OK, on Sunday we were looking at the need for biblical counseling and discipleship. Tonight we're going to be thinking about the definition and the goals of biblical counseling and discipleship. So tonight really we're thinking what what what are we really talking about? We've we've hinted at it some, but we want to spend the next 30 minutes or so trying to define what it is we're referring to and then laying out some goals, biblical goals. As you think about, and what we've said about it already, it's obvious that we're after growth. It's obvious that this is something that's happening, and it's happening for a purpose. And the question is, what is it, and what are the purposes behind it? Some of this stuff, Some of the definitions might be more than you can jot down. So if you want the notes, all you gotta do is ask me and I'll send them to you. So what's the definition? How do we define this? How do we define biblical counseling and discipleship? Well, there's three parts to it. So number one, biblical counseling and discipleship is the personal Discipleship ministry of God's people to others under the oversight of God's church. Dependent upon the authority and sufficiency of God's Word through the work of the Holy Spirit. I'm going to give you the three things in there that you ought to take note of. Number one. This is a discipleship ministry that ought to be taking place under the authority of a local church. Every church ought to be involved in this kind of ministry. You picked up on some of that from Sunday as we looked at some passages like Ephesians 4, and we'll look at several others as we go, but this is something that ought to be taking place in a church. This is a discipleship ministry that engages and applies God's authoritative and sufficient word. How do you disciple somebody? How do you decide what you need to be talking about? How do you decide how you direct a particular individual? Well, different folks have taken different approaches to this over the years. Christian bookstores are not lacking as it relates to books, particularly in these kinds of areas. And I'm not saying that they're all bad, but I'm certainly not saying that they're all good. You've all heard of or maybe even seen a lot of the shallow, watered down things that pass for biblical instruction or at least Christian teaching as it relates to growth and that sort of thing. But biblical counseling is a kind of ministry, a discipleship ministry that, number one, engages God's Word. That means if you want to do it, you've got to know the Bible. There's no other way around it. It also means if it's something that you want to do, not only do you need to understand the Bible, but you have to be able to think practically about the Bible. So scripture was given to us for all kinds of different reasons to renew our minds. It was given to us to teach us and correct us and convict us and to train us and so forth and so on. And I would just say that All of the reasons why Scripture has been given to us are all practical reasons. There's an intended outcome. It's meant to change you. So, this is a discipleship ministry that applies and engages God's Word. And then third, and this is very important, this is a discipleship ministry that is fully dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit. We do hold the Word of God up as sufficient, and we do hold the Word of God up as authoritative, but we also recognize the best presentation of God's Word in the world can't do a thing outside of the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ Himself ministered the Word of God, and it fell on deaf ears and was not effective during His earthly ministry. This is one of the areas that we it's important for us to keep in mind as we're seeking to help people grow and we're seeking to help people change. We do want to use the Word of God, but we also have to recognize people grow and change as God wills, not necessarily as we work. So we can have a desire to see people change and grow and get serious about their walk with the Lord. And there's nothing wrong necessarily with that desire. But we have to keep in mind with our loved ones and with a body as a whole, we have to keep in mind God's not banking on us. He might use us, and that's good. We ought to want to be used by God, but we're not God's last ditch effort as it relates to the growth of His people. So we are fully dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit. We ought to want to be good stewards. That shouldn't make us lazy, but it should make us dependent. Second. Biblical counseling seeks to reorient desires. Thoughts, affections, behaviors and worship toward God. and a God designed anthropology in an effort to restore people to right fellowship with God and others. Now that can seem kind of like a heady definition. We're talking about anthropology and those kinds of things, but let me just lay something out for us. This is what we ought to know about that section. We're seeking to reorient something. To restore something. And one of the points I want to make is you can't restore or reorient unless you have some kind of point of reference. So when we're thinking about a God designed anthropology, what does that mean? Anthropology is just the study of man, the study of humanity. What are we supposed to be like? What's normal? You ever thought somebody was weird? What are you comparing that to? How do we figure out what normal is? You know, we live in a world that's trying to establish norms. We live in a culture that's already established norms. You hear different buzzwords and different things that are held out there as virtuous. Things we ought to be seeking to embrace as being enlightened. You think of some of the more liberal social agendas that would promote wokeness. Woke, it just means your eyes are open. Finally, you see. Finally, you know what's supposed to be normal. Well, how do you know that's not true? Or we think of some of the other humanistic and secular philosophies that you don't have to be a student of humanistic philosophy to buy into. You realize worldly wisdom is