WEBVTT 00:00:04.979 --> 00:00:07.320 Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of 00:00:07.320 --> 00:00:10.099 Trinity Sermons. Have you ever caught yourself 00:00:10.099 --> 00:00:12.759 doom -scrolling? Maybe you feel more informed, 00:00:12.820 --> 00:00:15.859 but you also feel more defeated. Or maybe you 00:00:15.859 --> 00:00:18.019 always find yourself busy, but when you look 00:00:18.019 --> 00:00:20.059 back on the week, you can't actually point to 00:00:20.059 --> 00:00:22.699 the real fruit of your labor. We've all been 00:00:22.699 --> 00:00:25.219 there. But what you might not realize is that 00:00:25.219 --> 00:00:27.379 the Christian tradition actually has a word for 00:00:27.379 --> 00:00:31.579 this, and it's sloth. Sloth. Not that cute little 00:00:31.579 --> 00:00:34.439 animal in the forest. but the feeling that life 00:00:34.439 --> 00:00:37.119 has no purpose and that we can't actually do 00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:40.140 anything that matters. In this week's teaching, 00:00:40.340 --> 00:00:43.840 Rob unpacks what sloth is, what it looks like 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:46.780 today, and how we can overcome it to find meaning 00:00:46.780 --> 00:00:53.759 and real rest. Today's reading is from Ecclesiastes, 00:00:54.060 --> 00:00:59.240 chapter 1, verses 1 to 11. The words of the teacher, 00:00:59.420 --> 00:01:03.829 son of David, king in Jerusalem. Meaningless, 00:01:03.909 --> 00:01:08.409 meaningless, says the teacher. Utterly meaningless. 00:01:08.829 --> 00:01:13.329 Everything is meaningless. What do people gain 00:01:13.329 --> 00:01:15.790 from all their labors at which they toil under 00:01:15.790 --> 00:01:19.609 the sun? Generations come and generations go, 00:01:19.829 --> 00:01:24.349 but the earth remains forever. The sun rises 00:01:24.349 --> 00:01:27.530 and the sun sets and hurries back to where it 00:01:27.530 --> 00:01:31.230 rises. The wind blows to the south and turns 00:01:31.230 --> 00:01:35.390 to the north, round and round it goes, ever returning 00:01:35.390 --> 00:01:39.930 on its course. All streams flow into the sea, 00:01:40.129 --> 00:01:44.810 yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams 00:01:44.810 --> 00:01:50.150 come from, there they return again. All things 00:01:50.150 --> 00:01:54.209 are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye 00:01:54.209 --> 00:01:58.060 never has enough of seeing. nor the ear its fill 00:01:58.060 --> 00:02:02.859 of hearing. What has been will be again. What 00:02:02.859 --> 00:02:05.920 has been done will be done again. There is nothing 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:09.699 new under the sun. Is there anything of which 00:02:09.699 --> 00:02:13.340 one can say, look, this is something new? It 00:02:13.340 --> 00:02:16.900 was here already long ago. It was here before 00:02:16.900 --> 00:02:21.259 our time. No one remembers the former generations 00:02:21.259 --> 00:02:25.840 and even those yet to come. will not be remembered 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:30.099 by those who follow them. This is the word of 00:02:30.099 --> 00:02:34.639 the Lord. So here we have a picture of a sloth. 00:02:34.919 --> 00:02:38.000 Right? A sloth, their main point in life is to 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:40.639 do as little as possible. And that sounds pretty 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:44.379 sweet, don't you think? Sloths only travel about 00:02:44.379 --> 00:02:47.719 38 meters a day. That's about the distance from 00:02:47.719 --> 00:02:50.180 the side door most of you came in to the pew 00:02:50.180 --> 00:02:53.240 that you're sitting in right now. And the reason 00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:56.060 they move so slow is because of their metabolism, 00:02:56.199 --> 00:02:59.520 because of their diet. They eat these plants 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:02.599 that almost no other animal will eat. And it 00:03:02.599 --> 00:03:06.520 just takes them so long. long to digest it. Like 00:03:06.520 --> 00:03:11.000 imagine eating a salad and still feeling full 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:13.979 three weeks later. That's kind of how it works 00:03:13.979 --> 00:03:18.400 for sloths. They are so slow as they go through 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:24.240 the branches of the tree. And this is what we 00:03:24.240 --> 00:03:43.280 think of when we Don't think of sloth. We are 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:45.659 in week two of our teaching series called The 00:03:45.659 --> 00:03:47.319 S Word, where we're looking at the seven deadly 00:03:47.319 --> 00:03:51.050 sins. In week one... We looked at pride. That's 00:03:51.050 --> 00:03:53.889 the sin that says it's all about me. And then 00:03:53.889 --> 00:03:56.090 last week we looked at envy and that's the sin 00:03:56.090 --> 00:03:59.169 that says I want what you got. And today we are 00:03:59.169 --> 00:04:01.909 looking at our third sin and that is the sin 00:04:01.909 --> 00:04:05.409 of sloth. And in order to really get into sloth 00:04:05.409 --> 00:04:08.430 and really study it well, I decided to take a 00:04:08.430 --> 00:04:11.810 trip to Mexico last week. Our whole family went 00:04:11.810 --> 00:04:15.770 down and I sat poolside with my feet up because 00:04:15.770 --> 00:04:18.329 I really wanted to get into it for research purposes. 00:04:18.540 --> 00:04:20.899 for research purposes. We went away to figure 00:04:20.899 --> 00:04:23.000 out what is it like to be lazy? What is this 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:26.420 all about? And so there I sat by the pool reading 00:04:26.420 --> 00:04:30.160 articles on sloth. It felt kind of wrong, but 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:33.019 I'm back today to tell you everything that I 00:04:33.019 --> 00:04:35.699 have learned about sloth after my research mission. 