Self-Ctrl-Alt-Delete (2 Timothy 2:5; 1 Corinthians 9)

Joshua Kehler: All right, guys.

Today, the one I've got for you for me is drum roll.

Self control.

and I'll explain why it was so pivotal for me.

so let's go to.

1 Corinthians 9.

And, Let's go to 2 Timothy, chapter 2.

2 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

You may think, Ian, that's strange that this topic changed the course of his life.

let's start in first Corinthians nine, we'll pick up in 23

and I'll start.

I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I share with them and its blessings.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but

only one receives the prize.

So run that you may obtain it.

Every athlete exercises self control in all things.

They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

So I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air, but I

discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to

others, I myself should be disqualified.

So

meaty.

2nd Timothy, I should have marked it.

Oh, here we go.

2nd Tim 2.

I'm gonna start actually in verse 1.

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace.

That is in Christ Jesus.

And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses and trust

of faithful men, who will be able to teach others also, share in suffering

as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is

to please the one who enlisted him.

And then our verse.

An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

It is the hard working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.

Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

This is the word of the Lord.

Father, We thank you for this.

We thank you for the mind blowing way of the gospel.

We thank you that you grow us in grace and in the knowledge of you.

We thank you that, Lord, where the world has a settled opinion on

something, you come in and you knock it over and you have a different way.

Often, the third way of things.

And so Lord, we just pray you'd give, like Paul said, meditate on this

and you'll give us understanding.

We trust you for that now, Lord.

We don't want the opinions of men or good ideas.

We want what you have to say to us.

And we pray for freedom, Lord, in these areas that maybe we don't even know the

vines of humanness, of trying, of working.

To get your favor have wrapped itself around us and weighed us down And so

Lord if there's any of that weight on any of us like there was with me We

just pray for freedom this morning and God I ask help us to delight in the Sun

Stoke our hearts they've been made for you

Oh man, take us into that glimpse of the heavenlies.

And, we just thank you.

So Lord, we pray for the other churches that gather.

We thank you for the representation all the way up in Washington, Lord.

We pray you bless the churches up there, Lord.

We pray you bless the churches in the Central Valley.

Lord, oh man, may they know your favor.

May they know and delight and find their fullness in you, Lord.

Amen.

it's a heart cry today for our brothers and sisters, that Lord,

we would be like those who see the treasure in the field and we give

up everything for the treasure.

And help us, help us right now, Lord, for your glory in this name, amen.

An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

Self control.

Now, many of us know that self control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

But for me, it was the one fruit that felt like the Holy

Spirit didn't have any part in.

It felt even the title, self control, felt like it was

something that was on me to do.

And, the popular opinion of the day Is that, yeah, when you come up with

something that you know is wrong or that you don't want to do, then you

exert willpower against that, and then 10, 30, 40 days to form a new

habit, or to retrace patterns in your brain through sheer exhaustion

of your will, you can reshape your behavior, and, what you once struggled

with, you will not struggle with.

the church kind of adopts that idea in a way where it says, if you memorize these

verses, when you encounter, a problem or a struggle, maybe it's with temptation.

So you quote yourself, flee lustful youth, do not, lust after a woman, be like

Joseph, and you start recounting those.

Then that's going to get you out of that.

Except I was a youth pastor and I'm in coaching these kids in the prime

of their, pubescent transformation, with all these hormones raging.

And I'm telling them and giving them these verses.

Every single one of them is struggling and I'm telling them and not just

struggling with lust, but with anger, with selfishness, with, thoughts

of self harm and it just all these, hormones raging and self control.

that's, I think why youth pastors are hired, by parents, they all chip

in and they're like, please help, a thing, shape our kids behavior.

And, I remember, telling a kid and he, I just saw his shoulders slump as he was

sitting across from me in my office as I gave him verse upon verse of how to

conquer and be the victorious Christian.

And I went, I feel the same way.

I'm struggling too.

I look like I have it together, but I just want to sit next to you and cry out to

God and beat my breast and say, God, help!

Be merciful!

What do we do?

What do we do?

it's interesting because as the gospel started to come alive in

my heart, it changed everything.

color came into the universe, I had God's approval, and I did not need the

approval of other people, and that, that was like a nuclear bomb going off

in, in every area of my life that had a, a fortress against, a God, and every

opinion that exalted itself against him, it like, obliterated, it was crazy,

it was, it just changed everything.

I'm free.

I'm free to be me.

I don't have to pretend.

I don't have to hide.

My guilt and my shame is covered.

I'm set free.

it changed everything.

But I have to be honest, this is one area, the whole self control thing, that

I still was having a hard time with.

And there's, that's going to be all through our lives as we wrestle.

God takes care of that main thing, right?

that main root in our hearts.

He supplants it and he plants the cross there.

He plants the tomb there, right?

