Summer Fruit · Week 8
Self-Control
Spirit Control - Galatians 5:22-23
"But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!"
Galatians 5:22-23 NLT
Reframing self-control
Self-focused culture
→
Bible calls us different
Self-promoting, self-satisfying, selfish
→
Self-denying, self-sacrificing, selfless
Willpower, discipline, trying harder
→
Spirit control - Spirit-produced
Controlling yourself into bad things
→
Submitting your desires to His standard

The question is not "Am I controlled?"

The question is "Who or what is controlling me?"

Self-Control = controlling myself under His desires. The standard is not me - it's Him.
Self-control lies we believe
1
"My emotions are my identity."
▾

I am an angry person. I am sarcastic. I'm just impulsive. We wear our emotional tendencies as identity labels - as if feeling something means we have to become it. If I feel it, I do it. That's just who I am.

Truth: Your emotions are real - but they don't control you.
When you walk in the Spirit, your flesh doesn't have final say. You can acknowledge your emotions without surrendering to them. You walk through your emotions to work toward a solution - you don't park there. Self-control doesn't pretend feelings don't exist. It just refuses to let them drive.
"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."
1 Corinthians 9:27
The athlete principle: I don't wanna work out, but I want to lose weight. I don't like the activity - I love the results. Fall in love with where you're going more than how you feel right now.
2
"Self-control means I don't struggle."
▾

Everything should be easy. If I really loved God I wouldn't be challenged by this. If I were more mature I wouldn't have this desire. We treat the presence of temptation as evidence of spiritual failure.

Truth: Self-control isn't the absence of temptation - it's the presence of surrender.
You are not your temptation. Jesus was tempted in every way, yet He didn't sin. If you've felt it, so has He. He just didn't bow to it. The struggle doesn't disqualify you - giving up does.
"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."
Hebrews 4:15

How to have self-control - 4 practical steps:

Step 1
Win the next 2 minutes
Win small manageable moments. Celebrate the wins. Don't think about the whole race - just this step.
Step 2
Get back up
Don't stay down. A righteous man falls seven times and gets up. (Prov. 24:16) Falling isn't failing - staying down is.
Step 3
Set yourself up for success
If you know you struggle with something, stay away from it. Removing temptation isn't weakness - it's wisdom.
Step 4
Invite truth into the room
Call someone. Read the Bible. Pray. Get accountability. You were never meant to fight alone.
3
"I can do it by myself."
▾

I can work harder. Have more discipline. Just get stronger. White-knuckle my way through. We believe self-control is a self-powered achievement - something we earn through enough effort.

Truth: Self-control is not self-empowered - it's Spirit-produced.
"You don't have what it takes" - that's not a discouraging sentence. That's a liberating one. You were never meant to. All you have to do is abide. Self-control is the product of abiding in the vine, not straining harder on your own.
"Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing."
John 15:5 NLT
4
"Small compromises don't matter."
▾

I'm stronger now. It's just a little. I don't have to guard against that anymore. We give ourselves credit for growth and use it to justify small slides - little foxes that feel harmless in the moment.

Truth: The direction of your life is determined by the decisions you repeat.
Most people who fell away from God didn't fall because of one big thing. They stopped doing the little things. Catch the foxes while the vineyard is in bloom - while things are going right. If you don't catch the little things when it's going well, they'll be out of control when it's going wrong.
"Catch for us the little foxes that spoil the vineyards while they are in bloom."
Song of Solomon 2:15
Two kinds of self-control
Control against sin

Saying no to what pulls you away from God. Resisting temptation. Not bowing to what you feel. This is the kind we usually think about.

Control to obey

Saying yes to what God calls you to - even when it's scary. Like Ananias, who had to Spirit-control himself to walk into the house of the man who was persecuting believers. (Acts 9:10-17)

Story: Ananias & Saul - Acts 9
Spirit-controlled obedience
God tells Ananias to go find Saul - the man who had been hunting and arresting Christians. Ananias pushes back: "Lord, I've heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers." God says: "Go. He is my chosen instrument." So Ananias went. He laid hands on the man who could have had him arrested and said, "Brother Saul." That is Spirit-controlled self-control. Not control against sin - control to obey when everything in you says don't. Self-control isn't just about what you stop doing. Sometimes it's about what you make yourself do.
Acts 9:10-17
6 habits of a healthy life

Self-control grows in the soil of consistent holy habits. Just take the next little step.

1
Presence
Bible, prayer, worship
2
Sharing
Your faith with others
3
Giving
Your finances
4
Gathering
With the body
5
Sharpening
With other believers
6
Serving
Something bigger than you
Key scriptures
1 Corinthians 9:27
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"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."
Hebrews 4:15
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"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." Jesus felt it - He just didn't bow to it.
John 15:5
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"I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." Self-control is the product of abiding, not striving.
Song of Solomon 2:15
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"Catch for us the little foxes that spoil the vineyards while they are in bloom." Guard the small compromises while things are going well - they become uncontrollable when things go wrong.
2 Timothy 1:7
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"For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline." God gives you the power to be disciplined. It originates with Him, not with you.
Proverbs 24:16
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"The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again." Falling isn't failure. Staying down is. Get back up - every single time.
Reflect
0 of 3 reflections complete
Which self-control lie do I most believe right now?
Is my struggle right now about control against something, or control to do what God is asking? What's the next step?
Which of the 6 habits is most missing from my life right now - and what would it look like to take one small step this week?
Prayer
Holy Spirit, take control. I don't want to be driven by my feelings, my past, or my own strength. Fill me, direct me, and produce in me what I could never grow on my own. Help me to abide - and trust that the fruit will follow. Amen.