Fruit of the Spirit: Self-Control

Intro - Me/We

Good morning, Church Family. We’re wrapping up our sermon on the Fruit of the Spirit this morning, so I’m going to read these verses from Galatians 5:22-26 one more time for us, and I’m going to read to the end of the chapter this time.

Galatians 5:22–26 NIV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

This is the word of the Lord.

To end this series, we’re going to look at self-control this morning. Something I think is very timely in our world right now. And when I think of self-control, I think of appetites. We all have appetites.

Now, all of us have appetites. We have an

appetite for food - many of us wouldnt eat if we didn’t have an appetite

appetite for progress - we go to school, earn degrees, etc. so that we can progress in life

appetite for love - all of us want to be loved

appetite for acceptance - we want to be around people in be in places that accept us, and sometimes this appetite drives us to do things we normally wouldnt do.

appetite for winning

appetite for recognition - we want people to know what we’ve done and how well we’ve done it

appetite for envy - to an extent, we want people to look at us and be jealous of us, of what we have or what we do

appetite for things or stuff - this why every couple of years we get new phones, new laptops, new game consoles.

We all have appetites. And appetites don’t go away. You can’t think them away, pray them away, they’re here to stay. So, a few things we need to know about appetites.

God created them, and sin distorted them. God created Adam, saw that he should have a partner, and so created Eve, and created companionship. That’s an appetite, a good appetite, to be loved by someone and to love someone. It’s a good thing. God created the appetite for progress. God loves progress. Read the OT and you see God progressing his people forward. God gave us appetites, but sin distorted them. Appetites aren’t bad, they’re just broken by sin.

Appetites are never fully and finally satisfied. You know this. If you’ve ever been to Shabu Shabu in Allston, you get your meat, and then you get your vegetables, and you eat, and you eat more, and you go back and get more vegetables maybe you order more meat, and you eat until you can’t eat any more, but what do most of us do before we leave? I’m usually ready to pop by the end of my meal, but most of us, me included, go and get the green tea ice cream, right? eat two or three of those, go home, and the next morning, we’re hungry again. And the same is true of progress, creativity, acceptance, recognition, they’re appetites that are never fully and finally satisfied. And the lie that we’ll be tempted to believe for the rest of our lives is that there’s somebody or something out there that will fully and finally satisfy us. But, we need to know that appetites are never fully and finally satisfied.

Third thing. Appetites say now, not later. Appetites always say trade the ultimate for the immediate. You can’t pray them away, worship them away, study them away. God gave them to us, sin broke them, and if we don’t control them they will control us.

God

So this morning, I want us to look a little bit at the life of Peter. And Peter had an appetite. So, if you have your bibles with you, go ahead and turn to Mark 8. Daniel read verses 31-38, but I’m going to back up a few verses so we can get the full picture of what’s going on. So looking at verse 27: And Jesus went on with his disciples to villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say I am?” At this point in Mark’s story, crowds and crowds of people have been following Jesus and listening to his teachings, taking people to get healed by him, and so Jesus is pretty popular. And so, he wants to know what people are saying about him. So the disciples respond “some say John the Baptist - At this point, JTB is dead, so some thought maybe he was reincarnated as Jesus. others say, Elijah; and others one of the prophets.” And then has asks them “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter jumps up, confident that he’s figured out who Jesus is, and he says “You are the Messiah.” Now, Messiah is a jewish term, but the greek term is Christ, and they basically mean “anointed one.” And for hundreds of years, the Jewish people were waiting for God’s anointed one to come and rescue them. They were waiting for a King. And Peter says, You’re the Messiah, You’re the Christ, You’re the anointed one, Jesus, you’re the King. And then Jesus says something that’s so strange - He warned them not to tell anyone about him.

So, Peter and the disciples now know who Jesus is, they’re excited, they’re in his inner-circle, Peter’s pumped up that he’s in with the King. And immediately, Jesus tells them everything that’s about to happen.

Mark 8:31–32 NIV

31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

Peter’s furious, Peter’s angry, He’s offended. The King can’t die? How is the King going to free us, how is the king going to fight against evil and suffering if he dies? And the way that Jesus says these things indicates that it’s not just goin to happen, but that he’s going to willingly die. It has to happen. And so Peter, full of rage and anger frustration, confusion, emotion, lashes out and “rebukes” Jesus. Rebuke is the verb Jesus would use when he cast out demons. Peter is condemning Jesus in the strongest possible language.

Why? What we need to understand about Peter and about the Jewish community is that their homeland was occupied by the Roman Empire. In 63 BCE, Rome beseiged Jerusalem, and in the decades leading up to Jesus’ life, thousands and thousand of Jews were tortured, murdered, many by crucifixion, put into prison, sold into slavery, and if you survived all of that, you were heavily taxed and heavily oppressed by the state. And so Peter grew up in this environment, and Peter from the time he was old enough to listen heard stories about a Messiah, about a King, about a savior figure who would come and would overthrow all of this. This King would overthrow the systems of power and oppression that had affected Peter’s entire life, and this savior would bring a new kingdom. So, Peter had an appetite to see this happen and to be a part of the revolution, and Peter probably had an appetite for power himself. No longer would he be oppressed, but now he would be on top with the king. He wanted this, he needed this, he needed it right now. And hear me, this was a good appetite. It was good to want this system to end. It was good to want it to fall down, it was good to want Jesus to be the new King who would free them from all of this. But Jesus wasn’t going to do it their way. He wasn’t going to do it Peter’s way. He wasn’t going to take control and take power and overthrow things that way that humans have done it for thousands and thousands of years. And so Peter, in a lack of self control, blinded by his appetite to see things change and be a part of things changing, rebukes Jesus. And Jesus turns around, looks at his disciples, and the text says “He rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Strong words. A strong exchange between the Savior of the world and one of his closest followers.

