Calvary Road Baptist Church

“CONFRONTATIONAL CHRISTIANITY”

Romans 15.14 

I was working the day watch out of headquarters, Calvary Road Baptist Church, 319 West Olive Avenue, in Monrovia. My name is Waldrip, John Waldrip. I am the pastor. On Tuesday at 9:00, I came in earlier than expected, after finishing off my carton of chocolate milk and a small pack of Dolly Madison chocolate doughnuts. I had a concerned look on my face. I learned about a recent trend sweeping across the city in which young Christians were being drawn into unscriptural counseling situations in which men and women, Christian psychologists and counselors posing as concerned spiritual leaders, were actually demanding pay to perform counseling services that ought to be rendered for free. As I investigated, I discovered great tragedies resulting from unsuspecting Christians paying money to listen to psychologists tell them that they were victims instead of victors, actually handing out hard-earned money to listen to people tell them that all of their problems were, in reality, the fault and responsibility of others instead of being encouraged to assume responsibility themselves wherever possible. Focusing on the situation, the magnitude of the problem became clear to me. And as a pastor and preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I knew something had to be done for those Christians. My job? Counsel them.

I use a little levity (speaking in the voice of Sgt. Joe Friday from the old television series Dragnet) to secure your attention to what really has become a serious issue among Christians. It is a matter of great concern to me when believers are fooled into paying for a service that ought to be rendered for free. It means something is rotten in Denmark. It is a serious matter when an activity such as counseling, which is integrally related to the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, is conducted completely beyond the reach of the pastor who is charged by Christ with equipping Christians.

Can it be that Christ wants someone engaged in such a critical endeavor without the pastors charged with spiritual oversight, even knowing about it, in most cases? I don’t think so. But folks, this is just part of an even larger threat that we are facing which seeks to change the very face of Biblical Christianity. Abandoning pastoral counseling in favor of so-called Christian psychologists is symptomatic of three serious misunderstandings.

First, folks misunderstand the nature of their problems. According to the Word of God, your problems can either be physical or spiritual or some combination of the two. But what has come to be labeled Christian psychology is based on the same humanistic error that secular psychology is based on, that there are emotional problems that people have which are rooted in neither the body or the soul, but the emotions.

Second, folks misunderstand the proper way to address spiritual problems. How are spiritual problems dealt with in God’s Word? How did John the Baptist confront the Pharisees and Sadducees regarding their unbelief? Matthew 3.7: 

“But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” 

How did the Lord Jesus Christ deal with Simon Peter’s touching, but misplaced, concern regarding His upcoming crucifixion? Matthew 16.21-23: 

21  From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

22  Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

23  But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. 

The Apostle Paul, as well, recognized the proper way to deal with spiritual problems. Notice his understanding of the comfort of God in Second Corinthians 1.3-5: 

3  Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

4  Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

5  For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 

Now notice how this same compassionate Christian dealt with Simon Peter’s serious error in judgment in Galatians 2.11-14: 

11  But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.

12  For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.

13  And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.

14  But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? 

What’s the third misunderstanding? Second Peter 1.3: 

“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” 

Could this verse be true if believers have been without the critically needed professional help of so-called Christian psychologists and counselors for almost 2000 years? No.

What in the world do folks who think they must have a psychologist think believers did for all those years before there were such folks? Do they honestly believe God left His people dysfunctional for almost 20 centuries? He did not. He provided the Holy Spirit and the Word of God and used God-called men to train folks how to use the Word of God to address spiritual problems.

I want to commend you. By any yardstick you want to use to evaluate spiritual factors, you folks measure up. You compare favorably with the Churches in Rome that Paul wrote to. You are far more like the Roman Christians than perhaps you’d ever imagined because most of you, like them, have a correct understanding of the proper way to deal with spiritual problems.

You might have thought that the Romans were immature and ignorant Christians. You might have thought that Paul wrote his Roman letter to them, giving them all that doctrine and then aggressively correcting them in certain areas of behavior because he thought little of them. But you’d be mistaken. Paul wrote Romans to the Christians in Rome because he thought much of them. And he confronted important spiritual issues because he realized that they were knowledgeable and that knowledgeable Christians are confrontational Christians.

