YouTube video sermon
Proverbs 24:27-34; 26:13-16
Well, let me invite you to take your Bibles again and turn to the Book of Proverbs (24 and 26)? We’re going to consider the sin of laziness and procrastination this morning. I’ll be referring to a number of places. If your fingers are nimble, then you can let them do the work. If they’re not, then perhaps you’ll get the person sitting beside you to do it for you or you can look at the screens. Yes, I know that many of you prefer looking at the screens because the font is larger and it’s easier to read. Don’t worry, I won’t think of you as a sluggard.
The Book of Proverbs is fantastic. There’s no question of that. You can read it and read it and read it and never think that you’ve learned it. Someone once described the Book of Proverbs as “godliness in working clothes.” When you read the Book of Proverbs it would appear that a godly life is somehow or another part and parcel of the everyday events of our journey. It’s intensely practical, it’s distinctly uncomfortable, and it’s immensely profitable.
Now, I don’t want you to nudge the person next to you, this morning, as if somehow today’s message was perfect for them. That kind of deflection will come back and bite you. In my case, I’m also reminded to resist the temptation to immediately call out my teenage sons by saying, “I told you that you should come this morning.”
I’m going to be reading just a brief portion of Proverbs 24, and then perhaps three or four verses from Proverbs 26. Beginning with Proverbs 24:27-34
27 Prepare your work outside;
get everything ready for yourself in the field,
and after that build your house.
28 Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause,
and do not deceive with your lips.
29 Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me;
I will pay the man back for what he has done.”
30 I passed by the field of a sluggard,
by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,
31 and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns;
the ground was covered with nettles,
and its stone wall was broken down.
32 Then I saw and considered it;
I looked and received instruction.
33 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
34 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.
And now, flip over two chapters to Proverbs 26:13-16
13 The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!
There is a lion in the streets!”
14 As a door turns on its hinges,
so does a sluggard on his bed.
15 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.
16 The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes
than seven men who can answer sensibly.
The Word of God for the people of God, thanks be to God. Let’s take a moment and ask for God’s help, shall we?
Our gracious God and Father, we want to acknowledge before You now that our need of Your help is not partial, it’s total. In view of everything that clamors for our attention and every distracting influence that grabs for the custody of our minds, we know that we need Your help both to speak and to listen, to understand, and to have the truth of Your Word applied to our lives in such a way that it would be life-changing. Therefore, to You alone we look. It’s an immense futility to gather in this way simply to listen to me ruminating. And we’re not here to do that. But we do believe that when Your Word is truly preached that the voice of God is really heard. So then, we come to wait upon Your Word. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
The Book of Proverbs describes the lazy person as “the sluggard.” Not a very contemporary word, mind you, but a good word nonetheless. Its modern equivalent would be the “slacker” or the “bum.” In either case, being identified as a “sluggard” or a “slacker” or a “bum” isn’t something we want to put on our resumes. It may well be, however, that up to this point in our lives some of us have managed to qualify for that designation. And indeed, it may be, if we’re perfectly honest, that it’s one of the besetting sins which we find ourselves facing.
I suppose it would be hard for me to believe, however, that any of you would be in that situation, given how hard you’ve had to work in order to secure a place here – although I know there are ways around that as well. So perhaps there are just one or two sluggards who would join your pastor in seeing a very clear imagine of yourselves in the mirror of God’s Word.
What I want to do, then, is to look at this individual who’s described as “the sluggard.” First of all, we’ll take a look at his lifestyle. We can’t say everything about him, but we’ll consider a few things. Then we’re going to drive past his house and look at his vineyard. And then, finally, we’re going to ask ourselves the question: What does the sluggard’s life have to do with me?
The Sluggard’s Lifestyle
Well, first of all, then, let’s consider his lifestyle. We could summarize it under a number of headings. I’ll give them to you; if you take notes, you might find it helpful.
