Competent To Counsel

We have come to the final section of Paul’s letter to the churches in Rome. What remains are some concluding remarks in which he explained the reason why he wrote this letter and shared his personal plans to visit them along with some prayer requests and then he extended some personal greetings to his friends and gave a final warning and a closing doxology. All of Paul’s letters have concluding remarks but he dedicated more space to them in this letter than in any other epistle. Paul had never visited Rome nor had he ever interacted with the churches or the believers there. And since he had just got done calling them out for the lack of love and grace they were showing toward one another when it came to exercising their Christian liberty in gray areas, he was quick to commend them. In other words, rather than just rebuking them, he wanted to point out evidences of God’s grace in their lives. So he began this closing section by offering a brief word of commendation. Here we are reminded that God has called and equipped every Christian to counsel one another and provide help and hope to those who are struggling with a problem in their life.

1. How have you seen psychology in our day infiltrate the church and influence how Christians think about and deal with the problems we all face in life?
2. Are there times when you have been guilty of ignoring Christ and His Word when addressing a problem in your own life or someone else’s life? Who or what do you tend to rely on in order to change yourself or to help someone else to change?
3. Read Psalm 19:7-11 and 2 Timothy 3:16-17. How should these verses build your confidence in the sufficiency of Scripture? What role does the Bible play in counseling/discipling (cf. Josh. 1:8; Ps. 1:1-3; 119:9-11, 105; James 1:21-25)?
4. Read Colossians 1:18, 28; 2:8-10, and 2 Peter 1:3. How do these verses emphasize the supremacy  and sufficiency of Christ? What role does Christ play in counseling/discipling (cf. Isa. 9:6; Rom. 8:28-29; Phil. 3:10-14)?
5. Read Matthew 18:15-17, Galatians 6:1-2, Hebrews 3:12-13, 10:24, and James 5:19-20. Based on these passages, what is your responsibility as a believer? What keeps you from faithfully fulfilling this responsibility? What makes counseling/discipling others both challenging and rewarding?
6. What are some practical steps you can take to better equip yourself to be able to counsel/disciple others more effectively? Who is someone you know is dealing with a problem in their life that you can give help and hope to this week?
7. Thank God for transforming your life through the power of the gospel so that you care enough and are competent enough to counsel others. Ask God to raise up more people who are willing to join LBC’s counseling team and that He would use them to affect change in people’s lives.

“The three ideas found in the word nouthesia are confrontation, concern, and change. To put it simply, nouthetic counseling consists of lovingly confronting people out of deep concern in order to help them make those changes that God requires. By confrontation we mean that one Christian personally gives counsel to another from the Scriptures. He does not confront him with his own ideas or the ideas of others. He limits his counsel strictly to that which may be found in the Bible…. The nouthetic counselor believes that all that is needed to help another person love God and his neighbor as he should…may be found in the Bible. By concern we mean that counseling is always done for the benefit of the counselee. His welfare is always in view in biblical counseling….There is always a warm, family note to biblical counseling which is done among the saints of God who seek to help one another become more like Christ. Christians consider their counseling to be a part of the sanctification process whereby one Christian helps another get through some difficulty that is hindering him from moving forward in his spiritual growth. By change we mean that counseling is done because there is something in another Christian's life that fails to meet the biblical requirements and that, therefore, keeps him from honoring God. All counseling -- biblical or otherwise-- attempts change. Only biblical counselors know what a counselee should become as the result of counseling: he should look more like Christ. He is the Standard. Biblical counseling is done by Christians who are convinced that God is able to make the changes that are necessary as His Word is ministered in the power of the Spirit.”

Jay Adams, What Is Nouthetic Counseling