And so tonight in your Bible, Proverbs chapter number six, Proverbs six tonight. We're going to spend a couple of weeks here in Proverbs. Next week we're going to look at some of the deadly sins, seven deadly sins that the Bible talks about here. But seven sins really God hates next week.
But this week we want to look at three warnings from wisdom. We're going to read verse one down to verse number 15 tonight. The Bible says in verse one of Proverbs chapter six, My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou has stricken thy hand with a stranger, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. Verse three, do this now my son and deliver thyself when thou art come into the hand of thy friend.
Go humble thyself and make sure thy friend. Give not sleep to thine eyes nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a rove from the hand of the hunter and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. Go to the ant thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise, which have no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long will you sleep, O sluggard, when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. So shall thy poverty come as one that travelth in thy want as an armed man. A naughty person, a wicked man walketh with a forward or perverse mouth.
He winks with his eyes, he speaks with his feet, he teaches with his fingers. Forwardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually, he soweth discord. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly, suddenly shall he be broken without remedy. And Father, we want to be those who are wise, we don't want to be foolish, and we pray that we would heed the guidance of the Word of God tonight, that we would be wise in your eyes. Even if the world would consider us a fool, that would be okay as long as we would be wise in the eyes of God. And you consider the person wise who not simply hears, but who does the Word. It is the person who builds on the rock that takes in the Word of God and lives it out, and so may we be considered wise in the eyes of our Maker.
And you consider the person foolish who would hear the Word of God but not apply it. And I pray that we would not be foolish in any of these ways. I praise you for the work you've been doing in our teen ministry, nearly 80 last Wednesday, a couple of young folks saved, and for the great number in our children's classes in Awanas, and I pray you'd bless them tonight. And this adult service, may your hand be upon it. Thank you again as we reflect upon precious Maxine Miller's life and for the 89 years, and thank you for those who called out to Christ even today, and may your hand just be upon that family.
Watch over this time we have now, and we ask it in Jesus' name, and God's people said, man you may be seated today. You know, one of the great blessings of having godly parents, and it was encouraging to sit down with Maxine's family and how her son was reflecting on how wonderful of a mom he had and how wonderful of a dad, and you could see the impact that they had made upon his life and just how thankful he was. If you have godly parents, if you had good parents that taught you right, that is a great gift, and it's something that we should all be very thankful for. If you did not grow up with spiritual parents or parents that maybe had a positive influence, maybe you had a lot of negative influences from even your parents, tonight you can be thankful because God is your father, and he is a father of all those who trusted in Christ, and it's such a blessing. I know when Eric Woodworth came to know Christ, he said, I didn't learn to be a man of God by my dad. He wasn't even saved.
His dad got really saved after Eric did even. His dad's a great man now, and he's faithful to the Lord and serving Christ, but he said he learned to be a Christian man by coming to church and seeing other men in the church. So just understand that you're creating an influence both as men and women, grandparents. Just know that that faithfulness in your life, your love for Christ, is impacting other people, and it's a big deal, and your words carry weight, and your life carries weight, and you use that influence, use that weight in a positive way, speak it into people's lives, encourage them, think about each way. How could I help other people be faithful?
How could I pass my faith on to others? And so tonight, warning comes from wisdom, and that's one thing that love does, that's one thing that wisdom does. It not only points you in the right direction, but it tells you what not to do. Wisdom actually starts with warnings. It starts out by saying these are things you should not do. Before you can start doing the right, you have to stop doing the wrong.
There's things you have to put off before you can put on the new man. So Ephesians tells us in chapter 4, 22 through 24, to put off the old man, renew your mind, and put on the new. And so this is a chapter filled with warnings, and we're just going to look at three of those tonight in the verse 15 verses. Verse 1 through 5, he warns against bad financial decisions, specifically co-signing, and then verse 6 through 11 is warning against laziness, and then finally warning against bad company. So let's look at the first part, warning against co-signing, maybe a unique point to consider, but I think it is one that needs to be thought through and talked through so that maybe you may not find yourself needing to be a co-signer or having somebody co-sign for you, but this is something you can be an influence to give people biblical guidance on. And so chapter 6, verse 1, he gives two conditional clauses here.
He starts out in verse 1, if thou be surety for thy friend. And so surety is an ancient equivalent of co-signing a loan or pledging one's property as collateral for someone else's obligations. And what co-signing does is it removes or lowers the risk for the lender. They don't want to carry the risk, and so they pass that on, and they need someone because they can't trust the person they're lending enough. And so it means you become the security for the loan.
If they're unable to pay back the loan, then it would fall on you. Verse 1 goes on to say, if thou has stricken thy hand with a stranger. So to strike hands would be to pledge that loan or that guarantee in a formal way. We would say sign on the dotted lines, they would shake hands.
It used to be in America, your handshake and word meant something. Now you have to sign like three million papers, right, for a $50 loan. Now Solomon warns against guaranteeing the debts of others, whether they are a friend or a stranger.
