(CFRA broadcast date: Sunday, March 4th,
2012)
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Broadcast Notes:
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‘The Glory of Industriousness’
The Bible says: “Go
to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no
captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers
her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber o 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 you need
like an armed man.” (Proverbs 6: 6-11).
1. There are two major kinds of sin. There is the sin of commission, and there is the sin of omission. We can rebel against and offend God by what we do, and we can rebel and offend God by what we fail to do. There is such a thing as evil action, and there is such a thing as evil inaction. The Bible is quite clear about this. For example, we have been given by God the responsibility of warning our neighbour against any sin he or she might be about to commit. “You should surely rebuke your neighbour, and not bear sin because of him” (Leviticus 19:17). In other words, if we fail to do this we incur liability before God. Eli, the priest, was to receive punishment because his sons were guilty of blaspheming God and he failed to restrain them (1 Samuel 3:13). Ezekiel was made a watchman for the house of Israel. If the prophet gives the wicked no warning to turn him from his evil way and save his life, then, “that same wicked man shall die in his inequity; but his blood I will require at your hand” (Ezekiel 3:18). It may very well have been one of these texts of Scripture that Jesus wrote in the sand with his finger when the scribes and Pharisees were about to stone the woman caught in adultery (John 6:6,8). The point would have been that her accusers had failed to warn her in advance. Their failure to act was a serious sin of omission. “Let him who is without sin among you cast the first stone” (John 8:7).
2. We need to contrast these two kinds of sin and see them for what they are. There is a heroic form of sin, a form of sin that is Promethean. Out of pride we react defiantly and rebelliously against God. This sin is characterized by aggressiveness. It is sin characterized by audacity. It is sin characterized by action. This kind of sin is arrogance unleashed. It is the attitude that lies behind murder, rape, and attacks against property. For example, there was the great English train robbery of several years ago, an attack against persons and property that left some members of the train crew physically and mentally damaged for life because of the beating they took and involved the theft of several millions of pounds sterling. On the other hand, there is a quietistic form of sin. It is the opposite of heroic. That is, it is ordinary, trivial and mediocre. Such sin is neither audacious nor aggressive; rather, it is withdrawn. It does not offend God by doing, but rather by not doing. It offends God by treating Him and others with indifference.
3. Such disregard and indifference is manifested in one of the seven deadly sins. It is the sin of sloth. We observe sloth in those that are commonly described as lazy, sluggards, slow-coaches, good-for-nothings, and loafers. Sloth is composed of inaction. Yet, behind the inaction there is a kind of action. And this action consists of willful disobedience. It is intensive and persistent disobedience. It wills itself to disregard God’s claim on and rightful authority over oneself. It says ‘No’ to God. It refuses to love God. It refuses to listen to His Word, or accept His plan and purposes, or to trust God. Sloth may say ‘There is no God’; or it may say ‘It doesn’t matter if God does exist, I refuse to pay any attention to Him.’ The Book of Proverbs in the Old Testament addresses the problem of slothfulness. All our behaviour has consequences. Laziness has consequences. That’s why it is nothing short of nonsensical. It is stupid behaviour. Solomon warns against the stupid indolence of the person who follows the course of idleness even when disaster threatens. Sloth dupes people into taking short-cuts which often turn out to be the hardest way (Proverbs 15:19).
Sloth causes one’s strength to decline (Proverbs 19:24). It
prevents a person from being able to give gifts (Proverbs 21:25f). Sloth leads
to poverty (Proverbs 24:34; Ecclesiastes
10:18). The sluggard not only makes excuses, but puts on airs of wisdom
without doing the study that lies behind sound wisdom (Proverbs 26: 13, 16).
Sloth, it is clear, is not a wise policy. It leaves one flabby in mind and
body. It prevents one from being generous. It creates a bad disposition. It
leads to poverty. And it dishonours God and conflicts with the living of a
righteous life.
