2 Corinthians 4:1-7

Well, good morning, Saylorville! If you brought a copy of Scripture with you this morning, you can find 2 Corinthians chapter 4, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, as we begin a brand new summer series today titled “Real Council.” And the title of the message today is “Real Council: Beyond the Hills,” and that will be explained in due time. Do you need counsel? Yes, you do! So let’s start by talking to God about that, okay?

Our Father, as we come before you today we recognize that all of us need counsel. All of us are counselors. Some of us are good counselors… some not so good. Help us today as a result of this opening message in this series to understand the requirements of real counsel and be inspired by this, instructed by this, and some literally transformed by the truths of Your Word today as I pray your power and your blessing upon everyone in this room, and those watching online, that You do something very near and dear to their hearts, change their lives, by Your Word, power of your Spirit, we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Many years ago, I was completely incredulous when a couple came into my office. They were members of our church. Somehow or another they had managed to slip through the cracks, separate, get divorced and remarried… in one year’s time. They came in the office because now they were remarried and they were so excited because they wanted to start a ministry for struggling marriages complete with a pamphlet they showed me! Well, that’s when I sort of hit the pause button because, and I lovingly pointed out to them that despite the fact that I was rejoiced that they were back together again, everything about it lacked Truth, the involvement of the local church, time, which is the proof that this decision, this change is real, and accountability. So I counseled them. In my praise of the fact that they were back together, I said, “Look, why don’t we just hit the pause button and see how the fruitfulness of your reunification unpacks itself over the next couple of years, and then we’ll talk about a ministry.” They never came back.

So what is the basis for giving and receiving real counsel? — and by “real” we mean “godly,” “biblical,” “Christ-like” counsel. Well, you know that every time somebody asks you a question, the first thing you should ask yourself in Romans 4 and verse 3 is,

[Romans 4:3] “…what does the Scripture say?…”

… And that’s where we’re going to be throughout the summer. The Lord Jesus identified Himself in John 15 as the “true” vine. That modifier was full of implication. We have a tendency to connect ourselves to vines that are not true, but are false. The Apostle Paul said,

[1 Timothy 6:12] ” Fight the good fight of the faith.”

…which again implies that there is such a thing as a bad fight, right? In fact, full disclosure, I was just at the fights last night. And before you throw me under the bus, you’ve got to throw about 40 other people from this church over there too! I was just there to keep an eye on them mostly. (Laughter) We have a young man in our church that came to Christ a few years ago and he was in a fight, and one of the guys I went with told his five-year-old that ‘Pastor Pat was coming to the fight, ‘and his response was, “Is Pastor Pat fighting?” If I had, that would have been a bad fight. But it did involve wrestling which is the greatest sport of all time, right?

Charles Spurgeon describing sharing the Gospel with somebody, he said,

“When a Christian shares the Gospel with a non-Christian, that’s just one beggar telling another beggar where to find the bread.” Charles Spurgeon

And biblical, that is, real counsel is exactly the same. And why is that? — Because we’re all beggars, that’s why. —And as beggars, we’re all broken.

Some of you will remember an illustration I used several years ago in another series. I talked about a little girl who was kind of playing around while her dad was changing the oil in his car, and he spilled some of the oil, and the sunlight hit the oil, and all those splotches came up and the little girl is… “Daddy, somebody broke the rainbow!” We’re all broken rainbows, are we not? All of us. And… as we are describing from the passage I had you open up to… we are broken jars, we’re broken vessels. Let’s look at the passage. Second Corinthians 4. Paul writes,

2 Corinthians 4:1-7

1 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.

2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, (Can I get an amen? – Because you can go to all kinds of churches around here that use cunning and all kinds of ploys to pull people in. Let’s just preach the Word of God. That’s a Paul saying) but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.

3 And even if our Gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.

4 In their case the god (small g) of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God.

5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as Your servants for Jesus’ sake.

