Slothful or Vigilant

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone. It is Wednesday, October ninth, twenty twenty four. It is currently eleven thirty five am Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. No. I want you to think about this. I want you to look back over your life, right think back to when you were young, when you were a little older, when you were a teenager, as an adult, maybe if you're married, just think back of all the different stages of your life, all the way from kindergarten till today.

0:47 Just think back over your life. What is the best excuse you ever gave someone? Maybe an excuse you gave a teacher, a boss, your spouse. What is the best excuse you ever came up with? Hands down, the best excuse you've ever come up with? What was it? I want you to write down. I want you to write it down and frame it, put it on the refrigerator, and call all of your kids and go, that's the best excuse I've ever come up with. Right there, that's the one you should use. Okay, if you ever find yourself in the following situations. That's that's the excuse to use. Did you ever give an excuse to maybe a police officer who pulled you over? What was the best excuse you ever came up with? What is the best excuse? Now?

1:37 Looking back, do you kind of laugh at the excuse? Do you laugh at the fact that it worked? Now? When we think of an excuse, we think as something offered as a justification or as a grounds for being excused. It can be a note of explanation, say of an absence. You know, you go to school, you need that excuse, you need to be you've been excused from school because well you had a note, you had a reason for your your absence, right. But you know, the basic idea an excuse is you're offering something as a justification, as an explanation, but it's an excuse. And I think the one thing we know about our excuses is that in many cases, I think I think we can say this a lot of times, they're not very accurate or they're not very truthful. You know, maybe there's just a little bit of truth in it, but then there's a lot of not so much truth in it. Right, Hey, hey boss, the reason I was late for work is because you know there was all this traffic. Well maybe there was traffic, but you also woke up an hour late, so the traffic just maybe delayed you a little. You're gonna be late, whether there was a car on the road or not.

2:53 But you use the traffic as an excuse for you being late. And it's somewhat true because it made you later. But if you woke up on time, you would see So is that are you being Is it true? Is it is? It? Falls? Well, let's talk about making excuses. Let's talk about that. Let's see how this all plays out. Hopefully this will be an interesting conversation. Here's what happened. I was sitting here. I always like to let you know how I end up on a particular subject. So I was sitting here going okay, well, so well, I haven't received any emails in regards to all of that discussion about mental assent from the original email er who asked me to cover it.

3:33 So I'm like, okay, well, I could try to do a little bit more work on there, but I've already provided over two hours of content. I haven't heard from the original person who asked. So maybe I'm not going to add three hours already. You know. Now, I'll wait a little bit, see if I handled that subject, you know about mental assent, if I handled it, if they have more questions, We'll just kind of wait and see. So all right, well, we still need to work on the sixth Secrets of the Christian Life, but that subject has become We've spent so many hours on that. I don't know if the book is going to offer us. I think when we get to secret four, five or six, I don't think we're going to get fined any real definitive answers. So I don't know if I really want to get back into that. So what do I do?

4:15 What do I do? Well, I'm like, I know what I do. I open up the sermon audio website. I went to sermons, I went to new and I just kept refreshing. I kept refreshing, refreshing, refreshing, and then all of a sudden, a new sermon. I just kept waiting for a new sermon, And the very first sermon that popped up was what is your lion in the street? What is your lion in the stom? I'm like, lions Okay, we're going to talk about lions. Okay, and there's a lion in the street. Okay, wait, wait, how are we going to Okay, what is he going to talk about? And then he went to the Book of Proverbs. I'm like, okay, well, we've got an entire series that on proverbs. Okay, this works perfectly. Oh and it's only sixteen minutes long. Oh, this is perfect. So we have a short sermon sixteen minutes.

5:04 That's wonderful. That makes it easy to get it all reviewed in one I can do my own additional work. And then I so I started working on some things, putting together some notes, and I'm like, okay, let's do this. So now you may say, well, what is a sermon about? What is your lion in the street have to do with my best excuse? Uh? Maybe it has nothing. I don't know. Maybe maybe I feel that what he's getting ready to talk about about a lion in the street is more about making excuses than about being actually fearful of a lion in the street. But should we be fearful of a lion in the street? Oh? Just are you ready? We're going to listen to this. We're going to see if this all comes together. I know I've thrown out a lot of ideas. Now we'll see if we can bring it all together. And by the time we're done, hopefully you're like, wow, that was pretty good. Hopefully. I can't guarantee that, but that's my goal.

