A Case for Biblical Discernment

Read 1 KINGS 3:8-12

From these verses, how would we define discernment? - What is meant by having an 'understanding heart' according to Solomon's prayer?

As a king, why did Solomon need to judge rightly with the people?

-Describe the influence of media and entertainment on decision-making?

how do emotions guide out decision making?

-What steps can you take to ensure that your decisions align with God's wisdom rather than societal influences?

According to Proverbs 1, who are the three types of individuals discussed in relation to wisdom, and what are their characteristics?

Describe the typical simple-minded man/woman? Why is this degree day negatively in Scripture?

How might parents promote their teenage children in staying simple-minded?

-Reflecting on the idea of the 'fools' presented in the sermon, how can recognizing foolishness help you avoid similar pitfalls in your own life?

How can you actively seek to increase your wisdom according to biblical principles? How can you actively seek to increase your wisdom according to biblical principles?

In what practical ways can you foster a practice of daily prayer and reflection to enhance your discernment? How can the church aide each other in discernment?

Introduction:

10,000 Sermon Illustrations Pastoral Call

A minister received a call from a church that offered him a salary four times what he was then receiving. Being a devout man, he spent much time in prayer trying to discern what God wanted him to do. One day a friend met the minister’s young son on the street. “Do you know what your dad is going to do?” he asked. “Well,” replied the youngster, “Dad’s praying, but Mom’s packing

We all face challenging and difficult decisions in our lives. As one of your elders, I am aware of challenging decisions that many of you face. How do you choose the right path to take? Will the path you take be the path that honors the Lord?

These are the questions we wrestle with daily as Christians. I want to take a few Sundays and talk about the practice of Biblical Discernment.

We spent a little bit of time on this in Eph 5 with these verses:

Ephesians 5:15–17 “15 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil. 17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Now that we are done with Ephesians, I would like to dive deeper into the understanding of biblical wisdom and the practice of discernment in our lives according to that wisdom.

1. The Need for Biblical Discernment V. 2

Solomon writes the proverbs for the people of Israel, particularly young people, to learn and grow in biblical wisdom. V 1-7 is the introduction to the proverbs to set forth the purpose of the book mostly written by King Solomon.

As we know Solomon was granted a supernatural wisdom as King over Israel. In 1 Kings 3:8 we have this interaction with the Lord and Solomon,

1 Kings 3:8–12

“8 “Your servant is in the midst of Your people which You have chosen, a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. 9 “So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” 10 It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, 12 behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you.”

Notice Solomon’s prayer to the Lord. In it we find a very helpful definition of wisdom’s use in the life of God’s people. He asks:

a understanding heart:

Literally this phrase translates a listening heart which in context focuses on the needs of the people. Solomon is not asking for an enhanced emotional charge to his hearing faculties. Instead, he is asking the Lord for the ability to hear the needs of the people with the heart of love for them as the Lord loves them.

Solomon acknowledges in his prayer that these people belong to the Lord and therefore, he wants to care for them and lead them with full reverence and wisdom given only by God himself.

To lead them well, he must understand their needs, their hurts, their struggles and then rightly lead them down a path that honors God and his will for their lives.

If we apply this to our own lives, we could pray something similar for ourselves as Solomon prayed for God’s people. Seek an understanding of your own heart so that a proper leadership from God can commence. What are your needs? What are your struggles? This requires honesty and humility in your own life. There can be no real application of God’s wisdom if there is not a humble heart ready to receive the dish that God serves us for you.

If Solomon’s prayer shows us anything, its that he acknowledges his inability to lead the people without God’s intervention.

1 Kings 3:7 “7 “Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.”

This sounds similiar to what Paul says in Romans 3:10–12 “10 as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; 11 There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; 12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.””

I hope you feel this way about living your life in this world…that you are but a child, immature with much to learn, and without God’s help and guidance, you will fail. This is an understanding heart, a humble heart, that is the land that has been cleared from debris and has been leveled properly for a solid structure to be built upon it.

to judge your people to discern between good and evil

If we could adjust this language here, we might say to “govern your people” or “to administrate your people” which includes the daily influence and guidance of their daily lives and affiars. Solomon knew the role of King in the Israelite nation whereby the king sat as a judge or governor, helping the people in their affairs and conflicts.

How could He be a good judge and governor of God’s people? He must be given the ability to discern between good and evil. How will Solomon know that which is good and that which is evil? God would instruct Solomon to judge rightly according to his word those issues that needed his judgment.

Therefore, bibilcal discernment is the application of taking the wisdom of God that is derived from God’s words and precepts and applying them to determine that which is good and evil.

This statement by Solomon is so important to our biblical discernment because he is acknowledging that our human instruments to judge rightly are broken, shorted out by sin and only in God’s power and by His word can we have the wisdom derived from his words, with the power of the Holy Spirit to choose what is right and wrong in God’s eyes.

