The Fruit Of The Spirit
Part 9 – Self-Control
Galatians 5:22-23: “The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
The fruit or outcome of “keeping in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25) is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
You don’t force fruit. It grows as a reflection of our relationship with God. Outcomes tell the story John 15:1-16.
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
Fruit #9: Self-Control
In the New Testament, “self-control” or “self-regulation” is the word “enkrateia”, which derives its meaning from the word “krat” (power or lordship). So then, enkrateia is about “having power over the self, or self-mastery”. It is mastering, controlling, or restraining: as in controlling oneself, or being temperate.
Self-Control Defined: Wisdom to master your desires and passions, especially sensual appetites, in order to maintain your freedom.
Self-Control is not about discipline, but freedom. It is about PAYING now so you can PLAY later. It is better to pay NOW rather than paying LATER. But if you PLAY NOW, you WILL PAY LATER.
Self-Control In God’s Word:
1. Proverbs 16:32 “Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city.”
2. Proverbs 25:28 “A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls.”
3. Proverbs 5:23 “He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great foolishness.”
4. 1 Timothy 3:2,11 “So an elder must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife. He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach…In the same way, their wives must be respected and must not slander others. They must exercise self-control and be faithful in everything they do.”
5. 2 Timothy 3:3 “They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good.”
6. Titus 2:2 “Teach the older men to exercise self-control, to be worthy of respect, and to live wisely. They must have sound faith and be filled with love and patience.”
7. 1 Peter 1:13 “So think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.”
8. 2 Peter 1:5-9 “…giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be productive and useful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness…”
9. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 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. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
Self-Control is not abstract, but it changes how you behave. Greek philosophers celebrated Self-Control because it was about wisdom and maintaining freedom. They taught that what you do not master will master you…
Living Your Full Potential…
As believers, we need Self-Control and Healthy Habits. In Andrew Murray’s book “The Inner Life”, he says that “In academic study or in athletics, every student needs determined purpose to succeed. Christianity requires, and indeed deserves, not less but more intense devotion”.
But when it comes to growing Self-Control, we battle our flesh. And to win the battle with our flesh, we need Self-Control. We see this in the Garden of Gethsemane Matthew 26:36-46. Jesus asked His disciples to keep watch with Him. The expression, “watch”, meant staying alert spiritually and in prayer Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:37,38; Mark 13:33; Colossians 4:2. Jesus told His disciples that this was an hour of need, so they needed to pray and keep spiritually alert. Their flesh stopped them: “…the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Self-Control allows our dreams to come true Proverbs 13:4:
“The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.” NKJV
“The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.” NIV
“Lazy people want much but get little. But those who work hard will prosper and be satisfied.” NLT
People with Self-Control dream and deliver. People without Self-Control dream but are denied. Those with Self-Control live their full potential Proverbs 24:30-34 (TPT):
“30–31 One day I passed by the field of a lazy man, and I noticed the vineyards of a slacker. I observed nothing but thorns, weeds, and broken-down walls. 32 So I considered their lack of wisdom, and I pondered the lessons I could learn from this: 33–34 Professional work habits prevent poverty from becoming your permanent business partner. And if you put off until tomorrow the work you could do today, tomorrow never seems to come.”
The dictionary says that laziness is “being unwilling to exert yourself and use your full potential”. A lazy person has potential, but is unwilling to put in the effort required to use their potential fully. They lack the Self-Control to push themselves and use their full potential.
The greatest battle we can fight, and win is for control over ourselves. When we are foolish, we want to conquer the world; when we are wise we want to conquer ourselves. Harry Truman: “In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves: self-discipline with all of them came first.” A massive tragedy is unused potential.
9 Practical Steps For Growing Self-Control:
1)
2)
3) Prioritize
4) Think
5) Do The
6) Aim
7) Plan Your Daily
8) Master Your
9) Bounce Back
Don’t Make Excuses Proverbs 22:13. Own it. Apologize. Take responsibility.
Don’t Be Too Hard On Yourself You are not your failures. See yourself as more than a conqueror Romans 8:35-39.
Growing Self-Control is training yourself to be godly. I Timothy 4:7,8 “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things…” In the same way that athletes train for competing, we need to train ourselves and exercise ourselves spiritually towards godliness.
SPIRITUAL EXERCISE IS:
a) Personal
b)
c)
d)
One final thought: We make our habits, and then our habits make us!
Luke 2:40 Jesus grew strong in Spirit. We can see the Habits of Jesus that helped Him to do that in Luke 4:16 “…Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read…” We see two healthy Habits of Jesus: regular fellowship with other believers and the reading of Scripture.
Daniel had a Habit or custom of praying three times a day (Daniel 6:10). Imagine the power of those 3 habits! We have all faced difficulty in life, but those three Habits will carry you through them all!
- All scripture is from the New International Version unless noted otherwise. *