Rev. David Holwick D
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
January 23, 2000
Genesis 3:6-13
FLIMSY EXCUSES
I. Everybody does it.
Jack took a long look at his speedometer before slowing down:
73 in a 55 zone... Fourth time in as many months.
How could a guy get caught so often?
When his car had slowed to 10 miles an hour, Jack pulled over,
but only partially.
Let the cop worry about the potential traffic hazard.
Maybe some other car will tweak his backside with a mirror.
The cop was stepping out of his car, the big pad in hand.
Bob? Bob from church?
Jack sunk farther into his trench coat.
This was worse than the coming ticket.
A Christian cop catching a guy from his own church.
A guy who happened to be a little anxious to get home after a
long day at the office.
A guy he was about to play golf with tomorrow.
Jumping out of the car, he approached a man he saw every Sunday,
a man he'd never seen in uniform.
"Hi, Bob. Fancy meeting you like this."
"Hello, Jack." No smile.
"Guess you caught me red-handed in a rush to see my wife and kids."
"Yeah, I guess." Bob seemed uncertain. Good.
"I've seen some long days at the office lately.
I'm afraid I bent the rules a bit - just this once."
Jack toed at a pebble on the pavement.
"Diane said something about roast beef and potatoes tonight.
Know what I mean?"
"I know what you mean.
I also know that you have a reputation in our precinct."
Ouch! This was not going in the right direction.
Time to change tactics.
"What'd you clock me at?"
"71. Would you sit back in your car, please?"
"Now wait a minute here, Bob. I checked as soon as I saw you.
I was barely nudging 65."
The lie seemed to come easier with every ticket.
"Please, Jack, get in your car."
Flustered, Jack hunched himself through the still-open door.
Slamming it shut, he stared at the dashboard.
He was in no rush to open the window. The minutes ticked by.
Bob scribbled away on the pad.
Why hadn't he asked for a driver's license?
Whatever the reason, it would be a month of Sundays before Jack
ever sat near this cop again.
A tap on the door jerked his head to the left.
There was Bob, a folded paper in hand.
Jack rolled down the window a mere two inches, just enough room
for Bob to pass him the slip.
"Thanks." Jack could not quite keep the sneer out of his voice.
Bob returned to his car without a word.
Jack watched his retreat in the mirror.
He unfolded the sheet of paper.
How much was this one going to cost?
Wait a minute. What was this? Some kind of joke?
Certainly not a ticket.
Jack began to read:
"Dear Jack, Once upon a time I had a daughter.
She was six when killed by a car.
You guessed it - a speeding driver.
A fine and three months in jail, and the man was free.
Free to hug his daughters.
All three of them.
I only had one, and I'm going to have to wait until heaven
before I can ever hug her again.
A thousand times I've tried to forgive that man.
A thousand times I thought I had.
Maybe I did, but I need to do it again. Even now...
Pray for me. And be careful. My son is all I have left."
-Bob
Jack twisted around in time to see Bob's car pull away and head
down the road.
He watched until it disappeared.
A full 15 minutes later, he, too, pulled away and drove slowly
home, praying for forgiveness and hugging a surprised wife and
kids when he arrived.
#4574
II. Rationalization has been around a long time.
A. Eve in Garden. Genesis 3
1) Note the pattern: Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the
serpent. Gen 3:12-13
2) She looked at the circumstances instead of God's command.
B. Why we make excuses.
1) Holding contradictory beliefs causes tension.
a) We will modify one of them to gain peace.
b) God's commands conflict with our heart's desire.
c) Rationalization is compromising of God's truth to
obtain our own desires.
2) We want what sin can give us.
a) We want our sin and our salvation, too.
b) The promised results of sin are so enticing, we search
for a way to get them without letting go of our
beliefs.
1> Marry a non-Christian: I'll lead him to the Lord.
2> Steal church money: I deserve a reward for hard work.
3) Obedience can seem difficult and costly.
a) We want to avoid the cost of obedience.
b) God's commands often threaten our comfort zones, so
we look for ways to reinterpret them.
Consider the example of Woodrow Wilson.
Here was a man who grew up Presbyterian, in a parsonage, with a
strong biblical and moral upbringing.
Yet he failed in strategic areas.
While Wilson was president of Princeton University, at the age of
50, he had an affair.
From that point on, he never admitted he was a sinner.
He began to read the Bible more selectively.
He no longer took seriously the commandment, "You shall not commit
adultery."
Making the sinful situation even worse, according to Marvin Olasky
Wilson actually stated the commandment doesn't mean adultery if
the woman is lonely and you could comfort her.
His selective reading of that commandment transferred to other
commandments, so much so, that before long he was lying to the
country much in the same way he lied to his wife.
Sound familiar?
#4636
III. Man of many excuses - King Saul.
A. Saul jumps the gun. 1 Samuel 13
1) Israel about to be attacked by Philistines.