4. There is a virtue that offsets the sin of sloth. It is the virtue of industriousness. Virtues are ethical qualities that have an objective basis in God’s revelation and purpose for us. If God’s saving grace and plan is the foundation of our lives, His holy will is the framework of the way we are to live our lives. Virtues correspond to the holy will of God. They are not values. Values are subjective opinions as to what behaviour might be right or wrong. We need a way of life that is more than mere opinion. We need something more solid. We need also to keep in mind that we not saved by being or attempting to be virtuous. We are saved by grace as a gift. However, we are saved in order that we might be in such a close and right relationship to God through Jesus Christ that we might begin living the virtuous life that it might please God and bring honour to Him.
I THE ETHICS OF ENERGY
1. Industry or industriousness means to engage in an unremitting application of ourselves to both life and work. It is commonly applied to our business lives, especially as it relates to manufacturing, trade and commerce. But industriousness can also refer to the application of ourselves and others to study, experimentation, writing, teaching, homemaking, the arts, office work, pasturing and numerous other kinds of life and work. Industriousness means to apply ourselves diligently to whatever of importance lies before us. It may be the invention of some new device that will bring benefit to life. It may be the raising of children, one of the most important tasks to guarantee a good future. It may be the business of saving life, whether through medicine or by working with refugees to provide them with a safe haven and home away from the deadly machinations of some kinds of third-world politics. The point is that industriousness requires energy.
2. But energy needs to be guided energy. Raw power and ambition on their own can destroy as easily as they can build. That is why power and energy and ambition need to be related to purpose; in fact, to good purpose. It is not enough to create things; we need to be creative. Creativity comes from the creative imagination. Creativeness means to pursue the good, the true, and the beautiful. It means imagining something that is different, higher and better. To achieve this there needs to be a model, for the imagination may also be a conduit, if not a source of evil. The New Testament provides this most suitable model of all for the creative imagination to work towards. It is the Kingdom of God! In the first place, the Kingdom of God implies a King, Jesus Christ. He is the Person to whom all things are meant to relate and under whose authority all things come. Whatever we do, therefore, we must do it as unto Him (Colossians 3:23). The workman must do everything for Him. Not primarily to satisfy his ambition. Not primarily for money. We do not serve an earthly master. Everything needs to be undertaken for God. So that the world can go on. So that the world can be a better place. In the second place, the Kingdom implies a community. What we do must be done diligently and for others, The world today has great potential, but it’s too individualistically oriented. It’s every man or woman for himself, or herself. There is great merit in individuality. But individualism has no more merit than tribalism. We need to develop our personal gifts, but do it within community. Industry must be seen in our love for one another.
3. If energy needs to be guided, and this by the model provided by the Kingdom of God, it needs to be exerted on the assumption that we live in a moral universe and will one day have to give an account to God. In other words, we need to remember that the work we do has eternal consequences. We have a clear echo of this in the story of the “wicked and slothful servant” in the teaching of Jesus (Matthew 25:26). There are two paths we can go down. We can receive the gifts of God and invest them wisely, or we can choose to do nothing with the gifts of God. One is the way of diligence and application for a good cause; the other is the way of timidity, indifference and indolence. Those who choose the way of wisdom and righteousness will be given the opportunity of participating joyfully in the end times in the presence of the Master and in the Kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. Those who choose unwisely and fritter away their opportunity and gifts will be called 'unprofitable servants' and shall be cast into the outer darkness. God pays us the compliment of taking us and our actions seriously.
4. The energy to be industrious emerges from the will. Nehemiah gives us the account of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, following Israel’s return from exile in Babylon. They had to work against time and they had to work in the disturbing environment of heavy criticism. But the Israelites did it, because “they had a mind to work” (Nehemiah 4:6). Now this was not just the result of human determination. They had a will to work because they believed God was with them. And work they did. The story of their success is marvelously balanced. We are told that the people both prayed and set a watch (Nehemiah 4:9). With one hand they worked at construction, and with the other hand they held a weapon (Nehemiah 4:17). But it was against the background of faith and assurance. “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses” (Nehemiah 4:14). The will needs to be engaged. Before the engine of industry can start, the key needs to be turned in the ignition of faith; faith in God who is present and real. Jesus undertook His work of salvation for us with diligence. The will of God the Father became His will and He faced crucifixion for the sins of the world (and yours and mine) with resolution.