That is how you are like the Romans. You folks are confrontational Christians, most of you.[1] You attend a Church that seeks to meet spiritual issues and deal with them head-on. And, for the most part, you deal with spiritual problems that you encounter head-on. I submit to you, then, that this makes you very much like the Roman believers and this shows you to be knowledgeable.

In Romans 15.14, we see that knowledgeable Christians are confrontational Christians: 

“And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.” 

Realizing that this verse begins what is actually the conclusion of Paul’s letter to the Romans, there four observations I’d like to point out to you: 

First, THE CONFIDENCE 

“And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren.” 

Two clues indicate just how confident Paul was of what he writes in this verse:

The first clue suggesting Paul’s confidence. Paul is possessive. Remember, Paul has just finished the most thorough doctrinal explanation of God’s plan of salvation ever written. And He followed that with three and one-half chapters of correction and rebuke. But the next thing he writes in his letter is “My brethren.” The apostle loved those people. They were family to him, even if they were family he had never personally met.

The second clue suggesting Paul’s confidence. Paul is persuaded. When Paul wrote, “And I myself also am persuaded of you,” he used an unusually strong assortment and arrangement of words. The reason he did was to convey to the Romans how very impressed he was with them. Although he had never met them personally and had no part in winning them to Christ or organizing their Churches, he had information from unimpeachable sources attesting to the soundness of their faith, the strength of their commitment, and their dedication to doing right. No wonder Paul, confident of their commitment to their unfailing Savior, had such a high appraisal of them. 

Second, THE CONDITION 

“And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness.” 

Let’s examine how a Christian or group of Christians can be full of goodness:

First, to be full of goodness, God must be working in your life. We know this must be the case because Romans 3.12 declares that there is none good, no not one. And did not the Lord Jesus Christ declare that there is none good but God? Sure He did. Turn in your Bible to Second Thessalonians 1.11. Before we read, let me say, only God is good. And people are not good, not even Christians. So, the only way a person can be full of goodness is if God is mightily working in that person’s life. Does this bear out in what we read? 

“Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power.” 

From what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, we realize that God fulfills the good pleasure of His goodness when a Christian demonstrates the power of God in his life as he performs the work of faith. But what is the work of faith? From First Thessalonians chapter 1, we see that the work of faith is the effort expended to bring the lost to Christ. Unless I greatly misread my Bible, Paul is complimenting the Roman Christians for embracing God’s work in their lives to reach the lost with the Gospel. And a large number of you folks are used of God in exactly the same way.

So, to be full of goodness, God must be working in your life. But how does God work in your life so you will be full of goodness? 

Ephesians 5.1:

“Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.” 

Galatians 5.22:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith ....” 

When a sinner comes to Christ, he is given the gift of the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit indwells the believer’s life, He produces evidence of His presence, referred to as fruit by Paul. Part of that fruit of the Spirit of God that shows His indwelling presence and personality changing activity in your life is goodness. But it’s God’s goodness not yours, remember. So, notice how these two things we’ve looked at fit so wonderfully together. Paul was confident about their spiritual condition. That is, they were full of goodness. But a person who is full of goodness is a person who is evangelizing the lost, #1, by being influenced by the Holy Spirit, #2. So, Paul’s appraisal of these people is that they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God because there was produced a goodness in them that could not be attributed to any other cause than the work of the Holy Spirit. And they are exhibiting God’s goodness in their work of faith, reaching lost people with the Gospel. By the way, if you think you know someone who is good, consider what he or she does for Christ. Does she seek to win souls like she used to? Does he visit the lost like he used to? No? That’s not good, that’s bad. 

Third, THE CAUSE 

“And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge.” 

Please understand that Paul is not complimenting the Romans for being omniscient. They didn’t know everything. So, what is Paul saying? Two things:

First, he is saying that they are filled with something. This word “filled” is what’s called a perfect participle. It describes what the Romans are as a result of what happened to them in the past. And what we understand from this phrase is that Paul compliments them about something that had occurred before receiving his letter. He is not praising them for being receptive to his letter to them. He is taking note of something that had occurred previously.

