Jesus Fruit: Self-Control - Matthew 5:21-37 (Wednesday Night Reflection)


It is perhaps one of the most famous ad campaigns ever.  Depending on who is doing the ranking, it tends to swap laces back and forth with “Diamonds Are Forever.”  The first we saw of it was 80-year-old runner Walt Stack in 1988 and the campaign continues with some interesting ads from “Down Under” this year. It is Nike’s 30-year ad campaign: “Just Do It!”  Ironically enough, Nike almost didn’t do it.  When the advertising campaign was first presented to Nike in 1987 it was met with complete silence…Nike executives initially felt that the “Just Do It!” campaign was too heavy handed, but they were eventually won over and the rest is advertising history.
Some might say, from our Scripture reading this evening that Jesus was coming across as a little heavy handed in the Sermon on the Mount…
“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment…”
“..if you insult an brother or sister, you will be liable to the council…”
“…if you way, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire…”
“…everyone that looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
“If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”
“…if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.”
 “…you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows made to the Lord.’ But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.  And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.”
Nike had the “Just Do It!” campaign…
Here, Jesus on the Mount of Olives, introduces his “Just Don’t Do It” campaign…
…Just don’t be angry with your brother or sister…
…Just don’t insult your brother or sister…
…Just don’t call anyone a fool…
…Just don’t lust…
…Just don’t divorce…
…Just don’t swear…
And elsewhere in this Sermon on the Mount…
…Just don’t resist an evil doer…
…Just don’t refuse anyone…
…Just don’t show off what you are giving to church…
…Just don’t show off in your praying…
…Just don’t look dismal when you are fasting…
…Just don’t store up treasures on earth…
…Just don’t worry…
Although Jesus began His sermon on the Mount with the wonderful world-flipping promises of the Beatitudes, it would seem, with all of these “don’t’s” that Jesus has become one of the most negative sounding preachers to have ever taken the pulpit.  It seems to underscore the stereotype that many outside the faith have—that being a Christian is about following a bunch of rules that tell us that we can’t do anything—you know, that image of God as the cosmic killjoy whose number one commandment is “Thou shalt not do anything.”
Why would Jesus take up this “Just Don’t Do It” campaign?  Maybe Peter, because we all know how quickly Peter is to talk without thinking about what He is saying, came up to Jesus and said, “You know Jesus, I’m going to be like You.  I’m just going to be a New Testament kind of guy.  I mean, You came to fulfill the Law and everything, so we can toss all that stuff in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy can’t we?  We don’t need that Old Testament stuff anymore do we?  I despised having to memorize it as a kid.”
In all actuality, it probably wasn’t Peter, but somewhere, somehow, the idea began circulating that Jesus had come to abolish or toss the Torah.  Jesus makes it very clear as He continues His teaching that anyone who would follow Him is as much an Old Testament person as they are a New Testament person: 
 “Do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish but to fulfill.  For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass way, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until it is all accomplished.  Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus says, until we find ourselves in New Jerusalem, standing face to face in the Father’s presence, the Law stands.  So, does that mean that all the critics are right, that we are just a part of a “Thou Shalt Not” society?
 Well, if we go back and look, Jesus also gives us a lot of “Just Do It’s” as well. 
“…whoever does these commandments and teaches them as well…”
“…go…be reconciled to your brother or sister…”
“…Come to terms with your accuser…”
“…turn the other cheek…give your cloak as well…”
“Give to everyone who begs from you…”
“Love your enemies…pray for those who persecute you…”
“Be perfect…”
“…store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…”
With the “Just Don’ts” and the “Just Do’s” it all amounts to Jesus expecting those who are looking toward the Kingdom of Heaven to practice “self-control.”
“Self-control” is our ninth and final characteristic of Jesus Fruit.  We began with “love” and acknowledge that a love of God and neighbor was the primary aspect of the Fruit (not fruits) of the Spirit, for without love, nothing we do is worth anything.  We turned then to joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, and gentleness.  And now we find ourselves considering “self-control.”  And while “love” may be the core of Jesus Fruit, “self-control” becomes the visible skin that wraps about the Fruit.
What does that mean for us?  It means that we cannot use the excuse, “I can’t/couldn’t help it.”  Jesus and Paul both say, “You can help it, now control it.”
My brothers and sisters…love is not always easy…it is not easy to love our enemies like Jesus tells us to…it requires self-control to not fall into hatred of others like the world does…
Joy is not easy…depression is easy, especially in our society these days…but being joyful in all things and at all times requires self-control…
Peace is not easy…it is easy to get restless…it is easy to worry…peace requires a practice of self-control…
Patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, and gentleness all fall into the same pattern…to live out these characteristics of Jesus Fruit in our lives, we have to practice self-control…
Are there ways that we have fallen short of living out God’s Word and done things we should not have done?  Jesus says, “Just don’t.”  Are there times where we have not done things that we ought to have done?  Jesus says, “Just do it.”
It sounds easy, but we know it is not…Paul even struggled with the issue of “self-control.”  He wrote the church in Rome and said, “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.”[i]  Paul went through his own, “I can’t help its,” just like the rest of us.
If someone like Paul struggled with “self-control,” how are we supposed to control ourselves?  How do we practice the self-control that Jesus and Paul call us to, even when Paul admits that he has trouble with it himself?  It is in realizing that it is not self-control at all, it is about God-control.  It is about surrendering our lives to God and allowing His Spirit to bring Jesus Fruit out of us, including the skin of self-control.  Jesus-Fruit is what will be exhibited in our lives if the Holy Spirit give up control of our lives to God.  We bear the Fruit of Christ as we live abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in us.  It is letting the Holy Spirit transform us so that when we encounter any given situation, whether it is something we are to avoid or something we are to embrace, it is not longer us reacting, but Christ in us reacting…our self-control, in reality, is giving Christ control.
Remember these words of Jesus from the Gospel of John where all this began: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.  He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit.  Every branch that bears fruit He prunes to make it bear more fruit.  You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.  Abide in me as I abide in you.  Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”
My brothers and sisters, may we abide in the vine…every moment of every day…that Jesus Fruit may grow from every aspect of our lives…
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

