The Self-Control of Jesus

He chose his journey to the cross.

If you grew up in the United States, then you have been surrounded by messages that individuals should have the greatest possible freedom to make their own decisions.

Biblical teaching also places a high value on freedom. However, the freedom prized by the biblical writers is defined somewhat differently than in our culture. The Bible teaches that you are free if you can consistently choose the best course of action – the good, the right, the loving thing.

It may seem paradoxical, but the seedbed of freedom is self-control. Self-control expands our freedom by giving us the means to choose the best and to do so more consistently. Self-control is exercised as we take hold of the Spirit’s power through faith.

The self-control the Bible teaches is not self-repression, nor is it self-denial, though self-denial is part of the life to which Jesus calls us.

Instead, the word used most often for self-control refers to the discipline exercised by an athlete preparing for competition. This metaphor permeates the New Testament. Paul writes:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 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. 1 Cor. 9:24-25

The word rendered “strict training” here is another form of the word usually translated “self-control.” The New American Standard Bible more literally translates verse 25 to read: “And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things.”

In other words, self-control is how we focus all our energies on pursuing “the prize.”

It seems natural, when we think about exercising self-control to pursue God’s will, to focus on our sin. However, Christian training requires more of us than simply dealing with sin. Another reference to athletic competition appears in Hebrews 12: “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Heb. 12:1). Note the way the grammar frames the point: “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.” In other words, not everything that hinders us is sin. It’s not sinful for an athlete to eat an ice cream cone, but it may impede her ability to win the prize. Self-control is focused on the prize.

The passage in Hebrews 12 goes on to parallel the metaphor of a runner with the sacrifice of Jesus: “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2).

Photo by Mads Schmidt Rasmussen on Unsplash

The gospels tell us how Jesus determinedly, resolutely traveled to Jerusalem, knowing he was journeying toward suffering and death. He did this for the sake of the prize – “for the joy set before him.” Nothing else mattered; nothing was allowed to hinder his progress, not even the well-meaning counsel of the disciples who loved him.

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation – but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it” (Rom. 8:12). Rather, we are to “. . . share in his [Christ’s] sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (v. 17).

Good Friday is tomorrow. As we remember Christ’s death on our behalf, it is daunting to contemplate what it might mean to share in his sufferings.  When through faith we set our sights on what the Spirit desires for us, we can access the power – the self-control – to live in accordance with what we see.

Joy is set before us, too.  Here is how Paul described his perspective on the road ahead: “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining on toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:12-14).

May we all press on toward the goal, as Jesus did toward his rendezvous with the cross on Good Friday, knowing the joy that awaits on the other side.