00:04:36.060 --> 00:04:39.639 And here it is. Here it is. I have to say, first 00:04:39.639 --> 00:04:42.899 of all, are we serious about this? Is sloth really 00:04:42.899 --> 00:04:46.740 a sin? And if it's a sin, is it really a deadly 00:04:46.740 --> 00:04:51.160 sin? I mean, come on, binge watching a few reruns 00:04:51.160 --> 00:04:55.199 of The Office, taking an extra long bath, dozing 00:04:55.199 --> 00:04:57.920 off during my sermon this morning. Don't worry 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:00.660 about it. How bad can it be? I mean, really, 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:03.879 is hitting your snooze bar a few too many times 00:05:03.879 --> 00:05:07.939 going to bring Western civilization to its knees? 00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:11.800 No, come on. You know that most of the problems 00:05:11.800 --> 00:05:15.459 in this world are... not caused by slothful people. 00:05:15.800 --> 00:05:18.199 They're caused by overly active people. I mean, 00:05:18.220 --> 00:05:20.779 when was the last time you heard of a war being 00:05:20.779 --> 00:05:25.259 waged by a slothful army? Never. We actually 00:05:25.259 --> 00:05:29.360 need more sloth in our lives, not less. In fact, 00:05:29.399 --> 00:05:33.160 imagine this. Imagine if the original sin had 00:05:33.160 --> 00:05:36.519 been sloth. I mean, we'd still be living in paradise. 00:05:37.500 --> 00:05:39.600 Adam and Eve never would have had the energy 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:44.360 to go and disobey God, but yet here we are. So 00:05:44.360 --> 00:05:48.300 my question, my thought is, come on, what is 00:05:48.300 --> 00:05:52.980 wrong with a little bit of laziness? And that's 00:05:52.980 --> 00:05:57.740 where we run into the problem. Sloth is not laziness, 00:05:57.779 --> 00:06:01.740 right? It might look like laziness, but it's 00:06:01.740 --> 00:06:09.389 not. You want to take an afternoon nap. That 00:06:09.389 --> 00:06:14.230 is not sloth, right? And sloth also is not depression. 00:06:14.470 --> 00:06:17.790 Again, some of the symptoms might look the same, 00:06:17.889 --> 00:06:21.110 but of course depression is an affliction, whereas 00:06:21.110 --> 00:06:24.910 sloth is made up of decisions and patterns of 00:06:24.910 --> 00:06:28.709 life that we get into, and they're patterns that 00:06:28.709 --> 00:06:32.949 we can change once we know what they are. So 00:06:32.949 --> 00:06:37.600 what is sloth, guys? What is it? Well, To get 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:39.399 the answer to that question, we have to go way 00:06:39.399 --> 00:06:43.279 back to the people who first came up with the 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:45.379 word, the definition in the first place, and 00:06:45.379 --> 00:06:50.040 that were those desert monks 1 ,500 years ago. 00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:53.399 They were the first ones to pinpoint the spiritual 00:06:53.399 --> 00:06:58.180 threat of sloth. Let me explain. Imagine this. 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:01.100 One day you decide you want to become a monk. 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:04.079 And so you say goodbye to your old life and you 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:06.899 move into the monastery. Oh, hi, hi, I'm here. 00:07:06.980 --> 00:07:09.579 I'm a new monk. Oh, and it's wonderful. You get 00:07:09.579 --> 00:07:12.800 to sit around and pray all day and you get to 00:07:12.800 --> 00:07:15.680 read your Bible and you copy out manuscripts 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:18.740 and you get to worship and eat with your brothers 00:07:18.740 --> 00:07:21.819 in the monastery. You know, it's great. It's 00:07:21.819 --> 00:07:23.939 fantastic. And you love it. And you feel like 00:07:23.939 --> 00:07:28.379 God has called you to this work. And so days 00:07:28.379 --> 00:07:32.560 go by, weeks go by, and then something starts 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:35.779 to happen. Something starts to happen. And maybe 00:07:35.779 --> 00:07:38.660 it always seemed to happen for the monks that 00:07:38.660 --> 00:07:40.699 it was right in the middle of the day when the 00:07:40.699 --> 00:07:43.839 sun was at its highest and everything was at 00:07:43.839 --> 00:07:47.019 its hottest. And you had to go at that time of 00:07:47.019 --> 00:07:49.399 the day into your little room, your little cell, 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:54.490 where you sat down and you started to pray. And 00:07:54.490 --> 00:07:58.670 you started to pray and pray, and then this little 00:07:58.670 --> 00:08:02.170 distraction started to get into your mind. You 00:08:02.170 --> 00:08:03.970 looked out the window, and you were like, oh, 00:08:03.970 --> 00:08:07.310 look, there's a sparrow. Hi, sparrow. What am 00:08:07.310 --> 00:08:10.250 I doing? I've got to get back to praying. So 00:08:10.250 --> 00:08:12.649 you get back to your praying, and then you hear 00:08:12.649 --> 00:08:14.449 some footsteps coming down the hall, and you're 00:08:14.449 --> 00:08:17.990 like, oh, maybe that's Brother Francois, and 00:08:17.990 --> 00:08:20.189 he's coming to visit me. Is that you, Brother 00:08:20.189 --> 00:08:23.050 Francois? Is that you? Open the door, and there's 00:08:23.050 --> 00:08:25.290 actually nobody there. You're like, oh, my mistake. 00:08:25.730 --> 00:08:27.810 And so you sit back down, and you're like, OK, 00:08:27.910 --> 00:08:30.769 got to get down to this praying. Got to get down 00:08:30.769 --> 00:08:34.190 to this praying. And you look down at your watch. 