Okay, we get to review again. Thank you for telling me to record it. I would have gone to the end of this and go, no, I didn't record it again. Okay, let's go back and review. So Crabbe begins the chapter 12 with a discussion about maturity and gives a pretty good discussion there of making you think through that. And so I just want to start out with some biblical descriptions of what maturity is. The first would come up from Romans 8, 29, that we're to be predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. So maturity would be defined then as the degree to which you are conformed to Christ. Now, we're not going to be conformed completely in this world. That's not going to be until we're glorified, which is Romans 8, 30. But he's going to move us that direction. So that would be one way to describe, in a biblical context, biblical terminology, maturity. more and more conformed to the image of Christ. In Hebrews 5.14 and 6.1, both of those verses speak of maturity, of having pressed on past the elementary teachings about Christ, which would be a foundation for repentance from dead works and having faith in God. So the basic gospel, and then able to handle, as he states in the text, solid food. That's the more advanced teachings of scripture. You can handle reading the writings of Paul. You can move past the gospels. You can get the epistles. And as Paul makes arguments about how we should live, who knows? You might even be able to understand Hebrews. And then Revelation. So obviously, it takes more maturity to grasp some of those other books. And that's why Hebrews says, I'm not laying this foundation again. He's pressing on and explaining some things that are more difficult. more sense to us. 1 Corinthians 2.6 speaks of maturity in a context of faith that rests on the power of God and wisdom that's revealed by the spirit of God as compared with the wisdom of man, which is passing away. The wisdom of man is foolishness. So I don't have to be intimidated by those who have advanced degrees from institutions of man because they're going to be founded in foolishness. Even if they have a PhD and they're a philosophy professor, can wax eloquent, but the wax isn't worth burning. I'm going to have wisdom that comes from God, and as he says earlier in 1 Corinthians, the wisdom of God is far surpasses or is greater than the wisdom of man, which is foolishness to God. Now, going to Galatians 5, 16 through 24, Paul there writes about the deeds of the flesh and the deeds of the spirit. Wisdom could, or true spirituality, true maturity could be defined in terms of how closely are you walking with the spirit, letting him control you, and then that's gonna be exhibited in whether you're walking the deeds of the flesh or the fruit of the spirit. Verse 16, but I say, walk by the spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. The flesh sets its desires against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another. So you may not do the things that you please. But if you're led by the spirit, you are not under the law. Now the deeds of flesh are evident. So if these are the things that are going on, then there's a lack of maturity. Okay. Immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these of which I forewarn you, just as I have warned you, that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Okay, so if that's really what characterize your life, something's missing. Okay, even about the foundations of the gospel. But even as Christians, some of these elements are going to pop up once in a while. And it may take a while as you begin to walk with Christ to change how you live. And in fact, isn't that what a lot of your counseling is going to be? Whether it's self-counsel or you're actually counseling somebody else, you're just talking with them. They present a problem. We're going to go back to the scriptures. Here's how God says we should be living. Here's what the wisdom of God is. Here's how he changes us. Here's the will of the spirit. Walking with the Spirit would be a good typical definition of maturity. Those who are walking in the Spirit are going to be mature. Those who are still yielding the deeds of the flesh, to the degree they are, they're not mature yet. They're immature. What is that maturity going to look like? Well, it's going to be increasingly a life that's going to be characterized by the fruit of the Spirit, which is love. joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and against such things, there is no law. So that's gonna be part of maturity. He even goes on, is that if we live by this, those who belong to Christ Jesus and crucify the flesh with its passion desires. So if we live by the spirit, let us walk by the spirit. And he gives some more very practical things, but that would be a way to say you're mature. How well are you walking with the Spirit as compared to walking still in the flesh? One that Crabbe actually expands on for the end of the book is loving one another. John 13, 34 and 35, by this all men will you know my disciples if you have love for one another. And the command there is to love one another as I have loved you, love one another. So if you're walking in that kind of love, love that's reflective, the kind of love that Jesus has for us, that would be a definition of maturity. Ephesians 4.13 speaks about maturity in the context of a healthy body. So pastors, evangelists are given to the church for equipping the saints for the work of ministry. And then as the body of Christ is working together, the purpose is verse 13, until we all attained unity of faith to the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, the measure of statute belongs to the fullness of Christ. So we're not gonna be, and then as the verse goes on, next verse, passed about by winds of doctrine, we have a foundation that's solid. We can discern what's right and wrong. We're not gonna be so confused, But that means maturity means I'm interacting well enough with the body of Christ. I'm letting those who are stronger in the area help me where my areas of weakness are. That requires humility. As well as where I'm strong, I can help them. That means I have to be beyond myself to think about what's best for my brother and sister. That would be an aspect of true maturity. Then Paul's description of true spirituality in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14 would be expansion of Ephesians 4, 13, that idea. Whatever giftedness that God has given you, as you're using that, the body is going to grow, you're going to grow, we all become more mature together. But in the body analogy that he gives in 1 Corinthians 12, again, we have to see that we're part of something bigger than ourselves. And our part may not be as out and visible where everybody can see it and give you praise for what you do, but it's still vitally important. Karen O'Dette came over and did a very vital thing for us today. It cleaned up everything that was upstairs regarding Christmas. The only one who knows about it was me until now. blurted it out for everybody, but that's behind the scenes. Well, but that's part of how the body of Christ works. I'm not in this for my own glory, I'm in this, let's just serve the body and for the grace of Christ. Okay, so that includes things like cleaning up and putting it all away so nothing breaks. That nativity, that puzzle is something. It is something, isn't it? I hope you like jigs puzzles. This is a three-dimensional one. It is. It's a porcelain nativity scene, and you got to put it in just right, otherwise you're going to break something. And we've actually had that for quite a while now. And we've only broken a few things. Glued them back together. But those things are important. And then another, I think, definition, you could get the maturity or examples of it, would be what is given in 1 Timothy 3, 1 through 13, and in Titus 1, 6 through 9, which defines the qualifications for church leadership. Because all Paul really does in both passages is, if you're going to have someone who's going to be a leader in the church, they should have these characteristics which show maturity. They could use any of those. In fact, I know Gene Getz many decades ago, scores of years ago, wrote a book called The Measure of a Man, and it was written to all men. And what he did is he went through the qualifications of an elder and said, that's the measure you should be looking for. Or as one of my professors who I respect very much, Jim George had put it, and actually had a seminar series called Every Man a Leader. No exceptions. Every man, that's what's required. Every man should be qualified to be a deacon, okay? Because all that's listed there is that's what maturity looks like. Now that's more extensive than what Crabbe gave, but we have more time. He's trying to write a book and he has to be succinct when he's writing here. The Crabbe statements about evidence of Christian maturity include the following. Mature Christians entice us to pursue, that's the blank, entice us to pursue a God whom they know better than we. They draw us the Lord, that's page 194. That actually is a really thought out statement. Because you can see a lot of people can exhibit outwardly, they look sort of mature, but they don't draw you to Christ. There's something that's not quite right there. When someone exhibits a Christian maturity, you want to be with them and learn from them because you sense they got something you don't. They have a walk and a piece about them that you would like in your own life. And so it draws you to them because they're walking with Christ and just becomes obvious. And it's not just the outward things. There's a sense just being around them. There's a comps they have. It's not, as opposed to the legalist, that's kind of the background I had growing up. There was a lot of rules. You had to do this and maturity is defined by you do this, this, and this, and you don't do that. And therefore you must be