Excuses - Part 4 - I Deserve Better

Well, I guess it is finally time to examine the final set of excuses people make for their lack of faithfulness.  We have looked at excuses under the headings “The pastor is wrong” and “The church is wrong” so today we wrap this up with, “I deserve better”. 

These excuses make the argument that we are not getting what we deserve.  We look at these as if, somehow, our rights are being violated in some way.  They deal with our physical comfort, our pleasure, relaxation and, our social outlets. We believe that we have a right to certain things, whether by virtue of our national citizenship, spiritual citizenship or just because we work a lot or give much money.  Is this biblical?  Let’s take a look at a few of these excuses.

1.       It is too cold/hot.  How many times have we either complained or heard the complaint that the church is either too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter?  Why is it too hot or too cold?  Is it just you?  Is there no budget to heat the church to a warmer temperature?  Is the expense of cooling the church too much in the summer?   Is there no air conditioner to cool the church in the summer?     Is it just you?

Instead of complaining about it and neglecting the fellowship of the body of Christ, perhaps you should figure out and promote a solution to the problem.  If the problem is the expense, start giving more and encourage others to give more so the church can be heated or cooled to a comfortable level.  If there is no air conditioner, can one be installed for a reasonable cost?  If so, start a fund to install air conditioning.  If it is just you, after all some people run hot or cold, then dress warmer or cooler, whatever the case may be.

If none of these options are viable, and even if they are, remember this, God doesn’t call us to be comfortable; instead He calls us to be faithful.  1 Corinthians 4:2 - Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.   How is allowing a little discomfort to prevent you from attending the worship services of the body and bride of Christ showing yourself faithful?  Would you stop going to your job if it was too cold or too hot?

Edit:  A good friend just shared this poem with me:

As a rule, man is a fool,
When it's hot, he wants it cool;
When it's cool, he wants it hot,
Always wanting what is not. 

Anonymous 

2.       The weather is too bad.  How bad is the weather in reality?  Would the rain, snow or wind prevent you from going to work?  Would it prevent you from participating in your hobby?

I have seen people who use this excuse out playing basketball, golf, fishing and hunting in the same weather.  Somehow it doesn’t stop us from doing those things.   What would you say to those people in many third world countries who walk for hours in the worst kinds of conditions so that they may hear the preaching of the Word of God and enjoy the fellowship of their brothers and sisters in Christ?  Unfortunately, the response many “Christians” in America would be “They’ll get over it.”  God forbid that they, or we, should ever “get over it.”  May God discipline us to the point of tearful and fearful repentance if we ever “get over it.”

3.       The weather is too nice.   Here is another excuse that is frequently used.  It is used in spring when the weather warms up.  It is used in summer when it has been raining for a long time.  It is used when the snow is just right for skiing and when the water is just right for boating and other outdoor activities.  It is basically used when we just don’t want to go to church.  I would contend that spending an hour or three on Sundays is not going to ruin the day, if you have the right spirit.  In fact, if your thoughts were truly on God and His honor and glory you would have an even stronger desire to worship Him on those beautiful days.

4.       Someone sick might be there and give me their cold.   Here we see an excuse based on fear.  We are afraid to get sick.  But, here again, we see an excuse that we would never use to keep us from going to work.  You never hear anyone using this excuse to keep them from going to a concert or a movie though, quite frankly, those environments are far more likely to spread disease and sickness.

5.       This is my only day off.  So God doesn’t merit a day dedicated to Him?  Be honest, you are more committed to your own worship that the Worship of Him, the One who died for you.   God never intended for man to work seven days a week, but He did not intend to be neglected either.  Jesus is our Sabbath rest.  Take a look at Hebrews 4 and see how often the word ‘rest’ is used.  It is not in leisure that we are to find our primary rest, but in the person of Jesus Christ.  Consider how restful out lives would be if we stopped resisting the Holy Spirit and started to allow Him to work through us.   1 Thessalonians 5:24 - Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.   He is the One who does the work through us.  We are just along for the ride when we submit to Him and willingly allow Him to work through us.

6.       My family/friends are visiting.   Seriously?  BRING THEM WITH YOU!  Why shy away from church when they are around?  If they are saved, they should be in church.  If they are not saved, you should have already shared the Gospel with them (and by sharing the Gospel I mean telling them that they are sinners on their way to Hell but Jesus Christ died and shed His blood for them so that they could go the Heaven and that He is the ONLY way to Heaven and without Him ALL people go to Hell regardless of hoe “good” they are).

