The Discipline of Self-Control - Charles R. Swindoll

you're listening to dallas theological seminaries chapel podcast i was trying to count up how many times i've had the privilege and the responsibility of introducing our speaker especially in these last seven years since he left the presidency to assume the role of Chancellor and how do you introduce somebody for the 28th or the 29th time Chuck has been a blessing to the church through his own grace awakening his intimacy with the Almighty in his wrestling with the mystery of God's will he's been influenced by the great lives whose characters he has profiled the likes of which include David and Elijah Esther Joseph Moses Paul some of easily forgotten lives and last but not least the greatest life of all in his book called Jesus when he opens the word to us dr. swindle helps all of us move toward improving our serve dropping our guard strengthening our grip flying closer to the flame getting through the tough stuff living on the ragged edge above the level of mediocrity and beyond the daily grind all the while growing deep in our Christian life why is in family life and strong in the different seasons of life to mention just a few of his contributions to our lives through his writing and his speaking Chuck for your influence on the body of Christ we're thankful we're also grateful for your continuing impact upon our ministry here at DTS would you help me welcome our fourth president of Dallas seminary and now our Chancellor our beloved dr. Charles window thank you good morning I want to welcome all of our of potential students here to the hot in humid city of Dallas Texas and you can tell already that things you hear about this the city just as you will hear about the school are not always true and I thought because most of you are probably not from Texas you might appreciate a little cowboy wisdom which you hear out in West Texas but you often don't hear up here in North Texas I've got a good friend that sleeps with his boots on and never once in a while he sends me stuff that's worth using in the pulpit often he sends me things I'm not able to use in a pulpit but that's another subject here's some cowboy advice for all of us and as is true in most cases there's a double meaning in a lot of them so don't miss that don't ever name a pig you plan to eat that's a little cowboy wisdom there keep skunks and lawyers at a distance from you life is simpler when you plow around the stump it's a good one for us entering ministry here meanness don't happen overnight forgive your enemies it messes with their heads don't sell your mule to buy a plow when your wallet with plinth with pigs expect to get dirty don't squat with your Spurs on I like this one timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance the easiest way to eat crow is while it's warm cold crow is hard to swallow if you find yourself in a hole stop digging it don't take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep if you get to thinking you're a person of influence try ordering somebody else's dog around only cows know why they stampede always drink upstream from the herd letting the cat out of the bag is a whole lot easier than try to put it back in yeah if it don't seem like it's worth the effort it probably ain't they brought they bring me in here to liven things up a little on occasion you notice gets pretty stuffy around this place they got new shirts did you notice a new shirt look like a bunch of auto mechanics up here I checked dr. Pentecost and he and wearing ones that's it that tells you a lot right there one of my favorite of all the cowboy pieces of advice is never miss a chance to shut up isn't that good so I want to talk to you about the your number one troublemaker and it's the person you look at in the mirror every morning because that's the person that's going to make it the most difficult for you in the years that are ahead in ministry even though there may not be many people around you except those you're married to who will tell you the truth about that individual but God's Word has a wonderful way of just focusing in on the problem and one of the main ones that we all struggle with is one of those that will get you out of the ministry faster than probably anything else I could name and that's the lack of the discipline of self-control and when I mentioned discipline I understand there's sort of a chill that goes over us because nobody likes it I always like Tom Landry's words regarding his goal as a coach by the way I've never been a cowboy fan I've always been a Tom Landry fan and when he when they shoved him off and brought in Jay Jay and the clowns and that whole a bunch of people that now run the club it took a real nosedive and it's never been quite the same that Landry used to say my job as a coach is to get men to do what they do not enjoy doing in order that they might achieve what they have always dreamed of in their lives and of course he then follows that with the word discipline discipline there's nothing cute or easy or funny about discipline especially when it comes to the subject of self-control and I think to deal with it is to start where the problem is and that is taking a look inside and we're going to look at a several sections of the New Testament and one of them is Romans chapter 7 so if you brought your Bible turn to Romans 7 if you didn't bring your Bible what are you doing in a seminary Chapel is Dallas Texas Romans chapters Celeste you got it memorized and then you're a step ahead of the rest of us but look at Romans 7 verse 18 I don't know more of a more descriptive explanation of why we need to address the discipline of self-control than what we're going to read right here look at verse 7 at verse 18 for