Excuses to Avoid

He's mentioning water, and I thought I could either bring water up here or it's a short walk to get it if I needed later, so we're good. But great to see everyone again, as I mentioned. I'd like to start today's message by asking you a hypothetical question that Max Lucado asked in his book, Just Like Jesus. And the question he asked was this. If for 24 hours Jesus lives our life with his heart. So, nothing else about your life would change. Our health would be the same. Our circumstances, our schedule wouldn't be altered. Our problems would be altered. The only thing that changes is our heart would be replaced by Jesus' heart. What if for one day and one night Jesus lives out our life with his heart? So for that period of time, his priorities would govern our passions, would drive our decisions, his love would direct our behaviors. What would we be like? It's a great question because if you think about it, it's like the ultimate barometer of how well we are doing at being like God. It's one of those areas where we would have family. Would our co-workers sense a difference? How about our friends? Would they detect that we have more joy, more concern, more kindness? How about our enemies? How about the less? Would they receive more mercy or better treatment from Christ's heart than they do from my own? Would we physically feel and see things differently in the world around us? Would this transplant cause us to have less stress? Would we be less moody or have a calmer temperament? And better yet, would we still do what we had planned to do during that 24-hour period? Interesting question. Please turn to Ezekiel 36, verses 26-27. If we were a car, then God would want control of our engine. But since we are people, God's desire is to change our heart. In fact, He wants us to have a new heart. Ezekiel 36, starting in verse 26.

So, Max, okay, to summarize God's desire for each of us, saying, God loves us just the way we are, but He refused to leave us that way. He wants us to be just like Jesus.

And God wants us to have a heart like His. And in many ways, that's really uplifting. It's a very encouraging concept, because what it means is we aren't stuck with today's personality. Because if His heart was leading us and we knew we'd be different, well, we're not stuck with what we experience. We aren't doomed to retain today's weaknesses.

We don't have to die with the worries that we face. Okay, so how does this fit into today's message? Well, the reality is, if Jesus' heart was inside us for 24 hours, we would behave differently. I think it's a fair statement. And we wouldn't limit ourselves with the same excuses that we usually use.

Humans often use excuses, things like, I'm just that way, it's just my nature. Or we make other comments like, I can't help the way I react, I'm just pessimistic, I'm just edgy, I just have a bad temper. Well, if you think that through, contrasts are always a great way to see if something is actually logical. So, to show you how silly human excuses are for not living God's way, let's pretend we use the same excuses with something else like our bodies.

Would we ever say, it's just my nature to have a broken leg? Nope, I can't do anything about it. Of course not, right? If our body malfunctions, we go to a doctor, we seek help. Shouldn't we do the same with our hearts? There are things that, if Jesus was living in our heart, we know would be different, and we should seek to become as closely like what he would want, and the way he would live as possible.

So this is more than a theoretical question, because there's nothing we can't overcome with God's help. And Jesus can change our hearts, and he wants us to have a heart like his. So with that as a perspective, I'd like us to examine five common excuses that everyone here, including the young kids, have probably used. Everybody here is old enough to talk, so I think it's probably fair that they've all used it at one time or another.

The first four deal with our inability to do the right thing. The fifth one, the last one, is this question of equity of us actually doing the right thing. So, slight contrast. But all five of these are phrases that we would never use if Jesus' heart was leading our lives. And for each excuse, what we're going to do is we're going to look at an example of common people from the Bible who faced the exact same weaknesses that we do. And hopefully these examples will show that it's possible with God's help to avoid our human tendencies, our natural tendencies, to complain and doubt God.

So with that, please turn to Galatians 2 and verse 20. See, another thing to keep in mind with this is we can feel that the distance between God's heart, heart-like gods, and ours, it's just immense, right? So far to go. And when we compare them, it makes us wonder how we could ever hope to have a heart-like Christ. But guess what? We already do.

One of the most unrealized promises of God is if we've given our life to Jesus through baptism, He has given Himself to us. Galatians 2 and verse 20. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

So as we go through this, think about what excuses do you use, what excuses do I use, as I was putting this together, to question our ability to do what we should? Let's start with the first one. No matter how confident we are, at some point in life, we're going to face a situation, and we're going to say, I don't have the strength. I don't have the strength.

