In this third lesson, Pastor Dave Capoccia explains how the physical body factors into biblical counseling. Specifically, Pastor Dave discusses from Scripture man’s fundamental makeup, the body’s effect on the mind, and the mind’s effect on the body.
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good morning good morning welcome to sunday school to our biblical counseling 101 sunday school we’re going to get started let me ask the lord’s blessing on this time heavenly father thank you so much for your word it is sufficient wisdom it is supreme wisdom show us more of it this morning help me to be able to explain it well and give us confidence and equip us lord to do your ministry in jesus name amen well we’re on our third lesson today and i’d like to start with a few follow-ups to last week’s lesson we’ve seen at this point what biblical counseling is and is not we’ve also looked at the bible sufficiency for counseling that was last week’s lesson and something i wanted to say last week but i couldn’t really find a spot to fit it in in the lesson is that we often don’t realize just how privileged we are to have the word of god it’s through god’s word it’s through christ’s word that we can see what’s really going on in the world and even what’s really going on in ourselves if you try to understand the world or the people of it while at the same time ignoring or rejecting what the word of god says what is going to be the result of your analysis your quest to understand it’s going to be faulty the conclusions you come to are going to be off sometimes very off so rather than the bible being insufficient without man’s wisdom and knowledge his extra biblical wisdom and knowledge it is actually man’s knowledge that is insufficient without the wisdom of the bible so don’t be ashamed at all the word of god or if counseling with the word of god if you don’t understand what the bible says about man sin creation christ you’re gonna misunderstand so much of the world and you’ll probably act to counsel or even govern very foolishly and of course that’s what we see right that’s what we see so much around us and this is why we need what is often called a biblical worldview a perspective that starts and sticks with the word of god it uses the bible to assess man’s ideas rather than the other way around and that comes from the supremacy and the sufficiency of god’s word now two questions i want to reiterate related to last week’s lesson one question is what do we say to those who insist that the bible was sufficient in its own time but that times have changed and now we need more actually mark i think you raised that question last time i think it’s a good question for us to consider was the bible sufficient and no longer sufficient well if we make that assertion that’s very problematic first of all because the bible says the fundamentals of the world don’t change this is one of the main points of ecclesiastes right one generation goes another generation comes and yet the earth remains forever you can’t break the frustrating nature of life until god changes it man doesn’t change the world doesn’t change technology changes but man doesn’t change more importantly if we say the bible was sufficient but isn’t any more we contradict what the word of god says what we looked at last week right we are able to teach every man with all wisdom and present every man complete in christ if that was only true for a very short period of time when the bible was written then what’s the what’s the good of that claim what’s the good of the scriptures besides the new testament tells us that even the old testament in in the new testament time the old testament which was parts of it more than a thousand years old he said this was written for our instruction don’t tell me that that was just for that time no it was written for us and the same thing is true of the new testament for us today and then finally what is the constant apostolic exhortation in the new testament especially in the latter books hold fast to this word this isn’t a word that is only okay or helpful for a certain period of time he says no you need to stick with this it’s always going to be what you need so the bible is still sufficient now one other question what do we say to someone who says he tried biblical counseling but he actually found that secular counseling and secular treatments are more more helpful that’s a good question but it’s one that you can’t really answer you can’t really speak to until you find out more information this is actually one of the key biblical counseling principles is that often you cannot answer something right away you’ve got to find out more information that’s actually straight from the proverbs he who gives an answer before he hears it is considered folly and shame to him so if somebody says oh yeah biblical counseling didn’t help me we got to find out more what was the problem that they were seeking help with what kind of biblical counseling did they receive did they follow the council why or why not and what were they looking for from the counseling it could be that there was a problem with the counselor it could be that there was a problem with the council and the council’s expectations but certainly it’s not a problem with the council not a problem with the word of god for as roman says and i think it’s very helpful for us to remember let god be found true and every man a liar don’t say yeah i tried god didn’t work it wasn’t god’s fault it wasn’t god’s fault all right well that’s a little bit of just follow-up to last week but now let’s talk about the homework so last week’s homework gave you a couple things to do continue to read the bible and pray every day you need that habit hope you’re doing that i also assigned you to read this article a discussion among clergy by ed welsh now if you actually read this article and if you got through the first half of this article which is very academic laden and filled with psychological jargon and references to psychologists give yourselves a