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Oct 29, 2023

The Fruit of the Spirit is Self-Control

The Fruit of the Spirit is Self-Control

Passage: 1 Corinthians 9:23-10:13

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: That’s the Spirit: Learning to keep in step with Him who indwells

We spent nine weeks considering each “slice” of the one, unified, varied but interdependent fruit of the Spirit. Why? To feel good about our virtue? No, but to attend to what kind of people we are meant to become so that we might face both death and life with the God of holiness and grace most in mind. We complete our review of the fruit with the last in the list: self-control. What is it? What is its goal, the personal and cultural grain it cuts across, the ground of it, and the grace for it?

Readings & Scriptures

PREPARATION: Psalm 103:1-3, 14-17
LEADER: Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,


ALL: For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust. 

LEADER: As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more. 

ALL: But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH/SCRIPTURE READING/CORPORATE PRAYER: Heidelberg Catechism, Question 1
LEADER: What is your only comfort in life and death?
ALL:. That I am not my own,
but belong with body and soul,
both in life and in death,
to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins
with his precious blood,
and has set me free
from all the power of the devil.
He also preserves me in such a way
that without the will of my heavenly Father
not a hair can fall from my head;
indeed, all things must work together
for my salvation.
Therefore, by his Holy Spirit
he also assures me
of eternal life
and makes me heartily willing and ready
from now on to live for him.

CENTRAL TEXT: 1 Corinthians 9:23-10:13
1Cor. 9:23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

1Cor. 9:24 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. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

1Cor. 10:1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

1Cor. 10:6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 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. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

ABSOLUTION OF PARDON: Ephesians 2:12-14
LEADER: remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace.

BENEDICTION: Hebrews 4:14-16
LEADER: Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

ALL: Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

  • Exodus 32:6 
  • Numbers 16:41-50, 21:5-9, 25:1-9
  • Jeremiah 6:30; Romans 1:28; Hebrews 6:8
  • Acts 17:16-34
  • Acts 24:25
  • 1 Peter 5:4
  • 2 Peter 1:8
  • Titus 1:9

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. Who is the most disciplined person you know? If you had to guess, what drives them to be such?
  2. How do you see what sins Israel confronted still confronting the church today–or your own self?
  3. What is Paul reassuring us of when it comes to the degree of temptation we will face and the capacity to withstand it?
  4. Where do we see Jesus exercising self-control? How is our belief in that able to produce the fruit of self control in us? 

QUOTES: 

  • . . .when we understand that at any moment [something] might . . .take us out of the loop–when we grasp the fact of that certain uncertainty, such an understanding will create something akin to a market shortage of time so that we won’t waste time and will be less inclined to be morally and spiritual careless. Those aware of that thief in the night will not recklessly allow a spat with a loved one to fester into a prolonged and icy silence. . . . Those who have put the possibility of faith to bed might, instead, think of earnestness as being passionately concerned with what kind of human being you are becoming, as opposed to constantly worrying about getting in that Alaskan cruise before you croak. Gordon Marino

 

  • while my wife slept peacefully, I went to the couch for some self-analysis. All I could think of was the people I had hurt — some of them dead, but all of them out of reach. I tried turning on the television to turn off my steroid infected super-ego. That didn’t work. I tried inebriation and stupefaction: anything to bring about forgetfulness. I reminded myself of the positive effects I’ve had on a few lives; however, those deeds seemed incommensurable with harms I had visited — harms a half-century past that I could never undo. It was enough to prompt me to pray for the faith to pray, and to pray for the possibility of repentance. Gordon Marino
  • Attractions [that] lead astray [include] to be held in esteem by others. . .gaining power over them. . .fear of losing good things. . .wanting someone’s wife or estates. . .defrauding. . . [and] obtaining honor. Augustine, On Free Will
  • 20. Resolved, to maintain the strictest temperance in eating and drinking. . . .40. Resolved, to inquire every night, before I go to bed, whether I have acted in the best way I possibly could, with respect to eating and drinking. Jan. 7, 1723. . . .
  • You cannot keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair. Martin Luther

 

  • Women are learning to have [intimacy] like men. but peel back the layers, and it becomes obvious that this transition is not a reflection of their power but of their subjugation to men’s interests. If women were more in charge of how their relationships transpired—more in charge of the “pricing” negotiations around [it]—we would be seeing, on average, more impressive wooing efforts by men, fewer hookups, fewer premarital . . . partners, shorter cohabitations, and more marrying going on (and perhaps even at a slightly earlier age, too). In other words, the “price” of [intimacy] would be higher: it would cost men more to access it. Mark Regnerus
  • Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are the qualities that God uses the Holy Spirit to develop in us. Everything we do and say must flow from a heart that is fashioned to produce this good fruit. Developing these qualities is obedience to the Lord Jesus.  When we die and meet Jesus, nothing will matter except that, through his Spirit, we have become more like him, who embodies all of these qualities perfectly. I will not be judged on my precise understanding of the eschaton. I will not be judged on a fully developed understanding of the role of baptism in the life of a believer and their family. It isn’t that these things aren’t important, but they don’t qualify my soul to meet its Maker. There are issues and topics that pull us in all sorts of directions. We get caught up in every temporal argument. We forget what we’ll be judged by in the end. We give our time and money to people and causes that often do the opposite of what the Holy Spirit does. You don’t have to look far to see who has a spirit of peace and who has a spirit of strife. It’s hard to fathom how brief our time here is compared to eternity. This life is all we have to prepare for it. For the sake of our souls, let’s go to the Lord and pray for the cultivation of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. “Here for a season, then above O Lamb of God I come, I come.” @goinggodward

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