MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
(PowerPoints used with this message are available at no charge. Just email me at mnewlande@sstelco.com and request #337.)
TEXT: Proverbs 24:30-34
There is no book in the Bible that has more to say about being ambitious & the lack of ambition than the book of Proverbs. And one passage, written by Solomon, that deals with that subject is Proverbs 24:30-34.
“I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment; thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins.
“I applied my heart to what I observed & learned a lesson from what I saw: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest - & poverty will come on you like a bandit & scarcity like an armed man.”
We can clearly see the picture that Solomon is painting. With your permission, let me retell the story in modern vernacular.
ILL. I was out walking, & I noticed this house. It was beautiful. The lawn was well manicured, carefully fertilized, neatly mowed & trimmed.
The flowerbeds were gorgeous, & it had a large, flourishing garden. The house had been freshly painted, & all the windows were sparkling clean. It was a beautiful sight to behold!
But, as I continued walking, I couldn't help but notice the contrast with one of his neighbors. That house was in a bad state of repair. The lawn looked like it had not been mowed in months. The flowerbeds were full of weeds.
The house itself was badly in need of paint. There were holes in the roof, & some windows were broken.
As I approached that house & opened the gate, it fell off its hinges. Then I felt a sharp pain at my ankle, & discovered that the yard was full of thorns & nettles.
I saw a man sitting on the porch. I greeted him, "Hello, how you?" "Not good at all," he replied. "Everything is going to pot these days. The welfare system is a mess. They don't give me enough money. And I just don't have time to get anything done."
I replied, "Well, I do see that your place is pretty sad looking. You don't have much grass, but you could at least cut down the weeds, & patch things up a bit. And you do have plenty of room for a garden."
"Aw, I can't do that," he says. "You see, I'm worried about my back, & my muscles aren't as strong as they used to be. There's just too much to do."
So as we look at the man, & his house, his yard, & the garden area ? we realize that here is a man who simply has not done what he could & should have done. His house & garden & lawn were all neglected. And that is the subject Solomon is presenting to us ? NEGLECT.
Whenever neglect takes place, the process of decay automatically sets in. This is an important subject, so we are going to ask 3 questions about this man.
I. WHY WAS HE SO NEGLECTFUL?
First of all, "Why was he so neglectful?" And to keep this sermon from being so long, let’s concentrate on his garden.
A. I am sure that if we were to ask him about his neglect, he would probably have a variety of excuses.
1. Maybe he would say, "I don't have enough room for a garden." We know that isn't true, but that might be one of his excuses.
We would say, "Look, here is all this space that could be used for a good garden if only you would use it." "Well," he says, "I know, but it is not as big as my neighbor's, so I didn't even bother."
He had plenty of space for a garden, but he never utilized the potential that was there.
APPL. It is not hard to see that what Solomon is saying applies to our lives, too. God has given each of us a garden - our life, & we can plant good seeds or bad. We can make our life good, or we can make it bad. It is totally up to us.
2. Or this man might say, "Well, yes I do have room for a garden, but my ground just isn't fertile." (Now, some of us who live here in Flint Ridge might understand that, particularly if you have to use a pickaxe to dig a hole to plant flowers.)
He goes on, "If I planted some seeds, they wouldn't grow. I knew it would be a waste of time, so I decided not to try at all."
We could reply, "But if that is true, then how do you explain your tremendous crop of weeds? Ground that will grow weeds that big could also grow flowers & vegetables, because the same minerals that produce a healthy crop of weeds can also produce something worthwhile. That is not a good excuse."
APPL. That's true with life, too. The same qualities can produce either evil or good. So there is a real need for Christians to present to the world the Gospel that can transform lives & change evil into good.
3. Well, the man might say, "Maybe it is fertile enough, & maybe it could have grown a crop, but you see, the environment here is pretty bad. Animals would probably get into my garden & ruin everything. That's why I haven't tried."
But that is not a good excuse either, because Solomon says, ". . . the stone wall was in ruins." Now why was the wall there in the first place? It was there to protect the garden & keep wild animals out. By neglecting the wall, he had made it possible for his environment to turn bad, & thus destroy his garden.
APPL. Sometimes people say, "I would like to live for Christ, but I live in a bad environment." Don't you realize that God has provided all we need to live a Christian life?
In Ephesians 6:11 the apostle Paul tells us, "Put on the whole armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes." Make sure that you are protected from the flaming missiles of the evil one ? & you will be able to live victoriously for Christ even in a bad environment.
B. Well, why then did this man fail? He didn't fail because he couldn't have a garden. The ground was fertile. If he didn't fail because of bad environment, why did he fail? Proverbs tells us that he failed because he was lazy.
In fact, Solomon calls him a "sluggard." That is a fancy word for "lazy." The man was lazy. Solomon says, “I... learned a lesson from what I saw: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest - & poverty will come on you like a bandit & scarcity like an armed man.”
So here is a picture of laziness, & sad to say, laziness is our enemy. We must constantly battle it, or it will defeat us, & we will fail like the man pictured here.
