Laziness (Sloth) | Proverbs 26:13-16, 6:6-10

okay we're gonna spend most of our times in the book of Proverbs okay that's why we spent that's why you saw two different texts there for the book of Proverbs and so if you've got a Bible or an app that definitely turn there I think I'll be in proverbs 26 first but we're gonna be going all over the place in the book of Proverbs in a few other places but we're in the Proverbs and the Bible if I'm just honest with you you guys probably read it the Bible is really nothing good to say about being lazy nothing good about being slothful so the word sloth it really is essentially a lifestyle of laziness and so I might you know use these words interchangeably here in there but from my standpoint they are they are synonyms and so take when I say lazy and Slavic those um together and so the Bible has really nothing good to say about in fact most of the time when God talks about laziness or sloth he's actually mocking mocking people he mocks sloth sloth slothful people lazy people were in in the Bible's where it's sluggards okay probably never been called a sluggard okay because it's not like you know the first century but the sluggard would be a good equivalent for for what we're talking about so the Bible has a mocking tone now like I told our volunteers before faithful preaching should seek to understand the texts and the tone of the author and the tone of its speaker and then emanate that to the congregation okay so I will join God in mocking lazy people throughout this and some of you are getting uncomfortable and if you get mad send me an email and I'll respond saying I'm just being biblical okay I'm just following the scripture okay I'm just the mailman do not eat do not shoot the messenger okay because I'm just gonna give it to you straight okay some you guys want biblical preaching but not in this way especially if you're lazy right you wanted to blog from home and put up YouTube videos but when it comes to actually addressing this oh man it's it can hurt now proverbs the book of Proverbs is a book of wisdom fundamentally so there's a lot in the book of Proverbs that isn't necessarily calling out sin right there's there's wise things to do and there's unwise things to do so is it wise to save money yes it's unwise maybe did not save money right depending on the situation is it wise to plan yes it's why is the plant is it unwise to not plan when you need to of course and so the Bible has those examples in the book of Proverbs and some things are wise and thumb seeing some things are just quite honestly they're just dumb right they're just dumb and so the Bible isn't caught in the book of Proverbs specifically isn't just calling everything that you shouldn't do sin so is it a sin to not plan no it's not a sin just unwise right and so laziness is is in here constantly and so is it a sin necessarily to be lazy well in some cases probably not but I will tell you how sin or sloth or laziness makes it onto the list of the seven deadly sins right how does it make it on the list well one way is that there are two types of sin there are sins of commission and sins of omission sense of commission things you do that you shouldn't have done right I stole something but there are sins of omission things that I should have did but didn't do right and so now you have sins of omission I should've did something and I did it laziness sloth can cause you to caught to commit sins of omission there are things in your life that you should do that you haven't done furthermore sloth unlike any of the other seven deadly sins it's like the gateway drug to other sins sloth or laziness is the breeding ground by which other sins can come to fruition the more lazy you can be the more likely you are to not work right first Timothy 5:8 says a man should or a person should provide for the needs of their family or they're denied the faith and worst an unbeliever laziness can lead you into a sin of not providing for your family laziness can lead you into all sorts of different sins not paying your bills gluttony drunkenness all these different things it can lead you into so sloth like no other deadly sin makes room for our other vices to root in us okay so that's why it's important sins of omission sins of omission you could commit sins of omission by being lazy and also you can also provide an environment which other sins can grow and fester okay so that's why we look at this okay this is why we look at this now I'm gonna mock laziness and so I thought I would mock it with my favor cartoon so I would like to put a live shot of you all all the people that here that are lazy you can seriously self lazy this is a live shot of you Saturday your pre funk you're getting ready to go out but then it's 10:30 and you're like you know what I think I'm just gonna watch another Superman movie again on TNT I'm not going anywhere you're hearing your underwear or maybe this is you Thursday afternoon called in sick from work because you know Murder She Wrote son television again and here you are right this is you or you go to the gym does anyone here go to the gym anybody a couple of you guys some of you go to the gym pret you're present at the gym and but this is what you do because now the treadmills have televisions and so you're dragging your feet at point one miles an hour looking at the television and you finally got to the gym and this is probably three months ago right this is our lazy friend Homer Simpson and then some of you guys though we work from home right not everyone working in sack some people work from home right this is you working from home a nice smooth oh and then you got the broom press in your computer Keys across