SEVEN CARDINAL VIRTUES
SELF CONTROL
DR. JIM DIXON
JULY 8, 1990
GALATIANS 5:16-25, 2 PETER 1:5-7
In 1864, in New York City, at a rundown old hotel, in a very poor section of the city, a man’s body was found lying on the floor in a pool of blood. The man was an alcoholic and in a drunken stupor, he tripped and fallen against a bedside table. The gash in his skull was deep. They rushed him to the Bellevue Hospital. They tried to save his life, but they failed and the man died. The people, were really not that concerned because after all, they thought he was just another drunk, probably some nameless bum who had never accomplished anything and never would accomplish anything. Soon they discovered that this was an exceptional human being. This man who had died in this rundown hotel room at the age of 38, a hopeless alcoholic, was actually Stephen Collins Foster, one of the most beloved writers of songs in 19th century America. It was Stephen Collins Foster who had written My Old Kentucky Home, the state song of the State of Kentucky. If you’ve ever watched the Kentucky Derby, you know they play that song before every running of the Kentucky Derby and, of course, throughout the state of Kentucky.
It was Stephen Collins Foster who wrote Oh Susanna in the gold rush of California. The 49ers took this song as their favorite song. It was Stephen Collins Foster who wrote Beautiful Dreamer and Swanee River and Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair and many other favorites, hundreds of songs, many of them loved by the American people. When they found him in that hotel room, he had 38 cents in his pocket, one penny for every year he’d lived. He had a piece of paper on that paper. He had scribbled these words, “Dear friends and gentle hearts.” That was all. Perhaps he was writing another song, but he didn’t complete it. In fact, he didn’t complete any songs in those final few years because his life had been consumed and destroyed by alcohol.
We have a lot better understanding of alcoholism today. Medical doctors and those in the scientific community tell us that alcoholics are probably deficient in endorphins. Endorphins are morphine-like substances that are produced naturally in the body, found in the brain, in the nervous system. Endorphins enable people to cope with stress and pain and give people a sense of wellbeing. Many scientists and medical doctors now believe that alcoholics lack the normal number of endorphins, and they try to compensate. Through the use of alcohol, they try to overcome stress and pain to produce a sense of wellbeing. However, it doesn’t work because an abusive use of alcohol actually begins to destroy the number of endorphins that the body naturally produces. Instead, alcohol shrinks and decreases the endorphins so that the alcoholic needs to drink even more. It becomes a downward spiral into oblivion and ruin.
Scientists today tell us that a percentage of the population, perhaps 10 to 20%, are chemically predisposed towards alcoholism. Perhaps that helps to explain why 20 million Americans are alcoholics and hundreds of millions of people around the world. Today, from the perspective of our modern worldview, we would look back on Stephen Collins Foster, and we would say that he was a tragic victim of a disease called alcoholism. The old worldview in 1864 was very different. In fact, in 1864, the people didn’t even call Steven Collins foster an alcoholic. They called him a drunk, and his problem wasn’t a disease. His problem was in temperance. What he really needed, what he desperately needed, they would say was self-control. Now, certainly our modern worldview is more scientific, compassionate and loving. I must say on the whole it is the superior view. But biblically, this modern worldview is not adequate. Biblically, this modern worldview is not complete because you see, we are not simply victims.
We are not simply victims of our addictions. Certainly our addictions are strong. Certainly there are physiological factors in our addictions. And certainly we should show love and compassion to those people who are under the influence of addiction. But we are not simply victims of addiction. The Bible tells us that God has given us some measure of freedom. We have some measure of volition and autonomy. We are morally culpable. One day we will have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and we will have to give an account. God wants us to take some measure of responsibility for our lives and for our actions. If there ever was a generation in need of self-control, we are that generation.
We are a generation that is absolutely preoccupied with victimization. We view everyone as a victim. People who are sexually promiscuous, we now say they are victims of sexual addiction. People who overeat, we say they are victims of eating disorders. People are victims of drugs. They are victims of their upbringing. They are victims of their chemical imbalances and they are victims of their environment. Everybody’s a victim. And there is some measure of truth in all of this. But you see, ultimately, God says to us, you’ve got to take some responsibility for your life and that’s going to require some measure of self-control. There’s not a whole lot of self-control in this world and tragically even among Christians, so very little self-control.
