The Sluggard
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Introduction
Introduction
Abbie today has prepared this meal. She has worked hard all day getting this meal ready for you. But, when it’s ready and she puts it all out on the table, she doesn’t get a spoon and force feed you. No she merely prepares the food and presents it, and then you decide whether or not you will eat. Sometimes she may make vegetables or other healthy stuff. A lot of times vegetables can be gross, and we don’t want to eat them. But vegetables are good for you. They have lots of vitamins and minerals and their good for your gut health.
Tonight I have prepared a spiritual meal for you. It is going to be up to you whether you will eat or not. It is up to you whether you will be full and satisfied at the end of tonight. Will you decide to eat tonight? Will you decide to eat tonight even if the meal doesn’t seem that appetizing? Like a plate of vegetables, this meal will be good for you, but it may be a little hard to swallow.
Turn to Proverbs 26.
The book of Proverbs is a fantastic piece of Scripture. You can read it over and over and over again and still find wisdom strength and courage each time. When I moved in with my sister and her husband when I was 17, I often saw my brother in law reading this book of the Bible, and looking back now I’m sure he was reading to find wisdom and strength on how to deal with an annoying 17 year old Zain.
It is an intensely practical book. It is distinctly uncomfortable. And it is immensely profitable.
We will be discussing the topic of laziness. Don’t nudge the person next to you and say wow it’s a good thing you came tonight cause this one is for you, no lets investigate our own hearts and lives and see how this Scripture can help us in this area.
The book of Proverbs describes the lazy person as a sluggard. Not a word we use today but its a good word that invokes the thought of a slug. Slow moving, gross, lethargic even. Sluggard is defined as someone who is habitually lazy or inactive. They have a lifestyle that is framed by inactivity. It also uses the word slothful, again a word that invokes a picture of a slow moving animal characterized by inactivity.
The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way;
A lion is in the streets.
As the door turneth upon his hinges,
So doth the slothful upon his bed.
The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom;
It grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth.
The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit
Than seven men that can render a reason.
1. Happy making excuses (v. 13)
1. Happy making excuses (v. 13)
The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way;
A lion is in the streets.
The sluggard is ingenious at making excuses.
Think of summer time after you’ve hung out with friends and been on vacation or maybe before you and your friends had your drivers license and you’re in the middle of summer and you have nothing to do and you go to you parents and say “dad I’m bored”. He says “well, why dont you go mow the lawn or do the dishes?” And then boom you aren’t bored any more and you have things that you remember you can do and theres excuses and reasons you cant mow the lawn or do the dishes.
The person who has no mind to work, doesn’t want to work, never lacks excuses for their idleness. Idleness is a thing to be weary of in the Christian life.
One of the commands for pastors in 1 Thessalonians 5 is to warn the idle. The king james uses the word unruly but many other translations use the word idle. He says to encourage the timid, help the weak, but to warn the idle.
In Paul’s next letter to the Thessalonians in chapter three he says to them if you don’t work, then you shouldn’t eat.
This is a call to endeavor, a call to effort, and to work. This calling is not exclusive to the book of Proverbs or to the old Testament, you find this throughout the Bible.
These people who do not like to follow the calling to work are great at making excuses. Look back at verse 13
The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way;
A lion is in the streets.
No there’s not! There is not lion in the street. Why don’t you go mow the lawn? There’s a lion in the yard! Where did you get that from? The lazy person manages to convince themselves of facts that are completely nonexistent! And the longer they go with filling their mind with that kind of thing, they come up with more imaginary reasons for their inactivity, and these imaginary reasons convince them that they don’t need to work and it’s how they rationalize not having to work.
Of course the real danger is not the imaginary lion in the street, but the roaring lion, the devil who loves to come and lull people into laziness and defeat.
2. Hinged to his bed (v. 14)
2. Hinged to his bed (v. 14)
As the door turneth upon his hinges,
So doth the slothful upon his bed.
So this sluggard is attached to his bed. The only movement a door makes is when it turns on its hinges, so is the sluggard who just turns over and over in his bed. He absolutely loves it, he makes movement but no progress. You may find this person in the same place at lunchtime as he was at breakfast time, attached to his bed. He does not like direct questions especially about his lazy habits, like in chapter 6 verse 9
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?
When wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
He may not outright refuse to do anything but just procrastinates and puts it off bit by bit. He deceives himself by thinking that he will get around to it but really never does. He allows opportunity to slip away.
3. Hopeless at finishing things (v. 15)
3. Hopeless at finishing things (v. 15)
The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom;
It grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth.
The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting:
But the substance of a diligent man is precious.