00:08:34.429 --> 00:08:36.190 They didn't have watches. But you look down, 00:08:36.389 --> 00:08:39.529 and you're like, oh, gosh, it's still three more 00:08:39.529 --> 00:08:42.730 hours till lunch. I'm not sure I can make it. 00:08:42.769 --> 00:08:45.700 My stomach is. It's already kind of grumbling, 00:08:45.779 --> 00:08:48.860 and these distractions, you're finding it so 00:08:48.860 --> 00:08:53.720 hard to stay focused. And at first, it's just 00:08:53.720 --> 00:08:56.700 minor, but then it starts to be like every time 00:08:56.700 --> 00:08:59.659 this is happening. And that's when things start 00:08:59.659 --> 00:09:02.220 to get really serious. After this goes on day 00:09:02.220 --> 00:09:05.539 after day, under the blazing heat, there you 00:09:05.539 --> 00:09:07.860 are, you're in your cell, you're trying to work. 00:09:08.539 --> 00:09:12.200 Pretty soon... some thoughts start to creep into 00:09:12.200 --> 00:09:15.139 your mind. Thoughts like this. Oh, gosh, it's 00:09:15.139 --> 00:09:19.419 so hot. This way of life. You know what? I'm 00:09:19.419 --> 00:09:21.480 beginning to think it's all pointless. Why did 00:09:21.480 --> 00:09:24.120 I even do this? Why did I leave my life? I had 00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:27.139 a good life out there. And now I've come in here 00:09:27.139 --> 00:09:31.519 and, oh, my prayers. All these prayers I'm praying, 00:09:31.559 --> 00:09:33.779 they don't seem to be accomplishing anything. 00:09:34.220 --> 00:09:36.899 I'm not seeing a lot of answers to my prayers. 00:09:37.959 --> 00:09:40.700 And you know what? These brothers, my fellow 00:09:40.700 --> 00:09:43.559 monks, they are so annoying. I'm finding them 00:09:43.559 --> 00:09:45.840 so hard to get along with. I mean, yeah, I go 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:48.179 down and I try to sing and I try to work with 00:09:48.179 --> 00:09:50.259 them. We do our chores together, but getting 00:09:50.259 --> 00:09:52.840 tired of those chores, getting tired of them. 00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:57.240 And then this thought sneaks in. Maybe I should 00:09:57.240 --> 00:10:00.809 just leave. Maybe I... Maybe I should leave. 00:10:00.870 --> 00:10:02.830 Maybe I should try another monastery. Maybe that 00:10:02.830 --> 00:10:04.669 would be better. Or maybe I should just leave 00:10:04.669 --> 00:10:08.129 altogether. And then eventually, day after day 00:10:08.129 --> 00:10:11.149 after day, this keeps happening, the distractions, 00:10:11.309 --> 00:10:12.909 the thoughts, the distractions, the thoughts, 00:10:12.950 --> 00:10:16.570 until the final thought comes to you. You know 00:10:16.570 --> 00:10:23.429 what? Maybe God isn't even there. Maybe God isn't 00:10:23.429 --> 00:10:28.470 even real. Gosh, it's so hot. Maybe God's not 00:10:28.470 --> 00:10:35.470 really there. out there now this is what our 00:10:35.470 --> 00:10:40.230 monastic brothers and sisters first put their 00:10:40.230 --> 00:10:43.169 finger on as the root of sloth read this this 00:10:43.169 --> 00:10:46.610 is from this is from a monk every week it seems 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:51.639 to make me listless and inert. Every task, I 00:10:51.639 --> 00:10:55.059 can't stay in this little room. He groans. He 00:10:55.059 --> 00:10:57.220 says he's made no progress after such a long 00:10:57.220 --> 00:10:59.679 time here. He complains and he sighs. This whole 00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:03.720 spiritual quest has been in vain. To stay in 00:11:03.720 --> 00:11:06.940 this place is useless. You see, what is happening 00:11:06.940 --> 00:11:10.860 is that there is this deadly spiritual progression 00:11:10.860 --> 00:11:15.120 which is taking place, right? It doesn't start 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:17.600 with an outright rejection of God. No, no, no, 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:19.580 no, no. It's much more subtle than that. It starts 00:11:19.580 --> 00:11:23.100 with devotion. I'm a praying monk, devotion. 00:11:23.500 --> 00:11:26.600 Then leads to distraction. Oh, squirrel. Oh, 00:11:26.679 --> 00:11:29.600 Brother Francois, is that you? No, what time 00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:32.539 is it, right? And then after enough distractions, 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:35.860 pretty soon you're not praying anymore. You're 00:11:35.860 --> 00:11:39.360 not reading the Bible anymore. You're disengaged 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:41.440 from the work that you're supposed to be doing. 00:11:41.639 --> 00:11:45.460 And then you just... Stop serving. You stop caring 00:11:45.460 --> 00:11:49.480 until ultimately, that is a total mess up there, 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:54.460 I apologize. It leads to doubt. You begin to 00:11:54.460 --> 00:11:59.700 doubt whether God is real at all. Now see, this 00:11:59.700 --> 00:12:02.419 isn't just laziness. It's a full -on crisis of 00:12:02.419 --> 00:12:06.120 faith. It has led you to disconnect from other 00:12:06.120 --> 00:12:09.379 people. and to disbelieve in God. And that is 00:12:09.379 --> 00:12:10.980 why they put it on the list of the seven deadly 00:12:10.980 --> 00:12:13.039 sins. And they didn't even put it at the end 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:14.419 of the list. It's like, oh, let's throw this 00:12:14.419 --> 00:12:17.200 one out at the end. Many lists have sloth right 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:19.500 at the beginning because they see how spiritually 00:12:19.500 --> 00:12:22.460 damaging it can be. Now, you and me, we're not 00:12:22.460 --> 00:12:26.019 monks, okay? But you've felt this way too, right? 00:12:26.700 --> 00:12:28.620 You've had those moments where you said, oh, 00:12:28.659 --> 00:12:31.720 why do I do this thing called faith? Is it really 00:12:31.720 --> 00:12:34.450 worth? following Jesus. I mean, I hear about 00:12:34.450 --> 00:12:36.509 everybody else's prayers being answered. My prayers 00:12:36.509 --> 00:12:38.929 never seem to be answered. Why do I even bother 00:12:38.929 --> 00:12:42.409 going to church, right? And even when we come 00:12:42.409 --> 00:12:46.629 to church, our mind is elsewhere. We've kind 00:12:46.629 --> 00:12:50.789 of checked out spiritually and mentally. And 00:12:50.789 --> 00:12:53.309 so, you see, we've been thinking about sloth 00:12:53.309 --> 00:12:58.250 all wrong, right? Sloth isn't just doing nothing. 