No Excuses Christianity

Introduction

Good morning. All right. Last week we began speaking about New Year’s resolutions. And the challenge was to make spiritual ones rather than physical ones. And as you think about your New Year’s resolution with this being the first Sunday of the new year, I’d like to ask another question, another observation I have about how, not this time that they’re physical, but on the essence of them, and that is, why do we keep having the same resolutions year after year? I’m not claiming I see anything, I do see it in myself, but I do know for many of us, wait is something we want to work on every single year. So how can that be? If after all a new year resolution is something that you want to work on and you are going to devote your time and your opportunity that year to fixing or doing whatever it is that you set as your goal.

And if you don’t, I’d like to learn your model of consistency. But for the rest of us, that seems to be a pattern. We have a problem sometimes being consistent and carrying through with what we know needs to be done. In fact, sometimes it’s things we even want to be done, isn’t it? Some people often say, if I had just twelve more hours in the day, I could get everything I wanted to done. Brothers and sisters, if you had twelve more hours, you would need 14 more. It would just keep going. The reason things don’t get done, whether we want to admit it or not, and often it is not, although if we gave it serious consideration, we would reach this conclusion, is that it’s excuses that keep us from what we know we should be doing.

Last Sunday we talked about complete devotion to Christ, and how we should not let anything stand in our path. In fact, Jesus tells one man who wishes to follow after him, leave the dead to bury their own dead. He was telling a man not to even bury his own father if it meant staying in the Christ’s way and not going out and proclaiming the kingdom of God that Jesus had just finished asking him to do. And so if that excuse is not good enough, what do we have? And we talked about how what is it that keeps us from being at church here at 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. or Wednesday night. But I’d like to ask, what’s your reason for maybe not evangelizing as much as we should?

Because after all, that is one area where we could always do more. Brothers and sisters, I see an empty spot there, I see a few there, I see a few there, I see a whole lot up here down front. There are spots in this building to fill, and I promise you the elders here and Christians abroad would love nothing more than to need to build another building and fill it with more Christians, more people serving after God. Amen. What a wonderful thing it would be if we could totally get many people on board and encompass the Orlando area with Christians, people seeking just to do what God has asked them to. But for some reason that’s not the case. And there’s many factors that are out of control.

There are people, just like there were in the day of Jesus Himself, who do not wish to follow after him. There are people who don’t want to be bound, they don’t want to be subject to any authority other than their own internal compass. But that should not excuse us from anything else. I’m reminded when talking about excuses this morning, if you haven’t gotten it, that’s what we’ll be speaking about, of a story about a man who goes to his neighbor and said, Can I borrow a chainsaw? And the man says, No, I’m eating black-eyed peas. And the man said, No, I asked, Can I borrow a chainsaw? He said, I heard you. I’m eating my black-eyed peas. And he said, I have a tree down in my driveway.

Can I please borrow a chainsaw? The man said, Look, if I don’t want to let you borrow something, I’ll come up with any excuse in the world, as long as I don’t have to give you the chainsaw, so I’m eating my black-eyed peas. Okay. We get the point from that, which is any excuse will do. It doesn’t matter if it’s legitimate, phony, whether it’s impactful or minuscule in the grand scheme of things. Anything can stop us from doing whatever it is we set our minds on. Brothers and sisters, we must press on in the name of Christ, no matter what. And this morning I want to talk about a figure who is perhaps on the Mount Rushmore of the Old Testament, if you will. This is a man who is a renowned leader.

We know him for all the good that he did. In fact, there have probably been many sermons after in the vein of being like this man. You know who that man is? His name is Moses. But I want to talk this morning about a side of Moses that we might not pay enough attention to. Open your Bibles with me. In fact, your Old Testaments, to Exodus chapter 3. And we’ll notice in Exodus chapter 3, a little bit about Moses and how similar he is to us. We know Moses was chosen by God for a special opportunity. And again, as I do many Sundays, let me make clear, we have all here been chosen by God and have special opportunities. Do not mistake that for any type of lie.

And in Exodus chapter 3, it says, 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. 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. And Moses said, I will turn aside to this great sight. Why the bush is not burned. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called him out of the bush. Moses, Moses. And he said, Here I am. Then he said, Do not come near. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.

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. So what’s going on here? I’d like to suggest something that I find mildly humorous, which is that God is appearing in this burning bush that is not being consumed. And notice verse 4. Moses says, excuse me, verse 3, Moses says, I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. Can you imagine if you were walking by and you saw what Moses did? Can you imagine the spectacle that that would be? How enthralled you would be by it. But I want to talk this morning about what goes on after he sees it.

