Ready for Self-Control | Proverbs 16 & 1 Corinthians 9 | Noah Diestelkamp

I have not had the pleasure of meeting all of you.

I'm Noah, and uh I'm looking forward to our time together here, and I'm thankful that you have taken the time to be here, and I appreciate the interest you have in God's word and the interest in being men of God.

Uh so it's no secret, what we're gonna talk about today in this session is being ready for self-control.

But before we get into a discussion about that, I have a question.

Uh what are some of the most manly activities or achievements that you can think of?

You know, things that real men do.

It's okay to be stereotypical.

Okay?

So give it.

Deep sea fishing.

Deep sea fishing! That was not said in the last class.

I like it.

All right, you're out there, you're in the boat.

That's the one where you've got like the like the giant thing, right?

That's anchored to the boat.

Yeah.

Okay.

That's yeah, that's pretty cool.

Alright.

I've never done that.

What else?

Husbandry.

Husbandry could also be uh could also be considered manly.

Uh yes, being a husband is a is a manly thing.

Even in a world that has devalued marriage, there's something manly uh seen in being a husband, right?

I heard somebody, was it one of you that said hunting?

Yeah.

Yeah, okay, there's that was said in the last class.

I expected that one.

Uh yeah, hunting's generally considered, you know, you go out in the wee hours of the morning and you listen to the sounds of the earth while you wait to kill something.

It's manly.

All right.

What else?

Working on a car.

Working on a car! Something I am not good at.

Joy the flow.

Uh the pounding.

But yeah.

Uh it hey, uh, we want to fix that car.

We want to make it better, we want to it to run smoother.

I I know a number of men who who work on cars not for the sake of maintenance, but for improvement, right?

I I'm putting a new engine in, I'm souping it up, I've added a new exhaust, all that kind of stuff.

Couple more.

Strength workouts.

Strength workouts, lifting heavy weights, climbing, you know, uh difficult places, hiking through, you know, the wilderness, working out your body.

Okay?

Battle wrestling.

Another thing I was thinking was being a father, being able to yeah.

So two things there, although in my case, they're oftentimes combined.

He said, like battle and wrestling and fatherhood.

Uh, which in my case, I have three boys.

Uh, wrestling is an everyday activity.

Um, so, but yes, there's something about that physical engagement, right?

Whether it's wrestling or martial arts or or things like football and hockey, you know, that's uh for some reason.

The one that came to my mind uh first and has every time this comes up is chopping wood.

Like, man, have you who here has chopped wood?

Okay, that's a good feeling, man.

So there's something about that that feels manly, it feels strong.

Um, and the fact is that a lot of the things that we've talked about so far have to do with that feeling of strength.

Okay.

With that in mind, I want us to read a couple passages.

Proverbs 25.

I'm gonna try to manage my time well.

We did, we did all right with the fur in the first class as far as my managing of my time, but I'm gonna try to do a little better this time to allow for some uh a little bit more input.

But Proverbs 25, uh, I want you to, I want somebody to read verse 28 for me.

Like a person whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.

Okay.

So the picture of somebody without self-control is a picture of what someone just loses.

It's someone who gets angry or gets mad, remember these complex, or let's people you know get through the hole or skin over.

Yeah.

So that I like the way that you you said it's somebody that loses.

That's that's the picture.

This is not the picture of a city that is dilapidated, that is, that hasn't been taken care of.

This is the picture of a city that has been conquered.

Okay, and it has been left, its walls have been stripped away.

There's nothing left to defend it.

Somebody that loses.

Okay.

We don't like to lose.

Okay, keep that in mind.

Turn over just a few chapters to Proverbs 16.

Proverbs 16, and I want somebody else to read for me from uh verse 32.

Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.

Okay.

Whoever's slow to anger or is patient is better than the mighty or the warrior.

And the one who who uh what was your translation on that again?

What did how did yours read, Brad?

Better a patient man than a warrior, the man who controls his temper than one who takes his hip.

A man who controls his temper, or some translations controls his spirit, is better than he who takes a city.

We talk about manly achievements.

Conquering is considered manly.

