Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located
in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship
Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism,
discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church
and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bigford and I will be your
host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing
to you and bring you closer to God.
Hello and welcome to the P.H.S.A. podcast. My name is David Bigford and I am the pastor
of the Potter's House and Salmon Arm British Columbia. This morning my message is going
to be on habits and this is something that I ended up turning into a series. This is
Habits Part 1. We are going to be looking at hitting the snooze button or procrastination
and sloth. Let's dive in this morning. My morning routine is full of battling with my
nature. You hit the snooze button and this power of the snooze button can control us.
It can have a hold over us. We all know this battle fairly well. Unless you are one of
the types of people that can wake up without an alarm clock and immediately just run into
your day and just take it over and dominate, then congratulations to you. But I think that
even someone like myself, which most people would think that that is me, they think, oh
this guy gets up pretty early. Like right now when I'm recording this, it's about five
o'clock in the morning. I've been up for about a half hour. But the reality is that every
time I wake up, I have to really get myself focused on the reason why I'm getting up a
certain time and the reason why I'm pushing forward through the tiredness or through the
exhaustion of our day to day lives. So unless again, you're one of those superhero level
people with discipline, we all fall victim to this snooze button. And this is just one
example that we can all relate to in our lives, whether it's the snooze button or whether
it's you've had a rough day at work or you've had a tiring day with the kids. And you just
think, oh, well, I just want to sit and relax for a little bit. And maybe that's it. Maybe
just that sitting down and relaxing for like five minutes turns into 15 minutes or 20 minutes.
Maybe that's something that we all can battle with in our day to day lives. There are countless
other times though, we'll find any other excuse to procrastinate or to move slowly on purpose.
Maybe it's because we don't like doing a certain task or chore. Maybe it's we don't want we
were not looking forward to what comes next in our day. There are countless times where
this can take place and will procrastinate or allow laziness or idleness to take control
in our lives. Our text that we're going to be looking at this morning is going to be
Matthew 25. We're going to look through quite a bit here. It's going to be a whole section
of scripture in verses one through forty six. And the reason being is because in Matthew
25, Jesus gives us two examples of sloth and procrastination. It's the parable of the ten
versions and the version, the ten versions. And that's in verses one through thirteen.
And then they have the parable of the talents at fourteen through thirty. And then ultimately
the final judgment in verses thirty one through forty six. And that's there's a that's a reason
why we're going to look at these things is we're going to look at each of these parables,
but we also need to look at the reason why we need to fight against this this part of
our nature, which brings me to my first point, which is the battle against nature. So some
definitions of procrastination are the act of putting off or delaying or deferring an
action for a later time. So what are some other words that we can use to describe procrastination?
Well, delay, hesitation. I like this word. It sounds really cool is deletory deletory
in us. Or conjunction filibuster filibuster is great because they actually use that word
still in like U.S. government. You know, for when the Senate is discussing a topic and
the other side of the aisle doesn't like the topic or doesn't want the the the legislation
to be passed, what they'll do is they'll filibuster. And back in the old days, what filibuster
meant with the with the Senate was that the person who was going to filibuster had to
stand up in front of the Senate and they had to talk without break until, you know, for
the length of time they wanted to filibuster. So there was some hemming in on what it meant,
but it's still a pretty interesting word. So if you're going to if you're going to put
that in our daily context, when you're when you're arguing with someone with the only
point of that arguing is to put off what task is meant to be done, then you're filibustering
that person. So it's kind of it's kind of a neat and interesting word. Another word
would be doddling or vacillation. So vacillation similar to filibuster in the sense that if
you know what has to happen next, but you're like, well, should I do it this way? Should
I do it that way? Should I do it this way again? Or maybe to try it a different way
today? Well, that vacillating could also be used as a as a description of paralysis by
analysis sometimes will tend to procrastinate by overthinking the issue rather than just
getting to work and getting done with what needs to be done. So sloth is a similar word,
but it's it's not it's not exactly the same. So I want to define that a little bit too.
