Introduction:
Proverbs 26:13 - The sluggard says, "There is a lion in the road! There is a lion on the streets!"
The Tragedy of Laziness (Prov 6:6-11):
- Laziness is Self-Deceptive .
Proverbs 26:16 - The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.
Proverbs 20:4 - The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing.
- Laziness is Self-Destructive .
Proverbs 21:25-26 - The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor. All day long he craves and craves, but the righteous gives and does not hold back.
Proverbs 19:24 - The sluggard buries his hand in the dish and will not even bring it back to his mouth.
- Laziness must be Rebuked .
Proverbs 6:6 - Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and mbe wise.
Lessons from an Ant:
- Hard work doesn't require constant Supervision . (Prov 6:7)
- Hard work doesn't Pocrastinate . (Prov 6:8a)
- Hard work is the means to Provide . (Prov 6:8b)
1 Timothy 5:8 - But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
How do I stop being lazy?
- Confess it to God.
- Take it one Shift at a time.
Colossians 3:23-24 - Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
00:47-00:49
All right, let's turn to God's Word together now.
00:50-00:52
Let's go to Proverbs 6.
00:55-00:56
Proverbs 6.
00:58-01:03
If you don't have a Bible, you can use one in the back of the chairs.
01:06-01:11
And if you don't have a Bible, you can totally keep that one, and you can consider that a gift from this church.
01:14-01:16
Proverbs 6.
01:18-01:25
This sermon, I've got to tell you, this sermon I've never in 23 years or whatever, I've never preached a sermon like this.
01:26-01:28
This was the sermon that was picked by the people.
01:29-01:34
On our private Facebook page, I gave three choices of sermons from Proverbs.
01:34-01:41
And by the way, if you're not on our private Facebook page, just send a request for a link to it, and we can get you there.
01:41-01:44
But it's not a public thing, it's just in-house.
01:44-01:49
but I put a survey up there for you to pick the sermon, and this is the one that you picked.
01:50-01:51
It's called laziness.
01:53-01:57
Destroying yourself by doing nothing.
01:58-02:09
So, what is the craziest excuse you've ever heard from someone trying to get out of work?
02:11-02:15
Well, if you're into this kind of thing, There's lists online, and I read through several of these lists.
02:16-02:17
And I have a few of them I wanted to share.
02:18-02:21
These were actual excuses that were offered by people.
02:22-02:23
Like, here's why I can't work.
02:23-02:24
Here's why I can't come into work.
02:25-02:25
Ready?
02:25-02:32
The first one is, my 12-year-old daughter stole my car, and I had no other way to get to work.
02:32-02:37
I didn't want to report the theft to police for fear my daughter would get a criminal record.
02:38-02:41
That was an actual excuse somebody gave for not going to work.
02:42-02:47
Secondly, my sobriety device wouldn't allow me to start my car.
02:50-02:54
That device also indicates when you shouldn't go to work, probably.
02:55-02:56
I love this next one.
02:57-02:59
I forgot I was hired for the job.
03:00-03:02
Now look, I have memory problems.
03:03-03:08
But I don't think it can get any worse than saying, I just completely forgot that I was hired for the job.
03:09-03:20
Next, how about, "A deer bit me during hunting season." Now, I've never hunted, so I can't speak from firsthand experience, but don't you take a gun into the woods with you?
03:21-03:24
Like, how did the deer get that close to bite you?
03:25-03:28
But somebody actually offered that as an excuse.
03:28-03:29
Boy, I can't go to work.
03:31-03:40
Next one is, "I ate too much at a party I needed a day off to digest, like a python swallowing a deer.
03:42-03:44
Like, I just need to go digest somewhere.
03:47-03:48
This next one.
03:49-03:51
I forgot I was getting married today.
03:52-03:53
So I stand corrected.
03:53-03:58
Memory problems can get worse than forgetting that you got the job.
03:59-04:00
I forgot I was getting married today.
04:01-04:02
That guy was on his way to work.
04:02-04:32
I'm sure, I was like, "Am I forgetting something?" And then the last one here, that I'm going to share, says, "An escaped buffalo from a game reserve kept charging at me every time I tried to go to my car from my house." Now that one, I chose that one last because that's actually the closest to the one that's actually in the Bible.
04:32-04:35
And that's in Proverbs 26.13.
04:37-04:42
The sluggard - that's a lazy person - says, "There's a lion in the road!
04:42-04:48
There's a lion on the streets!" And the point of that proverb is just like all of these other excuses.
04:48-04:50
"I can't go to work, man!
04:50-04:51
I can't go to work!
04:51-04:52
Do you know what's happening out in the street?
