The Lazy Life of the Couch Potato - Part B

Here's the key verse I want you to see. Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.

And then rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. What Paul does in Romans 12 is take the negatives presented in the book of Proverbs, turns them into a positive. What was a contrast and the negative of a lazy person is like this and like that, sluggard in Proverbs. Now he turns it into the positive of not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Many people struggle with laziness. It can be tough just to get up and get going every day. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip shares some encouragement from Scripture on what it takes to overcome laziness and embrace everything God is calling you to do in your life. Then stay tuned afterwards as Skip and his wife, Laniya, share practical insight to help you avoid falling into a habit of laziness. You can break down a big thing into lots of little things. That's good. And so when you're making your list, it may be daunting like, you know, that's never going to happen.

Clean the garage or you know what I mean? But if you break it down into little other aspects. Like eating an elephant, right?

One bite at a time. Thank you, Skip and Laniya. Be sure to stay with us after today's message to hear the full discussion.

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Or give online securely at connectwithskipp.com slash offer. Now, as we join Skip Heitzig for today's teaching, we're in Proverbs chapter 6 and Romans chapter 12. This poem I found, it says, I've gone for a drink and sharpened my pencils. I searched through my desk for forgotten utensils. I reset my watch, I adjusted my chair, I've loosened my tie and straightened my hair. I filled my pen and tested the blotter and gone for another drink of water. I've adjusted the calendar and raised up a blind. I sorted the erasers of all different kinds.

Now down to work I can finally sit. Oops, too late, it's time to quit. So here's a person then that is distracted by so many little utterly useless things that the task at hand is never faced. That's a characteristic of a lazy person.

There's the second characteristic. A lazy person won't finish what he started. He starts, he has good intentions, but he never finishes it. Proverbs 24, you don't have to turn there, you know this by now.

We just read it. Proverbs 24, there's Solomon, he sees that field of that lazy man. Hadn't been plowed, wall is broken down.

The vineyard lies in ruins. So that man, that man who owns that, he started out with the right intentions. Problem, no follow through, man. He had good intentions, but he never followed through.

Now thorns have taken over, now the wall has collapsed. There's another example of this principle also in Proverbs. In Proverbs 12, 27, listen to this one. The lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting.

That's pretty pathetic. Guy gets enough gumption to go out and go hunting. Okay, I'm gonna get my bow and arrow. He goes out there and he actually shoots the animal and brings it all the way home. Then he runs out of steam. It's like, I can't cook it. He won't roast it. There's even a worse example in Proverbs 19, verse 24.

Check this out. A lazy man buries his hand in the bowl and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again. So that's really bad.

That's like fatal. So can you picture the guy? He's got the oatmeal in the bowl, puts a spoon in the bowl, just sort of sits there looking at it. You come back an hour later, he's, I can't be bothered to actually pull this stuff out. I mean, I thought about it.

I actually poured the oatmeal in, but I just sort of, I'm done. I don't know if you've ever had the experience, guys, of sharing a house or an apartment with other guys. So I, you know, picture a house with three or four guys in it.

I'm just speaking from experience. What is so difficult about taking the used toilet paper holder off the spindle and replacing it? I mean, in most modern houses, you can perform that maneuver while seated.

Just sort of turn around and just do that. Things that bother me that I'll never understand. The imagery behind all of these verses that we're reading is here's a person who begins to read the Bible. He's reading the Bible.

He's reading the Bible. One of these verses that we're reading is here's a person who begins something, but he doesn't finish. And the reason he doesn't finish, he always has an excuse. It's a reason to him, but it's really an excuse.

Billy Sunday defined an excuse as the skin of a reason stuffed with a lie. Looking for excuses, not finishing the task. So a lazy man went to the doctor for a complete examination. And after the examination, the lazy man went up to the doctor in his very, very listless kind of slurring way. So go ahead, doctor, just give it to me straight. Be honest.