packaged in ways that you absorb without even knowing you're absorbing it. So. If we're going to seek to reorient. That is to fix really what we're talking about to fix. Restore back to God's original purpose or God's original design. the way that we think, what we desire, our affections, our behaviors, and our worship. Man, that's a big task, isn't it? That's called sanctification. That's what that's called. And there's only one tool that we have that can help us reorient those things and to inform us on how they ought to be reoriented. And that's the Word of God. And there's only one power source that can overcome the stubbornness of our own heart, and that's the Holy Spirit. That's what growth and change is all about. It starts with the way that we think. You've heard me say this before, but a lot of times people say, well, you know, I don't see what's wrong with that. I just don't understand what the big deal about this, that, or the other is. Well, of course you don't. Your mind needs to be renewed. Your desires need to be reoriented. Your worship needs to be fixed. And it's through Scripture and the power of the Spirit. And then, third, we're trying to, again, think definition-wise. These things are accomplished by speaking the truth in love and applying Scripture to the need of the moment by comforting the suffering and calling sinners to repentance, thus working to make them mature as they abide in Christ. So a couple of things here, then we'll move on to goals. If we're going to be effective and skillful as it relates to discipling, and we ought to want to be, Two things that we've got to understand. Number one, you have got to have an understanding of Scripture. You've got to know Scripture. You've got to grasp Scripture. That doesn't mean you have to know everything about everything in Scripture, but it does mean you need to be growing in your understanding of Scripture and you need to be knowing some things well. There are some things that ought to kind of be your go-to. So what I mean by that is if you just took three months and you spent three months studying the book of Ephesians, trying to understand and try to get a practical grasp of how to apply the book of Ephesians to your life and to your circumstances, and you're seeking to think practically about that, You'd have just about anything you would need to be able to help disciple an individual out of that book, categorically. You have just about anything you need. It doesn't take years and years and years. It just takes some concerted, intentional effort. And really, it becomes more effective as you're feeding your own soul and you're applying it to your own heart. So one of the things that you know is I like Psalm 23. You know, wasn't that long ago we did Psalm 23 and something. Wasn't that long ago before that we did Psalm 23 and something else. And if you get on Sermon Audio and look, there's a few more Psalm 23s and something. And I don't remember what the something was, but I do remember the Psalm 23. You know how I even got into that? When we were getting ready for David's first heart surgery, I was preaching through something. I don't remember what it was, but I knew I needed to take some kind of break and get my own mind and my own heart settled. Because during that season, we had just gone to see the surgeon, and I was about half convinced David was going to die on the operating table, and I knew I had to somehow make it to that and through that. And Psalm 23 is what God used to help me do that. So I go to that a lot. It feeds me. And because it feeds me, it's it's it's easier for me to feed others because I've tasted it and I know at least what it's how it's been helpful for me. So we must know scripture. We must ourselves have fed off scripture. And then we also need to be able to discern the need of the moment. We need to be able to discern the need of the moment. 1 Thessalonians 5 talks about, you've heard this before, I think it's 5.14, that we ought to warn the unruly and we ought to strengthen the faint-hearted and we ought to uphold the weak. The point is there are three different things in this passage, three different things you ought to be doing with three different people. Sometimes things like biblical counseling and discipleship and talking about scripture in a practical way and applicable way. Sometimes it can get a bad rap because folks are just one trick ponies. You got a problem? I got your answer. Repent. Repent. Well, maybe you know a few verses in scripture that would point to that, but it takes some discernment before you get to the place to where you know that's what an individual needs. Now, obviously, there are times where that is the case. There are also times where that's not the case. I remember, this is years and years ago, I remember a lady who had had a miscarriage telling me that She had had that experience. She had struggled with it for a long, long time, which is normal. And a well-meaning person in her church told her that she needed to repent because biblically speaking, she was allowed to mourn for 40 days. I don't know where in the world they got that, but 40 days. And then after that, the time of mourning needed to be up and she needed to repent. I don't know that that person knew scripture or was able to discern the problem, but for sure that was a horrible attempt at an application for someone who was suffering and needed to be pointed toward God's comfort, not toward repentance. So we need to understand the person. We need to understand scripture. And then we need to understand that the goal is to help an individual, whatever the need, to help them mature as they abide in Christ. So this is the point. Is someone in sin? We want to help them turn back to Christ through repentance and faith. Is someone in suffering? We want to help them turn to Christ in faith, finding their comfort there. Finding what they need there, drawing off of his resources. OK, so. That leads into goals and. What it is we're after in biblical counseling and discipleship. What are we after? I mean, it's. You know, it's a it's it's a big book, and