Excuse Or Surrender?

Luke 14:16-24

Well, I can’t believe camp is already here. In some ways it seems like yesterday that we were on our way to camp last year but in other ways it feels like it’s been FOREVER since we went to camp.

Honestly, camp is one of my favorite weeks of the year. Is it stressful for me, YES. But, is it a lot of fun YES! Is it exhausting YES! Is it rewarding ABSOLUTELY! I love every year we get to go to camp, in fact I’ve loved every year I’ve gotten to go, I think this is my 16th or 17th year of camp. I’ll be honest though, not every year is created equal. In my own years of going to camp, there were years that were very good, like the year I got saved, like the year I surrendered my life to the Lord, the year I decided to take my relationship with God serious. But there were other years that I don’t remember decisions being made. I don’t remember much from it and in fact I look back on one specific year that I regret because I really just made a fool of myself.

I guess the point that I am trying to get across is that you decide whether or not camp is going to be a good week or not. It’s not your friend, it’s not your frie-nemy, it’s not me or Mrs. Brielle, not even God decides whether or not you have a good week of camp. YOU decide that. You will determine what this year of camp will look like based on whether you are surrendered to God or you give excuses. God has something absolutely incredible in store for us this week, but you have to be surrendered to Him if you are going to receive it. And that’s what I want to deal with this morning very quickly…

Here in our text we are given a parable of a great feast. Jesus is using this parable to give a picture of His invitation to those that are lost and to those who would be disciples of Jesus Christ.

So, here is this great master who has prepared this absolutely incredible feast, I am talking, Looks Market Place cheese-curds, Carnaval’s Cheese Bread, Texas Roadhouse rolls, all you can eat steak, chicken, and shrimp, with all kinds of dessert and ice cream. This is an absolutely incredible feast and the master wants everyone to come! If I was invited to an event like this then I would literally drop everything I was doing and get there as fast as I could before Bertha and Bartholomew ate everything.

But, that is not how these people respond. Instead of responding with, “yes I am so honored that you would think of me, we’ll be there!” They answered with a bunch of excuses. Can you imagine being invited to something so incredible and saying “ah, you know what, I have some hot pockets in the oven, I think I am going to just eat those instead.” That is just ridiculous! But, they all gave an excuse as to why they would not go to this feast.

One said that he wanted to go look at the land that he had just bought. You don’t buy land before you see it so that wasn’t really a good excuse. Is looking at your land bad? No, but it kept him from answering the Masters call to the feast.

The second person said that they couldn’t come because they just bought some oxen and they need to test them out. Again, if you are buying oxen, you would make sure that they work before you bought them. But still, is wanting to test your oxen a bad thing? No, but it kept him from answering the masters call to the feast.

The third person may have had what they thought as a better excuse. They said that they got married and they can’t come. If you got married then you would be a really bad husband not to want to bring your wife to such a feast. Is having a wife a bad thing? No, but sometimes and in this case especially, relationships can keep people from answering the Masters call to the feast.

It is not that all of those things are bad but when given too much attention, when our priorities are not straight then anything, good, or bad can become an excuse or a hindrance to making eternal decisions, to making camp a great week or just a “ehh” week.

Remember, this is not just a fun story, this is a parable, so it has spiritual implications. What they should have said is “I am going to eat a feast with the God of the universe so my oxen can wait, I can go see my field tomorrow, my wife can come with me.” But instead, they sacrificed something that is so temporary, something that didn’t matter in the long run for something that would have lasted for all time.

Because these people had their eyes focused on what they wanted and their reasons and excuses for not following God, because they gave excuses instead of surrendering to God, they missed out on God changing their lives forever! While we get on to these people for such a crazy response, we do the same exact thing at times…

Many times, we are put in the same position as these people in our text. God has a great feast for us, He has an incredible will for our lives and some awesome blessings and rewards that come with it and He is calling to each one of us to take action. To accept His invitation that will change our lives forever. All we have to do is accept it. God has a great week of camp in store, He wants to grow our youth group closer to each other, He wants you to get closer to Him, get things right with your parents, get things right with Him, and He honestly really just wants to bless you this week at camp.

