Association of Biblical Counselors Annual Conference
written by Nancy GalassiThe 2011 ABC Conference titled the “The Groaning Cosmos: Sin, Suffering, and the Gospel” was held May 5-7 at The Village Church in Flower Mound. Within the larger group of 600 people, there were a dozen or so CCBC folk – lay counselors, ministers, and staff participating in all or part of the Thursday evening to Saturday noon events. As I visited and lunched with some from our CCBC family and looked over the crowd, God brought to mind “beautiful feet” stepping out of the convenient place to be further prepared and focused, for a few days, on direction God would teach and encourage us to apply as we return to share God and His Story with those we meet through Soul Care and in the walk of our daily lives. Speakers for this conference included Paul Tripp, Tullian Tchvidjian, Elyse Fitzpatrick, Jeremy Lelek, and Matt Chandler. All the speakers were motivational and helpful in processing specific sins in our lives -- things like anger, sexual idolatry, worry, and rebellion. They also helped understand the Gospel in the context of the phrase “the groaning cosmos,” Paul Tripp set before us the ongoing challenge to connect the transforming power of Jesus Christ to people every hour every day. That statement and the phrase “the groaning cosmos” set the tone of the conference for me. Here are a few take-aways I gleaned from the specific speakers. Through a series of personal stories and in the light of scripture, Paul Tripp unpacked, “a danger we carry within ourselves and that we give ourselves to more, than we know.” This is a faulty system of how we see our own sin. He challenged us to think, Do you think you sin much? If so, how is our definition of sin affecting grace? Is our definition of sin the same as God’s definition, or do you redefine it to abstract rules for us to keep or break? We were challenged with the reality of assigning ourselves more ability to deal with sin that we have the ability to keep the right rules! “Your system” says Paul, “needs no grace. It doesn’t need Jesus!” He chided that much of this redefining of sin has gone on in biblical counseling signifying that the transition is not resting in the redemption of the Redeemer, it does not result in God’s glory, and it devalues grace. We looked at Genesis 6 and Romans 3 where the people’s fear of God is missing. Tripp said that sin is all vertical and we must beware of making it horizontal. In this I heard that all sin is against God, and also that there is nothing merely horizontal about sin; that is, sin always affects our relationship with God. He said, “It’s not about breaking rules but our relationship with God.” And so we’re back to the groaning cosmos theme, we hear creation screaming His glory. It is not ours. It is the celebration of Another, not us! Continuing the theme of our faulty system of grace, Tullian Tchvidjian spoke on the distinction between God’s Law and the Gospel based on Romans 7-8. He suggested that we need to tell people more about what Jesus has done and less about what they need to do. “There is a better way to get better than by focusing on your need to get better.” Here we were challenged to see that the law merely tells us what is required. The Law, he says, “makes us run and hide, but because Jesus covered our sin we don’t have to.” The Gospel bids me fly and gives me wings, and it makes us thankful when we fail to meet the Law. The Gospel makes me want to obey Him more, not less.” When we know He has done it all, we can find the strength to want to change. Truly, it is the kindness of the Lord that leads to repentance, and that kindness is based on Christ’s obedience, not our own. Relationship with Jesus Christ is freedom in the groaning cosmos. The conference also gave insight into how the gospel applies, to specific struggles people face in the groaning cosmos that people face. Elyse Fitzpatrick helped us to see that worry that keeps us awake in the middle of the night could be current God replacements. I was convicted that this all comes down to the question, “Am I trusting, believing He is willing and able to provide everything I could possibly need? Or am I choosing to live like an orphan, and perhaps a selfish one at that?” Fitzpatrick revealed that the real problem is building our kingdom and seeking our righteousness; and provided the contrast: God’s higher calling to seek Him, and the good of others, to help neighbors and those in need. When we do seek God’s kingdom above our own, the result is peace. This happens each time we surrender and trust the Savior with a personal issue or we give over a “worry” mindset. The challenge is to continually look to Jesus who died for all our sin - past, present and future, and to trust that He fulfills all righteousness and silences the Law’s voice, the voice that keeps us worrying. All you and I will ever need He willingly and ably provided, and each time we recognize Him as our All, the everything else of life takes its rightful place. Jesus is peace within the groaning cosmos. Jeremy Lelek, talking as a counselor, addressed another specific issue, sexual idolatry within the groaning cosmos. Referencing Romans 1:18-25, he said sexual idolatry begins with the failure to live to honor and glorify God by developing a pattern in one’s sexual life that isn’t rooted in God’s glory. It is a failure to live in humility before God, and change must begin with fear of the Lord, Psalm 14:1. He posed these questions, “Is love for God the driving force of your sex life? Is it for His honor? Are you living as a functional atheist, as though God does not exist? What is your idol?” When self becomes the final reference point, all other issues revolve around self, not God. The human will follows what it wants at any given moment. This is not about an emotional need, but rather about following a desire that results in seeking safety, control, security, value, worth, pleasure, escape. It’s about whatever one counts on to validate one’s identity as a human being. All of these are a result of desires ruling the heart and then impacting behavior. As with all sin, the only answer is the finished work of Christ plus nothing. Jeremy shared a quote by John Calvin, here a paraphrase, for us to remember as we counsel self and others: Change does not take place in a moment of repentance but in a race of repentance. In becoming not being all is being purified. Jesus is to be honored above all in the groaning cosmos. Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church, focused on Romans 5 reminding us how trapped we were before Christ rescued us, and the reality of Christ as central in our reconciliation. It is His life, death, resurrection and ascension -- His lavish love, allowing us to be seen by God as blameless, spotless, and justified through faith in His Son. We can boast in nothing but Him and are “without swagger of any sort” says Matt. Also we can rejoice in trials and suffering and celebrate any circumstance knowing we can find more of Jesus, as we cling to Him. Matt contrasted satan’s condemnation of failures in walking with God, with our loving God who encourages as He sees us taking a step, then another step, then falling, but says, “He’s walking!” Next, the Genesis account of sin entering and death with it was contrasted to the cultural view that says the problem is primarily environment. We looked at how Genesis takes the problem out of the realm of morality (environment) and focuses on man’s imputed sinfulness, also Romans 5:12-13. In God’s cosmos, death is not ours by choice but we are under the curse of sin. We are still guilty, still dying. “Universal death is not earned, but due to who we are,” says Matt. And here we’re seeing again the need for heart change, not focusing merely on behavioral change or helping someone avoid visible sins. He closed this session emphasizing Jesus as the living fountain of joy when we understand how broken we really are. Offering people anything less is robbing them of God’s much more. In conclusion, as Matt Chandler said, Christ is the Savior of this groaning cosmos. Whether one struggles with anxiety, anger, sexual immorality, the answer is not just try harder thinking that is what Christians are supposed to do. The only answer is found in Christ and his righteousness, and the power we have to overcome sin through the Spirit. |
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