5:58 So here we go. What is your lion in the street? This is what it sounds like. Here we go. So has it with the PowerPoint. So let's go over to Proverbs chapter twenty two. Proverbs chapter twenty two, and starting in verse thirteen, the Bible says, this thoughtful man saith, there is a lion without you, I shall be staying in the streets and turn over.

6:48 Okay, now he just read that once and then immediately goes to another passage. Now, for me, from a preaching perspective, I would probably read that multiple times to really drive home the point. So let's look at Proverbs thirteen carefully. A right, So look at it. Proverbs twenty two thirteen. The slothful man saith, there is a lion without I shall be slain in the streets. The slothful man saith, there is a lion without I shall be slain in the streets. Now what should be the key to that verse. Now we could run to the lion, but the lion is not the key there. Right, It's not that there's a lion in the street. It's the person saying there's a lion in the street. And that person is identified in a very descriptive way. This man is referred to as the sloth the slothful man, the slothful man. Now, what does it mean to be slothful? I think some translations says the sluggard. Some may say the lazy man, right, and the slothful man the sluggard. The lazy man says there's a lion in the now immediately, you know, wait a minute, is there actually a lion in the street?

8:05 Right? This man is like, hey, there's a lion in the street. I shall be slain in the streets. This sounds like someone who's slothful, sluggered, lazy, who doesn't want to do anything, doesn't want to leave, doesn't want to go out and do anything. So what's his excuse. There's a lion in the street and I'll be killed. Right, So you can give this excuse to your kids and next time they'll say, I can't go to school there's a lion in the street. I can't go here. There's a lion in the street, So yeah, you go ahead. I don't know would this one work very well? You don't think this would be a very good excuse. I think this is somewhat a little bit humorous, right, I mean, come on, that's the best you can come up with. Someone could just walk to the window and go, I don't see a lion. Okay, get go, get go, do what you need to do.

8:54 But there's a lion. Now, there's a lion in your head. There's no lion in the street. So look that again carefully. The slothful man, obviously that's the key. There's a lion. Without I shall be slain in the streets. So we want to talk about the slothful man. So do we want to talk about the lion? Or do we want to talk about the slothful man? Do we want to talk about being a sluggard? Do we want to talk about being lazy? Now? Christians love to talk about a lot of sins. Do we ever talk about being slothful, being a sluggard, being lazy? All right, well, let's see where he goes to next. Where does he go to next.

9:37 Or two, chapter twenty six of Proverbs, and we'll read verses thirteen through sixteen of Proverbs twenty six. The Bible says, the soughtful man says, there is a lion in the way. A lion is in the streets. As the door turneth upon his hind just showed up the soft ball upon his bed. The soft will hide at his hand in his bosom. He grieve with him to bring it again to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit. Then seven men can that can render a reason. Let's pray there, and the Father he come for you, and uh, they think for this day, for this time we get to you gather around the word or the UH pray that you break up the foul ground in our hearse and so that the seed of your word may be planted.

10:28 Therein then we may grow by it and be changed by us. And and UH further glorify you and all that we do sayd thing. We ask you these things in Jesus thing Himen. Now I'm not going to get into the whole thing about him praying for God to break up the ground so the seed of the Word can be planted. Because if God is the one who breaks up the ground so that the seed can be planted, then why wouldn't he just break up all of the ground and then everyone the seed could be planted in everyone. Okay, all right, we won't get into that discussion. But let's go back to the past that you read Proverbs twenty six thirteen, Right, the slothful man. Now we have the slowtful man again. So now we see clearly the correlation and the connection between Proverbs twenty two thirteen and twenty six thirteen. The key character here is the slothful man, the sluggard, the lazy man. And what is he saying? Again? In Proverbs twenty six thirteen, there is a lion in the way, A lion is in the streets. So he's still he's standing by his excuse. Right, Hey, guys, I can't go do whatever I need to do because there's a lion.

11:35 Do you really want me to be ripped apart? Well, then it goes on to say, as the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed that. Okay, what do you think that means? What do you think that means? Right, we'll maybe get into it a little bit more. Here, the slothful hideth his hand in his bosom. It grieveth him to bring it out and bring it again to his mouth. Now another another translation has it this way. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish, it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.

