Bible, Bros & Brew
Bible, Bros, & Brew is all about helping you navigate your relationship with God in practical, real-life ways. Hosts David and Phil dig into scripture—'chopping up the word'—and bring it to life with insights you can actually use every day. And while they’re at it, they share their favorite 'brews'—don’t worry, it’s not booze! Just a solid lineup of classic coffees and teas to keep the conversations flowing.
Bible, Bros & Brew
Self-Control: Your Biggest Weapon | Walking in the Spirit | Bible, Bros & Brew
In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul provides his now-famous list of the fruit of the spirit, the last of which is the indispensable weapon of temperance, also known as self-control. In one sense, self-control is a prerequisite to walking in all of the other fruits of the spirit, which is one of the reasons why it's such a powerful tool in our spiritual arsenal. In this latest installment of our series called "Walking in the Spirit", David & Phil explore what the scriptures have to say about self-control, and provide key insights to help believers understand how to practically apply this vital quality in their daily lives.
gotbrew@biblebros.net
Our last fruit of the Spirit is self-control, and you're going to see why it's the perfect final fruit for us to talk about in this episode of Bible Bros and Brew. I'm David. I feel so silly because I saw out of the corner of my eye that I was sitting awkward in my window, so I'm trying to make it fit a little bit, so let me scoot you. There we go. Hey everybody, welcome to this episode of Bible Bros and Brew. I'm David With me today. I've got Philip on one side. I've got Ryan on the other side.
Speaker 1:John's not with us because he doesn't care about us. So we'll hope that he cares about us next week. And you can ask him for yourself, john, what's going on, right? Anyway, this week we're talking about self-control, the final of the fruit of the spirit, and, as I said in our opener, you're going to see why it's the final fruit of the spirit and its impact on every other fruit that has gone on to this point. But before we do that and dig into that, let's find out what's in the cup. So let's start over here with ryan. Ryan, what you drinking tonight?
Speaker 3:yo, yo yo. Good evening fellas and those that are listening. I've got iced coffee. Yeah yeah, it's good. So that's all you're going to get.
Speaker 1:No brand identity, no nothing.
Speaker 3:Alright, so I have to be truthfully honest.
Speaker 1:Okay, now it's coming out.
Speaker 3:Let it out right now what I'm really ashamed, but it's still pretty good.
Speaker 2:Does it rhyme?
Speaker 3:with car stucks? Yeah, no, it does. And I got it yesterday. Oh wow, oh yes, that's the real shit. I got it yesterday and it was iced, it was a venti or whatever, and then I didn't drink shit. I got it yesterday and it was iced, it was a venti or whatever, and then I didn't drink it all. I put it in the fridge. Dang, this is next level. I'm not proud. It's not my proudest moment.
Speaker 1:You nasty right, it's not bad.
Speaker 2:Okay, it's just had time to cold brew overnight okay.
Speaker 3:I'm turning red.
Speaker 2:Look at me don't worry, we're not going to coffee. Shame you on this episode.
Speaker 1:I'll upset it, so I'll be quiet. I don't have to shame Philip what you drinking.
Speaker 2:I'd like to think that I'm a man of variety, but in this, case You're not, it's just not the case at this point. But I am drinking once again. I had it, I think, last week. The Columbia Aponte Reserve is such a good coffee from Peregrine, from the fine folks in Westcliff, colorado, and I thought I'd go with a matching mug for the hat I got for my birthday. So I just wanted to, of course, kind of flex that a little bit. Praise God.
Speaker 1:It's been a cool gift, man.
Speaker 2:I wasn't expecting that my girls blessed me with this Spider-Man hat, so yeah, man.
Speaker 1:Very nice combination, that is.
Speaker 2:Thank you sir, appreciate it man.
Speaker 1:Tonight I am drinking a little Jamaican coffee. Its hints and notes are nutty and cherries. It's from a local coffee shop called Sangsters and this is their house blend.
Speaker 3:Nicely done. Is it called Jamaican? Me Crazy, no it's not.
Speaker 1:No, it's not, and I do just because I know you guys can see the top of my cup and that it's pink. Oh, no, I took my wife's mug tonight, her Snoopy mug.
Speaker 2:Dude, that's when you truly become one flesh bro.
Speaker 1:It was convenient and I didn't feel like picking them up tonight All right man.
