Abounding in Hope and Competent to Counsel

Well, let me invite you this morning to turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter. 15 for our time of study and God's word this morning. Romans chapter 15. We're just gonna spend Some time in 2 verses.

today And this will be something of a sermon slash seminar, that we can give the title Abounding in Hope and Competent to counsel. yet I hope this will be a great, encouragement, to you. Romans chapter 15 and we'll be focusing primarily on verses 13 and 14 this morning. It may surprise you or maybe it won't to know that.

there are numerous models of psychotherapy. That are in the world today. Some of them are based on assumptions and use techniques that are actually diametrically opposed to those used by other models of psychotherapy. Yet, interestingly, studies show that pretty much all models of psychotherapy tend to be moderately helpful.

To people on some level. And this has caused some researchers to ask, even as far back as the 90s, they were asking this question, what is the common denominator of all of these models of psychotherapy that makes them helpful to some degree? And the answer is stunning in its simplicity. And it's essentially this, a caring human being.

A caring human being trying to help the counselee, a caring human being sitting across the room from the person that he or she is trying to help. In fact, along these lines, one writer has defined psychotherapy in this way. He says psychotherapy is the systematic use of a human relationship. For therapeutic purposes.

Many of you have probably heard of Jordan Peterson or you've seen his videos on YouTube. He's a brilliant thinker. He's also a psychotherapist who genuinely cares about people and has brought help to many even though he does not know the Lord. In his book, 12 Rules for Life, Jordan Peterson explains what he does in his work in the following way.

Listen to this. He says psychotherapy is genuine conversation. When you are involved in a genuine conversation, you're listening and talking, but mostly listening. Listening is paying attention.

It's amazing what people will tell you if you listen. Sometimes if you listen to people, they will even tell you what is wrong. With them. He goes on to say the following, in my clinical practice, I talk and listen.

I talk more to some people and listen more to others. Many of the people I listen to have no one else to talk to. Some of them are truly alone in the world. There are far more people like that than you think.

You don't meet them because they. are alone I start with these thoughts this morning to actually encourage all of you who know the Lord. If one of the common ingredients that makes all models of psychotherapy at least somewhat helpful, is a caring human being. Who is willing to listen and to talk and to help.

Then the Church of Jesus Christ should be a dynamic place that is bristling with power to truly bring help to people. Those of us who have been saved by Christ are called to be quick to listen. And slow to talk. And when we talk, we speak the truth in love, and the truth that we speak is the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is, we're told in Romans one, the power of God into salvation to everyone who believes.

In his book, Who Speaks for God, Charles Coulson shares about a secular prison psychiatrist who did not believe the gospel himself. But he watched Christian counselors as they worked with prisoners, and he admired the power of the Christian gospel to transform people's lives. And in a moment of honesty, The secular psychiatrist was speaking to a Christian counselor one day and he made a telling admission. Listen to what he said.

He says, I can cure someone of his madness, but I can't cure his badness. He's right. But as Christians, we have a savior who can cure people's badness. And his name is Jesus.

And he is more than moderately helpful to people. He can transform lives and actually transfer a person from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God and change their destiny forever. And no model of psychotherapy can even begin to touch that. Our purpose here at Cornerstone is helping people to journey from brokenness to wholeness through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And this vision includes every one of you that are a part of the Cornerstone family. And being a part of Cornerstone, you are admitting that you need help. In that journey, and you are also declaring that you want to join us in being a help to other people in that same journey. And one of the expressions of that help that we want to provide to other people could be said in this way, it's giving the counsel of Christ.

To one another Our vision is that Cornerstone would literally be a congregation of counselors who minister the council of Christ to one another in the context of meaningful relationships. And this is precisely the apostle Paul's agenda for the Christians in the church of Rome. In the book of Romans, Paul goes on a very long and beautiful gospel train of thought. With his readers and this train of thought stretches from Romans 1 all the way into Romans chapter 15, and at the end of this train of thought, Paul looks at his readers and he speaks some empowering words to them which will be our text for today.

