A Slack Hand Causes Poverty, But the Hand of the Diligent Makes Rich

Sermon Transcript

I want to teach you a new phrase. The phrase is “deed-destiny nexus.” Say it with me, “Deed-destiny nexus.” Old Testament scholars Ivan Da Silva and Bruce Waltke teach that Proverbs is built on the concept of deed-destiny nexus, which means that at the heart of Proverbs is the idea that our deeds determine our destiny. To make it plain, Proverbs teaches that God has created the world such that certain ways of living generally pay off and other ways of living generally don’t. Now, the deed-destiny nexus isn’t absolute. Remember Job?! His good deeds didn’t yield a good destiny, at least in the short-run. The deed-destiny nexus at the heart of Proverbs is not a promise, but it is a wise principle. I bring up the deed-destiny nexus this morning because few topics in Proverbs receive the deed-destiny nexus treatment quite like the topic of work. Listen to God’s voice through Proverbs. See if you can track the deed-destiny nexus. These are all printed on your handout. A slack hand (deed) causes poverty (destiny), but the hand of the diligent (deed) makes rich (destiny). – 10:4. He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame. – 10:5 Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense. – 12:11 Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth. – 12:27 The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. – 13:4 In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty. – 14:23 Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who guards his master will be honored. – 27:18 Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty. – 28:19 A faithful man will abound with blessings, but whoever hastens to be rich will not go unpunished. – 28:20. That’s the deed-destiny nexus. It’s not a promise, but it is a generally true principle. And that brings us to the big idea of Proverbs on work: A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich (Pr. 10:4). A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. Here is the question: How can we apply a diligent hand to the word that God has given to us so that we can truly prosper? To take it a step further, how can we apply a diligent hand to the whole of our lives? After all, we don’t want to be busy for self and lazy for God. How can we apply a diligent hand to our growth in godliness, to building up our church, to serving our spouse, to growing our family, to the upkeep of our home, to the stewardship of our finances, and so forth, so that the legacy of our life is truly rich, to the glory of God? As I’ve studied Proverbs on work, three answers to these questions has emerged: 1. Work hard at the right time 2. Work skillfully in a distracted world 3. Live with the mess without exaggerating it.

WORK HARD AT THE RIGHT TIME

One common characteristic of the “slack hand” is that it rests when it should work. Proverbs 10:5 – He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame. Let’s focus for a moment on the second half of Proverbs 10:5: he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame. How are you tempted to rest or indulge in something that isn’t your God-given labor when it’s time to be diligently working? Rest is good. The one true God of the Bible built a rhythm or work and rest into creation: 6 days we work and one we rest from work and devote ourselves to worship. A daily devotional time, adequate sleep, and some exercise are wonderful ways to enjoy daily rhythms of rest. Rest is good, but resting when you should be working is never actually restful or rejuvenating. Rest when you should be working is never restful because, as Proverbs 10:5, it leads to shameful results. A somewhat accepted form of resting when you should be working is being an “hour counter.” An hour counter is someone who will give their boss or company their eight or ten hours, but they won’t work particularly hard and definitely won’t work extra to complete the project or achieve an extra level of excellence. This is basically an unbiblical approach to work. It is not the same as quiet quitting but it is similar. The slack hand rests when it should be working. We don’t want that. Let’s all take a next step of repentance from resting when we should be working.

What should we do instead? Well, notice again the first half of Proverbs 10:5: He who gathers in summer is a prudent son. In other words, the godly alternative to the slack hand is working incredibly hard at the right time. When it’s time to work, work harder than anyone. When the job is done excellently, be finished. Another illuminating Proverb on working hard at the right time is Proverbs 20:4 – The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing. Autumn can also mean the cold, rainy season. The sluggard doesn’t like the unpleasant feeling of working hard in the rainy season. This one Proverb illuminates the difference between the person who rests when they should work and the person who works hard at the right time. Here is the difference: The diligent hand isn’t ruled by his or her feelings. It’s not that the slack hand really despises the hard and painful work of plowing in the cold rain, but the diligent hand takes pleasure in a sufferfest. They may feel the same about it, but the difference is that the diligent – and please teach this to your children – are not ruled by what they feel. Plowing is hard work. Plowing a growing relationship with your Savior, plowing a growing marriage, growing kids, a growing church, growing wealth, don’t always feel good. But the diligent keep working hard at the right time because they aren’t ruled by their feelings. Did you ever go on road trips as a kid? We did. Was there ever a moment on the road trip when you and your siblings were in the back seat acting crazy and your mom or dad said something like, “If you don’t control yourselves, I’ll stop this car and I’ll come back there?” That’s how you need to treat your feelings. They’re like your kids. They’re very important. They always come along on the trip. You love them. But you don’t let them drive the car. So, put your feelings in the back seat and, when they try to grab the steering wheel and pull you away from working hard at the right time, tell them to stay under the Holy Spirit’s control or you’ll stop the car and come back there.

