Discipleship and Soul Care

Introduction

When we talk about soul care, I have in mind what is commonly referred to as biblical counseling. It’s the work that must be done in the soul to overcome besetting sins like lust, materialism, dishonesty, and distrust, and it’s the work in the soul that must be done to work through the realities of a world that is disordered by sin like depression, anxiety, grief, abandonment, and disability. And, I want to plead with you on the front end to not immediately contract these moments out. Never has emotional health been more at the forefront of people’s minds, and I want you to see that it is a new frontier for Gospel advancement that will cause people to be open to conversations that they normally wouldn’t be open to. I would be bold enough to say that if you have a loving church, the Spirit of God, and the word of God, then you are equipped with what you need to meet 80-90 percent of the counseling needs that exist in your church and community.

What we’re talking to in soul care is the relationship between the root and the fruit. Most counseling is concerned only with the fruit, that is, the behavior or presenting issue. Through behavior modification and cognitive behavioral therapy, it seeks to give you strategies to help you deal with and cope with the behavior or issue at hand. I believe that it has its place and can be an important part of the puzzle, but it’s incomplete. You see, we don’t just want to treat the symptom; we want to treat the disease. If you have lung cancer but only treat the cough, you’re not going to find yourself feeling better for very long. So, we don’t just want to deal with the fruit. We want to get to the root.

Let me explain. Imagine with me that you have eight men in your church who are workaholics. They all have the exact same behavior, the same presenting issue. They recognize they’re sinning, and they recognize they need to change. All of them are spending inordinate time and energy at work and neglecting their responsibilities to God, their families, and their churches.

Now, what does Scripture say? Scripture says that the issue is not just what they’re doing. It’s also their hearts. They have sinful hearts at the root, and the sinful heart at the root is leading to the bad fruit. Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” James 4:1 “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?”

So, if we really want to help the workaholic, we can’t just say, “Stop working so hard!” And, we can’t just say, “Here are seven helpful strategies to overcome workaholism.” Shame may work for a time. Strategies may work for a time. But, they won’t last unless the heart is changed. So, if we want to help the workaholics, we have to get to the heart of the issue. And, here’s the deal: We have eight different men with the same behavior, and yet that same behavior can be driven by eight different causes in the heart.

Mr. A is driven by greed. He works too much because he has the wrong treasure.

Mr. B is driven by a fear of the future. He works too much because he doesn’t have faith that God will provide.

Mr. C is driven by a desire for approval from his parents. He works too much because he’s jealous that his parents have always favored his older brother and wants to prove them wrong.

Mr. D is driven by a desire for a great reputation. He works too much because he wants to self-promote and self-exalt.

Mr. E is driven by a desire to escape trouble at home. He works too much because he doesn’t want to face failure and conflict at home.

Mr. F is driven to work because he loves who is at work. He works too much because he is nursing his lust and opening his options.

Mr. G is driven to work because he wants to please his boss. He works too much because he has a fear of man and can’t risk being critiqued or corrected.

Mr. H is driven to work because of perfectionism. He works too prove that he’s superior to others and because he has to be an overachiever in every aspect of his life.

So, you see, if you only address the behavior of workaholism and you don’t do the hard work of finding the root cause in the heart, you won’t be able to adequately help the people over whom you are responsible. If you want to help a person with a pornography addiction, it’s never just about the lust. If you want to help someone with an anxiety issue, it’s never just about the circumstance. If you want to help a person with anger, it’s never just about their personality. You’ve got to get to the root!

And, these are the people that God is calling for you to disciple and shape more into the image of Jesus. Here’s the Good News: Discipleship creates the ideal environment to address the wrong fruit from the wrong root and to cultivate the right fruit from the right root. As Christians, we fundamentally believe that people CAN change. We don’t buy the nonsense of the world that says otherwise. And, we believe that because WE’VE changed. Well, discipleship is Jesus’ model for transforming people through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ disciples weren’t the same people at the end of their discipleship as they were at the beginning, and that’s because Jesus did the hard soul work with them to “MAKE them into fishers of men.” That’s our work

Main

Jesus’ Parable of the Sower describes the human heart as soil. And, soul care is the work of disciple-making to ensure that cultivate the soil of the heart the way that God intended so that the person is able to bear fruit and flourish the way God designed. And, that’s what disciple-making aims at — making disciples who flourish in a disordered world. And, that’s what soul work is.

