Discernment

Good afternoon brothers and sisters, thank God for today, and thank God for all of you.

What a very full and crazy week its been, i could hardly find any time to work on todays topic, but for whatever time God did provide me, I could not have been any more satisfied with a topic like todays topic.

In a world that is constantly dying and hurting, where we must live among and not the world, we are bound to have many questions and situations that require us to know what to do, and what to say, how to act, and how to react.

The first thing we need to do today in order to find this as a fruitful Sunday, is to understand what discernment is.

Let us please turn to Hosea 14:9

Hosea 14:9 “Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.”

Lets talk about this verse a little bit, because in context the book of Hosea is generally about Hosea’s wife being unfaithful to him, yet through that unfaithfulness God commands Hosea to forgive and remain faithful to his wife. This is a reflection of how God even though Israel was unfaithful to him, would forgive them and remain faithful to them. And so in the final verse of Hosea we are commanded to follow after Gods example and that His ways are right.

But this truth about Gods ways being right, and to follow after His example is not exclusive to Hosea, and the revelation given to him, but in all things that the LORD has revealed.

Let us explore this a little bit further by turning to Hebrews 5:11-14.

Hebrews 5:11–14 “About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

Now lets walk through this one, verse by verse. Verse 11 says, “About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.” This dull of hearing could mean a plethora of things, but for the sake of context, i believe it means lazy and or absent minded.

Verse 12 says, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,” I believe here in context teachers is more or less referring to the kind of teaching that we are all called to, and that is primally the sharing of the Gospel, Jesus Christ, and your faith. The writer of Hebrews has contention with the audience here, their contention is that though they have had adequate time to understand the oracles of God, they still do not have the sufficient knowledge to be able to share these things with unbelievers. And lastly for this verse, oracles of God simply means the scriptures.

Onto verse 13, “for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.” Once again word of righteousness is synonymous with oracles of God, and is referring to the scriptures. And so we see that milk is in reference to the elementary teachings of the scriptures, and solid food is in reference to the more advanced teachings of the scriptures.

Lastly verse 14, “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” So, from what we have broken down so far in this passage, we know that the writer of Hebrews is making a shared picture between a person starting off as a baby, then slowly maturing to an adult, and a believer who is starting off their walk with Jesus, learning the foundation of their faith, and slowly growing in more knowledge and understanding of that faith that they have proclaimed in Him. Here in verse 14, we finally get to see this word that we are laboring so hard to pin down and understand, that is “discernment”, from the passage we understand that discernment is something that is for those who are mature, those who have grown in the knowledge of their faith in the Son of God, the verse says “by constant practice” they have learned “to distinguish good from evil”.

And that is exactly it, that is precisely what discernment is, it is the spiritually-trained ability to distinguish good from evil, understand the will of God, and recognizing the work of the Spirit, it is through constant study of the scriptures, through constant prayer to God, and speaking with other believers, through these things you may be able to grow strong in your ability to discern.

Now let’s talk about some times we are in need of it in our day to day life.

One example is when we are feeling angry, feeling sad, or when we are feeling any sort of intense emotions.

Another example is when we have any questions, or when we are feeling lost.

Or when we are presented with a new teaching.

Or when we are dealing with someone who speaks with authority.

Or when we are seeking God’s will.

The easy answer, is that at all times we need to be practicing our discernment.

Now lets lay these examples out in practical scenarios.

First, when we are feeling angry, feeling sad, or when we are feeling any sort of intense emotions. Emotions are wonderful, beautiful, and a Godly given gift to humanity, but emotions do not reveal truth. They are given for other reasons that we wont get into today because that’s not our focus, but they none the less do not reveal truth. And especially in moments of intense emotions it is very easy to lose ourselves in the moment and start acting like they justify our actions. An example of this is just the other day when i had woken up late for work, i was feeling sick, i was supposed to carpool with someone so i really felt under pressure at that moment, I threw my clothes on, I didn’t even brush my teeth, I was a mess. Then i went to the door to throw on my work boots as I usually do, when in fact one of my boots was missing, I looked everywhere for it, but no success. I was so frustrated I literally yelled in a groan, I did not care what time it was, I was pretty upset, so i finally put on my only nice pair of shoes, $180 pair of timberland boots that were now going to get ruined. I went out the door and ranted to my wife over the phone about how upset I was, then I remembered, James 1:19–20 “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” After remembering this, I was able to call my wife back up, and asked her to please forgive me because that is not an acceptable way to act.

