Sloth: What Happens When Indifference Meets Enthusiasm?
Sermon
Deadly Sins and Living Virtues
Living Beyond the Seven Deadly Sins
Object:
A speaker at a revival, Edd Matney, spoke about commitment and motivation. When you think of commitment, Edd indicated, consider the egg and bacon on your breakfast plate: indeed, it took some commitment on the part of the chicken to lay the egg, but by comparison that was only a shadow of the commitment rendered by the pig to provide you your bacon. The chicken was involved, yes; but the pig was committed. In other words, are you involved or committed? Just how cold or hot are you as a Christian?1
Concerning motivation, think of the man who took a shortcut through a cemetery to his office early one morning. He fell into a freshly dug grave and couldn't get out. Along came another man who also fell into the same grave, but he didn't see the first man. After watching the second man try to get out, the first man finally spoke up, "Don't worry, someone will come along and help." Suddenly, on hearing a voice in the grave, the second leaped out of the grave and took off running. In other words, a voice motivated him to solve his problem. What voice motivates you? Two key words in the battle against sloth are commitment and motivation.2
Elie Wiesel tells the story of a young Jewish man named Michael who returns to his Hungarian hometown at the end of the Second World War. Michael had been imprisoned in a concentration camp but had survived the brutality. He returns to his hometown in Hungary out of curiosity, not for revenge. In particular he is curious about a man who lived across the street from the synagogue where Michael used to worship. This man watched from his window day after day as hundreds of people were herded to their deaths. This man watched with no pity, nor anger, without even pleasure or interest as people were marched to death. He just watched: impassive, indifferent, impersonal. It didn't matter to him one way or the other. He didn't care one way or the other.
In a strange way Michael understood the brutality of the guards and the executioners at the camp. At least their passion to inflict suffering and death was something that was part of the world. But the man behind the window, who looked and showed no passion nor interest whatsoever, was just a spectator. He didn't belong to the world. Evil is human, anger is human; to cause suffering is human, to express hatred is human; but indifference, to show no emotion, to be neither cold nor hot, that's inhuman. The man behind the window with his indifference commits the sin of sloth. Like the people of Laodicea, he is neither cold nor hot. He's just a spectator, lukewarm, worthy only for being spit out.3
Sometimes sloth is thought of as meaning laziness. In fact it is on account of what appears to be a lazy pace of life that a creature in the Amazon jungle was named the sloth. It moves so slow that it was viewed as a lazy creature.
A farmer was sitting on a porch one day, a piece of straw in his mouth, his feet on the railing. He was the picture of contentment and ease. A stranger came along and said, "Hello," and then asked him, "Anything new going on?" The farmer replied, "Well, yes, sir, there is. Two weeks ago a tornado came through here. The tornado cut down all the trees I thought I was going to have to cut for firewood. It was wonderful; it saved me a bunch of work." The stranger said, "That's incredible, anything else?" The farmer said, "Yes, last week we had a lightning storm and lightning hit a field of brush I thought I was going to have to cut. It burned the whole field down and saved me a whole week of hard labor." The stranger said, "That's amazing! With all that time and labor saved, what are you doing now?" And the farmer said, "I'm sitting here waiting for an earthquake, hoping it will throw those taters out of the ground that I have to harvest."4
Sometimes sloth is portrayed, like that farmer, as laziness. But you can also be a very active person and still commit the sin of sloth, because the essential meaning of sloth is not laziness. Sloth describes a lack of caring, an aimless indifference to God and others and even an indifference to your own life.5 Even a person who is extremely active can commit the sin of sloth. You can be a booming success, or the model of a dedicated parent devoted to your children, and still be guilty of sloth.
Take for instance Albert Speer in his autobiography, Inside the Third Reich. In that book Speer confesses that he was so enthralled by the power of his position as Hitler's State Architect that he was blind to the slaughter that was going on around him. Albert Speer was a brilliant architect, a hard worker, a good husband, a wonderful parent, and one who certainly did not hate the Jewish people, in fact he said he greatly admired the Jewish people. But Speer confesses that his mind was set on his professional career, that he was so intent on doing his job that he was oblivious to the horrors going on around him. The name of this blindness is none other than sloth.