If you have shared the Gospel with them, they will be watching you to see if your faith is real.  By neglecting the church, you are telling them that your faith is a false and weak faith.  You tell them that the Lord Jesus Christ is only getting lip service from you and that it is OK to live your life according to your values instead of His.  The Bible is clear that we are to not neglect assembling ourselves together.  Consider Hebrews 10:19-25 which says, “¹⁹ Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; ²¹ And having an high priest over the house of God; ²² Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) ²⁴ And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: ²⁵ Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”  Here we see the clear correlation between the new life we have in Christ, the true profession of our faith and faithfulness to the assembling together as the body of Christ.

But won’t I be considered rude and insulting to my family or friends if I go to church instead of spending rare and valuable time with them?  Consider Christ’s words as well.  In Luke 14:26-27, “²⁶ If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷ And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”  Jesus calls us to love Him so much that we hate others by comparison.  The question shouldn't be, "Won't I be considered rude and insulting to my family and friends if I go to church when they visit?"  Instead it should be, "Won't I be considered rude and insulting to my Savior, Jesus Christ, If I neglect His church, His body and His bride if I don't go to church when family and friends are visiting?"

In fact, if we don’t we cannot be His disciple.  If we aren’t His disciple we can’t rightly call ourselves Christians because Christian means “Disciple of Christ” or “Christ-follower”.  One aspect of our cross that we must bear is that we will suffer persecution and ridicule for His sake.

Ultimately our excuses are just that excuses.   Ask yourself this question when you come across and excuse for not doing something that God clearly wants you to do:  Will this stand up before a perfect, holy and righteous God when I stand before Him on Judgment Day?  If you can do it and you don’t do it, it will not stand up in “court”.

Excuses - Part 3 - The Pastor Is Wrong

The next set of excuses people give for not being faithful to church are classified, for the purposes of this blog, under the heading The Pastor Is Wrong.  What do I mean by this?  These are the excuses that people use to blame the pastor for their actions.  These excuses are ways of expressing the errors, or perceived errors, of the pastor.  These excuses attack everything from the pastor’s personality to the messages he preaches and the positions he takes.

I want to be clear that I am in no way trying to imply that everything that the pastor preaches is 100% right, nor am I saying that pastors handle everything correctly.  All too frequently I find myself having to apologize to individuals and the church for my own sinful attitudes which have negatively affected them.  I may not be wrong in my beliefs in a certain situation, but that doesn’t mean that I handle things in a biblical way. 

Certainly pastors are human too and will make mistakes and, in fact, sin.   Congregations and church members need to understand this and offer grace and forgiveness.   Pastors need to abandon their pride and confess their sin and lead the flock in the ways God wants them to lead.

Having said all that, there is no excuse, no matter how reasonable it may sound, for blaming the pastor for a lack of faithfulness to the church.   We will each be held accountable for our own words (Matthew 12:36-37, “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.   For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”) and actions (Jeremiah 17:10, “I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”) and God will not allow us to blame anyone else.

Let’s take a look at some of these excuses.

1.       The pastor doesn’t feed me.

After Jesus rose from the dead, he asked Peter “Do you love me?” three times.  After Peter’s responses, which are interesting but not the point of this blog, Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”, “Feed my sheep.” And “Feed my Sheep.” again.   Because of this many believe that it is the pastor’s job to feed the church and that they should get their spiritual nutrition from the Sunday morning service.  Unfortunately, this attitude reveals a significant and serious misunderstanding of the Scriptures.

If these commandments of Jesus aren’t telling us that we are to get our spiritual nutrition from the services of the church, then what does it mean?   Let’s take a look at what Jesus said.

In John 21:15-17 we read this, “¹⁵So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.    ¹⁶He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.    ¹⁷He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”  Interestingly, the Greek words translated ‘Feed’ are not the same.  The words used in verses 15 and 17 is βόσκω (pronounced – bosco) while the word used in verse 16 is ποιμαίνω (pronounced – Poy-my-no).  Both of these words carry different ideas.

