Not Lazy – Just Forgetful
Well tonight, I neglected somehow, I forgot to bring the outlines. And your outline had this great picture on it. I don’t know if you can see it all the way from here.
It was big even in your outline. These ants are carrying this piece of wood over a cliff. And it’s the kind of thing ants really do.
And the passage, starting with Proverbs 6.6 is, Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise. Which having no captain, overseer, or ruler, Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.
How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you arise 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. And my first point tonight is, I don’t consider any of you here to be lazy or sluggards, Just like the thing says, the Hebrew word esel, It means a slow, idle, or hesitant person, a lazy person.
Proverbs speaks about somebody who is too lazy even to eat. That’s not me. It says the lazy man buries his hand in the bowl, It wearies him to bring it back to his mouth.
That’s Proverbs 26, 15. That verse is probably an exaggeration on Solomon’s part, To make a point. There are lazy people in this world, And none of us is immune to laziness.
At certain times, or in certain situations, Or maybe about certain things, Maybe all of us are lazy in one way or another, It’s a sin that is part of the sins of this world. One of the reasons I’m preaching this is, I don’t know if you noticed on Sunday nights, I’ve been trying to preach on passages I haven’t preached on before, Or topics I haven’t preached on before, And I think the whole time I’ve been at First Presbyterian, Or Word of Life Church, I haven’t preached once about laziness or sluggards. Especially you people here on Sunday nights, You’re the ones that are here on Sunday nights, Are not the lazy ones.
The Ant – A Positive Example
Secondly though, the ant is an example to us, A humble creature, But scripture tells us to consider her ways, And be wise. It is a shame, said the philosopher Seneca, Not to learn morals from small animals. Now Seneca wasn’t a Christian, But he still wanted to learn more morality from small animals.
Charles Bridges, who was a Christian, Who wrote a commentary on these proverbs, wrote, It demonstrates the degradation of the fall, That although man was created in God’s image, And made wiser than any of the other creatures, He should be sent to this insignificant school for instruction. We should know better, is what he’s saying, Than to have to go to an ant to learn to be productive. He says that’s because of sin that we’re in this.
So Bridges suggests that the reason we need to learn from inferior creatures, Is because sin has humbled us. It has made us sluggish. It has made us sinful.
Diligence Or Habit?
Whether that’s a matter of sin or not, We can still learn from observing ants. Some of the things he points out here, Verse 7, Proverbs 6, 7, They have no need of a boss. They have no need of outside motivation.
Habit
It says, Which having no captain, overseer, or ruler, They still do their work. They don’t need somebody with the whip getting behind them, Or even with the prize in front of them saying, Here’s what you need to do. They know what they need to do, Without any kind of motivation like that.
They diligently do this without the motivation, And they prepare for the future. It says in Verse 8, Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest. Meaning, The ant is wise enough to provide not only for good days, But for difficult days in the future.
Diligence
And for the Christian, The future for us Christians is not just retirement, The whole world prepares for retirement, Or they try to, But also eternity. We prepare for eternity, that is, we prepare for something beyond this world.
Perishing vs. Enduring
We need to be diligent, Not only for the things of now, For our food, our clothing, our provision in that sense, But also for spiritual things. In fact, these are even more important Than the things here in this world. And why is that? Because what we have here, It’s not going to last no matter what.
We only have it for a short time. That’s why Jesus says, Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, Where moth and rust destroy, And where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, Where neither moth nor rust destroys, And where thieves do not break in and steal.
Matthew 6, 19 and 20. In John 6, 27, Jesus says, Do not labor for the food that perishes, But for the food which endures to everlasting life, Which the Son of Man will give you. Because God the Father has sent his seal on him.
What Do They Want?
Jesus had people in his life, This is after he fed the 5,000, That labored for that food. Jesus made it and they didn’t have much effort to eat that When he made the food for the 5,000. But he hid from them.
He snuck across the lake when they didn’t see him. How did they labor? They didn’t give up, instead, they went to find him.