Where I was crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ

lives in me, and so this whole new way of life, and yet there's still those areas

where you wrestle and you struggle and you try to reconcile, This thing that you

know is right or good, and then how do I reconcile that with the gospel of grace?

And self control was one for me, and I just could not wrap my mind around it.

I know, the struggle that's there.

The lack of self control.

Now, Paul gives us this example of an athlete, and it's beautiful.

I love it.

This, so I'm telling you stories that were just like, for me, What?!

And maybe for you, you're like, yeah, I got that.

maybe it's something else.

That's why I love hearing your stories.

But for me, this was so transformational for me in uncovering grace, but I'm

not talking about an athlete because I'm athlete or I have some sense

of insight about athletes, it's not like I'm drawn to it because I'm

like, let me tell you about my story.

Literally.

I was the kid.

In Little League, who got a base hit to right field and was running to

first base and still got thrown out.

If you understand that, that's hilarious.

I hit a base hit and got thrown out still.

That's how slow I was.

Not great.

I hit one to the fence once.

And I was so shocked, I just stood at the plate and my coach had to say, RUN!

And I only got to second.

I turned an inside the park home run into a double.

That was me.

I got asked to be on the all stars out of everybody in the

league that I was a part of.

And I asked my coach, Coach, what position am I gonna play?

And he said, Oh, Nah, you're not going to play a position.

I just wanted you here because you're such a positive person.

see how we do now with positivity.

I had a good time, but It's funny.

but because Paul gives us the example of self control in the athlete, we

see it in first Corinthians nine and we see it in second Timothy two.

and so this I'm talking about it, Because it's self control, or to be

more specific, the lack of self control.

It's interesting because I've talked to other parents, and often your

kid's earliest memory, because it's traumatic, it's different,

is when you're angry with them.

I remember my kids telling me that, and I'm like, wow, I don't consider

myself, but that's your first memory?

That's heartbreaking.

But whether it's angry things being thrown, yelling at kids in

frustration, or seeing Seething inner rage that some of us struggle with

and not just with our family But with people with drivers cutting us off.

Maybe it's our thought life if people Saw what was on the screen of our

minds would they hang out and watch?

Will we die of embarrassment?

Addictions numbing ourselves to the reality and hardships of life

like spreading a layer of Vaseline over the noise and the chaos You

Just to dumb it down so I can, exist for a moment in peace.

Or, addictions living every moment for pleasure, And numbing, that's

another way to numb things out.

Lust, you've sworn to God.

This is the last

Last time and here I am again and again and we say like Paul said in Romans that

which I want to do I don't do and that which I don't want to do that's what I do

oh wretched man that I am who will save me from this body of sin so Paul gives

us this picture of the athlete and we're told in verse seven of second Timothy

reflect on what I'm saying for the Lord will give you insight into all of this.

we're looking at this picture that Paul gives us about being God's people.

And this picture of an athlete is one of the things that hit me and

started to change me in this area.

Number one, an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

An athlete is not crowned.

That was the prize for winning the race or the event that you were competing in.

Paul's drawing from the culture around him that he saw.

It was the Olympics.

of the day, and, people would go into strict discipline.

In fact, we'll find out about that, as they then competed

for a wreath made with leaves.

First Corinthians 9.

25, 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.

Unless he competes according to the rules and the rules of his day,

what is he talking about there?

The term rules is the official regulations imposed on athletes

who take part in public games.

Athletes in the Olympian games had to swear that they observed

10 months of strict training.

and that's from the history of the Olympics that were at the time, when Paul

was writing the Greek games and Paul uses the imagery of an athlete many times.

And so he's got this imagery of an athlete that he ties to this theme over and over.

So again, the rules that he's talking about, like this, committed

period of time, not just this fleeing moment of passion where you

feel like, I'm all in this time.

A rededication of a previous rededication of a previous rededication.

He's talking about a steady, settled, I'm gonna set my face.

In a certain direction, and I'm going to run and Paul uses

imagery of an athlete many times.

first Corinthians 9 23 27, which we read is an expanded version of that.

I want to read it for us again.

I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I may share

with them and it's blessing.

Interesting.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but

only one receives the prize.

So run that you may obtain it.

Every athlete exercises self control in all things.

They do it to receive a perishable wreath.

But we, imperishable, so we do not run aimlessly.

He's got a point.

I do not box in the air.

I'm ready for a fight, he says, but I discipline my body and keep it

under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should perish.

Be disqualified.

And we'll get into that a little more.

But when Paul talks about the athlete, his focus is on the athlete's self control

and discipline, he says that we must have the same level of self control and

discipline as an athlete, because we're doing it for something far more important.

Then a crown that fades.

I hope you feel a little, ah, that's good.

Two things about self control.

Why we need it.

Number two, how to get it.

Yes.

Why we need self control.

The problem of self control.

A self control problem is when you're doing something that you

desperately want to stop and you can't.

And it can affect so many areas of our lives.

