PROVERBS ~ "This Is How We Do It" - (Week 5) - Proverbs 26:13-16

PROVERBS ~ "This Is How We Do It" - (Week 5) - Proverbs 26:13-16
Pastor Nathan Deisem - Fathom Church

Proverbs 26:13-16
13 The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!
A lion is in the open square!”
• THERE IS NO LION! (I’m explaining this to you b/c you look nervous).
o He doesn’t want to go to work, or to the store, or out into his yard!
- He knows people will criticize him unless he has a good excuse!
• LAZINESS – Turns mind into a skilled engine of excuses!
o [[[ I saw this at the sewer and in security ]]]

14 As a door turns on its hinges,
so does a sluggard on his bed.
• Doors go nowhere! Hey are held there by the hinges!
o Swing – Swing – Swing – Swing (Useless – Unproductive – Aimless)
- He is becoming immovable – useless – Self Destructive
• He will lose his job – money – friends – blessing – life …

15 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.
• Notice something … The sluggard has food … for a moment!
o Maybe: he wasn’t always lazy, feel bad for him, they believe his excuses!
- This is making him a self-destructive fool! (Comical but serious)!!!
• He can’t even raise his own food to his mouth! (Starvation)

16 The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes
than seven men who can answer sensibly.
• The skilled/imaginative/lying Slugard is syched about his own excuses!
o He might even believe his own excuses and start to think he is wise!!!
- Laziness - not only self-destructive – Irredeemably useless!
• The late stage cancer of laziness is pride in one’s laziness!
o Examine yourself honestly? Has this ever been you?

PERSONAL AND CORPORATE!
- Proverbs 10:4 “Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.”
- Proverbs 12:11 “Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.”
 Proverbs 14:23 “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.”
- 1 Timothy 5:8 “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
- 2 Thessalonians 3:6-10 “6 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

- Ephesians 5:15-17 “15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

APPLICATION
1. The inner desire/love for ease, bed, TV, rest ruins the mind!
2. Laziness creates a skilled rationalizer!
3. It is self-destructive! It will destroy us!
A. Not all laziness is work! – (There are spiritually lazy workaholics)!
B. SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE – DISCIPLE MAKING (Evangelism)

REMEDY
- Titus 2:14
o [Jesus] gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works!
- Christ died to redeem us – to save us from our laziness!
- To set us free for productivity in His Kingdom, Gospel, Mission!
*** Let’s Pray ***

#FathomChurch #NathanDeisem #ThisIsHowWeDoIt #Proverbs

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