They Go From Strenghth to Strength

How spiritually strong are YOU? Are you growing in spiritual strength?

Presented by Lyle Welty
Cincinnati, Ohio - October 25, 2008 (59 minutes)

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Sermon Transcript

How strong are you? Our young people are probably flexing their muscles, thinking about their biceps. We are familiar with the concept of physical strength, of course. People enjoy watching feats of physical strength, someone able to rip a thick phone book in half with their bare hands. I have seen that done; I'm not sure of the details but it was impressive. Or perhaps somebody who can lift very heavy weights. One of our American weight lifters during this year's Olympics was a woman, and she was about 5' tall, weighed 120 pounds. She was capable of lifting twice her body weight over her head. It is impressive. Jack LaLanne, probably a name some of us would be familiar with, called the godfather of fitness, is another example of physical strength. When he was 70 years old he swam a mile and a half handcuffed, shackled, pulling 70 boats with 70 people. That's pretty impressive. He recently just turned 94. When he is 95 this is what he wants to do. He wants to swim underwater from Catalina Island to Los Angeles, underwater. He will use air tanks to swim. He anticipates it taking 22 hours, at age 95. That's pretty impressive too. Physical strength is a good thing. There are many benefits to physical strength. But spiritual strength is much more important to Christians, and it is much more important to God. And it accomplishes much greater things than physical strength can do.

If someone were to ask you the question: "How spiritually strong are you?" what would you say? How would you answer that? How spiritually strong are YOU? How spiritually strong am I? I think a related question that would be equally important is: "Are we growing in spiritual strength?" Would you assess that you are a little stronger this year than you were last year after the Feast? Or two years ago, or five years ago? We are just home from the Feast, as Mr. Bennett mentioned. It was really an excellent sermonette and a very fine introduction to the sermon. There is an old saying that great minds think alike. I am not sure about the great part on my part, but average minds think pretty much alike too at times.

The wonderful world tomorrow, of course, is not here yet. When we think about what lies ahead for us, what we know lies ahead and what we don't know lies ahead, we certainly want to have the wonderful benefits that are available by being spiritually strong. We want to be able to please God and serve God. To do that we have to be strong spiritually.

Let's begin by turning to Hebrews 11:33. You will notice a very encouraging statement that God gives us here. This verse tells us something that is possible for every one of us. We are going to look at this verse which tells us what God's will is. Hebrews 11 has traditionally been called the Faith Chapter. It lists the names of many of God's servants and describes what they have accomplished spiritually through faith.

Hebrews 11:33. Who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword. The next phrase is the one we want to draw our attention to: out of weakness were made strong. Okay. Out of weakness were made strong.

The NIV renders it this way, whose weakness was turned to strength. The verse continues: became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.

So God's servants were given special strength to be able to successfully lead their armies against much more powerful armies, and yet win against great odds.

That phrase out of weakness were made strong is a phrase well worth writing down and remembering. It is a key phrase. Because it tells us what God wants to do in our lives. He wants to turn our weakness into strength. At times it can be physical weakness that is turned to physical strength. Certainly Samson would be an example of that. God gave Samson supernatural physical strength to accomplish God's work and God's will at that time. In one case a roaring lion unexpectedly attacked Samson. The Bible tells us this. The spirit of the Lord came mightily upon Samson and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. He was able to tear that lion apart like we would talk about that phone book being torn apart, much easier even than a phone book. He managed to do that with nothing except the special strength that God had given him. That is really pretty amazing. It is one example of how God can give strength to someone who is humanly weak.

For us, weakness that is turned to strength many times can be in the physical realm as well. Now for example, a physical healing, a supernatural healing, that is exciting when God intervenes and we physically are stronger and healthier than we were before. That is wonderful. But what is much more important to us long-term is the application of spiritual strength. We have the encouragement and the sure hope that growing in spiritual strength and power, having strength of character, strength from God's Holy Spirit, the capacity to take on God's qualities and nature and character, is something that is very important to us. It is crucial, very important, very much on our minds. That is something God very much wants to do with us and for us, giving us great spiritual strength.

