The Wisdom of an Ant
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Welcome
I’d like to welcome everyone this morning
A reminder next Sunday night we will have our business meeting at 5pm
Deacons lets plan on meeting briefly after service next Sunday
The title of the message this morning is: “The Wisdom of an Ant”
Would you believe that a something 6’ tall can learn lessons from a 3mm ant?
It’s almost an insult to think that as smart and wise as humans are we can become wise from a tiny ant
And that’s because nature has God given wisdom
And any wisdom given from God is worth having Amen?
The lesson we are going to learn from the ant is his diligence
I do believe that most people struggle on some level with laziness
Now don’t look so appalled that you could have a streak of laziness in your blood!
I know I tend to struggle with it
So as always I will be preaching to myself this morning
Lets read Proverbs 6:6
Now a sluggard is just another word for a lazy person
A sluggard is someone who is habitually lazy
This is someone who lives a life of laziness
Its not a season but a lifestyle
Everyone has some form of laziness
But when laziness becomes that of a sluggard it can be dangerous
It can wreck your household
It can hurt your family
And it can even hurt your spirituality
We will study the ant first
And then we will learn some things to avoid from the sluggard
Then we will apply them to our our spiritual lives
Proverbs 6:6-8
The Ant is self-motivated
The Ant is self-motivated
“Consider her ways and be wise, which having no captain, overseer or ruler”
An ant is not diligent because it has a queen ant standing over it
It spends all summer gathering food for in the winter
It comes out the cold season and gets right to work
It builds its house without orders or commands
The ant has no supervision
It does everything it does by its own free will
A sign that we have gotten lazy, gotten apathetic is the fact that we do nothing when no one is driving us
When the boss is gone away we play
When there are no requirements we lay
Our discipline is not self-discipline but forced-discipline from an outside source
Dominican
When I was in the Dominican a bell or siren went off everyday around 1 or 2pm
We asked Pastor Louis what this was and He said that signaled siesta time
So Dominicans would eat lunch and then siesta before going back to work
Now if a 1 hour nap after lunch fits you then you might be a Dominican at heart!
But the ant does’t take a nap just because he can
He doesn’t follow what others do
He is self-motivated
The ant knows a nap will not accomplish his goals
The ant doesn’t waste time laying in bed
He knows sleep is for the night hours and work for the day
If you are on Dominican time you may be drifting towards the lifestyle of a sluggard
As the door turns on its hinges, So does the sluggard on his bed.
This kind of discipline comes from the inside instead of from the outside
Take the initiative to work on your own free will
Do not be one who requires someone to tell them what to do
This is what it means to be slothful
The one who works only when the boss away lives like a sluggard
The Ant is Self-Reliant
The Ant is Self-Reliant
We have rulers and captains and overseers that we rely upon at times
We look to them when things get out of hand
We look to them if we lose our job
We look to them for help in times of crisis
But sometimes we can look to them when we really don’t need them
And then we become dependent upon them to make it through life
The ant lives live with no assistance
He does not wait for the army of ants to show up and help him before he gets his day started
He does not sit around and say if I can’t get three more helper I’m not doing it because its a daunting task
The ant gets to work regardless of whether any help comes or not
Ant Mounds
When I was younger I would enjoy going and stomping on those ant mounds
And as soon as I stomped that any mound the here the ants would come as fast as they could go
And they would immediately begin rebuilding their home
It didn’t matter how bad the destruction, they went right to work
How many today are drawing government benefits when they could be working?
How many people are draining the unemployment system who are completely able to work?
How many today are panhandling instead of laboring
Our country is full of people who have never contributed to society yet continuously drain it
Listen nothing is free in this world
And a free paycheck just means there is another working for it
These stimulus checks are going to be paid for by the working Americans
Unemployment is going to be paid for by someone
Now there’s nothing wrong with getting assistance when you need it
I’m speaking about the ones who could work and refuse to because they can get it for free
I’m going to step on some toes now:
How many instead of reading the Bible and growing in their faith on their own, rely upon the preacher to feed them on Sunday mornings?
How many instead of praying to God for their personal requests do they give them to the church to labor in prayer for them?
I’ve said before the church is a place of prayer and it is a place of teaching the Bible
But if your not doing those things on your own and expecting the church to do them for you then you’ve got it backwards
You’re living out your faith like a sluggard!