2) Men are deserting the army.
3) Prophet Samuel is late.
4) Saul takes things into his own hands and offers sacrifices.
5) Samuel shows up and rebukes Saul.
B. Saul's excuses.
1) What I did was YOUR fault. 1 Sam 13:11
a) "YOU did not come at the set time."
b) We like this approach because we are a victim-oriented
society.
1> I had to steal because they don't pay me enough.
2> I'm a workaholic because my parents were alcoholics.
c) The failure of others can create situations that tempt
us, but the choice to sin is ultimately ours.
2) I had no choice.
a) Saul refers to desperate circumstances as an excuse.
1> The men were scattering.
b) We are tempted to blame our circumstances for our
actions and attitudes.
1> "I know I shouldn't complain, but you don't know
what kind of day I've had."
2> "He was a lousy husband - I had to leave."
c) Circumstances make obedience harder, but we must trust
God to make the situation better.
3) I did it for a good cause.
a) In 1 Samuel 15, Saul disobeys and spares livestock.
1> First, he lies about it.
2> Then he blames the soldiers. 1 Sam 15:15
3> Then he deflects, saying they are for sacrifices.
A> Samuel: "To obey is better than sacrifice."
b) We are tempted to let worthy goals justify questionable
methods.
1> The Bible says the end does not justify the means.
4) I deserve a break today.
a) Saul claims he destroyed the Amalekites. 1 Sam 15:20
1> "Why are you so hard on me? I did PART of it."
b) We treat obedience as a zero sum game.
1> "I did a good deed... now I can do something bad."
2> We figure it evens out in the end.
c) God calls for total obedience.
IV. Man who does the right thing - King David. 1 Samuel 24, 26
A. David's plight.
1) He is running from Saul, who resents his popularity.
2) Twice David has a chance to kill Saul.
3) David overcame his rationalizations and did right thing.
B. David's obedience.
1) Listen to God, not to others.
a) When Saul entered cave, David's friends urged him to
kill his enemy.
b) They saw it as fulfillment of prophecy. 1 Sam 24:4
c) David listened to God, not his friends.
2) Listen to your own conscience.
a) David cut off corner of Saul's robe and was conscience
stricken. 1 Sam 24:5
1> Doesn't seem like much compared to what he
COULD have done.
2> Yet David's conscience was sensitive enough to
be bothered by it.
b) Fine-tune your conscience.
1> Neglecting your conscience can shipwreck your
faith. 1 Tim 1:19
3) Focus on your own actions.
a) David acknowledged the evil that Saul had done, but
he let God do the avenging. 1 Sam 24:12
b) Their actions don't justify an evil response from us.
4) Entrust your circumstances to God.
a) David had another chance to assassinate Saul, but
refuses.
1> He figured God would kill Saul, either directly
or through a battle. 1 Sam 26:10-11
2> David saw the big picture - God is sovereign.
b) When we remember that God is in control, excuses are
less of a temptation.
1> Believe that his plan is for the best.
V. A sin by any other name.
A. Call rationalization what it is - sin.
1) Going against a command of God is disobedience.
2) Rationalization is our attempt to paint it as better
than it really is.
B. For all sin there is forgiveness.
1) Sin is not the end of the world.
2) God wipes away the dirt each time we ask.
C. Making excuses gives sin a foothold.
1) It hurts others, it hurts us.
2) It erodes our witness to the world.
3) It damages our relationship with God.
4) Continued rationalization can harden our hearts.
D. Be people of integrity.
1) Don't blame your actions on others.
2) Don't blame them on circumstances.
3) Admit your sin, confess it and repent.
In his book EVERYONE'S A COACH, Don Shula tells of losing his temper
near an open microphone during a televised game with the Los Angeles
Rams.
Millions of viewers were surprised and shocked by Shula's explicit
profanity.
Letters soon arrived from all over the country, voicing the
disappointment of many who had respected the coach for his integrity.
Shula could have given excuses, but he didn't.
Everyone who included a return address received a personal apology.
He closed each letter by stating, "I value your respect and will do my
best to earn it again."
There are two ways to gain respect.
One is to act nobly.
The other is, when you fail to do so, to make no excuses.
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This sermon draws very heavily upon "Excuses, Excuses," by Susan Maycinik
Nikaido, in Discipleship Journal #104, March-April 1998, page 45.
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#3956 "To Illustrate: Respect," Online Leadership Journal (America
Online), quoting from Ken Blanchard's EVERYONE'S A COACH.
#4574 "Think About It, Speeders!!" email submitted by Rev. Wayne
Cowhick on May 13, 1999.
#4636 "Olasky, Land Underscore History Of Private Character Affecting
Nation," by Douglas Baker, Baptist Press (with Goshen.net),
http://www.baptistpress.org/, March 25, 1999.
These and 5,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/illust.html
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