Sermon Tone Analysis

- Australians do not, on average, like being told what to do

Our Ministry and Paul's Ministry

Date: 27-01-19 821 Echuca

- Australians do not, on average, like being told what to do

- We are fiercely independent with a sad background of starting off as a convict settlement

Q.

How would we cope with having someone outside our church community & someone we have never met, write to us & tell us how we should conduct ourselves?

- Paul didn't start the church at Rome, but is giving instruction to it

- If they were Australians, that would not go down well

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- However, Paul is in a unique position

- He was a rebellious Jew – rebellious to Jesus & not willing to accept that He is the Messiah

- But as he was travelling, persecuting the church, He was met on the road by Jesus & given a special ministry that was particular to the Gentiles – they were to become his main concern

—13 But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel;

- Paul had the very authority of Jesus, the Lord, behind him

- This being the case, the church at Rome should indeed, listen to him

1.

Ministry to One Another (v.14)

1. Ministry to One Another (v.14)

Q.

What would the apostle Paul say about our church community?

- Would he say that we are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge & able also to admonish or instruct one anther?

- It is interesting that to admonish one another or instruct (pew Bible) is preceded by goodness & knowledge

- Our secular society would merely believe that all you have to have knowledge – education, is the answer to all our woos (so they say)

- Our education system thinks that knowledge is the highest priority & morality or immorality is irrelevant compared with this virtue

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- But goodness & knowledge are an item – they are a couple (wed together) - & a person who is to admonish or instruct another ought to strive for both

- Goodness consists of a positive moral quality that is characterised by an interest in the welfare of others

- To do good rather than to be motivated by selfish interest

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- Some people minister to others in pride – look at me, look at what I can do, look at how people look to me for answers

- Humility is the fruit of someone who has an interest in the welfare of others

- No wonder Jesus said - “do not let your let hand know what your right hand is doing

- Do it in secret & the Lord will reward you, He says

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- Knowledge may seem obvious to us, but the knowledge the apostle has in mind is true knowledge – knowledge that will put people on the right track

- There is a pseudo knowledge, but that knowledge could come from the pits of hell

—20 O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”—

- The early church had such people they called heretics & charlatans

- These people, you will notice, lack something important – goodness!

- Generally speaking, these people are more interested in having lots of followers & in growing their own empires rather than seeing people grow to maturity in Christ

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- Having these qualities, then, we admonish (instruct) one another

- The word admonish or instruct is an interesting word

- The word is “noutheteō”

- It covers a range of meanings, principally though, it means...

“to admonish, to instruct, to warn, to counsel, to advise”

—31 (savage wolves – false teachers – message to the Elders) “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

—14 We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

—14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame.

15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

(warn him, give him advise, give him counsel)

—14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame.

15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

(warn him, give him advise, give him counsel)

—14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame.

15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

(warn him, give him advise, give him counsel)

—14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame.

15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

(warn him, give him advise, give him counsel)

—14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame.

15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

(warn him, give him advise, give him counsel)

- This word, then, has a lot to do with correcting a person's walk with the Lord – to warn one another & to help one another stay on course with their Christian life

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- There is a huge counselling movement which grew out of the understanding of this passage

- It is called Nouthetic Counselling (from this Gk.

Word, “noutheteō” & it was started by Jay Adams of the Westminster Theological Seminary

- This counselling approach became distinctively different from the secular psychological models

- Models that relied on Sigmund Freud & Carl Rogers

- I don't know if reading his books are still part of RCCC's curriculum but they were when I was teaching in the college in the early 2000's

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- Nouthetic counselling is distinctively different because it takes a directive counselling approach

- This is distinctively Christian because it starts with the assumption that men & women are sinners or, as Christians, struggle with sin

- When a person is trapped in sin, they need clear help & challenge to get out of that sinful situation

- So Nouthetic counselling would not hold back on warnings & instructions – this is a directive approach

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- In contrast to this, Rogers & Freud believed in the inherent goodness of Man

- Rogers developed a person-centred counselling approach

- The client or person who needs the counselling would not get instructed – you would not direct them – on what to do & how to do it

- Instead, the counsellor repeats or parrots back to the “client” what they just said, but put in a different way to help the person work out for themselves what they need to do to fix their problem

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- The problem is that a person caught in sin may determine a path that is not God's path but the non-directive counsellor must not instruct them, warn them or advise them

- The goodness is suppose to be inside the client & you just help that goodness to come out

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- That is a faulty approach

- The biblical approach is one the apostle Paul lays down here

- He lays down a directive counselling approach – one that takes account of the what the Scriptures teach about men & women

- Sadly, many Christian counselling models seek to integrate the Scriptures with the secular psychological models but end up perverting the Scriptures in the process

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- A good example, is the love yourself doctrine (self-esteem)– self love, learn to love yourself – Whitney Houston sang that song called the greatest love of all – & here is the anthem: “learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all”

- That is in stark contrast to the biblical model which says our deficiency is not in learning to love ourselves, but learning to love God with all our heart, soul, mind & strength

Q.

So, where does this come from?

It comes from the belief that at the root, you are good, not sinful

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- It comes from the devil's counsel who focused on the “self” perspective of Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden

- Don't be cheated by God, says the serpent to Eve, you have potential, you can be like God, you're worthy – don't let God cheat you out of what you can become – your worthy, love yourself before God”

—4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

- People love to be flattered & love the path that prioritise' self

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- Then you have the general guilt free, no fault, Freudian psychology that, again, relies upon the false belief that at its base, humanity is good

- So if you have problems, you haven't created them, someone has done it to you

- I remember a friend of mine from Qld getting grilled by a Christian psychologist about her father at a Christian camp

- It wasn't even a counselling session

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- Now I know her father & he is a godly upright man

- But this guy couldn't help himself, he had to push about what her father had done to her as she grew up

- Somehow, her father was at fault for whatever issues she was facing

- She could not believe that line of questioning & said that her father was wonderful & treated her well

- He would not stop this line of questioning & she just got up & left

- This guy's problem is that he was relying on secular psychology that has the premise that people's problems are more the result of what others have done to you – straight from Freudian psychology

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- One more example of this & how it has made its way into the Australian legal system is the case involving the woman who bought a MacDonald's coffee, spilled it on herself & sued MacDonalds

- She was driving to work with the coffee held between her legs as she drove