Sloth, Workaholism and the Grace of SelfControl

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Sloth, Workaholism and the Grace of Self-Control
Sw-sloth and self-control
R. Paul Stevens
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Paul

• Driven or Called?

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Paul Driven or Called?

• Prevailing against Christians Acts 91-2
• Prevailing against Jews Acts 921-22
• Prevailing in debate Acts 929
• Prevailing against fellow believers Acts 152
• Prevailing against everybody Acts 1717
• Prevailing in the synagogue Acts 198-9
• Sometimes angry 1 Cor 421

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• I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ
  so powerfully works in me. Col. 129

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Symptoms of Workaholism/Driveness

• 1. Gratified only by accomplishment
• 2. Preoccupied with the symbols of accomplishment
• 3. Caught in the uncontrolled pursuit of
  expansion
• 4. Limited regard for integrity
• 5. Possess limited or undeveloped people skills
• 6. Highly competitive
• 7. Often possesses a volcanic force of anger
• 8. Usually abnormally busy
• Gordon MacDonald Ordering your Private World, p.
  31-36

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The Sources of Drivenness

• Prior to meeting Christ, Paul was determined to
  find acceptance and righteousness with God
  through Jewish legalism and performance and was
  simultaneously compelled to eliminate Christians
  as a threatening sect. What happened at Damascus
  was not the changing of Pauls personality from
  one type to another. Rather, Paul was released
  from the self-justifying paralysis of his
  personality by an empowering and liberating
  experience of grace through which he knew himself
  to be unconditionally accepted by God. Since the
  great resources of his personality were liberated
  by his meeting with Christ, he was able to devote
  himself in an entirely healthy way in a
  magnificently liberating passionhis passion to
  love God and love his neighbor as himself. (see
  Drivenness CBEC)

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Sources of Drivenness

• Family of origin - praised for performance or not
  approved at all
• Spiritual idolatry making something your
  ultimate concern other than the One that is
  ultimate (the tree of good and evil nailing
  your deepest desire to something other than God)

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What Drivenness is Like

• Workaholism provides an alternative ecstasy. In
  an insightful section on erotica, Killinger
  compares work experiences with sexual orgasms
  When there is a passionate obsession with work,
  erotic feelings can be expressed towards the
  accomplishments or products of work. The senses
  are aroused and alive when a coveted contract is
  signed, a record becomes a hit, or a sought-after
  degree is conferred (p. 34). Failing to find the
  divine source of legitimate ecstasy, people find
  unsatisfactory substitutes.

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What Drivenness is Like to Others

• disruption of family life,
• neglect of spiritual growth,
• diminishing returns for work,
• physical tension,
• loss of perspective on life
• misdirected resentment in which others are blamed
  for the pain they experience
• the children of workaholics are especially
  disadvantaged.

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Do Workaholics Make Good Workers in a Company, a
Church or a Not-for-Profit?

• NO!
• Not at least in the long run

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Workaholism/Drivenness is moral sloth
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The Seven Deadly Work Sins

• Sloth Sloth signifieth chiefly the
  indisposition of the mind and body and idleness
  signifieth the actual neglect or omission of our
  duties. Sloth is an averseness to labor, through
  a carnal love of ease, or indulgence to the
  flesh (part 1, x, 378).

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• Sloth is easily identified when the very thought
  of labor is troublesome, when ease seems sweet,
  when the easy part of some duty is culled out,
  when you work with a constant weariness of mind,
  when you consistently offer excuses or delays and
  when little impediments stop you. Richard
  Baxter, The Practical Works of Richard Baxter,
  vol 1 (Ligonier, Penn. Soli Deo Gloria
  Publications, 1990).

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Workaholism as Moral Sloth

• An indisposition of mind and body
• A carnal love of work (not ease)
• Indulgence of the flesh (flesh is not
  physical body but life lived outside of Christ
  as though he had not come)
• When the thought of labour is sweet it is your
  meat and drink
• When nothing can stop you working

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The Slothful and Sluggard in Proverbs

• Go to the ant, you sluggard consider its ways
  and be wise!
• It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it
  stores its provisions in summer and gathers its
  food at harvest.
• How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When
  will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep,
  a little slumber, a little folding of the hands
  to rest and poverty will come on you like a
  bandit and scarcity like an armed man (66-11).
• As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,
  so is a sluggard to those who send him (1026).