Let's turn next to Psalm 84. These are the words we sing in one of our hymns and the writer of the psalm wanted to be in God's presence and referred to a pilgrimage or a journey to Jerusalem that he wanted to make, quite possibly one of God's festivals. Psalm 84:1. How lovely is Your tabernacle LORD of hosts! Let's drop down to verse 5. Blessed is the man whose strength is in You. That's worded very interestingly, man whose strength is in You . It is showing us that God is the source of our strength. We knew that, but now we see it in black and white. Clearly God realizes that and so do we. Our strength comes from God. Whose heart is set on pilgrimage . Especially we want to notice verse 7. They go from strength to strength; Each one appears before God in Zion .

Here we see the idea of not going from weakness to strength but going from strength to greater strength. And that would have a lot of application for us as Christians.

Here's what Barnes' Notes says about verse 7. I think his insight can be very helpful to us. "Going, they increase in strength until they appear before God in Zion . As they pass along, as they come nearer and nearer to the end of their journey their strength, their ardor, their firmness of purpose increases."

What a beautiful illustration of the life of a Christian pilgrim on his journey on toward Mount Zion above, or we would say to the kingdom of God . "They increase in strength. They become more confirmed in their purposes. They bear trials better. They walk more firmly. They tread their way more cheerfully and triumphantly."

In the sermon today we will spend some time on the subject of growing in spiritual strength. That is the key phrase we are focusing on today, growing in spiritual strength. We will be reminded that although spiritual strength comes from God, a lot of that comes from us. We have our part in that to do in order for that strength to be given to us. We will take a look at a particular tendency of human nature that can hold us back from receiving spiritual strength that God wants very much to give us, but we can hold it back, we can defer that.

Let's go to 2 Corinthians 11. We will see the apostle Paul obviously received special and unusual strength of mind and character. I think it is safe to say he was unique. We can certainly see some of the things he had to experience. You have probably read this a number of times. We are going to go through it today. Personally I cannot imagine myself going through all that Paul went through. It is mind-boggling. We will see quite a long list. Yet any one of these trials by themselves would be serious. But he has the entire long listing of them. It begins with a reference to the false teachers who were slandering him.

2 Corinthians 11:23. Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant. In other words, he worked a lot harder. In stripes above measure. He probably had lost count of how many times he had been beaten. In prisons more frequently, in deaths often. He faced death many times and he never knew what the outcome would be, whether he would survive this one or not. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. So 39 stripes five times by the Jews. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep. He spent 24 hours in the open sea. That must have been an ordeal. In journeys often. Here we see some of the dangers he faced as he traveled. In perils of waters. Perhaps flooding rivers. In perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil. We would say fatigue and exhaustion. In sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— in other words, not having enough clothes to wear to maintain his warmth and protect him from the elements. Besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.

Instead of us just glossing over this list as we read through Paul's sufferings and persecutions and hardships, I think it is important to stop and think for a moment about what he had to endure in order to serve God and do God's work in his day. Could you picture yourself living Paul's life? Could you do that? Could I do that? How could a human being endure all of that? I mean, that's just incredible. He did that because God gave him extra special, extra ordinary spiritual strength. Paul was a very talented, very capable person, but it was not just human capacity. He had a lot of help. We might be tempted to think, sure God gave Paul extra special supernatural help. He was an apostle. But I am just an ordinary person. Ordinary Christian. God certainly wouldn't do that same thing for me.

Let's go to one of Paul's own letters. Let's see what God inspired Paul to say in the book of Colossians, in a letter he wrote to the Colossian church. Let's see whether or not it is God's will for us to have the same kind of spiritual strength that God gave Paul. Was this just for apostles, or is it for all Christians? That's what we really want to know.

Colossians 1:9. Paul described his prayers for God's people. Something that was regularly a part of his prayers for the churches he was responsible for and God's people. As we read these verses we can ask ourselves, does this describe my life? Is this real to me? Or are these just kind of religious-sounding words? It is important that we value and understand the reality of what God is offering us as Christians. Colossians 1:9. For this reason we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you be filled – notice that word – filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

Let's stop there for just a minute. Notice that it is not enough to have partial or incomplete knowledge of God's will. He says we should be FILLED with the knowledge of God's will. This will not be possible unless we are studying the Bible, unless we are reading God's word consistently, diligently, really wanting to know what God has to say, and allowing ourselves to be corrected, wanting to be corrected by God's word. We never want to assume that we already know enough. We don't want to say, for example, I have been to 40 feasts, been in the church 40 years, I've heard it all, I know it all. That's a very dangerous as well as unrealistic approach to take. We will never know enough. There is always more to learn because God's word is so deep. We never want to assume that we have already analyzed ourselves thoroughly and completely and we know all about ourselves, because God still has more, I am sure, to show us about ourselves.

