Abide – Temperance
Hello Tyndale and welcome to Abide. This prayer time has been created off of the passage from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, verse 6, where it says “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”
And so this time, these 30 minutes. They're meant to be a time for you to go into a room of sorts, and close the door and spend time with your Father. And that might look different for each one of us. Some of us, it might be taking a walk. For some, it's a commute, or you're in a bus. For others of you, you might even be in the dentist chair. I've heard someone say. So, wherever you can figuratively or literally go to a space and close the door.
So I'm sitting in a room here with the door closed and a cup of tea, and just grateful to have 30 minutes to just pause and sort of take a holiday from the everyday coming and going. This year in the Abide series, we have one week where we are in person, live at Tyndale on Wednesdays at 7:30, and then the following week, we are here, Wednesdays, 7:30 on a podcast. So, feel free to come to both, one, many, you choose.
I'm often reminded that wisdom doesn't come from more, but comes from integrating more fully what we know. And so, this this year we will be uncovering the Christian virtues which often overlap and interweave with Paul's description of the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians. And I truly believe that these fruits, these virtues are needed in our world. And these virtues are meant to be cultivated within ourselves. Because we are a temple where the Lord lives, we are a host of the divine. And so, of course, we want our being and the space of our bodies, our hearts, our minds, to be cultivating virtues and attributes that are in line with the spirit of God, and that takes time, and attention, and practice.
And so these 30 minutes, we're going to open up to God and see what He can continue to cultivate in us, and in turn that we can place into our friendships and our environment so that it might nourish the world. Just as fruit nourishes our bodies, cultivating virtues and fruit of the spirit nourishes Christ's body. And this is our responsibility.
And so with that, let's get settled into wherever we are. You want to be comfortable and yet alert, so feet on the ground, sitting up tall. And we're going to take a gentle inhale through the nose. And then exhale it all out. And a gentle inhale once again, just to settle the body, the mind, the heart, the spirit. Just inhale, and exhale. Just letting go of everything for a moment and then setting it down next to you. The concerns of the day, the thoughts of yesterday, just going to gently put them to the side, so that we can make space for what God might want to bring forward today.
And so as you come into your room with the door closed, we don't come to a space that's vacant, but we come to a space where God is, where He says in the Scriptures
“Come sit with me who is unseen.” And so I just invite you to become more aware of wherever you are and recognizing that the presence of God is there; is resting there, is waiting there, is welcoming you. And in this space, I love to continue in our prayer here with gratitude.
We are in the middle of the month of September, which means many of us are cultivating new rhythms, practicing courage to enter new environments, new schedules. It can be a very exciting time, also a very overwhelming time, nerve wracking time. And so, let's just spend this time together and with God just reviewing what the last week or so has looked like, and where we might be able to spot where Jesus has come alongside with comfort, with a word, with a form of help, with sustenance. And so you're just going to take a reflective look back and notice the people, notice things in nature and creation. Just notice, then become more aware of how God has been with you every moment in this new season. And I'll give you a minute to do that.
[Pause]
Wonderful. It's so good to practice pausing and giving something a second look. Noticing different things that you might have just passed over or taken for granted or not recognized. And so we can all sit and see, and taste, and smell, and observe how Jesus is woven in and through each of our days. And as we sit together and sit with Jesus here, our Maker, our Father and Friend, brings forward a word for us to, to uncover together. And this first word that we get to soak in is the word “temperance”. And I have to be honest, until I read it and studied it, it wouldn't be a word that I would fully know how to describe. But Temperance is one of the early Christian virtues, also translated as self-control, or restraint, moderation, or a measured response. And so this is a quality and an attribute of fruit that doesn't come naturally to me, and so this is going to be wonderful to continue to open up and discover together what Jesus might be inviting us into in cultivating temperance into our daily lives.
And you'll notice in Galatians, in the fruit of the spirit. Self-control is the very last fruit that's mentioned, and it's almost like a culminating of all the fruit. But I find it interesting to now bring temperance or self-control to the forefront, to the beginning, to the start of us spending time with these virtues because it's truly from this temperance that these fruits can be noticed in us, developed in us, and brought forward into our environment. So this is, this is going to be exciting.
And so with this word, Jesus guides us to a passage in Scripture where he practices this virtue. And so I'm going to read this to us, it's from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 4, verses 1 to 11.
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him. “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give to you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
This is the word of the Lord. Let us have time in stillness to allow it to settle into our beings.
[Pause]
Hear these verses again: Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” And Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Let's just pause here for a moment. It's interesting to notice that the Spirit of God led Jesus into some dangerous places. And so too it will be with us. Our loving Father, comforting Spirit and friend Jesus will lead us and guide us into spaces that are, we are unfamiliar with, that are uncomfortable and will stretch us and tempt us. And that this is a part of life. We also see that Jesus is in a weak state physically. He's very hungry, tired. I'm sure he's exhausted emotionally, mentally. And of course, he's hungry, so it's interesting to note that temptations come when we are at a weakened state, when we are exhausted from a long day when we are overwhelmed that this is when these invitations, as it were, will come.