metaphorical pat on the back because i know that was difficult i found it difficult just to reread the first half of this article but if you were able to get through that i’m very glad but hopefully things got a little bit smoother as you got to the second half of the article and i asked you to write down some observations things that stuck out to you or questions that came up as you’re reading so let me hear some of those what were some things that stuck out to you as you read through this article you can just raise your hand and share yeah jay ah yeah that’s a key point jay mentioned that ed welsh brings out that many of the assertions even the whole psychological world view is unverifiable which is actually as he points out unscientific if it cannot be proven false if it cannot be proven true or false then that’s not really scientific it’s actually more like a faith what else yeah steve yes that’s another good point uh ed welsh points out that the psychological field many psychologists are doing a form of evangelism they want conversions and that’s that’s part of his overall point that psychologists are kind of like clergy and psychology is kind of like a religion now even he points out that there are aspects of psychology that are not like a faith that are more like true science like when you study certain things about memory or you said um certain facets of how the brain works but when you’re talking about theories of the person theories of behavior that is more like a religion i saw some other hands yeah um yeah okay so glenn is pointing out that especially when ed welsh is talking about the psychological uh part of his speech there’s so much of it that is based on assumptions things that aren’t proven or even provable and again that’s why it’s more like a faith when you say oh this is really what’s going on inside of you but nobody can verify it you’re just working based on assumptions or even a world view and if you did the extra credit assignment where i asked you to listen to a sermon i preached i tried to stress the importance of the assumptions that we make if you start with anti-biblical or antichrist assumptions where are you going to end up not with christ in the bible but according to the assumptions that you’ve created and answers in genesis if you remember when we talked through the answers bible curriculum sunday school class they really stress this is why creationists and evolutionists can look at the same evidence and come to totally different conclusions has to do with the assumptions that we make you say well you’ve got your assumptions i got my assumptions what are we going to do well a christian says well you’ve got the wrong assumptions our assumptions are based on the trustworthy word of god and really from the only thing that makes sense with the world but your assumptions they’re actually self-contradicting you say we can’t figure out anything unless it’s reason and scientifically based but that’s an assumption that’s not based on reason or scientific basis you can’t prove that but if you say well we believe it because god told us that’s consistent with itself anyway so assumptions are key and it does become more concrete when you actually start with the right assumptions with the biblical assumptions you say well we believe this because this is what the bible says yeah another question or observation yeah mark hmm yeah so mark bringing out some points that welsh is making about how the bible is authoritative pervasive and comprehensive it really is the starting point it it is evident all over the world all over life the things that it presents and comprehensive yeah it really deals with the things of life in a full way and even in a way that ed welsh points out psychology is not able to psychology is not addressing certain facts about the world like why is there such a pervasiveness of religion and of the fear of death and of right and wrong the understanding of right and wrong but the bible speaks to that very clearly it says oh well that’s obvious we can tell you the answer to that yeah that’s why again we love the word of god and we rely on it emma yeah that was an interesting point right when talking about um medication for what are really soul problems he says you can’t medicate the soul what is the point of turning to medications when the problem is not physical but it is spiritual we’ll talk more about that in today’s lesson in the coming lesson and then mag dies talk your hand yes okay so magda is showing more along the same lines keeping distinct what is physical and what is spiritual and um saying that a a physical disease or a physical um issue or problem is not an excuse for a moral response or an immoral response and we’ll talk more about that today well i’m so glad you were reading through the article and making the observations that’s good so thank you for doing that let’s talk about this next week’s homework we’ll be referring more to some of the ideas that were in that article but for this next week i’m giving you a new article to read continue to read the bible focus time with the bible focus time in prayer every day that is an extremely important habit the new thing i’d like you to read comes from robert smith he’s a retired doctor who is uh still serving as a biblical counselor and also a lecturer on biblical counseling but he wrote something called the christian counselors medical desk reference and it’s basically a doctor’s perspective kind of combined with the bible on on counseling and the article i’d like you to read is called a biblical view of illness this is actually a chapter a chapter in his book it’s going to go a lot with what we’re talking about today in terms of the relationship of the body and the spirit and even where illness fits in now understand these articles is kind of like a general thing i’m giving these to you because i believe they’re helpful generally but it doesn’t mean i agree with every single thing in the article there are a few times he he interprets verses in a way that i