For sermons and additional resources, visit STBARTS.COM.AU

WINTER WARMERS: RARE FRUIT IN A BROKEN WORLD (TALK 4/4: WINTER WARMERS: Self-Control)

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS CONNECT: How can you be more patient with yourself, with your neighbours and with God in the coming week?

WARM-UP Questions

1. Have you ever tried ‘blend in’ with people from another culture? How did you go? 2. What desires and appetites do you struggle to control the most in your life?

Read 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 3. What is the freedom that Paul is talking about in v.19? How is Paul free? 4. What drives Paul to become a slave to everyone? What responsibilities does his freedom bring? 5. 1 Corinthians 9 fits within a discussion Paul is having about eating meat sacrificed to idols. In your own

words what is his main idea with respect to sharing the gospel with people from other cultures? 6. What difficulties might people today come up against in telling people from other religions about Jesus? 7. What drives Paul to become all things to all people? Where does his self-control come from? 8. How could we use the freedoms we have, to share the blessings of the gospel with non-Christians?

Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 9. Why is Paul talking about sports all of a sudden? What is his main point? 10. Draw up a table comparing and contrasting the life of an athlete with the life of a disciple of Jesus. 11. How do people ‘run aimlessly’ in their lives (v.26)? Do you ever feel like your life is getting nowhere? 12. How does the gospel change the way we look at our lives, priorities and the sacrifices we make? 13. Why is Paul worried about being ‘disqualified for the prize’ in v.27? 14. What areas in your life do you need prayer for self-control in, that you might run your race well? 15. What have you learned about the fruit of the Spirit from the Winter Warmers series?

APPLY (this week): How can you and your small group keep each other accountable and encourage each other to exercise self-control and let the Holy Spirit bear fruit in your life?

PRAY: Father in Heaven, we praise and magnify your Holy Name. Thank you for the freedom we have in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Help us to use our freedoms to avoid sin and make disciples of Jesus Christ for your glory. Please help us to spur one another onto living self-controlled lives for Christ’s sake. Amen!

For sermons and additional resources, visit STBARTS.COM.AU

WINTER WARMERS: RARE FRUIT IN A BROKEN WORLD

(TALK 4/4: WINTER WARMERS: Self-Control)

GOING DEEPER RESOURCES Potential NEXT STEPS: 1000 Acts of Kindness Project

1. 1000 Acts of Kindness Project (in the month of July): Do something kind for someone, write it on some of the paper supplied, hang it on the tree at church.

2. Family Acts of Kindness Packs: St Bart's Kids want to make it easy for families to get practicing kindness, so they have produced packs of 30 cards (each with an act of kindness and a Bible verse).

3. Set self-control goals: As a small group or alongside a Christian you know and trust, set some self-control goals for the week/month ahead. Be realistic about your goals and be honest when you stuff up. Encourage one another to bear fruit by the Holy Spirit.

Children and Families • ‘Self-Control: Five Minute Family Devotional’ from Jelly Telly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7JEwTpdwzs&t=183s

Video & Audio • ‘The love that Captivates’ by Phillip Jensen: https://phillipjensen.com/sermons/the-love-that-

captivates/ • ‘Putting the Gospel first’ by Charlie Skrine: http://www.st-helens.org.uk/resources/media-

library/src/talk/52357/title/putting-the-gospel-first • ‘Jesus & Culture’ by Guy Mason: http://resources.cityonahill.com.au/resources/the-naked-

church/jesus-culture • ‘That by all mean I may win some’ by Don Carson:

https://resources.thegospelcoalition.org/library/that-by-all-means-i-might-win-some-en • ‘The fruit of self-control’ by R.C Sproul:

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/keeping_in_step_with_the_spirit/the-fruit-of-self-control/

Helpful Articles & Books • ‘Self-Control and the Power of Christ’ by David Mathis: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/self-

control-and-the-power-of-christ • ‘The one ingredient for Biblical Manhood’ by Thabiti Anyabwile:

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/the-one-ingredient-essential-to-biblical-manhood/

Talk 4/4 (WINTER WARMERS): 15/07/18 “Self-Control”

by the Rev’d David Browne

Bible Passage: 1 Corinthians 9:19-27

It’s our final week of the Winter Warmers series learning about the fruit of the Spirit:

• We’ve focussed on four rare fruit, looking at: • God’s kindness towards us and our call to share it with others, • The peace we enjoy with God through Jesus and our call to be peacemakers in the

world, • and last week our call to be patient in thought, word and deed by the power of the

Holy Spirit • Today we’ll look at self-control and focus on Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 9:19-27:

“Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.” (1 Corinthians 9:19)

• This passage comes in the context of an issue Paul is speaking into about whether it’s okay to eat meat sacrificed to idols.

• In doing so he defines the freedoms and responsibilities followers of Jesus enjoy and what self-control looks like in light of the good news - the Gospel.

