Proverbs 25:28 KJV He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.
I. INTRODUCTION—DISCIPLINE
-The man who rules his spirit is a man who is disciplined. In fact, he is a man who has reached the highest aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit. If you look at the listing of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, it would appear that there is an escalating order there. Temperance or self-control is the last one that is mentioned but one that should gain high priority in our lives.
A. General
Elbert Hubbard—Self-discipline is the ability to do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.
Harry Truman—In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves. . . self-discipline with all of them came first.
Harry Emerson Fosdick—No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No stream or gas drives anything until it is confined. No Niagra is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined.
Charles Dickens—I never could have done what I have done without the habits of punctuality, order, and diligence, without the determination to concentrate myself on one subject at a time.
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.—Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.
Henry Ward Beecher—Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself—and be lenient to everybody else.
B. Biblical
Daniel 1:8 KJV But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
Romans 13:14 KJV But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
2 Peter 1:5-7 KJV And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; [6] And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; [7] And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
1 Corinthians 6:12 KJV All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.
-There are multiple other passages that we could refer but for the sake of time I trust you will do some searching of the Scriptures to find a way to grow in your spiritual life.
II. PROVERBS 25:28
-The Proverbs could be rightly called “sentence sermons.” Much of the book of Proverbs are written in a way that you could read through them and ponder and meditate as to how God desires for us to grow.
-There is much wisdom that is packed into the thirty-one chapters. There are great laws of life that are scattered throughout the whole book but as you read through the Proverbs there are certain ones that separate themselves from the others.
• Ants and sluggards—Proverbs 6:6-9.
• Fools galore—Multiple verses in Proverbs.
• The entrapment of sin—Proverbs 7.
• If you don’t know where you’re going you will end up somewhere else—Proverbs 20:18.
• To succeed, fail more—Proverbs 10:4.
• Whatever you earn, spend less—Proverbs 21:20.
• Listen to the jerks in your life—Proverbs 13:18.
• Graze in your own pasture—Proverbs 5:15.
• You never have to explain what you don’t say—Proverbs 13:3.
• Keep your cool when things get hot—Proverbs 14:29.
• Success without succession is failure—Proverbs 22:6.
• The way up is down—Proverbs 29:23.
• Fear is good—Proverbs 9:10.
-Proverbs 25:28 is no exception. If a man can ever gain the ability to master his own spirit, he is well on his way to accomplishing the will of God and the furtherance of the Kingdom.
-Several renderings of this verse can shed some more light on it:
Jerusalem Bible—An open town, and without defenses: such is a man lacking self-control.
RSV—A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.
American Translation—Like a city breached and defenseless is a man who has no control of his temper.
The Message—A person without self-control is like a house with its doors and windows knocked out.
-If I have mastery of my spirit all is well but if my spirit is not controlled then it corrupts everything that my life comes in contact with.
III. FOUR WAYS TO MASTER YOUR SPIRIT
-If this proverb is encouraging us to master our spirit, then how are we to do it? I think that there are probably four ways that it can be accomplished.
A. Do More of Some Things.
-Take inventory of your life and consider the direction that it is going. Even if you don’t have everything mastered that you would like to, there is something that you are doing right. Find out what it is and do more of it.
-When a man begins to develop and cultivate self-control, it automatically leads you toward a bigger harvest of greater things.
-What are some things you need to do more of?
• Believe God.
• Pray for revival.
• Fast for spiritual breakthrough.
• Worship.
• Be a godly man.
• Be a righteous woman.
• Be kind.
• Be courteous.
• Encourage others.
• Write a letter.
• Read the Bible through this year.
• Make a phone call.
• Show up.
• Give.
• Do a personal Bible study on Philippians.
• Memorize the Sermon on the Mount.
• Love your wife.
• Love your husband.
• Love your kids.
• Eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on some fine china.
• Be thankful for your job.
• Give an anonymous gift to someone.
• Get rid of the clutter, both physical and mental.
• Win a soul.
• Love the Truth.
• Disciple someone and watch them grow.
• Write a book.
• Climb a mountain.
• Forget yourself into greatness.
• Ride a bike.
• Go to church.
• Make a difference.
• Pick up some trash.
• Take a kid under your wing.
• Do something great.
• Get a passion for service.
• Read a biography about John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Douglas MacArthur.
• Plant a garden.
• Build a birdhouse and put out a birdfeeder.
-This is only a short list of a lot of great things you could do with your life, if you would just choose to master it.
B. Do Less of Other Things.
-Just as there are some things in your life that you ought to do more of, there are some things that you need to do less of.
-What some things you should do less of?
• Don’t speak everything that comes to your mind.
• Instead of acting, start praying.
• Take every thought captive don’t let your mind drag you down into the dumps.
• Quit being so critical.
• Give others a break.
• Don’t be afraid to tell yourself, “No!”
• Quit holding grudges, you aren’t hurting anyone but yourself.
• Don’t fear failure.
• Lose your cynicism.
• Get rid of your apathy.
• Lose your unbelief.
• Lose your fears.
• Forget the inconveniences of life.
• Wean yourself off of the need to be constantly entertained.
• Quit lying to yourself and to others.
Years ago, I read a story about Jake, a game warden, who was always amazed that Sam, a fisherman always showed back up at the dock with two or three stringers full of fish. It happened even when all the other fishermen would come in empty handed.
Jake was certain that Sam was doing something illegal and determined that he would catch him. Several months later, Jake pulled up his boat beside Sam’s boat and told him, “Sam, I would like to learn your secret to fishing.” So Sam told Jake to show up the next morning and he would show him his secret to fishing.
The next morning, a long time before daybreak, the game warden was there and they both got in Sam’s boat and started across the huge lake. About thirty or forty minutes later, they had gotten to the backside of the lake where nobody was and Jake leaned back just waiting to watch Sam do his thing.