God establishes the place that he’s standing as holy ground and tells Moses to take off the sandals from his feet. Then God gives him a task.

1. Who Am I? Not Special Enough

Some excuses. Look further down in chapter 3, beginning this time in verse 10 of Exodus chapter 3. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. There’s the charge from God. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. But notice what Moses, this great leader, in the middle of this great miracle, replies with. But Moses said to God, verse 11, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children out of Israel out of Egypt? Who am I? He says, I’m not special enough. I’m not important enough to stand up to Pharaoh himself. Can you imagine being charged with going to stand before Pharaoh and telling him to let go of his people?

The people that he was afraid of because of their multitude. Moses was afraid. Moses didn’t want to do it. We don’t quite know 100% why yet, we just know they didn’t want to. And notice what he says again. Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? He’s thinking, I’m way out of my league here. That’s not what I do. In fact, we’ll see later. He starts saying, There’s other people who can do it. They’re better than me. Have you ever thought that way? Have you ever thought, who am I? Why am I expected to do this? Yes, I know God has asked me to do this, but isn’t there somebody else? After all, I can’t do that.

That’s not in my skill set. Can I point out something very flawed with that mindset? And that’s suggesting that God has told you something to do. And by the way, the God who created you messed up. If God expects us to do this and you say I’m not good enough, you are claiming the creator, God Almighty, made a mistake. Or at least suggesting that you perhaps know better than he. But the reality is, we don’t like to feel alone. Sometimes there’s pressure there. But notice what God responds to Moses with in verse 12. 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.

God says, I’ll be with you. I will be with you. Again, put yourself in the place of Moses. I won’t say in his shoes because they were taken off. But imagine God has appeared to you and has given you something to do. And you feel unqualified, you feel scared, whatever it is. But God says, Fear not, I will be with you. What’s to keep him from moving on at that point? Brothers and sisters, what will keep us from the kingdom of God? What will keep us from obeying the will of the Father? Because after all, God will be with us. God will be there for you. He has always designed it that way, and he has always executed it that way. God keeps his promises. And just like with Moses, he will be there with us.

2. I Wouldn’t Know What to Say

But notice that that wasn’t good enough for Moses. Look at verse 13. Then Moses said to God, If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, What is his name? What shall I say to them? You get what he’s saying here, don’t you, brothers and sisters? You see, he’s saying, I wouldn’t know what to do. Not only am I the wrong person, I’m not special enough, I wouldn’t know what to say. I wouldn’t know how to do it. Now, now we’re ringing some more bells, aren’t we? I don’t know what to do. Yes, I know God wants me to do this, and notice this is right after God has expressed to him that I will be with you.

Yes, I know your comfort, your hand will be with me. But dear God, I just don’t know what to do. Have you ever been there? Have you ever thought? I just don’t know what to do. How can I do any of this? I’m reminded particularly this morning of evangelism in this front. There’s many people in this audience. Brothers and sisters, each and every one of you have a different life story. And you know what? Out there, every single person has a different life story. Somebody matches up with someone. Someone has an impact. I don’t care if you’ve been trained to speak, I don’t care if you’ve been trained to play classical music, brothers and sisters, if you know that God sent Jesus and He died on the cross for our sins, you can share that message.

You can do what God has asked you to do. And if you don’t think you can, pray. Because if you don’t think with God’s help that you can do it, you’ve messed up. And we need to have a whole different study to go to help you through. God is with us. With God on our side, what can we be afraid of? What can we not do if God Almighty is on our side? And people look at me and they say, Well, of course we would do it. Again, it’s not about numbers, but there’s a lot of empty seats here. We’re going to talk about numbers at the end of the lesson this morning. But what are you doing individually? What have you done in your life so far as a Christian?

Up until this point, I want you to think about what you’ve done in the past ten years. How many people have you spoken to about God? What about the last ten weeks? What about the last ten days? If not, why not? Are you not special enough? Are you the wrong person because you’re not the preacher or the elder or the deacon? What if you’re a new Christian? Are you disqualified from that? Brothers and sisters, Jesus says in Matthew chapter 28 and verse 19, all authority in heaven and on earth has begin has been given unto me. Go therefore, make disciples of the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. That is the great commission, and that is our great charge today.