[i] Romans 7:19

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Life Between The Trees: The Cedar Tree - Ezekiel 17:22-24

Here’s your weekly question: Have we added any new proud tree-huggers to our midst?   We had a few more (despite the snow and ice covered trees) last week.   Hopefully each week we will add more and more of our congregation as we remember the importance of trees throughout God’s Word, as we journey in our “Life Between The Trees” from the Creation of Eden to the restoration of our fallen creation in New Jerusalem, not mention our call from Eden, in the meantime to care for all of God’s Creation. In Eden, as we encountered the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life we were confronted with gift of Free Will offered to us by God.   We also encountered humanity’s tendency to choose our way and choose death over obedience to God and choosing full life. With Noah, we found the Olive Tree.   Cast out of Eden we saw humanity spiral downward out of control until our sin brought about the destruction of creation with God saving Noah and his family and preserving
Read more

So, What Are We Afraid Of? - Matthew 10:26-33

Fear.   It is probably the most troubling and devastating of emotions that we experience.   It has the ability stop us in our tracks, leaving us riddled with indecision.   It has the ability to remove choices from our lives.   It has the ability to remove blessings from our lives, weaken our faith, and put our relationship with God in jeopardy, or at least call that relationship into question. The problem of fear in our relationship with God is so important that if we were to go through our Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments, and count the number of times God’s Word says, “Do Not Fear,” “Do Not Worry,” “Do Not Be Afraid,” and “Do Not Be Concerned,” we would come up with a grand total of one hundred eleven times and of those one hundred eleven times, three of them occur in this brief passage. Jesus is talking to those that He has called to follow Him and who have had the courage to lay aside their lives as they knew them and commit to seeing where this new rabbi on the sce
Read more

Who Are We? A Royal Priesthood - 1st Peter 2:9-10 (Sermon from 02/15)

  Last week we began a season of remembering who we are—using 1 st Peter 2:9-10 as a springboard to launch our remembering or understanding, Peter told those dispersed Christians in Asia Minor, who were facing persecution and ridicule, and he tells us: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.   Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” Last week we examined what it means to be a chosen race.   We eliminated the idea that it had anything to do with the color of our skin, our ethnicity, the language we speak, or any other physical characteristic…being a chosen race simply means being those chosen by God and in Christ all of those other worldly boundaries are wiped away…as Paul would say, “for in Christ Jesus you are all children of god through faith.  
Read more