Proverbs on Wealth 
Part 7: A Portrait of Laziness

Baxter T. Exum (#1749)
Four Lakes Church of Christ
Madison, Wisconsin
August 18, 2024

Good morning and welcome! If you are visiting this morning or joining us online or on the phone, we are especially glad to have you with us, and we’d like to ask that you fill out a visitor card – either online or on a card from the pew in front of you. And we also invite you to pass along any questions or prayer concerns in that way.

We are here this morning to worship and to preach the good news that God loves us. The love of God was demonstrated through Jesus coming to this earth to die in our place, but it certainly doesn’t end there. He was buried, but he was raised up on the first day of the week. This is the good news (the most awesome of all news) and we obey this good news through faith, repentance, confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, and baptism (a burial in water for the forgiveness of sins). And this morning we are sharing some good news from the Clarke County Church of Christ down in Athens, Georgia. They posted online early last week, and they say that, “We are thrilled to share the news of a baptism that took place on Sunday, a couple of hours after service concluded. Malcolm Prather, the son of Jason and Tia Prather, was baptized into the body of Christ! Please pray for his continued spiritual growth.” And then they quote Colossians 2:12, where Paul says that, “When you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and you were raised up with him through your faith in God’s power that was shown when he raised Christ from the dead.” So good to see it! And please forgive me for saying it, but did you notice this guy’s arm? I’m assuming that he must be baptizing thousands of people every day, because that is impressive! 

This update comes to us from Joseph Bonyo, who preaches in Uganda. He says, “This week…, Rose and I headed to Western Uganda at Kahiiza church of Christ in Ishaka Bushenyi District. Rose taught the women for two days as I spoke with some men of the church, Rose shared the Gospel to women, Linet and Phiona accepted to be baptized, so we had to share more with them, so today...we take the good news back home at Antioch Church of Christ Uganda of what the Lord has done. Indeed the workers are few and the harvest is plenty full (Mathew 9:37).

This last one (for today) comes to us from Clifton Webb who lives in the Detroit area, and he simply says, “Another soul saved from Satan's grip. Welcome to the body of Christ!” There are many more examples we could have shared this week, but we’ve shared these to show what it means to obey the gospel, and if you are ready to do what these people have done, or if you would like to learn more, please let us know. We invite you to get in touch using the contact information on the wall up here, or if you are joining us on the phone, you can send a text or give me a call at 608-224-0274.

This morning, we are headed back to the book of Proverbs! As of this moment we have now covered 402 of the 915 Proverbs, or right at 44%. And this summer, we are now looking at everything King Solomon says about WEALTH. We have pulled out any references to wealth or money or riches or treasure, and there have been so many that we’ve been arranging these by sub-topic.

We started with Solomon’s advice on GETTING wealth. We looked at how to LOSE your wealth. We then looked at the idea of ENJOYING OUR WEALTH. We looked at what King Solomon had to say about POVERTY. Last week, we looked at the value of GIVING our wealth to others, and this week we move into something of a bonus (and somewhat related) study on LAZINESS. As I’ve said all along, we are being somewhat flexible with this arrangement, and since we have at least 27 verses on laziness, I’ve decided to divide these into three lessons – we’ll look at an actual chunk of scripture this morning (a portrait of laziness), we’ll look at another chunk of scripture next week (a description of some of the consequences of laziness), and we hope to wrap it up a week later with the rest of the rather random proverbs on laziness.

And as we get started this morning, I just want to point out that King Solomon had a huge problem with lazy people. Like I said, we have at least 27 verses on this, which is enough to have had a whole chapter on laziness, but these verses are scattered throughout the book (and we’ve already studied several more in the early chapters, that are not included in these 27). And not only do we have a large number of verses, but Solomon seems to really make fun of lazy people in a way that he doesn’t with so many other sins. In fact, we might even describe laziness as one of King Solomon’s “pet peeves.” He keeps coming back to it, and his comments (often coming in the form of insults), verge on being brutal.

And we start with the fact that King Solomon often refers lazy people as being “sluggards.” Now, the word “sluggard” is not a word that most of us use every day, and yet it is found in several English translations, and it simply means “lazy.” And by the way, the word “sluggard” came before actual slugs. Slugs are called slugs, because they appear to be lazy (not the other way around). The picture up here is of a banana slug at my campsite in Olympic National Park last fall. I had always heard to keep an eye out for slugs, but my last trip was the first time I got to see one. It was on a tree at the back of my campsite, and the slug was huge, abut the size of my fist and part of my forearm. Nevertheless, to be called a “sluggard” is quite the insult, and it is found throughout the book of Proverbs. Solomon hated laziness, and it’s a serious problem with some serious consequences both here in this life and continuing into eternity.

