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Text: Proverbs 6:6-11
Theme: Physical sloth can be deadly to the body.
Intellectual sloth can be deadly to the mind.
Spiritual sloth can be deadly to the soul.
In Proverbs 6 Solomon warns us of the dangers of slothful inactivity.
In his warning, Solomon compares the extremes of two of nature’s creatures: The ant and the man with the energy of a slug.
“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!
7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, 8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. 9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— 11 and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.”
(Proverbs 6:6–11, NIV84)
Our spiritual forefathers in the early church maintained that there were seven sins that were deadly.
The were Pride, Envy, Greed, Sloth, Anger, Lust, and Gluttony.
They were considered deadly because, if they are not crucified daily, they lead the soul away from God and righteousness.
They were considered transgressions fatal to spiritual progress.
The Hebrew word for ‘sluggard' occurs here and 13 other times in Proverbs.
It is used nowhere else in the Old Testament.
It refers to more than mere laziness.
In other proverbs, the word is contrasted with uprightness and righteousness and associated with being shiftless.
A slothful person, in the eyes of the Old Testament, is not only a lazy person, but also an irresponsible person who is undependable and who becomes a burden to his or her family and community.
If the slothful person continues in their ways, they may eventually engage in wicked or evil behavior.
The result is personal ruin.
I. PHYSICAL SLOTH CAN KILL THE BODY
ILLUS.
When my Grandpa Bill retired, he retired.
He retired to his lounge chair where he did little more than watch TV, eat, smoke cigarettes, and drink beer most of the day.
Twice a week he would drive up to Alton, IL to go fishing, where he would sit on the bank in his lawn chair and inevitably fall asleep — usually with a beer in his hand.
He was dead in two years.
1. inactivity pretty much killed him (I’m sure the cigarettes and booze didn’t help)
A. 1st, WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY THAT HAS SOME REALLY MIXED-UP VIEWS ON WORK
1. God always meant for man to work — work is not the result of the Fall
a. man was placed in the Garden to tend it care for it and God set him about the task of naming all the animals
b. this was meant to be a joy and a pleasure
1) we don’t hear Adam complaining, “God, why don’t you just name them yourself, I’m tired.”
or “I’ve been naming animals all morning.
My union contract says I should be getting a 30-minute break right now.”
2. like everything else, sin even affected man’s concept of work
a. let me give you four ways sin had negatively affected our work
b.
Affect #1 — Compulsive workers — men and women who have a driving compulsion to outwork everyone else
1) these are men and women who work 60-70-80 hours a week
2) they go to work early and stay late and usually bring work home with them
3) they are willing to sacrifice almost everything for their career because they believe their career is a way to change lives and change the world
ILLUS.
James Dobson tells the story of a father who kept bringing his work home with him.
One evening his 1st grade son, who was aching to play catch with his daddy, asked him why he always had to bring work home with him.
Daddy explained that he couldn’t finish it all during the day.
The boy thought for a moment and then asked, “Then why don’t they just put you in a slower group?”
4) for these people, work has become the source of their identity — they are what they do ... the result is that work becomes their idol — their source of ultimate meaning
b.
Affect #2 — Complacent workers — men and women who work only because they have to
1) they live for the time they punch out
2) they do the bare minimum amount of work they can get away with without being fired
3) work for them is only an evil necessity that allows them to go for the gusto, and do all the ‘fun stuff’ they really want to do
c.
Affect #3 — Cupididous workers — men and women who believe that working is all about gaining wealth — more and more and more of it
1) cupidity is a word that means an excessive desire for wealth
ILLUS.
The cupidious worker’s attitude is best illustrated in a Michael Douglas movie called Wall Street, where Douglas plays the character of Gordon Gekko.
In a speech to the company stockholders Gekko utters that famous movie line: “Greed – for lack of a better word – is good.
Greed is right.
Greed works.”
2) these are people who love money, and work solely for the accumulation of wealth
d.
Affect #4 — Consuming non-workers — this is the true sluggard; men and women who believe that, for one reason or another, society owes them a living
1) society will always have some segment of its citizenry who do not work, and given the choice between working and freeloading they would choose the latter
2) the sad reality for many in this group is that if they worked as hard at a real job as they do in getting others to pay their bills for them, they’d probably be pretty well off!
3. these are all non-biblical views toward work, and reveal how sin negatively affects man’s conception of work
B. 2nd, GOD CREATED US TO BE INDUSTRIOUS AND WORK TO BE A BLESSING
1. have you ever wondered why we have to work?
a. is work supposed to be a joy or is it a grim necessity?
b. what place does work have in your life and what is your attitude toward it?
1) Christians need to think about such things
2) for the Christian there is a 5th understanding of vocation and work
2. Affect #5 — Covenant workers — confessing Christians who see their employment as a way to provide for their families, glorify God, and witness for Christ
a. by Covenant workers, I mean Christians who understand that they are in a covenant-relation with God in Christ, that then affects every other relationship in their life
1) including their relationship with their work and/or employer
b.
Christ encouraged His disciples to be salt and light — change agents in the world around them
c. one of the very best environments for us to accomplish that is the place where most of us spend 40-50 hours a week
3. the biblical Doctrine of Work is not just about working hard
a. for the vast majority of us, physical sloth is not a problem
ILLUS.
The most recent report from the U.S. Government shows that American worker productivity continues to increase.
1) if you are an average worker, you put in 50 hours a week at your job
b. the biblical Doctrine of Work is all about understanding why we should work hard
" ... whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31, NASB95)
"Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father."
(Colossians 3:17, NASB95)
"Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men," (Colossians 3:23, NASB95)
4. in the book of 2 Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul emphasized the witness of work
a. work is as much a spiritual matter as it was a physical matter
ILLUS.
In the mid-18th century, two enormously culturally influential movements arose in England.
One was the Industrial Revolution with it’s belching smokestacks and what British poet William Blake described as “Satanic mills” that brutalized the landscape and crushed workers.
The other culturally influential movement was Methodism, started by the Wesley brothers.
John Wesley encouraged Methodists to seek holiness of heart and life in ways that also transformed their secular vocations.
They were to take Jesus with them into the mills.
He encouraged Christian to be engaged in honest industry.
Methodists emphasized that salvation was not merely a way to heaven, but also a way on earth.
b. his advice to workers was, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can”
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