It was a few years ago, and we were doing just a little bit of touch up in a basement living space, when from behind the drywall we noticed a little black area on the wood and cement block. We opened up the wall just a little bit more and discovered that there was mold growing in that area behind the wall. We explored some more, and lo and behold discovered that our entire basement’s outer walls, drywall and wooden framework was just caked in mold. This was not a house we purchased, or owned, thank goodness, but we were the ones living in it.

What we had hoped would be a simple clean-up and repair turned into something more severe. We had to gut the basement out and start all fresh. Tear out drywall. Tear out ceiling. Tear out 2 by 4’s, treat the area and build again. Maybe some of you have had that kind of experience. Where it was just easier to write off everything that happened in the past and start fresh. I did that this past month. In Christian’s room we were working on a model train that would go all the way around his room. I don’t know how many hours I spent putting this thing together, and when it was declared finished, I didn’t like it. I should have done it a better way, and more aesthetically pleasing way. So we tore it all out and redid the thing, and it looks a whole lot better, and runs better as well. But we wouldn’t have figured out the better way without doing it the wrong way first.

I bring up these examples of creating, destroying, and recreating because that process is inherently present within our Bible text this morning. For the next three weeks, we will be looking at the Bible character of Noah. Noah and the Flood. This week, we are looking at Noah, pre-flood. Next week we will swim in the flood waters with Noah, and on Labor Day weekend, we will finish out with the aftermath of the flood - The rainbow and the wine. But first, I need to spend a little bit of time in discovering who Noah was.

We read the account of Noah in the Genesis stories early on. It is apart of what we call the “pre-history”, accounts and stories that take place before historical record. The first 11 Chapters of Genesis are within that pre-historical period. Now, in Chapter 12 we begin the story of Abraham and Sarah, and their four generations that follow - the story of the patriarchs and matriarchs in the history of Israel. Everything before Abraham is the account of how the world came to be and stories that explained our beginnings.

Some of you might believe that Noah and the flood are historical facts and that they did happen. I’m fine with that. Some of you might believe that Noah and the flood are nice stories that are meant to covey a deeper truth. I’m fine with that. There are more important truths to believe in, regardless of whether or not you believe in an actual flood. There is certainly reasons to doubt the story. There is not enough water on the planet to flood the earth as mentioned. It wasn’t possible. A localized flood, yes, but not enough to make the story plausible. The Discovery Channel did a program on Noah that looked at the plausibility of the story, and ran into the same issues. If the water was so high to cover the mountains, the physics would mean that there would also be much more water vapor in the atmosphere that Noah and family would drown just by breathing. Also, a boat made of cyprus or any type of wood made in those dimensions would collapse upon itself. It wouldn’t float. The bible is very specific on the dimensions of the boat, but it doesn’t answer how Noah got all the animals on board.

And how did Noah get all the animals on board? Not a clue. And all the animals in the earth wouldn’t have fit anyway. Not unless you believe in evolution where some of those animals changed over time, allowing more species to exist. I love the old Far Side cartoon that has Noah and the animals on the boat waving goodbye to the dinosaurs who didn’t have a boarding pass.

Indeed, there are many reasons to question the authentically of the story of Noah. And I’m fine questioning the Bible. But I am reminded of a story told by one of my heros, William Jennings Bryan about a watermelon seed. Someone asked Bryan about how he could believe in the Bible when it seemed utterly ridiculous. And Bryan asked the gentleman if he believed in watermelon seeds. Do they exist. And of course they do, and then Bryan said this:

“I have observed the power of the watermelon seed. It has the power of drawing from the ground and through itself 200,000 times its weight. When you can tell me how it takes this material (dirt) and out of it colors an outside surface beyond the imitation of art, and then forms inside of it a white rind and within that again a red heart, thickly inlaid with black seeds, each one of which in turn is capable of drawing through itself 200,000 times its weight –– when you can explain to me the mystery of a watermelon, you can ask me to explain the mystery of God.”

In short, don’t let the impossibility of the Noah story take away it’s power. God is going to do what God is going to do, He’s the one who made Physics to begin with, he can bend the rules if he wants. But like I said, the importance of the Flood is not whether it is historical or not, but there are deeper truths in the life and times of Noah.