04:53-04:55
There's like a lion running around eating people!
04:55-05:12
I can't go to work today, man!" And the point with the proverb with all these excuses, is we get so creative when it comes to making up excuses why we can't work.
05:13-05:14
That's the whole point.
05:15-05:19
So creative and absurd.
05:20-05:24
But today, we are going to talk about laziness.
05:26-05:32
My wife, by education and experience, Erin has been a social worker.
05:33-05:37
And Erin has done a lot of in-home counseling for people.
05:38-05:44
And she told me one time about a mother of three little ones, three babies, who was just really, really struggling.
05:44-05:49
And Erin would go in and just counsel, help people get their lives on track, right?
05:49-05:51
So Erin worked with this lady.
05:51-05:52
Erin got her a job.
05:52-05:54
Erin got her a really good job.
05:54-05:58
And she also had it taken care of so that the lady had childcare.
05:58-05:59
Not an issue.
05:59-06:01
We'll take the kids to child care here.
06:02-06:03
It's gonna be covered.
06:03-06:04
You're gonna go to work.
06:04-06:05
You're gonna get a job.
06:06-06:08
And we're gonna get your life on track.
06:10-06:15
And Aaron said, when this particular woman got her first paycheck from her job, she immediately quit.
06:17-06:19
She said, I'm quitting that job.
06:19-06:21
And Aaron says, why are you quitting that job?
06:22-06:25
And the lady said, because I make more from government handouts just sitting at home.
06:27-06:29
And you see, it's not uncommon.
06:31-06:34
Our government rewards laziness.
06:36-06:37
Now, please hear me.
06:38-06:42
I am not talking about people who are unable to work.
06:42-06:43
I'm not talking about that.
06:44-06:47
We should be helping people who are unable to work.
06:47-06:49
I'm not talking about that.
06:50-07:03
I'm talking about people who can work, but refuse to work, and make up some ridiculous, lion-in-the-street excuse so that the government sends them your tax dollars.
07:04-07:05
That's what I'm talking about.
07:07-07:08
People who can work but won't work.
07:10-07:10
Man, it's epidemic.
07:12-07:17
Talk to anyone who is in a position to hire people to work, right?
07:18-07:25
It is getting harder and harder to employ people who will actually work, right, Ryan Stroop?
07:25-07:26
I see you shaking your head.
07:26-07:29
He employs people to work for him, and we've had this conversation.
07:29-07:38
But Ryan said it's harder and harder to hire people who actually get this, show up, and do the job they were hired to do.
07:39-07:46
Somebody who will put down the phone, get off the internet, and actually invest themselves in their job.
07:48-07:56
By the way, I'm going to remind you at this point that God ordained work before the fall.
07:57-08:06
Because there's always a couple people sitting here listening to this like, "Oh, you know what, Pastor Jeff? Work is a part of the curse." You know, like back in Genesis 3, like, "Work is a part of the curse.
08:06-08:09
That's why I don't work." And that is so not true.
08:10-08:11
Work is actually a blessing.
08:12-08:17
Now, God said work would be harder after the fall, yes.
08:17-08:23
But man was always meant to work in the very beginning.
08:25-08:27
And there is nothing new under the sun.
08:29-08:32
Proverbs says so much about our tendency to be late.
08:33-08:38
I'll be honest with you, I knew going into this when you voted for the sermon, and this one won by a landslide.
08:38-08:43
I knew before I was going to the Scripture to study, like Proverbs says a lot.
08:44-08:58
I've got to tell you, I way underestimated Proverbs actually says about laziness. I was like, "Wow!" So we're not going to be exhaustive today, but we're going to cover what Proverbs says about the...
08:59-09:15
sometimes it's called the sluggard, or the slothful, or the lazy. What do we call All these people today, slacker, freeloader, whatever.
09:16-09:21
Let's talk about, on your outline, if you're taking notes, and I always encourage that, let's talk about the tragedy of laziness.
09:22-09:24
Number one, laziness is self-deception.
09:25-09:26
Jot this down.
09:26-09:29
Laziness, you absolutely have to start here.
09:30-09:32
Laziness is self-deception.
09:36-09:37
We absolutely have to start here.
09:37-09:39
Let's go to Proverbs 26.16.
09:39-09:46
Like I said, instead of flipping around, you can just mark these passages and look them up later, but we're going to spend time in Proverbs 6 here in just a few minutes, I promise.
09:47-09:50
But just to sort of set the table for us, laziness is self-deceptive.
09:51-09:52
It's self-deceptive.
09:52-10:07
"The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly." Now, church, the tragedy of any sin, Any sin, the tragedy of any sin is self-deception.