6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” (Genesis 1) has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

7 But we have this treasure (What treasure? — the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. We have this treasure in what? In what?) in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”

So we are likened to jars of clay. Jars of clay in Bible times were very common, super cheap, easily replaceable, useless if they were broken. If you put a spade in the ground anywhere in the area of Palestine, you’d probably pull up some pottery. This is exactly what Paul was referring to right here. There are all kinds of metaphors in the Bible for our weaknesses, and it’s like God wants to remind you and me through metaphors like jars of clay, that we are weak. We are broken people.

The very next chapter our bodies are referred to as “tents”… T-E-N-T-S… tents. Well, there’s not much to a tent. Later on, Peter calls us “grass.” Here, we’re called “jars of clay.” The point is that God has chosen to put His glory into everyday jars of clay, you and me.

Now, in our culture especially, we’re drawn to beautiful packaging, aren’t we? People make lots of money just packaging normal stuff. But God didn’t beautifully package His Son when He brought Him into this world. In fact, Isaiah 53:2 says that there was nothing in Jesus that was beautiful, that was attractive in His appearance, that we would be drawn to Him.

[Isaiah 53:2, ” For He grew up before Him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.“]

Have you ever read that? Nothing… and yet Jesus wasn’t embarrassed to live in a jar of clay. And God isn’t embarrassed to use you and me who know Him as jars of clay. He’s not embarrassed to use jars of clay like us both to be helped by the truth and to help others with the truth. That means you’ve gotta know the truth, right? You’ve gotta know the Word of God.

I had lunch with a man several years ago. I said, “What do you wanna do with your life?” He said, “I wanna be a Christian counselor.” I said, “Great! Do you read the Bible?” “Uhh… sometimes.” “So you don’t read or study the Bible.” “Not really.” I said, “Choose another profession,” because, as I told this man, I said this. “Though knowing Scripture doesn’t automatically qualify you to be a Christian counselor, to the degree that you know the Word of God, to that degree, you can potentially become competent to counsel another.

So secular counseling… now when I say secular, I mean counseling apart from Scripture, apart from God, apart from Christ… did you know that it’s relatively new in history? For 2,000 years, when men and women had issues in life… problems in marriage, problems with their kids, problems with their health, problems with others… they went to their rabbi, they went to their priests, they went to their pastors, because somehow or other, they were connected inextricably to the truth of God. It wasn’t until the 19th century… we’re talking 1800s now, that modern psychology came into use and was recognized as an accepted, quote, “science.” — And so men like Freud and Jung. By the 20th century, the 1900s, you had men like Skinner, and Rogers, and Maslow and others, watch this, each one taking us farther, and farther ,and farther from the truth. But we were warned of this! This should not surprise us. Paul even said to the Colossians,

Colossians 2:8, ‘Beware, lest anyone carries you away captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the traditions of men, according to the basic elemental principles of this world and not according to Christ.’

So unfortunately, even Christians by the boatloads began seeking secular counseling apart from the church, apart from the Word of God, et cetera. So, we got a major course correction came in 1970. In 1970, a godly pastor, a theologian by the name of Jay Adams wrote a book which would rock the church. It was called “Competent to Council.” It was a landmark book, a book that John MacArthur would later say, and I quote,

“It’s an indispensable corrective to several trends eating away at the church’s spiritual vitality.”

John MacArthur

Adam’s book was like he was like a modern-day prophet calling us back to the truth of God, back to the Spirit of God for real change. And speaking of prophets, here’s how Jeremiah the prophet put it.

[Jeremiah 10:23] ‘O Lord, I know that it is not in man to direct his own paths. It is not in man who walks to direct his own paths. The way of man is not in himself, (Jeremiah wrote) It’s not in man who walks to direct his own paths.’

Have you ever read that? Isaiah put it like this.

[Isaiah 8:20] ‘To the law and to the testimony, if they do not speak according to this word, it’s because there is no light in them.’

