God's Answers For Our Excuses

God’s Answers for Our Excuses

Exodus 3:9 –4:13

Introduction:

Ex. 3:9-10 – Exodus records God’s calling of Moses to lead His people out of bondage in Egypt.

Matt. 28:18-20 – Jesus also calls us to GO and lead his children out of bondage today. Not a physical slavery, but a slavery to sin. Even though we may not see a burning bush, this call is still individual – for every one of us. It’s true that some people are called to work full time in the ministry, but EVERY believer has a responsibility to do their part in witnessing and sharing the Good News of Jesus with those around them. YOU are called to GO into your world and make disciples, followers of Jesus.

Moses answered God with 4 excuses why he couldn’t do what God had called him to do. In return, God gave an answer for each one of Moses’ excuses – leaving him with no excuse not to do what he was called to do.

Sometimes we come up with the same of the same excuses not to do what God has called us to do. Even when we in our minds and hearts, we have said yes, we will fulfill God’s call to witness, often times when the specific opportunities come, we come up with some reasons why we can’t witness to that person.

Jesus also gives us the same answers that God gave to Moses. Jesus explains why with His help, you CAN fulfill God’s call to witness.

Let’s examine the 4 excuses and especially God’s answer to those excuses in detail.

#1 – I am nobody.

Moses’ excuse: (3:11) Moses said that he couldn’t fulfill God’s call for him, because he was a nobody. While he had once been a prince, he was now just an insignificant shepherd living out in the desert. Who was he to go to someone so powerful and prestigious as the pharaoh, the ruler of what was then the world’s greatest and most powerful nation.

God’s answer: First it is important to note that God did not deny Moses’ insignificance. He did not question the fact that compared with the greatness of the Pharaoh, Moses was a nobody. But God answered in (3:12a) that He would go with Moses. It didn’t matter how insignificant Moses was, or more importantly, how powerful the Pharaoh was, because the One who Himself made this earth, the All-Powerful Creator God promised that he would go with Moses. It wasn’t little, nobody Moses challenging the powerful Pharaoh, but it was little, nobody Moses and Big, Somebody God together saying to the Pharaoh, “Let my people Go.”

Our excuse: Sometimes we have the same excuse, when God calls us to witness to somebody. We compare ourselves with that person, and say, but I’m nobody compared with them. They’re the boss, or they’re very educated and smart, or they are powerful, and I’m not. Just like Moses, we sometimes say, I can’t fulfill God’s call for me, because I’m a nobody.

Jesus Answer: Again God does not deny what is sometimes the truth, that we really are nobody. But in the same passage we’ve already read Mt. 28:20, Jesus says, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Jesus says the same thing to us that God said to Moses, you can go because it is not you alone that is going, but it is you and God Himself going. When God calls you to share the Gospel with someone more significant than you, remember it is not just little, nobody you going to them, but it is little, nobody you and the Big, Somebody God going together. The evangelist A.E. Shuttlesworth sums it up well when he says, “When a nobody meets a somebody, he can begin to touch everybody.” You can fulfill God’s call to witness, even to those who are above you, because Jesus promises that He will go with you.

Illustration: Gideon – Judges 6:14-16. The Lord told Gideon to go out and fight against His enemies and win freedom for His people. Gideon’s response was that he was the lowest of the low. He was the least in his family and his tribe was the weakest in Manasseh. God’s response to Gideon, was the same as to Moses and to us. God said, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.” It didn’t matter that Gideon was insignificant. Why? Once again, it was because God promised to go with him.

Application: God promises that He will go with you to fulfill His command to witness, but He won’t go for you. We have to take the initiative and go. If you haven’t experienced God being true to His word to go with you, maybe it’s because you haven’t gone. It doesn’t matter how insignificant you are, and it doesn’t matter how important the person is that you’re witnessing to. God has promised that you CAN fulfill his call to witness because He will go with you.