02/15 – 02/19/2016
Lent Week 2: Sloth. REGULAR Devotions
Update: During the season of Lent we are considering the 7 Deadly Sins. This week we consider Sloth.
During Lent, our focus is different. In this season we meditate on the depth of our sin as we prepare to
consider Good Friday and the death of God that we might be forgiven. We also consider how much sin
cripples us in order that we might appreciate and long for the fruit of the resurrection in our own lives.
Sloth is not only the most misunderstood of the 7 Deadly Sins, it’s also the one I think that our
society today (inside and outside of the church) is the most seriously afflicted with. Sloth isn’t laziness
nor is it depression. Sloth is apathy. In Matthew 25:26 the servant is called slothful (correctly translated
in the ESV). Louw Nida’s Greek Dictionary defines sloth (the Greek word used in Matthew 25:26) as
pertaining to shrinking from or hesitating to engage in something worthwhile, possibly implying lack of
ambition, lazy, lacking in ambition. Sloth is what’s behind the sense of boredom that pervades our
world. Sloth lowers our expectations for God to be at work in us or in the world. While sloth can be
darkly cynical and sarcastically biting, it’s more manifested in numbness, distraction, and the absence of
engagement, commitment, and striving.
The opposite of love is not hatred, it is indifference. If indifference is at the heart of sloth, then
sloth is the enemy of love, which makes it the enemy of the best things there is: the heart of God, the
heart that beats at the center of the universe. Graham Tomlin.
Please read the definitions of Sloth at the end of this document.
Song for this week – Out of My Bondage (http://tinyurl.com/q7r4lvw)
Where possible we will use songs that are live recordings of our worship singing at Church of the
Redeemer. You should be able to access them by clicking the link. You can also download them to your
computer, phone, etc. (Please copy & paste rather than drag & drop).
Some Recommendations
The goal of the study/reflection questions is to help you get into the text and meet Christ in it, i.e., to
worship and meet with God. Avoid engaging with these questions as if it’s a “quiz” where the goal is to
get the “correct answer” and then move onto the next question. My prayer, goal, and hope is that the
questions will help open up the Word of God – what it means and what it is saying – in order that you
might meet God, experience Christ, and hear from the Holy Spirit.
1) I do recommend the full liturgy for each day.
2) The “Bible Study” reflection questions for each day of the week are inserted towards the end of this
document. Most often the questions will require time of reflection and pondering in order to find
answers or to let the answers sink in to our souls. Be prepared to not rush through them. The goal
is to experience/hear from God.
3) Sing the song! (Really) Each week we focus on two songs. Download them to your phone or iPod so
you can listen repeatedly during the day. When we sing, our mind, body, heart, emotions, and will
are all engaged in worship! If this week’s songs do not appeal to you, substitute a personal favorite.
To be transformed by God's mercy and grace into a community of priests engaged in his redeeming work
in Atlanta and the world.
02/15 – 02/19/2016
Lent Week 2: Sloth. REGULAR Devotions
CONFESSION (Matthew 25:41-46)
41
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire
prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty
and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and
you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or
sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for
me.’
46
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Father I confess to you my sin of sloth. Have mercy on me. For I know I have sinned.
Gracious Father, I also ask that you open my eyes. Show me where sloth has crept in.
Sloth has taken me out of the battle: the battle for my own heart and the fight to seek your kingdom
come. Forgive me.
Sloth has left me distracted and self-centered. Free me.
Like the moth and locust, sloth has eaten away and my life and consumed so much of the time you
have given me. Find me.
Sloth has robbed me of the joy of the gospel. Revive me.
Sloth kept me distant from you, and when I get close to you, it has kept me from real vulnerability,
reckless hope, and joyful celebration. Save me.
Holy God, hear my confession now. Also, speak to me now. Open my eyes to see the sins that are
hidden from me, even the sins that I have renamed as righteous.