10:08-10:16
It is so hard to convince someone that they have a problem when they believe that they're smarter than everyone else.
10:17-10:22
And it seems that that is especially true about lazy people, right?
10:23-10:26
It's like, "This guy thinks he's so smart.
10:26-10:29
He's like, 'You line up seven other guys.
10:29-10:34
I'm smarter than all of them.'" I was thinking about that this week.
10:35-10:35
Why is that?
10:36-10:42
Why is the lazy person in particular, why is he like extra self-deceived?
10:44-10:49
I think, I think it's this, I think it's because learning requires learning.
10:51-10:56
So it's easier to just say, "I know enough, I don't need to learn anything.
10:58-11:04
"I am quite clever on my own." and that is some serious, tragic self-deception.
11:06-11:07
Talk about self-deception, here's another one.
11:07-11:09
Look at Proverbs 24. Self-deception.
11:10-11:18
"The sluggard does not plow in the autumn." Look at this. "He will seek and harvest and have nothing." Do you see how self-deceived that is?
11:18-11:19
Look at the second part of that.
11:19-11:21
"He will seek and harvest and have nothing." Do you see the picture?
11:22-11:30
He's like walking through his garden, and he's like, "Why don't I have anything to harvest?" It just doesn't make any sense.
11:30-11:32
I thought I was going to come out here in Harvard.
11:32-11:34
Why doesn't he have anything?
11:34-11:36
Because he didn't plow in the autumn.
11:36-11:38
Do you see how self-deceived that is?
11:40-11:42
I mean, that's how it is with lazy people.
11:43-11:45
Everyone else can see his problem.
11:48-11:54
But for a lazy person, they're just completely unable to connect the dots.
11:54-11:55
That's true of every lazy person.
11:56-12:00
They're just like, I just don't understand why I'm struggling so much, Pastor Jeff.
12:00-12:02
I don't understand why my life is so hard.
12:02-12:04
Why is everything so much harder for me?
12:04-12:05
Why am I struggling so much?
12:06-12:07
It's because you're lazy.
12:10-12:18
And before we start pointing fingers, as always when we encounter God's Word, the first person we need to evaluate is who.
12:19-12:21
Right? True or false?
12:22-12:31
Before we start pointing fingers, you need to look at yourself, and I need to look at myself Am I lazy?
12:33-12:33
Am I lazy?
12:35-12:43
And right now, somebody's still self-deceived, is holding their arms and sitting back in their seat, going, "Not me.
12:44-12:46
Not me because I have a job.
12:47-12:51
I'm just going to sit back and listen to Pastor Jeff light up all them lazy people.
12:51-13:03
But I know he's not talking to me because I have a job." Well, having a job doesn't mean automatically off the hook because I would ask you, are you lazy at work?
13:05-13:20
How much time at work, when you're at work, when you're at your place of employment, how much time do you spend on social media, or shopping online, or texting, or watching TV, or movies?
13:20-13:34
How much time? When you're at work, What would you say is the percentage of time that you're there, that is actually given to the job that you were hired?
13:35-13:36
What would you say is the percentage?
13:37-13:50
Just imagine that somebody is hired to go with you to work and they just stand there with a stopwatch, and when you're doing your job, they're timing that, and when you're not doing your job, they're timing that.
13:50-13:53
What percentage do you think would come out from that?
13:55-14:06
Right now I can see by the looks on some faces here, you're like, "Oh, he is talking to me." Because we all have that tendency.
14:09-14:11
So don't think just because you have a job, you're off the hook.
14:12-14:18
And I would ask this church, can we just stop and acknowledge this truth from God's Word that laziness is self-deceptive?
14:19-14:24
Because as soon as you think it's not, and self-deceived.
14:25-14:26
Can we just bow our heads for a second?
14:28-14:29
And here's all I want us to do.
14:29-14:32
I just want us to acknowledge this truth before the Lord.
14:34-14:49
Bow our heads, and I just want to pray for all of us to say, "God, You say that a sluggard is wise in his own eyes, so God, we ask You as a church to please reveal any laziness in me.
14:52-14:54
Father, it's so easy for us to be self-deceived.
14:54-14:55
We become like Pharisees.
14:55-15:02
We point our fingers at everybody else, and everybody else has a problem, and everybody else is lazy, and everybody else is...
15:03-15:05
God, let us not be self-deceived.
15:06-15:08
I pray, Father, that Your truth would enlighten us today.
15:11-15:13
If you agree with this prayer, would you just say, "Amen"?
15:14-15:15
Amen.
15:15-15:17
Laziness is self-deceptive.