mature because you kept all the rules. And yet the person's cold. Well, that's not mature. Maturity is going to have a warmth to it. There's going to be an ease of being around the person because they're not a judgmental person. Now, they'll correct you, but when they correct you, you appreciate it because they're gentle in how they do it. They pull you along as, you know, you could do better. And this is what God has for it. And God has it so much better than what you're doing. So let's move his way. You know, it attracts you. And I like what Crabb says there about that. It entices us to pursue a God that we see that they know better than we do. And I want the same in my life. That's a very good thing. Also on page 194, maturity creates a growing awareness of our imperfection that drives us toward dependency on Christ. Now, in his talking about the different aspects of what we are as humans, he kept driving that point in. Where we wanna go is become more dependent on Christ. That my life needs to be revolving around that. So that's a good definition for what maturity really looks like. I am more dependent upon Christ. Now, if I am more dependent upon Christ, what's my demeanor gonna be? Anxious? No, it goes the opposite regardless of the circumstances because I am dependent upon him. He had some examples in there of a woman that was kind of complacent and anything you ask, she'd go ahead and do because that's how she could achieve love from people and they'll like her and everything else. But he goes on as she learned and actually became a little more mature She learned how to say no. And some people got upset with that. You used to, anything we ask you to do, now you're saying no. Well, what's the maturity in it? Well, the goal here is to serve Christ, not just do whatever anybody wants. And I actually learned to weigh out what's most important for the kingdom of God, not just what pleases somebody. Less disappoints somebody because they want what you're going to do for them, but it pleases God more. But she had to become more dependent upon God to be able to tell someone no, and risk them getting upset with her. That's why he grabs says in the book and describes it. And that's actual maturity. Because they're shifting more and more is it really is about Christ. Whatever I'm going to do, it's about Christ. Three mature people are not self-preoccupied. Also page 194. Quote, an unhealthy focus on one's self nourishes the arrogant presumption of self-sufficiency. So there has to be care about becoming even contemplative about your sin. That's a self-preoccupation. If your sin's paid for and you're forgiven, why are you preoccupied with it? Yeah, we should give attention to moving away from sin and towards greater righteousness, but that should be more about Christ and being thankful for what he's already done for me. So even if I'm struggling with a sin, I'm thankful for being forgiven, and I need to become more dependent upon the Holy Spirit to empower me and convict me, and that's a big one, convict me, even praying, Lord, if there's any wicked way in me, reveal it. Well, we're willing to do that and then repent and move on with life. So it's not a self-preoccupation. It's not a self-preoccupation about where do you fit in the hierarchy within the church? Who cares? Does it matter? It really doesn't. The question is, are you serving Christ the fullness of your ability? Because the only one that really should be getting the glory is Christ. That's why a healthy body works together in harmony. And the hand's not trying to go that way while the foot wants to go that way. Guess who's going to win? The foot. But if the foot doesn't have the cooperation of the hand, it's not getting out the door. It's not going to kick it over unless you turn the handle, right? So that's going to be part of it. I'm not self-preoccupied. Number four, maturity is most evident in the manner of relating. So he's actually pulled this back into 1 Corinthians 13 and loved, but how I relate to other people is actually a better demonstration of maturity than what I do or don't do in terms of all the lists, whatever that is, the legalistic lists. I do this, I don't do that. How are you relating with people? Are you encouraging them in their walk with the Lord? Now that requires, as he points out first, there's gonna be an abandonment of self-protection and then involvement with others to encourage them to move toward God. He makes quite a bit of emphasis upon how often we as humans seek to protect ourselves from being hurt. That's a self-protection. And so we build these walls up. Well, if I'm going to be mature, I got to tear that wall down. I have to risk getting hurt. In fact, I'm not going to risk it. I'm going to go into it with full knowledge. I am going to get hurt, but it's okay. Because if I don't do that, I can't be involved. If I'm not involved, how's God going to use me in someone else's life and how it's got to use them in my life to help me be what I'm supposed to be. That's a very important part of it. And certainly in marriage, that should be where it's the greatest, but often in marriage, the years go along and you've gotten a little hurt there, a little hurt there, and like, okay, I'm not gonna deal with that, because that hurts. And pretty soon there's walls are built up, and instead of being closer together over the years, you become more distant. How many marriages fall apart after the kids are out of the house, or even sometimes just before they are out of the house? Because husband and wife really don't have anything in common anymore. They've just grown apart. They haven't just grown apart. They worked at it. They built the wall. It wasn't something natural or organic. They slowly did it as they responded. Instead of moving toward greater involvement, they start moving away for fear, I'm going to get hurt again. You're going to get hurt. Period. You're going to get hurt. But it's OK. Because if you're not gonna risk it, you're not gonna grow. And you're not gonna help the other person. If you risk it, yeah, there's gonna be some hurt. But let's face it, in marriage, one of the great things is making up. Okay? It really is. You can get past it like, oh, okay, I was wrong. Who wants to admit they're wrong? Okay, I was wrong. Please forgive me. Thank you for forgiving me. Let's move on. But that's what a mature person does. And that's why he's using that is I'm going to risk that. So marriages should be the highest example, but it should be in every relationship in life. Am I willing to risk it? If I'm not willing to risk it, I'm really demonstrating I'm not that mature yet. I'll give another example in leadership meetings. There's always the potential for conflict when you have a bunch of men together, well, women too. It happens there, right? Women get conflicts over things. Yeah. But you have a bunch of guys, they all, let's say there's, you got 12 guys are all type A. You can have a lot of conflict, but you know, that would be great, wouldn't it? Because as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Are you willing to let the sparks fly so that we can come to a better decision? And you should be able to let the sparks fly as you argue back and forth, and then hug each other as you leave and say, it was a great meeting. But how can you do that? It's because we have a purpose that's greater than ourselves. So I'm going to risk the involvement. I'm willing to say is I don't think that's a great idea, and here's why. And the person can counteract as well. I'm not sure your idea is so good, and here's why. But as you're going back and forth, you should be mutually going toward the greater goal. But see, that takes a lot of maturity. Otherwise, you're going to have one person just dominate, however they end up doing so, and the others just stay quiet. Who wants a bunch of yes-men around them? Well, there are those that do want that, but they're not going to succeed very well. Somebody that wants power. Somebody wants power, just wants yes-men. He had a bunch of yes men and he did whatever he wanted and nobody. Not good. Okay. It really isn't good. You see that in politics, but no, you want people who are going to be willing to antagonize because you want them to be able to push you toward where you probably need to go and are either too blind to see it or too stubborn to want to go that way and need help. Well, but that can't happen unless there's some maturity. I'm going to risk getting hurt in order to have the involvement. I'm going to risk getting hurt and being able to say is, I'm not sure that's really what God wants. Okay. Is that a question? No, that's my granddaughter talking to somebody else. Sorry. Okay. All right. Yeah. Maybe just mute it unless you're going to be okay. I'll mute it. I don't know how though, but I'll try mute. I found it. Okay. So that would be one. So he has that as a first and then the self-protection involved with others to encourage them to move toward God. Be loved. We already talked about this from 1 Corinthians 13, but it's actually 13 through it's 12, 13, and 14, because it's the whole section and all three is true spirituality. True spirituality is maturity. Love is going to be part of that. Now, he talks about this love as being something that's not above the waterline, but something concerned about the deeper issues. Now, understand the definition given in 1 Corinthians 13 is a corrected definition, and every single element is something that the Corinthians were failing. It is actually very specific there. It's actually not the best definition, because there's other aspects to love than just giving first strength and 13. But it's a good place to start for correction. And the same time, a lot of that stuff is, it's gonna take, as he puts it, dealing with issues below the waterline, not just what's obvious, but what's behind it. That would be that R1, R2, right? What are you thinking? What's your perceptions