So throughout this summer, we will be tackling issues like fearing God, the battle in your mind, sorrow, bitterness, hurt, mental struggles, marriage. We’re going to be talking about habits and jealousy. We’re going to talk about temptation and worry, — and we’re going to be talking about the idols that reside in your heart. That should take us through the summer.

And so to start this out, I want to give you six requirements of real counsel. And I did not pull off the shelf five books on counseling. I just spent a lot of time in this book. Good enough? Here they are.

Number one, real counsel requires the recognition that we are all broken by sin. I’ve already said that, but now we’re making it a point. Real counsel requires the recognition we’re all broken by sin. And the apostle Paul masterfully dealt with this when he said to the Galatians, he said;

Galatians 6:1 (he said) ‘If a brother,’ (a fellow Christian, fellow follower of Jesus) is overtaken by a fault, (It’s a picture of somebody who’s been tripped up from behind. He’s fallen into sin) ‘you who are spiritual restore such a one.‘ (The word ‘restore’ is a Greek word which literally means to set a bone. Can you imagine if this was a bone and it was a compound break that some doctor would come and set it like this? (mimics jerkily setting a bone) No! you’d be very gentle about putting that thing back together, wouldn’t you? That’s the word Paul uses, ‘you who are spiritual, restore such a one,’ (watch this) ‘in a spirit of gentleness, keeping watch on yourself.’

Now why would he throw that little addendum in there? — Because you’re broken, too. Everyone is broken. Some are just busted up a little bit more than others. Can I get an,  ‘Amen?’ And so one of the requirements of real counsel is that we recognize we’re all are broken. That keeps us humble in the process.

Secondly, real counsel requires scripture as the primary means of change. The Psalmist put it like this.

Psalm 119:130, “‘The entrance of Your Word brings light. It brings understanding to the simple.‘

Psychology and all its various forms might, and oftentimes does, identify issues. It can identify problems, but it cannot fundamentally change the character of someone, and again, this doesn’t surprising us. God even told us this in Proverbs 27:22, a foolish person, it says,

Proverbs 27:22, ‘Even though you grind him with a mortar and a pestle, you’re not going to drive the foolishness out of him.’

Behavior modification doesn’t change anybody, and yet we just keep going back to our counselor, our psychologist. I mean, some of you, not you… I hope not, but some people are as reliant upon their psychologist as some of you are on your chiropractor… And that’s not a shot at the chiropractor by the way. Listen to what Jay Adams said. He said,

“If you see counseling going on for a long period of time, somebody’s doing something wrong.” Jay Adams

Now why is that? — Because real counsel, according to Jesus, is based on truth, and if you know the truth, the truth will (What? What will it do?) it will set you free! It sets you free. So real counseling, any kind of biblical counseling doesn’t have… we’re going to see each other for the next year….

We have a ministry called G.C.R., Gospel Centered Recovery. Meets every Tuesday… about 50 people with various life dominating sins, and when we first started this off, and we got going on it I said, “So what are we doing? What kind of book are we following with all these? How are we doing this?” Their answer was, “Well, we’re just going through the Bible.” “You’re just going through the Bible?” “Yeah, we’re just preaching through books in the Bible.” “You’re just preaching through books in the Bible?” “Yeah, because that’s what sets people free.” Duh! And what’s the result? That’s all they do! They preach the Word of God. They teach the Word of God. And… People are coming to Christ! People are getting their lives right! Their lives are changed from the inside out! We’ve got people getting married out of this deal! Now listen carefully to these words. This is really important. I even enlarged them in my notes. While we don’t deny help can be found outside of Scripture, we will not present as truth anything contrary to Scripture. Again, while we don’t deny that help can be found outside of Scripture, we will not present as truth anything contrary to Scripture. And some of you’ve memorized this verse, but you haven’t thought about all of its ramifications? The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy chapter three and verse 16 and 17…

2 Timothy 3:16-17

16 “All Scripture is breathed out by (inspired by) God. And it’s useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (why?)

