Fruit of the Spirit - Self-Control

And as we have seen over the last number of weeks, this outworking of the Holy Spirit is a result of God’s work, not ours. These are not fruits of the flesh. These are NOT fruits of the human…No, these are different aspects of the fruit that only GOD can produce in us.

And as we have mentioned over the weeks, these fruit develop and grow and RIPEN the closer we are to God and the more we are walking in fellowship with Jesus and walking BY the Spirit, as Paul writes in Galatians 5.

And it’s no different with today’s fruit of the Spirit - in fact it is arguably most evident with today’s fruit of the Spirit, which is self-control.

Because if you remember what Paul says about the battle between the flesh and the Spirit, the flesh wants to do what is selfish and sinful because the flesh IS sinful. And Paul lists the works of the flesh in verses 19-21.

So there’s no self-control within our flesh…and in order for us to walk in a manner pleasing to God, as we looked at last week, we need to be able to control our flesh, and to do that, we need the Spirit of God.

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So, when I say the words, “self-control,” what comes into your head? Here’s what comes into my head…

· Walking down Stranmillis Road, reaching the Sphinx kebab shop and then walking past it. For me, THAT’S self-control.

But what does it mean to you?

· Not having a Chinese when you’re on a diet?

· Not having that extra drink that could tip you over the edge?

· Biting your tongue when what you really want to do is speak you mind?

There are probably other things that you think of, but what became obvious to me when I was looking at this is how similar self-control is to will-power. So it made me think, what’s the difference between will-power and self-control?

Or is there a difference?

Well, after looking into this I have come to the conclusion that will-power and self-control are very similar, but at the same time there is a subtle difference between the two, and we’re going to see what that difference a little later.

But first let’s have a look at what the Bible has to say about self-control.

Well, there are different Greek words used that have been translated as self-control in our English bibles. But the word Paul uses in Galatians 5 is ἐγκράτεια, which means mastery and it comes from the root word, Kratos, which means power or dominion.

In Greek mythology, Kratos is the personification of strength and power. And that’s the essence of what Paul is talking about here when he talks about self-control as one of the fruit of the spirit.

Paul’s talking about strength and dominion over yourself. That’s self-control... having the strength and the power to control yourself, which sounds a lot like will-power. Except that

Will-power comes from yourself... self-control comes from the Spirit.

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Let’s go a bit deeper. The same word is used in 1 Corinthians 9:25 when Paul says that:

1 Corinthians 9:25 ESV

25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

1 Corinthians 9:25 NIV

25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

So this opens it up a bit. An athlete’s self-control displays itself in two ways – Power to train, and power to abstain.

So if you think of an Olympic athlete. Their self-control is in two parts. They train for hours every day. They stick at it. If they don’t train then they lose their skill and they don’t want that to happen…We looked at that in some way last Sunday morning. Training isn’t a one-off thing, it’s continuous and it’s hard work.

In fact this is key – an athlete values being the best at their sport, they value being on top of their game that they train day in day out, that they sacrifice doing other things to train.

So when all they feel like doing is vegging in front of the TV instead of training, they get themselves up and they get to the gym. THAT’s self-control.

It’s the same with with any skilled talent. Think of an artist or a musician. Like I said last week, Johnathan is as good as he is because he has put in the hard work and practice to become as good as he is.

And there have probably been times when he wanted to skip the practice, and sometimes he may even HAVE skipped the practice. But other times he just got the head down and kept at it.

Now, let’s pause to think how this relates to us. I’m going to ask a rhetorical question, and I’m glad it’s a rhetorical question, because you don’t want to know my answer….

The question is this - How much time do you spend watching TV or pursuing a hobby, or doing ANYTHING ELSE other than spend time with God? How much time do I spend doing ANYTHING other than spending time with God?

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An athlete wants to be on top of their game, so they exercise power over themselves – self-control, because they value being on top of their game more than anything else.

And friends, it’s all down to what we value. Which brings me to my next question – what do you value more?

You see, the second way self-control displays itself is in the power to abstain.

An athlete wants to be on top of their game – they value that so much that while they pick themselves up and train, they ALSO abstain from things that will cause them to lose their edge.

So you won’t often see an athlete in the Sphinx kebab shop. Athletes eat the right food and the DON’T eat the wrong food – they stay away from it.

Kate’s sister, Laura, she’s a personal trainer in London and her husband is the same. And they have some self-control. They are all about eating the right things and staying away from foods that will make them unhealthy.

There are times when they are over here, maybe at Christmas or on holiday and we’d all be over at Kate’s mum’s....and they are sitting with their carrot sticks and spinach smoothies, and there I am tucking into my Chinese.

And I don’t know HOW they do it.

Or think of weightwatchers....

Do you know that I participate in weightwatchers – I watch my weight all the time.... I watch it go up.

But those who are on a diet need self-control – they need self-control to stop eating cake and biscuits and kebabs. And the thing that spurs them on in that is what they value.

If you value losing weight more than the sweet sweet taste of a kebab then you will abstain from eating kebabs. And you abstain from eating cake and biscuits, because you value looking better.

Once again it’s back to what we value. That’s what controls us.

So Self-control is a matter of figuring out what you value more.