there now to send an email makes it tough on an iPhone so you get maybe a grip on the front of that broom just trying to you know make a make a sentence with your brooms very difficult okay this is what the envision of the idea we get when we talk about sluggers when we talk about lazy when we talk about sloth okay this is pretty pretty clear but we want to put some words to this so you understand it just a little more okay so let's look at a definition what is that what is sloth what is sloth or laziness okay what is it we all have a guess but let me give you my definition of it and it comes in four parts sloth is excessive laziness that leads to the failure to use one's abilities or fulfill purpose because of the desire for comfort so I'm gonna read it again excessive laziness that leads to the failure failure to use one's abilities or fulfill purpose because of the desire for comfort and I'm gonna unpack that in fees for parts for you the first thing we see is that sloth is excessive laziest listen there's no way around it like some of us are looking maybe maybe there's a deeper definition a slaw maybe it goes really deep maybe it's just like like maybe the people that are slothful or just somebody else there's no way around it if you're excessively lazy that is sloth okay it just is what it is we can call you slothful we can call you a sluggard and the Bible likes to make it apparently overly obvious to you if this might be you or someone you know proverbs 26 verse 14 mmm as the door turns on its hinges so does a suckered in on his bed now let's just stop there for a second so you open a door right you know easy of the hinge kind of opens up and finally comes rolls to the other side of the hinge and you're rolling over to the other side of the bed what time is it that's 11:30 I mean geez it's not even lunchtime why would I get up now and you're just in bed roll tossing and turning the daylights in your face and you're unfazed by it I mean literally I get one ounce of daylight and like my cortisol levels are through the roof I am like I'm the freak of nature it's terrible for me trust me I won't live long but nonetheless some of you will have very long because you are well rested okay and you are like this and as the door opens nice and slowly you rule to eat in your bed find a new position for the next few hours because getting up is difficult it's hard and then when you do get up or when this lazy person gets up Bible makes it even a little bit more apparent the slugger it buries his hand in the dish and it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth can we just laugh at that that's ridiculous you know that was in the Bible the Bible is making fun of lazy people is the Bible's making fun of lazy people this is what it's doing no you can you can look in the Greek if you are the Hebrew if you want you can examine this biblical you can take out your concordances and you're all your different books and try to understand this and some sort of like overarching meaningful way about purpose and victory over your life but really what it's saying is sluggards it's so hard for them they're so lazy it's difficult for them to get the dorito to their mouth after they've dipped it in the guacamole it's like that hard right you open the pizza box and you can't get quite get that third or fourth slice to your mouth because geez it's a journey you get what I'm saying here right it's difficult to get up right my wife wanted to point out she'd give me a good analogy as someone who sits on like you ever sit on the couch and then you're really hungry but you're so tired or lazy that you can't even get up to get food so you just go hungry I didn't know that was a thing apparently that's the thing it's difficult for us if you're if we are lazy to do the very basic things in our lives you see this so there's no way around it sloth by definition is excessive laziness we're lazy constantly we watch too much television too much Netflix whatever it is and we find ourselves in the position of either as a door turning on its hinges or someone who can't quite get the you know the pizza to their their face got it you see that excessive laziness there's more parts of this definition though the next part of the definition says excessive laziness that leads to ability to use or its release to the failure to use one's abilities okay now I'm gonna shock some of you okay I'm gonna lock some of you right now this is like this is gonna blow your mind we don't use we don't use our abilities but we forget that work was created before sin what work was created in the garden before sin entered the world did you know that so that means that everything God created the Bible says is good creates man and woman it's very good but he created us to tend and keep the garden now most of us think work is a curse not work good am I wrong am i off work curse no work good it's actually it's actually the opposite God created man and woman for work it's part of it work was invented before sin enters the world which means it's inherently good look at the verse Genesis 2:15 this is in the midst of God creating everything he just creates man and woman he says the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it before Adam was ever filled with any sort of sin before there was any brokenness in the world before there was destruction God had Adam work sorry I'm so sorry that means a desire to not work or never work is actually inherently a ramification of sin not the other way around you see a man and woman had the desire to keep their garden when sin enters the world the desire to work becomes filled with what the Bible calls thorns and thistles a desire to not work means