of life? What is it about? Which is gonna explain why you do what you do, right? What did he mean by that? He kept saying that the waterline, is that just the surface? Okay, yeah. So the waterline would be like an iceberg, right? Mostly icebergs down below the waterline, but what we end up seeing and we think we're dealing with is just above it. But if we're not dealing with what's below it, we're not really dealing with the more substantial issues. But those are harder to get to. You can't see them so well. If you want to reduce the size of an iceberg, and you end up shooting the top off, right? Well, all it does is roll over and pop up with more stuff, all right? If you really want to destroy it, you need to put it in hot water and let it melt, which they do automatically. They just kind of move south or north toward the equator and they just melt. I don't know why I said that. That's that science thing. Well, the iceberg's trying to cool it off. That'd be global cooling. Okay, so that's what he means by that. So what's above the waterline or below? Are we just dealing with that which is invisible? Or do we need to deal with the issues that are actually underlying them? Yes, sir. Yeah, chapter 13 of love, 1st Corinthians chapter 13. And that's more like a guide. I would be able to fulfill that in this, on earth. Sounds like more like a perfect love. In 13? Yeah, the 1st Corinthians chapter 13, the chapter of love. These are all aspects of what love is, but is the description of self-sacrifice in there. But are we going to be, uh, it's like a good guy to follow after, but we'd be able to accomplish a lot without just the way it got love. Well, actually first Corinthians 13 would be, this is the minimal amount of what love is. This is minimal. Okay. Uh, if you do this, you're just right at the minimum here because he's correcting the Corinthians. Okay, love is patient, they were not. Kind, they were not. Not jealous, they were jealous. Does not brag, they were very boastful. They were even boastful about tolerating immorality. Arrogant, yeah, they're boastful. Act unbecomingly, yeah, 1 Corinthians 5, that's very unbecomingly. To seek its own, not provoke, to take into each other to court. Another one, unbecomingly, they're going up to see the temple prostitutes. That's not very good. Taking account of wrongs suffered. Yeah, that's why they're going to court in front of the Gentiles, instead of dealing with each other. So, as I said, 1 Corinthians 13 is a corrective passage, so it's pretty minimal. But the reason that Paul has it in there is they are claiming they're really spiritual. That's who the Corinthians are, and they had all spiritual gifts, chapter one. And he's showing them as you think you're spiritual and you're not. True spirituality is gonna show up and look, here's some basic stuff. But the reason I say this is minimal is how will all men know we are his disciples is when we love each other as Christ has loved us, that's complete sacrificial love. That's why that's used in the commanding husband to love their wives as Christ loved the church. He loved us and demonstrated love for us, and he died for us while we were still sinners. Well, that's quite a bit higher than this one. That's a sacrifice that's greater. And that's the only reason I say that. So 1 Corinthians 13, as Brad points out, it may be a good place to start, but you need to deal with the issues below the waterline. Well, for example, if love does not act unbecomingly, OK, so you get a person straightened up, and they learn all the etiquette rules, and they follow them very well. So it seems like they're a great person, but they can't stand the people they're with. They're just really good with manners. Is that good? OK. Having lots of family in the South, there is a saying down there that sometimes it's a clue to you. Well, bless their heart. And then it's going to be as, yeah, they're really not that good. So they have such good manners. You will thank them thinking you just got complimented and you weren't complimented. You were just taken to task with, no, this isn't very good. You're a mess. Bless your heart. It's an act. Well, it's manners they've learned as part of their society. English society has a lot of decorum, especially you go back, you know, several hundred years ago, right? Watch one of these period pieces of English life in the 1700s or 1800s. It's all this decorum, what you do. And then in any of those stories, you find out the backbiting and the anger that, I mean, they're normal people. They've just got this veneer. And it's still that true way in the South. They're nicer people. Okay, they're not they don't have that nasal New York City. Irritating now, I can say that very easily because I live here and everybody knows what I'm talking about. Uh, there was a thing where they have president Trump. Someone lip synced it on a video and gave him an English. uh, accent and spoke in an English manner. And you thought this is the most kind guy and so nice, but just hearing this, like, oh, that is irritating. It's like, you know, I don't have a chalkboard. It's like grading on a chalkboard, but people are people. So getting below the waterline is okay. I'm glad you're doing the things outwardly. That's kind. I'm glad you're doing that, but your heart's not there. because you're doing this kindness, but underneath you're going around behind their backs and you're cutting them down. Okay? So that's what he means by getting below the waterline. What are you really, what are your motivations for doing what you're doing? It's not enough just to do the right action. It's important. He makes that point. It's important. You're going to have to start there. Sort of like training kids. Kids, you chart by training their actions, and then you train their character. But a lot of the times, a character never gets trained. So if you grew up with a lot of the right actions, the character's not there. I'll give you an example of the hypocrisy that can develop. Very common in conservative Christian circles, or at least it used to be, is that it was taboo to go to a movie theater. That goes back all the way into the 20s and 30s, because that would be supporting Hollywood, and Hollywood's an evil place. It is evil. It's just over the hill from us. Work for some of those folks. Some of them are nice, and some are really evil. It's an evil place, so we don't support them. So along comes technology, and you can record whatever it is, and then play it in your home. So you can't go to the theater, but I can play that stuff in my house. Well, what is it you're watching? Diane, many years ago, before we got married, she was out here in New York with one of her roommates, who actually is from up in Amsterdam. And as they're traveling together, they actually stayed in the home of a pastor. And that's exactly what happened. He was one of the ones, you can't play with face cards, you can play rook. You can play things like that, but you can't play with a regular deck of cards. Those are called face cards. Because that would be evil. People use that for betting. And you can't drink. There's usually a long list. Your skirt has to be so long. And your hair has to be cut to a certain length. Or it can't be longer. If your hair's touching your ears, you're out of fellowship with God, right? You had all those things. You can't go to the movies. But Diane could not stay in the room as they're watching this video. I couldn't stay in there. She went upstairs and she said, I'm tired. She's going upstairs. Well, where's the heart? And see, that's why Crabbe says, when we're getting under the waterline, I've got to be looking at motivations. I've got to be looking at what's behind the actions. And it's better to have a better action than a nasty one, okay? But I still need to be looking at that, because the goal has to become, am I moving that person toward maturity? Am I moving toward maturity? So if I'm going to be abandoning self-protection, I should welcome someone who challenges me and ask them, well, why are you doing that? What's your real reason? And thank them, well, thanks for asking. I should be able to tell them. And if it's a bad reason, I should accept the correction. Yeah, I need to be working on my heart. OK, so that's one. And see love that is characterized by the fruit of the spirit. And so he hit the same thing as I mentioned earlier. If the spirit is controlling me, it's going to come out in a demeanor. And these are general characteristics that can come out in actions that display them. But the fruit of the spirit is dealing with character that comes out in actions, not actions that say you have a character. All right, I'll repeat that, okay? The fruit of the spirit is this is my character, which is going to be displayed in actions in keeping with that character, not an outward actions that will fool people into thinking I have a character I don't have. Okay. That makes sense. So that's all about what we're striving to is this is the kind of maturity we want. And that's crucial for us in counseling because that's what we have to be pursuing. So perhaps definition of Chris maturity, number three, Page 199 to 200, one personal circle fullness. So longing toward ultimate satisfaction in God. And that was that first one, okay, people personal. I have an awareness of knowing that it's not gonna happen in this life, but I'm still moving that direction. And ultimately my satisfaction has to be completely in God. That's personal circle awareness. The rational circle fullness then would be the R2 regards self as unworthy of being loved by God, but recognizes dignity as an image bearer by accepting God's love and for this purpose. So the first blank there was longing toward ultimate satisfaction, God. And the R2 blank there is dignity. Okay, I'm gonna accept that this is who God has This is what God has done for me and where he wants me to go. I had dignity because I bear his image even