Monday, August 27, 2018

Known by our fruit: self control August 26, 2018 CFUMC

Known by our fruit: self-control
August 26, 2018 CFUMC
This is our last week with the fruit of the spirit. Can you name them with me? The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,... and the last two are gentleness and self-control.
 As I studied the fruit, I felt like gentleness had kind of been covered in other fruit.
The one thing I want to point out is a specific application for gentleness, and that is in our public discourse.  Our culture has really lost touch with what it means to be gentle with each other.  There is so much blaming, finger pointing, divisiveness, and vilifying “us vs them” language everywhere from capitol hill to Main street Carroll that I think gentleness is a forgotten art.
As Christians, we cannot forget our gentle savior. You may know that we are 5 months from the special Called General Conference which I pray will resolve the 40 year long unholy war over human sexuality and what full inclusion in the church means for anyone… specifically homosexuals and other members of the LGBTQ community. These next months must be an exercise in gentleness. Gentle listening, gentle understanding, gentle sharing, and gently loving each other through this even if we disagree about the details. We have plenty of opportunities to practice gentleness and I will frequently remind you.  

 The last fruit of the spirit, however, is different. When we hear Self-control, we probably all feel just a little guilty because none of us is exactly who we want to be. How many of you join me in confessing that you struggle with self-control when it comes to deserts. Perhaps your self-control battle is waged at against alcohol, pornography, overspending, overeating, gossiping, over committing or some other area where we are tempted to go over the top of reasonable.
That is only the surface of self-control. Behavior control is not the same as self-control so we have to go a little deeper. 
Behind behavior control and leading, every battle for self-control is the word “self.” Self.
Behind every battle for self-control is a distorted perception of the importance of the self.
Our culture is one that puts self first. Do you remember “you deserve a break today, so get up and get away to McDonalds?” you are dating yourself. The idea that our selves are so important that they DESERVE something better, something special, in fact, we deserve whatever we want…customized and delivered to our door within 24 hours. We are encouraged to put ourselves first.
The Bible is filled with stories of people who put themselves first.
Adam and Eve, humanity before the flood, kings who lead the nation to worship Baal, the people Amos described as “fat cows of Bashan” because they cared for nothing but their own comfort, and the hated tax collectors. Jesus taught that the great are those who know they are not the first but consider themselves to be last. Jesus called us to get outside of our own self-interest and take up the cross. Paul reminded us that we can’t all be the head of the body, one of us has to be the armpit of the body of Christ. But I’m pretty sure that you are convinced that I should be the armpit and I am convinced that you should be the armpit because as hard as we try our self-importance is hard to control.
In the very simplest terms bearing the fruit of the spirit of self-control is knowing “it is not about you!” and living with the knowledge that it is not about you.

Let me share 3 things that might help keep our self-importance under control
 Nothing is really yours… it was all given to you.
Psalm 24 and 1 Cor 10 remind us that
The earth is the LORD'S, and all it contains The world, and those who dwell in it.
One of the best examples is Job. He loses everything… everything he had is taken away and he complains to God. Actually, the language used is legal terminology metaphorically he files a lawsuit against God and hauls him into court.
Then in Chapter 38 god calls job on the witness stand.
38Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
2 ‘Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up your loins like a man,
   I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

4 ‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
   Tell me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
   Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
   or who laid its cornerstone
7 when the morning stars sang together
   and all the heavenly beings* shouted for joy?
How do you answer those questions… you don’t because God is God and we are god’s children.  We have to know our place and act like his children.
I saw a skit once at a youth event.
A young man was pretty proud of himself and his new car. God speaks to the young man in a dream saying you know that car is not yours.  It is mine and I am letting you use it.
The teenager argues that he bought it and God replies the money he had was not his but God’s and God was letting him use it.
He continues to argue that he earned it has his summer job. To which God replies, my summer job that I let you have.
The conversation goes on
My clothes? God says no my clothes that I let you use.
My family? God says no my family that I give to you as a gift.
Finally, the young man looks up sheepishly and says “my girlfriend?  God hesitates and says, “oh, she is your girlfriend, but remember she is my daughter.”
All those things that are important to you: the house, the boat, the job, the nice car, the money, the clothes, the collections. All those things we think are so important… it was all really on loan to us from God. Nothing is really yours.

In Luke 18, Jesus give us another lesson on controlling our self-importance
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
 In other words, God is not impressed by your resume. God is not impressed by what you do.
It is human nature to want to impress people. Face book is filled with pictures of the dinner someone prepared, the vacation we just took, the kitchen we just remodeled. It has announcements of promotions, the birth of babies, and weddings. If we have something nice we share it. There is nothing wrong with sharing it with our friends. Be very clear what we do does not make us who we are. And nothing we do… no matter how important we might think impresses god. 
Godsus was not impressed with the Pharisees resume, “I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.”  Jesus blows it off in favor of the man who made no claim to his personal achievements but threw himself on God’s mercy.
If I pray “OK God, listen to me because I’m the pastor of the best church in town or I have been on more mission trips than anyone I know.” God is not impressed. First that’s not my character, but second we a,re saved by faith, not by works and God is simply not impressed by what we do.

If we want to keep our self under control, we have to remember that
nothing we have is really ours,
nothing we do impresses God,
 And finally, we are merely passing thorough this life.
Isaiah 40 says all people are grass; their constancy is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
    surely the people are grass.8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.
We would like to think we leave a mark on the world, but the truth is most of us are lucky to make a difference for one or two people. We are hardly a blip on the course of history. We can make a world of difference to the people around us.  They will remember us, but honestly except for those few people whose lives I have touched the world won’t even notice when I die.
 If we were to take the whole history of the universe and compress it into one day with eh big bang starting at midnight.  The clock would pass noon and no humans, 6pm and no humans, 9 pm and no humans.  11 pm and no humans, 11:59 and still no humans.  It would be 11:59 and 56 seconds before humanity came into existence. Those 4 seconds represent the last 200,000 years.  None of us are even born the last1/1000 of a second.
The end of the creation story reminds us “from dust we came and to dust we shall return.” So from God’s perspective we a,re just passing through this short life.

 Now, I don’t want anyone to be depressed or discouraged. Because this is all part of God’s amazing love.  In spite of the fact that we have nothing, can’t do anything, and won’t be here for long… god loves us more than we can ever imagine.  To me looking at the great starry Milky Way and realizing how small I really am… how insignificant I really am… is part of what keeps control of myself.  Helps me with my self control. And remembering that God still loves me makes God’s love absolutely unbelievably amazing. And it is God’s love and only God’s love that makes us important.
The fruit of the spirit that is self control is not letting our self’s get out of control.
The fruit of the spirit of self control is knowing that it is not the ME or the SELF that is important in the New testament.  It is the “One anothers” “love one another”  “don’t judge one another." "Don’t put a stumbling block in the way for one another”  “build one another up”  and “live in harmony with one another … [and] welcome one another” . “bear one another’s burdens”  to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another”  and to “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ”  In sum, “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves” 
Not me, me, me, but one another, one another, one another.
Bear the fruit of the spirit that is self control… control of the importance of our self….and the practice of self control will naturally follow.
And you know what?  I for one would be glad to be even the armpit of the body of Christ.


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