Three major areas of need in the modern church should come up for fresh scrutiny in our day. These areas tend to inbreed and produce multiplied problems. First there is discipling. Second, church structure. Third, counseling.
In Acts 14 we see the apostle Paul giving structure his attention. Elders were appointed at once. Without the minimum biblical structure, is there a church or is it merely a preaching station or a Christian center of some kind?
In my studies of church history and revivals, in particular, I have never discovered a spiritual awakening which was at the same time accompanied with any revision in church life. Generally God’s people, in spite of added zeal and spiritual excitement, have tended to stay where they were in their vagueness about the biblical offices and spiritual gifts.
Apart from a living body or family of families, ministries such as counseling lack a strong context. Counseling is a highly spiritual ministry and a part of normal church life between all the members. When counselors are being produced by and assisted by a vitalized church and the counselees are surrounded by an alive, loving spiritual family, changes take place. Troubled people do not need to be consigned to the mire of a counseling bog as a way of life.
Several principles must be kept in mind in order to be realistic.
- Being in a sinful, fallen world means that that which is normal will not normally be found.
- More perfect ideals will not “take” easily.
- Though there is no lack of plans for worldwide revival, for churchwide this or that, yet we still are not quickened spiritually. Our shelves and files are filled with how-to books and materials. But each new program has to remain on a life support pump because it cannot exist by its own life. (Dare I add another program?)
DISCIPLING–THE WAY TO MAKE IT HAPPEN
I will tell you how to make everything good “take.”
Picture tossing gravel at a dry mud wall. They bounce off and fall to the ground. However, if the mud is first made moist and supple, the stones will stick and be imbedded. By a plan of discipling, truths and even plans can be made to stick because lives have been made pliable and useful to God. Discipled men and women will lead a church into a new era. This new life will in turn make structural or organizational alterations much more simple–even normal. Effective counseling will also be a spiritual by-product.
INDIVIDUAL EDIFICATION
A list of some of the New Testament texts stressing individual edification as opposed to group or public ministry:
Acts 20:31; Romans 14:19; 15:1, 2, l4; Colossians 1:28, 29; 3:16; I Thessalonians 2:11; 4:18; I Thessalonians 5:11-14; Titus 2:3-5; Hebrews 3:12, 13; Hebrews 10: 24, 25.
Let me note especially the emphasis of I Thessalonians 2:11 given in a couple of interesting translations of the term “everyone.”
New English: As you well know, we dealt with you one by one, as a father deals with his children,….
Phillips: You will remember how we dealt with each one of you personally….
Various Biblical Terms Indicating Counseling
Standing among the Scriptural words are such terms as: Admonish, Rebuke, Teach, Exhort*, Encourage, Reprove, Comfort*, Instruct, Warn, Counsel
The Greek term translated variously as “admonish,” “warn,” and “teach” comes from the Greek NOUTHESIS and NOUTHETEO, which are the noun and verb forms in our New Testament.
Counseling, therefore, is the use of truth to accomplish all of these effects indicated in the foregoing terms. It is a vital means of our sanctification.
*The Spirit will then often use verses as His instrument to comfort. Again, counseling is the flow of vitality from one member of Christ’s body to another in the form of admonition, encouragement, etc.
General Remarks on Counseling:
What is counseling?
– Leading a person to find a solution to his problem.
Who is competent to counsel?
– One who has himself been counseled by God and is living accordingly.
Every Christian should more or less be counseling all day long during contacts with other people. Surely, we are either helping clear other lives or hindering and clogging other lives. We are set as lights in the dark and are to shine constantly, dispelling darkness with wholesome words of truth. Often, we are to be engaged in a kind of spiritual foot washing. Never dead-end a truth. Be a channel and pass it on.