The Lazy Life of the Couch Potato - Part A

Social scientists have been observing cultures and our culture included and they have noted that Americans are becoming addicted.

Their words are dictated to entertainment and leisure. We have the labor that we understand we live in the day and age of binge watching and it seems likely singly find the need to have a screen never before us, even while we drive on the roads. There's always that little screen we gotta have that we become addicted to entertainment and leisure.

Our culture is very much screen oriented Cervone TV today on connect with Skip highs, Skip sheds biblical light on the sin of laziness and how you can overcome it to live a God -sized adventure with first Skip wants to share about another great way you can hear these uplifting teachings.

No real quick. I want to invite you to follow my podcasts so you can get even more inspiring teacher. Just search Skip Heitzig sick. That's HP IT CIG on its modify Apple podcasts or anywhere you listen to your podcasts and don't forget to subscribe thank skip. Now we are in Proverbs chapter 6 and Romans chapter 12 as we dive into the teaching with Skip Heitzig so we are probably all familiar with the term in our culture, couch potato also known as sophist Bud somebody who is unmotivated not active, one who would spend. Presumably most of his or her time watching television. There's even a website I found called couch potato and the website is an open source service to download free movies so they will add to your couch potato experience there and endorsing couch potato is him to its fullest degree, get free movies. Some of you savvier actually writing that down a while free movies. If so, there are a few things every couch potato will understand and that is first of all the desperation you feel when you realize you've lost your remote. The panic that ensues when you realize your phone battery just drop below 20% and your charger is all the way upstairs contemplating using your shirt is a Kleenex in order to avoid going and getting one that's just outright gross the amount of concentration that it takes to balance a plate of food on your stomach.

The pure joy you feel when you first realize you could have your groceries delivered me and I don't actually get up and go to the store to bring them to me.

New revelation.

Finally, the absolute nightmare when your cable or Internet goes out what you call the children of a couch potato tater tots. Okay, enough of that nonsense. We do want to get serious and that is because the Bible addresses the subject had on. In fact, little-known fact that one of the sins for which God judged Sodom is the sin of laziness. According to Ezekiel 1649 is called in the new King James, the abundance of idleness. The abundance of idleness.

Laziness goes by an older term.

The word sloth and that's an intriguing word because the word sloth shows up on an ancient list of sins that predates white-collar sins and the. The list is called the seven deadly sins, seven deadly sins before the TV show seven deadly sins or was actually 600 A.D. a list compiled by the Catholic Church called seven deadly sins, and that they were also known as capital vices there also known as cardinal sins, and those are the sins of pride, greed, lost envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth of the way the church pastor, these as these are simply excessive versions of natural desires.

Everybody has natural tendencies, temptations, desires, but when you take them to this extreme. They become capital vices that list of seven deadly sins was first compiled by Pope Gregory the first in 600 A.D. and interestingly the church for a while taught these are sins that you could not be forgiven for. They were unforgivable sins because we know that is nonsense because Jesus said, every manner of sin a man can be forgiven for except for one and that is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit because it is sin is therefore forgivable. That's the whole point of Jesus coming but we've done a series we've embarked starting last week on a series called white-collar sins. Last week was more introductory and now were kinda getting more specific. We will for the next few weeks white-collar sins. What we mean by that we mean respectable sins, we mean the category most people would say well they're not that bad.

We really wouldn't regard them as sin.

Even though you can call them that most people in our culture, even in our Christian culture may not see them as serious things like gossip, selfishness, bitterness and anger. Gluttony, carelessness and envy. Today we talked about laziness and we do so because social scientists have been observing cultures and our culture included and they have noted that Americans are becoming addicted their words addicted to entertainment and leisure so I don't think we have to the labor that we understand we live in the the day and age of binge watching and it seems like we increasingly find the need to have a screen ever before us, even while we drive on the roads in her there's always that little screen.

