Proverbs 6:1-11

Hey, hey, good morning. It's so good to see you here this morning. This is where every day we get together, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all the wisdom literature. Well, I'm really happy to be in Proverbs chapter 6 with you today. It's a beautiful passage, one that, as we go through it this week, you'll see it's full of imagery and just really sound advice from the Lord. Why don't we go ahead and have some coffee?
We'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word. let's pray. Father we thank you so much for this day we thank you for your word and we pray now that as we read your word you would impress these truths upon our hearts we pray that we would follow after you we pray that you would make us wise to walk after your ways in Jesus's name amen all right here we go Proverbs chapter 6 we're going to be this morning let's see we're going to be at verses 1 through 11 Proverbs chapter 6 verses 1 through 11 my son if you become My son, if you become surety for your friend, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, you are snared by the words of your mouth.
You are taken by the words of your mouth. So do this, my son, and deliver yourself For you have come into the hand of your friend. Go and humble yourself. Plead with your friend. Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of a hunter, and like the bird from the hand of the fowler.
Go to the aunt, 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, oh sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. so shall your poverty come on you like a prowler and your need like an armed man." Well we need to ask ourselves, A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do in response to this? So A first, what's this about? Well verses one through five is one section.
Actually in each of these sections there's a distinct thing that the father is writing to his son and as one commentator said there's just like there's all these things he needs a kid to his son right all this stuff and and he gives them way more than he could possibly chew at one time but there's lots that he needs to talk about lots of wisdom he needs to soak in so the first is about borrowing and lending right so what's what's the situation here right you have his son and he's saying son don't sign a pledge for a stranger You're borrowing money from a friend to give to a stranger, or maybe it's borrowing for a friend and the creditor is the stranger, but whatever the situation might be, if you have no primary obligation to that person, get out of that deal fast. And you can imagine this being extremely good advice for a boy who is most likely raised in a largely agrarian society.
And he's saying something pretty serious here. He says, you are snared by the words of your mouth. You are taken by the words of your mouth, right? Your word binds you. If you say, I know this guy's good for it, I'll pay. Hold on real quick. Deliver yourself for you have come into the hand of your friend. Go and humble yourself. Plead with your friend. Give no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter and like a bird from the hand of a fowler. Get out of that situation fast. Get on your hands and knees. Beg, hey, I did this wrong. I shouldn't have done this. I need to get out of here. How does this apply to your life today? How are you called? Don't be a cosigner for loans. You're not obligated to these things.
I'm not saying there's not a time and a place for this sometimes, but sometimes people get into business dealings and practices and feel obligated to help people or to come into these situations that it's going to make them in a bad spot. And your words, right, you need to live by the words of your mouth. And so if you're promising to do this, you need to humble yourself and get out of that quick. Get out of there fast. That's not a good place to be.
Debt makes you a slave. And being a debtor for someone else when they have the obligation to pay, That's not a good deal. I remember having to go with someone when they had co-signed on a loan for someone for a vehicle and that person couldn't pay for the loan. And so I had to be there to go and essentially say, hey, you didn't pay the loan.
And the friction it caused in this person's family and the relationship and having to drive that car back to another state, it was a messy, ugly situation. hear it saying hey get out of there right don't don't son i'm telling you this doesn't work out well you're gonna feel like you should be there for this stranger you know get out of there run quick quick don't don't you go right uh you could hear the intensity of this right um do this deliver yourself where you have come into the hands of your friends go humble yourself plead with your friend right get on down on your hands and knees and plead with them Give no sleep to your eye, no slumber to your eyelids.
Don't wait on this. Don't just sit around and try to make excuses and sit around. No, get out of there fast. So think twice before coming into business dealings where you're dealing with a stranger or co-signing on a loan where you're saying that you're going to be the surety for that person. Don't, whoa, hold off on that. Secondly, don't be lazy. This next section, verses 6 through 11, is all about being lazy.
And I love the imagery here of the ant. 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. Look at the ant. Didn't need a boss. Just does her thing. She goes out. She works. She blah, blah, blah. She just does it. No need for a nanny. No need for an overseeing boss. Just as busy about it. Son, go to work. Go to work, right?
What does he say after that, right? How long will you slumber, oh, sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? You can imagine this being said to a teenage boy who likes to sleep a whole lot. Dude, get up. The night time was given for you to sleep. The daytime is given for you to work. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands. Get up and work. Work. You're going to end up in disaster. So shall poverty come upon you like a prowler, and your need be like an armed man." You're going to feel always under the gun, always under the pressure. Just get to work, boy. Get up and go to work. Now this might sound difficult, but that's That's what it's saying.
And again, these are principles, not promises. This isn't saying, oh, if you just work really hard, if you just have the hardworking American or Calvinist Puritan spirit, you'll just make yourself rich. No, no. There's plenty of people who work long, hard hours and put in really sweaty days and are still in poverty. There are also people who live really poor lives, a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands, reclining in the chair, and Uncle Bob dies and they get five million bucks in inheritance. That's not the norm though. Work hard. He's saying, son, it'll generally go well for you. You'll avoid poverty if you're willing to work.
Just the other day, I'm going to boast on my little boy here for a little bit. I don't do this often, but just the other day, our son got all of his schoolwork done by 9.30 a.m. so he could sit in the hot Iowa summer sun at the corner of two gravel roads and sell lemonade.
And the farmers loved it. I was amazed how many rural people stopped by. And I mean, one guy was driving by at 40 miles per hour down the gravel road. He saw a boy selling lemonade. He literally stomped on his brake down the gravel, backed up his truck, pulled up, and he paid this kid over five bucks for a glass of lemonade that only cost 50 cents. Just proud of a boy out there working.
Get up and work. Get up and work. What great wisdom the Lord's given us for today. Let's go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We pray that we would follow your wisdom. We pray that you would give us wisdom in how to be generous with our finances, but also wise. Lord, we pray that you would let us be hardworking, not because it's an end of itself, but Lord, we pray that we would have the wisdom to work hard for your glory. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, may you work hard today for God's glory, whatever He's given you to do, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, may it be unto the glory of God. And may Jesus Christ be your hope. And I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.