I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh for the wishing is present in me but the doing of the good is not for the good that I wish I do not do but I practice the very evil that I do not wish but if I'm doing the very thing I do not wish I'm no longer the one doing it but sin which dwells in me I find then the principle that evil is present in me the one who wishes to do good now listen to the message from Eugene Peterson is he paraphrases it what I don't understand about myself is that I decide one way but then I act another doing things I absolutely despise I realize that I don't have what it takes I can will it but I can't do it I decide to do good but I don't really do it I decide not to do bad but then I do it anyway no decisions sir correction my decisions don't result in actions something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time that's me now I want to hear you say that here we go nice and loud that's me I won't hear the faculty say that okay no kidding let's hear the faculty that's me I'm going to tell you that's me I'm all over the Romans seven-page I don't want you to ever ever forget that no matter how many degrees you earn in the future or have already earned no matter how gifted or significantly God may use you that is you and that is me and that's everybody that draws a breath on this planet don't ever ever forget that that's us fritzsche Ridenhour in his great little book on Romans how to be Christian without being religious handles it this way what's your problem temper impatience sex being honest self-control your thought life everyone has skeletons Tennyson that don't always stay in the closet you want to do right but you do wrong you you want to choose obedience but you choose sin sometimes you'd almost swear you were a split personality a walking Civil War get your pen handy I'm going to give you a proverb that goes right alongside these verses in Romans chapter 7 in your pen handy write down proverbs 25 28 25 28 like a city that is broken into and without walls it's a man who has no control over his spirit like a city that's broken into without walls that's why the ancient cities first built the wall a la Nehemiah and that great story and then the city is populated and was defended and grew and found safety and protection but the wall that's missing is the wall of self-control and when it's broken into when there isn't a wall your self your flesh kicks in and it will happen in your ministry more times than you even want to imagine or you even want to think about this morning as you who have your ministry all in front of you and we who have more of our ministry behind us we can just stop and remember times and we think why on earth did I say that when I said that why on earth did I act that way when I knew better and and the the toll it took and in some cases me months to recover because of a lack of self-control now let's go further look at Galatians chapter 5 having admitted that's me let me show you what me looks like without the wall and take away the work of the Holy Spirit let's just go with the flesh the stuff you're born with your way of thinking your will your impulses let's look here at the outcropping of the flesh 16 reeds in Galatians 5 I say walk by the spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh look at the next verse you talk about descriptive for the flesh sets its desire against the spirit capital s appropriately the flesh the Sark's within us does battle against the the Spirit of God who dwells within us and the spirit against the flesh for these are in opposition to one another so that you may not do the things that you please is a debt the truth the things that I please are usually the wrong things and you'll find that true as well you already have somebody says something it's kind of nasty or kind of ornery and it and it kicks you off or sends you into that retaliatory mentality you you're very quick to come back with a line that's even better and puts him down even worse lady astor said to Churchill if I were your wife I I would just take my life he said to her if I were your husband I'd give you the arsenic that'd be great when you say what you please you say the wrong thing so you can't do that well how can I stop doing it I just admitted in Romans chapter 7 that that's me and if you want to see me in full display hang on verse 19 the deeds of the flesh are evident immorality impurity sensuality idolatry sorcery enmity strife jealousy outbursts of anger disputes dissensions I'm going to talk on by the way my talk on Romans 16:17 2:20 on Sunday and it's the only other place where the word in the in the original appears that's rendered dissensions and it that whole section is about dealing with with a very difficult people sometime the difficult person in the church is the pastor sometimes the difficult person in the ministry is the elder or the deacon sometime it's a handful of the of the sheep and what's and what they're known for is dissensions I'm calling it by the way Bors in God's vineyard comes from the 16th century statement that the Pope said against Luther when she referred to Luther when he refers she when he referred to Luther as being a bore that was ravaging ravaging the vineyard God's vineyard the Pope got it wrong Luther was like a prophet out of time as we look back we see it all but as the Pope saw it Luther was a wild boar causing dissension in the ranks and all he was doing was exposing the corruption of the established church dissensions factions envying drunkenness carousing and things like these isn't it interesting that Paul would add that it's not a throwaway part of the verse it's a significant part in other words there's another five pages he could name he could list the stuff that you and I struggle with and