Listen to these beautiful words that Paul speaks to the Roman Christians in Romans chapter 15 verses 13 and 14. He says, now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge. And able also to admonish one another.

One writer says that these words give a hint of Saint Paul's aim. In this whole epistle. And I would agree with that. In fact, I think we can say that everything that Paul has said up to this point of the book of Romans.

has merely been for the purpose of laying the groundwork for him to speak these words of empowerment. To the Christians in the Church of Rome. As to what Paul says at the very end of verse 14. And some of you will note this in your own translations, the new International Version and the English Standard Version translate Paul is saying that his readers are able to instruct one another, and they use the word instruct.

The amplified Bible. Normally when it can't decide, it just throws every word it can. and let you make the choice just to try to capture the idea and it uses three words to translate the Greek word that is translated admonish in the new American Standard. It translates Paul's final statement as saying that he believes that his readers are competent to admonish and counsel and instruct one another.

And let's go with that middle word there in the amplified translation. Counsel That they are competent to counsel one another. In his commentary on this statement of Paul William Hendrickson, the commentator says the following. Listen to this.

He says, today the word counseling is heard again and again, ever so many books and articles have been written about it. The apostle here reveals that there was mutual counseling already in his day. And it was of a high character. By and large, the members of the Roman Church were competent to admonish one another.

And in our passage today, the apostle Paul seeks to encourage his readers. To that very end. And that's how we'll break down our study of our text today. We'll observe 6 actions of the apostle Paul toward the Roman Christians to encourage them in this ministry of counseling, encouraging them to minister the counsel of Christ to one another.

And just to alert you, the 1st 3 of these 6 actions precede our text for today and then the final 3 actions of Paul. We find in verses 13 and 14. So maybe you're here today and you would like to be involved in counseling others, but you feel intimidated in doing so. You aren't classically trained in counseling like others are, so you think you just don't have much to offer.

If anyone ever comes to you with any problem, you're sending them to someone else. Maybe you do counsel others, but you want to become even better in this ministry and you wonder what you should do to become better as a counselor and to grow in this ministry. Maybe you doubt whether you should be counseling anyone at all. Because you think you're too broken to be of much good to Other people.

Maybe you're a brand new Christian and you think you don't have much to offer to anyone in the way of counsel. If you think in any of these ways, I think you'll be encouraged by the 6 actions of Paul designed to encourage us in this ministry of mutual. Counseling, giving the counsel of Christ to one another. The first thing he does is This, this is his first action.

He evangelizes his readers with the gospel. In order to prepare them for these empowering words he speaks in verses 13 and 14, Paul, first of all, thoroughly evangelizes them with the gospel. Notice that Paul does not just open up his letter and speak the words of verses 13 and 14 of Romans chapter 15. He speaks these rallying words.

To his readers only after he has thoroughly evangelized them. With the gospel over the length of many chapters. In Romans chapter 1 verse 15, Paul says to his readers, I am eager, literally in the Greek text, I'm eager to evangelize you who are at Rome. And then he immediately sets about to evangelizing them.

Giving them the fullest and most detailed portrayal of gospel truth that we find anywhere else in the New Testament. This is what Romans chapter 1 through 11 is all about. In Romans chapter 1 verse, or in Romans chapter 1 all the way through chapter 3, verse 20, Paul lays out the sin problem of mankind and shows how all of us have sinned and become alienated from the living God. And then beginning in Romans chapter 3, verse 21, Paul talks about how God declares sinners to be righteous in his eyes, through faith.

In Christ Jesus. We don't deserve this, but God gives it to us through faith in Christ Jesus. Paul talks about why this justification of sinners is necessary. He talks about how it happens and he also lays out the practical benefits of this.

Declaration of righteousness in Romans chapter 5, and one of those benefits is a thing we can call hope. Which is why Paul says at the end of Romans 5:2, we who are the recipients of this salvation are continuously exulting in hope. And even trials have the effect of increasing our hope rather than diminishing our hope, he explains in Romans 5:3 and 4. And this hope that gets nurtured within us and grows stronger day by day.

