Awake From Your Slumber

AWAKE FROM YOUR SLUMBER!

Proverbs 24:30-34

(Antioch Baptist Church, Sunday March 23rd. 2025)

When I was 13 years old, our family moved away from my childhood home. When my parents sold that house it was in excellent condition. Inside was a renovated kitchen & bathroom, and there was new carpet and paint throughout. The exterior had been redone as well with relatively new siding and a new roof. Within a few years that house was in a sad of state of disrepair. The siding was falling off, the roof was caving in, the windows were broken out, the floors were rotten, the walls had holes in them, and most of the electrical and plumbing fixtures had been stolen. Today that house no longer stands, all that remains is an empty lot. The strange fact is that that it didn't take 20 years for that house to decay, it actually happened rather quickly.

Neglect quickly leads to decay and destruction. This truth also applies to your spiritual health.

We all know certain people who were once "spiritual giants". They were soul winners, prayer warriors, faithful servants, and church leaders. I am referring to people who were load bearers, burden sharers, and people of the Word. These are people who were faithful to the church and the ministry. Tragically, somewhere along the way they began to neglect the things of God, and now they are now a mere shell of what they once were.

Perhaps you would be honest enough to admit that you are not where you once were spiritually. Maybe your passion and zeal has been replaced with complacency and apathy. You suffer from a far too common problem called "spiritual neglect". Proverbs 24 sounds an alarm for those who suffer from this malady. I would like to examine this passage and encourage you to "Awake From Your Slumber".

The majority of Proverbs is attributed to King Solomon, Proverbs 1-22:16 are explicitly attributed to "Solomon, son of David, King of Israel". Proverbs 22:17-24:22 are identified as "The Sayings of the Wise” and concerning Proverbs 24:23-34 verse 23 a declares "These Also Are Sayings of the Wise". Though the exact author of this portion is unknown; the wisdom that is recorded is exceedingly valuable.

The writer journeyed past a local field and noticed a vineyard. It didn't take long for him to realize that something was amiss. The field was grown over with thorns and thistles, and the wall that once protected the estate was now broken down.

In those days agriculture was a very honorable profession. Farmers and vineyard husbandmen were well respected. But the owner of this land earned no respect from the writer of this Proverb. In fact, he proclaims that the landowner was "slothful, lazy and lacking sense."

This Proverb draws our attention to the neglect and slothfulness of this vineyard owner. The writer declares that poverty is imminent for the man who had abandoned his duty. Tragically, many of our fellow Christians are headed towards spiritual poverty; even worse, some of them are already there.

- Let’s begin in verses 30-31 by examining:

I. THE CRISIS OF SPIRITUAL NEGLECT

v30 I went by the field of the lazy man, (slothful – KJV), (Slacker – CSB) (Sluggard – ESV & NASB) and by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding; and there it was, all overgrown with thorns; Its surface was covered with nettles; Its stone wall was broken down.

The owner had neglected his fields and vineyard, unless he woke up and gave it the proper attention, the situation would only get worse. Similarly, if you refuse to address the spiritual neglect in your life, things will only get worse. If many Christians would honestly appraise their spiritual condition they would find that they have become slothful concerning the things of God. Their spiritual life is withering away, their hearts are as hard as the fallow ground, they are indifferent toward the things of God; like those that Jesus rebuked in the Church at Ephesus, they have “left their first love”. This describes many people under the sound of my voice today and whether you realize it or not, you are in the midst of a spiritual crisis!

- Let’s consider:

A. THE DURATION OF THIS CRISIS

This man’s field was not consumed with weeds and nettles overnight. Likewise, his vineyard was not overrun in just a few days. The wall surrounding the vineyard did not decay in a short period of time; it was an extended period of neglect that led to the deplorable conditions on this once fruitful vineyard.

If you are currently away from God, it is probably that certain spiritual things have gone unaddressed for some time. You slowly began to drift, then stray; step by step you went further and further away from the Lord.