though I'm a wretch. Totally depraved. But I moved toward dignity as an image bearer and reflect that better as I move toward accepting God's love and incorporating for his purposes in my life. I'm moving toward greater maturity. The R1 would be then believing that there is no other way than Christ. So one is the images, the other is what my purpose is on. And that's where that whole idea of dependency gets stressed again. If I understand there's no other way than Christ, then the more dependent I become on Christ as the direction for whatever I do and how I do it. What job I do, how I do that job, friends I have, why I have those friends, what I'm trying to do with those friends, making my time count for something, knowing what my spiritual gifts are, using those as the best of my ability and wherever God has put me. That's all gonna be part of it because there really is no other way to be successful in life without moving toward a greater commitment, dedication and dependency upon Christ. Because it is really all about Him. The volitional circle, so this is knowing you have choices, you are capable of making choices, you have to make choice. So V2, that life is in Christ, that is a cognitive decision. And so demands nothing from life, but strives to love God and others. So if life is about Christ, I'm not looking for selfishness things. My decisions are made is what's gonna move me toward Christ. What's gonna move me toward God's will, loving others. And the V1 then is behaves in a manner consistent with that goal of love. Those are cognitive decisions. Now that's where you are gonna be moving toward, do the right thing, avoid the wrong thing, regardless of how you feel about it. The motivations are now being set because you're making a decision on the motivation. So the volition is making decisions about what's rational. They work together moving toward that personal circle. This is what life really is about. Number four, the emotional circle acknowledges those emotions. I recognize the emotions, the good ones, the bad ones. And as we talked about last week, whatever the circumstances and whether we would view that as pleasant or unpleasant, I want to move toward wisdom so that it's constructive in my life rather than walking in foolishness, where it's destructive in my life. So the emotion becomes a clue of what I'm thinking. Because your behavior is going to be based on that. Your emotions, you may think your emotions are leading you, but that really is your perceptions of the world are wrong. Your emotions are just tugging you along. Emotions are good light to expose what actually you're thinking. As your thinking is exposed, you can start recognizing what you are valuing in life. What do you think life really is about? OK. OK, number four, Krabs' contrast of two models for developing character. So he talks about the acquisition performance model. page 204 to 205, character develops without directly working on the hidden issues below the waterline. So craft perception of this model is that the stress is on an acquisition of knowledge and conforming to behavioral standards. That's true, not just in the legalistic groups, it's also true of the liberal ones. They just have different standards, right? Because that's for true though. There's really no difference between them. They just have different standards. The danger here is conformity to behavioral standards without a corresponding heart attitude, which I talked about before. So we just match what everybody else is doing. We just conform ourselves to that. And that's natural to humans to begin with. We don't like to be the one who sticks out. Back in the seventies, there was always this as, you know, be independent, you know, don't do what everybody else does. And so I'm gonna, this generation is gonna show how independent they are from their parents by everybody wearing the same thing and same hairstyles and same jewelry and saying like, there's no independence here. You're not thinking for yourself. You just conform to a different subgroup. We don't want to do that. Yes, ma'am. This is reminding me of teens a lot. You see this behavior so, so prevalently. And what I took from it is you're just, and sometimes parents encourage it too, just follow church culture. Or if you don't look the same, act the same, dress the same. I'm not talking about actual sin, but like some things there's a lot of gray areas in. But wouldn't you, a good way of like thinking about this is you're just creating little Pharisees. I mean, essentially it's the same thing. We follow the group. We, and we shun anyone that's a little different. What if you had a blue streak in your hair? It's not technically a sin. It might be a sign of rebelliousness, but it might, or might not, but you don't know why they have, you know, if you're just a little different, you see the, why do they have it? They may not, maybe I just, you know what I mean? You see that a lot in teens, especially. I'll give you two. So the neighbor boy, we're good friends, but Jonathan came and he has this earring. And I don't remember which year left his right and right is wrong. I think something like that. I don't know. So he has this thing in there. So finally I said, So Jeremy, what's with the earrings? Oh, my dad has one. Okay. He just wants to be like his dad. Okay, there's his motivation. We had one of the men, he actually was a leader in the church. He's a younger guy. He was in his late 20s by then. He's got an earring in. I said, well, I'm not going to say anything. Let's just see how this goes. About a month or two later, he says, don't you want to know why I have an earring? This is all I can think whenever I see you with that thing in, because you didn't have it all the time. It's like, you need a patch of your eye and you need a parrot. And you go, I'm going to be an 80. You start laughing like crazy. And he said, no, the reason I'm wearing it, my wife likes it. I said, OK. I said, but just know, I just think you're trying to be a pirate. He stopped wearing it. So. Let's face it, in a church culture, a guy with an earring is like, no, what's going on here? Well, exactly that. Why? Why do you have it? But it could be absolute rebellion. Unless you ask, you don't really know. Or it could be rebellion. But as teens, you see this constantly. Adults don't grow up out of it. No, they don't. And the parents encourage it, too. I can't tell you how many times I've had a discussion like this. I just didn't have a definition for it. Well, they do, because they don't want their children being the one out of step. When Diane turned 16, 13, teenager, her mother gave her a transistor radio. Yeah, I know, I'm dating myself. A transistor radio and an earplug for it, and said, you need to listen to KHJ. That's the station all the young people, they played rock, soft rock. It now be called oldies rock. so that you can fit in with everybody else. And it didn't really fit their family. Her father, especially, very eclectic in music, everything from symphony orchestras and everything to jazz. Rock was not on his list, though, but wanted to fit in. And so parents do do that. Or we succumb to the pressure of our kids saying, well, everybody's wearing it. Like, yeah, so? You're not everybody. You know, for our kids, it's like, you're a Harris. Okay. Yeah. That's who we are. You don't have to dress like everybody else. We had to work hard on that, but adults do the same thing. And every time you go and you start makes with a new group, we all look around to see what they're doing and okay. I'll adjust. Okay. Yeah. Pastors do it to go to pastors meetings. See what happens. Are they wearing suits or not wearing suits? Sometimes it depends where the conference is. At a church, they're more likely to wear a suit. If they're at a camp, probably maybe not. Then there's always those that are out of sync. We're at a life at a camp, and there's guys walking around with three-piece suits. It doesn't really fit camp life. And then there's the guys who are wearing sweats at Grace Community Church for the Shepherds. That doesn't really fit either. Dress up a little bit. We tend to conform. We had a guy coming here, this would be back in the mid-90s. He had just become a Christian. His hair was down here someplace. And one of the elders at that time, it turned out he was very legalistic. He got real concerned. He said, we need to talk to him about his hair. I said, what about his hair? Okay, he'll cut it off. Just give him time, okay? I don't think it was another month or two later, he came in, he was clean cut as could be. Because his view of who he wanted to be like just changed. He didn't want to be like the friends he had. He wanted to be like the friends he now has. So we all do it, but what's the motivation? That's where we have to dig in. We don't want to end up with conformity just because that's what everybody else does. We want people moving toward thinking through, is this what God would want me to do? So I'm not going to wear long hair. to be rebellious, and I'm not going to cut it short just to be conformed. I'm going to be thinking through, well, what is it God would really like me to do? And that includes something as simple as dress. I had a guy get on my case, that would be about a decade ago now. When I first came here, most of the guys were still wearing three-piece suits. Three-piece suits were going out, but most guys still had them. So now we advanced, and IBM has changed. You don't have to wear the white shirt. They ended up with a casual Friday. Now it's just casual. Apple started that. And then it started coming into church culture. So this one guy, he really didn't like suits. He didn't like suits. We don't have any dress code other than modesty. And he got on to me and said, you're always wearing a suit. Why don't you always wear a suit? I said, well, why is that bothering you? Because then I feel like I should wear a suit. No one made a demand on