In verse 5, he says, this hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who was given to us. Paul goes on from there to talk about our sanctification or our growth in holiness in Romans chapters 6 through 8, telling us just in Romans 6 alone, we're freed from sin. Romans 6:7, freed from sin, Romans 6:18, freed from sin in Romans 6:22. Those of us who have believed in Jesus, we don't have to commit sins anymore.

The sins we used to be in bondage to because sins chains have been broken. By Christ. And his cross, but the law could not accomplish, God did accomplish in us through His Son. There is, therefore now no longer any condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus.

We have been made sons and daughters of God. The Spirit of God now indwells us and we are destined for glory with God forever. And that sums up Romans 6 through 8. This all gives us great reason for hope and this is why in Romans chapter 8, verse 20 through 25, we see an explosion of hope.

We see the word hope in verse 20. Of Romans 8. Then we see hope, hope, hope, hope in verse 24, and then we see hope again in verse 25. In Romans 9 through 11, Paul explains how it is that God can give salvation to Gentiles like us in this room, yet at the same time remain true to his great promises to the nation of Israel.

Whom he will save in the end. Paul throughout the book of Romans up to this point in chapters 1 through 11, is acting as a counselor. To the Romans, talking gospel sense into their minds. Reminding them of things that are true about them and then telling them in Romans 6 to reckon these things to be true and to live accordingly.

He's pouring literally gospel goodness into his readers, believing that it should give them hope and transform the way that they live their lives and go about relating to each other. This actually leads us to the second action of the apostle Paul as he seeks to encourage the Roman Christians to minister the council of Christ to one another. Number 2, he calls them to live out the gospel. In community with one another.

He calls them upon them to live out the gospel in community with one another. This is what he seeks to accomplish in Romans 12, telling his readers how to unleash the gospel in their lives and how to do community with each other. He urges them by the mercies of God, by the gospel that he has been presenting to them. To present themselves to God as a single community sacrifice to God.

He calls upon them. In Romans 12:2 to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. Which is the Greek word noose, and you want to remember that. By the renewing of their minds.

He calls them to that in Romans 12:2, and then he tells them how to do that beginning in verse 3. In the Greek text of verse 3, we see the word think, think, think, and thinking. Just in that one verse, as Paul teaches his readers how to think about themselves in connection with God and with one another. Paul tells them to think consistently with the fact that God has measured out the full package of His grace and apportioned to each person only a measure of that full package, leaving each person in the church with spiritual gifts and with deficits.

Intentionally So that both our deficits and our gifts. would cause us to come together. As a community and minister 1 to 1 another and experience the full package of God's grace in community with each other. Throughout the rest of Romans 12, Paul calls upon us to love one another and to serve one another, to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice, and in the middle of it all, he calls upon us to be rejoicing in hope.

Hope for ourselves and hope for our brothers and sisters in Christ and hope for the lost that we give the gospel to. This is what Paul calls his readers and us to But Paul is also a realist. He knows that if people are going to try to do community with one another, there will be threats. That arise.

That jeopardize that community. Some of those threats will come from without and some will come from within. In the case of the Roman Christians, they were predominantly a Gentile church, but there were some Jewish Christians among them, and this created challenges. The Jews tended to recognize and honor certain religious holy days and religious festivals.

That meant a lot to them. And the Gentiles did no such thing. The Jews also tended to abide by certain dietary laws. That regulated their lives and the Gentiles probably looked at all of that and thought it was a bunch of legalistic nonsense.

This was causing people on both sides of these issues in the Roman Church to become frustrated with one another and to view each other with contempt. And these divisions were threatening to unravel the unity. that God had saved them to experience with each other. So basically, Paul spends chapters 14 and 15, and even parts of chapter 13, teaching the Romans how to handle such issues.

And he seeks to resolve the crisis of conflict that was occurring in their relationships, and this leads us to the third action of Paul toward the Roman Christians to encourage them. And their ministry of mutual counseling. To one another. Number 3, he calls upon them to love one another despite their differences.

In Romans 13:8, Paul tells his readers to owe nothing to anyone except to love one another. This is the debt that we owe to each other. And then in chapter 14, he tells his readers how to do that toward those who differ from them in significant ways. In Romans 14:1, he tells the strong to accept the weak who is weak in faith.