Sloth is the sin of being unconcerned about the world and people around us.
Sloth is when a person turns his head away when he meets someone on the street who is in need or a victim of crime.
Sloth is a person throwing pollutants into a stream or landfill or a company exposing people to toxic materials.
Sloth is well-clothed and well-fed people ignoring the needs of the poor and the hungry.
Sloth says, "I don't care."6
The parable of the talents is a story about sloth. The parable describes a man who, immobilized by fear and a bad theology, buries his gifts. He was afraid that if he did do something he might fail. And the bad theology was that if he did try and yet failed, the Master would be angry. In the final analysis he just didn't care enough, he didn't have enough commitment and motivation in himself or in his Master, and so he didn't do anything. He was lukewarm. Jesus says then that such a person, being lukewarm, is cast out.
On another occasion Jesus said we are the salt of the world, but if we have lost our saltiness, then we are no longer good for anything. Jesus also said we are the light of the world, but if we hide our light under a bucket so that no one can see it, then again it is good for nothing. Lukewarm salt and lukewarm light; good for nothing.
As someone has said, "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing." That is, "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to be lukewarm." And so we have sloth.
Of course, good people have good excuses for their sloth. They say, "There's so much wrong in the world, I can't possibly do anything to help. I'm just one little person." But what in the world is one little person? Do you know that our county would cave in and dry up if just little people didn't care? The men and women who volunteer their time and talents to the hospital, to the civic clubs, to the schools, to the churches make a difference in this community. Every day they do battle against the forces of evil to help people and to make this a better place to live. And everyone of them is an unsung hero, just one little person, but one little person making a big difference in the world because he or she cares.
One of the most common symptoms of sloth occurs as we grow older. In the so-called midlife years and beyond, our goal in life is to "make something" of ourselves and "to make a difference."7 In the middle and older years of life we look for ways to contribute to life. To have a successful business, maybe to raise good and decent children, to be a community helper. In the middle and older years of life we think about leaving behind a legacy, a good memory, and a good work. The danger though is that sloth will enter into our hearts and make us think that our lives have been for nothing, that we have not made something of ourselves, nor made a difference. If that happens, we will stop caring about ourselves and others, and life will lose its meaning and sense of direction.
The writer of Ecclesiastes seems to have reached that point when he said, "Life doesn't make sense; you toil and sweat and struggle; life is hard and all is vanity, and then you die." When you hear these words you have to say Ecclesiastes looks very lukewarm. He seems to throw up his hands and say, "I don't know about God, and I don't know about life." Lukewarm. Yet in the end he shows some heat when he finally concludes, "Fear God and keep his commandments." There at the end of all his moaning and complaining he recognizes, "I do have something meaningful to do because of my relationship with God."
This is all spelled out much better in the Book of Revelation when the angel speaking to the Laodiceans says, after they have been declared to be slothful, to be neither cold nor hot: "Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me." In other words, the cure for sloth is a relationship with God. But it takes effort. You have to open the door. You have to take action.
As you would expect, the opposite of sloth is zeal or enthusiasm. Zeal, enthusiasm, means not just doing something because you have to, but doing it because it arises out of communion with God. Remember when Abraham was tested by God? "Abraham, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go and offer him as a burnt offering." Abraham was a compassionate and just man. It was out of this compassion and sense of justice that Abraham pleaded with God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah, if only ten righteous people could be found living there. Abraham, as a man of compassion and justice, is one who would never willingly sacrifice a human being. But here was God demanding the sacrifice of Isaac: the promised child, born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age; precious Isaac, the one through whom God promised to make a great nation. Considering all that Isaac meant to Abraham, I would expect Abraham to procrastinate, to put off taking Isaac to the mountain to be sacrificed. But the Bible says that on the appointed day, Abraham "rose early in the morning" (Genesis 22:3), cut the wood for the sacrifice, saddled his horse, and set out with Isaac for the mountain. Abraham didn't delay; he was zealous, enthusiastic, to do the will of God.8
Perhaps you saw that special on the ABC television program 20/20 in which they interviewed a group of men and women who had reached the age of 100 or more and were still physically and mentally agile. There were three things in particular they had in common that seemed to help them reach that centennial mark.
