The Diligent Ant: A Lesson on Work Ethic Proverbs 6:6-11

Mr. Lazy Bones

Bob Kaufflin, Steven Altrogge, and Doug Plank of Soverign Grace Music wrote a fun children’s song that teaches how God values a strong work ethic. The verses sing:

VERSE 1 Have you heard about Mr. Lazy Bones? You can find him sleeping on his couch at home When there’s work outside for him to do He is working hard to find another excuse.

VERSE 2 Mr. Lazy Bones tells you he’s afraid Never ever finishes the plans he’s made When you want his help around the house You can try to find him but he’s never around

As fallen image bearers, our sinful nature inclines us toward laziness. It takes a lot of work to create a strong work ethic, and if you don’t fight the desire to be lazy, you will look like Mr. Lazy Bones: sleeping on the couch or making excuses why he can’t put in the work. Or you will be the guy or gal no one can count on to keep the church, community, and home moving forward.

Like this song, our passage this morning encourages Christians to cultivate a strong work ethic, being diligent and responsible in all their endeavors. It teaches the importance of hard work, planning, and foresight.

The passage teaches us that laziness leads to poverty and lack, while diligence and hard work lead to provision and success. God desires for you to be a hard worker, and use your work ethic to bless your life with food, clothing, and shelter, as well as, help prosper all that you do.

To begin, let’s discuss how we cultivate a strong work ethic that honors God? Then we will look at what our passage says about the hard worker.

The Bible offers us two ways to cultivate a strong work ethic.

Put Off/On Principle

First, you need to know the put off/put on principle.

In his letter to the Corinthians Pauls says 2 Cor 5:17

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

When we give our lives to Jesus, we no longer live in the flesh, but live in according to His Spirit. We are a new creation with a new mind and a new heart that is empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the work God calls us to do.

Paul also says to the Ephesian church,

Ephesians 4:22–24 ESV

22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

With Jesus living inside of us, we put off our old self. We do not follow the ways of the flesh which are corrupt and deceitful. Laziness is a corrupt deceitful desire of the flesh that we want to put that off, and instead, put on the new self by renewing our hearts and minds with desires that please God, like a strong work ethic. The put off/put on principle is something we do with the Holy Spirit, that is we cooperate with him. He strengthens us to work hard over time. He also grants us wisdom to do our work well. But we still have to choose to obey His Spirit and work hard in everything we do.

Look at Creation

The second thing we must do is look to creation as our model. God has gifted us animals and even insects to learn how to work hard. In our passage this morning, we are going to contrast the ant with the sluggard, and learn how the ant teaches us to work in a way that pleases the Lord. With this in mind, the first thing we learn from the ant is to put on initiative.

Put on Initiative: Learn from the Ant

Proverbs 6:6–8 ESV

6 Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. 7 Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, 8 she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.

What makes the ant's work ethic so special? The Bible teaches us to "consider her ways, and be wise," which means observing the ant closely and learning wisdom from her. How can we learn to be wise in our work from an ant? In verse 7, the ant takes initiative.

The Ant Takes Initiative

The ant doesn't have a chief, officer, or ruler directing her to gather food. She knows that she must work hard to have enough food for the winter. So she gets up every day and starts working without being told by other ants. Ants are known to scavenge and farm. They collect food and farm fungus. From this we learn three ways the ant takes initiative.

The ant takes the initiative to use her God-given gift, which is her strength.

Ants are truly remarkable creatures. They are capable of carrying a load 10-50 times their body weight. To put this into perspective, if the average human could carry 10-50 times their body weight, they would carry over 4,000 pounds. This incredible strength is a testament to the ants' physical abilities. Moreover, Ants maintain an unwavering focus on their tasks. Their ability to stay on task without succumbing to distractions or letting their attention wander is truly impressive, leading to remarkable efficiency.

The ant takes the initiative to be responsible for her family and community.

They work for food, to maintain their homes, to create places for their young, and to help reproduce more of their kind. They also work to protect their homes, fellow ants, and young. They are very communal; they work not just for themselves but for their community.

