Randy, will you adjust that? And then we'll get started. All right. Come on in. Find a seat. Make sure my phone is off. Thank you for being on time. I'll go ahead and open us in prayer. I know there are people to be coming in, but you guys are here, so I want to honor your punctuality. Is my wife over there? OK. Yeah. Couldn't see her. All right. Great. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this time this morning. As we continue to discuss putting off laziness, putting on diligence, particularly focusing on laziness, probably this morning and maybe next week too, we ask that you would convict us and show us areas of our lives where we're lazy, not just physically, but perhaps mentally or against sin, if we get to that part this morning, but even now be showing us how we can grow in this area, Lord. Look over the discussion, give us insight into your word and the verses that you are showing to us. And I just think about these truths and what they say to us. I don't think laziness is typically considered a serious sin, but considering the way your word describes it, it would, we should think otherwise. And so I just pray you look over this time, be pleased with it. And we ask these things in Jesus name. Amen and amen. All right. So just to briefly review, we looked last week or talked last week, not too extensively, but about the importance of putting off versus putting on and how we can develop victory over sins if we also put on the accompanying behavior. Typically, who remembers last week, why do we typically fail regarding repentance? Why do most people fail? They only think in what regard? In terms of what? Stopping, taking away, not putting on or adding the accompanying correct behavior. We looked in Ephesians 4. Could have also looked in Colossians 3. Those are the passages that discuss pretty extensively putting off and what we're supposed to put on. Proverbs doesn't use the words putting off and putting on. However, most of the teaching in Proverbs is presented in pairs. Wisdom versus foolishness. Patience versus hastiness. Pride versus humility. Truth versus deceit. Obedience versus disobedience. Righteous versus unrighteous. And so there's clearly those things to put off and then the accompanying behavior or action or quality or characteristic to put on. And even most of Proverbs, or many Proverbs, there's a few approaches the author, that God takes in Proverbs. One approach is to have the same truth communicated twice in the same verse, where it's said one way, and then it'll say the same thing right after that using different words. That's one approach. The other approach that's taken throughout Proverbs, or one of the other approaches that's often taken, is for one behavior to be described, and then for the opposite behavior, or what should be put off to be described, and then what's to be put on So we'll see that too. We think of the worst sins, probably murder or adultery come to mind, but throughout Proverbs there are so many strong verses against laziness that I really want to encourage you to add to your understanding the seriousness of this sin and the consequences of being lazy. It's described very frequently. I tend to think that the things God really wants us to notice happen to get more attention in God's Word. And laziness is one of those topics that's not introduced just once or twice, but is really a theme throughout this book. Laziness is like pride or dishonesty or unforgiveness or anxiety, and that it's a sin that all of us can identify with to some point. I think we can look and say, well, I don't struggle with that. I don't struggle with that. But I think we all have to acknowledge that even to some degree, we're all tempted to be lazy at times. One of the other difficulties with laziness is that life I mean, we're commanded to do what that's related to laziness that makes it more of a wisdom issue. Rest. We're all commanded to rest and we need it. It's a reminder to us that we are, that sin has come into the world, that we are getting older and weaker. Our bodies break down. We get tired and fatigued. And so it's a reminder to us that we need rest, which makes laziness more of a wisdom issue than some other topics. It's not as easy to to cut it off as severely or be as ruthless with it. And just, if you say, well, I struggle with laziness, here'd be the wrong approach. If you said, well, I struggle with laziness, so I want to repent of that and I'll just work nonstop, right? I will just work without, you know, seven days a week, 20 hours a day, then that would obviously be the wrong approach. It requires some amount of wisdom in determining, you know, how much is enough rest, but not too much. At what point do I need to make sure that I get out of bed? At what point do I need to say? Well, I actually need to rest or sleep longer because of how fatigued I am So hopefully we can start developing that that wisdom as we look at these verses Okay, any thoughts or observations or questions before we continue that's where we were last okay, I So what do you think it would look like then? Yeah Yeah Yeah, I know being married to you I feel a certain Restlessness in you we sit down we have in our new house We have a little bit of a sitting area in our bedroom, which is really nice And often we'll be there and I sense a restlessness in Katie that she feels like she has to go do this or do that or this needs to be picked up or this needs to be washed or cleaned or something like that. And so I understand, yeah, it can be hard for you to rest, but our relationship's important and your health is important. So resting is important for you. Any other thoughts or anything? Jesse? I think rest looks different for different people too. Yeah, I'll share something funny with you or I think it's somewhat funny about my relationship with Pastor Doug in one way that we're different so He looks at our lives Katie and I or our family And for us, it's pretty restful to still do some ministry. I mean, we've actually tried to schedule our vacation around when we might have marriage conferences. Like last year, I had two marriage conferences back to back. We took our two weeks of vacation then, and we found it to be a very restful time. And so I think he could look at the way we take vacation and say, well, that doesn't look very restful for me to still be engaging in ministry. In fact, he'll say, you know, if I'm on vacation, I want to worship someplace else where I don't have any responsibilities, where if I was on vacation, I think I would still enjoy coming here and it wouldn't feel like work to me. Well, what did Pastor Doug do with his family a few years ago when they went on vacation? They went