Sloth: The Duty of Diligence Sermon Series: A Look at the Seven Deadly Sins Proverbs 26:13-16; Hebrews 6:9-12 Rev. Michael D. Halley Novemb er 5, 2017 Suffolk Christian Church Suf folk, Virginia Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost Holy Communion ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Seven Deadly Sins are pride envy anger sloth greed gluttony, and lust This list had its origin in the early fathers of the church. You will also find in the Bible, in Proverbs 6:16-19 1, and in Galatians 5:19 21 2, similar lists of sins that God especially hates. So, we are taking a few Sundays to look at this traditional list of sins and how we can deal with them and overcome them in our lives. Today we look at sloth. A pastor writes 3, There is one animal I really get excited about and that is the two-toed sloth. Whenever I go to the zoo I can t wait to get to the building which houses the sloth. I could watch the sloth for hours. Did you know that they sleep from 15-18 hours a day? Did you know they are among the
Page -2- slowest moving mammals in the world? They hang upside down most of their lives. And they move so slowly that green algae grows on their fur and then they lick it for nutrition. [The sloth, he writes,] is too slow, too lazy, and does too much of nothing. Not a real exciting animal, is it? I hope none of us aspires to be like this animal. So, what is sloth and why is it one of the seven deadly sins? Sloth has been described as a hatred of all spiritual things which entail effort. 4 It is ignoring diligence in pursuing our relationship with God. A 16-year-old boy named William left home to seek his fortune. His earthly possessions were tied in a bundle carried in his hand. One day he met an elderly canal-boat captain who listened to his story that his family was too poor to keep him, and the only skill he had was making candles and soap. The old captain knelt and prayed for the boy s future and afterward gave him some advice. William, someone will be the leading soap-maker in New York. It could be you. Be a good man, give your heart to Christ, pay the Lord all that belongs to Him, make an honest soap, give a full pound, and I m certain you ll be a prosperous and rich man. The 16-year-old who listened to godly counsel was William Colgate, who not only prospered beyond his wildest dreams but was able to give millions of dollars to the Lord s cause. I m sure we all have used Mr. Colgate s toothpaste and other products. 5 Diligence is the constant and earnest effort to accomplish a goal.
Page -3- A man wrote this essay about his childhood 6 : When I was a child, my parents both worked as school teachers. An easy job? No way! If you ve never had the experience of standing in front of a group of children and teaching, let me assure you -- it is exhausting work! And at the end of the day, when classes were over and we returned home, the day wasn t really over, because there were still papers to grade and lesson plans to write. It seemed like a never-ending job. But one thing I remember about those days is that, during the spring time, and again in the fall, when dad returned home from school, he could often be found out in our garden. Planting vegetables, hoeing, pulling up weeds, fertilizing... Another never-ending job. And mom -- she would be in the kitchen, preparing another great meal for all of us... four boys who ate so much, and rarely remembered to thank her for her hard work. Not just a never ending job, but often a thankless one as well. There were days when I m sure dad didn t feel like being out in the garden pulling up weeds. There were days when I m sure mom didn t feel like diving into the kitchen work. There were days when I m sure neither of them wanted to sit down in the evening to grade papers and plan the next day s lessons. But they continually did these things, day after day. There is a word that describes this behavior: diligence. Diligence means constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken; persistent exertion of body or mind.
Page -4- Important tasks are often accomplished only through great diligence. If the garden is not weeded regularly, the weeds choke out the plants, and there are no crops. If the kitchen work is not done, the boys go hungry. If the lesson plans and grading are not done, the students stop learning, eventually the administration becomes unhappy, and in the long run there is no paycheck! Diligence is a vital part of life, but in a society which wants nothing more than to be entertained, diligence often takes a back seat. We forget how to put our mind, our body, and our heart into a task and never look back. Second Peter 1:5 tells us that our spiritual life requires diligence as well. And this is probably the area of life in which we are least diligent. A healthy and growing spiritual life requires commitment and diligence. Diligence in the disciplines of prayer and Scripture reading/study. Diligence in rooting out the weeds of sin in our lives. Diligence in encouraging others, in working together, and showing the love and compassion of Christ in our lives. Unfortunately, we tend to hope that our spiritual lives will blossom without consistent, faithful, determined, constant and earnest effort. It won't happen. How diligent are we in our spiritual disciplines? By now you should have received a letter from our Board of Finance about our commitment to the spiritual health and life of our church. Think of this lesson on the duty of diligence as you read this letter and pray about your commitment. Speaking of commitment and diligence, how better to illustrate it than to come to this table of the Lord. In our church we observe the gracious custom of open communion. All who seek to know Christ are invited to this table to partake of these elements of bread and cup. 7
Page -5- Let us pray together: O God, You who are the God of love, You are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Source of Life, the Living Word, creative and self-giving. In all the near and distant corners of the universe, nothing exists that does not find its source in You. Even when we turn away from You, You are with us; Your presence never fails us, Your gifts of hope and new life transform us. In Jesus, the Risen Christ, we join together as a community of broken but hopeful believers; loving what He loved, living what He taught, and striving to be His faithful servants in our time and place. In this meal we remember Jesus, His promises, and the price He paid for who He was, what He said, and what He did. We remember His life of love, His friendship, His teaching, His dying, and His rising to life again. In the sharing of these simple elements in our community of faith, may we taste and see Your goodness, so that we might catch a glimpse of what it is to be in communion with You and with one another. Come, Holy Spirit. Teach us and guide us and encourage us in our walk of faith, as we pray this in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen. Our Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, sat at table with His disciples and took a loaf of bread. As he broke it, He passed it and said, This is My body. Take and eat and remember Me. After supper He took the cup, passed it to his disciples and said, This is My blood of the new covenant, shed for you and for many for the remission of sins. Drink it in remembrance of Me.
Page -6- Almighty God, we thank you for this bread, and for all you provide to sustain us. Above all, merciful Father, we thank you for Christ your Son, given for the life of the world. Amen The body of Christ, given for you. Almighty God, we thank you for this fruit of the vine, and for every good gift that gives us joy. We thank you above all for Christ our Lord, by whose blood you have bought us and bound us to be your people in an everlasting covenant. Amen The blood of Christ, shed for you. Let us pray together: Thank you, O Christ, for this feast of life. We are fed by Your love; we are strengthened by Your life. Send us forth into the world to live the vision You have laid on our hearts. We are now commissioned to feed as we have been fed, forgive as we have been forgiven, and to love as we have been loved. Thanks be to God. Amen. All Scripture references are from New International Version, NIV, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, by Biblica, Inc., unless otherwise indicated.
Page -7- Sunday Sermons from Suffolk Christian Church are intended for the private devotional use of members and friends of the church. Please do not print or publish. Thank you. Suggestions for sermon topics are always welcome! 1. The sins listed are: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. 2. The sins listed are: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. 3. From Sloth, A Little Slumber, A Little Sleep, by Harry D. Zantingh, March 17, 2010, https://www.crcna.org/resources/church-resources/reading-sermons/sloth-little-slumber-little-slee p. 4. Quoted from The Seven Deadly Sins Today, by Henry Fairlie, University of Notre Dame Press, 1979, p. 123. 5. From Daniel D. Busby, Kent E. Barber, and Robert L. Temple, Worry-free money management, in Christian American, January/February 1997, p. 41, found at https://bible.org/illustration/good-advice. 6. This story was posted by Douglas Twitchell on Oct 20, 2006, at http://www.biblical-illuminations.com/2006_oct/diligence.asp. 7. The following communion liturgy is adapted from A Communion Liturgy for the Whole People of God, by Alydia Smith, published by the United Church of Canada, 2004.