WHAT’S YOUR EXCUSE?
Text- Luke 14:15-24
Introduction
I’m sure all of us at one time or another have either heard or used some pretty outlandish excuses for avoiding responsibility.
An elementary teacher had heard so many wild excuses over the years from students for not turning in their homework that he began writing some of them down. Some of the excuses he received included:
• My hair hurt.
• My sister ate it.
• My pen must have invisible ink- my answers disappeared.
• My grandmother died. (This last excuse might have worked except the student had a total of four grandmothers die during the course of the year.
Many years ago a Gospel group called the Cathedral Quartet produced a song entitled “Excuses”. Listen to the lyrics and the excuses many people offer.
Excuses, excuses you’ll hear them every day.
Now the Devil he’ll supply them if from church you’ll 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.
Now in the summer it’s too hot.
And in the winter it’s too cold.
In the springtime when the weather’s just right they find some place else to go.
Like up to the mountain or down to the beach or to visit some old friend, or maybe stay home and try to relax and hope the kinfolks will drop in.
Now the church benches are too hard.
And that choir sings too loud.
And boy you know how nervous you get when sittin in a great big crowd.
Well the doctor told you, “You better watch those crowds, because boy they’ll set you back.”
But you go to the old ball game because you say it helps you to relax.
Well it’s a headache Sunday morning.
Or a backache Sunday night.
But by work time Monday morning hay— their feelin quit right.
Now one of the children has a cold, pneumonia do you suppose.
Well the whole family had to stay home to blow that poor kid’s nose.
Excuses, excuses, you’ll hear them everyday.
Now the Devil will supply them if from church you’ll stay away.
When people come to know the Lord, the Devil always loses.
So to keep those folks away from church he offers them excuses.
Now the preacher he’s too young.
Or maybe he’s too old.
His sermons aren’t quit hard enough.
And sometimes he gets too bold.
His voice is much too quiet.
Sometimes he gets too loud.
We’ll he ought to have more dignity or else he’s way too proud.
Now the sermons their too long.
And sometimes their too short.
He ought to have more dignity instead of stomp and snort.
Well that preacher we have must be the world’s most stuck up man because one little lady told me the other day, “Well, he didn’t even shake my hand.”
Excuses, excuses, you’ll hear them everyday.
Now the Devil will supply them if from church you’ll stay away.
When people come to know the Lord the Devil always loses.
So to keep those folks away from church he offers them excuses.
This Morning Our Text Is Found in Luke 14:15-24 and the Title of My Message Is, “What’s Your Excuse?”
Here in our text we find Jesus eating in the house of one of the leaders of the pharisees. While there, Jesus healed a man suffering from dropsy and spoke on the subject of humility and charity.
In verse 15 we are told that when one of the people who was sitting at the table heard this he said, “Blessed is everyone who shall eat bread in the Kingdom of God.’
It was this statement that caused Jesus to respond with the parable of the great supper recorded in our text.
Before we look at this parable it is important that we first understand what a parable is. A parable is a means of teaching. It was a technique commonly used by Jesus and even some of the Old Testament prophets. In this method a spiritual lesson was taught by means of a common physical event.
On this occasion Jesus had been invited to eat with one of the chief Pharisees. As they discussed who should sit where, He delivered two short sermons; one on humility and the other on charity. Then when they sat down to eat, one of the Pharisees sitting near Jesus said, “Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God” (vs 15). Jesus responded with the parable of the great supper and used the dinner to teach those present concerning God’s invitation to enter the Kingdom of God.
In fact, the one main thought expressed over and over again in verses 1-24 is the idea of being invited. You’ll find in those verses the word “invite or invited” used a total of 13 times. Here in this passage we find three invitations that are offered.