It would have been considered manly in this time and in this context.

The man who takes a city, that's a powerful man.

That's a demonstration of might and strength.

And the Proverbs writer says actually, the man who is mightier than that, who is stronger than that, is the one who rules his own spirit.

Now, what I want you to appreciate from these two passages is that these are the same image.

Just flip-flopped.

A man without self-control is like what?

City without walls.

A conquered city, a city without walls.

But the man who has self-control is better than who?

The one who takes a city.

Exactly.

This is the same image.

Self-control is the difference between being conquered and being better, mightier than a conqueror.

That's it.

Control of the spirit, self-control.

So that's a really important image.

I want us to hang on to that.

We talked about all those manly achievements and demonstrations of strength.

You want a demonstration of strength?

Here we go.

Let's talk about self-control.

Now, that being said, what areas of life are do we need to have self-control?

Oh, here, I won't end in a preposition because I almost did.

In what areas of life do we need to have self-control?

Yes, sir.

Taking care of children.

Taking care of children.

Yes.

Do children test our ability to control ourselves?

Oh, those are the all day long.

Absolutely.

Okay.

Um all right, so very good.

Taking care of children requires.

In fact, uh, one observation we made in the last class is before we can effectively demonstrate authority over our children, we better rule our spirit.

Okay?

All right, what else?

What other areas of life?

It's in your trouble or place.

We're gonna have support with people in your life that you disagree with or don't have the same boundaries.

That doesn't mean um you have the right to do them, or maybe you have to be able to control that and be fine despite you not always seeing eye to eye with them.

Yeah.

Interpersonal relationships are hard.

They're hard enough when it's people that you like and get along with, let alone people that you butt heads with, you don't agree with.

Um, and that can happen in the workplace, like you're saying.

That can happen in the local church, that can happen anywhere.

And it takes self-control to maintain those relationships in a constructive way, right?

Okay, what other areas?

Food.

Food! Somebody brought that up last class, and I ruined the day right before lunch.

Uh that's right.

For you, all you can do now is ask for forgiveness at this point.

All right, so food, that's a common area that we recognize the need for self-control, right?

Okay.

All right.

You yeah, go ahead.

I think it'd be too general here when Jesus described as lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, the pride of the life.

Okay.

Lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, the pride of life.

Lust of the eyes are the things that we want, the things that we covet, we desire strongly, lust of the flesh, the things that we want to experience, that we want our body to feel and enjoy and the pride of life.

The things we want to think about ourselves, and we want other people to think about it too.

And we can give in to those desires or we can show self-control.

Okay?

So that's uh 1 John 2 that you brought up there.

Um let's let's throw a couple more up there that I just want to kind of have as context.

I'm surprised that nobody here has said anything about the the sexual relationship, uh, but maybe that's just because it was like the super obvious one.

Um, but the Paul, when he's writing in 1 Corinthians 7, and you guys have given a lot of good answers, and I didn't write them all up here because I was too busy asking for more.

Um, but Paul talks about the marriage relationship, and he talks specifically about the sexual part of that, and he talks about the need for self-control.

See, a lot of the things that we've talked about, the Bible doesn't explicitly say in this area you need self-control.

But it's easy to see the application of the principle of self-control in these areas.

But some places it just calls it out.

You need self-control in the area of sexual temptation, you need self-control in the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life.

Um turn over to 1 Timothy real quick.

I want to offer a couple from here just as sort of an example.

So 1 Timothy chapter 3, Paul is talking about the characteristics of overseers in the church, spiritual leaders.

1 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

Okay, and he says in verse 2, an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach.

When he's describing spiritual leaders, he says they need to be self-controlled.

That needs to be a characteristic that they have.

So, so for instance, if this is has you know, we talked about self-control in our desires, um, self-control in in the sexual arena, this is showing the need for self-control in leadership.

Leaders must demonstrate self-control.

If we back up into chapter 2, verse 9, Paul says he's speaking uh to women.

He says likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel with modesty and self-control.

Now, that particular passage is directed specifically at women.

We're not gonna get into how that also applies to us.

