Security, Sloth & Sowing Discord

It’s been a few weeks now since we’ve been in Proverbs, but we’re going back there this morning in our series on ‘Wisdom for living’. And as we move into chapter 6 we have a number of practical warnings. In fact your Bible may entitle this section as that, ‘practical warnings’.

And we all need this kind of wisdom, we all need those simple straightforward warnings as we try to navigate through this world with all it’s temptations and pitfalls! And the reason we need them is so we can live lives that glorify God! We want to be wise, we want in all areas of life to please Him, to live rightly before Him, and He wants that for us!!

So this morning, let’s look at three areas in particular, and let’s link them with the idea of sowing...

Sowing in the Right Place (v.1-5)

Have you ever been in the situation where someone has come to you for help, and you’ve agreed to help them, you’ve agreed to in a sense cover them if they can’t do something. But as soon as they’ve walked away you’ve known that what you’ve agreed to is just too much! You don’t really have the capacity for it, it’s something that if you do have to step in it’s going to mean other areas in your life or the lives of those around you will be impacted negatively!

That’s very thing that this wise Father is warning his son of! In Israel it was common place for people to put up security for others. That is, to be someone’s guarantor, to stand over their debt! If someone needed a loan, but they weren’t fully trusted to be able to pay that back, then they needed someone else to pledge to step in and cover them if they needed.

Six times though in Proverbs this is warned against! It’s not that this wise father doesn’t want his son to be generous, not at all!! He knew the law of God...

Now this wise Father isn’t encouraging his son to be tight, he isn’t promoting a lack of generosity, or a selfishness. We know that throughout the law God’s people were commanded to give generously, to consider the poor, to help the vulnerable!

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... Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.

God wants us to be generous, He calls us to love others as we love ourselves! But He also wants us to be wise! There are times when it’s right to withhold, it’s wise to say no. In our desire to love others, we can at times put ourselves and those we love in places of real danger. It’s one thing to give sacrificially to a need that we feel moved by, but it’s a different thing altogether to pledge to stand over something that may be in the future. We don’t know what tomorrow holds, we don’t know what our financial or other capacity will be in the days ahead! So we need to be wise, to sow in the right places, to give as we are able today!

I read this week of a man who was asked to be a guarantor for a friend, over a loan of £200,000. He knew this man, he trusted this man, he didn’t really ever think that he would have to do anything! And unfortunately, he was wrong! His friend was unable to pay back the money owed and this man lost £100,000, and then had to plead with the bank not to throw him and his family out of their house and sell it!!

Maybe examples like that are rare! Maybe few here would be in a position to stand over such a loan for another! But what about in other areas. I remember in Lurgan Junior High there was a teacher who loved to give out school rules! If you stepped out of line you had to sit and write out these school rules, may once, maybe twice, and then had them in. But there was an agreement in our year where one boy agreed to do the school rules of another if he got them! And he did get them! And get them, and get them! This ended up being a real snare to the boy, and something which finally came to light and was address (probably with school rules)!!

Or maybe you’ve agreed to step in for someone else in a certain area of work or service! But you’re already maxed out! You know that will mean another night out, less time with the family, less space to get things done that you really need to get down. And you feel that weight, you’re caught! Someone will have to suffer, someone will be hurt, and you certainly will be!

The wise Father wants better for His Son, he wants him to walk wisely and not be destroyed by making foolish commitments, especially in the area of money! So he encourages him to put things right, and to waste no time in doing it…v.3-4...

‘…go hasten…plead urgently...’ The idea here is one of earnest humility! Go to the person you’ve pledged to, and humble yourself before them! One writer says ‘it’s like getting down on the ground and letting them trample over you, call you names, curse you, but let them do it, and admit how stupid you’ve been! Pester them until they free you from your foolish commitment! That’s how seriously we’re to take it!

Don’t rest, don’t relax, don’t go about your normal routines, get this sorted before it damages you! The father likens the position to a gazelle in the hand of a hunter, and a bird in the hand of a fowler. You’re caught, trapped, tied down by your own words, your own foolish pledge, and you must break free!