To those who disagree with one another on disputable matters, he asked questions like, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you regard your brother with contempt? In Romans 14:10. In Romans chapter 14 verse 14, Paul says, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this, not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way.

In Romans 14:15, Paul warns his readers saying, for if because of food your brother is hurt, you're no longer walking according to love, do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. Notice the gospel truth there. Christ died for your brother, and that should affect the way you view and treat this brother. Instead, Paul says in verse 19, pursue the things which make for peace.

And the building up of one another. Paul hears reasoning from gospel truth and giving very practical relational counsel to these Christians who were in conflict over some of these disputable matters. Ultimately, in Romans 15:7, Paul says to them, accept one another just as Christ accepted us to the glory of God. Notice the gospel truth there.

Christ has accepted us, so we should do the same and accept one another. Though we may be different in various ways, and though we may disagree on disputable matters. Paul wants the church at Rome to be a place where Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians accept one another, where the strong accept the weak and the weak don't resent the strong. Christ did not die to be the savior of Jews only but also the Gentiles.

And if Christ saves and accepts both Jews and Gentiles, then he must also have provided a way. For them to love one another and to live together in harmony in his kingdom. In his church, despite some of these differences. The amazing thing is Paul is not a trained psychotherapist.

He's just a man who's been saved by Jesus and called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ. And here he is talking gospel sense into the minds of these Roman Christians. He unfolds the gospel for them and tells them how to live consistently with the gospel. He calls them into community with one another and he gets into the thick of some issues that were causing conflict between them.

And he reasons from gospel truth and gives them solid counsel on how to resolve those conflicts and to be at peace. And do community with one another. And he doesn't just speak to them merely as an apostle. He speaks to them as a brother, which is why he begins in Romans chapter 12 verse 1, by saying, I urge you, therefore, brethren, Paul speaks as a brother to brothers.

And he speaks this way, not simply because he truly saw himself as being their brother, but also because I think he's trying to set an example for how he wants his readers to be talking to each other. Once they're done reading this letter. Which is precisely why Paul says what he says in our passage. For this morning, Paul has been talking gospel since into their heads throughout the letter, and now he wants to hand ministry over to them.

He wants to encourage them with the thought that they can do the same thing for each other that he has just been doing for them. And that's what he does in verses 13 and 14. verses in which he speaks some amazing empowering words to his readers. And this leads us to the next action of Paul as he encourages.

His readers and all of us to minister the counsel of Christ to one another. And this brings us into our passage for today. Number 4, he expresses his prayer that God would cause them to abound. And hope He expresses his prayer that God would cause them to abound in hope.

Is not hope absolutely essential in ministry to other people? Imagine no hope for yourself or for the person you're trying to minister to. Imagine saying to someone, what, honestly, I have absolutely no hope for you. I've lost all hope for you.

You are totally a hopeless case, but I have some truth to share with you anyway. How would you even process what they're saying to you in the absence of hope? The absence of hope is suicide. It leads to suicide.

The absence of hope is hell. And Paul here is expressing his prayer that God would cause them to flourish in hope. Look what he says in verse 13. Now may the God of hope fill you.

This is a benediction of sorts. It's basically a prayer in which Paul is expressing his heartfelt wish that God would literally fill his readers. He calls God the God of hope because God is the fountain of all legitimate hope. God is the one who's given us salvation through His Son, and this salvation gives us hope, hope for ourselves and for others, hope for life and eternity.

And Paul's wish here is that the God of hope will fill the Roman Christians, and the word translated fill means to fill to the brim, to the point where there is no empty space left inside of us. And Paul states what he wants God to fill his readers with. He says, now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace. Not just joy, but all joy, meaning all kinds of joy.

Or all possible joy. Think about all the sources and causes for joy that belong to us in Jesus. Our sins are forgiven, we're declared righteous before a holy God. We're sons and daughters of God, we're destined for eternal glory.

