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| Excuses Let’s face it: we live in a World of Excuses. As I was thinking about the subject this week, I was reminded of a scene near the end of the Sound of Music when Max, the music promoter, is trying to get the Von Trapp children to sing for him. The trouble is that their beloved governess, Maria has left without even saying good bye and everyone is downcast. Some of the children make a half-hearted attempt, but the littlest girl, Gretel, doesn’t even open her mouth. Finally, Max kneels down in front of her and says, “Gretel, why aren’t you singing? You sang so beautifully at the party last night!” and she answers, “I can’t sing, I have a sore finger.” This is funny, of course, because a sore finger has nothing to do with your vocal chords. There are people in this world without fingers who sing quite well. Gretel’s answer was just a silly, childish excuse invented on the spur of the moment to avoid the expectations of others… and yet if we are honest with ourselves, we are ALL tempted to live in this world, a world of excuses. Excuses can be a cheap kind of dishonesty. Debby once shared with me that when one of the girls in her college dorm didn’t want to go out with a particular guy, she would make an excuse. She would say, “Oh, I’m sorry, but I have to wash my hair tonight.” That’s a lame excuse - right up there with the sore finger! Far better to be honest! Excuses are also a problem in the work environment. Whenever any of us are faced with criticism –legitimate or otherwise – our natural FIRST reaction is to make excuses. I KNOW I’m guilty in this area and most likely so are you. It’s natural to want to explain how it is that if only we’d had better instruction, or if only we’d had more time, or if only we’d had better help, or if only such and such a person hadn’t interfered, or if only whatever, then the problem would never have happened. But the trouble is that once you open the door to this sort of finger pointing; once you start playing the blame game; once work is no longer a matter of personal responsibility but more like an ongoing smear campaign, then office environment will inevitably turn into an escalating war of words and morale will be ruined. In our office I like to take the Phil 3:13-14 approach toward excuses and blame. Do you know what the verse says? “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” NIV Now I know this is a slight misapplication, but it is a good principle that transcends spiritual lines. Often, when a new employee comes to me and starts launching into an excuse (it’s the natural thing to do), I’m apt to say something like, “I don’t need to know why it is that this is not your fault! I want you to help me figure out how we can make things better next time.” It really is far better to forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead! Of course, nowhere are excuses more prevalent than in the area of morality. I’ve never met an addict yet who didn’t consider his case to be unique. I’ve never yet seen a marriage in trouble that wasn’t the other person’s fault. They say that even in the prisons, something like 80% of the people there will tell you that they are not to blame! We live in a world of excuses and these excuses often bleed over into our spiritual lives. For many people, a spiritual life is a lot like the diet that they are going to start sometime tomorrow or maybe next year. Most of us would prefer not to take responsibility for a relationship with God – we’d rather blame Him for being distant; or blame the circumstances of our life for pulling us away from Him; or make excuses about how some day maybe we’ll get around to that part of life – maybe when our finger isn’t sore any more. But as we have seen again and again in the book of Romans, if we want to know God, if we truly have a desire to have a relationship with him, we must be complicit in our salvation. God calls us. He brings his word to our ears. He tugs at our heartstrings and whispers into our souls. But still we must do our part! We must make the conscious choice not to stop our ears or harden our hearts. We must voluntarily answer his call and enter into his arms or our salvation will never come to pass. And this is the message of Romans 10:16-21. Here at the end of Romans 10, we find a group of people who had had all of the spiritual advantages available to man. These were people who had heard the words of the prophets and who had studied the Law of Moses – and yet when the prophecies actually came to pass and when the fulfillment of the law stood among them, they just made excuses. If you have been with us over these past few months, then you might remember that ever since the beginning of Romans 9, Paul has been answering one question, a question that goes like this: “If indeed the Children of Israel are God’s Chosen People then why don’t they all accept Christ? Why isn’t the salvation rate among the Jews one hundred percent? And Paul has answered this question in a number of ways. He has informed his readers, for example, that Salvation is not genetic – it’s not like blue eyes or dark skin. You can’t inherit it from your parents and Paul pointed out two descendants of Abraham (Ishmael and Esau) who never became a part of God’s Chosen People at all. Paul also pointed out that the salvation of all Jews was Not Prophetic. In fact, from the very beginning the Old Testament Prophets had made it clear that only a remnant would be saved and that other people – people from all around the world would also become a part of God’s