An athlete values being on top of their game so they have self-control to pick themselves up off the couch and train, and they have self-control to abstain from eating things that will take them off their game.

A dieter values losing weight so they have self-control to pick themselves off the couch and get to the gym, and they have self-control to abstain from eating cake and stuff that will make them put on weight.

Self-control is power to train and power to abstain.

So What do you value?

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2 Peter 1:5-8 says this…

2 Peter 1:5–8 NIV

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice self-control is in that list. And that list is a list of qualities that keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So having self-control will stop us from being ineffective in our knowledge of Jesus Christ. That’s a double negative – let me flip it around. If we lack self-control, among other qualities, we will be ineffectual in our knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Or the flip-side…if we HAVE self-control among those other things, we will be EFFECTIVE in our knowledge of Jesus…and surely knowing Jesus is the ultimate purpose in our Christian lives?

So What do you value?

Being a Christian is about living and loving as Christ lived and loved. It’s about following him, being his disciple – it’s about getting to know him. And knowing Jesus requires self-control. In fact, it requires all of the fruit of the Spirit.

Being a disciple of Jesus requires Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, kindness, gentleness and self-control.

And self-control is so important. As we said earlier, Paul says that the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit.

So take a look at the works of the flesh in verse 18. If we lack self-control we’re going to struggle in this battle with the flesh. Because a lack of self-control leads to drunkenness, a lack of self-control leads to sensuality, a lack of self-control leads to sexual immorality, fits of anger, envy, divisions.

Self-control is so important, because without it the flesh wins.

So What do you value?

Now if you are serious about being a Christian you are going to have to value what it means to be a Christian. True followers of Jesus, true disciples of Jesus value what it means to be a disciple. And that means taking time out of your day to spend time getting to know your Lord and saviour, training like an athlete trains. Taking time out to train yourself to be the best disciple you can be.

But it also means abstaining from things that will harm your relationship with Jesus – It means NOT having an affair, it means NOT watching pornography, it means NOT gossiping.

So let me ask again, what do you value? Because as Jesus said, Where your treasure is, there your heart is also. Whatever you value more is where your heart will truly be.

So if you think of someone who is having an extramarital affair…they value that affair and they love the SIN more than their relationship with God otherwise they won’t be doing it. And if they value that affair more than their relationship with God they won’t be walking in step with the Spirit and so they will lack self-control and they won’t stop it and they will be more and more ineffectual in KNOWING GOD.

So when you’re thinking of doing whatever it is you shouldn’t be doing, ask yourself, what do I value more – because if I do this, it is going to affect my knowledge of Jesus Christ. Do I really want that?

Again, what do you value? Or, to put it another way - How much do you value knowing Jesus?

As Peter says, lacking self-control means that you will be ineffective in your knowledge of Christ, and you can see why. It’s because you value other things OVER and ABOVE knowing Jesus Christ.

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For anyone who’s ever been on a diet, you’ve had that experience. You’ve had that moment, when you’ve had that epiphany – your eyes are open to the fact that you aren’t the same shape you used to be.

I have those moments all the time. I remember one time I went swimming to Bangor Leisureplex and I bent down to push Naomi down a slide and my shorts ripped all the way up the back, and I exposed myself to everyone in the pool. That was one of those moments when I realised I needed to lose weight.

So what did I do? Well, I valued my kebabs too much so I just bought a bigger size of shorts.

Perhaps this message is a wake-up call for us.

As I’ve been asking, ‘what do you value’, perhaps you’ve been thinking to yourself, ‘I should value knowing God more than I do.’

That’s good - let that wake up call shape how you respond tonight.

But with some wake-up calls, you can roll over and go back to sleep, cos you can, you know, roll over and go back to sleep.

And if it is then remember this – self-control is a fruit of the spirit, will-power isn’t. So don’t be thinking that you need to have more will-power in your life, cos that’s facing your problems on your own.

There’s a clue in the name. The fruit of the Spirit is a fruit that comes as part and parcel of walking in step with the Spirit. So that’s what we need. We need the Spiritual influence of self-control, not our own attempt at will-power.

Self-control gives you mastery, the power to train and the power to abstain.

But it highlights to us the value of KNOWING GOD over and above anything else we do. And we need to keep that front and centre of our life-mission.

We need filled with the Holy Spirit, we need to be in step with the Holy Spirit, we need the help of the Holy Spirit.

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Tonight is a prayer and ministry service. Yes, you can come forward for prayer for healing, but you that healing can come in many forms. For some it’s physical, but maybe for others it’s psychological or spiritual.

If you have any sickness that you want prayed over, come forward. If you have any worries or stresses that you want prayed over, come forward.

Or If you’re struggling with a lack of self-control and you’ve been battling it and you can’t free yourself, come forward and receive prayer. Whatever you would like prayed for, please come forward and receive prayer.

If you do struggle with self-control and you feel too ashamed to come forward for prayer, use the time that we have to bring your life and your sins and all these things that hinder you from knowing God – cos let’s face it, they are idols....bring all these things before God, and ask him to take control over them.

Ask the Holy Spirit to release their grip on us, to release their mastery over us and to give us mastery over them. Let’s ask the Lord for the fruit of the spirit. Let’s enter into this time of prayer ministry now.

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