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What Kind of Self-Control Is Really Required of a Christian? (Christian Character Series Part V)
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A
Think about the Bible like you never have before. You're listening to Christian Questions. Access more audio videos and Bible Study resources@christianquestions.com Our topic is what kind of self control is really required of a Christian? Here's Rick and Julie.
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B
Welcome everyone. I'm Rick. I'm joined by Julie, a longtime CQ contributor. Julie, what is our theme text for
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C
today's episode, Second Peter 1, 6 and 7 and in your knowledge self control and in your self control, perseverance. And in your perseverance godliness and in your godliness brotherly kindness and in your brotherly kindness, love.
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B
That's a lot the blueprint for Christian character development that the Apostle Peter gives us in Second Peter Chapter one focuses us on a profound series of steps we need to take in order to be more Christlike. As a basis for this needed growth. We have seen how God's promises help us to be ready to systematically take the next step up in Peter's ladder of Christian character development. In the previous parts of the series, we have begun to see how each step up this ladder needs the step before in order to actually bring us toward true daily discipleship. We now continue this character development process by looking into the fourth step up towards Christlikeness.
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C
We last left off at 1 Peter 1:5. In your faith supply moral excellence and in your moral excellence knowledge.
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B
Let's take a look at the first three rungs of the Apostle Peter's Virtue Ladder of Christian character.
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C
Our first rung, Rick, was the allegiance attribute of faith. And this is the allegiance of our
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B
life's direction where we're going. Our faith is placed in the power and plan of God through the works and example of of Jesus in God's plan through Jesus. This provides a strong basis for us to practically and prayerfully develop into true disciples of Christ.
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C
Our second rung, the allegiance attribute of moral excellence. And this is the allegiance of our heart.
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Faith is just the beginning. Without a godly standard of moral excellence that is solely driven by that faith, everything else we can potentially build upon our faith, well, it's going to crumble, sure.
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C
And then the third rung is the allegiance attribute of knowledge, and that's the allegiance of our intellect.
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B
So we've got our life's direction, our heart, and our intellect. Now, with this allegiance of our intellect, without the moral excellence that's built on faith, our knowledge is far too easily subject to the whims, opinions, agendas and imaginations of our sinful world. Knowing God is true knowledge. So we've got those first three rungs. Julie, what's next?
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C
All right, we'll go into second Peter 1, verse 6. And in your knowledge, self control. This one's a toughie.
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B
It's like, oh, what? Self control. Okay, we all know what that is. Well, look, this is the fourth rung, and it's this allegiance attribute of self control. This is the allegiance of our passions. And this is important because inevitably our. Our passions play a role in any big thing we ever do. So we need to get the allegiance of our passions in order.
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C
Yeah, and this virtue really is the pivot point on Peter's list. You have faith. Moral excellence and knowledge are mostly our inner transformation. And now self control is where we put that transformation to the test in the real world. And the Greek word here is very specific. It means inner power, mastery, dominion over oneself, self. Some translations use temperance. Self control is the overall ability to govern your desires, your impulses, your habits, your reactions, even our thoughts. So if you have self control, you aren't dragged around by your impulses and instead you're guiding them to what is good. You think of a rider who's controlling a strong horse.
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B
So I like that thought about not being dragged around by your own impulses. And look, folks, that's what happens to many of us most much of the time. So the big question, why is self control the next quality after knowledge? And we ask this question with each of these rungs. And just keep this in mind, we're going to answer it as we go. Knowledge is the foundation upon which we're instructed to build our self control. Why? What is there about the self control a Christian is supposed to have that requires a foundation of Christian knowledge as well as moral excellence? So picking up on the definition of what you said self control is, Julie, let's look at this. The beginning of self control. Okay, this is where it begins. It is the mastery of keeping yourself from thinking, saying, doing, or dwelling on things that would be harmful or non productive. That's the beginning of self control. Keeping yourself from the culmination of self control is the mastery. The mastery of thinking, saying, doing, or dwelling on things that are spiritual or wholesome and helpful.
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C
Yeah, so you're saying we have to pull back from one thing that doesn't serve us well and push forward with the other more beneficial thing. Now, an example might be someone snaps at you and your first impulse is to fire back something sarcastic. Instead you choose a gentle answer. Or maybe you sit down to just check one thing on your phone and suddenly an hour disappears. Has that ever happened? And you didn't set or stick to a time boundary. What about when you're tempted to fire off a comment or a rant or a sarcastic reply? Online, self control is stopping long enough to ask, will this reflect Christ or just my frustration? You can also ask, is this choice feeding my spiritual health or feeding something that leaves me emptier afterward?