family. Paul has also declared that Salvation was not to be earned by good works. In fact, he compared the sin of legalism – the preoccupation with rules -- to the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah – cities that God had destroyed by fire. And now, here at the end of Romans 10, Paul answers the question in another way. He says, “Listen, when finally you come to the end of all your theology, when you set aside genetics and legalism and good works and special knowledge, the real bottom line; the real crux of the matter is that the acceptance of the Gospel is a matter of Personal Responsibility; you’ve got to do it yourself! No one can do it for you. That was true for the Israelites in Paul’s day and it is still true for you and me today nearly 2000 years later. When it comes to our relationship with God, there can be no excuses! Let’s open our Bibles together and read our scripture for this morning which is found in Rom 10:16-21:
Here in these verses, Paul sets forth what you might call the Top FOUR SPIRITUAL EXCUSES; the top four reasons that people often give for rejecting Christianity. They come to us from the mouths of the Israelites and yet as I thought about it this past week, they are excuses that are still being used today. Let’s look at them one by one. The First Excuse is pretty simple. It goes like this: “I didn’t hear!” Verse 17 says, “… faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. And then Paul asks this question, “Did they not hear?” Strangely enough this is an excuse that I have often hear even today in talking with non-Christians about Jesus Christ. It’s a question that many people are concerned about…not obviously for themselves, after all if they are talking to me about Jesus, then they can’t be counted among the people who haven’t yet heard. Instead, they at least claim to be worried about all those other people, people who live in the darkness of Central Africa or on the steppes of Asia or in the jungles of the Amazon, people who have never had an opportunity to hear the Story of Jesus Christ. “If it is indeed true” they say, “that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one can come to father except through him (John 14:6) then what about all those people who have never even heard the name? It’s just not fair.” But really, this is just an excuse! What I want to say to these people is “Why are you worried about the people of Central Africa of the Amazon Jungle? Why not worry about yourself first! You know where your heart is. You don’t know where their heart is. You ARE hearing the story. You already know what God has set forth in his scripture. If you worry about yourself first, then you can feel free to worry about those other people later on. And you‘d better watch out. If you are that concerned, God might send you there to make his message known yourself!” But of course, that kind of answer doesn’t really answer their question – and it is best not to ignore it. What about the people who have never held a Bible in their hand? What about those people who have never even heard the name of Jesus Christ? How can they have any choice at all? Paul answers this question here in Romans 10 with a quote from the Old Testament – specifically Psalm 19. Paul says in effect, “People can know about the Lord wherever they are because of the evidence of CREATION. The creative power of God can be seen all over the world by anyone who cares to look for the evidence!” Some of you are looking at Romans 10 and saying, “I don’t see that? Where does it say that? Well, see in verse 18 where it says, “their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world?” This is the quotation from Psalm 19:4. And in order to understand what Paul means, it’s necessary to look at the context of that verse. Whose voice has gone out into all the earth? Well, Paul’s Jewish readers would have immediately known because of the beginning of the chapter. Psalm 19:1-4 reads thus:
How does God’s voice go out into the world? It goes out through the glory of creation!” This is message of Rom 1:20, “For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” NIV We can look at the creation and see the fingerprint of God. We can truly gain tremendous insight into His character by looking at the beauty and the design and the order of the world that he has made. It takes far more effort and faith to look at the amazing world in which we live and to make believe that it all came about through random chance – through genetic mistakes and survival of the fittest. Paul says, “Listen, the Creation provides us plenty of evidence with which to begin our search for God -- people have been doing it for centuries -- and at that point, the promise of Jeremiah 29:13 all must come into play…“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” NIV Every human being on earth will have just as much of God as he or she desires! If we seek him we will find him. If we ignore him, or rationalize him or absolve ourselves from any responsibility to him on the basis of some flimsy excuse, then we only get what we deserve! “I didn’t hear!” is an excuse that doesn’t wash in the eyes of God! But there is another excuse here in Romans 10. This one is found in verse 19 when Paul frames a second question. He says, “Did not Israel understand?” Even today, there are many who would claim that the Gospel is not sufficiently clear; that it hasn’t been laid out in a way that makes enough sense to them. They want to say, “I don’t understand!” But again Paul debunks this notion by quoting from the Old Testament. In fact, he begins