The word βόσκω (Strongs 1006) means, “To feed sheep, to pasture or tend while grazing”.  It carries the idea of leading or guiding the flock to nice green pastures.  Peter is being told to lead the flock where they can get the nutrition necessary for their growth.  It should be noted that a shepherd can lead a flock to the pastures that have what they need, but he cannot force the flock to eat, nor will the flock necessarily think that the grass isn’t better somewhere else and continually seek something “better”.  The same is true of the church, the pastor can lead the church to “pasture” where the Lord directs him to lead the flock, but the flock won’t necessarily like it or even eat.

The Greek word ποιμαίνω (Strongs 4165) means “shepherd. To shepherd, tend”.   Here He is telling Peter to tend to, or shepherd the flock.   The command is to care for the needs of the flock.  To guard the flock from danger, to discipline the flock when needed (the shepherd would sometimes break the legs of a sheep that continually strayed) and to lead the flock to the fields that had the most necessary nutrition for them at the time.

None of these verses imply that the pastor or the services of the church is to give the members of the congregation all of the food necessary for their spiritual survival.  You might say that the Pastor is giving the church an appetizer.  The purpose of an appetizer is to stoke the fires of a person’s appetite so that they can enjoy the main course.   God never intend the pastor to spoon feed the congregation.

So what is the main course?  The main course is your own personal study.  It is the study you put in to learn more about God on a personal level.  The main course is what made the Bereans more noble than the Thessalonians (Acts 17:10-12).  How noble are you?

If you are spiritually malnourished it is your fault, not your pastor's!

2.       I don’t like the pastor.

Frankly, who cares?  God didn’t call you or your pastor to the church because you are so much alike, which is often the basis of friendship.  He called you to that church because you both have contributions to make to the body of Christ and you both have things to learn from each other.   Nowhere in Scripture are we called to like one another; we are to love one another.  

The reality is, if you look at the friendships of most spiritual people you will often find that these people have nothing in common, as the world sees it.  The one thing they have in common is the Savior.   Jesus Christ is the one who gives us our common denominator.  The salvation that He has provided for us and that we have received is the fundamental basis for our unity.   Some of my best friends would be my biggest enemies if it weren’t for Jesus Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit working in us.   I love them and as an added bonus we like each other, not because of who we are, but because who Jesus Christ is. 

3.       I disagree with what the pastor preaches.  

What is wrong with what the pastor preaches?  Is it heresy?  Is it unrelated to his chosen Scripture?   Is it “too judgmental”?  Is it convicting?  Are you looking for comfort?  I’m not saying that pastors are always right or that we always present everything in the best possible way, but unless there is error in the message the congregation needs to listen and apply it to themselves by allowing the Holy Spirit to work freely in their lives through the preaching of the Word.

Whether you agree or disagree with the pastor, do as the Bereans did and be known as one who “searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”  As a pastor, when someone disagrees with something I preach, a video I show, a standard I hold or something else I am willing to hear them out, but what I expect to hear is a well-reasoned argument from Scripture.   As soon as someone tells me something along the lines of “I believe” or “In my opinion” without any biblical evidence, I have to admit, I lose interest in the conversation when they are disputing something that I gave Scriptural evidence for with just an opinion.  Do the noble thing, search the Scripture and live accordingly.

4.       I think we have the wrong pastor.

So you think the wrong person is the pastor of your church?   How do you know that?  Is he a heretic?  Is he scripturally unqualified?  If not then you are wrong.   The simple reality is that no matter how, in human terms, a man becomes the pastor of the church, he can only be in that office if God, in His sovereign will allowed it, even if he is disqualified and a heretic.

If he is a heretic or disqualified, perhaps he is part of God’s judgment on your church for having ungodly attitude, values and deeds.  We see this quite frequently in the Old Testament where God allowed ungodly men and women to take the throne of Israel and Judah or, when God allowed heathen nations to conquer Israel.  Perhaps God is using an unqualified Pastor to bring repentance to your church.

Perhaps you think that the church made a mistake in calling him.   This is a denial of God’s sovereignty.  The Bible is very clear that the people who are in authority and positions of power are in power because God has put them into those positions.   FYI – This applies to all forms and levels of authority and government.