on that hike, which to us was like, that looked like the most non-restful thing imaginable. So I'm just trying to share that for some people, Well, look, so he's looking at me and he's like, I can't believe you would do that on vacation. And we look at him and say, what? I cannot believe you would do that on vacation. If I went and hiked like that on vacation, I would need to take a vacation to rest and recover from that. You know, how could that be restful to do that with your family? And he says, how is that restful? So anyway, I guess the point, you know, along with what Jesse's saying is rest can look different for different people. So Deborah? I think also rest can be in your soul. Like, are you trusting the Lord or are you anxious? Because you could be sitting down Yeah, well said. And so when Jesus talked about a rest that he offered, this difference in the world offers rest or a yoke that he offers, what does that look like exactly? Yeah, it looks like the rest that comes from trusting the Lord, confidence in his sovereignty, that he is in control of our lives and circumstances. There is an amount of rest that comes from that. Anyone else? All right, so I think we got through part of Proverbs 6, if you want to turn there. Primarily going to be in Proverbs. And while you turn there, you can turn to Proverbs 6. Who remembers? Throughout Proverbs, and some other places in scripture, nature is used, or actually living things in nature are used as examples. And what does the wise father, or what is the father of Proverbs, tell his son to consider or look at to be wise. Remember, Proverbs is written largely as a father instructing his son. So if you're a father and you're wondering, what do I need to talk to my son about? Proverbs can be like an instruction manual of what our sons need to know. Not that there's not wisdom there for daughters or for wives or for women, but because it's written as a father speaking to his son, there's going to be considerably more application there for men and there's going to be a number of topics that reveal to us as fathers what we need to ensure we talk to our sons about. I mean, that is why there's so many verses about, you know, purity and avoiding the harlot and so forth. Obviously that doesn't apply as much to women. So here he's talking about being wise and he says, go ahead and look at what, consider what? The aunt. So take a look at verse six. Go to the aunt you sluggard, consider her ways and be wise, which having no captain, overseer or ruler. Since we looked at this last week to go through it kind of quickly, One of the main points to take home from this, which you can appreciate as you have children, is it's a blessing when someone, or in this case something, can work without being told what to do, or without someone standing over, you know, its shoulder, commanding it. And so, as a parent, you love or you hope your children reach that point in their lives where you don't have to stand there looking over them, telling them what to do, and continually reminding them when they take initiative and just sort of do those things and so you could tell your children, hey, go observe the ant. Look at the ant. This ant works very, very hard without having a captain or overseer telling it what to do. Can you be like an ant? Okay? Next part of verse eight, provides her supplies in the summer, gathers her food in the harvest. What's the main point to take away there? That ants do what? They plan, they prepare. Yep, they look to the future. In contrast to lazy people who only think about what? The moment, yep, not thinking about the future, not planning ahead, just thinking right at this moment. I'm not thinking past, you know, next week, next month, next year. I'm not even thinking past this moment. Right now I just want to rest. I just want to watch TV. I just want to, whatever it is that looks like giving in to the temptation of laziness at that moment shows a lack of foresight. And so ants stand as a rebuke to the lazy person in that they can plan and prepare ahead. Verse nine, oh, one other thing, I'll just mention this. There's a few, I wanted to look through the three main laziness passages, which I gave you last week. There's a lot of verses dealing with laziness, not just in Proverbs. I thought we would look through the three primary laziness passages, and I would try to integrate the other verses. Well, one thing that you've noticed if you've read through Proverbs is many verses are repeated. And so as you've heard me say enough times from behind the pulpit that God repeats things when he wants to make sure that we don't miss anything. And verse eight is one of those Proverbs that is repeated a few times during scripture. Proverbs 30, verse 25. Answer people not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer. And so the way that they prepare and plan is something that we're really supposed to take notice of because God makes that point a few times in Proverbs. All right. Okay, and then that's about as far as we got. So verse nine is the new verse for this morning. The author says, how long will you slumber, oh sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? Asking how long is a way to imply that this has been going on too long, which again is why there's an amount of wisdom required, because all of us need to sleep, and sometimes we err by not sleeping enough, but here, this lazy person's sin is in sleeping too long, or staying in bed too long. Typically, the words how long, Kind of think of the use of that phrase in scripture. Typically it's used when there's about to be a consequence or a judgment as a result of someone doing something too long. So let me just give you one other place this is used. Exodus 10 verse three, Moses and Aaron come to Pharaoh. They say to him, thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, how long will you refuse to humble yourself before me Let my people go that they might serve me. So when you see those words or that question, how long in scripture, typically it's foreshadowing that there's going to be some consequence associated with allowing this behavior to continue. What is the consequence for the lazy person? What comes to mind? What's the consequence for the lazy person? How long are you going to sleep in and then what's going to happen in the future? Huh? There's a few answers. Yeah. Not going to be prepared. What? Poverty, very good, poverty's gonna come. Death, yeah, we'll talk about that. Yeah, that in our day, laziness doesn't result in death, but it was a very serious threat in Solomon's day. If you don't wanna eat, you were choosing basically to kill yourself. Or if you didn't wanna work, you were