12:18 Now that's a that one makes a little bit more sense. Hey, this man is so lazy that once he puts his hand on the plate, he's too lazy to bring his hand from the plate back to his mouth. That's some laziness, right, that's some laziness. All right. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly, the man is lazy. The man is a sluggard, but he thinks he's wise in his own mind. All right, Okay, so we know the sluggard, slothful, the slothful man, I apologize. I whant to start coughing. There. The slothful man is the key character here, this idea of being slothed. But clearly in both passages the lion shows up, And in the title of this sermon is what is your lion in the street? So we're gonna where that's obviously going to play a part in this, I think. I mean, remember, I don't review all of these for I don't review everything. I don't listen to everything before we review it. So let's let's just see where he goes. I already want to jump in, I already want to start taking this apart, but I'll try to stop myself and see where this goes.

13:31 God has called each of us to serve us. The day we got saved is the day we enlisted in the Lord's army. Our supreme commander in chief fitted us with various spiritual gifts, talents, and abilities to carry out his work. While the Lord. Doesn't need us, he graciously chooses to use us. He could have used angels or any other creation of his, but he chose us. Why. I believe we find the answer in First Corinthians, Chapter one, starting in verse twenty six. But before I read that up in verse eighteen of verse three things one Chapter one, the Bible says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishests, but unto us, which are saved, it is the power of God. And then down in verse twenty six, the Bible says, for ye see your calling brethmen, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and base things of the world. And things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not Bring to things that are that no flesh to glory in His presence, but of Him are ye in Christ sees us, who of God is made to us wisdom and righteousness

15:02 and sanctification and redemption. That according as it is written, He that glorious, that Him glory and the Lord. I'm entitled this message. What is your limb in the street? Okay, that was a weird transition. So he read the passages and proverbs and ignores the passages and proverbs. His basic thesis is, Hey, when you guys saved, you've been enlisted to serve, you are to be a servant. Why would God choose us? Then he goes to First Corinthians. I don't know if that it really answers why that seems to kind of explain the who, It doesn't really explain the why the who. He chooses weak, he chooses foolish, which is somewhat confounding because Christians like to think that we're not weak, and no, we're not foolish. We like to perceive ourselves as we're the wise ones, we are the strong ones, we're the mighty ones, we are the godly ones, we're the good people. It's all those people out there that are trash. Where are the good ones?

16:00 But God actually chooses the weak, He chooses the trash, he chooses the dumpster fire, he chooses the But we don't. We like to then convince ourselves, well, he may have chosen us while we were weak, while we were trash, while we were the dumpter fire. But then he makes us better than everyone else, and again I have major issues with that. But he doesn't really articulate that. Now, now he says he's entitled this what is your lion in the street? Okay, so let's see if he's going to go back to Proverbs and deal with this. Let's see where this goes. What is your lion in the street? In both of our texts, we find the words thoughtful and sluggard has come from the same Hebrew word. In his eighteen twenty eight Dictionary, no Webster said that thoughtful means inactive, sluggish, lazy, indolent, idle. Sluggard is one who is habitially, idle and lazy, soughtful, dull, slow, having little motion, as a sluggish river or stream. The lion is just the sluggers excuse, and sometimes we are good at coming up with lions or excuses.

17:11 It sounds like he's reading. It sounds like he's reading instead of just speaking. Right, So that's just stylistic, you know. Look, you can read it. You can do whatever you want, right, Everyone has their their way. I'm just like, to me, I wouldn't need to read that, right, Do I need to read that? Like? Hey, look, here's what it means to be slowful. It means to be lazy. It means to be inactive, it means to do nothing. And this sluggard, the slowful, his excuse is there's a lion in the street. Like, I wouldn't need to read that part, right. There may be some parts I would need to read, but you think that part he could just he could do it. But that's Okay, everyone has their own way, all right. But so you clearly see he has identified that the lion is the slothful man, the sluggard's excuse, the lion is an excuse. Keep that in mind. Let's see how he handles this.

18:05 For why we can't serve the Lord or be used by him, I'm going to address some of these lions. The first is a lion of fear. There are two objects of fear that can be manifested. There is a fear of the unknown and the fear of adversity. God push in our heart. Okay, whoa Okay, that just took a er. I just flipped the car fifteen times. Okay. So he's like, all right, so the sluggard's excuse is there's a lion in the street. So what is your lion? Well, he's going to identify what the lion can, right. The lion just represents excuses, So what excuses can we have? And he's saying that one of the excuse is fear. Now, wait a minute, wait a minute, Wait a minute, wait a minute. We got to think this through. Saying that there's an imaginary lion in the street is not the same thing. Some saying I don't want to do this or do this because of fear. Fear is unless you're just the only way to make this work is your fear doesn't actually exist.

