The Challenge of Exercising Restraint Introduction: 2 Sundays ago I made the point that when we read N.T. scripture it becomes evident that the trajectory of N.T. believer’s lives was determined by an active waiting. The eager anticipation of the appearing of Jesus. They turned away from idols, from worshipping and pursuing earthly man-made gods and entered into a heavenly perspective. For these believers the waiting for Jesus’ return could be seen in a decidedly different lifestyle. It marked them as different. Today I want to unpack this a little further and begin to answer the question: What really does it look like to eagerly await? How are we to be living? I want to point us to a verse that is a summation of so much of what Jesus’ taught and the Apostle Paul taught about how to live in light of Jesus’ return. 1 Peter 4:7 “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.” “The end of all things is near.” A story unwound, a plot line completed, the end of a good story. Instruments, beautiful voices, the catchy tune, the ringing of the last note now only a whisper, the end of a song. The pink and orange fiery red of a setting sun, the doors locked and the shades pulled down the end of a day. The car parked now in the garage, the suitcase unloaded, the camping gear put away, the end of a road trip and camping excursion. The casket closed, documents signed, a family gathered together to remember, the end of someone’s life. The end: a point that marks the extent of something; the point where something ceases to exist; the cessation of a course of action, pursuit, or activity. A thousand endings in a lifetime. “The end of all things is near.” “All things” The earth’s rotation around the sun, the waves lapping against the shore, the clouds gathered by the wind into a storm, the baby born into this world, the migration of birds in the spring, “The end of all things is near.” The end of striving for athletic glory, planning of weddings, devising of war strategy. The end of managing assets, the end of organizing family gatherings, the end of seemingly endless preparing, cleaning up, putting away, taking down, protecting, developing, saving, savoring, working, providing, the end of all things. Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end. The return of Jesus Christ marks the end when the world as we know it will cease to exist. King Jesus. King Jesus with His legions of angels coming in power and holiness revealed. Holiness revealed. Over-powering. Beautiful. The advocating, actively antagonistic atheist bowing and confessing “Jesus Christ is Lord.” The most hateful, irreligious, immoral heart set against God, hating God, hating Jesus Christ, confessing “Jesus Christ is Lord.” Jesus Christ. The pearl of great price. The Prince of Peace. Wonderful Counselor. Lamb of God. Those who have loved Him in this life will marvel. We will marvel. Even in that moment the houses, the mothers, the fathers, the children, the spouses, the possessions, the health we gave up for His sake will be paid back 100x over just to see the face of the One for whom we exist. Every dream, desire, delight awakened now fully realized and satisfied even in the first moment of the eternity that is ours in the presence of King Jesus. “The end of all things is near.” “The end of all things is near.” The warm sun, the first buds on the tree in the back yard, the sun shining into the supper hour, spring is near. The impossibly large stomach, the kicking in the ribs, false labor, 9 months completed the day is near. Jesus Christ, the God of the universe, with us. Jesus the baby in the feeding trough, Jesus Christ taking our sin to the cross to set us free, Jesus Christ dying. The power of God raising Him from the dead. Victory over death, victory over sin, victory over the devil, Jesus’ ascent to God’s right hand the events prophecied, the promises fulfilled, the events signaling the last stage, the end drawing near. The words of Jesus, “Behold, I am coming soon.” Salvation is coming full term, the hopes, the longings, the great endurance, the faith, of God’s children through the millemiums, centuries and decades of history, completed, rewarded, fulfilled, in a day, the day of the Lord. Many things in our lives have been anticipated, looked forward to. They have drawn near, they have come, they have passed. What was once seemingly so distant is upon us, graduation from high school, our wedding day, our 40th birthday, 30th wedding anniversary, retirement, now only a year, a month, a week, away. “The end of all things is near.” The days are getting longer, time has changed, flowers are starting to bloom, my fingers are crossed and my toes would be if I could move them that the rain will dissipate, the grass will soon start to grow, Therefore, because spring is in the air, something awakens in us, our spirits brighten, we dust off the golf clubs, we service the lawn mower, we plant the flowers. “The end of all things is near.” Therefore: There cannot be a day wasted. Room cannot be made for carelessness. We cannot be anything but white hot full of zeal and fervor for Jesus. The phrase: “The end of all things is near.” is meant to disturb our complacency and make us face daily living with eternal values. Now is not the time to sleep. And so Peter commands us: “Therefore, be clear minded and self-controlled.” Here is the Webster’s 9th New Collegiate Dictionary definition of self-control, “Restraint exercised over one’s own impulses, emotions, or desires.” The title of this sermon: The Challenge of Practicing Restraint or the challenge of being clear minded and self-controlled. In Bible times when a town was established one of the most important projects in the establishing of the town, was the building of a wall around the town. The wall was for protection. It protected the people from wild animals, from marauding armies, from thieves and bandits. It did not confine them, or trap them inside to restrict their movement. But rather the wall freed them to move freely with out fear. It freed