don’t think is quite accurate maybe a little bit better there but i think overall he does a good job and what he’s saying is is particularly helpful so just remember i’m giving these to you because they’re generally helpful but don’t say oh well dave must think the exact same thing as what he says here allow for a little bit of variation there but anyways i do think this is very helpful i want you to read that and then write down the five observations or questions and then for extra credit i didn’t hand this out to you because i don’t want to kill our printing capacity here at the church but i have another excerpt from the same book and it’s called assessing the effectiveness of alleged health products so a related topic and one i think that’ll be very interesting to you especially in this day and age i’m going to give it to you electronically so i try and send out a little homework follow-up sometime on the sunday for those who aren’t attending in person or just as a reminder to those who are that’s where you’ll find the the attached uh pdf of of this chapter but if you say oh i don’t use email i don’t have a computer well i do have a couple paper copies here which i can hand to you and you can just see me afterwards so do the reading do the observations and questions on the article and do the extra credit also if you can alright well that’s it for homework so let’s get to today’s topic so we’re talking about the mind body connection recently i was in princeton and i walked by a christian science reading room i don’t know if you’ve ever passed that same one this actually isn’t it this is just another what you see on the screen that’s another one in boston but these are around now if you don’t know anything about christian science it is kind of like a some theologian said grape nuts grape nuts the cereal they’re not grapes they’re not nuts i don’t know where that term comes from so it is with christian science it’s not christian and it’s not science it’s actually a wacky cult from the 1800s i always wonder when i pass by a christian science reading room whether anybody really goes in there i’m like why do they even have this place hopefully nobody goes in there maybe some people do one of the beliefs of christian science is that the world is totally spiritual physical things are not real they are an illusion reality is totally spiritual which means illness and disease do not exist according to christian science they are merely errors of the mind so in christian science they’re interested in healing you but not by medicine but by special prayers in which you argue against yourself and against the disease as a lie to be banished that seems pretty out there right and also a little ridiculous because what happens to christian scientists adherence they die it’s like that kind of contradicts your whole system doesn’t it well as ridiculous as christian science seems to be perhaps some of you may wonder as to whether some of the claims i’m making in this class on biblical counseling are actually kind of i’ve been stressing to you that the bible is sufficient to address people’s problems and that many problems that people think are biological or medical are actually spiritual ed welsh makes the same claim is biblical counseling then therefore anti-science even anti-medicine do biblical counselors ignore and explain away real bodily problems does the bible simply ignore the needs and influences of the human body well the answer all these questions is no no that’s not the case actually being a faithful biblical counselor means appreciating people for what they really are which is mind and body it also means that having a proper understanding of the influence of the physical and the mental spiritual that they can have on one another the physical the body can affect the mind and the mind can affect the body if you don’t understand this you don’t appreciate this that’s going to hurt you when it comes to counseling with the bible you do need to understand this if you’re going to be a skilled and faithful biblical counselor which is why we’re taking time today to talk about it and what better place to go for an understanding of the mind and the body than the scriptures the sufficient scriptures so today’s agenda we’re going to talk about the makeup of man what is man what is his composition and constitution and we’ll talk about the body’s effect on the mind and the mind’s effect on the body start with the makeup of man you just consider what the bible says about man what he is what are the parts of man that you’ve heard mentioned in the bible you can give it to me yeah betty it’s hard that’s a part of man what else his mind glenda the soul what else i think i heard somebody yeah say that gentina okay yeah so he has hands as a as a body part yeah okay uh emotions not so much me okay yeah kind of associated with a part or even its own part what else spirit steve body what else i think we’ve hit most the main ones oh tina okay the will the bible does use a number of different terms to refer to what man is or what man has and we’ve said a lot of them your body your flesh your strength your mind your heart your soul your spirit even your conscience i think we’ll get out of will on there but are these all different from one another are these all distinct totally different parts of man or are some of them even many of them actually synonymous terms the body is pretty different from the mind and the heart but it’s pretty synonymous with flesh and strength what about the mind and the heart or the heart and the soul or the soul in the spirit how different are they all these latter words these words like mine heart soul spirit they do have different emphases biblically speaking they are actually all synonyms describing the same part of man that inner part that immaterial part and i want to show you this by short biblical survey consider which part the heart soul spirit of mind is concerned with thinking what would we naturally think is the answer the mind clearly the mind is the