Slugs and Bugs: Be an Ant, Not a Sluggard (Proverbs 13:4) | Louis Azuma

Speaker: We're gonna be in the Book of Proverbs again.

So if you need a worksheet, you'll get a worksheet.

If you got your Bible, you can head over to Proverbs.

But I'm gonna pray for us, um, and we'll, we'll dive into God's word.

So let's talk to God Father in heaven, we are here because we need your wisdom.

We're really bad at living life.

Um, and sometimes we don't wanna admit that, and that's

part of our own foolishness.

Part of the reason we're foolish is because we don't think we need your help.

And so I pray for anyone here who thinks that they don't really need

you, that they don't really need to hear what you have to say, that

what you call us to do is optional.

I pray that they humble themselves, or I pray that you humble them and show them

how desperately we all need your wisdom.

And we're not here because we're trying to be better than other people.

We're not here because we want to, um, show off and, and be proud.

We're here because we all need you.

I need you, God.

So I pray that you give us all wisdom to live a life that matters,

a life that, um, is fulfilling and satisfying, um, your way and not our

own, because our own way is really bad.

So give us humility and give us a desire to learn from you this evening.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

All right, we are gonna be in Proverbs chapter 13, starting in verse four, okay?

Proverbs 13 · chapter mention

We're gonna jump around a bit, but we are gonna be in Proverbs 13,

and we're gonna be talking about, uh, about hard work and laziness.

And, um, if you don't like bugs, you might wanna close your eyes, okay?

'Cause, uh, we're talking about bugs right now.

So this, for those of you who don't know, is called an emerald cockroach

wasp, which is one really cool thing and two really bad things.

Um, an emerald cockroach wasp.

I think it's from Africa.

Okay.

And what it does is this thing, uh, kills cockroaches, which might be a good thing.

But this wasp, what it does is it, um…

So it breeds using cockroaches.

So it puts its egg inside of a cockroach, and then the egg eats the cockroach from

the inside, and that's how it, how it comes out, which is really, really gross.

Um, but what this thing does is the, the female wasp, it'll sting the roach.

So it lands on the roach and stings it once.

First time, it immobilizes its legs, which is kinda wild.

Then what it does is it injects, like, what they call

neurotoxins, uh, into its brain.

So it, like, poisons the cockroach's brain.

And so then the cockroach doesn't wanna run away anymore

because it's changed its, like…

It's put, it's poisoned its brain, so now the cockroach is,

like, super relaxed and calm.

You know, like when they need to put you under for, like, surgery

or something, they, like, kinda just make you really chill.

It does that to the cockroach, and then the cockroach is, like, super

chill, and then the wasp injects its babies into the cockroach, and that's

how it happens, which is super gross.

But the whole point, right, is the cockroach doesn't mind.

The cockroach is, like, super chill.

The cockroach is like, "Yeah, just inject your larva into me, and I will just

chill right here while you do that Right?

The cockroach has been tricked into thinking that this is

totally fine, not a big deal.

But really what's gonna happen is it's gonna die.

The cockroach is gonna get eaten alive from the inside by this thing's

kids, which is horrifying, right?

Um, and that's super disgusting, but the whole point is you and I are

kinda like cockroaches sometimes.

That's definitely why you came to True North tonight, to hear that.

Um, because there's something really subtle that tricks us into thinking

everything's okay, but really it kills us from the inside, and that's laziness.

Right?

Laziness doesn't feel like a big deal, right?

If, if you were gonna name, oh, what are like the worst sins someone could do?

Or what's the easy…

Like, well, last week we talked about one of the easiest ways

for someone to ruin their life.

You wouldn't say being lazy is like top three, right?

You would maybe put, I don't know, greed or lust or selfishness

or something like that, right?

You wouldn't put laziness high up on that list.

And that's the point.

Laziness, it, it seems chill.

It literally is chill, right?

You're not doing anything.

But what it does is it slowly and very peacefully kills you.

That's what laziness does, much like our emerald cockroach wasp friend here.

Laziness is a slow killer.

