Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, [23] Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Today we are going to be looking at the last in our list of the fruits
of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22, which is temperance. Temperance is defined
as moderation, particularly habitual moderation in regard to the indulgence
of the natural appetites and passions. Temperance describes an attitude
of heart and mind that leads to self-control. Today more than ever before,
many of God's people are experiencing eating disorders, falling prey to
pornography and sexual sins; depression is a national epidemic, offenses
are abundant, and a very small percentage of time is ever spent in personal
devotions and prayer. It seems that Christian men and women are no longer
a people who are known for their temperance...
Phillipians 4:5 (KJV)
Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
Ladies, we are not to waste any of the time that God has graciously granted
us by going off the deep end with things, by getting sidetracked with
experiencing excessive pleasure in life, for Christ may come at any moment
and we need to be found in balance….
Proverbs 11:1 (KJV)
A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight.
Temperance, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, keeps the Christian
in balance. What is balance but harmony of character -the harmony of all
these fruits of the Spirit. An over-emphasis on love could lead to not
enough reproving, or rebuking. An over-emphasis on peace could lead to
never entering into battle for right. An over-emphasis on gentleness could
lead to avoiding discipline and so on...
For example, a man may take a silver dollar or a half dollar and hold
it to his eye so closely that he will hide the sun from him. Or he may
focus his telescope in such a way that a fly or a boulder may be as large
as a mountain. So too, a man may hold to a certain issue very intensely,
an issue which has been looming upon his horizon for the last six months,
and which has thrown everything else out of proportion, it has become
so big itself. In pursuit of the balanced life, we focus our eyes on larger-than-life
goals. We'll take on three jobs at church rather than just one. We'll
memorize not only verses, but whole chapters. In our pursuit to be holy,
we'll just up and sell the TV or wildly dive into a new routine of getting
up at 4:00 A.M. every morning for devotions. However, by tackling things
without temperance, we sometimes overlook the more immediate and obvious
things that need our attention. We pass over modest things like a clean
house, punctuality, or biting our tongue. Yes, we even need to beware
of distortion also in the arrangement of the religious truths that we
hold. Praise God the Holy Spirit works by constantly aiming us at balance
in all matters of life! Little by little, one step at a time, He changes
our hearts and renews our minds….
2 Peter 1:5-6 (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...
Knowledge without heavenly reins would be a gorilla on the loose! Hence,
we understand why God insists we add temperance to our Biblical education.
Temperance is a word taken from the orchestra, where all the parts - the
sopranos, the basses, the altos and the tenors, and any others must be
regulated. If you have too much of the bass, or too much of the soprano,
there is want of harmony. That's what I mean by the need for proper focus,
by the need for proper balance in the truths to which we all hold. It
will never do to exaggerate one truth at the expense of another, for a
truth may be turned into a falsehood very, very easily, by simply being
either too much enlarged or too much diminished. This is precisely how
false religions are born, but in temperance can be prevented…
In 1 Corinthians 9:25 Paul tells us, "And every man that striveth for
the mastery must be temperate in ALL things..."
In verse 27 of that same chapter, he goes on to say, "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."
There is great spiritual danger in pampering our bodies; it's lusts and
appetites. Our bodies must be our servants - not our masters!! How are
you doing at mastering your body today, dear lady? Do you have rule over
lust, have you tempered your tongue, have you bridled your belly, have
you managed your thought life successfully?? Are you in the habit of gratifying
your flesh or denying it? Self-control requires self-denial.
Romans 15:3a (KJV)
For even Christ pleased not himself…
Stop and consider for a moment what self-denial is... Christians have
used that term so much that we have blunted its meaning! What does it
mean to deny a thing? It means to affirm that it is not so. For instance,
suppose a man approaches you and says, "How do you do, Mrs. Jones!" You
reply, "My name is not Jones, it is Smith." You have just denied that
your name is Jones and confessed that your name is Smith. The literal
interpretation of the denial of self and the confession of Christ would
be to say, "I am not myself, but I am Jesus Christ." This is to come to
that place where you and I can say, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless
I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live
in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and
gave himself for me." (Gal. 2:20) The more a man denies himself, the more
he shall obtain from God!
Temperance, when layered upon the fruit of meekness, requires not only
preparation, but also purposing of the heart. A "will power" and a "won't
power", so to speak. "I will do right", denoting a forward direction.
"I won't do wrong", denoting a decision to not go in a backward direction.
Temperance brings purpose up from our hearts and deposits it into the
forefront of our minds because it is a fruit of the Spirit! If you're
like me, you've had more trouble with yourself than any other person you've
ever met! Even so, when we yield to the Spirit, He controls our thinking
and actions with temperance and dissolves our fleshly dilemma. Our bodies
are brought under control while our eyes are set on the goal! The goal
is given to us in 1 Peter 4:2 which says:
That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the
lusts of men, but to the will of God.
Yes, temperance brings sobriety to our lives, a recognizing of God's purpose
for us. We must personally discipline ourselves to fight any deviation
from the course Christ set for us! Temperance prevents us from living
for the temporal pleasures of this life and directs us toward living for
the eternal, for the will of God. By describing the works of the flesh
and fruits of the Spirit, we are told by God what to avoid and oppose,
and what we are to cherish and cultivate. The fruits of the Spirit, or
of the new nature, are named in Scripture for us to see to it that we
cultivate and perform them - not to fulfill the lusts of our old nature!
Galatians 5:24 (KJV)
And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections
and lusts.
Does this describe you today as a child of God, dear lady? There are numerous
affections and lusts that tug at our flesh, but the Spirit of God enables
us to overcome these pulls, preventing us from living just for pleasure,
and pointing us in the proper direction of living for God! Beware of saying
such things as, "I haven’t time to read the Bible, or to pray"; "I can't
seem to stop my eating habits"; "I can't get organized"; "I just can't
submit to my husband's leadership". Stop deceiving yourself and state
the truth! Say rather, "I haven’t disciplined myself to do these things."
You will never be the person you can be if temperance is missing in your
life....
Galatians 5:16 (KJV)
Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
Ladies, we no longer need to be overcome by anything! In Christ, we have
the ability to master everything through the power of the Holy Spirit,
through the gift of temperance that He brings to our souls. No horse gets
anywhere until he is harnessed! I hope that today, temperance is what
has harnessed your spirit and is bringing a balance to your walk with
the Lord, a testimony to your life of the Spirit of God in control of
you! I hope that through temperance, you will let your moderation be known
unto ALL men, for this world surely needs to see it!
1 Cor. 6:19-20 (KJV)
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which
is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? [20] For ye
are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your
spirit, which are God's.
Sad to say, believers today have greatly hindered their growth in grace
by not giving themselves up to the spiritual affections raised in their
hearts by the Holy Spirit. Surely a Christian should never put himself
under the power of any bodily appetite. Our body is for the Lord; it is
to be an instrument of righteousness to holiness, never to be made an
instrument of sin! I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. May we all be found
under the HOLY Spirit's complete control, with our eyes on the goal of
glorifying God! After all, He has given us these fruits of the Spirit
for this very reason, amen?
1 Thess. 5:19 (KJV)
Quench not the Spirit.
But the fruit... Is there any in your life?
God Bless,
Pam
Isaiah 60:1&2
Copyright 2000 Pamela A. Iannello
Revised 2003