It is because of this future glory that awaits us that we can always be rejoicing in hope, as Paul calls us to do in Romans 12:12. Though we experience trials, we can know that God causes all things to work together for good. To those who love him. On and on the list can go, we have great cause for joy, and Paul wants his readers and us to be filled to the brim with all kinds of joy, and he says peace.

Peace speaks of the experience of wholeness. A sense of well-being, an experience of inward flourishing that comes from being at peace with God. We once were enemies at war with God. I have no doubt that there are some in this room that right now are an enemy of God.

You're at war against God. But those of us who believed in Christ have been brought to a place of being at peace with God. And when we're at peace with God, we have joy and peace from God that he fills our hearts with. But how does this filling happen?

Notice Paul's language here, verse 13. Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. This joy and peace comes to us and fills us as we believe in Christ and believe the truth of the gospel. In fact, I think we can rightly say that all of us Pretty much experience fullness of joy and peace from God precisely to the degree that we actually believe the gospel.

If you're here today and you want God to fill you with joy and peace, you can experience that right now at this moment by looking to Jesus and believing in Him. Stop looking to other things to bring you joy and peace. And look to Jesus and find this joy and peace in Him. Repent of your sins and call upon Christ as your Lord and as your savior, and you will discover that he can fill you with joy and peace in a way that this world never could.

Some of you who are my age. Remember Boris Becker? He was a smashing success in professional tennis a number of years ago. He once had it all, yet he made wreckage of his life in pursuit of peace.

Looking back, he said, I had won Wimbledon twice, once as the youngest player. I was rich. I had all the material possessions I needed, but I had no inner peace. The beautiful Sophia Loren of Hollywood fame once said in an interview that even though she had attained to everything in life that she had ever desired, She made a sad discovery.

She said, in my life, there is an emptiness that is impossible. To fulfill Notice that emptiness. Impossible to fulfill. But in our passage today, Paul tells us that God Himself fills us with all joy and peace when we believe in Christ.

And continue believing in him. And this is Paul's heartfelt desire for the Roman Christians expressed in verse 13. And here's, here's what I want us to notice. Paul doesn't just stop there.

Paul doesn't want God to fill us with joy and peace as an end in itself, but as a means to a greater end. Observe what he says in verse 13. He says, now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. That word abound means to be over and above the brim.

Or to overflow. So evidently this is why God fills us with joy and peace so that hope would come overflowing out of us and give shape to our words and to our actions. Hope for ourselves and hope for others. God's will for us as His people is that we are abounding.

And hope that is flowing out of us. I cannot contemplate. This truth without thinking of my wife, Donna, to whom I've been married for almost 32 years. Hope has been her theme in recent weeks.

She's been writing out a growing list of Bible verses about hope on 3 by 5 cards and she's putting them on a ring that holds them all together, so she can carry them around. I woke up one morning and the first words I heard was her saying, hey, I got some hope for you. And she began reading through those 3 by 5 cards. A few days prior to that morning, I was going off to work and when I got to the front door, she stopped me and she said, wait a minute, I need to give you some hope before you leave.

And she pulled out those cards and read some of them. To me She's reading them often. She'll read them to me in the car and in other settings. Last Sunday, we were singing in church.

And we were singing the song Jesus Messiah, and when we got to the line that says, all our hope is in you, she grabbed me and said, there's hope. Just about every Sunday morning lately, she's been having me join her and listening to the Phil Wickham song, Living Hope that we sang this morning. Which has become her favorite. My wife sees hope everywhere and she's dazzled by the hope that, that we have in Christ.

I've literally watched God over the years fill her with his joy and, and with his peace. And the harvest that is coming from that is that my wife is overflowing with hope, and that hope abounds to me. And don't think for a minute that I deserve any of that. I've hurt my wife over the years.

I've given her many good reasons to lose hope in me and to lose hope in our marriage. My wife herself knows what it's like to feel the depths of deep despair. Yet she believes in a savior who is bigger than our despair. She believes in a savior who is bigger than her failures and bigger than my failures.

And he is the source of her hope. He fills her as she is believing the truth of the gospel and she overflows with this thing called hope and I get to experience the splash effect. Of that hope every day. This is what Paul is wanting the Roman Christians to experience from each other, which is why he speaks this way in verse 13, as we overflow in hope toward one another.