As I mentioned earlier, we’ll be looking at a chunk of scripture today where King Solomon paints a portrait for us as he describes the life of a sluggard, as he describes the life of a man who is incredibly lazy. And even if you and I don’t see ourselves as sluggards, there’s a value to studying these proverbs, because there’s a chance that all of us have one or more of these qualities hiding deep down inside us, and we need the reminder to be aware of the danger.

Today, though, we come to Proverbs 26:13-16, where King Solomon uses the word “sluggard” four times in four verses as he paints us a portrait of a man who is incredibly lazy. Let’s look together at Proverbs 26:13-16,

13 	The sluggard says,
	“There is a lion in the road!
	A lion is in the open square!”
14 	As the door turns on its hinges,
	So does the sluggard on his bed.
15 	The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
	He is weary of bringing it to his mouth again.
16	The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes
	Than seven men who can give a discreet answer. 

As we look back at these four Proverbs, let’s pay attention to Solomon’s description here…

    I. ...and we start in verse 13, where we find that the sluggard is an expert at MAKING EXCUSES.

An excuse is basically a made-up reason to justify some behavior, and here we find that the sluggard justifies not doing any work by saying that, “There is a lion in the road! A lion is in the open square!” And yes, they did have lions very occasionally back in Israel at that time, but they certainly weren’t common. And to have a lion roaming around in the streets would have been especially rare. Normally, lions live out in the wilderness. Normally, they aren’t roaming around in the streets and in the open square. And certainly they weren’t so common where they would keep people from working. We might compare it today to somebody not going to work because they might get eaten by a bear. Yes, we have bears here in Wisconsin, but generally not here in the city of Madison (although it has happened from time to time), and when we have had bears in this area, they pretty much keep to themselves, and they’ve certainly never eaten anybody. Nevertheless, if you really don’t want to go to work, I suppose you could use “I might get eaten by a bear” as an excuse. After all, if someone is determined not to work (no matter what), I think we might say that (in his mind) one excuse is probably just as good as another. He’s already decided not to work, and now it’s just a matter of justifying it.

And I think we might also say that there are some people who probably put more effort into making excuses than they put into actually working. And if they would shift their effort at making excuses to doing actual work, they would excel in whatever they may choose to do. Years ago, I remember reading a story about a high school English teacher who motivated his students to write by having them forge an excuse note from their parents. The article said that the students went wild with that assignment. They were overflowing with amazing creativity. They came up with all kinds of unique excuses. They wrote, and they wrote, and they wrote...until they suddenly realized that they had been tricked into writing by writing excuses for not writing!

Solomon, then, tells us that the sluggard (the lazy person) is an expert at making excuses. So, as we apply this Proverb to our own lives, perhaps we need to ask ourselves: Would we rather explain away than simply do what it takes to get the job done? This goes for what we do at work, but this also goes for those things we need to do at home and for those things we do for the Lord. Before we make an excuse for not doing something we need to be doing, let’s reevaluate and make sure it’s not a “lion in the streets” kind of excuse. If there’s really a lion in the streets, we should probably work on removing the lion (making the streets safe). As it is (and as Charles Spurgeon once said), “Laziness is a great lion-maker.” If we don’t want to do something, we have a way of making up reasons for not doing it. To the sluggard, a slight tickle in the throat is a pretty good reason for not going to work. To the sluggard, feeling a bit tired is a pretty good reason for napping instead of mowing the lawn. As it is, though, God created us to work. So, first of all, a sluggard is really good at making excuses.

    II. Secondly, King Solomon’s also notes that the sluggard LIVES TO SLEEP.

The sluggard would rather relax than work, and we certainly appreciate being able to rest and relax, but the lazy man takes this to an extreme, “As the door turns on its hinges, so does the sluggard on his bed.” And so we have the picture of someone being hinged to his bed. He can sit up, but that’s about it. Just sitting up in bed is right there on the verge of doing too much. So, he sits up, but wow, that’s hard work, so he lays back down again. Perhaps he hits the snooze button, as we might say – over and over again. Up and down, up and down, but the bed is the focus of this man’s life. He lives to sleep. This man is permanently attached to his mattress. It’s a huge effort just to turn over in bed. Well, Solomon is obviously exaggerating here – the man is not literally hinged to his bed, but this love of sleep indicates a lifestyle of laziness. This man has taken rest and relaxation to an extreme. He would much rather sleep than do any work at all.