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B
And part of this reminds me of a process, a mental process that we've talked about several times in the past. Stimulus and reaction. There's a stimulus in life and we react. Then there is a space before we actually do something. So you've got the stimulus, the reaction. That's where the impulses are. The pause is where we want to put that self control in place so we can respond instead of build on the reaction. That's what this really is all about. So let's dive in here. Self control, the allegiance of our passions begins with focus. Here's a small but telling example in Jesus own life, and this is one we may not think about too often, but this is very, very important. John 4, 30, 34.
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C
And in context. Jesus had just revealed to the Samaritan woman at the well that he was the Messiah. This was the first time he said it plainly to someone outside his inner circle. So the scriptures say this. They went out of the city and were coming to him. Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, saying, rabbi, eat. But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. So the disciples were saying to one another, well, no one brought him anything to eat, did he?
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B
And.
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And Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. So, Rick, their concern was sweet, but they were missing the importance of the moment.
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And the importance of the moment was being focused on what's the next most important thing. That's what self control drove Jesus to do. To be looking at, I'm here to do something, I don't need to eat right now. I'm in the middle of something. I've just done something that's so much more important. I need to be on target. Jesus is really teaching us self control by his response.
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C
And I love that you picked this really more obscure example, because there's a lot of things I would have maybe chosen for showing how Jesus practiced self control, like his silence before Pilate, his refusal to retaliate when he was insulted or threatened, his restraint during the temptations in the wilderness. But you chose this little tiny one about food. Yeah.
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B
And one of the reasons was it's early in his ministry and he's got his disciples around him and it's something that seems so logical. You must be hungry here, you know, eat.
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Nothing wrong with eating, right?
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B
Right. So it's a very logical sequence. And Jesus takes the human logical sequence and says, there is a higher lesson here. I don't need to be focused on that because I have essentially the self control to, to do my Father's will and my Father's will only. So this is early in his ministry and he sets an example. And then all those other examples that you talked about, that's him living up to it. It's no different. It just shows it in bigger and bigger and bigger contexts. So it really is quite, quite important. So for God's spirit to produce self control within us, because that's really the main point here. It's great to look at Jesus, but how do I do this? For God's spirit to produce self control within us, we need to apply ourselves to observing and learning what things naturally control our lives, the things that feed our wants and our desires. Self control requires self examination. That's really what this is boiling down to. Knowledge and moral excellence based on faith increase our ability to identify these things. I submit to you that the apostle Peter is putting this here because he's saying, you need to have this basis of faith and moral excellence. And, and now it's going to become much more clear as to what you should be focusing on. Now look, we may have idolatrous and selfish thoughts in our imperfect minds. The question is, what do we do with those thoughts? Here's the thing. Self control, the allegiance of our passions catches those thoughts and denies their passing into the light of day. They're there, but it doesn't mean they have to be revealed or acted upon. We are here to learn self control, not self indulgence.
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C
That reminds me of the famous expression, you can't control the birds from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from making a nest in your hair. Now self control doesn't mean that we don't have emotion, that we not passionate people. It's the mastery of our emotions. So that means that these passions don't consume us, they don't control us. And that's really the paradox of self control being freedom. Because ironically, the more we yield to our impulses, the less freedom we have. And I think that a great example of being enslaved is if we have addictions. Feeding our addictions makes us less and less free.
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B
And that's such an important point because we so often Hear, especially in our social media world, you know, make your own statement, you know, create your own truth, do all of those things. And we look at that and say, well, there's freedom. And I submit to you, according to scripture, that is slavery, because you're inevitably putting yourself into a small box because it's the impulses of humanity rather than the goodness of God that drives it.
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C
Yeah, and that reminds me, when the APostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 6:12 said, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. And I'll put that in modern language. Just because I can doesn't mean I should.
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B
And just because we should, we have to decide that. It doesn't mean we, we won't. We've got to proceed, we've got to act, we've got to move forward in the things that are appropriate. What's appropriate? Well, our faith, moral excellence and knowledge should be feeding a fruitful tree. That's where the should belongs. That's where it goes. These things should be feeding a fruitful tree. The question is, are they? Our self control should monitor what we are fed by what we are producing. Should. How we doing? Let's look at Matthew 12:33,35.