15:17-15:20
Secondly, laziness is self-destructive.
15:22-15:24
Laziness is self-destructive.
15:25-15:30
Look at Proverbs 21, verses 25 and 26.
15:31-15:37
It says, "The desire of the sluggard..." Do you see this? "Kills him.
15:39-15:41
For his hands refuse to labor.
15:41-15:54
All day long he craves and craves, "The righteous gives and does not hold back." Something I like to do with proverbs like this, with the parallelism in some of the wording, I like to read them backwards.
15:55-15:56
And I was doing that with this one.
15:56-15:58
The righteous gives and does not hold back.
15:58-15:59
That's like a whole nother sermon.
16:00-16:01
We're talking about the lazy guy today.
16:01-16:04
It says, first of all, he craves and craves, he covets.
16:05-16:07
This lazy person, he covets, he's always wanting.
16:09-16:10
Why doesn't he have it?
16:12-16:16
And it's because - back up a step - it's because he refuses to work.
16:19-16:21
And what's that doing to him?
16:21-16:22
Back up one more step.
16:23-16:24
It's killing.
16:25-16:27
He's being killed by his own desire not to work.
16:29-16:30
It's tragic.
16:33-16:38
To sum this up, the question is, when you're lazy, when you're lazy, who are you hurting?
16:39-16:40
Answer me. Who are you hurting when you're lazy?
16:42-16:43
Say it again. Who are you hurting when you're lazy?
16:44-16:45
Yes, you're hurting yourself.
16:46-16:49
When I'm lazy, I'm not hurting anybody else.
16:51-16:55
And you can say, yeah, you're hurting the people that you work with, your drag and them down.
16:55-17:00
That's true, but first and foremost, God's Word points out that my laziness, it kills me.
17:02-17:19
Being in ministry, I've seen it hundreds of times over the last couple of decades People investing more energy running around the churches for a handout than the energy that they would invest actually working a job.
17:19-17:20
I've seen it over and over.
17:22-17:23
Some people just make the circuit.
17:23-17:24
They have a list of churches.
17:24-17:28
I'm just going to go and ask the church for help.
17:28-17:32
And look, I am all for helping people get to a better place.
17:32-17:34
You can talk to my wife, Erin.
17:34-17:38
How many times over the past couple of decades have we helped people who have come to us?
17:39-17:44
"Look, we're going to help you get to a better place." I am all for that, and we still do that.
17:44-17:47
This church still does that to this day, helping people get to a better place.
17:47-17:52
All that said, a handout to a lazy person does not help.
17:53-17:54
It only enables it.
17:56-18:00
The hard part is, their stories always sound so tragic.
18:01-18:03
"They're going to turn off my gas.
18:03-18:04
They're going to turn off my electricity.
18:05-18:06
They're going to evict me.
18:06-18:08
I have no food for my kids.
18:08-18:14
These people are literally watching their lives crumble around them because they refuse to work.
18:16-18:22
So the self-destruction of laziness, it's worse than the financial stuff.
18:24-18:29
It's self-destruction of self.
18:30-18:34
Now hear this, because this is so...
18:34-18:36
If the lights are coming on here, you've got to hear this.
18:39-18:47
Laziness is self-destructive, but the worst part is it's self-destruction of self.
18:48-18:55
In other words, yes, laziness ruins you externally, but even worse, it ruins you internally.
18:56-19:04
In other words, the lazier you are, the lazier you will become.
19:06-19:08
Like, well, how bad can it get?
19:09-19:11
Look at Proverbs 19.24.
19:12-19:18
"As the sluggard buries his hand in the dish and will not even bring it back to his mouth." This is how bad laziness can get.
19:18-19:23
My laziness so dominates my life, I've hit such a point of apathy.
19:24-19:29
I can't even be motivated to meet my own needs.
19:32-19:33
Have you seen that in a lazy person?
19:35-19:36
Just completely apathetic.
19:37-19:39
Like, dude, you realize you're killing yourself.
19:39-19:42
You realize your laziness is destroying everything.
19:42-19:46
It's just like, yeah, well, I'm gonna...
19:46-19:53
And there's always some lame excuse or some line in the street or some job that's going to be coming in a month or two or whatever, whatever.
19:55-19:57
But the destruction is more than financial.
19:58-20:06
It's self-destruction of self because there's a sense of accomplishment and contentment and a job well done that is never gained by laziness.
20:08-20:26
If you've ever worked a long day, if you've ever worked a hard day, if you've ever done a project where you're like, "I'm working at this and I'm gonna finish it "no matter how long it takes," you know what it's like to lay your head on the pillow at the end of the night and say, "Oh, what a long day, but I'm so glad I got that done." You know what I'm talking about.
