Our Enemy Within

Shut the Door to 24, Come alive in 25

As we are now beginning a new year we tend to reflect on our self. Set goals, make better choices, change habits, schedule better, use our time wiser. We call those things new years resolutions and those things are good to do but when it comes down to it, intentions are good but these things require commitment and a commitment requires a plan.

Let’s be honest, we struggle with commitment because commitment requires accountability and discipline and discipline requires self control. We need to be honest about our own limitations.

Nobody likes to highlight our own limitations but the best thing we can do is embrace them and accept them. One of our greatest limitations is our lack self control.

What is self control?

One defined it as “self-discipline is choosing to do what is right when you feel like doing what is wrong,” but that definition is not always accurate. Sometimes self-control is a matter of choosing between two things that are right, but choosing the one that is more right or better.

Self-discipline or self-control could also be described as knowing you can do something, but you won’t do it if it is wrong or harmful.

On the other hand, self-control may mean to do the costly action that you’d rather avoid.

I like this definition of self-control,

“Lining up your ‘want to’ with your ‘should do’ and then doing it.”

Stanford University psychologist Walter Mischel conducted a series of studies on deferred gratification in 1972 now known as “the marshmallow test.”

It was performed on children ages four to six. A single marshmallow was offered to each child, but the child was promised two marshmallows instead of one if they could resist eating the first marshmallow right away.

Researchers wanted to know how long children could resist the temptation. Some kids grabbed the marshmallow the moment the researchers walked out of the room. But others, doing their best to resist, employed a variety of tactics to bolster their resistance. They sang songs, played games, covered their eyes, looked away, or talked to themselves. Some put their heads on a desk and tried to go to sleep.

The Marshmallow test: Video

The objective was to see if the ability to maintain self-control and to defer instant gratification would translate into long-term academic achievement.

Sixteen children participated, and their academic record was tracked all the way through their high school graduation. Amazingly, researchers found a tremendous difference between the “one marshmallow now” and “two marshmallows later” kids.

Kids who exercised the greatest self-control were more academically accomplished. They scored on average 210 points higher on the SAT and, equally incredibly, the “marshmallow test” proved to be twice as powerful as the child’s IQ as an indicator of academic success.

The more self-controlled kids were also more socially competent. They took more initiative, were better at problem solving, and handled pressure more effectively.

A follow-up study conducted when these children were in their early forties discovered that the “two marshmallows later” children had higher incomes, stronger marriages, and happier careers.

Delayed gratification is a by product of self control and having self control contributes to success in so many other important areas of your life.

The apostle Paul was big on self control.

He went on 3 mission trips that lasted over 10 years. Paul travelled over 10,000 miles, visited more then 50 cities and even preached the gospel to the emperor of the Roman Empire.

Paul shifted the focus of Christianity from a Jewish emphasis to a Gentile emphasis religion. Because of Paul, Christianity became a worldwide faith dominating the Western world.

This all happened because Paul was big on self control. He reminds us why self control is so important and he instructs us on how to achieve it.

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 ESV

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

PRAY

Paul had an appreciation and maybe even a love for sports. He used sports to illustrate how we are to live out the Christian life in terms of running the race.

If we want to win the race we must learn to cage the lion with in. We must deny self so that Jesus can have our very best. We must “Line up our ‘want to’ with our ‘should do’ and then do it.”

So how do we do that?

We must have a real desire to win.

When Paul talked about living the Christian life, he tells us that if we are going to win this race as we follow Jesus to the end, it will all begin and end with self-control.

1 Corinthians 9:24 ESV

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.

Ever since the time of Alexander the Great, athletics had dominated Greek society. They were a sports-crazy culture.

The most important athletic events were the Olympic Games, which were held every fourth year in Athens, and the Isthmian Games, which were held every other year in Corinth.

These events had something for everybody: running, jumping, spear throwing, boxing, wrestling, and chariot racing.

Everyone was eligible. Everyone could enter and anybody who wanted to compete could compete, but only one could win. So, Paul says rightly, “If you are going to be in it, be in it to win it.”

There was great motivation to win.

Your name and your hometown would be announced to the crowds as you were awarded first place.

You would be given a triumphant parade in your hometown.

You would receive a financial gift of five hundred drachmas.

You would be given the right to sit at a place of honor for all succeeding games for the rest of your life.

Your children would receive a free education for life.

You would be exempt from military duty for the rest of your life, and you would never have to pay taxes again. Everybody wanted to win.

If we want every day of our life to count for God then we must start with a real desire to win. We must have a real desire to live a life that pleases God and blesses others.

The first step to winning is wanting.

When two individuals or teams are competing for a championship, it is the one that wants it the most that usually wins.

If you really want to come to church, you will.

If you really want to read your Bible, you will.

If you really want to spend time with God, you will.

If you really want to be faithful in your finances, you will.

If you really want to worship, and serve, and be sent and grow as a disciple, you will.

In order to tame the lion you must have a real desire to win.

We Must Exercise Rigorous Discipline to Win

Winning doesn’t come automatically; it’s more then just showing up.

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.

The Greek word used for exercising self-control gives us the word agonize.

Athletes in Paul’s day trained hard just to be able to compete.

In order to enter the games, you had to give proof that you had been training ten months full-time.

Then, for thirty days before the event, you trained together daily in public view.

Saying you wanted to compete was not the same as proving it.

Most people don’t want to put the work into winning. This is where most people fail in going as high as they could go.

Discipline is kind of like eating vegetables. You don’t want to do it, but you know you really need to. Parents, we don’t like to discipline our kids and we don’t like to discipline ourselves.

