Paul's Gospel Mission & the Faithful Saints at Rome, pt1-Romans 15:14-21

55 yrs ago Jay Adams, the father of the modern biblical counseling movement wrote his landmark work, COMPETENT TO COUNSEL. He shared his personal testimony, that "like many other pastors I learned little about counseling in seminary, so I began with virtually no knowledge of what to do. Soon I was in difficulty. Early in my first pastorate, following an evening service, a man lingered after everyone else had left. I chatted with him awkwardly, wondering what he wanted. He broke into tears, but could not speak. I simply did not know what to do. I was helpless. He went home that night without unburdening his heart or receiving any genuine help from his pastor. Less than one month later he died. I now suspect that his doctor had told him of his impending death and that he had come for counsel. But I had failed to him. That night I asked God to help me to become an effective counselor. In my first efforts to improve, I bought, borrowed, and devoured as many of the current volumes on counseling as I could, but in these I found little help. Almost all commended non-directive Rogerian methods or advocated Freudian principles. Uneasily I tried to put into practice what I read, but I could not help wondering how as a Christian minister I could re-translate what seemed to be sin, as 'sickness.' I found it ludicrous to nod and grunt acceptingly in detachment without offering biblical directives. It soon became apparent that I was helping almost no one by such procedures, and I was wasting valuable time. Moreover, most of the advice offered in textbooks consisted of little more than vague generalizations, which I found practically worthless for meeting the problems of concrete counseling situations. Many of the interpretations of cases cited in the literature seemed fantastic or absurd, and to top it all, a number of writers made it abundantly plain that they themselves were able to help only a few of their counselees, and these found help only after many months or even years of weekly sessions. How then could I expect to do much? Where would a busy pastor find the time to devote to such extended counseling? Was it a good stewardship of his time; could I ever become competent to counsel? What are the qualifications for counseling? In Romans 15:14, Paul wrote, 'And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish (nouthetically confront) one another.' Paul set forth goodness and knowledge as qualifications for good counselors. These qualities are essential; nothingness makes one 'competent to counsel.' Paul recognized that any Christian may engage in nouthetic counseling so long as he possesses the qualities of goodness and knowledge. We have seen, however, that this is par excellence the work of the Christian minister. In Colossians 3:16, a parallel passage, where Paul also regarded nouthetic confrontation as part of the normal activity of the members of a Christian congregation, he conditioned nouthetic confrontation upon a 'rich' knowledge of God's Word, skillfully applied in 'wisdom.' Knowledge and goodness, information and attitude, truth and the desire to help another, are equally important qualities. Under ordinary circumstances, Paul admitted, there would have been no need for him to write to the Roman church, since he was convinced that they fully possessed these qualities and, therefore, were 'competent to counsel one another.' But, he says, 'I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles (Rom 15:15). Two things are apparent. First, as Paul boldly reminded them of some truth, he was in effect nouthetically confronting them by mail. The letter to Rome (particularly in its latter half) is a good example of nouthetic confrontation. As a matter of fact most of Paul's letters are nouthetic in tone...Paul also notes that nouthetic ability involves goodness and knowledge in large measure...A good seminary education rather than medical school or a degree in clinical psychology, is the most fitting background for the counselor...Counseling means, among other things, giving advice. The Holy Spirit uses counselors to right wrongs by the application of God's Word to human problems." And THAT, dear friends, was Doc Adams' shot across the bow of the evangelical church, who's been unfaithful for too many years in sending their people to the world's so-called professionals for soul care of the hard issue of life, rather than doing the hard work of unpacking the issues of the heart along with unpacking the biblical principles that answer those hard questions of life. Join us this coming Lord's Day as we study "Paul's Gospel Mission & the Saints at Rome", pt 1 (Rom 15:14-21) as we see a few marks of a good healthy church, along with Paul's unique Gospel ministry to the Gentiles!