19:09 You're just using i'm afraid. Well, you're not really afraid. You're not really afraid. You're just saying you're afraid because you don't want to do it. If you're going to say fear is an excuse, then it would if you're using proverbs as the passage, then the fear would have to be imaginary. You're not really afraid, but it's not an excuse to say you're afraid. If you're really afraid, if the like, it's not an excuse. If there's a real lion in the street. If there's a real lion in the street, then that's not an excuse. If there is real fear inside of you, that's that's a real emotion.

19:49 You can't just say I'm just not going to be afraid, go away. Fear does fear. Just stop stop being afraid, Stop being afraid. I guess some parents may do that when they're kids afraid, you know there's nothing to be afraid, Just stop it. I guess you can do that rarely. I don't think that actually works. I don't think does that really work? Hey, hey, I know you're scared, but there's nothing to be scared of. Get over it and go to bed. Does that work? Don't you have to possibly help them see that there's nothing to be afraid of. But what if your fear is based on something real? What if the fear is based on something substantive, it's actually there's a reason to be afraid. Well, then it's fear an excuse. See for this to work. Now, I don't know which way he's going to go, but the fear here, if he's going to correlate it with prob these two passages and proverbs. Proverbs gives us an example of a lazy man who doesn't want to do anything, and his excuse is a fictional lion in the street.

20:51 There is no lion. There's nothing in the street. There's nothing there. He's just making it up. Now, this preacher is now saying, oh wait, our excuse is fear. Now, let's see what he's going to do with this. I'm a little nervous where this is going, because fear is a legitimate emotion. You can't just now if you're lying about it, like you're not really scared of anything. I'm just so scared. Okay, good, everybody will left, all right, great, Now I can go do what I want to do. I didn't want to go with them anyway, but I just use the fact that I'm afraid. See now, that would be that would be like the proverb situation, and let's see how he's going to handle it. Hard to do a thing the task and feel daunting when we are left with questions. And God told Moses to speak to Pharaoh and deliver the children of Israel.

21:36 Moses had many questions. Sometimes we get pious when we read his account, but we but we often come to God with the same questions. Sometimes we wonder that God meant to pick someone else. Sometimes we feel unqualified for the job. Sometimes because of our scars, work comings, we doubt that God would use us. Moses had a speech impediments horse, perhaps the stammer or stutter. But I love our Lord's response in Exodus for Versus eleven and twelve says, who hath made man's mouth? Or who maketh the dumb? Or death with a seeing or the blind? Have not I the Lord now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and chief be with thou.

22:16 Shall it say? Okay, but all the situations you're acknowledging, these are real issues. Hey, hey, I'm gonna have you deliver the people of Israel from Egypt. You know, mighty Egypt. Okay. I have some questions and concerns. And just so that you know, though some people he said that Moses had a speech impediment. Now this will be your assignment today. Look in Exodus where Moses says, you know, he has trouble speaking. But then look in Acts and I think Moses is described to someone not with a speech impediment, but is mighty in speech? So was Moses making it up?

23:01 Right? Something for you to consider. We could do some cross referencing on that, but I hear preachers do that all the time. Moses had a speech impediment, but Ax seems to indicate that maybe he's not. So you look that up. What We could do some more work on that right now, but I don't want us to get too far off track. Where my concern is. He went to Proverbs and he says, hey, the softful man makes excuses about a lion in the street, now the lion in the street can represent fear well, And then he cites all of these situations where these people's fear would be legitimate. It's not the same thing. It's not the same thing. If you have legitimate fear, I don't perceive that as an excuse. I perceive that as now, okay, you've got this fear, how should we respond to the fear? Is legitimate fear an excuse?

23:58 The Creator, who's spoke all scenes into existence, can give us the wherewithal to carry out the task. He gives us. What Moses had. To learn and what we have to learn and relearn, is that we are to walk by faith, not by sites. Second Corincians five seven. We don't need every answer, every question answered as we walk along. I don't understand this text and proverbs is not that we need to walk by faith and not by sight and Proverbs. No, you need to walk by sight. Go look out the window. There isn't any lion there. You don't need faith, you just need to see. This has nothing to do with the Proverbs passage. The Proverbs passage, I don't need faith, I just need to get out of the bed, go look and go. Oh, well, there isn't any lion. Huh, Maybe I'm just making an excuse.