Speaker 1:Well, that's what's in the cup, and now let's talk about what's in the word, if you haven't already. We hope that you're studying along with us and I always recommend, when you're studying along with us, a couple things that you need. Of course, you need your Bible, and then I would recommend a notebook and a pen or a pencil, and then maybe a couple of highlighters, in case you see something in the scripture that we talk about that you want to highlight and grab hold of. You can also use any of your online tools, like Bible Hub or eSore. Our friend Lynn told us a little bit ago about Blue Letter Bible.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Bible that we recommend online. That gives you access to commentaries, it gives you access to other Bible translations, so it's a great tool to use on your computer or on your mobile device. But tonight we're talking about the fruit of the Spirit. And we've been talking, we spent a couple of weeks and talked about the works of the flesh, and then we talked a little bit not a little bit, but we spent the last few weeks talking about the fruit of the Spirit. Now we started with the whole beginning of this conversation, and it was this scripture in verse oh, I believe it was 16. It says walk in the Spirit and you'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And so we've been identifying the lust of the flesh so that we can know what it looks like, and now we're identifying the fruit of the spirit so we know what to cultivate and work on in our lives. And so tonight we're going to wrap up with the fruit of self-control. Now I believe, if you pull up the King James Version, ryan, for me the King James Version of this calls it temperance, and so it's the same thing that, literally, that you've heard of us talk about for the last several weeks, that King James depends on certain books that it's translated from, while translations like the New Living and others depend on some other texts that they were translated from and they're also designed to help us to better understand what's being said. But this fruit of temperance, or what it's really called, better known as self-control, is a significant piece of our Christian walk for a variety of reasons. Now, when we look looking at the King James rhyme, if we'll open up that text in the King James, if you'll the KJV, uh, what is it? If you'll drop down the menu, on the side it says Bible. Yeah, there we go, and then it's the um. I don't know why. I can't remember to save myself right now, let me just pull that up for myself real quick.
Speaker 1:If you pull down the Bible, if you pull down the Strong's KJV, and when you pull down the Strong's KJV, you're going to get to one of our favorite parts and you've heard Philip and I use it throughout our time that we've been working through this and it is the word studies, and the word studies are extremely helpful. I'm pulling it up for myself really quickly and I'm clicking on the word temperance and when I do, it pulls us over to a page where it lays it out for us. It tells us that the phonetic spell or the pronunciation is encrotea, encrotea, and it means self-control or temperance, self-mastery, self-restraint, self-control and continence. And I love that first one, where it says self-mastery and self-restraint.
Speaker 1:Now, the word origin for it is derived from the Greek word nkrates, meaning strong, masterful, which itself comes from in, and kratos, which means strength and power. Now, when we look at the corresponding Greek and Hebrew entries, we see that there is no direct Hebrew equivalent, for in Kratis, the concept of self-control can be related to the Hebrew term ta'atzim, which means strength, and yatsar, to restrain, strength and to restrain. To restrain, strength and to restrain. Now, looking at its usage in the New Testament, in Kratia refers to the virtue of self-control or temperance, particularly in relation to one's desires and impulses. It is the ability to exercise restraint over one's own actions. The ability to exercise restraint over one's own actions, emotions and thoughts, aligning them with God's will. And moral standards.
Speaker 1:This term is often associated with the fruit of the Spirit, indicating a life led by the Holy Spirit's guidance. When you see this initial descriptor here of this usage, what pops to mind for you?
Speaker 2:First of all, I agree with you a thousand percent. You know that self-control is such a critical part of your life as a believer every day, and I also. You know I think we both agree that you can't do it without the help of the Holy Spirit. I mean, it's just not, it's not in our nature to live consistently disciplined, consistently self-controlled. It's so easy to default to the flesh and just start doing whatever you feel like doing. You know, whatever your flesh kind of wants you to do. But to have that, that ability to control impulse, to have that ability to control those, those kind of first promptings that your flesh might try to flash before your mind, you know that whole thing, that is not an easy thing to overcome and it takes. You know, having the word deposited in your heart that's probably one of the first things is just keeping a good store of the word in you. And I think about that scripture in Psalm 119. I forgot what verse it is, but it says your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. That word hidden there in the Psalm 119 verse, it says it means to be stored up or to be accumulated like a treasure. There it is. Thanks, brian, I've hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. So I think that's one of the keys, honestly, to operating in biblical self-control is to have a good deposit of God's word in your heart. Because when that word is there, when you've been meditating on it, you've been thinking on it, you've been studying it, looking at it, praying, you know from the scriptures you actually you have a foundation or a basis that can that the Holy spirit will readily bring to your remembrance.
Speaker 2:During those times when you're you're tempted to get out of self-control, you know, all of a sudden, the scripture comes to your mind, like let's say that you're, you know, just about to move into an argument with somebody and you know that if you go a little further it's going to be rough. All of a sudden that scripture in Proverbs 15 comes up, a soft answer turns away wrath. You know, uh, those things like that. The Holy spirit can bring those things to your remembrance when you have deposited them in in your heart. And to me that's. I know, I know I kind of went a long, a long route for this explanation. But praise God. But it's like self-control is that it's impossible without the help of the Holy Spirit and without the assistance of the word as well. So just some thoughts there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, when I look at the New American Commentary on these, it says that self-control this word refers to the mastery over one's desires and passions that's good I really like that, the mastery over one's desires and passions, and it's kind of, you know, when you look at some things. It's kind of what all of this is about. Right, because as we look over the fruit of the spirit, even as we consider the works of the flesh, all of the fruit of the spirit ask us to exercise a level of self-control.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Long-suffering ask us to exercise self-control. Yeah, yep, long-suffering ask us to exercise self-control. To be kind, to be gentle, even just thinking back to our conversation last week about meekness, which is gentleness and the sense that it was strength under control. Yeah, and so we recognize that. Even that is the request that even though you have strength to exercise towards the situation and circumstance, put it under control, temper it Right, yeah.
