Self Control: The Key to Discipline

Introduction

Good morning. Good morning, everyone. For a moment there, I thought I was going to get to hear Brother Harkwriter preach this morning. That would have been just wonderful. If you’d open your Bible, please to the book of Proverbs. I need you to look with me in Proverbs chapter 25. And I’ll see if I can get all of this technology to cooperate with me and behave itself and do the things that it’s supposed to do. As you’re looking at Proverbs 25 and verse 28, please. Told them in Bible class this morning. I’m going to give you the verse several times, give you plenty of time to get there. Very important. We’re reading in the Word of God together. Let’s read in Proverbs 25 and verse 28. A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.

That’s a wonderful passage to begin. In fact, this morning I think I’m beginning some things that are in many ways unique and somewhat different. Now I know that probably most of you have been to church before, and probably many of you have been to the first day of a gospel meeting before. And what you’re thinking is, I’ve heard preachers and I’ve heard preaching. What exactly would be so unique about what you’re doing this morning, Brother Mark? Well, I should tell you this morning that I think what is unique and different about this particular gospel meeting is that I am speaking this morning about the front lines of the most significant battle going on today. That’s not in Iraq, and it’s not in Afghanistan, not in any hot spot in this world.

I’m talking about the place where Christianity is won and lost, and that is in your mind. I’m afraid too often our preaching and teaching addresses things in an outward sort of fashion. Don’t commit adultery, don’t be materialistic, don’t skip church, and we have failed to realize that those kinds of behaviors are symptoms of something going wrong inside, something not right in the mind, something not right in our thinking, something not right with how we view the Lord, how we view his word, and how we view ourselves in relationship with all of that. Too often Christianity is compromised in the mind. That’s where the battle is, and that’s where we must find, and that’s exactly what I’ve come to talk to you about this week. Someone said in the foyer, looks like these lessons are going to be practical.

I certainly hope so. I don’t know anything about Greek or Hebrew or ecclesiastical wanderings around in the theological wilderness, but I do know the Word of God equips you and me to win this battle. And the things that I’ve chosen to talk about with you in the next several days are precisely the kinds of practical things that immediately equip us to be better disciples before the Lord. I would call your attention to Monday night’s lesson. I said something about this in the brief commercial that I shot and had shot. I really appreciated Brad Pitt standing in for me in that commercial. On Monday evening, I want to talk a little bit about our conception of the Lord. And if you have a friend who doesn’t go to church, they just need to be here Monday night.

There’s some great things to understand about who God is and his love for the lost. Be a wonderful opportunity for you to bring a friend. In fact, you can bring a friend all this week. Won’t be any time that you’ll be embarrassed or wish that you hadn’t done that. We want to treat our visitors with dignity at all times. Monday night would be extra good. I see lots of young people here, lots of teenagers. Really glad to see you. Want you to know on Tuesday night, really want to say some things I think that’ll help young people, help all of us as we deal with worry a little bit. That’ll be especially for young people on Wednesday night. So on Tuesday night. So let’s see if we got all of that scheduled up and we know what’s going on and where everything’s going to go.

We could talk a little bit about this text from Proverbs. We could talk a little bit about this business of being able to control ourselves. I really like that slide, and I like the image on that slide a lot because I think chess well encompasses this idea of the battle for the mind. I’m not a great chess player by any means, know a little bit about chess, but I’m not a great player. I do understand, though, that it is primarily a mind game. You don’t have to be big burly athlete to play chess. I don’t guess they’ll be steroid testing at chess tournaments anytime soon, will they? That’s something that goes on up here. And it involves a variety of different thinking skills, the ability to plan ahead, the ability to make overall objectives and goals, the ability even to sacrifice some things to reach the better goal.

Chess is a kind of game where you have to be thinking ahead all of the time, and it is a game that involves a high level of self-control. No talking during chess. Heard about one chess player there in a big tournament, and a chess player sneeze, and the fellow across the table said, Gazunhai. And the guy looked at him and said, Hey, you here to play, you here to talk. Say, yeah, chess players, they’re not into all that visiting around. You gotta sit still, you gotta look at the board, you gotta focus. You’ve got to be under control. And that’s exactly what that text is talking about. Look again at verse 28 a man without self control is like a city broken into and left without walls.

I’m asking you this morning, are you like a city that has no walls because you can’t control yourself? One fellow said, No conflict is so severe as he who labors to subdue himself. Another person said, he who conquers others is strong. He who conquers himself is mighty. That’s exactly where our focus is going to be this morning. Being mighty, being able to conquer ourselves. We want to talk about self-control and what it is and why it matters, and most importantly, how to get more of it. And I think a great text to do that from would be 2 Peter. Would you look in 2 Peter chapter 1 with me, please? In 2 Peter chapter 1 and verse 6. In 2 Peter 1 and verse 6, we read this great list of Christian graces.

1. Self-Control Means Holding Yourself In

In 2 Peter 1 and verse 6, let’s see if we can understand some things about self-control in verse 6. There we’re told, let me just try verse 5. We’ll get some context. 2 Peter 1 and 5. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge and knowledge with self-control. There we go. Now what does that mean? Someone says, well, self-control means to control yourself. Thank you so much. What that word entails there is the idea of holding yourself in. You’ve probably seen somebody who maybe was having an emotional outburst and falling all to pieces. What do we say? We say, hey, get a grip. What are we talking about? Hold yourself in. Get a hold of yourself. Be able to control yourself.