that our jobs are gonna be hard and so we don't want to work them become lazy okay that's what we're talking about when you bow to laziness you battle a curse from the fall of man and from sin so it's important to keep that in mind now next part of this definition it says this excessive laziness that leads to the failure to use one's abilities or fulfill purpose or fulfill purpose sloth and laziness does not only cause you to do things to do something right like watch too much Netflix been in binge polities sleep all morning watch too much television playing your phones too much whatever but it also causes you to not do something you should do or even want to do you're gonna want to do let's say let's say you've been trying to get a job and you've been working on your resume or you've been thinking about working on your resume and you've been think about maybe dressing up your LinkedIn profile but man geez it's a lot of work and then once you you know that eventually once you get there like oh man the job option is just gonna be rolling in so like why not take on extra extended pause and just get ready because right you're good you let's say you want to go into Social Work okay you want to do something really positive for the world right you want to want to serve those who are less fortunate so you got to get this stuff done but your laziness causes you to not work on your LinkedIn profile to not get your resume done so not only did you not just watch television instead or just not do it procrastinate instead you also robbed yourself of fulfilling a purpose that you want for yourself and God might want for you you see what I'm saying so that's gonna leave you very sad and it's gonna leave God's side as well you are missing out on the purpose for your life this is something you want to do but you don't do because the laziness gets in the way you see there are consequences to our laziness not just benefits I don't we think I'll get to whatever whatever hat needs to happen will eventually happen there are actually consequences not just benefits you see laziness and purpose or actually inversely proportionate proportional so that means as laziness goes up purpose goes down purpose goes up laziness goes down you if you want to fulfill purpose more if you want to work towards a passion that you have or that God has given you specifically you are going to have to elevate yourself your purpose which means your laziness needs to come down your laziness which is so ridiculous and silly could be the thing that's holding you back from becoming who God wants you to become so simple it could be your Xbox it could be your Xbox it could be too much food on the couch it could literally be that it could be getting to getting to that place we just relaxed and comfortable now those who are lazy will make a lot of excuses ok and that's part of being lazy there's lots of excuses that come and a lot of the excuses sometimes irrational sometimes there are very unreal like this one here in Proverbs 26 the sluggard says there is a lion in the road there is a lion in the streets what is he saying is he being serious is God being serious he is making fun of someone who always has the excuse of why they can't get it done oh you don't understand I mean it's 62 out and drizzly I mean ah this weather in San Francisco has really gotten to me you know I I'm from another place but now I'm just a baby when it comes to weather and so the slightest form a drizzle means I mean the roads are crazy there's no way I can go out oh I mean I heard the BART was running three minutes late yeah goodness gracious it could be more by the time I get there I don't know if I can get on the bar today which means I'm not getting on the bus that means I have to walk down the block and well I don't know probably not could be an earthquake not gonna do it right there's always a reason here there's always a reason for this person to not do something so ask yourself what is the reason you always tell yourself why you don't do the thing you know you need to do what is the excuse you've given yourself what is the the thing you've put in your way that you say man there's just no chance I can do you oftentimes hear folks who you ask hey what do you do for a living oh I used to do X but I don't anymore why not well I had a boss that you know I mean they really supported my growth with the company I was out and man if I had a different boss man things would have been different but I never really got promoted to the position I wanted because you know this boss had it so I quit you hear that always constantly looking for somebody else to blame shift towards always looking for the person right always looking for somebody else to blame there's a lion in the streets well the boss did it to me oh there's no way I mean my sister was fighting with me there's just no way I just got a lot going on this week says the 23 year old single guy with no job I've got a lot a lot going it's kind of gotta get a sandwich around 2:30 it's a lot going on in my life there's a line in the streets could be an earthquake right okay you see what I'm saying here let's go along further in my definition here so the definition the slugger turn us on it the definition excessive laziness that leads to the failure to use one's abilities or fulfill purpose because of the desire for comfort this means that an extraordinary desire for comfort can cause you to be lazy not that hard to figure out you you're not lazy you just like being comfortable you just like being at homeostasis I just like not moving I'm in my equilibrium right now that would cause to me maybe my anxiety to trigger I better stay put right these are the things we