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Today we’ll see how the Bible calls us to live lives captivated and controlled by God’s love.

We are:

• set free • to live free • so we keep our eyes on the prize and live self-controlled lives for the glory of God and for the sake of the world!

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#1Set free \\ 1 Cor 9:19-21

At the beginning of the week I asked my friends on Facebook what areas of their life they would like more self-control in. I was blown away with the response as people shared their struggles: food came up a few times, shopping was also popular, spending too much time on entertainment was another big one, and then there were things like struggling for self-control with people, lust, anger, and my personal favourite: “My mouth, what goes into it and what comes out of it”. It seems we struggle for self-control in many ways and dream that if we had self-control we’d find freedom!

Freedom was as highly sought in Paul’s Corinth as it is today • Corinth was a bustling port in Ancient Greece • It was a lively place where • Jewish merchants lived alongside Greek sailors and Roman soldiers; many became

rich and powerful from trade • New wealth brought opportunities to buy new freedoms and to what looked like the

good life !4

• Slaves bought freedom from their masters, sinners bought spiritual freedom in the temples, and rich people could buy Roman citizenship

• EVERYONE wanted more freedom It’s into this mix of power and freedom that a missionary named Paul sailed into Corinth and shared the freedom and joy of following Jesus

He told slaves, free-men, women, children, Jews, and Gentiles about the freedom that had been won for them just outside of Jerusalem a few years before • He told them about Jesus, the only man to live without bondage to sin • He told them that the punishment of God that their sins deserved had been poured

out on Jesus and that in dying for them an everlasting freedom had been won • He told them that this Jesus had not remained dead, in fact he’d risen and that death

and sin had no hold over him

The freedom Paul had to share was better than anything Corinth had for sale. From this news, a small church slowly began to form

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Paul’s missionary work, worked in Corinth because of the truth found in the freedom he had in Christ. Let’s look at v.20-21:

“To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s

law), so as to win those not having the law.” (1 Corinthians 9:20–21)

• Paul was so driven by this newfound freedom, so filled with the Spirit of God that he enslaved himself to the people to whom he ministered.

• Paul was born a Jew and lived like one when he was telling Jews about Jesus

• But he challenged many by living like a non-Jew when he shared the Gospel with them

• To many Jews this would have seemed like Paul was living a double life

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• For Paul even, who grew up thinking that eating with non-Jews was shameful, this would have taken self-control

• But he did it. Why? The answer is right there in v.20 and 21 - so as to win those under the law and those not under the law

• He had enslaved himself to others in order that he might help them find freedom in Christ

Paul was set free from the law of sin and death, the only thing that controlled him now was his love for God and people

• You and I are co-heirs of the freedom Paul enjoyed so what does it look like for us today?

• being a Christian still demands self-control

• Self-control to resist the desire to stay in our own little bubble, among ‘safe people’

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• and self-control to immerse ourselves in the lives of people around us without forgetting that we are under Christ’s law

• We are free to eat, socialise, and enjoy life with our non-Christians neighbours but we are not free to sin

• To use our freedoms to get drunk, lie, humiliate people or live against the Bible’s teaching is not freedom it’s slavery

• Paul reminds of this in v.21: “I am under Christ’s law”.

• We live in the world, but we are not of the world

• Missionary Hudson Taylor learned the power of this in China

• He learned to dress, eat and speak like the Chinese people he shared the gospel with

• People found this attractive because he showed them what being a Chinese Christian could look like and because he modelled self-control

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• He lived free from the sins and temptations that plagued the Chinese people and pointed them to Jesus

• Today there are four times more Christians in China than people in Australia, largely thanks to missionaries like Hudson Taylor

• To be set free is to follow Jesus who ate, drank and lived among those he came to save and who was tempted in every way we are and yet did not sin

To be set free is to humble ourselves and use the freedoms we have in Christ to serve others and help them receive God’s salvation

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#2 to live free \\ 1 Cor 9:22-23

In his book Humilitas, John Dickson tells the story of three boys who board a bus at night and see a man sitting at the back of the bus. They approach him and start to make fun of him but the man doesn’t react. Annoyed by this the boys become aggressive and swear at him. Suddenly the man stands up, he’s bigger than he looked sitting down. He hands them a business card and walks off the bus. They crowd round the business card eager to see who this man was: “Joe Louis - Professional Boxer”. Joe Louis would go on to become the World Heavyweight Champion from 1937 to 1949. His self-control saved lives that night.

We are set free by Christ to live free, the freedom we have in Christ is a freedom for something as much as it is a freedom from v.22-23 of our passage show us what living free looks like:

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“To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” (1 Corinthians 9:22–23)

Paul has already told us that he’s lived such a life as would enable him to share the gospel with those around him,

He’s winsome and he’s self-controlled,

He lives this way so that he might save people, for the sake of the gospel, that they might share in its blessings

• In Paul’s Corinth, there were two dominant approaches to life

• Stoics believed that suppressing your desires was the only path to self-control

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• All passions: every lust, desire, ambition, appetite or emotion had to be controlled and suppressed in order to live the good life

• On the other side there were the Stoics or Hedonists:

• Hedonists taught that the path to living the good life was to satisfy your desires.