20:28-20:30
A lazy person never gets that.
20:32-20:41
So laziness is self-deceptive, and laziness is self-destructive, and that all leads us to laziness must be rebuked.
20:42-20:43
It must be rebuked.
20:46-20:51
Proverbs 6, verse 6, is where we're going to look.
20:51-20:56
See, at this point in Proverbs, all these Proverbs we looked at, honestly, these Proverbs are just FYI.
20:57-21:03
This is the writer of Scripture looking at people and situations going, "Yeah, that's how it is. That's how it is. FYI.
21:04-21:13
Here's what I've seen. Here's what it looks like. Here's what laziness is." But this passage we're going to look at goes from observations about laziness to instruction.
21:13-21:16
This is instruction for a lazy person here.
21:16-21:18
That's why I want to spend time here. Make sense?
21:18-21:23
The slugger needs to be rebuked.
21:25-21:27
"I'm struggling with laziness, Pastor Jeff.
21:27-21:30
Will you sort of coddle me into a work ethic?" No.
21:32-21:33
Because the Bible's so clear on that.
21:33-21:40
1 Thessalonians 5.14 says, "Admonish the idle." And that's what we see here.
21:42-21:49
Look at Proverbs 6.6. It says, "Go to the aunt, O sluggard.
21:50-21:57
"Consider her ways and be wise." This is humorous.
21:58-22:05
God's greatest creation, which is man, needs to take a lesson from a bug.
22:08-22:10
That's a pretty hard rebuke, you see?
22:11-22:12
That's what's happening in this passage.
22:13-22:24
He's pointing at an ant, and he's like, "Hey, hey, aren't you supposed to be smarter than this?" acting like it, aren't you supposed to be more rightly motivated than this?
22:25-22:31
You need to get out your notebook and take notes on what this thing is doing because it can teach you something.
22:34-22:36
We're just calling this part lessons from an ant.
22:38-22:39
Lessons from an ant, here they are.
22:40-22:46
You're like, "Man, some of this laziness talk is stinging." Well, let us all take a lesson from an ant.
22:46-22:54
And the first one, letter A, is "Hard work doesn't require constant supervision." The first lesson we learn from an ant, look at verse 7.
22:55-23:03
It says, "Without having any chief, officer, or ruler..." Stop right there.
23:04-23:06
And there are some people that criticize the Bible.
23:06-23:07
I call them knuckleheads.
23:07-23:14
They're like, "Well, you know, there's really hierarchies of different kinds of ants, huh?" Like, congratulations, you completely missed the point of this entire passage.
23:14-23:16
Here's the point of this passage.
23:16-23:19
The point is, hard work doesn't require constant supervision.
23:20-23:29
In other words, what he's saying is, the ant works hard without the foreman ant breathing down his little ant neck all the time.
23:29-23:31
"Why aren't you working? Why aren't you working?
23:31-23:35
Come on! What do I pay you for?" The ant doesn't have that happening.
23:36-23:39
He's smart enough and he works hard enough that he doesn't need that.
23:40-23:41
That's the point of this.
23:42-23:45
Hard work doesn't require constant supervision.
23:45-23:50
He doesn't need motivated by some external force.
23:51-23:53
He doesn't need constant direction.
23:54-23:56
He doesn't need constant accountability.
23:57-23:59
He says you can learn a lot from an aunt that way.
24:02-24:04
You know, I asked you earlier, are you a hard worker?
24:04-24:06
Are you a hard worker? Are you lazy?
24:09-24:11
What about when the boss is gone?
24:13-24:14
That's the point.
24:15-24:17
Do you only work hard when you know that you're being watched?
24:17-24:28
When the boss is in, "Yeah, I'm a machine." But when the boss is gone, it's like, "Woohoo! We're partying at work because the boss is gone!" Is that what they told you when they hired you?
24:31-24:32
You're allowed to party when the boss is in.
24:34-24:35
Probably not.
24:37-24:38
Are you a hard worker?
24:39-24:42
Or do you only work hard when you're being watched?
24:44-24:49
First lesson we can examine for ourselves from the end.
24:52-25:00
I have this deadline that requires me to present something, but when that's not the case, I spend half my day on YouTube.
25:03-25:05
He says, you can learn something from the end.
25:05-25:06
They don't require constant supervision.
25:07-25:11
Secondly, letter B, hard work doesn't procrastinate.
25:12-25:13
Hard work doesn't procrastinate.
25:14-25:21
The first part of verse 8, it says, "She prepares her bread in summer." She prepares her bread in summer.
