I have decided to jump on the cessationist band wagon, and before you call me a heretic or write my blog off, just hear me out. I am now thinking of lumping discernment and wisdom in the category of gifts which have ceased. I know the Bible calls discernment a spiritual gift, for example, “8For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit…10to another discerning of spirits…” (1 Cor. 12:8, 10; KJV). I would argue the gift of wisdom, is synonymous with discernment, but if that is not enough, Paul tells us God also gifts us with the ability to discern spirits, aka discernment of what is from God and what is not. Note that James also tells us that God gives wisdom to all who ask, without fault (Jas. 1:5).
In fact
wisdom and discernment are not just gifts, but are a big fruit of the Spirit in
the Bible, just like prophecy and tongues and healing, which are seen happening
left right and centre in the Bible. But as my cessationist friends have spoken
up and shared that prophecy, tongues, and healing are no longer gifts for today
largely because of how we see them misused and abused, I am now about ready to declare
alongside of them that discernment/wisdom is no longer a gift or even a fruit
of the Spirit, because I see very little evidence to support its existence at
all in the church at large today.
Wow that is
an extreme view Matthew, where is this coming from? It comes from a sad but
true observation: I see less and less Christians who are able to discern truth
from error, heretics and Bible twisters are becoming the norm for evangelical
preachers across Australia and the USA, and many people are lapping it up like
puppies lap up their water; naively and without even a shred of discerning
whether it is good or not.
Let me give
you some examples: in today’s church truth has been made a very distant second place
to love. If even a hint of harshness or ‘judgementalism’ is felt in speaking
against that which is heresy, the instant backlash is, ‘Ah you are harsh and
critical, a judgemental Pharisee that cares only about the truth but not
people…” etc., etc. goes the cry. I am sure many people have copped this one,
it is closely followed by the unrepentant sinners’ motto, “You cannot judge
me”, they say as they continue in their sin as if it is ok. Our Christian
culture has thrown out the baby with the bathwater, sure people can at times
speak the truth in a way which is harmful (I immediately have come to mind
certain churches in the USA which picket homosexual funerals, that in my view
is a little far guys), I am sure we can all think of some examples of this, and
there are times when we have likely all have been judgemental, because no one
is perfect.
But the
truth is that ‘love’ or ‘grace’ are now the catchcries our politically correct,
weak willed Christian culture, uses to bash down anyone who speaks up and says,
“Excuse me, that is downright wrong, twisted and yes heretical.” It is now
unloving to call someone ignorant because they twist the Bible, and arrogant
because they refuse to acknowledge it, because ‘love’ must rule all we do; ‘love’
in the sense of never speaking a harsh word, or being forthright, or calling
someone else wrong, or down right dismissing their view because it is dangerous
and can lead people astray; this is the kind of love you must now display to be
a loving person. You see what I mean? It is now much more Christian to be nice
to the person twisting the Bible, than it is to the person pointing out the
Bible twisting, this is seen as graciousness, and love, and downright ‘good’
Christian behaviour. It appears to me that discernment has left the church like
a drunken sailor runs from the police, quickly and without looking back.
Don’t misunderstand
me, I believe love should temper all we do, but hang on a second there, love
does not mean you are always nice, sometimes love is mean (read Mal. 2:3-4, or
Isa. 3:16-4:1); love does not mean you are never harsh, sometimes love is
abrasive (Matt. 3:7-8, Gal. 5:12); love does not mean you cannot call someone
ignorant, because sometimes love must snap us back to reality (Isa. 56:10, KJV]),
and more importantly than all these things mentioned, love is not to rule the
truth, or be over the truth, because “Love does not delight in evil, but
rejoices in the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6). Truth does not rule over love, and love
does not rule over truth, because truth and love are bedfellows, for the simple
fact among other things, that God is love (1 John 4:8), and he is the truth
(John 14:6). Truth and love, love and truth, walk hand in hand together because
they are interconnected, lies are never loving, we must deal with each other,
not with love overriding everything we do, but with a true love, a love that
rejoices in truth and rejects evil, like the vile thing it truly is. The love
we should display is a love that is willing to say a hard truth for the benefit
of another’s soul when necessary, but is just as willing to receive the same hard
truth when it is spoken to us.
