The Seven Deadly Sins Part 6: Sloth
Scripture: Proverbs 6:6-9; 10:26; 13:4; 20:4; 26:14-16; Ecclesiastes 10:18
Matthew 25:26,30
Introduction
This is part six of the “Seven Deadly Sins”. This morning we will cover several scriptures that will hopefully give you a good idea of how God views laziness, especially from a spiritual standpoint. Zeal is the energetic response of the heart to God’s command. However, sin works to deaden the spiritual senses so we first become slow to respond to God and then drift completely into the sleep of complacency. Many Christians have fallen into complacency or “spiritual laziness” because of offenses, being tired of fighting or just “not having the time” to focus on God because of being too busy living. The end result, regardless of the reason, is the same – we get nothing done for God.
Most people think of sloth as laziness, not doing much of anything, but just sitting around doing nothing. Some stay busy most of the time but don’t do the things they should, putting them off for later. They may actually be staying busy doing something they like so they can have an excuse. Webster defines sloth as “laziness; idleness…” Sloth is a kind of spiritual laziness (as opposed to mere physical fatigue or depression). It means not making it a priority to do what we should, or change what we should in ourselves. Some people might call it apathy, which means a lack of feeling.
An example might be a parent that always send their child to be early so they can have lots of quiet time to play solitaire or watch TV. Perhaps they could let the child stay up a little later and play a game with them or read. Or perhaps they always tell their child “No!” without taking the trouble to explain why. Another example could be someone active in a political movement. Perhaps they don’t bother to read other opinions and so they never question whether their group is right or wrong. As a result, they could support some very wrong beliefs because they never tried to find the truth. In business, some people never check into the laws to see if their practices are illegal. For Christians, we sometimes don’t really want to know what the Bible (or our Church) teaches about something, so we put off reading or asking about it. Sometimes even our children instead of completely reading an assignment before taking a test will only review the summary of the material instead.
Sloth is also quite possibly the main reason why people don’t read good spiritual books, especially their bibles. They will read Christian fiction and every other type of fiction/non-fiction books, but it is very hard for them to consistently read something to feed their spirits. As we evaluate some of the Scriptures to gain God’s view of the sluggard, remember that oftentimes vices are disguised as virtues. So sloth is often disguised as calmness, serenity, keeping a level head, open mindedness, etc. If sloth is the reality, people will get very defensive. Or maybe not, for if the problem is sloth, it is too much effort to defend it. Lets take a look at what Solomon says about the sluggard.
Proverbs 6:6-9 “Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise. Which having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provisions in the harvest. How long will you lie down O sluggard?
In the Old Testament, a sluggard is one who avoids the action that wisdom requires. In the scriptures we shall read in Proverbs, these terms present the negative side of an important wisdom opposition between slothfulness and diligence. As you go back and read Proverbs, the sluggard is a sub-category of the fool since wisdom requires diligence at the right time. Hard work, which the sluggard avoids, is wise when it fits into the divinely ordained cosmic order. The industrious ant is wise because her actions are in tune with the cosmic rhythm of the seasons: “she prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provisions in the harvest.” In contrast, the sluggard does not work at the right time and reaps the disastrous consequences of his laziness: “poverty will come upon you like a robber”. (Prov. 24:34) Turn to Proverbs 10:26.
Proverbs 10:26 “Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the lazy one to those who send him.”
The sluggard is compared to vinegar and smoke. “As sour wine sets the teeth on edge or as the unripe grape is harmful to the teeth”. Pure vinegar on the teeth is considered to be harmful much like smoke is to the eyes. In a country where chimneys were unknown and the fuel was wood or some substance even worse, the eyes must have often been painfully affected by the household fire. Smoke often causes the eyes to produce tears. The tears cleanse the eyes of the smoke. To these two annoyances is compared the messenger who loiters on his errand. The last clause is rendered “so is iniquity to those who practice it” – it brings only pain and vexation. In other words the messenger who is lazy about his deliveries will often bring pain and vexation to the one who hired him. Solomon is demonstrating effects of the sluggard on the one who hires him/her to do a job.
Proverbs 13:4 “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the soul of the diligent is made fat.”
In this verse Solomon says the sluggard has the wish, but not the will, and the empty wish without corresponding exertion is useless. He wishes for something but he wishes not for the labor it will take to get it. He likes the results, but he hates the process by which the result is to be obtained. His mind is fixed wholly on aimless wishes, not on action. However, the opposite is true of the one who is diligent. His hands will be busy and therefore fully occupied. The result of this is that he will be made fat (very successful) in that for which he is working.
Proverbs 20:4 “The sluggard does not plow after the autumn, so he begs during the harvest and has nothing.”
During the time of the harvest, the sluggard does not plough. Just when the ground is most easily and profitably worked, the sluggard misses the opportunity because of his laziness. Because of the weakness of the plough, the best time to use the plough was after the soil had been softened by the winter and spring rains. The peasants, if industrious, had to plough in the winter, but since the sluggard shrinks from its cold, he has to beg in the harvest because he has not planted anything. The last part of this verse also has a deeper meaning since it was common for the prosperous to help those in need. This verse signifies that the lazy man, having neglected to have his land ploughed at the proper time, “when he asks for his fruit at the harvest time, there is nothing.” He puts off tilling his fields day after day, or never looks to see if his laborers have done their jobs, so his land is not cultivated. Because his lands are not cultivated, he has no crop to reap when autumn comes. Also, one point about the sluggard, although he is a reproached because of his failure to use wisdom in ensuring he has a harvest, he is not ashamed, no more than he who borrows corn in the harvest.
