Trust the Process - Part 2

2 Peter 1:5–6 (NKJV)

5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance...

Please take a look at the chart of the back of your notes. (for those that noticed, the spelling error has been corrected)

We have been following this process - called Progressive Sanctification - which is the continual change process by which we grow from being immature believers to living as mature believers.

Last week, we covered the Foundation, that first section on the left.

The Foundation includes Faith, Virtue, and Knowledge (please see the recorded video from last week if you missed that as it sets the stage for today’s lesson)

Today, we will study that middle section, labeled “Hard Work”.

This is where things get more difficult, especially for those Christians who are serious about their spiritual growth.

The two qualities we are talking about are “Self-Control” and “Perseverance”…we will define those words and talk about how to implement them into our lives.

1. Self-Control (2 Peter 1:6a)

2 Peter 1:6 (NKJV)

6 (add) to knowledge self-control...

Self-control, or temperance, is:

Self-control is an inner disposition or virtue that enables a Christian to restrain “the flesh” in order to concentrate on higher goals.

Here is a question to ponder: Who is supposed to be in charge of our lives? (God)

So why is this called “SELF-control”?…does God actually expect US to be in control of our lives?…let’s see what the Bible actually says:

Psalm 39:1 (NKJV)

1 I said, “I will guard my ways, Lest I sin with my tongue; I will restrain my mouth with a muzzle, While the wicked are before me.”

Notice that the psalmist is declaring his intention to guard and restrain his words.

James speaks to this same issue of the tongue:

James 1:19 NKJV

19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;

So the tongue and the emotions are to be kept in check…but wait, there’s more!

James 3:2 NKJV

2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

The tongue is, according to James, the most difficult of our members to control…yet we are called to do it.

Proverbs 16:32 (NKJV)

32 He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

So the Bible’s book on wisdom is saying that a person must learn to RULE their own spirit…are they in charge?…or is God?

The very best understanding of Self-Control is found in Gal. 5:22-23

Galatians 5:22–23 (NKJV)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

It is best to understand self-control as a fruit of the Spirit.

This is NOT the fruit of a person…not even of a believer…but it comes from the Holy Spirit.

So, for the mature Christian, self-control is more about how we give control over to the Holy Spirit than how much we actually control ourselves…it is a passive choice to hand the controls over to the Spirit, and submit to His authority in our lives.

There is a grave danger that we as believers can lean towards - we can associate the Holy Spirit too closely with our own spirit…what I mean by that is since the Spirit is dwelling inside us, we can assume that He is just along for the ride…when in truth, He is our ultimate authority, and we should be submitting to Him alone.

And so self control is really Spirit control!

Self-control = Spirit-control

We are choosing to turn over the authority from us to Him…and the more we choose to do that, the more mature we become…the farther along on our journey of Progressive Sanctification we travel.

But this is NOT EASY - it is hard work to constantly stay aware of the Spirit’s presence…to set our pride aside and hand over the controls to our internal authority instead of our internal flesh.

One more verse to help us grasp this:

Ephesians 5:18 NKJV

18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

We are to be “drunk” on the Spirit…completely under the influence of His direction and guidance (how often do we ask for guidance, but then ignore it?)

We could also say that self-control is really appealing to a higher authority…our flesh says, “Do it!”…but we say, “No can do…my authority is watching me and I want to obey Him and please Him; so I won’t be doing that!”

One of the best examples of this kind of self-control is the found in the account of Joseph, Jacob’s son, and his encounter with Potiphar’s wife:

[READ Gen. 39:7-12]

Notice the higher Authority that Joseph appealed to:

The New King James Version (Chapter 39)

“How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (v.9)

Since the Holy Spirit is our ultimate Authority, we must submit to Him, and when we do, the fruit of Self-Control will grow and flourish in our lives.

And just like our faith gives us courage for virtue, and our virtue leads to knowledge, our knowledge helps us have self (or Spirit) control!

2. Perseverance (2 Peter 1:6b)

2 Peter 1:6 (NKJV)

6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance...

Part 2 of the “Hard Work” section is the discipline of Perseverance.

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. ὑπομονή

the capacity to hold out or bear up in the face of difficulty

Much like self-control, perseverance is indeed hard work!

This word is found 32 times in the New Testament, and is translated “patience” the majority of those times. (also perseverance and endurance)

This is such an important part of our sanctification process

I would like to pause and reflect on that word: “Process”

As we look at the goal of Christ-likeness, love..the “Payoff”, we can become discouraged by all the failure we experience.

This sense of failure, or neediness, is the theme of the majority of the psalms!

Psalm 28:1 NKJV

1 To You I will cry, O Lord my Rock: Do not be silent to me, Lest, if You are silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit.

Lord, unless You answer me, I’m going to die!

“If sanctification means becoming like Christ, then the way we struggle is as much a part of our sanctification as some idealized image of what we hope that we would become.”

Often when we think of perseverance we picture ourselves just gritting our teeth, white-knuckled grip, head down, nose to the grindstone, and just.keep.going!

And perseverance certainly contains those things…but perseverance is so much more.

The journey is just as important as the destination!

We need to learn to live in the moment…to embrace the process…the long, agonizingly slow process that God is leading us through.

The progressive sanctification process is a SLOW process!

This is why we need perseverance, especially at this point in the process.

I like to refer to this part of the process as “God’s Waiting Room”

Many of you have spent considerable time in waiting rooms…such an interesting name for a room…a “Waiting Room”…and we aren’t always very patient patients!

In the Progressive Sanctification process, we are waiting for God to do something…to grow us and change us…we are waiting for transformation!

But it rarely happens as quickly as we would like…we see more of our failures than our victories…and we struggle!

We need to be honest with ourselves about this struggle - to admit our neediness - to choose to live in the moment!

“...there are particular kinds of growth and strength that may be happening in our lives that we don’t even see.”

God is always at work in our lives…always.

Remember Philippians 1:6

Philippians 1:6 NKJV

6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

This is where we need to rely on our self-control, which relies on knowledge, which relies on virtue, which relies on faith!..

While we are in the waiting room, we need to look back at what God has already taught us…where He has brought us so far.

Perseverance is also tied directly to love.

Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 13 to understand this…look and listen for all the words that relate to perseverance:

[Read 1 Cor. 13:1-8a]

1 Corinthians 13:7–8a (NKJV)

7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails....

So far we have focused on personal perseverance, but sometimes we need perseverance in order to love other people.

God uses other people to help us along on our sanctification journey.

Proverbs 27:17 NKJV

17 As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.

When metal comes up against other metal, the process is not a “gentle” one!

There is a great deal of friction, which produces heat, which can cause sparks to fly…sound like any people in your life?

When any blade is sharpened, material from the blade gets removed to create and hone the cutting edge.

But if, in an effort to find relief from the sparks and the heat, the axe head is removed from the sharpening stone, it will not be useful for the purpose for which it was designed. (remember we talked about virtue and the Greek understanding that it meant that something had fulfilled its purpose?)

“Clinging to Jesus with all our might and continuing to hang on as long as it takes to be victorious.” 1 Cor. 15:58

1 Corinthians 15:58 NKJV

58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.