Part 10-Man This Spoon is Heavy

1. Part 10-Man This Spoon is Heavy Select Proverbs on the sluggard

2. Introduction • The lazy man says, “There is a lion in the road! A fierce lion is in the streets!” 14 As a door turns on its hinges, So does the lazy man on his bed. 15 The lazy man buries his hand in the bowl; It wearies him to bring it back to his mouth. 16 The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes Than seven men who can answer sensibly. • Proverbs 26:13–16

3. Introduction • There are few Proverbs that are more comical than the description of the sluggard. He is described as a door on its hinges going back and forth in his bed, as a man so lazy that bringing his spoon back to his mouth is wearisome and as a person so intent on getting out of work that he will proclaim a lion is in the streets prohibiting him from getting to work. As humorous as these descriptions are, the real-life story of the lazy man is tragic.

4. Introduction • At creation God created mankind to work and find satisfaction and pleasure in their labor. After the fall, however, work became difficult and the sinful bent of man was to seek to find a way around hard work. It is into this context that the sluggard or lazy man came into being, and it is this sluggard that Solomon addresses throughout the book of Proverbs. This morning I want us to spot the downward spiral of laziness so that we can inoculate it from our lives, our homes and our church!

5. Slothful, Sluggard, Lazy • עָצֵל • [ʿatsel /aw·tsale/] • 14 occurrences; AV translates as “slothful” eight times, and “sluggard” six times.

6. The Downward Spiral of Laziness • A Sluggard has an inflated view of self • Proverbs 26:13–16 “The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes Than seven men who can answer sensibly.”

7. The Downward Spiral of Laziness • A Sluggard has an inflated view of self • A Sluggard Makes Excuses for Lack of Performance

8. A Sluggard Makes Excusesfor Lack of Performance • Proverbs 10:26 • As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, So is the lazy man to those who send him. • Proverbs 22:13 • The lazy man says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!”

9. The Downward Spiral of Laziness • A Sluggard has an inflated view of self • A Sluggard Makes Excuses for Lack of Performance • A Sluggard Lives For Momentary Ease, Sacrificing Tomorrow’s Opportunities

10. A Sluggard Lives For MomentaryEase, Sacrificing Tomorrow’sOpportunities • Proverbs 24:30–34 • I went by the field of the lazy man, And by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding; 31 And there it was, all overgrown with thorns; Its surface was covered with nettles; Its stone wall was broken down. 32 When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction: 33 A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest; 34 So shall your poverty come like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.

11. A Sluggard Lives For MomentaryEase, Sacrificing Tomorrow’sOpportunities • Proverbs 6:6–9 • Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, 7 Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, 8 Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest. 9 How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? • Proverbs 20:4 • The lazy man will not plow because of winter; He will beg during harvest and have nothing.

12. The Downward Spiral of Laziness • A Sluggard has an inflated view of self • A Sluggard Makes Excuses for Lack of Performance • A Sluggard Lives For Momentary Ease, Sacrificing Tomorrow’s Opportunities • A Sluggard Lives a Life of Depression, Discontent and Discord

13. A Sluggard Lives a Life of Depression, Discontentand Discord • Proverbs 19:15 • Lazinesscasts one into a deep sleep, And an idle person will suffer hunger. • Proverbs 26:14-15 • As a door turns on its hinges, So does the lazy man on his bed. 15 The lazy man buries his hand in the bowl; It wearies him to bring it back to his mouth. • Proverbs 19:24 • A lazy man buries his hand in the bowl, And will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.

14. A Sluggard Lives a Life of Depression, Discontentand Discord • Proverbs 13:4 • The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich. • Proverbs 21:25–26 • The desire of the lazy man kills him, For his hands refuse to labor. 26 He covets greedily all day long, But the righteous gives and does not spare.

15. A Sluggard Lives a Life of Depression, Discontentand Discord • Proverbs 15:19 • The way of the lazy man is like a hedge of thorns, But the way of the upright is a highway.

16. The Downward Spiral of Laziness • A Sluggard has an inflated view of self • A Sluggard Makes Excuses for Lack of Performance • A Sluggard Lives For Momentary Ease, Sacrificing Tomorrow’s Opportunities • A Sluggard Lives a Life of Depression, Discontent and Discord

17. Big Idea:Look to the Ant! Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, 7 Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, 8 Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest. 9 How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? Proverbs 6:6–9

18. Look to the Ant! • God and His Word calls us as Christians to embrace work as God’s call upon our lives and to work hard to the glory of God. We are called to strengthen our minds, bodies and emotions for the God-given task of work. I encourage each of us to “look to the ant” and embrace a Biblical theology of work!