Excuses, Excuses
Luke 14:15-24
Excuses, excuses, you hear them everyday.
Now, the devil he’ll supply them, if from church you stay away.
When people come to know the Lord, the devil always loses,
So to keep them folks away from church, he offers them excuses!
Are excuses keeping you from knowing or growing in Christ?
Statistics tell us that 99% of all failures are people who have a habit of making excuses.
If you really want to know a person, if you really want to know how someone ticks, listen to their excuses.
I don’t know how many excuses I have heard in my short life span, why people will not trust the Lord Jesus Christ. They can think of every excuse under the sun.
I’m too young, I’ve got the rest of my life ahead of me’.
I’m too old, it’s too late at my stage’.
’I’ve done too many wrong things, God couldn’t take me, God wouldn’t have me’. ’I have a career to think about’.
Excuses get in the way of being a success.
What keeps me from God?
Luke 14:15-24
In Jesus’ day when you invited guests to a dinner, you told them the day but not the exact hour of the meal. A host had to know how many guests were coming so he could butcher the right amount of animals and prepare sufficient food. Just before the feast was to begin, the host sent his servants to each of the guests to tell them the banquet was ready and they should come (see Est 5:8; 6:14). In other words, each of the guests in this parable had already agreed to attend the banquet The host expected them to be there.
But instead of eagerly coming to the feast, all of the guests insulted the host by refusing to attend, and they all gave very feeble excuses to defend their change in plans.
The first guest begged off because he had to "go and see" a piece of real estate he had purchased. In the East, the purchasing of property is often a long and complicated process, and the man would have had many opportunities to examine the land he was buying. Anybody who purchases land that he has never examined is certainly taking a chance. Since most banquets were held in the evening, the man had little daylight left even for a cursory investigation
The second man had also made a purchase - ten oxen that he was anxious to prove. Again, who would purchase that many animals without first testing them? Not many customers in our modern world would buy a used car that they had not taken out for a "test drive." Furthermore, how could this man really put these oxen to the test when it was so late in the day? His statement "I go to prove them!" suggests that he was already on his way to the farm when the servant came with the final call to the dinner.
The third guest really had no excuse at all. Since they involved so much elaborate preparation, Jewish weddings were never surprises, so this man knew well in advance that he was taking a wife. That being the case, he should not have agreed to attend the feast in the first place. Since only Jewish men were invited to banquets, the host did not expect the wife to come anyway Having a new wife could have kept the man from the battlefield (Deut 24:5) but not from the festive board.
Lessons from the three excuses
1st What we have can keeps from God
2nd Ambition and great dreams keeps from God
3rd What and who we love keeps from God.
Being comfortable keeps from God.
What are we putting off?
Summery
How would you feel if God gave you the same amount of time and attention that you devote to Him?
If God put as many things ahead of you as you put ahead of Him? If God offered as many excuses as you do and if the excuses were no more justifiable than yours?
If God’s promises were no more certain than yours?
If God withheld His blessings from you as you withhold your offerings from Him?