your struggle isn't mine most likely mine isn't he is and his isn't hers and such things as these things like these one person renders it this way it's obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time repetitive loveless cheap sex a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness trinket God's magic show religion paranoid loneliness cutthroat competition all-consuming yet never satisfied wants a brutal temper and impotence to love and to be loved divided homes and divided lives small-minded lopsided pursuits the vicious habit of deep personalizing everyone into a rival uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions ugly parodies of community I could go on and on that's the flesh that's you and that's me dress us up however you wish tuxedo or pajamas that's who we are on guard or unguarded that's who we are and you'll never be what you should be till the rapture never are you going to be any better in the flesh love the old song that ends then we shall be where we would be then we shall be what we should be things that are not now nor could be soon shall be our own sounds like a tongue-twister the stuff that makes up life as it really is as ugly as it is will not change and will not get educated beyond effectiveness all the theology you tuck away in your brains will not dress up the flesh it's still as ugly as ugly as sin now that's a pretty pathetic place to go it's what john stott calls an ugly catalogue of the works of the flesh he's right on that's what this is here that's what this is about but thank God it doesn't end there thank God the Lord doesn't say now just do your best and wear a cross around your neck and tell people about Jesus and I'll bless it no no that's not it at all we are helpless unless the passage continues with but the fruit of the Spirit look how great that if that is like the rescue when a sinking ship the fruit of the Spirit is love joy and peace and patience and don't stop reading what a great list kindness and goodness and faithfulness and love the next one gentleness self-control there it is thank goodness we don't stop reading it at the at the 20th verse 21st verse we'd all be sunk self-controlled you see it the fruit of the Spirit when the Spirit is an operation when we this is spiritual life 101 Dallas seminary for me 1959 as I said my mouth was open as I heard this the scoop about the work of the Spirit and when he is in control he can he can he not can he does he dominates the flesh if I have a if I have a loose tongue when the spirits in control there's verbal restraint if I if I have a temper when the spirit is in control I have anger restraint if I have struggling if I struggle with wandering thoughts the spirit in control brings mental restraint if I lust in the spirit is in control there is moral restraint and I find myself saying swindoll you're better than that you're a child of the king you don't need that that's the spirit speaking you're my vessel unto honor when I am tempted to dominate others in the spirit as in control it is power restraint and I deliberately hold back I deliberately do not attempt to control another person's life I don't care how many years in ministry I deliberately under the spirits control let them learn and let them grow and encourage them in the process rather than try to intimidate or take over their lives the old books of yesteryear would call this them the mastery of self that's the work of the spirit now let's wind up in 1st Corinthians 9 okay we looked at Romans 7 we we saw this is me we then got into Galatians 5 and got it spelled out and it it didn't get any better and then we get to first Corinthians 9 and we see when the spirits in control what a difference he makes and please listen to me please listen today you who are still at the school and you who are looking at the school please listen to me the difference in us in a in a magnificent seminary education and one you just tolerate and get through with it is all about this spirit is in control the whole attitude is transformed I saying you'll make great grades you may you may struggle to make your grades has nothing to do with the call and your effectiveness in ministry you get through the school because the truth of the school gets through you as the spirit controls that the profs don't become people in competition with each other or want to be compared to another they become instruments of God to instruct and to correct and clarify and and even confront when the spirit is in control your heart is saying just teach me without this instruction I will lack so much now we're in 1st Corinthians 9 and Paul is a Jew by birth but he's a Greek when it comes to being a sports fan he loved the Isthmian game the corinthian games i know that having never met him because so many of the of his word pictures revolve around athletics and they really do when you get down here to verse 24 of 1st corinthians 9 he begins with a question do you not know that those who run in a race everybody runs but only one crosses the tape first only one receives the prize in a race everybody runs one wins so that immediately gets your attention who wins how you win this race by the way it's a race run in a depraved world it's a race one with a depraved nature it's a race one where every friend of yours is depraved it's a race that's run when the church is filled with sinners just like the one the pulpit it's a it's a race that goes on against all odds but none of them overwhelming the power of the Spirit the work of Christ in your life in your heart in your mind everyone who competes in the games look closely exercise is self-control in all things don't rush on to the last part in other words if you plan to be one of the winners in this race coming through without last word