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CHRISTIAN
SELF-MASTERY -
by Rev Gilbert Wong Introduction Someone once wrote that to enjoy true freedom in Christ is through the art of self-mastery. Christian self-mastery is achieved through self-control and self-denial that are hopefully and joyfully taken as our discipleship. What are the challenges of Christian Discipleship? (Luke 9: 57-62) We do feel inspired with such teaching and desire so much to be like what Paul had described immediately. But we know that such positive result can not be accomplished in a flash. It takes a long arduous road. The Gospel of Luke gives us just such a description – description that does not provide so much as answer but issues shocking challenges for those who want to walk in the path of self-denial to the path of the Spirit. When the demands of God press upon us, it must take priority over all that belongs to good sense, good citizenship, and good family membership. Let me explain what I mean. The first man who came to Jesus made an eager and unconditional offer to follow to Jesus anywhere. One might wonder whether this first man is preoccupied with power and greatness as did the small band of Jesus’ disciples. We will never know about the man, because his story is told for its challenge to us. We do not know how he responded to Jesus’ words. What would be your response? The words of Jesus could be taken as referring to foxes and birds have a welcoming place to settle, but Jesus has only the prospect of the hostile rejection that awaits him in Jerusalem. At a deeper level, he had not found human society too welcoming, and the prospect of the cross was already casting its shadow. Are you prepared to follow Jesus who has such an end? It certainly does not make much good sense or any sense at all to want to follow Jesus and are then left with nothing to live on. It is more sensible not to follow such a person. But God demands take priority over all belongs to good sense. The first man had made his own proposal to follow. The second is called to do so by Jesus. He is quite willing to rise to Jesus’ challenge, despite the previous words about the Son of Man’s lack of anywhere to lay his head. But Jesus’ call to him is to bite yet deeper. The man’s father is dead or on the point of dying. In Jewish nation with its tradition (and even our own), as son, he was considered to have prime responsibility for providing a decent burial. Jesus’ words do not deny the normal claims of the pious duty to bury the dead. But Jesus’ words, in a way shocking and harsh, insist that this man has a more pressing duty. In his words, Jesus appeals to the common sentiment that the world of the dead and of the living is spheres sealed off from one another. The father has moved off into the embrace of another world. Let those who are already there take responsibility as they receive this newcomer. Of course, taken literally as answer to the man’s dilemma it is a piece of nonsense. But it is not to be taken literally. The harsh words are simply to impress upon the man that he has more pressing responsibilities, and that some other arrangements will have to do for the burial of the father. No real concern is expressed about what these other arrangements might be. No doubt we would all rather that Jesus has not spoken in this way. While we feel the challenge not to postpone the demands of discipleship upon us, we here experience the ultimate contradiction between the kingdom of God and even the best and the most Christian of our humanist values. It still does not make us good citizens if we deny even the way things are done here. But God’s demands take priority over all that belongs to good citizenship. The third encounter is in many ways a milder rerun of the second. There is no place here for any hesitation or delay. To do anything other than to move right into the calling would be to behave like the man at the plough who is ploughing his way forward, but looking behind him, and so, loses the line do the furrow. That is not good enough for kingdom of God! When the demand of God presses upon us, it must take priority over all that that belongs to good family membership. The nature that we all possess is also nurtured by the way the society fashions us. The way we think, the way citizenship is upheld, and the way we are brought up in our families. Naturally, we are what we are. Yet God’s demands upon us as his disciples are to move from what we are to be what God wants us to be. This gospel reading questions our motive for following Jesus. Jesus restated his challenges to disciples then and now. It depends on your answer then we can begin to talk about mastering ourselves in the light of God’s Word. What does the Bible teach about Christian Self-Mastery? (5:13-6:10) As Christians, we all stand free before God. Christ has set us free to be free. Christ has not set us free to be enslaved to another ungodly pattern of life. The