25:22-25:23
She's not procrastinating.
25:23-25:38
She's not like, "It's summer, and summer's about our little aunt vacations and our little aunt graduation parties and all the other aunts are getting married, and it's too nice out, and I'm a young aunt, I should enjoy this time in the summer as a young aunt.
25:38-25:39
She's not like that.
25:40-25:44
She goes, hey, if I'm gonna have food for the fall, when do I need to be working on it?
25:45-25:46
I need to be working on it in the summer.
25:47-25:48
That's not the most convenient time to work.
25:48-25:51
She's like, it doesn't matter if it's convenient or not.
25:51-25:54
I can't just keep putting it off.
25:54-25:56
I can't keep procrastinating.
25:57-26:00
When it's time to work, the aunt works.
26:02-26:03
Same for you.
26:05-26:08
When you're at work, you should work.
26:10-26:20
And if your job is not going to an office, if your job is a homemaker, when you are at your job, you should be working hard at your job too.
26:21-26:22
Not procrastinating.
26:24-26:28
Letter C, hard work is the means to provide.
26:29-26:30
Look at the second part of verse 8.
26:32-26:41
It says, not only she prepares her bread in summer, it says, "and gathers her food in harvest." Meaning hard work is the means to provide.
26:42-26:45
Yes, it's true, God is a provider. Yes.
26:45-26:48
But He doesn't just magically fill your cupboard with oreos.
26:49-26:55
The way God normally provides for His people is work.
26:57-26:59
That's how God has chosen to provide for you.
27:00-27:08
Work is not just to occupy your time, to keep you out of trouble, to give you a place to wear your new shoes.
27:08-27:13
The reason God ordained work is because work is the means of provision.
27:14-27:15
That's the way God designed it.
27:17-27:30
1 Timothy 5:8 says, "If anyone does not provide for his relatives and especially for members of his household, He has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
27:31-27:32
I want to talk to husbands for a second.
27:33-27:47
If you're a husband and you have a wife, and/or children, husbands, it is your God-given responsibility to provide for your wife and for kids if you have kids.
27:48-27:49
That is your responsibility.
27:49-28:02
Husbands, if you're in a financial train wreck, if you're not paying your bills, that your wife or your kids don't have the things that they need - husbands - that's on you.
28:02-28:07
And every couple that I've married and done premarital counseling with, well, I'll tell you, I've said this to them.
28:08-28:18
If I find out that you're in a tight place financially, I said I'm not going after the wife, I'm going after the husband, because the Bible says it is your job to provide for the people in your household.
28:20-28:21
Failure to provide.
28:23-28:26
"Oh, you're going to provide for the people in your own household." Look at this last phrase here.
28:28-28:30
In God's opinion, it says you've denied the faith.
28:32-28:38
You call yourself a follower of Christ and you can't even provide for the people in your house?
28:39-28:42
This last phrase, I'm sorry, it just cracks me up.
28:42-28:44
God says you're worse than an unbeliever.
28:45-28:47
God's like, "Here's my hierarchy.
28:47-29:02
There's like pagans, and worse than pagans, I guess, are the heathens, and then somewhere down here are the people who say they're Christians and even go to church, but they refuse to provide for their own household.
29:02-29:04
He says you're worse than an unbeliever, in my opinion.
29:06-29:07
That's serious business.
29:09-29:19
So if you're a man and you're having a hard time making ends meet financially, I would say get a job.
29:20-29:24
"Well, I have a job." Do you have any other advice? Yeah, get another job.
29:26-29:31
Go to Financial Peace University that's coming up and get some real counseling.
29:31-29:32
Whatever it takes.
29:33-29:36
You do whatever it takes to provide for your family.
29:37-29:39
Look at verse 10 back here in Proverbs 6.
29:41-29:42
I'm sorry, verse 9.
29:44-29:45
We have the lesson from the ant.
29:46-29:50
He says, "How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
29:52-30:06
When will you arise from your sleep?" And then verse 10, "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little holding of the hands to rest." Stop right there for a second.
30:06-30:07
What are lazy people known to do?
30:09-30:10
They're known to sleep, right?
30:12-30:15
It's just sort of like the dominant characteristic.
30:15-30:18
Have you ever wondered why lazy people are always wanting to sleep?
30:19-30:21
Lazy people are always wanting to rest?
30:21-30:29
It's like, "Dude, you didn't even do anything. Why are you so tired?" Because of what we saw earlier.
30:29-30:32
The lazier you are, the more lazy you become.
30:33-30:39
And somehow you just get more and more and more and more tired, even though you're doing less and less and less.
30:42-30:44
And here's the deception, verse 10.