in the text being disqualified you operate under the spirits control and as you do self control kicks in it's one of the fruit of the Spirit that's how you love like you want to love my wife just had foot surgery and she had three toes and her left foot I'd something thing and her left foot broken and the big toe the next toe in the next one I'm sure she'll be thrilled that I'm announcing the day to everybody she had three toes broken on her foot but all of this was designed to teach her husband about loving her so she can't get around and as she wears a big boot and she's got those toes sticking out there and they got little happy faces on the end of orthopedic surgeons or weird people paint little funny faces on the toes and look at those little toes she needs ice on her leg and she needs a blanket over her when she's sitting with it with the foot up and she can't get around like she normally gets around and I'm the cook you need to pray for my wife to make it through these things I've been serving her they don't look like you think they ought to look I had to say to her the other day that's meatloaf taken by faith heads I didn't how to make a loaf so it looked a little like a saucer kind of a pizza I thought meatloaf just turned out meatloaf but I'm learning anyway anyway uh she said to me last night when we're getting ready to turn the light off and she was all propped up and I had three pillows and had to ice go in and had covers on her and turn the light out last words I heard were I love you sweetheart my god after fifty-two years that fantastic I don't get any credit for that I don't like putting ice on her leg I I don't like making meatloaf and she likes eating it less than I like making it in but she says to me I love you and I thought as I sunk into my little recliner right there by her thank you Lord for doing it in my life there's nothing in me that would make me that thoughtful I'm all the things you read in that list but I want to win a race so I say to the Lord every morning teach me through this help me understand one that can't do what she normally does I read about another kind of husband I didn't I wasn't going to use it right here you think online but I really mean that I thought I'm gonna read this to them right now when the power more was broken and wouldn't run this woman says I kept hinting to my husband that he ought to get it fixed somehow the message never sank in finally is this so like a wife I thought of a clever way to make the point when my husband arrived home that day he found me seated in the tall grass busily snipping away with a tiny pair of sewing scissors didn't say a word he watched for a short time when in the house he was gone only a few minutes when he came back out and said as he handed me a toothbrush when you finished cutting the grass you might as well sweep the sidewalk maybe he will be just fine when they take the cast's off I just remember my wife has a big boot on in that that's a good reminder there now what's interesting here is that all of these people running in races do it to get a prize and that prize gets tarnished I don't care if it's gold or silver or bronze in those days it was an ivy wreath and a big round bronze plaque that went into the wall of the city where they came from and tax freedom and all of that but all that tarnished they do it to receive a perishable wreath we an imperishable therefore I run but you'll love that single pronoun I run in such a way is not without aim i box in such a way as not beating the air I buff it my body in that great he's putting himself on the line I buff it my body means to make black and blue on the face under the eyes I punch myself I get up early I go at it hard what I'm tempted to eat too much I say no thanks when I'm tempted to look at the wrong direction I stop I buff it my body make it my slave boy that's a great Greek term I won't even go in to ask dr. Hohner he he wrote a book on his visions it got to have a wheelbarrow to heaven your library I will mine in the other day like that thick can you imagine what he can do with this Greek word make it my slave less possibly after I preached to others i myself should be disqualified whoa that's what we don't want we got enough of those the last three lifetimes don't be one of those don't be one of those okay if you do send us back your diploma okay just be man or woman enough to say I earn this but I don't have a right to hang it on my wall by golly I'll hold it's cutting things ah tightly this is the ministry I'm sick of the world taking their shots at us neighbours rolling their eyes oh you're one of those what's the matter they've been reading the media they've been listening the nonsense they have been reading first Corinthians 9 let's make a difference it takes self-control the discipline of self-control I know what I'm talking about is there anything worse to live with in the ministry than being disqualified now's your chance to determine by the grace of God I won't be one of them Lord God you're the one who's called us you're the one who made us like we are you chose not to take away our old nature you deliberately left that nature even though you sent that magnificent person of the Godhead our sovereign spirit to live within us to win the Civil War one moment at a time I pray father that that that race that we have begun that we will end with honor humble honor to the glory of our Savior Jesus Christ by the power of his spirit and everyone said amen

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

Views: 246,171

Rating: 4.7914371 out of 5

Keywords: self-control, christian living, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dr. Charles Swindoll

Id: OElbuNU_PnQ

Length: 37min 25sec (2245 seconds)

Published: Tue May 15 2012