It does.

But the idea is how we dress and how we present ourselves requires self-control.

So I'm just I'm I'm putting this up here.

We could make a list all down this whiteboard, all down that whiteboard, and we could keep going.

All of the areas that require self-control.

Okay, but I want us to appreciate the broad reach of self-control.

Now, follow-up question.

Are there any areas where we don't need self-control?

Any parts of life where it is not necessary?

Good works?

Ooh, so people people tried to come up with an answer on this one too.

Uh, but I'm gonna push back.

I'm gonna push back.

Uh does it take self-control to do good works?

And if we do the works without self-control, will we find ourselves in Matthew chapter 6 doing them to be seen by men, as opposed to glorify God?

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

I would contend that we cannot find an area of life where self-control is not important.

And I think part of the reason that this is um that this is the case is what we're gonna talk about here in the second part of the class.

So turn over to um turn over to Titus chapter 2.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

Self-control is not just meant for specific situations like desires uh or the sexual relationship, or it's only for leaders, or it only has to do with how we dress.

Galatians chapter 5 says self-control is a fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Those who have those who have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, they should be producing this fruit.

This is this is not um it's not relegated to a specific time or a specific place.

It's something that should be being produced in us.

Um in Titus chapter 2, where we are right now in the first part of the chapter, Paul writes um to older men and older women and younger men and younger women, and he instructs self-control.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

It doesn't matter who we are, where we are, what stage of life we're in, Paul says, you need self-control.

Okay?

But um I want you to notice what he connects it to here at the end of Chitus chapter 2, beginning in verse 11.

He says, For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.

That's what we normally talk about when we talk about the grace of God.

By God's grace, we're saved.

We have victory over death, victory over sin, like we talked about last night.

Paul doesn't stop there, though.

God's grace has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.

Verse 12, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives in this present age.

God's grace trains this in us.

This is a fruit born by the Spirit.

It's something that is instructed by, taught by, the grace of God.

The grace that He has shown us should be producing this in us.

Okay?

Doesn't matter who we are, where we are.

This is something that needs to be produced.

Um, but I think we need to make sure that we understand the extent of self-control.

And this is where I have I have the term preventative and productive up here.

Um sometimes we think about self-control, and we only think about restraint.

Holding ourselves back from something.

I'm gonna I'm gonna point to Jesus.

He's the uh he's the easy example.

Everything Jesus did was under his control.

Now that's an obvious statement, right?

But I want you to think about what that means.

He chose how to act.

It wasn't just that he restrained himself from doing things that he should not do.

He chose to do things that he should.

The heart of self-control is not just restraint from bad things.

The thing is, sometimes when we talk about self-control, that's the part that we talk about.

So I want to give you guys a another term that we're gonna say is the uh the other side of the coin.

Self-discipline.

It's the same concept.

But in this case, what we're talking about is the productive ability of self-control.

Because self-control can be preventative.

Yes, it is keeping me from doing things that I should not do, but it is also productive, it is driving me to do the things I ought.

Okay.

So why I point to Jesus is why did Jesus go to the cross?

What was that?

He loved us so much.

John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son.

Okay.

Now paid the price of sin.

It says the wage of sin is death.

So a death had to occur.

Okay.

In order for sin to be paid for.

Right.

It also says that without the shedding of blood, there's some no forgiveness of sin.

So if he didn't shed his blood on the cross, there would have been no forgiveness.

Okay.

Our sin had to be forgiven.

And Jesus went to the cross in order to do that.

Was that about restraint?

See, Jesus chose to be there.

The night before, he prayed, not my will, your will be done.

He controlled himself to accomplish something.

I want us, if I can, if I can have us walk out of here remembering one thing, it's that self-control is not just about keeping us from doing bad things, it is about disciplining us to do good things.

If we can keep that in mind, I think we will have a much better picture of what self-control really looks like in our lives.

Everything Jesus did, he did with self-control.

When he spoke, he spoke with self-control.

When he acted, he acted with self-control.

And what I mean by that is that he intended to do what he did.