Speaker 3:We begin to see the value under control. Temperate right, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:We begin to see the value and maybe Paul was intentional about putting love at the front, because love rules them all. All of the other fruit of the Spirit are outputs of love.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And then you've got on the back end here, this self-control which all of the fruit of the Spirit require.
Speaker 1:Wow so it's a really interesting bookend, a set of bookends that you have to this discussion of the fruit of the Spirit. And you know, Philip, one of the things that I'd like about what the word study shows us about this is let me see if I can look at it again, pull it back up and, Ryan, if you don't, and thoughts aligning them, I lost, oh gosh, I just lost. I just lost where it went. I just I just liked the fact that it really it brings this point out that the life, it's it's indicative self-control, is indicative of a life that is led by the holy spirit's guidance that's good which says to me that, uh, in order for self-control to be present, the holy spirit has to be present.
Speaker 1:I don't know that. I don't know that you can do self-control without the help of the Holy Spirit. I really don't I really?
Speaker 2:don't Not the biblical version of it. It takes the help of the Holy Spirit and that's what he's there for, is know, is is to be that assistant. I don't want to. That sounds a little reductive. But I think about what it says in Romans eight, because it says actually, ron, if you could go to Romans eight it'd be a good thing to study real quick. In Romans eight, I think it's in the King James it says that the spirit, the Holy spirit, helps our infirmities. And actually if you look up that word infirmities, I think it means weaknesses. You know he's there, kind of present in our weaknesses. I'll tell you what. We'll go down there, romans 8, around the 20-somethings, I believe.
Speaker 2:Yeah there, it is verse 26. It says in the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. And then it says you know, we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes with us, intercedes for us, rather with groans too deep for words. Now it's interesting because in that verse it says that he helps us specifically in our weakness. So this is the Spirit of God leading Paul to write this, to identify how he's helping us, how the Holy Spirit is helping us. It's not just you know. I mean he helps us in a ton of ways, but especially in our weakness, in the areas where we're simply not strong. And actually, when Jesus talked about the Holy Spirit in John 14, he said I'm going to pray to the Father and he'll give you another comforter.
Speaker 2:That word comforter there in the King James, it means someone called alongside of you to help. I think it's the word paraclete or something like that, which at first I thought was parakeet when I first heard it. But I was like that don't sound right. But it's the word paraclete in the Greek and it says I've sent him as a comforter, or in other words, a helper. Someone called alongside you to help you. A comforter, or in other words a helper, someone called alongside you to help you. And if you think about it in like, like if you were in a tug of war, like you know, you're pulling on the rope and let's say, somebody runs up and grabs a rope with you and they're pulled as well, and so you've got somebody there called alongside to help you. You know, uh, let's see, where is that. Ah, okay, it says advocate. Here. I don't know if we can do like a word helps, word thing on that or whatever we can click on. Yeah, let's see, it'll give you another comforter, can we click?
Speaker 1:on the word comforter itself. The ESV says another helper.
Speaker 2:There we go, yep. So long story short. He's there to assist, he's there to pick up where you leave off. He's there to actually to empower you to do what you couldn't do yourself. Basically, he is the helper and I thank God, man, because I need that help every day of my life. I know we've talked about it a lot, man, but to me, david, I don't know if you I know you and I are similar in how we, you know, have our time in the morning studying the word and praying. I am not very awesome at all without the help of the Holy Spirit in the morning, like I have to. I have to lock in to my prayer time and my word time pretty much before I do anything else for the day, man, otherwise I feel out of sorts, man. I mean, how do you, how do you do it?
Speaker 1:No, I feel the same way and, and you know there, there are times when you know I've had to, you know, rush out because I woke up too late or something like that. But man, that sometimes just doesn't leave you feeling great that day because you knew you missed your time. Now you don't get that unless you've actually been spending time.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:The time you don't spend doesn't cause fondness, and that absence to cause that fondness. So you got to be spending some time with him, yeah, in order to feel that sense of I can't miss my time today. It's just too important it's too precious to me. So yeah, but it's. It's an important piece of the puzzle absolutely man.
Speaker 2:And after a it gets to where you. It's almost like would I ever just wake up and go about my day and never brush my teeth. You know what I mean Like to me, that's how critical it is If you do you're nasty?
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you do, other people around are not going to be pleased with that, I can tell you that. But it's just you know. Other people around are not going to be pleased with that, I can tell you that, but it's just, you know, I don't know. This doesn't mean that I've woken up and done it right every single day. That's for doggone sure. There's been plenty of days where I barely could crack open the Bible for one minute and just grab it quick. You know, because, like you said, david, I woke up late that day, or something you know unexpected happened. Somebody knock on the door first thing in the morning and throw things off, whatever it is. Man, so there's.