00:12:58.830 --> 00:13:03.289 It's feeling that nothing you do matters. And 00:13:03.289 --> 00:13:07.950 sloth isn't physical laziness. It's spiritual 00:13:07.950 --> 00:13:12.669 weariness. You stop praying, you stop worshiping, 00:13:12.669 --> 00:13:21.570 you stop serving, and you slowly just drift away 00:13:21.570 --> 00:13:30.679 from God. Now, The monks gave us the language 00:13:30.679 --> 00:13:34.039 for sloth, but it can happen to anyone. In fact, 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:36.559 the reading from Ecclesiastes this morning, listen, 00:13:36.679 --> 00:13:40.220 King Solomon, he had more wealth, power, prestige, 00:13:40.440 --> 00:13:43.039 success, and pleasure than anyone. If anyone 00:13:43.039 --> 00:13:45.320 in the world should have been able to be excited 00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:48.480 about life and thankful to God, it should have 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:53.379 been him. And yet, look, sloth creeps in. It 00:13:53.379 --> 00:13:57.179 begins as he laments the weariness of the world. 00:13:57.279 --> 00:14:00.639 Oh, generations come, generations go. Sun's up, 00:14:00.700 --> 00:14:04.980 sun is down. It's one big loop. You wake up, 00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:07.519 it's the same routine. You go to work, it's the 00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:10.320 same job. You come home, it's the same struggles. 00:14:10.460 --> 00:14:13.980 You go to bed and you do it all over again and 00:14:13.980 --> 00:14:18.620 again. Life seems pointless. That's sloth. creeping 00:14:18.620 --> 00:14:22.940 in. And then it kills any joy, any delight you 00:14:22.940 --> 00:14:27.519 might have in life. Oh, everything is wearisome, 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:30.740 right? In this whole great, big, beautiful world 00:14:30.740 --> 00:14:33.519 that God has made, the author can't find anything 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:36.220 that impresses him, nothing that excites him, 00:14:36.299 --> 00:14:38.240 nothing worth getting up in the morning for. 00:14:38.340 --> 00:14:41.639 God says, I'm making all things new. But Sloth 00:14:41.639 --> 00:14:45.500 says, I'm not so sure about that. Kind of looks 00:14:45.500 --> 00:14:49.889 the same to me. And then this lie creeps in that 00:14:49.889 --> 00:14:52.889 says, nothing matters. Nothing matters. Everything's 00:14:52.889 --> 00:14:56.330 meaningless. Your work is meaningless. Your relationships 00:14:56.330 --> 00:15:00.149 are useless. Your faith is pointless. Nothing, 00:15:00.389 --> 00:15:03.590 nothing matters. Meaningless, meaningless, meaningless. 00:15:04.169 --> 00:15:07.789 And then, of course, there's all those distractions. 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:11.419 Please just show me something new. Show me something 00:15:11.419 --> 00:15:14.580 different. Maybe if I scroll, something new will 00:15:14.580 --> 00:15:17.759 pop up. Maybe if I watch the next episode, it'll 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:21.879 be better than the last. This is a man who has 00:15:21.879 --> 00:15:24.460 seen everything and done it all, and yet now 00:15:24.460 --> 00:15:28.480 he's just restless. He's cynical. He's spiritually 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:34.059 numb. That's sloth. That's sloth. And it can 00:15:34.059 --> 00:15:35.580 happen to anyone. It can happen to him. It can 00:15:35.580 --> 00:15:38.360 happen to you. It can happen to me. It can happen 00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:40.759 to me even right now when I stand up here in 00:15:40.759 --> 00:15:42.399 front of you and I say, this doesn't matter. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:46.460 This thing we're doing right now where I talk 00:15:46.460 --> 00:15:48.840 to you, where we gather, come on, who are we 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:50.960 kidding? This doesn't really matter. You don't 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:53.220 really matter. And I know that I don't really 00:15:53.220 --> 00:15:58.480 matter to you, right? That's sloth creeping in, 00:15:58.639 --> 00:16:00.799 right? And you know what? On top of it, maybe 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:03.720 God doesn't even really matter either. You know 00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:08.279 that sloth is coming in. Or coming out, maybe, 00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:10.000 of your heart when you start to hear yourself 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:12.960 say stuff like this, I couldn't care less. I 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:15.120 couldn't care less about my work, about my relationships, 00:16:15.299 --> 00:16:19.379 about this church. Or you hear someone say, whatever. 00:16:19.679 --> 00:16:21.820 That is like the worst. It's just like shrugging 00:16:21.820 --> 00:16:26.000 off life. Sometimes sloth sounds like someone 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.340 saying, I just couldn't be bothered. I'm not 00:16:28.340 --> 00:16:29.779 going to put in the effort. I'm not going to 00:16:29.779 --> 00:16:31.240 put in the work. It's not worth it. You're not 00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:33.779 worth it. Or you hear someone say, I don't know. 00:16:34.279 --> 00:16:37.299 I don't care. I don't know. It means they're 00:16:37.299 --> 00:16:40.480 ignorant. And they don't care to even find out. 00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:43.899 It's just complete sloth. When this is coming 00:16:43.899 --> 00:16:47.159 out of your mouth, sloth has gotten into your 00:16:47.159 --> 00:16:49.919 heart. And you know what? One of the big ways 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:52.440 that sloth shows up in our world today is what 00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:57.919 I call the digital drain, right? It's not just 00:16:57.919 --> 00:17:01.100 about lying around all day. doing nothing. It's 00:17:01.100 --> 00:17:04.660 the mindless scrolling. It's the binge watching. 