once you read a passage, You got to do something with it. And so how would we know what to use? How would we know how to use it? Well, we need to know what it is we're trying to do. So number one. In biblical counseling and discipleship, we are trying to develop. A God oriented worldview. Instead of a man centered worldview. We're trying to help people just a You know a way of saying we're trying to help people see the world the way that God sees the world Another way of saying that really is we're trying to help people see the world and their problems as they really are You know, there are some people who think they're victims when they're really villains You want to know why they think that it's their worldview It's the way they're looking at things. It's the way they interpret life. I There are some folks that think that what they really need is someone to come along and show compassion and pity and commiserate. And what they really need is for someone to come along and call them to repentance. Now, on the flip side of that, the inverse could be true. But the point I'm making is it's a worldview. It's the way we're interpreting life. It's the way we're looking at our circumstances. And then I could even go as far as to say it's it's the it's the priority of our hearts and of our life. So a God oriented worldview says this. Above everything else, I want God to be glorified. If that requires repentance, that's what it requires. If that requires me humbling myself to accept in my life what God has allowed and to seek to be content with a very difficult circumstance, then that's what it is. I want God to be glorified. A man-centered worldview says, I'm working so that I can be satisfied. I don't care who gets hurt in the process. I'm arranging my whole world around this one priority, my satisfaction. So, relationships exist so that I'm happy. Anything and everything that goes on, I will sacrifice whatever I need to sacrifice, not to glorify God, but to satisfy me. That's a humanistic worldview, right? What does Scripture say about these kinds of things? Well, in Hosea chapter 4 verse 6, God says this, My people are destroyed for lack of what? Knowledge. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Sometimes we can think about things like worldview and we can think, well, that's just for the you know, the people who love philosophical conversations. That's not really for me. I'm not much into all that worldview stuff. Well, a worldview really, again, like I said, it's just the way you look at the world. It's your knowledge base that helps you interpret reality. And in Hosea's day, that's back in the Old Testament, whenever Israel had one bad king after the next and they were rebelling again and again and again. And ultimately they were destroyed and they were brought into captivity and so forth and so on with the Old Testament narrative. One of the things that he says, God says my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. I wonder how many lives have been destroyed for lack of knowledge. I wonder how many marriages that you know of have been destroyed for lack of knowledge. I wonder how many relationships are strained for lack of knowledge. What do you mean? Because people don't know what the Bible says and they don't know how to apply it. Well, some might say, you know, I respect the Bible and You know, I know it's a I know it's a good book and I know there's some good things in there. But the thing about me is I've just got, you know, I'm not very book smart, but I got common sense. Hey, I'm street smart. I could look at. I've always been able to function well in life. I've got a lot of common sense. Well, I don't care if you have book smarts. I don't care if you have street smarts. According to Isaiah chapter 55 verses 8 and 9. God's thoughts are not your thoughts. And God's ways are not your ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Now, what's the point here? The point is, if we're going to walk in wisdom, and if we're going to develop a God-oriented worldview, there's only one place you're going to do that, and that's right here. All the common sense in the world is not going to get you there. All the book smarts in the world, all the diving into philosophical whatevers is not going to get you there. Because God's ways are not your ways. And his thoughts are not your thoughts. And they're so far away, they're so far separated from our natural inclinations or what we would come up with by ourself that he says, well, they're as far as the heaven is from the earth. There's miles between. Another passage would be 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3. In verse 18, Paul says, let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, he taketh the wise in their own craftiness." And again, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise that they are vain. What does God say about worldly wisdom? It says it's foolish. It says it's vain. The word for vain there just simply means empty. Or it could also mean frustrating. It will lead to frustration because it's empty. It appears to be something that it is not. God has made the wisdom of this world foolishness. So why in the world would we want to lean on that? Why would we trust that? Why would we want to arrange our lives around that? Now, it needs to be said that while God has made the wisdom of this world foolish, the wisdom of this world can sound very impressive. The wisdom of this world can even be kind of intimidating and make you feel like you're the one who's foolish. Until you get past the jargon, until you get past the package. You know, it's a. It's a foolish substance in an attractive package. Big words. Folks who can really eloquently sell what they're saying. But when you put it into plain language, it becomes very clear this is foolishness. Romans three lets us know This is a familiar passage to you. Romans 3. This describes the condition of the men and women who develop man-centered philosophies and worldviews. This is what it says in Romans 3, verse 10. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seek after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that do with good. No, not one. Now, what are we talking about here? I'm certainly not saying that an unsaved individual doesn't have the ability to know anything. I mean, there's a lot of impressive technological advances that we have in this world that are very beneficial that come from people who aren't saved. people that don't know Scripture. There's a lot of very smart people in this world who can do pretty incredible things in the realm of science and in the realm of technology and those kinds of things. Very creative because they're created in the image of God. They can do very impressive things. So I'm not saying unless somebody mastered their craft by Scripture that it's worthless. things that we could benefit from. What I am saying is this. Any kind of worldview. What I mean by that is any sort of philosophy. Anybody that tries to help you make sense out of life. That scripture says has no understanding, does not seek God. Has gone out of the way, has become unprofitable. Why would we allow that kind of individual to influence our thoughts? Why would we do that? So, goal number one is to cultivate a God-centered worldview. God created the heavens and the earth. You were created in His image, that is, to reflect His invisible attributes. You were created for His glory. we could go on. Second, we have to pick up a second goal. Biblical counseling and discipleship to provide hope. Based on an eternal perspective. Provide hope based on an eternal perspective. Now we're getting into trying to think about folks who are struggling. They can be struggling. as it relates to suffering, or they can be struggling as it relates to personal sin. But one of the goals, one of the things that we ought to be doing, because this is one of the things that the Bible regularly does, is to point people toward a hope that's based on an eternal perspective. Now, let me tell you why. There are some problems, and you know this, There are some problems that are going to be hanging around for a long time, and some are not going to go away until you die. That's just reality. For instance, we just got finished with Galatians chapter 5, the struggle with your flesh. That problem is not going away. Galatians is very clear about that. Your flesh is going to always and forever be at war with your spirit. What that means is you're going to be wrestling sin, fighting sin until the day that you die. Now, it would be foolish for me to say, oh, you've got a sin struggle? Let me give you two verses to memorize and we can wipe that out. But that doesn't mean there's not any hope. There is hope. I mean, there's hope that you can overcome sin, but there's also an eternal hope that one of these days we are going to be fully redeemed and brought together face to face with Christ. There will be no more sin. There will be no more sorrow. There will be no more struggle. And so we want to we want to try to point people to a eternal hope, a hope that's based on an eternal perspective. By the way, I hope that's based on the eternal perspective. not only gives us confidence that things will get better one day, but it also helps things today. If we realize the significance of what it is that we're dealing with. We want to help folks as we again try to disciple. And people have problems. We all have problems. We want to help people to see beyond their problems and circumstances. And lay hold of the promises of God. We talked about this a lot in the Psalms. David uses this language that he was in a tight place and then God put him in an open place. And the imagery there is David's world had just shrunk down to his problems, to his difficulties, to his circumstances. That's all he could see. That's all he could think about. That was his world. And what did God do? Well, in the Psalms where this phrase is used, it's typically not God eradicated all the problems. It's that God blessed David or the psalmist to be able to see beyond all those things. You know, God is good every single day. Even on your worst day, God is good. But it's hard to see it on your worst day, isn't it? Whenever things are going bad, it's the bad things that you typically keep your focus on. It changes things when you're able to recognize God's goodness on a horrible day. It changes things whenever we're able to recognize God's presence in a horrible circumstance. So we want to try to help people have an eternal perspective as it relates to Hope and what it is that God's doing. Now there's several passages we could look at for that. Romans 828 29. God's working all things together for good for those who love him who are called according to his purpose. What is that purpose that we would be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ? God is using this difficulty right here right now. For a good purpose. It might be a bad day, but God's doing something good with that bad day. As a matter of fact, this bad day is an opportunity for you to come, for you to become more and more like Jesus Christ in the way that you respond to the difficulties. Or you can think about Romans 15. Romans 15. Verse four. Romans 15, verse 4, where Paul says, "...for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." So not only is hope given as we try to see things in an eternal perspective, what it is that God's doing and His purposes and so forth and so on, But Paul tells us here in Romans 15, verse 4, that the things that were written aforetime, really he's talking about the Old Testament. Those things were written for our learning. Why? For what purpose? What are we supposed to learn? That through endurance and comfort of the Scriptures, we might have hope. You want to know how an individual gains the kind of hope that allows them to continue to push through when life is just horrible. Well, I mean, we could say, hang in there. Hang in there. What is that? I don't know what that means. We could say things are going to get better. But a lot of times they don't. God's word gives hope when there is no hope. as we read about the stories of not just people, but really the