ABSOLUTION (2 Corinthians 5:17, 21)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has
come. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God.
INTERCESSION
Pray this week for your own self, your community, church, city, and this world to know the resurrection of
Jesus in accepting the good news of the gospel. Pray by name those you want God to bring into his
kingdom.
SCRIPTURE READINGS & REFLECTION
N.B. There is a Closing Prayer after the lyrics of this week’s song. Even if you don’t participate in this
song this week, don’t miss the closing prayer (after the song).
MONDAY:
1) Read a couple of the definitions of sloth at the end of this document (you don’t have to read all
of them today). How do they help you see what the sin of sloth is and isn’t?
2) Read Matthew 25:14-30. The ESV correctly translates the word in v26 as “slothful.”
a. v25 – Consider that the servant didn’t steal the Master’s talent. Nor did he lose it. He
gave it back.
b. Yet, read v26-30 again and let Jesus words of judgment sink in. Just how serious is the
sin of sloth?
To be transformed by God's mercy and grace into a community of priests engaged in his redeeming work
in Atlanta and the world.
02/15 – 02/19/2016
Lent Week 2: Sloth. REGULAR Devotions
3) Matthew 25 begins with the Jesus saying “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like . . .” The
kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God, is what Jesus announced had come with his
incarnation and his work. We are living in the kingdom of heaven. The parable that Jesus begins
in v14 of Matthew 25 is about our work or sloth in bringing his kingdom. How does this help you
understand how serious the sin of sloth is, e.g.
a. If we are slothful, what happens to the Kingdom of God?
b. If we are slothful, how does that impact the believability of the gospel message?
c. If we, as God’s representatives on earth, are slothful, what might people assume that
God is like?
4) Ask God to speak to you about how sloth operates in your life and to show you the impact and
negative effects of it. Be prepared to be surprised. Consider entering into this week’s song as
preparation for this (a time of silence and waiting).
5) Close with this week’s Song and Prayer (below).
TUESDAY
But the sin of sloth is a state of dejection that gives rise to torpor of mind and feeling and spirit; to a
sluggishness or, as it has been put, a put, a poisoning of the will; to despair, faintheartedness, and even
desirelessness, a lack of real desire for anything, even for what is good. Sloth is a deadly sin because it is
“an oppressive sorrow that so weighs upon a man’s mind that he wants not to exercise any virtue.” . . . In
all of these aspects it is peculiarly an affliction of our time. Henry Fairlie.
1) When we consider sins like sloth, it’s easy for us to respond with moralistic “Nike” thoughts and
theology, i.e., “I suck. I need to man up and “Just do it!” and to yell at ourselves like a Drill
Sergeant. Yes, God has VERY strong feelings about sloth. AND we must consider
a. The roots of sloth, how we can become slothful
b. That the answer if finding more and more of Jesus in us and working through us than
“trying hard to be good” relying on our own flesh.
Today we consider some of the things that can lead us to slide into a slothful rut.
2) Read Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23.
3) In v20-22 Jesus explains two separate reasons that the seed withered and died. Remember that
in these two cases, the seed actually sprouted and began to grow! I believe that this parable
gives us insight into how we can become slothful.
a. v20-21.
i. What was it that affected growth and vitality? (And what do these things look
like/mean)?
ii. What was the effect?
iii. In what ways can you identify? i.e., (How) Have these things impacted you and
affected your spiritual vitality and fruitfulness?
b. v22.
i. What was it that affected growth and vitality? (And what do these things look
like/mean)?
ii. What was the effect?
To be transformed by God's mercy and grace into a community of priests engaged in his redeeming work
in Atlanta and the world.
02/15 – 02/19/2016
Lent Week 2: Sloth. REGULAR Devotions
iii. In what ways can you identify? i.e., (How) Have these things impacted you and
affected your spiritual vitality and fruitfulness?