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The Slothful and Sluggard in Proverbs

• The lazy man does not roast his game, but the
  diligent man prizes his possessions (1227)
• The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the
  desires of the diligent are fully satisfied
  (134).
• The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns,
  but the path of the upright is a highway
  (1519).
• One who is slack in his work is brother to one
  who destroys (189).
• A sluggard does not plow in season so at
  harvest time he looks but finds nothing (204).

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The Sluggard in Proverbs

• Derek Kidners notes He will not begin
  things.He will not finish things.He will not
  face things.Consequently he is restless (134
  2125, 26) with unsatisfied desire helpless in
  the face of the tangle of his affairs, which are
  like a hedge of thorns (1519) and useless
  expensively (189) and exasperatingly (1026)
  to any one who must employ him (Kidner,
  Proverbs, 42-43.)

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A Picture of lonely, Pointless Busyness Moral
Sloth (Eccl 44-8)

• There was a man all alone he had neither son
  nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet
  his eyes were not content with his wealth. For
  whom am I toiling, he asked, and why am I
  depriving myself of enjoyment? This too is
  meaningless a miserable business. (48)

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A Picture of lonely, Pointless Busyness Moral
Sloth (Eccl 44-8)

• The compulsive worker living for routine (47-8)
  --"the compulsive money-maker...for he has
  surrendered to a mere craving and to the endless
  process of feeding it....Such a man, even with a
  wife and children, will have little time for
  them, convinced that he is toiling for their
  benefit although his heart is elsewhere, devoted
  and wedded to his projects" (Kidner, The Message
  of Ecclesiastes, 47).

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A Picture of lonely, Pointless Busyness Moral
Sloth (Eccl 44-8)

• And I saw that all toil and all achievement
  spring from one persons envy of another. This
  too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind
  (44)
• The competitive urge (4.4) "all too much of our
  hard work and high endeavour is mixed with the
  craving to outshine or not to be outdone"
  (Kidner, The Message of Ecclesiastes, 45).

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Sources of Busyness Moral Sloth

• the desire to find approval for one's
  accomplishments
• fear of death
• failure to grasp a comprehensive vision for
  calling/vocation
• evasion/denial of pain/anxiety
• idolization of work--no limitation

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• But how do people move from a debilitating
  compulsion to a magnificent obsession?
• Self-control is not merely a human
  accomplishment, not even a religious work, but a
  fruit of the continuous inundation of the Holy
  Spirit (Galatians 523).
• How can we become accessible to such an indirect
  grace?

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• But how do people move from a debilitating
  compulsion to a magnificent obsession? In
  establishing a theology and practice of
  self-control, we must observe that self-control
  is not a human accomplishment, not even a
  religious work, but a fruit of the continuous
  inundation of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 523).
  How can we become accessible to such an indirect
  grace?

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Dealing with Sloth and Moral Sloth

• Personal inventory
• Co-conspiracy for health
• Lifestyle changes
• Sabbath
• Being grasped by the comprehensive call of God

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The Christian Vocation
BELONGING TO GOD
Discipleship
In the Biblical Sense is --
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The Christian Vocation
BELONGING TO GOD
Discipleship
BEING GODS PEOPLE
Holiness
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The Christian Vocation
BELONGING TO GOD
Discipleship
BEING GODS PEOPLE
DOING GODS WORK
Holiness
Service
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A Comprehensive Call
CONGREGATIONAL MINISTRY
PERSONAL SPIRITUALITY
FAMILY PRIESTHOOD AND SERVICE
COMMUNITY MISSION
REST
OCCUPATIONAL WORK
CIVIC-POLITICAL JUSTICE
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The Typical Executive Life
Friendships
WORK
Citizenship
Family
Leisure
Church
Personal Renewal
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The Typical Survival Worker
Friendships
WORK
Citizenship
Family
Leisure
Church
Personal Renewal
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The Problem with a List of Priorities