thing that does the thinking the other parts maybe not so much and the bible does confirm that to a certain extent romans 14 5 romans 14 5 says one person regards one day above another another regards every day alike each person must be fully convinced in his own mind thinking going to be persuaded it’s got to be in your mind but matthew 9 4 matthew 9 4 says and jesus knowing their thoughts said why are you thinking evil in your hearts or psalm 77 6 psalm 77 6 says i will remember my song in the night i will meditate with my heart and my spirit ponders so the mind the heart and the spirit are all said to be thinking where our thoughts happen or here’s another question which part the heart soul spirit or mind is concerned with emotions and desires which would we naturally think it’s the heart right ah the heart that’s where the emotions are and again there is reference to this in the bible romans 9 2 romans 9 2 i am telling the truth in christ i am not lying my conscience testifies with me in the holy spirit that i have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart yeah emotions in the heart but song of songs chapter 1 verse 7 tell me o you whom my soul loves where do you pass your flock where do you make it lie down at noon it’s the soul that is desiring and loving or genesis 26 35 genesis 26 35 and and they that is esau’s wives brought grief to isaac and rebecca or literally in the hebrew they were bitterness of spirit to isaac and to rebecca where’s that bitterness where’s that emotional state happening in the spirit heart spirit and soul are all associated with emotions or here’s one more question which part heart soul spirit of mind is concerned with one’s relationship with god naturally we’d say the spirit come on spiritual spirit they go together right matthew 5 3 blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven yeah see well psalm 43 5. we’ve referenced this one a lot psalm 43 5 why are you in despair oh my soul and why are you disturbed within me hope in god for i shall again praise him the help of my countenance and my god the soul is the one that is to hope in god or second corinthians 4 4 2 corinthians 4 4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of christ who is the image of god how are you going to see god it’s with your mind but i thought it was the spirit but what about the soul i see how these things keep on overlapping it’s because they’re all really describing the same reality the inner man they’re all different terms for the same part of man but some will ask well why does the bible distinguish them or what’s the answer they’re all describing the same part why does the bible use different terms what do you think yeah mark um okay so uh we’re actually going to refer to some of those scriptures in just a second okay so historically there are there have been in the church two main views from the makeup of man that that dichotomous view and the trichotomous view a dichotomous would be that man is just body and soul or kind of synonyms of soul and the others it’s body soul and spirit now if you take a trichotomous view i still affirm you as a brother i love you but i’m going to argue for a dichotomous view and that these terms are used in a distinct way but mainly for emphasis and i think the first part of what you said mark i totally agree with is that is kind of emphasizing different aspects or different facets of the inner man there’s a reason we associate emotions with the heart or thinking with the mind or things religious and spiritual with the spirit because that’s kind of like the emphasis of that term but when you see those terms used together it’s not saying i’m going to argue that these are all totally different from one another but just trying to emphasize their totality that with your thinking with your emotions with your desires with your will all of these things are to be given to god and i’ll mention some of those verses so matthew 22 37 matthew 22 37 and he said to him you shall love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind it’s not actually saying that there are three distinct parts in man with that statement it’s just saying with everything that you are a lot of times you see this in the bible synonyms used together just to emphasize totality for extra emphasis or hebrews 4 12 verse we looked at before hebrews 4 12 for the word of god is living inactive and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart i told you before that we shouldn’t look at that verse as proving that there’s a difference between the soul and spirit because the parallel analogy joints and marrow are not actually being separated from one another they’re not connected this is not a separation of joints from marrow but a separation within the joints and the separation within the marrow and so it is with soul and spirit here he’s not saying okay i’m going to split your soul from your spirit you’re saying your soul is going to be diced up your spirit’s going to be cut apart and exposed this is just for emphasis thoughts and intentions of the heart or first thessalonians 5 23 and i think this is the one you’re referring to mark now may the god of peace himself sanctify you entirely and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our lord jesus christ now i would argue that that’s not actually giving a distinction of the various parts of man but that this is again for emphasis may god preserve you entirely sanctify you entirely and let me mention a couple different ways where i want to see that happen and kind of further reinforce that point consider times where in the bible god is talking about man in a total way but he only mentions two parts but they keep on switching which the parts they are and i’ll give you some more examples i’m arguing here that man is made up of two fundamental parts a material part and an immaterial part so material part the outer man the immaterial part the inner man second corinthians 4 16 that’s the reference i’ve actually put up there it uses those two terms second