word ‘again’ used in Galatians 5:1 does not mean that the Galatians had been under the yoke of the Jewish law. Rather it refers to their paganism. To Paul, returning to your old way of life before you became Christians is the same as new forms of slavery. Even though Paul warns the Galatian Christians of the danger of returning to their old way of life, he was thinking of two more new slaveries as these new Christians grow in their faith. The first danger is the Jewish laws. The Jews wanted to add a few more extra requirements before one could become Christians. You are familiar that circumcision is one of those requirements. So there were Jewish preachers, just as active as the apostle Paul, travelling far and wide to preach that circumcision is compulsory before you are a full Christian. The other danger is for Christians to do whatever they like in this new found freedom in Christ. It means that our freedom in Christ is not regulated by any law neither should freedom means that we could go ahead and satisfy our every desire. Paul has already dealt with Jewish legalism in the previous chapters in Galatians. Here, he looks more closely at how liberty could be a problem if it is handled improperly. In Galatians 5:13, Paul says that what must characterise their freedom is “love”, “serving one another” and “the Spirit. These three emphases of love, serving one another, and the Spirit appear throughout Galatians 5:13-6:10. More specifically from 5:13-18, Paul urges us that our life is to be directed by love, service to others, and the Spirit. The theme of love informs all of Paul’s exhortations against the tendency of the Galatian Christians to think and behave in the way that they want in their new-found freedom. Paul exhorts that…. Serving one another is to be done in love (5:13b); The entire law is fulfilled in the commandment “love your neighbour as yourself” (5:14); The “works of the flesh” are the opposites of love (5:19-21); The “fruit of the Spirit” is the most typical characteristics of love (5:22-23); Love restores the erring brother or sister (6:1); Love bears the burdens of others (6:2); Love is humble (6:3); And love never fails to work for the good of all people, especially those who belong to the family of believers (6:9-10). Yet in all these admonitions of Paul regarding our love and service to each other is the reality of life lived by the Spirit. In fact, references to the Spirit are more frequent in 5:13-6:10 than references to either love or service. A Christian who lives by the Spirit would…. 1. preserve himself from the influences of the flesh (5:16-17); 2. nullify thoughts about legalism (5:18); 3. produce such “fruit” as “love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (5:22-23); 4. cause one to experience the Spirit’s guidance (5:25a); 5. keep one from pride (5:26); 6. motivate one to restore those who have erred (6:1a); 7. motivate one to bear the oppressive burdens of others, as well as one’s legitimate responsibilities (6:2, 5); 8. assure one of eternal life (6:7-8). It is to this end that the mastery of ourselves in every aspect of our life is to be accomplished by the power of the Spirit. What then are some of the fruits of such accomplishments? What are the fruits of Christian Self-Mastery? (5:19-25) In the two lists marked out for us by Paul in Galatians 5: 19-25, we can notice two lists of vices and virtues. This is simply to support what Paul had already said earlier that “the flesh” and “the Spirit” are against each other. Paul wants us to realise that those of us who focus on our “freedom as an opportunity for the flesh” (5:13) has dire, negative consequences, but serving one another “through love”(5:13) and living “by the Spirit”(5:16) have significant, positive results. An important observation to make regarding these lists is that they include a number of rather unexpected items. The list of vices does not focus simply on “carnal” sins and idolatry which are externally obvious but also on less externally obvious sins such as “hatred, strife, jealousy, fits of rage, self ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy.” The common feature in this catalogue of vices seems to reside not in the precise ways in which these are manifested but in the self-centredness or egocentricity that underlies all of them. For that which separates us from God is our own idea of freedom – that is our attempt to think and love apart from God, believing that what we have comes from ourselves alone. It is so, as well, with Paul’s catalogue of “the fruit of the Spirit.” For while we might have expected such items as alms-giving, evangelism, social service, care of the widows and orphans, etc, to appear in the list, Paul lists such items as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,” etc. Again, it appears that Paul is not so concerned with precisely how each of these matters work out in practice, but with the underlying orientation of selfless