Self-control and lent

John Piper reminded me powerfully of the stress the NT puts on self-control.

[Self-control] is so essential in Christian living that Paul made it part of his one-time sermon to Felix (“he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment,” Acts 24:25); he made it part of the fruit of the Spirit (“faithfulness, gentleness, self-control,” Galatians 5:23); he made it part of the qualifications for overseers (“self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined,” Titus 1:8).

...It’s the sort of thing that athletes do. “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things” (1 Corinthians 9:25). Paul had very little trust in the desires his body threw at him daily: “I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27). That’s an innocuous translation. Literally: “I give my body a black eye (hupopiazō) and make it a slave (doulagōgō).”

...Is this Christian Hedonism? Yes. Why does Paul live like a self-disciplined athlete? Simple: Greater joy. “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable” (1 Corinthians 9:25).

I've been thinking about self-control a lot recently because I feel I have very little. It's all over the Bible and nowhere in our culture. But, how do we hold self-control together with grace?

I have quite a few thoughts, but find Martin Luther helpful (as so often). He was quite strong on the importance of fasting and self-discipline (at least in the early days - his later girth suggests things changed). But, he placed it firmly within the doctrine of two kinds of righteousness. Disciplines such as fasting that build self-control have no effect on our righteousness coram deo because only God's creative Word can change our hearts. However, they have benefit for our neighbour (coram mundo) if they train us in righteous acts of giving, patience, etc.

My lack of self-control is a destructive force in my life and in other people. I want to control my selfish desires, and fasting in lent maybe a way to do that. But God already sees me as his Son who was so in control of his selfish desires that he refused the devil's invitation to bread in the desert and died on a tree because he was a Christian Hedonist who found his joy set before him in the redemption of a people and the pleasure of his Father.

A brief thought on fasting

Most conservative evangelicals functionally believe that we shouldn't fast, even if theoretically they think it is appropriate in the church age. This is probably due to the lack of interest in the physical and (not unconnected) right suspicion of justification by works.

God is not pleased with fasting in and of itself (Is 58:3), and it is not something that he needs to receive from us. Fasting is not something with inherent worth that we can present to God, although he does respond to his people fasting as he does to prayer.

However, I think evangelicals would be more likely to give it a place as a discipline which bears on us rather than God. I think it is often seen as a way to develop self-control, holiness and a desire for God (ala John Piper?). However, this seems to ignore that the Bible seems to see it as a response to felt need, practised irregularly in order to obtain a particular blessing from God.

Perhaps, it is better to see it joined with prayer as an expression of need. Like donning sackcloth and ashes it is not something we offer to God as some 'thing' but an expression of how empty we are before God.

We feel we need God's blessing, so we express that in words by prayer. But as psychosomatic beings we should express particularly serious awareness of need physically as well. It is not uncommon for those suffering from depression, and other mental illnesses, to suffer a loss of appetite. Even if we haven't experienced that most of us know what it is like to be sufficiently preoccupied or stressed to 'not feel like eating'. Fasting in the Bible is tied to these extreme times of mourning or crisis where food should be the last thing on our mind.

This does not mean that we should just fast when we feel like it though, just as we should not only pray when we feel like it. It is good to fast when we know we should fast even if we don't feel like it; just as it is good to pray when we know we should pray even if we don't feel like it.

I hope that makes sense.