I would like to suggest to you this morning that the reason we lack self-control is twofold. First of all, many of us as Christians lack self-control because we do not avail ourselves of the power of Jesus Christ. We simply do not avail ourselves to the power of God. A few weeks ago, as reported in the Denver Post, in the Rocky Mountain News and in newspapers all over America and around the world, it was announced by the scientific community that they had made a new discovery concerning our galaxy. They discovered a source of extraordinary power at the center of this Milky Way galaxy. Extraordinary power, incredible power, hideous power. Of course, astronomers are not really able to see the center of our galaxy, 25,000 light years from earth and the line of sight is blocked by star matter. But with these giant radio telescopes, they know there is something incredible there at the center of this galaxy, some amazing power. And just a few weeks ago, they announced that they believe this power at the center of our galaxy is a black hole.
There’s a black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, and they say that this black hole is just sucking space, debris and space matter into the abyss. They say that this black hole is devouring planets and stars. They say that this black hole is, is eating planets for breakfast and stars for lunch and entire solar systems for dinner, just sucking them into oblivion. They tell us that this black hole is actually between star meals right now, but they say it’s only a matter of time and more planets are going to fall prey. who knows how much of the galaxy is going to be sucked into this hideous strength.
God wants you to know that at the center of your life, there’s a black hole. God wants me to know at the center of my life, there’s a blackhole, and it’s called sin. It wants to suck us into oblivion. It entices us. It tempts us. It draws us. When it’s between meals, we don’t feel the tug so much, but when it’s mealtime, we can barely ward off the temptation. The tug sometimes feels so great, sometimes it feels like we just can’t resist and we’re sucked in to this black hole called sin. But if you’re a Christian, if you really believe in Jesus Christ, see the Bible says there’s a greater power that has come into your universe, a greater power than this black hole, a greater power than sin. That power is Jesus Christ and that power is the power of His Holy Spirit. The moment you first believed, the moment you said, Lord Jesus, come into my heart. The moment you invited him to sit on the throne of your life, in that moment, he brought that power within you. He brought himself within you by the person, through the person of the Holy Spirit. There’s power in you now, power greater than sin. I think sometimes we just can’t fathom the greatness of the power of Christ.
You know, on May 18th, 1980, Mount St. Helens exploded in the Cascade Range in the state of Washington. It’s been called the greatest demonstration of nature’s power witnessed by modern man. The top 1,300 feet of the mountain just blew into the air. It was an explosion equal to 10 million tons of TNT, 500 Hiroshima’s. Of course, most of the people had been evacuated long since evacuated, but 60 people still died, most of them from 300-degree temperatures radiating outward at 200 miles per hour. Can you imagine? And it seems like the volcanic ash went everywhere. 17 miles from the epicenter of the volcanic eruption, 150-foot Douglas fir trees were knocked to the ground. 17 miles away, 3.2 billion board feet of lumber destroyed, enough to build 200,000 3-bedroom homes. That’s power. But you see, biblically speaking, that power just pales when compared to the power of Jesus Christ. Do you realize the power of Christ within you?
You see in the Bible, there are two words for power. There is the word exousia, which refers to political power, governmental power, the power of kings. There is the word dunamis, which refers to raw spiritual power, the kind of power manifested at Mount St. Helens. Both of these words exousia and dunamis are applied in the Bible to the Son of God, Jesus Christ who has the ultimate power, governmental and simply raw physical power. He has ultimate governmental power because he is the King of kings and Lord of lords and one day all the nations of the earth are going to bow to him. And he has ultimate physical power because he formed the earth in the beginning, in the heavens of the works of his hands and even now, he sustains the universe by his word of power. I hope you understand that in that moment, you first believed he came into you, he sent the presence of his spirit within you. And all that power is actually there within you. But you see, you must avail yourself of his power. You must begin to invite and embrace the release of that power within you.
Biblically the word self-control is the word enkrateia which means strength within. The Bible tells us that as Christians, that self-control does not really come from us, but it comes from the power of God within us. Your strength is limited. You only have the strength of your will. And that’s limited. It’s important, but it’s limited. But when his strength, when his power is released within you, you truly have self-control. that’s the biblical concept of self-control. But you must release that power within you. Every time you read the Bible as a Christian, you release some measure of the power of Christ within you. The Bible says that word, if I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee, every time you read the scriptures, you release some major of his power in you for the purpose of self-control. Every time you pray, every time you get down on your knees and you pray, you release some measure of the power of Christ within you for the purpose of self-control. Every time you get together with a few other Christians who are truly committed to Jesus Christ, some measure of the power of Christ is released in you for the purpose of Self Control.
