The Sluggard's Farm

THE SLUGGARD'S FARM Introduction From a neglected field and a broken vineyard comes a searching lesson on spiritual laziness— look carefully, consider wisely, and learn the value of diligence in serving God faithfully.

“I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down.

Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction.” — Proverbs 24:30–32 (ESV) No doubt Solomon was sometimes glad to set aside his royal robes, escape the formalities of court, and travel through the countryside unnoticed. On one such occasion, he looked over the broken wall of a small estate belonging to one of his countrymen. This property consisted of a piece of ploughed land and a vineyard. One glance showed him that it belonged to a sluggard who had neglected it. The weeds had grown thickly and covered the entire ground. From this sight, Solomon received instruction. People generally learn wisdom if they already possess wisdom. The artist’s eye sees beauty in a landscape because he has beauty in his mind. “To him who has will more be given,” and he shall have abundance, for he will reap a harvest even from a field covered with thorns and nettles.

There is a great difference between one person and another in how they use the mind’s eye. I have a book entitled The Harvest of a Quiet Eye, and it is a good one. The harvest of a quiet eye can be gathered from a sluggard’s land just as much as from a well-managed farm. When we were children, we were taught a small poem called Eyes and No Eyes. It contained much truth. Some people have eyes but do not see, which is much the same as having no eyes at all. Others, however, have sharp eyes for discovering instruction. Some look only at the surface, while others see not only the outer shell but the living kernel of truth hidden within outward things.

We may find instruction everywhere. To a spiritual mind, nettles have their purpose and weeds have their lesson. Are not thorns and thistles meant to teach sinful people?

Do they not grow from the earth to show us what sin has done, and the kind of produce that results when we sow seeds of rebellion against God? “I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,” says Solomon. “I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction.” Whatever you see, take care to consider it carefully, and you will not see it in vain.

You will find books and sermons everywhere — in the land and in the sea, in the earth and in the skies. You may learn from every living beast, bird, fish, and insect, and from every useful or useless plant that springs from the ground. We may also gather valuable lessons from things we do not like. Solomon certainly did not admire the thorns and nettles that covered the vineyard, yet he still found instruction in them. Many are stung by nettles, but few are taught by them. Some are hurt by briars, yet here was one who was improved by them. Wisdom has a way of gathering grapes from thorns and figs from nettles. She draws good from plants that seem unpleasant and harmful.

Do not complain about thorns; instead, gain good from them. Do not sting yourself on nettles; grasp them firmly and use them for the health of your soul.

Trials and troubles, worries and disturbances, small irritations and disappointments, may all help you if you allow them. Like Solomon, see and consider them carefully — look at them and receive instruction. As for us, we will now first consider Solomon’s description of a sluggard: he is “a man lacking sense.” Secondly, we will notice his description of the sluggard’s land: “it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles.” When we have considered these two matters, we will conclude by gathering the instruction this neglected land may provide.

First, think of Solomon’s description of a slothful man. Solomon was not someone we would contradict, for he possessed great wisdom, and he wrote under divine inspiration in the Book of Proverbs. Solomon says a sluggard is “a man lacking sense.” The slothful man does not think so.

He places his hands in his pockets, and from his confident manner you would think he owned the Bank of England. He appears very wise in his own estimation and carries himself in a way meant to impress others with his supposed ability. How he gained this wisdom is difficult to say. He has never taken the trouble to think. I cannot say he leaps to conclusions, for he never leaps at all; he simply settles lazily into them. Yet he believes he knows everything and has resolved every issue.

Meditation is too much effort for him. Learning is something he has never been willing to endure.

Yet he delights in thinking himself naturally clever. He does not wish to know more than he already knows, for in his own mind he knows enough — though in truth he knows nothing.

The proverb is not flattering, but Solomon was correct in calling him “a man lacking sense.”

According to modern polite society, this may sound blunt, especially since the man owned a field and a vineyard. As the saying goes, “When I have a horse and a cow, every man bids me good morning.”