Saying Jesus was always in control of what he did seems like an obvious statement, but how often have we found ourselves saying, well, I just got a little bit out of control?

I shouldn't have said that, I shouldn't have done that, I just lost control.

Jesus intended to do what he did.

Um so I want to offer you a little bit of an encouragement here.

Um because when we're talking about self-control, a lot of what we can focus on is the is our failure.

And that's understandable.

I want to I want to reframe self-control a little bit for you.

Aside from the fact that it's more than preventing, it's also producing.

Um who here has made a decision at some point and later gone, wow, that was the wrong decision.

Oh man, there are some of you I need to learn from because uh all right.

I I want to suggest to you that self-control is not about the right decision.

Now, let me clarify.

We should be making good judgments, wise decisions.

We should be, as Ricky talked about this morning, I wasn't in his class, but as he talked about in the in the lecture portion, we're being conformed to his image.

We're being changed into the image of Christ.

And as that happens, our decisions should become wiser, they should become more mature, they should become uh, they they should become more like Christ.

But that's not the question of self-control.

The question of self-control is the choice itself.

What I mean by that is, regardless of whether you made the correct choice, self-control answers the question of did you make the choice?

You.

Did you decide, did you intend to act the way you acted and to say the things that you said?

And did you control yourself to do those things?

And so as we mature in the image of Christ, our judgments will get better, our decisions will get better, and therefore our lives should be a better reflections and more full of good, healthy, wholesome choices.

But we don't have to wait for perfect judgment to have self-control in what we do.

I'll give you an example.

Let's talk about how we spend our time.

So no matter what, we are spending our time somehow.

Right?

Every 15 minutes, we're whatever we're doing, sitting, reading, scrolling our phone, watching something, talking to somebody.

It's happening.

We're spending our time.

And we have to make decisions about how we spend our time.

And it is very possible that you might spend an hour doing something, and later you go, you know what, in hindsight, in retrospect, that was a bad way to spend that hour.

But the question of self-control is did I choose how I would spend that hour?

Do we see the distinction that's being made there?

Maybe you chose to watch Netflix for three hours and afterwards you say that was a bad decision.

But did you choose to do that?

Did you discipline yourself to do that?

Did you think to yourself, I am going to do this?

Or did you just get carried on?

So often life can just happen to us.

And we just feel like we're being carried along by the tides of life instead of choosing.

This is how I'm going to spend my time.

This is what I'm going to do.

That is the question of self-control is choice.

Did we choose?

Did I intend to do this?

And so I want to encourage you with that because sometimes we get hung up on whether or not we're making the best decisions.

What I want to encourage you is self-control is about making the decision in the first place.

And every opportunity you have to do this is an opportunity to increase your capacity for self-control.

This is where I ruined lunch for the guys.

Because every opportunity, no matter how small, to discipline ourselves, to choose not only to restrain ourselves from that which is bad, but to push ourselves to something that is good.

Every opportunity, no matter how small, is an opportunity to increase that capacity.

And so maybe, maybe that's when you want to go get seconds.

You go, do I need that?

Is that really gonna be good for me?

And maybe that seems like a small thing, but practicing it in those small things is what prepares us to exercise self-control in much bigger things, much more dire circumstances.

So we have to practice making the choice, intending what we do, intending what we say.

Alright, so I know that that section of what we just talked about, I did a little more talking than asking of questions.

But I want us to make sure that we get a full picture of what self-control really looks like.

Okay.

Self-control is not boiled down to I'm not gonna do bad stuff.

It's living with intention, with choice.

Okay?

So we've talked about how broad the reach is for self-control.

How much of our life it touches.

How much of our life does it touch?

All of it.

There's no part of our life that escapes the need for self-control.

We've talked about how self-control prevents us from doing bad things, but also pushes us to do what?

Good things.

It is self-control and self-discipline, one and the same.

It causes us to live by choice.

And I think that that makes sense when we think about it in terms of scripture.

We already talked about Titus 2.

Grace trains us in self-control.

And self-control is a fruit of the Spirit.

This is something that should be growing in us, should be exercised in us, should be improving in us.