• Ultimately these two ways of looking at control are still around today

• Today’s stoics believe in control, resisting urges and keeping rules.

• Today’s hedonists are people who believe in breaking rules and following your heart

• Paul had grown up as a Pharisee who believed that by keeping rules and suppressing desires he would please God, but it made him cruel

• One day he met Jesus on the way to kill Christians and was shown a better way

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• You see he knew how crushing trying to control your desires and being a stoic could be,

• and he saw how desperately trying to satisfy your every desire was maddening and enslaving

Paul discovered in Jesus a better way: the Gospel!

The problem with both stoicism and hedonism is that they look inward to find control, whereas the gospel points us upward to find true self-control

• We are not the centre of the universe: God is

• And we cannot satisfy our deepest desires or control them: only God can do that

• Paul found in the Gospel that freedom from sin and death was freedom in Christ to love God and love others

• Self-control is a gift from the Holy Spirit !13

• Empowered by the Holy Spirit Paul didn’t suppress or give into his desires; instead he channelled them into living for God

• He became all things to all people for the sake of the gospel in order to share how good it is to follow Jesus

• In channelling his desires towards God, his only desire became that others might share in the God’s blessings, and that his life would glorify the God to whom he owed everything

• Friends God sets us free that we might live free and live not for ourselves but for his glory

• Our goal in life should not be to suppress our desires or allow them control us

• Instead our goal should be to live free, to embrace the fullness of life found in Jesus and channel our every motivation into glorifying God and loving others

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#3 keep your eyes on the prize \\ 1 Cor 9:24-27

So we are set free, to live free: but the question is how do we do that?Paul’s answer is that we find Godly self-control as we keep our eyes on the prize(v.23)

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as

to get the prize.” (1 Corinthians 9:23–24)

• The Corinthians would have been familiar with the Ancient Olympic Games and held their own version - the Isthmian games

• These games featured races, wrestling, boxing and poetry competitions • Those who competed were full-time athletes who trained for ten months before a

competition and were disqualified if they didn’t train • Like Olympians today, athletes worked for hours everyday pushing their bodies and

minds to the limit • Diet, social life, family life, and even your spiritual life was strictly watched over by

your coach as you set your eyes on the prize

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Q: What was this prize? A: Well it was a crown of celery!

Paul notes much greater the prize found in the gospel is in v.25:

They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

• It might seem comical that these athletes worked so hard for a crown of vegetables but friends this verse should cause us to ask what are we doing with our lives?

• Are our lives and efforts all geared towards things that will eventually wear out: • PhDs, fame, looks, cars, bank accounts, houses, even statues won't last forever. • Paul warns us of the pitfalls of leading a pointless life in v.26:

I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.

• So often we think that self-control is about eating healthy, exercising, or working harder

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And while self-control like this can be a positive thing the self-control that we’re talking about today is much bigger

You and I are as prone to living pointless lives as the Corinthians were and that is why self-control is so important for us today • The Holy Spirit is the source of self-control and yet we are intimately involved • God wants to fill you and channel your every desire towards His wondrous

purposes for your life, for His Glory • That is what we are made for, a wonderful loving, glory sharing relationship • In this relationship we don’t lie down and let God control us • Instead like athletes in a gym we subject ourselves to training: • Self-control, and indeed all fruit of the Spirit, is like a muscle and needs to be

exercised regularly

Prayer, reading the Bible, and meeting together are all ways we bring our passions under the control of Christ

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Serving our neighbours, sharing the gospel with our friends, taking care of the weak and those in need is another vital way of building up self-control

When Paul says:

“I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”(1 Corinthians 9:27)

he isn’t stressing that he can lose his salvation by not being self-controlled. He’s saying his message is undermined if his life doesn’t point toward the prize he is living for

When we experience the goodness and power of the gospel in our lives and set our hearts on the fullness of life that Jesus offers now and into eternity, self-control is not a matter force but a matter of reaching out to God for grace, extending that grace to others and living with God at the forefront of our lives

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CONCLUSION \\

• Augustine of Hippo said: “Our hearts are restless O God until they find their rest in thee”

• In Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,

• self-control comes last because this is the virtue that will hold us together as a church, keep us from sin, and help us channel all we have into loving God and others

• In Christ we are set free, to live free, keeping our eyes on the prize that will ultimately bring us to our eternal resting place face to face with God

May our restless hearts be so satisfied in and captivated by Christ that our lives and communities are flooded with the fruit of the Spirit, leaving a legacy that lasts forever

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