Speaker 2:You know you will have those challenges, definitely when you're, you know, just living daily life. But even in during those times, though, we have to and I'm saying this for myself too we have to remember that there's plenty of grace to help us, even when we don't necessarily do it right for that day. You know that if we come to him and say God, you know, I know I didn't get much Bible reading in, I didn't get much prayer in this morning, but I need your help, I depend on your grace to get me through this day. I can't tell you how many times I've prayed that prayer, you know. And he's been there. He's been there, you know and I'm grateful and just yes, for sure.
Speaker 1:But you know, you make a good point, Philip, and it's that, and again it goes back to the whole group of these fruit of the spirit, and it is that we need the holy spirit's help yes in order to function, in order to nurture and to grow any of these fruit.
Speaker 1:if you remember, um way back when we started talking about the fruit of the spirit, that the difference between the fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh is that the works of the flesh are the outworkings of man, but the fruit of the Spirit is the inworking of the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2:That's good man.
Speaker 1:And so we can't do it without him, and we even talked about the concept of being led by the Holy.
Speaker 1:Spirit and we talked about how you know that means hearing the breath of God, the Holy Spirit, speak to you and let him guide and walk you through. You can hear the Holy Spirit through reading God's word. Sometimes the spirit will speak directly to you. Remember when we talked about peace and we talked about the umpire of peace leading and guiding you. So there's these different ways that the Holy Spirit can use in order to lead and guide you, and we just have to, we really. If I keep wanting to say temperance, because it is temperance, but if self control doesn't teach us anything, it should remind us that all this is possible through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Self-control is also the ability. Remember, it's about being able to take authority over your own flesh.
Speaker 1:really, it's about, you know, mastering your own desires and passions. Yeah, that one of the key areas in Galatians and really throughout the New Testament Paul was talking about was to master yourself, to take mastery over your desires and passions. One way is sexual right. If there's one area that we're often throwing ourselves away and losing our self-control over, it's the realm of sex and it's typically. You don't have to necessarily exercise a certain level of self-control when you're married. You get to enjoy that, but as a single man, as a single woman, you're required to exercise self-control.
Speaker 1:That says I don't have the right to give this away to somebody else, because what I have belongs to God. And so, but and you can see a version of that in first corinthians um, chapter seven, verse nine, when paul talks about, you know, a young man and a woman, and he basically says you know, if they cannot control their passions, let them marry so they don't burn. And when he was talking about burning, in that case it was burning with their passion and lust to the degree that they cave in and lose self-control and give in to, uh, sexual immorality. Yeah, yeah. But then another place that you see it is when paul gives the imagery of being an athlete. If you look in 1 Corinthians, 9, 24 through 27, paul says I discipline and subdue my own body so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Speaker 1:And actually that verse says a little bit more than that. Know ye not that they which run in a race run all but one receives the prize. And so run that you may obtain. And every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Yeah, every man that runs for the or strives for the mastery is temperate. He's self-controlled in all things. Another word for that would be disciplined.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:And there's a cuss word.
Speaker 2:You know what's interesting, dave, I was studying this no kidding, like just yesterday I think it was, or the day before, and that scripture just came to my mind about first Corinthians 9, because Paul has given that analogy about an athlete, and you know, back then they had kind of like a beta version of the Olympics. You know, back in the Greco, you know, so it was. It was where we get the Olympics from is what they were doing back then, those athletic competitions and all that. And so when he says this thing about striving for the mastery, that was a common phrase that referred to these sporting events. You know, striving for the mastery. And so he said this is what stood out to me, man. It said if somebody is doing that, they're temperate in all things all things.
Speaker 2:And so it's like not even just whatever sport they play, you know, not even all the workouts and all the you know going through the different drills or whatever it is, but temperate, and I thought about, like Olympic athletes, you know, they can't just eat any old thing. You know these people have to be temperate in their diet. They have to be temperate in what time they go to bed and when they wake up. They have to be temperate in where they spend their time.
Speaker 1:If they want to be.
Speaker 2:you know, if they ever want to get a gold medal, you cannot phone it in and get a gold medal. It's just not going to happen. I don't know if you guys remember, man David, do you remember this dude named Bodie Miller? He was a skier.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Did you see how he kind of crashed out at the Olympics I forgot which one it was, but it was. But, um, it was one of the winter olympics and and he was like, sponsored by nike, he was, you know, like the next big thing, and he kind of screwed up his first event or whatever. And then they interviewed him about it and he was like, yeah, you know, man, I'm just here, you know, I've been meeting some cool people, we've been partying, it's. Yeah, you know, man, I'm just here, you know I've been meeting some cool people, we've been partying, it's been great man.