Tell me what I have. The doctor said, actually, there's not a single thing wrong with you except you're just plain lazy. And the man said after a pause, he said, okay, now tell that to me in political terms so I can say that to my wife. You know, if I come up with a scientific sounding, intelligent sounding excuse, maybe I don't have to do it. So a lazy person won't finish what he started.

Here's the third. A lazy person lives an unfulfilled life because one and two are true. The third is necessarily true because a lazy person won't focus on the task and won't finish what he started. A lazy person lives an unfulfilled life, both in Proverbs six and twenty four in both places. It says, so shall your poverty come on you like a prowler and your need like an armed man. The result will be poverty. You'll still have desires, but you won't be able to achieve those desires. And it's not just the poverty. Therefore, facing this will leave him restless, unsatisfied, discouraged, and frustrated.

How do I know this? Proverbs 21 verse 25 says the desire of the lazy man kills him for his hands refuse to labor. So he's got those hands, but he's not going to put them to work. And therefore, he has those desires, but they never get fulfilled. Again, Proverbs 13 verse four, the soul of a lazy man desires and has nothing. He's got appetites, but they are unfulfilled. He has desires, but they are never satiated. So it's a very unfulfilling life to be driven by the love of ease. And there's an antidote.

There's a fix for this. And this brings us to our our final characteristic. To counteract laziness, one needs a good healthy shot of dose of diligence. That happens to be the opposite term used six times in the book of Proverbs. You'll often find things like the lazy person is like this, but the diligent person is like that.

They are contrasted quite often. For example, Proverbs 12 24, the hand of the diligent will rule, but the lazy man will be put to forced labor. Diligence. How do we get that?

How do we get that dose? Well, I want you to turn and we'll end here in Romans 12. Turn to Romans chapter 12 in your New Testament. And I'm happy to turn to Romans 12 for a particular verse, and here's why. Beginning in Romans chapter 12, we begin what is the applicational section of the book of Romans.

It is the practical part. If you know anything about Paul, you know that he writes doctrine heavy at the beginning and practical heavy toward the end. So he gives some pretty heavy theological weeds at the beginning. Salvation by grace through faith alone, not by works. Using Abraham and others as examples of that. Getting into the argumentation that people would have about the law and the purpose of the law and the internal desires we all have. Covering all that theology, then covering the theology of the Jews in relationship to God's new covenant. Then we come to chapter 12. It's very practical.

It's the now that you know this, therefore do this. And in his practicality. Paul talks about how to get along with your church, how to get along with your family, what to do personally. So he throws all of that together, beginning in verse 9 of Romans 12. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil.

Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love in honor, giving preference to one another. Here's the key verse I want you to see. Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. And then rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. What Paul does in Romans 12 is take the negatives presented in the book of Proverbs, turns them into a positive. What was a contrast and the negative of a lazy person is like this and like that sluggard in Proverbs. Now he turns it into the positive of not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Listen to that verse, verse 11 in the new living translation. Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically. When you see somebody serving God enthusiastically and it's genuine enthusiasm, it's contagious. I don't mean a fake enthusiasm, painted fire, never warmed anyone, but a genuine enthusiasm. It's very similar to Ephesians chapter six, where Paul says work with enthusiasm. Stop right there.

There's more to the verse, but I want you to stop and consider this. He says work with enthusiasm. A lazy person might say, why should I work with enthusiasm? I, you're speaking to an actively disengaged workperson. I'm the guy who goes to work, collects the paycheck, but I'm actively disengaged in my work. Yet Paul says work with enthusiasm.

How do you do that? Now I'll finish the verse. Work with enthusiasm as though you were working for the Lord rather than people.

Ah, now that changes everything. So when he says not lagging and diligence, fervent in spirit, it actually means enthusiasm to the boiling point. That's what fervent in spirit means.

