Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

This week's message is from ACC's Youth/Worship Minister Brian Morrissey

When I was young, my mother and father enrolled me in Cub Scouts. One of the things I enjoyed most about scouts was the time I got to spend with my dad on projects that we would do and the times we would go camping.

I was very eager when the time came to graduate from cub scouts to Boy scouts. I was excited. This was where the big boys hung out. I was on my way. Well, almost. There was one obstacle that stood in the way of ascending the scouting ladder, and that was the annual Boy Scout Jamboree – a full week away from home at camp. I figured, no sweat. I’ll be fine. I love camping. And then, the boom was lowered. Dad wasn’t going with me.

I remember exactly what happened before I left. Dad bought me a brand new camping pack and a sleeping bag, and my mother, tears streaming down her face, kissed me goodbye as I boarded the bus for the trip. I arrived and met my bunkmate who I would be sharing a tent with for the week, and we were having a great time.

Then, nighttime hit, and I couldn’t go to sleep because I suddenly realized that I was all alone. Homesickness hit me like a giant fist to the gut and I broke out in a cold sweat. I somehow managed to shiver through the night, and in the morning, my stomach had knotted up inside of me, and I just wanted to be home with my family.

I alerted my scoutmaster and together, we hiked toward the nurse’s cabin, where I proceeded to lay in a cot and clutch my stomach, whining and begging the nurse to call my parents and have them come and rescue me. After three hours of this and several conversations with my scoutmaster, the nurse, and the dean of the camp, I convinced them to call my parents. I was going to go home.

The nurse got a hold of my mother on the first try and she talked to her for several minutes. Then, the nurse looked at me and handed me the phone, saying, “it’s for you.” I immediately shot up and grabbed the phone and sobbed, Mom, please come get me. But the voice I heard on the other end of the line wasn’t my mom. It was my father.

He explained to me that they were not going to come and get me, that I was to stay right there at scout camp. I whined about how my stomach hurt, that my mess kit had been lost, that my bunkmate snored too loud, that I couldn’t sleep with the forest animals rustling outside my tent. He just wouldn’t listen to my reasoning.

I proceeded to throw every excuse I could think of at my father for him to come and get me, through a tear stained sobbing voice, and when I was done, I heard silence for two seconds before he finally responded, “Brian, your mother and I love you very much and that is why we cannot come and get you. You will stay right there at summer camp and you will obey your scoutmaster and spend time with the other kids. We will see you on Saturday when you get back. I love you,” and he hung up the phone.

What I realized many years later is that he was attempting to teach me independence. He was helping me to grow up and detach from the nest. He was not listening to any of my excuses because he knew what was best for me and firmly, but lovingly reiterated to me that I was to obey his commands.

Today we’re going to talk about the excuses we throw at God and His loving reiterations to us about how to obey his commands. Excuses are everywhere aren’t they? We all make excuses as to why we can’t do what we’re supposed to do. We figure that making an excuse will get us out of work that we either don’t feel qualified to do or are just to lazy to do. Excuses are alive and well in politics, in Hollywood, in the lyrics of the music we listen to, they’re at and in our jobs, and especially, especially in the church.

I think I’ve encountered more excuses since I became a pastor then I ever have in my entire life. People give excuse after excuse for why they won’t give their lives to Christ, or why they won’t reach out to their neighbors, or why they won’t serve in the church, because of one fact: they simply don’t want to put in the effort. They don’t want to do what they’re being called to do.

When Jesus was getting ready to ascend into heaven after His resurrection, he left his disciples with a pretty strong commandment. In fact, it was so strong that it became their mission.

He said this, All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the very end of the age.

Now, where would the church be today if the disciples had come up with excuses right then and there? What if Peter had looked Jesus in the eye and said, Jesus, I just don’t feel like I’m up to the challenge. I have this job of fishing on the side and I have to be at Aunt Martha’s house on Saturday night during the youth service and I’ve got 50-yard line seats at the Coliseum this week, so I can’t help teach my class. My neighbors really don’t like me, so I don’t think they’d accept your teachings and I’m kind of embarrassed to talk about you anyway, so thanks, but no thanks.

Church, let me tell you, Jesus was not making a request that we try and do something. These last words He spoke on this earth were not mere suggestions. He was commanding each and every one of us to fulfill what he said. Yet we have the nerve to look at Him and say, “But God I don’t feel qualified, I’m just not up to it. Someone else will do it…..”