• Sunday
• God
• Family
• Work
• Monday
• Work
• Family
• God

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A Better Way Priorities in a Web
Re-Creation
Ongoing Learning
C
Work
D
B
E
A
Family
The People of God And Ministry
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With God at the Center of it All
Re-Creation
Ongoing Learning
C
Work
D
B
God
E
A
Family
The People of God And Ministry
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Dealing with Sloth and Moral Sloth

• Personal inventory
• Co-conspiracy for health
• Lifestyle changes
• Sabbath
• Being grasped by the comprehensive call of God
• Personal Spirituality

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Personal Spirituality

• 1. Assurance of grace. By grace you have been
  saved, through faith and this is not from
  yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works,
  so that no one can boast. (Eph 29-9) (Many
  addicted people are unsure of their relationship
  with God, even if they call themselves
  Christians.)

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• When a husband and wife really love each other,
  have pleasure in each other, and thoroughly
  believe in their love, who teaches them how they
  are to behave one to another, what they are to do
  or not to do, say or not to say, what they are to
  think? Confidence alone teaches them all this,
  and even more than is necessary. For such a man
  there is no distinction in works. He does the
  great and the important as gladly as the small
  and the unimportant, and vice versa. Moreover,
  he does them all in a glad, peaceful, and
  confident heart, and is an absolute willing
  companion to the woman. But where there is any
  doubt, he searches within himself for the best
  thing to do then a distinction of works arises
  by which he imagines he may win favour. And yet
  he goes about it with a heavy heart and great
  disinclination. He is like a prisoner, more than
  half in despair and often makes a fool of
  himself.

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• Thus a Christian man who lives in this confidence
  toward God knows all things, can do all things,
  ventures everything that needs to be done, and
  does everything gladly and willingly, not that he
  may gain merits and good works, but because it is
  a pleasure for him to please God in doing these
  things. He simply serves God with no thought of
  reward, content that his service pleases God. On
  the other hand, he who is not at one with God, or
  is in a state of doubt, worries and starts
  looking for ways and means to do enough and to
  influence God with his many good works Webers
  tensed up person!.
•  
• Martin Luther, Treatise on Good Works, in
  Luthers Works, trans. W.A. Lambert, ed. James
  Atkinson (Philadelphia Fortress Press, 1966),
  26-27.

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• Calvin reflects this idea as well We have not
  an uncertain God of whom we have created a
  confused and indistinct apprehension but one of
  whom we have a true and solid knowledge (Comm.
  Ps., 42). Salvation for Calvin was knowing God
  and knowing ourselves. This double knowing is
  the work of the Spirit, the testimonium internum,
  and internal persuasion (Inst., III, 2, 14-16).

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Matthew 1128-30

• Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on
  religion?
• Serious about integrating faith and work but
  discouraged
• Inadequate / failure
• Failure makes us fit to receive Gods grace
• John Calvin

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The Yoke of the Covenant
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Matthew 1128-30

• Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I wont
  lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep
  company with me and you will learn to live freely
  and lightly. (The Message)

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How do you learn to walkin rhythm with Jesus?
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Learning how to live a whole life

• A prayer life vs. a prayed life
• Gathering all of life together before God
• The Psalms as our Text

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Learning the Rhythms of Grace

• Psalms 1 to 5

Thanks and acknowledgement to Dr. Uli Chi
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Psalm 1

• Reconnecting to the source of life They are
  like a tree planted by streams of water (3)

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Psalm 2

• What dominates your perception and imagination?
• I have installed my king on Zion, my holy
  mountain. (6)
• Let God be God.