First of all, the sluggard is hinged to his bed. Proverbs 26:14 says, “As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed.” He doesn’t merely enjoy his bed; he’s stuck to his bed. He’s hinged to his bed. He can turn to his left, or he can turn to his right, but that’s about it. He makes movement but no progress. Where you found him at 7 a.m. is the same place you find him at 3 p.m.
This individual doesn’t like to be approached directly. He doesn’t like people asking, “Will you do this?” and then followed up by, “When are you planning on doing it?” He doesn’t like someone coming to him with the words of Proverbs 6:9 and saying, “How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?” He never actually refuses to do anything; he just puts it off bit by bit. He deceives himself into thinking that he will get around to it. But by minutes and by inches this individual, he or she, allows opportunity to just to slip away. He’s hinged to his bed.
Secondly, this individual is happy making excuses. In fact, as you read Proverbs, you discover that he’s quite ingenious at inventing excuses. We see this in all kinds of ways. Our children come dashing home from school on the last day of school, throw their bag down, never want to see it again in their lives, and immediately launch themselves into the opportunities of summer. It isn’t long before one of them emerges at breakfast time, which can be anywhere between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and they say, “You know, I’m bored.” And so, we say, “Well, why don’t you cut the grass?” I don’t know about you, but I’ve found that cutting the grass cures boredom immediately and it also produces the most ingenious excuses. Of course, I was guilty of this from time-to-time, as were some of you.
The individual who has no mind to work – the individual who doesn’t want to work – never lacks for excuses for their idleness. And incidentally, in the New Testament, Paul says in 1 Thessalonians that part of the responsibility of the pastor is “to admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all” (1 Thessalonians 5:14). Paul says to Timothy, “Make sure the people understand that if they don’t work, they shouldn’t eat,” so this call to endeavor is not unique to the book of Proverbs or to the Old Testament; you find it all the way out. And when you look at the lazy individual, they’re ingenious in excusing their indolence.
For example, still in chapter 26:13: “The sluggard says, ‘There’s a lion in the road, a fierce lion [roaming] in the streets!’” No, there’s not!
“Why don’t you cut the grass?”
“There’s a lion in the backyard!”
“No, there isn’t! Where did you get that from?”
See, the lazy person has managed to convince himself or herself of facts that are completely nonexistent. And the longer they go on filling their mind with that kind of thing, they have imaginary reasons for their inactivity, and these imaginary reasons finally convince them not to get up and get on with things. Of course, the real danger is not the imaginary lion in the street. The real danger is the roaring lion, the devil, who’s roaming the streets looking for some poor soul to devour (1 Peter 5:8).
Hinged to his bed. Happy to make excuses. Thirdly, he’s hopeless at completing things. Proverbs 12:27 says, “The lazy man does not roast his game, but the diligent man prizes his possessions.” Why doesn’t he roast his game? Perhaps it’s because he never got his game in the first place! He set off to hunt, and as he began to hunt, he may have even shot the thing, and then he said, “Ah, I’m not going over there for that. It was enough fun firing at it. Let somebody else pick it up.”
Or perhaps he dragged the sorry carcass home and laid it against the side of the shed, and his wife asked him, “Are we ever going to eat this?” And he said, “Yeah, we’re gonna eat it. Don’t bug me! I shot it, didn’t I? I’ll get around to it.” And somewhere in the heart of winter, a skeletal carcass sticks its head out over the snow as a silent testimony to the fact that the lazy man gives up opportunity moment by moment, inch by inch, and he’s confronted by the fact that he’s hopeless at completing things. Guys, how many garages are filled with projects that got started but never finished? Ladies, how many closets remain stuffed full awaiting another spring clean?
If you look at Proverbs 19:24, then you’ll find the same statement that’s in Proverbs 26:15: “The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth!” What a picture! He’d rather enjoy his laziness than his food. So, you sit him down to eat, and there he goes, and he digs in, and he says, “Oh, I don’t know if I want to eat this.”
