SELF-CONTROL

Galatians 5:19-26

John Maxwell

INTRODUCTION:

Turn with me to Galatians, Chapter 5 this morning. We have talked about the
different aspects of the fruit of the spirit that Paul gives us. Through the grace of God
and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can live an incredible life. Let’s start in Galatians
5:19 because Paul does a tremendous job of contrasting the Christian who lives in
the fruit of the spirit with the non-believer who lives by the fruit of the flesh. In this first
part, Paul describes people that are out of control, and the last aspect of the fruit of
the spirit we’re going to talk about today is self-control. And so we’re going to be able
to contrast the believer who has learned self-control and self-discipline, with the
person who has never been able to get their act together and their life under control.

"People’s desires make them give in to immoral ways, filthy thoughts, and shameful
deeds. They worship idols. They practice witchcraft, hate others and are hard to get
along with. People become jealous, angry, and selfish. They not only argue and
cause trouble, but they are envious. They get drunk, carry on at wild parties, and do
other evil things as well. I told you before and I’m telling you again; no one who does
these things will share in the blessings of God’s kingdom. God’s spirit makes us
loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. There
is no law against behaving in any of these ways. And because we belong to Christ,
we have killed our selfish feelings and desires. God’s spirit has given us life and so
we should follow the spirit. But don’t be conceited or make others jealous by claiming
to be more right than they are." Galatians 5:19-26

In my book, which was released last June, Developing The Leader Within You,
Chapter 9 is basically on self-discipline. I began that chapter by saying, "The first
victory that successful people ever achieve or win, is the victory over themselves."
The moment we begin to have victory over our own flesh and our own desires, and
become self-controlled, then all of a sudden we can become victorious over other
things in life.

The Greek root for the word self-control means "to get a hold of " or "to get a grip
on". Proverbs 25:28

It literally means to get your hands on something until you are in control of it. Today,
we’re going to talk about getting our hands on and getting control of
ourselves. Proverbs 25 states, "A man without self-control is as defenseless as a city
with broken down walls." We all know that cities when this was written were safe only
because of their walls. And the proverb writer says that the moment that we lose self-
control and self-discipline, we are a city without any kind of protection.

Anything uncontrolled can harm your relationships:

Anger (Proverbs 29:11) Drinking (Proverbs 23:29-35)

Lust (Proverbs 6:26) Ambition (Proverbs 23:4)

Spending (Proverbs 21:20)

"What we do upon some great occasion will probably depend upon what we already
are. And what we are will be the result of previous years of self-discipline." H.B.
London

I want to begin this message by giving you 5 very simple starters of living a self-
controlled, self-disciplined life. I think many times we take a character trait such as
self-discipline, and make it more difficult than it is. It’s very simple.

The "starters" of self-discipline:

1. Start with yourself.

"Looking back, my life seems to be one long obstacle course ... with me as the chief
obstacle. Jack Paar

No, that’s a little disgusting, isn’t it? Wouldn’t we rather start with someone else?
How many of you know somebody you really wish could hear this message? I’m
saying don’t start with your brother, your sister, your husband, your wife, your
neighbor, your dad, your mom, your kids; start with yourself.

D. L. Moody, that great evangelist of the last century was asked, "Of all the people
you come in contact with, who gives you the most trouble?" He said, "D. L. Moody. I
have the most trouble with myself."

Several years ago I saw a sign on an office door that was so good, I stopped and I
wrote it down. I knew some day I’d use it and I’m going to use it now. It said, "If you
could kick the person responsible for most of your troubles, you wouldn’t be able to
sit down for weeks." Start with yourself. I’ve got to start with myself. The whole issue
of self-control starts with self. This is a poem my father gave me when I was in high
school. This was a classic.

Your Competitor

An enemy I had, whose face I stoutly strove to know,

For hard he dogged my steps unseen wherever I did go,

My plans he balked, my aims he foiled,

He blocked my onward way.

When for some lofty goal I toiled, he grimly said to me, Nay.

One night I seized him and held him fast,

From him the veil did draw,

I looked upon his face at last and lo ... myself I saw.

2. Start early.
Self-discipline - The first lesson that ought to be learned, but usually the last.

In fact, the earlier the better. I consider self-discipline the most important part of a
person’s character. It will give them the success and help them reach the highest
potential that they can possibly reach. So I would encourage you to start early.

Much to my regret as a child, my father started early on me. I can still remember him
giving my brother, my sister, and me our chores for the week. Now some of them I
had to do every day, but some were once a week deals and I could pick when I did
them. For example, my job every week was to clean the basement. When I moved
out on the West Coast and found they don’t have basements out here, I wished that
I’d grown up out here. But I would’ve been cleaning the garage or something else.

I can remember my dad saying, "John, you can clean the basement any day during
the week, but at Saturday noon, inspection time comes. And it must be clean. On
Saturday afternoon we’re going to go do something as a family. Maybe we’ll swim, or
picnic. Something fun for you kids. But if the basement’s not clean you’ll miss out on
the fun."

And I could remember the very first time when I messed around and goofed off as
kids do, and Saturday noon came and I didn’t have the basement cleaned. They
were all ready to go, and I’m all ready to get in the car and dad says, "You don’t get
to go. You didn’t get the basement clean." I remember I stood there at the door and
watched the family leave to go have fun. I’ve got to go down and clean that lousy
basement. Why was it that I had a father that hated me so much? Oh, life was
complicated and times were tough, and why couldn’t I have some undisciplined jerk
for a dad who wouldn’t require anything out of me?

My dad had a favorite expression that he used to teach about prioritizing our life:
"Pay now, play later." And he’d say, "Kids, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Somebody always pays for it. If you pay on the front end and work hard, which may
mean in your homework, your chores, your marriage, your relationship with God,
then you can play on the back end. You can really enjoy life. Or, if you want to, you
can play on the front end." What he always taught us is that whether you play on the
front end or on the back end, there will be a time when you pay. If you play on the
front end, you’ll pay some day in your life. You may wake up and say, "Good night,
I’m not the father I wanted to be. My kids aren’t what I wanted them to be. Uh-oh, life
exacts a payment from me."

My friend, Bill Klassen, is a member of our church and prayer partner of mine. One
day, when he heard me telling this illustration, he said, "John, if you pay later in life,
the price is greater." And I thought, how true that is. This is one thing I would say to
those who are young. If you learn self-discipline early, it is amazing the dividends it
will pay later in life.