Finger Pointing
Finger pointing, the act of pointing out others faults or to place blame on someone else. This is nothing new to our society, and started out in the Garden of Eden, where Eve blamed the snake for tricking her, then Adam blamed God for giving her the woman who caused him to disobey God. Finger pointing goes by another term that I learned from my mother…it is also known as the “blame game.” I remember this term when I tried to blame someone else for something I clearly did, but she told me that we are not going to play the blame game here. At the time I was not thinking that it was a game, because for me it was life or death, because my mom did not play.
As I mentioned before, the blame game started back at the beginning of time and to date we have all played it, admittedly some of us play it a lot more than others. Some of us do it or did it for personal deflection…to save your own skin, and some do it or did it for fun, just to get someone else in trouble. The point is that it involves blaming everything and everyone else for what is transpiring in your own life.
Now God has a very interesting perspective on all of this in His Word, because He makes it very clear to us – that He doesn’t like finger pointing, and He does not deal with the blame game because He just promises to hold every single one of us accountable for our own life choices and decisions.
The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, “What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge’? "As I live,” says the Lord God, “you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel." “Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die."
Ezekiel 18:1-4
The Word of God is so interesting, that it covers everything under the sun, including that of the blame game, which He likens to that of sour grapes.
Ezekiel is a prophet; someone Who hears from God and is then responsible to relay that message to a person or persons God directs him to. In our scripture Ezekiel makes it clear that this is a message from God directed to the Children of Israel and us.
In this message God points out a proverb that was used and is still being used today, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge’?
This is what they were saying, “Our parents and our forefathers have done wrong and now we are the ones who are made to pay. Its everyone else’s fault, everyone else has done this to me. Life just isn’t fair and why should I be made to pay for someone else’s mistakes!” This is finger pointing at its best, the blame game played right. Someone else has done wrong – and now I am made to suffer for it! God knew exactly what the people were trying to say, and He wasn’t having any part of it! We know this because He said that you were no longer going to use that proverb. Now that did not mean that they could not say it again…what it meant was that God will not accept it for our own ill behavior, because they were merely trying to shed all accountability for their own actions and deflect all burden of responsibility onto others. “Lord it was them – not me!” “Hey, we didn’t cause all this hardship in our lives – they did!” “Our Fathers are the ones who ate sour grapes, and now our teeth are set on edge!” “It’s not fair that we have been left with this sour taste in our mouths.”
Because I am a helpful kind of guy, I’m going to hip you folks on ways to eliminate finger pointing and bowing out of the blame game, because God is going to hit home several very hard truths, and these truths we need to know and understand all the same. So, here is the first truth.
Truth #1: Take Responsibility for your Actions!
Have you ever met someone with this kind of mentality? “I am not responsible for my life because they are the ones who have done this to me, I mean clearly it is everybody else’s fault and the blame should be levelled at them accordingly.”
Often, people who see things this way have a very warped and twisted view of reality. For example: (tell story of hostages or kidnappers)
Don’t assume to take responsibility for everyone else because at the end of the day – you can only be responsible for you. Look - God knows exactly what’s going on – nothing gets by Him. He knows our hearts - and He knows exactly who’s to blame. God just keeps it real…and He makes it simple for us all, He says you just take responsibility for your actions, your choices, and your life, and I will take responsibility for everyone and everything else! In verse 3 of our opening scripture, God says that you will not use that proverb anymore. In essence, what God is says is “enough excuses, you don’t get to play the blame game with me because I know what’s what and who’s who. God then puts it bluntly in verse 4: “The soul who sins shall die.” When I look at that verse, I see the scariest period at the end of that sentence. It is scary because it is a statement of fact, no ambiguity, no wiggle-room, and no guesswork…boom, He knows you and He will deal with you. In other words – those that are to be blamed – will be judged. So, there is no point in blaming others because God knows what you did and when you take responsibility you have the opportunity for forgiveness.
Truth #2: We are all Guilty!
Here is a truth that most of us find hard to swallow, because I’m a good person; the things I’ve done are not as bad as what you did or do. Honestly, it really bothers me when people point fingers at other’s faults so that their faults don’t seem so bad. But the reality is, regardless of your finger pointing, you are still guilty of your deeds, the finger pointing my have helped you with how society views you or even how it may help you deluded mind, but in your standing before God it may have added a penalty point. You see this was the ultimate consequence for all who transgressed God’s Law under the OT – the penalty was “death”. The problem is – no one can keep God’s perfect law because we are all sinners! Some of us may know the passages from the book of Romans: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” in Romans 3:23 and “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In Romans 6:23. James says, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” In James 2:10.
It doesn’t matter if you have sinned a little or have sinned a lot, point is – every single one of us have transgressed God’s law at some point and consequently – we are all guilty and worthy death. Folks none of us can ever even come close to living up to God’s perfect standards or to upholding His Holy law in our lives, and therefore finger pointing is never going to work with God. Thankfully God has never been interested in condemning us - but rather in saving us. In fact, He has only ever wanted to spare us from the consequences of our sins through Jesus Christ. Amen!
Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us,
2 Corinthians 1:9-10
God has never been interested in condemning us to death because he has only ever wanted to liberate through eternal life.
Truth #3: Finger Pointing Only Leads to Stone Throwing
Here’s the third hard hit truth we need to acknowledge today, because stone throwing never has a good outcome. In fact, under the OT Law – those that were Blamed and found guilty were stoned to death. Now sin always has consequences – and God Judges sin. But His desire has never been to condemn. God is not interested in stone throwing.
Ironically, the only person really qualified to throw the first stone in the blame and condemnation of others - never did! Remember the account we are given in John chapter 8, when the Scribes and the Pharisees brought before Jesus a woman guilty of breaking God’s law – we are told:
they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”
John 8:4-5
But isn’t it interesting how He answers – because He said: “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” “Ok – you want to finger point?” – Jesus says whoever is sinless and guiltless in all aspects of their life – let him cast the first stone, whoever among you has never breached God’s holy law let that person be the one to pass judgement. So, here is what happened when the finger of Jesus was pointed at them.
Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
John 8:9-11
Notice here how Jesus puts all the onus back onto the individuals for their own conduct. He sought to hold them responsible for their own actions and decisions. You see, Jesus has never been interested in the blame game just as He is not particularly interested in our condemnation of others. He is interested in what we do with our lives individually, and He does not need us to help Him figure out who is to blame.
Truth #4: You Will be Judged
These truths are getting harder and harder right! Well, luckily, we are at the last truth for today. So far, God says - Take Responsibility for Your Actions…Because We Are All Guilty…and your Finger Pointing Only Leads to Stone Throwing. With the conclusion to all of it being that you will be judged for your actions, regardless of how many times you tried to absolve yourself of your sinful activities.
Back to our opening text… “The soul who sins shall die.” In other words, in God’s eyes - the person who sins are ultimately the person who will bear the responsibility of that sin, regardless of your finger pointing. Case in point – you are accountable, and you are responsible for the way you live your life- not everybody else, not your parents, not your forefathers, not your friends, not your family.
Throughout the rest of the chapter of Ezekiel 18, God makes this one point painstakingly clear, we are the ones responsible and accountable for our own lives, just as everyone else will be held responsible for theirs. My mom made this point clear to me a well: no one can stop me from getting to where I need to be, and no one can make me do something I do not want to do…and so, there is no one to blame but myself when I don’t make it, nor is there anyone else to blame when I decide to do something wrong just because you suggested it, those things are on me and me only, and those things I will be judged for. Since God will stand as supreme judge overall – there is really no need for blame. It just boils down to just a pressing need for every man and women to do what’s right knowing that we ourselves will one day be judged. And folks I must tell you something – at the end of the day the only finger pointing that will matter is the judgement that you receive from God.
Now, to kind of tie this up and show you that God really does not deal with the blame game, let’s look at verse 20 of Ezekiel 18.
The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
God says “I will hold everyone equally accountable for how they live their lives, and everyone will one day be judged accordingly by me so there is no need for blame to be handed out by you!
Now look at verse 25 of Ezekiel 18.
Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair?
God says: “The problem here is not my inability to judge between right and wrong – it’s yours. You think you are qualified to condemn others before me? All you want to do is blame your life circumstances on everyone else really - sounds like a whole bunch of sour grapes to me – and you’re the one choosing to eat them. As I live,” says the Lord God, “you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel.”
God says to cut it out and stop the finger pointing – take responsibility for your actions and don’t play the blame game with me – because one day you too will be judged.”
A Solid Biblical Truth
Folks we need to understand that these scriptures from Ezekiel 18 are not some obscure truth that is only seen in the Bible once, that is only taught once in the book of Ezekiel. Oh No – these hard truths are taught repeatedly in the Scriptures for any of us with a heart to see it. But please don’t take my word for it – let’s look at what God has to say. As is so frequently the case – there is just so much Scripture to look at,
Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.
Deuteronomy 24:16
As it the theme throughout this message, you’re accountable and responsible for your own life and actions, and your finger pointing will not alter the life of another before God. You will not be held accountable for what other people do or say about you, you will be held accountable for what you do.
Following is a scripture illustrates the concept of owning up to one’s mistake, and it is by a man who did nothing wrong.
And if indeed I have erred, My error remains with me.
Job 19:4
Job says – “Look If I have got some things wrong then that error rests with me, and me alone – not everyone else.”
We need to take ownership for our actions just like that, because it is about you and what you’ve done. There will not be a chance for you to huddle together with others to get your stories straight, because everyone of us is going to give account of Himself to God. You’re not going to be giving an account of everyone else or for someone else. It’s about you and what you’ve done.
From this day forward - let us all learn to live our lives according to God's plan and purpose without Sour Grapes, and just say no to the blame game.