17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

And just… look at that again. The Bible, the Word of God, tells us what’s right, (that’s the teaching) what’s not right, (that’s reproof) how to get right, (that’s correction) and how to stay right, (that’s training in righteousness.) And this is what prompted Nicholas Ellen to write,

“We don’t need something more. We need more of something. We need the Word of God.”

Nicholas Ellen

And again, all of this should not surprise you if you know, love, read, study, your Bible, because the psalmist put it like this. He said,

[Psalm 119:24, “Your testimonies are my delight.” (Don’t you love that?) “Your testimonies” (the Word of God) “are my delight.” (You know what else they are?) “They are my counselors.” (This is your ultimate counseling source right here.)

Thirdly, third requirement. Real counsel requires the humility to ask another for help. Now the book of Proverbs is a master class on counseling. So for instance, Proverbs 11, verse 14 says this,

Proverbs 11:14, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.“

The very next chapter, chapter 12, verse 15;

Proverbs 12:15, ‘The way of fools is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise.’

Chapter 24 and verse six. This… by the way, every Jewish, everybody in the IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces, knows this Scripture right here.

Proverbs 24:6, “… for by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors there is victory.“

This is the reason why in Israel… the nation of Israel so hated by the world… demonically hated…cannot afford to lose one war. They lose one war they cease to exist, and because of that, their generals, the highest brass, a general will listen to a private. They’re not haughty. They don’t have their heads in the clouds because they know they need to receive advice, counsel and sometimes, coming from a lesser level rank, wisdom may come. And here’s another one, 27 verse nine. This talks about how some people are just… well, look at it.

[Proverbs 27:9] “Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.“

Now, you know what this is talking about. This is talking about that guy that you just really need to sit down with because he loves you enough to not just encourage you, speak truth into your life, throw the crap card down on you if necessary, or that girl… you gotta spend time with her because she doesn’t just accept you for the way you are, but is willing to address an issue in your life and though lovingly, we need those people, amen? They become like oil and perfume in our lives. And even, again, it’s (indistinguishable) I just was thinking about this. Proverbs 15, 23 says;

Proverbs 15:23, ‘A man has joy by an apt reply and a word spoken at just the right time. How good it is.’

Sometimes we’ve got right words, we have truth. It’s all true and our timing is botched. Good council will always have good timing with truth. But we are talking about the fact that real council requires the humility to ask for help. Here’s how Heath Lambert puts it. He says;

“Counseling is a conversation where one party with questions, problems and trouble seeks assistance from someone they believe has answers, solutions, and help.” Heath Lambert

That’s what counseling is. That’s when you’ve got some reciprocation going on. When there’s a real need, you’re getting help. In fact, we have Keith Carlson, who’s here in this room right now. He is heading to Uganda to help with one of our missionaries. Their home was literally broken into a couple of months ago. They were terrorized and beaten up! They need help, and he’s gonna go there to bring that to them. You pray for Keith. He leaves this week. It’s humbling to say, ‘I need help. Can I get an, ‘Amen?’ In fact, just practice that once in a while with me. Say it, I need help, say to you, ready? “I need help.” That feel good? It’s humbling to say ‘I need help,’ but rarely does change ever take place in our lives until we acknowledge that very need, and then somebody comes in, a jar of clay with the glory of God inside, helping us along. Amen?

