Good morning everyone…I hope you are all having a great day! Set kids off to their classes…Welcome those joining online as part of our extended spiritual family.

Hey, so we have been in this series over the last couple of months, and we are almost finished up with this series on being aware of false teachers. We called this series, Watch out for Wolves meaning that there are wolves out there looking to trick and persuade people away from the truth of the Gospel. As a matter of fact Bethany was hit with something this week. As a result of the Israeli war that is going on right now, Beth told me about some posts that she had seen from some ladies Bible study leaders on Instagram. Apparently there are many people that are getting upset about why you would care about Israel when Jesus was really Palestinian and not Jewish at all. Well that confused Bethany and so she looked up and saw that there is a whole belief system that teaches that Jesus was Palestinian and so therefore Israel should not exist. Well, this is clearly a pro-terrorist talking point that is being used to attempt to dismiss the claims of Jesus and accomplish a political agenda as well. This type of thing happens all the time in the information age that we live in. I speak with atheist frequently and you would not believe the number of things in the Bible that are questioned. Everything from the whole Bible is just a literary piece to it being riddled with errors and still others will make claims with such confidence that it sounds true.. For instance, check this out...Did you know the books of the Bible were arbitrarily chosen by the Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great. Yeah, he decided he wanted to use a religion to control the people. That is a fact that is verifiably untrue. You see, Constantine did legalize Christianity, however, he did not write…or choose the books of the Bible to control people. Actually, other than legalizing Christianity and calling for a couple of councils, he had nothing to do with Christian history. He wasn’t there…he didn’t write, he just asked the right questions which got people talking and legalized the conversation.

See there are so many views that are completely inaccurate, but they are said with such authority that so many people believe it. we talked about this a little bit last week. I mentioned that as humans, we are more likely to believe a lie that is well said, than the truth that is not said with authority. That is how false teachers will teach false and lead others away from the Gospel. They say it with such authority and clarity that we simply believe them. It’s like when you see an add that is well done people tend to believe what it says, wether it is true or false. Online people are claiming that Jesus was not Jewish and so Christians need to stop supporting Israel…That means that you and I need to be aware, not just from a Biblical perspective in our church, but in our lives. You see, I’m not sure if you know this or not, but our theology is being learned not just in church, but out in our lives outside of church. That is where you are seeing if God is real and what a real God looks like.

So how do you do that. How can you discern what is real and what isn’t real in this new age of technology. I mean, really we have been in the age of tech for quite some time, but many are still getting used to all of the different tech that exists. Anyone born after 2010 likely had a phone or tablet by the time they were 5…Anyway, born in 2020 or after likely already have that type of technology. So with so much information coming at you, with much of it being false information…how can you figure out what to believe? Well…Im glad you asked because that is what we are talking about today.

Developing Discernment

Yeah…today we get to talk about an important skill. Then hopefully you will be able to develop the discernment that you need personally to be able avoid false teachers, and we can corporately watch out for wolves. However, in order to fully talk about developing discernment we need to know what discernment actually means don’t we. Now this is something we have talked about before, but I’ve never really defined it and so I want to just make sure we are all on the same page here. Discernment is plainly…The ability to judge well. Now when we place that word into the context of watching out for wolves, we see that Biblical Discernment is the ability to judge a Biblical teaching well. That means this is a skill we all must develop that will give us the ability to rightly judge teaching from false teaching. We do that in various ways, but this morning I want to look at a passage that will encourage us to develop discernment through unity of the church and through the structure that God placed for us. Now, this passage we are going to look at is a few verses, but it is all one sentence. Go ahead and open your Bibles to the New Testament book of Ephesians. In case you forgot your Bible at home, we have you covered. There are Bibles in the bottom of the chairs in front of you and there are Bibles in the back of the Sanctuary that you can keep if you do not have one of your own. Feel free to take that as a gift from us to you. Then of course there is the Bible App that you can use to follow along with. So open up to

Ephesians 4:11–16 ESV

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

No in order for us to move forward, I do want to be reminded why Paul wrote this letter. This is a letter that Paul wrote to the Christians in the town of Ephesus. He wrote this letter specifically to encourage these believers towards unity. Now, there is value in us focusing on our unity at all times, because when we develop divisions it is far easier for faulty doctrine to slip in and use that division to break the unity of this body of believers. Now, we are, as a church, at the beginning of the process of defining our values and purpose as a church and that may or may not lead to changing our name as a church. That has the potential of causing some disunity, so it is even more important for us as believers and as a family to be commited to unity in the Lord. We may not always agree with each other, but we can make a choice to be commited to the unity of LRBC together. That includes the doctrines and teaching that come in and out of this body. So…what does Paul tell the church in Ephesus about this? Well, first he reminds us about the

Purpose of Spiritual Leaders: (V 11-12)

