Sunday Sermons
Self-Control
Self-Control
Self-control may be the least appreciated of all the fruits of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5, and gets far less press. With a seemingly unending collection of wall plaques, Christmas cards, or cherished expressions that mention “love”, “joy”, “peace”, and “kindness”, somehow people are a bit less romanced by this particular virtue. For years there existed the “Love is” comic. What about self-control? Who would ever dream of a “Self-control is” comic? And yet self-control is really the quality that gives longevity to all the others – self-control keeps the other virtues around long enough for them to bear fruit.“Every time you make a choice you are turning a central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what is was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature: To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 92). Going to allow yourself just a brief indulgence? Think again. “Good and evil both increase at compound interest. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible. (C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity pp. 132).
Tremendous Benefits
One of the first and obvious benefits of exercising self-control is that one will gain self-respect. "Self-respect is the root of discipline: The sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself" (Abraham Joshua Heschel). Anyone who has lost a significant amount of weight, or worked themselves out of a good deal of debt, or overcome an addiction have experienced this reward. Plato has rightly said,“The first and best victory is to conquer self”. The diligent parent understands that this is what good parenting is all about. It's not easy, this conquering of self. In fact Solomon noted, “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules over his spirit, than he who captures a city” (Proverbs 16:32). Self-control is a huge accomplishment, even far greater than victory in battle. Self-control turns out to be a very romantic and noble endeavor after all.
The Best Kept Secret
In light of the above verses, we might say that the benefits of self-control remain one of the world’s best kept secrets. Andree Seu observed, “God's commands turn out to be doorways to intimacy with Him. And the best kept secret about obedience in the face of a hard temptation is that there is a blessing waiting on the other side. Satan doesn't want us to know that. He would prefer the usual succumb-and-repent routine”. I have found this to be true time after time. The sense of accomplishment and good feelings about your relationship with God, others and life in general is always far greater and deeper after doing something right than after doing something wrong. Jesus tried to get us to see this concept when he described the person who denies himself as gaining “life” (Matthew 16:25). Just remember, on the other side of that sacrifice – is life! My happiness is not lying over the hill past self-indulgence, rather, it is resting on the other side of that hill called faithfulness.
The Key to Successful Relationships
Self-control is a prerequisite for leadership. “He that would govern others, first should be the master of himself” (Philip Massinger). The benefits of self-control only compound and multiply, for if I control my actions and especially my words, this is only going to improve the relationships I have with my mate, my parents, my children, other Christians and co-workers. I see some of this concept in Proverbs 16:7, “When a man’s ways are pleasing to the lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him”. One example? Controlling your mouth. Proverbs 15:1 “A gentle answer turns away wrath”.
The Power of the Right Thoughts: Changing Your Autopilot Philippians 4:8
“Imagine riding in a speedboat on a lake with an automatic pilot set to go east. If you decide to reverse and head west, you have two possible ways to change the boat’s direction. One way is to grab the steering wheel and physically force it to head in the opposite direction from where the autopilot is programmed to go. By sheer willpower you could overcome the autopilot, but you would feel constant resistance. Your arms would eventually tire of the stress, you’d let go of the steering wheel, and the boat would instantly head back east, the way it was internally programmed. This is what happens when you try to change your life with (sheer) willpower: There is a better and easier way: Change your autopilot – the way you think... Your first step in spiritual growth is to start changing the way you think. Change always starts first in your mind. The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you fell influences the way you act” (Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, pp. 181-182).
Embrace Diligent Effort
Benjamin Franklin noted, “Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure, when he is really selling himself a slave to it” Even a very spiritual man like the apostle Paul said, “I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27). This is strong language! The word “buffet” here means, “to beat the face black and blue” (Vine, p. 156). This is work, to be sure! Yet the verse is liberating as well. When one uses self-control he or she is no longer the slave or his or her body, but is instead now the master – and a much more merciful master than one's passions. “It is with our passions as it is with fire and water; they are good servants but bad masters” (Sir Roger L' Estrange). With every test of our self-control, God is giving us permission to say no to self, and in addition, beat into submission any opposition within us to following His will. One key to success in this:“Cultivate only the habits that you are willing should master you” (Elbert Hubbard).
“The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says ‘Give me All. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked – the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours’. Both harder and easier than what we are all trying to do. You have noticed, I expect, that Christ Himself sometimes describes the Christian way as very hard, sometimes as very easy. He says, 'Take up your Cross' – in other words, it is like going to be beaten to death in a concentration camp. Next minute he says, 'My yoke is easy and my burden light.' He means both. And one can just see why both are true. Teachers will tell you that the laziest boy in the class is the one who works hardest in the end. They mean this. If you give two boys, say, a proposition in geometry to do, the one who is prepared to take trouble will try to understand it. The lazy boy will try to learn it by heart because, for the moment, that needs less effort. But six months later, when they are preparing for an exam, that lazy boy is doing hours and hours of miserable drudgery over things the other boy understands, and positively enjoys, in a few minutes. Laziness means more work in the long run. Or look at it this way. In a battle, or in mountain climbing, there is often one thing which it takes a lot of pluck to do; but it is also, in the long run, the safest things to do. If you funk it, you will find yourself, hours later, in far worse danger. The cowardly thing is also the most dangerous thing. ( C.S. Lewis ,October 25, 2009, “People of a Particular Sort”). The rewards for taking the high road often arrive far sooner than one would think. As Benjamin Franklin noted, “The honest Man takes Pains, and then enjoys Pleasures; the knave takes Pleasure, and then suffers Pains”.
Gaining Strength
At the moment, in the midst of the temptation, practicing self-control will be the last thing you will want to do, but resist, and you will enjoy a new level of strength for the next temptation. You will gain spiritual muscle. Shakespeare observed this benefit when he wrote, “Refrain tonight, And that shall lend a kind of easiness To the next abstinence”.
Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net