We gotta have that out there. We become addicted to entertainment and leisure were looking at the book of Proverbs and Proverbs chapter 6 and 24 deal with this. Though there are many other scriptures. The deal with it, but interestingly the book of Proverbs, especially because 19 different verses in the book of Proverbs deal with the issue of sloth or or laziness. A word about Proverbs the written by Solomon and their put in proverbial Proverbs form. I've always looked at Proverbs is short statements that take the place of long explanations so their axioms they are epigrams their aphorisms. They are sayings there short statements that take the place of long explanations or a better way to look at them is their short sayings based on long experience. Solomon writes these based on experience, but is more than just good advice. It's God's advice is part of holy Scripture. So what I want to do is give you today for fundamentals about laziness what it is what it isn't, what it does and what it needs or how it's fixed. So let's begin with what laziness is this. Just look at what the Scripture has to say about this topic would begin a Proverbs chapter 6. Look at verse six go to the ant you sluggard that's an introduction, consider her ways and be wise, which having an overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber oh sluggard, when will you rise from your sleep a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man. At this point some of us are shifting a little bit. Get a little uncomfortable with the text itself list look at now. Proverbs 24 verse 30 I went by the field of the lazy man by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding. And there was, all overgrown with thorns, its surface was covered with nettles. It's stone wall was broken down when I saw it, I considered it well and I looked on it and received instruction a little sleep little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest is like the chorus of the same song so shall your poverty come on you like a prowler in your need like an armed man. The two different Proverbs 2 different tax dealing with the same idea in Proverbs chapter 6 Solomon is giving a direct challenge to a lazy person to go out and observe and learn is giving him the dispatch to go examine nature and the industriousness of creatures in God's creation. Can I just say good luck good luck at having success telling a lazy person to go out and learn something like that, but he does in the point being is that God's creation ought to be a classroom that you and I could be able to go outside and up to a point look around and notice the order of things and the regularity with which things occur. Some of the elements in nature and that will give us lessons like David said in Psalm 19. The heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament shows his handiwork. But in this case, Solomon is not like David Singh look up. He sang looked down. David said look up at the stars. Solomon says look down at the ants consider this highly industrious, very organized creature called the and now when I was a boy we use to hire three older brothers. We did many things with dance and to enhance I do need to describe those things. Are the boys often do not. It was amazing. Looking down Adam was like looking at a little city of very busy organized another cherry and things are doing things are going places. It was just amazing. And did you ever have an ant farm ever have those little pieces of glass is two panes of glass. He put sand between them and you put and cinnamon. You can watch them burrowing down and making their little tunnels and then making chambers and building garrisons what Solomon is doing is praising them for their work ethic that of a ruler, nobody tells him what to do there just doing it. Now there's a little bit of humor that I picked up here. Solomon according to chapter 1 is writing the book of Proverbs for his son.

And I don't know but maybe Solomon had a lazy son wouldn't pick up his room and mom and dad always had to say pick up your room clean up your room, but here he does go to the ant you sluggard, nobody tells him what to do, but there picking up their rooms so I there's a little bit of Rob that I kind of hint from that.

That's Proverbs account Proverbs 24 it's Solomon's personal experience of he's on a journey's going down the road and he glances over and he notices something that is very different in the landscape that is around him.

There are fields around him on this journey.

But here's one particular vineyard and field of a lazy man and it's overgrown with weeds. It is unproductive. And Solomon says that in that encounter. He himself learns something from the experience and that is the lack of diligence leads to poverty.

Why that man didn't work the field. We don't know but one of the things we do know is that there are two seasons of rain in ancient Israel the winter in the spring to early rain and the latter rain. The best time to work the fields is right after the rains in the ground is soft but maybe the lazy man got up and said it's too cold out there so he misses the opportunity because of his laziness. The ground becomes unproductive now in chapter 6 the first passage we looked at there's a noun given to this person and is used twice and what is that word sluggard go to the and use sluggard.

Even the name itself sounds really bad.

The Hebrew word is on cell and it means slog like sluggish, unmotivated, indolent, lethargic, torpid whatever synonym you want to attach to the Bible in basic English translates the word sluggard this way hater of work go to the and you hater of work, but the prize goes to the new living translation which says go to the and you lazy bones. So either way you look at it. The words are not complementary words.

Who is Solomon having in mind when he writes it's not the unemployed person.

The person who has a job, or doesn't have a job once one is not speaking to the unemployed. Speaking to the mall employed somebody who has a job but is not motivated in that job I out.

I read a study where a 23 million Americans. This study says 23 million Americans are what are described as actively disengaged from their work and that a nice way of saying there lazy there actively disengaged from their work there at work they go to work the clock in in the building of their work, but there actively disengaged is not much excitement or enthusiasm.

They look at work as an unavoidable inconvenience. If you were to find one of these actively disengaged workers, which according to the studies, you should be able to find them in spades is are everywhere and you say excuse me but why are you so actively disengaged in your work and if that person said they were a Christian, they might say well you know work is a curse. The Bible says work is a curse, at which point you need to say I think you read the Bible does one more time.

I think that would help as you will discover work is not the curse.

