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Aug 17 '08
(A Series of Sermons on Building Character in Your Life)
Rev. Erik O. Garthe, Pastor - Edgemere Baptist Church
Message #7 ... August 17, 2008
“It Restrains Desires and Passions”
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
By his own admission, Josh Hamilton shouldn't have been at Yankee Stadium for the 2008 All-Star game. The fact is, he shouldn't even be alive, but there he was in the middle of baseball history hearing the crowd of 53,716 chant his name as he hit a record 28 home runs in the first round of the State Farm Home Run Derby. Hamilton was the first pick of the 1999 draft and scouts compared him to almost every other legendary player. Within just a few years though, the golden boy who entered professional baseball as straight as an arrow was suspended from the sport and living the life of an addict. He was consumed with nothing but alcohol and drugs. He hit rock bottom in 2005 when he showed up at his grandmother's house. She didn't initially recognize him as he'd lost 50 pounds, was covered with tattoos, his eyes were vacant and his voice was weak. The hurt and disappointment the 24-year-old saw in his grandmother's eyes was the turning point. He made a life-changing decision and loves to talk about what happened next. Hamilton says, "What I did was simple. I put God first in my life." He noted, "I finally realized my life wasn't about baseball. It's about being a good husband and father. It's about being responsible." Hamilton missed nearly three seasons of baseball while he spun out of control with substance abuse. When he decided to change, many were skeptical. He had to pull weeds and clean bathrooms at a minor league ballpark just to get permission to work out. Now, three years after that divine appointment with his grandmother, the Texas Ranger's centerfielder is leading the American League in RBIs, is third in home runs, and has the ninth highest batting average. He's been sober since October 5, 2005, stays away from situations with alcohol, has very strong accountability, feels blessed to have a restored marriage, and uses a Biblical strategy for battling temptation. His tattoo-covered arms remind him of a former life and how powerful temptation can be. He leans heavily on Scripture and regularly recites James 4:7. Hamilton says, "I've found if I remember Scripture, things go away." It's a picture of how Jesus handled temptation (Matthew 4:1-11). Josh Hamilton put on a show for the ages when he hit 20 more home runs than anyone else in the first round of the contest and hit 13 consecutive shots out of the park, but when all the lights went dark at Yankee Stadium, his perspective hadn't changed. The Christ-follower who got a second chance at life simply said, "I think I'm here for something more than baseball." [Houston Chronicle, 7/15/8, p.1C & C4; Beaumont Enterprise, 7/15/8, p.2C]
Read Matthew 5:39-30
29 "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. 30 "And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
Since losing one eye or one hand will not conquer lust, why did Jesus give such a command?
That command is not meant to be taken literally, but rather figuratively. If Jesus was trying to stop men from lusting, He would have instructed to remove both eyes. Yet, even if they didn’t have eyes, men would still lust in their hearts.
• Our eye is the “gate” through which we receive the images and signals that direct our hands and feet. And the right eye influences the entire body and is usually the dominant eye.
• When we lust with our eyes, we train them to focus on the delusions of immorality and we become spiritually blind to the realities of life. That blindness allows us to rush into sin, ignoring the consequences of our actions. See James 1:14–15
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
Jesus used this analogy to communicate the important truth that the damage we do to others and ourselves when we lust is far greater than any limitations that would come with the loss of a right eye or right hand.
