In 2022, New Life Church has gathered with 15-20 other churches at the One Table Family Fellowship in Watts. We have eaten together, prayed together, worshiped together, and addressed varying issues of race from the common ground of the cross.
As Christians talk more openly about race, we find many opportunities to counsel one another from the Scriptures. Some of us deal with guilt over racial sins we have committed in the past, while others stubbornly deny complicity. Some have let unjust discrimination lead us to wrong thinking, words, and actions. Many more wrestle with the complicated issues in society today (i.e., How do we use privilege and power redemptively? What does justice and peace look like for those who have been marginalized?) As we seek to apply the truths of the gospel in our workplaces, neighborhoods, and relationships, the four-pronged approach of Love, Know, Speak, and Do provides a framework for helping people change.
Love
True biblical counsel begins not with a sermon but with genuine love for the person before you (John 13:34-35). Therefore, like Jesus, get involved in other people’s lives to seek their good. Clothe your relationships in humility (1 Peter 4:8; 5:5) as you lay down your time and resources for the sake of others (John 15:12-13). Perhaps you will move into their community or join a church outside your comfort zone. You might invite a neighbor to your home or grab a drink with a coworker. Loving involvement means learning about people’s culture, traditions, and language. It means becoming more like them instead of expecting them to become like you (1 Corinthians 9:19-23).
One way to love people well is by listening to their suffering: “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (Proverbs 17:17). Be patient as they tell their story and ask them how you can help. Walk slowly if they are wounded to make sure they can still keep up. People learn to trust your good intentions as they observe your faithful presence. So treat them as your fellow image-bearers before you help them change.
Know
Biblical counsel also requires that you know the person in front of you just as well as you know the Scriptures (Proverbs 20:5). Therefore, like Jesus, ask good questions to explore their situation. Do they struggle with sin or suffering? Are they the ones at fault or were they wronged by someone? What other influences or factors might be at work? What resources do they have to help them change? “If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame” (Proverbs 18:13). Once you’ve listened to a person’s story, then process it biblically before offering counsel.
- How is your friend relating to the Lord and to other people (Matthew 22:37-39)?
- Are they manifesting the fruit of the Spirit or the deeds of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-23)?
- Is their underlying heart motive to glorify God (Psalm 115:1)?
- What desires govern their thinking, emotions, and behavior (Proverbs 4:23)?
- Are they a “shrub in the desert” (Jeremiah 17:5-6) or a “tree planted” by streams of living water (vv. 7-8)?
Instead of making assumptions, ask the person if you have rightly assessed their struggle. By the end of the conversation, they should be able to say, “Yes, you have heard me and you have stated my position even more clearly than I have.” Then, as you rely on God’s Spirit to discern their heart (Jeremiah 17:9-10), identify how they must grow in sanctification:
- Do they need to learn particular truths about who Jesus is or what he has done for them (Ephesians 4:21b)?
- What aspects of their life still reflect the old self (v. 22)?
- What gospel principles will help to renew their mind (v. 23)?
- How can they practically put on the new self and grow into the likeness of Christ (v. 24)?
Speak
Biblical counsel eventually means that, like Jesus, you speak “the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). Start by presenting encouragement from the Scriptures as many who struggle with racial strife have grown weary of the fight (Isaiah 40:30). They have lost hope that society can change or that hateful people can be transformed. So exhort them to “wait for the LORD [to] renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (v. 31).
Inspire them with the hope that God’s Word can accomplish lasting change: “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4). Offer hope to those who suffer the afflictions of others (2 Corinthians 4:7-10) and hope to those who have reaped the cost of sinful choices (Galatians 6:7-8). Offer hope that God’s “divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3). Direct such hurting people to the only source of lasting hope in Christ.
Effective biblical counsel also involves compassionate instruction as you help people apply God’s Word in concrete ways to bring about change (2 Timothy 3:16-17). As you do so, treat them according to their nature (1 Thessalonians 5:14): foolish or rebellious, sufferer or sinner, Christian or unbeliever. Understand whether they sin because of racial ignorance, indifference, insensitivity, or idolatry. Then minister God’s truth with patience and wisdom as you seek to “present everyone mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).
If a person struggles with racism, you might guide them through the Scriptures on prideful partiality (Galatians 2:1-14; James 2:1-9). Remind them of their fourfold unity in the church with those who have been made by God, shattered by the fall, rescued by the cross, and destined for eternal glory. Help them to understand the meaning and the shape of biblical texts to see for themselves how racism is a sin for which our Savior died (Romans 5:8; 6:23). Warn them against cursing others made in our Creator’s likeness (James 3:9) and against rash words which wound like “sword thrusts” (Proverbs 12:18). Show them how to meditate on Scripture and to capture their every thought in obedience to God’s Word (2 Corinthians 10:5). Most importantly, direct them to discover the joyful freedom of repentance: a change of heart that leads to changed behavior (7:9-11).
If a person has endured discrimination, you might guide them to the Scriptures in which our sinless Savior suffered and called them to suffer “in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21-22). Walk them through the countless passages proclaiming God’s heart for peace and justice—if not in this present life, then surely in the next (e.g., Amos 5:24). Help them to release any bitterness and unforgiveness to the Lord (Matthew 6:14-15), then teach them to love their enemies, to pray for those who persecute them (5:44), and to be angry at sin without sinning themselves (Ephesians 4:26a). Remind them of their own identity as a new creation in Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17-18) who can also reconcile the racist as born again (1 John 3:8-9). Instruct them in these truths with love, then trust God’s Word to radically transform their heart (Hebrews 4:12-13).
Do
As they understand and receive this biblical counsel, then teach them, like Jesus, to implement lasting change: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22). Move them from simply acknowledging the right path to actually taking some initial steps: “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty” (Proverbs 14:23). For some, this might mean offering or asking forgiveness. It might involve reaching out to a person of a different culture or socioeconomic background. It might look like inviting a family into their home whom they had been avoiding at church. Such practical actions must be specific in order for specific changes to occur.
Supply them also with practical projects for growth as they focus on the “how” as well as the “what” of biblical transformation (Hebrews 3:13). Trust that as they apply God’s Word, they will continue to grow and change (Proverbs 4:18). Some suggested categories may include selective Scripture reading, meaningful Bible memory, books and resources pertinent to their struggle, actions which direct them to the heart of Christ, church involvement, and prayer for themselves or others. Exhort them to continue practicing these spiritual means of grace as they walk in step with God’s Spirit and his Word (Galatians 5:25).
Finally, help them integrate these biblical practices until the change becomes habitual. Encourage them to seek discipleship in a local church which faithfully studies and applies God’s Word (Hebrews 10:24-25; Romans 12:4-16), for they will soon become like the company they keep (Proverbs 13:20). An integrated life means welcoming others in the church and inviting them into their home. It involves putting off prejudicial thoughts and putting on those renewed by Christ. Their words and actions should reflect their Savior’s kindness just as their eagerness to forgive reflects his grace. Like Christ, they will then make sacrifices with humility to bring about justice, peace, and reconciliation.
Integrated change is never easy and rarely swift. It takes prayerful patience and a commitment to get involved one person at a time. Yet as biblical counselors, we offer hope in Christ and through his Word to the worst of sinners and the most wounded of sufferers. We ask good questions until we know them well and understand their hearts. Then we instruct the truth in love and teach them how to “do the Word” in practical, specific ways.
Helping people change on race issues requires a steadfast reliance on God’s grace and the power of his Spirit to accomplish genuine unity amidst those whose hearts are one (John 17:20-21). Therefore, “may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another” (Romans 15:13-14).