Getting back to Proverbs 1, then wisdom is the goal of Solomon writing these proverbs. Notice v 2 is a summary statement

Proverbs 1:2 “2 To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding,”

These are similar ideas from Solomon’s prayer in 1 Kings 3. He is writing to achieve and deliver wisdom with the goal of the instruction of the heart towards God and the discernment of the choices of God’s people toward’s godly living.

Now we all need this wisdom and discernment from God so that our choices in life and ones that honor God. This wisdom from God is given generally to all mankind in the form of the conscience, which we will look at next week. The innate faculty of the conscience exists in all people to operate on morality that is molded by God. Death is morally wrong in all people because the conscience informs them accordingly.

But within the transformed heart of a follower of Jesus Christ, the wisdom of God is given, not by dreams and visions, not by feelings and unctions, but by the moving of the word of God to the heart and mind of the person of God by the Spirit of God so that they can apply it to decisions and circumstances in their lives.

The word of God is a well full God’s wisdom that we apply to our lives.

Ask yourself this morning: How do I make decisions in my life? Am I discerning those decisions immediately THROUGH THE WISDOM OF GOD’S WORD BEFORE I ACT?

Acknowledge the other voices that are screaming at you as you try and make decisions. Evaluating these other voices helps you discern what is good and evil. Those other voices could be from media/ entertainment. To our young people here… music and movies are sending you messages. Listen to them and throw out the trash that doesn’t align with what God’s word says. One example from my day that I remember was Billy Joel’s song My Life.

“I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone”

Now this is just one example of music/entertainment that sends these messages out and those ideas becomes principles and those principles inform our conscience and we act accordingly. Those ideas that I just gave are not Biblical ideas. James states in James 3:15 that there is evil wisdom. He calls it wisdom “not from above…earthly, Unspiritual, demonic). This evil wisdom or evil worldview is out there…in the spiritual battles we just learned about in Ephesians. We need Biblical wisdom to combat the sin nature that is within us and the evil influences all around us trying to infiltrate our minds and lead us to make decisions in an unbiblcal way.

2. The Practice of Biblical Discernment V. 3-7

Secondly, let’s look at how Solomon shows the practice of biblical discernment. He focuses on a few audiences of people and the way that they respond to wisdom. He will use these types of people as the common audiences of humanity and the way wisdom blesses them.

The Simple Man (youth)

Proverbs 1:4 “4 To give prudence to the naive, To the youth knowledge and discretion,”

The simple man is the immature and illogical person. He/she is easily enticed and led astray because he believes everything someone tells him/her.

Proverbs 14:15

“15 The naive believes everything, But the sensible man considers his steps.”

Proverbs 22:3

“3 The prudent sees the evil and hides himself, But the naive go on, and are punished for it.”

Therefore logical, reason, and discernment is lacking. Because the term “youth” is connected in this verse, we could understand that as an immature adult is the Simple minded, while the youth is also simpleminded but younger.

Simple minded people are often perceived to be the “fun people” because when lacking discretion they demonstrate spontaneity that is entertaining to some. But they are also the first to get themselves into trouble because they do not think and reason before they act. This categorizes most young people until they learn to see the consequences of their actions. For the simple adult, there is no excuse for remaining in simplicity and immaturity.

Proverbs 9:6

“6 “Forsake your simplicity and live, And proceed in the way of understanding.””

Maturity is needed in both youth and the simple and they can find the proper guidance to godly maturity in the wisdom of God.

Psalm 119:130

“130 The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.”

Psalm 19:7

“7 The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.”

Therefore in Proverbs 1 the promise of the benefits of wisdom for the simple is prudence or sensibleness. The prudent man compared to the simple man considers his steps when they see danger. The simple man needs wisdom in his life. to choose good and wise steps.

The Wise Man

Proverbs 1:5–6 “5 A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, 6 To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles.”

Secondly, there is the wise man, who is the focal point and goal of the wisdom literature. The wise man is one that looks to God to find understanding and truth. The goal of every Christian should be to seek wisdom. Wisdom is said to be valuable above all the earth promises and produces because wisdom comes from God. The climax of these verses if found in v 7

Proverbs 1:7 “7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

The term “fear of the Lord” is a statement of trusting the Lord, walking by faith in Him. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for the NT church is the OT equivalent of fearing the Lord.

As we learned in Ephesians, the relationship we have with the Triune God is the foundation of possessing wisdom.

Look with me in Deut 6:1-5 . I want you to see the correlation with fearing God and loving God.

Deuteronomy 6:1–5

“1 “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, 2 so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 “O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. 4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

Look with me at

Proverbs 3:13–18

“13 How blessed is the man who finds wisdom And the man who gains understanding. 14 For her profit is better than the profit of silver And her gain better than fine gold. 15 She is more precious than jewels; And nothing you desire compares with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; In her left hand are riches and honor. 17 Her ways are pleasant ways And all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who hold her fast.”