This was the promise to pay the debts of the friends or strangers if they failed to pay it. Verse 2, Solomon speaks about the consequences for those who become surety. He says in verse 2, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, and then he says thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. And so repetition is the Jewish literary device for emphasis.
It's the way for them to elevate something that is severe. Repetition is their exclamation point. And so you see this in the New Testament. Jesus would say, verily, verily, or truly, truly, you know, Paul said in Galatians chapter 1, if any man preach any other Christ unto you, let him be anathema.
Yea, I say again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you, and that which you have received, let him be anathema. They would repeat things as a way of exclamation, as a way of emphasis. And so here the double emphasis is on the severity of the entrapment that comes from co-signing. Now, the word snared is a word that they would use to bait a trap, to catch a bird.
Fowlers, those who would catch birds, would use that. So being snared is the idea. You're being snared with the words of your mouth. And then the word taken there is a military term.
It would be also a term for being captured by a military or being taken as a prisoner. And so to endanger your property by pledging it as collateral is like being taken as a prisoner of war or being one caught in a trap. And so Crown Financial Ministries lists some financial risks of co-signing, and Crown Financial Ministries is a very solid Christian financial organization. But some of the things they say can happen is you are subject to all the payments. In late fees, the primary borrower does not pay. Co-signed loans or credit cards are listed on your credit reports.
Late payments negatively affect your credit score. A legal judgment could be filed. Your wages could actually be garnered if the debt would not be paid. If the primary borrower filed bankruptcy, then you would have to pay the entire balance. There's possible tax liabilities against you. And then just consider the strained relationship if that were to happen. And so I know sometimes people will co-sign for other people and they don't think about the weight of what they're doing. And so I just want you to understand what the Bible's perspective on this is. And the reason co-signing is warned against and viewed so negatively is when a person co-signs for another, they have no way to guarantee that that original person will pay back the loan.
They can't guarantee that. Also, the guarantor, the co-signer, now has put their property basically in the hands of the other person and it's collateral until that is paid off. And so perhaps taking one step back from co-signing would be to even examine the idea of debt. Now, debt is money or possessions which one person is obligated to pay to somebody else. Proverbs 22 verse 7 says, the rich ruleth over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender. Now, the Bible doesn't say it is wrong to be in debt, nor does it even say it's wrong to co-sign, but it's teaching us these are not wise ways to live.
These are warnings to us, not direct commands of God to not do them. Now, when you go out and borrow money and accumulate debt, you put yourself in bondage to a lender. Now, there's two types of debt. There's what would be considered a secured debt and then unsecured debt. Secured debt would be like a loan on a house, a piece of property, or some possession that if you had that loan and you needed to get it paid off and you didn't have the resources, you could actually sell that property or item, whatever it is, and you could pay that loan off. It's secured because there is an asset connected to it. Unsecured debt doesn't have an asset connected to it. It doesn't have collateral. It would be like credit card debt. Credit loan debt, utilities, medical debt, those are the kind of debts that there's nothing you can sell. You accumulate these massive, massive amounts of debt.
I just may be rabbit trail for a minute. I think it's important for people who go to college to make sure that they're wise about that. You don't have to go to college to get a great job. If you want to go to college, you know what path, but there used to be in America it's like, hey, right when you graduate, go to college. Well, I'm not quite sure what you're going to do, but you need to go to college. And then people are walking away out of college with 80, 150 plus thousand dollars in debt. And basically it's like a house payment. So they're going to carry that and they're going to try to figure out how they can now manage a home, manage a family, manage children and all of that by carrying this massive amount of debt, and 50 percent of people who get a degree do not use that degree.
That's 50 percent. Now again, if you know what you're going to do, go do it. I think there are some colleges that have some great options. I think there's, I'm not against going to college.
I'm actually working through some master's programs right now, but it's very intentional. But I think it's important to know that when you're a young person, you want to have some direction. There's nothing wrong with graduating, going, getting a job, and sometimes you can find out, hey, what I do like and don't like by actually putting my hands on it and not just reading something, right? You may think you like a job until you go do it and you're like, I hate this. And now I've got a hundred thousand dollar debt behind me and I'm forced into this, right?
So, but just know that I think wise planning. I think that's why safety and counsel, talk to people. There are some tests that you can take.
I know one of my daughters took a test. It's got about 90 questions and it evades me right now, but it's something that some of the older men in our church advise younger folks to take and it will go through a lot of different questions and it'll give you about a 30 page report and it'll show you really where your giftings are. It's a Christian, I think, I don't know if it's connected with Crown, maybe Ron Blue or somebody like that.
You remember who? Career Direct. Yeah, Career Direct. So if you have questions about that, maybe you're in life and you're like, man, I'm just not sure what I should do in life and get with me and I can send you some information on that, but that can help you get some direction from a Christian organization that has put together an extremely well and thorough process to kind of guide you in the direction that maybe your giftings are so that you can expediate that process. But it's important, the Bible teaches not to let anything to have control over us other than God. And finances have a tendency to do that.
