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Potter's House Church Wandsworth — The War for Your Heart series
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We are in a series called The War for Your Heart. Last week we dealt with gluttony, and now we move to our next opponent in this spiritual battle. The enemy we face today is laziness.
Let's look at our main text from Proverbs 6:6–11:
Go to the ant, you slugard. Consider her ways and be wise. Having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides for her supplies in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber, oh slugard? When will you arise 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.
The word "slugard" means laziness. This is an enemy we must defeat, and I want to tell you: laziness is undefeated by grace alone—we need God's power to overcome it.
First, let's talk about gross laziness. This is when people refuse to work altogether. When people refuse to take responsibility and expect others to do things for them while they do nothing—that is laziness.
The Bible describes the lazy person using imagery that's quite striking. The word "slugard" is similar to a slug. The Bible is saying that some people move like a slug—slowly, without purpose. The problem is that this attitude infiltrates everything you do. The lazy person always has an excuse.
Proverbs 26:13–14 says:
A lazy man says, "There is a lion in the road, a fierce lion in the street." As a door turns on its hinges, so does the lazy man on his bed.
When you tell a lazy person, "Why don't you get up and make something happen? Put out a CV. Do something," they respond, "No, no, no. There's a lion out there." They always have an excuse.
I want to tell you something: laziness and excuses go hand in hand. When you make excuses all the time, you are training yourself to become weak. This can become so serious that people eventually think, "Why should I work at all? Let me just go on benefits."
Now, I want to be wise here. Benefits are good for society—we should care for children, the elderly, and those who are truly unable to work. But if you are a healthy person able to work and you are refusing to work, the Bible says that is not right.
God made you to be a doer. When God made Adam, He put him in the garden and told him to work. God didn't make Adam and then say, "Lie here all day while I make you mojitos." No. God said, "It's time for you to work."
But laziness hits us in another way that is far more common: procrastination.
Procrastination is when you say, "I'll do it tomorrow," or "I'll do it later." You intend to do it, but you never actually do it. Maybe there's a part of your house you said you'd paint, a cupboard you said you'd fix, a course you said you'd take—and you still haven't done it.
Sometimes we say, "I don't have the time," but then we find time to be on the internet. We find time for fun things rather than the things we're supposed to do.
Let me be honest with you: I struggle with procrastination myself. When it comes to administration and paperwork, I hate it. I really have to push myself to do those things. Counseling people, visiting them, praying with them, giving them God's word—I love that. But administration? That's a battle for me.
But here's the problem: when we procrastinate, we leave things until they become urgent. Then pressure builds up. People are calling you. "Where is it?" And you think your life is all pressure. No—you made your own pressure.
You had three months to do that coursework, but you do it the night before it's due. Or you don't pay a bill until they threaten to take you to court. "I'll pay it tomorrow," you say. "I'll pay it next week." Then suddenly you have no money. Why? Because you bought something else instead of paying the bill.
Laziness will affect your career. It will affect your finances. But more than that, laziness can destroy your marriage.
People are looking for someone beautiful to date and marry. But if that person is lazy, oh my days, you are going to have a hard life. You'll suffer.
"Did you pay the bill?" "Oh, no. I forgot. I'll do it tomorrow."
"Can we do this today?" "Let's do it tomorrow."
"Have you filled out the school form for the kids?" "Oh, no. I'll do it tomorrow."
Laziness in marriage is deeply hurtful. It will affect your ministry. It will hinder your progress. It will keep you from excellence.
God has excellence for you. You are the apex of His creation. He has so much for you.
The Bible says in our text:
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 needs like an armed man.
Laziness leads to poverty. It will come on you like a prowler, and then like an armed man—it will keep you in bondage.
So many times we think laziness is harmless, like biting your nails. But laziness can actually be harmful to our lives, our families, our children, and our ministries.
Imagine if God has given you a gift that could lead to people being saved. But because of laziness, you don't use it. People don't get saved. This has a detrimental effect. This is why it's in the Bible. If it's in the Bible, God is saying this is an enemy attacking us.
Laziness is deadly to your spirituality.
People always ask me, "Pastor, how have you stayed saved so long? What would you recommend?" I always give four things:
But here's the problem: laziness will affect all of these things.
If laziness hits your life, you won't pray. You'll be too lazy to pray. When you should be getting up to pray, instead of putting your hands together, you're putting your hands on the snooze button.
Laziness will affect your Bible reading. Sometimes I don't feel like opening the Bible and getting excited about it. But I have to say to myself, "Courtney, you need to be reading your Bible. Get up and read it." Some people say they believe in God, but they're too lazy to read the scriptures for themselves.
You can come to church and hear sermons, but you need to be in the word for yourself. My job here is not to make you like me or make me the goal of your life. My job is to point you to Jesus. You have to read your Bible for yourself. It's not enough to just come to services.
Laziness can affect people coming to church. We start at 3 p.m. Some people are still late. But praise God—better late than never.
