When it comes to biblical counseling, we at KAINOS believe that it must be biblically-based, Christ-centered, and grace-driven. You can find out in more detail what these concepts mean by reading the respective blogs here on the website.
The ultimate goal of this kind of counseling is to lead people to see particularly how relationship with Jesus is the source of the necessary power for transformation. In other words, while we might just want our struggles to be FIXED, Scripture teaches us that God has a much better plan for us since He desires for us to be renewed and continually revived through the power of the Spirit of Christ.
One of the analogies that Jesus uses to teach us this principle is through his teaching on the Vine and the Branches in John 15. There we find that Jesus works in us in order to bear fruit. This fruit encompasses impact on the lives of others and our bearing the fruit of the Spirit of Jesus, namely, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We do not produce that fruit. No, the Holy Spirit produces that fruit in us through the continual renewal of our hearts. Our job is to abide, seek after, and cling to Jesus. He produces the fruit in our hearts and lives through the work of his Spirit. We are not passive in our abiding. But, we are passive in terms of the production of the fruit.
One of the great pictures that Scripture teaches us is that being in Union with Christ is not unlike being one in marriage. I have been married for 33 years now and I have been greatly changed through that union. My lovely wife and covenant companion has contributed much to my life and understanding through my “abiding” with her all these years. How much more is this true through my being in union with Jesus. Jesus imparts to his “branches” the life-giving “sap” that enables us to be changed more and more to reflect his character.
We are taught in Scripture that this process of transformation and change is called sanctification. While this is a messy process it is also a definite process that is leading us to God’s ordained ends. I love how David Powlinson described this process when he compared it to a person walking up some stairs while playing with a yo-yo. To us the up and down of the yo-yo is what our sanctification feels like. However, progress is being made up the stairs. So, we are on a definite trajectory of metamorphosis that takes place over time. IT IS WITHIN THE PROCESS OF THIS WORK THAT WE AT KAINOS SEEK TO COUNSEL AND GUIDE OTHERS INTO WHAT GOD IS DOING.
One of the reasons why this process can be so messy is because we are doing battle with sin in the world and the sin that is within our own hearts and lives. However, we have hope and power for this process. Read through Romans 6 and you will find that because we have DIED with Christ, we also LIVE in Christ. This means that sin no longer reigns over us. Outside of Christ we were under the dominion of sin. The evil one, flesh, and sin WERE our master. But, now, with Jesus as our Master, we have authority and power over sin and temptation.
Hear Paul clearly from Romans 6. He asks the all-important question, “How can we who died to sin still live in it?” He answers this question with a resounding NO, in that living in sin is completely contrary to living in Christ. How do we have this power and authority? In Christ, we have been baptized in Jesus’ death. This is in order that we are enabled to live in newness of life. Our old self, who we used to be, was crucified with Christ. This brought about the reality of our “body of sin” being brought to nothing. Through these means we are no longer enslaved to sin. Hear Paul’s great crescendo: For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
So, in each and every instance of temptation, we must give and present ourselves to God as instruments for righteousness. For these reasons sin will have no dominion over us.
We are in Christ because of the work of God. The work of transformation is definite and it is the Holy Spirit’s work. We trust in this work, we abide in Christ, we seek all of the means of God’s grace, and we live in the hope of our definite transformation through the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
All of this is because of being in union with this Perfect Person, the very God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
LET US TAKE POSSESSION OF WHAT GOD HAS GIVEN TO US.