It's the laborious toil that came as a result of the curse that God put on the earth. That is the struggle. In fact, you would tell that person a work was something that came before the fall, and in fact when God put Adam in the garden. One of the first things God did to Adam is give them a job. Genesis 215 tells us God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend it and to keep it so work is not a curse.

God established it and established it to be something that is satisfying, even though at times because of the curse of his toilsome one college professor that I read I think really explains a probably nails the problem is that this even in engineering classes. Many of the US students expect to be given a for inhaling and exhaling and they look at you like you have four heads. If you suggest that perhaps coming to class doing homework and studying might improve their grade and he concludes with this remarkable statement.

Our pride and over exalted self image has made us lazy our pride and over exalted self image has made us lazy.

That's his viewpoint of the culture. That's what laziness is.

No, let's quickly pivot and look at what it is not in verse 10, and that's in Proverbs 6, but also its founder. Proverbs 24. Listen. Listen to what it says a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep now I just gotta tell you, that sounds really good. I read I got nothing wrong with that fact. My wife tells me that when I sleep at night. That's how I see because it's funny you lie down and you're on your back and you folder hands, and she said you look like a dead guy that's what's that's nice, sweetie. That's how you remember me, the dead guy she slept next that you might read this verse and you might think him so am I supposed to feel bad then if I lay down and I fold my hands and I close my eyes and I take a nap know you are not the answer is a resounding no. There is a difference between laziness and leisure laziness is not leisure.

Even Ben Franklin, the founding father somebody would be called very industrious, said a life of laziness and a life of leisure are two entirely different things.

Laziness does not mean leisure Solomon who wrote this book also wrote wrote the book of Ecclesiastes where he wrote to everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven, and he lists a variety of activities, but he also included a time to heal, and a time to keep silence so those are resting activities. You see, we all need time not only to work, but we need time to be free of work to pursue other activities that provide rest and recharge the batteries time despair spares the soul. It's good for your mental health. It's good for your physical health, and even if it is not necessarily folding your answers. I'm not really not a good nap or some people are great mappers. I'm a bad nap because a nap for me. Turns into an eight hour sleep cycle. So then I messed my whole thing up so all come home even after a Sunday and people who study speakers will say that you know you you you usually feel enormously tired after speaking that much and that you you know you yet breasts are subjects of my colleagues think I'm crazy because when I gonna send it is a got. They say I go take a nap and I sue I usually like mow the lawn or I pull weeds or I just do a different activity is restful for me not to just sit around but to go do something else because when I'm doing it a different activity like that. What I find is my mind goes to a different place and some of the problems I am trying to work out wrestling with. I get resolved doing those kind of mundane things around the house and and that goes to say I'm not great at resting. It is something the Lord is constantly trying to show me, so I'm preaching to myself. It and this is the reason God gave us the fourth commandment the Sabbath commandment you are to keep it holy. You are to regard the Sabbath is holy. Your to do your your work for six days but on the seventh day you are to do no ordinary work and it's interesting that as part of the 10 Commandments. So God is saying from heaven relax and that's an order.

So it's okay to have leisure time. In fact, it is a commandment, by the way, the word Sabbath is the Hebrew word Shabbat which means to put to an end or an intermission. In other words, it's time to unplug.

It's time to veg out. It is time to chill and that's a holy activity and it's commanded by God to me just stop doing what you do all the other six days.

This is a different day writing that would even David had in mind when he said the Lord is my shepherd. He makes me lie down in Stillwater are in green pastures makes me lie down some people who won't lie down in green pastures.

Sometimes I'll find the Lord makes them lie down in green pastures is there. Why would God do that will David said after that because it restores my soul lying down for a period of time. Taking a break brings restoration to the soul. So this of all the 10 Commandments. This one is the tender commandment it is God wanting you to go through the long haul of life with the proper amount of energy and this is important to us as Americans especially.

I believe because, as one author put it, we have become a generation of people who worship our work, work at our play and planner worship. So to keep everything in proper alignment. We need to work energetically and rest is much that Skip the message from the series white colors. Now we want to share about a special resource that will encourage you even more in your face holidays and special days of celebration we consent from the daily grind and provide a backdrop for creating memories that the own traditions time off and intentional family time, holidays can illuminate spiritual truths.

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Thank you. Tune into my escapades share some encouragement from Scripture what it takes to overcome laziness and embrace everything God is calling you to do what Paul does in Romans 12 is take the negatives presented in the book of Proverbs, president of positive was a contrast and the negative lazy person is like a son like that sluggard Robert. Now he turns it into the positive. Not liking and diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. So with Skip presentation of connection communications changing truth ever-changing time