corinthians 4 16 therefore we do not lose heart but though our outer man is decaying yet our inner man is being renewed day by day what’s the outer man it’s your physical body what’s the inner man i’d say it’s your soul it’s your mind it’s your heart it’s your spirit or we can go to other verses that emphasize this kind of two-part view second corinthians 7 1 2 corinthians 7 1 therefore having these promises beloved let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of god or matthew 10 28 matthew 10 28 do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul but rather fear him is able to destroy both soul and body in hell and doesn’t that statement imply or assume that that’s all of you your body your soul don’t fear those who can just kill the body if you’re the one who’s able to destroy all of you or first corinthians 5 3 first corinthians 5 3 for i on my part though absent in the body but present in spirit have already judged him who has committed this as though i were present now if you’re still not persuaded and you still think there’s a difference between soul and spirit that’s okay i don’t think it’s totally going to affect your approach to counseling but i do want you to see that fundamentally man is material and immaterial why does this matter well for a couple of reasons first it helps us appreciate christ’s sufficiency christ’s efficiency for the inner man if these are what man is and the bible speaks to these things your mind your spirit your soul then there’s no other extra part that something outside the bible has to minister to the bible says this is what you are and we ministered all of it the truths of the bible the books of the bible and there’s really no room for some secular idea of a psyche to say no no we’ve got this part covered because the bible never addresses it now the bible already says you’re just inner man and honor man and the lord is sufficient for your inner man also it helps us to appreciate that god cares about the sanctification of both parts you’ve heard a number of scriptures that said you need to be sanctified in your body say oh but i thought the body doesn’t really matter it’s just flesh that’s not actually a biblical idea that is a secular philosophical idea actually the biblical writers had to overcome that notion like in the corinthian church where they said food’s for the body and the bodies for food god will do away with both of them what we do with our body and immorality it doesn’t really matter it’s just natural and the body’s gonna be discarded anyways and paul has to remind them no your body does matter to god it can be a place where you are holy for the lord or you sin and dishonor the lord you need to be sanctified in both your body and your spirit god wants to see the sanctification of both parts but also understanding what man is it helps us to appreciate how these two parts it prepares us to appreciate how these two parts can mysteriously affect one another they do we need to understand that what’s going on in our bodies will have a spiritual impact on us they will have a mental impact on us but the other side is also true when you understand what’s going on in our souls minds and spirits it will impact our bodies we will be physically impacted by what’s going on in the inner man and you know what this is evident even in the bible and that’s what i want to show you next let’s look at the body’s effect on the mind we’re going to look at each of these truths in turn i want to start by giving you first four biblical examples of where we see the body affecting the mind the flesh and i’m not talking about the sinful flesh here i’m just talking about your material flesh affecting your inner man the first is jonah you can actually turn there with me jonah chapter 4 channel four verses five to eight channel four five to eight as we look at each one of these passages i want you to be able to answer in your mind how the physical circumstances affected someone spiritually in the passage so the first is jonah four to eight and here’s what it says then jonah went out from the city and sat east of it there he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city so the lord that is yahweh yahweh god appointed a plant and it grew up over jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort and jonah was extremely happy about the plant but god appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered when the sun came up god appointed a scorching east wind and the sun beat down on jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die saying death is better to me than life okay there are a number of things going on for jonah in this passage but how did the outer man circumstances affect jonah’s inner man somebody describe it that’s right when he had shade he felt happy in his soul but when the shade was gone and the sun was beating down on him and he had felt that scorching east wind he was so unhappy he was so uh disturbed in his soul that he actually asked to die now he had other things going on too but the physical circumstances contributed to actual despair that’s one example let’s look at another one luke chapter 18.
luke 18 and we’ll look at verses 40 to 43.
luke 18 verse 40.
let’s see what happens here and jesus stopped and commanded that he certain man be brought to him and when he came near he questioned him this is luke 18 verse 41 now what do you want me to do for you and he said lord i want to regain my sight and jesus said to him receive your sight your faith has made you well immediately he regained his sight and began following him glorifying god and when all the people saw it they gave praise to god hmm how’s the physical affecting the spiritual here yeah glenda that’s right he received physical deliverance the regaining of a sight and it only made him happy but he began to glorify god and follow christ this physical deliverance had a great impact on his spirit in a positive way now let’s go to another one bring me back to the old testament again deuteronomy 8 3 deuteronomy 8 3.