you to wear a suit. Well, why are you wearing a suit? I said, because I want to show respect to God. That's it. I want to dress in a manner that demonstrates that I respect what I'm doing, and I want to represent God well. That's it. Well, what are you going to say to that? So not wearing a suit because, well, pastors are supposed to wear suits. That depends where you are. Let's face it. If I was in Hawaii, I'd have some really nice Hawaiian shirts. No, because they don't. They don't. I would dress according to what their standards were. I actually, years ago, I was given a very nice shirt, which would be considered a dress shirt for Africa. But I've never made it to Africa, so I've never been able to wear the shirt. but it you would conform to what that society is that says that's perception of this demonstrates respect but see there it becomes the issue what's the motivation motivation isn't here to be comfortable that's where you nail most people's like well why do you dress the way you do what want to be comfortable you're coming to worship god would you wear that if you're going to go see uh your the head of your company to ask for a raise about no. I said then why do you want to wear that to say you're coming to worship God? So what's your motivation? See that's where we can counsel people and challenge them. That's a good way to challenge them because it's not saying is you have to wear a suit or you have to wear a dress. It's what are your motivations. This is what he means by this. I want to stay away from this acquisition performance model of here's all the rules. I'll learn all the information and I'll conform to all the rules. I need something different in my life. I need to change what are my motivations and that should be determining what I do. My character, right? And that's why he, you know, he takes some pretty good shots at this. We don't want people to remain in this area where they are afraid to do something because other people may not like it. or must do it for fear that people are going to judge them if they don't conform with whatever is going on. We want them to help them become more dependent upon Christ so that everything they do is going to get a motivation as well. What would Christ want in this situation? What would Christ want? Not what other people want. What does Christ want? Now, I'm going to be sensitive to other people, but my motivation has to keep going back that direction. That's not always easy, because we're pretty good at justifying ourselves, and other people are very good at justifying why you should do it their way, right? So we're going to be careful there. We also don't want to end up with the facade of godliness. I've talked about this before. You know, if theater has the mask on sticks, okay? So you have a happy face and sad face, you put the one in front of you and that says what your character is. A good actor doesn't need that, they just can fake it. They're really good at lying, okay? Which is the reality of it. But how often people come in a church and they wear a mask, okay? Their life is in turmoil, they're a mess, but they're never gonna let you know that, oh, life is fine, it's good. Really? They don't want to let anybody in because they're afraid. All sorts of fears can be there. And that's when we get into the case studies, you're going to see a lot of this. What is the motivations behind what they're doing? And we're going to be learning how to start thinking through this to help them. But the goal, as he's saying here, is to bring about maturity, which means a greater dependence upon Christ and a greater commitment to my motivations are about finding my worth in God, because everything really is going to end up there. I'm never going to be satisfied until I'm actually in the presence of God. There's always gonna be something missing. Even the best things that happen in this life, there's still a lack. And I can enjoy what God's blessings, whatever he's given me, there's always still like, I know it's somehow where it's supposed to be. I know it's going to be better when God recreates the earth and heaven is here and we're with him forever. And there's all this stuff of this life is finally gone and there's no sin. And I'm looking forward to that. So that's acquisition model that we don't want to do that. Now there are elements in it that are helpful, but as he's putting here, there's something that has to go beyond that. Now he called it character through community. He has another book called Encouragement Key to Caring, where he expands on this a lot, and the necessity of the church becoming sensitive to one another to help each other toward greater Christ-likeness, more dependence, doing the things he talks about here. But he puts this, the study of people's relational patterns as observed in actual practice becomes the focus in an effort to promote repentance of self-protective patterns and to drive us to dependency of God. So he's looking at how are they actually interacting with people and asking what's behind that. Not just the surface stuff, but trying to get below it. Crabb also states the character fault is properly defined as a pattern of relating designed to protect oneself from more personal pain. So you're gonna have someone who's very kind and everybody thinks they're just a wonderful person, but their motivation behind it's always been as, if I'm always kind to everybody, no one's gonna be mean to me. I'm not gonna get hurt. And so they can end up being pretty shy. They're always nice. Where are they really at? You don't know. Okay. It's a protective measure. You can, we'll be looking for that. The result is that crab requires, that's the blank, personal interaction to expose things. And it says below the waterline, the essential means of care development. That's what's going to bring about Christian maturity. And so in the model that he is promoting here is to expose the defensive maneuvering of self-protection and their underlying unmet longings can be meaningful repentance to cling to the Lord as the only hope in the midst of unresolved pain. So he makes an emphasis on that. You're going to have pain. Don't be afraid of it. Okay. Pain is a means, as James 1, 2 through 4 tell us, to bring us to maturity. Because it starts exposing the wrong things in our lives, wrong way of thinking, and makes us more dependent upon Christ. That's the test of faith. Okay, so as summary page 206, it's my conviction that the acquisition performance model leads at best to a love corrupted by unnoticed offensiveness and leads at best to a love corrupted by unnoticed offensiveness and lacking a presence that draws others to the person of Christ. So it ends up being shallow. The character through community model has potential and those that's potential it would have to be followed through properly. To deepen a person's awareness of his weaknesses and dependence in a way that slowly frees him more and more from self-protective patterns of relating and increasing a sense of presence that grows only through intimate communion with the Lord. And so as that maturity is developed, that's going to be someone who draws people to Christ because you can see Christ in him. Okay, five, the essence of maturity. Crabbe defines godly character as quote, confidence in God that one day things will be as they should be, unquote. Because if you have that confidence, then you're going to overcome your fears. You're being dependent upon God that regardless of what's occurring here, what happened currently, I know where it's going to end up. So I can get through whatever's at the present. This requires that one, the reality of unfilled longings is deeply felt now, that's painful. And two, our inability to find satisfaction in our own is painfully admitted. So you become aware of it and you admit it. It's on page 207. Or say it another way, increasing maturity directly corresponds to increasing dependence, that's the blank, dependence upon God. This requires honest exposure and acknowledgement of error or lack in any of the four circles to bring about repentance from all forms of self-reliance so that life is lived in a loving relationship of trust and penance upon God pursued to glorify Him. So the motivations are all different. The purpose in life is different. And that's messy. Now, some of the ways that going beyond what Kravs said, that are revealed in scriptures. So some of this overlaps, but some is just a little more specific. That scriptures say, here's how your Christian character developed. The first is salvation, right? Salvation through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Second Corinthians 5.17, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Okay, that's the starting point. Romans 6, four through six, you're no longer a slave of sin, but a slave of righteousness. The question is, is which master will you obey? An old master who has no authority over you or your new master, which was bringing about righteousness. And along with that comes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That's one of the blessings of salvation. John 16, seven through 14, the Holy Spirit does indwell us. He incised Romans eight talks about the same thing. If you do not have the spirit of Christ and you're none of his. So the Holy Spirit enables us. He empowers us. He does all of his ministry. So that is certainly the starting place, right? Without that, there can be no change. The natural man is not even received the things of God. They were foolishness to him. He doesn't understand them. First Corinthians two 14. So we have to start with salvation. that's why going back to that first model is someone presents a problem, that's where you're going to go first. Okay, here's what God says. You're not saved. Well, here's the only way you're going to get this corrected. You're going to have to walk with God and you can't do that without salvation. So let's talk about the gospel. You need God, you