Work and the Wisdom of Proverbs | Adult Sunday School

We're not starting for another two minutes. Two minutes. I was just informed if I start early, then they take time off the back end at a two to one rate. I can't afford to lose it. Interesting phenomenon.

More people sit on this side than that side. I don't know. You can't listen over there. I understand. It's the people that are weird. Sheep and the goats. Pharisees and Sadducees.

Yeah.

Well, good morning. Welcome to Kootenai Community Church, Adult Sunday School, as we continue in our series on a biblical theology of work. So let's pray and we'll begin. Our God and our Father, we're very, very grateful to be together this morning, to be able to fellowship together in the unity of the spirit of Christ who dwells within us.

Thank you for the redemption that Christ has purchased for us. And now, oh Lord, as we open the word, we ask your spirit to help us to have receptive hearts, to hear the truth and to apply it to our lives that we might grow in the likeness of Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.

The Curse of the Fall and the Worker’s Frustration

So last week, last week we examined the effect of Adam's fall upon the workplace and noting as a consequence of the fall that God cursed the ground. But in that cursing of the ground, he did not completely remove its potential for fruitfulness, though it is severely damaged, but the potential for fruitfulness has still not been extinguished.

But the result has been that it has caused a resistance to our efforts of work and we spent a fair amount of time talking about that, didn't we? We learned that in the fall, work was not cursed, but only the ability to find the full satisfaction that was originally intended for it by God when he created us to work.

In the lesson, we focused on our attention upon the factors that were, for the most part, external to work, if you'll remember. The environmental factors that are brought on by sin which inhibits our ability to enjoy work to its fullest.

We had a whole list of them. This morning, I wanna turn the corner, okay? So I wanna turn the corner with you this morning and I wanna address another aspect of work as damaged by sin that is not this time the work but the worker.

So sin as damaged by sin but not work itself but the worker as damaged by sin and I wanna address in particular the sin of laziness. So I want to address the sin of laziness with you this morning. Laziness is a massive problem in this country.

For much of its history, the United States has been one of the most economically productive nations in the history of the world. And aside from the immense natural resources that advantaged this country and has advantaged this country for centuries, a good deal of our prosperity can be attributed to what is called the Protestant work ethic, the Protestant work ethic.

And if we were to try to define the Protestant work ethic in a short couple of words, it would be this. Work hard and work honestly. Work hard and work honestly. This understanding of work grew out of their Calvinistic understanding that work is a divine calling in which our good works are an evidence of God's grace in our life, not a basis by which he extends grace to us.

And so the Puritans regularly stressed in their writings and preachings the importance of work. It's a significant topic in Puritan literature. All their hard work brought about abundant material prosperity, along with a number of unintended and uninvited consequences.

In 1702, the Boston pastor Cotton Mather lamented, quote, religion gave birth to prosperity and the daughter destroyed the mother. Religion gave birth to prosperity and the daughter destroyed the mother.

From 1990 to the year 2022, so 122 years, average American non-farm work weeks declined from 53 to 34, 53 to 34. While at the same time, the amount of hours wasted while at work soared to close to 20 or one day in five.

In survey after survey, employees admit to wasting hours engaging in non-work related activities. The following information on the current American work habits is actually quite shocking. And I will look at a few of them with you here momentarily, but one thing that I want to just editorially insert here is that these unproductive activities that are currently engaged in by work do not take full account of the amount of time that is being wasted because of the change in work situation over the COVID pandemic in which more and more workers work from home now.

In other words, working from home has not improved productivity at all. It has increased the amount of wasted time and effort. So here are, according to Inc Magazine, some of the ways that productivity is being sucked out of the system.

So for example, reading news websites, this is all while you're being paid to work, by the way. So reading news websites, now a little over an hour is being robbed in that way. Checking social media, 44 minutes.

Discussing non-work related things with coworkers, 40 minutes. Searching for new jobs, 26 minutes. That's productive time, could be. Taking smoke breaks, 23 minutes. Making phone calls to partners or friends, 18 minutes.

I think that number's probably low. Making hot drinks, 17 minutes. Texting or instant messaging, 14 minutes. I bet that varies depending on age group. Eating snacks, eight minutes. Making food in the office, seven minutes.