Noah is the first important story about the account of Adam and Eve, Cain and Able. If you remember, that story ends with Cain killing his brother Able, and Cain going off to build a great city. From them, the world starts to populate. Don’t ask me how or with who, but they begin to multiply. The Bible is very vague on some issues we’d like answers on. Just go with it for now. And we pick up the story in the sixth chapter of Genesis, right after Cain and Able’s account. The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts in his heart was only evil all the time. The Lord looked down and saw mankind’s depravity. And he called it evil.

Now remember with me, just a while back in Genesis 1 and 2, you fill in the words for me, In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth, and he called it GOOD. He made the stars and the moon and the sun and the land and the seas and the plants and the animals and He called them GOOD. He made humankind in his image, male and female he created them and He called them GOOD. And from that moment to just a couple of chapters later, we read, And God looked down and called them EVIL. Not good. And God makes an executive decision. The world does not need any more humans. Matter of fact, the world would be better off if they weren’t in the picture. And he chooses to destroy them.

If anyone brought a Bible today it might be fascinating to look at the very first chapter of Genesis, right at the beginning. From the NIV version, we read, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Other bibles call it chaos or crashing waves, but in the beginning, before creation, was water. The deep. And when God decides to destroy the earth, to reverse creation, if you will, he decides that he will go back to the beginning. The deep. The crashing waters. God is gutting out the basement and starting over because it has mold in it - and the mold is the sinfulness of mankind.

And what I want to share with you this morning is this idea: does it say that God is angry at mankind? Does it say that God is enraged? Furious? Seething? No. It says that the Lord was GRIEVED. Humankind’s sinfulness broke God’s heart. It’s almost unreal to think, but we have the capacity to make God cry. We do. He is a good father. And a good father cries for his children. My own father once said “I can have a good day or a bad day, and it has nothing to do with me. If my kids have a good day, I have a good day. If they have a bad day, I have a bad day.” And when God sees us going down a pathway that is not good for us, he grieves. And when He sees us going down the straight and narrow, he rejoices.

The scriptures say that Jesus wept on occasion. The two times that it is recorded he cries about other people. When he was crucified, the Bible doesn’t share that he shed tears. He might have, I know I would, but it doesn’t say. The old song Away in a Manger gives us the idea that at his birth, “The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, but little Lord Jesus, NO CRYING HE MAKES”. It might be worth having the savior as your baby! Mary didn’t have to get up at all in those first couple of months! Of course, he probably cried as a baby, it’s just in the song. But the Bibles shares two stories of when Jesus did cry. When his friend Lazarus died and he came to raise him from the dead and no one believed he could. He cried at their unbelief. He didn’t cry because his friend had died, but he cried when they didn’t believe in Jesus. And he also wept over Jerusalem. He was outside the town on a hill looking at the city and realizing their fate should they continue in their sinful ways, they were going to be destroyed. He wept.

How much does God care for you? He wants only the best for you. He cries when we destroy ourselves with sin. He grieves when we mistreat our friends and family. We have the capacity to hurt God. We do. And we have that power because God loves us. And when you love, you open up the possibility to be hurt. Everyone of us has loved and been hurt before. Some more than others. But know this: God loves you so much, that he put his heart on the line for you - and later on, he put his only Son on the cross for you as well. That’s how much you mean to God.

Maybe it’s time for us to examine our lives once again, and see if we have any moldy spots to clear up. Maybe it’s time for us to gut out our basements and start fresh, clean. Would you join me in prayer? Almighty God, into your hands we commend our lives, our thoughts, and our future. May we live by the Psalmist’s words, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Amen.

“The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’

” ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
“Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.

