Moses was afraid, or his priorities were mixed up, or he didn’t care enough. And it’s at this point that God is angry with him.
Before it sounds like we should be hard on Moses, I’ll be quick to point out that he was being called to do a tough job. Being a leader is hard work. If only he’d known just how hard it would turn out! Someone has said, “The trouble with being a leader today is that you can't be sure whether people are following you or chasing you.” It’s tough work.
I like God’s answer to Moses. He doesn’t say, “OK, I’ll just send someone else.” He doesn’t say, “No, you go do what I tell you, alone.” He says, “I’m going to send you someone to go with you to do this.” His brother Aaron was already on his way to visit. The 2 of them were going to make a great team: The Amram brothers! Sometimes all we need is a brother alongside us to share the load together.
Conclusion:
So, if you’ve been listening, here’ what will help us put away our excuses: Having our fears set aside, having right priorities, and genuinely loving people and caring for them. Maybe that’s why Jesus didn’t make any excuses for Himself to do less than He needed to do for us. He genuinely loves you.
This morning, I’ve tried to get us to think through some specific thoughts:
1. What’s the need? As you look around you, what needs to be given, what needs to be done, what needs to be stopped, what do you see? What is God setting out in front of you as a need that you can help meet?
2. Do you have an excuse for not doing it?
Is there really something that prevents you from doing it, or are you making an excuse to cover up what’s really stopping you?
3. If it is an excuse, what’s underneath the excuse? What’s the real reason you’re not saying “yes” to the Lord on this today? Deal with that issue, and you’ve saved yourself all the effort of coming up with an excuse.
Once God answered Moses’ excuses, that was it. Moses and Aaron went and did the job. It was never brought up again. Moses never tried to offer God an excuse again. What did it take? It took exposing what’s behind the excuses. It took being honest about why we hesitate to say “Yes” when the Lord is prompting us to answer Him.
What’s your best excuse for not doing something for Jesus?
What if God leveled it today with one shot?
With no excuse left, what would you do? Wow! Imagine what God would be able to do with us!
Today, someone here has been putting off accepting Jesus as their Lord. You’ve managed to convince yourself there are some good reasons not to accept Him yet. Are there really? Or are they excuses that are just a cover up for fear, apathy, or wrong priorities in life? It’s time to put aside the excuses that are keeping you from doing what you should for Him, and to accept Him.