And maybe you're feeling that today, for some of you here. This especially happens to us spiritually. Because regardless of our physical strength, when we're faced with a spiritual trial, well, that tests our emotional, our psychological strength, our strength of character, and ultimately our ability to trust God. Trust God when bad things are happening to us. So have you recently said to God, I don't have the strength? Please turn to Judges 6, and we're going to jump around between verses 1-40. I think a great story to think about when we're concerned about not being strong enough is the story of Gideon and the 300 men. God used them to conquer the enemies of Israel at that time, the Midianites. As you know, Israel had rebelled against God, so God brought judgments on them. And finally, God decided that he was going to overthrow these people who had been persecuting them. Well, it took a lot of reassuring of Gideon to help this happen, because what was his first reaction? I don't have the strength. Judges 6, verse 1. Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of Midian for seven years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. Now, the next verses show that their neighbors destroyed their crops and lives. Verse 6. Let's continue. So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. The Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. So next, Gideon started to make excuses about him not being enough. And then he asked for signs. Because he didn't feel he personally had the strength. We've all been there. And he asked God to prove himself. So move forward to verse 36.

I know that you will save Israel by my hand. Very nice, concise statement there. When he rose early in the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece and a bowl full of water. I was just picturing that. I can't imagine squeezing anything and getting a bowl full of water. That's a tremendous amount. Then Gideon said to God, Do not be afraid with me, but let me speak a prayer just once more with the fleece. Let it now be dry only on the fleece, but all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground. Which, because if there was a bowl full and that one thing, it makes me wonder how soggy the ground was. But that's just my own mental picture of this whole thing. Gideon didn't start as this strong, this valiant man. But he learned to trust in God for his strength. And there's something there that we all could learn from. Right? God proved himself to Gideon through little victories to prepare him for the big battle to come. That happens with us. God proved himself to Gideon through little victories to prepare him for the big battle to come. Do you feel like God is building you at this time? God is challenging us to be all we can in Christ, both as individuals and as a church. Do you feel strong enough for what life is throwing at you? When we feel we don't have strength, a lot of time we're blinded by the present.

We're blinded by the present. God sees beyond what we are now to what we can become. And he's calling us to trust in him for our strength. Trust him for our strength. And that takes us, of course, to the amazing story in chapter 7. The armies of Midianites that opposed Israel were 135,000 soldiers, trained soldiers, strong. And Gideon had to assemble an army to fight back, and he started with 32,000 men. Alright, how do you like that? If you come into a fight for your life, and the odds are 4 to 1, I think you'd be pretty terrified. Let's go to Judges 7, starting in verse 2.

What if your odds were one of those 10,000 people to fight 135,000? 10,000 untrained, 135,000 trained. Now it's one verse every 13 and a half people. Well, as you know, God pared down the army to just 300 men to go into battle. And I guess we can read that, but I mean, you see in verse 4. But the Lord said to Gideon, the people are still too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be that of whom I say to you, this one shall go with you, the same will go with you, and then whomever I say to you, this one shall not go with you, the same shall not go. Down to 300 men. Now, the odds were one Israelite against every 483 Midianites. I mean, you've been to a feast site of 500 people. You've been to concerts of 500 people. All of them wanted to get you. You have a frightening day. They had to be terrified, right? God's intention was that when the battle was over, the people of Israel would know it was the Lord who delivered them, not the strength of men. So continue in verse 20. Then the three companions blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers. They held the torches in their left hand and the trumpet in their right hand for blowing. And they cried, the sword of the Lord and Gideon, and every man stood in his place all around the camp. And the whole army ran and cried out and fled. When the 300 blew the trumpets, the Lord set every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp, and the army fled. So God used Gideon to confuse the enemies by making it appear that the Israelite army was huge, bigger than theirs, even.

And the result was confusion. And in that confusion, the Midianites battled with their own armies and they killed each other.

And those who escaped were killed by the limited army that was there of Gideon's. You know, you turn there, but Judges 8 and verse 10 confirms 125,000 soldiers died that day.

