Proverbs 6:6-11 God’s Zoo #10
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Tucson, AZ
August 8, 2021
In the name of our Savior Jesus, dear friends, We generally think of ants as a problem. Oh, we might understand that they are important as food for certain insects, birds, and animals, but they are a nuisance to us—right up there with mosquitoes. So, I don’t like it when they are on my hummingbird feeder. I don’t like them crawling around on my grill island either. I was also not excited about—and did not understand—why there were ants on my roof. I was up there trimming some branches and painting the trim on my house and there were some ants up there. They were willing to work extra hard to climb the mesquite tree to access the rooftop. What they intended to do up there wasn’t entirely clear. What all of those things tell me is not only that I have ant issues, but that ants are busy. You know what I never see? Ants just lounging around. They aren’t the type to sit in their recliners, put their six feet up, and hang out watching TV for hours on end…or play video games late into the night—or early morning. The ant’s activity, its industriousness, is the example God uses to teach us this morning. God wants us to… Learn a Laziness Lesson from the Ant I have been a pastor for a while—okay, a long while—and I think that I have not taken a lot of opportunities to study and talk about laziness. In a roundabout way, I guess, it has come up in sermons and Bible classes about using our talents and our time for God and for others, but labelling it laziness probably hasn’t happened much. So I’m glad for the opportunity these verses from Proverbs give us. Go to the ant, you slacker! is the instruction. “Slacker” is the key word here, a word that can also be translated “lazy bum” or “lazybones” or something like that. Now, you may not think of yourself as lazy, and if that’s the case, you may think this doesn’t apply to you. If so, I’d like you to hold that thought as we carefully consider this. What’s pretty clear here is that God does not want us to be lazy. Breezing through this lesson reveals that God says it is foolish to be lazy. It also comes with troubles like poverty and scarcity. In order for the lazy person to become wise, God orders them to consider the ant’s life. He uses the example of the ant to impress upon us that we are to be productive. How so? Well, in a very practical sense. This lines up with what he tells us elsewhere in Scripture—that we are to be managers of all that he has given to us, that we are to provide for our families, that we should not be idle, but should work so that we can give to others and generously support the work of the gospel. So this has to do with very practical things, things that we live every day. The hardworking ant sets the example for us: it stores its food in summer. It gathers its provisions at harvest time. It is busy and it manages what its work produces.
And how can we not think of how God wants us to be busy working for him too, using the spiritual gifts and talents he has given us to serve him and serve others? God gives us opportunities in our church, in our community, in our own homes. The ant stores up food. Jesus spoke of storing up treasures in heaven. These are sure and lasting things. But what are they exactly? Well, we store up treasures in heaven…when we are good managers of God’s gifts and money and time and talents, when we use these things in ways that please him…when we share the abundance of God’s grace given to us with others so that his kingdom may grow. These are things that God looks for from his children. He sees them as fruits of faith, things not done to earn his love, but things done because God loved them first. So they are considered treasures by God. You may think that when God looks down on us, he simply sees a swarming mass of people, like you and I see when we look at an anthill—none of them are distinct. But God does see every one of us, not just swarms of us and peoplehills. And he is looking for each of us to be like ants in that he wants us busy and productive, not lazy—in earthly and spiritual things. Like ants who work to contribute to the colony as a whole, God wants us working to serve others—our spouses, our families, as part of our team of church members, and as people with opportunities to do good for many others with what we have gained by our hard work. We are not to be unconcerned about the productivity God desires or how he has in mind for us to use what we have gained and stored up. I recently saw this hanging on someone’s wall—maybe you’ve seen it too: “Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening, and live each day like it’s your last.” That is an encouragement to live who you are with everything you have. The ant is like that. The ant works like no one is watching. He works like that because that’s who he is. He is an ant, so he is busy doing ant things. We are Christians, so we are to be busy doing Christian things. And someone is watching us! He is the one to whom we are accountable for our efforts and our time. But we don’t always do what God wants us to do. So we slackers are instructed to— and need to—look to the ant. Because isn’t it true that we are sometimes lazy and unproductive? We can waste time doing nothing—or nothing important. We might not provide for ourselves or for our family as we should because we don’t want to work hard. We might waste talents and opportunities at school or work because we just don’t apply ourselves. Sometimes we lazily leave our gifts and talents just sitting there. Then they are good for nothing. Yes, we can be lazy. And laziness in God’s eyes is sin. We waste our time, and we waste our talent. And it is offensive to our Lord and Savior. And although it is idleness, it earns something. It earns an eternity in hell. You know who wasn’t lazy? Jesus. We only hear about him taking time off after extremely active or stressful times when he was working for his Father. He took time out to rest and pray. As true man, he also required rest and sleep just like any of us. The Bible tells us he did that too.
