No Excuses
After the Kingdom of Israel divided, the first king of the Northern Kingdom, Jeroboam, erected idolatrous altars at Dan and Bethel.
These were on opposite ends of the NK.
In doing so, he violated the covenant that the Lord made with him and his people.
The rationalization he gave to the people: “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem” (1 Kgs 12:28).
Of course the real reason was he was afraid of losing his kingdom.
Ironically, once he erected these idols, the faithful priests and Levites living in the NK moved south (2 Chron. 11:13-17).
They were not willing to let these things stand in their way.
The rationalization did not stand up to scrutiny.
The Lord promised that nothing He commanded would be too much for them (Deut. 30:11, 14).
While it might have been difficult at times, as we are seeing on Sunday evenings on Leviticus, it was not too much.
Today, He promises that His commands are not burdensome (1 John 5:3).
We know that they are far less than what was expected in Leviticus.
Christ is the fulfillment of the Law.
What excuses today do we make up for ourselves not to follow after Jesus?
There are two examples in Mark that I want to look at of how people did not let little things stand in their way.
The cleansing of the leper in Mark 1:40-42.
This does not seem like much upon first reading it.
But as we are studying, we note that the leper had to overcome significant societal taboos.
First, he had to enter a town where Jesus was.
Second, he was clearly not shouting, “Unclean!” but, “If you are willing, You can make me clean” (cf. Lev. 13:45-46).
Third, he approached Jesus.
All these things were strict taboos in their society, but the leper flouted them.
His complete disregard for society’s rules had the end result of his leprosy being cleansed.
I’m not saying we should make a habit out of flouting societal rules, but we should not let them stop us from doing God’s will.
Be wise, knowing when to work within society’s rules and when to break them.
Far be it for us to approach His throne on Judgment Day, and He asks us why we did not do something He commanded, and our response is, “Because it wasn’t proper.”
He was willing to break societal barriers to get to Christ, and so should we!
The healing of the paralytic (Mark 2:1-12).
These four men were faced with a problem.
They wanted to help their paralyzed friend, but they couldn’t physically get to Jesus.
He was indoors and the crowd was too thick to get to Him.
They had to come up with a plan—in their zeal, they climbed to the roof, dug through the roof, and lowered their friend to see Jesus.
The leper was not willing to let societal barriers stand in his way, and these men were not willing to let physical barriers stand in their way.
I’m not saying we need to tear holes into walls and roofs regularly, but if these men were not willing to let a thick crowd and some walls get in their way, then we should not allow lesser things to get in ours!
This was not too much for them, and it should not be too much for us, either.
Let us not make excuses, saying something is too much for us when it clearly is not.
Of course, I recognize that for some of you, certain things are too much, please don’t misunderstand.
There are certain physical limitations that we all have.
But none of them preclude obeying the gospel by being baptized for the remission of your sins.
Very few will prevent you from assembling with the saints to worship in spirit and truth.
Let there be no excuses: obey the gospel today!