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C
So Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees here. They just accused him of casting out demons by Satan's power. And Jesus is going to respond by exposing the absurdity of that claim. He said this, either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. So in Greek, that phrase has the sense of either acknowledge that the tree is good because the fruit's good, or acknowledge that the tree is bad because the fruit is bad. But stop pretending that you can mix the two. And we know that the fruit reveals the tree, and their words about him revealed their hearts. So what's on the inside is going to eventually show on the outside for good or for bad. Let's continue with verse 34. Jesus is calling these Pharisees, you brood of vipers. How can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what's good, and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil?
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B
These are really important verses for us to pay attention attention to because the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. So if we have that, that quick response that I can get back at you with this that's just showing what's in our hearts. And self control needs to be put in place. If we are professing to be a disciple of Christ, we need to be careful that the fruit of our lives is actually good fruit according to the definition of godliness, of godly good fruit, not just good fruit because it's human, but good fruit from the standpoint of being a footstep follower of Jesus. So let's look at how to put this in order. The Apostle Paul breaks our self control, which is again the allegiance of our passion. He breaks it down into pieces. And there's three basic pieces in these next scriptures. You want to just take a look at the first aspect of self control, this allegiance of our passions, is we must intentionally focus on what is important. And that sounds simple. Intentionally focus on what is important is important. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 9, verse 24.
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C
And Paul is going to compare our spiritual lives with the focused discipline of an athlete who runs to win a race. So he says this. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.
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B
Okay. Run in such a way that you may win. There's a lot to that. A quote from a business leader from years and years and years ago has never left me. And it's very simple. And he always said, you have to be specific to be dynamic. And what he meant by that is, if you want to accomplish something great, you need to be specific in your accomplishment. Paul is saying, run to win. That means you know how long the race is, you know what kind of pace it requires and when it requires it. You know all of those things. And the other thing is, you know where you're going. You know, we can say, run over there. Okay, You've got the general direction. Or you can have that dot on the horizon and say, run there. And now it's specific. And the dynamics of Christianity come when we have that specific, clear focus. So the question we want to draw from this first aspect of self control, about intentionally focusing on what's important, is how clearly do I see the prize for which I say I am running?
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C
Let me add, what greater goal is God inviting me to keep in view right now? And how would my choices shift if I remember that goal in the moment of temptation?
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B
That's a big point, to remember that goal in the moment of temptation, because we're supposed to remember it all the time. It's supposed to be dominating us. That brings us to our second aspect of self control from the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 9. And that is that we must understand the limitations and needed to successfully run the race to run successfully. There's a ton of limitations. 1 Corinthians 9:25 Everyone who competes in
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the games exercises self control. And that's the verb form of what we've been talking about. Self restraint, self control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath. But we the imperishable. So what he's saying is an athlete doesn't let lesser desires override that greater goal. That's how resisting temptation works. So when we keep that highest goal in front of us, everything else falls into its proper place. I think it's interesting that a trained athlete has already made thousands of choices before race day. And that's the same way we have going into temptation. We can have muscle memory of previous spirit led good choices. When we train, it hurts, it's uncomfortable, but it builds strength. And so that's the same when we resist temptation, we get stronger and stronger. We are kept from sacrificing that big win for these little small wants that come up.
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The thought here is the intentionality of understanding the limitations. We need to be incredibly intentional. And this is a daily thing for a Christian. Here's a question. Have I intentionally limited or eliminated limited or eliminated spiritually non productive thoughts, words and practices? Have I done that with great intentionality?
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C
Here's what that might look like. What thoughts do I still need to take captive because they lead me into unhelpful spirals? This might be catastrophizing, mentally replaying an event over and over and over again, assuming the worst, or letting our thoughts creep into areas we know quickly take us down the wrong path.