Finances have the ability to grab a hold of the person and control them. Matthew 6 24, Jesus says, you will either serve money or God, and you have to make sure that God in heaven is your God and not money. Now in the Old Testament, it is interesting that freedom from debt was a reward of obedience.
In Deuteronomy 28, verse one and two, it says, it will come to pass if you will hearken diligently to the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all his commandments, which I command thee this day, the Lord thy God will set you above all the nations of the earth and all these blessings shall come on you and overtake you, if you shall hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. And then he says this in verse 12, and thou shalt lend unto many nations and thou shall not borrow. It's interesting when you go back and look at America's history in the seventies, we were the greatest lending nation on the planet. We were the bank, we were the ones that were the lender.
Today America sits as the greatest in debt nation in the history of humanity. Now, again, I know there are people that are losing their jobs in government positions. I know that that's difficult for some people. I get it. I get it. I understand that a lot of government employees did not want to go back to physical places to work.
I'm going to be kind about that. I understand sometimes that there can be reasons that this could be better here and that could be better there. I've just never had a job in my life where I could just stay home and work. But I think when you get to a point in a nation where you say, you know what, this nation will definitely sink. We used to have 4% of the nation that worked for the government. Now it's 25%. 25% of the jobs hired last year during the Biden administration were government jobs. Nothing wrong with being a government employee. We have a lot of government employees in our church. That's why I'm treading lightly.
But I will say this. I have pastor friends who've had to lay off staff because their church could not financially sustain it because the church was going down and their finances weren't there. And I have friends that had that lost their jobs. That's what happens in the private sector because they're not subsidized, right? If you have a business and every business owner knows this, if you're doing good, you hire people.
If you can't afford it, then you have to let them go. What's happening right now in America is necessary. If you want to see America continue, there has to be a huge slashing of a lot of things to get our debt ceiling down. Anybody who understands anything in the area of finances would understand that. You cannot have a government who is pushing the bar of where we can't even pay the interest on our debt.
That's insanity. There's no person, no company would survive that. Government's the only thing that can survive it. And for people to be upset by that, I understand because there are some people that will. It can be difficult. People can lose their jobs.
I understand that. But I think it's one of the best things that needs to happen in our country, and it's necessary. It happens to churches. It happens to small business. It happens to everyone, and it needs to happen to our government because I still care about what kind of country my kids grow up in. Right? You can't sustain 30, 40, 50, how many trillions of dollars do you get into debt when it just collapses?
How do you allow China to hold debt over us? This is insane. Isn't it?
This isn't political. This is just wisdom. This is just biblical truth. The Bible tells us how do you go from the 70s, being the greatest lending nation, to now it's just insane the amount of debt we have.
It's unbelievable. And that's what Deuteronomy 28 goes on to say. He teaches in Deuteronomy 28 verse 15 and then verse 43 through 44. He says, but if it shall come to pass, if you will not hearken to the voice of the Lord your God to observe these commandments. And he says that these curses shall come upon you and overtake you and the stranger that is within you shall get up above thee very high and thou shall come down very low. He shall lend to you and thou shall not lend to him.
He shall be the head and you shall be the tail. That needs to be reversed, doesn't it? And it starts with an honoring of God. It starts with, I'm very thankful that Planned Parenthood just got paused $120 million of funding that was going to go to them. Praise God for that.
That organization needs to shut down, doesn't it? We still believe life begins in the womb and we'll preach that even if it's against the law, we'll still preach it. And so debt is something that you don't want to come under. Debt presumes on the future.
When we get into debt it assumes that we'll continue to earn enough income in the future to pay the debt. Remember I had a friend one time, he was a young guy and he told me, he said, yeah, I want to get married and have a family. He was talking about that, you know, I just really want God to bring the right person in my life. He was in his early twenties. He just got a new job. He called me up a few weeks later and he says, man, I got some great news. I was like, what happened? He said, I thought he was going to tell me he met some godly girl.
No, he met a big truck. So I just brought a brand new truck and I said, brand new? Like brand new to me would be like 10 years old, especially back then. I was like, that was brand new man.
It was like 10 years old, still in the same sense, like decade. I'm great. And he said, brand new. He said, I saved like $7,000. I said, you saved $7,000. I said, you just bought a new truck. I said, you lost $7,000 the moment you pulled off that parking lot. Now there are some people that can buy a new truck and it's for them can financially be all right to do.
And there's tax advantage. I understand all that, but when you're 22 or three years old, that's dumb. Don't write me a letter if you're 22 because I'll write you right back.
I said, you're wanting to have a family? You have an $800 truck payment? I said, you're, I said, go back and beg them to take it back. He's like, no, no, no. He called me up a month later. He's like, I hate this truck.
