Fruit of the Spirit - Self-Control

Galatians 5:22–23 NIV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

The story is told of a young minister who was going home late one evening from the church. He entered a crowded car, with his Bible under his arm, and at once there began some sneering remarks from some rough fellows. These remarks kept up, and when the young minister left the car, to the amusement of his companions, one youth said: "Say, mister, how far is it to heaven?" Many a Christian under the circumstances would have kept quiet or have resented the insult; but the minister, with a quiet dignity, and with all gentleness, replied: "It is only a step; will you take it now?" This reply and the influence of the young 'minister keeping his temper under provoking circumstances were later the means of bringing that young man to Christ.—Earnest Worker.

The fruit of the Spirit is....SLIDE self-control.

Today as we wrap up our series looking at the manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit, we are looking at self control. I think there are probably many of us who would admit that we could do a better job at this at times, maybe even looking for more self-control in those times.

How about you parents of small children?

How about you business managers with a lot of employees?

Or you Teachers with a classroom full of students?

Or you young people with all that peer pressure?

Someone once said “I don’t have any problem with self. It’s the control part that is bothersome.”

E.Stanley Jones was in Madras India and watched a man driving a cow and a calf from door to door and milking the cow in the presence of the housewives. Why did he have to trudge in the hot sun day after day and bother moving the cow and her calf in this way to sell and deliver his milk? Simple reason…he could not be trusted by the housewives. He had watered down the milk in the past and his dishonesty doomed him to this drudgery of milking the cow in their presence.

Self Control is a part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. If anyone is growing in the Lord, or as the Bible puts it, “growing in Grace and in the knowledge of the Lord”, they are growing in self control. If there is little self control evident in the life of any professing believer in Jesus, than there is little of the Holy Spirit’s power in that person’s life.

As we think about self-control, let’s take a look at the account of a man who struggled with self-control and saw things end up spiraling out of control. His name is Sampson.

Sampson was born during a time when the Jews had no king and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Without a king to hold them accountable, they needed their own strong moral sense, in other words, character so they would hold THEMSELVES accountable. But that didn’t happen. There was a lot of freedom and no responsibility. So God allowed that nation to be ruled by the cruel Philistines for 40 years. After that period of discipline, God had a plan to rescue his people.

God sent an angel to a childless couple to tell them that they would have a baby the following year and this baby would be special, and must be treated in certain ways. For example, he was to consume no strong drink and no fancy or harmful foods. He must be totally dedicated to God so no razor on his head and the result would be, Sampson who have amazing physical strength and would become a national deliverer, as an invincible warrior.

After Samson grows up, we find him traveling and he sees a beautiful woman who was a Philistine. Sampson knew that God had forbidden the Jews from marrying foreigners so their hearts would not be lured away from devotion to the one true God. His parents plead with him to not do it. But Sampson says: "She’s the one I want, go get her for me."

In other words, I want what I want and I want it now! No waiting, no control of my sexual desire or my desire for marriage. Instant gratification because I have a craving I cannot - I will not deny it.

When the Bible talks about self-control it uses a word that means to "rule the appetites of your body." The great irony in Sampson’s life is that the very body that God wanted Sampson to harness and use to deliver his people, eventually was too strong for Sampson himself and became the death of him.

He went ahead and married that Philistine woman and at the wedding reception he presented all the Philistine wedding guests with a riddle and a bet. If they could guess the riddle, he would pay 30 garments, if they couldn’t - they would pay Sampson 30 garments. At first no one could guess the riddle, so someone blackmailed Sampson’s new wife to get it out of him.

Now Sampson hadn’t told anyone the riddle - not his bride to be or his mother or father. Probably because he didn’t trust his new Philistine in-laws - they didn’t fear God and they didn’t have rules like the Jews did about telling the truth and keeping promises and against bribery.

So he tried to keep it from her. But she manipulated and cajoled, and through tears and fits and nagging, finally she coxed Sampson to give up his secret.

Friends, I want you to observe Sampson’s downward spiral, that all stems from a lack of self control. He couldn’t control his sexual desire and was marrying a woman he shouldn’t marry, and now he couldn’t control his tongue and keep a secret.

So he told his wife and she told the others and Sampson lost the bet. He then kills thirty men to use their clothes to pay the bet. Later on at the wheat harvest he takes 300 pair of foxes, tying them in pairs tail to tail and fastened torches before setting them free in the fields to destroy the grain and the vineyards and the olive groves. All because his wife’s father wouldn’t let him see her after he gave her away to another man. You see any self control there? They in turn kill his bride and her family and start a war with the Jews to get Sampson. But Sampson overpowers a whole company of Philistine soldiers because of his amazing strength.

