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Counseling sounds like something that should be left to the “experts.” Dr. Mike Lawyer joins Ben Zornes to discuss the reality that counsel is something that flows from the Word of God, and not from human wisdom. We must counsel, disciple and encourage from the Scriptures, which means, we must be reading them.
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As we build these new city walls in the midst of a ruined and ruinous old order, we will be attacked in ways that seek to divide us. We will be accused of being cultic, in thrall to charismatic “leaders.” But the Scriptures do require us to cultivate like-mindedness, and also require us to maintain a solid distinction between things of first importance, things of secondary importance, and things indifferent.
One of the things that modern Christians have a hard time doing right is loyalty. We don’t know how loyalty is supposed to work. We don’t understand the spiritual requirement of personal allegiance to your church and its leadership, and in addition we have a very poor understanding of what disloyalty actually smells like.
“Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits” (Rom. 12:16).
As you study this topic, please keep in mind the fact that we are told this same kind of thing often (Rom. 15:5-6; 2 Cor. 13:11; Phil. 1:27; 2:2; 1 Pet. 3:8; Phil. 2:20).
As you can see in the text, like-mindedness is a function of humility. It is not necessarily a function of high intellectual attainment. If that is accompanied by pride (as it often is—1 Cor. 8:1), then the opposite of like-mindedness will occur. Never forget that the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace—which necessarily includes this like-mindedness—is in fact a work of the Spirit. And where the Spirit comes He engenders the fruit of the Spirit, which in their turn contribute to humility, grace, peace, and like-mindedness.
“Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation” (Heb. 13:7).
“Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you” (Heb. 13:17).
These two verses, incidentally, taken together, provide a compelling argument for membership in a local congregation. These individuals have to know the names of the men who rule over them—you cannot obey an undefined leadership. And a body of elders cannot render an account for an undefined membership. If you don’t know who your rulers are, you cannot consider the outcome of their conduct or way of life. And if you don’t know who you are responsible for, you cannot watch over their souls. So these two verses, taken together, require two lists of names—a list of the elders and a list of the members. Obedience to Scripture at this point is impossible otherwise. Pastors and elders are not allowed to look at their flocks on a distant hillside, as painted by an impressionist at a low point in his game, and working with dirty brushes. “Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds” (Prov. 27:23). No, giving an account means counting.
Our church has adopted the Westminster Confession. What this tells us is what doctrinal framework you can expect to hear from the pulpit. It does not tell you what you are required to affirm. You are bound to affirm nothing until you see it in the text of Scripture for yourself—but after that, of course honesty requires you to affirm it. We are a Reformed church, but this means that an Arminian charismatic dispensationalist could join. What we require of our members is a biblical confession that Jesus is Lord, and that they agree not to go downtown on the weekends to shoot out the streetlights.
No human authority is absolute, and yet at the same time we are taught in Scripture that authority is genuine, and is to be honored as far as obedience to God allows. This creates a problem, but it is a problem that God wants us to have.
Let me begin by noting that—in this as in so many other situations—there is a ditch on both sides of the road. One ditch might be called the “Dear Leader” ditch, the insistence that everyone applaud like they were a spectator at a North Korean missile parade, clapping in sync with the goose-stepping soldiers. That really is cultic. But in the other ditch we find ornery cussedness, pretending to be valiant for truth, but in the last analysis they are loyal only to their own thoughts, opinions, and perspectives. These people are disrespectful, disloyal, and disruptive.
Here is a relevant observation from Screwtape. “The game is to have them all running about with fire extinguishers whenever there is a flood, and all crowding to that side of the boat which is already nearly gunwale under.”[1]
When it comes to life in our modern congregations, we think we have to guard against mindless conformity when what really threatens our spiritual health is our radical individualism. The Scriptures tell us what we should be laboring for, striving for, and praying for. We are not told to work at maintaining independence of thought. We are not told to build some ecclesiastical variant of academic freedom. We are commanded to strive for like-mindedness, to be of one mind.
Allow me the privilege of translating all of this into modern American English for you. Drink the Kool-Aid. Join the cult. Surrender your independence. Swallow the party line. Go baaa like a sheep. Strive for the nirvana of acquiescence.
Modern Christians allow the Bible to talk that way because it is their sacred book and so they are technically stuck with it. But if any Christian leader, anywhere, anytime, teaches that obedience and maintaining a teachable spirit are virtues to be cultivated by church members, then that guy is now a hazard with blinking lights all over him. He is clearly power-tripping. He must be a Diotrephes. He is Diotrephes automatically.
Now this means that members of churches have assigned duties of loyalty and obedience. But what some Christians today believe is that their membership actually requires impudent feedback when they disagree, preferably online. I have seen some behavior in that department that, as one of my daughters might put it, makes my eyeballs sweaty.