In other words, if your lunch hour begins at noon, then you have to get your lunch ready so you can eat at noon, and that means you begin preparation at 11 .50 or something like that. The other thing that is not accounted for in here is online shopping, which is a major, the majority of online shopping occurs between the work hours, nine to five.

And YouTube video views are dramatically higher during working hours. So that's just a few of the ways in which productivity is being bleeded or bled out of the system. Well, the book of Proverbs has much to say to us moderns about the topic of work, particularly as it relates to the sin of laziness, because laziness is not a new phenomenon.

It is not a 20th or 21st century phenomenon. Laziness is a sin that has infested humanity since the beginning. So open your Bibles up to Proverbs. The book of Proverbs, you can, oh, you can land in chapter four, that's fine.

Proverbs chapter four.

What Is a Proverb and Why Wisdom Matters

So from the book of Proverbs, from the book of Proverbs, we're going to ask and answer three questions. From the book of Proverbs, we're going to ask and answer three questions so that we might identify and fight against the debilitating sin of laziness, right?

Three questions so that we might identify and fight against the debilitating sin of laziness. So let's begin with a little bit of background about Proverbs itself. And that begins with what is a proverb?

What is a proverb? A proverb is a short pithy, that word means concise or cogent saying, frequently using metaphorical language, which expresses a general truth concerning life. A short pithy saying, frequently using metaphorical language, which expresses a general truth concerning life.

Now, because these are brief statements, they are less than totally precise, okay? They are by necessity less than totally precise,.

They are by necessity less than totally precise,.

But they are universally applicable, and it is their brevity that makes them memorable and profound, okay? It's their brevity that makes them memorable and profound. In other words, we can remember them because they're short, because they're brief.

Let me give you an example. Look before you leap. Look before you leap. A common American proverb. It's the repetition of the single-syllable words, all beginning with L, that make the proverb memorable.

Much more memorable than the alternative. In advance of committing yourself to a course of action, consider your circumstances and options. That is not a particularly memorable statement, but look before you leap is very memorable, and it encompasses that truth.

That's the genre of proverbs. The word proverb means to be like, to be like, and so we know immediately then that proverbs are comparisons. They are comparisons. It is a book of comparison between common concrete images and life's most profound truths.

Simple moral statements or illustrations that highlight and teach fundamental realities about life. A book of proverbs is designed to instruct and exhort in godly wisdom and skillful living according to God's moral standards.

The setting of proverbs is both the royal court and the home, and because God created and rules his world, he has baked wisdom into it. He has baked wisdom into it, which reveals itself in both the physical and the moral realm, and thus proverbs are a reflection on how to live in light of that reality.

In other words, wisdom is unavoidable. It is all around us. It is baked into the creation. Therefore, therefore, because it is baked into the creation, it can be gleaned by observation of both nature and human behavior.

Nature and human behavior is the place where one can gain much wisdom. Furthermore, because God continues to rule his creation through providence, the laws never change. The laws of wisdom never change, and here's the importance of that.

That means wisdom is cumulative. Wisdom is cumulative. In other words, it can and should be passed down generationally because it is cumulative. Take a look at chapter four, verses one to nine. Hear, O sons, the instruction of a father, and give attention that you may gain understanding.

For I give you sound teaching. Do not abandon my instruction. When I was a son to my father, tender and the only son in the sight of my mother, then he taught me and said to me, let your heart hold fast my words.

Keep my commandments and live. So you understand he is passing on what was passed on to him. The cumulative passing on of wisdom. Verse five, acquire wisdom. Acquire understanding. Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.

Do not forsake her and she will guard you. Love her and she will watch over you. The beginning of wisdom is acquire wisdom. And with all your acquiring, get understanding. Prize her and she will exalt you.

She will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a garland of grace. She will present you with a crown of beauty. So wisdom is often personified in the Proverbs as a woman. Lady wisdom and folly is also often personified as lady folly.

And so there are two women and they are seeking you. They are both seeking you. One will present a garland of grace upon your head if you go for her and if you choose to go for the other,.

It will lead you to destruction.