First, they had a positive outlook on life. They had all been through the grief of losing parents, brothers and sisters, friends, and spouses, and yet they still had a positive outlook on life. They enjoyed life and enjoyed making new friends. They were thankful for the life they had, expressing no bitterness for anything in their life.
Second, they stayed active helping other people. One woman, 102 years old, acted as a volunteer tour guide for a historic home. Another woman over 100 years old led an aerobic class for what she called "whippersnappers in their seventies."
Third, they were believers in God. They believed God had a purpose for their lives, even if it were a small purpose. So while they were near the end of their lives, they still had a sense of meaning and purpose.
Zeal, enthusiasm, is that attitude of exuberance in which you know that many things are possible. Enthusiasm is a feeling of fervor. Communion with God means knowing and having this same attitude and fervor that many things are possible. To know God, to be in relationship and communion with God, gives us something to do that indeed makes a difference in life.
One particular way to experience zeal in life is to consider all the good things you enjoy and give thanks to God for them. All of us, no matter what our condition in life is, have some good for which we are grateful. The poor man has something to eat, some clothes to wear; and the sick person is still alive and surely has family and friends who pray for his or her recovery. The apostle Paul admonishes the Christians at Philippi to rejoice by thinking about whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, pure, lovely, gracious, anything worthy of praise, think on it and rejoice (Philippians 4:4-8). This is not pie-in-the-sky gratitude. You can question the justice of God, and you can argue vehemently against God for suffering and pain as Job did, and yet at the same time have an appreciation for life that is able to sustain you in the worst of times.
Another weapon in the combat against sloth is to remember that every good deed makes a difference no matter how small it is. It is noteworthy to consider that every great journey is made up of one footstep at a time. Judaism and Christianity have always taught that to help one person is as if one helped the entire world; and conversely, whoever destroys one person is considered to have destroyed an entire world.9
Let me leave you with this image. Back in the days of slavery, life was grim for slaves. If anyone had a reason to despair of life and not care, it was the slaves. The work was long hours, hard and dirty. And after a full day's work, what did they have to show for it at the end of the day? Nothing. They were slaves; they had nothing of real value. When the slaves would come in from the fields at night with their dirty faces and ragged cloths and looked at each other they would cry with grief and despair. But when they looked up and remembered the Bible stories, then they sang and even danced the hopeful spiritual songs.10 What I say to you then is this, "Rejoice!"
Children's Message
When someone comes to your house and knocks on the door (make a knocking sound), what do you do? That's right, you go and answer the door. You go and see who it is and if it's a friend, or someone you know, you invite him or her in.
The Bible says Jesus is knocking at the door (again, make a knocking sound). How do you let Jesus in? Well, maybe if you see someone who is hurt you could offer help (making a knocking sound). Or if someone at school is being picked on, treated badly, you could be his or her friend (making a knocking sound). Or maybe listening to a Sunday School story and looking it up in the Bible is a way of letting Jesus come into your heart (make a knocking sound). Or even worshiping God is a way of letting Jesus come in (make a knocking sound). Let's pray about this knocking.
__________
1. The source for this illustration is unknown.
2. Norman Vincent Peale, How To Handle Tough Times (Foundation for Christian Living: Pawling, NY, 1990), pp. 23f.
3. See William White, Fatal Attractions: Sermons on the Seven Deadly Sins (Abingdon Press: Nashville, TN, 1992), pp. 41-42.
4. Todd Jones, op. cit., tape number 2.
5. Schimmel, op. cit., pp. 191, 193.
6. Adapted from White, Fatal Attractions, p. 43.
7. See George Sinclair's sermon, "The Fourth Deadly Sin: Sloth" (First Presbyterian Church: LaGrange, GA), and Donald Capps, Deadly Sins and Saving Virtues (Fortress Press: Philadelphia, PA, 1987), p. 58.
