What is discernment and why is important as a Christian ?
One Senior Pastor defined discernment as:
“nothing more than the ability to decide between truth and error, right and wrong. Discernment is the process of making careful distinctions in our thinking about truth. In other words, the ability to think with discernment is synonymous with an ability to think Biblically”1
Discernment is important in every area of our lives – like choosing a college, a Church, a relationship, a car, a school for our kids, even in the little things like a Bible study book. This is an area we cannot afford to compromise in.
It is said the best way to understand what is evil is not by understanding evil, but by understanding what is good.
A Christian wanted to learn how a bank identified true currency from false currency 2. So he phoned up his local bank and asked to do a short course on identifying true currency.
He came into his bank and they began to teach him about what to look for in genuine currency compared to counterfeit currency it began to dawn on him.
He found it was apparent that experts on bank money fraud teams, didn’t get trained to be an expert in counterfeit currency by studying counterfeit currency. Instead they study good money.
They ran through a few examples of currency. Some counterfeit money was obvious, with the Queen’s head missing and clear fading. However some of it was less obvious. But all along because he was trained in what was right it was easy to tell what was wrong.
A defining moment came when the bank manager training him asked: “when somebody gives you money, you do always check to make sure its genuine right?” For money the stakes may not be that high £5 here or £10 there, however our Spiritual discernment should be of great importance.
What are the dangers of NOT discerning ?
When we are talking spiritually if a Christian isn’t exercising wise judgment between truth and error, they will be subject to any type of false teaching. This is dangerous because it will steer them away from Biblical thinking to un-biblical thinking. This will of course lead someone to living disobediently, and therefore being unrepentant before God. And Jesus said there will be many from the Church, on the day of judgment that will claim to have known him, but he will say “depart from me I never knew you” – see Matthew 7:23
We read in Acts 17:11 in the Bible of when the Apostle Paul came to Thessalonica and preached to the Bereans. The Bible states that they were “of noble character” and they “examined the scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” And as Christians if we are to be “noble” we must test what we are seeing and hearing spiritually with what the Bible says. Because our spiritual health depends on it.
It disappoints me when I hear local preachers teaching that as Christians we mustn’t judge, sometimes even using Matthew 7:1-2 where Jesus says “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged…”. However this notion isn’t true and is a mishandling of the text. As when you read on in verse 5 Jesus says “first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
Jesus encourages us to not judge hypocritically. In other words if someone who swore constantly, rebuked someone else for swearing they would be a hypocrite. Furthermore in John 7:24 Jesus encourages us to “Judge correctly”.
So how can we go about discernment in our everyday lives ?
- – Test the Spirits.
One thing that never ceases to amaze me is whenever a Christian remotely says anything complimentary regarding Christianity we immediately hail them as our Christian poster boy/girl. However we must hold back and accept that not everyone who professes Christ possesses Christ.
John encourages us to think in this area. He says in 1 John 4:1 “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
Not every teaching that sounds good is good for you, slow down open up your Bible and match up what someone is saying with God’s Word.
We must protect our walk with the Lord and not get taken in by any teaching that sounds good. It’s so easy to think someone has “an anointing” or “Spiritual gift” just because they are saying something that sounds encouraging. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “you are what you eat”. Well it’s the same spiritually.
- – Don’t always trust your feelings.
Another area that deceives many Christians is the “feelings” they have for a certain teacher or teaching. Remember it doesn’t matter if a so-called Gospel preacher/teacher: makes you laugh, is a good leader, has a University degree, or has thousands in his congregation.
What matters is are they preaching the Biblical Gospel ? Whenever a Pastor uses every other means to entertain the flock rather than, be faithful in allowing God’s Word to be proclaimed this should raise alarm bells.
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 says “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.”
3. – Biblically grow and pray for God’s help
Discernment is an important aspect of growing in our faith, Paul advised the Church in Ephesus that when they grow in their faith “Then they will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” (See Ephesians 4:14).
As we feed ourselves more and more on God’s Word we will fine tune our ability to identify true and false. Indeed we are fighting a spiritual battle, therefore we must keep in mind the importance to arm ourselves or we will be an easy target for the enemy.
Sadly not everyone is exercising discernment. However it’s important to recognize in humility, that it is only because God has given us the gift of discernment that we have the privilege to exercise that gift. And if we see where someone in the Church has gone astray in their theology or preaching we must still be loving with them.
Our purpose must be to be loving. Paul directed the Church in Ephesus in the same way. He says in Ephesians 4:15: “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ”.
If we feel we ever have the need to challenge a leader, Pastor or other brother/sister in the faith we must love them first. Our purpose must be to always point them back to the Word of God, not to win an argument.
If you feel you lack discernment it’s important to pray and ask that God will grant you discernment. In Ephesians 6:18 Paul emphasises this – “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
There is many books in the Bible that deal with exercising discernment and identifying false teaching and false teachers. A good place to start is the book of Jude. Jude’s initial intention was to write to his recipients regarding salvation in Christ. However Jude felt it very necessary to instead warn the Church regarding false teachers.
At the foot of this post I’ve recommended some great books on discernment, I hope you will find something of help.
My prayer is you will continue to walk in repentance from sins and trust in Christ, and you will look to God who is able to open your eyes to the truth found in his Word.
God bless…
1 – John Macarthur defining discernment – http://www.gty.org.uk/resources/articles/A314/Defining-Discernment
2 – “Counterfeit Gospels” – Tim Challies – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Counterfeit-Gospels-WAX-TREVIN/dp/080242337X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1479053653&sr=8-3&keywords=trevin+wax
Recommended books
Charismatic Chaos – John Macarthur – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Charismatic-Chaos-John-Jr-MacArthur/dp/0310575729/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479054619&sr=8-1&keywords=charismatic+chaos
“Judge not” Todd Friel – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Judge-Not-Todd-Friel-ebook/dp/B019DD7LBA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1479054666&sr=8-2&keywords=judge+not
“God has a wonderful plan for your life” – Ray Comfort FREE E-book – http://www.freewonderfulbook.com/