SUMMARY
The Importance of Discernment in the Christian Life
Discernment is essential for living according to absolute standards set by God in Scripture. It requires precision and discipline to ensure that our conduct is in line with God's will. However, due to a weakening of doctrinal clarity and conviction, many in the church have adopted a non-threatening, non-offensive approach which has led to a more liberal theology and imprecise doctrine and conduct.
Preaching the Truth
The importance of preaching sound doctrine and being antithetical in a culture that values relativism cannot be overstated. It is essential that the church confront sin instead of accommodating it in order to win approval. Preaching the Word, even in unpopular times, is mandatory. Interpreting scripture requires discipline and knowledge of original languages, history, culture, and philosophy. Those who do not interpret Scripture properly can lead people astray and become condemned for their superficial preaching.
Charismatic Movement
The Charismatic Movement has been criticized for promoting the idea that Jesus will reveal the Bible's meaning without the need for interpretation. This approach eliminates interpretation altogether and leads to Charismatic mysticism and subjectivism. Proper interpretation of Scripture is essential as it prevents individuals from relying on physical sensations and feelings to discern the truth in the Christian faith.
Context:
The context emphasizes the precision and effort required in interpreting Biblical texts, warning against laziness, ineptitude, and carelessness. Hymenaeus and Philetus are cited as examples of those who aimed for truth but missed the mark, leading others astray with their erroneous ideas. The context emphasizes the importance of interpreting the Word of God accurately and maintaining integrity before Him.
Confronting Sin:
The failure to discipline sin in the church also required attention, which includes confronting sin in individual lives. The article discusses how churches should discipline sinners confrontively in order to maintain a clear separation between the church and the world. It highlights examples of how some churches deal with specific sins and the importance of disciplinary actions in maintaining a church's reputation. The pastor believes that churches should not tolerate sin, and should instead judge and discipline sinning Christians. He warns that accepting sin in the church can destroy its holiness and belief in discernment, and that failing to address sin can lead to greater consequences for non-believers.
Lack of Discernment:
The lack of discernment in today's church is attributed to several factors: the absence of church discipline and emphasis on holiness, spiritual immaturity, and a self-centered focus on personal comfort and success rather than on God. Ephesians 4:14 instructs believers to mature and avoid being swayed by false teachings. The immaturity of many Christians today is attributed to shallow teaching, preaching, and the lack of foundational doctrine. Discernment and maturity go hand in hand, and the growth of the church happens under clear truth spoken in love. Hebrews 5 emphasizes the importance of engaging with the Word to develop discernment and maturity.
Attributed Factors:
The lack of doctrinal conviction, image, influence, inadequate interpretation of Scripture, absence of church discipline, and spiritual immaturity contribute to the loss of discernment. Discerning individuals focus on wisdom and knowledge, but analytical individuals often neglect spiritual discernment.
Growing Discernment:
The message discusses how the church is being poisoned due to lack of discernment, and how individuals can become more discerning by using resources such as scripture and teachers. A prayer to grow in spiritual maturity is included.
DETAILED NOTES
A Call for Discernment in Christianity
•The Christian life demands precision in thinking, belief, and conduct, and requires exacting conformity to fixed laws commanded and empowered by God, revealed in Scripture.
•There are no changing morals or doctrines in Christianity, and the Word of God sets fixed demands for every area of our lives.
•Major denominations have been meeting to vote in new theology, morals, and ethical standards, and risk losing members if they do not change to accommodate today's standards.
•True Christianity requires disciplined thinking and conduct, and the foundation of this is the necessity for discernment.
•We must be able to discern truth from false, half-truth, and error, and when the church loses this ability, it forfeits its precise theology.
The Importance of Discernment in Christianity
•Imprecise thinking leads to imprecise conduct, resulting in a low-level commitment to holy living.
•The current state of evangelical Christianity is confusing due to unclear beliefs and diluted theology.
•Watered-down theology fails to produce deep reverence, worship, repentance, and God-centeredness.
•Relativistic thinking about morality and doctrine prevents Christians from living precisely.
•Paul's list of Christian living elements includes rejoicing, praying, thanksgiving, not quenching the Spirit, not despising revelation, and examining everything carefully.
•Discernment is crucial, but not easy due to human weakness, Satanic deceit, and the influence of an ungodly world.
•The church's failure to discern true from false and good from evil creates imprecise doctrine and conduct.
•Discernment is essential to precise Christian living, but unpopular today, leading to the need for a call to discernment.
Lack of Discernment in the Church
•The writer raises three questions regarding the lack of discernment in the Church.
•The first question asks why there is such a lack of discernment.
•The writer states that they have already mentioned several influences that contribute to this lack, including Satanic deception, weakness of the flesh, and the influence of the world.
•The second question asks why the Church has been victimized by this lack of discernment.
•The main contributor to the lack of discernment is a weakening of doctrinal clarity and conviction.