See, his physical ability bails him out, but does he learn any self-control? No. He continues his downward spiral: next we see him hooking up 20 years later with a prostitute in the land of the Philistines. His body is still not under his control, it rules him. And it would have killed him, but again he escapes ambush because his great strength.

Next we see him fall in love with another Philistine woman, Delilah. Again his sexual passions overcome his better judgement, this is not good marrying material. She’s an easy target for blackmail. And Sampson again without any verbal self control, tells her the secret of his strength, his long uncut hair.

With that… Delilah betrays him for money as she cuts his hair in his sleep, and he’s made a slave to the Philistines who pluck out his eyes and make sport of him in their temple.

Friend, this is how a lack of self control works… you let your passions and appetites rule in a little area, and then you cannot take back that control in another area where the cost is greater. Until you can’t say no to something, you’re helpless and led around by your appetites which have you by the nose ring.

A modern example of Sampson are some professional athletes. They’ve been gifted with such amazing skills, they can subdue any foe with these strong, coordinated bodies. But some never learn to harness that power through self-control - look at them belittle their opponents, show them up. We see and hear often about how many of these athletes cannot control themselves. It shows up in either physical disturbances or abuse, drugs, or other harmful activities. I could easily list several athletes and situations and I’m sure that some have come to your mind.

Like Sampson, these folks are so used to their strength bailing them out: their money buys friends and acquittals. But like Sampson, there comes a day when their strength fails them, and the check comes due.

The Bible says:

James 1:26 NIV

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.

Some people think it’s a sign of strength to let their sexual passion or their tongue run wild. You’re a person to be reckoned with. The Bible says the exact opposite:

Proverbs 29:11 NIV

Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end.

Proverbs 5:8–9 NIV

Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house, lest you lose your honor to others and your dignity to one who is cruel,

HER REFERS TO WICKEDNESS

Friends, is your body under your control? Or is your body in control of you? Are your passions under your control? Or are they in control of you? Is your tongue under your control, or is it in control of you?

Self control is like a double edged sword. It accomplishes two major things in us. ‘

It stops us from doing wrong things.

It keeps us going in doing right things.

Let’s look at some scenarios and questions concerning the presence of self control in your life. I want us each to consider how well we do with self-control.

How are you as a finisher of responsible actions? When it is your turn to do the dishes for instance, and you look over at the overflowing countertop, do you go to it and complete the task in a reliable manner, or are you more likely to end up being a slothful couch potato for the evening, or to go do something fun, and simply fail to do your fair part?

When the pornographic pop up ad entices you on your computer, do you delete it every time, or do you tend to get drawn away by the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh?

Are you careful to not say negative things about people with whom you are upset, to third parties who are not involved in the situation?

When it is getting late, and you know that you need to be at your best at school or work early the next morning, do you shut off the TV, or put away the hobby and get the sleep God designed you to need, in order to be sharp.

When you need to finish your homework and also study for the quiz that’s coming at school tomorrow, do you shut of the video game and just do it, even though its no fun?

Are you aware that just showing up at work or school, but not being able to give it your best, because the late night already got your best, is a lack of faithfulness in carrying out your responsibilities, and true faithfulness is impossible to maintain without self control?

When you need to deal with some negative situation, but you know that to do so could and probably will be unpleasant, do you do the hard thing and deal with it, redemptively, and in a timely way?

When you walk into the mall, and you have a pocket full of credit cards, what is likely to happen?

There could be hundreds of scenarios I could have used this morning, and some of them are more drastic than these, but all self control questions are important.

If we are living in the Spirit, the Spirit will guide us and will help us to know how we should proceed. However, we still need to make the choice to listen to the Spirit’s guidance. My challenge for you this morning is to spend some quiet time with God this week and ask him to point out how well you are doing with self-control and following the leading of the Spirit each day. Are there particular items or issues that you struggle to control yourselves? Allow God to point those out to us and choose to make a change to practice better self-control in your life. You won’t be disappointed that you did, as we saw today that it can spiral downhill quickly if we are not careful.

Things to Keep in Mind

The Value of— A clock is in its reputation for accuracy. A wrench is in its ability to adjust a problem. A car is in its ability to perform well on the upgrade. A stamp is in its ability to stick to the end of the journey. A pair of scissors is in its ability to cooperate. A tack is in its head that will not let it go too far. A man is in his ability to combine all these virtues.—Courtesy Moody Monthly.