24:51 Now if you go look out your window and there's a big lion walking back and forth in your front yard, now you may need a little bit of faith. Now you may need to be like, what do I do there's a lion outside, Ladies and gentlemen, I've got a real concern. Now if you don't go outside because there's a real lion outside, is that because you're making any excuse? I Okay, many answers will come. My Lord knows a way through the wilderness. All I have to do is follow. When I moved from Alaska to Virginia, I knew it was God's will.

25:32 But there were unknowns. But I had to give all of them over to the Lord and trust in his leading. God never leaves his children destroy. When a unknown becomes known, it can show itself to be some form of adversity. Proverbs twenty four to ten says if il fant in the day of adversity, as Frank is small, adversity is defined as tightness and trouble. Sometimes we might say that we are between a off in a hard place. That's the tightness we know that trouble will come, and has said that we are in a storm, coming out of the storm, or getting ready to go into one. That's not the problem. The question is how will we react to adversity.

26:17 I'm not understanding adversity is real. The person in proverbs, the passages that the text, there is no adversity, there's nothing, there's no lion in the street. The dude is making it up, like I, all right, so maybe this is not going to go anywhere, that's what. But that's okay, that's okay, fear not, fear not, because I've got like five pages of notes, so fear not. All right, We'll just let this go a little further. Obviously he's I don't know where he's going with this. This is not and that's okay. Maybe maybe he's new at preaching. That's okay.

27:03 So I'm not trying to be critical in any way, shape or form. I'm just like that text doesn't go with that that I I. Yeah. I For it to work, you would have to be showing people making excuses of things that do not exist. The words adversity and avergary are closely related. First, Peter five eight says be sober be vigilant because your Advergary is a lion, just gidding the averagery. The devil as a roaring lion walked us about, seeking whom he made devour.

27:43 Sometimes we hear saying as roar and recoil. Now wait wait, wait, wait wait. So now he just brought in first Peter five eight. Now that's good. I'm going to bring in first Peter five eight in my notes, right, and so, because I was looking at all this stuff in Proverbs and So, then I was thinking, hmm, they mentioned mentions lion. Well, first Peter mentions a lion, but first Peter's talking about Satan as a lion. Hmm, okay, can these work together? How can I put these together in a way that would make sense and not do damage to the text. Right, So I was coming up with some ideas. I went to Ai. I asked Ai, and Ai was like, well, you could put it together this way. So we'll talk about that in a minute.

28:25 But again, and the way he's mentioning it, it's completely destroying. And Proverbs, there is no lion. Now you're talking about Satan as a lion. Well, if Satan is real and he walks about as a lion. Then that's a real presence, that's not I don't what has that got to do with the guy in Proverbs. I okay, let's just see where this goes. We need to realize this. The Bible says that Satan is as or liked of warring lyon relation five, verse five, we find that Jesus is the lion of Judah. Both in scripture and in the world today. We can see how Satan has counterfeited everything that God has created and instituted. Satan has profaned the family, he has corrupted human government.

29:18 We know that well, don't we. And Satan has taught people how to play church. Here in one Peter, we see him trying to mimic the war of the Lion of Judah. Okay, it is okay. It is a very good observation that the text says Satan as a rowing line, that he is acting like one. He's appears as one, but he's not one. Christ is okay, all right, I see where you're trying to draw a correlation that Satan does everything like counterfeit of Christ. Okay, you could see, well, how does that can we can we go that direction?

30:02 It definitely is something to work on. So this is one of those observations that if I was listening, I'd be writing this down. Say, okay, wait, Satan pretends to be a lion. Do we really say Christ he is the lion? Or is he as a lion as well? Is it? Does this really work? As one is the true lion and one is the counterfeit lion? Does this work? We would have to do some work on that. So I would write that down saying good observation, interesting point, And again I would I there's a part of me that wants to pursue it. The only issue is that has nothing to do with the Proverbs. I need the Proverbs passage. Okay, all right, let's see if he says anything else, we're gonna I think we're gonna leave this relatively quick.