Lazy people let others do it for them
Lazy people do not hesitate to put a load on another’s back.
Lazy people are always relying upon someone else rather than doing it themselves
The Ant Has A Future Prospective
The Ant Has A Future Prospective
“Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest”
Notice the ant spends all summer preparing for the winter
He spends his time searching for food and storing it
He spends his free time building his house
He spends every moment moving and doing things in preparation for tomorrow!
Have you ever seen an ant that stand still?
Theres too much to do!
Winter is coming and food will be needed when there is none
The house needs to be added on to for more ants!
The windows need to be replaced
The roof needs to be fixed
The food cellar needs to be filled
The babies will be needing clothes next year
The ant farm will need to be expanded if they keep having babies
The ant keeps a future prospective
The ant does not procrastinate
He does not say I’ll do it tomorrow
He does not figure up only what is a must and the rest can wait!
He goes above and beyond everyday
His thinking is in the future tense
He knows what does not get done today will be waiting for him tomorrow
Sometimes we make our lives so stressed out because we put off what for tomorrow what we could do today
I’m preaching to the choir now
It is so easy for me to take my mornings off and work all afternoon and half the night
It is so easy for me to put off a sermon prep or school assignment until the last minute
And in the end I am the one who pays for it
If we will try to think a future prospective we will keep us from procrastinating
Verses 9-11
The Folly of a Sluggard
The Folly of a Sluggard
“How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep—So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man”
His favorite activity is sleep
Notice unlike the ant, the sluggard sleeps and misses the opportunity God has given him
The ant takes advantage of the time, but the sluggard wastes it away in the bed
This is an attitude of carelessness
The sluggard has a mindset that there is always tomorrow
His favorite saying is, “Why do today what you can put off for tomorrow..”
The defining characteristic of a sluggard is sleep!
He’d rather sleep than gather
He’d rather sleep and rely on others to feed him
He’d rather sleep than face the day!
His favorite stance is with his arms folded
It’s a picture of a man who refuses to work!
A man can’t do much with his arms folded!
His own hands betray him
You watch a man before you hire him and if he folds his arms you better keep looking
This man isn’t ready to work but to watch someone else work
The ants arms are always extended
He is always ready to jump in and get to work
Single ladies before you marry a man, make sure his favorite stance is not with arms folded
His future is poverty and need
The peril of being lazy is it leads to the need of others
Poverty is sure to come to those who refuse to work
They will need others to provide for them
They may be in need right now and do not even realize its because of laziness
And the sad thing is it is the ant who will be taking care of them
It is the ant who they will latch onto to meet their needs
The folly of a sluggard is he is never satisfied
He wants and wants and wants and never gets filled
The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, But the soul of the diligent is made fat.
God made us to be like ants
He designed us to be people who work
And its only when we work and contribute to society that we are truly fulfilled
The sluggard always wants and never has
The ant works, earns, and becomes satisfied
Some ways to conquer laziness
Some ways to conquer laziness
Rise up early and get your day started with God!
In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.
A defining characteristic of a sluggard is sleep
He spends more time in the bed then he does on his feet
If you will make a habit of getting up and meeting with God He will motivate you to get your day going
Set some realistic goals and keep them
The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, But everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty.
When our day begins without goals or plans we have nothing to hold us accountable
Goals hold us to our plans
Goals keep us from procrastinating
Goals make progress
Understand laziness is a sin
Jesus told a parable of three servants
All who were given everything they needed to make a profit
Two used what Jesus gave them and made a return
The third took the talent and buried it and did nothing with it
To the two good servants Jesus said: “Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master”
To the lazy servant He said this: “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”
To take what spiritual gifts Jesus has given us and do nothing with it will incur judgement
Now Im not going to pretend I know what is coming when we enter into glory
But from my understanding of this verse and others we are going to be rulers over things
And those who served and did what Jesus called them to do are going to be placed in positions of authority
And those who take the gift Jesus gave them and bury it in the sand, and let others do the work of the ministry, who sit on their hands when it comes time to serve, who refuse to do kingdom work will be cast in outer darkness
Diligence always pays off in the end
Those with a slack hand will be put to forced labor
The hand of the diligent will rule, But the slack hand will be put to forced labor.
~PRAYER~