tell ourselves when it comes to laziness but the Bible says if you want to learn how to work it's actually not that difficult you see you don't need a counselor or psychologist or a Pinterest article or blog to tell you what sort of issue you have with your heart you can actually just look at ants so verse 6 through 8 of Proverbs 6 go to the ant thou sluggard you want to know how to get up out of your bed go look at the ants outside your backyard or on your porch consider her ways and be wise what is he saying answer more wise than you without having any chief officer or ruler she prepares her bread in the summer and gathers her food in harvest what does this mean for you some of you say man I don't know I just am the type of person that needs to be told what to do so I better get married and find a spouse it just kind of tells me what to do I need to find a job that like where the boss just like you know micromanage is because I just am NOT going to get anything done and and God would say well why don't you take a look at the ants because they don't have a CEO and they still figure out how to do the basic things for their own lives to be to find their own inherent purpose you see just look at the ants but there's also other consequences for sloths and I think we see them in here if you're lazy there's a chance you might not have any food there's a chance you might not have any money could it be that your lack of food or money is directly related to your laziness look at verse 9 look at verse 9 boom there's magic how long will you lie there o sluggard he's talking to lazy people how are we I told you to get up and look at the ants to tell you to show you exactly what a lazy person needs - dude needs to learn to become diligent how long are you gonna lie there when will you arise from your sleep he's mocking you right he's mocking us us lazy folks this is a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to rest he's talking like think about sleepy from us so no I just always tired a little nap in the car before work right a little sleep a little slumber a little folding of the hands to rest and what poverty will come upon you like a robber oh it's all cute that you just are lazy and just need a little rest and you just want to do whatever you want just a little it's cute well stick them up you've got no money get it here properties upon you like a robber and want like an armed man that means laziness will lead you to want more I just have oh man it would be man those one percenters I mean they've got it all I mean imagine if some of us had some of that money I mean goodness gracious I mean I'd have a electric scooter as well I mean I have those things I need right I've powered and want comes upon you like an armed man you are getting crushed over here this is brutal this is the Bible I did not write this fact check me Burt you're gonna need it I'm gonna need to know where it hides to the right because like most of us feel like I'm not that lazy but actually there's a seat of all these in our hearts so where does it hide here's the first place it hides it hides in a failure to understand the Sabbath what does this mean some of you mean what is a Sabbath the Sabbath is a day that God gave us in the seven-day week to rest and recover to worship God but Alton right now in 2019 we live in such a comfortable life we're now theologians are debating the nuances of the Sabbath and when I say theologians I mean 24 year old kids once a Bible College and their their understanding there and what are the nuances of the Sabbath and you know how should I say it maybe I'll download calm and Netflix and meditate and altar day between YouTube and Netflix and calm apps and and I'll just you know I'll get my coffee delivered through postmates so I don't have to move and I'll just meditate it's discuss the nuances of everything that is important regarding the Sabbath but again God created work before the fall so we have a generation really a very comfortable generation of people that are discussing the nuances of Sabbath when we haven't learned the work there's other six days yet there is six other days in the week and we haven't learned to work them efficiently and effectively here in America you got two days off not one you got to write the Jewish the Jewish Sabbath fell on the Saturday the resurrection day was on the Sunday when the country was founded they weren't sure which day to give so they gave you both you're welcome Merry Christmas you have to to Saturday and Sunday off and what were you figuring out man what other days can i Sabbath hmm this company only offers 30 paid work days off I'm looking for 45 inch right we're we're discussing the nuances are trying to find more time more time off more time off it we don't understand Sabbath the Sabbath was actually created for a holy day of worship and honor towards God that we would devote all of our time to rest and recharge so that we would be ready for the next day to come where we would work faithfully yeah where else does sloths hide its hides in the many names we give to laziness so I'm not lazy I'm just blank okay like a you know Shakespeare rose by any other name would smell as sweet right it still it rose you can call it a dump truck it still rose and here we give lots of different names to laziness I'll give you a couple my favorite is Comfort addiction comfort - addiction it's a psychological term for laziness but we call it a comfort addiction this person is a victim to their comfort needing they're just they have to be comfortable at all times they're addicted and they need help and so what what sort of medications and pharmaceuticals can we give them like crack or something I