He's like, I hate this thing. He said, he said, I didn't even think about how much insurance I was going to have. You know how much that is for a little 20 year old guy driving around that big old truck?
Yeah. You know, I understand if you have a business, you have a company, I understand if you're in a place in life where you can do that, nothing wrong with that. But again, as a young man, that's just not the wise step to take. So while you're living with mommy, you're going into insane debt. You don't even have your own place to live, young man.
I lit him up good. But co-signing also relates to debt. And so debt's discouraged. Co-signing is also encouraged.
So it's just like, both are discouraged, I should say. Anytime you co-sign, you're becoming legally responsible for the debt of somebody else. And this is the constant teaching of the Bible. Proverbs 11, 15 says, he who is surety for a stranger will suffer, but one who hates being surety is secure. Proverbs 17, 18, a man devoid of understanding shakes hands in a pledge, becomes surety for his friend.
This just goes on and on and on verse after verse through Proverbs, deals with a lot of this. The Bible teaches it's foolish to make yourself responsible to pay the debt for somebody else. Also ask yourself, why do I need to co-sign for them? Why would I need to co-sign? Basically because they can't afford it. The bank's telling them you can't afford it.
We don't trust you. You don't have a good enough financial setting. But what you're telling them is if you co-sign, if you can't afford it, buy it anyway. Co-signing can destroy relationships. Consider this, Howard Dayton writes, no less than 50% of all co-signers end up paying back part or all of the person's debt. 50%. Think about that. You think that'll mess up a relationship? Hey, can you co-sign this for me?
It'd just be. And then listen to the following story from Crown Financial Ministries. One of the guys who worked there received this letter, one of the top guys. They wrote to him and said, dear Chuck, so I co-signed for a student loan and now I'm stuck paying for it.
Is there anything I can do? Signed, regretful. So Chuck from Crown Financial Ministries responded, dear regretful, unfortunately the same thing happened with my dad.
And we have not found a satisfactory remedy. He was approached by an employee whose son needed assistance to get a head start in life because my father wanted to help and believe the story that the young man would respect those who helped him do what no other family member of this boy's had ever achieved. So he co-signed for a larger student loan. As soon as the boy graduated, his mother quit her job at my father's company and he never heard from either of them again as he was conned.
Chuck with Crown Financial says, I am very tempted to put the person's name on this entry, this journal entry, but he didn't want to put it out there. And he said, we'll turn that over to the Lord. But that can happen. I have heard so many lying sob stories in my life as a preacher. Unbelievable.
It's unbelievable. I don't even want to go down that road. I'm not cynical. I don't want to be cynical in life.
Maybe I am sometimes. But I've had so many people who've lied to me about some financial situation, they're desperate, they're in need of this, and then find out they completely made the entire story up, lied, trying to con me. So the church never gives people just money ever. So if anybody ever walks in, hey, you guys got any money, don't give people money.
If they need gas. I said I wasn't going to tell any story. I had a guy, he said, yeah, I just don't have any gas. These stories are like you could write a book. It's like you're a professional storyteller. Unbelievable, the details.
I mean, they have set down and articulated through their mind like an unbelievable story. So I said, okay, I said, you're needing gas. Yeah, I need gas. Can I just get some cash to get some gas?
So let me go outside. I went out and I looked at his car. I said, how much, let me see your gas tank. He turns it on. He said, I don't have any gas at all.
It goes to like three quarters. He's like, all the gauges broke. He's like, you know, just don't worry about it.
He got his car. I was like, just a liar. I don't even want to go into some of the details because it's so crazy. My wife was in a store the other day and there were some immigrants, won't go into detail from what nation, but a lot of folks who went up to Springfield area and she was in a store. And again, I'm a, I understand if I lived in, if I lived in a third world country, I would run to America if I could.
I would, I get it. But there has to be a legal process. There's got to be protection. Anybody, you know, the Pope comes out and pushes that down.
I'm like, you live in the Vatican with what, 60 foot walls and 250 cameras around you, sir? Anyway, so he, she was having a, there was about eight or 10 people in a, in a store walking around with cookies saying they're missionaries and trying to sell cookies for a certain amount. And she just felt very off. And, and again, I'm, I'm really generous about a lot of things in life. Like I'll help people, but she just didn't feel right about it. And so this guy is supposed to be a missionary. And so she says, what's your favorite verse? And he's like, he started to think about it and then he cussed and he couldn't think of his favorite verse. Isn't that a great question?
Just totally exposed the kid. So you're a missionary who cusses, who doesn't know his favorite verse when asked. You see what I'm saying? They use God to take people's money. Is that evil? That's evil. That's evil. To come to a church and it's just disgusting. So you will lie through your teeth to a level that has no more, no concern for it.