I think it's fair to say that's probably not counting the men, women, and children that were in the support of the army. So there's probably more than that. All right. Do you ever feel like you don't have the strength? Like that's where you're at. It's probably what they were feeling right there. See, we can come to God. We can say, Lord, I'm just tired. I can barely get the essentials done. I want to feel good and I want to feel strong so I can finish what you have given me to do, but...

We all do that at times, right?

If you've been there, I can tell you what God tells to me when I approach him that way is from the beginning of the verse, of the chapter that Bill finished his sermon with. And he says, Dan, unless the Lord shall build the house, unless the Lord shall build the house, do you ever feel like you try and you try to be like Christ?

Do you ever feel like you try and you try to accomplish his will? I do. But that's the problem. I am the one trying. And in my trying, I'm pushing Christ aside and saying, I can do this. I can solve my own God. But we can't accomplish anything spiritually by our own strength in a part from Christ.

Gideon learned to come through by trusting God for his strength, and we need to do the same.

So God is always looking for men and women of faith who are willing to trust God to let him use us. And God isn't looking for perfect people, just people who want to be molded, who want to be used in his service. And people of fear, which all of us are going to face at times, make excuses. The lesson of Gideon is we should throw away the odds, because people of faith say, here I am, God, send me.

And if we trust God, we'll be amazed at what we can do for God and what God will do through us.

Let's go to the second excuse that we tend to use.

The second excuse for why we're unable to do the right thing is we tend to say, it's too hard. It's too hard.

Been there? I've certainly been there many times.

We would never say that if we had Jesus' heart.

I've seen people leave the church over the years, and they'd say, I'd like to be a Christian, but there's just too much to give up.

That is such a bizarre concept.

It's illogical. It's like saying, I'd like to be healed, but I don't want to give up the cancer. Because God's way is the only way to salvation, and the only thing God asks us to give up are things that will hurt us.

And the only thing we're expected to experience is what we're able to withstand.

So the reality is we complain too often that life's challenges are too hard.

Please turn to Ezekiel 4, verses 1-12. Ezekiel 4, 1-12.

When I think in the Bible of a person who experienced just embarrassment, the most amazingly embarrassing experiences and staved about, I think, a besiege against this model, little toy soldiers and siege ramps or siege machines.

Let's continue in verse 5.

Ezekiel had to lay on the ground on one side for more than a year, regardless of the weather.

Verse 6.

So after Ezekiel laid on his left side for over a year, he was told to turn over to his right side for another 40 days.

410 days.

And if it wasn't difficult enough to lay on his side for a year, he was tied up in a rope so he couldn't turn over.

And he was told that he was supposed to make his food, no, before we even go to that part, he was told he was given to have only a limited number of foods.

Let's read that in verse 10.

And your food which you eat shall be weighed 20 shekels a day.

A day. From time to time you shall eat.

If you only had eight ounces, one of those little tiny cups over there, to eat in a whole day, I think you would eat little bits from time to time.

You shall also drink water by measure, one-sixth of a yin.

That's two-thirds of a quart. Think of four eight-ounce cups.

The whole day, all the liquid you're getting.

Donette. From time to time you shall drink.

And you shall eat it as barley cakes and bake it using fuel of human waste in their sight.

What a miserable life!

Do you think what you're being asked to do right now is hard?

His ego was even asked, as it says, to cook on human dung, to represent the famine, the lack of resources in Israel, and God relented and let him use cow's dung. Whoo-hoo!

Chapter 5, his ego was told to shave his head, divide his hair into three piles, with one pile burnt, representing famine, one pile cut with a sword, you can figure out what that represents, and then one pile scattered to the wind, representing those taken into exile.

Do you like public embarrassment? Because it was shame to have your head shaved as a Jew, and especially as a priest.

In each of these cases, God had Ezekiel do something dramatic as an example to get the attention of the exiles.

Okay, so we can keep going, but what do we take from the examples of Ezekiel?

No matter what hard things have been asked of you to do, I doubt there'll be any tougher than what he went through.

Ezekiel focused on the promises of God rather than becoming overwhelmed by the challenges he was asked to face.

He focused on the promises of God rather than the challenges. And we should do the same.