this section in verse 16 with a quote from Isaiah 53. Now, this chapter is one of the greatest chapters about Jesus in the whole Bible – even though it was written about 600 years before he was born! Isaiah 53 describes the purpose and the process of Jesus’ death in terms that are so graphic that they can hardly be misinterpreted. In fact, this chapter contains such a clear picture of Jesus as Messiah that up until about sixty years ago, most liberal scholars insisted that it must have been written after Christ was born. Then in the 1940’s a small shepherd boy tending his sheep on the hills about the Dead Sea discovered a cave; and in that cave there were a series of clay urns and in those urns were a number of ancient manuscripts… including Isaiah 53. These manuscripts were conclusively dated as having been copied before the birth of Christ! The Gospel WAS clear to the Israelites – even before Jesus was born. Paul quotes Isaiah 53 in verse16. It says, “Lord, who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” And the chapter continues in verses 3-6 saying:
You see, 600 years before Jesus was born Isaiah knew that this Messiah would be despised and rejected, that he would take up our infirmities and carry our sorrows, that the Lord would lay on him the iniquity of us all. This is the Gospel clearly set forth for everyone with an open mind to read – in scripture written long before Jesus was born; set forth so clearly in fact, that it takes some effort NOT to understand what it means! And this is only one tiny piece of a gigantic puzzle. There are dozens of ways that the truth of Christianity can be proved by empirical evidence. And yet I am continually amazed at the lengths to which people will go to discount the truth. I was talking the other day with a Unitarian friend about Christianity and he kept trying to claim that every different denomination within the Christian church had a different Bible – it’s a way to call the validity of scripture into question and it is the widely held misconception… But it’s NOT true! People love to assert that the Bible was formulated hundreds of years after Jesus died – long enough to allow the mythologization of the Life of Christ. And they love to tell you that the Bible has been in a continuous state of flux ever since so that some Christians have one kind of Bible and that others have another. But it’s not true! Now, like all good lies, there is a kernel of truth in this theory. Many Christian derivatives such as Mormonism or even Islam DO have extra Biblical Texts that they consider sacred… but these religions are NOT Christianity – they are cults and their books are verifiably false. They differ in serious ways from earlier canonical texts. There are also other cults such as the Jehovah’s Witness who have altered their Bibles in order to back-up their aberrant theology. But these so-called ‘translations” are false an insupportable. The real truth is that the Bible with it’s canon (or list of accepted books) has existed completely unchanged for at least 1700 years and that we have copies or fragments of many of the books of the New Testament much older than that! The Bible has NOT been customized for every age. It was not the brainchild of corrupt monks in the 4th Century. Lutherans and Baptists and Presbyterians and Methodists do NOT read different scriptures. The Bible was inspired by God and preserved by his people down through the centuries in a state of remarkable accuracy and truth! In fact, the evidence is so clear says Paul that many Gentiles had come to faith! In verse 20, Paul quotes Isaiah 65:1 and says (referring to the Gentiles), “"I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me." NIV You see, even people who had never heard of the Old Testament prophets; even people who were NOT a part of God’s Chosen people, even people who were NOT Israelites and had no history of a life with God still could not help but see and understand the truth and make a choice for God. Like the Israelites, people today still go to great lengths to say, “I’m not a Christian because I don’t understand. I’m not a Christian because the evidence is not clear.” But I truly believe that this lack of understanding is a function not of a lack of truth, but a lack of investigation; not of a lack of clarity; but a lack of desire to really know! All too often people don’t want to understand. They don’t want to seek after the Lord so that he might be found. They’d rather go their own way. Which brings us to Excuse #3. “I didn’t hear!” “I didn’t understand.” And now “I want my own way.” There are many people in this world who HAVE heard the Gospel and who have clearly understood what it has to say and yet who still reject it simply because of an overwhelming desire to disobey. I drew both of these last two excuses from verse 21 where it says, “But concerning Israel he says, "All day long I have held out my hands (now here it is) to a disobedient and obstinate people." NIV Willful disobedience is one of the prime reasons that people reject Christ. So often, we are tempted to believe that our happiness is dependent upon things that we know God disapproves. There is this thing inside of so many of us that says that happiness can be found in this world… without God… that it is just around the corner, it’s just over the next hill… that we will find it when our next desire is satisfied. So many people believe that happiness is just a million dollars away and if only they could win the lottery or make a bunch of money in business (and who cares who I have to step on to get there), that then