Here’s a fourth requirement. Real council requires courage to confront the one held by sin. I want to draw your attention to another passage of Scripture in Romans, Romans chapter 15. The apostle Paul is sort of ending up his words to Rome. He says in verse 14,

Romans 15:14, “I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness filled with all knowledge and able (watch this) to instruct one another.“

See that? The word “instruct” is the Greek word “noutheteo?.” It’s a compound word. The word “nou” means your mind, your brain, your mind, your thoughts. And the rest of the word means to put something into it, to place something into it. The word “noutheteo?” literally means “to place into.” So when real counsel is taking place, you’re taking truth and you’re placing it into the mind of the other individual, because that’s where it all has to start. Amen? It’s a comprehensive term. I love this word, “noutheteo?!” it’s a comprehensive term. It means to counsel, it means to advise, it means to steer, it means to direct, it means to admonish, it means to encourage and it means to warn. And it’s translated almost all those ways in the New Testament. It literally carries the idea of confronting somebody with truth in order to turn them back around.

Now, I’m not proud of the fact that I’m known as one who confronts people. It doesn’t do my heart good to have somebody say, ‘Well, you’re a hammer!‘ Okay, but we all have to play our part, don’t we? Actually, that was a legitimate question. We all have to play our part, don’t we?  Yeah.

A couple of months ago, we were getting ready to leave the church. The third service was over. Everybody was winding down, and I saw Paul Seymour, who we talked about a couple of weeks ago. He was sitting on a bench, and my wife was sitting right next to him, and they were just sitting together. My wife had her arms around him, her head buried into his chest. He had his arms around her. His head buried on her head and she was praying her guts out for him, and I had no clue what was going on! We walked out the door. I said, “Hey, honey, I… what was that all about?” She goes, “Oh, you probably already know about it.” I said, “Uh… no, not really.” And then she told me where Paul was struggling. So I went to Paul a couple of days later and he said, “Pastor, I didn’t need a hammer right then. I needed Marilyn.” Fair enough. But let me tell you something. You know what he told me just the other day? He said, “Pastor, I need the hammer, too. I need both. I can’t sit here and just have people put their arms around me all the time. I need somebody to prod me.”

And this word, “noutheteo?,” bakes both of those ideas in there. Both of them are there. You’re confronting somebody with the idea of turning back. But you’re also loving on them! The word is used in Colossians 1:28 to warn. He says,

Colossians 1:28, ‘Him we preach warning every man,’ (That’s the word “noutheteo?,” warning every man) and teaching every man that we may present every man complete in Christ.’

It’s also used here… very interesting… I want to show the reciprocal element of it. Look at this in first Thessalonians Chapter 5. I want to show you right here. Here’s what it says;

1 Thessalonians 5:12-14

12 “We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord (that’d be like a pastor) and admonish you, (that’s the word “noutheteo?,” admonish you)

13 and to esteem them very highly in love (not because of their charisma, but) because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. (Watch this)

14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish (same exact word as the one earlier) the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.”

You see that counseling element there? But here’s the point. (Keep it up there .Here’s the point. As the pastor is admonishing you like right now, you in turn admonish somebody else. That’s what’s going on here. It’s a reciprocation happening here.

Just the other day, a guy I’ve been working with and discipling in our church, and I have admonished him on numerous occasions, came to me about how he might admonish somebody else, and we talked about it. So there you go. Real council requires the courage to confront one held by sin.

Fifthly, real council requires obedience to bring about change. Now we’re talking about not the counselor but the councelee. When you’re receiving council, the idea in biblical counseling is that you’re going to change. There’s a couple other words besides the word noutheteo? that’s used in the New Testament. I’m not trying to wile you with Greek here, but there’s the word “thelo?” and the word “boulomai.” There are two different words that both of them have to do, (Watch this) both of those words have to do with your will to change. And if it’s your will, thus your willingness to change. So the point is, when real counsel does its thing in the counselee’s life, it’s no longer, ‘Oh, that’s a really good idea of something I should think about.’ No, it’s like, ‘I am going to change!’ It impacts you internally. You… it comes out externally. And this is the whole business of what Paul, meant in Philippians chapter two, and he said,

Philippians 2:13, “…it is God who works in you, (watch this) both to will and to do [work] for His good pleasure.“

That’s what real counsel does. It produces obedience.