So Proverbs 13:4 is where we're gonna start, and we're gonna learn

Proverbs 13:4

what makes laziness so deadly, okay?

So Proverbs 13 verse 4.

Proverbs 13:4

If you're not there, I'll have it on the screen for you.

"The soul of the sluggard…"

Sluggard, that's like a lazy person, right?

Um, "The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the

diligent," someone who works hard, who's, who, who does their things methodically

and, and very thoughtfully, right?

They are richly supplied.

They've got everything they need, right?

So the person who's lazy, they want a lot of stuff.

They crave it.

They're like, "Oh, I wish I could be really good at this.

I wish I was more like this.

I wish I could have that."

But they don't get it, 'cause they just sit there and do nothing.

Right?

They have all these dreams, all these desires, all these

wants, and they can't get them.

But the person who works hard, they have what they need.

And maybe you're thinking, "What does this have to do with Jesus?

What does it have to do with being a Christian?"

Well, God has set up his world where hard work is a, the best way to live.

Working hard is good for you.

Working hard doesn't just s- see, notice it doesn't say it supplies

your body, supplies your soul.

Your soul's gonna live forever.

Your body is gonna die.

Hard work is not just good for succeeding in life and making money and

getting into a good school and getting good grades and being good at your

sport, being good at your instrument.

Hard work is good for your soul.

It makes your s- you the type of person who glorifies God.

Hard work good for your soul, not just your body.

If you wanna put this verse in, uh, four words, here's how I did it.

Lazies lose, workers win.

I don't know if lazies is a word, but it is now, okay?

I'm doing my best Shakespeare impression and making up words.

Lazies lose, workers win, right?

That's all y- all you need to take away from there.

God's wisdom, that's the whole point of Proverbs.

Proverbs is God's way of life.

How, how does God say we should live?

God's wisdom shows us that hard work and self-discipline are the path to happiness,

while laziness is the path to death.

And remember, Proverbs, everything's life or death.

There's not like, oh, you can just be kinda lazy and okay.

Everything is a path, you're going towards life or you're going towards destruction.

One of two ways.

And laziness is the path to destruction.

Hard work is the path to life.

But first where we wanna start, Proverbs, right, we talked about wisdom is a heart

issue and foolishness is a heart issue.

So let's start with the heart.

First thing we're gonna look at is recognize what your

work says about your heart.

Recognize, right?

Rem- think about it.

Okay, what does my work say about my heart?

What does my work say about my heart?

I don't know if you've seen these recently, but I have…

I don't know even know if they're new.

They might not even be new, 'cause I'm old, and so I don't

know what's new and what's not.

But you know those, like, statements that people try to make sound like

really profound but they're not?

Super cool.

I'll give you an example.

Like, uh, "Don't live for the weekend, weekend your life."

Right?

Uh, 'cause you- people say, "Oh, yeah, like, live for the weekend, you know,

just work really hard on weeks so you can do whatever you want on the weekends."

They're like, "No, you shouldn't do that.

Instead, you should just make your whole life a weekend."

Right?

So, "Don't weekend your, your living, weekend your life," or,

uh, "Don't grow your comfort zone, comfort your growth zone."

Right?

I don't even know what that means, but it sounds interesting.

Um, "Don't think outside the box, box outside the think."

Maybe, maybe that one's something that you, you think would be good.

Um, "Don't make memories to remember life, live life to remember memories."

That was another one I saw.

Um, but the- the- the most significant one, the- the- the-

the featured one is always, "Don't love your job, job your love."

Right?

Which essentially is the- the spin-off of, uh, if you fi- if you work at

something that, like, is really your passion, that you love, you won't

actually feel like you're working, right?

If you do something for your job that you, you think is really cool,

you're like, "This is awesome.

I love this," it doesn't feel like work.

Because you're like, "Oh, this is fun.

I enjoy this."

Right?

That's the whole point.

Don't…

Right?

If you- if you love your job, it's not gonna feel like a job.

You're gonna be like, "Oh, this is just great.

I love doing this."

There's even in the-the secular world, the non-Christian world,

they know that there's a connection between work and your heart.