But sadly, like these people in the text, many times we give excuses instead of surrendering. We can’t follow God because of this or that. We can’t surrender because something else is more important in that moment. Listen, there is nothing more important this week than you hearing God’s will, God’s plan for your life, in big areas and in small areas, and you surrendering your own thoughts about it and letting God do what He wants. There is nothing more important than you hearing from God. Are you going to surrender to Him or are you going to give an excuse? When the people in our text gave excuses, they missed out on eternity and a relationship with Jesus Christ. The ones who surrendered, who said “God whatever you want to do, whatever you ask of me, I am going to do, I am just going to do it.”, those people recieved eternal life and a relationship with the God of Heaven and eternal blessings. When you give excuses instead of surrendering, you miss out on all God wants to do with you, in big areas but in small areas too…There will be MANY opportunities this week for you to either offer excuses or be surrendered. I just want to give you a few examples, some of these may get a little repetitive but I really do think we need these. But from the get go, if you will just say, “okay God, whatever comes my way this week, I am just going surrender myself completely to you and not give any excuses. Whatever it is God, I am yours, it’s not about me, it is about you, no excuses, I am surrendered.”

-This afternoon, maybe you are asked to help load the trailer or clean up from lunch inside. The first response you can have is an excuse and brush off those who asked you, and say no, I need to go make sure my make up looks good or I need to go make sure I get my spot on the bus. But if you are surrendered, you will say you know what, it’s not about me, I am going to do my part and be a help.

-When we get on the bus, you as a high-schooler finds out that a middle-schooler has taken the spot you wanted or maybe you don’t get to sit by the person that you wanted to and this just ticks you off. You can respond in one of two ways. One, this is MY spot, I deserve to sit by my friend, and make every one miserable around you. Or Two, you can say you know what “I surrender”, I am just going to move to the next seat over, it’s not about me, I can still talk to my friend and maybe I can invest in that pesky middle-schooler.

-When we stop at a gas station and you don’t get to get what you wanted because Bro. Samuel thinks its sticky, you can either respond with an excuse and mutter under your breath and get a talking to or you can say “I surrender” it’s not that big of a deal, I can wait till we get to camp to have my gummy bears.

-When we stop somewhere you don’t like instead of letting everyone know about your desire to go somewhere else or the disgust you have for where we are going, just say “I surrender” and trust that what we are doing has been given a lot of thought and it is not a personal vendeta against you.

-When we get to camp, maybe you don’t get the bunk you like, maybe some girl takes your shower, maybe some guy uses your flip-flops in the shower, maybe someone takes your spot in the John R. maybe everyone else rushes in to the cafeteria and you get left with a bunch of weirdos, maybe Bro. Samuel took the last Bosco stick and you didn’t get one, maybe that person cut you in line at the carpet-ball table, the temptation will be to say that person did me wrong and use it as an excuse to get angry or to have a bad attitude and be so focused on that thing that someone had to have done on purpose, and let it ruin your attitude for the day, if you are not careful, because something doesn’t go your way this week at camp, you can excuse your bad attitude and not be surrendered and COMPLETELY miss out on the feast that God has for you at camp. Instead of excusing your attitude because of what someone else has done to you, just say, “you know what it’s not that big of a deal, I surrender”.

-Maybe in the sports, someone gets to play that is clearly worse than you, and you can think that you have an excuse to get mad, but instead of getting angry and frustrated, you can say “you know what, it isn’t about me, it is about the team, I surrender, it’s not that big of a deal.”. Maybe a ref makes a call that is clearly wrong, you and I can begin to think we have an excuse to get mad and talk back, but instead we need to surrender our own thoughts and opinions and just let the ref be wrong and we’ll see the instant replay in Heaven. But seriously, let’s surrender our attitudes in the sports to the Lord and let’s just be encouraging to each other, even if someone makes a bad play, even if someone from another team does something to frustrate you, just say “I surrender, it’s not that big of a deal”.

-Maybe during cabin cleanup you get asked to clean the toilets, you can either respond with excuses or get upset and cost the whole cabin, the cabin cleanup award, or you can surrender and make it about the group instead of yourself.

-Maybe this is your first camp week or you were a little hesitant to come, you are a little nervous about it. Well, just surrender this week of camp to the Lord, be all in, I’d say that to everyone, whatever we do, just be all in. Surrender what you think this week of camp should look like and just be all in. If we lose the first day in sports, surrender, be all in, and practice your belly flop in the pool. You may think camp should go this way or that but be willing for the Lord to do whatever He wants this week, surrender your pre-conceived ideas about camp and let Him do what He wants.