So sloth is an inclination not to do work or not to engage in activities where like
you know, like I mentioned, and then paralysis by analysis is you you overthink the issue.
You really want to get something done, but you you're too much of a perfectionist or
something. So similarly, like we're putting these videos out is very, very challenging
for someone like myself, because I tend to overthink, you know, what I'm doing and I
always the lighting OK is my voice or audio sound perfect. It becomes an issue of analysis
or paralysis by analysis rather than wanting to delay. Whereas softness is the inclination
and not want to do work for the sake of not doing work. So that would be laziness or indolence,
idleness, sluggishness, inactivity, or like I like this one because they actually use
inertia and meaning that an object that's not in motion tends to not tends to want to
stay not in motion, whereas an object in motion wants to stay in motion. Right. Another another
word to be lethargy. And the best of these would be apathy. So why does apathy have something
to do with with slothfulness? Well, it's simply you literally just don't have enough compunction
or you don't have enough care to want to accomplish a goal so that therefore you're happy in your
slothfulness. So what are the differences? Well, Dr. Neil Burton, a psychiatrist, philosopher
and writer, wrote an article about what the difference is between procrastination and
laziness. Are you a procrastinator or just the lazy bones? In his article, he touches
on this with some key points. A person is lazy if their motivation to avoid efforts
trumps their motivation to do the right, best or expected thing to postpone a task for constructive
or strategic purposes does not amount to procrastination. Procrastination is defined as poor or ineffective
planning of a task that results in higher overall costs for the procrastinator. He continues
with we are being lazy if we're able to carry out some activities we ought to carry out,
but are disinclined to do so on account of the effort involved. Instead, we remain idle,
carry out the activity perfunctorily or engage in some other less strenuous or boring activity.
In short, we are lazy if our motivation to spare ourselves effort trumps our motivation
to do the right or best thing. All right, so some other synonyms of laziness
as we touched on is indolence. Indolence derives from the word Latin or indolentia, meaning
without pain or without taking trouble. To procrastinate comes from the Latin word cras,
meaning tomorrow, which is to postpone one's task in favor of another or others that are
perceived as being easier or more pleasurable, but which are typically less important or
urgent. To postpone a task for constructive or strategic purposes does not amount to procrastination.
For postponement to amount to procrastination has to represent poor or ineffective planning
and result in a higher overall cost, as I mentioned. For example, in the form of stress,
guilt, or lost productivity or lost opportunity. Again, when I was talking about filming videos
or putting these podcasts together, the issue of making sure everything is perfect to the
point of actually not hitting the record button would mean that I'm feeling some stress or
some guilt and I'm losing productivity when I should just get things moving. It's one
thing to delay a tax return until all the numbers are in, but it's quite another thing
to delay it so that it upsets holiday plans and ends up getting you a fine when you file
your taxes. Both the lazy bones and the procrastinator lack motivation, but unlike the lazy bones,
the procrastinator aspires and intends to complete the task under consideration. Moreover,
eventually, he does complete it, but completes it at a higher cost.
Let's dive into the Word of God as we look at the biblical wisdom as against sloth and
laziness. We're going to pick up our text in Matthew 25, verses 1 through 46. The first
one is the parable of the ten virgins. In verse 1, at the time the kingdom of heaven
will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five
of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not
take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil and jars with their lamps. The bridegroom
was long and coming and they became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, the cry rang
out, Here is the bridegroom, come and see or come out to meet him. Then all the virgins
woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, Give us some of your
oil. Our lamps are going out. No, they replied. There may not be enough for both of us. Instead,
go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves. But while they were on their way
to buy oil, the bridegroom had arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him and
the went to the wedding banquet and the door was shut. Later, others came. Lord, Lord,
they said, open the door for us. But he replied, I truly tell you, I do not know you. Therefore,
keep watch because you don't know the day and the hour. In this first parable from Jesus,
we see the choice being made. One choice was to was to be prepared and ready and waiting
for the appointed hour. The five virgins had everything at the ready and this was extremely
familiar to me as a as an old military adage that we used to use all the time, which is
hurry up and wait, meaning you hurry up and get everything ready, all your preparations.