Because if your heart is in your work, it doesn't feel as

much like work anymore, right?

Because work, what you work at, is actually an expression of your heart.

What you put your effort into is really like a value statement.

What's important to you?

Well, what do you put your effort into?

What do you think about?

What do you try really hard to do?

What do you want to get?

What do you spend your, your blood, your sweat, your tears on?

Your hours, your money.

That's a value statement, right?

So your work is really showing your heart.

If you don't work hard at something, that shows you that

you don't really care, right?

If you don't think something's important, you're not gonna work very hard at it.

So your work shows what you value.

And that means that to be a hard worker, it comes from within, right?

People can force you to work hard temporarily, but as soon as you're on your

own, you're not gonna work hard anymore.

If you're really a lazy person, that'll come out from the inside.

If you're a hard worker, that'll also come out from the inside, and we see that here.

We talk about more bugs in Proverbs 6.

You don't have to turn there.

I've got it on the screen for you.

But he sa- he's talking to lazy people.

He says, "Go to the ant, O sluggard.

Consider her ways and be wise."

So you can learn a lot of wise things from an ant.

That's what he's saying.

"Without having any chief officer or ruler," right, there's no supervisor

supervising the ants, right?

No one's like, "All right, you clocked in at, at 8:00.

Uh, make sure you finish all your work by 5:00, and then I'll let you go."

Right?

There's no one saying, "Oh, do your homework.

Make sure you finish."

Right?

There's no, there's n- none of that.

No one's doing that for an ant.

"She prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest."

Right?

Ants are always doing stuff that's productive.

They're always, they're working hard.

They're doing things.

They're building things.

They're killing things.

They're bringing food back.

They're, they're always working, and no one's telling them to work because

they have this inner drive, the way God designed them, to work hard.

Work has to come from within.

That's what this proverb is teaching us, that work is a heart issue.

Whether you wanna work hard or not, self-discipline is not

about you trying really hard.

It's not about you having a bunch of life hacks.

It's not about you reading a bunch of good books or, or listening to

this cool podcast that'll teach you three ways to be more productive.

Those, those are helpful, but really hard work comes from your heart.

It comes from what you think is important

So your work and your lack, or your lack of work, right, your laziness,

shows really your allegiance.

Who is important to you?

Not just what.

If you're a Christian, your work should show your allegiance.

Your work should show, I think God is most important.

Whether it's your schoolwork, your actual job, your sports, your instrument,

your activities, hobbies even.

What you work at is gonna show you where your allegiance is.

Is my allegiance with King Jesus?

Do I think he's important?

Well, look at what you put your effort into, 'cause that's where your heart

is telling you what's important, right?

So your heart is reflected in your work.

Something else that work shows about your heart is actually

that laziness is prideful.

Maybe you've never made this connection before, but our proverb here does it.

Proverbs 26:16 says, "The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than

Proverbs 26:16

seven men who can answer sensibly."

So the s- the, the sluggard, right, the person who's lazy, he thinks he's smarter

than a group of really smart people

If you notice, laziness, one of the people's favorite excuses when

you're lazy, when you and I are lazy, one of our favorite excuses

is, "Well, you don't understand."

Right?

"You don't really know.

Uh, I, I would have gotten this done, but you don't really

know what my circumstances are.

You don't really know what happened, or you don't know…

I mean, you don't know what my teacher's really like, or you don't know, like,

math isn't the way it used to be."

Right?

Like Mr.

Incredible, right?

The math's not mathing, right?

Only the, like, only Matt got that.

That's fine.

Um.

Great.

Um, laziness usually mean, is, is an assumption that, well, I'm better

than this, so I don't have to do that.

I'm too good for this.

This isn't worth my time.

See how prideful that is?

I'm above this.

I'm better than this.

Or this person that I'm trying to work for doesn't deserve it.

My boss is, they don't deserve my hard work.

My parents don't deserve my hard work at my chores.

That's what really, that's one of the things you're saying when you're lazy.

You're saying, "I'm too important to do this."