Next, he is saying what it was they were previously filled with. The Romans were “filled with all knowledge.” But what does Paul mean when he says that someone is “filled with all knowledge,” when he obviously does not mean that they knew absolutely everything about absolutely everything? As it is always wise to do, we should let the Bible interpret the Bible, paying close attention to the context. The phrase just before this one refers to the Romans being “full of goodness.” Right? And someone who is “full of goodness” is someone who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, someone whose personality is influenced by the Holy Spirit, someone whose behavior is so influenced by the Holy Spirit that he is actually used of God to do the work of faith, which is evangelism, which is soul winning. Right?

Then, and this is the common view of this phrase and is disputed by no one that I know of when Paul tells the Romans that they are “filled with all knowledge,” he means that they have a broad spectrum understanding of the Gospel and Christian truth. Because they already had a good understanding of Biblical truths, because they had correct beliefs, they had correct behavior. And frequently it’s because people behave correctly they come to understand Biblical truths.

How many of you can give testimony of God illuminating your understanding of Bible truths only at the very moment you need such an understanding to deal with someone about his spiritual problem? And how many of us have come better to appreciate the sinfulness and depravity of man, not so much from Bible study only, but as a direct result of seeking to reach the lost and while doing that seeing sin in all its horror? The Romans had a good working knowledge of the truths related to salvation and its application to daily living. That’s the cause that led to their condition of being useful and being used in God’s service. 

WHICH BRINGS US TO THE FINAL POINT. BEING PERSUADED OF THEIR CONDITION, AND UNDERSTANDING ITS NECESSARY CAUSE, LED PAUL TO HAVE GREAT CONFIDENCE IN THE CAPABILITY OF THE ROMAN CHRISTIANS 

“And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.” 

I want you to take special note of this word “admonish.” This word is one of the most significant indicators of how spiritual problems ought to be addressed; you can hope to find. One scholar writes that this word denotes “the earnest attempt by words spoken or written to correct what is wrong in another, to encourage him to do what is right and to refrain from what is evil.” My definition of this word, which I believe is born out in the Bible by the way the word is used, is “confronting with a view toward correcting.” Paul’s First Corinthian letter is literally 16 chapters of rebuke followed by rebuke, correction followed by correction. It is continually confrontational. But notice how Paul describes what he is doing to them in First Corinthians 4.14: 

“I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.” 

Translated “warn” here, Paul confronted them to correct them. And did they respond? They sure did. In Colossians 1.28, we see that confronting with a view toward correcting was an integral part of the Apostle Paul’s Gospel preaching: 

“Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” 

Here the word is again translated “warn.” In Colossians 3.16, however, we see that Christians who are spiritual “admonish” each other, confront each other to correct each other: 

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” 

And to the spineless jellyfish fathers and mothers who are afraid to stir things up a little at home, for fear of making his little sissy cry at being confronted for her sin, I commend Ephesians 6.4: 

“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” 

Confronting your children to correct them is so much a part of parenting that if you don’t engage in this activity, you’re best described as a curse to your child, not a blessing.

So, admonishing is appropriate for lost people, admonishing is appropriate for and by Christians who are spiritual, admonishing is appropriate for your kids, and admonishing is even the right thing to do when you are dealing with an unspiritual Christian, Titus 3.10: 

“A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject.” 

By the way, “heretic” here refers to someone who is divisive, not just to someone who is out in left field doctrinally.

Thus, admonish is what spiritual Christians do to help spiritual Christians, to help unspiritual Christians, to help unsaved people, and to rear their children properly. Admonish is what spiritual Christians do whenever and to whoever has a spiritual problem that needs to be addressed. This is the Bible’s way of dealing with spiritual issues. Straight ahead. No beating around the bush. Not with meanness, but openly and honestly and forthrightly.