Robbing God's house to go do whatever you want to do with your drugs or alcohol or whatever other thing that you're involved in. Not everybody who's in need does that, but I'm telling you friends and I don't, I don't, I would not say these things lightly, but I'm telling you this is like a 90 some percent issue when I've dealt with people in life, if not higher. And so now what do I, again, I've been to third world countries. I know what desperation looks like. I know what it looks like when you can't eat for days. I know what it's like to say, hey, they don't have anything and there's no way to get it. Like take the shirt off my back to give it to that guy. Do it.
Absolutely. And that's why our churches is gives to missions. We minister out, but America is not the situation where people are, we're a land of insane opportunity, incredible opportunity. It's not like this in other nations. If you've, if you've been to some of these places, you, the desperation that gets in people's eyes because they can't, like they can work, be the hardest worker and they can't get out of their situation. You will earn $5 a day the rest of your life forever. It doesn't matter what you do. America is not like that. Today, I mean, you can be pretty bumish and earn like 20 bucks at a job.
Like there's jobs that will hire a guy and if he's not too lazy, they'll pay him decent wages. It's an incredible thing now, but maybe I need to move on. What do I do if I have co-signed? Look what he says here in verse three. I mean, this is pretty intense. He says, do this now my son, deliver thyself. Like it's a picture of you're trapped in this scenario.
You need to get out. Verse three, when you come unto the hand of your friend, thy friend, the idea is you're under his hand. He's got his hand on you now. He says, go humble thyself. The Hebrew here speaks about throwing yourself down literally at his feet to be trampled on willingly, like begging for him to release you from this agreement. And the passion of it in verse three, make sure thy friend be urgent, plead with him, seek to be released from the bondage.
Verse four, give not sleep to thine eyes nor slumber to thine eyelids. Like a wild animal who's caught in a trap, they're not like, I think I'm trapped. I'm gonna try to wiggle out of this one. I mean, those animals go crazy. They do whatever they can.
They'll chew their leg off if they have to. Not telling you to do that, but what if someone I am close to really needs something? The Bible says there's a couple things you can do.
One, just give whatever they need to them. Go take the loan personally yourself and give it to them. Or lend them the money with no interest. That's another thing Leviticus 25, 28 talks about. But co-signing is an unwise thing to do. Now, are there circumstances under which co-signing a note is permissible? Well, the Bible does not command that you should not co-sign.
It just warns against it. The first time the word for being a co-signer in some sense or surety is used in Genesis 43. Genesis 43, 9, you remember the story of Judah when his son Benjamin was kept in Egypt and he comes back and they couldn't go back to Egypt to get goods unless they brought their youngest son Benjamin or one of their Simeon was kept there. And so he's telling his father and his father's like, listen, I've already lost Joseph.
I don't want to lose Benjamin as well. And Judah said in Genesis 43, 9, I will be surety for him. It's exact same word used in Proverbs 6. Of my hand shalt thou require him.
If I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. He also says that in chapter 44 verse 32. So Judah pledges himself to his father become guaranteed that Benjamin would return from Egypt.
And the Bible doesn't see that as being a negative. It's actually a picture of Christ who became the pledge for us, who became the payment for us and Judah is who Jesus came through that tribe. Paul is also seen in the book of Philemon as being surety for Onesimus. In the book of Philemon, Onesimus was a slave who ran away from his master Philemon. Paul ends up meeting Onesimus. He becomes a believer and Paul sends him back to Philemon who now he says to receive him, he says not as a slave but as a brother. Philemon verse 16 says no longer as a slave but more than a slave a beloved brother especially to me but how much more to you both in the flesh and in the Lord. And then Paul offered to pay whatever restitution was necessary for Onesimus to be reconciled. In verse 18 he says but if he has wronged you or owes you anything put that on my account. So he becomes surety for the debt of Onesimus.
And the Bible doesn't see that as being wrong. So there are situations where you can step in and that could possibly happen where you could cosign a situation but it is warned against. The general principle here Proverbs many of these are not commands of God but they're warnings of how to be a wise person how to be a foolish person but sometimes you have to step into those situations.
Now that's a warning against cosigning against unwise financial decisions. Secondly he has a warning against laziness. Against laziness.
I like what one person said. They said laziness is not laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you even get tired. It's like the kid who takes a mid-morning nap it's like you just got up. When you go to the scriptures you see the lives that God used you find men and women who were workers they God never is seen calling lazy people. Lazy people were never called to ministry in the Bible. When God called Gideon he was sifting wheat on the threshing floor he was literally physically working. Moses was physically working taking care of Jethro's sheep when God called him. When God called David he was watching his father's sheep. When God called Elisha he was plowing in the field. Peter, Andrew, James and John what were they doing?
Fishing. What did they do? They literally had to drop their nets. I mean they were actively at work. Matthew was collecting taxes when Jesus called him. Paul and Silas were busy working at the church at Antioch when God called them to the ministry Acts 13 2. They ministered to the Lord and fasted the Holy Ghost said separate me Paul and Barnabas for the work where into I've called him.