Before we move to the second way that we apply the diligent hand that makes rich, I want to answer a question that may be looming in your mind, which is, “why is it so important for a follower of Jesus to work incredibly hard? We are saved by grace, why does the Bible put such an emphatic emphasis on hard work?” A few reasons. First, because work is good. Genesis records that God created Adam to work and called it good before anything went bad in the world. Old Testament scholar Ray Ortlund Jr. writes, “God made us for good, hard work. Our bodies thrive when they work. Our emotions are satisfied when we strive toward a goal and reach it. And when we have something to share with others as well, it really makes us happy. That is true wealth.” We work incredibly hard because God created us to work and it’s good. Second, we work really hard because God-reliant hard work shows off the power of God. Listen to how the Apostle Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 15:10 – But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. When you work by prayer and, therefore, can work harder than others because God’s grace is working for you, it shows off the power of God. Laziness lies about the power of God. Finally, we work incredibly hard because in the Lord Jesus Christ our labor is eternally meaningful and never vain. 1 Corinthians 15:56-58 – The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. [57] But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. [58] Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. Since the Lord created you to work hard, empowers you to work hard, and because your hard work in the Lord isn’t in vain, work hard at the right time. Second, to apply a diligent hand at home, at church, in your work, and toward your grace-empowered relationship with God…

WORK SKILLFULLY IN A DISTRACTED WORLD

Working incredibly hard is a great thing, as long as you’re working in the right direction. A diligent hand is not satisfied with endless frenetic energy. The diligent hand works hard and works skillfully because the results, not just the process, matter. Proverbs 22:29 – Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men. When I coached gymnastics while I was in seminary we certainly did our best to cultivate hard work in our athletes. However, in gymnastics, as in all work, just working hard won’t accomplish your goals. In gymnastics you can diligently practice the same skill over and over again with the wrong technique and the result is that you develop bad habits that take even harder work to break. The same principle applies to your work. The truly diligent hand makes every effort to improve their skill so that their hard work accomplishes more for God’s glory. The truly diligent person hones their skill so that they can bear witness to God’s greatness before kings, CEO’s, superintendents, and partners. Question: Are you working incredibly hard to grow in your intimacy with Jesus, to grow as a godly husband or wife, to grow as a godly parent, to grow your career impact, and so forth, but the results simply aren’t coming? The answer may not be to slam your head into the wall just a little harder. The answer may be to ask the Father to give you an extra measure of strength to do what you need to improve your skill at pastoring people, writing lessons, selling products, treating patients, raising babies, discipling children, loving your spouse, and so forth. How might you need to put additional diligence into actually improving your skill? I used to be a runner. If you diligently run five days a week, three miles a day, you’ll become a stronger, faster runner, for a while. And then you’ll hit a plateau and will stop improving. At that point to improve your skill as a runner, you’ll have to do things you’re not currently doing, like speed workouts, tempo runs, and long runs. It’s the same with the work that God has given you. You have to rely on God to give you the strength and energy to put extra time into actually becoming more skillful in your work so that your impact for his glory truly expands.