And so here we are, the Spirit is with Jesus, the Comforter, and Jesus is hungry. And the devil is going to invite him into something. And the devil invites him to make these stones into bread. And I'm very aware that Jesus is not just thinking about his stomach all the time, he's also very grounded in his heart, his mind and his body. It's like this three-centered grounded awareness that Jesus shows us so often. And so we see here that the devil is inviting him to make some food happen, I’m sure you're hungry, and Jesus pauses and says, you know, not all of me is body and hunger. And he almost checks with himself, what does my heart and my mind instruct me to as well? And that is that I don't live by bread alone, but by the words of my Father.
And so I'm going to allow us to gently look over our days and see where we're invited to eat another helping, to click on another show, to say another word about a friend that isn't helpful. These sorts of gluttonous ways within the physical body where we tend to spiral and go down and down and down. And so I'm just going to invite us all to gently notice where that happens for us. What time of day? What situations tend to bring this about? Where we are tempted, but we are called to restraint, we are called to practice self-control, temperance, a moderation of sorts and a balance within the whole body.
So let's open that up to Jesus, where those times are where we tend to indulge, and let's just ask Jesus to give us a new spirit of temperance in those vulnerable, exhausted, overwhelmed, saddened spaces where we need to practice temperance.
[Pause]
Allow me to continue reading from Matthew Chapter 4: Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give to you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” And Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” And then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
We see in these invitations and these temptations, the devil is inviting Jesus to prove himself, prove what you're worth, prove your power, prove that you can do these things. And Jesus, once again, is very centered within himself and knows that he doesn't have to prove anything. And that he is, beloved of God, without this proving. And so I invite us now, another area where temperance is required is in how we go about our days and steward our time. Many of us just often say “Yes, I can help there and yes I can contribute there,” or “Sure, I would love to be a part of that ministry.”
And we often need to pause and be reminded of our bodies, hearts and spirits, that is this wisdom? Am I saying yes to prove that I am spiritual? Would it be nice to think about my body and if it needs more sleep or rest? And so, another area where temperance is required is our calendars and our involvements and our business, and that there needs to be some restraint and some self-control. And that we're not just saying yes and proving that we're worth something because we're doing this or that. And so I invite you now to allow the Spirit to guide where you might just, not even think, but just automatically go there, say yes to that, be involved in that. And where there might need to be a pause, and a considering, and a restraint, before we just overdo. So I'll give you a moment to think about that in your own life.
[Pause]
The last line says “Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” And so I just want to encourage us all that these moments when we get invited to eat more, to watch more, to do more. As we practice temperance, as we practice pausing and becoming more mindful of these centers of our being and how we want to move, that as we practice this, there are angels attending us. There are helpers and guides and encouragers, that when we practice restraint, we will be accompanied by holy presences, and we see this with Jesus.
In our Tyndale chapel, there are many stained-glass windows and I was studying this summer that many of the windows, the virtues are represented and the virtue of temperance is represented in our chapel as an hourglass, meaning that our time in this life is limited and we are to make good use of our bodies, of our minds, of our hearts and we are meant to practice restraint and self-control, and that our ways will have purpose and intention. [Short pause] And so I leave you with that, knowing that this virtue of temperance will be one that Jesus is calling us into and longs to partner with you in, but will not be easy. As we begin to close this time of prayer together, I'd love to bring forward this beautiful hymn entitled “I need thee every hour.”
Psalm 86:1 says, “Hear, O Lord, and answer me for I am poor and I am needy.” And we see Jesus is poor and needy in this desert space, and he's able to practice temperance and restraint, and he's able to experience the love and the embrace of God as he walks through it, and so allow me to read these 4 verses of this hymn.
I need Thee ev’ry hour,
Most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine
Can peace afford.
I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;
Ev’ry hour I need Thee;
Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.
I need Thee ev’ry hour,
Stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their pow’r
When thou art nigh.
I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;
Ev’ry hour I need Thee;
Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.
I need Thee ev’ry hour,
In joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide,
Or life is vain.
I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;
Ev’ry hour I need Thee;
Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.
I need Thee every hour,
Teach me Thy will;
And Thy rich promises
In me fulfil.
I need Thee, oh, I need Thee;
Ev’ry hour I need Thee;
Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.
And so, friends, I just invite you to take your hands and place them on your heart, figuratively or literally right now, and just breathe in this practice for yourself and for the goodness and the nutrients of your own being and breathe it in. [Short pause] And if you're comfortable, just extend your hands out in front of you, ready to offer this gift of temperance into the world, into our communities, and our friendship webs. Breathing that in, and out. And then those same hands extending up even further and offering it to God and the greater whole of life. This practice and this time together breathing in, breathing out. Go in peace, my friends, to love and to practice temperance.