You could even translate it red hot, red hot, enthusiasm, enthusiasm to the boiling point. That's impossible. If you're actively disengaged in your work, that's impossible. Unless you do it as though you're serving the Lord and not people. If you see this as I'm doing this as unto the Lord, it's possible. Everything in life changes when you bring God into the picture, no matter what picture it is, no matter at what point you bring God into the picture.

Once you bring God into the picture, everything changes. Because now it's not, well, I go to work and collect a paycheck. It's I'm doing this for God. I'm serving the Lord. It's more than, well, I'm part of a company and I get retirement benefits. It's I'm doing this as unto the Lord.

I'm serving the Lord. Did you know, according to one study, workers in America admit to spending 25% of their time at work goofing off? I don't know who does these studies. I don't know who would honestly give that information. If it's anonymous, I guess I understand that. Sort of like Facebook, you know, keyboard courage.

You can say anything when you're not saying it face to face. But according to a study, American workers admit to spending 20% of their time at work goofing off. That's one day a week.

And that includes things like personal errands, social media. So an employee died and went to heaven. And as he went to heaven, of course, there's Peter.

He shows up in all these lame stories and he's at the gates with the clipboard. So the guy sees Peter and he says, there's been a mistake. I shouldn't be here.

I'm only 35 years old. Now, first of all, why would anybody take umbrage to being in heaven? But I overthink these things. So he's in heaven, meets Peter and he says, there's been a mistake. I shouldn't be here.

I still should be on earth. I'm only 35. And Peter goes, Hmm, that's interesting. So he looks back at the records, checks them and he says, well, according to the hourly work reports that you've been turning in, you're 97 years old. So how old you are and how old you've been reporting how much time you've been reporting are two different things.

And the point is this, your earthly work, my earthly work should reflect that we serve a master in heaven, the Lord of heaven and earth, because our earthly works reflects how we serve him. Have you ever heard of a violin called a Stradivarius? You've heard of that, right? Everybody has. It's like the most famous. If you think violins, you think Stradivarius.

Usually that comes up in the conversation. So, um, these are expensive. They're not 29, 90, 95. I mean, they're one sold for a million dollars. Another one sold for 4 million. Two of them sold for 10 million. One that I found a lot of them won't sell.

They'll just say value that because it's owned by a museum or institution. One sold not too long ago and is being played by a musician for $16 million. One little instrument, $16 million. Now I don't think the musician bought that. I've never met a musician who can buy a $16 million or anything, but she's playing this. Now, the question that I think everyone has is why?

Thank you. Why? What, what makes that worth 16 million and that thing worth 29, 95?

Well, it's the Stradivarius. So what makes it so expensive? Here's why. First of all, there's a couple of factors. Number one, there's just a few of them left in the world.

Most of them haven't survived. So supply and demand, you only got a few. But number two, Antonius Stradivarius, the maker back in the 1600s used, they say, a kind of wood, a dense composite wood or kind of wood that the way it was cut and curved and braced, put together. The combination of the craftsmanship and the wood creates this acoustic resonance that is second to none.

It's the best going $16 million worth. But here's the backstory. Antonius Stradivarius believed that every violin that leaves his shop be near perfect as humanly possible, because he said, God needs violins to send his music into the world. And if it's defective, God's music will be spoiled. How's that for a work ethic? You know, you could say, yeah, man, I'm just cranking out these violins. 29, 95.

29, 95. It's got glue in it. It's got wood in it. Good enough. The difference between the guy who does that and the guy who says, this is God's music. I'm doing this for God. So then you're not just pushing papers.

You're pushing papers for God. You're not just seeing patients. You're seeing patients for God.

You're not just running that internet business because you're doing it. You're doing it because you're serving the Lord. And that translates into not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.

Now I'm sure that this is not your issue. I'm sure that I'm not talking to a group of couch potatoes, couch potatoes, sofa spuds, but godly achievers that you have diligent lives. And why is that all important? It's important not just for fulfillment now. It is important even for your future because although we are saved by grace through faith, not of ourselves, not by our own works, I hope you also know that you and I will one day be evaluated by the work that we do from the moment we're saved by grace till we get to heaven. That comes as a shock to some people.