Speaker 2:You know stuff like that, and so people were starting to get a little irritated with him, because you know he's supposed to be representing America. You know, and dude, this guy gets out there and this was his last event I think it was the slalom or something. You know his skiing, or whatever. Or something you know his skiing, or whatever. I promise you they tried to hype it up like, okay, he's going to redeem himself. You know he may have screwed up these other ones, but here's his big comeback man, this dude he took off, bro.
Speaker 2:He took off on that thing and the very first flag. He hit the very first flag and like got disqualified or something and it was over, like he was done. Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, bode, if you've ever watched this. I'm sorry, bro, I don't mean to, I mean to pick on you, but it was the craziest thing. Like from that point nike dropped him, like I mean it was pretty much over because he obviously he kind of just said, you know, screw it, I'm not, I'm not going to worry too much about being self-controlled and disciplined and and you know, mastering my craft. I'm just going to have fun here at the Olympics and you know all this stuff like that. So I never. But I, my wife and I talked about that for a long time Like dude, he just totally just crashed out on the Olympics man, that was pretty crazy.
Speaker 1:So yeah, you see in that exactly what Paul kind of goes on to say. He says, now, they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we do what we do to obtain an incorruptible crown. I therefore so run not as uncertainly, so fight I, not as one that beats the air, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
Speaker 1:So Paul is basically saying that, you know, he's not like a racer who just runs aimless from one side of the course to the other, or a boxer who's just pummeling the air but never landing a blow on his opponent.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But it's very intentional and you even even think about it. Just think about even the concept of losing weight or quitting smoking or whatever it may be that you're working on in your life. You know there's so much weight loss stuff out there, but do you know that you even have to be disciplined with those zympic right? You can't you can't take it once and walk away.
Speaker 1:You gotta take those shots as often as they're prescribed to you that's right you can also lose that weight though, like working on how you eat, like I'm having to do right now, uh, working on getting exercise and those types of things, but it takes self-discipline. You've got to get control of yourself. And then you've got to put yourself to work and you've got to create new habits and new thoughts and new ideas. And do you realize that that's Romans 12? Now, I just messed up the scripture. What is Romans 12, philip?
Speaker 2:It's present your body and live in sacrifice.
Speaker 1:Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Speaker 1:Well that takes very specific action and the renewing of your mind isn't a one-time shot, it's an act of self-control where you, daily and multiple times, even a day, spend time in god's word so that you begin to see how he sees, think how he thinks and let your mind be transformed by his word rather than your mind being transformed by all this foolishness that's in the world. Right, philip, I'll drop another nugget on you, because I'll go back to something we were talking about before. You know we were talking about. We've noticed that in our world today, so many people are just crashing out. You see it publicly, you see it happening all over the place. Yeah, uh, where you know people are tearing up. You know they're fighting in the grocery stores, they're fighting on the streets, they're tearing up the fast food joints and it's just ridiculous, right.
Speaker 1:And you know, you know even, that there's something that's feeding, that that's not just happening randomly. There is an appetite that's being fed and the daily discipline to feed off of that stuff leads to people taking actions that are of this world and demonic, even, and ungodly. And if you don't eat that food, then you're less likely to crash out and do all that stuff. If you put yourself on a diet of the word, the likelihood of you going somewhere and crashing out is very unlikely. But if you put yourself on a diet of what this world is feeding you feeding you in its music, feeding you in the news, feeding you in Hollywood, feeding you on television and all of these different places be sure that they're feeding.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And they're feeding you on purpose and it's to cause the actions that you see happening out there in the world.
Speaker 2:It's true.
Speaker 1:And the other thing they're feeding you is despair.
Speaker 1:They're feeding you the lie that things are bad. Your situation is bad. And look, I recognize that the truth of the matter is that for some people their situations are truly bad. But they've also sold you. Not only is your situation bad, but you are without hope in this world. Right, that's contrary to the word. The word says that you are full of hope, that God is a God of hope, and you've got help in Christ. But you've got to leave this other stuff alone and leave it aside and take on Christ and then take on the discipline that's necessary to nurture that thing in your life so you can change your life's outcomes.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And, david, don't you think? Because I was thinking about you know, what exactly does discipline boil down to Like? If we can put it to one kind of a statement, and I've read this in different places in kind of different ways, but at the end of the day statement and I've read this in different places in kind of different ways, but at the end of the day, discipline is doing what you know you should do, even when you don't feel like doing it.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:Bottom line and doing it consistently all the time, every day, every time it's supposed to be done. That's discipline. You do it whether your feelings are telling you to or not, whether you're excited about it or bored with it, whether you hate it or love it. You do it because you know it needs to be done. That is discipline, you know, and there are some areas in life where I've been trying to practice that with certain, like exercise stuff and even learning a language. I'm trying to learn Japanese and I'm trying to try to be cool like that, even learning a language, I'm trying to learn Japanese, I'm trying to be cool like that.
Speaker 2:That takes a heck of a lot of discipline to do the lessons every day, especially when you feel like you're not making any progress.
Speaker 2:You know it's like.