Second, when we have questions, and or are feeling lost. Many people tend to rely on themselves and seek for answers within themselves, or family. This too produces issues because we as humans have our own weaknesses, we tend to be imperfect, such is the reason that Jesus had to die. And when we all decide to go our own way we depart from the understanding of God that is perfect and full of wisdom. An example of this is, perhaps someone runs into a scripture that really tests their faith, and they don't understand it, instead of laying it at the feet of the LORD, and being patient with Him, many people would much rather start saying that God is a moral monster, or that God must be fake, because they don't understand the passage. Isaiah 55:8–9 says “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Third, when we are presented with a new teaching. Especially in these moments, we are warned to be careful and diligent, because this can traditionally be a moment of testing. There are a few different examples of this where we need to watch out, but we can see many who have fallen into these traps around us today in the form of cults, including Mormonism, Islam, Catholicism, and many more, when new things of God or, other Gods are presented before you, you must be able to discern these things. One scriptural example is found in the old testament, in Deuteronomy 13:1–3 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” , and in the new testament in Revelation 13:14 “and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.” and later on in the same chapter it says “This calls for wisdom”.

Fourth, when we are dealing with someone who speaks with authority. This one is very important because speaking with authority is not something that is sinful but receives much praise, as even the Lord Jesus Christ does in Mark 1:21–22 it says “And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.”, yet we must be careful because it can be very persuasive when someone uses this tool. I when i was yet a babe in Christ, was actually quite scared and intimidated by any videos, and or any person that would appose Christianity. I for the longest couldn't understand why, I thought that perhaps it was because the evidence for Christianity was weak, or maybe that they were actually right, but in reality it was simply because these people that were in opposition to the truth spoke with authority, once I was mature enough to understand this, and able to recognize this, my faith was able to grow as well.

And fifth, when we are seeking God’s will. When we desire to seek God and His will we tend to get caught up in the desires of material things around us, or lost in the worries of losing those things, it’s very essential that we do not let these things distract, they are there pulling us from the truth that God has promised us in Jesus. For example someone who desires to please the LORD, they know that it would please the LORD if they dedicated their time to reading His word, or praying for an hour, when instead they could be relaxing, having fun or making money. This is an example where we must not let the desires of the flesh kill our desires to follow the LORD. Instead we must first seek the LORD and not pay any heed to the pleasures and worries of the world. In 1 Kings 3:9-1 the LORD appears to Solomon in a dream and asks Solomon what is the one thing he desired for the LORD to give him. Solomon replies with “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”, Then it says “It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days.”. But this is not an isolated example of this, in Matthew 6:33 Jesus says “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”.

I want you to notice something here brothers and sisters, we laid out each one of these moments when we need discernment, but how did we deal with each and every one of them?

We appealed to the wonderful, and infinitely mesmerizing, perfect word of God. As we read earlier in Hosea, “for the ways of the Lord are right”.

If you are ever to make a judgement call on anyone or anything (because you will have to inevitably) do it righteously, using the standard that the word of God lays out for you, not forsaking grace and mercy, but as well as taking account for justice and righteousness, never being a hypocrite, but also inwardly measuring yourself, as 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

God is clear that when you judge you must do it in this fashion, if you are merciless, God will be merciless, if you are graceful then God will be graceful, for in Matthew 7:1–3 Jesus says, “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” Instead of being a hypocrite, stand on what the word of truth says, while at the same time following it for later in the same chapter Jesus says Matthew 7:24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”.

So as we go home this week, as this world continues to fall apart all around us, as we continue to share our faith with unbelievers, and run into situations that test our very outer limits of the faith that God has granted us, let us cling to Him who justifies, and ask for wisdom and discernment. Let us continue with open hearts, hearts that have been renewed by the constant writing of scripture on them, knowing that the will and word of God, is strong enough to stand and defend its own self, with all assurance in Jesus, blessing each other and Him constantly.

Once more let us at all times practice discernment.

Thank you.