Clay Crosse was at the top of the Christian music charts during the mid to late 1990s. He was living his dream, but a nightmare was lurking. His secret mistress of pornography was destroying him. He finally hit a wall during his 1998 concert in Savannah, Georgia when he could no longer hit those trademark high notes. After months of unsuccessfully finding any help, he began to believe there was a connection between his failing voice and his spiraling spiritual life. He turned to Chris Beatty, one of Nashville's top vocal coaches. Beatty surprised Crosse when he bypassed the physical concerns and first asked, "Clay, are you a man of God?" That led to Crosse finally dealing with the core issue of his sin and ultimately to his overall healing. Upon later reflection, Clay Crosse and his wife Renee acknowledged how they had opened the door to such darkness. Success had brought an air of superiority that led them to believe they were simply being "open-minded" about their entertainment choices rather than restricting themselves like "the legalists in the pews." They felt free to watch any movies regardless of the rating, but they didn't realize their low moral standards were taking a huge toll on their lives. The issues of pornography that enslaved Clay before marriage came raging back and continued to intensify until he lost his voice and was forced to deal with his heart. The brokenness of Clay and Renee Crosse has been redemptive. They have a strong battle plan for moral combat, have restored their marriage, are helping others by sharing their story, and have learned the hard lesson about never dropping your guard (1 Corinthians 10:12). [HomeLife, February 2007, p.19]
How do we teach our eyes not to lust? We have to fully dedicate our eyes, our hands, and our heart to the Lord. Then, we will be able to die daily to the lust.
i.e. If we make a covenant with our eyes, we can train them to see only as Jesus would.
The issue is self-control … which is instant obedience to the promptings of God’s Spirit.
o There Greek word translated self-control is egkrateia, which means “restraining and controlling one’s self.” It is the character quality of one who masters his desires and passions.
Self-control is the inward strength to bring all physical appetites under the control of the Holy Spirit.”
A related word is egkrateuomai, which describes the kind of self-discipline practiced by athletes who are intent on winning the prize.
In order to understand a character quality fully, it is sometimes helpful to contrast it to its opposite. The Biblical opposite of self-control is the word akrates. It means “powerless, incontinent,” i.e. unable to resist the desires and passions of human appetite.
A New Year's diet resolution didn't last long for one frustrated woman. She shared her discouragement with some friends to whom she had made herself accountable. She explained how she had made their family's favorite cake and they had eaten half of it. While everyone was gone for the day, she succumbed to temptation and, piece by piece, she ultimately ate the remaining half in one sitting. She knew her family would be disappointed in her lack of willpower when they got home and discovered the cake was gone so she devised a clever plan. She made another cake and ate half of it before her family returned. [Reader's Digest, December 2004, p.37]
Paul described this condition in Romans 7.
“15 … what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do ... 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice ... 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”
Self-control is essential for any believer who wants to excel in the Christian life and who wants to receive honor from the Lord. [See 1 Corinthians 9:24-27]
Paul used the analogy of a marathon for self-control:
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25a And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things.
Paul emphasized the eternal value of self-control:
25b … Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
In the 1960s, researchers at Stanford University ran the "marshmallow test." A researcher would tell a four-year-old the following: "I am leaving for a few minutes to run an errand, and you can have this marshmallow while I am gone, but if you wait until I return, you can have two marshmallows." After a dozen years they restudied the same children and found that those who had grabbed the single marshmallow tended to be more troubled as adolescents. The kids who wolfed down one marshmallow instead of waiting for two, scored an average of 210 points less on SAT tests. There is real and documented value to controlling and disciplining our desires. [U.S. News & World Report, Oct. 2, 1995, p. 88]
Scripture gives a clear sequence of spiritual steps that, when followed, produce self-control. See 2 Peter 1:4-6
4 “… having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control …”
a. When a person exercises faith and believes in Jesus Christ, he receives the Holy Spirit.
b. A new believer is given tests that require dying to self (natural inclinations) and produce character.
c. Each test provides new insights (knowledge) of the Lord.
d. Responding to the promptings of the Spirit produces self-control.
The apostle Paul desired to know this kind of walk with Christ, and was willing to go through whatever suffering was necessary to experience it.
See Philippians 3:8–10
8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
How Much Self-Control Do You Have?
Do you give more time to spiritual pursuits than to the pleasures of the world?
Do you bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ?
Do you acknowledge your weakness so you can experience the power of Christ?
Do you respond to each test of the Spirit by thanking God for His purposes?
Do you remove temptations to sin so you that you don’t fulfill them?
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