How can a man be said to lack understanding if he owns land and property? Is it not commonly assumed that a person’s intelligence is measured by his wealth? Wealth often brings praise for supposed ability. Such is the way of the world.

But it is not the way of Scripture. Whether he owns a field and a vineyard or not, Solomon says that if he is a sluggard, he is foolish — or to put it plainly, he is empty of understanding.

Not only does he fail to understand, but he also lacks the capacity to understand. If he is slothful, he is empty-headed. He may be called a gentleman. He may be a landowner. He may possess a vineyard and a field.

Yet these possessions make him no better. Indeed, they make him worse, for he is a man lacking sense and therefore unable to make proper use of what he has.

I am glad that Solomon tells us so plainly that a slothful man is lacking sense, for that is useful information. I have met people who believed they fully understood the doctrines of grace. They could clearly explain the election of the saints, the predestination of God, the certainty of the divine decree, the necessity of the Spirit’s work, and all the glorious doctrines that build the structure of our faith.

Yet from these truths they concluded that they had nothing to do, and so they became sluggards.

Doing nothing became their creed. They would not even encourage others to labour for the Lord because, they said, “God will do his own work. Salvation is all of grace.”

Their idea was that a man should simply wait and do nothing — sit still and let the grass grow to his ankles while hoping for heavenly help. To stir himself, in their view, would interfere with God’s eternal purpose.

I have known such a man look sour, shake his aged head, and speak harshly against earnest believers who were trying to win souls. I have seen him discourage young people and, like a heavy steam hammer, crush them by calling them unsound and ignorant.

How are we to endure the criticism of such a dogmatic person? How are we to escape this supposedly knowledgeable and fault-finding sluggard? Solomon comes to our aid and silences him by declaring that he is lacking sense. He may consider himself the standard of orthodoxy and judge everyone else, yet Solomon applies a different standard and says he lacks understanding. He may know the doctrine, but he does not truly understand it. If he did, he would know that the doctrines of grace lead us to seek the grace those doctrines proclaim.

When we see God at work, we learn that he works in us, not to make us idle, but “to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13, ESV). God’s predestination of a people means he has ordained them “for good works” (Ephesians 2:10, ESV), that they may display his praise. If you or I draw from any doctrine — however true — the conclusion that we may be idle and indifferent about the things of God, then we lack understanding. We misuse the gospel. We take what was meant as nourishment and turn it into poison. The sluggard, whether lazy in business or careless about his soul, is a man lacking sense.

As a general rule, we may measure a person’s understanding by his useful activity. Some call themselves “cultured,” yet they cultivate nothing. Much modern thought, from what I have observed, is like a bottle of smoke — impressive in appearance, but producing nothing solid. There are people who can analyse, debate, refine, and refute, yet meanwhile the hemlock grows in the furrow and the plough rusts unused. If your knowledge, culture, or education does not lead you to serve God practically in your own generation, then you have not learned what Solomon calls wisdom. You are not like the Blessed One — incarnate Wisdom — of whom it is written, “He went about doing good” (Acts 10:38, ESV).

A lazy person is not like our Saviour, who said, “My Father is working until now, and I am working” (John 5:17, ESV). True wisdom is practical. Empty culture only speaks and theorises.

Wisdom ploughs its field. Wisdom hoes its vineyard. Wisdom watches its crops. Wisdom makes the best of everything. Whoever does not do so, whatever knowledge he may claim, is a man lacking sense. Why does he lack understanding? Is it not because he has opportunities he does not use? His day has come and is passing, yet he lets the hours slip away without purpose. Let each of us examine ourselves seriously. Am I using the minutes as they pass? This man had a vineyard but did not cultivate it. He had a field but did not till it. Do we use our opportunities? Each of us has some ability to serve God. Do we employ it?

If we are his children, he has not placed us where we must be useless. He has given us somewhere we may shine with the light he has given us, even if it is only a small candle. Are we shining? Do we “sow beside all waters”? Do we sow our seed in the morning and not withhold our hand in the evening? (Ecclesiastes 11:6, ESV) If not, Solomon’s verdict stands: the slothful is a man lacking sense; a man void of understanding. This man had opportunities he did not use. He also had duties he did not fulfil. When God gave each Israelite a portion of land, he did not intend it to lie waste, but to be cultivated.