•The writer notes that churches today are not primarily concerned with doctrine, but focus more on being loving, unifying, and experiential.
•The dominant hermeneutic is to approach the Bible in the light of what is non-threatening, comfortable, and makes people feel good.
•This approach leads to a liberal theology, which is an assault on knowing God truly and worshiping Him accurately.
•Relevant Christianity is not doctrinal according to some church advertisements.
The Relevance of Preaching the Word of God
•Many people assume that preaching anything traditional, biblical or expositional is irrelevant, resulting in a weak doctrinal commitment.
•Even radio stations refuse to air sermons that might offend their listeners, leading to a lack of discernment and fuzzy thinking.
•In 2 Timothy 4:1-2, Timothy is charged with a formidable challenge- to preach the Word despite its popularity or acceptance.
•Preaching the Word is essential to reprove, rebuke and exhort people, leading to conviction and a correction of belief and conduct.
The Importance of Sound Doctrine and Antithesis in Preaching
•Preaching should exhort listeners by warning them about judgment and urging them to change their conduct, regardless of their desires or preferences.
•People today are increasingly failing to endure sound doctrine, seeking teachers who tickle their ears with teachings that align with their own desires and beliefs.
•The lack of discernment is perpetuated by the cultural emphasis on relativism, which leads to a reluctance to engage in debate or draw clear lines between truth and error.
•Despite this resistance, biblical teaching must be absolute and unambiguous in order to truly divide, confront, and convict listeners.
•Pastors and elders have a duty to hold fast to the faithful Word, exhort in sound doctrine, and refute contradictory ideas in order to maintain a focus on antithesis and avoid the pitfalls of doctrinal relativism.
The Demise of Discernment in the Church
•The inability to speak up against error and divisiveness leads to the decline of discernment in the church.
•The church's action of buying into the notion of image and influence being critical for spreading the gospel renders discernment moot.
•Discernment fails to thrive in any atmosphere of moral relativism, doctrinal confusion, and compromise with the world.
•Churches accommodating everything to the world in an attempt to win their approval fail to be truthful and confront sinners to turn towards God.
•The apostle Paul never sought to be popular but faced persecution and revilement in his ministry, which contrasts the image-obsessed spirit of the church today.
The Importance of Proper Scripture Interpretation
•Weak theology, unwillingness to be absolute in doctrine, and a focus on marketing the gospel has diminished discernment.
•Failure to properly interpret Scripture is the fourth issue that has contributed to a lack of discernment.
•The speaker, a professional writer, studied Greek and theology in college and seminary to interpret the New Testament accurately.
•Interpreting Scripture correctly is especially critical for one in a teaching position.
•James 3:1 warns against rushing into a teaching position as teachers bear great responsibility for what they teach.
•Bible interpretation is an exacting science that requires discipline and is not something to approach whimsically.
•Unfortunately, many preachers today do not pursue the necessary discipline to interpret Scripture accurately.
The Importance of Proper Biblical Interpretation
•Many preachers and writers today do not interpret the Word of God properly, instead choosing to lightly touch on its themes or preach a quasi-Christian psychology.
•There is a new overemphasis on elevating everyone to the level of an expert in Scripture, leading people to believe they can interpret the Bible on their own without proper training or education.
•The Charismatic Movement has further encouraged a lack of proper interpretation, suggesting that one can simply read the Bible and let Jesus reveal its meaning mystically from within the individual.
•Bill Hayman, a leader in Charismatic prophetic ministries, advises people to ignore reason, logic, and the senses when attempting to discern truth and claims that truth comes from a sensation in one's upper abdominal area.
The Fallacy of Charismatic Mysticism and Subjectivism
•A negative witness is manifested with a nervous, jumpy or uneasy feeling, indicating that something isn't right.
•The author finds this to be 'double talk', as one must wait for an upper abdominal feeling after reading Scripture to sense the Holy Spirit's bearing.
•The author dismisses such suggestions, stating that checking for such unspecified feelings and disregarding one's mind, beliefs, and common sense is idiocy.
•The author believes that interpreting Scripture is essential, and the Charismatic approach undermines the uniqueness, centrality, and necessity to do so.
•The author criticizes the Charismatic ideology, stating that individuals either shy away from interpreting Scripture or make a misguided attempt or just wait for 'feeling,' resulting in the inability to discern truth.
The Importance of Scripture Study
•A young man in the Charismatic Movement claims to have had a mystical experience with Jesus Christ, including being baptized by fire and seeing himself in the holy of holies.
•He believes that he does not need to study the Scriptures since he knows Jesus as he has revealed himself within him.
•Without a standard for discernment, people may believe and advocate for bizarre and unfounded ideas.
•Martin Luther and other Reformers fought against error by properly interpreting Scripture.
•In the 20th century, the church must continue to fight the same battle against Protestants who are inept in dealing with Scripture.