30:46-30:51
"Just a little more sleep. I just need a little more sleep." Snooze, right?
30:51-30:56
"I take my naps nine minutes at a time." Snooze, snooze, snooze, snooze.
30:57-30:59
"Dude, you've been sleeping for 13 hours.
30:59-31:01
Just a little more rest.
31:01-31:05
Just a little, just a little, just a little." Did you see that? Like three times.
31:05-31:09
"Just a little, just a little, just a little." That's the self-deception.
31:09-31:18
"It's just a little." Why are you in my case, man? I just need a little rest." The danger is not little.
31:19-31:35
Verse 11 says, "Poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man." Suddenly, you're in big trouble, and that's how it goes.
31:36-31:44
See, for the lazy person, it's not like they're going about their lazy person business, And one day they're like, "Uh-oh, things are starting to look shaky.
31:44-31:51
Better turn this ship around before trouble comes." He says, "That's not how it happens." And I've seen this over and over.
31:52-31:54
It's a sudden, inescapable danger.
31:56-32:09
Like, all of a sudden, it's like, "What the heck just happened to me?" He says it's like all of a sudden, an armed man sticks a gun in your face and says, "Give me everything you have." It's this sudden, inescapable danger.
32:11-32:15
You're like, "Well, how does that happen?" It can happen a lot of ways.
32:17-32:21
Like for example, I'll give you a couple of examples here.
32:22-32:24
You can get fired from your job for being lazy.
32:25-32:26
You're just busted.
32:27-32:35
Your boss is like, "Hey, I've seen you've done nothing over the last three weeks and we're not paying you for that." You're fired for being lazy.
32:35-32:39
Or maybe cuts have to be made at work.
32:39-32:47
And since you aren't contributing enough to merit keeping you-- your name is first on the chopping block.
32:47-32:56
But the point is suddenly, instantly, there's no paycheck, there's no income, there's no job, and the lazy person is utterly astounded.
32:56-32:57
How could this have happened to me?
33:00-33:04
If you're lazy, because you can work, but you won't work.
33:06-33:08
You don't have a job to be fired from.
33:09-33:15
You're like, yeah, I don't have a job, but I've been kind of coasting by along well enough so far.
33:16-33:17
Write this down.
33:18-33:20
This will catch up to you.
33:21-33:26
Well, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it is going to catch up to you.
33:27-33:31
and suddenly you're going to find yourself in a horrible position.
33:32-33:38
And you got there by doing nothing.
33:40-33:42
Laziness is one of the hardest sins to do.
33:43-33:45
It's self-deceptive.
33:46-33:49
It gets worse the more you give into it.
33:50-33:54
And it ultimately leads to apathy, as we've seen.
33:55-34:02
This is a frustrating sermon for me because, you know, it's such a hard sin to overcome.
34:03-34:15
I can teach, and you can teach somebody skill, you can teach somebody technique, you can teach somebody how to carry out a job detail, but something you cannot teach someone is drive.
34:16-34:17
You can't teach somebody drive.
34:19-34:20
And this was my struggle this week.
34:20-34:25
This is why, I'm just going to be honest with you, I was hoping you weren't going to pick this sermon on that online poll.
34:25-34:27
I was hoping you were gonna pick one of the other two.
34:28-34:28
And here's why.
34:29-34:35
I'm like, I'm gonna have to stand in front of those people and say, okay, here's how you overcome laziness.
34:36-34:39
And I'm like, wow, how do you?
34:41-34:43
Because a lazy person doesn't feel like overcoming.
34:46-34:49
So how do I stop being lazy?
34:51-34:54
I have two pieces of advice for you that I am sure of.
34:55-34:58
The first one is this. How do I stop being lazy?
34:58-35:04
The first thing you have to do without question, nothing else happens until this happens, confess it to God.
35:05-35:19
You have to get past your own stinking self-deception and say, "Yes, I'm lazy. I have been as sluggard as the Bible would define me." But you have to confess this to God.
35:19-35:22
And church, remember, you can't save yourself.
35:22-35:27
You can't do enough good to earn your way into heaven.
35:27-35:30
That's through the blood of Jesus Christ.
35:31-35:36
Jesus provided salvation and your way into heaven through His work.
35:36-35:39
You can't earn your way into heaven.
35:39-35:45
You can't save yourself, and at the same time, you can't change yourself.
35:47-35:49
You need to ask God to change you.
35:49-35:52
And you need to confess this to God.
35:52-35:57
And biblically the word "confess" it literally means "say the same." You're just agreeing with God.
35:59-35:59
You're saying, "You know what, God?
