LIFE DOMINATING SINS
Part I
SECTION 1: BACKGROUND
What is Biblical Counseling?
Biblical counseling is basically counseling from the bible; applying God’s Word to our problems.
The Bible is very clear in teaching that it holds the answers for us to live our lives in a godly way.
"All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Biblical counseling is a commitment to the belief that God through His word and the Holy Spirit is the one we should turn to for instruction in dealing with our problems.
What’s the difference between Biblical counseling and Psychology?
There is great competition between whether believers will use psychological or biblical counseling or a combination of the two. All counseling methods have at least one goal in common: to change people. What kind of change? How is the person to change? What standard of change is used?We live in a psychologized society. The misconception is while pastors and fellow believers may be able to minister spiritually; they are not equipped to minister psychologically. The belief is that only psychological experts can minister to psychological issues. We are left with the feeling that the Word of God is insufficient, unsophisticated, and unable to offer solutions for people’s deepest spiritual and emotional problems.
Psychology means the study of the soul. Psychological counseling is merely professionalized methods that contain the opinions and wisdom of men to give answers dealing with the soul. The focus is to seek to change people in order to elevate themselves and to love themselves above all. The hub of psychology is self: self-love, self-worth, self-image, self-esteem, self-awareness, and self-actualization.Christian counseling generally refers to the integration of scripture and psychology. Its goal is to create change in a person by putting together man’s wisdom and God’s wisdom. Compromise on one side or the other is inevitable. God’s truth is not changeable, but psychology’s truth is changeable. The method of integrating psychological “truth” with the truth of Scriptures ultimately weakens Christianity.Biblical counseling is applying God’s Word to the heart in order to produce change in a person’s life that pleases God.
The focus of Biblical Counseling is God. It relies on the foundational principles that God has provided in His Word, on the Holy Spirit, and on the power of prayer.God’s Word is the authoritative source and must be foundational to our view of people, problems and solutions. That is the goal of Biblical Counseling. Its primary thrust is to call Christians back to the Bible and to minister according to the Word of God instead of the wisdom of man.
Biblical counseling aims to rename the issues of the heart in biblical terms and helps us rethink responses and remedies according to Scripture. Personal happiness is not the focus. The greater goal is to assist the believer in the process of sanctification by growing in spiritual maturity and reflecting God’s glory--goals that often result in happiness.
Worldly/Psychological philosophies teaches:
I must love myself
I must get my needs met
I have a need for romance
I have a need for security
I have a need for significance
I need to fill my own “love cup”
These kinds of thoughts cloud our thinking and crowd their way in our faith and fill us with despair. We think, “How could God expect me to pour my life out for others when I am so miserable myself?” “Don’t I need to fill my own “love cup” before I can fill others?” And what if my circumstances never change?, then I can never be happy. We believe that we have to wait for our circumstances to change before we can be a joyous servant of God!
Luke 9:23-24
23 And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
24 "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.
Sadly, for most churches, Jesus’ words seem archaic and out of touch. For instance, how am I to lose my life and deny myself while I’m seeking to affirm and love myself?
The fact that Luke 9:23-24 seems impractical or contradictory demonstrates how far down the road of worldly thinking we have come.
God’s Promises and Benefits
God has given us everything for life and godliness. Do you believe that?
2 Peter 1:3
seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence
John 10:10
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Abundant life is found in the pursuit of God-honoring holiness. It is holiness—the humility of spirit, the mourning over sin, the hungering and thirsting for righteousness—that will produce in us that happy blessedness that Jesus spoke of in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Abundant life is life that is freed from the power of sin and filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, focused on the pleasure of God and resting in His love.
Our greatest need is to know God. We were created for His pleasure, not our own. Our true happiness and abundant life springs out of setting our eyes, our hopes, and our desires on Christ and keeping them there.
Our heart’s desire must be to live a faithful Christian life to God’s glory, walking in Christ’s promised abundant life. We won’t succeed in that goal if we start with ourselves as the center or focus of life or if we start with human philosophies as our guide.