When God placed Adam in the garden of Eden, it was not merely to admire its beauty, but “to work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15, ESV). Likewise, each Israelite’s land was meant to reach its full fruitfulness through faithful labour. Ownership brought responsibility. The sluggard failed in that responsibility, and so he lacked understanding.

What is your role? A father? A master? A servant? A minister? A teacher? In these roles you have your fields and vineyards. If you fail to use them rightly, you neglect the purpose of your existence and fall short of the calling God has given you. The slothful farmer also had abilities he did not use. He could have worked his land if he had chosen to do so. He was not ill; he was simply lazy by choice.

God does not require from us what we do not have. “It is required according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have” (2 Corinthians 8:12, ESV). The man with two talents is not expected to produce five, but he is expected to use his two. This sluggard refused to attempt what was clearly within his power. Many have abilities lying dormant. Others use their gifts for themselves rather than for the One who gave them. If God has granted us any power to do good, let us use it. This world is weary and wicked. We should not hide even a glow-worm’s light in such darkness. We should not withhold even a single word of truth in a world filled with error.

However weak our voice, let us raise it for truth and righteousness. Let us not lack understanding by neglecting opportunities, ignoring duties, and failing to use our abilities. In matters of the soul, the sluggard is especially lacking in sense, for he trifles with matters that require utmost seriousness.

Have you never cultivated your heart? Has the plough never broken the hard soil of your soul? Has the seed of the Word never been sown — or has it taken no root?

Have you never watered the young shoots of desire? Never tried to pull up the weeds of sin? You care for your body by spending time in front of the mirror, yet neglect your soul. You adorn the flesh, which will soon return to dust, while your soul remains unwashed and uncared for. This is folly of the highest order. He who is lazy regarding the vineyard of his heart is truly lacking sense.

And if you are a Christian, truly saved, yet negligent in the Lord’s work, then you show little understanding. If you know the danger of lost souls, how can you not strive to rescue them? Time does not delay. Death does not delay. Hell does not delay. Satan is not idle. The powers of darkness are active. How then can we be sluggish if the Master has placed us in his vineyard? If we have been saved by God’s infinite love, should we not spend and be spent in his service? The very order of things demands that a saved person be earnest.

The Christian who is lazy in service does not realise what he loses. The richest part of fellowship with God is wholehearted consecration to God. Some possess just enough religion to make it doubtful whether they have any at all. They display a little godliness, yet little evidence of the Spirit’s work. We are meant to reflect Christ. Instead, some bring reproach upon him. When we see lazy servants, we assume their master must also be indifferent.

Let the world never think that Christ is indifferent to suffering or lacking in zeal. Yet they may think so if those who claim to serve him are mere sluggards. The slothful person loses honour and joy in service. He dishonours the cause he claims to love and prepares thorns for his dying pillow.

Let it stand settled: the slothful, whether minister, deacon, or private Christian, is a man lacking sense.

Now, secondly, let us consider the sluggard’s land: “I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down.” (Proverbs 24:30–31, ESV) Land will always produce something. Soil fit for a field or vineyard will yield fruit of some kind. Likewise, our hearts and our spheres of influence will produce something. We cannot live as blanks. We will do good or evil.

If you are idle in Christ’s work, you are active in the devil’s. By sleeping, the sluggard cultivated thorns more effectively than by any effort. If we do not produce wheat for Christ, we will grow weeds fit only for burning. If the soul is not cultivated for God, it will produce its natural fruit.

And what is that natural fruit? Sin and misery. If children are left untrained, what will they produce? If a city is left without the Gospel, what will grow there? Crime and corruption. There will always be a harvest. If we are slothful, that harvest will be painful even to ourselves. No one rests comfortably on thorns. While you sleep, Satan sows. If you withhold good seed, he will scatter evil seed freely. From that will come regret, perhaps for eternity.

“Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you” (Genesis 3:18, ESV). Often the evil growth will be abundant. Good land yields abundant weeds if neglected. The person who might have done much for God will do much harm if left idle. The best, when neglected, becomes the worst. If you want salvation, effort must be made to show you the way. But if you want to be lost, it requires only neglect: “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3, ESV) The sluggard says, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest” (Proverbs 24:33, ESV), and the thorns multiply beyond number and prepare many a sting for him.

As we look at the lazy man’s vineyard, let us also look into the heart of the ungodly sluggard. He does not care about repentance and faith. To think seriously about his soul or eternity is too much effort for him. He prefers to take life easily, with “a little folding of the hands to rest.” What is growing in his mind and character? In some of these spiritual sluggards, you see drunkenness, impurity, greed, anger, pride, and many other thistles and nettles. In others, where such obvious sins are restrained by respectable surroundings, you find different varieties of evil. The heart cannot remain empty. Either Christ or the devil will occupy it. My friend, if you are not decided for God, you cannot remain neutral. In this conflict, each person stands either with God or against him.

You cannot remain like a blank sheet of paper. The clear handwriting of Satan is upon you; can you not see the marks? Unless Christ has written his own gracious name across the page, the signature of Satan remains. You may say, “I do not live in open sin; I am moral.” Yet if you would examine your heart carefully, you would see hostility towards God and his ways. You do not love his law, nor his Son, nor his gospel. You are estranged in heart, filled with vain thoughts and wrong desires.

These will grow and increase as long as you remain a spiritual sluggard and leave your heart uncultivated. May the Spirit of God awaken you. May he stir you to serious and earnest reflection.

Then you will see that these harmful growths must be uprooted, that your heart must be broken up by conviction, and sown with the good seed of the gospel until it yields a harvest for the great Husbandman. Friend, if you believe in Christ, allow me also to look into your heart, especially if you are a sluggish Christian. I fear that nettles and thistles may be growing there as well. Did I not hear you sing recently, “‘Tis a point I long to know”? That question will often trouble you, for doubt readily grows in idle minds.

I do not recall reading in John Wesley’s diary that he questioned his salvation. He was so busy in his Master’s harvest that it did not occur to him to distrust his God.

Some Christians have little faith because they have never sown the mustard seed they were given.

If you do not use your faith, how can it grow? When faith is actively exercised in Christ’s service, it takes root, grows strong, and eventually chokes out doubt. Others suffer from gloomy forebodings. They become discontented, irritable, selfish, and complaining — often because they are idle. These are the weeds that grow in a sluggard’s garden.

I have known lazy believers become so peevish that nothing pleased them. The most earnest Christian could not satisfy them. The most loving believers were never affectionate enough. The most active church was never energetic enough. They found fault everywhere, even where God was clearly at work. This spirit of criticism, contention, and constant complaint is one of the nettles that surely grow where there is spiritual laziness.

If your heart does not bear fruit for God, it will certainly produce what harms you and others.

Thorns often choke good seed, but it is a blessed thing when good seed grows so abundantly that it chokes the thorns. God enables some believers to become so fruitful that when Satan sows tares, they cannot grow. The Holy Spirit weakens evil in the heart so that it no longer dominates. If you are slothful, examine the field of your heart and grieve over what you see.

Now consider your home. It is a serious matter when a person fails to cultivate their own family.

In my early days, I knew a man who often accompanied me into villages where I preached. I appreciated his company until I learned more about him. He spent every evening attending meetings, yet neglected his many children. They grew into ungodly young people because their father never sought to lead them to Christ. What is the use of zeal abroad if there is neglect at home? How sad to say, “My own vineyard I have not kept” (Song of Solomon 1:6, ESV).

I once heard of a man who refused to teach his children about God because he did not wish to prejudice them. He preferred to let them choose their religion later. One of his sons broke his arm, and while the doctor was setting it, the boy was swearing. The doctor remarked, “You feared to prejudice your son towards good, but the devil had no such hesitation.” It is our duty to cultivate the field in favour of good crops, or it will soon be overrun with weeds. Train a child towards good, or he will naturally drift towards evil. As it is with homes, so it is with schools. A man who later joined this church had once been an atheist. He traced his unbelief partly to his school experience.