Those are excuses, and God’s heard them all before. Actually, before we ever used them, He heard them from a pretty famous guy and I think he’s a guy we can all learn a whole lot from in scripture. His name is Moses and he was the man God chose to complete one of the greatest tasks in history – Leading God’s people to the Promised Land. You can read the story of Moses in Exodus Chapters 1 & 2, but today we’re focusing on one story of his life. One day, Moses was tending his flock of sheep on the side of a Mount Sinai when he saw something incredible.

It was a bush that was completely surrounded and consumed with fire, but it wasn’t burning up. Imagine this scene for a moment. Moses looks at it for a while and then a voice comes out of the bush and starts calling his name, “Moses, Moses.” Now, I don’t know how you would react, but I would start looking for a place to hide.

So, Moses kind of freaks out at this point and he manages to sputter out the words, “Here I am.” The voice tells him that he is God and instructs Moses to take of his sandals because he’s standing on holy ground. The ground wasn’t holy, but the presence of the Lord made it holy. God makes things holy, just because of His presence.

At this point, God begins to describe his perfect plan to Moses. He tells Moses that he has seen the oppression of the people in Egypt and their suffering and that He has a plan to rescue and deliver them from their oppression which will ultimately lead them to the promised land, and Moses is nodding his head and it’s awesome, and Moses is fired up and then God drops the bomb on him, If you have your Bibles, open them up, and let’s pick it up in verse 10 of Exodus Chapter 3.

God says, “Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.” Can you imagine the shock on Moses’ face? God says, “I’m going to do all of this and it’s going to be through you.” My first reaction would probably have been, “Say what?” “Come again?” God, I must have misheard you, I thought you said, you were going to send me. There’s no way. I mean, come on, me?

As a matter of fact, that’s the first excuse Moses levels at God. Today, we’re going to spend our time studying how we use excuses to try and circumvent our way around what God has commanded us to do and we’re going to do so through this conversation that God has with Moses on the side of Mount Sinai, because I believe that Moses uses excuses that we all employ on a day-to-day basis because of our selfish motivations and tendencies. So, let’s look at the very first excuse Moses dishes out to God after he has been told to lead the Israelites and that’s this one:

Excuse number one is: You want me to do it? You want me to do it. Exodus 3:11 – But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Who am I God? I’m a nobody. God, I just work at the bottom of the corporate ladder. God, I’m just a mid level manager. God, there’s no way you could possibly want to use me.

You know what, Moses was right, he was just a shepherd. He wasn’t an elite warrior. He wasn’t a massive body-builder, he was simply a shepherd and gang, that’s exactly why God wanted him. You see, God doesn’t care if you’re skilled. He doesn’t care if you’re eloquent. He doesn’t care if you’re qualified to lead – because he is going to qualify you.

A friend of mine in my junior year of high school attempted to go golfing with us one day after school, and he was absolutely terrible. He couldn’t even keep his ball on the course, he would hit trees and water, anything but grass. It took him fifteen to twenty shots to get the ball into the hole when it should have only taken three or four, and we gave him a hard time about it. He didn’t feel qualified to play golf with us at all and the fact was, he wasn’t. But during that summer, he began to take lessons with the local golf-pro and he spent time around him, learning everything he could from him and the next year, when we all played again, the three of us got whipped by him all over the golf course.

His time spent with the golf-pro had qualified him to play golf and had given him the skills he needed to succeed. It’s the same way with God. When God tells you to do something, He doesn’t set you up to fail. Now, that doesn’t guarantee success in your own eyes, but you are successful when you are obedient to God’s will.

The key to this excuse is that you may be a nobody, but God is a somebody, and that is enough. Look at God’s response to Moses: “God answered, I will be with you.” When God is with us, we are some-bodies because he qualifies us to accomplish his will.

Excuse number two that Moses throws at God is: They won’t accept me. They won’t accept me. Exodus 3:13 - But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”

God, I’m not popular. I don’t have any authority. I ran away from my people. I am an outcast. Don’t you want to use somebody rich and famous? Don’t you want to use someone that is powerful and has the resources to pull this off? Don’t you want to use someone that the people will listen to?