moses this is part of his sermon to the people visuals are about to go into the promised land he reminds them of deuteronomy 8 3 he that is god humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know that he might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of yahweh hmm how does the physical affect the spiritual here or how is it meant to affect the spiritual yeah mark yeah and what was it that was getting the people’s attention specifically hunger yeah that’s something very physical right something very common hunger he says i’m giving that to you actually for a spiritual lesson to teach you to help you appreciate something in your mind physical difficulty led to spiritual lessons or was meant to and then let’s look at one more very close actually here in deuteronomy deuteronomy 8 verses 11 to 14.
just look down at verse 11.
moses says further beware that you do not forget yahweh your god by not keeping his commandments and his ordinances and his statutes which i am commanding you today otherwise when you have eaten and are satisfied and have built good houses and lived in them and when your herds and your flocks multiply and your silver and gold multiply and all that you have multiplies then your heart will become proud and you will forget yahweh your god who brought you out of the land of egypt out of the house of slavery what does moses warn regarding the impact of physical circumstances on the inner man here yeah glendon that’s right physical comfort can actually lead to spiritual apathy and to sin now from just these four passages we see evidence that physical circumstances even your body it can affect your spirit but the question is does it affect it in a determinative way if you have bad circumstances or good circumstances does that force your spirit to act in a certain way i think from just these four passages we can answer confidently no why yeah magnum i’m sorry i can’t hear you certainly the will does come into play but notice in these four passages we had two examples of physical good and two examples of physical bad jonah was afflicted and he despaired spiritually but israel was afflicted and it was to lead to good it was to lead to their spiritual lesson the blind man was healed and it led to spiritual good but israel when they received their physical comforts it could lead to their spiritual bad so it’s not the good or bad physical circumstances that are determinative it is your will it is your response it is your attitude and the inner man to those circumstances that is determinative so this is a very very important point for counseling fiscal circumstances influence but they do not determine spirituality and this is a very contrary idea to what the world says physical circumstances influences but they do not determine your spirituality just to give you another illustration from life in high school i broke another bone i i told you in a sermon not too long ago i broke my collarbone playing football in seventh grade uh close to i think it was 10th grade or 11th grade in high school i broke my foot also playing sports and that was a big you know trial but actually i was kind of happy during that time and you know why because i saw it as such a great opportunity to be a witness for the lord because when everybody would ask me oh how you doing how are you doing with your foot you know how’s it going i would say it’s amazing how god created the healing processes in the body like i’m getting better even though i had this you know traumatic injury look at what god is doing i was actually really excited even in the midst of my injury but that’s not what you’d expect right from somebody who has like a physical trauma a physical trial but it was just my attitude i’m not saying that i always have that attitude throughout my life but in that time i certainly did again just more evidence the things that happened to you physically or your physical circumstances they’re not determinative of your spirituality which is encouraging but also sobering right because it means you’re responsible now oh yeah danny sure that’s right that’s right god is the cause of good and disaster he says does calamity happen and i do not do it even in our own even in our own bodies and you you remember from jay adams god’s not going to put you in the circumstance that’s beyond your ability and so this is one of the things we want to show our counselees and remember for ourselves in christ we can righteously endure all physical trials we can trust god we can wait on his provision and this is what paul was talking about in philippians 4. just for the sake of time i’m going to keep going i know you maybe have some other comments and questions but i want to make sure we finish now consider all the different kinds of physical circumstances that we commonly run into that affect our spirits being tired being sleepy being exhausted being hungry feeling pain being ill suffering injury even dying these can affect us spiritually and they do affect the people that we love bodily inclinations that we develop or are born with they can’t affect us not determinatively but they can affect us and comfort and pleasure you’re sitting in a nice bed or you just ate a whole bunch of good food that can affect you we are to choose and we are to help other people choose to react to these things righteously that’s something we want to stress for our counselees they have certain responsibilities their physical influences and that first of all is to recognize god’s sufficiency no matter what they are to give thanks to god for the good physical circumstances that they receive and have but not to allow those things to make them into idolaters and we can’t endure the difficulties if we rely on god and we can actually walk wholly in them and glorify god through them now what about medicine what if medicine is