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:07.539 It's the hours of gaming. It's what, oh, it's 00:17:07.539 --> 00:17:09.680 entertainment, culture says. This is entertainment. 00:17:09.940 --> 00:17:13.160 But it's really just constant stimulation and 00:17:13.160 --> 00:17:16.420 constant distraction to prevent us from ever 00:17:16.420 --> 00:17:18.960 engaging or ever going deeper into things that 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:21.859 really matter in life. The writer of Ecclesiastes 00:17:21.859 --> 00:17:24.619 must have had a smartphone, right? The eye never 00:17:24.619 --> 00:17:28.099 has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of 00:17:28.099 --> 00:17:30.819 hearing. Have you ever had that thing where you 00:17:30.819 --> 00:17:33.279 go to check your phone for one minute and you 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:37.079 put it down and an hour has gone by, right? We 00:17:37.079 --> 00:17:40.599 pick up our phones hundreds of times a day, not 00:17:40.599 --> 00:17:43.380 because we need to, but because we're taught 00:17:43.380 --> 00:17:47.000 to, because the algorithms drive us to, and because 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:50.269 we don't want to miss out. But what we actually 00:17:50.269 --> 00:17:53.369 end up doing is missing out on the really important 00:17:53.369 --> 00:17:55.369 things, really important relationships, really 00:17:55.369 --> 00:17:57.269 important responsibilities, really important 00:17:57.269 --> 00:17:59.809 opportunities to grow in our spiritual life. 00:17:59.990 --> 00:18:03.529 And that is the real danger of distraction. Not 00:18:03.529 --> 00:18:06.670 just that you waste time, but it's that it drowns 00:18:06.670 --> 00:18:11.210 out the voice of God. Sloth will not let you 00:18:11.210 --> 00:18:14.430 be still and hear the voice of God because it 00:18:14.430 --> 00:18:19.970 fills every quiet moment with noise. It's funny 00:18:19.970 --> 00:18:23.630 how we can find hours to binge watch TV shows, 00:18:23.730 --> 00:18:27.349 but somehow can't find five minutes to pray. 00:18:28.069 --> 00:18:31.710 That's sloth, right? And Jesus says, what good 00:18:31.710 --> 00:18:35.509 is that? What good is it to gain the whole world? 00:18:35.569 --> 00:18:38.490 What good is eight or 12 hours of screen time 00:18:38.490 --> 00:18:41.670 when you forfeit your soul, when you forfeit 00:18:41.670 --> 00:18:44.250 your real purpose, when you forfeit real relationships, 00:18:44.450 --> 00:18:48.309 when you forfeit your connection to God? So that's 00:18:48.309 --> 00:18:51.269 how it shows up. It's the digital drain. But 00:18:51.269 --> 00:18:54.630 it also shows up as work. Yes, work. I thought 00:18:54.630 --> 00:18:58.170 work was opposite of sloth. No, sloth surprisingly 00:18:58.170 --> 00:19:01.970 also shows up by being very busy. We're going 00:19:01.970 --> 00:19:04.390 through the tasks. We're grinding through our 00:19:04.390 --> 00:19:07.230 to -do list. But really, who cares about it? 00:19:07.309 --> 00:19:10.329 We're just doing it. What do people get from 00:19:10.329 --> 00:19:12.789 all their toil and all their striving and all 00:19:12.789 --> 00:19:15.170 their labor under the sun? Those aren't the words 00:19:15.170 --> 00:19:17.819 of someone who's lazy about work. Those are the 00:19:17.819 --> 00:19:20.480 words of someone who doesn't think his work matters. 00:19:21.359 --> 00:19:25.539 Sloth doesn't say, I don't want to work. Sloth 00:19:25.539 --> 00:19:30.299 says, I don't care about my work. It's what William 00:19:30.299 --> 00:19:33.980 Willimon called joyless productivity. You get 00:19:33.980 --> 00:19:36.000 up, you go to work, you go through the motions, 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:39.700 you do what's expected, but your heart's not 00:19:39.700 --> 00:19:44.200 in it. You're working, but you're not engaged. 00:19:44.970 --> 00:19:47.230 So ironically, some of the hardest working people 00:19:47.230 --> 00:19:52.369 you know struggle with sloth. They burn out doing 00:19:52.369 --> 00:19:54.789 everything they think that they have to do, but 00:19:54.789 --> 00:19:57.369 they feel nothing. They're empty inside about 00:19:57.369 --> 00:20:00.309 it. And it's not just our jobs. It also shows 00:20:00.309 --> 00:20:03.539 up at home. It shows up. In our own families, 00:20:03.619 --> 00:20:05.539 we're juggling a hundred things. Oh, here's my 00:20:05.539 --> 00:20:08.140 career, and here's school, and here's all the 00:20:08.140 --> 00:20:10.039 kids' activities, and I've got to go do this, 00:20:10.039 --> 00:20:11.720 and I've got to go do that. It looks like we're 00:20:11.720 --> 00:20:14.640 really busy. This does not look like sloth, right? 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:18.619 But we're on autopilot. Our schedules are full, 00:20:18.740 --> 00:20:23.859 but our souls are empty. We're burning out while 00:20:23.859 --> 00:20:27.450 our hearts are rusting out. That's another sign 00:20:27.450 --> 00:20:30.230 of sloth. It's this work without meaning. But 00:20:30.230 --> 00:20:34.289 a third sign is what I call the restless rest. 00:20:35.329 --> 00:20:39.650 When we finally get a day off, you know what? 00:20:40.170 --> 00:20:43.569 We still don't actually rest. Have you ever had 00:20:43.569 --> 00:20:46.809 like a whole day off and you just did nothing 00:20:46.809 --> 00:20:50.470 but binge watch TV, scroll through your phone, 00:20:50.549 --> 00:20:53.170 and then at the end of it, you're still tired? 