1 Timothy 4

I have a friend who likes to take his camera to church events, and then share some of his candid shots with the subjects of his various pictures. It’s fun, you don’t realize that he’s taking them, and we usually have a few laughs as we look at them.  Well, not long ago he shared a picture of me that he had taken last December at our Annual Advent Wreath Making night. I must have just turned around and was smiling, and he was there and snapped it… 

When I looked at that picture, well, to be honest, I wasn’t very happy with what I saw. “Do I really look like that?” I thought. The truth is that I had been rather undisciplined in my eating habits over … apparently a long time. I got on a scale and … not so good.  I looked at that picture and thought, “You’re over 50, it’s time to change some things.” 

So I began to be a little more careful with what I ate and when I ate. And I started to pick up the pace of my exercising as well. My daily walks gradually became a little longer, and a little quicker. And about five months ago, I started running. 

I used to run a lot, but it has been quite awhile since then. The first day as I started this time around, I only got from my house to Strawbridge Lake before I had to stop and walk. That’s about a half mile. Downhill! It was all I could do, but it was a start… 

Now, I know this will probably shock you, but the truth is that I’m not terribly athletic! I’ve never really liked running, and I’m not a graceful runner by any means. In fact, I imagine I resemble Shrek running around the lake, (you know: Boom…BOOM!) and somewhere out there is a scientist with a seismograph wondering what those tremors are coming from Moorestown every other day. 

But I’ve been hanging in there. (Just to brag a little, last Thursday, I ran five miles! I hadn’t planned on that, truth is I made a wrong turn, but still…) The thing is, I still don’t particularly like running. But I quite like having run.  Because I know it is good for me. On those 90º+ days, I don’t like getting up at 6:30 to exercise, but I know that if I don’t, I’m not likely to run that day at all. I don’t like running in the rain, either, but I do. 

What keeps me going is having a goal. It is modest, but it’s there; it’s important to me, and I’m pretty motivated to reach it.  The rewards for me are being able to climb mountains again without feeling like I’m going to pass out, generally getting a little more healthy, and some new clothes! 

It’s funny how it is that achieving pretty much anything in life that is good for us requires hard work and self-discipline. Would you agree with that? To be successful in anything that is worth doing generally requires work that is not necessarily going to fun, or even enjoyable – not all the time. But you will continue doing it, you will put up with a lot of hardship to reach a goal if the ‘payoff’ is worth it to you. 

You know that there have never been successful athletes, musicians, business persons, or successful people in any area of life who got where they wanted to be simply by chance. They all worked, they studied, they practiced… they disciplined themselves because they could ‘see’ the end result in their mind, even before they reached it in actuality. Success requires motivation (to start) and discipline (to continue). Every time!

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The Apostle Paul, in a couple of his letters in the New Testament, points out that success in our faith journeys falls into the same category that we’ve been talking about. Success in faith requires a commitment similar to that of athletes, he says.  In his letter to a young pastor named Timothy (chapter 4), he writes, 

Exercise daily in God—no spiritual flabbiness, please! Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever. You can count on this. Take it to heart. This is why we've thrown ourselves into this venture so totally. We're banking on the living God, Savior of all men and women, especially believers. 

In his first letter to the Corinthian church (a Greek church who would have been familiar with the early Olympic games), he says something similar in chapter nine:

²⁵ All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. ²⁶ So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. ²⁷ I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. 

Listen again: 1 timothy 4 - Workouts in the gymnasium are useful, but a disciplined life in God is far more so, making you fit both today and forever I Corinthians 9:26 - So I run with purpose in every step. 

Paul is not talking about something he ‘dabbles in’ but he is referring to his entire life. “Every step” he takes has purpose, there is a goal that he wants to reach, and he is entirely focused on reaching that goal. And his goal is much more important than losing some excess weight, or climbing mountains, playing an instrument or making a lot of money.  His goal is for the work that God began in him to be completed. His goal is to be completely reformed in the image of Christ.  His goal is eternal life – becoming fit for today and forever! 

The Christian Church about the time of Martin Luther (in the early 1500’s) as you likely know, re-discovered a basic biblical teaching that had become blurred, even lost, in the middle ages.  The Doctrine of “Salvation by faith alone” became the basis of the Protestant Reformation. 

Every Protestant Church since that time has existed for the purpose of proclaiming to the world the Good News that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is sufficient to cover all our sin  – “It is by grace that we are saved, through faith, not of ourselves lest any should boast.” 

Unfortunately, one of the ‘side-effects’ of the Reformation is, as we humans typically do, that some have taken this wonderful teaching out of its context in the Scriptures, and have ended up ignoring some other pretty important teachings. Like those that remind us that being a disciple of Jesus, a follower of Christ, is not simply something that we receive passively, it is an active walk with God. 

Being a disciple of Christ requires hard work and discipline. It requires training. There is growth and development in the faith that is normal. The scriptural expectation is that we will mature in our faith as time goes by, not simply cling to a few verses which we expect to be our ticket to heaven and wait for the end to come!  Life as a believer is a dynamic life, a life of ‘good works’, a life of continual transformation and overcoming the world. 