The Ant, the Sluggard, and the Sin of Laziness

Now, when we work as God intends, we glorify him by echoing his creativity and productivity. This is part of what it means to be made in his image. This way of thinking is not merely helpful but essential in enabling us to understand that there is spiritual significance in every act of work.

That's the money statement. There is spiritual significance in every act of work. When we forget or misunderstand this theological foundation for work, we risk becoming resentful, whiny, shirking, unappreciative, and lazy, what the Bible calls the sluggard, the sluggard.

So three questions, three questions. The first one is this, what can a bug teach me? What can a bug teach me? Chapter six, that's right, I am speaking of the ant. Chapter six and beginning in verse six.

How about a mosquito?

Mosquito will teach you patience, yes.

So what can a bug teach me? Proverbs chapter six beginning in verse six. Go to the ant, oh sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer, or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest.

How long will you lie down, oh sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. Your poverty will come in like a vagabond and your need like an armed man.

What can a bug teach me? Humanity, humanity, the pinnacle of God's creation commanded to receive instruction from a mindless, soulless, tiny, little insect. The king of creation needs to go to school from a bug.

We were created to have dominion over the earth and we need to learn a lesson from an ant on what it means to work. One day when Christ returns, we will rule over the new creation, but for now, for now we need to go to school and be tutored by a bug.

So what is the lesson? What is the lesson? What can a bug teach us about a biblical work ethic? What can a bug teach us? The ant displays an innate and natural desire to work industriously. Again, let me repeat it.

An ant displays an innate and natural desire to work industriously. It doesn't need to be persuaded to work. It doesn't need to be browbeaten to work. It doesn't need to be forced to work. It has no coach.

It has no supervisor. It has no accountability partner. It doesn't need a pep talk. It doesn't need a Bible study. It doesn't need a motivational speaker. It doesn't need a lesson on biblical work ethic.

It doesn't need any of that. Ants work industriously simply because that is what they were created to do, and that is the point. That is the point. They are fulfilling their creation mandate. In fact, if we are so lazy that we fail to clean up after ourselves, the ants will come along and take care of it for us.

They'll even clean up after us. They are industrious. That's the first lesson. The second lesson is in contrast to the positive example of the ant. The proverb provides the negative example of the sluggard.

The sluggard's nature is very clear here in the pattern of verse 10. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. Now, we all need sleep. Sleep is a gift of God. The only one who doesn't sleep is God.

So we all need sleep. But the pattern here of sleep, slumber, rest conveys the idea that the sluggard doesn't get up when he wakes up. He doesn't get up when he wakes up. Instead, he stays in bed slumbering and daydreaming.

This is his habit. This defines him. This defines him. The picture here is of a person when they wake up, they don't get up, but they press the snooze button and slumber. They drift in and out of dreamland.

And then eventually, they do wake up. But when they wake up, they don't get up. They fold their hands on their chest and they lie there resting and relaxing while the day slips away. To modernize it, perhaps they are browsing Facebook or Instagram on their fondle slab that they take with them to bed.

But they just waste the day.

Waste the day.

Refusal to embrace a diligent work ethic is sinful.

Why?

Because it violates the primary call of God upon us to echo our creator who works. That's the first question. The second question is what does laziness look like? Let's zero in on it a bit. What does laziness look like?

Well, you can turn over to chapter 22 and verse 13. The first picture of the lazy is of the sluggard who lies and makes excuses. They lie and make excuses. 22, 13, the sluggard says, there is a lion outside, I will be killed in the streets.

Okay, that's sort of an elevated version of the dog ate my homework, right? There's a lion outside. If I go, you kidding me? If I get up and go to work, I'll get killed.

Or 26, 13, the sluggard says, there's a lion in the road.

A lion is in the open square. The sluggard will say all kinds of absurd and outrageous things in order to avoid work. They will lie, they will misrepresent reality in order to get out of work. For example, some more modern illustrations.

Something like, I'm entitled to goof off once in a while because they're underpaying me. Or I'm entitled to goof off once in a while because they're overworking me. Or I deserve a promotion. Or this company makes so much money.