The apostle Paul wants the Roman Church to be filled with people who are filled with God's joy and peace and who are overflowing in hope. Hope might be in short supply in other places, but Paul wants it to be in rich supply in the church as it overflows from one person to another and then beyond. The most broken and the most messed up people can come into the church and know that there is hope for even them. We have great reason to overflow with hope because of who our God is.

And what he has done for us in Christ and because of the power of the gospel message by which we are continuously being saved. Amen. Not coincidentally As we come into verse 14, we actually get to see Paul himself overflowing and abounding in hope toward his readers as he expresses great confidence regarding them. And this brings us to the 5th action of Paul as he seeks to encourage them to minister the counsel of Christ to one another.

Number 5, he expresses confidence that they are full of goodness and knowledge. Observe what he says in verse 14. He says, and concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness. Keep in mind why.

This statement of affirmation would be important at this point of the letter coming from Paul. Paul has already been ministering correction to them regarding conflict issues that they've been embroiled in. Paul knows he's spoken frankly with them at some points of the letter, which is why in the very next verse, he acknowledges that he has written very boldly to them on some points. They needed that bold, blunt talk.

They needed the honest criticism that Paul has delivered to them at certain points. Yet, evidently from verse 14, we see that when Paul looked at them and saw their flaws, he was able to do that. Without losing sight of the goodness of God that was also in them. He sees their flaws, yet here he says to them, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness.

Clearly the weaknesses and the blemishes that he has seen in them and talked about, has not diminished his high regard for them. And he wants them to know this and imagine how How they would have felt hearing these words from a man who has just critiqued and spoken boldly and bluntly to them. But I ask you this morning, are you able to do what Paul does? Here in verse 14.

Are you able to see the flaws in a brother or sister in Christ? Or perhaps the flaws in your spouse, yet at the same time see the goodness of God in them. And tell them so. Paul was able to do this, and he does it here in this verse.

The word translated goodness speaks of that which is helpful. Beneficial, of practical good. Paul is saying to his readers, I'm convinced that you're full of substantive goodness that is of immense practical value to other people. I see this in you, he's saying.

And observe what else he says in verse 14. He says, and concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge. And I agree with James Edwards and others. who say that the knowledge being spoken of here is knowledge of the gospel.

How can Paul be so convinced? That his readers are filled with all knowledge of the gospel. The answer is actually very simple. It's because he's just filled their heads and hearts with gospel knowledge throughout the length of this letter.

That's what he's been doing. So don't think that Paul's statement here applies automatically to every believer or that you can skip Romans 1 through 15 and claim this statement as being true for you. What Paul says here to the Roman Christians, he can say only because he has been used of God to fill his readers with gospel goodness and gospel knowledge throughout the length of this letter. And now we know why he waited till this point.

To speak these words to them. What Paul says here about the Roman Christians is true for every believer in Christ who's read and internalized the contents of the book of Romans. And this goodness and knowledge makes them powerful agents of ministry to others. And this leads us to the final action of Paul as he seeks to encourage the Roman Christians to minister the counsel of Christ to one another.

Let's put it this way, he expresses confidence regarding their ability to admonish. One another Observe what he says in verse 14. Concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness. Filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish.

One another. The Greek word that is translated able is the Greek word from which we get our English word dynamic. We describe someone as dynamic if they exude a certain energy and power. And here Paul is telling the Roman Christians that he sees them as dynamic persons.

Who possess power to do something and that is admonish one another. The Greek word that is translated admonish is actually a, a good word, even though our word, our English word admonish sounds negative, right? If I saw you doing something wrong this morning and came up to you and said, shame on you, you evildoer. You would probably say Pastor Milton admonished me.

To describe what I did, but the Greek word translated admonish is a richer word than Our English word admonish can capture. The Greek word translated admonish has the word mind in it. In fact, it has the word put and the word mind in it. So it literally means to make someone mindful of something or to put sense into someone.