We don't have just like a self-control switch.

You know, we open up the control panel on our back, and oh, now my self-control feature is turned on.

That doesn't happen.

It doesn't happen in a vacuum.

It's developed, it's grown.

And with that in mind, I want us to talk about this part right here.

This is what we're gonna spend the rest of our time on.

Because since self-control doesn't exist in a vacuum, we have to understand that there are other things that play into our ability to exercise self-control.

Um, so I'm gonna ask you guys a question.

I want you, if you got paper in front of you and a pen or your phone or whatever, I want you to write this down.

I'm gonna ask you guys a question, give you guys about three minutes to think about this question and write down answers for it.

Okay.

So here's the question: What are prerequisites of self-control?

Or another way of putting it, what does self-control require in us and of us?

And if you can think of passages to go along with that, write those down too.

So I'm gonna say the main question one more time.

What are prerequisites of self-control?

And what does it require of us and in us?

All right, I'll give you guys about three minutes.

That's all right.

The rest of us aren't yet.

So go ahead and finish up what you're writing.

I told the first group, I I was the thoughts were gelling really, really well that time, and I was like, I'm afraid that by the time that we get to the second group, I'm gonna forget all the good stuff that we've talked about, and that food's interfering with my brain.

So we will do our best to collaborate here and and come up with uh what we need to hear and see in this passage now, or in this in this vein.

Um, I'm gonna try something a little bit different with y'all than what I did with the other group.

So if you wrote something down and you have a passage to point to, I want to hear that first.

Then I'm gonna have us read a section of scripture, and I want you to look at those points that you weren't necessary, you you think, yeah, this is something I need for self-control, but I don't necessarily have a passage to back it up.

And I want you to see if any of those fall in that passage that we read.

Does that make sense?

Hopefully it'll make sense as we go along.

All right.

So if you wrote something down and you have a specific passage that you that supports that thought, I want to hear those real quick.

Raise your hand.

Yeah, sir.

The idea of taking time to move into whatever it is that you're facing, and I would go to James chapter 1.

James 1 · chapter mention

Wherefore, my brethren, let every man be swift to hear.

Slow to speak, and slow to wrath, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

So I'm thinking that when I'm getting ready to go into some activity, I need to slow down and think about or hear what's taking place, and then with the knowledge of what's taking place, slowly form a disciplined way to approach.

Okay.

I like I like that application from James chapter one.

Taking time, taking stock of the situation and of yourself and making a plan from that.

I saw a hand back here.

Did you have your hand up?

Yeah, you put it in your hand.

You.

Red red shirt.

Yeah.

I just I said uh desire for righteousness.

And uh it's kind of obvious, but it's just I thought it's boring.

Finally, for others, whatever it's whatever is just, whatever is pure.

Whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, whatever is excellent.

There's anything more than you praise, think about these things.

So desire for righteousness.

Okay.

A desire for the right and the good.

Okay?

Wes.

I took the low-hanging fruit of the spirit.

Galatians 523.

Alright.

The spirit.

Don't underestimate.

You said 523, right?

Don't underestimate the fact that this is a fruit that's produced in us through the spirit.

Zach?

I was thinking of the covenant with your eyes and Joe 31.

Okay.

So what how would you how would you state that as a principle?

Or as something that is a plan in advance how you're gonna react.

Okay.

I'm gonna advance planning.

And I'm just gonna go see Job.

Alright, very good.

Yeah, Sam.

I don't know if I should stack two or not.

I'll just start with one of those things.

Philippians 2, verse 3.

Philippians 2:3

Uh Paul says, do nothing from selfishness or into conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourself.

And I'm tying that with you know what Jesus has commanded his disciples, or those that want to be his disciples.

Matthew 16.

You have to deny yourself.

Take it up the cross and follow me.

It's just gonna require influence and a willingness to myself.

What was that in Matt Matthew 16?

Love it.

Alright, we're gonna do a couple more, and then I'm gonna have us read a passage.

So, yes, sir.

Um to say I'm holding down on being humble for not having um probably when I thought about um is uh features one, two, three, it's when it all points out real dead in our sense.