So Paul, who wrote those words I quoted a moment ago about being saved by grace through faith, could also write in Philippians 2, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling… 

In 1 Corinthians 3, we read that on the Day of Judgment the quality of each person’s work will be tested by fire – and here Paul is talking to Christians, you and me. I.e., what we do truly matters! God expects us to grow, to mature, to do good works, to bear fruit, to thrive in our faith. He expects us to overcome our immaturities, to keep working on those areas of weakness that we all have. He expects us to work out our faith! 

Well, the point of all this, is that today we have come to the last of the list of the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5. 

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and [today] self-control.”  It is so characteristic of Paul that he would end this very practical list with what amounts to another spiritual paradox.  Did you ever think about that? 

Here is a list of the Fruit of the Spirit. In the Greek language, this is a very clear statement that the fruit comes from, or, ‘out of’ the Spirit. The Spirit is the source of the fruit. And in fact, we’ve been seeing all summer long (can’t believe that this has been nine weeks already!), that these ‘fruits’ of the Spirit show up more and more as we allow the Holy Spirit to ‘take over.’ When we step back, as far as our own self will, and put our egos aside, the Spirit ‘shows up’ through these fruits like kindness, goodness, peace, patience, etc. 

That all makes sense, until we get to the last one.  It’s a paradox: we read the fruit of the Spirit is self control!  You would think that, similar to Romans chapter eight, that the fruit of the Spirit would be Spirit- control, wouldn’t you?  But that’s not what he says.  That’s why you have to love Paul, he’s full of surprises!  The Fruit of the Spirit, he says, is self-control. 

And that’s what we’ve been talking about this morning… discipline.  Hard work. That’s the basic meaning of the term translated as ‘self-control’.  As we mature in the faith, we develop the ability to follow through on our promises… we grow in our ability to say ‘no’ to those temptations and bad decisions that would otherwise ensnare us, bring us down, and pull us away from our walk with Jesus Christ.  The final fruit of the Spirit is the ability to be in control of our selves.  The paradox is that we don’t find self-control until we have submitted to Christ’s control! 

There are a lot of people who have glaring (or hidden) weaknesses in their lives. Maybe all of us? Issues that we know are not consistent with our claims to be children of God; followers of Jesus Christ. And once in awhile (and I know, I’ve heard people say this) some people come to a point where they’re tired of fighting, and they conclude that they cannot change this particular thing. They can’t defeat these long ingrained character flaws: 

It could be gossiping, or being hyper-critical… it could be anger, or envy, or fears, or selfishness, or sexual issues (which is the context of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians), it could be any of a myriad of addictions that hold people in their iron grip. But Paul, especially by placing this fruit at the end of his list is saying with an exclamation point: “wrong!!” 

You can gain control of yourself! Self-control is a product of Christian maturity. Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit.  You can control your thoughts: Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:5  says “we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ”.   Even before our thoughts become actions, the battle is engaged. In Romans 12: 2 we read: “…let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” 

We can learn self-control. We can be disciplined in our Spiritual journey. If we have our eyes on the goal, if we understand that the end is worth the effort, we will be successful. And God will help us to do that!

We’ve had a number of funeral/ memorial services in our Church recently. And they’ve been reminding me of the wisdom of an observation that a seminary professor once made to a class. ‘In a funeral service you never hear of anyone testifying about how much money a person made. You don’t hear testimonies of how wonderful their houses were, or what kind of cars they drove or anything like that. We hear remembrances of the love they’ve shown… we hear thanksgiving for selfless deeds that they’ve done, for sacrifices given, and caring demonstrated. We hear of their faith and love of God which made these deeds possible. And in the end, these are the only things that really matter.” 

These things are the fruit of the Spirit! These are the things that come from ‘self’ control – from a life of self-discipline made possible by the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. 

Almost a year ago we had a special weekend of services in this church, a ‘Celebration of Discipleship’ in which almost 500 people signed cards and laid them on he altar. These cards expressed our commitment to Christ and this church and our intention to respond to that commitment in four specific areas:

1. Worship attendance

2. Having a plan for our Spiritual Growth that included accountability to another person

3. Finding an area of service using our Spiritual Gifts

4. Working towards a tithe (10%) of our income in giving to support the greater work of the church. 

These four items  (categories, really) – worship, spiritual growth (Bible study, prayer, etc.), service, and giving –  are the four basic areas of a Christian’s self-discipline. They are not the goal of a Christian life; they are a means to the goal of becoming mature as a believer. These are some specific areas in which we can exercise the Spiritual Fruit of self-control, or self-discipline. 

Simply making sure that we worship God regularly… having a plan for our growth that includes Scripture Study, prayer, and accountability… finding a place to give back, in some area of service in which God has already equipped us, and in tithing our income to honor God who gave it all to us, and to allow the Good News to be shared we will take great steps toward maturity.

These all require self-control, and discipline. It is not ‘natural behavior’, it is learned. But as Paul reminds us, the ‘pay-off’ is eternal! This is the only thing that we have that will last. 

May the Lord grant to all of us his grace and the infilling of his Spirit as all nine of these spiritual fruits are brought into being in each one of us! 

Amen.