Rev. David Holwick Q Series on Proverbs
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
June 18, 2006
Proverbs 24:30-34
SIGNS OF THE SLUGGARD
I. An epidemic of laziness.
A. Parents on strike.
The dishes, garbage and dirty laundry would pile up for days
the Barnards' two sons, ages 12 and 17, refused to do
their chores.
So in early December 2004, the parents went on strike.
They moved out of their house and into a domed tent set up in
their front driveway in the Florida town of Enterprise.
The parents wouldn't cook, clean or chauffeur their boys around.
The mom said, "We've tried reverse psychology, upside down
psychology, spiral psychology and NOTHING has motivated them
for any length of time."
The strike took the boys by surprise.
They came home from school to find their mother outside with
handwritten signs that read "Parents on Strike" and
"Seeking Cooperation and Respect!"
The Barnards had tried smiley-face charts and withholding
allowances to get their kids to do chores.
They even sought help from a psychologist.
The tipping point may have been when the 17-year-old didn't
offer to help his sweating, struggling mother work on the
lawn one Sunday, even though she was recovering from
serious surgery.
Afterwards the mom said, "I had already made the decision to
strike by then, but I had absolutely no motherly guilt
after that [episode]."
The strike struck a nerve around the world.
They were inundated with requests for media interviews and
appeared on "Good Morning America."
People passing by gave them encouragement, and one woman even
told them they should put the KIDS outside.
Mark Rapport, a professor of clinical psychology at the Univ.
of Central Florida, said teaching children responsibility is
one of the most important tasks parents can undertake.
He also noted that parents are busy and often times it's easier
for parents to do chores themselves then repeatedly nag
their children to do them.
What was the result of the strike?
A million websites describes the strike but I couldn't find a
single one that said if it worked or not! #28814
B. Diligence makes a difference.
1) We can have an aggressive or a passive approach to life.
2) Winners or losers - it is up to us.
II. The sluggard is a comic, tragic figure.
A. Animal laziness. 26:14
26:14 As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on
his bed.
1) He is hinged to the bed, not just anchored.
2) He makes an effort to get up, then rolls back in again.
3) Sort of like people who need three settings on the alarm
clock.
B. Preposterous excuses. 26:13
26:13 The sluggard says, "There is a lion in the road, a
fierce lion roaming the streets!"
1) Does he really believe this? Quite possibly.
2) Irrational fears limit many people from being effective.
a) There are real dangers in the world but we tend to
exaggerate them.
C. Final helplessness: No food, no future. 20:4
20:4 A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time
he looks but finds nothing.
1) If you don't put anything in, you don't get anything out.
a) Harsh frontier reality.
Example of "Frontier House," a PBS reality show.
Three families recreate life in 1883 Montana.
The Clune family has a lot of fun, but knows they need
hay for their animals to survive the winter.
At the end of the summer they cut some grass, but it
is no better than straw.
All of their animals would have died.
The Clune family, too, most likely.
#9524
b) The tragedy is that this is preventable.
1> Don't put off important actions.
2> Do what needs to be done, when it needs to be done.
3> Paul summarizes: "Don't work, don't eat." 2 Th 3:10
2) Application can also be made to saving for the future.
a) Even ants know they have to prepare ahead. 6:6-8
b) Have you? IRA in place, savings?
III. Problems of sluggards.
A. They will not begin things. 6:9-10
6:9-10 How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will
you get up from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of
the hands to rest...
1) Not a refusal, but a putting off of what needs to be done.
a) A little, a little, a little...
b) Small surrenders add up fast, bring total defeat.
2) Take initiative and get things going. Don't just dream.
B. They will not finish things. 26:15
1) Defeated by inertia.
26:15 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.
2) Modern example - Television watching.
Nothing very good is on. What do you do? Keep watching!
a) Establish a checklist for what you want to do in a day.
C. They will not face things. 26:16
1) Will not recognize himself in this sermon.
a) Self-deception: wiser than anyone else.
26:16 The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than
seven men who answer discreetly.
b) Rationalizes personal failures, makes excuses.
2) An honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses can
be very valuable.
IV. Results of sluggardness.
A. They are restless.
1) Ruled by cravings, never satisfied, always wants more. 21:25
21:25 The sluggard's craving will be the death of him,
because his hands refuse to work.
