Ninth and final message in Branches series on the fruit of the Spirit and union with Christ. After love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, we arrive at self-control.

Galatians 5:22-26

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Proverbs 4:20-27

My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.

Augustine prayed, “Lord, give me chastity and self control — but not yet.”

His honest confession gives a clue to the heart of it: we need the Lord Jesus to change our hearts. And we know it will not be easy, nor always pleasant. Yet the fruit of righteousness He produces in our lives is worth it, for the sake of God's honor and to help others.

We come to the completion of this teaching series on the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-26), a primer for living in our union with Christ. Truly, we have just begun!

Jesus, the Self-Controlled One, offers us His life, and makes us like Him. The goal of the Fruit of the Spirit, and indeed what each virtue points to — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control — is Christlikeness. Jesus has given us a way to become like Him, by God's Spirit.

What is self-control?

“To have power or dominion over all things and over oneself.”

Preached on Sunday, March 30, 2025 at Renew Church by Pastor Jeff Patterson

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