Questions about Counselors

We received the following important question: 

Do you think it is a sin to see a counselor? If I need help to find ways to deal with my stress and I think a counselor would help is that wrong?

RESPONSE:

Prov. 11:14 - Where there is no counsel, the people fall;
But in the multitude of counselors there is safety. 

There is no doubt that it is not a sin to seek a counselor. Quite to the opposite you should see as many counselors as you can! The question that you want to be asking is what kind of counselor should you be seeking. Start with the people closest to you who know you and are of a Godly character…friends, parents, other Christian family members. Next, seek the godly leaders of your church who can pray with you and give you godly biblical wisdom. If you are at a point where you think you need professional help you should seek a counselor who is a believer in Jesus Christ. There can be medical and even biological features to stress and anxiety that may need attention…but you want to receive that kind of attention from someone who also understands what it means to be spiritually alive in Christ. Materialist and atheist counselors, who operate from an evolutionary mindset may jump to using drugs or ungodly suggestions to help cope with your stress. Seek a counselor by all means…but be quite certain that counselor is a believer with a right view of the fundamentals of the faith.

On a personal note I would add that stress is the challenge through which the Lord is taking you. It is never promised that the Lord will remove our trials…only that we must rely upon him through those trials. Paul had some unknown medical issue that plagued him throughout his ministry…he prayed that God would take that away, but God refused and 2 Corinthians 12:9 tells us:

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

What are the differences between churches and denominations?

We received this question regarding what differentiates the various different local churches, and larger denominational associations, and how we should choose a church in light of that reality. 

In the Bible, the church is addressed in two ways: the universal church, and the local church. The Universal Church is called the Body of Christ (Romans 12:5) and The Bride of Christ (John 14, Ephesians 5:23—33), and consists of every believer in Jesus Christ from Pentecost to the Rapture. Believers are meant to gather in Local Churches (such as we see in Revelation 2-3). These local gatherings of believers are a large part of the plan of God, but will often contain both believers and unbelievers…and each body is meant to be growing towards the unity of the faith (Ephesians 4:13). Some churches and bodies have chosen to identify themselves by certain beliefs, practices, and traditions and then give that group a label, or some kind of organizational affiliation. 1 Corinthians 3 makes it very clear that we were never meant to follow men, but seek Him in word alone. This practice of denominationalism is certainly not what the Lord has in mind for His Church. Churches that identify with a certain denomination or movement will often ask, not what the Bible has to say, but: “What does my denomination say about this issue?” Which we want to avoid at any cost. Rather than learn every detail you can about every church, denomination, and tradition I advise you to find a church that is seeking to clearly teach and understand the Bible. When you know the word of God the traditions and ideas of men will become apparent in where they stand in contrast to the Truth.

A final note on this issue: Just because a church claims to be a “Bible Church” or “Non-denominational” does not mean that it is immune to all of the same temptations and pitfalls of a denominational church. Having spent much time in Bible Churches I can say with some authority that Bible Churches are often the most dogmatic in their extra-biblical traditions, practices, and doctrinal errors. The old saying goes that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. For the purposes of this topic, that means that we do well as individuals and as local fellowships to seek after the Word of God and constantly allow the Spirit of God to challenge our shortcomings of faith and practice that we all may come to a mature and full expression of the life and character of Christ.

What Would Have Been...

²¹ “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Matthew 11:21

In Matthew 11 Jesus is rebuking the Nation of Israel for not recognizing that He, the Messiah, had come unto them.  His fulfillment of the promise of God was attested to by His birth, by the timing of his arrival, by His teaching ministry, and by His many miracles…yet they had failed to believe in Him.  This is a powerful reminder that we are held accountable for the clear ways in which God has revealed Himself to us at any time in world history…but this verse has another interesting insight for us.  Jesus explains that if others had seen what the Israelites of His day saw they would have repented.  This tells us that God does not simply “know everything that is” He also knows everything that would be, could be or might have been.  This extends God’s divine knowledge past the actual into any possible contingency that could imagine or even those that could never be imagined.  Thus, when God does something or allows something, we can always be absolutely confident that there is no better thing that He could have done for His own glory, and for the ultimate benefit of those who love Him.