They went over the lake to make sure he was there, even though they had no clue how he could get there, they found him. And you could say they sought him.
But why were they seeking him? They were seeking him only for the physical bread. They weren’t seeking him for himself. He says, I am the bread of life.
And they all fell short. They all wanted just physical bread. They did not really want Christ.
Set Your Priorities
Jesus says, though, But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, And all these things shall be added unto you. And so our diligence, our labor, Should be not so much for the things of this world, But for the things ahead. It’s harder to be diligent, Not lazy about spiritual things.
And why is that? Because we do not see them. We walk by faith and not by sight. And yet these things are worth our best efforts.
2 Corinthians 4, 16 through 18, Just a few verses ahead of 2 Corinthians 5, 7, Which says, For we walk by faith, not by sight, says, Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, Yet the inward man is being renewed day by day For our light affliction, Which is but for a moment, Is working for us a far more exceeding And eternal way to glory. While we do not look for the things that are seen, But that the things that are not seen, For the things which are seen are temporary, But the things which are not seen are eternal.
The Age-Wisdom Curve
You know, I look out to you here, And you all are older than me. I think you are. John came in and he’s told me his back is hurting him.
And you come here oftentimes, Even though you have various pains and difficulties, And you still make it here. How many 20 or 30-year-olds do we have in here? It would be a lot easier for them to come here. Oh, well, Zenora’s 30.
20, so I missed it there. She raised her hand. She’s 30 at heart, at least.
But they could more easily come. But for some reason, we pushed ourselves to do that. We want to be here.
Gainers And Losers
Thirdly, understand what and how we gain or lose, Meaning gain or lose heart. How do we gain or lose heart? Therefore, we do not lose heart, Even though our outward man is perishing, Yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4, 16.
How do we gain? We gain by not losing heart. Things that cause even a diligent person To be lazy or to lose heart. The second part of 2 Corinthians 4, 16.
Our outward man is perishing. Our physical man is getting weaker. It’s getting harder to do things.
But we do not lose heart. For Paul, this meant persecution. In 2 Corinthians 11, he writes, Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool.
Trials And Tribulations
I am more in labors, more abundance, In stripes above measure, in prisons, More frequently in deaths, often from the Jews. Five times I received forty stripes minus one. That’s thirty-nine.
Meaning he was beaten with the rod Thirty-nine times on the back. So it left thirty-nine stripes on his back. Three times I was beaten with rods.
Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and day I have been in the deep, In journeys often, in perils of waters, In perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, In perils of the Gentiles, in perils of the city, In perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, In perils among false brethren, In weariness, in toil, in sleeplessness, Often in hunger and thirst, in fastings, Often in cold and nakedness, Beside the other things, Which comes upon me daily, My deep concern for all the churches, Who is weak and I am not weak, Who is made to stumble, And I do not burn with indignation.
He had to press through all these different things to be the minister he was, to fulfill his calling. Very few people go through all that the Apostle Paul did. But everyone eventually ages if they have that opportunity.
Who Shall Flourish?
And the weakness that comes with age goes with it. And yet Psalm 92, verse 12-14 says, The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age. They shall be fresh and flourishing.
Even in old age, he still bear fruit. For me, and for many, fatness. Literally and hopefully spiritually, growing in spiritual things.
For me, priority preaching, preparing sermons, means a lot of sitting, which means not a lot of exercise. Having people at my house for Bible study involves food right now. Eating even more and visiting people can involve food also.
And housework and organization and exercise, for me sometimes they’re not priorities. My priority is the spiritual things. And so I know I need to work on my non-priorities to be in better shape.
I am lazy about some things that used to be my strength. 1 Corinthians 9, 24-27 says, Do you not know that those who run in a race run all but one receives a prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for a prize is temperate in all things.
Now they do obtain a perishable prize, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run thus not with uncertainty. Thus I fight, not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body, and I bring it into subjection.
Lest when I preach to others, I myself would become disqualified. That was my first sermon text, and I looked like it too. I could run 12 miles with no problem.