Of course, that takes extra time. And that may be why Proverbs warns us against the all too common time killer: distraction. Distractions keep us busy with the wrong things, making it impossible to become skillful in our wor. Proverbs speaks to the danger of distraction, which means, sadly, we can’t blame it on the internet (shucks!). Proverbs 12:11 – Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense. Proverbs 28:19b puts it this way, “….he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty. We can be busy with the wrong work in different ways. There are times when we are distracted by foolish side hustles and dead end positions that we could get out of if we diligently, “worked our land,” but far more often, distractions are far more seemingly benign and, therefore, difficult to root out. Sometimes distraction comes in the form of benign curiosity. We are supposed to be writing a sermon, researching a potential diagnosis, writing a brief, or calling a potential client, but instead we become curious about how truly intelligent the giant octopus is, and an hour later we’re half an amateur oceanographer, but the client still hasn’t been called. You’ve lost a precious hour to glorify God through hard work, so you feel even busier because you have to do more work in less time. Similarly, we are often distracted from our real work by compulsively checking social media, texts, emails, and so forth. We live in a distracted world that offers us a nearly endless buffet of worthless pursuits to choose from. Since distractions are so tempting, to remove them we have to remember who we are ultimately working for and who we are seeking to glorify with our skillful work. We want to become so skillful in our work that we stand before kings, but we don’t serve a human king. Colossians 3:23-24 – Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, [24] knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. To apply a diligent hand, work skillfully in a distracted world, knowing that you serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, to apply a diligent hand to your relationship with God, your work, your marriage, your church, your children, your service to others, and so forth…

LIVE WITH THE MESS WITHOUT EXAGGERATING IT

If you work hard, by the grace of God, to build a great family, a great church, or a great career, you’re going to have some messes on your hands. Proverbs 14:4 – Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox. The late Old Testament scholar Derek Kidner commenting on this verse wrote, “Orderliness can reach the point of sterility. This proverb is not a plea for slovenliness, physical or moral, but for the readiness to accept upheaval, and a mess to clear up, as the price of growth. It has many applications to personal, institutional and spiritual life, and coulD well be inscribed in the minute-books of religious bodies, to foster a farmer’s outlook, rather than a curator’s.” In other words, you can’t make an omelette without cracking some eggs. If you’re going to achieve something worthwhile, you’re going to need to live with messes, adversity, opposition, mistakes, inconveniences and setbacks. If you want great fellowship, you’re going to need to live with the messy house, spilled coffee, and broken toys that come with practicing hospitality. If you want to have a quiver full of happy kids and grandkids, you’re going to need to live with the mess of months of sleep deprivation. If you want to serve others and be a godly friend, you’re going to need to live with the mess that comes with bearing others’ burdens. If you want to make an impact for Christ, you’re going to need to live with the mess of being busy discipling people or the mess of sharing the gospel at work and initially being thought of as a fanatic. If you want a clean marriage, never bring up the hard topics that need to be addressed. If you want a clean career, never take a risk. If you want clean finances, never invest wisely or give sacrificially. Just do that and your life will be a squeaky clean waste. Don’t waste your life. A diligent hand lives with the mess.

So, how do you live with the mess without being burned out by it? According to Proverbs, one answer is to not exaggerate the mess in your mind. Proverbs 22:13 – The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!” The sluggard’s fear is vastly exaggerated. Were there lions in the ancient Near East? Sure, but not in the cities or in the open streets and plazas where people would go to work. The adversity is way exaggerated. In other words, the slack hand exaggerates the severity of the mess that inevitably accompanies hard, skillful work for God’s glory. As a result, when the marriage, the church, or the job get messy and they exaggerate the mess, they become so discouraged that they give up or move instead of pushing through and seeing the blessing on the other side of the mess. On the other hand, the diligent hand acknowledges the mess that accompanies the growth that comes from hard, skillful work, they clean things up when they need to, but they remain steadfast. I’m learning this lesson with Citylight Church’s building project. Is the project messy? Yes. At times it’s downright discouraging. However, if I exaggerate the mess. If I see only the mess and not the provision in the process and the potential impact when we finish, I won’t see it through. However, if I accept the mess as part of work in this fallen world, then I can observe it objectively and we can together move forward with wisdom.

And that’s why we need a gospel-perspective, an eternal perspective for our work. The gospel is the good news that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is forgiving and adopting forever sinners like you and me. He saves us by grace alone through faith alone in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone. And the God who began a good work in us through Christ will bring it to completion when Jesus Christ returns. And when Christ returns everything that is cursed about our work will be finally and completely reversed. And forever we will enjoy the work of filling the cosmos with his glory. The sting of death, curse, and setback will be gone. Therefore, today, while there are still thorns and thistles, we can be steadfast, immovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord Jesus Christ our labor is never in vain.