Bible study is a key factor to us being able to grow spiritually and draw spiritual strength.

Let's go to verse 10. That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him. That's a very high standard, isn't it? Can you imagine fully pleasing God. Being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

Verse 11 is where we want to see that God wants to give us, not just apostles, but wants to give US spiritual strength so we can live the kind of life that would otherwise be impossible for us. Verse 11. Strengthened with all might according to his glorious power. One version says, strengthened from God's boundless resources . That's good, isn't it? God's boundless resources, strengthened from them. For all patience and longsuffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.

These verses describe the spiritual strength that gives us the ability to patiently endure any situation with joy and thankfulness. It is not easy to patiently endure difficult times. It is especially not easy to do it with joy and thankfulness. I am glad these verses are in the Bible to read and review, because they paint a tremendous picture of what God wants for us and wants to do for us. It is a picture of being able to handle stress and challenges without being able to give up, without caving in. We are given the promise that we will be able to endure because we know the special strength that comes from God will be able to do that. God never lies and he never deceives us. It is there for us. We just have to figure out how to get it, how to receive it.

Let's go to another one of Paul's letters, Ephesians 3:14, to reinforce the fact that God wants to spiritually strengthen us. He does not want to make us weak. He wants to make us spiritually strong. The idea of God giving strength to his people is found throughout the Bible. It is not just Paul's writings. It is certainly in Paul's writings, but it is throughout the Bible. God wants to give his people spiritual strength.

Ephesians 3:14. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be STRENGTHENED WITH MIGHT through His Spirit in the inner man. To be strengthened with might through his Spirit.

The New Living Translation puts it this way. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. That's very clear isn't it, very meaningful.

We can have a positive attitude toward faith, a determined attitude, not easily giving into or giving up under trials and difficulties. The strength that we receive is something that God wants us to experience in our lives. It is there, it is available. It is a matter of learning how to connect with it and receive it. It should also become very real to us. Paul's prayer is a prayer that we should be praying for ourselves, as well as for others, that strength would be given to us.

Turn ahead a few chapters to Ephesians 6:10. We will see here that actually here in the scriptures God gives us a COMMAND to be spiritually strong. It is that important to God that he requires it, he demands it, he highly expects it. He said, do it.

Ephesians 6:10. Finally, my brethren, be STRONG. Once again we see where our strength comes from. It is not our own strength. It is not trying to blow ourselves up with extra ego or self strength. He said, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

When we talk about spiritual strength does a particular face come to your mind of someone who is spiritually strong? Can you put a name with the concept of spiritual strength? I hope you can. Would you consider a particular person to be an example of spiritual strength?

During this past Feast Margie and I had a chance to meet an elderly woman we had never met before, and she certainly comes to my mind. Her husband is also a member, and her husband had a stroke during the Feast in Kentucky . He was hospitalized shortly thereafter. It was a very difficult situation for both of them. In fact, one of our members was kind enough to accompany the woman to the hospital so she could spend time with her husband. We appreciate that. Here they were in a strange city, hundreds of miles from their home, and I was struck with how composed, how much under control, composed, and calm this man's wife was during the time her husband had the stroke and was in the hospital thereafter. She was pleasant, thoughtful of others, faithful in attending services, never missed a service. She mentioned although she was very concerned about her husband and how they would get him home, the long trip, how he would recover, his whole left side was paralyzed, would he recover. Obviously those were very deep concerns. The man was 88 years old, he was one of our senior members, but very active. He had been working every day up to the Feast, very concerned. But she said, you know, at night I would pray, I would ask God for help and for strength, and I was able to lie down and go to sleep. I slept fine. She slept well. I think she was really quite a remarkable example of someone who was spiritually strong. This would have devastated many people. They would not have known what to do, how to do it, or how to respond. But she was very calm, controlled, very trusting in God to get her through this trial. I was impressed. I was genuinely impressed.