available to mitigate uncomfortable symptoms or to cure or heal a physical problem should believers use medicine or should we just trust god and pray there’s nothing wrong with using medicine there’s nothing wrong with using medicine to treat a physical affliction and this is this is evident even in the bible now i know especially these days people are very distrustful of doctors and medicine i understand that to a certain extent let’s remember that medicine is a gift from god it should be taken advantage of when prescribed properly to treat a real physical problem in the body after all one of the writers of scripture was a doctor who is that that’s luke and that wasn’t looked down upon and even paul felt it necessary to tell timothy in first timothy 5 23 first timothy 5 23 no longer drink water exclusively but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments look you’re inflicting yourself by only drinking water there’s an easy solution drink some of the wine it’s a little bit healthier for you there’s nothing godly about suffering with medical problems when you don’t need to do so if you really want to that’s fine but don’t think that you’re being extra righteous in doing so i always think there’s a very instructive principle in first corinthians 7 21 first corinthians 7 21 where paul says were you called while a slave don’t worry about it but if you’re able also to become free rather do that you can’t change your circumstances don’t worry about it but if you can why not make things easier for yourself now that’s the body’s effect on the mind now let’s look at the other side the mind’s effect on the body again we’re going to look at four biblical examples and again i want you to think about with me in each passage how does the inner man affect someone in his outer man in these passages and i’ll just read them to you you can turn there if you’re quick but psalm 38 psalm 38 verses 3 to 8 says this is david speaking there is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation there is no health in my bones because of my sin my iniquities have gone over my head as a heavy burden that way too much for me my wounds grow foul and faster because of my folly i am bent over and greatly bowed down i go morning all day long for my loins are filled with burning and there is no soundness in my flesh i am benumbed and badly crushed i groan because of the agitation of my heart whoa that sounds pretty extreme why is david in such agony why does he feel even bodily affliction it’s from sin from grief and from the folly of sin affected him physically or proverbs 17 22 proverbs 17 22 a joyful heart is good medicine but a broken spirit dries up the bones what is this proverb saying happiness and hopelessness have a bodily effect your contentment your happiness that has an effect on your body and so does your despair and your depression and this is quite verified today doctor scientists report that you greatly weaken your immune system when you are depressed you’re much more likely to get sick here’s another example luke 22 luke 22 verses 41-44 luke 22 41-44 and he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw and he knelt down and he began to pray saying father if you are willing remove this cup from me yet not my will but yours be done now an angel from heaven appeared to him strengthening him and being in agony he was praying very fervently and his sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground of course this is jesus in the garden of gethsemane why is he feeling this bodily agony and even sweating drops of blood it’s the incredible burden and stress of what he’s about to go through bearing the wrath of the father even ask that the lord if there’s another way to do that stress the overwhelming nature of certain griefs or troubles they will affect the body stress is well known to cause bodily problems it can create ulcers headaches extremely tight muscles it can even force or bring about a heart attack this strictly internal reality can have a huge effect on the body it can hurt you it can even kill you and then one more revelation 1 verses 17-18 revelation 1 17-18 when i saw him i fell at his feet like a dead man this is the apostle john seeing the lord christ in glory what was the physical effect he basically fainted he couldn’t stand he was just overwhelmed kind of in a good way it was not a bad thing to see jesus but it had a physical effect on him and in a much lesser degree we experienced that too right every cried when you were singing a song to jesus you just become so full of joy when you read or talk about a certain truth related to jesus and just almost like permeates your body you just feel this fullness in your chest that is the inner man affecting the outer man spiritual realities affect the physical and we could point to many others you ever been in love i’ve had a crush on someone it affects your body you feel the butterflies you feel the heart rush you’ve been anxious often makes it hard to sleep your heart rate increases you have a hard time focusing have you ever been really excited you again are have a hard time sleeping and maybe a hard time focusing maybe you’re looking forward to christmas the next day and you’re just like ah that non-physical reality that intermittent reality it affects your body so again we need to understand the effect the soul the mind can have on the body they’re gonna have a great effect both for good and for ill literally so how should we and those we counsel respond to this truth well one thing is recognize the physical blessing that comes with walking with god it actually is good for your body to walk with the lord to be content to be in harmony with your brothers and sisters that’s good for you also be aware that physical symptoms that you suffer or the others suffer may be a sign of a spiritual problem don’t