Four Ways Disciple-making Cultivates the Soil of the Heart:

Disciple-making sows the right seed.

One way to define disciple-making is to say that disciple-making is landing the word in real life by sharing real life. And, that means that it starts with the word. The word of God through the Holy Spirit is God’s means of changing a heart.

De-stigmatizing counseling is the key to making it an ongoing part of our lives: Biblical counseling is just discipleship specifically aimed at one area of life. I may not know how to counsel, but I know how to make disciples. That’s our responsibility. (It may not be all they need, but it is the minimum they need.)

(Walk through Powlison Steps) Jeremiah 17 is can help us understand the journey that we need to take our disciples on. This is God’s word coming to his people through the prophet because He wants their hearts to change. So, Jeremiah is sewing the seed, and he gives us a glimpse of how this can look in the lives of our disciples.

Jeremiah 17:5–8 “Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.””

In Jeremiah 17, Jeremiah uses two different trees — one that’s healthy and one that’s unhealthy — to illustrate to Judah the difference between who they are and who they’re meant to be. For our purposes, they show where our disciple might start and where we want them to be.

David Powlison shows that Jeremiah 17 can be used as a framework for how we get our disciples to where they need to be: (And, I’m laboring to show you that mere book clubs aren’t enough! You’ve got to get into each other’s business for this to work.)

What’s the situation?

They’re in the desert. Under divine judgment. Their circumstances are heat.

This is the world your disciple is living in, the issue they’re facing, the loss they’ve experienced, the sin they’re trying to overcome.

What’s the bad fruit seen?

Judah is a thorn bush languishing in the wilderness of exile. They’re “parched.” “They’re in an uninhabited salt land.” They’re lonely and overwhelmed.

The sinful words, actions, emotions — fear, anxiety, lust, unbelief, bitterness

What are the bad roots?

“Trust in man and makes flesh his strength” — Judah had wanted to be like other nations, distrusted God, gone through religious exercises while keeping their options open. They were following the world’s ways.

What are the sinful beliefs, motives? I mentioned earlier that pornography is almost never about mere lust. Loneliness, laziness, lack of control, insecurity. What lie are they believing? What desire is inordinate? What idol are they loving?

What are God’s provisions for this to be overcome?

Jer 17:10-11, God searches and judges Judah to draw them back. Jer 17:12-14, God heals and restores Judah.

“the stream of water” — Psalm 1, God’s word

We must draw out the bad fruit, then bad root, and then visit the cross. Take them to God’s word.

Ditches versus Canyons (like Jer 17 for disciple-making). Any text — and you should be reading the Bible with your disciples every week — can speak to any issue.

What are the good roots we’re seeking?

“tree planted by streams of water whose roots go to the stream”

Same heat, same circumstance, but the roots have found the way to life anyway!

envision them before they are present

What are the good fruits we’re desiring

“Does not fear” “Leaves remain green” “Not anxious in the year of drought” “does not cease to bear fruit.”

God’s vision for Judah — our vision for our disciples. Who do you dream of them becoming?

envisioning them.

This is what we’re talking about when we talk about disciple-making. Getting into the nitty, gritty and walking with people through the process of transforming their lives through interaction with God.

RZ: Negativity

Fruit — always sees negative in every situation. Made friendship hard, and he was lonely. Self-defeating.

Root — abandonment, insecurity, self-sufficiency

God’s provision (through Bible reading, kept coming up) — family of God, finished work of Christ, sovereignty of God

Good root — trusting God for the future, enjoying church family

Good fruit — hopeful, peace, joy — friends!

And, the whole group helped. That leads to the second way d-making provides the ideal environment for soul care.

Disciple-making grows in a greenhouse.

Every counselor will tell you that for change to really happen, it will almost always require a strong community and support system. That’s why support groups are so valuable.

Counselors would kill for the kind of community that’s meant to be provided through the local church and in the discipleship groups. Every counselor on earth would give their right arm to put their clients into a community of 3-5 same-sex members who care about them, hold them accountable, and try to help them. It’s almost like God designed it this way.

Jesus’ model of disciple-making — a small group of disciples sharing their lives, growing in truth, and following him — creates an ideal greenhouse for a new seed to grow into a new root and a new fruit.

When you think of it, Romans 12:15-16 describes the ideal d-group culture, doesn’t it? — Romans 12:15–16 “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.”