We’re called to sow, but we must be careful to sow in the right place, your money, your time, your energy! But don’t put yourself in the place of being a savior! Don’t take on a possible future weight that you’re not able for, and could end up destroying you, and those around you!!

But doesn’t this point us beautifully to the One who was able! Who has put up security for us! We have a debt that we could never pay, if we lived a thousand lives we could never clear, in fact with every breath we fall further into the hole! And yet He comes in and covers it, the sin of our past, our present, and our future! And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the circumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ()

Sowing at the Right Time (v.6-11)

The Father moves on to speak not to the Son, but rather to the sluggard! Now throughout Proverbs the Sluggard is in some ways a comical but yet tragic character.

He starts things but never finishes...The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth. ()

He will come up with any excuse to get out of doing something… The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!” ()

He spends his time relaxing, lazing about, lying in bed… As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed. ()

It’s not that this person doesn’t sow in the right place, he doesn’t sow at all!! And there’s a link here with the first warning to the son, because often (not always, but often), the people that others can end up covering, or putting security up for, can be sluggards! We’ve a man who has done work round our house, lovely man, and he works so hard, morning till night, often 7 days a week! And he’s had to do that in part because of a lazy son! A Son that is now grown up, but doesn’t have a job, likes to lie about the house, play computer games, yet still wants to learn to drive, go out, have a certain lifestyle.

Look at what this sluggard is like in v.9-11...

He’s indecisive, he doesn’t even know when he’ll get up from his rest and start the day! There’s no drive, no discipline, no earnestness, purpose! It’s seems it’s always just a little more! A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rests, a little, a little, a little!! Let’s not rush, we can do it tomorrow, let’s wait, don’t decide now, don’t pressure me, just relax!

And the end result…poverty…want…He’s lazy lifestyle has been the very thing that has invited destruction into his life like a robber, like an armed man! He’s laziness has opened the door to enemies that will plunder all he has and leave him with nothing!

If we’re being honest though I think there’s some sluggard in most of us! And can I be bold and say, often more so in us men! I think of myself, and maybe you can relate…I can be so indecisive! Ask Lynda, it took me way too long to marry her!!! I can procrastinate, ‘let’s talk about that later, let’s make that decision later, we need some down time now’!

We maybe leave getting up to the very last moment and then rush and panic. We leave that homework of assignment until the night before and then fail to do as we should have with it! ‘In a little while, just a little longer, 5 more minutes on Facebook, one more song, one more YouTube video, a little, a little!!’

But that is not what honors God! That type of living is not the wisdom He calls us to! And in His grace even here He wants the sluggard to learn, He points to the ant! How humbling, and again especially for us men, because it’s a female ant! And there’s wisdom to gain from her! v.6-8...

I can remember being on holidays as a boy in Majorca, and going out for dinner in the evenings. And so often as we sat outside, nearby there would be a line of ants! They marched in order, they carried whatever supplies they needed, they didn’t have anyone to keep them in check, to watch what they were doing. You didn’t see any ants that had to be dragged along, or whipped into shape! There were no loners that were off doing their own thing (except maybe if someone dropped a few splashes of water onto the line and caused chaos)!

And these ants were preparing! They weren’t walking aimlessly, they had a purpose! They were gathering food for the winter. They were making provision now for when the weather turned and they had to stay in their nest! They weren’t lapping up the sunshine and just lying about with their ant friends!

And how we can all learn from them!! But Let me speak to those of you at Uni now! For some of you, university will be a time like no other in your life! You have time (in some cases), like you won’t have again in your entire life!! Don’t waste it!! Don’t spend it on just hanging out, drinking coffee, lazing about, lying in!! Invest in!! Now is a time for you to go deep into His Word and grow in your knowledge of Him, don’t miss it! Because the winter will come, hard times will hit your life! And when they do, what will you fall back on?! Will you have a storehouse to run to? Will you have sunk your roots deep into God so that you’ll stand firm! Or when you go to that storehouse will it be empty, with nothing more that coffee cups and box-set covers on the floor?!

