Sermon Tone Analysis
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Our spiritual forefathers in the early church maintained that there were seven sins that were deadly.
The were Pride, Envy, Greed, Sloth, Anger, Lust, and Gluttony.
They were considered deadly because, if they are not crucified daily, they lead the soul away from God and righteousness.
They were considered the root cause of all human unhappiness.
So far, we’ve looked at Pride, Anger, Greed, Lust, and Envy.
It seems appropriate, for some reason, to preach on the sin of sloth on Labor Day weekend!
Our word for it is laziness.
The primary biblical passage that speaks of sloth—though there are many others—is found in Proverbs:
/“Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.
Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.
How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.”/
(Proverbs 6:6–11, ESV)
The Hebrew word for “sluggard” occurs here and 13 other times in Proverbs.
It is used nowhere else in the Old Testament.
It refers to more than mere laziness.
In other proverbs, the word is contrasted with uprightness and righteousness and associated with being shiftless.
A slothful person, in the eyes of the Old Testament, is not only a lazy person, but also an irresponsible person who is undependable and who becomes a burden to his or her family and community.
If the slothful person continues in their ways, they may eventually engage in wicked or evil behavior.
The result is personal ruin.
The lessons for this morning are strait-forward ...
* Physical sloth can kill the body
* Intellectual sloth can kill the mind
* Spiritual sloth can kill the soul
!
I. PHYSICAL SLOTH CAN KILL THE BODY
#. when we think of sloth, I have no doubt that most of us immediately think of those who do not care for physical labor or work
* ILLUS.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian of the early 20th century, once wrote; /The first hour of the day belongs to God in worship, the other hours of the day belong to God in work./
#. society will always have some segment of its citizens who do not want to work, and given the choice between working and freeloading they would choose the latter
#. there are some who like living off the largess of others—as if they were intitled
#. for the vast majority of Americans, however, physical sloth is not a problem
#. the most recent reports from the U.S. Government is that American worker productivity continues to remain high
#.
they typical American employee continues to out-work his or her European counterpart
#. if you are an average worker, you put in 50 hours a week at your job
#. some of you put in far more
#.
the Protestant Work Ethic that built this country is alive and well in most of us
#. it’s the idea that work is a spiritual activity that benefits both the individual and society as a whole
!! A. GOD CREATED US TO BE INDUSTRIOUS AND WORK TO BE A BLESSING
#. have you ever wondered why we have to work?
#. is work supposed to be a joy or is it a grim necessity?
#. what place does work have in your life and what is your attitude toward it?
#. in the book of 2 Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul emphasized the witness of work
#. in his first letter to these Christians, Paul had written primarily about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ
#. they had a lot of questions that he sought to give them answers to
#. because some were expecting the return of Christ at any moment, they had quit their jobs and were not interested in doing anything else but ‘Son-gazing”
#. the result was two-fold
#. they had become a physical burden to their families and others in the church who felt obligated to support them
#.
they had become nosey busybodies peering into everyone else’s business
* /“For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies.”/
(2 Thessalonians 3:11, ESV)
#. their decision points to a basic flaw in their attitude toward work
#. they did not see work as being a spiritual matter
#. nothing could be further from Biblical truth
#. as a result, the Apostle Paul laid down a basic principle:
* /“For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.”/
(2 Thessalonians 3:10, ESV)
#.
God created us to be industrious and work to be a blessing
!! B. GOD COMMANDED MAN TO WORK THAT HE MIGHT KNOW BLESSINGS
#. what the blessings of work you ask?
#. the blessing of providing for your family and setting an example for your children
#.
Paul asserts that one’s unwillingness to provide for the basic needs of their family is tantamount to denying the faith
* /“But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”/
(1 Timothy 5:8, ESV)
#. the blessing of penetrating the marketplace with a Christian witness
#.
Jesus made it abundantly clear that Christians are to impact the world and spread their influence to every corner of society
#. we are to be salt and light
#. the church gathers on Sunday, but it scatters on Monday through Saturday
#. if we are salt, let us take ourselves out of the saltshaker
#. if we are light, let us remove the bushel basket
#. the workplace should be a place where are Christianity shines through
#. the blessing of promoting the kingdom
#. each of us has a calling
* /“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,”/ (Ephesians 4:1, ESV)
#. through the wages you receive because of the work you do, we have theopportunity to be good stewards by supporting evangelism and missions
#. doing so promotes the advancement of the kingdom in places you and I may never see, among people we may never meet this side of the Kingdom of heaven
#. the blessing of giving to others
* /“Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”/
(Ephesians 4:28, ESV)
#. this Scriptures paints a picture of God's letting us work and prosper so that we can share our abundance with others in need
#. what a novel approach to work!
* ILLUS.
After Andrew Carnegie died, the people who cleaned out his desk found a piece of paper on which he had written his life goal.
It had been scrawled when he was in his 20s: /"I want to spend the first half of my life accumulating as much money as I can and the second half of my life giving it away."/
And that's exactly what he did.
Carnegie amassed a personal fortune of more than $450 million and gave it all away before he died.
#. believers are to be examples in all things including our work ethic
#.
God's people are to be industrious and honest when it comes to our secular work
#. the reason is that even our secular work has a spiritual purpose behind it
!
II.
INTELLECTUAL SLOTH CAN KILL THE MIND
* ILLUS.
The United Negro College Fund used to advertise for funds with the well-known slogan, /“A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”/
#. one of my greatest concerns for our culture in general and the church in particular is that we have become a nation of intellectual sluggards
#.
I believe that too many Americans are gripped by intellectual sloth
#. students want to be spoon-fed answers and educators are happy to oblige since promotions or raises are tied to student grades
#. teachers are so busy trying to develop character traits in their students that they no longer have time to teach critical thinking to their students
#. among teens and tweens, texting has become a substitute to human interaction which is critical for intellectual development
#. a text message can never transfer the gravity of a situation or the humor of a story that comes from face-to-face interaction
#. plus ... texting is killing writing skills—IMHO
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