2006



April, Lesson One
To Be Like Jesus, Self-Control

Gathering Question: Read Romans 7:4-24 aloud and try to summarize the passage in one or
two key words that best describes your reactions, emotions, or thoughts about Pauls struggle.
Write your one or two words on a card or piece of paper and pass it to the person seated across
from you in the room. Discuss how similar or dissimilar your words are.

Holding Back


Self-control is not a pleasant subject for anyone. There is not a person living that does not
have some self-control issues in their lives. The struggles that Paul describes in Romans 7 are
struggles with which we can all relate. Even though we have put the old man to death in the
grave called baptism, we struggle to keep him in the grave. Everyone one of us engages in battle
with the flesh, yet the Spirit of God dwells in believers, waging war against the flesh and shaping
us continually into the image of Gods Son. The discipline of self-control is really the discipline
of Spirit-control. It is as we allow the Spirit to control our lives that we see the real changes in
our lives take place and we discover a deeper, more intimate relationship with God. If Paul, an
apostle of God, found himself locked in mortal combat with the flesh, cant we expect the same
thing in our lives?

The Greek word sarx, flesh, has a wide range of meaning in the New Testamentboth
positive and negative. It can refer simply to the physical body, humanity in general or to all
living creatures on the earth. But sometimes flesh refers to that impulse that humans have to do
what is evil instead of what is good. Since the Fall, we continually struggle with the flesh.

Pauls raw honesty about his struggle with the flesh should be instructive to us all. No
one is immuneman, woman, child, grandparent, minister, elderall of us struggle with the
flesh. However, Paul does not end with the struggle but with the joyful realization that we are not
condemned because of what Jesus has done.

When the Spirit dwells in a believer it produces good fruit. For the fruit of the Spirit to be
seen in our lives we must first submit to him and not to our fleshly desires. The fruit of the Spirit
are obvious, Paul writes. They are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control. We do not begin to realize self-control in our lives because of our
determination to change but because of our willingness to let the Spirit do his work in our lives.

Read: Romans 7:14-end; Romans 12:1, 2; James 1:4-16; II Corinthians 10:5; Romans 8:5-8

Reflect:
1. Why do you think that your mind is such an important battlefield in the struggle for self-
control? Explain the significance of II Corinthians 10:5 and James 1:4-16.

2. How can your mind ever hope to understand what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of
God?

3. Read Romans 8:5-8. What word repeated three times in verses 6, 7 tells us what the flesh and
the Spirit fight to possess.