Lies and excuses for laziness. Because what we're really saying by these attitudes is I am exceptional and special. I am exceptional and special, not like everybody else. Because I am wise and reasonable, I can see the big picture that the people who make the rules cannot see.

In my judgment, the rules are not fair and I will therefore adjust them. The sluggard lies and makes excuses. The sluggard takes no initiative. The sluggard takes no initiative. 26, 14, as the door turns on its hinges, so does the sluggard on his bed.

As the door turns on its hinges, so does the sluggard on his bed. Now, the door on its hinges here, it portrays both the inability to get out of bed, shoulder to shoulder kind of thing, as well as the image of a person with a limited range of motion.

You think about a door. A door kind of just opens and closes. It has a very limited range of motion. In other words, they repeat the same unproductive activities day in and day out. This kind of a sluggard doesn't, they do work, but they never press forward into something better, something more challenging.

Instead, they're satisfied with just getting by, a very limited range of motion, no ambition. The sluggard takes no initiative. Third, the sluggard does not finish things. The sluggard does not finish things.

His rare effort at beginning tires him out, and so his food goes uncooked and spoils. Chapter 12, verse 27. The lazy man does not roast his prey, but the precious possession of a man is diligence, diligence.

They don't finish things. Their meals grow cold because they are too lazy to even finish the most simple of tasks. Proverbs 19, 24. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish. He will not even bring it back to his mouth.

This is the picture of a husband standing in front of an open refrigerator, staring in and saying there's nothing to eat.

Right?

Yes, one must apply a little heat, a little effort, and it is there. 26, I did say husband.

I did say husband.

I've observed it in other husbands, you understand. Nothing to eat, honey. 26, 15, the sluggard buries his hand in the dish. He is weary of bringing it to his mouth again.

Okay?

I mean, these are intentionally sarcastic expressions to point out this reality. They don't finish things. They don't even finish the most simple of tasks. How does a characteristic manifest itself? Well, it does it by doing what we like rather than what we should.

By doing what we like rather than what we should. Like cleaning the garage rather than pulling weeds. Or baking a cake rather than cleaning the bathroom. We speaking here about procrastination. That's really what we're talking about.

We are talking about procrastination. Delaying difficult or unpleasant tasks. Not finishing a job. 80 percenters, 80 percenters, okay? The sluggard is proud. The sluggard is proud. Proverbs 26, 16. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can give a discreet answer.

Wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can give a discreet answer. Now, the number seven is the number of perfection. So it's communicating here that the sluggard believes that they know more than all of us.

All wisdom.

This is the root problem of sin. What stands behind laziness is sin. It is the sin of pride. It is the sin of pride. The sluggard considers themselves smarter than everybody else. Smarter than everybody else.

The sluggard doesn't know it all. They reject the counsel of other people. There are calls to get out of bed. There are calls to get to work. There are calls to be diligent and thorough at work. There are calls to honor authority, to take on new challenges.

They deflect them all.

Why?

Because they're convinced they know better. They're convinced they know better.

The sluggard is proud.

They're a proud people. And finally, the sluggard will suffer. Suffer. The sluggard will suffer. Because he makes a habit of soft choices, his character suffers. His character suffers. Proverbs 20 and verse four.

The sluggard does not plow after the autumn, so he begs during the harvest and has nothing. In other words, they're unwilling to do the proper preparation, and therefore, when the time of the reaping comes, there's nothing there.

And they must beg. They must beg. The sluggard is restless and unsatisfied. Proverbs 13 and verse four. The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the soul of the diligent is made fat. 21, Proverbs 21, 25 and 26.

The desire of the sluggard puts him to death, for his hands refuse to work. All day long, he is craving, while the righteous gives and does not hold back. The sluggard is a restless man, an unsatisfied man.

The sluggard is a helpless man. 15, 19. The way of the lazy is as a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway. Here, the way and the path, they are metaphors that refer to a person's customary behavior, their customary behavior.

So the customary behavior of the lazy is as a hedge of thorns, it's impenetrable. They don't make any forward progress. But the upright move forward without obstacle. The sluggard will suffer because they are useless to anybody who would employ them.

Chapter 18 and verse nine. He also who is slack in his work is brother to him who destroys. He who is slack in his work is brother to him who destroys. Chapter 10, verse 26. Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the lazy one who send him.