Consider Proverbs 8:13-16, "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.   Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.   By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.   By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth."   He is your pastor not because people wanted him, though I'm sure they did, but because God put him in that office at that church.   Did God make a mistake?  No!   Did He overlook some crucial factor?   Again, NO!  God has him there for a reason.   Consider these points:

•         God has him at that church because it is best for ALL involved.   We know this because of Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”  He has a purpose for your pastor being your pastor at this time.  His purpose is for both the congregation and the pastor. 

•         The Church called him to lead the church of their own free will.  I don't think anyone put a gun to someone's head and said, "Vote for him."  When the church votes to call a pastor, they are calling him to not only preach, but to take the church in a new direction, provided it doesn't violate Scripture.   Since they did call him, whether each individual personally voted for him or not, they have a responsibility to follow his lead as long as he doesn't violate Scripture.  This doesn't mean that you can't have a different opinion and express it, discuss it and even debate it, but what it does mean is that to vote for a leader and then fight him on every, or virtually every, decision he makes is the height of arrogance and pride.  If someone else in the church was more suited to be the pastor, they should have called that person.  The bottom line is God makes NO mistakes.   Because this is the case, work with the leader that God has provided even if you don't agree with him.  He deserves the opportunity to succeed, or fail, based on what he is doing, not because the church is fighting against him.  

•         To fight the pastor when he is trying to do what God has called him to do is to fight God.  Romans 13:1-6 tells us, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.”   There is a very real danger in resisting our authority when they are not violating Scripture.    Certainly it we should obey God rather than man, but if we are claiming to do this, we had better be able to prove it in Scripture or not lead and, indeed, discourage anyone else from following the path we have chosen.  

•         Fighting against a pastor who is serving as he feels called, when he is not violating any Scripture only promotes schism and chaos.  God calls us to be united, to work for His purposes and not our own.  I have no doubt that the problems within the church are known in the community and likely not because the pastor is talking about them.  Those rumors and gossip are usually the result of the congregation’s indiscretion.   What kind of testimony does the church have in the community?  Is it one that glorifies, honors and magnifies the Lord or does it bring dishonor and shame to His name?

If you are reading this and have a pattern of blaming the pastor or anyone else for your lack of faithfulness, stop blaming other people for your choices.  Repent, get right with God, you pastor and your church and allow the Holy Spirit to work in you to become faithful to His purpose and plan for you and His church.

Excuses, Part 2 - The Church Is Wrong

Yes, there are many excuses that we have for not being faithful to the church, the Bride and Body of Christ.   Today we will look at some of the excuses I put under the header “The Church Is Wrong.”  Before I begin, I want to state, for the record, that each one of these statements, and perhaps all of them, may be true of your church.   Even if they are, it gives us no excuse for disobedience to God.

How did you choose which church you would attend?  What was your criteria for finding the right church?    Let me say this, the ONLY valid reason for joining with a specific local body of believers is because it is God’s will.  We are never shy about talking about a pastor being called to a specific church, why would God’s calling to join and attend a church be any different?  Have you sought God’s will concerning which church you should join?  When it comes down to it our responsibility is ultimately to honor and glorify God and the first step in that, the step that is required before any other step is taken, is to be obedient to Him.

1.       The church is filled with hypocrites.

Let me make this bold statement about this excuse.  It is true.  Most, if not all, churches are filled with hypocrites.  Perhaps you are one of them.  In fact, if you use this excuse you ARE one of THEM!  Yes, you are a hypocrite if this is your excuse for not being faithful to your church.

A hypocrite is defined as, “someone who says they have particular moral beliefs but behaves in way which shows these are not sincere” (Cambridge Dictionary) or, “a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, especially one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.” (Dictionary.com).   The root of the word speaks of an actor who is pretending to be someone he is not.

How does this make the person using this excuse, and virtually everyone else in the church a hypocrite?   Simply this, if you say that you believe that God has called you to this church and, if you say that you believe that God knows what is best for you and, if you believe that God’s plan is always right and, if God calls us to be faithful then by defying His plan and purpose through our lack of faithfulness to the church to which He has called us we reveal that we do not believe what we claim to believe.

How does this make most people hypocrites, whether or not they use this excuse?  How many of us go to church after a hard week, when we are discouraged, when our faith is at a low ebb and when life generally stinks and then put on the façade of the “perfect” Christian?  We are struggling and when someone asks us, “How are you?”  we answer, “Fine” or, “Great” or with some other insincere response or outright lie.  How often do we choose to hold on to anger or bitterness against a brother or sister in Christ instead of forgiving them when we know we should forgive them.  How often do we make worship about our preferences instead of being about the God who created us and saved us all the while proclaiming that we worship Him?