Speaker 2:That's probably to me, david, I don't know lot of people from continuing in those things that they know that should be disciplined in is they feel like they're not making progress fast enough, or they maybe don't even see any sign of progress, you know, and so that's that's discouraging up front, and I think what we have to remember in those times is that you know there's no such thing as wasted effort when you're doing the right things.
Speaker 2:I mean, god is not unrighteous to forget your labor of love. Those things do count. They may not count immediately, or they may not appear to count immediately, but it's a snowball effect over time, and so after a while those actions pile up on each other and, next thing you know, you've started to gain momentum in those things. And then that which seemed impossible or that which seemed super hard, all of a sudden it's getting easier. Now, you know, as time goes on. And so, um, but man, I'm telling you it's, it can be a battle every day sometimes, but that's what discipline requires is for you to suit up and fight that battle.
Speaker 1:Yep, so we're looking here at self-control, and one of the other things that I would drop on you that I pulled out of the New American commentary is that once again, Paul was also clearly communicating to the Galatians, and you know it talks about how. You know we've talked about the Libertines and the antinomians.
Speaker 1:We talked about those a little bit here as we talked throughout this series that we've been on, but you know the libertines, uh, were all about their own pleasure it was all about their pleasure and the antinomians uh, you know considered themselves the true sons of abraham, because they locked themselves into the law and deemed the law the greatest moral good out there, even though Christ is here and he delivers another one. But what Paul was saying is that, for all of these people and then the other behavior that was happening, that everybody needed self-control.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Everybody needed to exercise self-control. Yeah, yeah, everybody needed to exercise self-control yeah because it was messing up their community.
Speaker 1:And now, when you think back to some of the works of the flesh, you see exactly what he was talking about when he was talking about all the dissension and division and the preferential treatment to my group and my my group is better than your group and all of that stuff that was going on. That was against what Christ wants for our lives. You now see why Paul was pushing so hard against it and why self-control is one of the key fruits in defeating that stuff. And you could see self-control again being a part of defeating all of the works of the flesh, because of exactly what it is in your life. So now that we've finished the fruit of the spirit, I want to talk about this last thing.
Speaker 1:Well, it's not the last thing, but the next thing that Paul says about these fruit in verse 24. And he says in verse 24, let me pull it up over here. It says 23, temperance. And then it goes on and says against such, there is no law. Think about that Against love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against these things there is no law.
Speaker 2:Philip, you want to take a shot at that and talk of the coolest things that I think Paul has said. It's like you can't. You know there's literally no law against loving someone. You know there's no law against being happy or joyful. There's no law against having a calm and cool spirit. You're never going to get in trouble for demonstrating those types of things. You can get in trouble for demonstrating what we call the works of the flesh, all the different things that were listed there. There are, in some cases, laws actually against those things, but on this side it's like who can hold anything against you? Who can come against you when you are operating in the fruit of the Spirit?
Speaker 2:It's almost like you get a bit of a, almost like you're superpower out there in the world.
Speaker 2:Man, you know, because so much of what the world, the culture of the world, does is, it tries to chip away at your character.
Speaker 2:It tries to chip away at your resilience, at your desire to live righteously or in that kind of thing. It seems like all the, the way the, the, the world and the culture of the world is set up, it's designed to feed selfishness. Instead, it's designed to feed, uh, the worst parts of us honestly, um and so, having the fruit of the spirit and demonstrating it and walking in it every day, cultivating that man, it makes you stand out already, just because it's like a light shining in darkness, honestly. But then as you become more proficient in demonstrating the fruit of the spirit, you realize it's actually a bit of a superpower out there, because things that might bother someone else or might throw someone else off track, you're able to stay steady and stay locked in, knowing what you got to do, because you're operating through the spirit. It's a bit of I mean, to me it's equipment, it's spiritual equipment to help you get through this life, and I'm grateful for it for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you get through this life and I'm grateful for it, for sure. Yeah, it's um. I just think it's such a powerful thing to say that, when you function this way, there's nothing that can come against you.
Speaker 2:That's right, no weapon.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it doesn't mean that you can't. You know, it's true. The Bible says no weapon formed against you shall prosper and every tongue that rises up against you in judgment is condemned, and that this is your inheritance, this is your heritage as servants of the Lord. But it doesn't say that nobody will try.
Speaker 2:Right, that's also true.
Speaker 1:Right. It just means that when the weapon is formed, it won't prosper.
Speaker 2:Come on.
Speaker 1:When they try to dog you out and wear you out. It won't bear any fruit, that's right. Any final motivation needed left to operate this way and to walk in the spirit. It's this con, it's this um comparative that Paul leaves us. At the end of these, each one of these, at the end of the works of the flesh, he says, and I tell you now, as I told you before nobody does these things will see the kingdom of heaven. That's right. And then, when we come to the fruit of the spirit, he says anybody who does this, there's no law against it. It puts you in a terribly powerful position to say I think I'm going to choose that fruit of the spirit, yeah. But I also think that it means that you have to come to grips with the reality that choosing the fruit of the spirit means it's going to cost you.