So is the lazy one to those who send him. Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes.

Irritating, irritating.

The sluggard is useless to those who employ them.

Thus the sluggard will suffer.

The Wise Response, Gospel Hope, and Practical Counsel

So what can a bug teach me?

What does laziness look like? Third, what am I going to do with this teaching? What am I going to do with this teaching?

Chapter 24 and beginning in verse 30.

What am I going to do with this teaching? The wise will take it to heart. The wise will take it to heart. I passed by the field of the sluggard and by the vineyard of the man lacking sense. And behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles.

Its surface was covered with nettles. Where did we hear about that, by the way? Oh yeah, that was last week. And its stone wall was broken down. When I saw, I reflected upon it. I looked and received instruction.

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. Then your poverty will come as a robber and your want like an armed man. In other words, it will come upon you. It will come upon you.

It will seize you. The wise will learn while there is still time. The wise will learn while there is still time. He knows, the wise knows, that the sluggard is not some special case, just an ordinary man, just an ordinary man who's made too many excuses, made too many refusals, too many postponements.

It's all been as imperceptible and pleasant as falling asleep. Teach your children, teach your children the importance and satisfaction of hard work. Hard work done well will prepare them for a lifetime of honor, a lifetime of honor.

Proverbs 22, 29. Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings. He will not stand before obscure men. A man skilled in his work. Or as my mother used to say, cream rises to the top.

Find your job, your work, your employment, work at it diligently, faithfully, honorably, and you will be rewarded. You will stand before kings. And that's more and more true as our society devolves into laziness.

A hardworking person stands out, stands out. Now, if you, like me, have to battle the besetting sin of laziness, then we must not give in to the discouragement that can come. There are times when we wanna quit.

We just wanna quit. We wanna fold our hands and rest. But rather than quit, instead, we must remember and believe the gospel. We must remember and believe the gospel because it is through the gospel that we find forgiveness and deliverance from the sin that so easily hinders us, right?

Pray regularly for the Holy Spirit of God to motivate you, to empower you, to fight the battle with this sin that so easily entangles. Last year, my parents sold their home and moved into a care facility, retirement community, after being in that one home for 65 years.

And my mother, it was a big home, and she collected everything. So I got a package in the mail that included all the school records from my entire academic career through college and into seminary that she had saved.

But the most interesting thing was the records from first grade. Two things stood out. The number of times I requested a parent-teacher conference. But secondly, they said, David has a propensity to daydream.

A propensity to daydream at six years old. David is nearly 66 years old and still has a propensity to daydream. It has been a lifelong fight, a lifelong fight. By the grace of God, we have made progress,.

But the fight is there.

And if that's your fight, and I'm positive in a room this size that for many of you, it's your fight too.

It's your fight too.

But there is victory incrementally in the gospel if we will make this earnest fight with sin, believing that in Christ we have, our bondage to sin has been severed.

We have died with Christ.

We have been raised to walk in newness of life. The spirit of God now lives within. And he motivates and he empowers our battle with sin. Ultimately, the complete victory will not occur this side of the grave, now will it?

I am looking forward to my glorified body when that will no longer be with me. Imagine all the things that I dreamed of that I'll be able to accomplish. It's easier to dream than to do. But Christ is returning.

And he will take us home.

And when he takes us home, we will know the fullness of joy. We will work in Messiah's kingdom and fulfill that purpose for which,.

Part of the purpose for which we have been made.

Let's pray.

Our Father, the word that wounds is also the word that heals. And were our time together this morning be only for the purpose of wounding, that would be cruel indeed. But there is the hope of the gospel.

The hope that we can find victory over sin. That we can and should and will grow in the likeness of Christ. For you have predestined us to that very reality. And so Father, this morning for those among us for whom sin is their, or laziness is their besetting sin, may you grant them a measure of victory this week as they reflect upon the things we've talked about.

For others who struggle in perhaps other ways, the principles remain the same. May you help them to turn to Christ. Find there the satisfaction for their soul and the strength to do battle with their sin.