assume this but don’t be ignorant of that when i was in seminary i developed extreme tightness in my shoulder muscles and back muscles it was very painful but after a while i realized especially after i went to a physical therapist there was no physical cause to it it was just i was stressed i was very anxious about my work and it was manifesting in my body spiritual problems can create very painful and difficult physical conditions all on their owns doctors observe this again and again they call these psychosomatic illnesses which i don’t know is the most helpful term you’ll see in the article that you’re going to read maybe a better way to think about it is spiritual physiological doctors report that 30 to 50 percent of people who come to visit primary care physicians there’s no discernible cause for their symptoms no discernible biological cause now in some cases just because we haven’t discovered it yet but probably in most of the cases it’s because it’s just spiritual it’s just the inner man and not only can it create conditions but it can exacerbate existing conditions you already have an ulcer you’ll make it worse if you are angry all the time or anxious all the time you already have a pronunciation you’ll make it worse if you are not responding to spiritual problems correctly we can even habituate the body to act in certain unhelpful ways because of sin you can teach your muscles to remain in a [ __ ] condition if you’re anxious all the time or if you routinely indulge in sexual sin you will teach your body that that’s what it should expect you will habituate that sin in yourself and by the way let me emphasize just because some things might have a spiritual origin or spiritual influence on the physical things it doesn’t mean that those physical things are not real they are someone has tight muscles due to stress those are really tight muscles can be like i don’t believe it’s just spiritual no it it is it is real pain it is a real physical problem and sometimes there’s this terrible feedback loop when it comes to the physical and spiritual let’s say a person is anxious it begins to affect the body and then they notice that and they get worried about their body that makes them more anxious which causes their body to react more in problematic ways which makes them more anxious which causes their body to react more in problematic ways and it just results in this spiral downwards we need to be aware of this and one other thing for us to consider if a person is suffering physically from something that is ultimately spiritual should he seek medical relief well the answer is going to take some nuance it’s say your muscles are tight or you have a headache from stress it is fine to seek medicine and medical treatment to treat those symptoms but that will not be enough you cannot treat only the symptoms you must deal with the underlying heart condition i don’t mean your pumping mechanism in your chest but your inner man besides ongoing use of medications brings its own problems especially when the problem is not physical not ultimately physical of course this has implications for how we think about psychotropic drugs and antidepressants i have a lot to say about that we’ll wait till next time now we’re running out of time today so i had another section that i don’t think we’ll get to but this is something very very important for us to understand we as biblical counselors do not affect the body actually when biblically informed we understand the body better than many secular experts do because we’re aware of the body’s effect on the spirit and the spirit’s effect on the body uh yeah i think that’s all i’ll say right there questions yeah mark section yeah that’s good question mark knowing that afflictions are from god and that god uses them to teach and to grow how do you walk somebody through that actually you’ll find someone the answer in the homework so i’ll defer to that and we’ll come back later on in our biblical counseling class talking about you need to show care and sympathy in that situation don’t just say hey you know god’s teaching you so buck up cupcake no you want to show hey i know this is hard and we live in a sin cursed world and i know this is painful but the lord does too and he’s a good father and he’s he’s with you in this and rather than something something for you to merely endure god’s intent is that you glorify him through this this is a unique opportunity for you to put god on display john piper is famous for saying don’t waste your cancer and we do need to think about unless that way don’t waste it it’s actually an opportunity from god for you to specially minister and be a witness for him but we need to help people understand this truth in a sympathetic way in a caring way not one that just kind of hits them like a ton of bricks but that is a good question if you have other questions come see me afterwards that’ll do for today let’s close in prayer great lord you’re sovereign over our bodies you’re sovereign over all things and we do thank you god that you never give us more than we can handle and yet god it can be really difficult sometimes really painful but god sometimes we just afflict ourselves because we’re not willing to trust you we’re not willing to be reconciled with others we turn to anger and to idols and we just afflict ourselves lord help us to turn to your wisdom help us to follow your ways that we might obtain even a bodily blessing but help us to help one another lord as we get caught up in wrong thoughts idolatry sinful practices so that they can be set free not only from the bondage of that sin but even from the affliction some of the affliction of their bodies but i praise you bless the service the rest of their service today equip all the servants to minister whether it’s formally or informally in jesus name amen thank you everyone