TITLE: EXCUSE ME, YOUR BUT’S IN THE WAY
SCRIPTURE: HEBREWS 10:24-25
(This is not an original sermon, although I have adapted much for present day delivery)
I want to lift as a thought this morning Excuse me, your but’s in the way. We all have them, they are usually pretty big, though some may be bigger than most, but we all have them. Some are so big that others try to hide behind them. Some of us use them more than others, however they always end up getting in the way.
• But I can’t
• But I’m over 50
• But I don’t have an education
• But I don’t have any money
• But I’m in the wrong job
• But I’m in bad health
• But I’ve been through so much
• But I’m not very Popular
• But I don’t have anything to offer the church
• But, but, But
• My what big buts we have
• Notice how they all start - But I
Let me share something with you, everybody we know has a big but. And more often than not, it’s that one thing that keeps us from living a consistent life for Jesus. Let me expound a little bit. See if you can recognize any of these buts –
• But I have to work more
• But my kids have practice
• But it’s such a beautiful day
• But I’m just not in the mood
• But I deserve a break today
Every kind of ‘But’ interferes with my life of just living an authentic life for God. And more often than not it always has something to do with some sort of BUT. The truth is even the smallest Buts can interfere with our relationship with God. It really can, the littlest BUT can even distract me and get me to think -
• I am not going to Pray today
• I’m not going to think about it today
• I’m not going to deny myself
• I’m not going to read the Bible
• List goes on and on and on
Whatever it is God asks me to do; I seem to have a BUT for it. And the biggest ‘But’ of all time is the ‘But’ that gets in the way of me just hanging out with God and reading His Word. It’s true, think about it. All the times you’re about to open the Bible and all of a sudden a big giant ‘But’ gets in the way.
• But I’m tired
• But I have to get on Facebook
• But I read last night
• But the game is on
• But I don’t like Leviticus
• But I don’t like to read
• But it’s too hot in here
• But I don’t understand it
• But it’s boring
• But what does it have to do with me in the 21st century anyway?
The origin of every excuse is the failure to do something. It was Deion "Prime Time" Sanders, the Football Coach of Jackson State University and former outfielder for the Atlanta Braves and cornerback for the Atlanta Falcons, who grew up on the mean streets of Fort Myers, Fla., where exposure to some would be athletes pushed him to make a success of himself. He explains - "I Call Them Idas.
• If I’da done this - I’d be making three million today
• If I’da practiced a little harder - I’d be a superstar’
• They were as fast as me when they were kids, but instead of working for their dreams they chose drugs and a life of street corners
• When I was young, I had practice; my friends who didn’t went straight to the streets and never left
• That moment after school is the moment we need to grab
• We don’t need any more Idas
• I stopped by to tell you this morning – EXCUSE ME, YOUR BUT’S IN THE WAY
A churchgoer wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday.
• I’ve gone for 30 years now," he wrote," and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons
• But for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them
• So, I think I’m wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all
This started a real controversy in the "letters to the editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this response --
• I’ve been married for 30 years now
• In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals
• But for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals
• But I do know this, They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work
• If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today
• Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!
Oftentimes we simply look for excuses not to attend Church or Church activities throughout the week. We think we are too busy.
• We are busy with our families
• We are busy with our friends
• We are busy with our work
• We are busy with sports
• We are busy volunteering
• We are busy cleaning
• We are busy cooking
• We are busy with vacation
• We are busy sleeping
• We are just busy
• We are just too busy to be bothered by God
• We are too busy to be faithful to His Church
• We are too busy to bother with the ministry of the Church
What if God was just too busy for us? What if he woke up one day and said I’m tired of it all and I want to do something else and left us on our own? What if you found yourself in a desperate situation and needed the Lord’s comfort to rest upon and what if He was too busy to hear you? We can’t do God on our own terms and expect to come out on top.