Let me help you with that a little bit. It's been said that there are over 30,000 promises in the Bible.

So let's do a little bit of a deductive argument around that.

First of all, we know that God cannot lie. Right?

Secondly, we also know there's no promise too hard for God to keep.

Therefore, as a result, we can be certain that God will keep his word in every one of them.

That should give us confidence to approach God when we feel overwhelmed by the scale of the challenge.

See, there's no prayer too hard for God to answer.

You don't need to turn there. Matthew 21-22 says, Go ahead and turn to 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13.

Our God specializes in the impossible. Right? Now, God may not solve our problem. You could change that may possibly, probably will, but our God may not solve our problem the way we want him to.

There's that.

But there's no problem too hard for God to solve.

There's no person too hard for God to save if they're willing to repent.

1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13. No temptation has overtaken you except such as common to man.

But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it.

So what limits God when we feel things are too hard?

We do. We do.

Did you know that a puny little person like you and like me could limit the Almighty God?

We can bind the hands of the most powerful being in the universe who wants to be the most powerful being in the universe. We can bind the hands of the most powerful being in the universe who wants to bless us.

Let me share three quick examples of how this takes place.

We limit God if we have an unwilling spirit.

We have this dubious privilege to say no to God.

If we're not willing, then there aren't enough angels in heaven to drive us through. If we're not willing, then there aren't enough angels in heaven to drive us through.

We limit God if we have an unconcerned attitude.

Turn to Revelation 3, verse 20.

Do you think there's any door that could keep God out if He wanted to open it?

Before you answer that too quickly, read this next verse.

Jesus is teaching us here in Revelation 3, verse 20.

He says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him.

So this verse shows that Jesus stands at the door knocking until someone decides to let Him in.

Finally, we limit God if we have an unclean lifestyle.

God doesn't fail to answer our prayers because He's weak, because He can't hear us.

Instead, He doesn't answer our prayers because our sins separate us from Him.

There's nothing too hard for God.

As a result, there's nothing that should be too hard for us with His help.

And we're foolish if we bind God's generous hands that want to bless us.

That, again, certainly wouldn't happen if Jesus' heart was leading our lives.

Let's go on to the third excuse that people use related to our inability.

And that is, I'm just not physically able to.

I'm not physically able to.

As we get older...

Next month I turn 60. As we get older, our bodies begin to break down. We have less energy. We can't physically do what we did when we were younger. So obviously, there are some realities to aging. I'm not questioning that.

But I would argue we take it much farther than we need to. And the way I'll challenge you if you don't think that's the case is this.

If Jesus' heart was leading your decisions for a 24-hour period, would you do things you've avoided because of feeling you're physically not capable?

If that answers yes, there's your answer.

Please turn to Genesis 18, verses 9-14. Genesis 18, verses 9-14. So now we're stepping into the story of Abraham, where he's entertaining Jesus and two angels. And when this meeting took place, Abraham was 99 years old. So Genesis 18, verse 9. Then they said to him, Where is Sarah your wife? So he said, here in the tent. And he said, I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son. Sarah was listening in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age.

And Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore, Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure? My Lord, being old also? Abraham had been promised a son since he was 75 years old. 24, 25 years passed by this time. How long do you like to wait for a promise? Right? By this time, Sarah was well past the age of childbearing. So physically they couldn't conceive. Verse 13. And the Lord said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I surely bear a child since I am old? Is any Abraham and Sarah? No matter how physically impossible conception was, God wasn't limited by the physical. After all, He is the God who created the entire universe.

It's only because God can do supernatural things that you and I are called. Right? Please turn to Romans 22. Romans 4, 18-22. Before we go to lessons, let's see how Paul describes the faith of Abraham. So at the age of 75, 25 years before this, God promised Abraham a son.

And then it took 25 years before the promise, actually, what did Abraham do during that period? Romans 4, 18-22. Who, contrary to hope, in hope, believed. So that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken. So shall your descendants be. And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead, about 100 years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what he had promised, he was able to perform, and therefore, it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Catch the pieces in there. Able to face the facts, that his body was as good as dead, without letting that weaken his faith. And that's not easy to do. He didn't waver in unbelief about the promises of God, based on what he saw physically.