So what will keep you from obeying God in that way? You know, the fact is we’ve been entrusted with an incredible truth. Look at Romans chapter 1. Look at Romans chapter 1 and verse 16.

And go ahead and keep your finger there because we’re going to read a little bit further down. In Romans chapter 1 and verse 16, Paul says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. To the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. We all hold the power of God. What is the power of God for salvation? It is the gospel. That is what Paul was not ashamed of, and that was what Paul would share with anyone and everyone who would listen to him. We hold the keys to salvation. We hold the very will of God in our hands.

So if we ever try to say like Moses did, I wouldn’t know what to say. Look down. Or look around. Or pick it up. Perhaps if we spent more time reading the will of God than proclaiming our lack of knowledge in it, that excuse would be immediately wiped off the table. We have a charge to do what God has asked us to, and that includes sharing that message, sharing the blood of Christ that was shed for all men. We hold the truth. But what are you doing with it? Are you sitting on it? Are you telling everyone that you know? Go back to Exodus now in chapter 4. Moses isn’t quite done with his excuses. Just like many of us, it’s not just one and done, it’s not even just two and done.

3. They Will Not Believe Me

Look at me at Exodus chapter 4. After God reassures him in verse 14 of chapter 3, saying, I am who I am, say this to the people of Israel. I am has sent me to you. And God also said to Moses in verse 15, say this to the people of Israel, the Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and thus I am remembered throughout all generations. What’s he doing? He’s giving Moses what to say. As we come to chapter 4 and verse 1, then Moses answered, But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice voice, for they will say, The Lord did not appear to you.

The Lord didn’t speak to you, Moses. What are you saying? Do you expect us to believe you? Now, brothers and sisters, we read this and we think, man, how could he say that? How could his response be like that to God? Who’s having a conversation with him? First he says, I’m not special enough. Then he says, I wouldn’t know what to do. And then he says, You know what? Even now that I know what to say, and you’ve given me what to say, they’re not going to believe me. This excuse is interesting because I’d like to make two points off of it. First of all, although I believe God sent him and God would take care of it, when it comes to our modern day application, some people might not believe you.

But does that change in any way the value of the message? Brothers and sisters, it doesn’t matter whether everyone believes it or one person believes it. Jesus came and died, shed his blood on the cross, and was resurrected from the dead so that we could have eternal life. That is an immovable fact. Whether I preach it loud or preach loudly against it. The gospel remains the same. The power of the gospel unto salvation remains, no matter who believes it. So that excuse is null and void from the onset. But let’s talk about the truth, which is that some people will. Moses is saying, they’re not going to believe me. And we think, well, what if they don’t? What if they don’t care? What if they just say, I go to my church?

Well, let me tell you, at least you have done your job. Look at me in 1 Corinthians chapter 3. This should be an ease off the mind, a lifting of the burden of anyone who’s ever had those creeping doubts. Look at me in 1 Corinthians chapter 3. And Paul addressing a problem of division in the church, notice what he says, beginning in verse 5. What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered. Notice what it says here. But God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.

For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. Do you notice the point there? If you think that you’re not special, this message could be to Moses. If you think you’re not special, if you think you wouldn’t know what to say, if you think they wouldn’t believe anyway, look at verse 7. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything. So I have great news this morning. If you don’t think you’re special enough, great, you’re perfect. You are perfect for the part, because he who plants and he who waters isn’t anything. It is God who provides the increase. It is God who saves, not us. Not anything I say. I could preach all day about anything I want to. My words do not save a soul.

The blood of Christ does. It doesn’t matter how many people you teach and how many people you reach. If Paul and Apollos themselves are not anything, neither are we. But that’s good news. Do you see it? Do you see that that immediately disarms any excuses to the contrary? Because if you are nothing, you are perfect. If you think you are something, you might have a problem, but you are still perfect for the job. You can teach whether you know all or you know very little. Because it doesn’t matter about how special you are, it matters do you have truth? Do you have the wisdom of God? Are you pro ready to proclaim it? Or will you be like the man in Luke chapter nine, who says, First let me go and bury my father.

Is there something that will stand in your way? Is there an excuse that you will have? Look back at Exodus chapter four. Notice how God answers Moses’ direct excuse number three. He says, But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say the Lord did not appear to you. Verse 2, the Lord said to him, What is that in your hand? He said, A staff. And he said, Throw it on the ground. So he threw it on the ground and it became a serpent. And Moses ran from it. Verse 4. But the Lord said to Moses, put out your hand and catch it by the tail. So he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand.