Moses was afraid that if he did what God asked him, that his own people would reject him. Kind of like us when we think about approaching our neighbors about what we believe. Isn’t it tragically sad how we will talk about the weather or the sports score, or the latest fashion trends, or the latest movie with our neighbors, but when the conversation gets anywhere close to God, we tend to shy away from it? When the Holy Spirit begins to nudge us and say, “You need to invite that person to church, we use this excuse of Moses and we say to ourselves, “my neighbor won’t accept the fact that I’m a Christian. I have no authority to speak about my faith.” If that’s you this morning, tune in because I’ve got a verse from Scripture that you need to hear.

Jesus said, in Matthew 10:32-33, whoever acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven.”

Church, it is our duty, no, our command to tell the world about Christ; to acknowledge that we know him. If you’re ashamed to admit that you’re a Christian, if you shy away from talking about your faith, If you’re embarrassed about the fact that you follow Christ, you better pull yourself together and look hard at what Jesus said because it applies to you.

It’s time for us to recognize that serving others and reaching out to others is not about ourselves, it’s about the I AM. Look at how God responds to Moses’ excuse about how he wouldn’t be accepted. God says, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.”

It’s not about the messenger, it’s about the message. It’s about the center of the message and that, church is the I AM. It’s about God. His love, His Word, His Son. Life in Him. Don’t you ever be afraid or ashamed to share your faith in Christ with others because God is not ashamed of you. He loves you and he will go with you when you reach out to your neighbors, co workers, friends, and family members.

The third excuse that Moses uses, and one we use all the time is, they won’t believe me. Exodus 4:1 – “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, the Lord did not appear to you?” That is actually a valid question from Moses. He might have had a point here. I mean, how would anyone know that Moses was telling the truth? The people of Israel had been waiting for a deliverer this entire time and now, a former Hebrew who was Egyptian raised, and fled the country because of a crime he committed was coming back to them and saying, “God has a deliverer for you and it’s me.” I don’t know about you, but I would think that was a little fishy.

But, here’s the crux of this one. Moses wasn’t using this excuse because he thought the Israelites wouldn’t believe him. His motive was all wrong. He was just plain scared to go back to his people at all. Here’s God’s answer to this excuse. He gives Moses the power to use his Shepherd’s staff to perform miraculous signs and he allows Moses to contract and detract the disease of leprosy by placing his hand in and out of his cloak.

God gives Moses power because God has chosen him to be his messenger. God is equipping Moses to lead and his is systematically disarming every excuse Moses has. Moses felt like the people wouldn’t believe him on his own, but with God, he became something much more. Little things tend to become much bigger when God is in them. Jeff Kinley put it this way: think about a baseball bat. When a ten-year old holds it, the bat is not as powerful of a weapon as it is in the hands of a major league slugger. It’s not about the stick, it’s about who’s controlling the stick. It’s not about the shepherd, Moses here. It’s about the shepherd’s Shepherd.

Here’s God’s response to Moses in Exodus 4 - 8 The LORD said to Moses, “If they do not believe you and are not convinced by the first miraculous sign, they will be convinced by the second sign. 9 And if they don’t believe you or listen to you even after these two signs, then take some water from the Nile River and pour it out on the dry ground. When you do, the water from the Nile will turn to blood on the ground.”

God empowered Moses and He empowers us to do things so that others can see and will believe that He is directing our lives. When you give up control of your life and let God take over, you’ll go to places you didn’t even know you could go. He will direct you upon paths you didn’t know existed and you will do wonderful things for Him and all of it to His glory.

Moses was probably getting nervous by this point, so he becomes desperate and tosses out the ultimate excuse: Excuse number four: I am inadequate. I am inadequate. Exodus 4:10 - Moses said to the LORD, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."

There’s something to be said for stage fright. Having grown up in the dramatic arts, I have seen my fair share of it. Stage fright happens when people have to perform anything in front of another person and they don’t feel adequate to the task. It doesn’t have to be on a stage, it can be in any area of your life.

It especially happens in the church. Again, I’m not talking about the stage at the front of the auditorium – I’m talking about the need to serve. We’ll call it serve fright. Here’ what I mean: I can’t teach a class because I don’t feel gifted to teach. I can’t set-up chairs in the church because I don’t know how they need to be set-up. I can’t visit the elderly in a nursing home because I won’t know what to say.