Of course, the obvious things flood our minds, right?

Overeating, under eating, drinking, drugs, spending, gambling, lust.

But the more important things I think are the not so obvious things.

Our tongues,

thoughts, the invaluable resource of time, our emotions, anger, anxiety, and fear.

Some, yes, have extreme issues with self control, but all of us have at

least some issue with self control because we're not in glory yet.

Our problems will strip us of our careers, our relationships, and possibly our lives.

But most importantly, 1 Corinthians 9 27, I discipline my body to keep it

under control, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified.

He's not talking about losing his salvation.

He's talking about, I don't want to only preach the gospel

and then live a different way.

I want to preach the gospel and live the gospel that I'm preaching, right?

And there's that effect that happens.

It's like this.

compounded thing.

You preach the gospel, and the gospel that's preached has impacted you.

And so you preach the gospel, not only now from theory, but from experience.

And then because that experience is compounding, your life is

being transformed, and you preach, and you're getting more weight.

You've talked to people who've been Christians for 20 years, or Christians.

And you talk to them, and it's about, the plumber who couldn't make it this

weekend, and, I'm not sure what to do, and it's all this surface level stuff.

And then you talk to somebody who's been a Christian for 20 years, and

they might not say much, but they say, Hey, I want you to know, God is good.

And it's like somebody set dynamite off in the room.

There's so much weight to what they say.

Because the gospel has been compoundedly effective.

The grace has been changing and transforming.

The one degree of splendor is happening.

And you talk to somebody like that, and I just want to be around those people.

Because they just pull you aside and they say, Don't worry, God is good.

And you're like, wow, I think that just solved like three counseling sessions,

because there's a weight to that.

And he's saying, hey, I don't want to just teach the gospel.

This is such a beautiful thing.

This gospel is changing me and transforming me.

And I, I.

I want to preach out of, what God is doing in my life.

I want to talk about grace, the way that somebody is on Hot

Ones, you guys watch Hot Ones?

and they eat the 13, wings or whatever, and it goes from hotter

to hotter to hotter to hotter.

And everybody watches it.

I watch people on there, and these are movie stars promoting their stuff,

and they're like, I watched every episode, and when we get to the Da

Bomb, I thought I could handle it.

And they lose it.

People are crying, and don't touch your eyes.

And it's this beautiful thing of, I saw it, and I knew it.

and then I tasted it.

I have this experiential like relationship to it now, and now I talk about it

different and they have the guests come back on and they're like prepared.

They've got buttermilk and ice cream and cream and milk and yogurt and

like they're ready to go through the gauntlet, of this because

they've experienced it's different.

You can see it, you can watch it, you can hear it.

But when you taste and see that the Lord is good, yeah.

You can't go back.

That's why Paul loses his mind when he's you're saying like if we preach

grace Then sin's just gonna go crazy.

That means you haven't seen grace You can't even ask that question.

if you've tasted and seen that the Lord is precious then you found

it's like finding the treasure and then going like You know what?

I think I'm gonna go to the machine and get a gumball with a quarter and

trading that for the world, right?

it's insanity.

You can't do that.

You can't go back.

and so he's saying, man, I want to keep reading and I want the

gospel to keep impacting me.

And so important is this, The picture he gives in the next

verses in first Corinthians 10.

So following right after this, if you're in your Bibles and first Corinthians,

I'm going to read the next couple of scriptures, because these are the things

that get in the way of, the key thing to self control, which I'll reveal shortly,

if you buy my course, no, just kidding.

Just kidding.

I do like the buildup.

but there is something so important to self control that changes everything.

And these are the things that often take our hearts away from them.

And it's really beautiful how he just lays it out there.

6, For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our

fathers were all under the cloud.

So we're going back to Exodus story.

And all passed through the sea, the Red Sea, right?

And all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

All ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink.

For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them.

this is just the way he describes the story.

Oh, it's the rock that was following them.

And the rock was Christ.

Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased for they were

overthrown in the wilderness.

Now, these things took place as examples for us.

That we might not desire evil as they did.

And so a group leaves, and as the saying goes, You can take the

people out of Egypt, but you can't take Egypt out of the people.

That's the struggle.

You can bring people out of the world, but it's so hard to get

the world out of the people.

and that's what the gospel's doing in our hearts.

But what chokes out the desire for God?

What were the things that thwarted the Israelites of the wilderness

from their covenant relationship?

that they made with God at Sinai.

Chapter 10, verse 7.

Do not be idolaters as some of them were.

As it is written, the people sat down to eat, drink, and rose up to play.

And so idolatry is the first one.

At the foot of Sinai is given the law.

and it's a warning to us the ease with which things can capture our

attention and be so important to us.

That we feel we cannot live without Him because that's

where we get our significance.

And so he's saying, one of the things that's gonna attack this theme of the

athlete, one of the things that took the Israelites, is this trying to

get significance from something other than God, even in the presence of God.