choosing to kill yourself. Proverbs 122, Psalm 7410 are other examples where those words how long are used to imply that something bad is going to happen. So these are rhetorical questions that don't really expect an answer. They're meant to rouse this person out of sleep and ridicule his behavior staying in bed. And so it's sort of interesting the way that science reveals things that scripture's already revealed. And so Newton came up with a law. Isaac Newton came up with a law that actually has some relationship to this and to people and to our lives. What's that law? The law of motion. Who sees the relationship here? Huh? Yeah, objects in motion tend to stay in motion. And objects that are not in motion or are at rest tend to stay at rest. And the reason that this provides some insight is typically hardworking people who are in motion or begin something stay in motion. They remain working. They remain in motion until that task or that responsibility is accomplished. And then perhaps lazy people who are at rest tend to stay at rest, or to stay lazy, or to stay in bed. That's what's going on here. Any thoughts when we look at verse 10? All right, a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. So this threefold repetition, a little, a little, a little, a little. I had a friend when I was in high school and he told me that he used to reach over and hit the snooze button like seven or eight times. And I sort of thought that was interesting because I thought, well, if you want to stay in bed, I don't know how much, how long does snooze let you sleep longer? I don't even know. Is it eight minutes? Oh, it is? Okay. Oh, do you set it? So you hit snooze too? Okay. No, you're just, just hypothetically. Yeah. Okay. So I thought if you're going to hit snooze seven or eight times, why don't you set your alarm? for that time so you can sleep in longer and not be woke up seven or eight times. But the whole reason I'm mentioning it is I had this friend and clearly what did he want? He just wanted a little, you know, a little. So when you look at this verse, a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, that captures what's happening with lazy people, that it's usually just a desire for a little more, just to stay in bed a little longer. And so I've never used a snooze button before. I just think it would be very, you know, kind of inconvenient to be woken up and then go back to sleep woken up repeatedly like that. But it does, this is, you know, does come to mind that typically the temptation for lazy people is to just have a little more sleep. It's not like I want to sleep for the next six, seven hours, maybe, but usually it's just for a little bit, a little bit more. All right, any thoughts or observations, questions? Okay, who can look at this verse and see the sin of selfishness. How does this verse reveal the sin of selfishness? And the reason I think this is so important is one of the world's common criticisms of Christians, or arguments against Christians' statements, is how does this affect you, or this doesn't affect you, or when this person, if it's abortion, then what is the common criticism to us? Well, why do you care what I do with my body? If it's, you know, homosexual marriage, why do you care what they do? It's important for us as Christians to be able to respond to those statements or criticisms and explain why there's something wrong with them. And in this case, we have to understand why laziness is a selfish sin. Because frequently, we can think that if something, you know, doesn't affect others, then it's not selfish. But laziness is a selfish sin. And how do we sort of see it in this verse? This person is sleeping while what? Huh? While others are what? We're working. And that's where the selfishness is. You see an individual who's just going to stay in bed while other people, some number of people get up and go to work. And then later, what's that going to lead to? It's going to lead to this person doing what? This lazy person doing what? Turning to the working people and saying what? You owe me, or you give to me, you give to me. Whenever people come to the church, or I don't want to rehash too much of last Sunday's discussion, it's frequently a very entitled mentality that comes out. And if we thought there was legitimate needs, I mean, it would be a wonderful thing to be able to help people who had very legitimate needs, but typically that's not the case. But in my mind, I'm thinking, well, there's lots of other people who have worked, or there are missionaries who work that this money could go to, There are people in our church who have worked hard to give this money. Why do you think, why would I give it to you if it's because you've just been in bed while these people were working? It's very hard for me to justify. Okay, verse 11 says, so shall your poverty come on you like a prowler and your need like an armed man. What's this verse communicating besides that poverty is going to come on a lazy person? What do you see this verse communicating? It's communicating how poverty is gonna come on a lazy person. Huh? Unexpectedly, yeah. Going to be a surprise, something that they don't expect. Which makes sense if we think back to the previous verse, that lazy people are also very bad about planning. or thinking about the future or what's gonna be in store. So there's this connection here, this thread, that because they have not prepared or planned like the ants, then they're gonna be unprepared and poverty or these things are gonna come on them very unexpectedly. This is the first mention of poverty, which is one of the truths that's communicated throughout Proverbs. Here's just a few other examples, Proverbs 13, four. The soul of a lazy man desires and has nothing. Also Proverbs 20 verse 4, Proverbs 20 verse 13, do not love sleep lest you come to poverty. And then Proverbs 24, 34, poverty will come upon the sluggard. The fact that that's mentioned five times in Proverbs tells you that God wants lazy people to know that poverty is in their future, that that's what they need to expect. Proverbs 10 verse 4, it says, he who has a slack hand becomes poor. And I like that language because it draws to mind the imagery of slacking off, right? Of slacking off. A slack hand is someone who slacks off at work or slacks off and looking for work. And so if you don't have a job, what's sort of like your full-time job? Yeah, looking for a job. And so that's one way a lazy person might slack off is in not looking for work. Warren Wiersbe said, a new college graduate was asked if he was looking for work. He thought for a minute and then replied no, but I would like to have a job and then Warren Wiersbe