Church, it’s not because you’re not gifted. It’s not because you don’t know how. It’s not because you don’t know what to say. It’s because you just don’t want to. It’s called laziness. It’s called unwillingness. If you’re too lazy to serve the church, you shouldn’t be in the church. If you’re unwilling to serve people, you have a problem with Jesus who told us to love our neighbors as ourselves and that means serving.

Church, we have got to serve each other. That’s why we’re here. We’ve got to look out for each others’ needs and meet them. Not just where we want to, but where we don’t want to. If visiting the elderly in nursing homes in not your thing, it is exactly what you should do because it will grow you in serving others. If teaching a class is not your thing, it’s exactly what you should do because you’ll learn how to do it. You’ll grow and that is the point of everything God does in our lives. It’s all to help us grow.

Look at God’s response to Moses’ excuse in Exodus 4 - 11 The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD ? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

God tells Moses that he knows that Moses is inadequate and that’s exactly why God wants to use Him. Listen, God wants Moses to serve and to grow. Church, we won’t grow until we serve. We have plenty of serving opportunities for you to engage in.

Things like teaching and assisting with our children’s programming. There’s a large event coming up this summer called Sports Camp, maybe you’ve heard of it. Melanie still needs volunteers for that. You can come to the church during the week and change light bulbs or paint a wall that needs touched up or pick up trash around the property. You can visit our elderly in their houses or nursing homes. You can help set-up the building for events or functions. You can be a Youth Sponsor and chauffeur students to and from events. You can change the church sign and we’ll even give you the messages to put up there. You can sign up for communion preparation. I understand August 2009 is the only month open this year, but there’s always 2010. Church, the list goes on and on. You don’t have to just serve in one area. You can serve in two or even three if you want to take it on. But first, you have to roll up your sleeves and stop being lazy. Get to work. Help out. Dig in. You are not inadequate. God wants to use you.

Which brings us to the very last excuse that Moses chucks at God and it’s the heart of the matter. The thing Moses has been trying to say for some time finally comes out. Finally we go deep with Moses. Excuse number five – “Get someone else to do it.” Exodus 4 - But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."

God has been patient with Moses up to this point. He has listened to Moses’ excuses and diffused them one by one, but now, his patience has run out. Look at Exodus 4:14 - Then the LORD's anger burned against Moses.

God is done with Moses’ excuses. Moses has gotten to the heart of his issue and God is now angry. God was calling Moses to do something for him – not Pharaoh. God was calling Moses to do something for him – not Aaron. And God is right now, calling you to do something – not anyone else.

We love to pass the buck in this country when we don’t want to take responsibility for something. As a matter of fact, we’ve become quite good at it. The most recently extreme example I can think of is this financial bailout that happened recently. Bankers and Loan officers made horrible decisions and as a result, the buck happened to stop with the American people.

When will people start taking responsibility themselves? We need to start operating with the philosophy: If you don’t do it, no one else will. God wants us to serve in areas that he calls us to and he doesn’t want to get anyone else. He wants us to do it for him. The church should have so many volunteers serving in it that it has to turn some away.

Moses did what God asked of him. God shot down all of Moses’ excuses and God will shoot down the excuses of our lives as well.

For those of you who are serving this morning, let me give you some encouragement. Don’t quit. Don’t quit. Press on. Paul wrote in Philippians 3 - one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

As Perry Noble says, one day, we will stand before one whose assignment was a lot tougher than ours – and He didn’t quit. Don’t stop serving the church. Don’t stop telling your neighbors and friends about Jesus. Don’t give up. Press on.

For those of you who aren’t serving, start. Today. When we arrive in heaven we will be judged and God is going to say one of two things. He’s either going to say, Go away, I don’t know you, or He’s going to say Well done, my good and faithful servant. Well done. The root word for done is do. What are you doing for Him? What are you doing for his church?

The company Nike had a slogan a few years ago that everyone knew, just because of the commercials – Just Do It. Church, Jesus is calling us to “Just Do It” and serve.

Remember his command from Matthew 28 – GO into all the world and MAKE disciples of all nations, BAPTIZING them in the name of the Father, and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and TEACHING them to obey everything I have commanded you.

Just Do It. Just Serve. And make No Excuses when you do.

Brian Morrissey

Tags: evangelism, excuse, Exodus, inadequacy, Moses, serving, No Excuses!