The General went out to find that none of his G.I.s were there. One finally ran up, panting heavily.
“Sorry, sir! I can explain, you see I had a date and it ran a little late. I ran to the bus but missed it, I hailed a cab but it broke down, found a farm, bought a horse but it dropped dead, ran 10 miles, and now I’m here.”
The General was very skeptical about this explanation but at least he was here so he let the G.I. go. Moments later, eight more G.I.s came up to the general panting, he asked them why they were late.
“Sorry, sir! I had a date and it ran a little late, I ran to the bus but missed it, I hailed a cab but it broke down, found a farm, bought a horse but it dropped dead, ran 10 miles, and now I’m here.”
The General eyed them, feeling very skeptical but since he let the first guy go, he let them go, too. A ninth G.I. jogged up to the General, panting heavily,
“Sorry, sir! I had a date and it ran a little late, I ran to the bus but missed it, I hailed a cab but…”
“Let me guess,” the General interrupted, “it broke down.”
“No,” said the G.I., “there were so many dead horses in the road, it took forever to get around them.”

We all like to make excuses, don’t we. We’ve all given them, we’ve all heard them. At it’s core, an excuse is a reason given for unwanted results. A reason for unwanted results. You’re late at work, and you give a defense for your actions. You get picked up for speeding, you give a defense for breaking the law. Here are a couple from State Patrol on our very own I-80:

Speeder: “I was in a hurry because I have to go to the bathroom.
Response: “OK, Give me your license and I’ll follow you, when you get through in the bathroom, I’ll issue you your ticket.”
Speeder: “Just give me the ticket.”

Speeder: “I am almost out of gas and was trying to get to the gas station.” (Very common excuse)
Response: “OK, then you better shut your car off while I write the ticket.”

Speeder: “I am having an Angina Attack.”
Response : “Sit right still and I’ll call the ambulance, I can write the ticket before they get here.”
On arrival of the ambulance, her vitals were all perfectly normal. (She took me to court and told the judge I tried to kill her. I of course had the ambulance report to show the Judge.)
Result : Convicted HAHAHAHA

Speeder: “You can’t possibly see the radar reading, you have sunglasses on. (HUH?)

Speeder: “You can’t give me a ticket, don’t you know who I am.”
(I didn’t)
“I’m a Senator.”
(UH, he was.)
He was also wrong about me giving him the ticket, but he didn’t have to pay it.
(I lost a day for that one.)

Speeder: “I wasn’t driving, He was.”
(There was no one else in the car. I gave her a ticket, quickly, and sent her on her way to la la land.)

Best Ever.
Speeder: “I am on my way to a liver transplant.”
Response: “Are you donating, receiving or Operating?”
And AGAIN “……..Just give me the ticket.”

I’m sure all of us have had times in which we had to give an excuse, real or fake, to account for some behavior.

Our scripture is an story that is chock-full of excuses. Jesus was telling a story about a man who was throwing a big party. The invitations had gone out. This was a big deal. This person had some prominent friends. It was going to be a big shindig! Now, in the tradition of the times, there were two invitations that were given. The very first invite told everyone the date, place, time and occasion for the party. Everyone would put it in their day-planners and palm-pilots. You would also RSVP to the host telling them that you were going to make it. (RSVP is a french phrase, Respondez, Si Vous Plait - please respond). The second invitation would come when the party was ready. The crier would go through the streets and tell everyone who had RSVP to come on in, the party’s starting.

Wouldn’t that be nice? Have you ever needed another 30 minutes until everything was ready before people started showing up? You could have done that centuries ago in Palestine. You would have loved it back then. Everyone knew roughly when the party was going to take place, but they wouldn’t come until you called for them. And one by one, they start to give their excuses. I know that these people were well off by the excuses they gave. Now, these are people who had promised that they were coming. The first excuse was about land. “I just bought some land, and I need to go look at it.” Terrible excuse. Who buys land without looking at it first? The second excuse, “I just bought 5 yoke of oxen, need to try them out.” Another horrible excuse. Everyone knows you try out the oxen before purchasing! And you had the party on the calendar! What happened. Same with the guy who got married. Can’t go, just got married. Bring her along!

These are all lame excuses. They really didn’t want to go to the party, they just came up with excuses so they wouldn’t be involved. I remember this younger kid who asked an older kid for a loan of $20. The kid said no. The would be borrower asked, “Why not?” The older kid said, “Because I don’t have enough rope.” “What’s rope got to do with it?” “When you don’t want to do something, any excuse will do.”