think what we're gonna give them to get them up okay it's Comfort addiction oh there's more discomfort avoidance so they're not addicted to comfort necessarily they're addicted to not being dis comfortable yeah this is real this is real my brother-in-law has it I'm just kidding gosh every week I'm gonna get them discomfort avoidance how do i how do I avoid discomfort at all costs right not just in conversations but just in general I mean putting on your shoes is difficult so now why not velcro shoes you know make it easier on yourselves you know what instead of jeans I mean they're gonna come why not sweat pants they look like jeans why not jeggings why don't I put jeggings on and people think I'm looking wearing jeans but I'm wearing cozy sweatpants all day we're just getting more comfortable more comfortable if you ever go to the grocery store at 8:00 a.m. you'll know what I'm talking about or Walmart at any time you will see people very comfortable in their apparel choices discomfort avoidance must be comfortable at all times especially when shopping at Walmart yeah another thing that another not necessarily another name we might give to laziness as this con not maybe not a name of a concept of intellectualism around it where intellectual discussions on the nuances of work and comfort right we're we're gonna get we pose ourselves as these really intelligent people right we're very smart and here in San Francisco pretty common a lot of smart people in in the Bay Area and so we're we're discussing the nuances again of comfort and what is it like and you know all these people are out here working and man that's just a lot of work and there's a smarter way to do a lot of this stuff and I feel like if people just followed me like they might figure it out you know we're just discussing it right you know in between fortnight games and you know things like that right we're trying to figure out a lot of intellectualism taking place here which my buddy Homer Simpson comes back is it do we have it we have the next one there it is antboy says boy everyone is stupid except me here's Homer laying on his back this is actually from an episode where Homer skips Church and realizes that everyone is stupid for going to church you can just chill all Sunday morning and here he is hanging out eating chips and smoking a cigar right proverbs 26 16 says the sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly the slugger it always thinks they're the one that got it all figured out just like our boy Homer you got it all figured out everyone's working too hard y'all got to do is get your parents to pay for it it's not that big of a deal find yourself a sugar mama that works hey I'm for women's rights I'll stay right home hang out keep an eye out look out the window make sure no one robs the place while she faithfully serves and earns the money women's rights man here we go equality at its finest and will intellectually figure out ways to justify our laziness ya know I don't have a job right now I'm in between things I'm kind of like a photographer slash drummer slash used to work at Quiznos slash I'm work on cars but I haven't done that in a while I'm just in between things right now but you guys you work you're part of the rat race man that's your problem right a sluggard is wiser in his own eyes not in anyone elses then seven men who can answer sensibly where else does this what other names do we have apathy is another name for laziness I'm not lazy I just don't care it's a good what's an interesting way to fight you can just not care that's interesting I'm not I'm not lazy I just don't care procrastination you thought prion sedation was was not about laziness I just don't want to do it that's a lot of work let me I'm distracted I'm just distracted right oh you could be being lazy idleness I'm not lazy I'm just not doing anything there's a difference and we start splitting hairs I'm not lazy I'm idle I'm figuring things out right I'm kind of like in neutral right now man that's what I'm doing what else some things we tell ourselves you know I don't feel like it I'm not lazy I just don't feel like doing that it's funny you say that because that seems like you'd be lazy well but do you feel like doing sitting down doing nothing going for a walk when you should be working something no you know I'm not lazy I just need some me time you see a little me time see little pampered a this is about me today you know it's time for cosy sweats and you know whatever television shows on I'm gonna watch that meantime how about ladies that just go with the flow sometime just chill I'll just go with the flow right that's all I am I'm not lazy what do you want to do uh huh you wanna you want to get up today huh whatever you want to eat maybe what do you want to go huh what do you like this it's all good to me is it you don't even want to think I'll just go with the flow and then one of my favorite my favorite things is to treat yourself treat yo is a treat yo'self day today I'm not working today I'm oh man PAC son Claire's the buckle all the hot stores I'm gonna buy all the good stuff flip-flops belts with bedazzles all that stuff it's me day okay I'm gonna hang out some a treat yourself and treat yourself day turns you to treat yourself week terms they treat yourself month turns into treat yourself to the unemployment line okay that's the way it works and then in the words of the great Protestant reformer Katt Williams you just got to take care of yo stop lay off it's time to just take care of y'all stop player right so I'm take care your star player so how about you man man this is crazy but you also do sea sloth hides in other places one is in a failure to order