Paul and Barnabas verse 1 and 2 talks about how they were working there. Luke 16 10 says if you're faithful in that which is least you'll also be faithful in much. But if you're unjust in least you'll be unjust in much.
And really the least that he's talking there is the physical things. If you want God to use your life you got to learn to be faithful in the physical parts of life. You can't be a lazy person. You can't be an unwise steward with your finances or with your time.
2 Timothy 2 2 says the things that thou has heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. 1 thing I appreciate about the staff at Lighthouse is they are hard workers. I could not handle a lazy situation. I could not handle somebody who would not work hard. Now I know growing up I think you have to learn to work hard.
Do you remember maybe when you first had a job and you were first learning how to have a work pace? I don't know if this will make sense probably does to a lot of you maybe some it doesn't but I just remember when I started I learned I when we were in fourth and fifth grade we would call all the farmers that we knew can we bale hay this summer for you straw for you and we go out and bale. I remember that was when I think I mentioned one time I would never drink after somebody I'm like this is so disgusting. So disgusting. I can drink after it's just gross.
We go out and bale hay for like 10 hours one day. We had one water jug. I didn't care if a cow drank out of it. I laughed onto that thing. I'm sucking it down.
There's straw in my throat. I don't care. I got over that whole thing that day for good. Remember we started doing mason work seventh, eighth grade, ninth grade. We'd work 60 hours a week a lot of times.
90 degrees. I mean we worked some hard hard times. I would go into two a days as a break from work. Like it was tough. It was tough work. We'd start early work like six to four because the earlier you started the cooler it would be. Robbie Roberts one of those big wealthy guys in Wilmington we put all the brick on his house one year and he's got a massive house helicopter plaid outside and everything and we're putting all the brick up there and you know we're it was just you hustled the whole day. You didn't eat big lunch all you could get down was like a piece of like a sandwich or something you just drank a lot and but I remember just just working hard.
That was one of the best things for me. If you want to mature your children teach them to work. There is a cleansing effect that just hard work has on somebody. It is it is a very beneficial thing but I remember when I started working I just didn't understand the work pace. I mean we would have the mixer going and I'm shoveling it I don't know if it's 21 scoops I probably still remember it after all those hundreds of bags of and things but you would you would scoop sand in there and then you would take a 40-50 pound bag of mortar and you'd break it you dump it in there and it would stir it up you'd wheel the barrel up the hill to the guys put it in a bucket and you would wrench it up to them and and you know at first you're just kind of you're kind of learning the process but I'm telling you man my brothers I had two older brothers that were working and they just got after it I'm like they never work like this at the house like I've never seen them move like this but man but there was such a pride in working hard and man we would just we would run we would run to get bricks and get tallies and pull and it was just this work pace and I remember we'd come here sometimes and I remember one day we were doing some work in here and one of the couple of the teens were working and and I and a couple guys you could see they had learned to grow into a work pace they understood like you go clean something you go work you get it done and and they had cleaned like three quarters of the room and these couple younger guys they were still like slowly pushing their brooms and they you know they just had never learned to work fast hard efficient anybody know what I'm talking about there was a there was a point in life where you learned how to work hard that is an important part of a society people need to understand there should be some there should be some not in a negative way but a pride in like working hard that you worked hard that day that you earned the right to sit down and relax in the evening and eat a good meal like you you sleep well because you're so tired you have worn yourself out you're you know you didn't lounge around and and I have guys sometimes come to me they're like man I had a long week I'm like yeah like man I work like 35 hours I don't I shouldn't even say this stuff out loud that but that's good it's better than 25 or five but it you know but but but you grow into that I think there's there's but but it's building up and understanding that you know the Bible expects you to work you know you know the Bible says in Exodus six days will you work and on the seventh you'll rest six days you work this goes on on and on and on through the Bible six days six days six days now if you work five days some some of y'all work four days like 10-hour days nothing wrong with working 40 hours because on your day off I know you're not sleeping all day there's other things you do than just work right you don't live to work you work so you can live and do things I get that but but it's not that you just you just relax the whole time you know the only reason you enjoy relaxing is because you worked hard does that make sense that's why retirement to me would be an unbelievable nightmare if I didn't have a purpose of like doing something I would need something I don't ever want to retire I want to preach till I die I may not be able to do that you may be like preacher it's you need to come down sit in the front row you know okay I'm gonna get to that stage at some point in my life I get it but I and I know that you can slow down I know the energy slows down through the years I know entropy is a reality I get all that but but the greatest joy in life is that you accomplish something that like my life has purpose and meaning and I wake up and I'm like there's things I need to do today and I get to do and I love to do and I want to do and and you should be having some drive in life now I also want to say it doesn't mean if you have a good work ethic that you never rest because there you can go into a negative side of this where people so pride themselves in working hard that they they're workaholics and that's not good either some never slow down and work themselves to death or they work their marriage into ruin mark 631 says Jesus said to the disciples he says come yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while for there