The Bible says that, as Christians, we actually need to ask for the release of his power within us. When was the last time you did that? Have you ever really asked Christ to release his power within you for the purpose of self-control? The Bible says, we have not because we ask not. The Bible says, how much more is he willing to give the spirit to those who seek him? And of course, sometimes if you’re really serious about sin, sometimes God would lead us to confess our sin to a few brothers or sisters in Christ in order that they might covenant to pray for us and to pray over us, perhaps even to lay hands on us that the power of God might be released in greater measure within us for the purpose of self-control. How serious are you about sin? Do you really want victory? Do you really want Christlikeness? Do you really want holiness? Do you really want to be able to stand against a world that has fallen? You must tap the power of Jesus Christ within you as a Christian.
Secondly, and finally, I think some Christians lack self-control simply because they’re not willing to pay the price. You see, there’s a certain suffering that’s involved in sanctification, certain pain that’s part of the pursuit of Christ-likeness. Whenever you exercise self-control, there’s a certain discomfort in that. Quite frankly, some Christians tragically are just not willing to pay the price and they would rather give in.
Last Wednesday, on the 4th of July, Barbara and I and our children, got together with some other family and friends, and we celebrated. We had a barbecue and we ate a lot of great food and it was a lot of fun. We went to the Bandimere Speedway, and saw crazy cars. There was one car with 3000 horsepower, it looked like it was about to experience meltdown. The Everly Brothers sang, and Dwayne Eddie played his guitar, then they shot off the fireworks and they filled the sky. It was really fun. I mean, it was a great time of celebration, but I hope you understand that July 4th, 1776 wasn’t like that at all. It wasn’t fun and it wasn’t a celebration. The Declaration of Independence was approved by a vote on July 2nd, and it was officially ratified by the second Continental Congress on July 4th. The United States of America was born. The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson with minor changes from Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. Fifty-six men ultimately signed that document. It wasn’t fun. It wasn’t even a celebration because they knew the price they were going to have to pay. They pledged their lives, they pledged their fortunes, they pledged their sacred honor.
The War for Independence continued for more than seven years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The War of Independence actually began almost a year before the Declaration of Independence had been ratified. On July 4th, the War of Independence was more than eight years long. There was Lexington and Concord in Trenton, Bunker Hill in Yorktown, many battles, victories, and defeats. Washington had to cross the Delaware River at Christmas time for the Battle of Trenton and had to survive the winner at Valley Forge with 10,000 troops. Many heroes came out of that struggle. James Monroe was shot in the shoulder at the Battle of Trenton. He went on to become the fifth president of the United States. Andrew Jackson, only thirteen years old, was taken captive at the battle of hanging rock. He was cut with a saber when he refused to polish a British general’s boots. He bore the scars the rest of his life and became the seventh president of the United States. George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, the first four presidents of this nation were all a part of that, eight-year struggle for independence. The price was great of the fifty-six who signed the document, many of them lost their homes, many of them died. They knew they were going to die, but they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
If you’re a Christian, you’re a citizen of the highest kingdom in all of creation. That kingdom is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is at war. It’s at war with evil. It’s at war with the powers of darkness. It’s at war with Satan. As a Christian, you seek independence from sin in your quest for Christ-likeness. You have many weapons in this struggle, but one of your weapons is self-control. But that weapon has a price. You got to be willing to pay the price, the suffering of sanctification. The Bible says, “Strive to supplement your faith with virtue. Virtue with knowledge, knowledge, with self-control.” The Bible says, make every effort. Every effort in the Greek word means strain and struggle. Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to struggle against a world that has gone wrong where there are so many temptations? Are you willing to pay a price? The Bible says in the book of Proverbs that a person without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls, A defenseless city. That’s what you’re like if you have no self-control. Here’s the exhortation of God this morning. Seek his power within and be willing to pay the price that you might honor Jesus Christ, all the days of your life. Let’s close with a word of prayer.