your life well now this is gonna be this is gonna be for most of us because I think most of us will say hey listen I'm working hard you don't understand like I work a lot of hours it's hard to do public transportation in the Bay Area I work from home and I grind I have a family whatever it is I work very difficult well let's do a little bit of reverse engineering to see here if you or if you can order if you order your life well do you stare at a screen all day for work does anyone do that a lot of people yeah if do you see on a screen all day at work do you get off of work and then go home and look at another screen a television an iPad do you do that and then after that screen is over do you lay in bed and look at another screen couple hours yeah and then do you fall asleep later than you wanted to because you were looking at said screen okay every night and then do you wake up groggy and needing to caffeinate because of falling asleep late because of the screen yeah and do you perhaps miss the gym because you woke up late and it's time you know you gotta you gotta find carbs and sugar and coffee now there's no time for any of that stuff do you see what's happening here maybe your work isn't actually what's exhausting you maybe it's the screen addicted culture that makes you feel anxious and overwhelmed your probably confusing hard work with being tired you may be tired but you haven't worked hard because you're addicted to your phone which causes you to disrupt all sorts of biological things that cause you to not sleep well and then they eat poorly after perhaps a failure to order your life well it's what's confusing yourself with thinking that you actually are working hard what people say just like my phone yeah of course you just like your phone we all like it they were actually built for our attention they weren't built you serve us we are built to look at them and then the more you look at them the more money these companies make that's the point right that's the goal yeah and so yes of course we like them phones are valuable I have a phone we should all have phones that's a good thing but instead of thinking that you've worked hard all day perhaps you if you ordered your life better you might not be as tired and maybe there is room for yourself to improve in laziness you see what I'm saying in another place soft eyes isn't a in a lack of understanding of the meaning of life many of us think that comfort is what brings meaning the goal is to get as comfortable as possible as fast as possible in life yeah you seen that a sign along i-80 the Prudential is it Prudential it says they're making fun of our generation for being lazy prove them right and retire early you seen that so catchy really smart but all the studies show that when people retire early they often feel lost and in a crisis why as they could they discover that the comfort that returned early retirement brought didn't bring them meaning you see meaning and comfort are not the same thing but accidentally lazy lazy folks slothful people all of us at times will think that comfort and meaning are the same thing and so our goal is to get a much discomfort as possible and find as much comfort as possible and the more comfort we have the more the more meaning we have the more we can relax golf all day play mahjong with the gals on the beach I don't know what you find yourself wanting to do in retirement but my goodness meaning is what brings people life this is what brings people like my in-laws sail they sail and I've been on their boat a few times and it's pretty cool I like sailing but one time my father-in-law is like hey why don't you grab this the rudder and obviously I never been on a boat before so I'm like what's that you know and it's this giant stick here this wooden stick that you grabbing it up steers the ship yeah your meaning in your life is the runner when you defect to to comfort only and you'll have comfortable life's constantly you are like a ship without a rudder you were like a boat a sailboat in the water without rudder you have no ability to steer you just going with the flow man but you got no way to steer that no direction and guess what you got nowhere to go anyway it sounds like it sounds like slavery sounds like being stranded so what it sounds like no no radio to call anybody you're just stuck that's so we we find that sloth hides in a lack of understanding in the meaning of life right because laziness says that comfort is meaning and then the last place and I'll just reiterate where we ate it when I said earlier aware sloth hides is in a blame-shifting and victim mentality it's always somebody else's fault coach didn't play me so I quit I've heard that a million times I'll coach didn't play me so I quit well did you work hard no he's one of the laziest people mighty well you blame the coach for your success our professor didn't give me my due you know I worked really hard professor didn't give me my due so I quit yeah and guess what if that's all you did and you quit and that's that was the end of it that would be one thing but it's the people that 5 10 15 years later are still blaming that professor and here's the problem some of us want that professor to not embrace us so we can quit and then we blame them as a justification for our own failure to be diligent in the work we have so many of us have these people these like hypothetical people that we've shape-shifted into these like things that we're just gonna blame for other problems in our lives like oh my can you believe it you know my sister did this to me and I there's just no way I could ever change because of what she did and you're holding on to that Nuggets so so hard something was