Or sometimes what you're saying is, "Well, you don't, if, if you knew

what my life was really like, you would understand why I'm lazy."

That's you saying, "Look how smart I am."

And sometimes when people tell us, "Hey, I think you need to

work harder," we get mad at them because we're being prideful, right?

We're saying, "Well, you, you don't know.

You don't know what it's like."

That's us being, usually being prideful.

That's not them being demanding.

Sometimes it is, but the first thing you should do is not

say, "Oh, you're demanding.

Just stop, stop asking me to do stuff."

The first thing you should say is, "Am I being prideful?

Am I being wise in my own eyes?

Or is this person maybe right?"

So think about what does my laziness say about God?

Does my laziness show God I don't think you're important?

'Cause that's being prideful, right?

If, if reading the Bible's hard for you and you just don't do it 'cause

you don't feel like it, or you don't wanna make the time to do it before

maybe you need to go do your other things, that's you saying, "God, my

sleep is more important than you."

Or maybe you stayed up too late the night before scrolling on

your phone or watching a movie.

That's you saying, "That was more important than you, God."

Or you don't make time to pray, right?

You, you say, "Oh, it's too hard for me to focus when I pray,"

but you're not really trying.

That's you saying, "God, you're…

Y- I'm, I'm way more important than you.

My…

You're not worth my focus."

That's so prideful when we say that.

Or think about what laziness says about others.

Laziness is really very unloving because no one really wants a lazy person, right?

You don't want a lazy friend, especially on a group project, right?

You don't want a lazy teammate.

You don't want a, a, a lazy, you know, group member in, like, your,

your instruments or on your team or anything like that, right?

You don't want a lazy person.

It's really unloving to be lazy.

Proverbs 10:26 says, "A lazy person is like vinegar to the teeth."

Proverbs 10:26

Anyone here drink vinegar before?

Not a pleasant experience, right?

That's what a lazy person's like.

Or smoke to the eyes, right?

You're ever at the, at the campfire and the wind just blows all the

smoke straight into your face and you start crying immediately?

That's what a, a lazy person is like.

That's what God says.

It's so unloving to be lazy.

And really, the reason we're lazy is because we're only thinking about us.

We're not thinking about, oh, how is my laziness affecting other people?

How does my lack of effort hurt the team or maybe it's how is my

lack of effort hurting my family?

Because especially in your house, if you don't do the chores,

someone else has to do it, right?

How is my laziness affecting my parents or my siblings?

And maybe you think, "Well, it's m- they're the parents,

it's their job to do it."

That's you being wise in your own eyes, saying, "Well,

I'm smarter than my parents.

I don't need to do it.

I'm a kid.

I'm more important than them.

My time's more important than them.

My entertainment is more important than them."

So laziness says a lot about your heart, and so does hard work.

What you work hard at shows you what's important to you, right?

If you think God is really important, you're gonna say, "You know what?

I don't understand all the things that are happening in the Bible, but I wanna learn.

I'm gonna try to understand maybe 5% of what I read.

I'm gonna try really hard and take away what I can, and then next time,

I'm gonna get a little bit more.

Maybe I'll get 6% of what I read."

You work hard at that 'cause you say, "God's important."

Or, "I, I can only pray for two minutes and focus."

Great.

Give God your best two minutes, and then the next day try to give him three.

Work hard at it, 'cause that shows God, "I think you're important."

If you just say, "Oh, it's too hard, I'm not gonna do it," that's

showing God you're not worth it.

You're not worth my effort.

And that shows that your heart doesn't think God is very important either, right?

So your work really reveals your heart

And so really the way to change your work ethic is to change your heart, right?

You need to change your, your desires, your loves, your appetites, 'cause

that will change your hard work, right?

You don't change outside in.

That's sometimes helpful to, okay, I gotta get new habits,

I gotta figure out new plans.

But really it's just, it's, it's about whether you want to or whether you don't.

'Cause if you really want to, you figure out ways to do it.

If you really wanna do something…

I had a, I had a pastor who was really annoying, but whenever I

would tell him, like, "Hey, I really wanna do this thing, I just can't

right now," he'd be like, "Well, if you really wanted to, you would."