Sam opened up his tackle box and pulled out a small stick of dynamite, lit it, and threw it some distance across the lake. It exploded right at the surface and in about two minutes, fish started floating to the top and Sam trolled over and begin to pick up the fish with a dipping net.
Jake was livid. He was yelling about laws being broken and that he was going to take Sam’s boat, truck, everything he owned and lock him up for years. Sam calmly sat there and listened to it all and when Jake finally got finished. Sam reached over in his tackle box and pulled out a stick of dynamite, lit it, and tossed it over into Jake’s lap, and asked a simple question, “You gonna whine or fish?” Jake started fishing! (Adapted from Chuck Swindoll)
-That is probably what a lot of us need to start doing, quit complaining and start fishing.
C. Start Doing Something You Have Never Done.
-Just as there are things we need to do more of and things we need to do less of, there are also some things that we need to start doing.
One of the signers of the Constitution and prominent man in the early stages of our country was Benjamin Franklin. He determined that there were some things he need to change in his life and he knew that the only way to change was to develop some habits that would lead him in the right direction. He identified thirteen virtues that with regular practice, he believed, would make him a better and more successful person. They included temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, and humility.
He knew that just writing down the words on a list would have little effect on his day-to-day behavior. He knew that people do not change by thinking but rather by doing. So he set himself on a program and concentrated on practicing each of these virtues for one week before moving on to the next. Each week of practice he believed would create a habit of behavior that would stick over time. Then the thirteen virtues would be a part of his manner of living and dealing with others. He even kept a notebook where he recorded every lapse of virtuous behavior as a way of keeping track of his progress.
One of the virtues was industry which we now call time-management. His written statement was this: “Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.”
-What new things do you need to start doing?
• Develop some personal motivation.
• Develop character.
• Determine to be honest.
• Get a grip on your spending habits.
• Read something about time management.
• Get some order in your life.
• Be sincere and concerned.
• Be courageous.
• Take responsibility for your actions.
• Forget your accomplishments and start over.
• Forget your privileges.
• Don’t worry about recognition.
D. Stop Doing Some Things You Are Doing.
-What are some things you need to stop doing?
-Within the heart of man there is a capacity to do every wrong and terrible thing imaginable. Given the right set of circumstances and the right conditions, your heart will lead you down a terrible path of sin and failure.
-There are Nero’s, Caligula’s, Domitian’s and Julius Caesar’s that we have to contend with just as the early Christians did. These emperors of Rome were cruel in their treatment of the early church but there are seeds of them in every soul alive today.
-There are unruly natures and desires in every single person that have to be mastered and controlled with the work of the Spirit and the Word. If you don’t stop doing some things, it will be the destruction of your life.
• Cities will be sacked.
• Villages set on fire.
• Soldiers will die on battlefields.
• Children will become orphans.
-These Roman appetites have little regard for what is good and helpful and they have to be stopped in their tracks.
• Are there sins of the mind that need to be dealt with?
• Are there mental habits that pull you down that you need to stop?
• Are there friendly associations that you have with people that are undermining your walk with God?
• Is there evidence of uncontrolled anger in your life that corrupts your relationships?
• Is there evidence of laziness?
• Do you have a pattern of starting something and never finishing it?
I basically know nothing about horse racing except that people gamble on the horses that run and the folks that own them make massive amounts of money when their horse wins. However, imagine that you saved your money for much of your life and finally bought a million-dollar race horse. How would you feed that horse? I promise you wouldn’t feed him junk food, fast food, cokes, and chips. You would invest and find that best horse feed you could for him because you wouldn’t want him to decline. I doubt that you would just turn him out in some pasture and let him weather the elements. I imagine you would keep him in a climate controlled barn and would have a competent veterinarian seeing him on a regular basis.
The fact remains that you and I are ten times, no one hundred times more valuable than a million dollar race horse. But we feed our spirits all sorts of bad things, abuse our spirits with little regard to our relationship with God, neglect our spirits because of a lack of spiritual discipline and ignore our spirits by soul-numbing busyness.
IV. CONCLUSION—WHAT WILL YOU DO?
-These following questions are going to be rapid-fire and I know you won’t be able to keep up with all of them; however, I would like to stimulate your thinking concerning the mastery of your own spirit.
• What are the three most important things you do in life?
• How do you measure the results, success, and accomplishment in those areas?
• What special gifts, abilities, and talents do you have?
• What are the three most important goals in your life?
• What actions are you taking to get to those goals?
• What are you going to do about the following aspects of your life: spiritual, personal, family, health, and finances?
• What are three skills that you could develop that will help you?
• What are the greatest opportunities you have available to you right now?
• How are you going to take advantage of them?
• What are the three biggest worries and concerns you have?
• What are the things you could do immediately to change those concerns?
• What three personal qualities do you have that you are the most proud of?
• What are three weaknesses that you would like to overcome?
• What three words would you like people to use to describe you when you die?
• What three most important values do you believe in?
• Do you have them in your life?
• Who are the most important people in your world?
• What would you do with your life if you knew you only had six months to live?
• What would you do if you had $20 million dollars in the bank but only 10 years to live?
• What goals would you set for yourself if you were guaranteed complete success?
• If you could have a magic wand and make your life perfect in every respect, what would your life look like?
• Knowing what you know now, is there any situation in your life or work that you would not get into today if you had it to do over again? Work? Investments? Money? Health? Family? People? Activities?
• What are ten goals you would like to do in the future based on what you now know?
• What are the obstacles that are hindering you from getting there?
• What are you going to do to overcome them?
• Who can help you get to that particular goal in your life?
• Are you willing to master your spirit to do it?
Philip Harrelson
February 3, 2011
