Powlison on Biblical Counseling, part 1

David Powlison has a series of articles on counseling from a biblical perspective. In part 1, concerning how conventional (aka therapeutic) counseling labels the problems that people typically struggle with, Powlison writes:

... notice how each diagnostic label simply takes what we already know and then restates it in quasi-medical-sounding language? The actual experiences of life-lived get turned into a depersonalized "condition." Problems get viewed exclusively as something a person "has," rather than the array of things a person feels, thinks and does.

It's curious. The labels don't actually add any information to what we already know. Yet they somehow alter the entire way we perceive a person. They even alter how people perceive themselves. The story and the struggle get lost in translation.

Then he turns to what the Bible has to say about our "life-living" problems:

It's no surprise, then, that the Bible engages the varieties of chaos, confusion and trouble that mere humans experience. Our stories interweave with God's story at every point. God intends that we understand what exactly goes wrong — and how exactly he goes about making it right.

In his letter to people who know Jesus, James alerted us to something about personal and interpersonal chaos. Wherever you find "confusion and bad stuff" (James 3:16 paraphrase), you'll find two underlying problems. First, "bad zeal" wants the wrong things too much. Second, "selfish ambition" organizes life around all-about-Me.

James is unblinking about what's wrong, but he never gives the mess last say: "God gives more grace" (4:6). More than what? His goodness is more than all that goes wrong inside us. Confusion and bad stuff is exactly what he goes to work on.

Study Questions on Work

Don DeVries, one of the pastors at Covenant Life Church, has put together some application questions that follow up on a message by Mark Mitchell on work as a sacred calling from God.

1. Genesis 1 and 2 teaches that our work is from God. In whatever kind of work we do, no matter how significant or insignificant it is before men, our work reflects some aspect of the image of God and fulfills His command to subdue the earth. Is this your perspective on your work? In what ways does your work reflect God’s image? In what ways does your work obey God’s command to subdue the earth?

2. Mark Mitchell reminded us that every kind of work is a sacred calling from God. Quoting Gene Edward Veith, he said that, “every kind of work…is an occasion for…exercising a holy service to God and to one’s neighbor.” Have you incorrectly seen your work as “secular” and only your church activities as “sacred”? Have you wrongly assumed that pastors are “called” but you are not? How can you begin to see your work as “exercising a holy service to God and your neighbor”?

3. Colossians 3:22-23 calls us to obey our earthly master, to work with “sincerity of heart” and to work “heartily, as for the Lord.” Mark taught us that these commands call us to obey thoroughly and to give our best effort—even when others are not watching. In your work, where are you tempted to laziness, grumbling, man-pleasing or taking short-cuts? What would repentance and change look like to honor and fear God in your workplace?

4. Colossians 3:23-24 teaches us that we should work “as for the Lord,” knowing that in our work we are “serving the Lord Christ” and that He will ultimately reward us for our faithfulness. How should this eternal perspective transform the way you view and perform your job?

More on Money and Ministry

Ben Witherington's post on money, which I linked to in my previous post, prompted me to go back to an article that I linked to several years ago on the early church's use of money (I found that the original link was broken, but it's now fixed). The thesis of that article by Ray Mayhew is that the bulk of the revenue collected by a local church was spent on helping the poor, not on its own maintenance. Yet Mayhew is not saying we shouldn't support pastors (or build buildings for that matter). He suggests something more radical (emphasis added):

In pioneering our way back, I find it helpful to stop looking at the church as an organization I need to support, and to begin to see it as the primary community to which I belong. This community embraces distributional justice and lives on only ninety percent of its income, most of the rest being given away. The biblical model is not that, as an individual, I give away ten percent of my income to a religious organization (to which I belong), to finance its activities. Instead, the model is that the community to which I belong (the church) is made up of people who live on ninety percent of their income so that as a community, as one unit, they can give away ten percent of their combined personal income. Being financially responsible as part of this body means that my remaining personal income is now spread between meeting the needs of my nuclear family (personal housing, food, clothing, etc.) and the needs of my extended family (worship building, pastoral leaders, etc.). I cannot separate the two. The church is not an institution “out there”, which I support. It is the community that enfolds and identifies who I am as an individual.

Money and Ministry

Ben Witherington is working on a book about money in the New Testament. He shares an excerpt from it, which looks at Paul on Money, Ministry, and Work. One of his conclusions:

It is clear that one cannot really understand what Paul has to say about ministry and remuneration unless one understands the tricky situation in a patronage and reciprocity culture that Paul found himself in. In general Paul believes a congregation has an obligation to pay its teachers or ministers, but the minister may exercise his right or freedom to refuse pay for various reasons. This however does not get the church off the hook when it comes to their obligation to offer remuneration for ministerial work. Paul in fact believes that Jesus commanded that ministers should be paid for the proclamation of the Gospel. But entangling alliances and compromising social relationships must be avoided, and the Gospel must not be seen to be an example of flattery or mere rhetoric offered by a for-hire sophist.

