Your Responsibility
In Gen 43:9, Judah said to Jacob, concerning Benjamin’s safety going to and returning from Egypt, “Let me bear the blame”. To bear the blame is to take responsibility. To blame is to hold responsible. Judah took personal responsibility for Benjamin’s safety.
Even though Joseph told Judah and his brothers that they would be blameless for Benjamin remaining in Joseph’s custody, Gen 44:10, Judah still accepted personal responsibility, Gen 44:32. He would remain in Egypt in Benjamin’s place rather than face his father without him.
We live in a day when everyone wants to transfer the blame to someone else. They don’t want to take responsibility for their own faults and actions. This is the very nature of man. Adam blamed Eve. Eve blamed the devil.
You and I are responsible for our own actions and we are accountable to God. Rom 14:12. Accountability to God at the judgment seat of Christ, though, seems like a long way off. To accept blame for wrong doing now is more current.
In my lessons for premarital instruction, I have two lessons on what to do to restore your marriage. The first point in the first lesson is to take responsibility for your portion of what went wrong. You have to own it and you have to fix it. By the way, it’s not right to take the blame for something your spouse did just to make peace.
In the book, Excellence Wins, the author, Horst Schulze, describes a situation in one of his hotels where the breakfasts delivered by room service were routinely arriving cold. He took personal responsibility for the problem when he discovered the underlying cause was ultimately due to a budget cut he ordered.
In the book, Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, the authors stress the need for leaders to take personal responsibility for failures in command by their subordinates.
In this sermon, we are going to talk about some practical applications of taking the blame in your own life.
You are responsible for your own:
Time with the Lord. There’s no question about the difference between a day that starts with the Lord and a day that doesn’t. No matter what excuse you can give for a “bad” day without the Lord, you are responsible. It’s up to you to manage your life so that you always spend the necessary amount of time with the Lord required to prepare you for each day.
Management of your stress. We all have to deal with stress. But it’s important for you to eliminate all the stress you can eliminate and to learn to manage the stress you can’t. Granted, Paul said that he had distresses in his life that he couldn’t control, 2 Cor 12:10. But unlike distresses, many of stresses are manageable and you are responsible to manage these. They don’t just ‘happen’ to you.
Sleep, rest, nutrition, and exercise. When you go to bed too late at night and don’t get a full night’s sleep, you pay for it the next day. If you fail to come to Jesus to find rest for your soul in the Lord’s yoke, Matt 11:28-30, you’re going to pay for it. When you don’t properly nourish and exercise your body, you’re going to pay for it. All of these things are your responsibility. You don’t have anyone to blame but yourself if you don’t take care of yourself.
Emotions and reactions. Feelings and reactions should be under your control. You are to rule your own spirit, Prov 25:28. For example, people don’t make you mad. Anger is an emotional response that you choose when somebody does something you don’t like. Prov 19:11, “The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression”. Emotions and feelings shouldn’t control you; you must control them. They are your responsibility.
Words, Actions, Thoughts, Companions, and Heart (WATCH). All of these are your responsibility. You are responsible for what comes out of your mouth, Matt 12:36. You are to keep your heart with all diligence, Prov 4:23. Your the one who decides who your companions are going to be, and they are going to influence your life, Prov 13:20. You’re responsible for your thoughts; you may not be able to control them when they first pop into your head, but you certainly don’t have to dwell on them, 2 Cor 10:3-5. And you are responsible for your actions.
This generation doesn’t want to accept responsibility for their actions. They excuse themselves by blaming God and others. Homosexuals and gender confused people will often say, “I was made this way” or “this is the way God made me”. That’s just an excuse to transfer the blame for their vile affections, Rom 1:26, to their maker. We were all conceived in sin and shapen in inquiry, Ps 51:5. But by God’s grace, those of us who have trusted Jesus Christ to save us are new creatures in Christ, 2 Cor 5:17. If you’re stuck in sin, that’s on you. That’s your responsibility. God has made a way for you to get unstuck, Rom 6-8.