5. The ethics of energy is grounded in a special and extraordinary love. We act out of love for God who has first loved us (1 John 4:19). The definition and purpose of that love is provided in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. If you and I know that love and have experienced that love, then we will want to work hard. Then we will, as though it were second nature, want to offer our work as unto God. That special love is the reason behind all true Christian diligence, and the antidote to indolence.
II THE DIVERSITY OF DILIGENCE
1. Diligence must always appear in the Christian’s daily work. St. Paul reminded the Thessalonian Christians that they were not to live in a disorderly fashion or become dependent on others. Rather they were to work quietly and eat their own bread (2 Thessalonians 3:6, 8, 10, 12). Personal responsibility and responsibility for one’s family are hallmarks of the Christian life.
2. We must be diligent also in our stewardship. The Christian must accept appropriate financial responsibility for the church in both her local and in missionary work. We are reminded of the price paid for us and our salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, “who though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor; that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).
3. We need to be diligent in our ministries of evangelism and social action. The Word needs to be proclaimed. The faith needs to be lived. The love of God needs to be applied to people’s lives. The brokenness of humanity today is at epidemic proportions. We must be more industrious in applying the good news of Christ’s saving and healing presence.
4. We need to be diligent in the reformation of the church. We need to recognize the fact that the church can never grow or be influential in society unless she becomes credible. The church must become more obedient to her faith. The church needs to seize “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3), and believe it with all her heart. The nebulous faith of an accommodating church can win no converts and encourage no members. Moreover, the church needs to demonstrate a higher morality in her day to day behaviour. She needs to be more credible.
5. We need to be more diligent in our spiritual commitments and in our growth as disciples. We must seek the things that are above. Have we come under the yoke of Christ (Matthew 11:29)? As young people (Lamentations 3:27)? Are we growing as Christians? Are we shedding the characteristics of the old man and putting on the new? Are we bearing and forbearing? Are giving and forgiving? Does the peace of God rule in our hearts (Colossians 3:15)? We are the things we need to work at.
III UP FROM THE BOTTOM
1. The slothful person lives at the bottom! The industrious person is on the way up to the top where there is light, liberty and fresh air. To remain inactive and indolent is stupid. To change things, and become active and diligent, is smart. In our relationship to God through the work of Jesus Christ and the impetus of the Holy Spirit, we can make a new beginning. There is a different way! There is hope! There are possibilities. We can know and experience a better way.
2. To remain indifferent, aloof, unengaged, and uncommitted is an offense against humanity: our own humanity, and that of others. Work is human. But it must do us and others some good. We need to revitalize our work so that it makes a difference to everyone.
3. To be slothful is to commit an offense against creation. It is to live the dissipated life. It is to squander and fritter away the gifts locked up in us and all of nature. We need to exercise these gifts. We need to unlock the storehouse of creation and let more of her surprises flow into circulation. Not to destroy creation, but to enhance creation. The promise of a new heaven and earth, reclaimed out of the old, is a promise to be claimed.
4. To remain slothful is to commit an offense against time. We are to redeem the time (Ephesians 5:16). And to do this, we must live disciplined lives, walking circumspectly and understanding what the will of the Lord is.
Conclusion
John Ruskin said: “The highest reward for man’s toil is not what he gets for it but what he becomes by it.” Industriousness is illustrated in the tiny ant which, working alone or in concert with others, can literally move mountains (Proverbs 6:6). If Christians were to set their minds to it, they could move mountains too.
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Will you pray with me?
“Heavenly Father, help us to be hard and determined workers wherever we find our labours to be. We know that you are the God who works to build a universe, to sustain it in your daily work, to develop it, and to save it through the atoning work of Jesus on His cross. We need to be people of diligence: to put our hands to the task and to be grateful to have work to do. May we find work of importance to undertake and may our energy be up to the task of seeing our life’s work accomplished. Amen.”
Dr. Allen Churchill
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