On Sundays, the boys were confined to a distant gallery in church where they could scarcely hear a word. They endured endless prayers, but nothing touched their hearts. Eventually, he became so weary of religion that he resolved to abandon it once free. Sunday-school teachers must take care.

Classes can be made so dull that children come to dislike Sunday itself. Time can be wasted without bringing young hearts to Christ.

Some Christian parents, through harshness and lack of tenderness, have sown seeds of resentment instead of love. May we live among our children in such a way that they love not only us but our Father in heaven. Let parents show cheerful and genuine faith, so that children may desire to follow their example. If faith does not rule in the home, we will see disorder, pride, folly, and the beginnings of vice. Let not your home become a sluggard’s field. Let every deacon, class leader, and minister examine the field entrusted to him. If we neglect our responsibilities, we become like barren trees occupying space that fruitful trees could have used. We will hinder rather than help unless we render real service. Consider this seriously. You cannot remain neutral. If you produce no gain, you create loss. May God grant that we become profitable servants.

Now look at the vast field of the world. See how it is overgrown with thorns. Vast regions are covered with error, unbelief, and false religion. The world abounds in cruelty, oppression, impurity, and misery. To what extent is this due to a negligent church? Nearly two thousand years have passed, yet much of the vineyard remains overgrown. Wherever the church has ceased missionary labour, she has declined. When she stops reclaiming the wilderness, she becomes barren herself. Rather than asking what the church has done in past centuries, let us ask what we will do now.

Will we continue cultivating the same ground repeatedly while vast fields remain untouched? May God awaken us from our sluggishness. If not, the report may be: “I passed by the field of the sluggish church, and it was all overgrown with thorns.” There is a lesson here. Left to itself, human nature produces only thorns and nettles. Apart from grace, this is all we would have yielded. If we now produce good fruit, it is entirely due to grace. Let us then display the fruit of grace in our lives. Shall we serve Christ less earnestly than we once served sin? Shall we sacrifice less for him than we did for our former desires? May the Holy Spirit produce abundant fruit in us.

We also learn the emptiness of good intentions without action. This man always meant to work hard one day. He said, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest” (Proverbs 24:33, ESV). Only a little delay — then he would begin. But that day never came. Many hear serious sermons and intend to respond. They mean to turn to God “one day.” Some have delayed for forty years. When will you turn? “Before I die,” you say. Will you postpone it to your final hour? Is that wise? You may die suddenly. Life is uncertain. Take heed of small delays. You have wasted enough time already. Decide now. May the Holy Spirit bring you to decide.

“Surely you do not object to my having a little more sleep?” says the sluggard. “You have waked me so soon. I only ask another little nap.” “My dear man, it is far into the morning.” He answers, “It is rather late, I know; but it will not be much later if I take just another doze.” You wake him again, and tell him it is noon. He says, “It is the hottest part of the day: I daresay if I had been up I should have gone to the sofa and taken a little rest from the hot sun.” You knock at his door when it is almost evening, and then he cries, “It is of no use to get up now, for the day is almost over.”

You remind him of his overgrown field and weedy vineyard, and he answers, “Yes, I must get up, I know.” He shakes himself and says, “I do not think it will matter much if I wait till the clock strikes. I will rest another minute or two.”

He is glued to his bed, dead while he lives, buried in his laziness. If he could sleep forever he would, but he cannot, for the judgment day will rouse him. It is written, “And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes” (Luke 16:23, ESV). God grant that you spiritual sluggards may wake before that; but you will not unless you bestir yourselves in time, for “now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2, ESV). And it may be now or never.

Tomorrow is only to be found in the calendar of fools; today is the time of the wise man, the chosen season of our gracious God. Oh that the Holy Spirit may lead you to seize the present hour, that you may at once give yourselves to the Lord by faith in Christ Jesus, and then from his vineyard— “Quick uproot The noisome weeds, that without profit suck The soil’s fertility from wholesome plants.”