Another example comes to mind of a church friend of mine who died about 13 years ago. I knew him well, worked with him a number of years. Over the course of time I noticed that the entire time I knew him he never once got offended. Not that I tried to offend him...please don't misunderstand. But after eight to ten years of being around all kinds of people in all kinds of situations in the church, there is often an opportunity during that period of time that at least one person you are going to be at odds with and it could be offensive. It could be difficult. I never saw him offended. In fact, in my mind the scripture that came to mind even today as I think of him is great peace have they who love your law, and nothing shall offend them. He was a man that I considered it was impossible to offend. Wouldn't you like something like that written on your tombstone? Impossible to offend. I just think that is remarkable. I really admire his character and have a lot of respect for him.

I'm sure you too can think of people, probably a face or two comes to your mind, when you think of someone who has outstanding spiritual strength. There would be a number of ways we could describe or define spiritual strength in a person. Here is one definition; I'm sure it is not the only one. A spiritually strong person is one who even in difficult circumstances maintains a right relationship with God, does God's will, continues producing the fruit of God's Holy Spirit. He or she maintains a right, close relationship with God, does what is right according to the Bible, and continues producing fruit of the Holy Spirit. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. He or she even in bad times has the ability to endure in this way, not giving up, not getting angry with God, not throwing in the towel, but just continuing on faithfully practicing God's way of life. That is the goal. And it is a challenging one. None of use is there yet. We haven't perfected that. Even the apostle Paul said at times he didn't live up to what he knew was right. He wasn't perfect and neither are we. What we are looking for is consistent growth. In spite of the obstacles that we encounter, getting closer to that goal of being like Jesus Christ. When a person is not spiritually strong, what happens? People react. They react to their circumstances but in a very carnal way, a very immature way. Their relationship with God suffers. As I mentioned, it is not uncommon for people to endure a hard, challenging, very difficult trial to become angry with God. This happens, and happens too often. Many times the relationship with God suffers. People begin to do what naturally comes to them, carnally, reverting back to human nature rather than God's way. They do what seems right during those circumstances, but they are reacting instead of doing what God says to do and following the Bible. The fruits of God's Holy Spirit become minimal and maybe not even evident.

Spiritual strength comes from God, but we have our part in it. It is like so many things with God, there is a joint venture here. Two parties involved. There is no such thing as spiritual evolution. Are you familiar with spiritual evolution? Spiritual evolution is where we think that enough time in the church, you just have to spend enough time in the church and you will be spiritually strong. It is just a matter of being here enough Sabbaths, enough holy days, and somehow we get strong just be being here. The passage of time does not make us spiritually stronger. We have to work it. We are not going to EARN salvation by any means, but we have to work and prove to God that we really do want it.

Turn with me to Ecclesiastes 9:10. This is a familiar verse; probably many of us have it memorized. This Biblical principle is one that should apply as we do our part spiritually, but also physically. It is a principle that has a lot of application. It is a familiar one. If you haven't memorized it, it is a good one to do. It says, Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going. Don't you like the way God puts things. Apply yourself; work hard, because you are going to die. And then it is too late. I think that is being very fair, very upfront. That is just the way it is, isn't it. But we have to put out effort, a lot of effort. It says, with all your might. It takes effort to stay close to God, to obey him, to grow in spiritual strength. And doing our part involves certain things which we should know by now, and I am sure many of us do. But it involves fervent daily prayer. It involves daily Bible study. It involves regular fasting. It involves having our heart in God's work. Being obedient to God in every respect, and serving other people too. This verse is telling us to do the things with all our might. The last half of this verse tells us we had better do it now, because we don't have forever to do it and we don't know when the end of our lives will come. The time will come when we will no longer have the opportunity to grow in spiritual strength. Our time will be up. It is a prod on us to do it now.

Let's go to Romans 12:11 next. Here we see an important reminder, and it highlights a tendency of human nature that holds us back from growing in spiritual strength. God gives us some real insight so we know how to attack this issue. Romans 12:11. Some things hold us back. This section of scripture in Romans 12 is a whole section of Christian living principles. Verse 11 says, Not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.

Here are some other ways this verse is rendered. Don't be sluggish in zeal. Keep your spirit at boiling point. That's clear, isn't it?

Another one says: Let us not allow slackness to spoil our work and let us keep the fires of the spirit burning as we do our work for God.

Another one says: Don't be lazy, but work hard, serving the Lord with all your heart.