21:26 All day long he craves for more, but the righteous
give without sparing.
2) Wishing is a substitute for working.
a) Supermarket tabloids - get-rich-quick schemes.
They never pay off.
b) Fallacy of lotteries.
B. They are helpless. 15:19
1) Easy way turns out to be hardest.
2) Worse than helpless: he may end up sinful.
a) 15:19 implies he is fundamentally dishonest.
15:19 The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns,
but the path of the upright is a highway.
C. They are useless. 10:26
1) Exasperating to those who send him.
10:26 As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,
so is a sluggard to those who send him.
a) Eventually they will give up on him.
2) Useless to himself - he has nothing to show for his life.
a) Thorns, weeds, ruins.
24:30 I went past the field of the sluggard, past the
vineyard of the man who lacks judgment;
24:31 thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was
covered with weeds, and the stone wall was
in ruins.
b) What will you leave behind as a testimony?
V. Alternative - be a winner.
A. Learn from the mistakes of sluggards. 24:32
24:32 I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a
lesson from what I saw.
1) Even sluggards do some good - they teach the rest of us
valuable lessons.
B. Think positively.
1) Take charge of your life.
At the turn of the last century, a young boy quit school to
help with the family expenses.
When he was fifteen, he became interested in automobiles
and worked in a garage.
He subscribed to a correspondence home study course on
cars and, after a long day in the garage, studied at the
kitchen table by lamplight.
When he felt ready, he walked into the Frayer-Miller
Automobile Company of Columbus, Ohio.
When Mr. Frayer noticed him, he asked, "Well, what do you
want?"
The boy replied, "I just thought I'd tell you I'm coming
to work here tomorrow morning."
"Oh? Who hired you?"
"Nobody yet, but I'll be on the job in the morning.
If I'm not worth anything, you can fire me."
Early the next morning the young man returned to the plant.
Noticing the floor was thick with metal shavings and
accumulated dirt and grease, the boy got a broom and
shovel and set to work cleaning the place.
Because of his self-confidence and work ethic, Eddie
Rickenbacker's future was predictable.
He went on to excel in many fields, including automobile
racing and piloting World War I planes.
He shot down 69 German planes and was given the Medal of
Honor.
After the war Rickenbacker founded what was to become one of
America's largest airline companies - Eastern Airlines.
#29583
a) The Bible calls this "diligence," the opposite of
sluggishness.
2) Make plans for the future. 21:5
21:5 The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as
haste leads to poverty.
3) Attitude makes a difference!
C. Act positively. 10:4
10:4 Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring
wealth.
1) Don't blame or wait for others.
a) Not even God. He has given you valuable resources.
2) Don't delay but get started now.
D. Don't give up.
Texas Senator Phil Gramm once said:
When I believe that something I am doing is important and right
I am not easily dissuaded.
I am not afraid of being alone on an issue.
And I don't like to lose.
When I get into a battle, I fight hard.
I don't get discouraged, and I don't give up.
I learned at my mother's knee that the way to succeed is to
start sooner, work harder and know more than anybody else.
And I try to follow that adage.
Losing is a habit. And so is winning.
I don't accept defeat as final.
Only death is final - and even then I hope for a reprieve.
#505
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
Many of the points in this sermon come from Derek Kidner, "Proverbs" (IVP).
The sermon is an adaptation of one I did December 11, 1988.
# 505 "Losing Is A Habit," by Mark Nelson (Sen. Phil Gramm), Reader's
Digest, December 1988, page 160.
# 9524 "They Didn't Get Their Hay," by David Holwick. The website for the
PBS show is at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/frontierhouse/project/.
Details about the show were taken from "Frontier House, Episode 6:
The Reckoning," by Melinda Smith, Reality News Online, July 10, 2002;
http://www.realitynewsonline.com/cgi-bin/ae.pl?mode=1&article=article1951.art&page=1
#28814 "Parents On Strike," by Mike Schneider, Associated Press, America Online,
December 8, 2004.
#29583 "The Most Important Relationship In Your Life - You," by Steve Goodier,
Wit And Wisdom at http://www.witandwisdom.org by Richard G. Wimer,
June 9, 2005. [It is sad to note that Rickenbacker's Eastern
Airlines went bankrupt in 1991.]
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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