Now, let’s be honest, it may not be grandma’s cooking or even our wives’ cooking, but microwaveable meals have come a long way from the frozen TV dinners of the past. And the local grocery store has banks of freezer chocked full of frozen meals that can be whipped up in a moment’s notice. All you need to do is take it out of the cardboard container, pierce the plastic film, put it in the microwave, and hey! Before you know it, you’ll be eating wonderfully. I saw a frozen entrée the other day and you don’t even need to cut the film. So that’s one less step.
Yet, you go in a house populated by five college students and open their refrigerator, and what do you see? Nothing! Some old jar of grape jelly, an old cardboard pizza box from Papa Johns, and a bottle of water. You say, “What do I give you money for?” (I know the answer you’re thinking of…beer.) It’s a picture of laziness.
And without wishing to be crass or indiscreet, the classic illustration of being unwilling to complete a simple task is surely to be found in the average bathroom. You sit down, you look at the toilet paper holder, and what’s there? A cardboard tube! Now I ask you, what is so difficult about this? In our house, there’s no magic to it. We don’t even have to stand up; it’s a right-left movement. You go here, you bring it there, you unhook that, you drop it in the trash, you put it on, you’re done. Everybody knows that! And yet there it sits, a silent testimony to laziness.
Hinged to his bed, happy making excuses, hopeless at completing things, and fourth he’s also hungry for fulfillment. The lazy person will always be hungry for fulfillment. His cravings will always be unfulfilled. Proverbs 21:25 says, “The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.” He knows that he would love to have that, he knows what’s involved in getting there, but he doesn’t want to do it. And it’s his laziness that short-circuits him. Proverbs 13:4 says, “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing.” Not because he can’t but because he won’t. He’s made a habit of the soft choice. He says, “I can’t plow; it’s too cold.” And yet, he hopes that he might reap. You can’t reap if you don’t sow and you don’t plow.
Hinged to his bed, happy making excuses, hopeless in completing things, hungry for fulfillment, and finally, he has a haughty self-assessment. That’s the significance of Proverbs 26:16: “The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer discreetly.” In other words, he regards himself as something of a genius. He scorns his friends who are working hard. He believes himself to have found the key to learning without any inconvenient exertion.
And if you stay there in verse 16, you’ll notice that he’s the last to see it. He’s got a blind spot here. He has no idea that he’s lazy. In verse 13, he says, “I’m not a shirker; I’m a realist. There’s a lion in the streets!” Wrong. In verse 14: “I’m not self-indulgent; I’m just not at my best in the morning.” That’s funny; you didn’t look enthusiastic in the afternoon, and when I saw you in the evening you weren’t looking particularly filled with endeavor then either. Never mind that, though. In verse 15, his laziness in feeding himself is just an objection to people hustling him: “Don’t hustle me! I’ll finish when I’m ready. There’s no rush. What’s the big problem here? I’ll get around to it.”
So, there you have it. Both a comic and tragic image. And we shouldn’t allow the comedic aspect of it to prevent us from recognizing just how tragic it is: hinged to the bed, happy making excuses, hopeless at completing things, hungry for fulfillment, and ultimately, haughty in my opinion of myself.
The Sluggard’s Vineyard
So, his approach to life has paid its dividends. Now, we drive past his house and we say, “Either there is no one living in that house, or the person is sick or otherwise unable to tend to things, or the person is, frankly, lazy.” Any one of those deductions would be valid.
And laziness is an equal opportunity offender. While other vices might require something in order for it to be a sin – take for example drunkenness or adultery or murder, in each of these sins there’s the need for something or someone else – but not laziness. You can be lazy anywhere, anytime, without any help at all. Because laziness is nothingness.
Samuel Johnson, a devoted Anglican of the 1700’s said this in a little book titled The Usefulness of Advice. He said, “But the desire of ease acts equally at all hours, and the longer it is indulged it is the more increased. To do nothing is in every man’s power; we can never want an opportunity of omitting duties. The lapse to indolence is soft and imperceptible, because it is only a mere cessation of activity; but the return to diligence is difficult, because it implies a change from rest to motion, from privation to reality.”