says that seems to be the attitude of Too many people that they're just not willing to put forth that effort. So slack-handed people cause their own poverty They only have themselves to blame Something else that causes poverty is according to Proverbs 14 23 Idle chatter or simply talking Proverbs 14 23 it says in all labor. There is profit but Idle chatter leads only to poverty. So it seems to me probably not as strongly said in Proverbs, but still a truth that a mark of lazy people is the ability to talk a lot, but not work a lot or want to talk without working. And I think Jesus told a parable about a son, well, two sons really, and one son was good at talking and one son was good at working. Does anyone remember that parable? So I'm not the one doing all the talking this morning. And remember that, two sons? Who can recount that parable? What happened? Do you guys know the parable? So the father, what does the father say? The father tells his sons, he says, hey, I want you guys to go work. Matthew 21, 28. The man had two sons. He comes to the first son and he says, son, go work today in my vineyard. And this son answers and he says, I, huh? He says, he says, I will go. And he doesn't go. There's another son that says, I won't go, and he does go. And so the idea is talk is chief, right? Or the idea is it doesn't matter what you say, it matters what you do. It so much doesn't matter what you say that even if you said you weren't going to do something, but you did it, it would still be better than the person who says they're going to do it and then doesn't do it. So one son was a talker, and the other son was a worker. One son was lazy. And the other son was diligent enough to go out and do what his father wanted. Also, I think this looks to lazy people deceiving themselves. Since they don't expect the disaster that comes upon them, and they're not prepared for it, they've deceived themselves in the sense that they don't think anything bad is going to happen. Like if you were to talk to them and say, I don't think you can keep living this way, or this lifestyle is going to cause you problems, they would probably deny that. So he uses two illustrations here. The first one is a prowler which literally is a traveler or a vagabond or a drifter and The idea is he silently comes in and steals and so poverty is going to come upon lazy people like thieves or robbers that take them by surprise and then he mentions an armed man is the second example and this is literally abandoned a bandit or a man with a shield and And he forcibly imposes his need. And so the idea is the lazy person's gonna be overpowered. No matter the effort they put forth, they're not going to be able to resist poverty. The poverty is going to be like an armed man coming and overpowering the lazy person, despite the lazy person's best effort at that moment to resist. Any observations or thoughts or questions or anything? All right, you can turn to Proverbs 26. We're gonna look at Proverbs 26 before Proverbs 24. Proverbs 26. So these Proverbs, they have an amount of humor in them. We're gonna look at verses 13 through 16 of Proverbs 26. They're a description of lazy people that almost have like a can you top this kind of quality to them, and it provides some comic relief, but God wants to do more than make us laugh or chuckle about lazy people. And so I think one of the points is that lazy people are almost the object of jokes in scripture, and the hyperbole or the exaggerative nature of these verses is so strong that no reasonable person would want to have these verses be about them. I mean, even though humor is used, it doesn't lighten the verses whatsoever. Instead, to me, it makes it a little bit stronger that the lazy people are this bad, that it's almost like scripture's making fun of them a little bit. That's what's really kind of in view through this humor, this very unflattering language. So verse 13, the lazy man says there's a lion in the road. A fierce lion is in the streets. What's this verse about? What's this verse about? Looking to lazy people, doing what? Ricky? Yeah, I'm making excuses, making excuses. So it's interesting, I didn't plan on having my children here when I was doing my studying for this and I was gonna share a story that when one of our children was younger, this child used to always say, I'm too shy, I'm too shy. So we'd ask the child to pick up something or clean up something or there might be a mess or some clothes and instead of us, even if it would just take us a second to do it, teach our children responsibility, have them be responsible for their own messes. And so this child would frequently say that they were too shy. And this is what I was reminded of, because the idea is, you know, excuses might be absurd. And it's kind of something that's stuck in our house, where now when my children ask me to do something that I don't want to do, I'll tell them I'm too shy. But they don't, I don't think that they find it as amusing. No. Is it amusing at all? No? Do you think it's amusing, Ricky, when I say I'm too shy, or? Okay. So, Johnny likes it. Okay, so yeah, we still say that in a lot of your, or I don't know, do you say it, Katie? I'm too shy? Yeah, I'm probably the only one that says it. What? Okay, so in the law-abiding household, I guess I'm the one who's still saying I'm too shy associated with doing certain things. But the reason I mention it is the point is the excuses that lazy people give are often what? Are often what? There's a few words you can say, huh? unreasonable, lame, ridiculous, illegitimate. If it said something like, you know, I can't work because I got in a bad accident, or I can't work because there was a recession and my company downsized, that'd be reasonable. That wouldn't be a criticism. And so it says this to reveal how lazy people often get very absurd and ridiculous excuses. Billy Sunday, he said an excuse is the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie. The skin of a reason stuffed with a lie. And so it might sound good on the outside, but really there's just a lie underneath that excuse. And Warren Wiersbe said, people who are good at making excuses are rarely good at much else. People who are good at making excuses are rarely good at much else. And that's one of the points here is lazy people are good at making excuses. This is not the only place that makes this point. Proverbs 15, 19. says the way of the lazy man is like a hedge of thorns, but the way of the upright is like a highway. And I'm, I might be in, this is my interpretation of that verse. I could be wrong or perhaps there's another interpretation, but when it says the way of the lazy man is like a hedge of thorns, but