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And when you start to spiral, you know what happens. You're going to get dizzy and you lose control, you know, and so we've got to be intentional, very, very clearly intentional about this. So we've got the focus on intentionally focusing on what's important, understanding the limitations needed to run successfully run the race. And now the third aspect of self control the Apostle introduces to us is that it's simple. We must be all in and press on to the finish. It sounds simple, but. But this is the overwhelming dedication of a superior athlete. 1 Corinthians 9:26, 27 Therefore I run
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C
in such a way as not without aim. I box in such a way as not beating the air. But I discipline my body, I make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others. I myself will not be disqualified. We think of again this athlete comparison. They still feel cravings, they still feel fatigue. There's thoughts of quitting, but they don't obey those. They are highly trained. Their impulses don't dictate their actions. And here Paul reigned his spiritual life, trained his spiritual life in the way an athlete trains their body so that nothing would disqualify him from faithfully finishing his race.
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B
And that's an important aspect of this teaching. He's saying, I still need to do this. Yes, he was wise. He was in place. He's an apostle. He had God's spirit in a great, great measure. He could do miracles. He had everything for him. And yet he says, I discipline my body so that I may win this same race. That's how serious the self control is that we are looking at here. Here's the question. Am I running to win and not to just compete? Am I boxing or contending to hit the target and to not just spar? Is my body serving my will in Christ or is my body serving just my will?
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C
Ooh, that's a tough one.
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Yep.
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What would it look like to ask God for help before the moment of weakness and not after?
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This is important. And you mentioned addictions earlier. And I've had a wonderful privilege of talking with several who are following after Christ who have fought off and sometimes have to continue to fight off addictive behavior. And part of that process is to put the right thought in the right place. I don't fill in the blank anymore. I used to fill in the blank, but I don't anymore. It's done. It's in the past. And I have essentially made my body my slave so that I can be more fully a disciple of Christ. That's where we want to be. That's where we need to go. Surrendering to God's will is thoroughly engaging in his work and doing it his way. It's not just engaging in his work, it's doing it his way. Jesus made it very simple for us. John 6:38.
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C
For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me,
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the will of him who sent me. I did not come to do what I think I should do. I came to do what my Father is directing me to do. How clearly am I focused on that same thought process? Jesus was thoroughly put to the test on this several times through his ministry, but especially the night before his crucifixion. Let's take a quick Glimpse at that in Mark 14:34 to 37.
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And he said to them, my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and keep watch. And he went a little beyond them and he fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass him by. And he was saying, abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me yet not what I will, but what you will. And he came and found them sleeping and said to Peter, simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?
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B
So you can see the incredible self control that Jesus is displaying by essentially saying, here's my will, but I give it up to you, I will do your will instead. And Peter not being able to stay awake, you can see the growth that Peter needed and the apostles needed. And you know, we also see the growth. I mean, we're studying what Peter wrote many years later. So you can see the incredible growth and his ability to see these things. But it just shows us the clarity of focus that you have the stimulus, you have the reaction, you have the space. What is my response? The Apostle Paul clearly verifies that our self control is to bring us to God's will through Christ. Again, sounds like a simple statement. Let's put it to Scripture, 2 Corinthians 5, 14, 16.
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C
For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died, and he died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. So let me just pause. Christ's love becomes the controlling force of our lives, not our own passions. Continuing with verse 16, therefore, from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh. And even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him in this way no longer.
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B
Now this is the Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians. He was, remember, a Pharisee of Pharisees. He knew Jesus as Jesus the Messiah when he walked the earth, and he didn't like him. And the Apostle Paul, he was Saul of Tarsus then is saying, I don't look at him according to the flesh. I did that. It wasn't good. I was in the wrong place. And we know him that way no longer. So our self control, according to what the apostle is teaching us here, means we need to be able to see people, those around us, differently than we would have seen them just through our human eyes, our human thoughts, our human emotions, our human reactions, our human responses. The question what does the allegiance of my passion, okay, that's the self control. What does it reveal about how I observe and think about others?
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C
That's tough, because am I going to respond with impatience, anger, judgment, or patience and grace?
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Where am I going to be? How do I observe? What do I think about others? And look, folks, you all know the answer. You know what goes on inside your head. The question is, is what goes on inside my head? Is it worthy of being expressed? If Jesus was standing right before me, that's the kind of self control we want to strive towards. Let's go further. Self control, this allegiance of our passions. And you can see why self control has to be the loyalty of our passion, because it's the reining in, the putting away of things, the adopting of other things and changing direction. This self control, this allegiance of our passions is also a necessary characteristic of those who shepherd the flock. And this to me is really important and very, very, very powerful. Titus chapter one, verses seven through nine is giving a description of what overseers, what pastors and teachers are supposed to look like.