One commentary makes a helpful point here. It says, "After converts have experienced the initial glow and ardor of Christian life, there is always the danger of them slipping back into a deadening spiritual inertia. To counter this the apostle urges diligent endeavor, fed by a fervency of spirit. It was a lack of such fire that brought down rebuke on the Laodicean church. The Lord's service calls for our best. Jesus is no ordinary master."

Romans 12:11 which we just read warns us against laziness, slackness, sluggishness in our spiritual lives. In fact, the Authorized Version uses the term "slothful." Not a very pleasant term. Slothful is actually kind of a disgusting word in my mind. If you picture the animal, you have seen a sloth. He hangs upside down to sleep. I could probably live with that part. But he sleeps up to 15 hours a day. And when he does move if it is perceptible it is very slow. The word slothful is in the Bible. It is describing people. So we want to take notice of when God says and uses that term that we are not being identified. If we are, we want to change. It is very easy for us to become lazy in carrying out our Christian responsibilities, to take them for granted, to get into a rut.

In the parable of the talents the one servant whom Jesus was displeased with he described as a wicked and lazy servant. Interesting. Wicked and lazy. So we are reminded to be on guard against laziness and slackness and sluggishness in our Christian lives, because we will not be growing spiritually and getting spiritually stronger unless we are zealous, diligent, and consistent. I don't suppose any of us likes to think of ourselves as being lazy, especially in our spiritual lives, but it happens. God knows our tendencies far better than we do.

It might hit home closer to us if we think of laziness or sluggishness as a lack of discipline. That is a term we can be more comfortable with. Discipline, failing to do what we are supposed to do when we are supposed to do it. I imagine any of us and all of us see a need from time to time, there are areas of our lives where we lack a little discipline.

It is a fascinating study of the Bible to see what God says about the subject of laziness, slackness, sluggishness, or even slothfulness. Since God includes those terms in the Bible I think it is important that we note them, and we look at them, examine them, and learn from them. I doubt that any of us is lazy in the sense of being completely idle and doing absolutely nothing with our time, but there are specific areas of our lives where probably all of us are a little undisciplined. Holman Bible Dictionary defines a slothful person as "an undisciplined person." Are there areas of our lives where we need to become more disciplined and consistent, I am talking about the spiritual areas of our lives, in order to gain more spiritual strength. Let's look at some of what God teaches us regarding the subject of laziness.

Several Proverbs give us food for thought. One commentary on the book of Proverbs describes the book of Proverbs this way. It is a book full of wisdom, and yet a book demanding all one's wisdom to use. As we look at a few Proverbs today we can begin to think, how does this apply to me? Does it have any application at all? We can especially focus on what should be our spiritual priorities. Are we being diligent in these areas, especially prayer, Bible study, meditation, fasting, serving, fellowshipping, doing our part in God's work, family responsibilities. These are the priorities God gives us. In these areas especially we have a tendency to let down. Sometimes we just do what we feel like doing. Sometimes we do what we feel like we are in the mood to do. Laziness has a lot to do with doing only what we are in the mood to do.

Many of the Proverbs regarding the sluggard or the lazy person have an element of humor to it. You kind of chuckle when you read some of these mental pictures of what God is describing there. The same time there is always a very serious point being made. Maybe the humor is there to help us see how foolish it is to take the easy way out instead of the disciplined way.

Proverbs 6:9 Here is a proverb that tells us a lazy person has a hard time getting started on things he needs to do. Sometimes he never really gets started. Proverbs 6:9. How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? If you ask a question of that person and try to pin him down as far as when he is going to get started, you don't get an answer. He doesn't say, "I'm not going to do it." He doesn't tell you when he will do it. He probably doesn't have an answer. He doesn't know when he will get to it. We see his plan in verse 10. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep— don't ask me so many questions, he says. Just let me sleep a little longer, as he nestles into his nice, warm, cozy bed and puts his hands across his chest and falls promptly to sleep. Getting sleep is important. I'm not arguing that point. Sometimes health problems or old age makes it necessary to get extra sleep. But the lazy person is the person who is in the habit of sleeping too much, sleeping when he should be working. Sleeping when his priorities are being neglected. Verse 11 tells us the eventual result. So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man. Another version says, poverty shall pounce on you like a bandit. Scarcity will attack you like an armed robber. This could refer to a literal, physical poverty, but in our purpose today we want to instead apply that spiritually; with a lack of discipline on our part spiritually a person ends up spiritually poor, poverty stricken, spiritually weak. Verse 10 talks about a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands. Slipping into laziness in certain areas of our life. This can be a tricky thing, because it can happen in such small increments. I'll just watch a little more TV before I do my Bible study. I need just a little more time to go by before I find a day to fast. Procrastination.

