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August 31, 2014 |
| Lacking Discernment | ||
The church in North America, generally, is lacking in discernment. Christians frequently make poor judgments between what is good and bad, right and wrong, or godly and ungodly.
This lack of discernment is especially visible on Facebook through the things that professing Christians say and the posts they have "Liked" or "Shared". But it is also visible in Christian assemblies through the things that are said.
Christians can be seen taking sayings out of the world and presenting them to others because they sound good, even though the message they bring is non-Christian. And that is the point here, many Christians show no ability to look at something and notice that it is not Christian. For some the problem is that they don't know what is Christian and therefore can't see what isn't. For others the problem is that other factors are overriding their ability to discern.
A recent example will show the problem. A video is circulating around Facebook that has singers from Israel's IDF singing a beautiful song in Hebrew. The song is a translation of an English song done by a person who has never been known as a Christian singer. In the video the singers are pretty, the lighting is pretty, they gaze Heavenward as they sing, and the only word most Christians can recognize is "Hallelujah".
One Christian lady said "BEAUTIFUL...SO ANNOINTED...GOD'S PRESENCE IS ALL OVER THIS...WOW! <3". But God does not want to be associated with this song. The author dabbled in "religion" for a period in his career but he never really understood it. This song was the result and it is anything but Godly.
This lady and others were so quick to praise it in God's name because they only looked at the face of it. The signs were there that they should look into it more.
This is always the case and has been since Adam and Eve and the apple. Satan puts evil things in pretty packages. His hope is that you will only look at the package.
In this lesson we will look at discernment, what it is, why we don't use it, and how we can sharpen it into an effective tool.
Many times the first step in discernment is the Holy Spirit pricking us to say that something is wrong - that things aren't what they appear to be. But a general attitude of watchfulness should be about us at all times. We see this in Paul's discussion about putting on the armor of God and in many other places including these from 1 Peter 5:8 and 1 John 4:1
1 Peter 5:8 Be alert, be reflective, because your enemy Satan roars like a lion and is walking and seeking whom he may devour.
1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe all spirits, but be distinguishing between the spirits whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
But many Christians walk around like babies in a dark forest, neither watchful nor knowing what to watch for, apparently believing that the deceiver will never try to put one past them. But he has and he does and he will.
These deceits can appear in innocent looking phrases. As an example there are phrases like "Walk a mile in my shoes before you can correct me." Many Christians would say that sounds OK. Yet it isn't Christian. The saying means that what a person does today is justified by the things that have happened to them in the past. Therefore, "if I say something mean to someone it's OK because someone said something mean to me in the past". Seen this way it's obviously not a Christian saying.
Next we'll look at some of the things that cause us to fail to discern what is right, good, and true.
If you don't know what the truth is, how will you know the lie? How can you see wrong when you don't know what's right. A critical problem in the church is a lack of understanding.
There are two main causes for this. Too few Christians are reading and understanding their Bibles and too few church leaders are teaching it. These two go hand-in-hand. Many of the Christians who don't read their Bibles much, rely on their church leaders to teach it. They expect that a once-a-week sermon will teach them all they need to know.
Even those Christians who read their Bibles frequently don't read them completely and only have a superficial understanding of what they have read. Studies show that Psalms is the most read book of the Bible by a large margin. The Psalms are good but there is so much more to know.
Those who want to understand their Bibles better often have a problem that they can't get good information to help them. Often their church leaders don't have the time or ability to handle off-the-cuff questions from the membership. So the seeking Christian goes to the Bible Bookstore.
Unfortunately the Bible Bookstores have become as good a source of false teaching as any other. Would you expect Satan to do anything less? The lack of discernment by Christians is also seen in the proprietors of these bookstores. They bring in the books that people want to read without regard for the teachings in those books.
"William Paul Young writes a book called The Shack that depicts God the Father as an African-American woman called 'Papa,' Jesus as a Jewish carpenter with a large nose, and the Holy Spirit as an Asian woman, fills the book with outrageous twists of biblical teachings (the universal salvation of everyone whatever their beliefs, the Father bearing crucifixion scars, the claim that God doesn't punish people for sin), and it sells tens of millions of copies.
"Albert Mohler1 has rightly said that the failure of readers to see how this book conflicts with the Bible 'reveals a disastrous failure of evangelical discernment. It is hard not to conclude that theological discernment is now a lost art among American evangelicals - and this loss can only lead to theological catastrophe'"2
Some books might have a theological error that can be ignored as a mistake, but many of these books are built on theological errors and are written to promote those errors. Even some of the authors that decry the lack of discernment among Christians are the ones teaching theological errors. Satan is the author of confusion.
