Author: Gary Witcher

Christian Walk: By the Spirit - Self Control

     As Christians, we must make every effort to walk in a certain pathway.  Following the Christian walk involves walking by the Spirit, as we read in Galatians 5:16 and 25.  The fruit of this Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
     We have already examined the first eight of these nine attributes.  The last one, self control, means power or lordship over oneself or something.  It represents an interior strength.  It involves being resolved and stable.  Self-control requires resistance, endurance and steadfastness.  It is the opposite of undisciplined.  This characteristic places the individual in control over every desire.  It may involve food, lust, coveting or even the tongue, as we note in James 3:1-12.
     According to the New Testament pattern, every local congregation that has qualified men is directed by a plurality of elders.  Depending on the translation of the original word and on what aspect of the position is being described, these men are called by different titles.  Elder and presbyter mean the same thing and refer to the qualifications for this position, especially the age.  Pastor means the same as shepherd, referring to the job done by these men.  Bishop or overseer or episcopos indicates the position of these men in the congregation.
     The passage that begins with Acts 20:17 uses the Greek form of all three to refer to the same group of men.  In verse 17 Paul calls together the presbyers or elders from Ephesus.  In verse 28 he says that these same men are the bishops or overseers.  The Greek word is "episcopos."  He goes on to say that they are the pastors or shepherds of the flock.
     According to the New Testament example, the preacher is not referred to as "pastor," since this is the proper title for another office.  Many preachers have usurped the position and consequently the title of the shepherds, but this is in violation of the New Testament.  In the New Testament, there is always a plurality of pastors or bishops over a single congregation, and no bishop is over more than one congregation.  There is no position above the local eldership except for the Head, Jesus Himself.
     Qualifications for this office are listed in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9.  It is interesting to note that all pastors must be men, and that all bishops must be married and have believing children.  What a mess the religious world has made of the simple New Testament pattern!
     The purpose behind this discussion is that elders or pastors or bishops or presbyters must have self-control.
     "An overseer, then, must be above reproach," Paul instructs in 1 Timothy 3:2, "the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach."  The word that is translated "temperate" refers to self-control.
     "For the overseer must be above reproach as God's steward," Paul states in Titus 1:7-8, "not self-willed, not quick tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled."
     This trait is also expected of older Christian men in general, as we learn from Titus 2:2.  In fact, all Christians must exercise self-control, as we find in Ephesians 5:15-20.
     Remember that self-control is the opposite of undisciplined.  Notice that the word "discipline" is related to the word "disciple."  So "undisciplined" is the same as not being a disciple.  Hebrews 12:7-13 points out the importance of discipline for a Christian.
     Self-discipline is not characteristic of men of depraved mind, as we read in 2 Timothy 3:2-5.
     "For men will be lovers of self," this passage warns, "lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather that lovers of God."
     Proverbs 23:17-21 calls those who lack self-control "sinners."

     When we face the many temptations of our lives, we have three choices.  We can practice self-indulgence, self-deprivation or self-control.  Our society chooses door number one, self-indulgence.  But what choice does God want us to make?
     "Beware," Jesus teaches in Luke 12:15, "and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions."
     "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" the Master cries out in Matthew 23:25.  "For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence."
     So self-indulgence is out.  That leaves self-deprivation and self-control.  Deprivation comes from the word "deprive."  So self-deprivation means to deprive oneself.
     "And I say to you," Jesus instructs in Matthew 19:9, "whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another commits adultery."  This teaching, which is still valid today, by the way, is so strict that the disciples decide the best approach would be self-deprivation.
     "If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry," they decide in verse 10.  But is this what Jesus is wanting?  Is avoiding a problem the same as dealing with one?
     The Jews had a complicated set of rules and restrictions to follow.  Although it might appear that these rules were designed to help them be more faithful to God, it is clear from passages such as Matthew chapter 23 that the real purpose was to do what they wanted to.  They practiced strict self-deprivation on things that had not been commanded by God in order to avoid doing what He HAD commanded.  Their self-deprivation was a screen for self-indulgence.
     "Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day," Paul writes in Colossians 2:16-23, "things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
     "Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.
     "If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 'Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!' (which all refer to things destined to perish with the using)-in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?
     "These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence."
     Notice Paul's reference to "commandments and teachings of men" and to "self-made religion."  Is one church as good as another?  But our point for the present discussion focuses on the idea of self-deprivation as opposed to self-control.
     In 1 Timothy 4:1-8 Paul describes another example of man-made religion based on self-deprivation.  "Men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods," Paul says of these people in verse 3.
     "But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women," Paul concludes in verse 7.  "On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness."
     Obviously, self-deprivation does not work.  Jesus discusses this in Matthew 15:7-11 and 17-20.
     It must be pointed out that, by rejecting self-deprivation, we are not opening the door to self-indulgence.  In fact, the results of self-deprivation and self-control are often the same.  The difference lies in the fact that self-deprivation places the undesirable action or object in control of our lives.  Self-control, by definition, places us in control of those actions and objects.
     "All things are lawful for me," Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:12, "but not all things are profitable.  All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything."  Other passages that discuss the proper exercise of self-control include 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, 9:15-27 and 10:23-33.
     According to Acts 24:25, self-control, along with righteousness and the coming judgment, were the three things that Paul discussed with the Roman governor Felix.
     2 Peter 1:5-11 teaches that knowledge produces self-control, which in turn leads to perseverance.  The knowledge that results in self-control is that which we gain from the Bible, that which we learn about Christ.  Self-control ultimately comes from giving up control of our lives to Jesus.  Some of the verses that point this out include Galatians 2:20, Galatians 6:14, Romans 6:5-23 and Ephesians 4:20-32.
     "Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh," 1 Peter 4:1-5 notes, "arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
     "For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lust, drunkenness, carousals, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.
     "And in all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excess of dissipation, and they malign you; but they shall give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead."
     God offers through His word the possibility of self-control and the accompanying freedom from sin.
     We will all give an account if we reject this truth that can set us free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."