8. Schimmel, ibid., p. 194.
9. Ibid., p. 209.
10. From a sermon delivered by Ernest Campbell, Massanetta Springs "Bible Conference," Summer 1994.
Concerning motivation, think of the man who took a shortcut through a cemetery to his office early one morning. He fell into a freshly dug grave and couldn't get out. Along came another man who also fell into the same grave, but he didn't see the first man. After watching the second man try to get out, the first man finally spoke up, "Don't worry, someone will come along and help." Suddenly, on hearing a voice in the grave, the second leaped out of the grave and took off running. In other words, a voice motivated him to solve his problem. What voice motivates you? Two key words in the battle against sloth are commitment and motivation.2
Elie Wiesel tells the story of a young Jewish man named Michael who returns to his Hungarian hometown at the end of the Second World War. Michael had been imprisoned in a concentration camp but had survived the brutality. He returns to his hometown in Hungary out of curiosity, not for revenge. In particular he is curious about a man who lived across the street from the synagogue where Michael used to worship. This man watched from his window day after day as hundreds of people were herded to their deaths. This man watched with no pity, nor anger, without even pleasure or interest as people were marched to death. He just watched: impassive, indifferent, impersonal. It didn't matter to him one way or the other. He didn't care one way or the other.
In a strange way Michael understood the brutality of the guards and the executioners at the camp. At least their passion to inflict suffering and death was something that was part of the world. But the man behind the window, who looked and showed no passion nor interest whatsoever, was just a spectator. He didn't belong to the world. Evil is human, anger is human; to cause suffering is human, to express hatred is human; but indifference, to show no emotion, to be neither cold nor hot, that's inhuman. The man behind the window with his indifference commits the sin of sloth. Like the people of Laodicea, he is neither cold nor hot. He's just a spectator, lukewarm, worthy only for being spit out.3
Sometimes sloth is thought of as meaning laziness. In fact it is on account of what appears to be a lazy pace of life that a creature in the Amazon jungle was named the sloth. It moves so slow that it was viewed as a lazy creature.
A farmer was sitting on a porch one day, a piece of straw in his mouth, his feet on the railing. He was the picture of contentment and ease. A stranger came along and said, "Hello," and then asked him, "Anything new going on?" The farmer replied, "Well, yes, sir, there is. Two weeks ago a tornado came through here. The tornado cut down all the trees I thought I was going to have to cut for firewood. It was wonderful; it saved me a bunch of work." The stranger said, "That's incredible, anything else?" The farmer said, "Yes, last week we had a lightning storm and lightning hit a field of brush I thought I was going to have to cut. It burned the whole field down and saved me a whole week of hard labor." The stranger said, "That's amazing! With all that time and labor saved, what are you doing now?" And the farmer said, "I'm sitting here waiting for an earthquake, hoping it will throw those taters out of the ground that I have to harvest."4
Sometimes sloth is portrayed, like that farmer, as laziness. But you can also be a very active person and still commit the sin of sloth, because the essential meaning of sloth is not laziness. Sloth describes a lack of caring, an aimless indifference to God and others and even an indifference to your own life.5 Even a person who is extremely active can commit the sin of sloth. You can be a booming success, or the model of a dedicated parent devoted to your children, and still be guilty of sloth.
Take for instance Albert Speer in his autobiography, Inside the Third Reich. In that book Speer confesses that he was so enthralled by the power of his position as Hitler's State Architect that he was blind to the slaughter that was going on around him. Albert Speer was a brilliant architect, a hard worker, a good husband, a wonderful parent, and one who certainly did not hate the Jewish people, in fact he said he greatly admired the Jewish people. But Speer confesses that his mind was set on his professional career, that he was so intent on doing his job that he was oblivious to the horrors going on around him. The name of this blindness is none other than sloth.
Sloth is the sin of being unconcerned about the world and people around us.
Sloth is when a person turns his head away when he meets someone on the street who is in need or a victim of crime.