the way of the upright is a highway, I think part of the application is lazy people find reasons not to work. You know, they can't get there. It's just paved with thorns, but an upright person can always find it, you know, find a way to get things done. There's, to them, it's like a highway. Proverbs 20 verse four, The lazy person says the weather is too cold or says I will not plow because of winter I will not plow because of winter so for them it's just because it's you know, the weather is is The excuse so any any flimsy excuse is going to be enough to prevent them from leaving the house and going out to work and I think one thing that I'm wanting to do through these verses because I don't see laziness as a Struggle at our church. I don't see it as a local problem But I think we can still make excuses for other things that maybe our spouse wants us to do, our children want us to do, or we know that God wants us to do. And so I might just invite us to look past, let's try to look past, which I appreciated John drawing attention to this last week in Sunday school. Let's look past people standing on street corners with signs asking for food or money, or let's look past people that come to the church asking for money or something like that and try to look at ourselves and see ways in which we might make excuses. Because even if we're not going to stand on street corners, I think there are still plenty of ways in which we can make excuses or be tempted to in our lives, which I think is probably the better application because it's very easy if we just say, oh, this is all about the people on the street corner. Well, then we're not going to see any application for ourselves. But I think there's application If we consider ways in which we are we make excuses in our lives regarding the things that we should be doing that we don't do Any thoughts or anything? Remove on All right kitty Okay, well I know when you when I come home I've had kind of sat I have a pretty easy job compared to you I think I sit at a desk I do something I love most of the day and studying God's Word And I think your job's pretty exhausting to homeschool and be with a bunch of small children. And so for me, when I come home, you want me to give a bunch of attention to the kids and be really involved and not sit down like I've been sitting down at work. And so for me, because I want to use myself as an example, then I think it'd be easy to make an excuse and find some reason not to do what you want to do. Or if you ask me to change a diaper or something along those lines, not find something else to do at that moment. But do you think it's another example for me? Okay. Well, I am going to say we are going to get to the point where I talk about a little later some other ways that I think we can be lazy. I don't know if we'll get to it this morning, but I feel like, you know, John, you just made a really fantastic point last Sunday, John, and I committed this whole week to studying basically based on your observations. So I really appreciate that other ways we can be lazy. We can be lazy against temptation and sin. We can be mentally lazy and not controlling our thoughts. We can be lazy regarding spiritual disciplines. So again, even if we're not out on the street corner, there are other ways that we can be very lazy that we should be considering. So does anyone else have a thought? Or I appreciated Mike Sowers last week. He shared this, if you weren't here, and I just thought it was, he started discussing how he's been very hard working throughout his life, and physically. And I was listening, kind of wondering where he's going, and then he had the humility to share in front of everyone that he wishes he would have worked as hard spiritually. That he has put forth considerable physical effort throughout his life, but has not put forth that same amount of effort spiritually. And I thought that was a very convicting, wonderful contribution from him, greatly appreciated his humility in sharing that. Jameson? On the topic of laziness, it's interesting to see the cry wolf effect. Like, when you talk about excuses, right, for lazy men, there might be a day where there is a lion in the streets. But when it's every other Monday, right, or the flat tire week, you can imagine. I had a flat tire week. It was about once a month that I had a flat tire. And it meant that they couldn't come to work all day because I had a flat tire. So at the beginning, I was like, I just don't believe you. The first time, sure, everybody has that problem. The second time, that's really weird. You should get retired. The third time, you're like, I just don't believe you. And I feel like that's the same for laziness. I don't even want to say lazy people, but laziness in all of our lives is the excuses we make. We tend to, when we're struggling with laziness, go back to those excuses. Yeah, yeah, so have you talked to Kevin Willis about saying that about his tires regularly at work You tell Kevin okay. Yeah, I appreciate you didn't mention his name while you were sharing about just joking Yeah, no actually I know Kevin's really hard worker good other thoughts observations or anyone want to share which would be encouraging or perhaps challenging to others and ways in which they make excuses or, yeah, some of the excuses they might make. Let's not go to the laziness that I mentioned, because we'll get to that, but any excuses that anyone would acknowledge they make, be thinking about it while Jesse shares. that our job is more physically demanding. I know for myself, one of my excuses can be, well, I work hard all day. I get home, and Mary wants me to do X, Y, or Z. And well, I need to just sit for a little bit or relax or whatever. I worked hard all day. So did she. But I can use that as an excuse, because I can work hard physically. Yeah, but it's a really You know kind of hard excuse because there's a lot of truth in it I do think you and many other men work very hard all day and come home tired You know, you've given a lot all day and then you come home and and there there's it's there's sincerity in it you really have You really might feel exhausted. It's not a lie. But I think I use it as an excuse. Oh, Mary, I'm just so... Oh, Mary, you would not believe what my day looked like. Yeah, thanks, Jesse. Anyone else? Very good. Audrey? Thanks for... I'd like to hear from a woman. Yeah, very good. Because I can use it as an excuse if the other people in the house aren't doing anything, whether they're, like, if they're sick, or, you know, they, sometimes the boys have to work late, close up at Papa Murphy's, and so, you know, they can just lean in a little bit. Okay. So I can use that