they would be happy in their money. But it’s not true. Other people believe that happiness is just a couple of relationships away – and that if they could just experience enough sexual delight with enough people or truly be loved by that one perfect husband or wife that then they would be happy. But it’s not true. Others believe that their happiness is tied up in a substance. They live for their next drinking binge or their next chemical fix or their next six cartons of cookies and ice cream; as if happiness could be found in a bottle or a needle or a box. But it’s not true. The truth is that all of these are fantasies are nothing more than excuses for rejecting Christ; past disobedience can make us feel unworthy (and everyone is!); the prospect of giving up our secret sins can seem an insurmountable barrier to faith! But I want to tell you today that there is something far better than having things your own way! It’s having things God’s Way. This is the difference between a mirage and an oasis. All of these fantasies – money and sex and chemical substances and more are nothing more than mirages. They look attractive from a distance; they shimmer with the promise of happiness; they beckon to us with an appearance of reality; they LOOK just like water in the desert of this life… but as we stumble toward them and try to make them our own, they inevitably evaporate into thin air. They transmogrify into the hot, dry sand of unbroken desert without God. I have never met anyone yet who had enough money to be happy – or enough sex, or enough cocaine or enough of anything at all but God. It can’t happen! The truth is that all of those fantasies turn to dust in your mouth as soon as you reach them – sure they may deliver a momentary shot of adrenaline or a flash of ecstasy; but they can deliver nothing in the way of the ongoing, permanent, eternal joy of the Lord. And yet millions and millions of people all around the world stumble through life from mirage to mirage, desperate for real food, real peace, real rest – but these can only be found in the place of obedience. In your heart of hearts you know it is true! You see, life with God is an Oasis! It is to sit in the shade of his blessings and to drink deeply from the pure water of his Word. It is to be protected from the hazards of the surrounding desert by the coolness of his love and concern! It is reality, not fantasy. No one ever overdosed on God! No one ever became sated with his Praise or jaded by his presence. He has the capacity to bring us joy every morning; the joy of a people who are living in complete accordance with his will! This is FAR better than having things your own way! We must determine to abandon that excuse! But there is one more excuse found in verse 21. “I Didn’t hear. I don’t Understand. I want things my own Way. And finally… I already KNOW.” This is the obstinacy of Verse 21. It says, I’ve already got the answers. Don’t confuse me with the facts of historical Christianity; don’t try and inform me about what the Bible says. My mind is made up about God and I don’t want to hear anything else!” This past week I had the privilege of sharing the Gospel with just such an individual… and believe me it was a challenge, because he really didn’t want to listen. This man is an intelligent man, a scientist, but he has ideas about God that are nonsensical. When we talked about religion, he parroted the theology of many modern, self-styled sophisticates. He said, “I believe that all religions are good, that all roads lead to heaven. Religion only becomes a problem when it claims to have exclusive truth (a dig at Christianity).” But that’s nonsense. That kind of thought process seems sophisticated and popular and tolerant; but it is really completely bankrupt. In fact, people who SAY they believe that really don’t believe it at all when it comes right down to it. If I said to him, for example, “Great! I’ve decided to adopt the Aztec Religion and I need to sacrifice your virgin daughter to the God of War so I can take over your department at the University” I’m pretty certain that he would object. He would say, “Well, not that religion.” Or if I said to him, “Great! I’ve decided to adopt fundamentalist Islam and I’m going to fly an airliner into the tallest building in your country and try to kill as many people as possible so that I can go to paradise and enjoy the company of 72 virgins,” I’m pretty sure he would object to that as well. He would say, “Well, not that religion!” You see, all religions are NOT created equal. All roads do NOT lead to heaven. Tolerance is NOT the highest virtue. Creating your own religion, believing that God is whoever you make him out to be is the height of spiritual arrogance and it’s very long step down the highway to hell. The truth is that none of these excuses “I didn’t hear. I don’t understand. I want it my way. I already know.” None of these excuses will wash with God. And yet still, in spite of all our shortcomings and failings and excuses and blaming – he stands there still with OUTSTRETCHED HANDS. “All day long,” it says in verse 21, “I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.” And still he holds out his hands to you… and you… and you. Still he calls you to himself. Still his people reach out to this world with the Truth of the Gospel. Still he tugs at our heartstrings and whispers to our souls. This was illustrated to me so clearly this week in a tremendous answer to prayer. You might remember that two weeks ago in this room we had a message from Rom 10:14-15 – the Great Commission of Paul in Romans.