00:20:54.649 --> 00:20:57.210 Right? That's because it wasn't rest. Right? 00:20:57.289 --> 00:21:01.430 God says, in repentance and rest is your salvation. 00:21:01.769 --> 00:21:05.190 Oh, okay. In quietness and trust is your strength. 00:21:05.250 --> 00:21:07.410 Okay, God. But sloth says, no, no, no, no, no. 00:21:07.450 --> 00:21:08.910 We're not going to do that. We're not going to 00:21:08.910 --> 00:21:11.529 have any of that. Instead, here, look at this. 00:21:11.690 --> 00:21:13.829 Instead, here, play with that. Be entertained 00:21:13.829 --> 00:21:16.549 by this. Here's more noise, more noise, more 00:21:16.549 --> 00:21:20.710 noise. So sloth leaves you feeling just as drained 00:21:20.710 --> 00:21:24.910 as you were before. You see, God built rest into 00:21:24.910 --> 00:21:28.250 creation as a rhythm of life, and he gives us 00:21:28.250 --> 00:21:30.390 the Sabbath. The Sabbath is not there for you 00:21:30.390 --> 00:21:32.630 to catch up on your errands. It's not there for 00:21:32.630 --> 00:21:36.130 you to, like, binge on Netflix. It's to draw 00:21:36.130 --> 00:21:38.730 us deeper into God's presence. But sloth's not 00:21:38.730 --> 00:21:41.109 going to let you get away with a Sabbath. No, 00:21:41.130 --> 00:21:44.750 no, no, no, no. It wants to numb you, not restore 00:21:44.750 --> 00:21:50.420 you. If there's one spiritual area, though, that 00:21:50.420 --> 00:21:52.019 we have to watch out for, and this is the one 00:21:52.019 --> 00:21:55.839 the monks notice the most, it is, spiritually 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:59.339 speaking, sloth is so dangerous. It's so dangerous. 00:21:59.380 --> 00:22:03.039 Not because they outright rejected God. They 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:07.599 just shrugged God off spiritually. Just slowly 00:22:07.599 --> 00:22:11.519 stopped seeking God. That's why the warning in 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:14.180 the Bible is, Don't drift away. You're not just 00:22:14.180 --> 00:22:17.160 gonna run away. You're slowly gonna drift away. 00:22:17.400 --> 00:22:20.559 Don't let it happen, but that is how sloth works. 00:22:20.700 --> 00:22:22.599 You don't wake up one morning and say, you know 00:22:22.599 --> 00:22:24.500 what, I'm not gonna believe in God anymore today, 00:22:24.660 --> 00:22:29.180 right? Instead, it's just a slow neglect, and 00:22:29.180 --> 00:22:32.619 it happens as slow as a sloth in a tree, and 00:22:32.619 --> 00:22:35.359 it can happen to all of us. You know, we just 00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:38.740 stop praying for a few days, and then it turns 00:22:38.740 --> 00:22:41.490 into a few weeks, and then... It turns into a 00:22:41.490 --> 00:22:44.069 few months, and then we can't actually remember 00:22:44.069 --> 00:22:46.490 the last time we actually said a real prayer. 00:22:46.690 --> 00:22:49.410 Oh, we want to read the Bible, but we never really 00:22:49.410 --> 00:22:53.329 get around to it. Sloth doesn't shout, hey, stop 00:22:53.329 --> 00:22:56.109 praying, or hey, don't read your Bible. He just 00:22:56.109 --> 00:22:59.190 says, hey, look at this instead, or get busy 00:22:59.190 --> 00:23:01.670 with this. And besides, your prayers don't make 00:23:01.670 --> 00:23:05.269 any difference anyway. None of it matters. And 00:23:05.269 --> 00:23:08.750 then we neglect church, right? We say, oh, well, 00:23:08.829 --> 00:23:10.849 I don't feel like going today. It's no big deal. 00:23:10.869 --> 00:23:12.829 And I don't want to go next week either. No big 00:23:12.829 --> 00:23:15.809 deal. But before you know it, you've drifted. 00:23:16.269 --> 00:23:18.690 Not because you stopped believing. It's just 00:23:18.690 --> 00:23:22.329 because you've stopped showing up. I'll go next 00:23:22.329 --> 00:23:26.660 week. I'll go next month. Sloth. wants to isolate 00:23:26.660 --> 00:23:29.900 you from community because it knows that now 00:23:29.900 --> 00:23:32.920 it can really get you and your faith will really 00:23:32.920 --> 00:23:36.920 be running on fumes. And then sloth makes you 00:23:36.920 --> 00:23:40.500 want to neglect others. So we stop serving. We 00:23:40.500 --> 00:23:44.240 stop giving. We stop participating. The Bible 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:48.700 says that love demands that we care for one another. 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:50.619 But sloth says, that sounds like a lot of work. 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:55.339 You know what? Serving is inconvenient, and volunteering, 00:23:55.819 --> 00:23:59.599 too much effort. And besides, I know somebody 00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:04.140 else will do it anyways. So you see, this church 00:24:04.140 --> 00:24:07.019 thing, this spiritual life, we just withdraw 00:24:07.019 --> 00:24:10.380 from it. The church is this gift. And we're tempted 00:24:10.380 --> 00:24:12.819 to ignore it. In withdrawing from spiritual community, 00:24:13.019 --> 00:24:15.420 we withdraw from encouragement. We withdraw from 00:24:15.420 --> 00:24:17.579 the truth. We withdraw from the habits that keep 00:24:17.579 --> 00:24:20.500 us spiritually alive. And then sloth can get 00:24:20.500 --> 00:24:23.759 its claws into us all the more. It doesn't look 00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:26.359 like an outright rebellion. None of this does, 00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:30.519 right? It's just the slow drift from things that 00:24:30.519 --> 00:24:33.779 keep us alive. So do you see why it's so deadly? 00:24:35.319 --> 00:24:38.059 Do you see where it's working in your own life? 00:24:39.060 --> 00:24:42.079 And now do you see why we have to fight it? Let's 00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:43.859 talk about that now. In the time we've got left, 00:24:43.960 --> 00:24:46.779 how do we fight back against sloth? What do we 00:24:46.779 --> 00:24:48.920 do about it? Well, I'm going to share four ideas. 