You and I do that. Do we look at what we see physically and say, well, God can't do it, then that's just not possible. Do we limit what God can do through us, because we view ourselves as physically unable? I'm too old. I'm too young. I'm too sick. I'm too tired to serve. Where do we use explanations? So how did Abraham walk by faith? Okay, so first of all, he faced the facts. Notice he didn't pretend that he was physically able to procreate. And that's the starting point of faith, right? But you can't stop there, because if you do, it's unbelief.

You still have to go forward in faith. A lot of people—I read something that I think is just a great way of framing this— a lot of people confuse fact with truth. Fact with truth. And they aren't the same. Facts can change. Truth doesn't. Facts relate to situations. They relate to circumstances. A bank statement tells you the facts, not the truth. Truth relates to God's Word. So, for example, a doctor's diagnosis can change depending on how the patient responds. You get that, right? If a doctor's diagnosis can change, then it's not truth, but it's fact.

A bank statement fluctuates, right? From month to month, based on income, outgo, yet God's Word is described as certain. Today, tomorrow, forever. People's opinions can change, but God's Word is truth that endures forever. And so that's what Paul meant in Romans 3-4, when he said, Let God be true in every man a liar. God's promises are permanent. They're reliable. You start seeing the difference between fact and truth. We need to do God's will in faith and not be limited by our fear of our physical inability. Okay, so how do we apply this? Everywhere around us are opportunities to serve. It may be in prayer.

It may be visiting those who are at a hospital, serving in a food kitchen, reaching out to people in this congregation, reach out to people around the country, around the world, encouraging them. Options are endless. You'll hear Nathan up here say, Who would like to participate and help in different ways? And endless. It's easy to live by faith and do the right thing if it isn't physically challenging.

But what happens when the answers from God are taking a long time in coming? What happens when we're tired? We don't want to do what we should do. I would argue Abraham's example is for us to serve as best as we're able and then trust in God. Let's transition. The fourth excuse that we use captures this ultimate fear about our ability to do the right thing. And the excuse is, You can't make it. You can't make it. Have you ever felt like you were at the end of this rope just hanging there? End of a frayed rope, you're barely hanging on to the knot at the end, and you look down and there's this bottomless pit seemingly below you.

You don't know what to do. You may feel that way when there's a problem at work and it seems that there's just no way out. You may feel that way when you have more days left in the month than money in your pocket.

When you're facing problems with your children that you just can't solve, we have a loved one who died, and you can't escape the loneliness, the grief, or maybe you feel like you're walking through this spiritual wasteland and there's no way out. What do you do when you reach that point? Honestly, only God can help completely with those situations.

But I hope you can find some help by turning to 2 Kings 4, verses 1-7. 2 Kings 4, 1-7. This passage we're about to read is about this poor widow woman who was at the end of her rope, not knowing what to do. And so in her pain, in her poverty, she did the only thing she needed to do when she turned to God. And when she did, God came through in a very big way. 2 Kings 4 and verse 1. A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, Your servant, my husband, is dead. And you know that your servant feared the Lord, and the creditor is coming to take my sons to be his slaves. So in context, again, her husband died sometime back and didn't just leave her with loneliness, left her with no ability to pay the costs that were around her in life. She was dead broke. And she had two sons. Now, Jewish law allowed her creditors to come take her sons away as slaves so that they could work off her debts that had piled up. In spite of all her problems, she still had faith in God. Verse 2. So Elisha said to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house? And she said, Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil. Literally, that word is like flask, because I think it's a little small, barely bigger, anointing oil type thing. After God erased her faith in herself, in her own ability, then he began this process of expanding her faith in the power of God to meet her needs. And if you think about it, it would have been easy for Elisha to have said, You've been through so much. You know what? Just go home and wait for God to take care of it all and just let it all fix itself. We'd love that, right? That's our version of how we would script Christianity, right? But God chose to involve the widow in her own miracle. First, she was led to recognize that she couldn't do it by herself. Then God expanded her faith by teaching her trust, humility, and obedience. So Elisha's question was designed to teach this widow that it may not have looked like she had much. But in reality, she already had everything she needed. She couldn't see it, but God had already given her the very things that he would use to meet her needs. Verse 3, then he said, Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors, empty vessels. Do not gather just a few, and when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons. Then pour it into all those vessels and set aside the full ones.