4) Read John 16:31-33
a. Jesus promises that we will know tribulation in this world. But he also tells us that
“peace” is possible. Biblically, “peace” isn’t inner-quiet and it’s much more than the
absence of anxiety. It’s “shalom” – all things being right, being as they should be, being
healthy, and all about “flourishing.” According to v33, how do we get that peace? How
is it given to us?
5) Ask God to meet with you and help you know deeply that you “are in Christ.” Quiet your heart
and mind and close your eyes. If find that listen to the sound of my own breathing for a short
while helps with this. Picture yourself “in Jesus.” Ask God to help you see, feel, and know this
spiritual reality.
WEDNESDAY (Today’s quote is longer, but the reflection questions are fewer.)
At its core, sloth moves us away from everything that ultimately matters and directs us toward simple
distractions. Sloth is not mere laziness. Sloth is indifference – indifference towards my soul, my
neighbor, my world, or my God. Drug-users, TiVo addicts, and obsessive video gamers may be poisoned
by sloth, but so are most workaholics. Sloth is not restfulness. Sloth is escapism of the deadly sort. Slot
saps our time and emotions through a favorite sports team, a new set of shoes, or obsession over our
appearance – while leaving scant energy for our marriages or kids or duties. In fact, sloth is best
expressed not by a lazy attitude but in zeal over petty matters. Pascal wrote, “The same man who
spends so many days and nights in fury and despair at losing some office or at some imaginary affront to
his honor is the very one who knows that he is going to lose everything through death but feels neither
anxiety or emotion. It is a monstrous thing to see one and the same heart at once so sensitive to minor
things and so strangely insensitive to the greatest . . . Nothing is so clearly modern, so clearly Western, as
is sloth. Despite our fast-moving, success-worshipping, ulcer-ridden society, we invest our energies and
talents most often in what is trivial. Despite our frantic pace, our eyes are seldom focused on what is
actually good” Jeff Cook.
1) Right after the Parable of the Talents Jesus drives home the seriousness of sloth with a chilling
message. Read Matthew 25:31-46.
2) Take time to think of how you have actually served Jesus himself when you have been serving
others.
a. Let this sink in. Don’t rush past it.
b. v34 Receive these word from Jesus. Let them in.
3) Take time to hear the warning of Jesus in v41-46
i. Let this sink in. Don’t rush past it.
ii. What would the Church in North American look like & how would it look
different from what it’s like today if we took these words more seriously?
iii. If in serving others we are actually serving Jesus, ask God to show you were you:
1. May have become indifferent to him.
To be transformed by God's mercy and grace into a community of priests engaged in his redeeming work
in Atlanta and the world.
02/15 – 02/19/2016
Lent Week 2: Sloth. REGULAR Devotions
2. May serve him today and this week.
THURSDAY
1) Today we turn out attention towards another of the “antidotes” for sloth. This week we have
already considered “the fear of the Lord” as an antidote to sloth. That’s a real antidote and a
valid motivation!
2) Read Matthew 5:1-6
3) Consider those beatitudes individually. How might each one provide an antidote to the sin of
sloth (consider both parts of each verse).
4) While each of these beatitudes do provide an antidote to sloth, the greatest/most effective of
them is v6. Consider the following:
a. How strong are words/image “Hunger and thirst”?
b. “righteousness” is akin to Shalom, it’s a desire for things to be right, including
people/ourselves to be right with God, but also for things to be right in the world – love,
mercy, harmony, justice, peace, etc.
c. Those who hunger and thirst – what will they receive? Consider how this exposes the lie
of sloth, i.e., “there is no real satisfaction to be found, so just look after yourself.”
5) What do you hunger and thirst for?
a. What do you want for yourself spiritually?
b. What’s your (one) next step of spiritual transformation? i.e., What does God want to do
in you or through you this week, this month, and this year? It’s easy (and fatal) for us to
despondently say, “EVERYTHING.” Ask yourself what that one thing is. Ask God.