2.       There isn’t anything there for me.

Who ever said we were supposed to get anything out of the church worship services?  The services are about God, not us.  Should we get something out of church?  Absolutely!  The early church met together, daily actually, and fellowshipped, studied, praised God and prayed together (Acts2:41-47).  And, yes, they also met each other’s needs.  It should be noted that this meeting of needs was very much a mutual thing, they all worked together to meet each other’s needs. 

We applaud JFK’s inaugural address in 1961 when he said, “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.”  We need to consider that this applies to the church perhaps even more.  Some people, not all, are on welfare and choose to be on welfare because it is the easy thing.   They could work for a living and perhaps never be rich but could, and should, contribute more to society.  Many are calling for these people to be held to a higher standard and not allow them to be a drain on society and the resource that the government has through the taxation of people who are working.   Some people do the same thing in church, they come only for what they can get but never contribute anything but negativity, criticism and dissention.

The believers in the early church did get something out of church, but that was not their primary motivation, nor was it ever the primary purpose of the church.  This provision was a product of the working out of their faith.   Rather than asking what we can get out of church, what if we asked, “What can I bring to church?  What can I contribute?  How can I bless others at church?”

3.       Nobody is friendly to me.

The reality is that some churches are friendly and some are not.  There is no denying this.  Let me ask you this.  Are you friendly?  Proverbs 18:24 says, “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”  This is what the church should be, a band of believers that stick closer than brothers (blood relatives).  Perhaps this is why God emphasizes the brotherhood of all believers, the fact that we are in a new family. 

But let me ask you this question as you condemn the church for not being friendly; are you friendly?  Have you shown yourself friendly?  Do you put yourself out there to greet people?  Are you trying to make friends or are you leaving that responsibility to others?

4.       Nothing ever happens there.

I am always amazed when people say this.  They come to church and it seems that their expectation is that nothing will happen.  When I come to church I expect for God to show up.  When God shows up, things happen.  This is inevitable.  Many times the things that happen during and as a result of the corporate worship are more subtle and less obvious to most people.  Nevertheless, they are a result of meeting with God.  God doesn’t always work in big ways. 

It seems like when the big things do happen that they happen when these people aren’t present.  Perhaps there is a reason for that.  If you are one of the people using this excuse; if you are one who never sees God working when you are in church and is skeptical when you hear of a big movement of God when you aren’t there, consider the words found in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22, “¹⁶ Rejoice evermore. ¹⁷ Pray without ceasing. ¹⁸ In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. ¹⁹ Quench not the Spirit. ²⁰ Despise not prophesyings. ²¹ Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. ²² Abstain from all appearance of evil.”

Perhaps these are prerequisites of seeing God work in a big way.  Do you rejoice in the Lord or are you characterized by anger, bitterness and resentment?  Is your life characterized by prayer or can you spend days, weeks or months without real prayer and never even notice?   Are you a thankful person or are you envious of the things you don’t have?  Do you look forward to the preaching and teaching of God’s Word or do you consider it a “necessary evil”?  Do you use biblical discernment in your actions and associations or do you just go with what you are familiar with or with things you like?  Do you avoid associating yourself with every form of evil or do you make excuses for why you should be able to ease up on being godly?

Perhaps you noticed that I skipped “Quench not the Spirit.”  Consider this, if you are not characterized by godliness in these other areas and if you are not willing to be godly in these other areas, you might be the one, or one of the ones, who is quenching the Spirit.  There are people in churches that bring an oppressive spirit with them.  Their mere presence can bring down an entire congregation and hinder the work of the Spirit.

Possibly someone is reading this and thinking to themselves, “If that is the way it is, I will stop going to church.”  Let me tell you, this is not the answer.  It is to your benefit as well as the church’s benefit to repent of your sinful and wicked attitudes and get right before God.  Be transformed, by the power of the Holy Spirit, from a hindrance to God’s work to a valuable asset to His plan and purpose.

