Practicing Self Control
November 4th, 2005“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
A man was walking through a supermarket with a screaming baby in the shopping cart. A woman nearby noticed that time and gain the man would calmly say: “Keep calm, Albert. Keep calm, Albert.” Finally, in admiration for the man’s patience as the child continued to wail, the woman walked up to him and said, “Sir, I must commend you for your patience with baby Albert.” To which the man replied, “Madam, I am Albert.” The struggle for self control is one which we all engage in. Many people lack the self control that they should have or would like to have. A young woman was riding with a friend on a bus. She was talking about something that had happened just that day. She said, “I find myself doing things I never thought I’d indulge in. I vow that “I’m going to change, but I can’t.” And all her friend could say in response was, “I know just what you mean.”
I think we all know just what she means. Whether we be more like Albert or the young woman in the bus, we all struggle to maintain enough self control either to keep our impulses to do what is wrong in check or to put our life in gear to do the good we should. We sometimes wonder what makes us tick the way that we do – and all too often, we can look back on our day, or our week, or our life and wonder – “why couldn’t I control myself?” “Why can’t I change?”
St. Paul describes the struggle of self control so very clearly in his letter to the Romans. “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.” (Romans 7:18-20).
There are such a variety of ways that we run up against ourselves and lose the struggle to be the kind of person we want to be. Maybe it’s the big things like sex, drugs, alcohol. Or maybe what we call “the little things” like the words we use or the thoughts we have or the grudge that we hold or the temper that flares or the gossip that flows.
Is there an answer and solution? Or are we just doomed to fight a loosing battle? In a modern world where God has been carefully removed from consideration, the only answer lies within oneself. It’s the “self control” approach to self control which is rather self defeating.
The fatal flaw in that approach of course is that the self is sinful and fatally flawed. It has been so corrupted that it no longer has the self controlling power over it’s own behavior. And so when controlling oneself is left to our self control, we should not be surprised to see more and more people who lack self control.
The journalist Malcolm Muggeridge has said that when societies as a whole remove God – it is not simply a void that remains. Something will come along to fill that void and because of man’s sinful nature that void will either be filled with megalomania or erotomania. That is, with Hitler or Hugh Heffner.
It is to this modern world that is out of control because it is betting so heavily on self control that Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). To which Martin Luther is quick to add, “and that does not mean a little something.” “No branch can bear fruit by itself; says Jesus. It must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” (John 15:4).
The indwelling Spirit of Christ is the source of all control. When St. Paul looks inside himself apart from the presence of Christ, his only conclusion is to cry, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” Paul is forced to look outside of himself for that control over his life that he desire to have and when he does he sees Christ and cries, “Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom.7:24-25).
Even though the old sinful part of us still remains until we finally are freed from it in death – it is as we remain connected to the vine, Christ, – as we learn about His ways through His Word, – grow in trust and faith as that Word shapes us by the power of the Holy Spirit in that Word and in His body and blood of the Supper, that He transforms our lack of self control into deliverance from the self-defeating power of sin.
The life that is connected by faith and trust to the vine gladly surrenders control of self to Christ – because Christ offers His gracious forgiveness for our lack of self control. And it is precisely that divine love in the forgiveness of our megalomania and erotomania and all the other manias which we indulge in – that we find the strength to live our lives to the glory of God.
St. Paul writes to those in whom Christ dwells saying, “So then let us not be like those who are asleep (or dead) but let us be alert and self controlled.” (1Thess. 5:6). The old saying goes like this, “Even a dead fish can swim downstream. It takes a live fish to swim against the current.” Apart from Christ, we can do nothing. We are like those who are asleep, like dead fish. But in Christ we swim against the current of evil that we do not want to do and do the good that we delight in doing.
Yours in Christ, Pastor Nielsen
Related Entries:
» Sermon – 4th Sunday of Easter – "Who's In Control?" – Acts 4:23-33 – 5/7/06» Sermon – Pentecost 10 – "The Fruit of the Holy Spirit" – Self-Control' – Galatians 5:19-23 – 8-1-10
» Sermon – Ash Wednesday – "Beware Of Practicing Your Rightouesness!" – Matthew 6:6-21 – 2/21/07
» "Fruit of the Spirit" – 9 Sermons
» Sermon – "The Power of the Tongue" – James 3:1-12 – 9/13/09
» Sermon – 5th Sunday after Pentecost – "When The Waves Come Over Your Head" – Mark 4:35-41