6) Enter into this week’s song and let it give voice to your hunger and thirst. It may even help you
get in touch with it.
FRIDAY
How do we explain the irony that the very society which for the first time has conquered nature by
technology and turned the world into a giant fun-and-games factory, a rich kid’s playroom, the very
society which has the least reason to be bored, is the most bored? Why is the American child playing
with thousands of dollars’ worth of video equipment more bored than an Indian child playing with two
sticks and a stone. Peter Kreeft.
Sloth is sadness and abhorrence or boredom regarding a spiritual and divine good. Thomas Aquinas
1) Read Matthew 25:14-30. Today we’ll consider the excuses for/of sloth. As we do that, our focus
will be to consider how followers of Christ (including us) might use these excuses today while
they are in the rut of sloth.
2) v24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a
hard man,
a) What is the essence of this excuse for the inaction of sloth?
b) What are the “versions” of this that we/people may use today? And to what end?
c) What is the truth?
3) “reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed,”
This one is a little more complicated, one commentator explains it this way, “"I knew you were one
whom it was impossible to serve, one whom nothing would please: exacting what was
To be transformed by God's mercy and grace into a community of priests engaged in his redeeming work
in Atlanta and the world.
02/15 – 02/19/2016
Lent Week 2: Sloth. REGULAR Devotions
impracticable, and dissatisfied with what was attainable." Another possibility is, “You are so
powerful, you do what you want and I’m really irrelevant. You don’t need me.” Or, “There’s really
no point. Working hard for you. It doesn’t get you anywhere. Life is too confusing and
random.
a) What is the essence of this excuse for the inaction of sloth?
b) What are the “versions” of this that we/people my use today? And to what end?
c) What is the truth?
4) v25 So I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.
a) What is the essence of this excuse for the inaction of sloth?
b) What are the “versions” of this that we/people my use today? And to what end?
c) What is the truth?
5) 25 Here you have what is yours.
(This one might require a little extra brain power)
a) What is the essence of this excuse for the inaction of sloth?
b) What are the “versions” of this that we/people my use today? And to what end?
c) What is the truth?
SONG OF CONFESSION & COMMITMENT - Out of My Bondage (http://tinyurl.com/q7r4lvw)
1. Out of my bondage, sorrow and night,
Jesus, I come; Jesus I come.
Into Thy freedom, gladness and light,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of my sickness into Thy health,
Out of my wanting and into Thy wealth,
Out of my sin and into Thyself,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
3. Out of unrest and arrogant pride,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into Thy blessed will to abide,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of myself to dwell in Thy love,
Out of despair into raptures above,
Upward forever on wings like a dove,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
2. Out of my shameful failure and loss,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into the glorious gain of Thy cross,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of earth’s sorrows into Thy balm,
Out of life’s storms and into Thy calm,
Out of distress into jubilant psalm,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
4. Out of the fear and dread of the tomb,
Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come.
Into the joy and light of Thy home,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
Out of the depths of ruin untold,
Into the peace of Thy sheltering fold,
Ever Thy glorious face to behold,
Jesus, I come to Thee.
CLOSING PRAYER
O God, Eternal King and Father of all mercies,
whose light divides the day from the night
and turns the shadow of death into the morning:
Show me this day what sloth looks like in my life:
To be transformed by God's mercy and grace into a community of priests engaged in his redeeming work
in Atlanta and the world.
02/15 – 02/19/2016
Lent Week 2: Sloth. REGULAR Devotions
that I might be freed from its apathy and indifference,
that I might grow in appreciation for the Cross of Christ.
Guide my feet in the way of hungering and thirsting for righteousness so that:
serving you I may serve others,
your Spirit might fan into flame embers that have grown cold,
entering into the resurrected life you secured for me, I might live more fully alive.
Quote & Definitions of Sloth
The opposite of love is not hatred, it is indifference. If indifference is at the heart of sloth, then sloth is
the enemy of love, which makes it the enemy of the best things there is: the heart of God, the heart that
beats at the center of the universe. Graham Tomlin.