Speaker 2:That's right, man, that's right.
Speaker 1:It's going to cost you time, it's going to cost you discipline, it's going to cost you love, it's going to cost you gentleness and kindness and all of these fruits, and it's going to cost you some of that anger that you've been dealing with, and it's going to cost you to give things up that weren't fruitful for you, anything in order to see the best of this fruit born and working in your life, but to have the promise that against such there is no law. That is a significant promise of God and one that's worth pursuing as you pursue growing in this world that's good stuff, david any final thoughts.
Speaker 1:As we kind of bring this part down to an end, you know we do have a couple of minutes left. Can we just tackle 25 and 26 to you?
Speaker 2:I'm good.
Speaker 1:Paul gave us some instruction that set us on the right path. Wait a second. Ryan's got a question.
Speaker 3:Ladies and gentlemen, I do have a question.
Speaker 1:We might be 10 minutes in the wind from this moment.
Speaker 3:Well, we might need to do it next week, but why, here in verse 24 says and they that are Christ have crucified the flesh. Why is this affections and lust? Why isn't it anything else? Why is it that? Why isn't it like pride and lies? You know what I mean Like why, affections and lust?
Speaker 1:You know it's so interesting that you asked that question because I had a visual in my mind of that this morning and the picture that I had in my head because it's what Brian is talking about is verse 24. It says and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. I actually like that in the New Living Translation even better, because I think it helps to make it clearer. It says that those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross.
Speaker 1:And just picture this for me, right your passions and desires are part of a sinful nature and the picture that I had this morning, with those things being nailed to the cross, was right down the middle was sinful nature. One arm was passions and one arm was desires, and we were nailing those things to the cross, all of those things being put to death in one final blow that Christ, I think, gives us the hammer in order for us to nail them down. And I think it's important for the believer to be the one to do the nailing. I think Christ knows that you have the ability well, not the ability that in him you have the ability to do it Absolutely. But I think it says that, ryan, and the reason it says that Absolutely. But I think it says that, ryan, and the reason it says that is that your sin. It speaks to all of that stuff you know. You said why not? You know this thing and that thing.
Speaker 1:I think the sinful nature, passions and desires of the sinful nature speak to all of the ills of the flesh. I think it's one kind of connective tissue that covers all of that ground and when you nail that sinful nature to the cross, it's all nailed. It's all nailed. It's just like when we nail our sins to the cross. It's not just pornography, you know, sexual immorality, it's all of them. That's right. They all go on the cross. Philip, what's your thought?
Speaker 2:I think the thing that stood out to me the most in that verse is that the fact that it's past tense, it says they that are Christ's have crucified. I mean, that is as past tense as you can get, and so I think it boils down to recognizing what Jesus did for us. You know the fact that he took those sins upon himself, nailed them to the cross. At that point it became a past tense thing, and so if we can ever really begin to act as if you know what I mean Like if we get tempted with certain things, like, let's say, you're tempted to watch that pornographic video.
Speaker 2:You know you shouldn't, but you're tempted to do it it's a question, then, of how do you view yourself in light of what this scripture is saying. Do you view yourself? You know what I mean like, have I crucified the flesh? Well, evidently, according to the scripture, I have. You know and since that's the case, I don't look at those types of videos anymore why I have crucified the flesh. It's over, you know, um, not only not have crucified the flesh.
Speaker 1:It's over. Not only crucified the flesh, but all of its passions and desires.
Speaker 2:All the passions and desires have been nailed to the cross. I mean again the past tense of it to me. It blew me away one day. I was like this is not something where he's telling me you have to go do this, this. He's telling me what has been done for me. You know, and I'm like dude. If I ever start looking at it that way, it becomes a question of how I'm seeing myself in light of what the scripture is saying.
Speaker 1:You know and if I'm right.
Speaker 2:Praise god, man, if I'm being truthful to what the scripture is actually saying, then I can walk in victory over this, that and the other thing you know that would try to keep me back. But if I'm still thinking that I got to. I got to crucify my flesh. Well, the Bible says I already have. You know, it's a matter of what position you're viewing it from, and to me, man, that, that, that was a revelation to me, man.
Speaker 1:That's, that's really good, Philip.
Speaker 2:Praise God.
Speaker 1:Brian, can we just First of all did that answer your question?
Speaker 3:Yes, all right, we aim to please here on Bible, rose and Brew. Yeah, no, that's good.
Speaker 1:Let's look it says. Verse 25 goes on to say since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. And that's kind of what we've been talking about here being led by the Spirit so you don't fulfill the lust, the appetites, the desires of the flesh. Yeah, and then Paul gives a little bit of a warning and a caution Don't become conceited or provoke one another or be jealous of one another. And look, that seems like such an odd add-in right here I know.
