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Tuesday Bible Study Notes Westside Care Center Tuesday, January 9, 2006 Prayer Principle 3A: Submission Performance Mr. C. Pat Lanyon Last time, we considered passages that reveal two aspects of obeying God’s will that were described as the process of determination, or the resolve to continue to advance toward and to actually do the will of God. We observed that it often happens that we encounter doubts and resistance to continue doing God’s will when we are aware of what it is. We first noted that we can ask God for ‘wisdom’ as He reveals something He wants done, and that our responsibility is to refuse to doubt or ‘waver’ when it is clear what God wants done. By asking without doubting we were assured that God would not only answer, but that He would give a ‘liberal’ dose of the wisdom we need to complete His will. Secondly, we noted that it would also require a human ‘resolve’ or a ‘pressing on’ toward doing God’s will. This also requires the negative aspect of forgetting past failure to do God’s will, alongside of the positive ‘resolve’ required to complete it. We realized that as in other principles under this submission heading, these type of prayer requests are of a kind that God is willing to answer, and so making a persistence in praying them brings God’s supernatural power into play. This week’s principle might be considered similar to the principle above reviewed. But the passages covered speak for themselves as we now consider ‘performance.’ Introduction: (3A. Submission: Performance)
1 Cor. 9:27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. [Paul warns that our failure to exercise this self control will eventually disqualify us– we’ll lose our Christian Testimony!]
Luke 10:42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.
This verse is a positive statement of the reward of submission’s ‘performance’ – Mary was performing God’s will and Jesus made a point to praise and protect her because of her choice! As we meditate further, these concepts appear. And in application, we can pray about developing them in our life and God will answer those prayers, and we’ll be ‘performing’ God’s will and thus receive His ‘Well done!" Section 1 Compare Matthew 21.28-31 28 "But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, `Son, go, work today in my vineyard.' 29 "He answered and said, `I will not,' but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 "Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, `I go, sir,' but he did not go. 31 "Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said to Him, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. This verse very clearly defines what ‘performance’ is in our context of understanding what it means to do the will of God. Section 2 But a better study than this is the concept : self-control Ac 24:25 Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, "Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you." 1Co 7:5 Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 1Co 7:9 but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion. Ga 5:23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 1Ti 2:15 Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control. 2Ti 3:3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 2Pe 1:6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, Since this is listed as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, we choose to study Gal 5.23: Author, Commentator Albert Barnes on ‘self-control’ in Ga 5.23 [except edited] Temperance. The word here used egkrateia [eng-krat'-i-ah] means, properly, self-control, continence. It is derived from en and kratov, strength; and has reference to the power or ascendancy which we have over exciting and evil passions of all kinds. It denotes the self-rule which a man has over the evil propensities of his nature. Our word temperance we use now in a much more limited sense, as [referring] mainly to abstinence from intoxicating drinks. But the word here used is employed in a much more extended signification. It includes the dominion over all evil propensities; and may denote continence [the exercise of constraint in sexual matters], chastity [celibacy, sexual abstention], self-government, moderation in regard to all indulgences, as well as abstinence from intoxicating drinks. See below Barnes "Ac 24:25". The sense here is, that the influences of the Holy Spirit on the heart make a man moderate in all indulgences; teach him to restrain his passions, and to govern himself; to control his evil propensities, and to subdue all inordinate [beyond normal limits] affection. The Christian will not only abstain from intoxicating drinks, but from all exciting passions; he will be temperate in his manner of living, and in the government of his temper. This may be applied to temperance properly so called with us; but it should not be limited to that. A Christian must be a temperate man; and if the effect of his religion is not to produce this, it is false and vain. Abstinence from intoxicating drinks, as well as from all improper excitement, is demanded by the very genius of his religion; and on this subject there is no danger of drawing the cords too close. No man was ever injured by the strictest temperance, by total abstinence from ardent spirits, and from wine as a beverage; no man is certainly safe who does not abstain; no man, it is believed, can be in a proper frame of mind for religious duties, who indulges in the habitual use of intoxicating drinks. Nothing does more scandal to religion than such indulgences; and, other things being equal, he is the most under the influence of the Spirit of God who is the most thoroughly a man of temperance. [Application: Pray for this fruit of the Spirit in your daily requests.] Personal Notes: Against such there is no law. That is, there is no law to condemn such persons. These are not the things which the law denounces. These, therefore, are the true freemen--free from the condemning sentence of the law, and free in the service of God. Law condemns sin; and they who evince the spirit here referred to are free from its denunciations. {b} "against" #1Ti 1:9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust Temperance. egkrateiav. The word temperance we now use commonly to denote moderation, or restraint in regard to eating and drinking, particularly to abstinence from the use of ardent spirits. But this is not its meaning here. There is no reason to suppose that Felix was intemperate in the use of intoxicating liquors. The original word here denotes a restraint of all the passions and evil inclinations; and may be applied to prudence, chastity, and moderation in general. The particular thing in the life of Felix which Paul had probably in view, was the indulgence of licentious desires, or incontinence. He was living in adultery with Drusilla; and for this, Paul wished doubtless to bring him to repentance. |