Which is super annoying, but really true.

The things you really wanna do, you make 'em happen.

The things you kinda wanna do, you sometimes make 'em happen.

But you always make time for the things that you think are most important, right?

You always make time to eat, 'cause if you don't, you'll die, right?

'Cause that's really important to you.

So really you need heart change, right?

Discipline and self-control and all these things is really trusting God.

You know what?

Maybe I don't wanna do this, or maybe this is really hard for me, but I trust

God, your way is better for me, so I'm gonna work really hard at it, even though

it doesn't come naturally to me maybe.

Maybe loving this person doesn't come naturally to me, maybe we don't really

have a lot in common, but I'm gonna love them and work hard to love them

because I'm trusting God that, you know, you loved me first, and I wanna

love others like you've loved me.

And you recognize I'm really hard to love and God still loves me, so I'm gonna work

hard to love these other people, too.

So to change your discipline and change your self-control and your laziness, you

really need to start with your heart.

And really all of the change happens little by little.

Right?

All the change in your life do- usually doesn't happen big moments.

It's not like, oh, this little thing happened, and boom, my whole life changed.

Usually y- you become the person you are moment by moment, decision by

decision, and that's something that we see in the Book of Proverbs 2.

So our point number two is respect the power of little by little.

Respect the power of little by little

I almost put this as respect the power of a little, but if Josh

and Caleb were here, didn't wanna make things confusing for them.

Um

Anyway, respect the power of little by little

So no one…

If you see, if you notice this, right?

The, the opposite of the sluggard is someone who's diligent.

Right?

When you think of someone who's diligent, you don't think of someone

who does something once, and then they're like, "All right, cool.

I did it.

I'm done.

Don't have to do that anymore."

Right?

If you think of someone who's diligent, you think of someone who's working a lot,

who's consistently working, who spends a lot of time doing something, a lot

of effort over a long period of time.

Right?

That's diligent work.

No one becomes wise, no one becomes a hard worker just because they did something

once, and then now they're a hard worker.

Right?

Being a hard worker is something you grow little by little in.

But also, being lazy is something you become little by little by little.

Uh, we talked about this at the beginning, right?

Where laziness feels good and, and it kills you.

Um, but laziness, that's, that's what makes it so dangerous, right?

Is it's little by little.

It's not, oh, one moment I decided to wake up and be the laziest person I know.

Right?

No one becomes a sluggard overnight.

It's…

Laziness is a lot like one of these things.

Right?

These boa constrictor guys.

I'm bringing out all the ugly animals for this.

Um, I learned this about constriction this week.

Um, I used to think that you would suffocate, right, if a giant snake,

you know, like constricted you.

I used to think you died by suffocation.

Not true, actually.

The way that this animal is dying, whatever this animal is,

I think it's a mouse or a rat.

The way it's dying is every time it breathes-

Out or in?

Out.

Out, 'cause it gets smaller when it breathes out, right?

Every time it breathes out, the snake gets a little bit tighter

And so it gets lit like centimeter by centimeter.

The snake, every time it breathes, gets a little tighter, a little

tighter, a little tighter, and then its organs stop getting blood.

So it really stops the blood flow.

It doesn't stop it from breathing, and that's how it dies.

But one breath's worth of squeezing doesn't hurt it, right?

It, it's kinda like, you know, the, the air, the, how they take your blood

pressure at the doctor, where they fill that thing full of air, right?

And it kinda feels good at first.

I'm always scared that like, what if they keep going and it, like, destroys my arm?

Like, what if they…

Uh, now you're gonna be scared of that if it happens to you.

Um, but if, it kinda feels good at first.

You're like, "Oh, I like it."

Like it's, it feels good.

I don't know.

I, I enjoy it.

Maybe I'm weird.

I kind of enjoy when they start, like, filling that thing up and you

can feel the pressure on your arm.

And similar, right, laziness feels good at first.

If you think about it, this starts as a hug

This starts as a hug but then the hug doesn't stop.

Right?