Everybody who’s ever engaged in an exercise program knows this to be true. It takes no difficulty at all when the time comes around, whether it’s an alarm ringing or whether it’s somebody coming and calling on us, to say, “Ah, I think I’ll just stay here.” It doesn’t matter where “here” is! You can be in your house, you can be on the road, you can be in a hotel: “Ah, I think I’ll just stay here.” And the more that we develop patterns of, “Ah, I don’t think I’ll do this; oh, I don’t think I’ll apply myself; oh, I think I’ll get around to it later,” whatever else it is, we begin to establish a track for ourselves. On the day we determine to change, what a mountain we climb.
And here’s the thing: the real issue about this, and the real tragedy of the man’s house, is that laziness is not an infirmity. Laziness is a sin. God made us to work. Indeed, “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh … is a Sabbath to the Lord” (Exodus 20:9-10). The contemporary quest for leisure feeds on laziness. It feeds on a mentality which says, “Nobody’s gonna tell me what to do or when to work.” And my desire in life is to reduce these six days to as small a number as I can. And I’m certainly not interested in this one day of worship and rest and study and so on. The Christian is supposed to be radically different from that.
Laziness is a sin. It affects the whole of our manhood and womanhood. It has an unperceived power. It needs to be rooted out. As parents, we have a great responsibility in this. And in a totally leisure-consumed society, the challenge for us is to breed children that are known for the quality of their work, for the consistency of their attendance, for the honesty of their endeavor, for the extra mile given in the place of their employment. These simple things will increasingly be the marks of the godly as our world gives up on the standards of God’s Word. That’s the sluggard’s vineyard.
The Sluggard and Us
Finally, let’s say a word or two by way of application. His characteristics are clear. His house is a shamble; it’s all overgrown. So, what’s the application to us?
Well, first of all, we need to recognize, as I’ve said, laziness is not something to be joked about, ultimately. It’s a comic picture, yes. But, it’s ultimately tragic. It’s something that God wants to deal with in our lives in order that we might be our best.
Some of us, this morning, would say that we know Christ and we follow after Him, and therefore, it’s legitimate for us to ask if there’s any sense in which laziness is intruding into our 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, my own personal prayer? What about my commitment to the people of God, not forsaking the assembling of myself together? How am I doing loving others, and serving others, and caring for others?
How are you doing? Has laziness crept into your soul? Are you as devoted as you were a year ago, two years ago, five years ago? Is your zeal burning bright? Is the lamp lit in your home and in your heart? Do those who know us best say, “There’s someone who’s listening to Romans 12:11: ‘Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.’ I can see that he/she is doing that.”
There may be others here, this morning, or watching this sermon online and you’re not a Christ-follower. You’ve been investigating this Christianity thing. You’ve been looking into religion in all of its various forms. Your friends or family have encouraged you to give it some real consideration and you know what your response has been? “I’ll do it when I’m ready – if I’m ready. I’ll get around to it. Don’t rush me. I’ve got time.” Well, be very careful, because the one thing about the sluggard is that he’s never on time. His favorite day is always tomorrow. He tells himself there’s always going to be a later opportunity: “Give me a little longer. Don’t press me now.” Let me ask you: What would it profit a man if he was the most diligent man in business, and his diligence was such that he gained the whole world, and his laziness in spiritual things was such that he lost his own soul? (Matthew 16:26)
Let me quote this poem from Edgar Albert Guest and I’m done:
He was going to be all that a mortal should be
Tomorrow.
No one should be kinder or braver than he
Tomorrow.
A friend who was troubled and weary he knew,
Who’d be glad of a lift and who needed it, too;
On him he would call and see what he could do
Tomorrow.
Each morning he stacked up the letters he’d write
Tomorrow.
And thought of the folks he’d fill with delight
Tomorrow.
It was too bad; indeed, he was busy today,
And hadn’t a minute to stop on the way;
More time he’d have to give to others, he’d say
Tomorrow.
The greatest of workers this man would have been
Tomorrow.
The world would have known him had he ever seen
Tomorrow.
But the fact is he died and he faded from view,
And all that he left here when living was through
Was a mountain of things he intended to do
Tomorrow.