Excuses – People are very good at coming up with excuses to avoid things...myself included. I'm not talking about legitimate reasons you might have for not doing something, but made-up excuses just to avoid something.
I forgot. No one told me to. I didn’t think it was that important. I didn’t know you were in a hurry for it. That’s the way we’ve always done it. That’s not my job. I’m waiting to hear back from someone on that. I'll do that thing I need to do after I do this thing I want to do.
We make excuses to avoid things we don't want to do. We try to excuse procrastination. We lay the blame on someone else and claim that something isn't our fault. Lawsuits are as common as anything because nothing is ever someone's fault.
Jesus has a story about excuses
Luke 14
15When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
16Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
18“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
19“Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
20“Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can't come.’
21“The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
22“ ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
23“Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full. 24I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’ ”
This story is kind of like the little red hen. I don't know if you've all heard the children's story of the little red hen, but the general idea is that the little red hen is going to plant some grain and asks the other farm animals to help. One at a time, they refuse. The grain grows up and it's time to cut it. Again, the hen asks for help from each animal. Nope. Same thing happens when it's time to thresh the wheat, take it to the mill, make the flour into bread, and bake the bread. In the end, she asks who's going to help eat the bread and of course, all the animals have time to do that. But she says, you didn't help cut the grain, thresh the wheat, and so on, so you won't eat any of the bread. The moral of the story is that if you aren't willing to do the work, you aren't going to share in the reward. In the version that I remember, each animal had a different excuse when asked for help. We face many times in life where there is something that needs to be done but nobody wants to do it. There are always opportunities around. When Jesus told this story, it was probably targeted at the Pharisees who were God's chosen people, but who refused Christ. They were the first invited to follow Christ, but they came up with excuses. “We can't follow him. He doesn't follow the traditions of the elders. He's not the rich and powerful man we were expecting. He asks me to leave behind things I can't leave behind.”
We read about the result of this:
We look at a point where Paul and Barnabas were teaching many people about Christ.
Acts 13
44On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying.
46Then
Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the
word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider
yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. 47For
this is what the Lord has commanded us: “ ‘I have made
you[g]
a light for the Gentiles,
that
you[h]
may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’[i]”
48When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
So, the Jews were given plenty of chances to follow Christ. Most of them passed these chances by. Paul said, “fine, we'll take the message to the Gentiles”. And they did. They travelled around, talking to the Gentiles about Christ. We, as Gentiles today, have the message.
A major use of excuses is for sin. People try to excuse their sins. I did it because everyone else was. I did it because it was impossible for me to escape it.
James warned against one case of this.
James 1
13When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is fullgrown, gives birth to death.
So, when we sin, we're without excuse. The blame lies with us. Jesus talked about this problem in those he preached to who didn't listen.
John 15
18“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’[b] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. 23He who hates me hates my Father as well. 24If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’
Jesus came and fulfilled prophecy left and right. He performed miracles in the streets right in front of the Pharisees and they wouldn't believe him...in fact, they'd criticize the way he did it. “I don't like the way you healed that blind man. You violated some traditions.” He taught them things that clarified the scriptures they thought they knew so well and they still wouldn't believe him. Jesus says they have no excuse because everything possible was done to give them evidence that he was the Messiah.
Likewise, people today are without excuse if they don't believe in him. The evidence is all around us in his creation.
God's power is evident, so we are without excuse if we do not follow him.
Romans 1
18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For 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.
We are also warned about trying to excuse ourselves from something while finding others guilty of the same.
Romans 2
1You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? 4Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?
How can we be examples if we are living in sin? It's not possible. We can damage the name of Christ as easily as we can bring glory to it.
Something to remember about excuses is that it is always possible to come up with an excuse if you try hard enough. It's not the sort of thing to get in the habit of.
We are warned against excuses to avoid working
2 Thessalonians 3:10-12
10For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”
11We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.
What should we do instead of making excuses?
1 Thessalonians 4
1Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. 2For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4that each of you should learn to control his own body[a] in a way that is holy and honorable, 5not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; 6and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. 7For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
9Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.
11Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, 12so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
13Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. 14We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18Therefore encourage each other with these words.
You see a pattern in this passage of having goals. Don't make excuses. Instead, try to do something greater and better than just trying to excuse your weakness. Follow Jesus and lead holy lives.
Proverbs 12
24 Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.
25 An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.
26 A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.
27 The lazy man does not roast [b] his game, but the diligent man prizes his possessions.
28 In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality.
Proverbs 26 (English-KJV)
13 The sluggard says, "There is a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!"
14 As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed.
15 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.
The whole chapter of Matthew 25 is about three parables that involve people not being ready for something. We won't read it, but the first parable is the one about the ten virgins. Five were ready with extra oil for their lamps when the bridegroom came and were welcomed to the wedding banquet. The others were shut out because they were late because they were trying to buy oil at the last minute. It's like many of our excuses...getting caught trying to do something at the last minute.
Then, there's the parable of the talents in which three men are entrusted with some money by their master. They each invest it, except for the timid one who just buries it even though he knew hist master demanded more of him. He's tossed out into the darkness for his lack of fruit. Likewise, we can't have an excuse, “I was afraid and hid your talent in the ground.” Either because we were afraid or lazy. Instead, we must use what God gives us to do his work.
The third parable in Matthew 25 is about the sheep and the goats. The sheep are those who are saved because, in this life, they helped the sick and poor and those in need. The goats are those who didn't. Why didn't they help anyone? They probably had their excuses. Likewise, we are to help others. We aren't to hoard all that we can, hoping to become rich. When we have something to spare, we should be generous. This is another example where the excuses come so easily. “I don't have time. He isn't worth it.” But there are so many people needing help that we are without excuse if we claim we couldn't find anyone to help, whether it be spiritually or physically.
In conclusion, I'd just like to mention a couple of quotes about excuses:
“Every vice has its excuse ready. “
“A poor workman always finds fault with his tools.”
So, instead of making excuses for not doing things, let's do what needs to be done.