blame our parents for everything I mean this is like common right now to just go mom and dad did it yeah my mom and dad didn't raised me well if they had done better then maybe I would be a lot better oh wait till your kids are 18 and 20 years old wait till you see all the failures you have because it is coming I got like my kids are up six I got my oldest is six I'm already like no I'm father of the year I'm like I'm off the list okay like I'm not gonna not getting nominated this year okay this is not happening kids are difficult but we were blaming our parents for everything my mom didn't raise me in this way so here I am out and then this is the why I than the way I am now my dad you know he was a little bit too aggressive with me and now I'm aggressive towards the people I know and man I'm a victim than what my father did for me there's a doctor in the Bible called Christus Victor means that Christ is our Victor that means Jesus dies on the cross but we get victory into all the things of our lives over the things that hold us back we get it Christus Victor but when we take an out in a relationship you robbed the victory out of Christ's cross in that in that relationship so for instance your dad your mom did something horrible to you and so now you can't change because of it you're essentially saying I know Christ won everything else but in this relationship he gets no victory I lost Christ gets no victory in that relationship but God works all things out for the according of the purposes of his will right that's what the Scriptures teach that means that could have been a part of God's plan that you would be that way so why would you look at a scintillation ship that God has for you in your lives that might have built you up and made you something and declare loss on that relationship when God says he's the victor we cannot be victims to the actions of other people and then conjure up more manipulative caricatures of them and hold them up as some sort of like thing that's held you back for your whole life it could be a way to justify your own laziness for changing it could be alright we've talked enough about sloth it's been pretty funny but we need to figure out what the antidote is cuz man I'm starting to feel like I'm this I'm one of I am slothful there are things in my heart that I'm seeing here the antidote for sloth to saw is passion passion anyone heard the word zeal zeal great enthusiasm a passion of fervor for life that is the antidote okay now many of us will immediately say particularly maybe if we're even feeling like we're lazy no no you understand I am passionate I might find myself lazy but I actually am passionate well the word passion comes from the Latin Rite meaning to suffer right you ever heard the term The Passion of the Christ to suffer well in the Latin The Passion of the Christ means that Jesus Christ suffered well when you're passionate for something you are willing to suffer for it that's what passion means the French later added added this concept to the term the strong desire for so the strong desire to suffer for something well so laziness and passion can't both coexist at the same time laziness by definition is the absence of passion by definition the absence so in order to have passion for something in order to have full embracing passion for it you must be willing to love it to the point where man I'd suffer for this you love your family and I'd suffer for my family I love my kids and I suffer for my kids I love my wife my husband I'd suffer for them right I'd suffer I'd suffer for this community I'd suffer for Jesus you suffer you're passionate about it to the point man I'd be willing to suffer right I love it laziness is the antithesis tent yeah is the antithesis of passion laziness is like this is big old sea manatee just floating along in the water just floating rotating mindlessly waiting to be eaten by a shark no passion at all no passion at all we can be passionate with our hands by the way and lazy spiritually can I can I say that because I think some of us are busybodies I mean I'm included in that I just love to work I love that sort of thing but we can get lazy in our spirituality as well you might find yourself may not why isn't everyone doing this work where are they at how come so and so's not here to help and in your heart your your you're not working to grow and your grace for anybody you're spiritually lazy you're spiritually lazy doesn't happen you get Rome's Romans 12:11 tells us never be lacking in zeal they'll be lacking in that passion but keep your spiritual what fervor keep your spiritual fervor not just your personal fervor to earn money at your job but a spiritual fervor serving the Lord passion and zeal make life worth living physically and spiritually it makes life worth living physically and spiritually so I saw this maybe some of you guys have seen this video online it circulated some time ago there was a colorblind man in a house and his family are bringing him a gift and so they they're filming it and they kind of knock on the door and ask him to come out an older guy and he comes out of his house you're like hey we got you a gift you want you to see nice look what does all these people doing here like I'll just just open the gift they give him this small little gift and he's like this is ridiculous and he's colorblind he's never seen color in his life is he's opening it up and he's there all laugh and Adam and Sharon for him and then he he opens it up and there are glasses in there and he's looking at these like what the heck are these for and they're like put him on and so he slowly puts him on and these glasses are some of the first glasses invented that help