are many coming and going and they have no leisure so much as to eat it's important to have a time of rest through the week a day of rest working hard is not the same as living out of control overwhelmed being a poor spouse poor parent poor Christian to work hard in life means you value each day you value the time God's given you you use it resourcefully to the glory of God and for the good of others it's not where I'm just gonna I'm driven for money I'm driven for success it's that I'm driven to be resourceful to the glory of God with the time that he's given to me and I want to honor God with my life and be beneficial to others foolishness in the area of finances leads to wasteful spending and laziness in life leads to wasteful living to be lazy in life is to waste time it's to waste life God made man to accomplish things not to waste time I look forward to heaven because we can work there I want to work in heaven the rest will have in heaven is that we won't be fatigued by our work but every day you'll be able to do things that are that are you're you're perfect at and that you can accomplish with the best of your ability and you'll have no negative feelings but you just have the joy of you ever have that when you you know we do construction and and then I transition from from masonry into like building and houses and stuff and I love putting up wall we'd frame up a house and at the end of day you look at that man that was a good day work like we got we got a lot accomplished and you felt really good about what you got done you feel so achieved you feel very good about that you know the one challenge with ministry is the building never gets finished what I mean by that is sanctification never happens all the way you see people saved baptized and disciple but it never gets fully there so like if when I used to be in construction like you could you'd the punch out was done everything was finished and you walked away it's like that's complete it just looks wonderful and you'd go to the next project but in ministry it's like I'm never conformed fully into the image of Christ you're never fully arrived either and so it's like it's it's a constant work in progress does that make sense so it's like you never arrive you never like there's things you're excited about but you're always there's a longing to it's like I we're not where we used to be and we're not maybe where we could be but praise God we're moving in the right direction but boy there's still room to grow and you know that that's the process all the way now keys to not wasting time let me give you a couple things set goals have things you want to achieve be organized if you have no goals you're probably not going to accomplish them have some physical goals I think it's important to be physically healthy eat healthy exercise try to get some sugar out of your diet makes you mentally and physically slothful right sugar brain you kind of go like this you eat it you're like whoop and you go back down what I found through life is if if a person cannot be physically disciplined it's hard for them to be spiritually disciplined it's that's an important reality I've seen people in life that they just can't if you can't get out of bed to go to work you're probably not going to get out of bed to come to church faithfully if you can't learn to get your body and bring it into subjection in physical areas you're probably going to struggle in the spiritual is it a they are linked you're not just a spiritual being you live in a body you're not a body with the spirit by the way you're a spirit that has a body and then you should have some spiritual goals reading memorizing praying building spiritual discipline spiritual growth does not happen on accident it comes on purpose intentionality you know Hebrews 5 12 says that this time you should have been teachers but now you need someone to teach you again some of you guys should be teachers some of you should be leading a 242 group you should have two three four five other couples in your group teaching them keeping them accountable investing in them growing them but you're you're not there and I'm talking to the church as a whole there's people that could be there and and and and I'm telling you God expects you to do that the body of Christ must be growing and investing in other people the author says you should have been further along by now 242 was created for that some of you could be life group teachers kids teachers working and helping in other areas I'm telling you get involved 242 is one of the best ways it gives you spiritual disciplines then it helps you keep other people accountable it's absolutely so important family goals do hear journals with your family do it with your wife do it with others I have a guy last year he got saved he does hear journals now on Monday nights with his family he has a son that's out of state every Monday he tunes in and they get together and they're collective together doing that this guy's a new believer lead his family every Monday night plus he comes on Sunday nights comes to and plus he gets up about three thirty every morning drives an hour and a half to work works incredible hours what was your excuse and so I encourage you to do that we've been seeing some great numbers in 242 I encourage you to plug into that Proverbs 6 Solomon warns his son against being lazy he says in verse 6 go to the aunt thou slugger consider her ways be wise he's warning his son not only about co-signing but also laziness you know laziness is worse than co-signing because co-signing you could possibly get out of it but laziness you're I mean that's you're stuck with that you got to get out of that too but it's your ruins guaranteed if you're lazy and he gives the example of the aunt the ants an amazing animal you know leaf-cutting ants can lift up to 50 times their body weights Asian Weaver ants can support up to a hundred times its body weight upside down on a piece of glass you talk about a stud reminds me of Ken Fry for some reason he's he's upside down on a piece of glass holding a hundred times his body weight that's right that's right you know ants live in colonies they they're the they're the longest living of all insects from one year to up to 30 years answer the main movers of earth more than worms in one square mile more than 50 tons of dirt are moved a year I mean it's just worse and he says here in verse 6 go to the ant slugger consider her ways be wise what is some wisdom that could be gained from them verse 7 and 8 they have no guide overseer or ruler they provide meat in their summer and gathers food in their harvest what's the point the ant doesn't need someone to keep telling them do it if you're a parent you know what I'm talking about told you