II. WHY IS THIS PICTURE SUCH A TRAGEDY?
There is another question, "Why is this picture in Proverbs such a tragedy?" There are two answers to that.
A. First of all, it is a tragedy because this man failed to realize the value of work. It is everybody's responsibility, whether old or young, man or woman, wise or unwise, rich or poor, to be a contributor to life & society. It is everybody's responsibility to do something constructive.
ILL. Whenever we see a machine, regardless of how impressive it might appear, the first question we usually ask is, "What does it do?"
APPL. The tragedy of this man's life is that he never learned the blessing of giving. He only thinks about receiving. He didn't learn the blessing of working & contributing something to life & those around him.
B. The 2nd reason his life is such a tragedy is because it is through the work we do that our personalities are developed & we reach our greatest potential. So many people today seem to have an aversion to work.
ILL. Have you heard about the man who went to his doctor & told him about his aches & pains & that he wasn't able to do all the things at home that needed to be done.
After undergoing a battery of tests, he said, "Now, Doc, I can take it. Tell me in plain English just what is wrong with me." "Well, okay," the doctor replied. "In plain English: there is nothing physically wrong with you. You're just lazy."
"Okay," said the man. "Now give me a medical term so I can tell my wife."
(Adapted from Steve Shepherd on Sermon Central)
APPL. The tragic thing in this man's life in Proverbs was that because he never worked, his leadership qualities, his sense of responsibility, his determination, & even his feeling of self-worth were never really developed.
We are today reaping the harvest of one of the most affluent generations that has ever lived. We are seeing people in roles of leadership who have been given everything. They never really had to work for it. And because of that, real leader-ship qualities were not developed.
Someone has remarked about the absence of heroes in our time - how poor we are in the area of real heroes.
ILL. What happened to the George Washingtons, Abraham Lincolns & Ronald Reagans - great leaders who led us through perilous times & kept our national integrity intact? What happened to dynamic, inspiring leaders?
And what about sports heroes who can inspire us? There aren't too many, are there? It is hard to find someone to look up to, & admire, & respect in our day.
III. WHAT DID LAZINESS DO TO THIS MAN'S LIFE?
One last question, "What did laziness do to this man's life?" Well, there are at least three things.
A. His laziness contributed to the fact that he was never able to bring in a harvest. He never knew the joy of going out at harvest time, after he had cultivated the ground, planted the seeds, & watched them grow.
He could have grown flowers that would fill the air with perfume. He could have grown crops that would have fed hungry people. But instead, he raised weeds. And he never knew the joy of harvesting his crop.
APPL. You know, every time I look at Christian audiences I cannot but think of the tremendous potential assembled. Jesus started with 12 men, & one of them dropped out, but they turned the world upside down.
Now how about us? For a congregation our size a lot has been accom-plished here. But think of the potential. Think of the victories that can be won through the work & witness of people in this room right now.
B. The 2nd thing that his laziness did was that it caused the weeds to grow. Now, he never made a decision to grow weeds. It was not as though he said, "This year I'll plant weeds & see what a fine crop of thorns & nettles I can grow." He never decided that!
The only decision he made was not to plant anything. Nature took care of the rest. The moment you decide not to plant something positive in your life, look out! The negative takes over.
You can raise a fine crop of weeds with flabby muscles & soft white palms. They just grow on their own. You don't have to do anything to raise weeds. And there are some people just like that. They don't want to be unChristian, but then, they're not really willing to put any effort into being a Christian, either.
"What must I do to be lost?" Nothing. Do nothing, & you are automatically lost. You see, nature abhors a vacuum. And the moment we decide not to cultivate the soil, & not to plant good seed, the weeds automatically begin to grow. They'll grow, & they'll blight your life.
C. That is the final thing that his laziness did. The wall was neglected & the weeds grew. And the picture of total disintegration shows nothing left of his garden. Now the snakes live there. Now the wild animals run through it. It has been totally ruined because the man decided to do nothing.
APPL. Our lives are the same. When we do nothing for the Lord, then the weeds begin to grow. Soon the walls that protected us from the evil one come tumbling down. And without God's presence, evil comes rushing in, & there is nothing left at all.
So this morning, if we, as Christians, are going to live for Christ we must become workers. We must build up the walls, cultivate the soil & make sure that the seed of the Gospel is planted in hearts & lives, so that people may be changed from producing evil to producing good. That is our task.
HE SIMPLY DID NOTHING AT ALL
He made no mistakes, took no wrong roads, He never fumbled the ball.
He never went down ‘neath the weight of a load, He simply did – nothing at all.
He lost no hard fight in defense of the right, never bled with his back to the wall.
He never felt faint in his climb to the light, He simply did – nothing at all.
So death came nigh, for life slipped by, and he feared the judgment hall.
When they asked him why, he said, with a sigh, “I simply did – nothing at all.”
(Steve Shepherd on Sermon Central)
This man failed. But we can succeed. We have the promise that God's Spirit will live in us & give us strength & direction ? give us words to speak & things to do. God is challenging us to respond to His call ? to do something constructive for Him, in the building of His kingdom.
INVITATION: He calls your name this morning, & invites you to respond. Will you come as we stand & as we sing?