The hug gets tighter and tighter and tighter and tighter, but each

movement doesn't do anything really.

It barely does anything.

Right?

If you think about how much, when you breathe, how much you, you can

push in, it's really not that much

Each individual moment you decide to be lazy doesn't really hurt in

the moment, and sometimes you don't even notice that you're being lazy.

But slowly, laziness, little by little, moment by moment, choice by choice,

distraction by distraction, right?

Quit by quit, every time you, you quit, you give up too early, it

constricts you, and it will kill you.

That's what Proverbs 24 says, "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little

folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber,

and want," not having stuff, right?

Wanting things, "like an armed man."

This happens little by little.

That's the danger of laziness, is it happens a little bit at a time.

You are slowly becoming the product of all of your decisions.

Every time you, you make a decision, you make thousands of decisions every day.

You're…

It's almost like you're casting a vote.

Who do I wanna be tomorrow?

Do I wanna be a lazy person or a hardworking person?

Every time you decide to focus when you are tempted to get distracted, every time

you decide to do something hard that you don't really wanna do but you know is good

for you, you're casting a vote saying, "I wanna be a hardworking person tomorrow."

And you become that little by little.

But every time you, you check your phone when you're supposed to be working, every

time you think your boss isn't looking or your parents aren't there, and so you

go really slow when you're doing work.

Every time you, you do the little things, the little compromises, oh, I, I…

You can cut the corner on, on when you're running laps, or you, you,

you take a rep off the, the, the amount you're supposed to do, right?

Those are all ways that you, little by little, become a lazy person.

And the one rep didn't kill you, but it made it easier for you to, to do

one less the next time, and it made it easier for you to get distracted

when you should've been focusing that other time, and it made it easier for

you to go and go and go and go, and then suddenly, right, your organs stop

working 'cause your blood stopped, right?

But it went little by little

Every time you make an excuse and believe it and convince yourself, "Yeah, you

know, I didn't really need to do that.

That wasn't really that important," or, "It's okay.

It, it's fine.

I was too tired.

I didn't have to do that," or, "They just really made me angry,

and I just needed to take that off."

Every time you believe something like that, you're slowly, little

by little, becoming a slugger

Laziness produces destruction, but it does it very happily, right?

Laziness makes you very willingly go to your death.

You're like, "Oh, this is great.

I'm enjoying this," right?

It's like falling asleep.

You're like, "Oh, this is…

It's, it's…"

It just happens, and you don't even notice it

That's what laziness does.

It's, it willingly kills.

You're like, "Oh, this is fun.

I enjoy this very slow death that's happening to me."

The good news is though, is hard work is also little by little, right?

Let's say you listen to the sermon, you're really convicted, you're like,

"Oh, I'm gonna be a hard worker.

I'm gonna work for the Lord, do things from the heart for Jesus."

Well, if you just feel that once, and you're, you wake up tomorrow and you're

like, "Oh, I'm gonna do it," and you're like, "All right, I'm a hard worker.

Done."

That's not gonna work out for you, right?

It happens little by little, right?

So maybe for you, if you're, let's say you're like, "I'm really convicted.

I've, I've been lazy.

I wanna, I wanna be a hard worker," and you ha- come up with these big plans

to do all this awesome stuff, sometimes that's not the best way to do it.

Sometimes you just need to take a, a little bit more, push yourself a little

bit further than you did last time.

Instead of trying to go from, "Well, I've never…

I, I don't read the Bible at all," to, "Oh, I'm gonna read the, the

whole Bible in six months," right?

That's a bad idea usually, right?

Maybe you should say, "I'm gonna read one verse every day," or, "I'm gonna read one

chapter of my favorite book of the Bible every day," or, "Maybe I'll ask my leader

for an easy Bible reading plan to do."

Right?

You go little by little, and then you grow, and you grow, and you keep

pushing yourself, and you keep asking questions, and, and that's how you grow

So growth in a positive way happens little by little, but also so does

growth in a negative way, right?

Decay happens little by little

And we talked about all those decisions you're making, right?

