Sermon Title: Seven Deadly Sins: Sloth" Part 4 of 7
Author's Name: Rev. Alex Knight
Write to Laodicea to the angel of the church. God's, yes, the faithful and accurate witness, the first of God's creation, says I know you inside and out and find little to my liking. You are not cold, you are not hot. Far better to be either cold or hot. You are stale, you are stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, I'm rich. I've got it made, I need nothing from anyone. Oblivious that in fact, you are a pitiful, blind beggar. Threadbare and homeless. Here's what I want you to do. Buy your gold from me. Gold that has been through the refiners fire, then you will be rich. Buy your clothes from me. Clothes designed in heaven. You've gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me, so that you can see, really see. The people I love, I call to account, I prod and correct and guide so that they will live at their best. Walk on your feet then. About face. Run after God."Revelation 3: 14
Elie Wiiesel is a Jewish philosopher known throughout the world. He was a survivor of the Holocaust in W.W.II. One of his books, "Night" is an autobiography of what it was like for him and his family when they were taken by the Nazi's and put in concentration camps. He wrote another book called "The Town Beyond the Wall" and it is both an autobiography and a novel. In the book a young man named Michael who survived the Holocaust traveled at great personal risk behind the Iron Curtain to go to Hungary to his hometown. Michael could remember the soldiers and the police who had brutalized him and those that he loved. He wanted to go back to his hometown and see what it was like now. Wiesel writes, "Michael, in a strange way, understood the brutality of the executioners and the prison guards, but what plagued him and what really caused him to want to go back to his homeland was what he didn't understand. There was a certain man who lived across the street from his Synagogue. This man peered through his window, day after day, as thousands of Jews were herded into the death trains. Reflecting no pity, no pleasure, no shock, not even anger or interest. Impassive, cold, impersonal." There is a bond, Michael, the character in this novel, thinks to himself. There is a bond between the brutal executioner and the victim. Even though that bond is negative. "They at least they belong to the same universe. But not so with the spectator. The spectator is entirely beyond us. Seeing without being seen, present but unnoticed" Wielsel concludes, "To be indifferent, for whatever reason, is to deny not only the validity of existence, but also it's beauty. Betray and you are a man, torture your neighbor, you are still a man. Evil is human. Weakness is human. Indifference is not."
Wiesel's thoughts follow along with the angel speaking to the church at Laodicea. God wanted the church to be hot and on fire for the kingdom of God. Somehow, God could understand if they became cold. What God could not accept was them becoming indifferent. Lukewarm. Stale, stagnant and uncaring.
In our journey through this Lenten season we are looking at the seven deadly sins. Today sermon is on the sin of sloth. Sometimes referred to as apathy, uncaring, indifferent. But, I like the word sloth. Sloth carries with it a certain "yuk" when you say it. And appropriately so. There is no greater danger to the church than the sin of indifference. The sin of apathy. The sin that says we just do not care anymore. The angel writing to the church at Laodicea said, " You folks just sit there and you think you've got it made. You think you have everything you need. You are satisfied with what you have. But you really can't see you are like a blind beggar with nothing. Because all you have, is stuff you have created for yourselves. You lack spiritual nourishment, spiritual truth."
In one of the other letters to the churches in the Book of Revelation, the angel says to a church, "You've lost your first love." Sometimes that happens. You fall in love and experience the fire of new love, . . . the passion of new love. You cannot do enough for the person you love. Then after many years the love seems to runs dry. The fire seems to go out. The passion seems to go out. Valentine Day is just another day in the year. You feel compelled to do something, . . . not because you want to, but because you feel you "have to". The burning desire from within the heart to want to do something for the one you love, . . . well that just seems to have left you.
Evil is human. Weakness is human. Indifference is not
The angel is writing to Laodicea and saying it is not good when the fire, the passion leaves a church. Being lukewarm is not good. Uncaring is not good. The church was going down a path that was leading to their destruction. The church was loosing their vitality, their witness, their mission in the world.
To grasp the truth about the sin of sloth or apathy or uncaring, we need to be careful we do not confuse being busy and doing a lot of things is the same as caring. The question to the church is whether there is caring about the things of God? Does the church care about the things God cares about? Are we open to be transformed so our heart becomes like the heart of Christ and we see the world with the eyes of Christ and understand this world with the mind and the wisdom of God. Are our priorities the same as God's so we put our energy, our time and our talent into the things of God. Do we care about those things?
Often, we can ask people, do you care? They say, "Yes I care, I care there are people in the world that are going to bed hungry. I care about those that are not a part of the body of Christ, they are not part of the church. I care about those that don't know the Lord, and have no hope of life eternal." But, do we care about them enough that we are driven to do something about it? Do you care as God cares? Do you feel as God feels?
One of the ways we can examine our own life from the perspective of God is to remember the great commandment Jesus gave to his followers. Do you remember what that is? Somebody said to Jesus, "Jesus we have all these laws, rules, and regulations the leaders have given us. What is the greatest of all of these? What's the most important thing? What is the essence of our relationship with God? What do we need to know, above all else?" Do you remember what Jesus said the great commandment was? Love! Love God. Love God with all of your heart and will all of your mind and with all of your soul and with all of your strength. Love God. Then Jesus said there is another commandment that is just like it. Do you remember what that one was? Love each other. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Jesus said, if we will love God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our strength, with all of our mind...if we'll love each other, if we will love our neighbors as we love ourselves, we have it. We have captured the essence, the purity of the life of God.