That they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you. Again the Lord said to him, Put your hand inside your cloak, verse six. And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold his hand was leprous like snow. Then God said, Put your hand back inside your cloak. So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. If they will not believe you, God said, or listen to the first sign, you shall take some water from the latter sign. Pour it onto the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.

If you’re keeping score at home, brothers and sisters, that is God three, Moses zero when it comes to excuses. Moses says, I am not special. God said, I will be with you. Moses says, I wouldn’t know what to say. God says, Here’s what you say. Moses says, They won’t believe me. God says, here are three miracles that you can use to show them what is truth. Are you getting that nothing will get by God? Are you getting that there is no release? There’s no loophole that God Almighty hasn’t thought about. When I think about loopholes, I can’t help but consider the lawyer who brought up the story for brought out the story from Jesus about the Good Samaritan. Lawyer was seeking to test him. The lawyer was trying to narrowly confine who is my neighbor in Luke chapter ten.

4. I Am Not Eloquent, Please Send Someone Else

And Jesus very eloquently gives a prayer about the Good Samaritan, suggesting, as we all very well know, everyone is our neighbor. You see, there’s no outthinking God. There’s no lawyer, there’s no slick talking bookie. There is no one that can get past the truth, the expectations, and what will be the execution of God’s perfect justice. The question is, will we do it? And you would think with Moses now, trailing three to nothing in grandiose fashion, that he would give up. But no. Look with me. Ephesians chapter 4, or excuse me, Exodus chapter 4 and verse 10. God says, Here are these three different miracles you can try. Verse 10. But Moses said to the Lord, Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant.

But I am slow of speech and of tongue. This had to be the most clever. Notice verse 13 when he continues. But he said, O my Lord, please send someone else. Have you heard that one? Have you thought about that one? He’s saying, I’m not talented enough. I am not capable. I wasn’t before you spoke to me, and I am not now. Notice what God’s response is in verse 11. Then the Lord said to him, Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.

We talked about this a bit earlier. When we make excuses, especially ones in the vein of saying, I’m not capable or I’m not the right person. We are not insulting others. We are not belittling ourselves. We are not showing humility. We are showing cowardice. We are making excuses, and we are blaming God. Moses says, I am not eloquent, I was not now, or now that you’re even speaking to your servant. And God said, Who is it that makes man’s mouth? Who makes him blind or seeing? Who gave you the abilities that you have? God did. Who are you living for? God is. Who do you answer to? God. What excuse do you have for not feeding the poor? Giving drink to the thirsty. Clothing the naked.

What excuse do you have for not being here every time the doors are opened? What excuse do you have for not telling each and every person you know about the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation? What’s your excuse? What will separate you from the love of your God eternally? Because we better recognize soon that God’s will is supreme. God’s will stands now. It will stand ten years from now if he wills it that long, and God will live eternally. The only question is, will you live with him? Will you do what he says or not? Because just like New Year’s resolutions, people make excuses and Satan’s the first one to feed them to us. Isn’t he? He says, You just can’t do that, Moses.

You just can’t do that, Greg. Don’t worry about that now. You can get to it later. If there ever was the biggest lie that tore anything apart, it was you can do that later. You know what happens when everyone waits on somebody else? No one does it. And the will of God is left unattended to. We’ve got to stop pointing fingers anywhere but internally. We’ve got to take inventory of what God has said, and more importantly, what God has given us. Because notice in verse 11 of Exodus chapter 4 that God knows the score, he knows the story, and he knows the thoughts and the hearts. He says, Who was made man mouth? Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute or deaf or seeing or blind?

Therefore go, and I’ll be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak. You see, the message this morning, brothers and sisters, to us, just like it was to Moses, is now go, therefore. I will be with your mouth and teach you how you ought to speak. You know that God is still with us. We don’t see him in a burning bush, but we see more of his words in here, perhaps, than Moses did. I don’t know that for a fact. We don’t have the whole recorded conversation, perhaps. But I do know that God has given us plenty. God has given us the path to salvation, and many of us have taken it. The question is, what are we doing with it? Are you encouraged to teach everyone about it?

And if not, do you understand what you have? Do you understand the true magnitude of God incarnate, having nails driven through his hand? So we could be cowards when speaking up about the gospel. Do you recognize that a man was beaten? A man was crucified. That man was Christ Jesus. He came down into our form and died so that we could make excuses? Brothers and sisters, Jesus did not die for that. He died for the church. He shed his blood so that we would change who we are and stop making excuses. Romans chapter 1 and verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel. There is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and to the Greek. What is your excuse this morning?