know. So that's the starting point. B, I put down prayer and confession. Okay, Psalm 32, Psalm 51 are both prayers of confession. Psalm 32 is David's description of what life was like prior to confession after the sin with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah and all the stuff that went with that. Psalm 51 is the confession of that and his clinging to God. Psalm 139, those particular verses, is a seeking after God. See if there's any wicked way in me to cleanse me. James 5.16, confess your sins one to another. First John 1.9, confessing your sins to the Lord, right? If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, cleanses our sins, forgive us our sins, and cleanses us from all unrighteousness. So prayer and confession is going to be part of it. you're not gonna grow without confession, right? Because that's the, that's part of repentance. That's right, you're wrong. That's, you've had to change your mind, but you thought you were right and God was wrong. But it doesn't work that way. So prayer and confession, it's gonna change us. James 1, 2 through 4, Romans 5, 2 through 5, they're both very direct. It is the trials of life, the troubles, the tribulations that bring about maturity. That's why James tells us to count it all joy whenever you encounter diverse trials, knowing that these trials are going to work in your life and eventually they're going to produce maturity. In Romans 5, it's the same thing. He actually says, we exalt in our tribulations and it's also a very strong word of joy. You take joy in your tribulation. Yes, because when you're working all through it, you end up with a foundational level of prize proven and Him dying for you while you were a sinner on the cross. So it can't be shaken. So perseverance is there. There's hope there. The others. So trials of life are a big part of what changes us. And yet, let's face it, as humans, no one signs up to say, I can't wait for my next trial. It's like, you could just not have it, right? It's okay. Don't need to go through that. But every trial, is something that God used in our life to make us more like him. God's chastening. So if you don't confess and you don't repent, well, God demonstrates his love as a good father in chastening those whom he loves. In fact, the passage says, if you are without chastening, you're none of his. You're illegitimate. And so when God chastens you, it's not pleasant. In fact, the verse says that. No one regards chasing as pleasant at the moment it's happening, but afterward it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness. And so you're grateful for it that God is actually loves you enough to correct you. Now, if you're blessed, you may have your kids when they're in their early twenties, finally figured out and say, thank you for correcting me while I was young. Maybe, but they should. was, I think, boy this would have been back in the 60s, I think it was in Reader's Digest or something, there was a column about a parent, or a kid who's now a parent themselves, of a tribute to her mother and about forcing her to eat vegetables and not allowing her to do what the other kids did of having candy for breakfast and that kind of stuff, actually made her eat healthy. So it wasn't until I said to her, I really recognize the importance of that. And I have a healthy body. I have all my teeth. They're not rotted out from Coke. And compared herself to some of her friends, like, thank you, mom, for actually having discipline. Well, God is the perfect father. So he will discipline us because he loves us that much. He's not going to let us get away with things. God's chastening. Some of the psalmists speak of the same issue. The word of God itself. How are we going to know God and what he wants? It's only through his word. Psalm 19, 7-11 is that, I would call it the short version of Psalm 119. It's right there. What is the word of God? There's a hexaplot of six statements about names for it, its characteristic, and its effect. It changes us. It even warns us. Psalm 119, the whole thing, is a love poem to the Word of God because of its change, that it forces on a person, that it enlightens the person what God wants, and exposes the wrong things. So all Psalm 119, 2 Timothy 3, 16, and 17, Okay, all scriptures inspired by God is a problem for reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness that the man of God may be equipped for every good work. So, and we've talked about that verse before, but that's the Word of God. That's what it does. That's the path of life. You got off it. Here's how to get back on. Here's how to stay on it. We need that. That's how we're going to be equipped. So I need to know the word of God, Hebrews 4.12, the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, dividing us under between the soul and the spirit. So we're reading through it and it convicts us. So that's one reason there's a cognitive element here is I do have to have some knowledge. That is the positive part of the acquisition model is you need to learn those things, but you need to go beyond that. I need to know that. Knowledge of Christ pursuing it, 2 Peter 1, 2-8. He deals with being diligent to add to your faith, certain qualities. First, God has granted us what we need. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, saying that his divine power has granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of him who was called us by his own glory and excellence. For by these he has granted to us his precious and magnificent promises in order that by them he might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is now in the world by lust. But then he goes on. Now for this very reason also, Applying all diligence in your face, apply moral excellence, your moral excellence, knowledge, your knowledge, self-control, your self-control, perseverance, your perseverance, godliness, your godliness, brotherly kindness, brotherly kindness, love. These qualities are yours and are increasing. They render you neither useless nor improved from the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lacking them, you're short-sighted and you're not going to mature. So yeah, there's knowledge of Christ and then being diligent to pursue it. walking by the Spirit, Galatians 5, 16 to 26, which we talked about earlier. That is a means by which we're changed. Being a living sacrifice, renewing our minds, Romans 12, 1 and 2. Therefore, in view of the mercies of God, present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to him, which is your reasonable service of worship. and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you might prove that which is good and acceptable and perfect in Christ. So I have to have a mindset that way of, I'm a living sacrifice. I don't live for myself. I'm going to resist the pressure of the world to get changed by renewing a mind. How do I do that? Go back to the word of God and sense of the Holy spirit. So a living sacrifice. So, That's a complete different change of mind from what you would have had prior. Ephesians 4, 22, 24, Colossians 5, 3, 5 through 10 and 12 through 14, all deal with putting off the old man and putting on the new. And it's not suggesting we're spiritual schizophrenics. It is the fact that we still live in these cursed bodies. We still have old ways of life that we patterned ourself with. We have old ways of thinking, and there has to be a cognitive effort to put those things off, stop doing the things you used to do, stop thinking the way you used to do, and put on the new man of what God wants us to be, how he wants us to behave, how he wants us to think, what he wants our motivations to be. It is a cognitive. So the volition is very important here. I have to understand what is true. That's the rational circle. moving toward what the personal circle of what life is really about, and not let my emotions lead me, but make decisions and move directly toward these things. And then as I've already also talked about true Christian fellowship, you're not in it by yourself. God has given you the Holy Spirit, but he's also given the body of Christ. And so all these passages are listed there, Romans 12, 3 through 8, 1 Corinthians chapters 12, 13, and 14, Hebrews 10, 24, which is, do not neglect the assembly of saints that we may spur one another on toward loving good deeds. The body of Christ is extremely important for us. Some time ago, I was counseling somebody, and they had their own assignment. They're in a different state, and they were doing the streaming of the church they'd been attending. and it hadn't gone anywhere yet. You can't do that. I said, it's nice that you can stream things, that's good. But if you're not involved with the body of Christ, you're in trouble yourself. And you certainly shut yourself out from being able to serve God, because that's what I have in that context. In this one, I said, you need to go to a local church and find someone. She was more recently married trying to figure out how to be a wife, and do what scripture says. Older women teach younger women how to love their husbands and their children. Go find that older woman, okay? And you're not gonna find it by streaming online. You gotta be involved with the body of Christ, period, okay? We are in danger right now because so many people do view their worship of God as I can turn it on anytime I need, and I can sit there in my pajamas, and yeah, Wow, it was good watching that service. It becomes entertainment. That's not what it's about. You need to physically go at all possible, period. And if you can't go, then invite other people to your house so they can interact with you. We need the body, period, okay? Now, all those are part of developing maturity, and that is gonna be a huge part of counseling is urging people towards those very things. Okay, next. Now we've still got some time. I may go past eight o'clock tonight. Pros and cons of Larry Krab's model. Okay, I think it's always appropriate. I