Oakbrook Evangelical Free Church

Powerpoint PDF: Controlled or Out of Control

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(strongly recommend for listening along with sermon MP3)

Introduction:

Review

ASPIRATION (oregetai/ epithumei)

What do you want to become?

Who am I trying to please?

Who am I trying to measure up to?

No matter how many times you’ve tried and failed.

No matter how frustrated you’ve been.

Now is another time to think about the qualities God wants to build into every man’s life. This is a time when you can reflect on and evaluate where you are in the process of growing up spiritually.

Surrounded by fallible models that will let us down. Unreliable

Or not having any model.

Left to live our way into our own profile. We need an objective model.

Context:

~ False teachers

~ Fighting the good fight

~ Taking spiritual initiative and leadership.

Qualities of Godliness – Paul’s Maturity Profile

1. Reputation - IRREPROACHABILITY (anepilempton)

2. Moral Purity - one woman’s man / one man’s woman

3. Living a Balanced Life - “TEMPERATE (nephalion)

The standard is balance

Does not go to extremes

He is focused

Not overwhelmed by trying to do too much.

Not obsessed with things.

Stories:

Breaking the horse or being broken?

Learning to downhill ski…but at what price?

Learning to slalom – yea,right!

Communication that spirals out of control…

Finances that gradually eat you alive.

Discouragment…depression…eating / drinking / gambling / gaming

I. Self-controlled

3:2 “. . . sensible . . .” SENSIBLE, PRUDENT, REASONABLE (sophrona) The word is used only here and Titus 1:8 of bishops, and 2:2 of older men, and 2:5 of younger women.

“Prudent” (Gr. sothron, v. 2; cf. Titus 2:5) means self-controlled (NIV),

and the same Greek word reads “sensible” in Titus 1:8.

“Such a man, such a bishop, will not speak rashly, will be a person of sound judgment, will be master of himself, and of his situation.”

It is related to sophroneo which means to be of a sound mind — like the demoniac after he was healed (Mk. 5:15). The basic idea seems to be having good judgment, which implies seeing things as they really are, knowing yourself well, and understanding people and how they respond. We might say “being in touch with your feelings” or being in touch with reality so that there are no great gaps between what you see in yourself and what others do.

1:8 “. . . self-controlled. . .” SELF-CONTROL (egkrate)

The focus here is especially on sexual self-control. He should not be in the grip of lust. He should not toy with pornography. He should be utterly faithful to his wife.

Getting Control of Yourself

1. Begins with a decision

1 Peter 4:2-3 “so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. “The time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.” ESV

Galatians 5:13 “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” ESV

Yes, you will have to renew this decision over and over.

No different than any other love relationship!

2. The weakness of human will

Mark 14:38 “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”” ESV

Romans 7:14-24 “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. “Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. “So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. “Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. “For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, “but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” ESV

3. The need for being controlled by the Spirit

Matthew 6:13 “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” ESV

Romans 8:5-7 “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. “To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.” ESV

Galatians 5:16-17 “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” ESV

Galatians 6:8 “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” ESV

4. Take account and keep a log

Spiraling conversations – is there a pattern? Are their triggers?

Can you begin to be forewarned?

Take an audit

Track your progress

Use a “to do” list

5. Learn to spring broad off of periods of renewal!

Titus 3:5 “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,” ESV

Colossians 3:10-11 “and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” ESV

2 Corinthians 4:16 “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.” ESV

Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” ESV

Ephesians 4:23 “and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,” ESV

6. the absolute necessity of using the buddy system!

You will under-perform without a committed partner!

Seabiscuit
Seabiscuit was one of the most remarkable Thoroughbred racehorses in history. From 1936 to 1940, 1938 Horse of the Year
Earnings: $437,730 ($5.6 million in 2002 dollars)

The first horse to top $400,000 in winnings, this grandson of Man o’ War was a hard-luck hero for Depression-era America. An unlikely winner with short legs, perpetually-bent knees, and an oddball gait, Seabiscuit became a national celebrity. In six years of triumphs and disasters, Seabiscuit compiled 33 wins, 15 second places, and 13 thirds in an incredible 89 races.

A Underdog Who Triumphed
Fans, struggling to survive in their day-to-day lives, might have identified with the horse because of his underdog status. His stance was not regal; his body was rather low-slung. He had an awkward-looking gait. He had been mistreated as a young horse, raced and whipped too often, treatment which had turned him into an under-achiever and a steady loser. He had his greatest success at a relatively old age, another reason for fans to embrace him. He also had what many thought would be a career-ending accident. Still, Seabiscuit came back to win the Santa Anita Handicap with his jockey Says Gene Smith: “This is the story of every happy-ending fairytale that Mother read to us when we were in the nursery. And to a depression-ridden, anxious, frightened nation, it must have come like a great sunrise.”

He had an awkward gait but ran with dominating speed; he was mild-mannered yet fiercely competitive; and he was stubborn until he became compliant. His inferior performances as a young racehorse

Not Regal
descended from the legendary Man o’ War through his handsome son Hard Tack, Seabiscuit seemed to have little in common

His body was thick, his legs were stubby, and his tail was stunted. His left foreleg jabbed out wildly when he ran; some called the motion an “eggbeater gait.”

Lazy
Worse still, as a young horse, he had shown little interest in running at full speed. “He was lazy,” asserted James Fitzsimmons, Seabiscuit’s first trainer, “dead lazy.” In retrospect, it appears the horse’s poor performance and attitude had more to do with the way he was treated than with his ability or character. As a three year old, the horse had run in 43 races, more than many Thoroughbreds complete in an entire career. To get him to achieve the speed they suspected he had, riders whipped him liberally.

Now studies have show that when teamed up we do better / or worse

Running buddies – pick them well.

Accountability partners

II. Respectable

3:2 “. . . dignified . . .” RESPECTABLE, HONORABLE, (kosmios)

The idea is one of not offending against propriety. A person who comports himself in situations so as not to step on toes unnecessarily.

Not about ideas and principles / about behavior (gas / jokes / dress)

“Respectable” (Gr. kosmios, v. 2) means orderly, of good behavior,

dignified and decent in his conduct. Some translators rendered the

same Greek word “modest” in 2:9.

A sense of propriety!

Boys will be boys! But men should be men.

When I was a child I thought like a child, reasoned as a child

and behaved as a child.

When I became a man I put off childish things!

III. Hospitable

3:2 “. . . hospitable . . .” HOSPITABLE (philoxenon)

One who loves strangers, that is who is given to being kind to newcomers and makes them feel at home. A person whose home is open for ministry and who does not shrink back from having guests. Not a secretive person.

6. “Hospitable” (Gr. philoxenos, v. 2) means one who opens his home to others. This was an especially essential quality in the early church.

There were few public accommodations for traveling ministers and much need to take in needy Christians temporarily (cf. Acts 16:15,

40). Hospitality is also very important today (cf. Rom. 12:13; Titus

1:8). The Greek word means “loving the stranger.” An elder should

be a person who reaches out to strangers, the unsaved as well as

believers, and makes them feel at home in his house.

 

Story: Between Moody and Dallas – Community College

Biology 101 in a lab listening to taped lecture to fill in the blank.

Have you ever been a stranger taken in?

Have you forgotten what it felt like?

Who is a stranger to you?