Every, every minute you're just … Right, right now, you are deciding whether

to focus or whether to zone out.

And that's you becoming more lazy or a, a harder worker moment by moment.

What do you do?

How do you convince yourself to do that?

How do you, how do you

Because we talked about your heart, right?

It's about the heart.

It's not about, "Well, I just gotta do this 'cause I'm supposed

to and 'cause being a Christian is about following all these rules."

That's not what it's about, right?

Being a hard worker doesn't make you a Christian, right?

Doing your chores better doesn't make you a Christian

You do the chores because you love Jesus, and you want to do them for

Him and because you love your parents, because Jesus loved you first.

Right?

You don't do the chores and say, "Well, now that I'm good at my chores

and that I'm obedient and I'm nice and I work hard, I do my homework on

time, now it makes me a Christian."

That's not how it works, right?

But you need to make all these decisions, but what do you…

How do you do that?

Well, one way you can do that is think about the results.

Think about w- who am I gonna be tomorrow?

Where is this gonna take me if I keep doing this?

So point number three, evaluate the results of laziness and discipline

Evaluate the results.

Think about it.

Think about what's gonna happen.

Who am I becoming if I keep doing this?

Is this gonna make it harder for me to, to love God or easier for me to love God?

Proverbs 25:28 says, "A man without self-control," a person

Proverbs 25:28

without self-control, right?

Who doesn't have any ability to stop themselves from doing something.

"They're like a city broken into and left without walls."

If you think about this back in the day, right?

When this was being written, a city needed walls 'cause otherwise the armies would

just come in and, and take over, right?

Like, you think of Joshua, the Battle of Jericho, what do they need to do?

They needed to take all the walls down, right?

That's what they needed God to do

If you don't have self-control, right, if you're an undisciplined person, you

are vulnerable because your desires take you wherever they want you to go.

You want something, you have to do it.

You, you wanna check your phone, you have to.

You, you feel anxious, you have to give in.

You're tempted to lust, you have to give in.

Something's hard, you have to give up, you have to quit

You're vulnerable.

You are a city without walls.

Any desire can come in and take control of your life.

Any impulse you have, you're at the mercy of that desire.

Right?

We talked about this before, like you're trying to walk a dog, but

really the dog's walking you, right?

Your desires are just taking you wherever they want you to go, right?

In, in, in a sense, you're slowly becoming like an animal.

Animals don't have self-control.

They, they s- they, they wanna do something, they go do it.

They feel something, they, they have to act on it.

That's why Proverbs 26 says that a fool returns to his v-

his vomit like a dog, right?

Uh, f- really, if you're an undisciplined person, you, you're losing part

of what it means to be human.

That you have self-control.

You can decide not to do something.

You can decide to do something.

That's hard.

So maybe to evaluate, am I letting my, my body tell me what to do?

Right?

Oh, I'm really…

I was just really hungry, so I had to lash out and be impatient.

Or, uh, that person just really gets on my nerves, so I just

had to, had to get back at them.

Or you know what?

I just, these are, this is just the way my hormones are at this age, and that's

what I have to, I have to do this.

I have to feel this way.

I have to think about these things

That's you being controlled by your body, right?

Your, your impulses, y- your hormones, your, the bare chemicals in your

brain are telling you what to do.

"Well, I just felt anxious, so I just had to, had to do that.

I just was so angry, I just couldn't stop myself."

Your feelings are walking you

Right?

Christians, by the power of God's Spirit, not because they're

better than other people, can tell their feelings what to do, right?

That self-control is a fruit of the Spirit.

It's not a fruit of you trying really hard.

And it comes from you saying, "I, I'm gonna do this because I love God.

I love God more than my sin, so I'm gonna say no to it,

because I'm saying yes to God."

Right?

Self-control is more than just saying no.

You have to say yes to something else.

If all you do is say no and say no and say no, it's not gonna last very long.

You have to say yes to something else.

That's the secret of self-control

Something else you can think about is how does this affect other people, right?

How does me being lazy affect other people?

Maybe you think, "Oh, I, I really don't wanna be a, a lazy person," and you're

like, "Well, I don't wanna do my homework.