Why not set aside 30 minutes everyday to study the Bible. Make it a priority that you don’t move! Let’s learn wisdom from the ant!! And resist the temptation to be a sluggard!

Again my thoughts were so drawn to Christ at this point! You read of His life and ministry, and its just beautiful how He made every moment count! He used His time perfectly, He knew what it was to Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. ()

Let me ask you this morning, are we sowing in the right place, and are we sowing at the right time? Are you investing your life for that which counts? Are you using what God has given now while you have the opportunity? Or is it ‘Maybe when I’m a little older, maybe when this is in place, maybe when I’ve got this sorted!’

Sowing the Right Seed (v.12-19)

The final warning here moves a step further, first the Son is warned, then the sluggard is rebuked, but now this last person is set up as an example!

He’s described as worthless and wicked, (without benefit, profit, use to anyone)! Spending time with this person won’t add anything to your life, rather it’ll take from you! And why is he described this way? Well look at what he’s marked by? 12b-14...

His speech is twisted, wrong, deceitful! And it’s not just his speech, even his eyes, hands and feet are used to carry out what springs from his perverted, rebellious heart! He’ll point accusingly, wink and roll his eyes, walk out at the most dramatic times! And in it all he is continually sowing discord! This man doesn’t have an issue with sowing, the problem is that what he sows is destructive!

It’s like digging a hole in the garden, preparing the soil and then planting a landmine!!

Now again it’s linked to whats gone before, so often the worst people for sowing discord are the people who are most reluctant to do the work! They stand on the fringes, looking in and passing comment! Criticising everything that’s done, picking holes, and sowing discord, all the while not being engaged!

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. (2 Thess. 3:6-12)

It’s hard to sow discord when you’re busy sowing seeds of righteousness!!

But here is the heartbreaking truth of this type of sowing, it’s rife in the church!! It happens in this church! Now all of us can fall into the trap of speaking foolishly, in a moment of frustration saying too much, in the wrong way! And when we do we need to repent and make right! But there are other people who nearly everything they say is negative, every comment is criticism, there’s always a problem that they have to air, always an issue that they need to point out to others! They don’t fall into speaking foolishly in moments, they just sow discord as the norm, from hearts that are twisted and know nothing of the true gospel of Jesus Christ! They’re bitter, aggressive, arrogant, and calamity will come upon them! There will come a time when judgement will be handed out and it’ll be too late!!

God hates the person who sows discord among brothers. The wise father uses this literary device in v.16-19… The point of it is to highlight the last thing on the list, something that could easily be overlooked but he wants to make sure isn’t!!

Now when we think today of things that are an abomination to the Lord, probably for many, top of the list would be homosexual practice. That’s what we hear this word in connection with the most! But how seriously do we take the fact that sowing discord is an abomination! It makes God sick! It turns His stomach as it were!!

So let me say 2 things on this, firstly, if you know this describes you this morning! If you see yourself in the mirror of God’s Word, either a little or a lot! Today is the time to repent! Now is the time to confess your sin of sowing discord, to run to Jesus Christ, the One who takes all of us worthless and wicked people and give us new life! He can forgive our sins because He bore them on the cross as He suffered and died in our place! He can change those perverted hearts and make them clean! He is the embodiment, the fulfillment of all wisdom, and when we have Him we have everything!! But you must do it now, because the calamity will come suddenly!!!

Secondly, if you know people in this church, or friends elsewhere who claim to follow Jesus but sow discord, you must warn them! As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned. ()

We are all responsible for the health of this Church, and when we see and hear that which will damage it, we must act! We must lovingly warn the person, and then a second time, even with another brother or sister with us! But after that, have nothing more to do with them! That’s how seriously God commands us to deal with this evil!

So let’s strive together by God’s grace to be wise! To sow in the right places, to sow at the right time, and to sow with the right things!