They're in his presence.

Remember the mountain is shaking and there's lightnings and thunder?

And in the shadow of his wings, they build a golden calf.

And they say, let him lead us.

He's not answering.

He's not answering on our timeline.

He's not coming through like we thought.

We're suspicious of his love for, let's get our significance from

something other, something we can control or we think we can control.

So remember, idolatry isn't.

going back home today and having a secret closet where you enter a code

that you have a little statue that you bow to, and, it is anything, even

if it's a good thing, that becomes an ultimate thing that's idolatry.

So family can be idolatry.

Your career can be idolatry, a good thing.

But if that becomes the source of your significance where I get happy and joy.

That now has been elevated to the place of supreme and God will

not have a co heir in that sense.

He will not allow an idol to sit on the throne with him.

He is a, and Oprah hates this, He is a jealous God because he loves you.

Number two.

verse eight, we must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them

did in 23, 000 fell in a single day.

That's referring to the account in numbers 25.

And what that means is it just means letting your drives drive you, right?

And we live in a, the crazy thing is we live in a society today that

has a theology or way of life.

that takes that old thing that even the ancients, other religions

look at and go, that's not good.

And it marries them and says, this is our religion.

And what is the theology of the day?

Be true to yourself.

If you feel it, honor it.

So that, that is a theology of the day today.

And it's the new religion, right?

And people worship and sacrifice for that religion.

And they suffer the consequences of being true to yourself.

If you feel it, do it.

so again, these are the things that are attacking Paul's

idea of what an athlete is.

Verse nine, we must not put Christ to the test as some of them did

and were destroyed by serpents.

We see that story in numbers 21.

You brought us out of Egypt and we're going to die in this wilderness.

It's your fault.

Why did you bring us out of Egypt?

Why did you be here?

It's your fault that I got into this.

So number three is the idea that God is not for you.

So guess what?

If God's not for you, who has to be for you?

That God does not have your best interest at heart.

That he's leading you down.

And actually, and here's another like flies in the face of the religion

of the day is that God wants to take your freedom and happiness away.

And he wants automaton robots.

To be these self disciplined, people who follow the rules

and that's what God's after.

And that, there's kids who grew up thinking that, because they go to

churches where that's what's taught.

That's the handbook.

When we're not learning about the dance, we're not learning about

being who God made us to be.

Like, He loves who we are.

He gave us these personalities.

He loves us.

he, loves that I love narrative stories and movies and, I want

to talk about those things being shadows that point to enjoyment.

of him.

He made me where my brain fires in this certain way.

When I see grill marks and smell the smoke on a piece of meat, I'm

like, he gave me that, but that's not just supposed to stay there.

It's supposed to just point a little higher up.

And it says in whatever you do, whether eating or drinking do all to the glory

of God, everything is just a point.

And you go, thank you, Lord.

Thank you for taste buds.

You didn't have to do that.

The cows don't have taste buds.

I don't think like they just eat grass all day long like we could have been

that you know And so like man all these things Like point to a greater reality

of enjoyment, but here these people are and they're like God you actually Want to

ruin it you want to ruin our freedom you want to ruin our joy, and you brought us

out here Into the wilderness to do that.

And, and man, that will kill your self control like nothing else.

Because now you're going to be the one who's going to decide

where happiness and freedom is.

Instead of dancing in the glory of the rhythm of the trinity that has existed

from eternity past Where you're whole and free and who you were made to be and

delighted in and adored it's everything anyways, Finally and this is a big one.

Oh, man.

This one nailed me verse 10, nor grumble as some of them did and

were destroyed by the destroyer.

It's a story of Korah, Dathan, and, Abraham, these three young men who

begin to grumble at the authority that Moses had and, the ground

open swallows them, but that sense it's a annoyed murmur and our soul.

It's like when your phone's on vibrate.

And you can barely hear it.

But it's just this posture at life that just goes, the

reaction, the bent is, it sucks.

It sucks.

That's lame.

That's terrible.

And like the first instinct of the soul, the posture, the way it's

facing is to just think everything just kinda, it's kinda pointless.

It's crazy, right?

And what's crazy is it starts so low.

It starts so it starts with why is my house so hot?

so innocuous.

I think the same thing.

I just think like, why?

why is our car older than everybody else?

just these little, just barely, just, nothing, it's not a big deal, it's

But it's this constant low murmur and bent in the soul that is beginning

to posture itself at not seeing the gifts from God and just seeing the

darkness and the shadows left behind.

It's so subtle guys, and it's so crazy and we have a whole world and a culture

telling us You can have happiness.

You just got to slide that credit card today.

It can be yours.

yes, it feeds off of you being unhappy and dissatisfied.

Yes.

And so there's this murmur of the soul where we lose the wonder.

I can't believe I have a house.

