Even in Christian circles, it’s commonly held that only professionals are competent to counsel. Yet the Apostle Paul obliterates this view in this statement to the local church in Rome: “Now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another” (Rom. 15:14). The good news is this: The Lord Jesus doesn't just save your soul; He changes your life. And He doesn’t need “experts” to do it. He’s more than able to work, with the Holy Spirit’s aid, through everyday Christians who talk to one another, face-to-face, in a local church. 

Sermon: https://churchandfamilylife.com/sermons/6952196ce386b6135c21f915

In Romans 15, 14, the Apostle Paul tells a local church, the church in Rome, that her people are competent to counsel. In other words, they don't need professionals. He says it like this, now I myself am confident concerning you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, also able to admonish one another. So Paul is confident, not just in the pastors, not in the professionals, but in ordinary people in the church in Rome. By the way, this verse was the verse that Jay Adams used to launch the biblical counseling movement back in the 60s and 70s.

The Lord Jesus doesn't just save your soul, he changes your life and that transformation is assisted under the power of the Holy Spirit through the people who talk to one another face to face in a local church. And so Paul is saying to the Romans, you are able to admonish one another. He's saying that this council, this good council requires three things. Goodness, which is a heart that is shaped by the Word and the Spirit, and then knowledge, minds saturated with scripture, and then the courage to speak the truth and love. And God has given his people his word and his spirit so that we might help one another run the race.

We are competent to counsel. Now in the same chapter the Apostle Paul also talks about himself because Paul was called to a wider mission than just local church life. He was called to quote, preach the gospel where Christ was not named. So Paul was a trailblazer, a pioneer, he was breaking new ground for the kingdom of God. And what we find in this passage, as Paul talks about the ministry in the church, some are planters, some are builders, and some are caretakers, but all are ministers.

So the big question is, if you're in a local church and you want to be useful, are you full of goodness? Are you growing in knowledge? Are you following the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you competent to counsel? The church is not a cruise ship, it's a shipyard refitting saints for the work of God and that happens in a highly relational manner where the members are competent to counsel because they have the Spirit of God and that's how God builds His Church in local churches.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Scripture Applied is a production of Church and Family Life. Visit ChurchandFamilyLife.com for more resources.