It's just too hard.

I don't get it.

I don't wanna try really hard."

But think about, well, is this making me, preparing me to be a, a good

husband or a good wife one day, or a good worker or a good teammate?

If you're always giving up on stuff, you're gonna be a letdown

for your team in the future, right?

One time, um, one of my least favorite memories, I, uh, ran away

from soccer practice, um, because I felt like I was the worst player

on the team, and I probably was.

Um, and I was like, "My team must hate me.

They must think I'm horrible.

They must think I'm the worst.

There's no way they like me."

And so I just, like, wouldn't go, and I, like, ran into the parking lot and,

like, hid from everyone because I was

I felt like such a letdown to my team.

I was like, whenever the coach was on the field, I was like, I didn't want the ball.

Like, I would just … Like, the ball came to me, I would just pass it to someone.

I was like, "I don't want this."

Like, I … It was just … 'Cause I felt like I was letting everyone down.

I felt like I was a liability.

Right?

Laziness makes you a liability

People can't count on you to do things.

You can't do-- No one can trust you with important things because

y- you're not gonna finish them.

You're not gonna do them.

You're gonna give up.

It's too hard

So think about how it affects others.

How does my, how is me working hard gonna affect others?

Well, they can trust me, they can rely on me.

I can be a blessing to them.

I can serve them.

That's, that's a good thing to think about, right?

Also, if you work hard, you can enjoy the things that you really want to do.

Uh, I don't know if you've ever thought this to yourself.

I think about it a lot.

I would be so much happier if I was more disciplined.

Because every time I do something that's lacking self-control, the next day I'm

usually like, "Oh, that was super lame.

Why'd I do that?

I regret it."

Right, whoever is slothful, whoever's lazy, they won't roast his game.

Like imagine someone's hunting something, and they catch this, like, delicious,

like, deer or something, right?

And they just leave it out there.

They go through all the work.

They, they, you know, they, they got in the stand, and they, they

found it, and they shot it, and they, like, all this stuff, and then

they're just like, "Oh, okay, cool.

Done."

They don't get to enjoy the benefits of what they did 'cause they didn't finish.

They didn't follow through, right?

If you're working hard, you get to enjoy the things you really want to do.

If you're a disciplined person, you can actually do the things you want to do.

If you're lazy, you're not gonna be able to do anything you want.

You feel like you're doing the stuff you want 'cause you're avoiding

hard things, but really, you're not doing anything you want to do.

Last thing, too, is in Proverbs 20 verse four.

"The sluggard does not plow in autumn.

He will seek at harvest and have nothing."

If you're lazy, you miss out on future opportunities, and you're

not ready for future challenges.

And especially at your stage, this is critical.

You are becoming the adult that you're gonna be.

And I know people probably tell you that, and you're like, "Oh, that's so far away."

Right, if you're a senior

This summer is your last summer camp and you're done.

No more.

You don't get them back

Right?

If you're an eighth grader, this is your last year in middle school, right?

It, it just happens.

It goes by.

You have opportunities that you are gonna need to be ready for and

you might miss out on them, right?

You might be a really bad husband because you've been a lazy teenager

You might be harming your future family, your future kids, your future

husband because you are a lazy teenager.

You might be doing that right now

You might be building bad habits that are gonna take you years to undo

because of what you're doing right now.

Right?

You're becoming the type of person you're gonna be, and it's

gonna happen just like that.

And that's why this is so important.

This is why this is really life or death.

So let's pray, then we'll go to small groups

Father, I pray for all of us that you help us to take life more seriously.

I pray that we enjoy the good gifts that you give us, but I

also pray that we realize that everything we're doing matters.

Everything we're doing matters forever, um, because it's

for you or it's not for you.

And so I pray that you help us to really focus on becoming the type of people

that you want us to be, and I pray that we even keep others in mind and that we

would, um, remember the consequences of being lazy and the joys of working hard.

Help us to have a good discussion in small groups.

Help us to be honest.

Help us to be focused, and we pray this all in Jesus' name.

Amen