Been a talk presented during the
2017 Youth Convention of Church of The Holy Spirit, Rumuapu Parish
Introduction:
Excuse
means: to seek to lessen the blame attaching to (a fault or offence); try to
justify. a reason or explanation given to justify a fault or offence.
Text:
Romans 2:1
"You
may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no
excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning
yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things."
(NIV)
Ø
As
believers saved by grace, we must work out our salvation to the end. If we fail
to do this, we will lose our salvation given us. We need to ask for His grace
and the Holy Spirit’s enablement to work out our salvation.
Ø
We
must resist sin and follow the desires of the Holy Spirit within us. We must
set ourselves apart unto God as vessels of honour (2 Tim 2:20-21).
Ø
We
must ever draw near to Christ and not to miracles, money, deliverance,
protection etc.
Ø
We
as God’s children should possess a holy fear that trembles at the Word of God
(Isaiah 66:2) and causes us to turn away from evil. Let us not become too
familiar with God as to forget the dread of sinning against Him and facing the
consequences. We must acknowledge and remember the awe of His power, holiness
and righteous retribution.
Titus 2:11-13 “11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed
hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ,”
Romans 1:18-19: "For the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their
unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to
them, because God has shown it to them."
After Paul had
finished speaking of his boldness to share the gospel of Jesus Christ (Romans
1:16), Paul notes that God's wrath is against the sins of people. Why? Those
things that people know to be wrong were being committed on a regular basis.
In other words, people were not sinning out of ignorance but were active participants
in what Paul described as sinful behavior.
Based on this
information, Paul concludes that all people are without EXCUSE, but
without excuse from what? Referring to the beginning of the verse, all people
are without excuse concerning God's wrath. Paul would later further teach that
all have sinned and fall short of God's glory (Romans 3:23) and that the wages
of sin is death (Romans 6:23).
The implications of
this verse are profound. First, God has made Himself known to some degree to
all people. Second, every person without Christ is condemned to God's wrath.
Therefore, it is essential that Christians share the gospel message with a
sense of urgency to every person possible. We are to encourage one another as
believers (Hebrews 10:23-25), yet one of our major reasons for continued
existence in this world as Christians is to share the good news of Jesus with
all who will listen.
THE MINDSET OF THE
INEXCUSABLE YOUTH
Case Study: Naaman and the Maid (2Kings 5:1-4)
1. Wake up
WAKE UP! No seriously, please do! And
when I say wake up it doesn’t mean to wake up literally early in the morning
after a goodnight’s sleep. It means to wake up from that mental slumber and have a good look at the short comings in our
community. It’s high time we realized that this is OUR society, WE make it and
WE break it!
2. Change yourself
Our society is formed by
every single one of us. Without us there is no society. Changing ourselves can
have a huge impact on our Society. Start with the baby steps; maybe start
smiling more often, or using kind words or simply by thanking the people who
work under you wholeheartedly. Hey! Charity always begins at home. Change
yourself, inspire others to change and watch your community progress!
3. Acknowledge the power within
you
Know yourself! What you like, what you
dislike, what are your strengths and what are your weaknesses. And then improve
your weak points and polish the strengths. Utilize your energy positively and
take your first step towards creating a positive impact on your society.
4. Inspire others
Change yourself and encourage others to
change as well. As I said earlier, change
yourself. Inspire others to change and watch your Society make progress! And
anyway an impact is never created all alone. You need people to do that and
what better way to involve people than by inspiring them.
5.
Consider life as a
training ground
When you start to regard life as a
training ground, setbacks are painted in a new light. Rather than berate
yourself for mistakes you realize that failure to achieve your goal provides an
amazing opportunity to learn from your mistakes. When you implement what you
learn, you achieve much better results. With this attitude, you begin to see
failure as an essential part of your education in life.
Learning from your failures conditions you and
makes you stronger. This is both a way to get a mental edge and an
absolute truth. Adversity is a way to become smarter, stronger, more
resilient, experienced and skilled. Next time you experience a setback;
avoid making excuses and seek out the lesson to be learned.
6.
Expect
Challenges
Almost nothing worthwhile in life comes
without a fight. Challenges are an essential part of life which should be
embraced, engaged and overcome as they allow you to grow as a person.
Whether you like it or not, you will face challenges along the way so, you
might as well avoid making excuses and get on with the job of overcoming them.
Excuses won’t get you anywhere at
all. Instead, they are a terrible distraction which take your focus off
of your most important tasks and, reduces your confidence and self belief. So, avoid
making excuses and face your challenges head on. You will be more empowered,
more confident and more successful.