We read about this in the first couple of verses here. What we read about really is different giftedness within the leaders. Now there are some important aspects here that we must pay attention to. You see, Paul wrote this in the first century and there are some things that are a little different today than it was then. So here Paul describes these five different giftedness> Apostles, Prophets, Evangelist, Shepherds, Teachers. These are all necessary, but they are also different and may not apply 100% the same for us today as they did for the 1st century church. Let me explain…You see, Apostles and Prophets are kind of foundational to the work of the church in the 1st century. Apostles refers to people sent with a divine mission…These are the men who brought a new revelation from God to the church. Such as Paul who wrote this letter. Prophets revealed God’s will to believers…All apostles were prophets, but not all prophets were apostles. Now today we don’t see Apostles and Prophets the way they did in the 1st century and before that. Is God unable to speak to us in that way…No, however, he hasn’t done that since the first century and anyone who says they are a prophet or an apostles does not currently understand the reality of that statement. For instance, there is something called the New Apostolic Movement that seeks to call themselves apostles on par with Paul and the other 11 men God used. However, by saying that, they are saying their words are equal to the New Testament. That means they must be held to the standard of the New Testament which they all will fail because they have all been wrong about something. No, God does not seem to be using these particular leaders at this time in history, so we can stay away from those who make that claim. Next we continue looking at the giftedness that Paul talks about here. Evangelists were gifted to spread the gospel and plant churches. These are men and women who cannot help but to tell everyone about Jesus. People who have been forgiven so much that they cannot wait to tell everyone else around them about the amazing gift God has given them. These are men and women who not only do the work of sharing their faith in word and deed, but area also capable of teaching others to do the same thing. Shepherds provided oversight, comfort, and guidance as the church’s shepherds. Then teachers instructed and helped apply God’s revelation to the life of the church.

So through all of these people we are able to develop discernment as they accomplish their stated goal here. You see, Paul tells us that these men and women exist, These leaders exist to equip the saints for the work of ministry. Now these are areas of giftedness, not official roles of the church. Meaning these men and women are not necessarily voted on to be these positions, they simply are by virtue of doing what God has called them to do. So take a moment and look around…Who do you see that fills these roles? Can you see Shepherds? Can you see Evangelist? Can you see Teachers? If not…maybe you are one that is ignoring what God has called you to do. Are you one that God is using, or would use if you were willing to help equip the rest of the church to do the work of ministering to the community around us as well as ministering to those in this room? See there is a purpose of these gifts, but that is not all that Paul talked about in this passage. Next he talked about the

Purpose for Developing Discernment: (V 13-14)

In other words, why do we need to develop this skill? Well really there are three reasons that I will show you briefly. We need to develop discernment in order to Attain unity in the Lord. When we have unity in the Lord we are moving with a singular focus and goal. We are of one commitment, not individual commitments. For instance, we are looking at the name of the church. However, we cannot fully look at a name unless we understand what our purpose is at a church and we cannot discuss our purpose fully until we define what we value collectively. For instance, do we value reaching the lost or do we value discipling the saved more? Do we value serving our missionaries, or do we value serving our community more? We can do all of the above, but what is our unified vision of what is most important for us as a church. That is the question we must answer. So as we develop discernment we are more able to see the unified purpose that God placed us as a church in this place at this time.

We are also able to Become mature as believers of the Gospel. As we develop discernment we are able to recognize truth from error more easily. We are able to expel false teaching from our midst more rapidly. As we develop discernment we are able to see things as the scams that they are. Think for a moment of the fake emails you get or junk mail you receive. You can typically recognize those things are false, or to good to be true, offers based on what they look like. That is discernment that you have developed over time, and maybe after falling for a thing here and there. Now imagine having that same ability to see false teaching before you wasted your time being deceived for a time. That is what maturity brings. As we develop discernment we are becoming more mature in the Lord…together.

Finally we see that we want to develop discernment so that we can Guard against deception and false teaching. If we do not develop discernment then it is very easy to fall into the trap of false teaching. That is something that we actively want to resist as faithful followers of the Lord. Imagine if we have those that are gifted in evangelism willing to share the Gospel and those that are gifted in teaching and shepherding actively teaching sound doctrine and caring for caring for the body, then there will be no place for false doctrines to enter into the church becuase we will be well cared for. However, each one of us must take the time to both develop discernment as well as serve the body to help guard against false teaching...

Listen, if we are not moving in unity as a church and we are not constantly maturing as believers and guarding against the temptations and false teachings…then we will be bouncing from one new teaching to the next new teaching. We will be following the latest church growth strategy or Spiritual book that has hit the New York Times best seller list instead of staying focused on the Scripture. We will be led by lies and not truth. However, the opposite is also true. When we have Spiritual Leaders that help to develop discernment we will learn to

Speak the Truth in Love: (V15)

Yeah that is a thing. Listen, we have talked in the past about people who are heartless when they speak to others. They will say something that is true, but is a harsh way…Well, that is not a discerning Biblical thing to do. We see here that one aspect of discernment is speaking the truth, in other words not lying, but doing it in love. That means there is a way to speak the truth to those who need to hear the truth. This is part of the practice of discernment folks. However, some of you just want to say whatever comes to your mind when you feel like it…You’ll say something like, “Well, I just tell it like it is, or, Im just a straight shooter, or, Sorry I’m just blunt when I talk”…No, you are a undiscerning jerk. You need to learn discernment and learn how to speak the truth in love. This is a character trait of a Christian. No, I don’t want you to lie to people and that is why we will call sin, sin…However, sometimes there is a way to speak to people that will allow you to lead with love and unity instead of pride and animosity.