30:47 There is nothing original with Satan but lies and deceit. But he has no match for the lion of Judah. We can and should have confidence in the Lord's protection. First on four, Verse four reminds. Us Okay, we're just gonna stop, because that's not We're getting further and further and further and further away from everything. So let's just look at these two passages again. I'm gonna read these now from two different translations. I'm gonna read Proverbs twenty two thirteen. The sluggard says, there is a lion outside. I shall be killed in the streets.

31:29 Proverbs twenty six thirteen through sixteen, the sluggard says, there is a lion in the road. There is a lion in the streets. As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish. It wears him out to bring it back to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly. Now, if I was trying to help this person structure a sermon, I would say, well, then your focus is on the sluggard, right, So then what you need to do is find all of the characteristics and all of the attributes of a sluggard and then say, here's what a sluggard looks like.

32:10 Is that us? But the way he wanted to do it is, Hey, the sluggard makes an excuse about a lion, what is your excuses? Then he goes to excuses. The only problem is he's basing it off a text where the man's excuse is a lie. It's fraudulent. Now he's taking you're making an excuse when there's a real problem. I don't see when you're concerned or struggling with a real problem, is that being an excuse? Right? You may think differently, all right, So let's do a little bit of work. I will be doing some reading as well here from different sources. Are you ready? Those passages that we just read, they describe wait wait, wait, wait for it, wait for it. Are you ready? The characteristics of a sluggard? Right, That's that's that's really the focus here. Are you and I slothful? Are we a sluggard? Are we lazy? Now a sluggard? We could we could describe it as a lazy or idle person. And it's describing the characteristics through vivid imagery and hyperbole. I love hyperbole. The sluggard makes excuses to avoid work, even fabricating extreme dangers lions in the street, and he does this to justify the inaction.

33:33 This reflects an unwillingness to engage in productive activity by inventing unlikely or absurd threats. The exaggerated fear of a lion shows how irrational and extreme laziness, how irrational and extreme laziness can become. This is this is how irrational. You're so lazy that now everything becomes an excuse, Everything can become an excuse. Well, I can't do it. This, I can't do it, this, I can't do this. This is more about our excuse making. This is more about us being lazy and Proverbs twenty six thirteen through sixteen.

34:13 The writer further expands on the slugger's habits. The imagery of the door on its hinges emphasizes the sluggers endless turning and bed. So as a door constantly opens and shuts right, the slugger constantly just lays in bed, tossing and turning back and forth, back and forth, just will never get out of bed. As you know what a a hinge on a door is going to do. It's going to open and shut, it's going to turn. You know what a slugger's going to do. They're going to be laying in bed. That's the idea, all right. It symbolizes the refusal to get up and work. The description of being too lazy to bring food to their mouth after reaching for it suggests an absurd level of laziness.

34:55 I mean, this is absurd. Oh I'm hungry. Okay, I've got my hand here. Oh I'm so hungry. I just dropped it on my plate. Can someone come feed me? I can't, I can't, I can't put I can't get my hand back to my mouth. It's absurd. It's using humor, almost sarcasm. It's being very ridiculous to get the point across. Lastly, the sluggard is depicted as being self deceived, believing that they are wiser than others, even though their laziness contradicts wisdom. They're so lazy, but yet they think that they're wiser than everyone else. So that means sometimes the sluggard of a thoughtful won't listen, but they'll tell everyone else what they think. Right now, I can bring this to a personal level. One of the things I've become, and you've if you've ever listened to a lot of my preaching, you've heard me say it from the pulpit, because there were times as a pastor I got so irritated with people always arguing with me, but they wouldn't do the work.

35:53 Like I'd be like, okay, we're gonna work on this. We're going to look up every one of these passages. They would not go look up the work, but they would want to disagree. They wouldn't do the study, but they wanted to fight. They didn't want to do the study, but they wanted to disagree. They didn't want to do the study, but they wanted to tell you what they thought. But without doing the actual study. If you're not going to go to the actual study and you're not going to do the actual work, then here's a good idea. You're probably not as wise as you think you are, all right, So, because you're being lazy and you're being slowful, because you're not engaging in the actual study, the sluggard's excuses and behavior points to deeper spiritual issues. Laziness is not mere physical, but can also be moral and intellectual.