And remember, that rebuke word, Jesus said when he cast out demons. And when he says this to Peter, he is casting out the demonic idea that equates Jesus with earthly power. The idea that things can only change when one earthly power is stronger than another earthly power. It goes against the human story of the strong oppressing the weak, and the weak rising up, taking control and then becoming the oppressors themselves. It goes back and forth throughout human history and Jesus is saying, “No, we’re done with this. Oppression, injustice is going to end, but it’s not going to end that way. Because when it ends that way, it reinvents itself and starts over again. And Peter, it’s great, it’s good you want to see all of this end, it’s good that you want restoration and justice and freedom, but your appetite for those things and your lack of self-control is making you miss the only way this can really happen. And for this to happen, Peter, I have to die. But there’s more. Jesus is about to tell Peter and everyone else: You have to die too.

When I think about self-control in my personal life, but in the context of the world we find ourselves in right now, When I see the evil and suffering and oppression taking place daily, I get angry. WHen I see the refusal of people, but primarily Christians, Jesus followers, when I see their refusal to acknowledge what I believe are demonic forces of racism and oppression at work, I get angry. And anger isn’t necessarily bad. it can fuel good actions. But my anger, isn’t under self-control. And my natural tendency if I were to be face to face with someone perpetuating this system or refusing to acknowledge it, my natural reaction would be to react physically or violently. When I see the news, and I see cities burning, I understand why, and my natural reaction is “Let it burn.” Let’s just burn it all down. In my brokenness, I’m with Peter, I’m with the riots. Now, as a white privileged male, I’ve never experienced anything that would push me to the end of myself to where my last resort is violence. But, I’m empathetic enough to understand where it comes from. But as a Jesus Follower, I know that’s not going to work. And as Jesus Followers, called to fight against the evils and principalities and demonic forces that are in this world, we can’t fight how the world fights, we have to exercise self-control. We can and should have an appetite for justice, but we have to exercise self-control in this fight against systemic injustices.

Back to the story: Jesus calls the crowd and the disciples over, and he says: Whoever wants to be my disciple, whoever wants to really follow me, whoever wants to really belong to me and take part in the new kingdom that I’m bringing, must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.” Everyone who heard this knew exactly what Jesus was talking about. We have this romanticized view of the cross, but we’ve never seen it or heard it, or smelled it. They would walk by crosses everyday with people hanging on them. They knew people who had died by the cross. Jesus couldn’t get anymore graphic than he is here. Then he says:

Mark 8:35 NIV

35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.

And I think Peter is turning this over in his head, and he’s thinking “I’ve been in this for me. I’ve been following Jesus thinking that as one of his closest followers, I’m going to have this place of power and authority, I’m going to help lead a rebellion against the Roman Empire. I want to save my life, my family’s life, my peoples life, but whoever wants to save their life will lose it. hmmm, that’s right, no matter what, at some point I will die. But if I lose my life for Jesus and for the Gospel, if I lose my life by following Jesus in what he’s doing and the way he’s doing it, I’ll save it.” I have to die to some things that I was going to lose anyway, and follow Jesus. I have some appetites that I can’t control, and the only way to get those under control is to die, and I die my making the choice to follow Jesus instead of following and being controlled by my appetite.

And as Peter learns later in his life, and as the disciples learn later, and as Paul writes about in his letters, Jesus wasn’t bringing an earthly kingdom that fought other earthly kingdoms, Jesus brought a Kingdom that fights against the spiritual powers and principalities that lead humanity to put systems in place that are oppressive and unjust. And the thing that Jesus followers have to do to have self control is die to our way of doing things, seeing things, and thinking things.

Some of us might need to die to apathy. Because we all have an appetite for comfort, and comfort is good. But when things make us uncomfortable, that appetite will lead us sometimes to see what’s going on, and either ignore it, or distance ourselves from it so that we can stay comfortable. And even if we’ve died to ourselves and are following Jesus, that appetite can still creep up and control us. Self-control, which is ours in the Spirit, allows us to recognize that appetite for comfort and bring it under control, so that we can press forward.

Some of us, especially right now, have a strong appetite for Justice. Again, this is a good thing. But we all have our own ideas and ways that we want to see justice done in our society. Like I said earlier, i want to fight it physically or violently. But as Jesus followers, we can’t fight it that way. This good appetite, uncontrolled, can lead us to do things that end up causing more injustice. This means that when we come up against people or groups of people who refuse to see systemic injustices, or who themselves perpetuate systemic injustices, we have to exercise self-control, which again is ours in the spirit, and which allows you and me to see the person or persons, and then allows us to see beyond the individuals and see the demonic powers and forces of evil that are at work in people and in systems of oppression. That’s ultimately what we’re fighting against. And without dying to our selves, and without exercising self-control we’ll end up fighting people and groups of people rather than the spiritual forces that lead people to think and act the way they do.

Our calling as Followers of Jesus is to fight this battle, and all battles, in the Spirit of God. And so, we walk in love, we walk in joy, we walk in peace, we walk in patience, we walk in kindness, we walk in goodness, we walk in faithfulness, we walk in gentleness, and we walk in self-control, everywhere we go, in every conversation and in every interaction with each other and with the world around us. This is our fruit. This is what we have, this is what the Spirit of God is doing in us, so let’s walk in it, let’s live it out in our daily lives.