There's a majority of my brothers and sisters in the world who don't.

so here's something.

so again, why does that attack self control?

You just, it's consumerism, right?

It's the little murmur that, that constantly says I need better.

I need and I'm not satisfied until I have it.

so insightful, maybe spend some time like, like going over those verses.

I think Paul's inspired by the spirit.

You come out pretty brilliant, huh?

Anyways.

Okay, so let's go back to the athlete.

so these things that attack that let's go to the athlete and we'll start to

develop this theme of this athlete.

Athletes lives are models of balance.

They don't eat too much.

They don't eat too little.

They don't sleep too much or sleep too little.

Everything in their lives is in the right place.

They don't let their natural desires for more ease and rest, more leisure time.

Lots of food, et cetera, get in the way of their training.

So there are these pictures of this kind of discipline, but where

does this discipline come from?

Cause it's, they're not just doing it out of nowhere, right?

They're doing it for a price.

They're, they've entered into this competition, and their eyes

on the prize, and it, the prize modifies the shape of their lives.

Interesting.

So how do we get it?

How do we get it?

Interesting, right?

How do we get it?

And here's what I really want to talk about, and then go into what it

was that, that changed my thinking.

The ancients thought of self control as an exercise of the reason

and the will over the feelings.

In this view, the heart is filled with feelings, but they

must be put in their place.

We must act on the basis of our will, not our feelings.

Willpower.

How many sermons have we heard of that?

That is still how many are most people think today about self control.

Inside the church and outside the church.

But Paul is saying in this illustration, the athlete that self control is

not a matter of the naked exercise of the will against feelings,

whether you're, okay, this is, okay, I'm going to say that again.

That self control is not a matter of the naked exercise of

the will against the feelings.

Rather, you're always controlled by your deepest passion, what

captivates your heart most.

So take the, I, Oh, this started changing, right?

Because I grew up willpower.

I'm not very good at willpower, I realized.

If I was a superhero, I would never be named willpower.

That's just not my, that is not my, where I excel.

Athletes have many desires.

They're no different.

They're like us.

It's not like they're, different kind of human beings who we've developed in

a tube, and, got their DNA just right.

Athletes have many desires and here it is, but they've submitted the

other desires to this, their greatest desire to get the prize, their

desire to eat chocolate ice cream.

I'm not putting vanilla there because that's not hard

Or to go out drinking.

Or even to simply sleep in and not exercise are subordinated

to one over mastering desire.

And here's the key, and this is what changed my life, is it is

wrong to think that self control comes from stuffing your feelings.

Rather, self control comes from feeling strongly, passionately for some

goal, which is then the basis of the right ordering of your entire life.

You guys get that?

So it's not stuffing your feelings.

It's feeling more strongly about the thing you felt about.

It's not trying, I've got a restraint.

It's about, no, I have an actually greater desire.

And my whole life is ordered by this other desire.

Guys, this is like, when I, this started hitting, I'm like, I have, how much

of my life have I exhausted on this search for purity and wholeness and self

control and spiritual disciplines and, A proverb a day, just trying but then

struggling, but Lord, I'm reading the Bible, I'm doing all this, I'm praying,

as a teenager, I'm seeking you, I'm living a holy life, what I think is a

holy life compared to all my friends around me, I'm, but I'm still struggling,

where is the breakthrough, where's the power, where's the transformation?

Where is the fruit of the spirit called self control?

It's non existent in my life.

It literally is not there.

It is theory.

It is I hear about it and I'm frustrated because I have not experienced it.

Any of its power and I've tried so hard so it's wrong to think that

self controls Okay, so there's the story in Genesis, right?

Genesis is so amazing.

I think it's Genesis 29 and it's Jacob he leaves because he had gotten the blessing

from Esau his brother And he has to flee because Esau's mad that he had gotten

the blessing from, yeah, he stole it.

And so he flees, and he works for Laban.

And Laban's a con artist like Jacob's a con artist, right?

and Jacob, and Laban is gonna take, his uncle is gonna take

advantage of the situation.

He knows he has nowhere else to go, he has no other connections.

This is his family connection, and Jacob's a hard worker, and

so he's gonna make him work.

So he says, hey, what do you think of my daughter?

And he's which one?

And that's a whole nother story I might share, right?

Although we talked about it at the beginning of the year, Leah and

Rachel, the girl nobody wanted.

Leah, but he says, yeah, I'll work for you if Rachel's my prize.

And what does scripture say?

It says, and he worked seven.

Years for Rachel, but it seemed to him as one day because

of the love he had for her.

Is there no more beautiful, like example, like that was his price

and everything else was sub subordinate to getting that prize.

You've got the story of the, we talked about it.

the man who finds the treasure in the field.

And he buys the field, he has to sell all that he has.

So we miss that, all that he has.

But he does it with joy, because he gets the treasure.

he lived his life, all he has.

That was the sum of his life.

