Key Passage: 2 Thess. 3:6-16
Def.—“Webster defines sloth as “Laziness; idleness…”
“avoidance of physical or spiritual work.”
Sloth is a kind of spiritual laziness.
It means not making it a priority to do what we should, or change what
we should in ourselves.”
The Hebrew term can refer to a bow that is not strung or
equipped with an arrow for action. Used
to describe the people of
Israel
—Ps.
78:57
Scriptural Principles both Physically and Spiritually
- The
cautions against slothfulness—2 Thess. 3:10-11, “If anyone is not willing
to work, then he is not to eat, either.
We hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing
no work at all, but acting like busybodies.”
- The
characteristics of slothfulness
- Prone
to procrastinate and excuses—Prov. 20:4 “If you are too lazy to plow in
the right season, you will have no food at the harvest.”
- Avoids
work constantly—Prov.6:9-11, “But you, lazybones, how long will you
sleep? When will you wake up? I want you to learn this lesson: A
little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands
to rest—and poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will
attack you like an armed robber.”
- Wastes
time—Prov. 24:30-32, “I walked by the field of a lazy person, the
vineyard of one lacking sense. I
saw that it was overgrown with thorns.
It was covered with weeds, and its walls were broken down.”
- Indifferent,
careless and insensitive—Prov. 10:26, “Lazy people are a pain to their
employer. They are like smoke in
the eyes or vinegar that sets the teeth on edge.”
- The
Creator’s view of slothfulness—Eph. 4:1, “Walk in a manner worthy of (His)
calling”
Matt. 25:14-30, vss. 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.”
- The
Consequences of slothfulness—Rev. 3:15-19, The Laodicea Church
- The
Cure for slothfulness
- First,
get up! Prov. 6:6, “Go to the ant,
O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise.”
- Second,
go to work—2 Thess.3:10, “If anyone is not willing to work, then he is
not to eat, either.”
- Third
work diligently—Col. 3:23-24, “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as
for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will
receive the reward of the inheritance.
It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”
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