as an excuse, because, well, everybody else is around me that's in the house, is not doing anything, so I can take this opportunity Okay, you want a different direction than I thought so correct me if I'm wrong You're saying see if other people aren't working or aren't around then it's easy for you to just say well I won't I work either. Is that what you're saying? Okay, cuz what I thought what I thought you were saying Which is what I see in our house is when when one of our children is working, but another one isn't It's very hard for that child to keep working. It seems I don't know if it's like that with your kids But well if our kids are supposed to clean downstairs and it's like I think one kid could probably work pretty well by himself or herself But as soon as that child looks and sees the other kid not working, then it's like they've lost all desire to work. And now they have plenty of energy to run all the way up the stairs and come tell us how this other child isn't working, which takes way more energy than reaching over to pick up that toy or whatever it was that they're supposed to be picking up. So I get that with children. It's like when they look around and see someone else not working, which I kind of thought was what you were saying, but I see the accountability of having other people around. Okay. Okay. Okay. Got it. You're at the stage of your kids are actually out working in some other employment. Okay. Carrie? as believers, how we can, it's hard to keep a balance sometimes, because there's so many things that we're called to be obedient in, in our lives, like reading the Word, prayer, having the rest, and all the things that we need to be doing in order to keep growing, and having that balance, and making excuses in one area, and not have a good balance, maybe it's prayer, maybe it's So you're even looking into the spiritual spiritual disciplines and saying well, I might not be lazy regarding one discipline There's this other discipline in which I think there's reasons, you know Paul uses where it's like labor or toil or struggle regarding prayer I mean right isn't that kind of if you think about that When you say the word prayer, you think of something fairly easy, right? I mean, and then Paul's using words like labor, struggle, and toil. And then you think about it, and you're like, yeah, prayer is a real struggle. It really is laboring or toiling in it. And so I don't, it's not like I always want to read the word, but I have considerably easier time, or reading God's word is considerably more attractive to me than prayer. So while I might spend enough time in God's word Yeah, I can definitely be lazy regarding prayer. Thanks for that observation. Anyone else? Krista? Uh-huh. that if the kids aren't awake, my day hasn't started. But really, it's like what Terry was saying. Oftentimes, if I do get up with them, that is my one chance throughout my day to have quiet time and to spend one-on-one time with my husband and be able to read God's Word by myself and not just in teaching or doing that kind of thing. Yeah, thanks for sharing that. Anyone else? Kim? I think depending on the season of life that you're in, you can find some really good excuses. Currently, without a husband to serve and children to teach, it's really easy to get lazy in your singleness. I've been super blessed with encouraging people around me. Yeah, thanks for the humility sharing that and I know you've been a great blessing You know kind of despite what you're acknowledging but a group saying a great blessing to lots of people During your season of singleness, which I think is why first Corinthians 7 Paul looks to single people and tells them to do what with that season Tells him to do what with it. Just yeah be a good steward of it, you know serve and make the best use of it, because without all the responsibilities, and I try to tell when I have an opportunity to address children, sometimes Sunday night, or if a parent invites me to speak into the child's life, I'll usually stress, hey, you're in a pretty comfortable, easy season right now. You might not realize that. Things are gonna get a lot more complicated and difficult for you later, and I think that's why God says, hey, take advantage of this season. Don't just sit back and waste it. Be a poor steward of it. So, thanks for sharing that, Kim. Anyone else? Carrie? Well said. Well said. OK, so Carrie was just talking about developing victory. over areas of laziness, taking that step and developing a habit or a pattern, okay, great. And just kind of plant a seed in your minds for upcoming Sundays, that's what you put on. You put off laziness, you put on diligence, which is to start establishing a different pattern. It's not enough if you just say, well, I'm not gonna be lazy. Well, there's something you've gotta put on in place of that. You've gotta be deciding what you're gonna do with this, with your time and with your energy, and so you can't just put off laziness without putting on something else, and so beginning a pattern, Habit that's going to replace that very good anyone else Okay verse 14 then as The door turns on its hinges. So does the lazy man on his bed? So once again, we see the connection that scripture not me Draws between laziness and what? Sleep so you really can't miss that. There's a danger associated with oversleeping that sleep seems to be one of the really big threats to us. Lazy people, it's like kind of the imagery that they're attached to their bed the way that a door is attached to the hinges. They don't get out of their bed any easier than a door is going to climb up off the hinges, and that the way that a door keeps turning on the hinges, a lazy person is just going to keep turning over in their bed. And so it kind of communicates that there is some amount of activity, but there's really nothing produced. I think is one of the other lessons here. There's a lot of activity, but there's no nothing being accomplished No work lots of motion with nothing no work accomplished verse 15 The lazy man buries his hand in the bowl. It wearies him to bring it back to his mouth. So Again, pretty absurd here Imagery created that the lazy person is you know He's so worn out or he's too worn out to bring his hand back to his mouth. He just extends his hand to the bowl And even that's too much work for him. He can't summon the strength to bring his hand back with some amount of food in it. That just tires him too much. And so could anyone be lazier than this? I don't think so. So we'll typically say something like a lazy person won't lift a hand to help. I don't know if this is where that's drawn from, but it's very fitting. If you said he won't even