5. Here Am I, Lord, Send Me

Because we all know what Moses meant. What he really meant was, I don’t want to do it. Send somebody else. Look with me in Isaiah chapter 6. Look at what the right attitude should be. And you’ll see just how bad, how poor Moses’ attitude is. In Isaiah chapter 6, notice beginning in verse 6. When Isaiah is having a vision from God. In verse 6 of Isaiah chapter 6, then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, Behold, this has touched your lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.

Ready, not capable, or not able in any way to do what the will of God is. There’s just no excuse. There is just no way around it. We are to be like Isaiah and to say, Here am I, Lord, send me. I want to talk about this morning evangelism in a special way to close out the lesson. We all have a charge to preach the gospel. I hope we all feel the weight and the burden of that. I’m particularly moved by Acts chapter 8 and verse 4, in which it says, when the Christians were being terrorized and they went about scattered, preaching the word. That’s the New Testament example. I hope you’ll look with me and study that later and test whether or not that’s what the New Testament church did, and that’s how it grew.

6. It Is Our Job to Plant and to Water

But I want to talk about the work at South Bumbi here. How many people have you talked to? What are you giving? Because I want to do some math with everyone. Although numbers aren’t everything, there is something to it. We have these new cards for this new year. It says, The Church of Christ at South Bumbie. It gives our address, website, phone number, and service times. But I want to look at the back especially. It says if you are ever looking for a church where your kids can really learn the Bible that teaches the truth from God’s word, where joy and forgiveness are real, with solid Bible answers for troubled times, that is a real family of caring Christians. I recommend the South Bumbi Church of Christ, and there’s a place for you to sign your name.

If you don’t think this is powerful and you think this is just a piece of paper and it doesn’t do anything, I want you to think about something. Let’s say that one in a hundred people respond to a card like this. Just think about that. If our ten elders and deacons passed out five of these a month, that’d be 50 cards a month. After one year, just one year of ten men, not their wives, not their families, the ten men passing out five cards a month, six hundred people would pick up one of these. Now, what if ten of you did that too? That’s 1,200. What if of those people, their spouse or their closest friends joined him? Now we’re at twenty, four hundred people have seen something about the church.

Remember, it is our job to plant and to water. God provides the increase. You may not feel qualified, and maybe that’s something to work through this morning, but there are people here who will pick up the prospect. If you have someone you want to talk to, you talk to them because it is your God-given responsibility. Don’t make excuses. But someone else can study. Someone else can uplift them. As Christians, we all have different functions. We are all parts of the body of Christ. Recognize our function, but also recognize we all answer to God for what we did. And he knows what you are capable of. You can tell me, you can tell the elders, you can tell yourself. I am not capable of that, but I promise you, God will not be fooled.

The power of evangelism is seen in its results. The results are because Jesus died. The results are that Christ’s blood was shed, and you’re teaching someone about it. And when someone comes to Christ, angels in heaven are rejoicing. The question is, what will you do with the gospel? Will you sit on it or will you share it? Will you say, God, here am I, send me, let me do your will today. Let me talk to others, let me talk to my friends, my family, my co-workers, the guy on the bus, anyone who will listen. Or will you think to yourself, it would be awkward? The person at the gas station is not worth my time. My coworker might say no. What will you have to answer for in the day of judgment?

Conclusion

Brothers and sisters, Christ did die. He was crucified, he did shed his blood. And if you are baptized, you can have your sins forgiven because of that sacrifice. If you are here this morning and have not taken advantage of it, take the opportunity that God has given you this morning. All the Bible says about being saved is you have to believe in Jesus as the Son of God. You need to confess his name, repent of your sins, and be baptized. Having your sins washed away. Although baptism is a long journey, it’s just the beginning. It is something that is easy as it sounds. God has made it simple because we are simple people. It’s not complex, it’s not hard, it’s not complicated. Do the will of God or do not.

Can you answer to God in a clean conscience this morning? Can you say, God, I have done all for you. I have done all that I know up until this point in my life. And if you haven’t, recognize who knows how much longer we have. God answered Moses toe for toe, and God will answer us, whether now or in the future. If you wish to be baptized and to have your sins washed away, or if you just want to restore your commitment to Christ, come forward right now, seize the day, seize the moment, and be baptized, having your sins washed away as we stand and sing.

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