Paul is not an advocate of what modern persons call tent-making ministry, if by that one means that church planters or missionaries should expect to have to work on the side or raise their own support whilst doing ministry. They may do so, as Paul does in Corinth and apparently in Thessalonike, but 1 Cor. 9 rules out the view that they necessarily should or must do so. If they choose to go this root, it needs to be for the right reasons, not because it assumed that the NT suggests we should not have paid ministers. To the contrary, argues Paul, churches should expect to pay their ministers. What is interesting and ironic about all this is that the very document which is assumed to most argue against paid ministers (1 Corinthians) is the very document which provides the clearest rationale for why congregations should expect to pay a Paul or a Peter or a Timothy or Titus, or whoever their local teachers (see Gal. 6) might be.

I'm looking forward to the book.

Connecting Conversations to Christ

Joe Thorn writes about Gospel Connections in Suburbia:

I do not have the gift of evangelism, though I do share the gospel. Once a person decides the evangescript is not the best way to approach evangelism in their community the question then becomes, “How can I take a natural conversation about common things and connect it to the gospel without it coming off like an abrupt topic change?”

He gives 8 examples of topics that make for shorter leaps to the gospel or Christian faith.

1. Corruption, evil and sin.
Example: “Even when the unrighteous escape justice in the courts, God says he will not let sin go unpunished…”

2. Community.
Example: “Part of why I am so passionate about the development of authentic community is because of how the Bible portrays the need for it. We are created by God to live in real community…”

3. Politics.
Example: “I regret that Christians are often seen as a voting block of the Republican party. The truth is, the command to love God and our neighbors points to a way that is not entirely in line with any political party…”

4. Environment.
Example: “Our dependence on automobiles, especially in the suburbs, is a concern of mine not only because it only perpetuates the breakdown of localism, but also because of the negative effect it has on the environment, and ultimately because I believe God has given us a wonderful gift (creation) as well as us the responsibility to care for it…”

5. War.
Example: "War is a terrible thing, but if we are going to seek to the good of others and protect the innocent, sometimes war is an unfortunate necessity. That doesn’t make the issue easy. In fact it makes it more difficult. And my concern for justice is rooted in God’s love of it…"

6. Family.

7. Church.

8. Art/pop-culture
Example: “…the protagonist’s search for redemption is reflective of humanity’s serach. The fact that he doesn’t find it is the common frustration of man…”

The Lord's Supper: Examining Ourselves and Waiting for One Another

Alan Knox writes on what it means to Wait for One Another in the context of the Lord's Supper.

Paul's call for examination and judgment in this context deals primarily with our relationships with other believers - not simply our own personal sin struggles - which we all have. But, if our sin is manifesting itself in our relationships with other believers, then we need to take steps to reconcile those relationships. And, as fellow family members, we need to "judge" others in a way that helps them reconcile broken relationships as well.

When we come together as new covenant family members - under what James calls the royal law - we will love one another. And, that love will demonstrate itself in the way that we act toward one another. Specifically, we will "wait" for one another. "Wait" in 1 Cor 11:34 is not simply biding our time, but a sense of expectation. We will look forward to our time eating together, recognizing that God is working through our relationships to mature us in Christ.

We can eat a piece of bread and drink from a cup all we want. But, if our eating and drinking is not tied to a new covenant relationship with other brothers and sisters in Christ, then we are not eating the Lord's Supper. If our thoughts are not on our family - how to help each other mature in Christ and in our relationships with one another - then we are not partaking of the Lord's Supper. If our meditation on God does not lead us toward caring for our brothers and sisters in Christ, then we are not taking the Lord's Supper. If we are sitting with a group of people that we don't know - that we don't care about - that we don't want to spend more time with - then we are not eating the Lord's Supper.

Jesus invites us to gather around his table with his family, and he serves us a common loaf and a common cup. He does not serve us alone. If we attempt to dine alone - even in a crowd - then we can be certain that the host of our dinner is not Jesus Christ.

Long Weekend ... I Have Time to Update

I'm looking at my sidebar and see from my Blog Archive that the number of posts each month has continued to decline. One of the reasons is that I've had to study for several work-related courses ... less time to read blogs and hence less material to link to. But I see from my bookmarks that I do have a couple of links to post. Maybe I'll get to it this week.

A few weeks ago I had a chance to talk with two local pastors about house church ministry. I also got together last week with a couple of leaders of house churches in the area. They were interesting discussions. I usually try to communicate my appreciation for the diversity of local church expressions. I view house churches as one means of gathering together. It has its strengths and weaknesses, just as the more conventional form of local church ministry has its strengths and weaknesses. I love the church in its wide variety ... even though I sometimes despair for her (our) vitality.

I'm pleased to see that Steve Todd, a pastor in the area whom I've known for many years, has a blog now. I'll be adding him to my blogroll, and will make some other additions and deletions.

I usually get a little ticked when I go into a Christian bookstore, because of (1) the prices; (2) the amount of repetitive "noise" in books; and (3) the fluff and even falsehood that seem to sell the most. But I did find a book on my last visit that I'm actually wanting to read: The Cross and the Prodigal by Kenneth Bailey.

Last night, at our house church meeting, "K" shared (in halting English) how he came to believe in God. He grew up in a Buddhist region of his country and says he hated Christians. But in his engineering courses he learned about input/output. As he looked at the created world, he realized that the "output" of the universe needed some "input" of power. Buddhism didn't have an explanation for that, but he found answers in Genesis of the God who created the world. I'm not yet clear if it was before or after this that God brought Christians into his life who told him about Jesus Christ. But it's really awesome to see God's work in him.

Happy Civic Holiday to all you Canadians who have this Monday off.