This morning, I want to take a look at some of the excuses we make today, and explore what they really mean. Excuses are lies we tell ourselves to avoid dealing with unpleasant truths. But as long as we buy into those excuses, we can never move past them. Instead of addressing the underlying problem, we merely hide the symptoms. I would guess that one of the more important steps in personal growth is to uproot excuse-making and confront the real issues behind our excuses. And I am just as guilty as anyone else when it comes to making excuses, so here are a few that I sometimes struggle with.

Excuse #1: I don’t have enough time. Whenever you hear yourself making this statement, you know deep down it isn’t the truth. When we say, we don’t have enough time, we are really saying, “That just isn’t important enough to me compared to everything else.” I don’t have time to exercise. I don’t have time for a relationship. I don’t have time to start my own business. I don’t have time to volunteer. Of course you have time. You have as much time as anyone else does, and other people are already doing these same things. I have time to exercise, I just prioritize something else in my life as more important. Like family or working or TV. The difference is that they make it more of a priority in their lives than you do. You aren’t a victim of circumstances. If you don’t like your circumstances, change them. It’s amazing that people who say they don’t have time somehow find plenty of time for marginal activities like watching TV. If you don’t have time to exercise, then surely you don’t have time to watch any TV at all. Such people are really saying that exercise simply isn’t important enough to them. It’s easier to blame the problem on a lack of time, but the real problem is a lack of will.

Excuse #2: I don’t know how. This is one of the feeblest excuses of all. I don’t know how to make a web site. I don’t know how to write well. I don’t know how to get a better job. Are you capable of learning? Did you stop after learning to crawl, complaining, “I don’t know how to walk?” The truth behind ““I don’t know how” is “I’m unwilling to learn.” In our family, and maybe this isn’t the best way of doing things, is do it until you figure it out. Now, if you’re a surgeon, please don’t follow this advice. But it works for other things. Not too long ago, someone was complaining to me about oil changes and how it costs anywhere between $20-35 and you could wait forever. Why not learn how to change the oil? It takes you 20 minutes tops! Figure it out or ask! Another friend never balances their checkbook. They know if they have money if the check bounces or not. It’s too hard to figure it out. Well, figure it out!

Excuse #3: I don’t have the money. If there’s something you want, “I don’t have the money” is no excuse for not getting it. Every single one of us gets money somehow. You can earn the cash or find a way to get the item at reduced cost. The truth behind “I don’t have the money” is “I don’t want it badly enough.” Earning the money you need is only a matter of time, and we already know that not having enough time is no valid reason for giving up, nor is not knowing how to earn the money. If you want to buy something out of your price range, you’re fully capable of setting it as a top priority and then putting in the time to learn how to earn enough to acquire the item.

The last excuse I’ll use today is this:

“But you don’t understand. I grew up in this kind of household, or I have this/that.”

Now, maybe that sounded a little cold. But each and every one of us grew up in dysfunctional families. If they had people in them, they were dysfunctional. Yes, maybe we had a bad childhood or maybe we have a medical condition or a mental health label, but if that is who you are, then go with it. I believe that each and every one of us has something in their life that they could use as an excuse for not making it today. Maybe it’s the fact that we didn’t grow up like the Hilton’s and have ample cash. Maybe it’s because we didn’t get into that college if at all. Maybe it’s because life dealt us a bum hand. And I also believe that if we continue to use the crutches available to us, we will never really know how to walk on our own and be happy. What we’re really saying with this excuse is, “My life is not my fault.” What that attitude and outlook generally translates to is: Not much of a life.

Of course, the story that Jesus told was not about a dinner at all, but about accepting the call of discipleship. How is your Christian walk? Sometimes my Christian walk feels more like a Christian Crawl. Sometimes it feels like a Christian run! And other times, I feel like I’m still on the couch thinking about getting up. But Christ calls all of us to walk with Him. To grow from him. To learn from Him. To lean on Him. To become more like Him. With no excuses. Can we pray together? Heavenly Father, only you can change our hearts, we lay our burdens and our yolk upon you for you to carry with us, we give you our fears and our regrets and our sorrows and also our excuses, for Lord, we want to become more like you. And we ask that whatever hinders us in our daily walk of faith, help us to overcome these obstacles for your glory. Amen.