to do that I told you to do it right and and and he says they they get after it they they they're you know I never see an ant like laying down like you know this is I just need a break they're always walking they said they never seem to get tired and then he questions his son in verse 9 and 10 he says how long will thou sleep O slugger now we don't know if he's directly talking to his son calling his son a slugger but he maybe just be talking to the person who is lazy but boy it looks like he's getting pretty personal here for a moment when will you arise out of your sleep I'm sure some of us have said that to a child and what do they say a little sleep a little slumber I just I just need to fold my hands here and sleep a moment you've been sleeping for 12 hours and what's the reward of laziness in verse 11 so shall thy poverty come as one that travels travel if here is a vagabond someone who wonders around begging the idea is this if you're lazy you will have your laziness like a vagabond wandering around begging from you throughout life seeking to take from you constantly it's just constantly your laziness will hound your life it'll be like and you're one as an armed man it will it will constantly seek to take and rob you of your possessions and so the Bible teaches poverty will be the reward of laziness you know the Bible tells us something very clearly in second Thessalonians 3 10 it says Paul said for even when we were with you this we commanded you that if any would not work neither should he eat I remember one day I took a man to came to our church when we were early on in the church and he said I didn't have a he didn't have a place to stay didn't have any food so I said I'll take you get some food afterwards and I took him personally and I was just taking him out of my own pocket and cuz I didn't I'm not gonna give the church's money to something that I don't know if I trusted and so I got him some stuff simple sandwiches and I was going to take him down the set and got in front of a motel and there was a restaurant hiring close by and I said I said listen I said I think we could work something out for you where you could work at one of these local restaurants get enough money to maybe eat there that day get to place here he said I've been homeless for 10 years I said really I said why are you homeless he says because I like it I have to work and I have to work I said well the Bible says if you don't work you should not eat I said the Bible tells you should you have to and because he told me he's a Christian at this point I got a little bit more clear with him I said you know the Bible says if you don't work you shouldn't eat he says well he said I I'm not gonna work he said I and he started getting argumentative I said well I'm telling you I said you need to and he's like you know just keep your sandwich I don't need your sandwich and I don't need a place to say and he got out and walked and I said well thanks I'll keep the sandwich I didn't feel very bad for him what would benefit him is being hungry for a few days to where it's like you know what maybe if the Bible says if you don't work you should not eat is not punitive to them it's motivation for them it's it drives you to work the dedicate an early Christian book that was written in the early first second century they wrote about this the Bible expects you to work there's other things I could read about that time doesn't permit me the Bible Bible really criticizes a lazy person I mean heavily through the book of Proverbs you can just go through and note all the places but Proverbs 10 26 is vinegar to the teeth and a smoke to the eyes so is a slugger to them that send him he just is exhausting and the Bible talks about a slothful man he says there is a lion in the way the lions in the street is a door turns on his hinges so the slothful man on his bed and he talks about how it's cold outside and he doesn't do anything and when he doesn't work in the summer and the spring and come harvest he doesn't have anything and he complains and that happens laziness leads to poverty but I would say this not all poverty is because of laziness there are people that are poor that are that are that are hard workers and they've just landed in some difficult situations so just know that there are people you need to be generous to and help out and and always be that way and be ready to distribute as Romans 13 says Proverbs 19 once as better as the poor that walks in his integrity than he that is perverse in his lips and as a fool but you know that what Jesus said that great warning against this and I gotta be done is the person who's lazy with God you know what Jesus said to the man remember to the three stewards when he gave five talents when he gave two and when he gave one the man he gave five times to spoke only like 15 or 20 words Jesus said well done now good and faithful servant he doubled the Lord's money the next man spoke the same exact words 15 or 20 words he doubled his Lord's money what's interesting when you study the parable in Matthew 25 the third guy spoke like 60 words he had a bunch of words and you know what he didn't do anything he buried the Lord's treasure what he did he the idea there is he did nothing for God well he confessed he knew God but he did nothing for him you know what Jesus said to him you wicked and lazy servant that's what he called him that's what Jesus called him you're a wicked and lazy servant you knew I reap where I do not so he said you ought to have deposited my money to the bankers and am I coming I would receive the back my own interests so take the talent from him give it to him to have 10 talents and then he says cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness they'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth the fruitless life is the unsaved life Tonya God expects us to serve him one day we're going to see his hands that served us we better not be sitting on our hands for him the church is the body of Christ minister in the people's life serve the Lord be faithful thank you for being here on a Wednesday I have one more point we're going to we'll get to that next week it'll tie into next week's sermon I got tied up on that lazy stuff I but but tonight wisdom financially and wisdom with our time you only have so much money and you only have so much time and wouldn't you be wise with it we need to live in such a way that says God let me use the resources you've put into my hand and the time you've given to me both can be taken like that and let me use them in a way that would bring you great glory and that would bring great good to my fellow man that I would love God the way I live and I would love others as myself amen so you would stand with me this evening.