And so I need to, in some ways, try to get back to that, but there’s no way I can get back to what I was, but I can still work on it. For most, pain. John has told me his pains tonight, and Zenora has pains, I know, and we all have these various pains.
And Paul calls our pains here in this passage our light affliction. Then why does he call it light affliction? Because it’s temporary. Even if our pains last us for the rest of this life, they are temporary.
Even if they’re every day and every night, they are temporary. When we are in eternity, they will seem like a dream that has passed. Oh, what does pain feel like, or what did it? Do you remember? And I said, no, no, I don’t remember.
These are things that are gone. Our light affliction works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. When we go through these things, and yet we still do what God wants us to, God rewards us with an eternal weight of glory.
Excuses. The lazy man says, there’s a lion outside. I shall be slain in the streets.
There’s a blockade in front of the church, I cannot go to church.
A lion is prowling outside, I can’t go to church! Or there might be a lion prowling outside.
Who knows? There’s alligators out here in Florida. I can’t go to church because the alligator might get me. These are exaggerations.
And sometimes people do it. Maybe it’s not these things, but how many excuses might somebody make for not coming to church? Sleepy laziness is self-destructive. Proverbs 6, 9-11.
This is back in our passage. 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.
It’s interesting how he says this. It says, so shall your poverty. Verse 11.
Come on you like a prowler and your need like an armed man. And this is how laziness destroys people. First, it’s like a prowler.
How does a prowler come? He comes quietly, gradually, and slowly.
Does a prowler wake you up? No, he doesn’t want to wake you up because he’s stealing from you little by little. And laziness steals from us, whether materially or spiritually. When we’re lazy, it takes things from us that we would have.
And then also, it comes like an armed man. An armed man is a different thing than a prowler. You wake up and the gun is at your face.
What can you do at that point? You can’t do anything. And when we’re lazy, we lose all our strength eventually to where we can’t do anything even if we wanted to. We lose that exceeding weight of glory.
Things that keep us from losing heart. Things that encourage us. A far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
When we know that’s ahead of us, it’s our encouragement. However heavy our pains, the glory ahead is much greater. And so when you feel the pain, think about eternal glories are so much bigger than this that we push on through.
Our inward man is being renewed. We are physically weaker, but we can get spiritually stronger. And why is that? That’s because God is our strength.
In Isaiah 40 verses 29 through 31, it says, he gives power to the weak and to those who have no might, he increases strength. Even the youths shall fail and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint.
Imagine tonight that I had a challenge because I used to run 10 K’s, 10,000 meters. And the world record holder for the 10,000 meters challenged me to a race. Who would you bet on? Me or the world record holder? You.
No, you can’t shoot him. You can’t. What’s that? A 10,000 meter race.
He’s going to run that race. But I’m going to drive my car. So who’s going to win? Me and my car.
I’m going to beat this guy. He’s running, He’s using his feet.
He’s the 10,000 meter record holder. I’m fat. I’m slow.
So I’m driving in my car. I’ll tell you I will beat him every time. Because I’m depending I’m depending on I’m depending on something that’s stronger than me and stronger than him.
And that’s why it says in Isaiah 40 verse 31 Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up as wings like eagles. Why? Because we’re depending on something stronger than us.
He carries us. Just like my car will win every time even against the world record holder in the 10,000 meters. God can carry us even more than a car would.
Well, let’s pray. Father, we thank you for your goodness to us. We thank you that you are able to be our strength and our guide and our help.
We thank you that even when we are weary that you can give us your strength and that we can depend on you. And that’s why when we’re feeling weak, we pray. When we’re in pain, we pray.
When we’re going through difficult times, we pray. And then you give us your strength. Oftentimes, in good times we don’t even feel we need to pray.
But when we go through difficult times, we pray. And you give us your strength, your healing, your help. And so, Father, I pray for each person here.
I thank you that they’re here tonight. And we pray that you would be our strength in our weaknesses, our strength to carry us through each day. We pray these things in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