And finally, real counsel will hold you together when nothing else will. I was reading recently in the book of Acts, and if you come toward the end of the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul says, “I appeal to Caesar!”— and so on to the ship he goes. You know, they’re in the Mediterranean and it’s… I mean, it’s just… Paul says, ‘You don’t go this way. Things aren’t going to go well!’ They don’t listen to him.Things don’t go well. A huge storm hits. The ship is literally coming apart! They’re jettisoning stuff off! They’re throwing the cargo out just to stay alive! — And as the storm increases, the ship starts to come apart! I want you… I want to show you a verse, I guarantee you don’t meditate on this verse.

Acts 27:17a, “After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship.”

Isn’t that a blessing? The word “supports” there, you see that word? It’s only used one other time in all of the New Testament. What the word literally means is “to frap,” to frap a ship. And the frap would mean if the ship was literally coming apart, what they did was they would take rope or cables, they threw it off one side, they’d fish it around to the other side, and they would… because the boats coming apart! — and it kept the ship from coming apart. It’s called “frapping.” And that’s the word used for “supports.” The only other time this word is ever used is by the writer of Hebrews. When he’s talking to you and me whose lives are coming apart, he says,

Hebrews 4:16, “‘Let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to (what?) help (that’s the word) in our time of need.’

All of us are ships coming apart. Some of you are really coming apart, and that wasn’t meant to be funny. It’s just what your life is like for whatever reason. You feel like it’s coming apart. but the grace of God serves like a spiritual frapper! It just pulls you together and holds you together, and aren’t you glad?

As I was putting the finishing touches on this very message, I got word from a friend that his mother died just last night, suddenly, utterly unexpectedly. Another in our church, their daughter faces a surgery in just a couple of days that’s critical to her life, very critical! Another dear friend of mine got with me just this morning before I came to church and said, I can’t stop crying. His wife died. We needs help! Can I get an ‘Amen?’ You need help. I need help so that my ship doesn’t come apart! — and the help comes by way of grace. And speaking of help…

Psalm 40:1, “I waited patiently for the Lord; (the Bible says) He inclined to me…”

And another Psalm says,

Psalm 121:1-2, ‘I looked to the hills. Where does my help come from?’ I should say, ‘Where does my help come from?’ It’s not in the hills. ‘My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.’

Now, most of you have read that, but you need fresh eyes on that. Look at that. Stare right at it for a minute. In Bible times, the pagans, all of their idols were up on the hills. That’s where they put their idols. That’s where they set their affections. That’s where they got their help. That’s where they got their needs met, so to speak, on the hills. When the psalmist says, ‘I look to the hills. From where does my help come from?’ He’s basically saying, ‘Yeah, gotta look farther than the hills!’ These aren’t hills to die on. These were hills that needed to die! God is beyond the hills. He’s beyond psychology. He’s beyond all the things that you do to put your hope in… that will not help you! And all the hills that men and women are dying on today and not getting any help at all. Your help, that which will frap your life, will hold your ship together, come from beyond the hills. Go to God and His truth, and by His Spirit, you’ll experience real change. Will you pray with Me?

Our Father in Heaven, right now we ask in Jesus’ name that You would be our help, and we would have a fresh reliance on Your truth and Your Spirit for change. There are people here, Lord, who have never been changed fundamentally by the Gospel. They’ve never repented of their sin and placed their faith in Jesus. And if that’s you or dear one watching online, today, go to the cross, go to the resurrection, go to Jesus and be saved, and then you’ll have in your receptacle, you’ll have in your broken pot… glory… glory to receive truth, and glory to change, and glory to help others to change, as well. So, Lord, as we go to Your table, meet us there. And for some of us, this is a time for a pivot to go beyond the hills. Our help doesn’t come from the hills. It comes from heaven. We confess that. We believe that. Help us as we reflect upon that and upon what Jesus did for us. We ask in His name. Amen. [Music]