Sloth is a person throwing pollutants into a stream or landfill or a company exposing people to toxic materials.
Sloth is well-clothed and well-fed people ignoring the needs of the poor and the hungry.
Sloth says, "I don't care."6
The parable of the talents is a story about sloth. The parable describes a man who, immobilized by fear and a bad theology, buries his gifts. He was afraid that if he did do something he might fail. And the bad theology was that if he did try and yet failed, the Master would be angry. In the final analysis he just didn't care enough, he didn't have enough commitment and motivation in himself or in his Master, and so he didn't do anything. He was lukewarm. Jesus says then that such a person, being lukewarm, is cast out.
On another occasion Jesus said we are the salt of the world, but if we have lost our saltiness, then we are no longer good for anything. Jesus also said we are the light of the world, but if we hide our light under a bucket so that no one can see it, then again it is good for nothing. Lukewarm salt and lukewarm light; good for nothing.
As someone has said, "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing." That is, "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to be lukewarm." And so we have sloth.
Of course, good people have good excuses for their sloth. They say, "There's so much wrong in the world, I can't possibly do anything to help. I'm just one little person." But what in the world is one little person? Do you know that our county would cave in and dry up if just little people didn't care? The men and women who volunteer their time and talents to the hospital, to the civic clubs, to the schools, to the churches make a difference in this community. Every day they do battle against the forces of evil to help people and to make this a better place to live. And everyone of them is an unsung hero, just one little person, but one little person making a big difference in the world because he or she cares.
One of the most common symptoms of sloth occurs as we grow older. In the so-called midlife years and beyond, our goal in life is to "make something" of ourselves and "to make a difference."7 In the middle and older years of life we look for ways to contribute to life. To have a successful business, maybe to raise good and decent children, to be a community helper. In the middle and older years of life we think about leaving behind a legacy, a good memory, and a good work. The danger though is that sloth will enter into our hearts and make us think that our lives have been for nothing, that we have not made something of ourselves, nor made a difference. If that happens, we will stop caring about ourselves and others, and life will lose its meaning and sense of direction.
The writer of Ecclesiastes seems to have reached that point when he said, "Life doesn't make sense; you toil and sweat and struggle; life is hard and all is vanity, and then you die." When you hear these words you have to say Ecclesiastes looks very lukewarm. He seems to throw up his hands and say, "I don't know about God, and I don't know about life." Lukewarm. Yet in the end he shows some heat when he finally concludes, "Fear God and keep his commandments." There at the end of all his moaning and complaining he recognizes, "I do have something meaningful to do because of my relationship with God."
This is all spelled out much better in the Book of Revelation when the angel speaking to the Laodiceans says, after they have been declared to be slothful, to be neither cold nor hot: "Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me." In other words, the cure for sloth is a relationship with God. But it takes effort. You have to open the door. You have to take action.
As you would expect, the opposite of sloth is zeal or enthusiasm. Zeal, enthusiasm, means not just doing something because you have to, but doing it because it arises out of communion with God. Remember when Abraham was tested by God? "Abraham, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go and offer him as a burnt offering." Abraham was a compassionate and just man. It was out of this compassion and sense of justice that Abraham pleaded with God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah, if only ten righteous people could be found living there. Abraham, as a man of compassion and justice, is one who would never willingly sacrifice a human being. But here was God demanding the sacrifice of Isaac: the promised child, born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age; precious Isaac, the one through whom God promised to make a great nation. Considering all that Isaac meant to Abraham, I would expect Abraham to procrastinate, to put off taking Isaac to the mountain to be sacrificed. But the Bible says that on the appointed day, Abraham "rose early in the morning" (Genesis 22:3), cut the wood for the sacrifice, saddled his horse, and set out with Isaac for the mountain. Abraham didn't delay; he was zealous, enthusiastic, to do the will of God.8
Perhaps you saw that special on the ABC television program 20/20 in which they interviewed a group of men and women who had reached the age of 100 or more and were still physically and mentally agile. There were three things in particular they had in common that seemed to help them reach that centennial mark.