But you had to understand that you you'd likely be waiting for a while or a long time until
your your entire unit is ready to go. An example for that would have been when we when we deployed
to Japan or we deployed to Iraq or even in boot camp. There were lots of times where
you got all your stuff ready because you didn't want to be the one holding people up. But
then when you did get ready, you were going to be like, oh, OK, go sit over there and
wait for a few hours for everything else to be completed. So the virgins who chose to
be idle, though, they lost their opportunity. And since they were not ready, they were unable
to partake and were left behind. We can often make this mistake and be left behind in our
jobs or even in our ministry. Going back to that military idea, if you were to be so unprepared
that you missed a movement like what deployment you could that could land you in the brig.
So it's very important to to make sure that you are not putting off what needs to be done
today. So the question is. Were they just procrastinating or were they lazy? I don't
believe in that in our Christian lives. That there's a distinction that is all that necessary,
whether it's sloth, which is apathy or procrastination, which is lagging or delaying. The result is
often the same. You can end up being left behind in Proverbs 12 24. It says diligent
hands will rule, but the lazy but the laziness ends in forced labor. And Proverbs 26 15,
a slugger buries his hands in the dish, but he's too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.
These are pretty scary proverbs or pieces of scripture because the first one Proverbs
12 24 talking about laziness, ending in forced labor, that really resonates with my idea
about the military. If you miss a movement, you could end up in the brig. And when the
brig or the brig is military prison, that usually includes forced labor. So the next
parable is the parable of the talents. And we pick up again in verse 14. Again, it will
be like a man going on a journey who called who called his servants and entrusted his
wealth to them to one. He gave five bags of gold to another one bag. All right. Sorry.
Five bags of gold to another two and into another one bag. Greek five talents, two talents,
one talent. Also through this parable, a talent was worth about 20 years of days of a day
laborer's wage. Okay. So each according to his ability. Then he went on this journey
and we pick up again in 16. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and
put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also the one with two bags of gold
gained two more. But the man who received one bag went off dug a hole and put hit it
in the ground. He hid his master's money. After a long time, the master of those servants
returned to settle accounts with them. The man who received five bags of gold brought
the other five. The master he said you had trusted me with five bags of gold. See, I
have gained you five more. His master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. You
have been faithful with a few things and I will put you in charge of many. Come and share
your master's happiness. The man with two bags of gold also came master. He said you
entrusted me with two bags of gold. See, I've gained you two more. His master replied, well
done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things. I will put
you in charge of many. Come and share your master's happiness. Then the man who had received
one bag of gold, master he said, I knew you were a hard man harvesting where others are
where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid
and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See here is what belongs to you. His master
replied, you wicked lazy servant. You knew that I harvested where I had not sown and
gathered where I had not scattered seed. Well, then you should have put my money on deposit
with the bankers so that when I returned, I would have received it back with interest.
So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has 10 bags for whoever
has will be given more and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have even what
they what they have will be taken from them and throw the worthless servant outside into
the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. God wants and expects
us to use every opportunity that he provides us. Even though the third service did not
steal the money, the sin was missing the mark by being unproductive. There was also a bit
of pride there. Also, he felt it safer to risk nothing because the master's mean. Even
though there was a safe option that would have brought forth a little bit of fruit by
putting it in the bank, he could have received some interest back. It would have still been
a lazy end, but it would have produced some reward. The other example of this call from
God can be seen from Paul and Ephesians and Peter and his epistle in Ephesians 5 15. It's
a 15 through 19. It says, Be careful then how you live, not as an unwise, but as wise,
making the most of every opportunity because the day is evil. Therefore, do not be foolish,
but understand what the Lord's will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.
Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with Psalms, hymns and songs
of the Spirit. In 1 Peter 4 7 through 11, the end of all things is near. Therefore, be
alert, be sober minded so that you may pray above all, love each other deeply because
love covers a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of
you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's
grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so who speaks the very words
of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides so that in
all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ to him be the glory and the power forever.
Amen. So this brings us to the final judgment. So as we read the last bit of this chapter,
we pick up again at verse 31. When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels
with him will sit on his glorious throne, all the nations will be gathered before him
and he will separate the people, one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep
from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. The king
will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance,
the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave
me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger
and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked
after me. I was I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer
him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something
to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or needing clothes to clothe
you? When did we see you sick or in person to go to visit you? The king will reply, Truly
I tell you whatever you did for the one of the least of these brothers and sisters of
mine you did for me. Then he will say to those on the left, Depart from me, you who are cursed
into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave
me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and
you did not invite me in. I needed clothes and you did not clothe me. I was sick and
in prison and you did not look after me. They also will answer, Lord, when did we see you
hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison and did not help
you? He will reply, Truly I tell you whatever you did not do for the least of these you
did not do for me. Then they will go away to eternal punishment but the righteous to
eternal life. In Proverbs 23 it says, So the drunkard of Glendon will come to poverty and
slumber with clothes or his slumber will clothe them with rags. In Proverbs 13 it says, A
sluggard's appetite is never filled but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.
This brings me to the end of my clothes, which is the godly call. So what do we do? This
is what we know from the scriptures in Colossians 3, 23, whatever you do, work with all your
heart as working for the Lord, not for a human master. In Proverbs 10, 4 it says, Lazy hands
made for poverty but diligent hands bring wealth. So what you do is you start small,
right? These are pretty simple steps. You continually move forward in your faith of
God but you start small. You pray, you read your Bible, find a good strong church to lock
into that preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ. That allows you to build momentum and then
you can start picking a habit to change. And as you pick those habits to change one at
a time you stack those wins. There's a tool that I've learned to use which is called the
power list which is basically you have your goals for every day and no more than five
days typically. But as you go through your day and you check off those goals that you
have for your day, you stack those wins so that if you win the day, great, you won that
day. If you win more days out of the week then you've won that week. If you win more
weeks out of the month then you've won that month and winning builds momentum. And as
you continue on in your walk with Christ, as you continue on in faith with the faith,
you mentor others. You bring others to be involved with what you're doing so that they
can continually grow themselves. In 1 Corinthians 4, 14-17 we get Paul's appeal in a warning.
It says, I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children even if
you had 10,000 guardians in Christ you do not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus
I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason
I have sent to you Timothy my son whom I love who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind
you of my ways in the life of Christ Jesus which agrees with what I teach everywhere
in every church. So the reality is that we have to become an example to others as we
grow in our faith. And as we grow to be less lazy, as we grow to be more caring or less
apathetic, as we grow to be more successful in accomplishing the goals that we put before
ourselves we lose that procrastination. We lose that we can pray against that spirit
of procrastination or slothfulness and we can grow in Christ. And as we grow in Christ
we become an example to others to see us change from what we were to what we are. And that's
the whole purpose of Christianity is to leave behind the old man, leave behind who we were
and to become more in Christ. Salvation is a free gift that can be given today but after
salvation comes then we can grow to be more like Christ. So if I could have every head
bowed every eye closed quickly I just want to quickly give an opportunity if you're not
saved for you to and but this message has spoken to you that you can be saved in an
instant and it's very simple. It's a simple prayer like this it said Dear Lord Jesus I
know that I'm a sinner but I know that you sent your son Jesus Christ and he died for
me on the cross and he rose again. I repent or I turn away from my sin and I accept Jesus
Christ as my Lord and Savior. I thank you for the gift of salvation in Jesus name. Amen.
That simple prayer takes you from death into life and now you can move forward in Christ
and learn to put aside slothfulness laziness and continue to grow. So thank you for the
time for the listening to this message. I hope it's helped you and I give all praise
and honor to Glad and I thank you again.