2. Self-Control Does Not Banish All Emotion

That’s a word that really has the idea of power embedded in it, the power to control ourselves. Now that seems really simple, but don’t be deceived. Lots of misunderstandings about self-control today. For example, how many people think that being under control means Christians never have any emotion, never have any passion, never have any fire. The Puritans are long gone. But their influence remains, doesn’t it? Christians are supposed to be stoic all the time, never really be happy, never really crack a smile, never show any excitement. How we could get that idea out of the Bibles beyond me. God has emotions throughout Scripture. Where’s the thinking that God’s people who want to be like him will be devoid of emotion. That’s unbelievable. That’s incredible. We’re going to be people who’ll know joy.

3. Self-Control Is Not Imposed by Others

We’re going to be people who will know anger, for example, anger at sin. The word that’s being used here in 2 Peter 1 and verse 6 is not the word for stoicism to banish all emotions from our lives. It’s a special word. It’s a word which means the passions are there, but our reason fights against them and prevails so as to control them. One fellow said this word doesn’t contemplate a situation in which a man is emasculated of all passion. It envisions a situation in which the passions remain but they’re under control to be his servants not his tyrants. Love that love that thinking in a very great way I should tell you as well that sometimes people get this idea that self control is all about what others impose upon us.

That’s that thing at work called the time clock. How many people, if it wasn’t for a time clock, couldn’t ever get to work on time, or it would take three-hour lunches, or would get there late and leave early. That’s an external means of disciplining or controlling folks. Look in 1 Corinthians 9 with me, please. In 1 Corinthians chapter 9, see what Paul says about discipline in verse 25. In 1 Corinthians 9, look down in verse 25. Paul talks there about controlling himself when he says, in 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 25, every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do to receive to receive a perishable wreath. We an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air. I discipline my body.

I keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. Paul is talking about the ability to do this on our own, not have that imposed on us by others. You know, that’s really the problem in the book of Judges. Several times in Judges it says there’s no king in Israel. Everybody just did whatever they wanted to do. That won’t work. These people weren’t able to be holding themselves accountable, and nobody else was holding themselves accountable, so all kinds of lawlessness broke loose. I’m telling you this morning, we have to be able to control ourselves, not have that imposed upon others. Self-discipline imposed upon you is that’s for children, isn’t it? We discipline our children so that they’ll come to a point in life where they can hold themselves in, where they can get a grip, where they can control themselves.

4. Not a Gimmick but a Lifestyle

But I’m not talking to you this morning about something the elders are going to do for you, something the preacher’s gonna do to you. I’m talking about something you want to do for yourself. Control yourself. And finally, in this direction, I sure need to say something about gimmicks and fads. I am fascinated by America’s fascination with gimmicks, all kinds of gimmicks. I’m one of those people who watches television at 4,000 miles an hour. We get nine million channels. I can see them all in 37 seconds or less. But I’ll tell you what a stop for in no time at all. That’s those fitness infomercials. I love those. Have you noticed that? Whatever they’re selling, it’s always exactly the same thing. Have you ever noticed that? Whatever the gizmo, whatever the gimmick, whatever the gadget is, they all do the same thing.

They give a complete fat burning aerobic workout. And they only cost three easy payments of $19.99. And the workout lasts how long? 27 seconds, and you can be fit. And then what’s the last thing they always say? It fits under the bed. Everything. No matter what they’re selling. The other day I’m flipping by, here’s a guy who’s got a rubber band between two fingers, and he’s doing this. Look, Bambi, it’s the finger sizer. She says, That’s right, Biff. I used to weigh more than Moby Dick. But using the finger sizer in only 22 seconds a day, I lost 17 tons of blubber. And then what does he say? It fits under the bed. Yes. Why do people believe that kind of nonsense? That’s a gimmick. It ought to be obvious to us that we cannot defeat a lack of self-control at the table by doing some sort of gimmicky something for 22 seconds a day.

5. We Need to Learn to Value Self-Control

That isn’t going to work. And you need to know this morning. You’re not going to gain self-control. You’re not going to be able to master yourself because you get a new bookmark for your Bible, or because you attend a gospel meeting. This isn’t about some sort of gimmick. This is about a lifestyle. This is about changing how we do to make self-control a permanent part of our character, not a temporary addition. Someone says, but Mark, how do you do that? I’m glad you asked. Just exactly how would we go about building greater self-control in our lives? Let’s start over in Romans 12, please. In Romans chapter 12, I want to read verses 1 and 2. Use these verses this morning in Bible class. Need to lean upon them here again.

In Romans chapter 12, let’s read verses 1 and 2, please. Here we read, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, Romans 12 and verse 1, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. And that was going to require a great deal of control to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to serve the Lord instead of to serve self. How are you going to do that, Paul? Verse 2 now. Don’t be conformed to this world. Be transformed by the renewal of your mind. That by testing you may discern what is the will of God and what is good and acceptable and perfect. I’m saying this morning, the beginning of this, is that we need to learn to value self-control.

We don’t want to be conformed to the world around us. Our world around us is out of control. The world around us does not value self-mastery in any shape or form. How many commercials do you see every day that say, no rules or do whatever you want to do? Have it your way. How many movies? How many TV shows basically show folks completely out of control and applaud that kind of behavior? The guy gets mad at his boss and he goes in and he tells his boss off, says, Hey, you take this job. I’m out of here. And the music plays loud and the crescendo, he storms down. Wow, how impressive. He blew his stack, told his boss off. Isn’t that great? Has anybody ever made a record or an album in which the lyric said you may be beautiful and you’re tremendously desirable from a sexual standpoint?

But adultery is wrong. And so I’m going home to my wife because I can control my sexual urge. I’m thinking that won’t make you a platinum album, will it? Our world today is out of control. Our world today mocks self control. I marvel at that because there’s so many places in life where we have to value self control. What if somebody said, No rules? Red for me means go. And I hey, I’m going to drive on the left hand side of the road. Dina and I flew down here yesterday on Southwest Airlines. I marveled at the amount of control that we all demonstrated.