And then he finds a greater thing, and he is able to, the thing that defined

him, all that he has, that was his identity, all that he has, that was

his security, all that he has, that was his reputation, all that he has.

All that he has, he was able just to let it go and celebrate because

he found the greater treasure.

you're starting to see this arc.

Jacob worked for seven years and it was one day because of

the love that he had for him.

Whatever you set your heart on the most, the greatest passion in your

life is what will seek to bring All other desires in order in your heart.

For the joy that was set before him, the love of Rachel, Jacob

ordered everything in his life.

So that seven years seemed like nothing.

Number two.

What was the crown that Paul was going after that he talks about so often?

this passion that's uniting his life and bringing everything into subordination.

Second Timothy four, seven to eight.

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.

Yes.

Which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award beyond that day, and not only to

me, but to all who love his appearing.

I love that bar.

How do we get into heaven?

you love when he shows up.

1 Thessalonians 2, 8, 19 to 20.

So being affectionately desirous for you, we were ready to share with you not only

the gospel of God for our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

For what is our hope, or our joy, or crown of boasting before

the Lord Jesus at his coming?

Is it not you?

For you are our glory and our joy.

Oh, that's interesting.

Philippians 4, 1, Therefore my brothers whom I love and long for, my joy and

my crown stand firm thus in the Lord.

My beloved.

The key is verse 23, which reveals Paul's passion.

I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings.

The word share here is the word koinonia, which I think most of us knew.

No, with a little prefix.

So the word is synkoinonia.

It's a joint participation or sharing with others.

So it's like this literal We're participating in this together.

Paul is saying, I have these incredible blessings of the gospel.

The passion of my life is to have other people, both those who

believe in those who are to believe.

To have as much joy as I have.

I want to share the things I see in the face of Jesus.

I'm giving up everything in my life.

I forgo all kinds of things because I want to reflect the beauty of

God to other people so they can have the same transforming view

of the glory and the beauty of the one whom I'm looking at right now.

So he's saying, it's so beautiful because when we talk about self

control the focus is so much on us.

He's saying,

My focus is upward and outward.

Yes.

He's saying, you are my crown.

To see people transformed by the gospel that's transformed me to know the God that

I know who knocked me off the horse on the road to Damascus and rescued me, the

murderer and the persecutor of the church.

The one who I was like, people have to know that.

the joy, the reason I do what I do, he's saying, is because of my love

for Christ, who loves me, which we'll talk about, and my love for others who

need to meet this God, who transforms everything, who changes everything,

who will go high and low, who will go, no matter, where, how far out we are.

He'll constantly rescue us.

He'll pursue us.

He'll chase us down.

He's that good.

And He's not only that good in some distant way, He's

conquered Satan, sin, and death!

He's destroyed our enemies!

He's the David who we waited for and longed for, who defeated all

the giants, all the Goliaths.

And he's given us and shared his victory with us, like he's taken us in, he's

adopted us, we get his inheritance.

People have to know this God.

sometimes we think about evangelism and we're like, oh,

we're just telling them the good news.

We're telling them like how good God is.

How good God is.

And that's Paul's heart.

He's I can't go back.

I've put, I've set my face.

I, forgetting what's behind.

I can't even look behind anymore.

I have to go forward.

And, and so he says, I do all this for the sake of the gospel.

Paul reveals that self control is ultimately an, an other directed thing.

This is different than the way the world tells you to get self control.

We're told, what you have to do is get inside yourself, find that strength.

You have to decide you're going to be the person you've always wanted to be.

Look in the mirror.

Tell yourself, today's going to be different.

You're going to be different.

You can do this.

Just get some grit.

Find that inner strength, right?

Paul says that self control does not work in such a self centered way.

In fact, that robs it completely of its power.

He got it.

When he sought it for God and for others.

It happens as the byproduct of loving others and loving God The irony

is that if you're self focused in any way you will lose self control

Even if your focus is self control.

That's one of the ironies is like we focus on self control Because it's

such an other way to go about it.

And let me tell you this story to help bring some clarity.

and some of you heard me tell this story because it's, it was so powerful for

me, but in, Greek literature, you have sailors who would go on ships, but the

sea was dangerous because the seas had, sometimes crazy ocean monsters, but they

also had on its shores in the dangerous shoals where there were sharp rocks, the

sirens who sang their beautiful songs.

And what would happen is these sailors, they're They would be traveling,

through the sailing lanes, and they would hear these songs in the distance,

and they would get hypnotized by them, and they would get entranced by them.

And so they would steer their ships toward the source of that song, needing,

as they got closer and hearing the music more, I need to find the source of the,

this, I have to have this, I need it, and then they would crash their ships.

onto the rocks and all the men would drown and die.

So one sailor, he said, I'm going to do this different, I'm

going to be smart about this.

And so he got some wax for the trip.

And as he came into that territory where he knew the dangerous part was,

he had all his men stuff their ears with wax so they couldn't hear the song.