We must stop making excuses. We perpetuate that lie by saying - “we are only human.” What does that mean anyway? “We are only human.” We use this as our trump card, our catch all. We believe since we are fleshly creatures we are expected to fail, that it is okay for us to be less than we should be. We believe it’s okay when we fail God because He understands that we’re only human.
• We set ourselves up to fail before we even try
Moses did this when God spoke to him from the burning bush. God told Moses in EXODUS 3:10 “SO NOW, GO. I AM SENDING YOU TO PHARAOH TO BRING MY PEOPLE THE ISRAELITES OUT OF EGYPT.” Moses had a lot of ‘Buts’ -
• But who am I that I should go?
• But what if they don’t believe me?
• But what if they don’t listen to me?
Moses didn’t want to leave his comfort zone. He was content where he was and wasn’t out looking for a challenge. Moses, like many of us, like to have things the way we want them. No Change - No Stress - No Effort. People in general enjoy comfortability.
• God does not call us to be people of Comfort
• He calls us to be people of Action
• Our mouths might agree, but we quickly get cozy in our comfort zones, too afraid to reach outside and do something that might be a little uncomfortable or out of the norm
God wants us to serve alongside Him. I CORINTHIANS 3:9 “FOR WE ARE LABOURERS TOGETHER WITH GOD….” He doesn’t want our excuses; He wants our hearts! I am sure He gets frustrated with us at times. We read where God begins to get angry with Moses because of all the ‘Buts.’ He finally chastises Moses and reminds him that God can do anything, all Moses has to do is trust God through the process.
• Can you imagine how things would have turned out if Moses would have ignored God’s call and never went to Pharaoh because he had some ‘Buts?’
• Many of us ignore God as well and we tell Him - we are not good enough - we’re not smart enough - we could never - and we just can’t
• PHILIPPIANS 4:13 -- I CAN DO ALL THIS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME
Let’s deal with that for a moment -- can Christians really "do all things?"
• We can when we realize our strengths and abilities are rooted not in ourselves, but in God
• When we say we can do all things, we’re really saying there is absolutely no limit to what God can accomplish through us when we trust in His Power and Grace
Will you partner with me today and help those who have all kind of excuses why that can’t come to Church? let’s shrink our buts a little today. Let’s make this a no excuse Sunday. I’ll work with the Deacons and others here to thwart off every excuse you can come up with.
• Cots will be placed in the foyer for those who say, "Sunday is my only day to sleep in"
• There will be a special section with lounge chairs for those who feel that our pews are too hard
• Eye drops will be available for those with tired eyes from watching TV late Saturday night
• We will have steel helmets for those who say, "The roof would cave in if I ever came to church"
• Blankets will be furnished for those who think the church is too cold, and fans for those who say it is too hot
• Scorecards will be available for those who wish to list the hypocrites present
• Relatives and friends will be in attendance for those who can’t go to church and cook dinner, too
• We will distribute "Stamp Out Stewardship" buttons for those that feel the church is always asking for money
• One section will be devoted to trees and grass for those who like to seek God in nature
• Doctors and nurses will be in attendance for those who plan to be sick Today
• The sanctuary will be decorated with both Christmas Poinsettias and Easter Lilies for those who never have seen the church without them
• We will provide hearing aids for those who can’t hear the preacher and cotton for those who can!
• And finally, for those waiting for Hell to freeze over, It did just that in February at a little town called Hell in the state of Michigan. The river at the dam in this small town of less than 400 froze completely over after several weeks of below freezing weather – it’s true
I think the biggest excuses for us today have to do with blame. You recall the first sin which happened in the Garden of Eden. God found Adam and Eve hiding because they eat of the forbidden tree. God now calls out to Adam saying “ADAM, WHERE ARE YOU?” He answered, “I HEARD YOU IN THE GARDEN, AND I WAS AFRAID BECAUSE I WAS NAKED; SO I HID.” AND HE SAID, “WHO TOLD YOU THAT YOU WERE NAKED? HAVE YOU EATEN FROM THE TREE THAT I COMMANDED YOU NOT TO EAT FROM?” THE MAN SAID, “THE WOMAN YOU PUT HERE WITH ME — SHE GAVE ME SOME FRUIT FROM THE TREE, AND I ATE IT.”
