“Wind & Waves” Philippians 1:9
“…by discernment, approving what is excellent…”
In his emotional, passionate farewell to the Brethren in Ephesus, Paul warned them “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples to follow them” (Acts 20:28-30). The history of false teaching attacking the church proves itself to enter the church by those who are already in the church: false teaching is usually an inside job! And often the church itself contributes to the problem by allowing some to follow the crowd and latest trends without being discerning. We do not have enough Bereans in the church (Acts 17:11), those who diligently search the Scriptures to see if what is taught is in reality Truth. Discernment is the ability to think systematically about theology = how a single statement fits with or contradicts the whole of what the Bible teaches on the subject at hand. This is such an important skill to the local church that discernment is listed among the spiritual gifts given by God to the church in 1 Corinthians 12. Some Christians are especially gifted by God with the ability to discern Truth from “almost-truth.” Unfortunately, discernment is perhaps the least appreciated spiritual gift, because it often goes against the prevailing notions and calls for a congregation to take a closer look at something that is excitedly embraced prematurely as a good thing. What has caused this lack of discernment in the Church today? There are four basic causes. The first cause is the collapse of church discipline as commanded in Matthew 18. Church discipline is intended by God to be a healing balm – discerning between right and wrong and restoring an erring brother. Church discipline must be balanced; neither too soft nor too harsh. Church discipline erects a barrier between the church and the world, preventing false doctrine from taking root in the hearts of believers, protecting the flock just as the Apostle Paul commanded. Church discipline confronts, rebukes, and restores the one who is believing and teaching “almost-truth.” When church discipline is removed, the floodgates are opened for every liberal and unbiblical wind of teaching to enter and takeover. The second cause of the lack of discernment in the church today is the disappearance of antithetical thinking. People who study the Bible in depth develop an antithetical mindset; they think in terms of contrasts or opposites. From Genesis to Revelation God’s thoughts and ways are set over against all others. The Bible does not teach that various opinions are more or less God’s ways. What the Bible teaches everywhere is that any thought or way that is not wholly God’s is altogether wrong and must be rejected. According to the Bible, a miss is as good as a mile! Many in the church do not like the antithetical mindset because they have a different mindset. The modern mindset is called a Continuum Mentality: truth is not absolute, but is relative and changes according to what is culturally popular, hip, and “now.” The continuum mindset wants to be culturally relevant, inclusive, market-driven, rather than clinging purely to Scriptural teaching. The sharp, antithetical preaching of the Word of God rubs the modern mind the wrong way, and discernment is dismissed as divisive, old fashioned, culturally irrelevant, or worse…extremely non-mainstream. Discernment can only thrive in an atmosphere of absolute Truth, among people whose minds have been molded to think antithetically. Proverbs 16:21 extols “the wise in heart will be called discerning.” In all of this, the important thing to see is that the Christian’s task in whatever he does is to be sure he is going God’s way, a way that is always in antithesis to the world’s ways: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways” (Isaiah 55:8). And so, it is always a good idea to proceed cautiously and thoroughly when a new teacher or a new teaching explodes on the Christian scene and rapidly becomes popular, taking the church by storm. More often than not, mass appeal is the result of unsound teaching that beckons to the sinful human heart, saying what it desperately wants to hear. It is fascinating to observe that at the very outset of the Psalms, the writer presents antithetical thinking as the key to following God, distinguishing between only God’s way and every other way. And the Proverbs do the same, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7). This way of thinking is foreign even in the church. The church displays such an accommodating spirit today that protective discernment is almost extinct. Christ and His Apostles were not constantly involved in controversy, beaten, stoned, and murdered because they sought agreement with the world and attempted to integrate the latest, “greatest” ideas into the church. They suffered because of the firm, antithetical stand they took for Truth (John 17:17) over against the world’s deceptions. In contrast, today the shift in the church against antithetical thinking, and toward a popular, mainstream, psychology-based, humanistic, therapeutic “gospel,” has created a soft Church and the disappearance of discernment. Lord willing, next time we will discuss the remaining two causes for the disappearance of discernment in the church. For now, beware of the wind and waves (Ephesians 4:14).