Here is a helpful comment on these verses. "The person deceives himself by the smallest of his surrenders, so by inches and minutes his opportunities slip away. The wise man knows that the sluggard is no freak, but as often as not an ordinary man who has made too many excuses, too many refusals, too many postponements. It has all been as imperceptible, as pleasant as falling asleep."

Proverbs 12:27. Earlier we saw that the undisciplined person has trouble getting started on things that need to be done, things he should be doing. Here we see when he does get started he has hard time finishing what he should be doing. Proverbs 12:27. The lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting, but diligence is man's precious possession. The New Living Translation says: Lazy people don't even cook the game they catch, but the diligent make use of everything they find.

Here's a scenario. You have someone who is going deer hunting. He goes to the trouble of buying a hunting license and a deer permit. He gets written consent from the farmer so he can hunt on his land. Totally legal. He carefully packs his expensive gun and his premium ammunition. He only has the best. Packs his clothes carefully for all kinds of weather, whether it is cold, hot, or rainy. He carefully and systematically packs everything very logically in his truck. So he knows where everything is and he can easily find it. He drives hours to a good hunting site. He sits alone in the woods, silently waiting for hours for a deer to come by. And when it does, he shoots it. And that's where it stops. He lets the deer lay there and rot. He doesn't clean it, doesn't process it, can't be bothered with that. The meat is wasted. The lazy person ends up with nothing.

We won't turn to Proverbs 18:9 but it says, and I think you can see how it applies to that example, a lazy person is as bad as someone who destroys things. He destroys and wastes what he has. You can see the total lack of logic in the example of the hunter. Again, we can apply this to things that should be priorities in our lives. Are we diligent or do we waste the opportunities we do have, opportunities that make it possible for us to grow spiritually and to live effective Christian lives? How much of our lives have we already wasted because of having put off, putting our energies into things that were not priorities, lacking the diligence to do the things we should be doing.

Proverbs 26:15. Here's another proverb showing in a humorous way that an undisciplined person has a hard time following through, finishing or completing what he or she has started. The lazy man buries his hand in the bowl; it wearies him to bring it back to his mouth. That's pretty amazing. He starts to eat. He even has food on his fork, but he can't get the energy to move it toward his mouth. Ever been in that situation? It's a little hard to connect with that. I enjoy eating too much to really relate to that. The discussion of the previous proverb of the person who hunted but didn't cook his meat is somewhat believable. We can see some people doing that. Can you imagine this happening? You are sitting there with your fork already in the food, but you can't quite muster the energy to move it up. We read this proverb and say that's ridiculous! That's absolutely ridiculous! And that's the whole point. That's the point. It is supposed to appear ridiculous to impress on us how foolish it is when we don't follow through on our responsibilities.

If you're still here in Proverbs 26, let's turn to verse 13 where God tells us that when we lack discipline we tend to make excuses for ourselves rather than face the facts and do what needs to be done.

Proverbs 26:13. The lazy man says, "There is a lion in the road! A fierce lion is in the streets!" I will reread that from the New Living Translation. It says, The lazy person is full of excuses saying, "I can't go outside. There might be a lion on the road! Yes, I'm sure there's a lion out there!"

In other words, there might be a lion outside, and I might be killed, so I can't go outside and work. I have known a church family, and maybe you have too, that used this proverb whenever somebody in the family is making excuses. They say, oh, I see, you can't take the trash out tonight because you are afraid there is a lion in the street.

Have you ever known anyone who makes excuses for not doing what needs to be done? I see a few heads nodding. Have you ever BEEN the person who makes excuses for not doing what needs to be done? I think we probably all have on one occasion or more.

Let's go to the next verse. Proverbs 26:14. As a door turns on its hinges, so does a lazy man on his bed. He is hinged to his bed. He procrastinates. He puts off doing what needs to be done. It is easier and more fun to sleep than it is to get up and work.

Mark Twain once said, "Diligence is a good thing. But taking things easy is much more restful." Our human nature tends to make excuses and procrastinate. Too much sleep isn't the only way we procrastinate, though. We can talk to friends endlessly. We can surf the net endlessly. Play computer games. Many other things we can do to avoid doing what needs to be done. We do what is easy and what's fun rather than what needs to be done.

