Rev. David Holwick ZR
First Baptist Church (Good response)
West Lafayette, Ohio
December 11, 1988
Proverbs 24:30-34; 26:13-16
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I. Opening:
A. Laziness of doing presents, cards for Christmas.
1) This sermon is for you!
B. Bigger issue - aggressive or passive approach to life.
1) Winners or losers. It is up to us.
C. Further application - America's loss of competitiveness.
1) Problem is not unfairness of Japan - it is our
inability to face our own weaknesses.
II. Sluggard is comic, tragic figure.
A. 26:14 - Animal laziness: hinged to bed, not just anchored.
B. 26:13 - Preposterous excuses: Lion outside!
C. 20:4 - Final helplessness. No food, no future.
1) Tragedy is that it is preventable.
III. Problems of a sluggard.
A. He will not begin things. 6:9,10 - How long will you lie there?
1) Not a refusal, but a putting off of what needs to be done.
a) A little, a little, a little.
1> Small surrenders add up fast, bring total defeat.
2) 20:4 - doesn't plow in proper season, then can't find food.
a) Ralph Slack's friend, with no pension.
Would be OK if he followed Ralph's advice.
B. He will not finish things.
26:15 - Hand in dish (not bosom): defeated by inertia.
1) Sara Triehy: read 4000 pages, apply to OSU.
Has put off both.
2) John Hanford: 200 page college paper. On SBA.
By time he finished it, agency's program was gone.
C. He will not face things. 22:13 - Lion outside, murder!
1) Excuses.
a) We come to believe our own excuses:
22:13 - Maybe a lion is outside!
b) Couple always had 20 excuses for not coming to church.
Yet never missed work.
2) Will not recognize himself in this sermon.
a) 26:16 - Self-deception. Wiser than anyone else.
1> Rationalizes personal failures.
IV. Results.
A. He is restless. 21:25,26 - Desire for more.
1) Craves, 21:25. Never satisfied. Always wants more.
a) The tyranny of desire.
b) Wishing is a substitute for working.
1> Tabloids - get rich quick schemes, trinkets.
Never pay off.
2> Fallacy of lotteries.
B. He is helpless. 15:19 - Way blocked with thorns.
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.
C. He is useless.
1) Exasperating to those who send him.
a) 10:26 - Vinegar to teeth and smoke to eyes.
b) Eventually they will give up on him.
2) Useless to himself - he has nothing to show for his life.
a) 24:30-31 - Thorns, weeds, ruins.
b) What will you leave behind as a testimony?
V. Alternative - be a winner. 24:32 - Wise man considers slothful.
A. Think positive.
B. Act positive.
1) Take charge of your life.
2) Don't blame or wait for others.
a) Not even God. He has given you valuable resources.
3) Don't delay.
Sen. Phil Gramm:
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.
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Notes from Derek Kidner on "Proverbs":
I. Sluggard is comic, tragic figure.
A. Animal laziness: hinged to bed.
B. Preposterous excuses: Lion outside!
C. Final helplessness.
II. Problems of a sluggard.
A. He will not begin things. 6:9,10
1) Not a refusal, but surrenders to smallest excuses.
B. He will not finish things. 12:27, 19:24, 26:15
C. He will not face things. 22:13, 26:16, 20:4
III. Results.
A. He is restless. 13:4, 21:25,26
B. He is helpless. 15:19
C. He is useless. 18:9, 10:26
IV. The sluggard's lesson.
A. By example.
1) Ant shames him twice over. 6:6ff
B. By experience.
1) Awakes to find poverty has arrived. 6:11
2) Shirking hard work leads to drudgery. 12:24
3) Disorder in his life is irreversible. 24:30,31
V. Reaction of wise person.
A. They learn from sluggard. 24:32
B. Sluggard is not a freak, but ordinary person.
1) ...who made too many excuses.
2) ...who made too many refusals.
3) ...who made too many postponements.
C. Becoming a sluggard is as easy, and pleasant, as falling asleep.
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