00:24:49.079 --> 00:24:52.119 There's probably 400 ideas, but here's four that 00:24:52.119 --> 00:24:55.720 I came up with. First, sloth tries to convince 00:24:55.720 --> 00:24:57.599 you there's nothing new going on in the world. 00:24:57.660 --> 00:24:59.339 There's nothing important for you to look at. 00:24:59.380 --> 00:25:01.259 None of this matters. It's all boring. It's all 00:25:01.259 --> 00:25:04.279 same old, same old, same old. Nothing good. But 00:25:04.279 --> 00:25:07.390 that's a lie, right? It's a lie. Sloth says, 00:25:07.390 --> 00:25:08.809 hey, don't look over here. This is just the way 00:25:08.809 --> 00:25:10.630 things always will be, the way things always 00:25:10.630 --> 00:25:13.069 were. But Jesus says, no, no, no. I'm making 00:25:13.069 --> 00:25:16.009 all things new. God is always doing a new thing. 00:25:16.089 --> 00:25:18.970 Jesus is always doing a beautiful thing in the 00:25:18.970 --> 00:25:21.589 world. The question is not, is God doing anything? 00:25:21.950 --> 00:25:26.430 The question is, are our eyes open to see it? 00:25:27.150 --> 00:25:30.809 We need to learn to see the newness that is cropping 00:25:30.809 --> 00:25:33.829 up and jumping up right in front of our own eyes, 00:25:33.890 --> 00:25:37.109 but sloth doesn't want us to see it. So one way 00:25:37.109 --> 00:25:40.190 to shake off sloth and one way to wake up your 00:25:40.190 --> 00:25:44.170 weary soul is simply to open your eyes to the 00:25:44.170 --> 00:25:48.069 beauty and newness of this world. Sloth wants 00:25:48.069 --> 00:25:53.250 to numb you. Beauty revives you. So listen to 00:25:53.250 --> 00:25:56.710 some really good music. Go ahead. Look at some 00:25:56.710 --> 00:26:00.230 amazing art. Go spend time with friends or family. 00:26:00.289 --> 00:26:04.009 Enjoy a wonderful home -cooked meal together. 00:26:04.589 --> 00:26:08.430 Just go on a walk in nature. Go for a long walk. 00:26:08.509 --> 00:26:12.130 Do not take your phone with you, right? And then 00:26:12.130 --> 00:26:15.069 you will begin to see things. You'll begin to 00:26:15.069 --> 00:26:18.410 notice things. Your soul will begin to stir again. 00:26:18.630 --> 00:26:20.869 Each morning, why don't we pray something like 00:26:20.869 --> 00:26:25.279 this? God, show me something new today. Lord, 00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:29.339 help me to see what you are doing today, right? 00:26:29.380 --> 00:26:32.059 Tomorrow morning. Don't think of it as another 00:26:32.059 --> 00:26:34.859 Monday morning. Here we go again. That's what 00:26:34.859 --> 00:26:38.140 sloth wants you to think, right? Instead, ask 00:26:38.140 --> 00:26:41.099 yourself, God, what new thing are you going to 00:26:41.099 --> 00:26:44.400 do today? Because if your eyes are open, you're 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:47.680 going to start to see the newness of life. That 00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:51.089 is the first strategy. Let's open our eyes to 00:26:51.089 --> 00:26:53.410 the newness around us. The second way to shake 00:26:53.410 --> 00:26:55.950 off sloth is there's no other way to put it, 00:26:55.990 --> 00:26:57.849 but we have just got to figure out how to do 00:26:57.849 --> 00:27:02.109 the hard work of loving people. Love is hard 00:27:02.109 --> 00:27:04.190 work. You know that. If you're married, you know 00:27:04.190 --> 00:27:05.930 that. If you have kids, you know that. If you're 00:27:05.930 --> 00:27:09.250 in friendships, you know that. If you're in church, 00:27:09.390 --> 00:27:11.990 you know love is hard work. In your life group, 00:27:12.170 --> 00:27:17.289 love is hard work. It requires effort. If you've 00:27:17.289 --> 00:27:19.690 ever had a friendship fade away, it probably 00:27:19.690 --> 00:27:21.609 wasn't because you had a big fight and a big 00:27:21.609 --> 00:27:24.230 blow up. It's probably because you just stopped 00:27:24.230 --> 00:27:29.029 working at it and you stopped showing up. Sloth 00:27:29.029 --> 00:27:31.289 says it's not worth showing up. They're not worth 00:27:31.289 --> 00:27:34.819 showing up. But Jesus says, no, love. always 00:27:34.819 --> 00:27:37.319 is worth it. Love always requires hard work. 00:27:37.420 --> 00:27:39.920 Jesus didn't just talk about love from a distance. 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:42.619 He got into it, right? He leaned into it. He 00:27:42.619 --> 00:27:44.960 lived it. He walked it. Jesus, if you ever want 00:27:44.960 --> 00:27:46.819 to know what the exact opposite of sloth is, 00:27:46.920 --> 00:27:50.519 take a look at Jesus. He did not come to be served, 00:27:50.579 --> 00:27:54.799 but to serve and to give his life for others. 00:27:54.940 --> 00:27:58.140 And you know, then he has the goal to say to 00:27:58.140 --> 00:28:00.339 us, I want you to go and I want you to love others 00:28:00.339 --> 00:28:03.240 in the same way that I loved you. Sloth says, 00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:05.559 no, no, no, pull back from others. Jesus says, 00:28:05.640 --> 00:28:09.140 no, love others the way I love them. Lean right 00:28:09.140 --> 00:28:13.240 into it. And on the cross, man, oh man, did Jesus 00:28:13.240 --> 00:28:17.400 do the hard work of love. Listen to this. Love 00:28:17.400 --> 00:28:22.640 that is real. is love that labors. Christ labored 00:28:22.640 --> 00:28:26.140 unto death. The final victory over sloth was 00:28:26.140 --> 00:28:29.119 won on the wood of the cross where love endured 00:28:29.119 --> 00:28:32.980 even when it was difficult and even when it hurt. 