In verse 16 here in Proverbs 26 we see some of the mental gymnastics that our human nature is capable of playing. We give ourselves excuses. If we can't find a reasonable excuse we make up an unreasonable one like, there's a lion in the street. The sad part is we can convince ourselves that these excuses are valid. Notice verse 16. The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly. Other people can see the reality, but we tend to blind ourselves to it.

Proverbs 20:4 points out another danger of a lack of discipline, of doing the easy thing instead of doing what needs to be done. The lazy man will not plow because of winter; he will beg during harvest and have nothing. Here's a person who in his own mind has a good reason for not doing the right thing at the right time. It is too cold. He took the easy way out, and he didn't consider the end result.

I remember as a kid growing up on the farm that we had to work outside even in the wintertime. I can remember my dad taking us out to work in the wintertime, preparing equipment and soil for the spring. I remember it was so cold on a lot of occasions, that our hands got so cold even with gloves on that we had to get off the tractor and put our gloves on the muffler of the tractor to warm up our hands. It was that cold. I don't think my hands have warmed up yet! It was freezing. And yet instead of going in the house and warming up, we warmed our hands on the muffler of the tractor and went back to work. When they got cold again we went back to the muffler on the tractor. I remember one day standing there warming my hands and thinking, you know, it would make a lot more sense to just go in the house and sit by the stove where it is nice and warm. You think that when you are 16 and you really don't want to be out there working. But your dad realizes that we have got to prepare things in order for us to be ready in the spring to plant crops.

At the same time we had a neighbor down the road who would never go outside to work if it were too hot or too cold. Quite a remarkable person. He waited for the temperature to be just right. He had to be comfortable. As a result his crops were always late, and he had the poorest crops in the whole neighborhood. His barn was beginning to collapse from lack of repair and lack of diligence there, and eventually his house also collapsed. But rather than repair his house...his barn was leaning in one direction and his house was leaning in the other...I'm not real sure what the message was. But his barn kept leaning, and every year it was leaning a little more and a little more. The house was starting to lean the other direction, and instead of propping it up or getting some help to straighten it up, before it collapsed he built a new little house in front of the old big house and he just moved in and watched the house every year slowly collapse, and finally it did. You could just drive past his farm and you knew this man would never die of overwork!

I will just quote Proverbs 24:30 because it seems to apply so much to the example I just gave. I went by the field of a lazy person, the vineyard of one lacking sense; I saw that it was overgrown with thorns, it was covered with weeds and its walls were broken down. So true. Spiritually we have to avoid choosing the easy way that causes us to neglect our Christian responsibilities.

Jesus said, if anyone desires to come after me he must DENY HIMSELF -- that means to say no to yourself – and take up your cross and follow me.

So next is Proverbs 13:4. Here we have another description of an unsatisfying result of a lack of self-discipline. Consequences always catch up with the undisciplined person, because one of God's principles says a person will reap what he/she sows. There's no escaping the truth of that principle. Proverbs 13:4 says, The soul of a lazy man desires, but has nothing; but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich. Here is how the NIV puts it. The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.

Look at this proverb in light of wanting to grow spiritually. Do we CRAVE strength from God? Can we say that our desire to receive that extra help from God is something that we CRAVE, that we desire that strongly? It does require diligent effort on our part.

Turn to Proverbs 6:6. I hope that is something we do crave. If it isn't, I hope we can begin to. Proverbs 6:6. Here we see the lazy person is given some good advice about what he or she should do. Go to the ant, you sluggard. You know, it can be a little embarrassing for a human being to have to learn lessons about life from an ant. But the rest of the verse goes on to say, consider her ways and be wise. Which having no captain, overseer, or ruler (don't misunderstand, ant colonies are organized, but if you watch them at work you never see a leader ant out there with a whip, whipping the other ants to work. They just work anyway.) Verse 8 says, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. They just do the right thing at the right time diligently. In the summertime you see ants outside somewhere – hopefully they are not in your house – outside, and they are just always going, always working, preparing for winter. When we find ourselves letting down in the priorities of life we need to turn the situation around as quickly as we can. We acknowledge it and we change it. It is easy to let go of discipline. It really is. All we have to do is stop for a little while. We see this in our exercise. If you have an exercise regimen that you do weekly, if you just stop for a week, like the week at the feast, a week goes by and you are out of the routine and how hard it is to get back into the routine of exercising again. Spiritually the same thing is true. We let a little time go by and it is hard to get back into prayer, hard to get back into Bible study. It is hard to get back into fasting. It just is. That is just the way life is. Because we have to overcome inertia. We have to get started again. But it is very important to do that.