But people today are nevertheless hungry for true community, and true community is impossible apart from shared values and mores—like-mindedness, in other words. But once community actually starts to form, the attacks on the “cult” will begin. Vulnerable and sophomoric Christians in the community will be taunted—prove your independence. Whatever your leader asks for, vote no, drag your feet, raise a stink, and put some daylight between yourself and that guy. As if you could establish independence by always finding the North Star, and always sailing south by it. But that’s not independence.
Remember that unity and like-mindedness are a function being apprehended by, and apprehending, Christ. He is the one in whom every joint and ligament joins (Eph. 4:16).
[1] C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (HarperOne, 2001), 138.
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As you know, our desire is to build a sanctuary that is more conducive to worship than the temporary quarters that God has graciously given us up to this point. Because we want every aspect of our lives to be governed by Scripture, this means that we must turn to Scripture for guidance and protection as we are preparing to undertake this significant project. When we look at the map that Scripture provides, there are zoom out and zoom in features. This message, and the next two, are at the zoom out level.
“Now, my son, the Lord be with thee; and prosper thou, and build the house of the Lord thy God, as he hath said of thee. Only the Lord give thee wisdom and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel, that thou mayest keep the law of the Lord thy God. Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfil the statutes and judgments which the Lord charged Moses with concerning Israel: be strong, and of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed. Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight; for it is in abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou mayest add thereto. Moreover there are workmen with thee in abundance, hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all manner of cunning men for every manner of work. Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number. Arise therefore, and be doing, and the Lord be with thee” (1 Chron. 22:11-16
).
At the end of his life, King David is entrusting the next big task to his son Solomon. That task was the building of a Temple, and in this passage we see some of the essentials. The first thing is the charge to build the Temple (v. 11). This is the mission. David’s desire is that God give Solomon wisdom and understanding so that he will keep the law of God (v. 12). The result of keeping this law in wisdom will be prosperity (v. 13), not truncated legalism. Wisdom and prosperity are given through adherence to the words of God. How could they not be? David then says that in the time of his “trouble,” he had nevertheless made a number of preparations for the building of the Temple (v. 14). Not only that, he had assembled the workmen (v. 15). The gold, silver, brass and iron were gathered “without number” (v. 16). Therefore, David said, be “up and doing.”
The principle is that you should take up the hard task of counting your shekels before undertaking the relatively easy task of spending them. Jesus teaches us this bluntly. “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” (Luke 14:28). Now if your response to this is that Jesus was making something called a “spiritual point” about the cost of discipleship, I grant it. But the spiritual point is not one you can grasp is you don’t understand the thing Jesus compares it to. You can’t afford what you can’t afford, and this is something that needs to be determined first.
David was a king, which meant that he could assemble these riches, and dispose of them the way he does here. He gives these resources to Solomon, and says that this is for that. He didn’t have to route any of this through committees. Our position is different. We are in a much more democratic setting—which has strong and weak points. There are virtues connected to this position of affairs, and there are vices. This means that our financial preparation has to include things like cost estimates, budgets, fund-raising, etc. So much is obvious. But another thing we must do—and which I am doing here—is to prepare our hearts to understand money.
We need a big church, and you can’t have a big church without big money. But you can’t have big money without a big problem, and what is that? Whenever you have big money show up, more than a few people will start acting funny. This funniness runs in two directions—and we need to learn how to mortify both these tendencies. They are temptations. Treat them in just the same way you would treat a temptation to perjure yourself, or commit adultery, or rob banks.
I am not addressing the temptations that people with money face. The warnings of Scripture are well-known, and are pretty clear. We do not need to rehearse them here. What we do need to do is go over the temptations faced by people in the proximity of money. Teaching on this is also found in Scripture, but we are not nearly enough on our guard about it. If someone in our congregation received a windfall inheritance of 100 million dollars, the chances are good that this person will receive scores of warnings not to let it go to his head. All the people around that guy will not receive any warnings, and they are the ones who really need it.
The first warning they need is to guard against unctuous flattery. “For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness” (1 Thess. 2:5).
The second warning is against envious carping. “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s” (Ex. 20:17). “A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones” (Prov. 14:30).
Suppose someone in our congregation, out of the blue, won the Nobel Prize for carving a cure for cancer out of bar of soap. Next Sunday someone walks up and says, “Congratulations . . . don’t let it go to your head.” He should reply, “Thanks . . . and don’t you get envious.” Or someone else walks up, “Congratulations! I always thought you were wonderful! And it turns out you are really wonderful! Cousin!” The reply here needs to be more creative.
So in order for us to handle this great task properly as a congregation, we must learn how to take financial information in stride. In order to do this right, we have to practice, practice, and practice. And, of course, this has everything to do with Jesus.
Christ Church