-There are lots of little scenarios I could give, but there will be many opportunities for you to think that there are valid excuses as to why you can have a bad attitude, why you don’t need to listen, why you can do what you want instead of what is being asked of you, why you can be mad at this person or that person, but ultimately, if you don’t surrender your will for God’s will, even in little things like that, you will miss out on everything God wants to do in your life this week.

-Listen, this week at camp, God is going to speak to you if you will listen. God is going to give you a life changing call, God is going to ask you to make a decision that can make an eternal impact, a decision that could last forever. But some of you are going to miss out on it. God wants to change your life, He wants to use you in an incredible way but you are going to miss it because you gave an excuse, because you wouldn’t accept His invitation, because you wouldn’t say yes to His call at camp. Because you wouldn’t surrender.

-Some of you won’t respond because you simply aren’t listening. You are too focused on the football game that we just lost that you miss the message. You miss the message because you are too busy talking to your friend. You miss the message because you met the girl of your dreams at camp or the guy of your dreams and you can’t stop thinking about him or her. Some may miss the message because a friend is being a distraction during the message.

-Some of you won’t respond to make a decision at camp because you will make the excuse that you are more worried about what you friend will think about you responding than you are about God changing your life forever.

-Some of you won’t respond to make a decision because you know that could mean that you need to make some serious decisions and get rid of some sin in your life but you enjoy your phone too much, you enjoy the attention too much, you enjoy the pleasure too much, you don’t want to have to humble yourself to that other girl and ask for forgiveness, you don’t want to have to humble yourself to your parents and ask for forgiveness. You give excuse after excuse as to why you won’t or can’t respond, and you leave unchanged because you let some sin be an excuse, instead of surrendering to what god wants for your life.

-Listen, if you let excuses get in the way of God speaking to you or you making a decision at camp then it will be a wasted week. If all you do is sit in your seat and make excuses as to why you don’t really need to change or why you don’t really have to respond at invitation then you will miss out on God possibly changing your life forever.

I remember when I was going into my third year of HBBC and I had just gotten married, I sang at my church and I sang a song that I had sung at camp one year. I didn’t really think much about it but later that day I got a text from a friend that I grew up with who was really not in church very much but just happened to be in church that day. He said something like this… “Hey man, when you sang that song it brought back all the memories of camp, all the times that God had spoken to me, all the decisions that I should’ve made and should have kept, looking back now if only I had taken it more serious, if only I had kept those decisions and stayed accountable, I wonder how much it would’ve kept me from. Thank you for singing that song.”

It honestly made me pretty sad. To see a guy I grew up with who really struggled to do what was right, he grew up in church and had parents who loved the Lord, but he was always a little bit too cool for school, he didn’t really respond to many messages because he was the cool guy, he was really just there for a good time, and so because of those excuses he didn’t make the decisions that he should have. Years down the road he is struggling with depression, in and out of church, struggles with addictions, struggles to make ends meet, struggles with drinking and smoking. And he looks back 5-7 years down the road and he says “I wish I would have listened more, I wish I had kept my decisions, and maybe it would have kept me from some of this.” Isaac excused God’s call on his life for something that was so temporary and something he regrets and struggles with to this day and in moments of clarity he looks back to camp when he didn’t listen.

Can I encourage you this week when it comes to little things that frustrate you to say “I surrender, it’s not going to be a big deal.” God knows what’s best for me, not me. When it comes time for the preaching, just say “you know what God? I surrender, I want whatever you want for my life, no matter what it looks like, I am going to surrender. Surrender means saying yes to everything.” During the trip when an adult asks you to do something, say yes to everything. When you are asked to move seats or to go change because of your outfit, when you are confronted about your attitude, just say yes to everything and be humble. When it comes time for the preaching, say yes to everything, say yes to responding, say yes to going forward with a friend, younger ones say yes to responding even though it is uncomfortable. If you will say yes to everything, if you will surrender this week of camp, there is no telling what God will do for you and through this youth group. Before we leave this afternoon, tell God “Yes I surrender.” Say yes to everything and watch God work in your life!