Matthew 9:14 is a helpful section in this regard. God is very willing to help us develop this self-control which we so badly need, but we have to go to our knees and ask God for that help. Here is a section that shows us an additional step that we can and should do when we need help . Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

We just observed the Feast of Tabernacles picturing a time when the bridegroom, Jesus Christ, will be with us on the earth. We typically don't fast during the Feast, but we do fast before the Feast on the Day of Atonement as we focus on the fact that God's kingdom is not here yet, and Satan is still around. We have to be careful not to get influenced and pulled under by him. We have the same reality now that we have come home from the Feast, that now is the time the bridegroom is not here yet. The kingdom is not here, so we need to get into the habit of regularly fasting. For many reasons – one reason is to draw close to God, to receive the strength we do need. If we don't feel like disciplining ourselves to do our part consistently and diligently, then that is what we have to ask God for help to do. Help me to do what I know I need to do, but it is tough to get started.

Some of the most inspiring stories of brethren in the church is the way they work through difficult situations, situations where in some cases they are very close to the edge of the cliff, losing their salvation and eternal life and God's Spirit, but God helped them get hold of themselves and turn their lives around and they began to make phenomenal progress. There are many examples of brethren who realized their mistakes, their weaknesses, their faults, their problems, and took it seriously. They got on their knees, drew close to God, received the strength they needed and turned their lives around. Brethren I hope that can happen to us if we are moving in that direction. Sometimes it takes more than one fast to turn a life around. Sometimes it takes repeated fasts in order to have the strength to turn our lives around. If that is what it takes, it is well worthwhile because a breakthrough does happen. We can see some exciting and inspiring results.

Let's go to Luke 10:27. I think it's very healthy for us periodically to be reminded of what we promised God at baptism. We made a contract. We signed a contract. We made the new covenant with God at baptism. Luke 10:27. Notice the intensity of effort required on our part. This is the heart of the commitment we made with God when we were baptized. We made a promise, this desire was to please God above all else, and that, brethren, should be what counteracts this laziness, this sluggishness, this attitude of complacency. Luke 10:27. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. At baptism we made a commitment to love God and put him first and foremost above everything and everyone. And your neighbor as yourself.

God has to give us this kind of love for him. It is not something we generate on our own. It is not natural. It has to come from God, but we have to ask him for it. We are to love him with our inner being, everything within us, including our emotions, to love God with our lives, all our strengths and abilities and talents, and with our minds. And notice this verse is talking about loving God with ALL OUR HEART, ALL OUR SOUL, ALL OUR STRENGTH, ALL OUR MIND. It doesn't leave any room for laziness or halfhearted approach. We understand that this love from God requires us to keep his commandments. Everything that is written in the Bible as far as instruction we are required and willingly agreed to do. As we grow in this kind of love for God we will be growing in spiritual strength, maintaining a right relationship with God and doing what is right, even in our most difficult circumstances.

For our final scripture let's turn to 2 Chronicles 16:9. One of God's great purposes is to give us spiritual strength in our Christian lives. He is delighted to meet a need that we realize and ask for help on. As we prepare for the kingdom of God we can't muster up the strength on our own. It's not a matter of just generating more enthusiasm. It doesn't work that way. It comes from God. 2 Chronicles 16:9. God wants to strengthen us. God takes delight in making us stronger, but he is looking for a certain kind of person with a certain kind of attitude. For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of (or to strengthen) those whose heart is loyal to Him. A loyal heart puts a lot of effort into obeying God, and putting God first. A person with a loyal heart is not halfhearted or spiritually lazy. Instead, he loves God with all his heart and mind and soul and being. God wants to give us extra strength. Nothing is too hard for God. It is a pleasure that God delights in. We should be so thankful that God is willing to meet the need that we finally realize we have, to spiritually make us stronger.

Brethren, let's continue our part, let's be sure we do our part, so that we can grow spiritually stronger.