So Paul here is telling his readers that he is convinced that they have the power to talk sense into each other, making each other mindful of things that they should be mindful of. So that's a positive thing, right? Having said that, when we look at the various context in which this word is used in the New Testament, It almost always implies a problem in the life of the person who is being admonished. The person being admonished has some defect or deficiency, some problem or deficiency exists in their thinking or in their behavior, and the admonisher is seeking to address that problem by influencing the noose or the mind.

So admonishing someone in this sense of the term might simply be a word of encouragement. To someone to help them overcome their discouragement, or it may involve teaching them truth to address their ignorance, or it may involve reminding someone of truths that they have forgotten. Or it may involve rebuke. And calling them back.

Onto the right path, but it always involves speaking truth. To a person with the intention of talking gospel sense into them. With the greater goal of encouraging positive change in their life, does that make sense? And notice Paul says that we are to be admonishing one another and that expression one another indicates that this is a ministry that is both given and received.

We all need to be engaged in talking gospel sense into the minds of others, and we all need people in our lives who are talking gospel sense into us. All in all, in this verse, Paul is unleashing his readers to minister. The council of Christ to each other. To speak to one another the way that he himself has spoken to them throughout the length of this letter.

And guys, such a declaration honors and elevates literally the status of all of Paul's readers and of every Christian of every age, not just the clergy who have been seminary trained. As James Edwards says about this passage, he says this declaration by Paul is quite literally a testimony to the priesthood of all believers and to the goodness and knowledge on which that priesthood depends. So if you're here this morning and you are a Christian, I say to you, welcome to the priesthood.

If you're a member of Cornerstone, Welcome to our counseling staff.

I love what Ed Welch says. On this score, Ed Welch is a trained professional counselor, but he firmly believes that all Christians in every church Should be effective counselors who are ministering the counsel of Christ to one another. In the New Testament era, he says this, no longer do people need a special anointing to offer a prophetic word of direction and wisdom. Now we are part of the new covenant in which the Spirit has been given to all who have put their faith in Jesus.

You've all received this anointing. That empowers you to Admonish and counsel one another. Even though you may not feel adequate, in fact, you're not supposed to feel adequate in and of yourself for this. But Ed Welch goes on to say this, God is pleased to have the church mature to the ministry of weak people who seem unqualified in the world's eyes.

Most likely this is already happening in your church. People share their struggles with each other, people pray with each other. This is certainly happening with the women in the church. Sometimes it is happening with the men.

We want it to happen more with growing love and wisdom. Amen. By the way, you wanna know how Ed Welch defines counseling? Get your pens out and be ready to write this down because it's really complicated and I'm not sure you guys are up to this.

He defines counseling. As wise and helpful conversations. That is counseling, he says. And then he says, we all need this and need.

To give it. Can you engage in wise and helpful conversations with other people? If you are saved by Jesus Christ, and you understand the gospel, I believe you can and you should. And so many of you do.

So let me give you some encouragements as we wrap up this morning. First of all, realize that the local church and God's plan is the richest place where a person can experience these wise and helpful conversations. Where we can experience the blessings of both giving and receiving the counsel of Christ to one another in practical ways. So be involved in a local church.

If the Lord leads you to be a part of Cornerstone. Join with us And the journey that we're on from brokenness to wholeness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We're just, as Mario said earlier in our service, we're, we're just a bunch of broken people. And we have truth, we have this precious Savior and gospel to speak into you, but we also need you to speak into us.

Also, I would encourage you to become a meaningful part of a care group here at Cornerstone. And if you are a part of a care group, value the opportunities that abound in your care group. On a daily basis. In our care groups, there are amazing opportunities to pray together.

With one another, to bear one another's burdens, to share and to hear insights as we process the word of God together. Care groups are an amazing venue to build relationships and to minister the counsel of Christ to one another, and so many of you in so many care groups of this church already do this so wonderfully. Beyond care groups, I would encourage you to get involved in Other ministries of our church that brings you together with other people. Where relationships can be built.