We must start at the right place, with God as the source and meaning of all of life, with His glory and pleasure as paramount, and with His Word as the light upon your path and the only guide for life.
SECTION 2: LIFE-DOMINATING SINS
What are life-dominating sins?
A life-dominating sin is a problem of misdirected worship that issues from an idolatrous heart. Negative consequences of sinful behaviors are not enough to make you stop. Once a pattern has become a habit, it has become almost a part of one’s nature. As we say, it has become second nature.
James 1:8 describes this person as a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
When a person can be labeled as a drunkard, homosexual, a drug addict, liar, etc., she has a life dominating problem.
An addict is one who devotes or surrenders (oneself) to something habitually or obsessively. Addiction is not a biblically term. What word does God use in the Scriptures that describe an addiction?
The Origin:
Read Ezekiel 14:1-4
In the Old Testament, idolatry was most closely associated with the worship of tangible objects made from wood, metal, or stone. The Old Testament prophets made it perfectly clear that the object was not as important as the significance ascribed to it in the heart of the worshiper.
For the elders of Israel, the thought of idols was not one which they casually considered and dismissed. It was a seductive thought which they embraced and to which they gave great forethought.
Preoccupation with a substance or behavior—doesn’t this describe the addict?
Read Colossians 3:5
Paul broadens our understanding of idolatry when he includes idols in the definition. Addiction is a problem of misdirected worship that issues from an idolatrous heart. Simply put, addiction is idolatry.
A Christian who is dominated by sin is someone who does not know the character of God or has chosen to doubt and ignore the truth about God that she may already know. She has forgotten that He alone is worthy of worship and able to redeem her from her sorrows. Because she is selfishly demanding and unwilling to come before God on His terms, apply His solutions, and wait on His timetable, she turns to gods of her own design.
(Read Isaiah 44:9-20)
Isaiah 44:15-17
Isaiah exposes the irony of idolatry. Often the things that the idolater idolizes are good things that God has given for humanity’s benefit: food, exercise, medicine, etc. When we use them properly, we demonstrate that they are indeed subservient to us. Yet we exalt them as gods when we look to them for assistance or a salvation that they cannot give.
At the outset, idols become trusted friends because they do indeed deliver what the idolater may be seeking. She is enticed by her own lusts, embraces the lie that this false god is somehow profitable. In the process, she closes her heart to the truth and opens it to deception and delusion. Her heart is deceived and her eyes are spiritually blinded.
Life Dominating Sins
Gluttony- (food, sugar, sodas)
Compulsive shopping/Gambling/Materialism
Sexual immorality- (pornography, masturbation, romance novels, homosexuality)
Substance Abuse- (drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, prescription medication, nose spray)
Exercise
Anger
Anxiety
Relationships
Ministry
Laziness
Work
Television/Internet/Telephone
Sports
Gossip
Perfectionism
Pride
Depression
Grief
Characteristics:
Deuteronomy 21:18-20
Proverbs 20:1;Proverbs 23:20-21;Proverbs 23:29-35;Proverbs 31:4-5
Isaiah 5:11-12;Isaiah 28:7-8;Ephesians 5:18
Sorrow
Discontentment
lack of wisdom
forgetfulness
laziness
lacks motivation
financial trouble
stubbornness
poor judgment
delusions
hallucinations
suspiciousness
lying
pursuit of pleasure and entertainment
irresponsible lifestyle
neglects good nutrition, rest, and exercise
poor physical appearance
bloodshot or dull eyes
disheveled
weight loss or gain
long-term physical impairment
contentions and arguments
strained or broken relationships
withdrawal from others
mistreatment and abuse of others
disrespect of authority (God, civil, parental, or employer)
law-breaking, rebellion, open hostility
disregard for punishment and the natural consequences of wrong behavior, endangerment of self and others
Lack of concern for the things of the Lord
