Lessons from an Ant
Proverbs 6:6-11 – Victory Fellowship
September 4, 2022 - Rev. Roderick Grabski
I. Introduction: Labor Day Observation
a. Ant Facts:
i. If we were as strong as ants we could pick up a car and throw it.
ii. If we ran as fast as ants we could beat a racehorse.
iii. Like farmers, Ants herd and protect other insects like aphids for their sugary honeydew secretions
iv. Ants will sometimes “enslave” other ant colonies once their queen is gone.
v. Ants can live up to 24 hours underwater
b. Ambition-Vision-Purpose; God’s plan for providing for His creation. Even ants.
II. Relate the Text:
a. A lesson for lazybones:
i. Ants have ambition (vv. 6-7) Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work,
ii. Ants have purpose & vision (vs. 8) they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.
III. Application: (What We Learn from the Ant)
a. Be Self-motivated (vv. 9-11) But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.
i. J.C. Penney said: Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I'll show you a man who will make history; show me a man without a goal and I'll show you a stock clerk.
b. Be Vision Oriented (Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.)
c. Be Christ Centered (Galatians 3:26-27 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.)
IV. Conclusion:
Don’t live a life w/o God’s Truth, Wisdom, and Guidance in the future plans that we make.
The 19th century Bible scholar G. S. Bowes pointed out the ultimate futility of ambition that isn't accompanied by dedication to God. Citing four powerful world rulers of the past, he wrote: "Alexander the Great was not satisfied, even when he had completely subdued the nations. He wept because there were no more worlds to conquer, and he died at an early age in a state of debauchery. Hannibal, who filled three bushels with the gold rings taken from the knights he had slaughtered, committed suicide by swallowing poison. Few noted his passing, and he left this earth completely un-mourned. Julius Caesar, 'staining his garments in the blood of one million of his foes,' conquered 800 cities, only to be stabbed by his best friends at the scene of his greatest triumph. Napoleon, the feared conqueror, after being the scourge of Europe, spent his last years in banishment."
PRAYER
SONG: In Christ Alone #390
Proverbs 6:6-11 NLT
Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! 7 Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, 8 they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. 9 But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? 10 A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—11 then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.