So we're um if you have no pillar to stand on, it's really easy to loot yourself when you try to put yourself on pedestal and get everything done and all points out at this.

We were all at the exact same point before the Jesus.

So you have no pillar um or anything for you to stand on to put yourself above sometimes.

Yeah, humble.

In that I think that you were you were at the exact same place as anyone else that you want to pull a label on.

Um to recognize that I think that applies to having self-control.

Yeah, absolutely.

And it comes back to this humility idea, and it reminds me of what Ricky said earlier.

Remember where you were, right?

Not just where you are now, where you were.

Did I see a hand over here a second ago?

Yeah, go ahead.

It's kind of an obvious one, but 2 Peter 1 uh verse 6 just says um to knowledge, self-control, and so these characteristics we're supposed to be adding to our faith.

Okay.

So I'm gonna the fact that you you said knowledge specifically, which is the one that he says, to your faith add virtue, to your virtue, knowledge, to your knowledge, self-control.

This is in 2 Peter, it was chapter three, right?

Uh chapter one.

Chapter 1, I'm sorry.

In 2 Peter, that's that's the prerequisite that Peter gives.

You there has to be an there has to be an according to knowledge aspect to uh our control of self.

Okay, one more, sir.

Trust in God.

Trust in God.

Uh Proverbs 3, 5 through 8, this is one's own knowledge.

So just verse 5.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and not your own understanding.

It's not necessarily quiet as you're good, but God thinks our own.

Yeah.

Uh I think that's a great one.

Uh, another one, another example of why this is important, like real life example.

Someone wrongs you.

What's the call to self-control in that situation?

Forgive them.

Forgive them.

Not just don't hurt them back, but forgive them.

And on what basis do we exercise that self-control?

Vengeance is, he will repay.

Vengeance is God, he will repay.

Justice is his domain.

And despite the fact that justice is his domain, what has he done for me?

That's trust in God.

And you see, self-control, our self-control is rooted in the fact that we can trust God.

Okay?

All right, these are great answers.

Now, what I'm gonna have us read uh a section of scripture from 1 Corinthians chapter 9.

1 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

I want you to open your Bibles there if you can.

I want you to read along.

And as we read this section, I want you to be thinking, what does this tell us about what we need for self-control?

And I'm spoiler alert, some of these have already been put up here just with other passages.

Some of these may be on your piece of paper that you know I need this for self-control, but you that just didn't have a passage to write down by it.

Well, now you will.

All right, so 1 Corinthians chapter 9.

1 Corinthians 9 · chapter mention

Ricky referenced this in the lecture this morning.

Verse 24.

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.

Now, in just a moment here, we'll probably read a few verses from chapter 10, if time allows.

But I want us to pause here.

I want you to look at those verses and tell me what do we learn about what we need if we're gonna be ready for self-control.

We're gonna have this fruit produced in us.

What do we need?

I'm I'm sorry, Caleb, I keep hitting the microphone.

It's my bad.

Need to practice it.

Need to practice it.

Okay, so this comes back to this idea of disciplining ourselves.

Discipline.

Where what's another word that's like discipline?

Training.

Disciple.

Well, yeah, training.

That's true.

Uh no, that's all right.

Sorry, uh, I didn't ask a very clear question.

Disciple.

Disciple is to be the follower, the learner.

You said training, it's the one who is being taught, right?

So self-discipline requires us to practice it.

Okay, very good.

What else?

You have to know how to be qualified and how you will be disqualified.

Okay, so this comes back to this idea of knowledge.

We need to know, in this case, what does God value?

Um, if I can write, we'll be good.

Now, here's a question.

Let's follow up on this real quick.

What does God value?

Summarize it for me as briefly as possible, and I'll give you a hint.

There's a verse that does it.

I think to summarize it all in brief.

Okay.

So he wants someone that's firm in his word.

He wants someone that's demonstrating love.

Let's talk about that second half real quickly.

What is all the law and the prophets?

Self-sacrificial love.

Okay, self-sacrificial love.

We see that demonstrated in Christ.

