Grounded and Growing—Bearing Fruit Week 8 Self-Control

This is part of the worship series, 
"Grounded and Growing—Bearing Fruit”

Series Introduction | Ascension Sunday | Pentecost
Love | Joy | Peace | Patience | Generosity & Kindness | 
Faithfulness | Gentleness | Self-Control | Communion Liturgy

Also in this year-long Grounded and Growing series: 
Advent and Christmas | Epiphany | Lent and Easter

Key Theme: Self-Control is the discipline to manage impulses and desires in order to live wisely and responsibly. 

After the more flowery, uplifting fruit of joy, peace, and gentleness, self-control feels like a somewhat grim way to end this series. Indeed, the scripture passages in this service aren’t ones we gravitate towards in our personal study or in preaching. 

But I don’t think it’s an accident that self-control is at the end of this list. If love is the primary characteristic of a follower of Jesus, providing the meaning for everything we do, then self-control acts as a closing bracket to this list, the framework that allows every other fruit to grow. 

In Titus 2, the Greek word for self-control is sophorono, which literally means “to be in one’s right mind.” The right mind is the mind which is set on God’s good design for the world, acknowledging its limits and boundaries. This stands in contrast to the attitude taken by many on the island of Crete, where Titus ministered, who gave themselves over to their passions and desires, indulging in drink, food, and sex. If we are driven by our desires alone, we become self-indulgent and selfish, impatient and demanding, and quick to become angry—the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit. 

So Paul tells Titus to urge followers of Jesus to control their words and actions. By doing so, this community would be a witness to their neighbors, demonstrating that the gospel they proclaim has made a true difference in their lives. Jesus expresses this even more stridently in Mark 9, when he uses hyperbole to caution people against letting their actions turn people away from the gospel. We’re to be in such control over our lives that we can cut off anything that causes us to sin and by sinning to misrepresent the gospel. 

It sounds harsh, but the invitation to self-control and limitation is the invitation to experience life as God intended. The psalmist declares that the boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places. Life in God’s creation is not one of wanton freedom but the freedom that comes from knowing we are safe within God’s care. In this garden, hemmed in on all sides, we can flourish and grow and bear good fruit. 

Service Outline

Call to Worship

Opening Song

“Only a Holy God” ^{Farren et al.}

Greeting

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for our sins to set us free
from the present evil age,
according to the will of our God and Father,
to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 
—Galatians 1:3–5 ^NRSVUE

Songs of Praise

“Build My Life” ^{Younker et al.}

Call to Confession

Many plants require some kind of trellis or frame to keep them stabilized and upright, to help them grow tall, towards the sun, where they can bear fruit in abundance. Followers of God, called to bear good fruit, are no different. We need a trellis to support us—practices that support our faith, that give structure to our lives so we stay oriented towards the Son. Prayer, scripture study, fellowship with fellow believers, silence, worship—all these practices and more provide us with this support.

Confession is one such practice—a way in which we re-orient ourselves towards God and ask that God might prune that which is dead or diseased in our lives and fill us instead with the lifegiving power of his mercy and grace. 

So let us turn towards God now in prayer.

Prayer of Confession

Holy God,
You have shown us, in your Word, what is good.
You have marked out the way we should go,
set boundary lines for us in pleasant places,
and commanded us to walk in the way that brings freedom and flourishing.

But we think we know better. 
We think freedom means getting to do whatever feels right to us at the time.
We chafe against boundaries
and find structures and guidelines to be constricting. 

We don’t trust that you have given us these things for our good, O God.
Forgive us our lack of trust.
Forgive us when we are careless with our lives, 
when our actions and words are thoughtless and hurtful.
Forgive us when our carelessness causes others 

to doubt the good news we preach. 
Help us to order our lives around your word and your truth, 
to structure our lives in such a way 
that the Spirit can bear much good fruit through us. 

Help us to build our lives on you.
Through Christ, our Lord, we pray.
Amen. 

Assurance of Pardon & Response of Praise

In Jeremiah 33, God says of the people Israel: 

“I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me,
and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me.”
—Jeremiah 33:8 ^NRSVUE

Beloved of God, 
God forgives your rebellion, 
and cleanses you of all guilt. 
Return to him in gratitude, 
trusting in his goodness and mercy. 

Let us say together:

Song of Thanksgiving

“If You But Trust in God to Guide You” ^{Neumark, trans. Winkworth}

Passing of the Peace

Prayer for Illumination

O Lord,
as we turn to your word,
give us understanding, 
so we might keep your law
and obey it with all our hearts.
Give us delight in the path of your commands,
and turn our eyes and our ears to your word,
that our lives might be kept in your righteousness.
Through Christ, our Lord, Amen. 
—Psalm 119:33–34, adapt.

Scripture Reading

First Reading: Mark 9:42–50
Second Reading: Titus 2

Sermon

“The Trellis of Self-Control”

Song of Response

“May the Mind of Christ, My Savior” ^Wilkinson

Breath Prayer

[The leader invites the Spirit's presence to fill our lives (as we breathe in) so that our lives might bear good fruit (as we breathe out). This prayer can be repeated a few times.] 

Breathe In: “Holy Spirit, fill us with your presence”

Breathe Out: “that our lives might bear good fruit.”

Prayers of the People

Offering, Offertory Prayer

Song of Dedication

“Take My Life and Let It Be” ^Havergal

Benediction

As God’s chosen people, 
holy and dearly loved, 
clothe yourselves with 
compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 
forgiving one another as the Lord has forgiven you. 
And over all these put on love, 
which binds them together in perfect unity. 
—Colossians 3:12–14, adapt.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit 
be with you.

Go forth and bear good fruit.
Amen. 

Doxology

“My Friends May You Grow in Grace” ^{Diamond & Meaney}