lift a hand to help, that's what you see. This lazy person, when he lifts his hand, brings it to another level to feed himself. He may not, a lazy person, might not even have much to worry about regarding reaching out for food for very long, because inevitably he's gonna reach the point where he doesn't even have any food to grab out of the bowl to bring back to his mouth, which is some number of people that come to the church, and that's what they're asking for. They want a meal, or they want, and the problem with helping people, if people want a room for the night, or they want a meal, is even if you do that, you know that there's another meal after that they need. If you give them this night, this is what's always in my mind. Okay, if we put you in this hotel for this night, then what are you doing the next night? We're not gonna pay a whole week here. And so you can't shake that. If you thought, if I help this person for this one night, and it will legitimately get them back on their feet, or I give them this meal, and this is what will remedy their situation, I don't think any of us, out of our own pockets, would have any trouble giving to see that need met. But the problem is you think past that, and you say, what's going to happen for tomorrow night? And in your mind, you tend to think what? This person is a professional at what he's doing, and what's he going to do for the next night? He's probably going on to the next church, or he's going on to the next person. I've even had people leave my office. One gentleman I remember, I actually thought it was a guy that was going to fight me one time. And then I remember thinking, man, I wish I'd have kept working out. No, just kidding. But he's so angry with me, and he says, well, I bet you have a nice car. And then I thought in my mind, I thought, well, I don't know if I have a nice car, so I don't even know how to respond. But his point was that he thought because, in his estimation, I have nice stuff that I was obligated to give to him. And so when I didn't, he became so angry, he started to take off his backpack, which is when I thought he was going to fight me. And I guess he was just tired from standing up holding his backpack, because then he didn't fight me. But when he's walking out, He yells some profanities at me, and then he says, well, now I have to go to the Catholic church, and I hate those people, was what he said. So it was, I mean, they'll even tell you they're just heading to the, I mean, I'm, you know, they might even ask me, you know, if there's another, I'm not gonna direct someone to another church or something, but they'll be pretty clear with you about it. So you're always thinking, well, this isn't gonna help him more than just for a meal or perhaps just for a night. All right, so here, that's what we see. This guy's probably not gonna have to worry about reaching for food because, oh, yeah. Okay. Okay, thanks. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we would, we're interested in helping you physically or financially, We're church our mission is spiritual. We want to help you eternally and then you like I think I share last night We say we set a very low bar. I mean, this is a very low bar in my opinion Just come on out Sunday morning so we can get to know you and at least if I think if I can get if we can get him to sit through a service or come in for a service and I just can't even think of that happening and So I mean that's a low bar right just coming out Sunday. Why wouldn't you build a I mean? If you don't have a job and you don't have a place to live, I mean, I'm not making a joke, do you have so many other obligations that you can't make it back here Sunday to come worship with us and so that we can get to know you? And even just that investment, even just that little investment from someone would give them considerably more credibility with us to look at helping them. But there's not a willingness even to do that. Because my suspicion is you're all a friendly group, and if someone showed up here Sunday and you talked to them, reach out to them. Maybe they'll want to come back the next Sunday. Maybe God works through that and provides some relationship, but we can't even, can't even get to that point with them. So, all right. This is also recorded in Proverbs 19, 24. So again, a verse that we see repeated and God doesn't waste words in scripture. So why is this, why is he going to repeat this to us? And I think the reason this is repeated is I think that this proverb, I could be wrong and you can tell me if you disagree with me, but this is what I see with this. I see a proverb that's joking but making a very serious point. Tell me if you see it too, that a lazy person won't feed himself. And why won't a lazy person feed himself? Because he won't work. So a lazy person, in a sense, really is choosing not to feed himself because he's choosing not to work. And that's what's in view here. The person is so lazy that they won't eat or they won't even feed themselves, which is the decision they're making by choosing not to go to work. And so the lazy person starves and this proverb is squarely putting the responsibility on that lazy person's shoulders. So in other words, you look and this is what you say when you look at this verse, you say, well, if this person, if this lazy person doesn't bring his hand back to his mouth or he doesn't feed himself, then he's going to starve. And that's actually true of the lazy person that the lazy person will starve, and it will be—and then you say, well, if he's not bringing his hand to his mouth, he's going to starve, and it's his fault. And that's what God is saying, that it is typically the lazy person's fault, because they're choosing not to work, which is different than being unable to work. And I mentioned this last week, and I think it bears worth repeating, because I don't think we're going to get to it in this series, but this is one of those places where we see some tension in Scripture, because there's—there might be three causes, but I can only see two causes of poverty. We're not going to turn to it, but there are other passages or places in scripture that associate poverty with unforeseen circumstances or circumstances outside a person's control, and those people are, God expects us to show what to those people? Mercy, pity, charity, especially the minor prophets, the amount of concern that is shown or expected to be shown toward poor people. And one of the strongest rebukes God had through the minor prophets to the nations was their disregard for poor people. And so you look at that and you say, well, this almost sounds like you're saying two different things. I'm not, or