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:38.559 Guys, if Jesus did the work of love for us all 00:28:38.559 --> 00:28:42.059 the way to the cross, how can we justify stopping 00:28:42.059 --> 00:28:46.680 loving the people around us? Love takes work. 00:28:47.150 --> 00:28:51.730 Love shows up. Love invests. So this week, where 00:28:51.730 --> 00:28:56.009 is sloth keeping you from loving well? And what 00:28:56.009 --> 00:28:59.210 do you need to do this week? No, who do you need 00:28:59.210 --> 00:29:05.599 to show up for this week? Thirdly. A third way 00:29:05.599 --> 00:29:09.140 of shaking off sloth is just to learn again how 00:29:09.140 --> 00:29:12.680 to rest in the right way. Sloth says, hey, in 00:29:12.680 --> 00:29:14.799 order to relax, you ready to relax? You need 00:29:14.799 --> 00:29:17.839 Netflix. You need a smartphone. You're going 00:29:17.839 --> 00:29:21.079 to need YouTube. Here's social media. Now you're 00:29:21.079 --> 00:29:23.099 ready to relax. No, no, no. That's not rest. 00:29:23.740 --> 00:29:28.180 Real rest restores the soul. Jesus says, come 00:29:28.180 --> 00:29:32.369 to me, all you who are weary. And I'll give you 00:29:32.369 --> 00:29:35.890 rest. Jesus even says, I will restore your soul. 00:29:35.950 --> 00:29:39.450 Come away with me, Jesus says, to a quiet place 00:29:39.450 --> 00:29:42.849 and let's get some real rest. Can you this week 00:29:42.849 --> 00:29:45.829 find a way to reclaim real rest? Find a way to 00:29:45.829 --> 00:29:48.509 reclaim some real Sabbath. Remember, Sabbath 00:29:48.509 --> 00:29:52.700 is not just about ceasing work. It's about entering 00:29:52.700 --> 00:29:56.500 into God's renewal. So forget setting aside a 00:29:56.500 --> 00:30:00.000 whole day. Can you find one hour of real Sabbath 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:04.279 this week? No work, no screens, no noise, just 00:30:04.279 --> 00:30:10.859 you resting in God. Remember, Jesus offers us 00:30:10.859 --> 00:30:15.339 this as a gift. Let Jesus give you real rest, 00:30:15.519 --> 00:30:18.319 okay? And then... So we've got this. We're going 00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:19.920 to see the newness. We're going to keep our eyes 00:30:19.920 --> 00:30:22.160 open. We're going to do the hard work of love. 00:30:22.279 --> 00:30:25.819 We're going to rest in the right way. And finally, 00:30:25.960 --> 00:30:28.539 here's what we have to do. Here's what the monks 00:30:28.539 --> 00:30:33.980 taught us. You got to pray anyway, right? When 00:30:33.980 --> 00:30:37.579 your faith feels dry, when your spiritual life 00:30:37.579 --> 00:30:40.720 feels empty, when your prayers just seem to be 00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:43.079 echoing off the walls of your little chamber, 00:30:43.980 --> 00:30:46.539 When worship and coming to church starts to feel 00:30:46.539 --> 00:30:50.160 routine, it's then that sloth is whispering to 00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:54.940 you, hey, why bother? Why bother? It doesn't 00:30:54.940 --> 00:31:00.490 matter. But Jesus says, pray. Keep praying. Do 00:31:00.490 --> 00:31:03.890 not give up. I mean, think about exercise. I 00:31:03.890 --> 00:31:05.190 don't know about you, but I don't really like 00:31:05.190 --> 00:31:08.049 to exercise. But after I've exercised, I'm so 00:31:08.049 --> 00:31:11.250 glad I did. And prayer is like that. And so pray 00:31:11.250 --> 00:31:13.630 anyway, even when you don't feel like it, because 00:31:13.630 --> 00:31:17.009 that's how your faith grows. That's how you slough 00:31:17.009 --> 00:31:19.549 off sloth in the long run. And don't just pray 00:31:19.549 --> 00:31:24.390 anyway. Let's also worship anyway. Sometimes, 00:31:24.650 --> 00:31:27.069 I know, sometimes coming to church feels empty. 00:31:27.230 --> 00:31:30.500 The worship feels... I don't know. It's not connecting 00:31:30.500 --> 00:31:32.980 with me. The worship song isn't my favorite. 00:31:33.079 --> 00:31:36.180 The sermon is going on too long. Sloth says, 00:31:36.279 --> 00:31:38.119 see, I told you. You should have skipped. See, 00:31:38.200 --> 00:31:40.599 I told you. This must not go next week or the 00:31:40.599 --> 00:31:43.859 week after that. Sloth says worship is an option. 00:31:44.700 --> 00:31:48.319 And many people who once attended church regularly 00:31:48.319 --> 00:31:52.440 have drifted. Not because of a crisis of belief, 00:31:52.579 --> 00:31:55.980 but because it just became easier not to go. 00:31:57.090 --> 00:32:00.069 Sloth doesn't rage against the church. It simply 00:32:00.069 --> 00:32:04.329 shrugs at it. But here's the hard part. The more 00:32:04.329 --> 00:32:07.869 we stay away, the easier it becomes to keep staying 00:32:07.869 --> 00:32:12.130 away. Sloth grows in the absence of worship. 00:32:12.250 --> 00:32:15.710 It's like this spiritual spiral. The more we 00:32:15.710 --> 00:32:19.490 stay away, the more it gets its claws into us. 00:32:19.589 --> 00:32:23.049 It's not just a bad habit. It's a spiral. So 00:32:23.049 --> 00:32:27.450 the solution, keep praying. Pray anyway. Gather 00:32:27.450 --> 00:32:31.329 anyway. Worship anyway. Sing anyway. Take communion 00:32:31.329 --> 00:32:38.529 anyway. Keep showing up. So, let's just wrap 00:32:38.529 --> 00:32:43.849 it all up. What do we do when sloth shows up 00:32:43.849 --> 00:32:46.930 and creeps in? When our passion fades, our prayers 00:32:46.930 --> 00:32:49.630 feel dry, and our hearts start to drift, we show 00:32:49.630 --> 00:32:53.910 up anyway. We choose faith over feeling. We choose 00:32:53.910 --> 00:32:57.599 devotion Over distraction. We choose presence 00:32:57.599 --> 00:33:03.039 over passivity. Because Jesus did not check out 00:33:03.039 --> 00:33:08.259 on us. He showed up all the way to the cross. 00:33:08.859 --> 00:33:12.400 And now he wants us to follow him. So this week, 00:33:12.420 --> 00:33:19.180 see the newness. Do the hard work of love. Rest 00:33:19.180 --> 00:33:27.130 rightly and pray anyway. And trust that when 00:33:27.130 --> 00:33:31.130 you keep showing up, God is going to show up 00:33:31.130 --> 00:33:39.190 too. Thanks be to God. Amen. Thank you for listening 00:33:39.190 --> 00:33:41.630 to this week's episode of Trinity Sermons. This 00:33:41.630 --> 00:33:44.349 sermon was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville 00:33:44.349 --> 00:33:46.750 on March 23, 2025.