Christ
beautifully exemplifies this, as we know being God, he is love and truth, which
means both these attributes are in everything he does. This is why he comes to
the broken and humble woman of John 4 and his words are full of gentle
instruction, and clear grace, he is kind with her and patient and leads her to
himself, the living water, because he is truth and love. Because Jesus is love
and truth in Matthew 23 he is insulting (calling people snakes and whitewashed
walls), brash (as in confronting), rude (call’s them children of hell and mocks
their giving methods), harsh, gives no quarter and flails the leaders of
Israel, because their falsehoods are making people into twice the children of
hell they are, because he is love and truth he won’t stand for such behaviour,
but confronts it. It takes discernment to see that if you place love over truth
you get error, the same as if you place truth over love – then you get a
different kind of error. Rather they must walk hand in hand, because we see
this in Jesus.
This kind of
discernment is as rare in the Christian church as are tanned people in Ireland,
simply because many Christians have been corrupted by a false, hippyish,
politically correct, imposter ideology called by many love, that means if you
say a harsh word you cannot be loving, but must be judgemental. You cannot
point out that some beloved and popular teachers may not actually be preaching
the Bible, because this is not gracious. The worst thing is that these people
will tolerate the false teaching and false ideas to boot. I have heard them
actually say this, one person I was discussing with said they would rather be
friends with someone who looked up to someone who had abused people, than with
someone who criticized them for it. I have heard others say that we should
never allow truth be the way we approach people, because truth must be
subservient to love, and, love is too nice to point out error, even if it is
great error.
This is not
loving, because love rejoices in the truth, not evil, but many Christians today
don’t want a bar of the truth because they see it as divisive and mean. Love
must come before theology they say, not realizing that that is a theological
statement itself. Really? Love must come before theology? Where do you get that
idea? Is that idea based on your reading of the Bible because then it is
theology, poor theology, but theology all the same. Better to say, “A radical
biblical love that is kind when appropriate and harsh when appropriate, but
never rejoices in error, should be the guide of our extended theology of what
it means to be a Christian and act like one.”
There are
other examples of this lack of discernment. For example, if your church has
awesome, world influencing music, it appears that you can teach no wrong,
because your worshipful heart is so evident by your music. There are many
different examples of this, and look I am all for good Christian music, but we
should always hold any ministry accountable for all they teach, not just the
good passionate music they produce. And if reaching a lot of people was the
measure of a successful ministry, than Oprah should be our Christian standard
bearer in every way (scarily for some Christians I think she probably was at
one point), note: we also have to measure what we are reaching a lot of people
with.
I would like
to discuss this more, but I don’t want to go on forever. Let me conclude with
some references about discernment from God’s words and a brief comment on each:
Philippians 1:9-10 “9And it is my prayer that your
love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment 10so
that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the
day of Christ…”
Notice that
for love to be true Christian love it must abound more and more with knowledge
and discernment. Therefore, you cannot separate true Christian love from truth,
because true love is discerning, it does not overlook error in teaching, but
lovingly seeks to see if what is being taught is correct, so that you may
approve what is excellent, and then be pure and blameless for the day of Jesus’
return. Love, knowledge and discernment all grow together in the wise
Christian.
Hebrews 5:14
“But
solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment
trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”
Here is where
the angle I began my blog comes in again; in reality I do believe that
discernment is a spiritual gift, but it is not one which comes at salvation
necessarily. Though the gift of speaking a word of wisdom, or discerning a
spirit may come at the point of salvation (or at some other point as the Spirit
wills), true Christian practical discernment, (being able to discern between
good and evil, what is true teaching and false teaching, what is correct
teaching and what is slightly to the left of good teaching), comes from
maturity in the Christian faith, from a solid diet of good Christian teaching,
book by book, from careful study, and putting that study into practice in
everyday life.
So is
discernment no longer a spiritual gift? Well, actually it is, but the lack
of it in the church says one of two things: either one, there are much less people
who are saved and have the Holy Spirit’s wisdom than we have been led to
believe (I hope this is not true, only God can judge this though), or two, and
I believe this to be more often the case, many Christians are just immature in
their faith and lack the discernment that comes from a diet of solid teaching,
and practice, and of this we should not be surprised.
If you
listen to some of the most influential teachers in the world, (of the
seeker-driven, evangelical and charismatic variety), across denominations,
rather than hearing the word of God opened, and our sinfulness and need for the
atonement of Jesus expounded and the clear teaching of each text explained
clearly; you will hear passage after passage misquoted to be about how special
we are, how sin stops us from realizing our potential, how all we need is a
clear purpose and we can make a difference in this world; and the scary thing is,
most people don’t have an issue with this, they see this as solid Bible
teaching.
So we can
conclude discernment is still a spiritual gift (by the way I am not a cessationist), is still something God works in
his mature believers, but it is very lacking in our church today, considering what
passes for truthful, biblical Christianity in today’s church. This is a sad
reality, but a reality none-the-less.