36:42 The sluggard fails to take responsibility for their life, often blaming external factors a lie in imaginary dangers. Their inability to act leads to self deception, where they consider themselves wiser than those who are diligent. So it's the idea that you're so lazy that you start making excuses, and those excuses are not even real, And so you become so self deluded that you start thinking you're wiser than everyone else. So it's a downward trajectory. The passage these passages plural highlights that laziness is not only about avoiding work, but about avoiding reality. The slugger's refusal to work or take responsibility manifest in irrational fears and a sense of superiority despite their clear shortcomings. And that's interesting. Does being slough and being lazy, does it lead you to literally avoid reality? That's an interesting concept I've never considered if we take these passages from proverbs and we bring them to a more modern term for some kind of an application.

37:52 These passages are warning or cautioning us against procrastination, excuse making, and self deception. So those are three things to consider. Do you procrastinate? Are you a procrastinator you just won't get it done? Do you do a lot of excuse making? Are you the king or queen of excuse making? Come on? How good? Ask your family? If you make a lot of excuses? And well, are you self deceived? It's easy to find reasons to avoid difficult tasks, often by exaggerating challenges or convincing ourselves that the effort is not worth it. The sluggard's behavior can be a warning against letting laziness become a habit that distorts how we see ourselves in the world around us. These verses and encourage diligence, responsibility, and humility as set of blaming circumstances or avoiding work.

38:44 We are called to face challenges and put in effort even when we feel it is difficult. Additionally, it's a reminder to remain teachable and not fall into the trap of thinking we have all the answers when we are avoiding the very actions that could lead to growth. A lot of people don't A lot of Christians don't want to do the work. They don't they don't want to spend time learning Bible study methods doing Bible study methods. They don't want to learn hermeneutical principles. They don't want to really engage in theology that they want to go around telling everyone you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong. You're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong. I mean, I'm not going to go do any of the actual work. But I'm just going to tell everyone that they're wrong because I read my Bible a couple of times. Proverbs twenty two thirteen and twenty six thirteen through sixteen uses humor and exaggerated imagery to highlight the absurdity of laziness. It is using humor and exaggerated imagery to demonstrate the absurdity of laziness. The sluggard invents dangers to avoid work, is stuck in perpetual inactivity, and believes themselves wiser than others despite their clear shortcomings. These versus teach us the danger of laziness, self deception, and making excuses, urging instead diligence, responsibility, and humility. So I'm like, okay, that's that's pretty good stuff.

40:12 See now we've taken the passage apart, right, we've actually done something with those verses, right, Okay? So I as I as I kind of took that apart and was thinking about it. I'm like, okay, I can I can do that. I've got a challenge. Okay. Are we are we slothful? Do we make excuses? Okay? Do all? Right? We do we procrastinate? Do are we self deceived? Okay, this is all good stuff, good stuff. But then I couldn't help myself. I couldn't help myself. I was like, well, wait a minute. We got Proverbs twenty two thirteen. We got Proverbs twenty six thirteen. Both of them mitched a lion in the streets. And I'm like, well, I know it's not a direct cross reference. Okay. In fact, I would if you were in a hermoneutics class with me and you provided this as a cross reference, I would probably challenge you and maybe even mark you down unless you could offer a good justification. But we know this verse first Peter five eight. Even then, the sermon he had, he couldn't stop himself from reading it. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Now, it's not a direct correlation because in Proverbs there is no lion. There is no lion. But we believe that there is actually a lion, and well it's Satan. So I was like, well, does this work? Does this work? So I had to go to Ai, right, and so I said, I know this is not a true cross reference to those two proverbs references,

41:44 but I couldn't help. But thinking of first Peter five eight, is there a way to connect it in a way that is it taking it out of context? Now? Ai responded, you're right. First Peter five eight, which warrants believers to be sober minded, be watchful your adversary. The devil prows around like a rowing line seeking someone to devour, is not a direct cross reference to Proverbs, because those passages deal with laziness. However, there is a thoughtful way to connect them without taking the passages out of context by focusing on them, focusing on the themes of vigilance and spiritual responsibility. And I'm like, okay, now this could be.

42:25 This could work. Right, we have vigilance and spiritual responsibility. The other one we have excuse making. Right, we have laziness, excuse making and denying reality. First Peter is like, no, no, no, no no. Now we need vigilance, we need spiritual responsibility, We need to acknowledge reality. So Ai said, Okay, vigilance versus excuses and Proverbs twenty two thirteen and Proverbs twenty six thirteen through sixteen. The sluggard makes irrational excuses to avoid taking action. Imagine alion in the streets is a reason to stay inactive. He's imagining it, right, It's not real.