Let us think about this. We are considering the sin of sloth, the sin of apathy and uncaring, . . . where we are not caring about the things God cares about. We want to look at our own lives and let the Holy Spirit speak to each of us. So, take a moment and ask yourself, in this last week or so, in this journey into Lent, how have you loved God? You do know love is not a noun. Love is much more than an emotion or a feeling. Love is a verb. Love is action. Love is doing. We see this when the Bible tells us God so loved the world, He gave his only son. So, when we think about loving, we think about love in terms of what we are doing. What do we do with our time? What do we do with our money? What do we do with the talents God has given us? How do we give these back to God? How are we loving God each day and each week? As you ask yourself these questions, ask the Holy Spirit to be your guide.
How are you are loving God by giving your life back to God as an offering to Him? The Biblical imperative for giving to God is a tithe. That's 10%. That's a good place to begin in our giving. A good place to think about your giving back to God, as expressions of your love to God, is to ask: "Are you giving a tithe of your time back to God each day?" That's about 2 2 hours. Are there 2 2 hours in your day for God? Sometimes that time may be in prayer. Sometimes that time may be in service to other people, where you become Christ to other people. You help other people. You are there for other people.
Love is a verb. Love is action. Love is doing.
In these Words of Christ, we are called to love God. Jesus also says we are called to love each other as we love ourselves. How are you doing about loving yourself? How you love yourself is how you can love other people. If you do not love yourself, you do not have a lot to offer, in the way of love, to other people. Loving ourselves does not mean we indulge ourselves. Loving ourselves does not mean all of us going to go out to the mall this afternoon and buying any and everything we want That's silliness. That's indulging ourselves. To love ourselves, is to take care of ourselves and to provide for our whole self - body, soul and spirit. I can remember some years ago when I was suffering with clinical depression. I was going to a doctor. I was going to a counselor. My counselor told me about a clinic in Columbus.
He thought the pastoral support I would have there would help me deal with the depression. I kept thinking of all the reasons why I could not go. It was very expensive. I could not see how I could take the time off from work. I did not see how I could be away from the church. I had all of these reasons why it was such an expense to go. I was talking to my doctor about the clinic. My doctor said, "Have you ever thought of this, not so much as an expense, but as an investment? An investment for yourself, because you are worth it?" Well, to be honest, that had never occurred to me. But, I began to think about it that way and I came to the conclusion that I was worth that kind of an investment. I took the time and I went and it was to my great profit that I did. I begin my recovery from depression there, and a regaining of my health, because I was worth the investment.
This same truth applies to all of us in our spiritual growth with God. We are worth the time we invest in our own spiritual growth. The question is whether we will invest time in ourselves. Investing in ourselves means participating in a worship service like this, or participating in a small group study, or participating in something like a prayer circle or participating in something like the Grace Walk Conference. I can tell you it would be good for you to love yourself enough to do the kinds of things, to invest in yourself, so you can grow in your awareness of just how much God loves you and what God wants to do through you. Our God created each of us. We are a unique creation of God. Created in His image. God has put His spirit into us and He has given each of us gifts. Gifts of the Holy Spirit for the work of edifying the whole body of Christ, the church. In taking care of yourself and nurturing yourself and investing in yourself, you learn to recognize that unique gift God has placed in you. As you develop and mature with that gift you can take the next step in what Christ said was the great command for our life. You love your neighbors.
How do you love your neighbors? The best way you can love your neighbors, is to take this gift which God has given to you and give it away. Use it for the kingdom of God. Share it within the church. Share it within the workplace. Share it within your neighborhood. Give your gift away. We ask ourselves, how are we loving God?
We are worth the time we invest in our own spiritual growth.
We are living in a world that it is post-Christian. We are now at a time when no longer is our culture influenced and dominated by Christian thought or Christian ethics. That's the bygone ages. We are living in a new era when the majority of the people are unchurched. The majority of people in the United Sates have never been to a Christian church. We are living in an era where the majority of the people do not know Jesus Christ as their personal savior. We are living in an era when so many people and so many churches have grown uncaring and indifferent. The word I hear from God to the church today is, "Do you care?" Do you care about those people who do not know Christ? Do you care about those people that do not have a church home and are not part of a loving, caring, nurturing fellowship. It is the fire of the Holy Spirit and passion for the Kingdom of God that gives you something to share with the world, and to share with your family and to share with your neighbors. In your own life, are you ready for God to ignite the fire of the Holy Spirit and let the passion for God in His kingdom burn within you?
Ask yourself, how are you loving God? How are you loving yourself in spiritual ways? How are you offering your spiritual gifts to the world? Ask the Holy Spirit to be your guide as you ask yourselves these questions and the Spirit will give you the witness of whether you are suffering from the sin of sloth, from apathy, from uncaring for a world that is lost. Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, we recognize the truth of your scripture that teaches us apart form the saving grace of God, apart from our faith in what you've done for us in Jesus Christ, we have no hope of glory, we have no hope of eternal life. We thank you Father, somebody cared enough to share the good news with us that we would have an opportunity to say yes to your offer of eternal life. Father, by your grace, give us insight and wisdom to truly see ourselves and take account of ourselves and to recognize the truth of where we are in our walk with you. Forgive us of our apathy and our uncaring attitude. And by your grace, Father, so fill us with the wonder of our love, that our life with bubble over with enthusiasm and care for our neighbors. In this we ask in Jesus name. Amen.