Title: Sloth & Diligence
Scripture: Luke 10:38-42
Speaker: Nathan Miller, NathanM@ChristCommunityKC.org

>> Sloth is laziness with what matters most.

...busyness and workaholism [are] not virtuous, but rather sloth’s classic symptoms… In fact, sloth cannot be defined as laziness, since slothful people often pour great physical effort and emotional energy into the difficult task of distracting themselves from the unhappiness of their real condition...slothful people can be very busy.
- Rebecca Deyoung, Glittering Vices

>> Sloth hides best in busyness.
- Slow down
- Don’t give up

>> Sloth is too lazy to change.
- Don’t give in

"...the slothful feel that it is an intolerable burden to stay true to one’s commitment to God with all its daily drudgery and discipline… Likewise, sloth is the vice of those who want the security of having God’s love without the real sacrifice and ongoing struggle to be made anew."
- Rebecca Deyoung, Glittering Vices

>> Sloth is too lazy to love.
- Get to work

"The truth is that a life well lived is always lived on a rising scale of difficulty.

Death is now. The choice is here. Lay your life down. Your heartbeats cannot be hoarded. Your reservoir of breaths is draining away. You have hands, blister them while you can. You have bones, make them strain--they can carry nothing in the grave. You have lungs, let them spill with laughter. [In my remaining hours] I could be smiling or scowling, rejoicing in my life, in this race, in this story, or moaning and complaining about my troubles. I can be giving my fingers, my back, my mind, my words, my breaths, to my wife and my children and my neighbors, or I can grasp after the vapor and the vanity for myself, dragging my feet, afraid to die and therefore afraid to live. And, like Adam, I will still die in the end."
- N.D. Wilson, Death by Living

Conversation Starters – Leawood Campus
Date: May 21, 2017
Text: Luke 10:38-42
Title: Sloth | Diligence

TAKEAWAY: What was a key idea that stood out to you from this sermon?
SCRIPTURE: Read Luke 10:38-42. Based on Jesus’ words and this Sunday’s sermon, how could it be said that Martha - who’s busy with serving - is slothful and Mary - who’s sitting and listening - is diligent?
OPENING UP: If sloth is being too lazy to love, in what way are you most tempted to the vice of sloth? What are the activities you hide behind? What areas or times of your life do you find yourself being slothful the most?
ASSESSING HABITS: Probably the best way to start the fight against sloth is to commit to and plan on practicing one specific spiritual discipline for a specific amount of time. What’s that discipline and time period for you that you think you can commit to?
LIVING TOGETHER: How do you think we as a church are tempted to fall into sloth? What are some opportunities for you as a community group to grow in diligence together?
PRAYER: Pray for each other that you would be diligent in your walk with Christ and for your group as a whole that you would be diligent in loving each other and your community.