Why doesn’t the slothful man roast his game? He may not have even got any game, maybe he shot the thing and pierced it with the arrow but doesn’t go get it to clean it. Maybe he drags the carcass home and leans it against the shed and his wife says are we ever going to eat this? And he says don’t bug me, I shot it didn’t I? I’ll get around to cleaning it and preparing it. Yet winter comes and the carcass, or the skeleton is still there as a testimony or a reminder that the sluggard is hopeless at completing things. Moment by moment he allows opportunities to slip away.
In 26:15, what a picture, this person would rather enjoy his laziness than his own food! You sit him down to eat and he sticks his fork in the food, but gives up and says uhhh I don’t know if I want to eat this.
When Abbie leaves me alone to take the baby to see family or what not she always leaves me with food and tries to take care of me. But sometimes I’m so lazy I’d rather just eat a bowl of cereal than go through the trouble of throwing a pre-made meal in the oven. The effort involved seems so demanding. Take the dish out of the freezer. Turn on the oven. Put the dish in the oven. And then you have to wait for it! And who knows whats happening to you while you’re standing there near the oven and microwave and that radiation stuff coming out and getting ya.
The perfect illustration of laziness is surely in every single person’s bathroom. You sit, you look down, and what? Where the toilet paper should be, theres a little cardboard tube. There’s no magic to it, you just replace it. Easy as can be. Yet its a silent testimony of laziness.
He is hopeless at finishing things.
4. Haughty in opinion of himself (v. 16)
4. Haughty in opinion of himself (v. 16)
The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit
Than seven men that can render a reason.
He’s extremely prideful. He thinks he’s a genius. He’s the mascot of work smarter not harder, but in reality, he’s not smarter he just doesn’t want to work hard period. He has no idea he’s lazy. He has a blind spot.
For teenagers specifically, sadly this is the common place to be. It is the natural attitude to have. If you do not seriously address this now, you will have a greater mountain to climb that you may not be able to conquer. Because this is burned into your psyche, that this is your natural default path in life. And the picture of the sluggard here in Proverbs is comic, but it is also tragic.
Don’t allow the comedic aspect of it prevent you from seeing how tragic it is: hinged to the bed, happy with excuses, hopeless at finishing things, haughty in his opinion.
Look at his vineyard in chapter 24
I went by the field of the slothful,
And by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;
And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns,
And nettles had covered the face thereof,
And the stone wall thereof was broken down.
Then I saw, and considered it well:
I looked upon it, and received instruction.
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep:
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth;
And thy want as an armed man.
His house is in shambles
His house is in shambles
His vineyard is overgrown
His vineyard is overgrown
He’s not taking care of his responsibilities
Laziness can be emotional, physical, or spiritual.
If you’re lazy emotionally, you hate exercising your mind, you despise having to think critically, you don’t allow yourself to open up and be vulnerable to people, your lazy emotionally.
If you’re lazy physically, you hate any type of physical work or exhaustion and make any sort of excuse to get out of it. You leave early on wednesday nights from youth so that you don’t have to help clean up.
If you’re lazy spiritually, you don’t feed yourself, you don’t pray or read your Bible, you don’t have spiritual conversations. You’re a sluggard.
The only time a lazy man succeeds is when he tries to do nothing. Laziness is the secret ingredient for failure. Laziness in reality is not something to be proud of, it’s not something to joke about, it’s not something that I just accept about myself “well i’m just a procrastinator”, no, you’re a sinner. Laziness is not an infirmity, it is a sin. God made us to work. Work is not a consequence of sin, work was our purpose in the Garden of Eden in the very beginning. When you are lazy, you don’t look like Christ. Christ was a hard worker. Constantly working Himself to the point of exhaustion. Change your attitude about work.
Laziness is something that God wants to deal with in our lives in order that we might be our best, for His glory. A question you need to ask is “Is there any sense of laziness that is intruding into my walk with Christ?” How am I doing in the things of God? How am I doing in my personal devotional life? What happens in my reading of the Bible, in my own personal prayer? What about my commitment to the people of God, his church, not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together? What about my commitment to the commandments of God, to live a holy life modeled after Him?
There are some here right now who doesn’t necessarily struggle with this. You’re organized in school. You’re on it when it comes to homework, you’re ahead, you’re organized in sports you do well, you may have a job where you do well and people look up to you, you’re here right now so you must care something about spiritual things. You think this one isn’t really for me, anybody around me knows that I am not like this sluggard person. I am committed to everything I do. Thank you for this talk, very interesting, but I don’t need it.
Hold on one second. One more question: Are you applying the same level of diligence to your relationship with Christ, as you do to school, work, sports, friends, or whatever else. Are you applying the same level of diligence to your relationship with Christ as you do with the other areas of your life?
Recognize that work is not a curse, it’s a good thing
God is a worker, we are made in His image and we are made to work.
2. Recognize the consequences of being a slacker
You’ll become poor and a poor example to others
3. Recognize we work by God’s grace and power
By His power we are able to accomplish what we need to accomplish
Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;