Discipline is what we need most in our life but we want the least.

Discipline is the difference between ability and achievement, between potential and the prize.

I’ve never met anyone who was successful in life that always did only what they wanted to do.

It takes discipline to do that extra rep when you are lifting weights.

At 211 degrees, water is just hot; at 212 degrees, it boils. With boiling water comes steam and with steam you can power a locomotive.

It takes discipline to exercise that one-degree difference.

You may not love discipline, but you are going to have to live discipline if you are going to win your race and live the life that glorifies God and blesses others.

We all know who Michael Phelps is… he is the greatest swimmer who has ever lived. He is the most successful and decorated Olympian of all time with a total of twenty-eight medals. He won the most medals of any athlete in four Olympics in a row. What’s the key? Discipline and self-control.

Phelps would swim eighty thousand meters every week, which is nearly fifty miles.

He practiced twice a day. He trained five to six hours a day, six days a week.

He used gear from kickboards, pull buoys, training paddles, and snorkels to make his swimming even more difficult.

To have the energy to do that, he had to eat twelve thousand calories a day.

He paid a price to go for the gold.

But what’s amazing is that the “Gold” medal is only about 1.34 percent gold. It is made up of mostly silver and copper. In time, those gold medals will tarnish and fade.

In the ancient Olympic Games, the winner would receive either a crown made out of olive branches. But as soon as you received it, it would have already started to wither. Crowns are fleeting and titles are temporary.

Paul says we are running a race for a crown that will last forever. To win the only prize that truly matters takes rigorous discipline.

We must Go in the Right Direction to Win

If you are running in the wrong direction, it doesn’t matter how hard you run, how fast you run, or how far you run. Paul says,

1 Corinthians 9:26 ESV

26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.

You won’t win a race by running in circles or running where you think you ought to run.

You don’t win a boxing match by just throwing up punches in the air, swinging wildly and hoping something connects.

No, you have got to be focused on the finish line and focused on the fight. If your aim is not right, you will hit the wrong target every time.

Too many people are just shadowboxing. Most people are not serious about life because we cannot be not serious about life until we are serious about God.

If we are not headed toward God—the will of God, the work of God, the worship of God—we are headed in the wrong direction. We are just running around in circles.

The finish line is not temporary but it’s eternal.

The finish line is not making the most money, having the most stuff, climbing the highest corporate ladder, being the most popular or famous.

The finish line is God’s glory and winning souls for Jesus.

If Jesus Christ is the real deal, a life lived apart from Jesus Christ as Lord is a wasted life.

A life lived for the gold of this world and not the glory of God is a wasted life.

A life that is lived for the fame and fortune of this world and not for the favor of God is a wasted life.

I don’t want to run the race of life only to realize that I was running in the wrong direction. If you are living life the way it was meant to be lived, every day drawing closer to Jesus.

You need to focus on the finish, and the finish is not a place; the finish is a person named Jesus.

To win the race, you’ve got to go in the right direction.

We Must Maintain a Relentless Determination to Win

In order to run the best race that you can, to fight the best fight that you can, you have to be in the best shape that you can be in. Paul concludes with this striking picture:

1 Corinthians 9:27 ESV

27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Either self will control you or you will control self.

Many people want to be in shape but aren’t determined enough to exercise.

Lots of people wish to be financially stable but aren’t determined enough to stick to a budget.

Many people want to lose weight but aren’t determined enough to watch what they eat.

We want the prize of success, but we are not determined enough to pay the price of success.

Every day we must determine how we run our race.

We can never let our guard down.

We can never take our eye off the finish line.

We can never slack off or take shortcuts.

The only runner that wins is the one who crosses the finish line. We need to remember our race is not over, and our fight is not finished, until we draw our last breath.

It is how we finish, not how we start, that counts.

My biggest goal in life today, and until the day I die, is to finish well.

I don’t want to run my race only to be disqualified at the end.

In Greek culture, nothing was more shameful for a community or a town than the disqualification of one of its athletes.

What Paul was talking about here was being disqualified from being the representative of Jesus and the messenger of the gospel that we are all called to be.

Paul was talking about losing the tremendous privilege of being a positive example for Jesus, being a credible messenger of the gospel and being used of God as greatly as HE wants to use you.

It is the little things that will keep us in the race, will keep us going in the right direction and making the right decisions.

It takes discipline and determination. It takes discipline and determination to get into God’s word… to be in a small group… to make worship with God’s people a regular habit.

It takes discipline and determination to be sent to share the gospel with people here and around the world.

If you are an unbeliever, if you are not a follower of Jesus, you aren’t even in the race.

In order to run in the Olympics or the Isthmian Games you had to be a Greek citizen. You have to be a part of the family of God to be in the real race of life. If you are not a follower of Jesus, you can’t possibly win because you are not running in the race.

The good news is that the moment you give your life to Jesus Christ, you are in the race; you are qualified to run.

This is one race where everybody can win. We are not competing with each other; we are competing against ourselves.

You run your own race. It will be up to your desire, your discipline, your direction, and your determination whether you win or are disqualified.

The good news is we can win.

The Bible is full of examples of ordinary people just like you and me who won their race—Joseph, Moses, Paul, Peter, James, John, Daniel.

They were all people just like us, people who ran their race and won. By God’s grace and power, so can also win.

So how do we constantly win that victory? How do we triumph over the greatest enemy we all face—ourselves? I suggest three steps.

TAKE AWAY

We must expect our self-control to be tested.

We must expose our weaknesses.

We must exercise the discipline muscle.