43:10 This is an example of someone allowing fear or stay and I don't like. Okay, now I'm gonna take this back. This is where I disagree with Ai. Again. It's not real fear. It's just an excuse. Real fear is not an excuse. Real fear is real, and it's based off something. Now we have to determine how real the fear is. Are you exaggerating the fear? But I don't like to just say fear is an excuse, So I would say here, this is an example of someone allowing fabricated fear, fabricated danger. That's how I'm gonna word this to justify laziness. The sluggard is not watchful or diligent, but instead indulges in fear.

43:53 See and I'm gonna change this, indulges in imagination to a responsibility. Look, if there's a real lion, then you have real fear. The sluggard in Proverbs is not really fearful that there could be a lion outside. I think the idea is that he doesn't he knows there's no lion. He's just making it up. It's using exaggerated foolishness to almost mock the idea of being slothful. The sloughful person is slothful, and there's no reason to be slowful. Look, if there is an actual concern that there could be a lion outside, then that's a legitimate concern. But when we go to First Peter five eight at five eight, not five eighteen five to eight, it calls for a different kind of awareness. This is there's a difference in First Peter five eight a spiritual vision. It's calling for a spiritual vigilance against a real threat. Now I agree with that instead of fearing an imaginary line. Again, you don't fear an imaginary line. You're making it up, all right, So I'm gonna disagree a little bit here. Right of believers are called to be on guard against a true danger, the devil who's metaphorically described as a lion seeking to harm those who who are complacent in their faith. The connection, the connection lies and how each passage deals with two different kinds of lions. The sluggard imagines a danger as an excuse for an activity and avoids responsibility. One Peter

45:24 five eight urges believers to recognize a real spiritual danger and take action, being alert and engaged in the fight against temptation and spiritual attacks. The laziness described in Proverbs can serve as a cautionary illustration for spiritual laziness and the context of First Peter five eight. Just as the sluggard uses a fictional line as an excuse to avoid work, we might use distractions or fear to avoid the vigilant, diligent life that First Peter calls us to. The spiritual lazy or complacency can make us vulnerable to real dangers like the devil's schemes. So the idea is we can be so lazy because we're making up things that we actually miss out on the things we should really be concerned about, and that the idea is that we cannot allow our laziness to so destroy our vigilance so that we're actually missing out on the real lion. Hey, you're using you've made up the idea that there's a lion out there, But there's really a lion out there. There really is. Now, how do we go from laziness slothfulness to vigilance? And then if we are truly vigilant that there's a lion out there. How should that impact your life?

46:36 In my life, when the sluggard refuses to get out of bed, a spiritual lazy person may refuse to engage in prayer, study, etc. Leaving themselves unguarded against the very real adversary. Although these verses come from different contexts, both Proverbs and First Payd emphasizes the importance of responsibility and action. While the sluggard and Proverbs fells to fells due to imaginary threats. First Peter challenges believers to take real threats seriously and be proactive in their spiritual vigilance. By avoiding laziness both physical and spiritual, we protect By avoiding laziness both physical and spiritual, we protect ourselves from unnecessary harm and stay ready to face real challenges. So how do we summarize this and put this all together? All right?

47:26 Here's the thing, the lazy person. So I want you to consider in what ways are you slothful and what ways are you lazy? Do you procrastinate? Do you make excuses? And do you somehow deny and avoid reality? You won't see things as they really are. You procrastinate, you put off, you start making excuses and somehow you become detached from actual reality. Is that you as a slothful person? Hey? And what ways is there sloth fullness inside of you? Right? What excuses have you made in the last I don't know week? What were those excuses? Why did you make them?

48:08 Right? Really look at yourself and see where is there any level of slothfulness in you? I got that now. At the same time, are you vigilant about real dangers? Now? If we really believe Satan is out there? I don't think Christians actually believe it. But if we really believe Satan was out there as a roy line roaming about, seeking whom he may devour? What what should we actually do? What can actually be done? So? Are you slothful? Are you vigilant? I want to say more, but I'll stop there.

48:51 So to get today, put together all of these passages, put down Proverbs twenty two thirteen, Proverbs twenty six thirteen through sixteen, and one Peter five eight, and you just think about them. Thanks for listening, everyone, Have a great day. God bless