D-groups are places where people are known.

One-size-fits-all vs. Tailored suits

curriculum vs. IDP

Often, the best counseling is proactive and on-the-go. It’s mature Christians who seek to disciple other Christians, learn their struggles, and proactively move them in the right direction.

Every person in your group needs something different, and God has placed you in their lives to identify it and help them grow in it.

D-groups are places where people are supported over time.

Galatians 6 — Sowing and reaping — “in the proper time, you will reap”

We don’t plant an acorn and expect an oak tree in three Mississippi’s

Transformation takes time, taking time requires support.

How often does the New Testament simply say: “Endure! Press on!”

D-groups are places where trust creates the vulnerability needed for soul work.

(Write) Trust —> vulnerability —> intimacy.

(DRAW) Full containers and the need to process, but to process I need to trust. To trust, I need time. D-groups can be more effective than a counselors office.

The best d-groups suffer together and counsel one another. They make sure the others deal with it and make it through.

Andrew: Left ministry and felt like a failure.

James: Mom got cancer and he had a serious health scare

Keith: Pipeline explosion and worker killed in a dump truck.

Daniel: Flunked out of pharmacy school and struggled with civilian life

Chris: Serious issue at work that almost cost him his job

Cody: Church was floundering, nearly died

8 years ago — all kinds of bad roots uncovered — still close, still supporting, still praying, still growing together.

Disciple-making nurtures through disciplined care.

Farming and nurturing — by faith. Harvest grows while we sleep.

Disciple-making (and soul care) is balancing our responsibilities in light of God’s burdens.

1 Corinthians 3:5–7 “What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”

Discipleship = discipline, discipline = us meeting our responsibilities by faith that God will lift his burdens

So, we’re helping to create an environment that optimizes the opportunity for followers of Jesus to take responsibility for their faith, and then we’re trusting that God will maximize the fruit and harvest.

Soul work requires a commitment. So, does disciple-making.

A long obedience in the same direction — that’s what soul work requires

Soul work as the hardest work. Don’t believe me? Sit down and try it. You’ll organize your underwear drawer a hundred times rather than face trauma from your childhood through a lament.

Those I commit to disciple all sign a covenant, and it’s a covenant that commits us to one another and acknowledges we’re about to get into one another’s business. We’re committing to soul work together. If we want to really help people, we’ve got to raise the commitment level, not lower it.

“I’m not going to work harder at your life than you are.” Read the book. Do the homework. Commit yourself.

Soul work requires accountability. So, does disciple-making.

GK training for cross-country with me vs. without me — different pace, different progress, different outcome

Disciple-making provides the ideal environment to follow-through on commitments.

Love must be gentle, but love must hold accountability. Soul care requires you to love the person you’re discipling more than you love them being happy with you in the moment.

Everyone wants to change, but no one wants to follow through. Discipleship provides the accountability needed to break through the inertia and follow through on your commitments.

One of the most pivotal moments of my life — My story with Todd: “I won’t let you.” Right then, we started dealing with some stuff (bad fruit, bad roots). We need environments in the church where that is happening. Every Christian needs people in their lives who say, “I won’t let you!”

Disciple-making provides the necessary patience.

1 Corinthians 13 is talking about the church, not romance novels:

1 Corinthians 13:4–8 “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.”

A lot of patience and pain is involved in caring for souls and making disciples. Look at how long Jesus’ disciples took and what it cost him. What’s our expectation?

Draw: Expectation chart: What changing our hearts, lives feels like (sanctification). Both the disciple and the disciple-maker need to have the right expectation.

Soul work isn’t about building. That’s business. Soul work is about growing, and that’s long term.

Galatians 6:1-10

Mason Love

Wanted to fix himself

Fixing Decks with rotted wood.

It'll just have to be fixed again. It won't endure.

Growing an oak tree

It'll stand the test of time and endure the storms.

People can't be fixed like a deck. They have to be grown like a tree.

Our job isn't to fix people, but to grow them.

Fixing is quick. Growing is slow. Soul care can’t be rushed.

Trying to fix people and churches has ended a lot of marriages and ministries.

We aren't fixing our ministry. We're growing it strong.

Fixing is something I can do fast with a swarm of energy. Growing requires "a long obedience in the same direction."

2 Timothy 4:1-2: 1I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.