PROVERBIAL PARABLES AND PARABOLIC PROVERBS: THE ANTS OUR TEACHERS
Proverbs 6: 6-11
10/07/12 © Dr. Ronald W. Scates
I once watched an ant carry a giant feather; at least it was giant to him. I watched as he maneuvered that feather over and
around all kinds of obstacles, then I watched as he came to a rather wide crack in the sidewalk and he laid the feather across the
crack, walked across it like a bridge, picked it up on the other side and then went on his way.
In our current series on Proverbs and Parables, we come now to a proverb about the ant, how you and I are supposed to learn
something from ants. Thus I shamelessly have stolen my sermon title from our dearly departed friend, John Stott, in his book of a
similar title, The Birds, Our Teachers. Let me remind you, the Book of Proverbs was originally sort of a manual for fathers to use with
their sons to disciple them toward life styles that would be wise and godly.
So you and I are supposed to learn something from the ant. What can we learn? Some of us here today, we might not even like
ants. If you’ve got a picnic planned for this afternoon, well, you probably already canceled it because it’s probably too cold but if you
are planning a picnic, you really don’t want them around. If you’re a rancher, you know that a cow can step on an ant mound and
break its leg. We Texans find ourselves in mortal combat with ants all the time, with fire ants that bite and sting the fool out of us and
with carpenter ants that chew up our houses. But the proverb that we come to this morning, well, the hero is the ant. What can we
learn from ants?
Let’s take a look. I invite you to turn in your bibles with me and keep them open during the sermon to Proverbs, chapter 6, as
we look at verses 6 through 11. Please pray with me before we read.
Holy Spirit, open our hearts and minds now to Your Word that we might clearly understand it, that we might gratefully receive it
and that we might faithfully apply it to our lives. For Jesus’ sake! Amen.
And now, if you’re able, please stand for the reading of God’s Word this morning, Proverbs, chapter 6, beginning to read at
verse 6:
6 Go to the ant, O sluggard;
consider her ways, and be wise.
7 Without having any chief,
officer, or ruler,
8 she prepares her bread in summer
and gathers her food in harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.
Please pray with me again. And now Father, as my words are true to Your Word may they be taken to heart but as my words
should stray from Your Word, may they be quickly forgotten. Through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen. Please be seated.
Ants are absolutely fascinating. Oftentimes they outwit, they outlast and they out-maneuver human beings. Did you know that
an ant can carry an object that’s up to 50x its weight? That would be like you and me going around carrying a compact car. Did you
know that the biomass of all the ants on planet earth equals the biomass of all the human beings on earth? That’s because there’s
about 1 and ½ million ants for every human being. Did you know that ants actually care for and herd other insects? Like aphids!
Ants roamed the earth along with the dinosaurs. Ants learned how to farm far earlier than human beings did. And did you know
that there are actually ant colonies that extend for thousands of miles?
On this World Communion Sunday, it’s good to be reminded that, well, ants are ubiquitous! They are everywhere. They have
colonized and conquered virtually every landmass on planet earth. We can learn a lot from the ants. We’re to look to them.
In this proverb the hero is the ant. So, what can we learn from ants?
Well, we’re to learn a lot, especially if we are sluggards. Now, if the ant is the hero of this proverb, the sluggard is the villain.
It’s interesting, that word ‘sluggard’ occurs in Scripture only in the Book of Proverbs so what is a sluggard?
Well, verses 9 and 10 give us that answer. Apparently a sluggard is a person who is overly fond of sleep, who likes to spend
their days and nights and just about all of their time sleeping. They sleep through alarm clocks. They’re a kind of person who if you
ask them to do something for you, no matter how small, they would take it as being like scaling Mt. Everest. They would rather sleep.
They are the kinds of people that, well, they’d like you to fix their meals, do their laundry and pay their expenses and give them a
place to live. In other words, a sluggard is a typical male American college student. Wonder what to get for that young man for
Christmas this year? How about an ant farm for his dorm room?
In this proverb, ants are portrayed as the epitome of industriousness. Now have you ever watched an ant colony? It’s rather
fantastic, rather frenetic! Just all the activity going on, it looks like ants just do not know how to relax or just kick back or chill out. If
you’re like me, I look at that ant colony and I think, “Who’s in charge here? How do they know what to do and when to do it? Who
designed the mound?” And you’ll see little trails going up from the mound and ants following them, looking for foods. Some of
those trails, do you know where they lead? They lead to fungus farms where ants actually employ some pretty sophisticated
horticultural technics to keep the crop yield the highest they can.
Scout ants are always out foraging for food. Ants farm in the summer time and then they gather food for the winter.
“Lazy ant” is an oxymoron! Unfortunately, “lazy human” is not! Now the Book of Proverbs has nothing kind to say about
laziness. In fact, laziness is condemned at least 6 times throughout the book. Laziness, in Proverbs, is considered to be antithetical
to a godly, wise lifestyle that truly honors the Lord. You and I are to avoid laziness at all costs. Laziness kicks the door open and
invites poverty and want to invade your house and steal you blind. You don’t want that so we’re to avoid laziness.
