* A savings account that allows me to take out of it as
much as I desire but never gets smaller!
* A car that only needs to be filled with gas, oil,
water, and air once!
* A house where the grass stays green but never needs
to be cut, where the paint will change to any color I desire, without using a
brush, and the rooms would grow or shrink as I see fit!
* A wife that knows I am always right; that loves to
watch sports on TV and that thinks shopping is a waste of time!
* Children that love to put things away and that leave
home at 13 to college with a fully paid scholarship!
* A church building that never needs maintenance!
* A congregation that always agrees with me!
* I want Ice cream that tastes like it is from heaven
but causes you to lose weight!
I bet your list would
be exaggerated also! “I want”…We do have wants don't we? There is nothing wrong
with wants. In fact, I think – “Is having wants, wrong?” is the wrong question!
The question that needs to be asked is: “Do my wants HAVE me?” AHHH there’s the
rub! When what we want becomes the master we are in trouble. The answer to this
is the last quality of fruit that God gives us:
Gal 5:22-23 But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
As we consider this fruit,
let’s keep
these questions before us.
1. What’s the first step in learning to control yourself?
2. What’s the real problem with lack of control?
3. What is the danger of that “little area” of no control?
First we need to
define “self” – As a believer it is a little complicated.
Romans 7:14–25 So the trouble is not with the
law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too
human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what
is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what
I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not
the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. And I know that nothing good lives in
me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I
want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I
do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one
doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. I have discovered this
principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is
wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me
that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is
still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this
life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus
Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s
law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.
We must remember, we
are not two people. The believer is not Scydzofrenic! Each believer is one
person with two natures. Whereas before Christ we had only the sin nature (old
man) and we were enslaved to it. When we enter into a relationship with Christ
we are given a new nature (new man) which enables us to yield to the Holy
Spirit and obey and serve the Lord. It is important to identify both natures
and learn to yield to the new man while counting the old man powerless to
command you. This is what Paul is discussing here. When he states that he does
wrong because it is “sin living in me” he is not trying to blame something else.
He is identifying that his sin nature, existing in him, is what drives him to
do wrong, yet he is responsible for which nature controls him, which he
established in chapter 6.
Each believer
struggles in his or her own way with this. We each have our own appetite
weaknesses. Appetites come in all shapes & sizes; fame, reputation, riches,
sex, drugs, etc. The reason many addicts refuse to get help is because their
appetites are controlling them.
This nature is far
more dangerous than many believe. You can be staring face to face with a stark
reality, but your appetite blinds you to the consequence of a wrong
choice.
Look at these two
examples, one with an unbeliever and one with a believer:
Mark 10: 17 As Jesus
started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him.
"Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal
life?" "Why do you call
me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good— except God alone. You know
the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not
give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’" "Teacher,"
he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy." Jesus looked
at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell
everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me." At
this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. Jesus looked around and said to his
disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!"
This young man knew
he lacked eternal life, yet when Jesus told him he must change his “God”, his
appetite for money was too great. He walked away from an eternity with God for
a temporal moment with creature comforts!
Acts 5:1–10 But a man named Ananias, with his wife
Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and
kept back some of the price for
himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid
it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your
heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own?
And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have
conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” And as
he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear
came over all who heard of it. The young men got up and covered him up, and
after carrying him out, they buried him. Now there elapsed an interval of about
three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter
responded to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a
price?” And she said, “Yes, that was the price.” Then Peter said to her, “Why is it that you have
agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of
those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out
as well.” And immediately she
fell at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her
dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
This couple were children of God in the Church. The issue was never the “things” (land or money)
Peter made it clear that God had given that to them and it was up to them what
they did with it. However, when they lied and tried to appear as though they
gave their all, but really were trying to deceive everyone, the Lord decided
that He would not allow such a false testimony in such a young Church. So as an
example to all He took the two home. They kept their relationship with God,
because that is secure based on Him, not us, but they lost their eternal
investment 1 Cor. 3. The amazing
part is how when the wife came to Peter, she must have been wondering what
happen to her husband, I am sure the Holy Spirit was convicting her not to lie,
but when Peter asked her if the gift was what they claimed it was, she pushed
ahead and lied.
The sin nature wants
what it wants and does not consider the consequences! This is what makes it so
dangerous.
Do you know your most
vulnerable appetites? They change throughout our life, so we need to identify
them and turn them over to God. I am not talking about human self-control, that
will not cut it. I am addressing learning to target those appetites in prayer
and bringing them before the Lord. Then when that temptation comes the Holy
Spirit can produce His fruit of self control that the flesh cannot overcome.
Warning! If you bring
those appetites before the Lord, be ready for answered prayer. For example:
I have never been very materialistic; I have a lot of
other problems, but not that one. Still, when I was approached about leaving my
Pastorate and going to the mission field I suddenly became very anxious over
all the “things” that I might have to give up. I took this to prayer right away
– Two days later God began to answer my prayers. This is what happened in a 48-hour
period. The washing machine bearing went out; my clothes dryer broke; my vacuum
cleaner broke; the basement of our house was flooded; my wife’s hair dryer
broke; during the hard rain we had, the roof of my car sprung a leak and the
floor of my car was flooded and the carpets ruined…then the final straw, while
golfing the sole of my golf shoe fell off! I just laughed and thank the Lord for
helping me make sure that the things I own were not controlling me.
Remember, whenever you see something other than God controlling
you, you need to jump on this right away! The principle stated in Scripture is
very true:
1 Corinthians 5:6 Your boasting about this is terrible.
Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the
whole batch of dough?
Gal 5: 9 "A little yeast works through the
whole batch of dough."