and outgoing concern for others. For in commitment to God through Jesus Christ one discovers a new orientation for life – an orientation that reflects the selfless and outgoing love of God himself. It is not the denial of ego. Rather, it is the freedom from the contaminating effects of egoism and self-centredness. And this purifying freedom will result in such virtues as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” can be expressed in the Christian life in ways that are beneficial to others and the reflect God at work in the Christian’s life, apart from one’s own sinful egocentricity. So Paul exhorts Christians to acknowledge that their new relationship “in Christ Jesus” involves being also dead to “the flesh with its passions and desires” (5:24) and to live their lives “in step with the Spirit” (5:25), with such an acknowledgement and lifestyle having direct relevance to how they treat one another (5:26). What is our posture of Christian Self-mastery? The whole purpose of Christian Self-Mastery is to restore true freedom back to us through Christ. Self-Mastery requires three things: Patience: In the practice of self-discipline, we need patience. Impatience, too great an anxiety to see quick results of our efforts, will only delay the work. We are dealing with the most delicate instruments, which can very easily be put out of dear. We must not be discouraged if the neglect or abuse of years takes years to rectify. Many an act of self-discipline that we know is good we may not be able to practice except in the course of time. A very little overpressure may cause a reaction that will make the last state worse than the first. We must season the materials before we can bend them to our will. It is impossible to make sweeping reforms and sudden changes. Habits, whether good or bad, are formed only by constantly repeated acts; a very little done day by day and persevered in will effect more than can ever be effected by violence. It is good to remember that there is such a thing as undisciplined efforts at self-discipline. Needless to say, such efforts always end in failure. We have to treat the wayward faculty or the wanton sense as we would treat a spoiled child, to win it back little by little, and with unwearied patience, knowing well that any effort at compulsion will certainly end in revolt. Prudence: And we need prudence. It is always good to remember that we have no right to think that the goodness of a cause can ever exempt a person from the ordinary laws of prudence in the method of carrying it out; still less are we to expect God will remedy the effects of our imprudence. The work of grace through the Spirit is always dependent upon a foundation built upon the laws of nature. If a person overstrains his mind too much by too much prayer, his mind will suffer just as much as if it were overstrained by too much study; the fact that the intention was good does not alter the result of a foolish action. And so a person cannot easily forgo all that he has been habituated to by years of self-indulgence. Whatever is in itself wrong, of course, he can and must forgo, for wrongdoing is never useful or necessary. But in regard to giving up what is not wrong, he must hasten slowly. Prudence must ever stand by his side and speak her word of wisdom at every step of the way. The pampered body will rebel only if it is handled roughly. Under the guidance of prudence, it must be trained by degrees to do without those things that by long use have become almost necessary to it. We must return to a normal life before we can hope to be able to endure an ascetic life. And the mind that has been left so long in unrestrained license or in sluggish inaction must not be brought suddenly under restraint, but it must gradually and gently be won to accept the wise and patient discipline that it recognizes as its liberator from the slavery into which it has fallen. Grace: Finally, we need to look constantly for the assistance of divine grace. We cannot act alone in the work of reconstruction, nor can we be restored merely to a state of mended and repaired nature. The remedies that God supplies are supernatural, and if we are to be restored at all, we will have to rise higher than we could by nature. God pours into our wounds the oil and wine of divine grace, so that as the wound healed, the medicine that heals them transforms our nature and endows it with a new vigour. The struggle to be merely natural, moral, masters of ourselves quickly teaches us that this in impossible. The work is beyond us. We cannot become merely what we were before; we must become more. If we wish to restrain ourselves and recover ourselves, we must call in the Great Physician, and in His hands we shall find a new life instilled into us and a new world open out before our kindling eyes. Let us pray [Top] |
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Church of the Ascension, 13
Francis Thomas Drive, Singapore 359339 |