And he had his men tie him to the mast of the ship and, rope him down and he said,

no matter what I say, no matter how much I scream, I'm Do not listen to me until

we're safe, safely through these waters.

And as soon as they came in, the men couldn't hear.

They kept stirring, but they saw their captain begin to tear at the

ropes, to the point of bloodshed.

he's screaming, and he's foaming at the mouth, and he's, out of his mind.

But he's restrained and he gets safely through.

And I have to tell you, that's how I lived most of my Christian life.

I know it's dangerous.

I know it's wrong.

And so I need community.

I need, ability.

Partners.

Accountability.

Ability.

accountability.

I need this.

I need that.

And then, but the reality was it was going through life in restraints.

Foam in at the mouth.

Screaming.

No, I know this is wrong.

But if it wasn't for these restraints, I would Every time and shipwreck and die and

then rinse and repeat next week and then rinse and repeat next week and then rinse

and repeat Next week till you're exhausted and you're like, this is victory.

I feel more bruised.

I feel more bloody I feel more tortured.

I feel more like a failure I feel because one of those ropes breaks

you're done like it So then there's more of the story There's another

captain, a wiser captain, and he brings a young man on a ship with him.

And as they sail into the dangerous part of the sea, there's no wax,

there's no ropes, there's no chains, there's no restraints.

The wiser captain points at this young man he brought on, who

happened to be an amazing musician.

And when he pointed at him, he began to play music.

And his music was so beautiful that it drowned out the songs of the sirens.

And he found a more beautiful song.

Thomas Chalmers, who was a Scottish preacher in the 1800s,

wrote one of the best sermons I've ever read on this, called The

Explosive Power of a New Affection.

And the idea is that, he was a scientist, and the idea is that if you have in

a room a bottle, and it's empty, how do you take the oxygen out of it?

and so people put their brains together.

Can we create a vacuum, to pull the oxygen out of it?

Can, how do we do this?

And, as he told us to his, the classmates or the people he's

teaching, he just walks over to the bottle and he pours water in it.

The air's gone because he has something more substantive.

He has something fuller, something deeper, something more

heavy, something more weighty.

He began to talk about, so often we try to use willpower to remove an affection.

And he argues, and C.

S.

Lewis goes on to argue, the affections you have are actually given to you by God.

We just simply settle for two less.

We settle for idolatry.

We settle for, this kind of sex or luster.

We settle for these things.

He says what you need is not less passion.

You need more passion.

And he argues that the only way to remove an affection, the expulsive power, the

only way there is not through self will, is not through all the wisdom in the

world, all the trying, all the commitment.

It is through the power of a greater affection, the expulsive

power of a new affection.

And I just want to, I just want to say, so in my wrestle, in my struggle, why

am I teaching this today as something pivotal in my relationship with God?

Because it was like the penny dropped.

And I realized that it wasn't trying to spend my time to love something less.

I get to focus my energy on loving something more.

And that changed me.

I, wearied myself.

On the rocks, so the sirens and their songs knowing I

should not be going this way.

This is terrible and restraining and self restraint and memorizing verses

and praying and struggling and just crying out rescue me God rescue me And

he was all along because he sent Jesus

and the idea that he made our hearts For his love And that they're not even, as

we read in Ephesians, they're not even big enough yet, so he keeps expanding

our capacity to get more of his love.

and that it's this ongoing thing, and it's not this thing we reach the,

tipping point, he keeps expanding the capacity to get more of his love.

and more of his love, which is infinite.

And you'll never grow tired of it, you'll never grow weary as we focus on the face

of Jesus, as we look at the face of God, the Father heart of God, as we look at the

gospel that tells what Jesus did for us.

And let me end with that because it would be wrong for me to send you out

now and saying, just love God and people.

that's just as frustrating because that's another thing I can't generate on my own.

I'm a mirror.

I can't generate my own light.

What I need is I need to receive that love.

I need to sit under that sunrise and I need to let it warm me like solar panels.

I need to like bask in it and guess what he's ever His face ever

is for you and shines for you.

So we read of Jesus in Hebrews 12, one to three.

Therefore, since we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

let us lay aside every weight in the sin, which so easily closely clings

to us and let us run with endurance.

The race that set before us looking to Jesus, the founder and the perfecter of

our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising

the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God considered him.

Who endured such, from sinners, such hostility against himself so that you

may not grow weary or fainthearted.

That's so beautiful.

He says, consider, think.

Okay, so I want you to think about Jesus.

who ran his race for you, the joy that was set before him, back with the Father,

at the Father's right hand, consider him who endured from such sinners, who's that?

That's us, hostility.

Who is the hostility?

From me, against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint

hearted in running that race.

Look at Jesus, he's saying.

Look at Jesus.

Look at the self control of Jesus.

