The Fruit of Self-Control

“But the fruit of the Spirit is… self-control…”  —Galatians 5:22, 23

Last night I taught a 23-1/2 minute devotional message on prayer, particularly on the holiness of our heavenly Father (“His Name is Holy” found on SermonAudio.com).   Approaching the end of the message I was having some dexterity problems from the ailments of ALS and I couldn’t turn the pages of my Bible to the last reference in my closing remarks.  I made light of the fact that I couldn’t turn to the page and made a light and humorous comment about my “bad hands.” 

Are light and humorous comments sinful?  God forbid!  But were they inappropriate from the pulpit, especially when speaking on the holiness of God?  I believed they were in this instance.  I was ashamed for having done so and I even repented and asked forgiveness in my closing prayer.  The topic at hand was a tender and reverent presentation of a heavenly Father that is “holy, holy, holy,” to use the language of Isaiah 6:3, and the frailty of my flesh caused me, for a moment, to speak in the flesh concerning holy and glorious things.  (I wrote a blog article recently on my old “The Renewed Mind” weblog that touched on something quite similar.) 

Do I have forgiveness from the Father?  Absolutely.  Does it mean that I’m not saved?  Certainly not.  Yet, in the providence of God, a lesson is brought forth from the Holy Spirit that is more important today than ever it was before: it is about the desire for holy living before a holy God because He is holy.  We are reminded of that holiness by the apostle Peter, a man very familiar with sin and failure before his Lord: 

“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:13-16, ESV). 

Yet, why bring this up today?  Wasn’t the article I had written in The Renewed Mind (“Preaching in the Flesh?”) sufficient for covering this topic?  And what does this article have to do with justification by grace? 

The article written previously merely addressed preaching and preachers; whereas this article, hopefully, will meet every single one of us, as Christians, right where we live. 

We have a propensity toward sin because we are sinners, albeit saved, regenerated and new creatures in Christ.  Therefore, with submission and surrender to God’s Spirit, we might grow in grace, flourish from faith to faith, and be conformed to the image of Christ with increasing glory.  This has everything to do with justification by grace because it is the reality of the Cross of Jesus Christ in our lives, the truth of justification by grace through faith in Him, which carries with it the power to live a life that is holy before a holy God and pleasing to a holy heavenly Father. 

Even in blogging, we tend to type without thoughtful consideration or prayerful meditation.  We tend to vent.  We tend to write things as if we are experts that have a right to be heard.  A very interesting article was posted at Creed or Chaos concerning the book, Minority Report by Carl Trueman.  The article is titled “The Democracy of ‘Blogic’ and the Right to Speak the Absurd.”  (I’m grateful to Nathan Bingham for pointing me to this article).  Here’s a quote from the article: 

“There is a lesson here for blogmeisters (Trueman’s term) and those who read and comment on blogs.  Do not pretend like you are a scholar when you are not, and do not perpetuate the democratization of ignorance.  If you do, do not expect anybody to listen to your blogic.  Be humble.  Think twice (no thrice) before you type.  Just because you have the right to speak, does not mean that you have a right to be heard.” 

The reason I refer to the article is that, for the most part, all of us reading this blog (including me writing this blog) can relate at least a little bit to this whether we blog or not because even if we haven’t written a blog, even if we haven’t posted a comment, when reading something online we have expressed sympathy, outrage, &etc., even at times thinking, “That’s sooooo wrong!” or “Right on, brother!” or “Tell it like it was, sister!” 

When John Bunyan wrote his treatise, Christian Behavior, his key Scripture was Titus 3:7, 8: “…that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.  This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds.  These things are good and profitable for men” (NASB).  From that portion of Scripture Mr. Bunyan made these two incredible statements: 

“Good works must flow from faith, or not at all; because that alone carries in it an argument sufficiently prevalent to win over our natures, to make our natures comply with holiness.[i] 

“Now then to help in this, here conveniently comes in the last observation is this: That the best way both to provoke ourselves and others to good works is to be often affirming to others the doctrine of justification by grace, and to believe it ourselves.”[ii] 

Mr. Bunyan explains in these two statements what Scripture has been saying all along to Christian believers: there is power in the truth of God’s Word.  When we are constantly affirming to one another the greatest truth the universe has ever witnessed, justification by grace through the crucifixion of Christ, that truth will make us free to live according to that truth (John 8:31, 32, 36). 

So where does self-control (or temperance, KJV) fit into this truth?  Does being a Christian, filled with and walking by the Spirit of God, mean having self-control constantly, continually, or perpetually?  No way, Jose.  Galatians 5 is very clear about the constant struggle between flesh and spirit within the believer’s life.  Therefore, self-control, among the many things it is and does as a fruit of the Spirit, gives us a gage in examining our spiritual growth (2 Corinthians 13:5).  Every one of the Spirit’s fruits are evidences that the abiding, indwelling, and empowering Spirit of the living God has done and is doing a work in our lives.  Though the fruit of the Spirit is love, do we love all the time? do we express faith all the time? do we always exhibit patience or manifest peace?  No, we don’t.  The fruit of self-control will not always be evident in our lives; however, there will be more of that fruit as we mature; and when we fail, when we sin (for whatsoever is not of faith is sin), then we will repent, we will have forgiveness, and will grow in grace, understanding, and wisdom as children of the most High.

Written by: Jon J. Cardwell on November 5, 2009.