As we develop discernment and are able to watch out for the wolves that seek to destroy sound doctrine, we will be able to see

The Growth of the Body: (V16)

You see, an undiscerning body will not be able to grow…now to be clear I am not talking about numerical growth…I am talking about spiritual growth. We don’t care about numerical growth…My desire for you is to grow Spiritually. That means understanding sound doctrine and then making the decisions to choose right living over selfish living. That is what will cause a body to grow…What does it look like to make the decision to choose right living over selfish living? Well…it means that you are willing to do what you know is Biblical no matter what the consequences. In other words, all day long, every single day you are each faced with various issues and struggles in life. Well, if I were to live a discerning life, then I will look at each situation and ask the question, What decision would be pleasing to God?” Then I would do that thing…Yeah, it might be uncomfortable…No where is Scripture does it say that our lives will be easy…if you find that please pass that passage on so I can preach on that! I haven’t found it though…and believe me I have looked!

Listen, if I want to grow as a believer, and I want to be a part of a growing body that is discerning truth from error then I need to practice a discerning life…but how do I do that? Well…let’s answer that question just real quick together this morning with a little bit of practical ideas that you can take with you this week and apply to your life and decision making.

Putting Discernment into Practice:

What are we gonna do when we are faced with a situation that we are unsure about. Listen, this goes not just for Scriptural things, but life decisions as well, right? We need to cultivate and develop the discipline of discernment. But how do we do that…like practically speaking? Well, Im going to give you some tools this morning, but here’s the thing…these are tools not magic…That means what i tell you here is only helpful if you are willing to put in the work. If you are not willing to put in the work and actually make some changes in your life…then you just wasted an hour. That’s where you have to start church. So here we go…now some of these are gonna sound repetitive, but thats because they are repetitive. These are things that I’ve been talking about for a while and I’m not gonna stop anytime soon, unless you start putting int he work…Here we go,

A. Study and apply God’s Word in your life.

This is one that I talk about almost every single week…Now here is what I know is true. Some of you here get to this point in the sermon and you agree and you say, I’m gonna do better. i need to do better and read the Bile this week. Im gonna start off my week and Im gonna focus when I leave here today…Then you walk out and you get distracted by coffee and donuts and forget all about the commitment you made to God to start reading His Word until right now when I bring it up again. So…here’s what I want to do. Everyone get out your phone …go ahead, everyone has a phone, well almost everyone, so get it out...now set an alarm for 2pm today. That alarm is your reminder to set up a schedule to actually read and meditate on God’s word. Maybe you need to set an alarm for every morning, whatever you need to do…do it right now.

B. Seek wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit.

How do you seek wisdom from the Holy Spirit? Well I guess that starts with prayer, right? Now remember that prayer is a conversation with God…that means you have to be ready to listen and not just talk. That means you need to be prepared to listen to the primary way that God talks to us…That’s through Scripture. Remember we’ve talked about that before. Test everything against the truth of Scripture. Listen, the reality is that Scripture has EVERYTHING we need to live our lives. So when you are confused and unsure what to do…Commit to doing whatever the clear teaching of Scripture is. Here’s the thing that…this is where the work comes in because sometimes the clear teaching of Scripture requires us to do something that is hard…or something that is uncomfortable…Sometimes the Holy Spirit leads us to do things that are hard and uncomfortable too. You know like teaching a Bible study, or sharing the Gospel. I remember the first Bible study I led to adults when I was like 21yrs old…Talk about intimidating to be teaching men and women that were significantly older than me…I was just a kid and leading a Bible study because that is where God was leading me…are you willing to do the thing that God is leading you to do?

C. Involve yourself in a Godly community.

Look around…you have a head start on this one if you’re here in person. Here’s the thing though…don’t let this stop on Sunday mornings. Are you living your life with other believers through the week? Go to your Spiritual family when you have a heavy decision to make. Reach out to others in your Bible study if you are considering big life changing decisions. Rely on those that God has put in your circle....Listen, I know that you guys have stuff you’re struggling with…Have you reached out to your family to ask for help, or to ask for prayer? Lean on someone that is more seasoned in life to mentor you as you discover God’s direction in your life. Look around…this is your family and when you have family, you don’t need anything else.

Let me tell you one thing before I pray. Many years ago Beth’s mom had a life changing reaction to the anesthesia during a knee replacement. We got a call saying Carol was not going to wake up and we needed to drive to South Bend to say goodbye. Well, God ended up saving Carol, but things were very different. However, what made that season significantly harder than it needed to be is that we had just left a bad church situation and so we did not have a Spiritual family to lift us up and be there for us. We had friends, I had work folks, we had genetic family…but there was nothing that could take the place of a Spiritual family and so it was a very difficult time for us as a family. We are made to be a part of a Spiritual family and that is what we have right here in this place…So take advantage of it.

Let’s pray…(Pray for God's guidance and wisdom as we strive to develop discernment)