We ask for Jesus' sake, amen. All right, amazingly, I am three minutes early. So that means we have three minutes for questions. If anyone has any questions on anything we have covered in the prior four sessions, either I'm incredibly thorough or you are totally baffled.

All right.

Oh, we've got one.

Yes?

Yes?

Scripture's dealing with procrastination. Can I get back to you?

Yes.

Very well done. Yes. I would start in the Proverbs. I would start in the Proverbs. There is so much there. I didn't exhaust them at all. There is so much there that speak about the issues of work and our attitude towards it.

And procrastination is just the simple delaying of what is due today for tomorrow, right?

Manana.

Good.

How about retirement? The question is, how about retirement? I'm all for it. Yeah, people say retirement's not in the Bible, but that's not true, it is, actually. Now, the Levitical priests retired at age 50.

However, okay, because being a Levitical priest.

Was hard work.

You're chopping firewood and butchering animals. That's to be a Levitical priest, okay? So at 50, the body's breaking down. So what happened for them in their retirement is they became mentors for the younger priests coming up.

Okay, it's all there.

You can read it.

So what about retirement? I think retirement is conceived in the American dream of working for a period of time and then going on perpetual vacation for 25, 35, 40 years is an absolute fraud and will squeeze the life out of you.

So I don't believe in retirement. I believe in redeployment. I have retired a number of times already.

Retired.

So now I work and I don't get paid. And you know what? I'm good with that. Because I wasn't working to get paid to begin with.

Yes, yes, okay, okay.

Can you give me the name one more time and I'll repeat it? Barb Razalene, I'm not gonna even try to spell it. Oh, like you're unraveling, I see. Barb Raveling, Freedom from Procrastination.

Okay, haven't read it, not familiar with it?

Okay, good. Anybody else?

One more.

Right, yes.

Yes, shame can, improperly handled can be a means of keeping us stuck in a bondage.

That's for sure.

It's interesting, though, that the Bible uses, through the Proverbs, they use sarcasm and shame as a motivating tool, in particular in this case. So there's something about that, but we don't wanna throw somebody a boat anchor.

We wanna come alongside them and help them, for sure. But it is a shameful thing to be lazy. It is shameful.

So, yep, okay.

All the way back. If somebody is struggling with the sin of laziness,.

Mm-hmm, right.

I would recommend taking them back to the biblical theology of work, with an understanding of what work is, why it is a glorious thing, and then proceeding forward from there, and there are probably practical helps along the way that you can come alongside and see.

I wouldn't suggest to somebody, but it all begins, the imperative begins.

With the indicative.

So it begins with the statement about who we are, then motivates what we do. And far too often, we go right to the imperative.

Without the indicative, right?

So it's a statement about our unknownness in Christ that motivates our obedience to the commands of Christ. We're no longer an atom, we're in Christ. So, now we obey like that. So the indicative here is to understand that God created work, it is good and glorious.

It is his creation, and he has willingly shared it with us. And there's tremendous satisfaction in living in accordance with the way God has created us. Frustrations, you bet. Obstacles, all over the place.

But tremendous fulfillment in fulfilling the purpose for our creation. So that's the indicative.

And then the imperatives can come from there, okay?

Last one, yes. It's 1018, I gotta go. That question presupposes a lot, seriously, a lot of things that might be behind that question that I'm not familiar with.

Hey, you know what?

News.

My wife is married to a sinner. And so, we have to work these things out and grow together. And so, a hardworking man married to a woman prone to slothfulness, or vice versa.

Or vice versa.

Maybe more often vice versa. Does that make them unequally yoked? No, not unless he or she is an unbeliever. The sin of slothfulness, when it characterizes your life, leads one to begin to think, huh, maybe you don't really know Christ.

But to have been in bondage to the sin of slothfulness, to be redeemed in Christ, and then to battle it is the Christian experience.

Is the Christian experience.

So, yes? Yeah, that's true.

There you go.

But, yeah, it's not good for a man to be alone.

Yeah, very true, very true.

Okay, thank you.

We'll be back next week. I think it is, I don't remember. I think it's work redeemed. I think we finally get to it. Work redeemed.

Anyway.

The redemption of work.

Thank you, the redemption of work. We'll see you next week.