Proverbs 26:14-16 “As the door turns on turns on its hinges, so does the sluggard on his bed. The sluggard buries his hands in the dish, he is weary of bringing it to his mouth again. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes that seven men who can give a discreet answer.”
The door moves on its hinges and makes no progress beyond its own confined sphere of motion. So it is with the slothful man who turns himself on his bed from side to side, but never leaves it to go to work. Other analogies have also been found in this proverb: The door opens to let the diligent go forth to his daily business, while the sluggard is rolling upon his bed; the door creaks when it is moved, so the lazy man groans when he is aroused; the door now is opened, now is shut, so the sluggard at one time intends to rise, and then falls back in his bed and returns to sleep. Verse 15 refers to a type of sensual pleasure that the slothful loves while he has no liking for active work.
Finally, in verse 16, the sluggard is one who is too idle to think a matter out and considers his own cursory view as sure to be right. He is one who deems study to be an unnecessary weariness of the flesh and flatters himself that he is quite able without it to give a satisfactory account of any question presented to him. Remember seven is considered the number of completeness. The idle fool sets more value by his own judgment than by the sense of seven wise men. The term “discreet answer” can be rendered “being able to return a wise and proper answer to anything asked of them.” The verse is saying that a sluggard would think himself wise in not helping a neighbor with an errand or a message, though he would have probably been repaid with a good dinner for his kindness.
In these verses we have seen, from a natural viewpoint, the state of mind of the sluggard and how they tend to not get very much done. The sluggard misses opportunity after opportunity to be productive by the choices that they make. This laziness of mind directly impacts their ability to do anything meaningful physically. A person who is a sluggard in the things of God has decreased desires for the things of God. Let’s examine two more scriptures.
Ecclesiastes 10:18 “Through indolence the rafters sag, and through slackness the house leaks.”
The subject of this verse is the state of the house. Under the image of a house which falls into ruin for a lack of needful repairs is signified the decay that surely overtakes a kingdom whose rulers are given up to indolence (idleness, laziness) and neglects to attend to the affairs which require prompt care. In this verse the house is literally falling apart. The walls are sagging because the rafters are giving way. The roof is leaking because of the laziness of hands. This may not be noticed all at once, but it makes itself known unmistakably before long. The very imperfect construction of the flat roofs of eastern houses demanded continual attention. If they did not receive this constant upkeep, they would soak up water and eventually decay and leak.
Our spiritual walk is described the same way. We must maintain what we have – keep it up. When we ignore God’s voice for so long we get to the point where we cannot hear Him at all. When we are saved and God’s spirit begins to establish our relationship with God, we must work to keep it up. We are not working for salvation; we are working to grow in the things of God. We start off with a foundation but we must build on that foundation in order to grow spiritually. Some believe that just being saved is enough, but God expects more out of us. We cannot be sluggards in our spiritual walk and think that just because we have been Christians 20-40 years that is enough. “I know all there is to know and my relationship is solid with God, I need do nothing else.” I want to read one final scripture as I prepare to close. Jesus tells a parable in Matthew 25:14-30 about talents. Remember a parable is a short, simple story with a moral lesson. In this parable a man is about to go on a journey and gives his servants his possessions to manage while he is gone. To one servant he gave 5 talents, to another two and to another one. Each servant who received a talent(s) had the responsibility to manage it appropriately. The first servant took his five talents and was able to double them. The second servant did the same. The last servant, the one who was given one talent, did nothing with his. When their master returned home from his journey, the first two servants gave him his possessions and the increase they had generated. He praised them for their efforts. The last servant brought only what his master had given him. This angered his master. Look at verses 26 and verse 30.
Matthew 25:26,30 “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed…Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
In marked contrast to the commendation given the first two servants, this servant was referred to as “wicked”. Remember his master seems to have been ready to acknowledge the least service done to him and never looked for results beyond the man’s ability and opportunities. However, he was slothful and made no effort to improve the one talent entrusted to him, his master referred to him as wicked. Out of his own mouth does he judges the servant by repeating the words his servant said to him. He also tells him how he should have gone about and took some type of action to increase the talent. Skip down to the 30th verse. In this verse the master decides the punishment.
The parable merges from parable into the real. The matter represented bursts through the veil under which it was delivered and stands forth plainly. The command is issued to the ministers of the Lord’s vengeance, whether earthly or angelic. The slave was truly unprofitable, as he advanced neither his master’s interest nor his own, which were bound up with one another. While the faithful servants enter into the joy of the Lord, the slothful servant is rejected from His presence, expelled from the kingdom of heaven, banished. Why? Not because of great ill doing, crime, offense against the common laws of God and man, but for neglect, idleness, omission of duty. For me, this is a very fearful thought. Men endeavor to screen themselves from blame by minimizing their talents, ability, opportunities and this parable unveils the flimsiness of this pretence. It shows that all have responsibilities and are answerable for the use they make of the graces and faculties, be they great or small, which they possess. Spiritual laziness is as serious a sin as active wickedness and meets similar punishment.
I know some of you may struggle with what I am telling you, but go back and re-read it for yourself. In this parable, all three men were “servants” to the same master. They all enjoyed the same benefits of being a servant. However, one lost his benefits because he was lazy with what was entrusted to him. Are you starting to see where this is going? I will close this one out by just asking you to read Matthew 25:14-30 and really think about what this parable is saying to you. Which servant are you, one of the two who used their talents working for their master or the one who did nothing with what was entrusted to him? May God bless and keep you as you truly consider the answer to this question.
(One of the primary resources for this message was the “White Stone Journal” website. I used and expanded on several quotes from their articles. To them I give my thanks.)