35:59-36:02
Here's what you said about sluggards, and I realize now that I am one.
36:03-36:11
Here's what you've said about laziness, and yeah, I see it. I see it." It's agreeing with God.
36:11-36:15
Be honest with God and tell Him that you need Him to change you.
36:15-36:16
You've got to get there.
36:16-36:24
You're going to say, "God, I can't fix this!" And God, if I'm being completely honest with you, I don't want to fix it, because I'm lazy!
36:25-36:29
But God, You can change me. God, You can fix me.
36:32-36:36
It's a hard issue. Laziness is a hard issue.
36:37-36:39
You put your comfort over everything else.
36:41-36:43
Only God can change your heart. So confess it to God.
36:45-36:49
Letter B, little letter B, how do I stop being lazy?
36:50-36:53
This is absolutely true.
36:53-36:54
I would say take it one shift at a time.
36:56-37:00
Meaning, obviously, after you do the first part, don't like skip to letter B.
37:00-37:01
I'm gonna skip that part.
37:01-37:02
I'm not gonna get it.
37:02-37:02
I'm not gonna get a second.
37:03-37:04
You can't, all right?
37:04-37:05
Or it's not gonna work.
37:06-37:07
'Cause this is a God thing.
37:08-37:14
But after you've done the business with God, I would say, letter B, take it one shift at a time.
37:14-37:16
don't leave here saying, "Oh, you know what?
37:16-37:21
From now on, I'm going to stop being lazy." It doesn't work that way.
37:21-37:22
You need to get specific.
37:22-37:32
You need to say, "At work today, at work today, just today, I'm just thinking about today, I have to accomplish these things today.
37:32-37:45
And today, God help me, by your strength, by your grace, I'm going to go after just the things today that you want me to get accomplished today at work." One shift at a time.
37:47-37:48
Because that's how habits happen, right?
37:50-37:52
Making changes one step at a time.
37:53-37:55
But it has to be empowered by God.
37:57-38:23
Colossians 3, verses 23 and 24 says, "Whatever you do, work heartily, ask for the Lord, and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward." "Whoever your boss is..." "Pastor Jim, I hear what you're saying, but my boss is a jerk." Well, if you're a born-again believer in Christ, ultimately, your boss is Jesus Christ.
38:23-38:26
Whatever your human boss is like is irrelevant.
38:27-38:32
Because you're doing your job as if Jesus Christ were your immediate supervisor.
38:34-38:39
So born-again believer in Christ, more than anyone, you should be known for being a hard worker.
38:40-38:45
Your boss should consider himself blessed to have you working for him.
38:46-38:57
Your co-workers should all know you as the person who shows up, works hard, and keeps a great attitude, and makes work a better place just by you being.
38:59-39:00
The alternative.
39:01-39:03
The alternative is destroying yourself.
39:05-39:06
How can you do that?
39:08-39:09
By doing nothing.
39:10-39:11
Let's pray.
39:12-39:29
Father in heaven, I feel like we've barely scratched the surface on everything Your Word says about laziness, but God, I pray that as Your Spirit is at work with Your Word, I pray this is enough that You would give a spiritual kick in the pants to those of us who need to repent of some laziness.
39:32-39:34
This is a serious thing to you.
39:35-39:37
Because you've created us to represent you.
39:38-39:40
A God who is productive.
39:41-39:42
A God who takes initiative.
39:43-39:45
A God who...
39:45-39:47
Your Word says you finish what you begin.
39:49-39:51
Father, you've called us to reflect Your character.
39:53-40:00
So I pray, God, for Your Holy Spirit and Your Word to take root in any person here, especially the self-deceived.
40:03-40:04
Father, might You grant us repentance.
40:07-40:13
We see work for what it is, and we glorify You with the way that we carry it out.
40:15-40:16
Father, we thank You for Your grace.
40:18-40:23
We thank You for Your wisdom, and we thank You for the power of the Holy Spirit who makes all of these things possible.
40:24-40:35
And I thank You ahead of time all of the workplaces that are going to be radically changed by you this week as a result of what your Word has to say here.
40:37-40:39
We praise you in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Proverbs 6:6-11
(If you like, review any other Proverbs on laziness we covered on Sunday!)
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
On a scale of 1-10 (1 = “comatose lazy”, 10 = “workhorse of the year”): How would your boss rate your work habits? How would you rate yourself?
What advice would you give someone who confesses to you that they struggle with laziness?
Why do you think laziness results in MORE and WORSE laziness?
How specifically can a sluggard come to poverty (Prov 6:11)?
BREAKOUT
Confession time: in what area of your life are you most lazy? Pray for one another that the Lord would change your heart.