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C
For the overseer must be above reproach as God's steward. Not self willed, not quick tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious. And that word means somebody ready to pick a fight. A combative spirit, not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving, what is good, sensible, just, devout, self controlled. And we notice that that self control is the last item in this character list. So what are you doing with self control? You are, he says, holding fast the faithful word, which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able to both exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. It's interesting that Peter is teaching that self control is a virtue we actively cultivate in Galatians 5. That same word is a fruit of the Spirit, where it's a gift of the Spirit and a responsibility of the Christian. So how does this fit into the steward?
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B
Well, it fits in because the steward has to be the example of Jesus in all things. It's not just about knowing things, it's about living them in a Christlike fashion. And I find it fascinating that it gives all of these character pieces. And self control is the last one. Well, in the list of the fruit of the Spirit, self control is the last one. You're pulling these together. And so those who oversee must have this self restraint that recognizes those things that draw us away and puts them aside and takes and replaces them with those things which bring us forward and living that because there's no better way to teach someone else than to do it yourself. That's the bottom line. Self control is not a standalone characteristic. It is a necessary cog in the machinery of spiritual growth. It needs to be applied to other things. Now remember, the fruit of the Spirit must work along with the fruitage of our personal growth. We just talked about that and this is why self control, this is why the Apostle Paul lists it in 2 Peter 1:5, because it is a critical piece to being Christlike. We cannot be Christlike without self control. We've been talking about it and putting it in place and looking at how to apply it. Why is self control the next quality after knowledge? We started with that question and the answer has really come out as we've gone through. Knowledge that is built upon faith teaches us the depths and the applications of what true Christian self control should look like. You can't know what you're driving your self control toward unless you have the knowledge that is based on faith and moral excellence. We cannot build a Christlike character unless we know what it looks like. So you have to have knowledge, Christ like knowledge, knowledge of God. To say, this is the way my life therefore must be built.
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C
And remember, this is a pivot point. Knowledge without self control becomes really hypocrisy. Self control without perseverance, which is the next thing we're going to talk about next week, that becomes short lived effort. So self control really stabilizes this whole structure. But Rick, do we have to work on these one at a time? Are they always cumulative? Is this list only sequential in order to be successful?
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B
No, no it's not. And as we walk our Christlike walk, we can be working on any and all of these things at different times. But here's the thing. If we're walking through our Christlike life and we're having trouble with self control, the Apostle Peter, by putting things in this order, is basically saying you are having trouble with self control because you don't truly know what it is you're being needing control towards. And you don't have the moral integrity, the moral excellence to build upon to put the knowledge in place for that self control. So if we're having a hard time with it, go back to this list, see what the Apostle Peter said so that we can put it where it belongs. Ultimately, our self control can't be in its highest form without knowledge and moral excellence. That's based on faith. Period. End of statement. We really do have to put this all together. Let's look at this allegiance, attribute of self control. Self control is the first step in preventing a thought from becoming an action. Spiritually based self control can shine in our new creature lives, the new creation, when we have a basis of faith built upon God's plan, power and promises. That's what the earlier verses in second Peter Chapter one have taught us. With this foundation in place, applying self control opens the floodgates to true Christian growth. Discipleship thrives when driven by self control and you ought to see what follows it to make this all thrive.
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C
Yeah, let's recap second Peter 1:6 to 7 in your knowledge, self control and your self control perseverance. Then comes godliness, then brotherly kindness and then we're going to end like he does with love. So there's a lot of modern life circumstances that the scriptures don't directly answer in a yes or no. Peter's blueprint here for Christian character, especially with the self control helps us to determine what our boundaries are with biblical principles. Those boundaries we're supposed to stay within. And self control is the moment where faith, moral excellence and knowledge starts showing up in our real time decisions. My desires don't get the final say. My habits are being reshaped by Christ.
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B
And that is the key to why self control is smack dab in the middle of this incredible ladder. Because it's taking those pieces and applying them and it's setting the tone. It's setting the environment for the rest of the pieces to be built. You can't build the rest without the self control that is driven by God through Christ likeness and following in Jesus's footsteps according to scripture. Scripture not to what I think or want. Self control. Think about it folks. We love hearing from our listeners. We welcome your feedback and questions on this episode and other episodes@christianquestions.com coming up in our next episode, how do I grow into Christian perseverance?