And at the end of the message time I asked if some of you had some friends that you wanted to pray for and many of you came forward. Well, I also had some friends that I wanted to pray for – and Debby and I did just that before I left on my trip to Panama. We prayed that I would have the opportunity to share the Gospel with the Scientists on this Botanical Expedition. And the Lord answered that prayer… in spades. We visited really one of the most remote parts of the whole world – an island called Escudo de Veraguas – 51 miles from Bocas del Toro in the wilds of Northern Panama… and the beginning of the answer to my prayer became obvious the very first night in Bocas when we met the captain of the boat that was to take us out to the island; you see his wife, Yari, was an open and vocal Christian, a person who was not afraid to say that she was ‘born again.’ At dinner that first night, because of her, our discussion was mostly about religion – dominated by my scientist friend who thought that all roads led to heaven. I managed to get a few sentences in though and I thought maybe this is my answer to prayer… but it was only the beginning. After dinner, when Yari found out that I was in construction, she told me about her two nephews who were architects during the week and preachers on the weekend… and I said, “That’s what I do!” And she said, “I knew it! I knew by the things you said at dinner tonight.” And I said, “Well, let’s keep this thing quiet.” I was hoping to be able to make a few more stealth comments – Dave will tell you that people change as soon as they realize that you are a preacher, but it was to no avail. The next morning as we got ready to leave, she asked me to pray for the expedition (in front of all four scientists) and I did… and then on Sunday morning she came to me and said, “Well, Gregg, it’s all set up. We’re going to have church tonight. All of the Indians on the Island are going to come and hear you preach. She didn’t even give me a choice in the matter!” She had been witnessing to these people already, bringing them Bibles and encouraging them in the faith. In fact, the owner of the house where we were camping was already a Christian along with some of the others. For her it seemed the perfect opportunity. Of course, we spent the whole day out in the field ‘botanizing’ and we didn’t get back to camp until after dark… and after that our host had to cook us dinner and 8:00 o’clock rolled around and we still hadn’t eaten and then Yari came to me and said, “Well, Gregg it’s getting so late that almost everyone has left.” And I said, “Well, Yari, maybe this isn’t meant to be. WE can just call it off. But there was a young Indian kid named Aristotle standing there at the time who spoke up. My Spanish isn’t that good, but I understood him perfectly when he said, “But Senor Gregg wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there I will be with them also.” I said, “Okay, Okay, even if there are only two or three, we are going to have church tonight! So you see, I actually didn’t get a week off from preaching after all. In fact, Aristotle went back to the village and got all of the people out of bed – so that when we finished dinner at 8:30 PM there were a dozen or so Indians… and three scientists sitting there ready to listen to me preach! What an amazing situation! There we were surrounded by jungle and ocean, preaching by torch light to two completely difference groups of people. In my opening remarks, I told my audience that I was from California and I asked if they had ever heard of California… and are you ready for this? Not one of them had ever even HEARD of it! Now, that’s remote! So I gave a Sermon that night – about Why I was a Christian! I got to say all of the things that I had wanted to say at dinner the night before, except that since I was preaching the older scientist couldn’t interrupt me! Actually, I talked about a lot of the things we have talked about this morning – about how the heavens declare the Glory of God. I talked about the amazing truth of God’s Word as demonstrated by prophecy and more. And I talked about the power of God to change lives and communities for the better! What an opportunity! But then it got even better. After I had finished my ‘sermon’ I shook hands with all of my new Indians friends and then rejoined my fellow ‘scientists,’ to get ready for bed. But when I said I was going to walk down the beach to use the facilities, one of the younger scientists came to me and said, “Gregg, can I come along? I’d like to talk to you!” I’m thinking wow! Can you ever! He said, “Gregg, I’m really glad I stayed to hear you tonight… because you answered a lot of questions that I’ve been having. He said, “you know, I was raised a nominal Protestant in Nebraska, but then I went off to college and majored in Biology and I had a professor that I respected who was an atheist and so I adopted his belief system. But then I met my wife and she is a very spiritual person. I didn’t even think it was possible to be both a scientist and believe in God. But let me tell you something that happened to me just a little while ago.” There were tears in his eyes as he said this. “My wife and I went out to a bar for a couple of drinks and we were talking about this subject and she was urging me to at least try to find God. So I told her that I didn’t know if it was possible, but that I would look into it. And then I heard her say, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you.” And I said, “Thank you very much I really appreciate it.” And she said, “Thank you for what?” and I said, “For telling me you would help me!” And she said, “I didn’t say anything?” Wow! And I turned to him and said, “Well, Jody maybe that’s the real reason we are here tonight!” And we talked long into the night about science and about Christianity and about reasons to believe… and I would appreciate it if you would keep him in your prayers. He not there yet… but I tell you that Jesus is standing in front of him with outstretched hands. He is calling him to himself… at this point it’s just a matter of whether or not he will answer! And the same might be true for you this morning. Maybe you have never heard the voice of God… but you know in your heart that he is calling you to himself. Well, I say to you: Stop making excuses! Put away the sore finger and open your heart to the oasis of his will! |