•2 Timothy 2:15 emphasizes the importance of handling the Word of Truth accurately and without error, and the implication is that failure to do so warrants shame. This requires diligent study to gain God's approval.
The Importance of Precision in Biblical Interpretation
•People do not move into false doctrine by design, but rather through laziness, ineptness, carelessness, or foolishness in handling Scripture.
•Hymenaeus and Philetus are examples of people who have gone astray from the truth, meaning they missed what they aimed at.
•Error is not produced when seeking error itself, but when in the process of seeking truth, individuals do not know how to find it or do not make the necessary effort.
•Hymenaeus and Philetus came up with the false doctrine that the resurrection had already taken place, which might have referred to a spiritual resurrection.
•They upset the faith of some, demonstrating that for every screwball idea, there is a following.
•It wasn't that they aimed at error, but they aimed at truth ineptly, carelessly, lazily, or foolishly, resulting in their errors.
The Importance of Handling the Word of God Accurately and Church Discipline
•Paul's exhortation to study and present ourselves approved before God by handling the Word of God accurately.
•The importance of having conscious integrity before God to avoid feeling ashamed when interpreting the Word of God.
•Many preachers care about being popular with men but not with God.
•It is essential to handle the Word of God accurately and rightly divided.
•We must preserve truth and confront false teaching.
•A lack of clarity and conviction of doctrine kills discernment.
•Failure to discipline in the church involves confronting sin in individual lives.
•Church discipline includes confronting sin, lifting up, and building up the person caught in sin, leading them to repentance.
•The church must uphold a high and holy standard, which sometimes involves confronting sin.
Importance of Church Discipline
•A church member took the writer to confront a sinning man who left his wife and was living with another woman.
•Church discipline involves dealing with sin confrontively and putting a wall up between the world and the church.
•The wall of separation helps differentiate between those walking in obedience to the Lord and those who are not.
•If church discipline ceases, the wall comes down, and the world feels comfortable in the church.
•Ananias and Sapphira were killed in front of the whole church for lying to God, which gave the church a serious reputation for dealing with sin.
•A church that delays confronting sin, such as a homosexual living in a sinful situation, is not practicing biblical church discipline.
Judgment and Purity in the Church
•The presence of a comfortable homosexual in a church is a sign that the church fails to uphold its standards.
•A homosexual in church, regardless of comfort level, will either leave or repent.
•Tolerating sin in the church leads to the destruction of holiness and discernment.
•The Bible calls for judgment and separation of sinners in the household of God.
•The church must not compromise and must deal with sinners by purging, disciplining, and purifying.
•Preaching judgment, chastening, and salvation to the lost is essential.
•If it is difficult for the righteous to be saved, what will happen to the godless and sinners?
Lack of Discernment in the Church
•Christians may face tough times due to sin and God's judgment, making it imperative to send a message to the world about holiness and sin.
•Church discipline and a high degree of holiness are essential to develop discernment and send the right message to the world.
•Lack of spiritual maturity is another contributor to the church's lack of discernment. Many in the church lack depth of knowledge about God's truth and are more concerned about personal comfort and success, exhibiting selfishness.
•Selfishness is a sign of immaturity, and the church's preoccupation with its problems and comfort is evidence of its immaturity.
•Ephesians 4:14 warns about being like children, who are easily swayed by false doctrines and schemes.
Spiritual Immaturity and Discernment
•Spiritual immaturity leads to victimhood and lack of discernment.
•The church grows through clear and truthful teachings spoken in love.
•Shallow teaching and strange mystical practices contribute to the rise of immaturity.
•Hebrews 5 underlines the importance of growth and maturity, as well as the danger of being stuck in elementary principles.
•Discernment and maturity are interconnected; the mature have trained their senses to distinguish good and evil.
The Importance of Discernment in Spiritual Practice
•Lack of doctrinal conviction, image and influence as the key to evangelization, inadequate interpretation of Scripture, absence of church discipline, and spiritual immaturity all contribute to the loss of discernment.
•Scripture emphasizes the importance of discernment in Proverbs 14:33, 16:21, and 17:24.
•Discerning individuals are focused and keep wisdom in view.
•Some are discerning in areas such as food, finance, and healthcare, but neglect spiritual discernment.
•Using analytical faculties in the Spirit and in the Word is necessary to discern good and evil.
Importance of Discernment in Christianity
•The church is being poisoned with a deadly chemical that resembles living water due to its lack of discernment.
•To become a discerning person, one must seek to diagnose the issues around them and pursue holiness.
•The goal of being discerning is to honor God and uphold the truth found in His Word.
•God has given believers all they need to be discerning, including the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and skilled writers and preachers.
•Christians should strive to be like the noble Bereans, who examined the Scriptures daily to ensure their beliefs aligned with God's truth.
•The pursuit of discernment requires a willingness to come to true and strong convictions and avoid the drift of cultural trends.