The Greatest Thing

Sometimes my heart is so buried beneath my 'to-do' list that I forget to check in with how I am really feeling about something, or doing with something. I've found that to be a bit of an issue being at school. I have so many things to occupy my time that I am neglecting to just sit and be, which for me, is essential. I need that time to process through my day; I need to look over and pray through painful circumstances, time to put my feet up and pull out a book and just think of nothing and do nothing. In this process, my soul loses touch with what is truly important, and I am too busy to even notice. Well, God really ministered to my soul tonight. I heard a sermon that felt to me the equivalent of my soul kicking off its shoes, sitting back in a lazy boy recliner, and completely relaxing into the Word.
The scripture reading was 1 Corinthians 9:23-27; 10: 11-13, about Paul telling the Corinthians to run the race in such a way as to get the prize. The pastor of the church I go to, Tim Keller, has been doing a series on the Christian life, and tonight's topic was self-control. He brought up points that I had never thought of, never even realized were disputable. The way I've always thought about self-control, have always tried to live with self-control, was by willpower. But Keller pointed out that the Bible never says that. It didn't say that Jesus endured all He did by sheer willpower. When are not supposed to overcome our sins by willpower. A simple statement, but profound to me. Below, I am going to copy my sermon notes, because if I try to write them in my own words, I won't do them justice. Granted, they are paraphrased from the sermon, but point would get distilled further if I paraphrased my paraphrase.

Self-Control: Practicing the Christian Life
Every part of us is created in the image of God, but because of the Fall, every part of us is fallen. That's why we can't effectively or sustainedly control ourselves by willing it to be so. What then are we to do? We need to live the Christian life as though we are Olympic athletes; as Paul says, "Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." and elsewhere, "Do you not know that in a race all runner run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way to get the prize." Paul is NOT saying that he wants to live a 'good Christian life' to get the blessing of the Gospel; he is saying that he wants to live in such a way as to share with others the blessing of the Gospel! The athlete wants to go out partying with friends, eat whatever he wants, drink however much he wants to, but he wants the prize more. And that is the secrete. Jesus, "for the joy set before Him" endured the cross. Not "through His willpower" though, of anyone, He surely could have done it that way. Self-control is all about the priorities of the heart, and ordering its passions. One who sets his heart on the greatest thing, on the supreme thing, will be able to have self-control in all other areas of his life. Thomas Chalmers says that willpower, or subjugating one's desires is not enough, for it will just manifest itself in some other way. He says that if we have a "harsh desire to have one object (desire, emotion) conquered", there will always be some object that is unconquerable. For example, let's say I want some ice cream. I want it badly, but I want to be in shape more. Let's say that my chief end and goal in life is to be successful and well thought of. I can look like a pretty disciplined person to outsiders, when really, it is nothing for me to give up what I need to to achieve a higher goal. But what happens if something comes along to usurp that? Will I not be tempted to lie, cheat, or do whatever I have to in order to keep up appearances? The only desire, the only goal, this does not happen with is when our chief desire is Jesus. This is what we need to know, to pray that God would plant deep in our hearts, (paraphrase from Keller) "Inspite of being deeply flawed, because of what Jesus did, the Father's love for you is lofty as the stars, inexorable as the mountains. You need to know that you are perfectly delighted in, and this can't be lost!!! If that's your foundation, more than anything else, would you be tempted to be anxious or angry? If you know that your life is not about what you do or who you are, how would that change things?" He went on to tell us about a friend of his who seemed to have it all together; everyone loved him, was successful in business, relationships, everything. Then it came out that he had a drug problem, and his life crumbled. And he said something to Keller that he'd never forget. He said that he had always proclaimed that Jesus was his Lord, but in his heart of hearts, he really lived for the approval of people. He thought he could control what others thought of him, and what they thought of him meant everything in the world to him. But once he got to that place where no one respected him anymore, no one felt that he was good or worth anything, he didn't realize what it truly meant to be loved by Christ, and to love Him in return. He said that until Jesus is really the only one who loves you, it is pretty hard to really rely on His love.
Jesus didn't run on willpower, He ran on joy-power! Think of this: what didn't He have when He was in heaven? He had God, He had dominion over the whole universe, He had everything, except one thing: us. That's His joy. "For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross." Let that sink in. For you, for me, He endured agonies unimaginable, His entire life, to redeem us, and show us abundant life with Him. Not a Gospel of health, wealth and prosperity. Not a Gospel that says everything is going to be swell here on earth. But the Gospel. The Good News. To the degree that you realize that you are His delight, He will be your delight. Self-control is not about willing yourself to "be good". It is about having a heart so firmly desiring the greatest being, Jesus, that all else is in it's proper order and place. Paul wanted himself, the Corinthians, and us, to have hearts like that. Paul did not want anyone to miss the beauty of God because of how he lived his life; he wanted everything to be a testimony to God's excellence.

I didn't do the sermon justice, but that was some of the main points that hit me. What a blessing to go from hearing God-saturated, Bible-saturated, Christ-exalting sermons in Mpls, to here, getting the same, from a new angle. Well, I'm going to wrap this up, I'm tired. But blessed. And wanting Jesus more and more.