Remember when they come to arrest him in the garden, and, they're like, Jesus,

are you the one we're looking for?

He's I am.

And they all just fall over.

It's like just the little bit just eked out.

And they're just like, can't, they're overwhelmed.

He says to Peter, put away your sword.

I could call legions of angels right now and obliterate humanity.

They're actually waiting for it to happen.

They can't believe you're about to mistreat the Son of God.

I want to see an artist paint that.

Where the sky on the night of his arrest, the humanity, his capillaries burst with

blood as he wrestled with drinking the cup and thinking of going to the cross.

As he's wrestling, his disciples are asleep and the firmament breaks.

Millions of angelic beings with their swords raised, waiting for the word for

the Holy One that they've worshipped

To just give the command to let them treat humanity as they deserve,

and he did not give that word.

Instead, the word he gave was, Father, forgive them, for

they know not what they do.

Look at that!

He didn't want to do it, but he kept going.

And he ran.

And here's what I mean You look at the cross versus an electric chair.

They both kill, and that's where the similarities end, right?

One is meant to be humane, or finding out that it's really not.

The other is to bring about the most shame.

One is meant to be quick and painless.

The other was designed to be long and painful, excruciating.

We actually get the, from crucifixion.

Excruciating comes from the cross.

One is private.

The other one is done on a public road in front of crowds of people

where you were stripped naked.

Women, it was said, were rarely crucified, but if they were, they crucified

and facing into the cross because it was too much of a psychological.

impact to see a woman with a gnarled face and that much pain.

When they would sponge with vinegar and then Jesus refused to

drink it, it's because they would clean the body leaf that's on it.

So it's another way they were teasing him.

And it's this shameful thing.

And he says right there, he endured the cross, despising the shame.

Why?

Was it willpower?

No, it was the joy set before him.

And yes, that was being at the Father's right hand and being glorified.

I did it!

I did it, Father!

Yes!

We accomplished the mission.

I also think that Jesus had in His heart some kind of Rachel, some kind of

beauty that He had His eyes fixed on.

And guess who that was?

You were His beauty.

You were His prize.

And so it's just the most natural, beautiful thing that He's our prize.

That He's our goal, He's so good, can you even fathom that at

the cross, you were His Rachel?

That He endured the cross, He despised the shame, He did it

because what was waiting for Him was you, and right your relationship.

So that's what we need.

That's, not just go out, love God harder, love people better, it's

know how much you are loved by God.

Lord, help us to be confident in that.

Holy Spirit, preach that to our hearts.

Let us be bold in that.

Because as that seeps in.

You cannot help, you will not turn back to dog food if you've had filet mignon.

It's, it, you, we just, it's crazy.

It's ah, you're the pri And he keeps revealing himself more and more, and

the Holy Spirit is given to us, and he preaches to us about how much we're

adored and loved and secure we are as his children, and how all the blessings in the

heavenly places are ours in Christ Jesus.

And all of a sudden, he's It's not that we're focusing on self control.

It's that we're focusing on him and the weights and the sin that so easily

ensnares us is laid aside because we're running to him because he's our desire.

And the other desires fade.

They go back in the background because he's all consuming.

He's a fire that, that is everything.

So, yeah, that changed my life.

that.

He's our better song that we don't have to kill ourselves, so man, for me, that was

so pivotal and understanding the athlete.

Oh, the athlete isn't someone special.

It's just someone who has decided this is my price and all other things in my

life are subordinate To that price and didn't to see that it's not about myself.

I love that Paul says you're my crown, like all our lives impact each other,

like he ran in such a way as to not only live the gospel he was preaching.

But for the people he loved, who he knew God was rescuing,

like what an amazing thing.

Cause we get blocked in or I do where I'm like, my family, we just did a

family reunion on the beach yesterday.

It was amazing.

It was a blast.

But then I'm like, okay, what's the next weekend holding the bus tonight?

And I can live.

For years like that, and not see the city that God's called me to, the

neighbors that he's called me to, like all around, like the co workers he's

called me to, that are right around me, that is my mission field, that he

made me in such a way to communicate in such a way to the people he's put

before me about his heart for them.

that's amazing!

That's amazing.

let me pray for us, Lord, we thank you that we're your Rachel.

That's so crazy.

That's otherworldly.

Thank you that you take Something that mankind has been struggling with

and you don't just say do it better

But you have a whole new way, a whole new freedom, a whole new approach to this.

God, I pray that you, we would see you in everything, that everything would

point to your beauty and your glory and your grace and how great you are

from what we eat to the conversations we have that, you made man this crazy

capacity to develop these things.

That's because you're creative from just everything in our

lives that it would just be.

pointing to your glory and your worth and your beauty, your majesty, your

might, your greatness, and that we would just hold on to your face and

that we'd see your face and that would melt everything else away.

And, in light of your glory and grace.

So we love you.

We praise you.

Thank you in Jesus name.

Amen.