How does Christ summarize the law and the prophets?

Love the Lord your love, love your neighbor as yourself.

Love the Lord your God.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

What does God value?

What is his will?

And we, in order to exercise self-control, we are going to be benefited by a knowledge of God and his will.

Okay?

It doesn't mean we'll always make the right decision, but it does equip us to make a choice, to live with intention.

Okay?

Alright, what else do we see here in 1 Corinthians 9?

Yes, sir.

We see a purpose that's greater than comfort.

Okay.

There is a greater goal, right?

He talks about it as an aim or a prize.

And how does he describe this goal?

A crown.

An imperishable crown.

Okay?

He knows what he's aiming for.

He knows why he's disciplining himself.

There could be a question right there that you could chew on for a while.

Not just am I making a decision, why am I making this decision?

What's the goal?

What's the aim?

Why am I disciplining myself to do these things?

Paul knew what his aim was.

Okay, what else in 1 Corinthians 9?

You have to also exercise yourself humility.

If you're winning a trap, if you um start to get prideful, because you put ahead and you're front um everyone, you think oh, this is easy, you're gonna end up getting a lot of place.

So um it's gonna an athlete in order to win um has to have humility in a team, but in order to be successful, everyone has to go.

I think there's there's a great application, as you're saying, from the athletic world as far as the value of humility, both in individual and in and in group type of situations.

Humility, we're gonna come back to this in just a few minutes, a couple minutes, when we read from chapter 10.

Humility is really, Paul hits on that in chapter 10.

Okay.

And that that uh I'll just say this now, even though we'll come back to it later.

A lot of the problems that we face in being self-controlled come from pride.

A lot of them come from pride.

All right, 1 Corinthians 9.

Yeah.

Well, I was gonna say Proverbs 1 9, I believe it is.

The fear of the Lord, beginning of knowledge.

Yeah.

Uh I think it's 1-7.

1-7.

I believe, yeah.

Proverbs 1-7, the beginning of knowledge is fear of the Lord.

Yeah.

All right, 1 Corinthians 9.

There's there's more in here that I want us to want us to be able to see.

Does anyone have anything more they want to share from that?

Yeah, Sam.

I was just thinking there's this breakdown.

Not everybody is running, right?

Part of this is gonna be it's practice, but we've got to actually get started doing some of this stuff.

Yeah.

And then more than that, there's all these runners described there in verse 24.

All are running, but not everybody's gonna win.

Yeah.

And it's it's not enough just to be doing it, it's to be doing it with the with the winner's mindset.

I don't know a better way to sum this up, but it's the idea that I have all the intention.

I'm not gonna leave anything on the table.

Yeah.

I'm not hedging this in my self-discipline.

I'm not hedging this in my pursuit.

So I want zeal enthusiasm to be the way to sum that up.

All right, so first you mentioned start.

If we're not running or we're not boxing, it's time, okay?

We need to do it.

But the second thing that Sam's talking about here is this not everyone running is going to win, okay?

And this is not a commentary on, oh, well, there's 50 people running and one wins.

The point here is the the winners are those who who are demonstrating this self-control.

Now, that being said, you mentioned the word zeal.

I have a question.

Paul is describing his spiritual endeavor as running or as boxing, this athletic endeavor.

He talks about it as something that he is struggling in.

Look at this.

So he's disciplining himself.

He doesn't run aimlessly, he runs with a purpose.

He doesn't box as when beating the air.

He's describing this meaning to what he's doing.

How long has Paul been doing this at this point?

I don't need years.

I like I don't need a specific number.

Most of the time's adult life.

Yeah, a long time.

Most of his adult life.

How long will he be doing it?

After he writes this?

The rest of his life, yeah.

He's and he's gonna continue serving God into eternity.

But this this struggle, this, this effort, this zeal, that he it started and he keeps going.

He keeps disciplining himself, he keeps controlling himself.

You use the word zeal.

I really like that.

Another word that we could put in there, diligence.

He's not relenting, he's not giving up, he's continuing to push.

He's going to finish this race.

Okay.

Self-control for five seconds?

That's good.