It shouldn't. You're saved not by your works, but by grace. But once you're saved by grace, what is done and produced for the glory of God will be evaluated. We will be evaluated by God, the judgment seat of Christ.

1 Corinthians 3, it says, but there is going to come a time of testing at the judgment day to see what kind of work each builder has done, he writes to believers. Everyone's work will be put through the fire to see whether or not it keeps its value. If the work survives the fire, that builder will receive a reward.

But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builders themselves will be saved, but like someone escaping through a wall of flames. So there's a couple of ways you're going to get to heaven. You're going to get to heaven with a welcoming committee and applause and a red carpet.

We've been waiting for you. And some of you might get to heaven. It's like, woo, saved by grace, but got nothing to show after that.

And I'm just hoping that we have more to give to Christ than just our subscription to Hulu or Netflix or our seashell collection, but that we're not lagging in diligence, but fervent in spirit because we are serving the Lord. That concludes Skip Heitzig's message from the series White Collar Sins. Now, here's Skip and Lanya as they share practical insight to help you avoid falling into a habit of laziness. Many people struggle with laziness. Maybe it's because they're people struggle with laziness. Maybe even apathy. I don't know. Can't even be bothered to do what I'm too lazy to do.

Don't even define the word. Especially in today's culture of entitlement. And we like instant gratification. So Skip, what's some practical tips would you recommend for breaking the habit of laziness? You know, I was reading just this morning in Romans 12, and I was reading it in the New Living Translation. I just wanted to switch it up. And it says, Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically. And, you know, I was raised in a family of hardworking parents, you know, my dad and my mom, very, very hard workers, you know, that old Protestant work ethic. And since then, I've learned to look at work as more than work. I enjoy what I do, but also when I don't, to render it as unto the Lord. The Bible says, you know, it's like, Lord, I don't like doing this, but I'm doing this as an act of service to you.

I'm doing it unto you. So that's one tip, you know, you want to sort of begin there. But then I'll tell you something else. Find a productive friend.

That's another little tip that I would give you a Skip tip. Find a productive friend, find a hardworking friend who is able to get a lot of things done in a short amount of time. Watch what they do, you know, get secrets from them. My dad used to say, if you want to do anything, find somebody who does it better than you do. Like if you want to play golf better, don't get somebody worse so you'll feel good about your game.

Get somebody better who will actually teach you to improve. So I found that to be helpful when it comes to work and laziness. Another thing, I use a list. I keep a list. I'm not like Santa who makes a list and checks it twice, but I do keep a list. And though I have a list, I'm flexible with it. If I don't get it all done, so what? But if I get a few things knocked off, great.

I want to be realistic. It's really true. He has a list. You keep it on your cell phone. That's right.

So it must be in that notes app. And so you do knock through it. And I love that you do lists and I was going to recommend that as well. If you need to get something down, you can break down a big thing into lots of little things.

That's good. And so when you're making your list, it may be daunting. Like, you know, that's never going to happen.

Clean the garage or you know what I mean? But if you break it down into little other aspects. Like eating an elephant, right?

One bite at a time. But here's another quick tip. Avoid time wasters. You know, whether it's a cell phone and you're looking at picture after picture and it goes on and on and on or or or vegging out watching television. There's a lot of things that can steal your time and time can go very, very rapidly. So just sort of keep a check on that.

But look, don't be lazy, but don't be so hard on yourself that you turn legalistic. Thanks, Skip and Lenya. We hope you enjoyed getting to know Skip and Lenya through this conversation. Now we invite you to help keep these teachings coming your way as you connect more listeners like you to God's Word. Here's how. Just call 800-922-1888.

Again, that's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. Connectwithskip.com slash donate.

Thank you. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Heitzig examines a sin that's incredibly destructive, but goes so easily undetected and what you can do to avoid it. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast all burdens on His Word. Make a connection. Connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.