heal colorblindness and so for this man as he slides on these glasses he sees vibrant color for the very first time in his life and what do you think happened to him he starts shuddering he's shaking he's oh my goodness and he's looking around in color and then he looks at a tree how many of you seen trees on the way here in here he looks at a tree and it's so beautiful wonderful you if you are spiritually lazy or even physically lazy are like someone who sees the world as a colorblind person you live in blandness you've never experienced the passion and fervor and zeal of real life but when you figure out diligence and you figure out what it means to work and when you figure out what it means to grow spiritually over the long season a time you will be like a person that puts on these glasses and sees even the most basic and simple things that God has created like a tree in full-color you get it this is what God has for you real joy comes from living with purpose that God has given you not making the world some lazy hotel room of yours God can't use you by the way if you lack passion and did you know that and that common in Christianity today is this what the Bible or what theologians would call anti no mean ISM I have Bibles good I'll take Christianity I'm a Christian now on with my life and we just live life however we like doing what we want going in whatever business we want we don't pray we don't ask Jesus we just kind of live life we're just hanging out going with the flow doing whatever we want but you're not hot or cold you're not on fire and God needs someone with passion and zeal to use Revelation chapter 3 verses 15 and 16 and 19 this is God speaking to an entire church he says I know your works he knows our works you they are neither hot nor cold nor hot wood that you were either cold or hot so because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold I will spit you out of my mouth every lukewarm food that was meant to be hot or lukewarm food that was meant to be cold he will spit you out those whom I love I reprove and discipline so be zealous and repent see what God is saying here I can't use you if you who lack passion for me I can't use you if you lack passion for my life I can't use you if you're wallowing consistently in your own self I can't do it I cannot use someone who is not on fire so you say I want the fire I want the fire I got a the way you get the fire is by diligence than seeking the Lord seek the Lord he lights the fire for you but you don't seek the Lord so you can't get your fire lit and God's over here said hey come on come on how long will you lie there o sluggard hey are you gonna turn over again are you gonna get up and work is I got passion and purpose for you my goodness I got some good stuff for you and you're over here look at the world colored wine oh but you know it all because you know the slugger is wise in his own eyes smarter than seven smartest men you got it all figured out don't you God said I got better for you your faith hasn't lit a fire under you and hey listen I am NOT I feel like this part right here is for someone who's like I am a Christian I call myself a Christian I believe in the Lord Jesus but you know I just feel like I maybe I include myself in this laziness category this is not for someone who's seeking their faith or looking for God it might there might be a application but God is not here shaming anybody God is asking you to take a peek behind the curtain see all of the glory and riches that he's given you in this life you've missed it you've missed it and how do you know that you've missed it because the word Christian was actually a mocking term given to people that were following Christ it meant what little Christ's that's what it meant and so that actually fits really well because the Bible says which was to imitate Christ as best we can yeah so which would say imitate God imitate him and what was Jesus if anything but zealous and passionate Jesus was perhaps the most zealous man ever live you think he wasn't willing to die for his cause he did he was passionate the Passion of the Christ he was willing to suffer for something he loves so dearly humanity so not only is God longing for for you to turn it he actually loves you so much and the object of his love is you his passion is you that should motivate us even further during his passion he suffered he was zealous to die and when we are zealous for life when we are zealous for life we are most like our Creator who was zealous to live zealous to preach zealous to shared the gospel the good news of himself he was zealous for life he was passionate for life man how do I get this passion get to work whatever the hand the Bible says whatever your hand finds to do do with all your might it is time to begin turning over rocks looking for what God has for you he's empowering you by the power of the Holy Spirit to be motivated with zeal and with passion and hey if you feel like man I'm a lukewarm I don't feel like I'm even there I don't even know if the story of the Bible means that there's no opera to unity for a lack of zeal when you know that your penalty was actually death but Jesus's passion paid the price so that means you get to go free on his behalf you get a get-out-of-jail-free card that sounds a fantastic man don't let your sloth or your laziness if it's there rob you of a life in Christ one that zealous in meaningful let's pray

Channel: Bay City

Views: 15,832

Rating: 4.9550562 out of 5

Keywords: San Francisco, Bay City, Bay City Church, Church, Sermon, Sloth, Laziness, Eddie Williams, Proverbs

Id: FtUyqnM0sI4

Length: 46min 55sec (2815 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 23 2019