Here we can see there is great blessing and benefit to wisdom. All these blessings flow from God as we walk according to his word. As you divert yourself from his word, you will miss these blessings because you will be walking in foolishness. Walking in wisdom equates to living your life in obedience to the truth and wisdom that is found only in God and his word.

Quoting Prov 1, he “will hear and increase in learning.” The wise person is ever increasing in wisdom that comes from God’s word. He or she hears or listens with intentionality because every ocircumstance is given by God to learn more about him and how we orient our lives for his glory.

Proverbs 9:9

“9 Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser, Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning.”

Not only does he increase in knowledge by always wanting to learn, but a wise man also is said to be one who learns from correction. He does not hate correction and discipline but he finds that the path to wisdom requires necessary course corrections.

Proverbs 12:1

“1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, But he who hates reproof is stupid.”

One more benefit of wisdom that must be highlighted is found in the multitude of counselors. A wise person acknowledges the wisdom of others and seeks that out as they make decisions. The word that translates “counsel” literally means steering a ship at sea. Written in the plural form, it makes us see the plethora of resources that we can learn from in our pursuit to be and live holy.

1:5 “A man of understanding will acquire wise counsel”

Proverbs 27:17 “17 Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.”

Proverbs 11:14

“14 Where there is no guidance the people fall, But in abundance of counselors there is victory.”

This is especially helpful in the community of the church. We can go to one another as we make decisions and seek wisdom about making them. Seeking counsel is only helpful if we acknowledge the diversity of wisdom that exists in a church body that can be tapped into for help. I will call it a toolbox of wisdom that you can utilize as you make decisions. Others believers in your midst have lived out your scenario, possess the Holy Spirit and know God’s word faithfully. Your church is a counseling resource for you.

Let’s consider the obstacles of this last point. What keeps us from seeking counsel from others?

Embarrassment over your struggle or concern is simply a fear of man. If we avoid asking for help because of concern for what people think, we are fearing man and not God.

Pride may lead you to think you are strong enough or smart enough or capable enough to handle the situation. The Problem with pride is that it is a liar and poor evaluation of the sitaution. Instead, humbling ourselves leads us to acknowledge we need help from godly people around us.

Busyness is another obstacle because we often don’t ask for help because we have not planned our time wisely. Foolish decisions are often made when time pressures us to make them immediately.

The Foolish Man

Finally we come to the foolish man. He is the antitype of the wise man. He is contrasted throughout the Scriptures with wisdom.

Proverbs 1:7 “7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Foolishness can be summarized chiefly as a rejection of God. In Solomon’s words in v7, he is contrasting the wise and fool. The wise fears and trusts the Lord but fools reject God and the wisdom he provides. The fool needs gasoline for his car. The gas is available in ample supply, but he chooses to our cooking oil in there instead. He seeks an alternative to God and it always leads the foolish man to his own destruction and judgment from God.

Notice in v 7 that fools “despise” wisdom which means that they have contempt and hatred for God and his truth. They will choose the other side of the road in their foolishness because they hate God. In their contempt, they suppress truth out of a spiteful heart against God. It is not because instead of just lacking truth. This point is important for Paul’s message in Romans 1

Romans 1:18

“18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,”

Romans 1:28

“28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,”

Paul tells us that the wrath of God is destined for fools because fools suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They are not ignorant of God as some like to state when considering the heathen tribes in far away lands who have never heard of Jesus. Paul makes clear that they are without excuse because God has made himself know in creation so that they would have the information need to hold them responsible for their choices.

Psalm 14:1

“1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.”

Jeremiah 4:22

“22 “For My people are foolish, They know Me not; They are stupid children And have no understanding. They are shrewd to do evil, But to do good they do not know.””

The truth is that there is a time in our lives that we all lived in foolishness. We all turned from God, rather as youth, or as the simple but our ways were foolish rejections of God. We may not have perceived it in such a way, but we were blind fools.

Pr 12:15 tells us that “foolishness seems right in the eyes of the fool.” In other words, fools are blinded to the realities of their foolishness. In the end, fools hate God and refuse to be taught and instructed by Him and yet they think they are okay in this life. This foolish thinking will lead to their destruction and eternal separation from God their creator.

But there is hope in the OT and NT about a way of escape for the fool. The fool is not a guaranteed disaster. He is not unmovable from his course of destruction.

Psalm 107:17–20

“17 Fools, because of their rebellious way, And because of their iniquities, were afflicted. 18 Their soul abhorred all kinds of food, And they drew near to the gates of death. 19 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses. 20 He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions.”

There is hope for the fool that the Lord Jesus will intervene and rescue them in their blindness and rejection. Let us pray fervently that the Lord will rescue the fools and the simple from their ways, and grant wisdom that can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of wisdom and He is the way of true biblical discernment. He guides us by truth and His Spirit indwells those who believe in him so that we guided along the way of righteousness. Let us Fear the Lord Jesus. Let us live by faith in the Lord Jesus and be wise!