And where You can Share your experience of the gospel and speak truth to others, and they can speak truth into you. Opportunities for this every week abound. Whatever you do, I do want to caution you, do not walk away from this message this morning and say, I guess according to this passage, I am full of all goodness. Mm.

And filled with all knowledge, and therefore, all I gotta do is just say whatever comes to mind. And I know I'm always gonna say the right thing. To anyone that I'm counseling. Actually, that's not the case at all.

We can very easily give wrong counsel. We can very easily give dangerous counsel even with the best of intentions if we're not careful. Read your Bible. Be a student of the scriptures if you want to become more and more filled with this gospel goodness and knowledge.

Be a student in particular of the book of Romans. The book of Romans is the most extensive and helpful counseling manual that you'll find anywhere in any single book. That's ever been written, but beyond Romans, study the rest of scripture as well. Memorize passages from the Bible so that you can have those passages ready in your own heart, for your own good and to share with others as you minister the counsel of Christ to them.

At the same time though, please know that effectively ministering the counsel of Christ to others includes more than just throwing Bible verses at each other. It involves genuine conversation. It involves being quick to hear and slow to speak. It involves rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep.

You may not even know the right words to say to a brother or sister who is weeping. But you are never more eloquent than when you just weep. With those who weep And pray with them But make no mistake, counseling does involve speaking. And when you do speak, you should speak the truth in love.

And the truth you speak should be fundamentally centered on and drawn from the gospel of Jesus Christ in the context of a caring relationship. One final word of encouragement. If you're a brand new Christian, You may think you have nothing to offer to Other more mature believers in Christ, but that's so not true. Sometimes those of us that are older in the faith can grow stale and we can lose sight of truths.

that you are especially keen on right now. We need to hear what the gospel looks like through your eyes. And we need to hear God's word from your lips as much as you need to hear it from ours. So open your mouth and testify and speak to us of what God is showing you.

Talk gospel sense into us. When we need it So think about the commodities that we've encountered just this morning that should abound in the family of God. Ears that are quick to hear, mouths that speak the truth and love, hearts that are filled with joy and peace and overflowing and hope, a loving community of caring relationships, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sounds to me Like that is exactly what our world needs more of today.

And you and I need it too. Amen. So may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing. So that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Concerning you, my brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced that you yourselves are full of Goodness filled with all knowledge. And able to counsel one another. Let's pray and ask God to help us to do that. Lord, I do pray that if there's any here this morning that have not, Put their trust in you and believed.

That you would Touch their heart and bring life to their heart, Lord, and draw them to Yourself and your grace. Saved them even this morning. We thank you, Lord, for the opportunity that we have to encounter your word, the living word this morning, and, and to have these, these crazy empowering words spoken into us. The church is not a place where pastors and elders do the work of ministry and everyone just sits around and Waits for ministry to get done.

No, our job as leaders is to equip your people to do the work of ministry. And it's your people that are mobilized to be engaging in ministry in thousands of ways throughout the week. Even just the people represented in this room, I'm just amazed that All that these brothers and sisters do. As they pray together with one another and encourage one another and speak truth to one another and talk gospel sense into each other and as they share Christ with the lost, Between now and next Sunday, there will be multiplied thousands of such moments and such acts as this great congregation that we have here at Cornerstone is being used by you in this way.

And my prayer is that just this passage we have looked at this morning would just be a great encouragement to them. That would so encourage them that they just, they can't wait. Lord, for this service to end so they can get about the business of doing this. And being used by you.

Thank you for all the ways that the people of this church model the very ethic, the very dynamic of what we see in our passage today that even helps me as I study this passage to know what this looks like because I see it with my own eyes. Amongst the people here. You're a good God, and we just thank you. Lord, for your goodness.

Thank you for the opportunity to give of our offerings to you, Lord, to support the work of Christ here in Riverside. And around the world. Providing funding for missionaries like Steve and Jenny McCullough. Lord, we ask that you would bless and prosper their ministry.

Prosper all of our ministries, Lord, as we seek to testify of Christ and represent you in all that we do. And bless this offering as we give it to you this morning. At the same time we give ourselves to you in full surrender. In the name of Jesus, and all God's people said,