And I don’t know about you, but I do enjoy a good night of rest. In fact, the Bible seems to indicate that peaceful sleep is a blessing from the Lord. In Psalm 4:8, for example King David says, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You alone O LORD, make me to dwell in safety.” And back in Proverbs 3:24, King Solomon was referring to the benefits of wisdom, and he said, “When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.” And in Proverbs 19:23, Solomon also says that, “The fear of the LORD leads to life, so that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil.” And in Ecclesiastes 5:12, Solomon says that, “The sleep of the working man is pleasant….” Sleep, then, is a blessing from the Lord, but just like so many other blessings, we are not to enjoy sleep to the extreme. And the reason is: God wants us to work and to serve. We were created to do stuff! Solomon, though, observes that the sluggard lives to sleep.

    III. The third observation here is that the sluggard has NO MOTIVATION.

In fact, Solomon is a bit humorous on this one,“The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is weary of bringing it to his mouth again.” And I’m just wondering whether King Solomon has perhaps even seen something like this. A guy is so lazy that he puts his hand in his dish, but he’s too tired to bring it back out. I think of a baby in a high chair falling asleep with her hand in the oatmeal (or whatever). It’s hilarious for a baby; but not so much with a full grown man! He’s overworked if he has to lift the sandwich from the plate to his mouth. Not only does he not prepare the meal, but he’s too lazy even to feed himself.

And maybe it’s food, but maybe it’s a project of some kind. This is a guy with no motivation. No follow-through. He gets started, but he never gets around to finishing. Maybe he needs to hang some curtains, so he goes to Home Depot and gets the curtain rods, but he comes home and never gets around to actually hanging those curtains. Or maybe he plants a garden, but by the middle of July that garden doesn’t have a chance; it’s completely neglected. There’s no motivation there. And King Solomon sees this in people. The lazy guy has no follow-through. He may start, but he never finishes.

Or maybe we see this with the Lord’s work. Somebody says they’ll do something, but it never gets done. Or personally, maybe we plan on reading through the Bible, but we get bogged down in Leviticus and Numbers, and we never get back to it. We may know what we need to do, but we lose our motivation. Solomon, then, observes that quitting halfway through a project is a red flag. Be aware, he says. If your life is a long series of never-completed projects, if you are too lazy to bring the food from the plate to your mouth, you may need to do some serious self-reflection here.

    IV. The fourth and final observation here is that the sluggard, in all of this, is actually quite ARROGANT.

And at first, this may not seem to fit here, but Solomon gives us some insight into what the sluggard is thinking. He’s lazy, and over many years of making excuses for not doing anything, he’s actually convinced himself that he’s perfectly justified in his behavior, even to the point where he is completely immune from any criticism. Laziness, in a sense, feeds on itself. It’s a self-destructive behavior that has a way of getting worse and worse, “You can’t tell me what to do, because this is the way I am!” I mean, try to tell somebody they need to work harder and stop slacking, and suddenly we’re the ones who know nothing, because“...the sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can give a discreet answer.” The sluggard is unteachable, completely uncorrectable, because he already knows it all. The real issue, then, is pride. The sluggard is arrogant.

Conclusion:

As we come to the end of this passage, and as we ask ourselves the “So what?” question, as we ask what this passage really means for us today, I’d like to let the apostle Paul apply this lesson. And I say this, because Paul had to write a letter to a church that had a problem with laziness. The passage is 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15. As I understand it, the Christians in Thessalonica heard Paul talk about the Lord coming back, and they thought he was coming back immediately, so some of these people just quit their jobs and waited. But after a time, Paul had to write again, and he had to tell these people to get back to work. This is what he writes in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15,

6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us.  7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you,  8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you;  9 not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example.  10 For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.  11 For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies.  12 Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread.  13 But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good.  14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame.  15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

The problem of slacking off was so widespread in the church there in Thessalonica that Paul had to address it publicly, in a letter. He reminded them that he was no slacker himself (that he set the example of hard work), he commanded these people to work (if you don’t work, you shouldn’t eat), and then he closed by commanding that if those who are lazy continue being lazy, the church is to kick them out of the congregation.

This morning, then, let’s look at this portrait of a sluggard, painted for us by King Solomon, and let’s ask whether we see ourselves here. Do we find ourselves always making excuses for not getting things done? Do we live to sleep? Are we unmotivated? Do we find ourselves never finishing what we start? And are we really resistant to taking advice? If we see those things in ourselves, we have an opportunity this morning to take these words to heart, in all humility, and to have a change of heart. Lord willing, we can come back together next Lord’s Day to take a look at another paragraph where we have some of the consequences of laziness.

As we close our study this morning, let’s go to God in prayer:

Our Father in Heaven,

You are a God who works in our lives. You also set the example of rest by taking one day off after the six days of creation. We pray, Father, for honest hearts, that we would be able to see ourselves in your word and make changes as you see fit. We pray that we would honor you in everything we do.

We come to you this morning in Jesus’ name. AMEN.

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