But the Book of Proverbs also doesn’t have many nice things to say about sleep either. If you’re a Type A person, you know, a
person who is a go-getter, self-starter, who don’t need much sleep to go on, if you’re that kind of person, you just love this proverb. I
mean, this is preaching to the choir. This is right up your alley but if you’re not that kind of person, you probably wish I were
preaching from Rip Van Winkle or something rather than Proverbs. It has little nice to say about sleep. Speaking of sleep, do you
know what animal on planet earth is the 180˚ antithesis to the ant?
In God’s wild creation, He has created the sea elephant. Now the full-grown male sea elephant weighs about 3 tons and is 16feet long. And occasionally, think college male again, occasionally the elephant seal (sea elephant) will use his little tiny front flipper
to scratch himself but that’s about all. On land, a male sea elephant sleeps all the time except to scratch and roll over otherwise they
do absolutely nothing.
Now in classical Christian thought, laziness, sloth and whatever you want to call it has been considered to be one of the 7
mortal deadly cardinal sins that you and I are to avoid. And theologically laziness, sloth, has been considered from a spiritual angle
as well as a physical angle.
One of our Core values here HPPC is “Growing in Christ!” So we need to ask ourselves this morning, when it comes to
growing in Christ, when it comes to growing spiritually, are we more like an ant or are we more like a sea elephant?
You know, as Reformed Christians, throughout history we’ve said that the best way to grow in Christ is to practice what are
called the 3 ordinary means of grace and they permeate the service here today: that you and I are to be people of prayer, in daily
conversation with God, that we need to know how to pray. We’re to be prayer warriors.
And then secondly, we’re to be people of Word, daily into the Word of God, bible reading and then sitting faithfully, week after
week under the faithful exposition of the Scriptures.
And then the third of the ordinary means of grace is regular reception of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
Those things hone you and me towards lifestyles of healthiness and holiness and toward wisdom.
But you might be sitting here this morning thinking, “I understand all that! I’m really kind of an ant. I’m not a lazy person. I’m
very industrious. This proverb really doesn’t have a whole lot of anything to say to me.” Well, don’t be too quick! I think this has
something to say to all of us. We’re here today; you’re awake, you’re not asleep. Well, a couple of you… You’re not asleep, the bread
has been prepared, the cup is on the Table, I have a hunch I’m preaching, pretty much, to a congregation of ants this morning.
You’re industrious. Most of you are very well off. But could that be, not because you’re lazy but maybe you’re well off because you
burn the candle at both ends, because you don’t know how to relax or disengage or disconnect. You don’t know how to Shabbat the
Sabbath. Your life is just go, go, go, go, go! Maybe you and I who are that type can also learn something from the ant as well.
Now, I am not an entomologist, one who studies bugs but I have a hunch that ants don’t die of high blood pressure or stroke or
heart attacks. I have a hunch that though they have no officer or chief or ruler, the Ruler of the universe has hardwired ants to know
when to stop working and to relax. Actually they have done studies on ants and show that ants sleep 4 and ½ hours a day and they
take power naps. While you’re seeing all these guys running around, there are a few of them kicking back having a nap. They know
how to disengage. Oftentimes you and I, made in the image of God, created with much more freedom than ants, we don’t know how
to disengage. So we don’t know when to stop and we burn ourselves out. My friends, that’s not God’s will for your life or mine.
We have a lot we can learn from the ants, particularly if we are not lazy but are workaholics. We don’t’ know how to stop
working. We have something to learn here, especially amidst a culture that actually rewards workaholism, that applauds it, awards it.
I remember a number of years ago in one of my previous churches, being at a banquet, we were all decked out in tuxes and
everything as the Man of the Year Award was presented to a businessman, well-known, internationally famous, and he was awarded
the Man of the Year for that particular city and he was introduced that night by another well-known businessman, actually a CEO of a
multinational corporation, who happened to be an elder in my church, and that elder introduced the honoree this way, “So-and-so is
known to be a hard worker. He’s always in the office by 6 AM. He never leaves before 8 PM. He doesn’t take his day off. He rarely
ever takes a vacation.” And then here’s the kicker, actual verbatim words. “He has sacrificed his marriage and his family to develop
a prosperous, profitable internationally-known company. And for that we have gathered here this evening to award him the Man of
the Year.” And everybody stood up in applause. And I wanted to go, “No, no, no! This guy is a total failure. He’s blown it. Oh, yes,
he’s climbed the top of the ladder but that ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.”
My friends, I’ve spent years with that man’s wife and his 4 children, helping them navigate their way through their intense
anger against him.
Never in the history of the world has anyone’s last words on their deathbed ever been, “Aw, I wish I’d spent more time at the
office.”
My friends, if you and I tend toward that we need to learn from the ant. They do know how to disengage. They do know how to
relax and let go.
My friends, lastly I would urge you and me to look at this Table this morning. This Table is God’s free gift of grace to us and to
the entire world. This Table is a rest stop. It’s a refreshment in Christ on our journey toward finding a lifestyle that is healthy and
wise and productive that brings honor and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. My friends, the bread has been prepared. The cup is on
the table and to this picnic, all ants are welcome.
In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.