Sloth is precisely a lack of passion, a settled laziness that for whatever reason fails to get worked up
about poverty or homelessness, human trafficking or hunger. It is a dullness that fails to wonder at
green rolling hills, brooding mountains, an act of sheer unexpected kindness, the birth of a baby, the
work of Botticelli, Mozart, or any great music. It is the spirit that reacts to cruelty, injustice, and pain by
shrugging the shoulders and changing the channel . . . Christians are intended to be the most passionate
of people, but they are meant to be passionate about things that matter, not things that don’t. A
growing likeness to Jesus Christ means we start getting as angry at suffering and evil as he did, and we
develop a similar capacity for life, passion, and love. Graham Tomlin
How do we explain the irony that the very society which for the first time has conquered nature by
technology and turned the world into a giant fun-and-games factory, a rich kid’s playroom, the very
society which has the least reason to be bored, is the most bored? Why is the American child playing
with thousands of dollars’ worth of video equipment more bored than an Indian child playing with two
sticks and a stone? Peter Kreeft.
Sloth is sadness and abhorrence or boredom regarding a spiritual and divine good. Thomas Aquinas
But the sin of sloth is a state of dejection that gives rise to torpor of mind and feeling and spirit; to a
sluggishness or, as it has been put, a put, a poisoning of the will; to despair, faintheartedness, and even
desirelessness, a lack of real desire for anything, even for what is good. Sloth is a deadly sin because it is
“an oppressive sorrow that so weighs upon a man’s mind that he wants not to exercise any virtue.” . . . In
all of these aspects it is peculiarly an affliction of our time. Henry Fairlie.
At its core, sloth moves us away from everything that ultimately matters and directs us toward simple
distractions. Sloth is not mere laziness. Sloth is indifference – indifference towards my soul, my
neighbor, my world, or my God. Drug-users, TiVo addicts, and obsessive video gamers may be poisoned
by sloth, but so are most workaholics. Sloth is not restfulness. Sloth is escapism of the deadly sort. Slot
saps our time and emotions through a favorite sports team, a new set of shoes, or obsession over our
To be transformed by God's mercy and grace into a community of priests engaged in his redeeming work
in Atlanta and the world.
02/15 – 02/19/2016
Lent Week 2: Sloth. REGULAR Devotions
appearance – while leaving scant energy for our marriages or kids or duties. In fact, sloth is best
expressed not by a lazy attitude but in zeal over petty matters. Pascal wrote, “The same man who
spends so many days and nights in fury and despair at losing some office or at some imaginary affront to
his honor is the very one who knows that he is going to lose everything through death but feels neither
anxiety or emotion. It is a monstrous thing to see one and the same heart at once so sensitive to minor
things and so strangely insensitive to the greatest . . . Nothing is so clearly modern, so clearly Western, as
is sloth. Despite our fast-moving, success-worshipping, ulcer-ridden society, we invest our energies and
talents most often in what is trivial. Despite our frantic pace, our eyes are seldom focused on what is
actually good” Jeff Cook.
List of Deep Desires
Distorted/Deceptive Desires
 Distorted desire: you long for impact and you take control or manipulate to get it or you long for
intimacy and you look to pornography
 Deceitful desire: when you look to any material, experiential, positional, or relational desire to
satisfy a deep desire.
 Only God can truly satisfy a deep desire.
Godly Deep Desires
 Purpose, to be part of something larger, transcendence
 Relationship: to love and be loved, to pursue and be pursued, community, family
 Impact, significance
 Honor, respect, valued, understood
 To protect and provide, to be protected and provided for, security
 To come through: duty, to hear “well done”
 Beauty and creativity
 Justice and freedom
 Peace, wholeness, completion, home
To be transformed by God's mercy and grace into a community of priests engaged in his redeeming work
in Atlanta and the world.