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Psalm 3

• Learning to pray what and where we are (not what
  / where we think we should be) Lord, how many
  are my foes! How many rise up against me! (1)

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Psalm 4 - Evening

• Learning to let go sleep as a spiritual
  discipline in peace I will lie down and sleep,
  for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety
  (48)

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Psalm 5 - Morning

• Offering all the pieces of your life to GOD for
  him to make whole
• In the morning I lay my requests before you and
  wait expectantly. (3)

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Learning Not to Play God

• Idolatry is the greatest risk for all who work -
  From participating in Gods work to becoming God
• Work and rest in rhythm

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Living Whole and Holy Lives

• So heres what I want you to do, God
• helping you Take your everyday, ordinary
• life your sleeping, eating, going-to-work,
• and walking-around life and place it before
• God as an offering. Embracing what God
• does for you is the best thing you can do for
• him.
• (Romans 121 The Message)

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Personal Spirituality

• 1. Assurance of grace.
• 2. The grace of self-control a fruit of the
  Spirit

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Self-Control Misunderstood

• The Unattainable Virtue of Temperance
• The thinkers of the ancient Greek world proposed
  that one could deal with a life out of control
  through cultivating the virtue of temperance, one
  of the seven classic virtues. The philosopher
  Plato likened the human person to a chariot
  driven by two horses one good and one bad. The
  charioteer was reason. Mind control could keep
  the horses harmonized and balanced.

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Self-Control Misunderstood

• Temperance hijacked by Christian asceticism
• Christians transformed moderation into
  abstinence, denial of sex, food, power, marriage
  and leisure. Unlike Jesus who was not a joyless
  ascetic, indeed was accused of being a drunkard
  and a friend of disreputable people, these
  serious Christians took to the wilderness partly
  to subdue the flesh (this was not the only reason
  they took to the desert).

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Saint Anthony and Elijah Ribera
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The Dormition of St. Ephraim the Syrian, Iviron
Monastery, Mt. Athos
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The Goal of Monasticism

• Ultimately Union with God
• Proximately Purity of heart
• Strategic - Asceticism

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Why asceticism is needed

• To wean people from the addictions of society
• To confront oneself with ones false self and
  realize ones true self

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Asceticism

• Money, sex and power the demon of money is
  greed the demon of sex is lust the demon of
  power is pride.
• The monastic vows of poverty, chastity and
  obedience was a direct response to these three
  temptations. The same is true in other
  traditions, e.g. the 17th century Puritan
  emphasis on industry, faithfulness, and order
  (Foster 1985, 4-12, quoted, Yung, 6).

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The Contribution of Monasticism

• Art
• Philosophy
• History
• Architecture
• Music
• Science
• Technology
• Capitalism (in part, see Peter Bernstein, Against
  the Gods The Remarkable Story of Risk)

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• There is some cosmic serendipity to the fact
  that it was a monk who originally codified
  double-entry accounting the fifteenth century
  Franciscan and mathematician Fra Luca
  Pacioli.Pacioli studied mathematics at
  universities in Bologna and Padova.he frequently
  consulted on both architecture and merchant
  practicehe collaborated on numerous projects
  with Leonardo da Vinci.
• John Dalla Costa, Magnificence at Work, 160-161.

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• Behind the attempt to inculcate temperance is a
  fatal assumption moderation can be obtained by
  moral education and mind control.
• Human beings cannot pull themselves up by their
  own bootstraps. The human psyche is too volcanic,
  too unpredictable to be entrusted to mind
  control.
• There is a better way.

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• Self-control is helpfully defined by Aristotle in
  his Nicomachean Ethics as having a grip on
  oneself rather than being gripped and controlled
  by everything else, in our case gripped by
  advertisements, the pressure to succeed and
  overwhelming work-loads.

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The Balanced Life or the Disciplined Life?

• Balance is bunk. Jesus did not live a balanced
  life and few saints speak of it they lived by
  white hot passion.
• Balance is not attainable or even desirable.
• What is needed is discipline the grace of
  self-control

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• Peter bids his readers to make every effort to
  add to your knowledge self-control (2 Pet 16)
• He is inviting his readers to cooperate with the
  God who wants to imbue them with this character
  quality in what can be described as a mysterious
  symphony of wills, human and divine. Make every
  effort is alongside Gods gracious infusion.
  God, the perfect gentleman, does not force his
  way into our lives.