5.       They are too old-fashioned/They are too progressive.

I have combined these last two excuses because they are virtually the same.  Yes, they are far apart in the spectrum of worship styles, but they are both man-centered instead of being God-centered.   The worship of the church and the individual worship of each disciple of Christ needs to be God-centered.  You may be correct concerning whether or not the music for a worship service is appropriate, but if your motivation for that criticism comes down to, at its core, the fact that YOU don’t like it, you are still wrong.

It doesn’t matter if the church uses hymnals or projects the lyrics of the songs on a screen.  It doesn't matter if there are announcements during the service or if people are expected to read their bulletins.  It doesn't matter what the order of service is or if it changes every week.  It doesn't matter what instruments are used or if there are instruments being used.  I don’t believe that God cares about these things. He cares about our heart.

Perhaps God has called you to your church to be an agent of change.  If the church is full of hypocrites, stop being one and show the church what transparency is all about and let them see God bless you for it.  Transform your attitude in worship and see how God blesses you and begins His transforming work in your life.   If the church is unfriendly, be a friend and show yourself friendly.    If nothing ever happens there, make sure you aren’t a hindrance to God’s work and then be faithful so that when something does happen you will be there.

Ultimately it comes down to whether you are worshiping God in your spirit or you are worshiping yourself in your spirit.  Making excuses is a revealer of you heart.   You can do everything right and if your spirit is wrong, you are still wrong.  We need to examine ourselves and open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit to examine us and reveal to us the sins in our lives that hinder or even destroy our worship.   Psalm 139:23-24 says, “²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: ²⁴ And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”  Furthermore, 2 Corinthians 13:5 tells us, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”  Have you examined yourself, your motivations and your heart?  Are you willing to have the Holy Spirit reveal truth to you about yourself even if it is uncomfortable?

My next article will examine the excuses I have put under the heading "The Pastor Is Wrong".

How is your heart?  Are you ready for personal revival?   If you are, check out www.onecry.com and join the movement for revival and spiritual awakening.

Excuses - Part 1

Everybody has them.  We don’t always call them excuses but that is what they are.  Perhaps you call them reasons, justifications, explanations or something else, but ultimately, most of the time they are just excuses.   Look at weight.  We have excuses as to why we are overweight and why we can’t lose weight.  This season on The Biggest Loser has been called the season of no excuses.  In this season they have taken various “reasons” why the contestants are overweight or can’t lose weight.   Ultimately all of these reasons given have been revealed to be flimsy excuses.

We also make excuses for why we aren’t faithful to church.  Sure, no one would ever say that they aren’t faithful, but ultimately we reveal our lack of faithfulness to God and His plan when we choose to skip church to watch TV, play games, go shopping or, visit with family and friends.  By choosing to gratify our own selfish desires rather than sacrificing them to attend to one of Christ’s highest priorities, His body (Colossians 1:24) and bride (Ephesians 5:22-33), we reveal our own unfaithfulness to Him.  Would a friend encourage you to neglect yourself or even hurt yourself or your wife?  No, of course not!  If a friend were to do that we would clearly see that he is not a true friend.  Likewise, if we are truly a friend of Jesus Christ, we would attend to His body and bride.

The Kingsmen used to sing a song titled Excuses in which they list many of the excuses people use for skipping church.  I always enjoyed that song, and it would be funny if it weren’t so true.   We’re going to look at some of the excuses people have for not being faithful.   We will be looking at these excuses in three categories, 1) The Church Is Wrong; 2) The Pastor Is Wrong; and, 3) I Deserve …   Due to the volume of excuses, this will be divided into several articles.  Here is a partial list, in no particular order, of what we will look at in the coming articles.

1.       The church is filled with hypocrites.

2.       There isn’t anything there for me.

3.       Nobody is friendly to me.

4.       Nothing ever happens there.

5.       It is too cold/hot.

6.       The weather is too bad.

7.       The Weather is too nice.

8.       Someone sick might be there and give me their cold.

9.       The pastor doesn’t feed me.

10.   I don’t like the pastor.

11.   I disagree with what the pastor preaches.

12.   I think we have the wrong pastor.

13.   They are too old-fashioned.

14.   They are too progressive.

15.   This is my only day off.

16.   My family/friends are visiting.

The list goes on and on.  Are you ready to deal with your excuses?  Let me know what some of the excuses you have heard are and perhaps we'll deal with them.