So the widow was told to go to all her day-growers and borrow every empty thing she could find. That's a strange command. I can just imagine what that would be like if your neighbor came up, and I have every pot and pan and jar and holding container you have. You wonder how she asked it, too. There could have been two different ways. She could have been, don't ask me why, but I want to borrow some empty pots, jars. She could have been excited. She could have said, I'm totally broken. God is about to meet my needs. I don't know how. But, man, God said, do this, and God is going to make it all work. Who knows? All I know is that people had to shake their head and wonder what in the world was going on as they went door to door collecting vessels. But either way, there was this powerful example that was being set. Verse 5, more than one time that's going to happen. But there's going to come this day where you feel like you're at the end of your rope, and you can't make it. And when you reach that point, the world, Satan the devil, and even your overwhelmed mind will tell you God doesn't see. And the truth is, he cares more than we know. And he's always aware of what we're facing. But the story of Elisha and the widow is designed to teach us that our problems, while seemingly insurmountable right to us, are really just opportunities for God in disguise. And it's hard when there's a really, really tough time going on. No matter what we're called to face in this life, we need to turn to God first for our help because he does care, because he can help. And our God uses the trials and the burdens of life to bring us to the place where we can see our own inability to meet our needs. Think we can handle this, but we have no reason to look to God. Right? If we have all the answers, why should we bring our questions to him? But when we stop and honestly compare what we need to what we have, it helps us realize we need far more than we'll ever be able to supply by ourselves. Right? Race our faith in ourselves. As long as we think we can, he won't.

As long as we think we can, he won't. He wants us to recognize our need for him. And what we fail to realize is that God has already given us everything we need to get our needs met. Right? The widow said the only thing of value she had was this container of oil. You and I have so much more than that. We're very blessed in this country. But regardless, we look at our problems and they look huge. Right? We look at our possessions or our resources and they don't seem like they're enough at times. Emotionally, physically, mentally, all the different ways. So God places us in situations where faith in him must be expanded. And when the day ended, there was this mother, there were these two boys, and a neighbor that all learned that God was all-powerful and God was able to meet every need. Turn to Ephesians 3, verse 20-21. Paul experienced this. He transitioned from a person who fought Jesus to a person who looked to Jesus as his only source of strength. Now, to get there, how many times did he have to be shipwrecked and imprisoned and beaten to near death? But you see where he came to, Ephesians 3, verse 20. Now to him who was able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus, to all generations forever and ever. Amen. What made the difference? Paul's faith had been expanded to see the power of God on numerous occasions when he was helpless, facing these trials. And that's what God is doing in our lives as well. The other thing to think about, which is this fascinating analogy to reflect on, is the oil flowed until the vessels ran out. The oil flowed until the vessels ran out. Did you notice that there was no limit on the amount of oil? The only limit was the amount of vessels. God's provisions knew no end in this widow's case, and it knows no end in your case. God is able to meet every need, move every mountain, solve every problem. His provisions are limited by nothing but our faith. And so God stands ready to give all that we make room for in our lives. No more, no less. And so this is his journey of learning to trust, to have faith, and to take our vessel, in a sense, before God so his Holy Spirit can fill us up. All right, let's move from excuses we use about what we're not able to do and finish by looking at an excuse we use when we feel life isn't treating us equitably after we've done the right thing. Everyone who's a parent has heard this one. The fifth excuse is, it's not fair. Right? It's not fair. That wouldn't come out of our mouth if we had Jesus' heart. So fairness is this important thing for humans, right? It's this devotion to justice that's ingrained. You can go all the way back. I mean, Aristotle wrote, All virtue is summed up in dealing justly, and even Superman, what's his motto? Truth, justice, in the American way. Right? Fairness, it's important. And the concept seems simple, at a certain level, almost intuitive, but it's far more complicated, it's far more ambiguous when you try to apply fairness in a real-life situation. That's when it gets tricky. Because at those times along the way, you realize that it seems with every decision it's going to result in at least one person claiming it's unfair. You see that around you in the world? You see that in our own lives? And the truth is, they're right, according to their personal criteria.

