Proverbs 6:10-12 "How do you Work"

Proverbs 6:10-12

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

How do we go about our work? Does it matter to God? Do we enjoy our work? What about retirement? What about being mistreated or taken advantage of by our employer? Today we are going to consider work.

In Genesis 2:15 “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”   
Work was part of God’s plan for people right from the start. Even God worked and is still at work. And when the work was done God celebrated.
Genesis 2:3 “Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” 

After the Fall in the garden work changes.
Genesis 3:17-19 “cursed is the ground because of you; in pain, you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,”

Work became work! Hard and difficult. But God said on the seventh day take time to celebrate all you have done.

The sluggard of Proverbs 6 rest before he works and as a result never works at all. God has only contempt for such people. All throughout Proverbs and Ecclesiastes God warns us of the rewards of slothfulness and the rewards of diligence in our work.

1 Timothy 5:8 “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

2 Thessalonians 3:6-12 “Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.  For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.”

Just as God commands us to work He also commands that we receive reward from it.

2 Timothy 2:6 “The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.”

1 Corinthians 9:9 “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop”

1 Timothy 5:18 “The laborer deserves his wages.”

Work is ordained by God for us to do. And God has ordained that we should be paid fairly.

There are other Bible passages that tell us to work as unto the Lord Colossians 3:23-25. And there are passages that tell us to not mistreat our take advantage of those who work for us. Col 4:1

Retirement may be our biggest test of faith. What will we do with the time we have the resources we have. Retirement is a gift from God. What part of it will we give back to God? Will we be sluggards, idle busy bodies, Sloths for whom God has contempt? Or will we be diligent in the use of our time? Live as unto the Lord? Will you find a way to honor God through the time you have in retirement?

How do you work?

“The Shadow” Psalm 23

“The Shadow” Psalm 23

There's a step that we all take alone
An appointment we have with the great unknown
Like a vapor this life is just waiting to pass
Like the flowers that fade, like the withering grass

By and large people fear death. Scientist search for cures for it, explores have searched for a fountain of youth, and a cup of eternal life.

Total healthcare spending is projected to rise to 20% of GDP by 2025.
Average U.S. household spent nearly $4,300 on healthcare in 2014

 

In 2014, households ranked in the top 20 percent in annual income spent an average of $7,219 on healthcare. That was almost 4 times the amount spent by households in the lowest 20 percent ($1,868). The top 20 percent also spent more than the combined amount spent by households in the lowest 40 percent.

The more money we have the more we will spend to cheat death.

 

Waring: the surgeon general has determined the greatest cause of death is life.

Genesis 3:20
cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

James 4:14

What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

 

Psalm 103:15

As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field;

for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.

But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,

 

 

Ecc 3:20

They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.   ²⁰All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.   ²¹Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?

Hebrews 9:27  “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,” 

Rev 20:11-15
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Physical death is part of the judgement from Genesis 319 and it leads to the judgement of Revelation 20:11. Death without Jesus is something to be feared.

Rev 20:12 “Then another book was open, which is the book of life.”

John 11:25-26
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;  26 and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.  14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 

 

1 John 5:12
And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

 

But life seems so long and death so complete
And the grave an impossible potion to cheat
But there's One who has been there and still lives to tell
There is One who has been through both heaven and hell

And the grave will come up empty-handed that day
Jesus will come and steal us away

Where is the sting, tell me where is the bite?
When the grave robber comes like a thief in the night
Where is the victory, where is the prize?
When the grave robber comes and death finally dies

For those who have been saved by Jesus death is a shadow

Theologian Donald Barnhouse was on the way home from the funeral of his wife and he was trying to think of some way of comforting his children. Just then a huge moving van passed by their car and its shadow swept over them. Instantly, Mr. Barnouse asked, “Children, would you rather be run over by a truck or by its shadow?” The children instantly replied, “By its shadow daddy…its shadow!” To which Mr. Barnhouse replied, your mommy only had to pass through deaths shadow!”

In Jesus death has become a doorway, a mere shadow, even a blessing. Not to be forced or sought after, for Psalm 139 reminds us that all our days have been written before even one comes to pass. But because Jesus has taken the judgement out of death, our name is in the book of life, death for us who believe is no more to be feared than walking through the shadow of a tree or cloud. And even in the shadow our savior walks with us.

Physical Illness 2 Kings 5:1-14

Physical Illness
2 Kings 5:1-14

As a Christian one of the more difficult things to understand is physical illness and healing in the Bible. The Bible seems to send us mixed messages about illness, healing, faith, and even judgement, all connected to physical illness and healing. In our scientific and logical mind, we want to get a rule, a law, a formula, for healing that works all the time, do this and get that. But when it comes to healing or physical illness the more we try to grasp it the more it slips through our hands and our minds.

I will not try to give you everything the Bible says about healing, but I want us to see what we can learn from the experience of Naaman.

Naaman is a commander of the Syrian army who has leprosy. In his house is the servant woman from Israel who tells him of the prophet of God in Israel who can heal him. So Naaman sets out with silver, gold and fine cloths to offer in exchange for his healing. When he gets there the prophet does not want the money. Elisha tells him to go dip under the water in the Jorden river seven times to be healed.

Why does God heal this man who as part of the Syrian army, has inflicted harm on God’s people? Verse 8 tells us “That he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” Healing is not about physical comfort it is about knowledge.

This makes sense if just remember we all must die of something. So, if we are healed by God it must have a reason. In John 9 when the disciples ask Jesus why the man was born blind, his sin or his parents? Jesus says, “that the works of God might be displayed by his healing”. God heals us for His glory and that people might know Gods power, not just our comfort.

Second, Naaman asked. In James 4:2 it says, “you do not have because you do not ask”, and “you do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on yourself.” We often fail to receive healing because we do not ask, and when we do ask we seek it for our self and not for the glory of God.

Listen to what God says and do it. Naaman is asked to dip in the Jorden river seven times. The Jorden river is a dirty, muddy and filthy river. Naaman’s response is should I not wash in a clean river? Yet Naaman finely obeys and is healed.

Often, we are so busy asking that we forget to listen and obey. We want to do something that makes sense like pay some money or do some great charitable thing or great act of faith, all the while God is telling us to dip seven times in the dirty river. Will we listen and obey?

So how do you pray a healing prayer?

Lord Jesus this is my trouble, my illness. You know how I suffer and you know my desire to be healed. (be clear and ask)

Lord Jesus I believe in you and that you can heal me, I put my faith and trust in your knowledge and power. (have faith in God’s power and love)

Show me how I can bring glory to you and proclaim your power to the world. (ask that your healing bring glory to God not you)

Lord I await your answer and will obey you in all you command me. Amen (listen for and accept God’s answer, whatever it might be)

Will you ask, will you believe? Will you be willing to obey even when God tells you to submerse yourself in a dirty old river? Will the glory go to God or to you? Will people speak of your great faith and power or will they speak of the greatness of the Lord Jesus you serve?