Laziness robs you of spiritual energy. Your faith becomes dull and your discipleship becomes sluggish.
When you look at people's growth in the church, you see some who come and accept God and just grow, grow, grow, grow, grow. But then you see someone else who's been in church for a long time, moving so slowly. And often, laziness is the cause. It doesn't need to be a big sin like adultery or robbery. It could simply be laziness.
Laziness robs you of the rewards of God. God wants to reward you.
Hebrews 11:6 says:
But without faith, it's impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
Notice the word: diligently. God is saying, "Don't come to me with sluggishness and laziness. Come to me with diligence."
In our text, the Bible says, "Go to the ant, you slugard." Look at how the ants are running to and fro, always moving and working. The Bible says, "Consider the ants and become wise. Learn to be diligent. Get involved and you will be rewarded."
The Bible promises God's reward for being diligent.
Proverbs 13:4 says:
The soul of the lazy man desires and has nothing. But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.
Proverbs 12:24 says:
The hand of the diligent will rule, but the lazy man will be put to false labor.
When you are lazy, you are forced to do things. You're forced.
Proverbs 10:4 says:
He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
God keeps telling us: If you become diligent, I will move in your life. If you become diligent, I will open doors of opportunity.
I want to tell young people: Now is the time to work hard. Make things happen. Get after it now while you're young. When you're older, you'll lose physical strength. But if you work hard now, by the time you're older, you'll have knowledge, wisdom, and experience—and people will pay for that.
But if you haven't done anything when you're young, what experience will you have to offer?
God says repeatedly: If you stop procrastination and become diligent, I will bless your life.
This enemy of laziness is robbing so many of God's people. It's robbing us of resources, of life, of spirituality, of ministry. There are people with incredible talent and potential—designers, singers, ministers, organizers—who could start ministries and do amazing things. But these things aren't being done because of one simple reason: laziness.
Even pastors can be lazy. I've been here 18 years now. I'm an older guy, but I'm still trying to think of new ideas, work, meet people, spend time with younger people, and move forward. I don't want to get lazy. We all have it in us.
But here's the good news: God has given us a winning strategy to defeat this enemy.
Psalm 144:1 says:
Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.
God trains us to fight this enemy. Last week, I introduced you to this winning strategy: CRR—Confession, Repentance, Revival (or Renewal).
If you're going to beat laziness, the first thing you must do is confess it. You must admit, "I'm lazy in this area. I've been lazy."
That's hard. But if you're going to experience what God has, you must do this.
Laziness will surround you like a strong man and hold you down. But if you can say, "You know what, in this area here, I'm lazy," you can be very diligent at home but lazy at work. You can be great at work but lazy at home. You can be good at home and work but lazy in your ministry.
God sees this, and He's saying, "Listen, I want to use you. I want to bless you. I want to make your hand, your soul, and your ministry rich. I want to give you overflow, blessing, prosperity, and success."
Where are you lazy? Where have you been procrastinating? God is saying: if you'll confess it, that's the first step.
The second step is repentance—asking God to help you. Say, "God, I need help with this. I want to change. I don't want to be like this anymore."
Remember, the lazy man always says, "There's a lion out there. It's not my fault. It's their fault. It's my mom's fault. It's my dad's fault. It's the government's fault. It's my boss's fault. It's the people around me."
But you must come and say, "God, help me. I need to change. I can't continue like this."
Some of you have visions inside of you for more. You wake up and realize, "I could do more." God has put things deep in your spirit—visions, ideas. These are in seed form, but they die or stay dormant because of laziness. They never come to fruition.
But today, if you would say, "I see my laziness. God, help me. I repent of it," you release those visions.
Here are some practical things you can do:
But as I was praying over this sermon, the Holy Spirit revealed something to me. For some of you, the word "laziness" feels harsh. That's the symptom we see from the outside. But there's a deeper problem.
For some of you, it's like your fire has gone out. Life has blown out that fire inside you.
You weren't always like this. Or maybe you feel like something has changed. You say, "I want to, but..." It's not that you don't want to be industrious. But something inside you has gone out. Your hands have become weak and weary spiritually. You've become lukewarm.
When you come to church, you hear about God, heaven, prayer, worship, and you think, "Yeah, yeah, I'm on this!" Then you get up the next day and you don't pray. You don't read. You don't worship. You've become lukewarm. Your flame is out.
Isaiah 35:3 says:
Strengthen the weak hands. Make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart: Be strong. Fear not. Behold, your God comes with vengeance. I will come and save you.
God is talking about people with weak hands—they can't hold onto anything. People with feeble knees—they can't walk or stand.
We might look at such a person and say, "Look how weak they are. Look how lazy they are." But God doesn't say that. God says, "Strengthen the weak hands. Make firm the feeble knees."
God says, "Though that fire has gone out, I'm going to come and reignite that fire inside you again."
If you will confess to God and say, "God, my fire has gone out," God says:
I have not thrown you away. I will not despise you. I have not given up on you. I will strengthen you. I will make you firm. I will start a fire in you that will never be put out.