This is a whole lot more than that.

Okay.

I'm not diminishing the five seconds.

Practicing self-control for five seconds prepares you to practice it for five minutes.

But we need this mindset, this diligence, this zeal.

Alright.

Anything else from this section?

He's intentional with what he does.

He doesn't just beat the air.

Yeah.

Intentional with what he disallows himself.

Yeah.

He is.

I'll put it over here.

It's over there.

I'll put it over here.

He has intention.

Self-control is not aimless.

There's, and this comes back to this goal, this greater goal and aim over here.

Okay?

Another thing I want us to see real quickly before we move on into chapter 10.

Um notice uh he says in verse 27, I discipline my body and keep it under control.

Why?

Because it desires something else.

It requires discipline because it desires something else.

But what is what is his concern?

So that I should not be disqualified.

So I should not be disqualified.

See, he's preached this stuff.

He says, but if I don't discipline myself, then even after preaching this, I'm gonna get disqualified.

So that tells us that the knowledge is not enough on its own.

There has to be a willingness to act on that knowledge and to stick with that knowledge.

Okay?

Now, uh, we are coming up close on the end of our time, so I don't wanna I don't want to run out of time for what we uh have left.

It's funny, I said I wanted to manage my time better this time, and I I have not.

Welcome to the life of a preacher.

Um I need more self-discipline.

Good grief.

Uh living example.

I mentioned somebody on the way out of class before lunch that uh if only you could see the casts that my toes are in when I'm teaching this lesson.

Um so in chapter 10, Paul points back to this is in the same uh context, and he points back to the Israelites who left Egypt but didn't get to enter the promised land.

And he says, We don't want to be like that.

They saw demonstrations of God's power and of his goodness that you couldn't imagine.

The parting of the Red Sea being led by a cloud and by a pillar of fire, and they still didn't make it in.

Seeing God's goodness, seeing God's power, that's not enough.

That's not gonna get you there.

Okay?

And so then he says in verse 6 of chapter 10, these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did.

In verse 11, now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction on whom the end of the ages has come.

He's pointing to these people as an example.

Because in order to endure and in order to exercise self-control, we have to be willing to learn.

We have to be willing to learn from other people's examples.

In this case, it's a negative example.

If you want a positive example, go to Hebrews 11.

That's what endurance and discipline and self-control look like.

But what I want, I also want us to see in verse 12, therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

What's the principle of that verse?

Humility.

We're back to humility.

If we want to practice self-control, it's going to require us to deny ourselves.

It's going to require us to sacrifice our pride.

It's going to require us to listen to other people and to learn from their example.

It's going to require us to stop the facade and actually address who we are, how we are, and to discipline ourselves accordingly.

Humility is so so important.

All right.

So you guys have been great.

I want to I want to leave you with two things because we're we've got four minutes until we hit an hour.

So I want to leave you with two things that you can write down and that you can mull on a little bit.

Um and I appreciate the participation that you guys have shown.

Um so first, I just want to call attention again to a reframed perspective on what self-control is.

Okay, there is a choice.

Self-control requires us to choose.

It doesn't happen by accident.

There's no accidental self-discipline.

So I won't belabor that anymore.

I talked about it for a good chunk of the of the lesson already.

Self-control requires choice.

But I also want us to know that if self-control was just a matter of of willpower, it was just a matter of us choosing, what a failure we would be.

And so the other thing that I want you to walk away with is self-control is submission.

Self-control is submitting ourselves to a will that is greater than our own.

Matthew chapter five, there's a beatitude.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

They shall inherit the land.

God says there is an inheritance to be had.

But that inheritance is not for the people who see it and want it and take it.

That inheritance is for the people who, no matter how strong or manly they may be, take whatever strength or power that they have and they submit it.

They control it.

Really, they give control of it to God.

That is where the strength is found.

Strength is not ultimately seen in exhibitions of power and in being able to say, I can do better than you, I can do more than you, I can get a leg up on you.

The world might tell us that's what strength and power are.

True strength is being able to take our will and submit it to the control of God's will.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

So self control is a choice, and self control is submission.