The ant takes initiative to plan for the hard times.

The ant is aware the of the seasons of life. She knows that if she dos not work hard over the spring, summer and fall, she will not have enough food to survive the winter and rainy season. Verse 3 of our song captures this idea:

VERSE 3 See the busy ants working all the time No one has to tell them how to stay alive Getting ready for winter days ahead Gathering their food until the times comes to rest

God’s wisdom tells us there’s a time to work and a time to rest. While it is time to work, you must work hard using your God-given gifts and focus so you can stay alive. You must work to develop a strong work-ethic so we can be proactive like the ants, who work tirelessly without a commander. The wisdom of the ant's initiative encourage us to take personal responsibility for our actions and for our community. In a similar way, we are called to seek out opportunities and take the initiative in serving others and caring for the world around us, even when no one is forcing us to do so. Only when our work is done do we rest, In this way we will work the ant and not be idle like the sluggard.

Put off Idleness: Avoid the Path to Poverty

Proverbs 6:9–11 ESV

9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, 11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

The word sluggard is mentioned in both verse 6 and 9. The sluggard is the one who is supposed to learn from the ant. What is a sluggard?

The term "sluggard" appears fourteen times in Proverbs and nowhere else in the Old Testament. In Proverbs, the sluggard exemplifies folly, or a foolish person who is lazy. For example,

Proverbs 19:15 CSB

15 Laziness induces deep sleep, and a lazy person will go hungry.

Proverbs 21:24–26 (ESV)

25 The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor. 26 All day long he craves and craves, but the righteous gives and does not hold back.

Proverbs 26:12–16 ESV

12 Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him. 13 The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!” 14 As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed. 15 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth. 16 The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly.

A sluggard is a lazy person who lacks initiative. The Bible refers to the lazy person as idle, meaning they remain still and do nothing. The sluggard's hands refuse to work, and they make excuses to avoid working, such as saying, "I can't go outside and work. There's a lion out there! I'll stay inside, eat my chips and salsa, and nap.”

The sluggard has a real problem, though. The sluggard is so lazy he wears himself out bringing the chips to his mouth. If he’s so lazy he get’s tired bringing chips to his mouth, how will he ever work hard enough to finish the harvest season? What happens to the sluggard when he runs out of food? He will starve to death. He foolishly did not store up enough food to survive the winter or rainy season. He will crave and crave but have nothing to satisfy his hunger. He will lose everything? It will be like robber or violent man came to his house took all of his means to live and valuable possessions.

“The folly of laziness leads to poverty, even death!”

Imagine God giving you the potential to excel in your studies and extracurricular activities, but instead you chose to spend every day idly scrolling through social media and avoiding your responsibilities. As a result, you fall behind in school and miss out on valuable opportunities to learn and grow. Every time you choose to miss school because you stayed up too late watching Netflix or Hulu, you are choosing laziness. Every time you choose to spend hours on video games, Youtube, Minecraft, and other social media, instead of doing your homework, you choose to be a sluggard. Let this message serve as a warning against the dangers of being idle and neglectful of your duties and talents.

Don’t be Mr. Lazy Bones.

Lazy Bones can help us see What we never want to be Doesn’t have a hope or a clue When we work to please the Lord God will make our plans secure And He’ll be glorified in all we do

Let this be an opportunity to repent of your laziness and run to Jesus. That is ultimately how you work hard in a way that honors God. You rest His Him. The word of God says when you serve, or when you work, you do so by the strength God supplies in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 4:11).

Christ is not only your ultimate example of diligence and hard work, but he himself is your strength by which you work. Jesus joyfully fulfilled God's will with unwavering commitment even unto death on the cross. He bore your sin of laziness and idleness in his death. His resurrection and ascension ensures you can have his forgiveness and be empowered with His Spirit to put on a strong work-ethic, the kind of work-ethic that puts off the sluggard, works harder than the ant, and glorifies God’s will for your life.