Speaker 2:Dude, I'm trying to get where Paul was with this thing. I do think he definitely was addressing things that were specific in that church. You know, they probably had some folks who were dealing with competitive jealousy you know, people trying to jockey for position in the church or whatever it might be, and he said let's don't be desirous of vain glory. You know people trying to jockey for position in the church or whatever it might be, and he said let's don't be desirous of vain glory. You know, everybody doesn't need to be a superstar. You know what I mean. He said then we all we're doing is provoking and envying one another, and that's not, that's not the spirit of Christ, it's just not so. Um, I just found that fascinating that that was his lead into the beginning of chapter six and everything. So good stuff, man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a note that I made in my and in that same New American commentary for Galatians, and it goes back to what you just said about seeing yourself. It says AJ Stott has noted this is a very instructive verse because it shows that our conduct to others is determined by our opinion of ourselves. Ooh dang, Our conduct to others is determined by our opinion of ourselves, and that's why it sets up what happens in Ephesians 6, 1 through 10. I'm sorry, Galatians 6, 1 through 10, and the instruction that Paul gives, but one of the things that I also wanted to point out is it refers to the term conceited, which says it says it refers to the attitude of being puffed up with pride, arrogant and boastful.
Speaker 1:And then when we talk about vain glory, it's talks about setting value on things that are not really value, valuable, or glorying in vain or empty things goodness so we see this last verse here, kind of warning us not to get puffed up, not to push one another's buttons and don't be caught up in these vain and empty things, finding ourselves operating in a level of jealousy of one another.
Speaker 1:And just remember for next week, this isn't the end of the conversation. Just because the chapter switches doesn't mean it ends, because then it goes on to say, or it could almost be like knowing this dear brothers and sisters, if believer is overcome by by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back into the right path. That's right. You see, it's kind of leading us somewhere and it's leading us to put that fruit that we've been cultivating to work come on, man, so we're going to stick up with Galatians, chapter six, and we're going to start looking at verses one through 10.
Speaker 1:And we're going to put those pieces together and show you how Galatians five and Galatians six go together, and really all of Galatians. It's one strong letter that's meant to help a church get itself on the right track after being found to be missing things that are critical for the Christian life.
Speaker 2:Good stuff, David.
Speaker 1:Any final thoughts, Philip.
Speaker 2:Again, as I've said many times before, I just encourage everyone listening to go and look these scriptures up. Take time to get into your concordance, Do the different websites that we've presented, like Bible Hub and Blue Letter Bible, and download the eSword software. Just study these things and get a good picture in your heart and your mind as to what God is speaking to you about those things. Man, there's nothing quite like it. There's nothing quite like spending that personal time in the Bible for yourself. Not even so much hearing what other people are saying about the Bible, but you taking the time to read the Bible for yourself. It's critical, man. So I always encourage folks to do that.
Speaker 1:Let's pray for people tonight and let's just pray that these fruit take root.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, father, god, we thank you for this time and we thank you for the things you shared, and we ask you, lord, to let the seed of your word be planted deeply into the hearts of the people that have heard this tonight and will hear it, and we just thank you, lord, for that seed bearing fruit in their lives.
Speaker 2:Lord, that they'll bear those fruits of the spirit that are talked about in Galatians 5, the love, the joy, the peace, long suffering, all those things, things that express your character and your nature.
Speaker 2:We pray that you will simply express yourself through the people that are seeking you, the people that are wanting to know more about you.
Speaker 2:The people that are seeking you, the people that are wanting to know more about you, the people that are hungry for you, those that desire to know you better. We just ask you to show yourself to them, reveal yourself, declare your name to them and then begin to express yourself through them as well. We just give you praise for that, father, that they'll be established in these fruits of the Spirit, that they'll see them as the assets that they are, and we just give you thanks for that, father, that they'll be established in these fruits of the Spirit, that they'll see them as the assets that they are, and we just give you thanks for that, lord. We thank you, lord, that no weapon formed against any person listening to this podcast, no weapon formed against any of them, will prosper. We thank you, father, for no hindrances being able to stop them from their progress in spiritual things, and we thank you for that. We agree on these things now in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1:Amen. We're so glad that you guys have joined us for this episode of Bible Bros and Brew. We've been talking about the fruit of the Spirit now for several weeks and I want to encourage you to go back to previous episodes and take a listen and catch up with us. If you're just now listening for the first time or if you didn't catch the others, they're great Bible study companions for you that you can dig into, and I think you'll find them both fruitful and helpful as you walk out this Christian life.
Speaker 1:Don't forget, you can connect with us on social media. You can catch us over on X, you can catch us on Instagram, you can catch us on Facebook and we'll soon be in a few other places. Also, if you want to just connect with us and send us a note, you can, of course, use the comment section here in YouTube or Rumble or whatever comment section you have in your preferred podcast platform, or you can shoot us a note by email. You can send it to gotbrewed at BibleBrosnet. Again, that's gotbrewed at BibleBrosnet. And here's my question for you Would you like for us to build a community for all of our listeners here that we can connect in some places and go a little deeper from time to time, let me know in the comments section below. Until next time, I'm David, he's Philip and we are out. Peace, thank you.