We’ve seen how the word is used in the New Testament. Now, let’s see how Paul applied the word to the Romans. Because the Romans were “full of goodness,” and because they had been “filled with all knowledge,” Paul had great confidence in their capability to “admonish one another.” That is, he knew that the Romans could deal with each other about spiritual issues. And here is where I take great exception to Christian psychologists and professional Christian counselors who seek to deal with people’s problems for money, and who seek to deal with people’s problems in a non-confrontational and non-directive way. If it isn’t confrontational, it isn’t admonishing. And if it isn’t admonishing, it isn’t Biblical. And if it isn’t Biblical, it won’t help anyone.

Look at it another way. According to the verse before us, Christians are supposed to be able to admonish each other. If that be true, then why pay a counselor to help you work through your problems? “But pastor, you and other pastors counsel people.” Not really. We instruct folks, which we are Biblically authorized to do. And we admonish people, which all Christians are admonished to do. That done, the Christian couples can then admonish each other, the parents can then admonish their kids, and believers will become knowledgeable enough to submit to the admonitions of others.

So you might say, the Biblically authorized pastor counsels himself out of a counseling job with faithful Christians. I have no stake in anything but the solution to the problem because my income is not dependent upon a continuing counseling crisis. “But pastor, I know counselors who teach the Word of God to those they counsel.” If that counselor is teaching the Word of God to that Christian, he is usurping my position as the pastor. Even if he is a great teacher, he is engaged in unauthorized activity. So, no matter how you look at it or how you slice it, the Christian psychologist is at odds with the revealed will of God concerning confronting spiritual problems in the believer’s life. 

Do you see, folks, how very similar you are to the Christians who were at Rome? Knowledgeable Christians are confrontational Christians.

You don’t mind confrontational preaching, most of you. That’s part of the reason you attend Calvary Road Baptist Church. I am a confrontational preacher. And most of you are parents who are willing to deal with sin in the life of your child properly, exercising parental authority in a confrontational and direct manner. There are some wimpy Willies who are sissies wearing pants and are afraid of crossing their wives and rocking the boat with your sweet little Suzy or your marvelous Markie in every congregation. But it is rare in this congregation.

When those rarities come to light, I hope it’s in time to salvage that child who’s headed for the spiritual trash heap without opposition from a parent who is simply fearful of being confrontational, or that fragile marriage in which a husband is afraid to be the kind, gentle, tender, loving, but confrontational leader he must be in a Christian marriage.

The great majority of you Church members do quite well on average to show Christian love by confronting one another about faults and sins and shortcomings, speaking the truth in love. I know this because frequently adults and teens ask me for pointed advice on how to deal with this particular kind of sin or that particular area of the Christian life. To be sure, some gripe and complain about our shortcomings, but we do not live in the Millennial Kingdom or heaven yet.

As for unsaved people and heretics? We have people who present the Gospel to folks, who win others to Christ, who confront sin and the lost condition head-on, as well as Church members who deal with divisiveness.

So you see, Paul admonished the Romans so vigorously in chapters 12 through 15, not because of any shortcomings, but because they were so spiritual, so knowledgeable, so committed to Jesus Christ. And, I am delighted to say, so are you. As a pastor and as a Christian man, I feel the freedom to deal in a straightforward manner about sin and other problems with most who are here because I know you folks are not fools. You do not despise correction. You welcome it.

Further, you recognize that the spiritual health of a congregation such as ours is dependent upon each one of us, both you and me, maintaining constant spiritual vigilance and being humble enough to receive admonition from others and to admonish others.

To conclude, I want you to consider something. I invite you to talk to me if you have been a sinful Christian who has thought and acted like you had a better way than God to deal with spiritual problems, perhaps crabbing to others rather than deal directly with the person you need to talk to. Forsake man’s way of dealing with spiritual problems in favor of God’s way. And how many of you parents have done that with your children? How many Christians have done that with others you should have gone to and dealt with? Let’s engage in confrontational Christianity, but first, let’s do a gut check to make sure we are full of goodness and filled with knowledge.

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[1] By confrontational I am not referring to aggressive, rude, or overbearing. I am referring to

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Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church