• First Adam blames God – I didn’t ask for her, I took a nap woke up, side by my ribs hurt a little, I looked up and there she was
• Second Adam blames Eve
• Eve gave me to eat
• Blame is the oldest game and has been around since the beginning
Not much has really changed for us throughout the years, has it? We still want to blame others for our Mistakes - Short Comings - Sin.
• We all have excuses as to why we didn’t do this or that
• We all have excuses for not doing this or that
• And the really funny thing about it is that even though we have a lot of ‘buts’ and we blame a lot of people for it, God knows the truth
Adam tried to pull the wool over God’s eyes. He wanted to place all the blame on Eve for why he was disobedient to God.
• It wasn’t Adam’s fault for him doing something against God, it was Eve’s
• And Eve didn’t take the blame either
• She said “oh no, it was the serpent’s fault not mine, He tempted me to do it”
It seems whenever we fall short of living the life that God desires of us, we have a but as to why we’re not. And placing the ‘But’ on other people and or Satan is simply wrong.
• Don’t get me wrong, I’m not standing up for Satan, however; I am standing on the Word of God on this and taking any power away from Satan that we may be placing on him by saying he is the reason, he is in control
• We give stan power he actually does not have
• I CORINTHIANS 10:13 “THERE HATH NO TEMPTATION TAKEN YOU BUT SUCH AS IS COMMON TO MAN: BUT GOD IS FAITHFUL, WHO WILL NOT SUFFER YOU TO BE TEMPTED ABOVE THAT YE ARE ABLE; BUT WILL WITH THE TEMPTATION ALSO MAKE A WAY TO ESCAPE, THAT YE MAY BE ABLE TO BEAR IT”
It’s true Satan cannot stand us. He sees us as big targets and he wants nothing more than to get us into is hold and take us from God. But he has no power to do so. God’s Word tells us that He will provide a way for us to stand up under it. If we are tempted to do wrong and act on it, it is not the devil who made us do it, it is us.
• JAMES 1:14 “BUT EVERY MAN IS TEMPTED, WHEN HE IS DRAWN AWAY OF HIS OWN LUST, AND ENTICED”
• It is because of us and no one else that we give in
• It is because of us that we SKIP CHURCH - STOP PRAYING - NO LONGER READ HIS WORD
• It is because of us that we DON’T SERVE - DON’T GET INVOLVED - AND NEVER COMMIT TO THE CHURCH
--When we use buts, we are telling God a few things
--We’re telling Him, He is wrong and we’re telling Him no
--We are telling Him that we do not have faith in Him
--We’re telling Him that we do not believe
--We’re telling Him that we are too weak and just not that strong
--EXCUSE ME, YOUR BUT’S IN THE WAY
--God never calls us to do something that we can’t
--He expects us to be obedient to Him and not have any ‘Buts’ about it
--God gets glorified, people benefit and we get blessed when we don’t use buts against God
--That’s why we do what we do
--That’s the Why behind the BUT
--And ultimately that’s the whole point I’m trying to make this morning
--If your BUT is bigger than your why, then EXCUSE ME, YOUR BUT IS IN THE WAY
--We need to shape up spiritually
--Let’s begin a healthier relationship with God this morning and get our ‘Buts’ into shape
--When man says no – But God Says Yes
--The Wages of Sin is Death – But the Gift of God is Eternal Life
--The world says no – “But God” says yes
--The world says can’t – “But God” says you can
--The world says won’t -- But God” says you will
--The world says stop – “But God” says go
--The world says don’t – “But God” says do
--The world says defeat – “But God” says victory!
--If you stuck in defeat today – then EXCUSE ME, YOU BUTS IN THE WAY
