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| Sabbath School Programs and Teaching Plans for your Church |
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Formerly Sabbath School Leadership, LEAD is a quarterly magazine to bring more power and polish to your Sabbath School programs and Sabbath School teaching.
 Listen to the Sabbath School Theme Music for this Quarter
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03.06.10: The Fruit-Self-control 
Cultural Context
• “I want this world not to have meaning, because a meaningless world frees me to my own erotic and political
pursuits” (Aldus Huxley, End and Means, pp. 270-273).
• “An inordinate passion for pleasure is the secret of remaining young” (Oscar Wilde, thinkexist.com/quotaton).
We live in a culture that views self-control as an attribute out of the inhibited Victorian era. Indulgence is viewed as an authentic expression of one’s true self. Temperance is a feeble attempt to mask an individual’s deepest desires.
Necessary Background/Further Resources
• Prophets and Kings, chapter 39
• The Sanctified Life, chapters 2, 3
• Sense and Sensuality: Jesus Talks With Oscar Wilde on the Pursuit of Pleasure, by Ravi Zacharias
Preparation
Read the listings in Daniel, in Prophets and Kings, and in The Sanctified Life.
Point of Contact
Questions
• What are examples of self-control and success in our culture today?
• What are examples of individuals who lacked self-control and are now paying the price?
• Do you think that people are fulfilled with a lifestyle of unbridled passion? Why/Why not?
“He who seeks to quench his thirst at the fountains of this world will drink only to thirst again. Everywhere men are unsatisfied” (The Desire of Ages, p. 187).
Points of Conversation
Read Daniel 1. Daniel was placed in a secular university to study where all the pagan philosophies and worldviews were being funneled into the brightest minds of the day. His first test in Babylon wasn’t ideological or theological; it was temperance.
The rest of the book of Daniel is possible because of his faithfulness in Daniel 1. What role did self-control play in his life?
Verse 8: “Daniel purposed in his heart.”
Verse 12: Daniel said, “Prove thy servants.”
At the end, the results spoke for them. Daniel and his friends were superior on every level:
• Physically: “Their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat” (verse 15).
• Spiritually: “Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams” (verse 17).
• Mentally: “And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better” (verse 20).
• Professionally: “And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus” (verse 21).
Questions
• What is the relationship between physical health and spiritual health?
• What impact did the life of Daniel have on Nebuchadnezzar, a skeptical, unbelieving king?
• How can self-control help you be a better witness to a postmodern generation?
• What does this story tell us about human effort and divine power?
“The spirit that possessed Daniel, the youth of today may have; they may draw from the same source of strength, possess the same power of self-control, and reveal the same grace in their lives, even under circumstances as unfavorable” (Prophets and Kings, pp. 489, 490).
Parting Thought (Bold buzz.)
Discipline and self-control have the drippings of ultimate repression in society. Holding back one’s desires appears as bondage—inhibiting one’s real desires. Yet in reality discipline is the price of freedom. Self-control is in reality what saves us from ourselves. It keeps us in check. As Paul says, “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:27).
Discipline, self-control, and temperance enable us to excel professionally, spiritually, and physically. As illustrated in the story of Daniel, self-control opens opportunities to convince a secular and skeptical world.
Reach Out
Brainstorm about the class conducting a health outreach for your community, e.g., nutrition courses for bachelors.
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