There are also a lot of so called Christian books on the topic of Near-Death-Experiences. "90 Minutes in Heaven", "The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven: A Remarkable Account of Miracles, Angels, and Life beyond This World", and "Heaven is For Real". These wildly popular books contain theological problems. Yet, people are willing to turn off their discernment because they believe they are getting a special view into the afterlife. They consider the teachings in these books to be revelations that correct the Bible or at least clarify it. But somehow they have forgotten what God has said about dealing with spiritists and mediums. Do you know?3
When false teachings get into a church for long enough they become traditions. With that they become even harder to get out of the church. Their continued acceptance can be based on "That's what the church has always believed." This is what Martin Luther and others faced during the reformation when they worked to drive out false teachings that had been in the church for 1300 years. In the end they could only create new churches that didn't have these teachings. The Roman Catholic Church would not give them up.
Christians are too quick to accept traditional beliefs in the church. They turn off their ability to discern whether these beliefs are Godly. This is an area where continuing vigilance is necessary. Satan doesn't bring false teachings into the church all at one time. He sneaks them in little by little in the hope that no one will notice. Those who do notice will be dismissed for making a big fuss over nothing.
Christians are too quick to accept what they are taught by the authority figures in the churches. Coming from a culture that puts so much value on higher education, Christians find themselves too ready to accept what they are taught by those with higher education. Christians forget that all the false teachers on TV and in books have some kind of higher education in religion. As a result of accepting these authority figures Christians sit like bobble-heads absorbing what they are told, never thinking that they should verify that it is true.
Because these leaders in the church are seen as authority figures, it can be very difficult to correct false teachings. The leader in the church and the other members of the church may feel that no one has the right to question the leader. The standard for having the right to question can come down to, again, formal religious education.
In researching this lesson I came across this false teaching from one such authority figure. "Interpreting God's Word is an exacting science that requires skill and precision. Unless the believer has sat under good teaching, is well-read, or has learned to interpret Scripture from someone who knows how, it's unlikely he or she will be able to interpret Scripture accurately." Where does this statement leave room for the Holy Spirit to teach? What about John 16:13 "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth"? What about 1 Corinthians 2:10 "These are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God."
Scientists who also claim to be Christians are also a problem. In our culture scientists are also considered authorities. But they can also teach falsely. Some of them are careful to say that they are just trying to show how God created the universe, destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, brought Israel out of Egypt, or some other major event. But when you look at what the Bible says, any normal reading of it contradicts what these Scientists claim.
In summary, some Christians stop using their discernment when authority figures begin speaking about the Bible
"The diluting of biblical doctrine has conditioned today's church to desire only what will make it feel comfortable and satisfied. English minister Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, 'Precise thinking, and definition, and dogma have been at a serious discount. The whole emphasis has been placed upon religion as a power which can do things for us and which can make us happy. The emotional and feeling side of religion has been over-emphasized at the expense of the intellectual. Far too often people have thought of the Christian religion merely as something which gives a constant series of miraculous deliverances from all sorts and kinds of ills.... The impression has often been given that we have but to ask God for whatever we may chance to need and we shall be satisfied.... We have been so intent upon ourselves and our moods and feelings and inward states, that when we are confronted by an external problem that nevertheless affects us profoundly, we do not know how to think or where to begin".4
Religious experiences and emotion have been elevated above divine revelation. For some Christians those experience and emotions have become the goal of worship if not the object of worship. In living for emotional experiences Christians can lose track of the word of God and the foundation for their discernment becomes emotions. Right and wrong become a matter of feelings
Tolerating sin in the church confuses the members and dulls their sense of what is right and wrong and thus their ability to discern.
Relativism is an idea that comes from the world. Essentially it says that each person's beliefs are equally valid. Therefore it's alright for every person to believe something different. This is true in small ways, for topics the Bible doesn't address like the clothes that people wear. But for the teachings where the Bible is clear these are not open to personal beliefs. Opening the church to relativism blurs the lines between right and wrong and confuses the ability of people to discern.
Know your God and his ways
Take the time
Do not revere the educated
Pull yourself out of the world so you can see
Do not use other people as the standard for right and wrong; use the Bible
Do not trust your own reasoning
Desire it
Pray for it
James 1:5 5. But if anyone of you lacks wisdom, let him ask from God who gives to everyone simply, and does not reproach, and it will be given to him.
Practice it
Proverbs 2:1 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, 2 turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding - 3 indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, 4 and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
1 The Shack - The Missing Art of Evangelical Discernment
2 http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/01/27/the-shack-the-missing-art-of-evangelical-discernment/
3 Deuteronomy 18:10-12
4 cited by Ian Murray in David Martyn Lloyd-Jones: The Fight of Faith, vol. 2 [Carlisle, Penn.: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1990], p. 24