them to live and embrace life in all its fullness. To live with the security and protection needed to establish oneself, to grow a family. Proverbs 25:28 “Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.” Self control is a fruit of the Spirit that hems us in. It is like the wall around us that protects us. It protects us against bitterness, greed, envy, impatience, idolatry, addictions, obsessive behavior, strongholds of sin, apathy, spiritual lethargy. Is there a hole in your wall? A place where you give in over and over and over again? I like what Charles Stanley writes in Insight for Living: “Whether a tiny, barely-noticeable breach or a gaping gash, an unguarded opening can allow all your good intentions to drain out: We're late getting the kids to bed because we couldn't tear ourselves away from our favorite show. We're unhealthily overweight, and though we're rather uncomfortable and the doctor has warned us of the dangers, we down another bag of Oreos for a quick emotional fix. The credit card balance creeps higher and higher, but we go ahead and get one more pair of shoes or the new flat screen TV we can't afford. We planned to get up earlier to spend a few minutes alone with God, but we hit the snooze button.” "Easy financing," "zero down, zero interest," and "no payments until next year" The bucket of ice cream, the gossip overheard, the endless sexual immorality around us, the challenge of practicing restraint. When we step outside of the protection of self-control and do not practice restraint, we say things like this: “This is the way God has made me” or “This is just the way I am.” And what has happened is that sinful desires, impulses left unchecked have now become strong, pulsating, and seemingly impossible to control and we are now saying that these urges and desires are defining us and we have given up trying to restrain them. Good things are taken too far. Good things are given too much emphasis and priority. As we continue down this road we will no longer be useful to God. Our lives will no longer bring glory to Him. We will enter into complacency, we will lose our clarity on what is important, what is eternal, what matters in light of the truth that the end is near. 2 Timothy 4:5 “But you, keep your head in all situations,…” Conclusion: Self-control implies that our self produces desires and impulses that we should not satisfy or fulfill and so there is a battle. This is the tenacity with which we must fight it. Matthew 5:29 “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” Jesus is not talking about removing from ourselves everything that could possibly tempt us or has caused us to sin this would be impossible. What He is telling us is to stop at nothing to ensure that the wall of self-control is not breached giving sin a stronghold in our lives. Paul says the same thing 1 Corinthians 9:25-27 “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” We beat our body, every punch finds its mark. We take every thought captive, we curb every impulse, we keep our sinful desires in check and control our self that we might me controlled by the Holy Spirit. In the end the battle is engaged, the battle is won as we submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit. We must live by the Spirit’s control and we will live self-controlled lives. Self-control, practicing restraint is a huge challenge. What we lose when we let down our guard, when we think we are standing firm and fall is a closeness and connectedness with God. A quiet rest and trust in Him. We begin to drift into darkness. As Romans 13:13 describes we drift into sexual immorality, indulgence in sensuality; we live to experience pleasure through our senses of taste, touch, smell; to have the sensual experience is truly living: hot tubs, spas, rich food, exotic vacations; we begin to live for comfort and sensual pleasure; quarrelling, disagreements, contention, and jealousy become present in our lives. We must restrain our sinful impulses, urges, and desires to over-indulge, warping and misusing what God has given us, but do not restrain yourself in finding joy, delight and happiness in Jesus Christ. The Bible commands us in Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” The Bible commands us in Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Jesus taught us to lose our life so that we can find it. In Matthew 13:44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” Self control is a fruit of the Spirit that hems us in. It is like the wall around us that protects us. It protects us against bitterness, greed, envy, impatience, idolatry, addictions, obsessive behavior, strongholds of sin, apathy, spiritual lethargy that threaten to destroy our joy, our delight, our life in Jesus Christ. In his book, When God Whispers Your Name, Max Lucado writes: I choose self-control … I am a spiritual being. After this body is dead, my spirit will soar. I refuse to let what will rot, rule the eternal. I choose self-control. I will be drunk only by joy. I will be impassioned only by my faith. I will be influenced only by God. I will be taught only by Christ. I choose self-control. A young man has fallen in love with the woman of his dreams. She however must leave the country for many months. In her absence he thinks about her, he talks about her, and in his eager waiting for her return thinks about and talks about no OTHER woman and takes no other. He purifies himself. Christians are to be in love with the person of Jesus Christ. A person longing for his appearing keep themselves for Jesus. They take no OTHER gods. They do not fall in LOVE with this world. Donald Grey Barnhouse “Self-control is love holding the reins.” Because of their joy, delight and rejoicing in Jesus Christ. I believe that what elicits in us courageous resolve, steely endurance and a joy and hope that is palpable is the promise of the return of Jesus. 1 Peter 4:7 “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.” So you can be close to God and delight and rejoice in a relationship with Him. .