Because it's not possible to satisfy everyone. Now, if you're going to summarize this thing, generally, people who consider themselves winners, well, they consider the results just. And those who see themselves as losers, well, they consider it unjust. Somewhere in the back of our minds, we expect life to be fair. And if you make that translation, in some ways, that's like, I should be a winner and not a loser. Otherwise, we wouldn't get so angry, we wouldn't get so hurt when it isn't. But life may not always seem fair, but we can learn to roll with the punches better, right? We can have a more godly way of thinking. We can make better choices when this happens. And that takes us to this next biblical example that we'll read. Turn to Genesis 39, verses 1-23. Genesis 39, we'll read between those sections starting in verse 1. Have you ever been accused of doing something you did not do? I think we all have different points, and it's not a fun experience. What we're entering into is the story of Joseph. Due to his brother's jealousy, you know the story. Joseph was sold into slavery and taken to Egypt, where a man named Potiphar bought him as a servant. Genesis 39, starting in verse 1. Now, Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, brought him from the Ishma...or bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man, and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. His master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in the sight and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had, he put under his authority.

Potiphar's wife had longing eyes and wanted to have sex with Joseph. So every day, she would throw herself at him, and every day he said, no, that would be an offense to God and to Potiphar. Finally, she got this sneaky, mean idea of accusing him of rape. Jump to verse 19.

So it was when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, Your servant did to me after this manner, that his anger was aroused. Then Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison, but the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and he gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever they did there, it was his doing. The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority, because the Lord was with him, and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper. This story sounds so sad. I mean, he had a tough, tough run of things. There were a lot of unfair things that happened to Joseph. Joseph was put in jail for choosing to do the right thing. But again, the key, as you see in a lot of these situations, is he trusted God during these hard times. He didn't blame God or make his obedience conditional. Did you ever make your obedience conditional with God? Life isn't fair. It wasn't fair that Jesus had to die. He didn't do anything wrong, either. Okay, so what did we learn from this example? Life is not fair, too. You ever questioned that one? When a hurricane misses us, do we say, That wasn't fair, God? If we feel we don't deserve the bad things, we can't claim to deserve the good things, either. I think the phrase, It's not a point in both good things and bad things, is how we react to them. This sermon is about if the character of Christ is being formed in us. Really, at the root, that's what it's about. When we face things that aren't fair, are we bitter? Are we better? Are we thankful, regardless of our circumstances? For sure, that really, really was not fair, was Jesus dying on the cross for my sins and for your sins. Yet, when I stand before the throne of God, after my life is over, I won't say, It is not fair that you grant me eternal life, God. I'm going to say thank you. In Joseph's story, God's ultimately used the unfair actions to lead to important life lessons and blessings for others. In Jesus' story, God made a way for us to become spiritual members of his family. And Jesus had to go through hard, unfair times, or didn't have to, but he did willingly for us. And that's this important perspective for us to keep in mind. When we feel like complaining something isn't fair, it's not always about us, and it's not always about the moment. If we don't limit ourselves by any of these five excuses along the way, our actions may one day be what the future generations will look to, for example. But that can only happen if we let God lead our hearts, rather than allowing excuses to stop us from living as we should. Right? There's this song, which is just a fun acapella-Caribbean-type song, that's titled, Everyone Said, But Nobody Did. And the core verses are, Everybody said that anybody could do, the important things that somebody should do. Everybody knows that anybody could do all the good things that nobody did.

Unfortunately, that's true for us too often, right? The problem is that, humanly, we're weak. And a key lesson from today's sermon is we can't rely on ourselves. We need to become common people in the hands of an uncommon God. And that's why it's really thought-provoking to think about what would be different if Jesus' heart was inside us for 24 hours guiding our decisions and our actions. God's desire is to change our heart. His plan for us is nothing short to develop a new heart inside us, right? So, my encouragement to you today is let's make sure we don't allow excuses to limit that from happening.

Thank you.