scripture is saying two different things. Not really, scripture is just saying that we have to exercise an amount of discernment and determining what brought about someone's poverty. And whether it's a legitimate poverty, unforeseen circumstances, I can't remember the verse, and if someone has the verse offhand, it's about a field not producing, even though the person has labored to see a harvest or a crop. And the point is, this person has worked very hard, and when their field doesn't produce, it's not their fault, but they're going to be poor, or they're going to suffer because of that. And that is a person to be pitied, because they did not choose this for themselves through their actions, it's not their fault. Whereas there's another form of poverty that's brought on that the person brings on himself through their own decisions or through their laziness. Jameson? I think you see a similar tension spiritually in the New Testament, where we are called to have compassion on non-believers to seek their reconciliation with God, to share the gospel, to spread the gospel. But at the same time, the apostles were instructed, if you're rejected, wipe the dust off your feet Yeah, you see you're making a parallel between the care for unsafe people the amount of You know, you make an investment, not sit there sobbing at the gate over them. He says, hey, you got to pick yourself up. There's other people. Yeah, very good. Right. Other observations? Okay, so this brings us to kind of something we're going to have to take our minds away from our nation in particular. There might be other places or there are other places in the world where this would make more sense, but I don't read about people starving to death in our country. So I talk about poor people Producing their own starvation and we're just like this. We're like what you know, what poor people starve to death Well in our country, they don't maybe in other places of the world they do but in Solomon's day they did I mean it was a real threat the threat that's greater than poverty is or was starvation So here's the question. What did God do in the Old Testament to prevent? People from starving or what Jake? No, go ahead. I'm talking a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very good. So God had a phenomenal welfare system in the Old Testament, considerably better than ours. I mean, what is required today to receive handouts or welfare? walk to your mailbox, right? So in God's economy, which God just does things better than us, he just does, there was a great system in place that, here's just one, there's a few places it's written, but in the Mosaic law, Leviticus 23, 22, when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am the Lord, your God. And so we see there when he says you're to leave this for the poor, we're seeing that pity or that compassion that God wants shown to them. And why was this welfare system? There's two reasons that this welfare system is so much better than ours. What do you see? What are two reasons? This is Randy. Okay. The poor person had to put forth some effort. If they want to be lazy, they weren't going to go to the field. I don't think being bent over picking up a bunch of of grain all day like Ruth did was not tiring. I'm sure that it was exhausting. It required an amount of effort or labor on the poor person's part to receive, so they did work. And why else was it a great, better system than ours? Okay. It encouraged people who had more to do what or be what? Generous or charitable versus the way our government does it, which is to take and redistribute wealth. So some people, if you disagree with me, go ahead and raise your hand, but I think you're wrong. That's all I'll say. Socialism is not biblical. Socialism is not biblical. Socialism, the redistribution of wealth, says this person has more, we will take from them and give to those with less. And God says, I want to burden people's heart to be generous. Do you see the difference between a generosity or charitableness versus a taking from some to give to others? So the government's not Robin Hood. The government shouldn't be Robin Hood. The government doesn't get to say, well, they have more, I'll take from them, and I'll give to those who have less. And so God's word said, hey, be generous, be charitable to those who are less fortunate, who have less than you. You've got fields with food, leave some for them. Where our government says, OK, well, these people have more, so we're going to take it from them. You see the vast difference there? So the two reasons is it's not socialism. And I think that's important because it's one of the other criticisms Christians receive. Oh, you know, you should love socialism. It's so biblical. No, theft has never been biblical. The Bible argues against theft. The Bible says you don't take or steal from people. So socialism is unbiblical because the Bible forbids theft. Now, if you want to consider or command a generosity, then that would be biblical. Think we'll stop or I'm gonna try to stop there. So if anyone has a thought or something that they can share that So I don't want to keep talking till 1045 any thoughts or questions or observations Craig said what do you what do you think would be the biblical equivalent to gleaning? Do you have a thought? I? Hadn't thought of that I don't know I'm asking if you have a thought because if you do it probably be better than mine because I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it Okay Well said. Well said. Yeah, some investment is made on the part of the recipient. Yeah, well said. I think Landon and then Don? Oh, go ahead, Don. Good. Nice and loud. Speak that way so everyone can hear you. initiated welfare reform. And one of the principal aspects of that was it required us to work. And news reports over time that came out from that of people who had been sitting in their living room watching television all day for years, who were then forced to go out to work, they were commenting on how uplifting and how transformative it was for their lives. And they discovered the phenomenon of being independent Okay, gotcha. Very good. Yeah, I mean if God commands work, it's a good thing for us. It builds self-esteem and confidence. Nobody can feel good sitting around all day despite what they say. It might feel good for a moment, but you have to be grieved about that sort of lifestyle. Yeah, I don't think anyone... Very good. Very good. Thank you. All right, anyone else? He put his hand down. Okay, Eldon? Yeah. Eldon? So kind of taken out of the government's hands given to You know private citizens are you saying oh? Okay, yeah Anyone else all right you want to close us in prayer Eldon