In the book of Kings, the prophet Elijah challenges the false prophets of a false god. The man of God says, "Let's see whose God answers by fire."
The false prophets set up their altar and sacrifice. They cry out. They cut themselves. They scream. They shout. They do everything. Silence. Because a fake god requires you to do all the work.
But then Elijah says, "Let me show you." He sets up the altar and puts the sacrifice on it—no matches, no lighter, no petrol, nothing. He goes a step further: "Pour water on it." God says, "Pour water on it."
So they pour water on it. They dig a trench around it and fill the trench with water. Here is this sacrifice and altar, completely drenched. There is no way this could catch fire, not even with a flamethrower. It would take hours and hours.
But the man of God just prays, and fire comes down and consumes the offering. The Bible says the fire licks up the water.
Here's what I'm saying: No matter how dull you feel, no matter how drenched you are with laziness, procrastination, fear, no matter how long you've been in this lull and heaviness, no matter how much your fire is gone out—if you would dedicate yourself to God today...
If you would say, "God, I see this part of my life. God, I'm bringing myself as a living sacrifice to you. You've seen what I've gone through. You've seen the trials, the tribulations, the hurt, the pain, the disappointments, the rejection. You've seen all of these things and my flame has gone out. But God, I see it. I recognize it. I repent of it. Lord, will you send fire?"
God will set you on fire again. God will ignite that passion for life. God will give you a fire inside you, a renewed purpose.
The Bible calls it zeal. If you have Jesus, you should have zeal. Jesus was a man of zeal. Jesus said:
I must work the works of God while it is still day.
Jesus was about it. Jesus wasn't just lazing about. Jesus was going everywhere with zeal.
God can set you on fire today. God can give you a new purpose, new energy, new zeal, new fire for life.
Romans 12:11 says:
Do not be slothful in zeal, but fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord.
Do not be slothful. Be fervent.
Today we're going to allow God to reignite us. Today we're going to say, "God, I want you to reignite me. You've put visions in me. You've put desires in me."
Child of God, even if you're not saved yet, today you can get saved. Today you can give your life to Jesus.
God did not make you to go through life like a slug. You're a man. You're a woman. You're created in His image. You're fearfully and wonderfully made.
God has put you on this earth for great potential—to do great things in His name, to bring glory to Him. Those things are there, but we need His fire.
Today we're going to say, "God, set me on fire."
Let me pray with you. If you're not right with God, if you're not born again, I believe you're here because you're open to the things of God. You're close to the kingdom. You're seeking something. But you have to bring Jesus in. You have to turn from living life your way.
Maybe your fire has gone out. You're just going through the motions. You lie on your bed thinking, "I should be doing better than this. There's more to life than this. Why am I here?"
God has brought you here to hear His words. He loves you. God sent His son Jesus to die on the cross for your sin. If you're here today, you can say, "I want to be saved. I want Jesus in my life. I want forgiveness."
Or maybe you're backsliding. You've drifted away from God because of laziness. You stopped reading. You stopped praying. You stopped coming to church. He's not finished with you. He wants to bring you back.
If you're here today, pray this prayer with me:
Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your son to die on the cross for my sin. Please forgive me. I receive you as my Lord and Savior. Help me to know you and live for you the rest of my life in the name of Jesus. Amen.
If you prayed that prayer and meant it, I want you to go on record with God. While no one's looking around, just lift up your hand. If you prayed that prayer and meant it, put your hand up.
Hallelujah. God sees those hands. Praise God.
Now, if God has spoken to you today and you say, "God, I want you to light a fire in me," come out of your seat and find a place to pray.
I don't want to leave here lukewarm. I want to leave here on fire. I've been saying for months and weeks, "I'm going to do that. I'm going to do that." And I still haven't done it yet.
God, set a fire in me. I don't want to get to the end of the race and say, "God, all those things I never did." I want to get there and say, "Yeah, I tried that. It didn't work, but I tried it. Oh, that worked. God used that."
You can be lazy in other areas. You can be a lazy wife, lazy husband, lazy parent, lazy pastor, lazy fellowship group leader, lazy in worship, lazy in ministry. Let's confess it today. Let's say, "God, help me."
Let's lift our hands to heaven as we surrender, as we become a living sacrifice:
Heavenly Father, I come before you right now in the name of your son, Jesus Christ. I present myself as a living sacrifice. I put my life on the altar of your grace and your mercy. Father, you've seen my fire. It's going out or it's gone out. But I ask you right now: reignite me. Send your Holy Spirit. Send your fire. Give me a new purpose, a new zeal, a new energy. Forgive me where I've been lazy and procrastinated. I cannot do this without you. But with you, I can do all things. I receive your fire by faith in Jesus name. Amen.
Give him praise right now. Hallelujah. He's filling you right now. He's doing work. The Holy Spirit is doing work inside of you. He's moving. He's rearranging things. He's setting you on fire right now.