First, they had a positive outlook on life. They had all been through the grief of losing parents, brothers and sisters, friends, and spouses, and yet they still had a positive outlook on life. They enjoyed life and enjoyed making new friends. They were thankful for the life they had, expressing no bitterness for anything in their life.
Second, they stayed active helping other people. One woman, 102 years old, acted as a volunteer tour guide for a historic home. Another woman over 100 years old led an aerobic class for what she called "whippersnappers in their seventies."
Third, they were believers in God. They believed God had a purpose for their lives, even if it were a small purpose. So while they were near the end of their lives, they still had a sense of meaning and purpose.
Zeal, enthusiasm, is that attitude of exuberance in which you know that many things are possible. Enthusiasm is a feeling of fervor. Communion with God means knowing and having this same attitude and fervor that many things are possible. To know God, to be in relationship and communion with God, gives us something to do that indeed makes a difference in life.
One particular way to experience zeal in life is to consider all the good things you enjoy and give thanks to God for them. All of us, no matter what our condition in life is, have some good for which we are grateful. The poor man has something to eat, some clothes to wear; and the sick person is still alive and surely has family and friends who pray for his or her recovery. The apostle Paul admonishes the Christians at Philippi to rejoice by thinking about whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, pure, lovely, gracious, anything worthy of praise, think on it and rejoice (Philippians 4:4-8). This is not pie-in-the-sky gratitude. You can question the justice of God, and you can argue vehemently against God for suffering and pain as Job did, and yet at the same time have an appreciation for life that is able to sustain you in the worst of times.
Another weapon in the combat against sloth is to remember that every good deed makes a difference no matter how small it is. It is noteworthy to consider that every great journey is made up of one footstep at a time. Judaism and Christianity have always taught that to help one person is as if one helped the entire world; and conversely, whoever destroys one person is considered to have destroyed an entire world.9
Let me leave you with this image. Back in the days of slavery, life was grim for slaves. If anyone had a reason to despair of life and not care, it was the slaves. The work was long hours, hard and dirty. And after a full day's work, what did they have to show for it at the end of the day? Nothing. They were slaves; they had nothing of real value. When the slaves would come in from the fields at night with their dirty faces and ragged cloths and looked at each other they would cry with grief and despair. But when they looked up and remembered the Bible stories, then they sang and even danced the hopeful spiritual songs.10 What I say to you then is this, "Rejoice!"
Children's Message
When someone comes to your house and knocks on the door (make a knocking sound), what do you do? That's right, you go and answer the door. You go and see who it is and if it's a friend, or someone you know, you invite him or her in.
The Bible says Jesus is knocking at the door (again, make a knocking sound). How do you let Jesus in? Well, maybe if you see someone who is hurt you could offer help (making a knocking sound). Or if someone at school is being picked on, treated badly, you could be his or her friend (making a knocking sound). Or maybe listening to a Sunday School story and looking it up in the Bible is a way of letting Jesus come into your heart (make a knocking sound). Or even worshiping God is a way of letting Jesus come in (make a knocking sound). Let's pray about this knocking.
__________
1. The source for this illustration is unknown.
2. Norman Vincent Peale, How To Handle Tough Times (Foundation for Christian Living: Pawling, NY, 1990), pp. 23f.
3. See William White, Fatal Attractions: Sermons on the Seven Deadly Sins (Abingdon Press: Nashville, TN, 1992), pp. 41-42.
4. Todd Jones, op. cit., tape number 2.
5. Schimmel, op. cit., pp. 191, 193.
6. Adapted from White, Fatal Attractions, p. 43.
7. See George Sinclair's sermon, "The Fourth Deadly Sin: Sloth" (First Presbyterian Church: LaGrange, GA), and Donald Capps, Deadly Sins and Saving Virtues (Fortress Press: Philadelphia, PA, 1987), p. 58.
8. Schimmel, ibid., p. 194.
9. Ibid., p. 209.
10. From a sermon delivered by Ernest Campbell, Massanetta Springs "Bible Conference," Summer 1994.