don't care whose book you're reading. If I wrote a book, I want you to do the same thing. Okay, it's all fair game. You want to think through it. What are the pros and the cons? All right, so let me pass this out. Yeah. I'll just let you pass them back. Yeah, we have it. You have it. You grabbed it. You got it? All right. The pros and cons are on the website and can be downloaded. So this would be a short synopsis of some of the stuff in this. my term paper for my class. And again, I can make copies of that. And after attending his seminars, reading his three books on biblical counseling, and then several other books he wrote expanding on it, there's a lot of pros I find in what Larry Crabb has done. His first book was biblical counseling. The second was effective biblical counseling. And then the third book is this one. Each one, he expands a little bit on how he's trying to think through this. At the time, there were those who were saying he has the most biblical model. And there were those that claimed there was very little biblical in it. You got your critics and your fans, okay? The opponents would cite the fact that many of Krabs' ideas are very similar to theories of secular psychology. In Krabs' favor, it must be said that he has made a sincere effort to be biblical. He also freely acknowledged the inherent danger of a man trained in psychology to come up with a biblical model, simply because so much more study has been done in psychology rather than the biblical data. Back to biblical counseling, page 48. Crabbe puts forth his models and attempt to move biblical counseling forward. He invites comment from others and strives to learn from them. Understanding people, page 14 and 15. In his books and in his personal discussions, Crabbe treats other biblical counselors with Christian love, never content, even if attacked by them. And that was true. I attended his seminars twice. Once because it was recommended at church and the second is because I was doing a research paper. And I appreciate it by him. So his books were never meant to be the final word. It was, let's just move this forward. And he invited criticism. Let's see if we keep improving. Next paragraph, Crabbe is trying to walk the fence between those who accept psychology with little regard as to its truthfulness and those who reject anything tainted with anything to do with psychology. Crabbe seems to put psychological research in the same realm as natural science, man attempting to understand his world. With that in view, there may or may not be helpful things from psychology, but as always must be checked against the truth of scripture, and Crabbe does succeed at this in some respects. The major benefit of Crabbe's model is that it does show humans the complex creatures that behave in many ways without understanding why, or at least cognitively, they're not, it's there someplace you dig around, but they're not cognitively aware why they may behave in such a ways. My belief is that there is a hidden part of man that is, quote unquote, below the waterline. This would be that inner man, the man seen well in Romans 7 in Paul's struggle with the evil principle within him. Why does he do the very things he does not want to do? Crabbe's model does take people into that area of hidden attitudes and beliefs that eventually come out into behavior. Crabbe's model does show the necessity of repentance that is more than regret for behavior. Repentance also deals with turning from wrong ideas of God, as well as wrong thoughts and attitudes, as in the Sermon on the Mount. Crabbe's concept of the four circles is a handy way to grasp how people function. And again, it's just a handy way of trying to grasp a concept. That's what the circles are about, especially rational, volitional, emotional circles. personal circle is a driving force is accurate, but the nature of that driving force could use greater discussion. So that'd be a slight critique. So from that aspect, even the conclusion my paper here is that he's worth studying and thinking through. I think he's a good challenge for the biblical counselor to move beyond especially in the aesthetic model where it's just a cut and dry. Here's what God says, just go do it. You got to help a person and you got to do all the other one on others, which I've criticized before about the new static model. There's a lot of good things in it, but there's a weakness. And I think crab has exposed where some of that weakness is in this acquisition conformity model of we got knowledge and just go do it. There's deeper sin than that. In fact, I usually will, point out that whatever the problem is, ultimately it is going to be a problem in their view of God. That means it's more than just conformity. Why do you behave the way you do? Because ultimately it's you don't understand God properly. You're not trusting him properly. You're not willing to walk with him properly. You don't have enough knowledge about him and what his will is. That's all part of it. But a lot of that's a little more under the surface than just Here, just do these things, act this way. You have to get into the behaviors, what's behind it, what is your life about? Okay, now here's the con, so here's the critique. Krabs' model does include a lot of psychological thought, with some of it not sufficiently screened by biblical truth. Now remember, I already pointed out, he had said this would be better done by someone who had better training in theology. than him because he had spent more time in psychology studies and Bible studies and yet he's pretty good with the Bible. Because I sat through the seminars and he had always opened the day with a devotional thought and some were pretty well thought out. In addition, there are times that Krabs' exegesis leaves a lot to be desired, but then again, my comment, so does the exegesis of a lot of so-called Bible scholars. And I'll stand on that statement, okay? There's a lot of so-called Bible scholars like, I'm not sure you even read it. So there are several of his ideas in which it seemed obvious that he searched the Bible to find something that would agree with him, such as his statement about spoiling the Egyptians. You're looking for something that would sound, that would fit. It's a minor critique and it's something that's done a lot. I don't think he was doing eisegesis, but you can see the danger there. The scriptures used to support the unconscious should be augmented by better ones to bring out the idea. This use of Proverbs 23.7 seems strained and his idea should be given greater support by other scriptures. But then again, he is writing a short book and he's trying to succinctly state things. and try and keep the book in a readable format rather than giving a full exposition of it. But I think there could be greater work done there. You want to be talking about an unconscious, bring out some more biblical data on defining what exactly that means. Next paragraph, the greatest weakness I see in all of Crabbe's work is that he does not deal sufficiently with all the variety of ways in which God works on the heart of a human, transform him into the image of Christ. That's why I did that tonight. We opened with that and kind of closed with that too. Here's a lot of other ways that God's changing us. In his defense, he is primarily writing about the nature of people and God's use of people in the lives of other people to bring about maturity through Christian fellowship, the practice of one another's commands, et cetera. This is the third book in a series of basics of biblical counseling, beginning with basic principles of biblical counseling, then effective biblical counseling, and then understanding people. However, since his introduction speaks to the broader topic, then there should have been at least a chapter that briefly discusses the many ways in which God has revealed that he transformed man from sinner to godly saint. So that's just a critique that if he had added One more chapter in there, at least discussed like I did, is here's all the ways God does things. I'm going to concentrate on just this section of it. It probably would have helped, and it certainly would have reduced the number of critics of him. I've listed many of the above in number six. Krabs' concentration is so much on how God can and does use humans, in the process that many of these other important factors in bringing about maturity are overlooked. They're not mentioned in the book. The result is a definition of Christian maturity that is good, yet lacks an unbalanced view of how maturity comes about. This may be partially due to Crabbe's writing as a reaction to other things, Bible study, memorization, exhortation, service, and being done improperly. So he probably could have done a little better for the counseling aspect of this is by talking about those things. Here's other things you need to do, moving them. Another weakness is that one might get the impression that Christian must have a quote, unquote, trained counselor deal with all the quote, unquote, hidden issues in order to become a mature Christian. That is not true. A trained counselor can at best only speed up the process by exposing sin, exhortation to correct thinking, and encouragement to responding godliness. in Crabbe's defense. In his book, Key to Caring, Crabbe does advocate healthy church body life in which informal counseling is a normal part of Christian interacting with each other and striving to help one another walk with Christ. Trained counselors are helpful, but professionals are not required. However, this is still weak in pointing out many diverse ways in which God brings about godliness in his people. Last paragraph, I also think that Crabbe's discussion of the personal circle was weak. He may have done a better by talking about what theologians used to call the God shaped vacuum, rather than need for relationship, and to talk about the internal nature of man rather than the need for