Old Testament gives us one narrative after the other of how God intervened in the lives of His people. how God delivered His people, how God sustained His people, how God blessed His people and led His people and grew His people and chastised His people and so forth and so on. And the point is, is that God is the main character. And as you look back and you see all these different circumstances and all these different situations that you and I go through today, and we see God was faithful, reading in my own personal Bible study and Bible reading in Genesis. I just finished, many of you, if you're doing a yearly thing, you're probably doing the same thing. I just finished where, well, today, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers. But yesterday, the brothers had gone back and said, yeah, the guy was, he was mean to us. He kept one of our brothers and now we got to bring our youngest brother up there and Jacob says all these things are against me All these things are against me. You've had a day like that What else Lord? What else? And it was the complete opposite wasn't it All those things weren't against them. They were for them. They were difficult in the moment, but they were working toward a wonderful purpose and a wonderful outcome for Jacob's life. So we want to give folks hope based on an eternal perspective. Very quickly, number three, we want to point people to Jesus as the means of restoration. We want to point people to Jesus as the means of restoration. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, I mean this, and this is very, very important for us to understand. We are not simply pointing people to a book or even to a particular worldview. We are pointing people to a person, Jesus Christ, who has redeemed us from our sins, who is sanctifying us and preparing us for glory, And the process is going to help us and sustain us and grow us and so forth and so on. You see, according to Matthew 11, 28, it's Jesus who gives rest. Not a worldview, not a book, but Jesus. You say, wait a second, I thought you just said all these things about the Bible. When you are coming to Scripture recognizing that these are the very words of God and the Holy Spirit is using the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ is using the Word and applying that to your heart as you follow Him, then there's a lot that can happen. But again, this is not one of those things where we just say, take two verses and call me in the morning. Let me know how things went. There's a real person who sits at the right hand of God interceding for God's people. He's the one we're pointing people to. Hebrews chapter 4 says, He's the one who gives hell. John 10 says, He's the one who gives the abundant life. So we're seeking to point folks to Christ as the means of restoration. And then last, number four, goals of biblical counseling and discipleship. The goal, overall goal as far as what is it that we are trying to help people attain. Christ-likeness is the aim of growth and change. Christ-likeness. What does it mean to be a man? Well, it means to be like Jesus. Well, what does it mean to be mature? It means to be like Jesus. What does it mean to be a faithful wife? Well, it means to be like Jesus. Whoa, whoa, wait a second. Christlikeness is the goal for all of us. Right? Now, this is an interesting point. You know, everyone agrees, secular world, Everybody agrees that growth and change are necessary aspects of personal development. You're not going to find anybody that says, you know, I think that man reaches his highest point when he becomes stagnant. Nobody says that. Everybody agrees that we need to be growing. But the question that nobody really wants to answer is growing into what? There's a lot of growth that you should not be pursuing. Don't be conformed to this world. Don't grow into, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So the question is this, or the answer is this, changed into what? God's already answered that. Romans 8, 28, 29, that we would be conformed to His image. Last place we're going to go is Colossians 1, explicitly says that this is his aim. Colossians 1. In verse 27, To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect or mature in Christ Jesus, whereunto I also labor, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily. Paul says we preach for this purpose. We teach for this purpose. We warn for this purpose. We labor for this purpose. For what purpose? That we might present every man that is man and woman. Perfectly mature in Christ, fully mature, really what that means. We want to see the saints of God grow. in reflecting the image of Christ more and more clearly. And brothers and sisters, that ought to be a personal goal. Obviously for us, we ought to want ourselves, we ought to want to be growing in Christ's likeness. But that's also something we ought to be trying to help others with as well. We know from, again, passages like Ephesians 4 and others, growth is a church project. It's not just a personal project. And I would also say this, as far as this kind of growth, this is the kind of growth, at least pursuing this kind of growth, is something that you can control. You want to grow the church? Then get serious about your own personal growth. You want to grow the church? Then get serious about taking the opportunities that God has given you to help other people grow. So these are the goals of biblical counseling and discipleship. Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, that you have brought us in to your family, that you've brought us in to this church. And Father, we thank you that you have called us to this work. I pray we'd be faithful to do what we can. Lord, you don't expect us to do everything. You don't expect us to know everything. You don't expect us to be perfect, but you do expect us to be growing. And so I pray that we would take that seriously. And out of our love for you, we would want to become more like you in our thoughts and our motives and our actions and in our interactions with others. I pray you would help us with that in Jesus name. Amen.