So, don’t misunderstand when God says here, How long will you lie there, you slacker? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of your hands to rest. God is not against us sleeping or napping or taking time off. Jesus did these things too, because all human beings need that. Here God is characterizing the lazy person who does little more than lie around. And that Jesus was not! He perfectly managed and balanced work and rest. So sleep and rest he did. Otherwise he was working to live as his Father commanded and he was helping others, making use of every opportunity—healing, helping preaching and teaching. All this he did with perfection so that his Father would accept his sacrifice and credit it to us, erasing our laziness and neglect of our Father’s gifts. Jesus’ life, suffering, cross, and resurrection earned the tremendous gift of forgiveness for these sins of laziness and neglect. Our laziness and our lack of concern about God’s desire for faithful and productive work is forgiven in Christ. By faith in Christ, the eternity in hell that our laziness earned is not going to happen. Instead, we will have eternal life with God in heaven. So what is our response to that love and forgiveness? A loving thank you to our Savior is our response! And that means we listen to what God says. So we go to the ant. We observe its ways and become wise. It is not the robotic nature of the ant that we mimic. You and I are not robotic about using the Lord’s gifts to us. Instead, we are motivated by God’s love in Christ. We think about what we will do. Our hearts are in it. We love God, so we observe the ant’s activity as God tells us to. We note how it stores its food in summer, how it gathers its provisions at harvest time. We see his work and wise management. And we want to work—and then manage wisely— what God blesses us with as a result of our work. There are things common to us all—evaluating what God has made you good at and considering the opportunities that lie before you, being faithful to God and trusting him to provide for you through the work you do. The specifics of what we do take many forms, so what this work looks like in life is unique to every individual. You may be responsible only for yourself. Or maybe you have older parents to support, or children. What work will you seek out? How will you serve others—in your home or community. How will you manage your retirement income and investments? How do you strike the balance of saving up, like the ant, but avoid hoarding your treasures and neglecting God’s will for them? How will you avoid procrastination that leads to inactivity? How exactly will you avoid laziness when it comes to using your gifts in the church and for the sharing of the gospel? All of this is different from person to person. These are things we are concerned with. These are things we think about. These are things we take action on—all because we have listened to God and his example of one of his tiny creatures, the ant. And so we manage our worldly items and wealth and make industrious use of the spiritual gifts he has given for the good of his kingdom.
I may have made that last part sound easy, simply saying, “This is what we do.” But those things can be as difficult as they can be enjoyable. And just to show you how tricky it can be to apply these wise words to our lives, think about this other aspect— helping others to avoid laziness. Sometimes it looks like—and it is seen as— you’re not helping! That can be the case as you teach your kids how to not be idle, but to use what God has given them too. If they don’t help around the house, they may not earn some privileges—like screen time or borrowing the car. They may not respond well to that. It can also happen on the street corner. Many people hold up signs asking for our money. It may not be a good idea to give money in some cases. If you do, you may be helping someone who has no opportunity or ability to be productive (which would be good) …or you might be enabling someone who is not interested in doing anything, who is simply lazy. That’s a tough call when you don’t know the person. All of these things are worth considering as we hear about the ant today and take to heart the warning against laziness and the encouragement to be productive. Really, this is about using your time and your abilities—how you apply yourself, how you actively manage all that God has given you, and how you encourage others. The ant is a worker and a manager—robotic, but efficient, as he wastes no time or energy, but is productive. How much more important is it that God’s forgiven and saved people behave like this, motived by God’s love?! Laziness can cause us trouble in this world. But what poverty awaits the person who does not repent of these sins and trust in God! It is an eternal poverty of living without God. But what heavenly riches await the Christian who is faithful in using the talents and opportunities the Lord has given! They make the effort, but are not forgiven and saved by their effort. Instead, they look to Jesus and repent when they have not followed the commands of God and the lesson of the industrious ant. They find forgiveness in Christ who worked for them, and in Christ, they will one day find eternal rest from their work in the presence of the Lord. Amen. Now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
Go to the ant, you slacker! Observe its ways and become wise. 7 Although it has no overseer, officer, or ruler, 8 it stores its food in summer. It gathers its provisions at harvest time. 9 How long will you lie there, you slacker? When will you get up from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of your hands to rest, 11 and poverty will come on you like a prowler, and scarcity will come on you like a warrior.