impact. This opened him up justifiably to criticism, he found the need theology. This could have then been framed more according to the purposes for which God has created man and the design of how man is to function then in terms of what man needs or desires, which sounds closer to man-centered theology instead of a God-centered theology. I do not believe Crabbe is promoting a man-centered theology since his counseling system is consistently pushing man to be dependent upon God and defines maturity in terms of dependence upon God. Okay, and that's why I've used the book. There was a book, Prophets of Psychoheresy by Bobgin written, that would have been in the late 80s, early 90s or something that castigates Crabbe. I did read the section on it. I read the rest of the book, but I didn't know who the other people were that he was talking about, but I knew Crabbe very well having just done this paper. And they seem to be pretty typical of People, they attack all sorts of things. They cherry pick what they're pulling out without really getting an understanding of what the guy's really saying. So I'll stand with Crabb, and I'll get criticized for it. That's OK. But I will challenge them is to actually read through the book and think what he's saying and see how that might enable you to be better at counseling than just what he called the acquisition conformity model. Can you really help people get below the surface, get into the motivations of why they do whatever they do, why they feel what they feel, and then can you walk with them in grace and kindness and patience and long-suffering as they try to muddle through life and are changed by God? That is a messy thing and it does take a lot of patience. People don't change. I wish it was as simple as what I said right at the beginning, you know, that would be so simple, but it's not. And I think we recognize in ourselves, we often will sit and reflect on like, why did I do that? And you're like, I don't know why I did that, but why did I do that? And it may take you a while to think through it. Having someone else to question you, help you think through it could be very helpful. Oh, wow. And once that's exposed to be able to repent from it, which is what Crabbe's advocating. So my dependence is more on God because I know him better. I can walk with him better. I'll trust him more. But that's going to be all through life. And it always will be until we're glorified, which is why we look forward to that. So next week, I'm giving you a bunch of handouts, which I haven't stapled. I'll leave the stapler here on these here. So these are things for the, well, some of these are aids. Like the first one is a put on, put off list. It's just all these verses of what we're to lay aside and put off the bad stuff and what we're to put on. So it gives you some scriptures on that. And that's the kind of thing that becomes very helpful in helping a person acquire the knowledge they need about what God actually says about things. Then there's a repeat of the basic biblical philosophy of counseling, a flow chart. OK, kind of like what I did at the beginning, but I'm repeating that. Therefore, you have it as a hope. And then I have two different versions of Crabbe's model. We'll call it circle theory. So one, I made into a cone, a side or a, OK, well, I guess that'd be a cone, funnel. OK, so those are my circles. Okay, and I'm going to work my way down to the bottom of it, or there's also just a concentric circle. So those are charts. And sometimes it just helps to have a visual perspective and refer back to this when we, you know, end up talking and when we get in the case studies, I'm going to start asking, well, what's the, what's the emotion, E, what's the, V, volition, R is rational, P is personal circle, and that's emotion, movement, decisions, or direction, and energy. So that's just so when we get into all this, when we refer to that, you kind of know what we're referring to. Then there is a section here that is explaining all that as a simplified understanding of what Krauss has been talking about, or these other models. That includes a little step down one of we're just flowing straight down, okay? This is how we're gonna try and tackle all these various case studies we're gonna get into. And that's what we're gonna be after next week. That's basically what we're doing. We're gonna be doing case studies now that we have an idea. So next week is more of let's make sure we understand how this goes. And there's some examples we're gonna work through. And then one case study for you to think through and start on it. So what we're gonna try and do from this point on is now put into practice the principles that have been learned. Yeah, there was one other, an interesting chart. I don't remember where I picked this up now. Psychological presentation diagram, relationship of presenting behavior and attitudes and methods of coping desires in other people. So it kind of goes with how they're acting. It kind of helps you kind of put where they're at depending on their behavior and their emotions, so you can kind of see what your at least where your starting point is with them and it's pretty helpful little chart. But that's what we're going to be doing for. Next week, the other paper that you're going to take. If we can get this far we'll see. to be my goal. The example I'm going to use is temptation and obedience. So that's one of our sections. So it starts off with, I got a sermon here dealing with it. And then I have some material dealing with how to battle temptation. And then the last section is going to be an example of helping someone deal with temptation. So we're going to put the model into practice. So hopefully we can get that far next week. So if you can read through the sermon and look at the other material, we can get to that. And that would be our first example. And that would help you as we get into all the others. So we're going to get into a lot of very specific case studies. Well, what are you going to do? Okay. So it's going to try and get you in a habit of trying to think through a Kind of almost embed the flowchart in your mind of how we're going to think through things to get where I need to go. Okay, so I'm gonna leave that up here. I didn't cancel stable everything so I'll let you grab those after class. Pastor, where can we locate this? Those will be posted on the website later tonight. Okay. I will be posting, it'll either be tonight or tomorrow morning, and for those on the email list, which you are on, Kathleen, I'll be sending copies via email as well. Okay, thank you. And I'll be getting those out either, well, either tonight or tomorrow, we'll just see what I can get done tonight, okay? And now you can think through these things, and that's gonna be the goal. So I know there may be a little more material here than, than I'd like to hand out in one week. But you're going to get, I did hand out a new schedule. You're going to get a three week break. So you're going to be able to just relax and go back and think through this. I may post some of the case studies in advance so you can start looking at them in advance and start thinking through them. I'll be in California on the 25th of January. Actually, we're flying back that night, and I won't be getting here in time. We get back about 9 o'clock at JFK. My dad's funeral is on the 23rd. We're leaving on the 21st in the evening. And then on the 1st, I won't be here because I'm traveling to South Carolina. And I won't be here on the 8th because I'm traveling back from South Carolina. And since we're driving, that's four days of driving. So it quickly chews up the time. And of course, if we're that close, it's not even an hour to swing down and see my granddaughter and her parents, but the granddaughter especially. And then we're gonna try and check in on Chuck and Linda and see how he's doing with his knee replacement. I understand he was doing okay. So you'll have a bit of a break. So I'll be posting things. If you didn't get the email or lose an email, you can always go to the website on that page for counseling class. On the first page, if you go down to the link for class notes, then it lists all the different classes I taught. And you go to counseling class. It's all listed there. You can download the PDFs. That also has the links to the sermon audio for anything else that we posted. So trying to make it as helpful as I can, because I know a lot of people were not able to keep up with the class. But you're the faithful ones that are sitting here. And some have moved away. Right, Kathleen? Well, yes. Yeah, OK. So we'll try and do everything we can to help. And hopefully, all this has been helpful to you. All right, any questions or thoughts? You ready to go home? Yeah, it's been a long day for me, too. Let's pray. Thank you, Father. And I do thank you for Larry Crabb and, Father, the challenge that he has given in his books to get us to think through a little more deeply on how to help one another in walking with Christ. And I know he's received a lot of criticism over the years, but, Father, that shouldn't really be true for any of us because we're all failing at different levels and areas. I thank you for the attitude he's had and one that I know he expressed in the live seminars that I was able to attend. A humble man of just wanting to move things forward and add something to the mix that we can become more effective in actually getting to the root causes of why people do what they do and think what they think and help them become more dependent upon Christ as they learn of him and walk with him. Father, I thank you too that because we have the scriptures we can go beyond any model of any man, and we can rely upon your Spirit to continue to direct us as well. Father, we desire to be used of you in the lives of others, even as we desire then to be used in our lives, that we might present ourselves as faithful servants in Jesus' name. Amen.